It’s Just Me

When I clean my house it means that I clean my house. When my husband cleans the house it means he tells children what to do while he helps them clean. Most of the time when he cleans it’ll be cluttered not dirty and it bothers him, so he’ll just start giving orders. It actually drives us all nuts, mostly the kids but when he’s telling me what to do I get real mad.

So tonight a soda got spilled on the floor and there were some clothes folded on the table… he says, “that’s it, we’re doing a clean.” He starts snapping his fingers at kids and they look at him and he begins his little ritual. The kids look at me and roll their eyes and I smile and walk away.

I’m sitting there plurking away and my son is in my room vacuuming… he looked really cute doing it too. I asked him if he liked vacuuming it and he kind of laughed (like I do) and said…. “uh… no not really.” You would have had to heard it for it to have been as funny as it was, but it made me laugh so hard. Sometimes I forget he is as old as he is because sometimes he still acts like a little boy… he’s growing up and I never gave him permission.

We got my daughter a new bike this year, so now all three of us have new bikes. We have gone on several bike rides but the first one was a killer. The second one was pretty harsh as well. We have a small hill we have to go up and it is murder on my thighs. We haven’t been on a bike ride for a few days because of the heat. Also because I had to take my son’s privileges away when he didn’t listen at a stop sign. Then he cried the entire way home because I was taking away his bike time. Let me tell you, that is probably the worst thing you can do to this Mom is to embarrass her in public with your bad behavior. He ended up with four days rather than the one because he just kept acting poorly.

But the heat, oh my gosh, it has been in the high 90s and a few days of over 100! One day last week was 106 and it was miserable outside. So needless to say we’ve been inside a lot or the kids have been in the pool. I’ve only ventured the pool once and then got right back out since it was way too cold for me.

I’m hoping I can make myself get out of bed earlier than I have been so I can get the yard mowed before it gets hot. With the pool and the trampoline in the back yard I sure have a lot less yard to mow and I sure like that. The extra weed whacking I have to do does not even it out in the least. The weed whacking is the part I hate most.

Otherwise, not much is going on. Mostly just chillin’, staying up late, sleeping in late, watching movies together, playing games online and off, swimming, going for bike rides, trying to stay cool and eating horrible foods. Sounds like summer to me.

We got our Wii Fit today. Oh man… is that thing gonna be awesome for this family. You can track up to 8 people with their physical activities, bmi, calories burned and lots of other things. I did the hola hoop with 4 hula hoops, all the while laughing my butt off. Both kids have ran their butts off. The more you do the more games and fun stuff you get. Yoga will be awesome for my husband to help build strength in his back.

I was watching my daughter play while I was waiting for my turn and I was sitting in their little kid rocking chair. I put my hand down below the rocker part and wouldn’t you guess, it I rocked forward and smashed my finger. Can you say DUH!

My son just came in,  his face is bright red and he’s saying to me, that I needed to try this one thing because it will help my belly squish get less squishy. ha! , You just gotta try this, Mom it’ll help your squish.

The Wii Fit game was bought with our garage sale money… so in my eyes it was like FREE! These are our old Wiis from when we first got our Wii. Zack was my son’s imaginary brother I think….  We hadn’t made my husband a Wii yet, but we did tonight.

The Trampoline still rocks, but I know I’m getting a lot older, because of it. Let’s just say I should do more kegels. My favorite time to jump is twilight with the kids. It reminds me so much of being a kid, not the jumping part but the time of night, being outside. Kick the Can, being in the tree house with the flash light, sitting on the front porch in the swing…  the air still reminds me of that too, the feel the scent.

Only 4 more days of school… four more days. Seems like it’ll never end.

My husband “doesn’t allow” running in the house. If you even quick walk you might get told to quit running. Sometimes when he isn’t home we run through the house with the music on just to get the running out before he comes home. The kids love it and laugh their heads off, I love it because of the laughter. But I think the dogs love it most because we’re running with them and they get to chase us instead of each other. Somebody got a little over excited this time though and someone got hurt. Someone got a little nippy and I’ve got the mark to prove it.

All parties have been sworn to secrecy. We’d rather bleed than admit to Dad that running in the house is not safe. What’s a little blood, right?

It is interesting to say the least to watch peoples’ faces when you tell them you plan on home schooling a child. I’ve just recently experienced this. My mother, she loves me but she doesn’t think it is the right thing to do. Kids need to be around other kids, that socialization is so important. I understand Mom and that is why we went with this program, because they have monthly family get togethers with the teachers.

They meet places for field trips and they even have live “classroom time”. The teacher is basically video conferencing with the students and if they have questions they can ask then and there and get the answers they need. The teacher can’t see the students but the students can see the teacher. If you miss one of these classes they are on video as well, afterwards.

Well, you know that means you’ll have to actually get involved and take her to these things…. Ya think Mom? Cause I was hoping she’d just catch the bus or something… they have those out in the country right? Yes, I know I’ll be the one required to take her to these functions, yes I know it will be hard, yes I am willing to do it…. Do you not think I’ve thought about those very same things?

It is ok though. I understand.

My MIL is all for it. That was the reason she encouraged Grandpa to buy my daughter a new computer when hers died. She needed one for school. (The school actually provides one) FIL was not really hip to the idea when it was first brought up. He wanted the socialization as well. Until I told him all the things she went through this year, explained in detail the sexual context of her harassment. Then he jumped on the bandwagon.

It is ok though. I understand…. this is just the beginning. People will have doubts until they see the results. On the news once a month they feature an exception student and even my Mother must admit there have been quite a few home schooled kids featured.

I’ve been visiting more home school blogs and I have so far been impressed. I have yet to find a home school family with older kids like my daughter but I’m sure I’ll find some. I know my husband has several home schooled kids that come into his store during the day and they are her age or older so there has to be some nearby for us too.

When they called the other day to verify some information, make sure our address was correct to ship the materials she’ll need and some other stuff, it became real. It became exciting. If it was my son, I’d be scared crazy because I know I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t have the patience.

We shall see…

I can not fail.