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I meant to do a better job of updating the blog but it's not happening. 

Grandpa and John came for a short visit at the end of August.  Nyla was sick with a fever the day before and she is high maintenance when she's sick.  I couldn't leave her side for more than a couple of minutes.  The next week I became sick and was hoarse for many days.  In the meantime we were looking at houses and I went to Georgia for the weekend.  It was a very short notice trip.  The tickets were bought less than 24 hours before leaving.  I spent dawn to dusk looking at the area.  We thought we had it figured it but now we're waiting again. 


Bohdin was moved up into a higher group at horse riding lessons so now we hang out at the arena for even longer.  Cora comes home covered in dust each time.  Bohdin didn't really want to move up to the other group because he doesn't like bouncing around on a trotting horse.  Bodhin has a weak core which will hopefully improve with the horseback riding.  I also like him taking these lessons because he needs to be clearly in charge of the horse.  It's another area that could use improvement. 

All of the additional lessons started last week and the kids are enrolled in a lot of things, especially Nyla.  She does voice, swimming, two days of dance, and horseback riding.  Bohdin does swimming, crossfit, and horseback riding.  Nyla wouldn't be able to do all of those activities if she was still in public school.  There wouldn't be enough time.  For now she's still enjoying homeschooling although she wants to go back to public school when we move. 

August

August really ran away from me.  The house was quiet for a moment because Bohdin had finished his schoolwork finally and was playing in his room.  Nyla is at Ch-'s house and Cora unexpectedly fell asleep on the bed.  It took me a while to find her.  I was enjoying the quiet house and two minutes later the door bell rang and M- arrived. 

Two weeks ago was PAIR day here where area businesses come and introduce themselves to all the new people.  They have a smaller one in the winter that I didn't attend.  We went this time and collected free food, coupons, and countless advertisements.  Afterward we planned to go to the butterfly thing at the botanical garden.  The kids became hungry halfway there so we stopped.  By the time we got back in the car we didn't want to drive any further.  The botanical gardens are quite far away.  Instead we went to the children's museum which was in the direction of home instead of away.  The museum was on the list of places to visit this summer since it is part of the Blue Star program. 

The museum was fine.  It's in an old elementary school and they had rooms set up in different themes.  There was a farm room, baby/vet room, water room, art room, and building room among others.  We happened to be there the day they had a special performance by some Ugandan dancers.  It was interesting and Nyla went up with some other kids and tried it. 






The art room had a face painting area.  Buddy did Nyla's face and Cora did her own. 





The kids are used to seeing a lot of moving trucks so when they pulled out the Playmobil one day into the living room, they had moving trucks arriving with furniture.  They've been playing with Playmobil a lot more now that other kids are back in school.  Our next house needs to have a big playroom so they have room to spread out.  That's a space we're lacking here.



There was an ice cream social one night near the skate park.  The mini golf was open and the kids played in both places.  Bohdin and Nyla brought the plasma cars over and the kids had a lot of fun going down the ramps.  The next day we took the plasma car to the playground since the skate park was being used by skaters.  The girls went down the ramp and into the parking lot. 







The weather has been quite pleasant for most of the summer.  Nyla loves picnics so one day I took the girls to the pond for a picnic lunch.  I read books and then they played around a bit.  I don't know why we don't go more often.  It's pretty there. 




They are tearing down some older houses on post and we thought we might catch the backhoe actually tearing them down but when we walked past they weren't doing anything.  One was already down but there was no telling when they would do another.  We went to the library on the way back.  The library is being overrun by roly polies so the girls collected them and took them outside.  We stayed for story time as well. 



Bohdin likes collecting leaves and various botanical things.  Last week on his way to the garden he probably picked up some poison ivy.  The rash started around his mouth and spread all over his face and penis.  Eventually it spread to his hands, ankles, and chest.  He looked pretty horrible for a while. 



Bohdin has also had trouble with snoring while sleeping for a couple of months.  He had an appointment last week with a PA and he's working on ruling out various things including seasonal allergies.  I didn't think it was allergies but the allergy medicine does seem to be making a difference.  I don't know if it is indoor or outdoor but either way we'll be moving soon and hopefully the issue won't follow us. 

We had tickets to Schlitterbahn for homeschool week but a cold front came through and there were a few days that we barely made it to 70 degrees.  The kids thought it was warm enough but we didn't so we went on Sunday instead.  The cold front was followed by a heat wave and we're now experiencing some of the hottest temperatures of the season.  It may hit 100 degrees this week.  It was hot enough on Sunday but a lot of other people thought it would be a great day for a water park so it was a bit crowded.  I still thought it was fun and the kids had a good time.  Buddy didn't care for it because it wasn't big enough yet. 

The kids started horse riding lessons last week.  It's one of the things they are able to do because of homeschooling.  We wouldn't have the time to do it otherwise.  Last week was just learning about horses and equipment.  This week they'll start riding. 

I thought Bohdin would be busy with swim team this fall but he didn't make the team when he tried out last night.  They recommended additional lessons to correct his leg position.  We'll most likely do private lessons next month.  He's already done private lessons twice and each time he had a teacher that works with the swim team.  He needs some one on one time.  His previous teacher thought he would be okay to make the team so maybe he also just had a bad day.  I don't know but more practice on his technique would be a good thing.

Nyla has been talking about a popstar show for weeks.  She says she's been practicing with Ch-.  There were invitations but the show never happened.  One day we were surprised to be invited to the backyard to watch the popstar show.  Cora chickened out and decided to just watch instead of participate.  There really was a popstar show.  They sang three original songs.  It was fun to watch. 

Everything else

Nyla has spent a good poriton of the summer collecting bugs.  She became interested in beetles when we planted the garden but her interest has extended to other creatures as well.  She has had a significant roly poly collection which she accidentally killed in the sun, several beetles, butterflies, and lightning bugs.  Her interest doesn't really extend into learning more about them through books or vidoes although we do have one really cool beetle book she did enjoy. 

A lot of our outdoor time this summer has been spent in the backyard.  The kids didn't spend very much time at the playground.  Bored one day we went to the playground in the afternoon.  I met a lady there from Prague with three kids.  Two of them were almost the same age as Nyla and Cora.  Nyla and the almost six year old boy hit it off.  They played for almost two hours together and could have played longer.  When it was time to go he asked his mom if he could marry Nyla when he was older.  Then he decided he couldn't wait that long and they decided to get married right then.  He led her in a dance and declared that they were married.  Nyla didn't catch the name of her new husband but I did.  I took the mom' s number and I want to get together again with her.

With C- gone Ch- has become the sole playmate.  One day when she was occupied I took Nyla and Cora for a walk through the neighborhood in search of a new playmate.  She did meet a little girl and seconds after making introductions a fire truck pulled up and extended its ladder.  They hooked up the hose and started spraying from on top of the ladder.  There were a lot of bigger kids there since it was an event set up for them at the end of VBS.  A lot of little kids joined in the fun as well.   That hose puts out a tremendous amount of water and anybody walking through the spray would become instantly drenched.  I ran back to the house for the camera and Nyla's goggles.  Bohdin was playing in M-'s house at the time but word spread through the neighborhood quickly and he was soon outside. 








The kids had the last of their summer camps at the beginning of August.  Bohdin had hip hop and Nyla had another dance camp.   Hopefully I'll download the video off my phone eventually.  The kids are doing two weeks of swim right now so we go four days per week for two weeks.  I had signed the kids up for lessons at the same time but Nyla's class was cancelled and she was moved into a later time.  That eats up almost an additional hour of my day. 


Our homeschool year started on Aug 5th since public school started here on Aug 8th.  I've already planned some changes to Bohdin's schedule for next week.  We started out rocky after such a long break but by Thursday things were starting to pick up.  I need to get better organized with Nyla because right now we are just covering the basics but that will come once I get Bohdin settled.  I need to find a solution to Cora as well.  I tried an educational dvd for her but she didn't like that.  She just wants to play with Nyla.  Eventually we'll find something that works.  Yesterday we walked to the commissary as our PE and science.  The kids enjoyed exploring the holes in the trunks of the old trees in the area and collecting seeds and leaves. 

Friday is our field trip day so we can explore more of the area before we leave.  Originally we were going to do the butterfly exhibit at the botanical gardens but Buddy was tired from a late night of school work so I took the kids to the Toy and Miniature Museum instead.  It was pretty interesting.  The miniature portion has some really amazing craftsmanship.  It's incredible how much detail and work goes into something so tiny.  One of the miniature hand knotted rugs had over 17,000 knots.  





 






Nyla likes to see the bus off in the morning and greet it in the afternoon.  She gave Ch- a big hug today.   They played for quite some time in the backyard tonight with the Latvian girls and Cora.  Cora is growing up and plays outside a lot with the other kids now.  That's not something she was doing when we moved here.  They do all sorts of things.  The funnest thing I saw was them spinning around with their arms outstretched.  They looked like dancing princesses.  They also play pop star, tag, tea party, dogs with Cora being the dog, house, and a million other things.  I thought Nyla might be sad about not going to school but she's fine with it.  She liked the social aspect of it with recess as her favorite time but it wasn't enough social time for her.  When she came home from school she wanted to be with her friends.  With homeschooling at least she spends some time with her family.  I don't know how long we will do this for her but right now it is working well. 

Birthdays

I've fallen really far behind.  On Cora's birthday we went to a friend's house so Buddy could help him make beer.  We came home and had C-'s family over for dinner one last time before they left the next morning.  We just recylced the previous cake and put new chocolate frosting on it.  Not too many days go by without somebody mentioning how much Charlie is missed.  I miss the whole family.  The dynamic of our building has changed and it's not as fun as before. 



Nana and Papa arrived for Nyla's birthday.  It was a small affair with pink rabbits on brownies instead of a cake.  The weekend was pretty relaxed.  We ate barbecue, saw trains, went to Crown Center, and explored Ft. Leavenworth.  I spent the remaining time taking advantage of the lull before our homeschooling year started to plan everything out.  Between the upcoming move and losing a semester while he was in public school I wanted to make sure we accomplished as much as I wanted before our long winter break. 

Birthday Party

On Wednesday an old friend came by with her three boys.  I was there for the birth of her first son 9.5 years ago at Fort Leonard Wood.  I haven't seen her since.  They arrived about 10:30 in the morning and stayed until 3 or so.  I fed a lot of kids for lunch because C- and M- were here also.  It was good seeing her again.  Her eldest son sounds a lot like Bohdin so perhaps they could be friends.


Nyla did drama camp last week for kids ages 4 through 7.  I think most of them were on the younger end of that.  There were at least four 4 year olds because the teacher asked them to raise their hands when she was trying to figure out who was the youngest child.  They performed Henny Penny and Nyla had the role of the king.  It was cute.  Nyla loved it.  I think acting is an area she should explore.  It seems like it would suit her personality.

Once we came home from the play I finished the party preparations.  I moved the time of the party up because Cora had gone to sleep very late the night before and I thought she would need a nap later.  Also the air conditioning had been out in the building since the night before and it was really starting to get hot.

I had bought a few cake decorating things for the cake and when Nyla was begging to decorate the cake on Wednesday I realized it would be a good activity for the girls. They spent many minutes adding sprinkles, icing, candles, and other decorations. 












M- and Ch-'s sister B- were also at the party but I wouldn't let anybody but the young girls decorate the cake.  All of the kids were allowed a turn at the pinata.  Initially everybody had three tries.  On the next go around everybody had five tries.  We never made it back to the boys because B- was successful.  Since she is the oldest it wasn't too big of a surprise.  She'll be going into sixth grade this year.









As the party was winding down the Latvian girls came by.  They hadn't been invited to the party but since we had plenty of cake we invited them in.  C- had already gone home but Ch- stayed longer.  They played for a little while and brought a present by later.  Yesterday one of the Latvian girls turned five.  We weren't invited to the party but we will take a present by soon.  Nyla managed to befriend them and they spend a lot of time in our yard especially the younger one who is more outgoing.  The girl on the end turned five yesterday.  Her sister is six.

Dog Days of Summer

There are just a few more days before Charlie moves.  Charlie is the building dog and he will be missed.  Cora looked forward to going to the bus stop so she could see Charlie.  He's an old gentle dog who will be missed.  Cora especially likes Charlie.  It won't be the same around here without him. 

In addition to spending time with Charlie, we've been busy with a lot of other things.  Nyla had princess camp last week and Bohdin had piano camp.  I have video of Nyla's recital which I still need to download.  I didn't take video of Bohdin's recital.  They both enjoyed their camps.  Nyla has drama this week and Bohdin has nothing.

Last Tuesday night we went to C-'s house for dinner.  Cora was under the table at one point pretending to be Charlie.  She doesn't often get to be in his house although once last week I heard the back door slam and asked Bohdin where Cora was.  She was in Charlie's house.  She just went inside and went up the stairs.  C-'s mom was surprised to walk into her kitchen and see Cora there with Charlie.  I had Bohdin go get her immediately.  We were told to just come up whenever and Cora took them up on it. 

On Thursday I took Bohdin and Nyla to see a performance of Peter Pan in the park.  Bohdin had played flickerball earlier with Buddy and his flickerball group and was feeling pretty tired by the time we arrived.  The show didn't start until bedtime.  He eventually perked up and enjoyed the show.  It was a community theater production with a lot of kids and they did pretty good.  They used dancers from a local school for the Indians and they did a good job with the dancing.  Nyla was impressed and said they must have practiced a lot.  

We can't remember exactly but perhaps on Friday Bohdin had an itchy arm from what appeared to be bug bites.  Over the weekend it spread tremendously into a rash that covered his face, chest, and upper legs.  On Monday the nurse was convinced it was poison ivy but the doctor wouldn't commit to what exactly caused it.  Two weeks ago Bohdin was collecting leaves for a leaf collection and he may have touched something he shouldn't have.  If that's the case then it took many days for it to show up.  Ironically he asked me about poison ivy last week.  I'm not allergic to it but I think Buddy may be.  If it is poison ivy then he most likely came in contact with it the prior Saturday when we were walking back from the garden.  The doctor gave him a boatload of medicine and it seems to be working.  He isn't as itchy although he was never very itchy.  Certain spots bothered him at different times of the day but he was never excessively itchy.  It has also stopped spreading but has yet to begin receding. 

Cora has been practicing her bike riding since this spring and she can ride Nyla's old pink bike pretty well.  She rode the bike to the library once and she rode it to the flickerball picnic last week.  I need to adjust the training wheels of Bohdin's old bike for Nyla.  Only one touches at a time which scares her.  Bohdin tried to learn to ride without training wheels but it didn't end well.  His bike is a little big and he can't figure out how to jump off.  His legs aren't really long enough yet to hold the bike upright while he straddles it.  He gave it a good effort and came home covered in bruises.  I think if his legs were a bit longer he would be riding around no problem.  He was doing fine with the balancing and riding part.  He just did horribly with the stopping and getting off part. 

We went to dinner at Mr-'s house on Saturday along with C- and her family.  Nyla doesn't play with Mo- much but Bohdin does play with Mr- quite a bit especially after his legos were taken away for the summer.  I don't think a day goes by anymore that they don't play together.  At his house they play the Wii a lot.  Here they play Playmobil mostly. 





Some Latvian girls moved into the building across from us.  They don't speak English yet but that didn't stop Nyla from befriending them.  They spend a lot of time in our yard now doing various things.  They played in the water one day and did art another.  Last night everybody played with water balloons.  They've also had pretend picnics.  I don't like Cora outside unsupervised at her age and she wants to join in the fun so Buddy and I spend a lot of our time outside watching her. 



Nyla and Cora will have their early birthday party on Thursday so C- can come.  She's leaving for good on Sunday.  Nyla is expecting a big special party.  It's what she would do for us if she could so I have to do my best to give it her.  Only C- and Ch- will come so it will be small but hopefully meet Nyla's expectations.  She's been fretting over the decorations for weeks.  I'm not a party planner so this is tough but I'm going to do my best to not let her down.  We stopped at the dollar store for balloons yesterday and the girls each picked out two.  Just before Bohdin walked in the door he somehow let go of them and they quickly flew away.  There were a lot of tears but most of them came from Bohidn.  He felt so horrible.  I hope we have time to get new balloons today.  Nyla has drama camp this morning and then an old friend is coming to visit right after.  I need to go to the commissary and probably the library. I have a package for P's birthday that I need to send.   Mr- will probably come over looking for Bohdin and Nyla will want to play with anybody in the back yard.  We were supposed to have dinner at C-'s house again but it was postponed.  I don't know if we'll get to it tonight instead.  Our lives have never been busier.  I think life will slow down in August once public school starts and camps and birthdays are over. 

Fourth of July

We're having such a busy summer.  The weather last week was beautiful with highs in the lower 80s and low humidity.  On Tuesday we took advantage of it by going to the zoo.  A lot of people had the same idea so it was really crowded.  We had to wait a long time for a seat on the train which is always one of the highlights for the kids.  Even though we have been to the zoo several times we haven't seen everything yet.  We probably spend too much time with the train and carousel.  Cora doesn't have a lot of endurance at the zoo so that keeps us from staying too long.

There was a small carnival set up less than a 1/4 mile from our front door so we had to check it out on Thursday.  We arrived before it became too crowded so the kids were able to do some of the things without waiting too long.  By the time we left it was really hot and the lines were getting really long.  Bohdin did the jumping thing three times and did flips his last two times.  Nyla rode the horse twice.  I told her I would look into lessons for her in the fall. 







Nyla spent a lot of her time with C-.  She is moving in a few weeks so they've spent a lot of time together in the past few weeks. 








Nyla with C- and Ch-.  Nyla has also spent a lot with Ch- as well.  There were several times last week that she spent more than six hours with one or both of those girls.  It's better when they play outside or here so Cora can join in. 

 
After the carnival we headed to a barbecue with Buddy's small group.  We have gone to many barbecues that I don't think I mentioned.  His group gets together frequently.  The family hosting the Fourth of July get together is really fun and they had tons of stuff for the kids.  There were water balloons, firecrackers, sparklers, a slip and slide, and karaoke.  The kids had so much fun.  I had a hard time pulling Nyla away from the carnival but later that night she was mad that we hadn't arrived at the barbecue earlier.  Apparently I should have told her how much fun it was going to be.  We stayed there to watch the fireworks.

The kids spent their weekend playing with friends.  They come home to eat and then I bring them home to go to bed.  Bohdin doesn't play with M- as much as he used to.  They both think the other doesn't like them.  He did go over to the other M-'s house and had fun there.  His building has been inundated with new families and lots of kids.  Nyla has been too busy with the kids in our building to even meet those.  The best thing though is that Mo- now has lots of playmates and she doesn't come looking for Nyla much anymore. 

Yesterday we went to a free Okee Dokee Brothers concert.  We've been listening to their music for a few years now and the kids and I really like them.  The turnout was really small at the the library so our early arrival was quite unnecessary.  They put on a really great show and we had a lot of fun.  Bohdin was called up at one point to help perform one of the songs.  For whatever reason he couldn't tell them his name.  He finally just said that he sometimes had trouble saying things.  After the show they asked him his name again and he still couldn't say it.  He's never had that problem before.  Nyla was a little sad at the end that they didn't play one of the two songs she hoped.  I left Cora at home with Buddy because I wasn't sure how well she would behave.  She has a limited attention span and I didn't want her getting bored and fussy in the middle.  With Cora out of the picture, Bohdin and Nyla were a little nuts together in the backseat.  They were driving me crazy a little bit acting like siblings.  When they came home they couldn't stop hugging each other.  Nyla was telling Bohdin how much she loved him.  I should do some things with just Bohdin and Cora so they can bond.  Nyla and Cora are already really tight since they play together so much.