Six More Weeks of Winter...

Image credit: Washington Post - Groundhog Day 2014

That's what Punxsutawney Phil told us. I actually don't mind winter, but I really would like Mother Nature to make up her mind. After we had the snowmageddon last week, we enjoyed almost spring like temps over the following few days. This week has been back and forth, between warmer and colder, and now the forecast is calling for more snow/ice this upcoming week. Sheesh. 

With the whole groundhog day thing, the boys enjoyed learning more about the history of the day, as well as learning more about groundhogs. Of course, they both have my superpower (distraction), so googling "facts about groundhogs" led to googling a more general "facts about animals." Which then led to a gazillion texts (I was at work) of them sharing all of those neat little facts with me. :) 

This week was my worst longest at the tax office, and I ended up with 60 hours. I'm exhausted and honestly...have no plans whatsoever for this week. Bad homeschooling mama, I know. The boys each have projects they are working on, outside of their school stuff. Bailey is practicing his 4-H DPA project (a healthy sesame chicken with broccoli over jasmine rice) and both he and Braeden are working on making some claymation videos. Fun! 

It's a good thing that our homeschool is so flexible, and that we all appreciate and enjoy the online resources/programs that we rely on. 

Hope you all have a great week!

This week I'm linking up with the LHSHS High School Homeschool Blog Hop. Feel free to browse the other blog hoppers, and link up your own post! :)

Snowmageddon!

If you live in the north, I'm sure you mock us southerners when it snows. In these here parts, we don't see much of the stuff. The stores run out of bread and milk (because...apparently...in a snow storm, you're going to make soggy bread/milk sandwiches?), the state shuts down and the interstates and roadways become death traps. :/

You have no doubt seen the news coverage of what I labeled "snowmageddon" this week. When it started snowing Tuesday, all of the schools and businesses collectively closed at the same time. What happened next?

Madness.

People were driving for 4, 5, 7...even 12 hours to get home (a normal commute, mind you). People slept in cars, kids were stranded overnight in schools...it was just insane. Fortunately, the area we are in got hit less with MUCH less snow and ice compared to other parts of Atlanta and the surrounding areas. I made it home from the office, and the hubs and the boys were safely at home to begin with.

And we had plenty of bread and milk.

Crisis averted for us. :)

The boys had fun playing in the snow that we did get. Snowball fights, mostly. 'Cause that's what boys do, I was told.

Mother Nature still hasn't made up her mind about what season she wants us to feel like we're in. According to the boys, she's the one that needs a weather lesson, not them, lol.  Today was nice, and tomorrow the high is supposed to be 65! It's no wonder my sinuses are in a nasty state of rebellion.

I have what I call the tax brain now. It hurts. So I'm logging off to get some sleep and to look forward to my one day off tomorrow with my guys. I'm leaving you with a shameless (SHAMELESS!) plug for one of the homeschool resources we use. Science4Us is an online, interactive program that teaches science for elementary school aged kiddos. Interested in seeing what they offer? Go here:

:D

Plugging away...

That's what our Januarys are always about. Plugging away.

Boys are plugging away at school. I'm plugging away at people's taxes. The hubs is plugging away at trying to juggle a full time job and taking on some of my roles (chauffeur, referee, taste-tester, etc.).

Plugging away.

This week flew by. Another 50 hour week at the office, but honestly didn't feel quite so bad. Stayed very busy, and that's always good to make the time go by quickly.

Both of boys are doing well with maintaining their school schedules. Bailey is trying to decide which writing course he wants to take, as a follow up to the middle school writing course he took last. He's excited for the course, but he's a little hesitant...his high school courses are taking him longer than he thought each day. At least he likes them though. Well, likes most of them. Algebra is kicking his butt, but he's a trooper, and still gives it his best.

Braeden surprised me this week. Usually when I ask him to pick his own spelling lists, he will either try to pick lists he's already done (like, done twenty times over, lol), or he will try to pick lists that are way too easy for him. Last night, when I got home from work, the first thing he told me was that he picked a list about the Great Lakes. Started spouting off all the lake names, and states that surround them. I was shocked. And so proud!

This week they will continue to do what they do. Bailey is going to spend any extra time working on his 4-H DPA project, and Braeden is going to work on some extra homeschool science stuff. If all else fails, we've got science. :D

Logging off to spend some time with my guys. Leaving you with a coupla random pics that the boys sent me this week:

Bailey tried his hand at homemade herbal tea.

My kids crack me up. I have no idea what's going on here, other than Braeden stuffed a weird wedge pillow thing in his shirt, lol...

Sleepy.

That's me. Very sleepy. My first full week at the tax office. Six days. Almost 50 hours.

I'm grateful that I have the income, and that I only have to work these hours outside of my home for a short period in the year. But yeah. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sleepy.

Boys did okay this week. They both helped the hubs out with dinners a few nights (we made incredible use of our crock pot, and found some great new recipes!), and they stayed on top of their school. I even planned ahead and got them lunches they could take on their way to Masters this week. Yep, I'm winning. :)

When I'm not here, they pretty much have carte blanche with their day. They are totally comfortable with their curriculum, and while I'm not naive about online dangers and internet safety for kids, I feel comfortable that they can do the research they need to do with their school stuffs, on their own. Their dad does help with anything they need help with, but they pretty much take control of their day.

What does that mean?

Well. That depends on the day, lol. Some days they are right on top of things. They know what they need to accomplish that day, and they do what they need to do to make sure those things get accomplished. That could be compiling their own spelling lists, looking online for math and/or science tools, or Wiki-ing (one day, that will be recognized as a verb, like Googling...I'm sure of it) a historical person.

And by historical person, I mean anyone from Jesus to Keith Richards. Who am I to curb their interests, right?

Other days, they spend hours working on Minecraft or Roblox mods. Win some, lose some. ;)

This was a rather short and dull update, but it's all I've got for you today. I need to do a week's worth of laundry, then I'm spending my evening with a coupla hunky Brits. Sherlock is back! :D

For photo credit, CLICK HERE. 

Bits O' Random

It's that time again. I've got the tax brain. Forming paragraphs is proving difficult. So, bits o' random.

• Yep, tax brain. My tax season started Friday. Yay for extra money. Boo for actually having to wake up at a decent hour and shower every day. And you know...talk to people. Stranger Danger!
• It's been way too long since I've seen a movie at the theater. Having withdrawels. 
• The boys got haircuts this week. Why is that blog worthy? They only get them like twice a year, lol. 

  

  They always look so different after they are sheared. Happy to still see a smidge of blue in the wee one's...

• Braeden is his own lesson in science and motion. Kid. Never. Slows. Down.
• You know I mentioned before, that we were watching and enjoying Arrow? Enjoying is an understatement. 32 episodes in 6 days. Aaaaand, I might or might not already be going back through the first season. 
• I hate laundry. Loathe laundry. How in the hell do four people who work and learn at home, blow through 46 pairs of jeans in a week?!
• Ok, fine. 46 may have been a slight exaggeration. But still. 
• The hubs turned 38 on Wednesday. He got a kick out of how we arranged the 3 and the 8 on his cake. 

  

  Heh. :D

• We've been doing the highschool homeschool thing since August. I still feel lost. Thank God Bailey doesn't. :/
• I went clothes shopping for work, and was able to buy pants a size smaller than I was expecting! That hasn't happened in a looong time. 
• My first Dragon Con 2014 squee? The entire cast of SyFy's Being Human were announced as guests. Squeeeeeeeee!

Another year.

This keeps happening. Every time I turn around, I have a new date to remember to write. Sheesh. Next time I blink, It's going to be 2015, so I'm not going to worry too much about writing 2014 instead of 2013, lol.

I have some additional Christmas photos, but I haven't sorted through them. I will save those...I'm hoping to catch a Wordless Wednesday this week. Those would be good for that. :)

We did host our annual New Year's Eve party this year. That was fun. We missed it last year because we all had the flu. Yuck. 

Dinner was a pot luck kinda thing, and we played a card game for hours. The Great Dalmuti. 

So. Much. Fun. 

For reals. Can't remember the last time we had that much fun, playing the same game, over and over and over again! 

I heart my friends. :D

After playing, we all gathered to count down and ring in the new year together. We don't have cable or anything, so we relied on technology to help us celebrate.

Why Tracy is never in any pictures, lol. She's always taking them. I did remember to grab my camera, but only after she had hers at the ready. 

Hey lookit...Times Square. On the iPad. :)

The interwebs crapped out, with less than two minutes to go. So, Scott pulled up a shiny ball (haha) on his iPad, and lowered it as we all counted down...

The lack of an official ball drop didn't lessen the excitement or fun...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Good times.

This week, we are technically back to school. The boys have spent the last three days sick (yep, again!), so they may tip toe into school tomorrow. We'll see. This week will also see the start of my tax season. In years past, the boys honestly followed a more unschooling type schedule when I'm out of the house. This year though, with Bailey in high school, I'm going to make them stick more to a normal (ok, maybe normal-ish is a better word) schedule. Fingers crossed that the season goes well!

I think that's it for now. One good thing that has come from the boys' germies? Down time. Lots of it. We blew through the entire first season of Arrow in four days, lol. Today, we are going to start on the second season. It's really good...better than we all expected. 

Hope everyone had a fabulous start to their 2014!

Five Minute Friday

Trying something new here, and getting involved with some of the fun blog meme/link up thingys. So, here is my first attempt. A Five Minute Friday, where I just write about whatever, for five minutes. Technically, there is a prompt word to write about. But I'm trying this all freestyle for my first time. ;)

This time of year is always hectic for me. We are coming off the holidays, and trying to get ready for tax season. Every year, I always say I'm not doing it anymore, and every year, I do it anyway because I want the money, lol. Ah well.

Both of the boys are sick today. They woke up yesterday feeling like crap and running a fever. They woke up the same way today, so I made a doctor appointment for them both. I hate going to the doctor. Grrrr.

Our new year resolution as a family this year, is to reduce our possessions by half. Sounds crazy, but we really need to do this. If we don't, I see an episode of Hoarders being filmed here. We have already made some small steps, and it feels wonderful. We have made rules to help in the future as well. If we buy something, we need to get rid of something. Either trash it or give it away. This goes for everything. Clothes, toys, dishes...everything. Except books and movies, lol. They have an exemption.

Hey...look. I've reached 5 minutes. For someone who is so wordy, this was easier than I thought. :D