Shell shocked!

Whats going in in my life

My bathroom drain in the sink got all stopped up so my friend came over to fix it. Crazy thing is that I have paid plumbers numerous times to come fix mt slow drain and all they did was snake it through the drain hole. My friend took off the bottom elbow joint and cleaned out all sorts of hair, a pencil and all sorts of yuck. Then he ran a snake through the hole in the wall. Now my drain runs better than it ever has when I paid so called professionals out of the phone book. I always say "you get what you pay for" well not in this case he did such a great job! Now my kitchen drain is having issues I knew it was going to happen eventually due to my really bad quick fix repair on it about a year ago I have been playing Russian roulette with it ever since. I am hoping to get my friend back over to fix that as well.

I took Falcon shoe shopping and was pretty sad now that he has moved up to men sizes and is no longer in boys, seems like just yesterday he was just  learning to walk and I took him to get his first real shoes.

I finally did some family pictures of the kids. On the first day I messed them up because I didn't shoot them in the RAW I got distracted when messing with the settings when Owl tried to run out in front of a car. So after 1 hour of getting them all dressed and pretty and then another 2 hours doing the shoot.  Only a handful look good and that's if I turn them into black and whites. So the next day I convinced them to get dressed up and try again. We went to a different location this time to break up the monotony and the kids had a lot of fun this time out at a State park we got some great shots and had a lot of fun while were were out there,

Duck having fun with a turtle shell in the nature center at the State park after I did their pictures.

We had a brick thrown through the window of our office BLDG.Cops say that thieves have been doing that to see the reaction time of the security system and if they have anyone in the BLDG. at night. Lucky for us, our renters upstairs were there and ran out after the guy. Papa birds has stayed every night up there this week and will until we have the glass block company come and install our new glass block windows.

I was sad to see the cemetary that I have been riding my bike in at night finally fix the big hole in the gate I was getting in. I guess I will now have to go earlier in the evening when the main gates are still open. I love riding my bike through there, it's so quite and peaceful.

Homeschooling fun

I have had  very little motivation this week and really have been a slacker all summer I have done very little schooling with the kids compared to other years, and feeling a bit guilty over it. One thing I hate about homeschooling is that you have your kids entire education in your hands which just makes you worry and have self doubt even more.I know play is just as important as education because they learn through play

We did finish our  studies on Picasso we did 4 works of art from 4 different periods. I am still working on the blog entry and how to display these wonderful works of art.

A sneak peek at Robin's work during Picasso's Blue Period

Robin has won 3 first place ribbons for girl scout projects she did for the state fair. The awards ceremony will be this Sunday to see if she will win grand prize in those categories. She won a grand prize last year for her fly life cycle projects.

This year her projects she won is was

1. saving the Monarch

2. A friendship project that that she did about her 87 year old friend from Poland ( our neighbor)

3. An art   history watercolor project she did on Monet.

She is competing against her best friend in the friendship project (kind of ironic) for Grand prize.

Reading Room

I am still working through 50 Shades of Grey

My library posted a link to 16 books they are turning into movies here

I have read a few but just requested a few from the library

I picked this because I thought it would make an interesting school read for Falcon. I just need to read it first to make sure it is an age appropriate read.

Falcon has been reading

and reading through

Owl has been sneaking this in bed every night

I think the kids and I need some forest therepy next week.

Science now confirms the forests healing influence on the body. When you spend a few hours on a woodland hike or camping by a lake you breathe in phytoncides, active substances released by plants to protect them against insects and from rotting, which appear to lower blood pressure and stress and boost your immune system.