B is for Bicker Busters

I subscribe to CurrClicks newsletter.  They often have a free product to download.  I download, I look at it, I make plans to use it, but you know what I never do.  I'm too busy to do "fun" stuff.  Well the kids were bickering over the Wii so I made them shut it off.  I had printed out the B is for Boats by Sharon Crooks a long time ago and never put it to use.  In cleaning out the school room this week I found the printouts and decided to actually use it!  So right now my littles are talking boats, coloring and gluing and learning terms like "stern" and "bow".  Rainy day bicker buster worked.  If you are at home with littles I recommend you sign up for their email newsletter and then you too will have bicker buster freebies.

1776 was a great year and $17.76 is a great price!

I just snagged my two year renewal!  This is an unbelievable price available today only.  Find rest, resources and real homeschool stories in this magazine.

1776 was a spectacular year, and it's a smashing, save-more-money price! Grab your subscription to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine during their four-day Fourth of July sale, and check out the craziest price on July 1 only! Receive a 2-year subscription, free Homeschooling with Heart tote bag, and five FREE E-Books for just $17.76! While supplies last. U.S. and Canadian residents. July 2 through July 4 the unprecedented savings continue. The sparks are flying at TOS Magazine . . . join in the celebration and savings! Get the details here.

TO DO

My big girls are gone for the week visiting with grandparents in another state.  The dynamics in our house are very different right now.  The three youngers are content to be on the WII for large chunks of time, so using it to my advantage I am gutting the school room in prep for our new school year.  I plan to start mid July giving us time off when the weather is a little less severe in Texas.  So bear with me as I post my to do list for the day.  I figure it might keep me accountable :)

1. wash jeans for John (nothing to do with school but my man needs clean jeans which he did not have this am)
2. tackle the paper piles that spawned from the large one in the school room
3.  input science for both learning groups into HST+
4.  Make a list of items needed
5. Gut the bookshelves
6.  Move old cores down and new ones up
7. label core 2 adv readers
8.  sit with avery and work on some phonics


that should keep me busy right??

Home Sweet Home

We arrived home last night.  My shower has never felt so warm, my bed so perfect nor my pillows so soft.  We rolled in late so it was jammies and bed for the three kids we brought home with us (don't worry we didn't lose two along the way we just shipped them home with the grandparents for an extended vacation). John watered his garden and checked some work stuff and crashed only to be awoken with a "my tummy hurts"from N.  We told him to crash on our floor.  Sometime in the middle of the night A joined him.  I guess after sleeping in a room with 7 other kids for a week they didn't want to be alone!
It is good to be home.  I am now trying to catch up on some TOS Crew stuff and plan to spend some time planning and inputing next year into the computer.  While we were gone we let A detonate some dynamite in a Gold Mine.  We're cool like that :)

Colorado

I'm really not a traveler. I usually get out locally a few times a year and see the country maybe once a year. Just so happens in the past week I have two vacations. Last week it was Seattle, this week Colorado for a family get together. There are 16 of us renting a house near Rocky Mountain National Park. All of us hiked Beaver Meadows yesterday seeing the gorgeous meadows and mountain peaks. We then walked around Estes Park doing a little shopping and sight seeing. Dh and I snuck out for an evening hike at Lumpy Ridge. That's me on the trail :) As we were driving back up the drive of the rental house I snapped the sun setting over the valley. I am amazed at the gorgeous beauty of this area. I miss mountains living in Texas.

Seattle R & R

I was blessed last weekend with a trip to Seattle.  Two friends put the weekend together and invited me along for the ride, all I needed to do was book my plane ticket and pick up a third of the tab.  DONE!  I had a wonderful weekend away.  I was blessed with conversation, scenery and no one calling me mom.  These two friends made me laugh, ushered me through an unexpected encounter with race for the cure, and shared a fondue pot with me.  We saw orcas hunt a harbor seal, saw a bald eagle fly, and blue sky in Seattle :)  I came home refreshed and relaxed and blessed by my time away. 

I Tri-ed

Sunday was the big day.  My alarm went of at 3:45AM, yes AM.  John got up and made me coffee while I blended up my protein smoothie.  He saw me off.  I swung around the corner and picked up a good friend who volunteered to get up at an ungodly hour to go with me.  She was going to do the race but found out she was pregnant a few weeks before.  So she came to be my cheerleader and volunteer.  We got to the ski ranch about 5:30 parked and walked around checking out the swim and facilities.  When transition opened we set up my bike and gear.  I got 402 marked on both arms, both legs, and the number 37 on the back of my right leg.  The 37 is my age at the end of the year.  All women had their age listed on their leg.  During the race it was exhilarating to pass a 20 something and humbling to get passed by a 50 something.
At 8am the first wave was in the water, 8:04 the green caps went, at 8:08 the red caps started swimming with me in their midst.  It was a fairly easy swim other than the fact the water smelled sulphurous.  No visibility in the water.  I apologized to the few people I swam over and then gave up being polite as I got swam over too.  I ranked 75th in the swim with a time of 7:11.  (out of 422 participants) As I exited the water I pulled off my cap and goggles and jogged over to the transition area trying not to trip on the mats.  I sat down rinsed my feet, pulled on my socks and running shoes.  I stood up put my sunglasses on, slammed my helmet on my head and buckled it, choking from the strap I yanked the back of it over my braid and could breathe again.  I pulled on my jersey but my back was wet and it rolled.  I wrestled with it and finally got it on.  I unracked my back and jogged to the mount area on the frontage road of I-35.  Transition took me 3:21.  The bike started with a brief flat and then hit a hill to get up to the overpass.  After that it was rolling hills and mostly flat through a farming area.  The course was open road so Comal County sheriff were at each corner holding traffic for us.  I think my time could have been better if I had the whole lane to pass on the downhill.  But I had to hold back a few times because there wasn't room on the smooth lane and I really didn't want a flat riding on the rough lane.  The bike was shortened the morning of because of rain the previous night causing a low water crossing to have too much water on it.  So the bike went from 11.1 miles to about 10.6.  I ranked 271 on the bike with a time of 43:54.  I dismounted and entered tranisition, racked my bike, tore off my helmet, swigged some gaterade, and realized my bib number had flown off during the bike.  Transition this time only took me 1:17.  Due to a recent calf strain I was worried about the run.  I jogged out of transition and through the skate park and then slowed to a very brisk walk.  I alternated jogging and walking.  My friend was at the final water station and she cheered me into the last mile.  The last 1/3 of the race was back inside the venue so I jogged the whole time crossing the finish line with a time of 1:20:05 (24:19 for the 2 mile run) My run rank was 341 (yikes).
Overall I was pleased.  My goal was to finish (preferably not in last) and I accomplished that.  My overall rank was 262, looks like about 59 out of 90 for my age group.  Lots of room for improvement in the future :)
 I haven't signed up for my next race yet but plan on doing a 5k run while in Colorado this summer.