GHEA conference

Today starts the free intro sessions at the home school conference. The sessions I want are the Law and Choosing Curriculum. Tomorrow I'm interested in some sessions that may be able to help my kids even staying in public school. Teaching the Reluctant Writer, Clarity & Fun in All Levels of Math Math-U-See, Spanish+Family +Fun = La Clase Divertida. That plus the used book sale will keep me busy. I may head back Saturday too, though there are some things I want to do with my kids on Saturday which I can't do if I go to the conference. I guess I'll just see how today and tomorrow go and go from there.

Seen while walking..

..at Stone Mountain Park.

Webelos Rank

As of Sunday, my cubs have all earned their Webelos Rank! woo hoo! They've worked hard and have another year to go. I plan on having them earn all of the activity badges available. They'll be SUPER achievers. That plus their Arrow of Light will make them SUPER Cubs! They're a great bunch of boys and I enjoy working with them. Now to plan the summer and get ready for fall.

Earth DAy

For my part, I always recycle. The pile I put out in my recycling bin tends to rival the garbage. Anyway, for today I decided to accomplish two tasks in one. I took all the computer pieces that hubby has been storing in our garage and loaded them in my van. Since it's Earth Day, Staples (who recycles computer pieces anyway) took all of it for free. Generally, there's a charge for monitors. That was waived today. So, I got junk out of the garage and I recycled something big at the same time. Hope your Earth Day goes well too.

Scout Blast

I didn't get too many pictures at Scout Blast, my camera doesn't work like I think it should. But I did get these:

A mini slide for life swing, my daughter liked this one. Troop 580 had Rickshaw rides, I'm sure the boys got their exercise. Bottle rockets simplified. 2 liter bottles on an air pump launcher. All you could see from launch is the water that was in the bottom of the bottles. My son and his friend really enjoyed this and the air pressure 'rockets'.

I'll be here with my kids tonight, maybe I'll see you around.

Scout Blast

Today Scout Blast is out at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds. This is a gathering of both boy and cub scouts. The boy scout troops and some cub scout packs will have displays of things that scouts can do, places to go, etc etc. Most of it is interactive, all of it is fun. My kids last year had a blast going around and making their own rope, putting together neckerchief slides and more. Hopefully, they'll have as much fun this year.

Physicals

I have my physical today. The first "real" physical (not counting visits to the gynecologist) in a very long time. I'm not looking forward to being poked and prodded, but I consider it an obligation to my kids to go. I'd rather go through it all now than to have something unexpected come up later. I'm sure I'll be referred to radiology to get a mammogram. I had one at 35, but haven't had one since. It's funny how easy it is to put off your own physical but just as easy to make sure everyone else in the family has theirs on time. I guess it's turn about fair exam now. After this I have to work up the energy to go back to see the dentist and get my mouth guard fixed.

Georgia Aquarium

Here are two new things to see at the Aquarium in the Georgia Explorer gallery. Lionfish are an invasive species on the coast of GA. The other is the new improved touch pool.

Umm..

Stone Mountain Park

My husband and I took the time Saturday to go out to Stone Mountain and walk around the base. I didn't take my camera, just my phone. Hubby hauled his and got some nice shots, but instead of stealing his this time, I'll post the ones I got with my phone camera.. not too bad if I say so myself.

Tally for the week

So, this week was meant to get chores out of the way while children were gone. Here's what I managed to accomplish..

Master Bath - spring cleaning scrub Children's Bath - scrub, caulk tub, grout tub, seal grout, caulk floor, fix towel holders 1/2 bath - scrub, re-grout counter top, seal new grout Den - scrub Kitchen - scrub, put up cork board & white board, replace vent Dining room - cleaning Master Bedroom - basic cleaning Laundry, laundry, laundry

Work a shift at the Aquarium

Movies watched: Eagle Eye, Pride & Prejudice, Narnia Prince Caspian, Golden Compass

The sad thing is that all the work started because of a leak somewhere between the two bathrooms upstairs. I fixed many problems with the kids' bathroom, but after washing Dickens Saturday had the drip reappear without much effort. About the only way to find it at this point is to rip out part of the wall, which means redoing the whole bathroom. We don't have money to remodel, so this just does not make me happy.

New Cork Board & White Board

The weather was good enough Wednesday so that after I'd finished cleaning the down stairs den, kitchen and dining room I decided to finish my wall. The wall was originally just cork board, but it needed redoing. I wanted to add a dry-erase white board to the mix for messages and such. I hadn't gotten around to it since the contact glue said specifically not to have the heat on (gas heat) when using. So, I opened many windows for ventilation and got to work. While I worked on the board, I watched "Prince Caspian" (good movie). Here's the end result of my effort.

Bathroom progress

So, after scraping out the old caulk, I discovered I had to replace some grout. Fun fun fun. The task wasn't hard, just more than I'd planned to do. I did manage to get it all taken care of, now to let it all set for 24 hours. Then I get to scrub the kids' bathroom down to make it look pretty.. then I'll seal the new grout. In the meantime, today I get to clean house. I suppose it's just as well that the kids aren't here, I'd probably be more likely to get side tracked into something OTHER than cleaning.

Georgia Aquarium

It's spring break. So, while I would hope you'd expect it, I figured that since I was actually there Monday, I'd give whomever plans to go a heads up. IT'S PACKED! Expect lines, be prepared. The new Georgia Explorer touch pools are open (and are cool). The Peek at the Penguins tours are still running (and are still free). If you're going to go, I highly recommend getting there at opening so that you're done by lunch. The Aquarium is running with extended hours this week, so make sure you check the web site for the current hours.

see more dog and puppy pictures

My kids are off to their grandparents today. I'll pick them up Easter Sunday. Whoop! Now to go do housework.. gotta caulk the bathroom, hang the cork board, fix the garage door trim, clean the garage, fix the storm door trim, etc etc etc.

Home Schooling Decision

Well, after much thought (and a bit of arguing) we've decided to hold off on home schooling for another year. I AM still going to go to the home school conference at the end of the month. I do want to go ahead and check out the first day which is about the laws and such. I'll more than likely attend a few seminars as well to learn more about the curriculums. This way, if anything changes, my bases are covered.

Honor Roll Breakfast

My son made A/B honor roll again, so this morning I have to get up even earlier than usual to take him to his Honor Roll Breakfast. I'm leaving youngest at home with her dad (he can put her on the bus if she's well enough to go) so that we're not all up way too early. My son will have to hang out at school after because he has to be there at 7a and first bell doesn't ring until 8:20. Breakfast is scheduled to be done by 7:45. Poor kid. I'll have to make sure he has a good book to read or something.

Sleeping Over

I had a friend of my son's call the other day. He wanted to come over to play. I'd told Robert I didn't mind having friends over, but I wanted to meet parents first. After talking with the mom for a while, it turns out that she wanted her son (with his brother) to have a sleepover at our house so that she and her fiance could go car shopping. OK. I don't mind keeping kids I don't know for a couple of hours, possibly even for a day. But overnight, with no warning with a SIBLING? Get real. How does she know I'd be 'ok' for her kids to stay with? Her kids were definitely old enough to GO WITH her shopping, though I can understand the desire to leave them behind. That who scenario just made me very uncomfortable. Fortunately (?) I had already made plans for the next day, so I told her we couldn't do the sleepover, just a couple of hours of play time. She wasn't interested and said maybe another day. UGH. Some parents just need to GET A CLUE.