Creative minds

Today during school, Monkey was taking a break from writing his words to build Legos - he said his hands were bored :). I love that Legos build fine motor skills for him and has actually made a huge difference in his handwriting!

Lately he has been watching Lego videos to learn how to build other things.  He has built snails, dogs, trees, boats, planes and more...improvising as he goes along with parts we may not have.

He is very creative and loves to build and take apart and build again.  

Except today he built these, and gave me descriptions of each...:

"Here is the party house with windows by the door"

"These are the beer bottles, with caps on them"

"The blue part is someone's office, with beer in it." (do you see all the beer???)

I just absolutely have no words for this...apparently he is getting ready for his college life...in 15 years.

Of course, if I drink during 'school hours', they kids absolutely do not know this. I am smart enough to pour beverages into a non-see-through cup.  And keep it away from kids who sneak drinks from my cup...and it's likely NOT beer.

Because really, sometimes I do need a nice adult beverage during after a long day of school...

Cheers!

STOP!!!

Because sometimes, 1 sign just isn't enough.

Cheers!

But it's still hot....

School started.

Summer break is over.

I'm pretty unhappy about how fast our 7ish weeks of summer went. I say 'ish' because I really didn't count. Could be 7, could be 8, could be less than 8. 

Agent P had 2 weeks of summer day camp - he had fun classes like Lego robotics, All things Paper (read - make more paper airplanes because the 137 we have at home are not enough), some class on spiders...I dunno, maybe another one...

The kids did do a week of Vacation Bible School.

There went 3 weeks.

A-Dog had baseball for 4-5 weeks.

We went swimming.

A-Dog went to a Christian youth convention (I chaperoned) for 1 week.

Last week we went to the movies.

Yet somehow, it's all over.

I always take pictures of the first day of school, and because our summer is only 7-ish weeks, there is no sense taking "end of year photo", because I'm pretty sure it would look just like the beginning of school photo...just sayin'.  

Friday, A-Dog started his Sophomore year.

10th Grade

The other 3 are being home-schooled again this year.  

Agent P is in 3rd Grade (and really loves his watch).

Monkey is in Kindergarten

And of course, so is Mini P ;)

So, there you go. We are back to the grind. Kids grow up so fast, I just want to lay down and soak in it (but of course, then pray it isn't pee that I'm laying and soaking in...ya know?)

Cheers!

Ferris Wheels

Raising 4 kids often resembles carnival rides.

Or at least here at my house....

Sometimes it is the House of Horrors or Tilt-a-Whirl.

Sometimes it is the Merry-go-round (that I can't seem to get off)...

This summer it more resembled the Ferris Wheel.

You know...a nice slow ride, goes in a big circle. Stops every once in awhile. Some get on, some get off.

Except that I DESPISE the Ferris Wheel. I have panic attacks ON and OFF of it. If my kids want to ride it, they know the need to find another responsible adult because Mama will NOT be getting on it. Nor will she be watching.

I don't know what it is about the Ferris Wheel, but it seriously scares the be-jeebies out of me. I can barely talk about it and typing it out so many times has sent me into an adrenaline meltdown.

What does this have to do with anything you ask???

A-Dog is 'of the age' now and able to get his driving permit.

So, we let him.

It was inevitable I guess. 

He looks so happy.

*SIGH*. How did he get this old?

Anyway, we wanted to delegate teach him the ways of the road, but first he needed to be my full service gas attendant proficient in administering gas into said vehicle and cleaning the windshield. 

I'm not going to claim the cleanliness was suitable for driving, but since I rarely clean my windshield, I really couldn't complain. That's what car washes are for...to clean my bug smeared windshield.

Obviously the next step was...ahem...driving.  

There was an incident with a cayenne pepper and my sweet husband and so his vision was not what it should be....so off I went.

Being that A-Dog is our experiment first child, I had NO CLUE what I was doing. I mean, I truly thought that all the time spent on Mario Cart 7 and Golf n Stuff indy cars meant he was good to go.

I am here to tell you friends, do NOT rely on either of those!

We spent about an hour in the neighborhood. Thankfully we can across exactly 2 other cars, both time giving me a full on panic attack-just like being on a ferris wheel...for an hour.

Out where we live we had to improvise...like "pretend there is a stop sign at the end of this road, as there really should be, but there isn't". Most roads are dirt and hilly. Made for great driving conditions....

Needless to say, we were both spent when we returned and both needed several days to recover.

I exercised great patience. I never over reacted, or maybe it was just once I shouted "STOP" (which was code for STOP THE TRUCK NNNOOOWWW). He only drove off the road twice, but learned how to backup and that was a necessary lesson.

Pretty sure that is the last time I will be doing that. 

My sweet husband it going to have to do it...unless anybody steps up to volunteer.  I'll cross my fingers...

Cheers!