Henry’s World

Monday night’s I place our trash receptacle by the driveway for pick-up on Tuesday morning. Around 10 pm, I hear a loud crash in front of the yard, so I go to the next room and observe this car backing up and shining its headlights on our receptacle, and you guessed it, drove off without a second glance.

I live in a town off about 2,000 residents, so everybody knows everybody, and if they don’t believe that they will ask who you are and who your parents are, so it burns me that a town I haven’t had much to complain about would have some reckless driver, drive so close to our driveway so as move it clear across.

SO of course I am even more worried when the kids play outside without a doubt in my mind that someone would do the same if it had been a child, I am already steamed about driver’s doing 55mph in a 25 mph zone, I would not mind seeing some speed barriers installed for the safety of the numerous pedestrians, children and workers that use the road

.. are finally paying off, the proof is in the pictures.

Today’s summer reading theme was “Butterflies and Bees”, with a visit from our local zoo bee keeper.
The gang had a great time fluttering with their miniature hand butterflies, and got to try some
honey which they loved, while more expensive than white sugar, we substitute honey in a lot of
our recipes.

The fireworks show was great! Surpisingly the younger two were very restless during the show (I guess to a 3 & 5 year old staring in the sky for 30 minutes is not much fun), but I finally figured how to get good firework pictures by the end of the show but below is a video which I think came out pretty well.

Fireworks show
I’ve attached a link as this is a rather large image and I’d rather give my visitors the option (and fair warning) of viewing the clip, and if you do decide to view, towards the end you’ll actually hear Henry telling someone to stop shooting.

While this is a late update to the Independence Day festivities, there is a good reason.
Our town held its Independence Day celebration last Saturday, but a thunderstorm prevented the fireworks display so barring a repeat of last week’s weather, the family is looking forward to the fireworks tonight and testing out the fireworks option on the new camera.

Since receiving the lemonade stand from the kind people at Sunkist, the kids have run it thrice, and the support has been awesome! In such a small community, it has helped us meet our neighbors, and the kids are just having great time raising money for their favorite charities, cancer research and homelessness.

Yesterday I got a tetanus shot for school, and for one that has a high tolerance to pain, this shot was a pain. The shot itself did not hurt, it was the nagging throbbing pain afterwards that practically immobilized my right arm (luckily I’m left-handed) and Henry had a sudden urge to be carried, thankfully the pain is gone today.

Yesterday was Butterfly day at the library, and the kids had a ton of fun seeing a dramatization of how a butterfly is formed, and tips on attracting butterflies. Did you know that by hanging a cloth moist with sugar water solution attracts butterflies, or hanging an overripe banana in a tree will attract them as well. We plan on planting some more purple flowers since that color attracts them as well.

The long awaited lemonade stand that we had signed up for at Sunkist to help raise funds for charity has finally arrived!

Mr. H is head-over-heels with glee about running his stand tomorrow, and I am contemplating letting Diva H run a cookie table.

I would prefer they choose a charity that focuses on children, cancer, or hunger but I will draw up a list for the family to discuss and decide on tonight.

Fun times!

To give the kids a fun project with a little education in agriculture, and botany, our home-grown cherry tomatoes look like they will be ready by this weekend.
I was hoping for our watermelon and corn to be ready as well but will settle for store bought this time around.

Searching my local newsletter, I found an advertisement for moon walks; these are huge inflatable balloons that children can bounce in to their hearts content.

Judging from the number of times I have to tell my kids to stop jumping inside the house (especially when they are upstairs), I would hope a three-day weekend of a toy that allows them to jump outside of the house will do wonders for my stress levels, while they have a fun time.

Photo Courtesy of Bounces To Go

The problem arises in choosing the Moon Walk with two boy’s and a girl, you can be assured that it is a heated argument over Spiderman and Spongebob versus Princess and Dora; a debate worthy of UN intervention?

But seriously thinking of it and hopefully can make a decision tonight, what do you have planned for you children this Independence Day Weekend?

I have been terrible updating my blog this past week, but have so much to share

Last Tuesday the kids had a karate showcase, and as much as we enjoyed the show, there doesn’t seem to much enthusiasm to join up right now, maybe as they get older. This Tuesday should be great The Bee Keeper from our local zoo is coming to visit and maybe with a few buzzing friends.

But my story of the week is the great deal my husband found on a basketball hoop which normally goes for $140 and we only paid $20 and we all love it, even I get a workout just throwing those balls for thirty minutes or more.

And best of all I got an upgrade on my camera from a Sony MVC-FD81 to a Kodak C813!

Have a wonderful week!

Important recalls for parents

Nordstrom Recalls Girls’ Sandals Due to Choking Hazard

Jardine Cribs Sold by Babies”R”Us Recalled Due to Entrapment and Strangulation Hazard

My oldest son never ceases to amaze me, whether its from the really bad things he does, to the really, out-of-this-world sensitive side he shows.

Yesterday as I was studying for my finals he came to me with a coloring page of an ambulance. The significance to me is this; I will start studies this fall to the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) next year to apply for medical school. So his reasoning for coloring me such a picture (and even having the foresight to color me brown lol) was that he liked the idea of me going to medical school, and just understanding how important medical school is to me - us.

PS
My scanner is acting up tonight, but I will post a copy of the picture as soon as I figure it out)

Today kicked of our library’s Summer Reading program, and it went off in grand style.

The children were treated to a rare visit of music and fun “Didgeridoo Down Under!”
Big H and Henry actually got to play some of the aboriginal musical instruments, and
had such a great time learning about the marsupials, and other wildlife that existed down under.

They are already giddy with anticipation for next weeks reading date - “Catch the exercise bug - Karate

Have a wonderful week!

Happy Father’s Day!

Still in keeping with the theme of keeping the kids busy and having fun this summer, I browsed through the numerous cook books and magazine subscriptions we’ve accumulated through the years, and had them pick out a couple that catch their fancy, so every Sunday will be our special cooking day whether its Spider cookies or Candy Chocolate bars, this will be a a project handled by the kids, and we will post the recipe and pictures the following day so you can try out as well.

Kicking of tomorrow, we will be making Frozen Raspberry dessert, just thinking about it is already making me hungry ;).

I subscribe to many newsgroups one of my favorite being Care 2, a site that provides tips on a healthier, green living and one of my favorite segments are the recipes. The heat here in NC has been killer, and we have been limited to cold dishes that don’t require use of a stove or oven, but this recipe was too good to pass up and with father’s day around the horizon a perfect fit.

Raspberry Sorbet Treat sounds like the perfect treat that the family is looking forward to trying out this weekend.

Yes I do and now so does Big H!

I was disappointed at how much he regressed compared to when he was exclusively home schooled. With no summer school offered for his grade or at his school, we are having our own summer school, and he is loving it especially math.

While finances are tight, I plan on making his curriculum more varied, our schedule so far;

Monday - Math, Writing, Reading, Park
Tuesday - Library time, Reading, History
Wednesday - Scrapbooking, Reading, Social Studies
Thursday - Science, Writing, Reading, Park
Friday - Gardening (depending on weather), Reading, Math
Saturday - Reading, Park
Sunday - Baking/Cooking, Reading

With both boy’s hair almost shoulder length and battling this terrible heat, I am researching on whom I could donate their hair to with emphasis on cancer survivors, if you have any suggestions, send them my way :).

At Henry’s last dental visit, he was praised for doing a great job of brushing his teeth, even better was that he sat still during the examination, but was asked to make sure he reaches in the back to avoid tartar build up.

Our daily ritual of teeth brushing goes like this:

Me: Did you brush your teeth this morning/afternoon/evening?
Henry: Not yet, my breath smells like onions (pronounced onneions)

Me: What does your breath smell like now?
Henry: My breath smells like (whatever he ate last) bread pudding, apples, chocolate, you get the idea

Even after the third child, the things they say continually amaze me, sometimes it makes me wish that we could forever be naive.