Adios, Dooley Dog

A little over a year ago, we decided it would be awesome to have a puppy.  Jeff had always wanted an English Bulldog, and they seemed like a great fit for our family.  So, we searched online constantly until we found a breeder nearby with good looking dogs for sale. 

Dooley was just about the cutest and sweetest little puppy you can imagine.  Unfortunately, we have found out that we are just not dog people.  I have been tormented over what to do for/with/about the dog for months, and finally a solution was practically dropped in my lap!  We were introduced to a very sweet lady whose bulldog passed away a year ago, and who wanted an English very badly.  She is perfect for our dog.  She is one of those people whose dogs are her main concern, and Dooley is the kind of dog who will revel in that! 

You may be wondering how the boys took the news.  We sat them down after dinner the other night, and I began by telling them the lady's story.  Then I told them that I thought it would be good for Dooley to go live with her and be her puppy.  They immediately started crying.  Grayson was quietly trying not to cry, and Grant just climbed in my lap and sobbed, "But when can we ever get another dog?"  Notice, he didn't say he was going to miss Dooley.  I thought that was a telling little difference.  They cried for almost a full minute while we comforted them.  Then I mouthed the word "hamster" to Jeff over their heads.  He said, "Guys, you know, if we don't have Dooley to take care of, we'll be able to get you a real hamster."  Y'all.  It was comical.  Grayson stopped mid-wail.  Grant went from wallowing all over my shirt, to immediately sitting up, sniffing twice, and saying, " Oh!  Can we get it one of those balls where it runs around the house?" 

They were still a little sad until I called Dooley's new mama, and she invited us to visit them as often as we like.  They are now perfectly happy, in part because of the hamster, but also because they know the situation will be better for everyone.  So as of 10:30 today, we will be dog owners no more!

Arivaderchi, Dooley, you're a DGD.  (For those out there not married to Georgia fans DGD is the highest compliment... D**n Good Dog.)

Welcome to Hogwarts!

The homeschool mom is nothing if not resourceful, right?  Sometimes it takes all the creativity I can muster just to keep my guys interested in school long enough to finish our day's lessons.  This week has had a couple of those days.  Monday we added interest by doing school on the sofa, rather than the school table.  Tuesday we had far too much written work to do that.  Just before school, as I was setting up all my supplies where they would be handy, I could hear the boys playing Harry Potter in their room.  Grant was speaking in his best British accent (which is adorable, by the way), and brandishing a wand at his brother.  Grayson was being an older student who was showing him the ropes at Hogwarts. 

This gave me an idea!  I got a couple of big feathers from our random piles of junk, and duct taped them to pencils to make quills.  Then I set up the pinch pots we made a couple of weeks ago as pretend ink wells.  Then I called to them in my best British accent (which is hardly as adorable as Grant's) that, "Attention all students of Hogwart's School!  Wizarding school is now in session!"  Goofy, I know, but man did it work!  Every subject was renamed:  "Magic Math,"  "Harry Potter Handwriting," "History of Magical Islands." 

If you look closely, you can see the great picture of Hogwarts castle that Grant is drawing in his notebook

(Oh, and just in case you're wondering, yes my boys live in those Mario pajamas, and yes we do school in pajamas nearly everyday.  Well, except for the days they just wear underwear.)

Have a Monstrous Valentine's Day!!

For those who didn't follow my old blog, let me introduce you to our Valentine's Day monsters.  They're called Sugar Monsters, and they first came on the scene two years ago.  They bring sweet treats hidden in their back pockets, and usually a love note, too.  Now they even have a story that goes along with them, which we read the night before Valentine's Day. 

Anyhoo, because of these little fellas we tend to get a little monster-happy at this time of year.  We were brainstorming together about cards to make for our friends, and Grayson's were sounding more like Halloween cards than Valentines.  I kept trying to redirect him, throwing out things like Star Wars, pirates, outer space, robots.  It was no good.  When he is determined, you may as well try to change the color of the sky; you'd have more luck.  So I turned my brain toward monsters, took stock of supplies (lots of googly eyes and pom poms), and inspiration struck!  Remember those little puffy monsters with the sticky feet that businesses gave out back in the 80's as little promo gifts?  I LOVED those things and had them stuck on the mirror in my room back in the day.  Well, I made a sample for Grayson, and he loved the idea!  Here are our results: 

Aren't they sweet?  Our sticky feet are foam heart stickers that we already had also.  To keep the theme going, they made monsters out of their Valentine box as well.  I think at this point, they were tired of making things (seriously, it's all we've done all week long), so they put in a little less effort, but they're cute just the same. 

Cute, huh?  They open at the mouth for their friends to drop the cards in. 

I just love my creative little monsters!  Now I gotta run to get ready to celebrate with their friends!

Mario Party

We started a new tradition this year with the boys' birthdays.  Parties with their friends have become so chaotic, that when we add in family, we may as well be a three ring circus!  So, when Grant turned four, we held a small, calm family gathering close to his actual birthday, then celebrated in our usual over the top way with our friends a month later!  It worked really well, because the family gets to actually see and enjoy the birthday boy, rather than huddling in a protective group amidst twenty kids and going home to take a zoloft or ten.
So yesterday we celebrated Grayson's birthday with our family.  If you know my family at all, you know how my boys get fixated on things from time to time (and by "from time to time" I mean "ALL the time").  The new fixation is Super Mario Bros.  We play it on Wii; we play it on DSi; we pretend to be them and make up costumes using strange combos of clothing; we wear Mario pajamas every night.  So, naturally, we party Super Mario style! 

There are no Mario cake toppers to be had in our city, so we had to get creative for a simple Mario cake.  Grayson came up with a great design, and I made the cake according to his direction.  I think it turned out great!  (Sadly, Blogger is refusing to cooperate with this particular picture, so I'll just put the link  here.)

I suppose it's rude to name a favorite gift, so I won't name it, I'll just show you a picture instead!  Great plans are underway for the "friend party," including tiered cakes, twenty homemade hats, and fake mustaches...  Sounds like somebody better get busy!!

A Week in Art

We spent one of our school days last week spring cleaning, so to make up for it, we took a Saturday field trip to our local art museum.  The boys took along sketch pads and watercolor pencils to copy some of their favorite paintings.  I had not taken them to an art museum before, because I thought it would be pretty boring for them.  Boy, was I wrong!  They loved every minute of it!  They oohed and ahhed appropriately at the Victorian exhibit, and discussed the different paintings in the "Perceptions of Reality" exhibit.  They didn't know what the different styles of paintings were called, but Grayson could tell me whose style was similar to Van Gogh's or Monet's.  He was able to tell me who he thought used oils or colored pencils, and which paintings held his interest and why.  It was a fantastic trip which we will be repeating as soon as the exhibit changes!

Since coming home, the boys have both been more interested in painting, sculpting, drawing... Basically anything that they call "arting."  I had grand plans to bring out Grayson's pottery wheel this week, but I've yet to work up the courage to face the mess that goes along with it.  Instead, we have been making a lot of play doh sculptures.  Both boys have a knack for it, and I'm wondering if I should bring home some "real" artist's modeling clay!

So!  That's our week in review!  What creative ventures have you and your little ones taken this week?  If you've done something new, share it here!  If not, take the time to do something creative with them today!  All it takes is a blank paper, a wad of clay, even shaving cream and a black garbage bag, and a little bit of time.  You'll be surprised at the creations of their bright little minds!

Grayson's Iliad

Homeschooling has become so much easier this second semester.  We seem to have our feet under us now, and I have gained enough confidence as a teacher to do what I know my kids need, rather than what everyone else thinks they need.  One of the things we are doing is taking more time to enjoy the subjects we are studying, rather than trying to rush through them and check them off the schedule.  Grayson is particularly interested in History right now, and I find that the more crafts we do along with it, the more he is likely to remember the lesson. 
Yesterday, we studied the legend of the Trojan Horse.  Today, we re-enacted the legend!  Here is a nice pictoral of our battle:

The city of Troy.  Impregnable fortress wherein the beautiful Queen Helen and Paris of Troy are hiding...

The war council between Helen's first husband, King Menelaus of  Sparta, his brother Agamemnon of Mycenae, and Odysseus (and some random other guy)...

Their brilliant plan.  A peace offering of a giant wooden (or cardboard and duct tape) horse.  Incidentally, how on earth did they make the original without duct tape?
Little did those silly Trojans know, there was a surprise waiting for them inside...

Game over.  Spartans 1: Trojans 0.

So Many Books, So Little Time

I am a reader.  The story I have heard from my parents is that I learned to read at the age of three, while listening to my mom teach my brother.  I remember gathering all my stuffed animals and dolls around me for story time in my preschool days.  I would take requests from them and then read with as much expression as I knew how, stopping after each page to show them the pictures, just like the children's librarian at story hour used to do.  The times in my life when I've been between interesting books, or when I have read a particularly captivating story that I wasn't ready to muddy up by starting a new one, I have spent reading educational or how-to books.  A book taught me to knit, to tie knots, to mix any skin tone from four colors of paint.  Books teach me to cook lots of new and healthy things for my family.  Books inspire me to be a better mother, daughter, wife, and christian. 

Nothing is so exciting to me as when a book captures the imagination of my children.  The current trend toward retro toys and remakes of old video games gives evidence to the fact that we love to see children enjoy the things that we loved as kids.  Sadly, the books that have captured the imagination of my kids have been few and far between.  Grayson loves the Harry Potter books, and we are currently reading book number three (The Prisoner of Azkaban), but I am not comfortable with progressing any farther than book three with him for a couple of years.  We are reading it slowly, trying to make it last!  He also loved Roald Dahl's books for a while.  The BFG  and James and the Giant Peach in particular.  He liked Treasure Island as well, but I didn't realize until too late that we were reading an "adapted" (that's book code for "stripped of anything that adds interest or excitement") version.  In addition to Harry Potter, our current readings are:  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which we are listening to on Librivox, and which Grayson surprised me by absolutely loving), Night of the Ninjas (a Magic Treehouse book, which he is reading aloud to me), and Pilgrim's Progress (which I am enjoying, but which is a tremendous waste of breath, since Grayson is grasping none of it.  I think we'll try one of the children's versions, or at least an illustrated copy!).  These are just our recreational readings...  There is a whole separate stack that we use for school!

On my own, I am reading Atlas Shrugged which was suggested by a friend.  I was very skeptical at first (when I hear the words "economics" and "philosophy" in relation to a 1,000 page novel, I can't help being wary).  It has gripped me from the first page.  Go figure!  I'm also listening to Vanity Fair on Librivox.  I am embarassed to say that I've been listening to it since November, and am not even halfway through.  I have precious little time to spend with earbuds in my ears, and it's hard to choose between music and a book.  More often than not music wins that battle.  I am reading Pilgrim's Progress on my own as well, because I am thoroughly enjoying it, and don't want to stay at the slow pace I have to keep for the boys.  Last, but not least, I am reading Helping Children to Understand the Gospel from Desiring God Ministries.  I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who struggles with what, when, and how to tell their children about the gospel.  There are even family devotions in the back that walk you through speaking to your children about your faith. 

Leave me a comment to tell me what you are reading now!  If you aren't reading anything currently, tell me your past favorites, or what's sitting on your shelf waiting to be read!  Give this bookworm some future goodness to chew on!