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.