first camp of the summer

Herogian started the summer off with Jr. Vet camp at Bear River Ranch in Rolla, MO.  He has adopted a wallaby and a dog for the week. You can type in http://www.myanimalcamp.com/ or http://www.clubsciencecamp.com/. It is an amazing camp with over 100 projects and activities offered to the kids, and the kids get to pick what they want to do. They are connected wth Bunk1 which allows me to send Herogian an email each day. He gets it at lunchtime and can reply from their computer room. They also have a photo gallery that you can search through and pick out pictures of your child to purchase. Then I found a connection to "Sealed with a Kiss" they send camp packages of your choosing. You can see what day it will arrive to make sure it gets there when the camper is at camp. I was able to plan ahead to other camps the boys are attending so they get a little something in the mail. This seems really important to T12. He's been asking me to make sure I send him letters at camp.
I think it is only because his friends mom sends goodies through the mail. She's a hard mom to live up too. You hear that Hillary!
Here is our happy camper with a lama and wearing his I survived the zipline t-shirt.  I guess that zipline had a strong pucker factor with it. Herogian loved it and so did T12, the other two weren't so thrilled. T12 loved it so much that he did it a second time. Since he's not very heavy, he lost momentum on one of the ziplines and stopped halfway. He had to flip over, grab the cable and pull himself hand over hand to get to the tower. He said his arms were sore that night.

Have a great day, don't get spit on by a lama.

Presale for the yardsale

I know when you have a yardsale you must be ready for those early arrivals that get there when you are trying to set things up. They can be rather annoying at times. Yesterday, was the all time early arrival for the sale. The add just came out in our local Chronical shopper. The sale is this Saturday. I was in the garage tagging items last night when this silver pickup slowly turned into the driveway. I saw the woman point at me then look down at a piece of paper in her hands.

I met the grandmotherly figure out on the driveway. She apologized for being so early to a sale. She then explained that her granddaughter had bought a bunny rabbit and it was living in a dog carrying kennel. She wanted to know if she could see the rabbit cage. Then it was my turn to apologize. I didn't have the thing out from under the deck and cleaned up, yet. We went to look at it, pulled it out of the back corner, and proceeded to load it up in her truck.

Before they left, she tucked a Hamilton into my hand and blessed me. I can't think of a better way to start the weekend sale than with a blessing.

The Commander and the boys left before six this morning for their vacation/ drop Herogian at camp trip into Missery Missouri. Later today they will be doing a zip line that is supposed to take around an hour to complete( with tour and rope bridges to cross). It is located in Stanton at the Merremac Caverns.  I can't wait to hear about this part of their adventure.
As a worrywort mother, I finally needled Commander into getting hotel rooms for the weekend instead of sleeping out in tents. We've had enough Wizard of Oz 'travel arrangements' in the Midwest this past week. I don't need the boys landing in Munchkin land.

Keep your heads down this weekend and stay safe.

Random

We are packing for a camping trip for Commander and the boys, and then also packing a bag for Herogian to go to Bear River Ranch for a week of Jr. Vet camp/science camp. Along with all the packing, I have a yard sale this Saturday. I'm trying to go through every room in the house and get rid of the stuff that hasn't been used in a year, tag it all, store it in the shed before setting it all out Friday.

Saturday, the Commander asked if I wanted to go on a bike ride with him. I was nervous about saying yes. In 2008-09 I went over the handlebars when the front tire blew. I haven't ridden since that time. We went east and south of where we live, into the countryside that hasn't been swallowed up by suburbs. Don't believe them when people tell you Kansas is flat. Jogging or biking proves that wrong, wrong, wrong. We were at the farthest distance from home 4 miles, feeling like it was 30 when Commander asked if I was ready to head back. Let me suck in some air for a few minute before I try to answer. The fun part was remembering back to our first weekend together in Tucson. Commander took me on a bike ride then too. Out into the foothills - East Saguaro Park. I was a trained athlete at that time, trained to take 10 steps and jump. He about killed me that time, too. Back to Saturday, the last leg home was the most exciting - a large yellow dog decided he could run as fast as we could bike. Thank God it was flat and then sloped down before it went uphill. The dog finally tired of nipping at our heels. If he had stayed with us for another minute, he would have had ankles for dinner. It was a good hurt. The kind that tells you, you are dropping water weight and gaining muscle tightness. Doesn't that just make you want to jump right on a bike and come over for a ride?

I've had a chance to write on my story again. I'm loving the time - usually 11pm - 1 am if I'm not closing at the store and going to the gym afterwards. I hope to get a lot done on it this weekend after the yard sale.

Prayers for Joplin, MO. Our neighbor has a lot of family down that way.

Thanks for stopping by.

If it was for anyone else....

I'd say no, never again, not now, not ever. But for our church family, I'll have to think about it. What am I talking about?
Cooking dinner for 60-80 families. You know how a watched pot of water never boils, well, three large aluminum foil (thanksgiving turkey size) pans full of breakfast casserole don't BAKE as long as you are in the kitchen.
The only ones complaining about the late meal (that I could hear from the kitchen) were our own boys. Of course they feel free to complain and hound us. Commander put a stop to it real quick, though.
We had also made a casserole dish (regular size) of teriaki chicken, two bags of broccoli, and two large cookie sheets of tater tots, in case there was someone who wouldn't eat the breakfast casserole, Hint: our brood.  We ended up starting the meal with the extras. Then we yanked one of the pans out of the oven and started dishing it into glass dishes that we could microwave to finish cooking the eggs.
What an ordeal. Stress? Yes. Wanting to leave the building? Yes. Never wanting to cook for a crowd again? Yes, but I'll think about it. The Commander is so good at doing these things. It's just his schedule doesn't allow him to do it all. If he had been in charge of the doing instead of just the planning, it would have worked better. Love you, honey.

For our church - you guys are awesome. Thanks for being so patient in waiting for the food. Helping set out tables and chairs, and doing clean up. And Mrs. A. those cinnamon rolls looked ' to die for'. She started at 3:00 am to make 60-80 rolls. I'll definitely try one in Glory. We've got a great extended family at Wyandotte County Christian Church.

Oh, if you want a place to worship on Sunday (after the 21st) we will be there. I won't go any closer to that soapbox here.

Birthday, school, shopping and stuff

I like planning things out, the diagramming the page, the putting it down on paper, a full year syllabus for each subject. 
So now you know why I haven't been writing here.  So let's catch up a bit.

One of the boys was sitting on the floor with Casey between his legs. They were playing when a bit of natural gas escaped from the boy. Casey jumped back and sat on his haunches, leaned forward toward the boy, sniffed, backed up and barked twice. Translation:  "Pay the jar!"

T11 will now have the moniker of T12 (thanks for the word, Julie, hadn't heard it in a long time). He was surprised to get a couple of gifts from his school teacher - since Mom and Dad said he already had his presents from them.

He's in a state of shock - his teacher  gave him #2 pencils with sharpener and mechanical pencils along with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do it Yourself Book.

He is really trying to smile through his disbelief that it wasn't a video game.
 Below is the major part of T12's birthday. Casey. We found his tickle spot.

I had to laugh after taking this picture of the boys in the family. Let's get color coordinated in camouflage colors. Hoorah!They make doing laundry easy around here.

We are almost done with school for the 2010-2011 year. The boys might have one book to finish reading, and a few work pages. For the summer they will work through the Keys to Math series; Algebra for the older two, Percents, Decimals and Fractions for T12, along with penmanship practice, and reading. T12 and Herogian will complain everyday about penmanship - I'll bet you money on it, I'm so sure  I'll win. The three of us are left handed, but somehow they are wired to hook, this drives me crazy. This problem has improved Herogian's typing skills, but hand writing is important. 

I must tell you about my sweetie. But first a quick bit of history. When I was taking the chemo drugs after the major treatment, I gained up to 20 pounds, it was a fight to not gain more. The drug side effects were horrible in this area. Now that I'm off all those meds the weight has come back off. I was trying to find something to wear to church that wouldn't feel too frumpy when Commander asked me when it was that I last bought new clothes. "Well, when I gained weight." He told me it was time to revamp my wardrobe. I was telling my mother-in-law how special her son is for doing this for me when she about fell to the floor laughing when she asked what stores we went to for clothes. Well, JCPenneys, Cabela's, and Campmor, of course. Where else would a girl go shopping for a Mossy Oak Mini Skirt.

Remember: He is With Us, today, tomorrow, and forever.

The age of saguaro cactus

For you, Michelle, and anyone else who wants to do a lesson on saguaro cactus.
I found this website that you might find interesting.

http://www.nps.gov/sagu/planyourvisit/upload/the%20saguaro%20cactus.pdf

Some of the interesting facts are that the cactus only lives in a small area of the world.
It grows 1-1.5 inchesper year in its first 8 years.
It's between 50-70 years before it starts to develop arms.
They are believed to live up to 200 years.

Commander said the cactus he was standing by was about 20 feet tall.

One Happy Boy

T11 and Commander made it back from a weekend trip to Tuscon. T11 couldn't wait to hold Casey.

 Chickens and ducks and rocks, oh my! We will forever know where the septic tank lid is located. The hollow rock marks the spot. The rooster eating corn is a cross between a Japanese Black and a Mille Fleur bantam. Herogian wants to show him at the county fair this summer.

Here is the Commander in his favorite haunting grounds. Sabino Canyon, Tucson, AZ.  

Homeschooling task. How old is this Saguaro cactus? I'll get back to you on that one. Can you tell me? Commander basically stands six feet tall, standing about 2 feet in front of the cactus.