Monday, November 23, 2009 at 9:50AM I found Anemone's Christmas list in the bathroom the other day.
* The important stuff is underlined!
Ah, the important things in life - video games and a goat. That's my girl.
The Goobers in The Squares Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 11:02AM
Last week I let The Goobs blow off school for days. Math? Who cares? Latin? Whatever! History, science, grammar? Pshaw! (I loved that word when I was a kid. "Pshaw! Pshaw! Pshaw!" I would feel sorry for my mother, but I'm quite certain that "Pshaw!" must have been in one of the books she bought me, so it's her own fault.) The Goobs had bigger fish to fry:
Anemone wrote all about it at Kids in the Kitchen, the food blog she shares with Tressa's daughter KitCat. Don't worry; nobody actually died during the photo shoot, though the neighbors did give us the stink-eye for a few days afterward. We're just not fit to live on a military base.
And now for the important part of this post! The winner of the DK/Google Mummy giveaway is . . . Christine K! Congratulations, Christine. Just click on the "Contact Me" link up in the right hand corner and send me your address.
And now for the really important part of this post! As some of you may remember, I'm paring down our book collection to prepare for our move to Hawaii, and I'll be giving away a book every Saturday until moving day or until I run out of books, whichever comes first. These books have been used by real, live homeschoolers, so the book jackets might be torn and you might find a smear of chocolate on page 147, but they're all in pretty good shape, considering. This weeks book (which is in amazingly good shape, considering that we bought it used for Anemone, who is rough on her books) is Horses: The Visual Guide to Over 100 Horse Breeds From Around the World from Eyewitness Handbooks:
Entering to win is easy; all you have to do is pop over to Kids in the Kitchen before 11:47 p.m. on Friday, November 27th, and leave a comment telling Anemone how disgusting her Zombie Cake is (or how delicious anything else looks). I'll announce the winner next Saturday.
The Goobers in Giveaways, Homeschool, SatMomCon Friday, November 6, 2009 at 7:15AM . . . I'll be eating my hat.
Remember when I boldly (and publicly) announced my intentions to keep The Goobs away from computers until they are finished with Calculus? It was a great plan, right? Well, Anemone went and messed it up by asking for a cooking blog. Who am I to refuse such a reasonable, educational request? Especially when the lovely daughter of Tressays, KitCat, signed up. She and Anemone are a couple of cuties. Go read their cooking dessert blog for me, okay?
And just forget I ever said anything about computers and calculus. "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men Gang aft agley," and all that.
The Goobers in Homeschool, The Squares Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 5:23PM 1. Refuse to accept your Goober's sloppy math paper.
2. Accept your Goober's neat math paper and grade it, but don't mark the page. Hand the page back to your Goober and say, "You missed seven. I'm not telling you which ones."
3. Repeat until they are all correct.
4. Allow a Goober to practice piano while you are in the shower. Take your sweet, sweet time and listen to said Goober mess around on the piano instead of practice. Walk in and say, "Okay, Goober, it's time to practice piano now," and reset the timer.
5. Eat the last jar of yogurt.
Your Goober will not thank you for any of this, but you, dear reader, will feel much better. You might even find the strength to fight another day.
The Goobers in The Squares Friday, July 31, 2009 at 8:01AM Yes, my buttons are indeed bursting, but from pride, not from that pint of ice cream I just ate. I swear. My baby is on television! Sort of. Her dance studio filmed a commercial and begged Anemone to be in it, but we were up at the farm doing Very Important Stuff so it didn't work out. The studio just couldn't bear for Anemone not to be in the commercial so they used her picture instead.
Of course, they used my least favorite picture of her - her smile frightens me - but she is just so proud of it. She is built like me, which means she is freakishly strong with little natural flexibility. She has to work very hard to do things like this, and it hurts. (I'm guessing that's why she's wearing the "I'm going to EAT YOU UP!" smile.)
Anyway. That's my baby. Sometimes I really wish we had cable.
The Goobers in The Squares Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 11:38PM This post is for Lisa, because she asked for it. So blame it on her! It's her fault! I wanted to blog about something fantastically fantastic, but Lisa wants to hear all about the play instead. Gee, thanks, Lisa. (I really mean it - I'm totally lying about the fantastically fantastic thing. I'm lame. I'm dull. I'm boring. You saved me.)
My Goobs (pictured in the blue and yellow vests above) recently participated in a Missoula Children's Theater production. Every year, MCT travels all over the country, giving millions of children the chance to experience the thrill of the stage. We've always been out of town or otherwise engaged when they come to whatever base we're living on, but this year we were actually *gasp* in town, and actually *gasp* not doing anything remotely important. And boy, do my Goobs love the thrill of the stage.
The kids all showed up at 8:45 for the audition. It was fun and informal, and after about two hours the two directors had assigned all 45 children a fantastic part. Not all were actors; the older children were able to be assistant directors as well. My Goobs were both cast as merchants, and (thanks to all her expensive intense dance training) Anemone also won the roll of Gwendolyn, the magic harp. It was the perfect part for my strong and mostly silent Anemone - as Gwendolyn she could dance her little tush off, but she didn't have to say anything.
The kids practiced for four and a half hours a day, Monday through Saturday, and the directors also offered two additional drama workshops. The final performance was Saturday afternoon, and I will admit I was dreading it a little - let's call that Saturday Mom Confession #14 - but I was pleasantly surprised. ALL the kids did a great job. See the little green guys down in front? They were the magical jumping beans from Mexico - so cute!
And guess what - it was free. That's right. Free! Thank you, MCT, thank you.* Those hours of rehearsal were the only hours I've spent alone since The Man left in February, and you didn't even charge me for them. I love you. Come back.
*And thanks to our community center as well!
The Goobers in The Squares ;)
