Summer school

Who says you can't do school in the summer? The boys wanted to cut, paste, do stickers, and color. So why not when it's hot outside? They are busy learning numbers and letters using the Alphabet Zoo DVD, a few Internet games, books, and paper. What fun learning! The Flashmaster is a wonderful tool for learning math facts. Landon loves playing the addition zero facts.

And Braden was doing the addition number one facts this morning. He's a little frustrated with it because he is such a perfectionist that he doesn't want to get any wrong. I told him it is perfectly OK not to get 100% because we all learn by our mistakes. This morning we were working with numbers. I asked him to read number "9". So he counted on his fingers up to 9 and then said, "9". Can anyone tell me what kind of learner he is? Even with facts, he'll count on his fingers before he says the answer.

These worksheets are from Snip It! fine motor developing stage 1 by Mead.

And horrors, I walked into the bathroom to wash my hands and never noticed or felt the thousands of termite ants crawling out of the corner wall and register and filling the tiny bathroom floor behind the commode and in front of the shower. Out came the vacuum cleaner. So this time I am no longer procrastinating or pushing it on my husband. I finally made the call after putting up with these nasty things for several days stretched into weeks. They hadn't appeared for about a week. And before that they made their appearance every 2-3 days.

They crawl out from somewhere inside and outside on a sunny day. They die when they see light. In talking with Rid a Bug, I learned they are the swarmer ants and they tell the termites where to go. I love learning so I did a search with swagbucks.com and found this link: http://www.pestproducts.com/flyingants.htm#compare

The terminators will set 3 baits outside away from the house and check them thrice a year. Relief, that's done. Do I feel like my house is dirty? Ah-huh. And I feel something crawling on me, OK that was my imagination. I'll spare you the photos although I did take some to show my dear husband.

When we bought this 1400 square foot house, the foundation was exposed, open to rodents and any other critter that wanted to crawl in the cross base. Do we have mice problems? Yes, but not as bad as at first. This house is almost a century old. We dream of building a new and bigger house. That is one of my husband's gift, dream, and expertise. Till then, God will continue to give us the grace and strength to put up with theses inconveniences that are relatively foreign to those living in newer houses. We have done major improvements in the couple years we have lived here: remodeling the small 5'x6' master bath that had no shower; installing replacement windows; replacing the siding; excavation for a new driveway - the old one was very short and steep and there was just enough room for our vehicle to squeeze between the corner of the house and a big tree along the steep bank; painting the entire house; and adding more living room and giving us a laundry by transforming the enclosed porch; and building a detached garage in place of the old weathered buildings. This is no dream place to raise a family with a steep bank behind and in front of the house, very little lawn, and the driveway right outside your back door. But we have some acreage and we can keep on dreaming. Our square footage is less than half of what we had before and then we had a finished basement which was not counted with the square footage. We can honestly say that we have been very content here and hoping this is temporary. Also, we have tons more than most people in the world. So why complain? Why not just be content with a roof over our head, shoes on our feet, plenty to eat, healthy bodies, sound minds, and on and on and on? Jesus has given us so much. And he has supplied us with money just when we needed it. Yes, we now have enough to pay the exterminator. Thank you Lord. God is indeed faithful. And He has blessed me with the most wonderful spouse who loves to fix things up, loves to build, and loves to be neat and that includes a well organized garage and tool trailer. Thank you Lord for leading us together! Because I'll be honest, I'm not the easiest person to live with. :) But who is? We all have that sinful nature. I can truly say that God is my Strength, an ever present Help in time of trouble.