Cindy's Life as She Knows It

Wednesday and Thursday Brian, Dakota and I spent our time at Jellystone Park Campground in Hagerstown, MD.  We had a nice little cabin where we hung out together some, made a fire and roasted hot dogs and burgers and watched a Thursday afternoon rainstorm.  Out and about, we played mini golf, swam in the pool, or layed around the pool for me!  Koda did the water slides, played lazer tag, did the slipping slide, played even more mini golf and played catch with Dad.  We had Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and on Thursday we celebrated Brian's birthday with an excellent dinner at Red Lobster.  It was a wonderful little getaway, but it sure did feel good to get back home today and get on pjs early and relax together here.

Sunday was an at home day after a busy weekend.  Except for a quick trip to Walmart, Koda and I hung out at the house, me working and Dakota endlessly jumping rope and hula hooping in the livingroom.  We had a "tv dinner", meaning we ate our dinner in front of the TV, and then we came in to my room and watched Imagine That together in my bed.  We paused the movie and took time to read The Babe and I to tie in with our Babe Ruth lessons of the week.  It was a great book that left room for plenty of discussion on the Great Depression and some of the customary practices of the times.  The second time we paused the movie we read a few chapters of Danny, Champion of the World for our book club.  By the time the movie was finally finished (and it definitely wasn't very good), it was after ten and we were both ready for bed. Monday I had all three day campers, Dakota and Natalie and once we had breakfast we all packed into the car and headed to Michaels for the kids' craft

After a tough Monday, I decided to let Tuesday be a day for Dakota and his summer camp friend to unwind and be free.  Dakota has been off for a few weeks now and he was ready for the routine, but the other little boy had just finished school on Friday and wanted a little time to do his own thing.  Tuesday was for video games, kindles and fun.  There were storms in the evening so they postponed our All Star game. Wednesday was a new day and we started off the day in the right way. There was structure along with the fun and the boys went with the flow with minimal fussing.  We did our packets in the morning and then went to Homeschool Homeroom in Brooklyn Park where the boys got to do several Minute To Win It Challenges and play with other kids and I got to visit with old friends and sit and talk with Jeanette and some other homeschool moms.  After lunch the boys and I spread a blanket under the big tree on the side of the house and read our books, then I read them a book called Beco

Today was a tough one.  I thought it would be easy because I only had Dakota and one daycare boy who has come for years, but both of them had a pretty rotten attitude that seemed to grow worse throughout the day, which in turn made my mood turn south.  They played and had breakfast and at 9:45 we left for what I thought was a drop in craft time at Michaels.  We met our friends there and realized that it was a class and we missed it.  Oh well.  We got back in the car and headed to Lake Waterford, where the kids, all eight of them! were able to get some sun and fresh air, although they each spent some time whining and sitting with us.  My daughter and granddaughter joined in the fun and even the hubby dropped by.  When we got home, things really went poorly when I told the boys it was time to read while I made lunch.  My own son threw a tantrum and the daycare friend refused to read for the first 20 minutes.  After that, they didn't want to go swimming and argued with me because I sa

We had an especially nice three days here at the Baublitz residence :-)  On Friday, we had our baseball game and the boys were so much fun and played so well that all we could do was smile.  Afterward, we were invited to Coach Jeff's house for dinner, where he and his wife grilled out and fed us steak and hamburgers and hot dogs, sweet potato fries and salad with watermelon for dessert.  It was wonderful and we sat outside on a perfect June night and had adult conversation while the boys played upstairs.  One really couldn't ask for a nicer evening. Saturday morning was for cleaning and working on the computer while my husband worked, but by 12:30 we were headed back out the door for our last regular season baseball game and it too was a pleasure.  The kids played very well and they got their trophies after the game.  We have been so blessed with nice families and easy kids.  Afterward, we all headed to Opies for ice cream, as is the tradition, and we got to hang out and talk

So the impending weather didn't turn out to be all that bad after all, thank goodness.  It was wet and we had a morning storm and afternoon storm, but although we got alot of rain, the winds weren't awful and we kept our power.  It was still all in all a very wet day and we were inside once again until the evening when things finally cleared out.  Brian, Dakota and I took the dogs for a walk and there was a nice breeze blowing.  We didn't see any wildlife, but it was pleasant and we all got in some fresh air and exercise. Today started wet, but it looks like it's clearing up nicely.  I have my great niece and nephew, as well as my granddaughter this morning and I think we are going to head down to the park across from our house shortly to get in a little energy burning time so they can settle and have lunch.  We are supposed to have baseball this evening if they can get the fields ready and then go over to Coach Jeff's house for a cook out and for the boys to play

Monday evening saw soaking downpours and when I went to pick up my daycare child from school I drovethrough rapidly rising water in places I would have never expected.  It rained long into the night and our son didn't get home from his job at the Oriole game until 2am after reporting to work at 9am the previous morning. Tuesday dawned much brighter, with times of sunny skies and bright sun mixed with clouds and a bit of wind. We had our field day with Arundel Homeschoolers and I am glad we went.  Our friends the Lovars and the Newlands were there, along with several other homeschooling families.  The kids played on the playground, played volleyball and basketball, ran relay races, had popsicles and played capture the flag.  They were all filthy, but happy, which is all that matters when you are a kid, right?!  Dakota and I ran some errands before going home, picked up Mandy and then he and his dad went to football workouts while I took care of the folders from my PCA job here at

We finished off week one of summer with alot of rain.  It threatened all day on Thursday, but it didn't really start until just after we began our baseball game on Thursday night with the little league kids.  It didn't pour then, so lucky for us (NOT), we got to play in it.  Nothing like water dripping from your bangs into your eyes for 90 minutes while you are trying to act interested in the game and coach first base!  The kids had fun, though and Dakota made an unassisted triple play, something even his big brother can't lay claim to!  We ended up ordering pizza that night and stayed in on Friday, having a family movie night watching Parental Guidance.  This movie starring Bette Midler and Billy Crystal was a heartwarmer and very funny, a great family movie because I think Dakota enjoyed it just as much as Brian and I.  Saturday had games cancelled for baseball, but our party we had, which was thrown by Brian's supervisor, was on and fortunately the weather cleared up

Since Friday was our last day of school, I suppose that Saturday started our first day of summer break.  Dakota had a football camp from 10-4 at Lake Waterford that his dad was running.  It was in the high 90's, but they had a turnout of 136 kids.  Afterward, he and his friends Bryce and Tyler came back to the house for swimming and a few hours of play.  They had a great time, but the heat had worn them out and we called it quits by 7 so Dakota could relax.  Sunday we went to the Oriole game and while rain threatened the whole time, the storms held off and it was a great game. The week officially started Monday and we have a new daycare child who is Dakota's age and comes Monday and Tuesday before and after school.  We just hung out during the day, enjoying our first day that we were really off.  Tuesday we went on our first park quest at Sandy Point State Park.  We had alot of fun finding the boxes of puzzles, putting them together and finding out what the message was that p

Thursday was our last work day of second grade and to our surprise and delight, Dad brought home a bucketful of tadpoles Wednesday evening!  I decided, as any true homeschooler would, of course, to use this as a stepping stone for a day spent learning about frogs.  We finished our math book for the year and Dakota got his reading done on his chapter book and then we set up the aquarium for the tadpoles.  We learned about what they need to survive and why.  We read books, did cloze activities, looked at an anatomy model, did a lifecycle puzzle, made a craft tadpole with a template and brads and watched two magic school bus videos, one about swamps and one about cold blooded animals.  By days end, we were frog aficionados! Friday saw us at our county review early in the morning. It went smoothly, as always, but Natalie was a beast and I was feeling stressed by the time we left.  We dropped our frog learning things off to a friend who was also gifted tadpoles by my husband and then met