Doing this life

Sometimes, a picture about does me in.
Just an ordinary picture.
Today, it was one of me holding two little boys.
Cousins, Gavin and Tyrel.
I don't have the solid silver hair that I have 12 years later.
I don't have the sorrow that has become part of my face.
The cares and worries and losses hadn't begun their haunt.
It reminded me of another picture of me, holding two little boys.
Those little boys are grown, one is gone. The other watching as time trickles by while he watches from a cage of his own failures.

Today, this life I'm in has me wishing for a do-over button.
Where would the do-over start?
That's one thing I can never decide.
Make your choices today out of love. Make them out of care and kindness to others.
Those babies grow up.
Those babies grow up.

Another day in Coderville

Nickole is working on her lessons. Handwriting has been an issue, so we have backed up to beginning cursive. Which means learning to hold the pencil properly, and sit correctly as well as to form the letters properly. We aren't moving as quickly as I would like, but we are moving forward!

In digging through my old curriculum, I came across the math book I used from Ben through the twins. An old fashioned Arithmetic book. I am getting Nickole started on that today, to ensure I don't create any gaps in what she should be doing in math. We still are doing daily drills on simple addition and subtraction, and only getting 75-90% correct. I am hoping that one day it will lodge in her brain that the math facts do not change, 13-7= 6 will become as automatic as breathing.

I have purchased 3rd grade "PACE" in Language Arts, Sequential Spelling Book 1, Daily Science Grade 4, and Horizons Health grade 5. We continue with Atlas Adventures. We go to a cooking class series on Wednesdays, and a Homeschool group on Thursdays, both at the Library. She has both assigned and free reading, we do exercises and take walks. She runs and bikes.

We have the Taylor Family reunion coming up October 5th! Becky and I plan to meet and camp on Friday night, and probably Saturday night as well. I am considering that planning what to take should be incorporated into a lesson. Work on our reasoning and thinking skills. I am certainly planning this to be as minimalist camping as possible- not a great deal of campfire cooking and such. (Yeah, I will probably do hot dogs and smores if the grands are all together! Maybe even cocoa at night.) (Mr C has football to watch, so probably will not come with us!)

Our Autumn plans are coming together!
Hope your day is blessed!

Almost Autumn (Someone tell the Weather!)

I saw a meme the other day.
"Moms! Pick your Battles!
Nope. That is too many battles.
Put a few battles back on the shelf!"

I need to learn something from that.
We started today, Friday the 13th (with a full moon!) with Much. Grouchiness.
MUCH. Moodiness.
Everything has been an argument or attempted regression.
"What's for breakfast?"
"Your usual choices: Cereal, oatmeal, or eggs."
"But I wanted leftover pancakes!"
"There aren't any, they are not an option today."
Much glaring.

"WHAT THE (garbled muttering)?!! WHERE are ALL the BOWLS? We HAD a whole STACK of BOWLS yesterday MORNING!"
More glaring, as if I have personally hidden all the bowls.

"We had guests yesterday, remember? And our supper last night used bowls as well. But I bet you they are CLEAN now- in the dishwasher until YOU get a chance to put them up."

"WHAT THE (garbled muttering)?!!! Is THIS the only kind of CEREAL we have left?"
(Pumpkin Spice Millville O's, or cornflakes, or Vitality Cereal with dehydrated strawberries.)

I was really getting annoyed with the attitude.
She picked the Pumpkin Spice O's- griping loudly, "I don't even KNOW if I'm going to LIKE this kind!"
(She got to eat them anyway.)

Then, we had to get dressed. So she wanted to wear a dressy dress.  With heavy duty shorts rolled up under it. Fine. Not even arguing. She was giving me the "I dare you to make me change" look.
I really don't recall Becky having this much attitude.
The minute Tom or Sam walk in- it's cutesy widdle gur-ow (little girl) talk.

Onward to lessons. I cut a couple short, and we never even went to the online lessons today. "Atlas Adventures" was trying to find out more about salmon. If you aren't needing a salmon recipe, or looking for reasons why the wild sockeye salmon populations are decreasing- there wasn't much to find in the first two or three pages of You Tube searching, nor even Google searching. Watched a bit and decided we aren't EVEN going to attempt a paragraph about them today.
Just, NOPE.

I read a little bit of an article about "tapping" to reset ones brain. I figure head banging on the wall or my desk should do the trick.