Date Night with a Crooner

Handy Man and I had our first date night since before Trouble was in the NICU.

Seeing as how he is turning 5 in about a week, we were loooooooooong overdue for some couple time. So a few months ago, Handy Man surprised me with tickets to see my heart-throb Canadian crooner, Michael Bublé. The concert was fantastic. I've seen some of his "colleagues" - Josh Groban and Andrea Boccelli - and I loved those concerts. But Bublé is so funny and so believably sincere, it was more than his music than made the night. He is a genuine entertainer. The tickets were well-worth their cost.




It was fun to feel like a grown-up, a couple and to have an occasion to wear these:



Another first time? Leaving the boys with someone other than a grandparent. Thankfully they were in great hands and it felt more like a playdate to them than being "left with a sitter". They played with friends and had a great time. Big thanks to our "sitter" (who reads this blog!).

Most thanks go to my Handy Man. He planned the night. He encouraged me to be brave enough to leave the boys for a night. He took us to a fabulous restaurant and even got a cab for me when I didn't want to hike it in my cute heels. We meant to get a few pics taken together on our date night, but we forgot and had to ask the elderly porter to try. He did okay, don't you think? We have so few pictures of us together; this is a true treat.

Thanks for a great night and to everyone who made it possible. I love you Handy Man. You are so good to me. I had the hottest date at the concert (even more so than the "tan guy"!). XOXOXOXO

Interview with a Boybarian

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Einstein: I really don't know. I mean, there are a LOT of choices, Mom. And I'm seven. Seven! How in the world is a seven-year old supposed to know what he wants to do for-EVER?! Well, I am almost eight. Perhaps an astronaut like Mars Mission? Maybe I could build houses like Dad. I just really don't know... (he keeps talking and talking and talking... so I go on to the next kid.)

Picasso: I like farms, Mom. I think I'll be a farmer! (as he stares longingly out the window at a HUGE tractor in a field.)

Me: That's great, Picasso. Farmers are out-standing in their field. Get it? Outstanding? Out standing?

He doesn't get it.

Einstein is still rambling on about the 33rd career choice he is considering, and is oblivious that everyone else has stopped listening somewhere around his 9th consideration.

Me: Trouble? What about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?

Trouble: Indiana Jones!

Animated LWM3B Button

By request! I made an animated blinkie button that links back here. Want to keep up with the boybarians' crazy antics? One click and you can transport yourself right back here to the craziness. Just copy and paste the code below the button and paste it into an html/java element in your sidebar.

<center><a href="http://www.lifewithmy3boybarians.com"><img src="http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/my3boybarians/animLWM3B175.gif"></a></center>

Do We Really Ever Outgrow Our Moms?

I never will.

Six More Weeks of School!

I find this almost impossible to believe since it feels like we are just overcoming winter. Spring has sprung! I couldn't be more excited about the upcoming promise of warm weather... just could. not. be.

We are scheduled to finish our school year at the end of May. I can't believe that's so soon! We school mostly year round so we can take off for unexpected hospital visits, fighting burn out, days of nice weather, etc. We get so few warm outside months here in the Arctic Tundra Iowa, that we really need to enjoy those days when we get them. Either that or convince Handy Man to move us to North Carolina or Texas. ;)

So what have we accomplished in school this year?

Math: Einstein finished 2a, 2b and most of 3a. He also did Horizons Grade 2. He may even finish 3a yet this year. He is still just 7, so I'm not terribly excited about him starting 4th grade math while still 8 years old. I am so afraid of what will happen if he is ready for algebra in 5th grade. We took 8 weeks off doing his books (facts only) and he is still plowing through. Picasso dilly-dallied his way through 1a and most of 1b. He may or may not finish 1b by the end of May. I'm not terribly concerned, because if he were in public school he'd be a kindergartner. Again, I don't see any benefit of my 6 yo doing 2nd grade math. We will continue at his pace and pick up where we left off in 1b in July. I do not add Horizons for him because it takes him a long time just to complete his Singapore books. He is still working on pencil skills.

History: Gracious. The theme of history this year is TANGENT. We love love love Story of the World. It is a great launching pad into a billion other subjects. We are still in the times of knights and castles. But the boys are absolutely loving it! I won't hurry them along while they are still soaking and learning. I've abandoned the idea with will finish these books in a year. There's just too much and I'm not in a hurry. I love that they want to talk about catapults and defense systems, chivalry and feudalism. I asked them if they wanted to eat like a medieval family, then horrified them with what exactly that meant. We talked about the plague and rats. This led to talk about blood, DNA, dinosaurs, if Jurassic Park could really happen, and how diseases are spread. Again, tangent. We will pick up SOTW 2 where we left off and just plan to lolly-gag our way through next year, too. I don't see SOTW 3 getting any less interesting... so I plan for that to be 1.5-2 years, too. Fun!

Reading: I've been terrible about updating my sidebars, but we have really enjoyed our read alouds this year. The boys look forward to it as their favorite thing. Einstein has also taken a big leap this year in independent reading, doing Ralph Mouse series, the Hardy Boys (thanks Nanie!) and even few of the Narnia chapters. Picasso is also progressing well, preferring anything about Star Wars, or the Narnia readers. He is well beyond Dick & Jane and Nate the Great but not quite ready for bigger chapter books. That'll be the goal for the 2008-2009 school year.

Writing: *sigh* I think I mostly dropped the ball on this one. We were great about copywork until about February. And just when we should be upping the game, we abandoned it completely. I suppose I ought to use the last 6 weeks to reign in the last of it. Einstein is much more willing to take risks than he once was. He has also finished many of the Explode the Code books. We will pick up with ETC 7 and 8 after summer break. Picasso finished ETC 1 and 2. We will see how far he gets in ETC 3 before summer break. We'll continue the series. Explode the Code has been excellent for them. I can't remember why I ever stopped this series to begin with.

Science: Science started off as a trimester on birds, and then we mostly explored topics as they came up. We use Discovery Streaming Education. We've watched educational videos about habitats, animals, environments, animals, Australia, Oceans, the Polar regions, and the African Savannah. We also have several books they've read - of their own choosing - that definitely fall in the science category. Einstein made a book with bird illustrations, too. I can't wait to get it bound. He really wants a new digital camera for his birthday... so if he gets one... I'll let him add bird photos to his book before we bind it.

Preschool: Trouble, Trouble, Trouble. He is just his own little creature. I wish I had known about the Handwriting Without Tears preschool program when my other guys were little. It's so much more than writing. It's been a huge success for him. Through this I have learned that music gets through to him! I can get him to remember anything if we put it to song. I am now picturing him at 35 singing his phone number and social security number (eek!) but whatever works, right? He has taken great leaps and bounds. And while he cannot name any letters yet, he can match them 100% accurate, which proves he is paying attention to their details. He can also count/add with manipulatives, and repeat a 6-8 bead sequence. He still won't have anything to do with the playdough for the roll-a-dough letters... but slow and steady wins the race.

All in all it's been a great year. We've plowed through burn out, survived a week with Trouble in the hospital, and spent the entire month of March passing around germs. But regardless, we've grown up, explored great topics, made great strides and survived another long, cold winter inside. RSV season is over and it's time for the Boybarians to come out of hibernation and finish the rest of the school year with a bang. I love home education!

Week's Up!

It's been a busy week. The three days away last week were fantastic but it took seven to play catch up. I haven't had a ton of time for blogging but I did want to come share my favorite pictures of the week. Trouble shows off his getting dressed skills, then he gives a thumbs up for Lowe's new carts. He was so tuckered out after a morning of errands, he fell asleep like this in his car seat.

Howdy Y'all!

Green. Warm. Lush. Alive. What a change for a Northern girl. Texas is, well... huge. So maybe I should be more specific. The part of Texas (pronounced Tex-iz by the locals) near the gulf shore is tropical, warm and very alive this time of year.

In comparison, I think of words like...

Brown. Cold. Barren. Dormant.

... to describe my area this time of year. It's been a particularly rough winter. Usually by now we've had a little mercy. Global warming you say??? No ma'am. No wonder we are hard to convince to participate in global warming-relief efforts. No one believes it around here. We've had a colder year this year than the last nearly 15 years that I know of. Warming Shwarming.

Handy Man took some pictures while I was gone and emailed them to see what I was missing. He saw this:


I was looking at these:




Can anyone name those root things for me? Google is calling me, but I haven't had a chance to look 'em up. Anyone? Anyone? But the weekend was so much more than pretty Tex-iz scenery. It was a fantastic retreat! Good-bye civilization, good-bye coldness, hello good conversation, wee hours, lots of scrapbooking, and a homeschool partner-in-crime. It was so refreshing to have a great conversations about school, home, life, stuff that matters, stuff that doesn't. I feel reinvigorated. Thanks Jen for playing hostess with the mostest. Thanks to J-Bug and her pham who spent waaayyy too much time in a car on my behalf. I had a wonderful time and I'm lucky to know you. The Pham is gorgeous and fun to be around. Thank you for traveling to me! See y'all soon!

It was my first time meeting Jennefer. Travel across the country to meet a total stranger, you ask? Have you lost your marbles??? Well, that's debatable, fer sure. Jennefer is even more than her blog reveals. She is beautiful, fun, smart (don't let her tell you differently), and an absolute joy. Those are some lucky men-folk in her house! I enjoyed her company so much it was sad to see the hours fly by. And even though she didn't get nearly as much accomplished as she had planned because of our chit-chatting, I hope we can visit again soon. What a dear friend. There were others we had hoped who could make it who did not. Next time, girls. ;)

Can you believe my Handy Man planned most of this trip without me?! I must've been really driving him batty that he wanted me gone so badly. Thanks for the get-away Handy Man. It was a ggrrrreat trip. Regretfully, the people pictures did not turn out. There was a light glare above our heads. This was the only decent one I could salvage. I am SO disappointed.



I'm already lookin' forward to next time.

Warmth, Glorious Warmth!

If it weren't for the threat of 50 mph wind gusts I would just be squealing and jumping up and down right now. Now I just have a big smile and a nervous hop.

I'll preempt that by admitting I am the most motion sick prone person I know. I was car sick as a child, but still able to enjoy a good amusement park. As the years tack themselves on, it seems increasingly worse. Not kidding, I need dramamine to watch the Discovery Channel. I do a lot of travel, but I'm always Susie Passenger who is so loaded up on Dramamine I fall asleep before take off and I'm woken up by the pilot announcing our gate arrival. It's sooo much better than the embarassing alternative!

But I would take a commuter plane to get where I am going! Can you guess?

I am headed for a girls only weekend retreat hosted by one of the blogosphere's sweetest bloggers, Jennefer from Smooth Stones Academy. Jennefer was one of the girls (ahem, women) I connected to immediately. She has 3 little boys, homeschools, has a lot of the same goals for her boys as I do for mine. I'll forgive her for living somewhere so gloriously warm! As a bonus, I will get to hang out with my friend J-Bug who lives far enough away that this is a special occasion! Okay, now I'm jumping up and down.

So goodbye Artic Tundra, hello warmth! I'll take pics so my Arctic Tundra friends can remember what green looks like. ;)

My Little Bag Man - A Reveal into Picasso

When I posted the Easter pics, I posted this one of Picasso hunting for eggs.



This picture of my sweet 6 year old soooo cracks me up. Look at what all he is carrying...



And this picture... oh my!... it is such a great capture of his personality. He collects and stores everything and carries it all around with him. That lock box is filled with Legos. He keeps an actual padlock on it! He is so concerned that his little destructo-brother is going to tamper, touch or just *look at* his Legos in the wrong way. He also carries a backpack - yes, in the house, and yes, at most times! In his backpack are other 6-year-old treasures: Star Wars guys, Lego mini-figs, Star Wars ships, and often his special blanket, "New Blue".

On this day, Picasso also carried a plastic bag and his Easter basket. He insisted on egg hunting with both, because he wanted to separate the eggs in "their right piles". Nevermind that this slowed the search immeasurably... it mattered to him that everything was placed into the right pile. Eggs containing chocolate belong in different pile than the ones with jelly beans or lego candies. Within the plastic bag is yet another bag... a ziploc bag meant to store the money he found.

And already I can imagine his future wife seeing this picture someday and agreeing, "Ahhhh... so he's always been like this!" Perhaps it's a middle child thing??? So few things are "just his"; he so often is bossed around by big brother or commandoed by baby brother. He is very serious about his things. He insists on carrying everything that belongs to him on his person at all times, even while he sleeps.

I think he gets his OCD organizational tendencies from his dad. I'm certainly not that particular about ordering everything. I would never insist that things be done that anal-retentively, even if it makes no sense time-wise. Right, Handy Man??? ;)

Don't All Pack Your Bags at Once...

Now, I hate to be a braggart... there's nothing more annoying than someone who just loves to brag about how great things are for her. But, well... the truth is, not everyone is as lucky as I am to live in Iowa. And I can't help myself but share all the wonderful, amazing, super-duper things about living in Iowa that you all are missing.

For example... Spring! Spring in Iowa is amazing.



I just love the mild temps and beautiful weather we have in Iowa in April. The sun always shines.



The AccuWeather forecasts always predict such beautiful spring climate.



And the water! The water here is just so inviting. Doesn't it make you eager for that cute suit you bought?



Children always get such fresh air and sunshine here in the Hawkeye state.



We have lush forests...



...and beautiful landscaping. There really is nothing more relaxing than spending time outdoors in the yard.



I do hope you'll forgive all the bragging. But now I know you all understand... there's no place like Iowa in the springtime!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Long Overdue Easter Pics