Hobbies

We are just back from a fun family trip and yet I am sitting here a week later working on plans for our next family vacation.

Our kids aren't really into a lot of extra-curricular stuff. They just don't have interest in playing sports or taking dance and stuff. But we love to travel. We like the hours in the car chowing down on junk food and watching movie after movie. We enjoy eating out and not having to do dishes afterward and everyone gets to order what they want to eat instead of having to eat whatever mom made.

We even love the hours of research and figuring out the best itinerary and the best deals we can find on attractions and hotels and how to fit the most for our time and money into the trip.

I guess traveling is our hobby. Now I just need to find out how to make some money with this hobby. So we can travel more. :).

Back to basics

We are home from our trip.  The laundry pile has gone from Mount Everest to more Appalacian Mountain size- less overwhelming and almost managable.

The school schedule is back in place- bedtimes are happening closer to when they should happen instead of the kids staying up late every night. 

And I'm getting ready to try and dive into spring cleaning.  Hopefully I won't sink while doing it! :)

Spring Break!

It's spring break for our kids this week and we are headed out of town tomorrow afternoon.  A few short years ago I would be halfway packed by now.  Laundry would be caught up and I would know exactly what was being packed and how it would fit into the car.

Today I have no suitcases out, no laundry completed, and I have no idea what I'm even packing, or who is using what suitcase and how it will all fit in the car when we leave tomorrow afternoon.

Funny thing about that is just last week I was talking with some others and telling them about my great packing and organizational skills when the kids were younger.  I guess now that they are older- I just tell them how many days we'll be gone and hope they pack enough underwear! lol!

Homework, Natural Consequences, and banging your head against the wall...

Our oldest child is in 6th grade.  That means middle school here, and switching classes and multiple teachers, and all of that fun stuff.

He is a good student.  He get's good grades on his tests, but he cannot for the life of him get his homework consistently turned in on time and completed.  I started this post yesterday when I was in the midst of helping him work on a research paper that was past due and he had decided he just wouldn't complete and turn it in "because my grade is a B right now".  We had to literally have him add up the points possible, and points earned and figure out what his best grade he could receive would be without turning in this paper, and what the best grade he could receive if he just turned in the paper and got a barely "pass" grade on it.

Once we had those facts clear with him he agreed to do the paper, but then we still had hours of working with him to get it done.

I wish that I could expect that he will get better with doing homework and turning it in, but I don't have high expectations.  I think this will be a constant battle with us and him.  Sigh...

E-readers? Good Books...

I LOVE to read.  If I could choose anyway to spend my time day in and day out, it would be curled up in a comfy chair with a book.  I know people that read at night before bed to wind down, but I've always known that if I want to go to sleep at all... I can't read a book anytime close to bedtime.  As a teenager, I would stay up till 2 and 3 am finishing a book because I was wide awake and I just didn't want to stop reading the story.  I've done that a few times as an adult as well and got to the point that I just don't try to sit down with a book close to bed time anymore.  When we go on vacation I always have to have space for books on the drive out, and then another set of books for the drive home.  This space issue has lead me to start looking at the possibility of getting an e-reader.  I like the idea of having the one device that I can have multiple books on so when I finish a book on a road trip- I don't have to go and dig the next book out of my suitcase that is under 5 other suitcases when we stop for gas... lol!

Anyone out there have an e-reader?  I'm trying to decide between the nook color, the regular nook and the kindle...

I like the look of the nook color.  I like that I can download library books to it, and I can get my email on it too, but I'm worried I won't be able to take it outside and sit in the summer and read from it while my kids are playing in the pool.

So I'm also looking at the regular nook and the kindle.  The kindle just is the king of the mountain, but I can't download books from the library onto it without doing a conversion and stuff...

Anyone out there have either of them and any advice?  Hubby has an ipad from work and I like how it is to read on, but we've tried taking it outside and it really isn't that great in the sunlight.  I'm afraid that's what would happen with the color nook.

I just finished reading the series "Hearts of the Children"  I really liked it and the preceeding series "Children of the Promise"  I'm now reading a couple of books by Anita Stansfield.  I need to find something to read for our spring break trip next week.

So what's going on at your house today?  We have new neighbors moving in across the street...

 

And two little my pink stamper boys playing at our house.  We've got toys everywhere!