A friend and I, who have consistently complained of our ever growing bottoms finally got out of our rut and went to the gym this morning. WE WENT TO THE GYM. AT 5 AM. Don't not even get me started on how out of character it is for me to do anything before 10....

So we get to the gym and like typical 30 something slightly out of shape women are want to do we began to talk and giggle as we worked out. Now, I'm not talking being loud, just talking. And... I will admit that because of the location of our particular gym the other gym members were say slightly older, but they kept giving us dirty looks. In fact, a little before we left one asked the guy on duty at the gym to turn the TV up...

So here I ask you...Were they just ticked off that they aren't 30 something-ish giggling women? or Is there some gym etiquette that I don't know about? Is the gym like the library? Are you not supposed to talk at the gym? Truly this must be one of those moments when the dye has seeped into my brain!

Brandon noticed it was windy and hightailed it outside to fly his kite he got for Easter. Of course then Em wanted to fly hers too. Our yard has too many trees. So, I took the kids to the field at the end of our street. Here is a picture of my little angel showing off her kite flying skills.



What's that? Where is the kite? Did you really think a 5 year old girl was going to waste her time flying a kite when all those flowers were there? Silly blog reader!

I have always been big on reading. The basis of all education right? I mean if you can read and comprehend instructions then you can do anything. I firmly believe it. So, I bought Bran his first books before he was born. I couldn't wait to read to him and instill my love for books into him. (And this was years before I ever decided to home school him.) However, for the longest time I had a hard time getting Bran to read to himself. The love of books was there. He loved me to read to him. He just would not read to himself. Time and time again he'd check books out of the library and check them back in unread.

Well, the time of worry is over. My boy is an official fantasy fiction fanatic! He is particularly crazy about books in series. For the last few days I have to keep telling him that he has to do his school work and chores before he reads his book.
Last night I got up in the middle of the night to discover he was still up reading. So what does a good home school mom do about this new problem? She compiles a book wish list for her son. Of Course!

He has read Midnight by Erin Hunter and loved it! Here is a list of Erin Hunter's Warrior books:

Warriors
1. Into the Wild
2. Fire and Ice
3. Forests of Secrets
4. Rising Storm
5. A Dangerous Path
6. The Darkest Hour

The New Prophecy Series
1. Midnight (He has this one.)
2. Moonrise
3. Dawn
4. Starlight
5. Twilight
6. Sunset

The Power of Three
1. The Sight

There is also The Lost Warrior.

I am currently reading Redwall by Brian Jacques out loud to both the kids. Emily is not impressed. Brandon can't get enough.

Redwall series:
1. Redwall
2. Mossflower
3. Mattimeo
4. Mariel of Redwall
5. Salamandastron
6. Martin the Warrior
7. The Bellmaker
8. Outcast of Redwall
9. The Pearls of Lutra
10. The Long Patrol
11. Marlfox
12. The Legend of Luke
13. Lord Brocktree
14. Taggerung
15. Triss
16. Loamhedge
17. Rakkety Tam
18. High Rhulain
19. Eulalia!

He is currently reading The Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. This book isn't a series but I think he'd like these other two books by the same author:
1. Inkheart
2. Inkspell

OF Course he is waiting for the new Harry Potter book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to release July 21, 2007. Also,we have read Eargon and Eldest by Christopher Paolini so he is very impatiently waiting on the third book in that series that is not due to release until summer 2008.

Gee, now if I can just get Emily more interested in books.... She doesn't like Redwall. She did sit still and listen when I read Black Beauty. I asked her what kind of books she likes. She said counting books, books about princesses, and ballerina books. *sigh*

Oh my gosh am I ranting again?

Here this issue has come up over and over again. The issue in question is to only fellowship with other Christians or to also fellowship with non-Christians...Or for that matter Christians whose beliefs may not still be just in line with yours. I know I've covered this a little when I did the "Where do I "fit in"? thread. However, This week in Sunday School class this thought got into my head again. I didn't mention it out loud at the time but it was all I could think about the whole class time. Now I wish I did bring it up so I could have gotten some of my class mates opinions on it. The verse we were covering was where Jesus said that people would know us by the way we loved each other. In my mind I was asking "The way we love one another as in all humans or just other Christians exactly like us!?" I mean...How can we love all humans if we are busy avoiding them so their sin doesn't contaminate us? And let's just say for a moment He meant by the way we love each other meaning our fellow believers...All I can say is, you know what? People are seeing how we love each other and they are running for the hills!! Please don't read don't discern wrong from right in that comment. My friends and family members do things wrong and they know that both

A. I felt that they were wrong
and
B. I still love them.

I do have different values from mainstream public. I do understand we are to be in the world but not of the world. But IMHO too many Christians are choosing to not be IN the world either. Too many homeschoolers in an effort to protect their families from the world are not shining their God given light on the world! How can people see how kind, loving and filled with peace you are if you are avoiding them like the plague?

Let me just clarify. I keep my kids out of PS because I don't want someone else to have more time to influence my kids than I do. BUT I don't lock them away from the world as a whole. I have faith that being with me all day long, 7 days a week, 365 days a year has taught them our beliefs strongly enough that they can hold their own. As a result of my philosophy do my kids some times get exposed to things that I'd rather they hadn't? Well, I'm not going to lie about it. Yes, they do. But we talk about it and move on.

So I pose a question to you dear blog reader:
How righteous is too righteous? Is there such a thing? We are called to be Holy and set apart but how far apart? How are we to fellowship with "the world" with out becoming jaded by it? I understand the idea of not being of "the world", but if we don't fellowship with "the world" at all...how are we to ever reach them?

OK If you ever hear yourself saying,

"IF YOU ARE SO SMART AND ALREADY KNOW ALL THE FREAKIN' ANSWERS THEN WHY DID YOU JUST ASK ME FOR HELP?"

Then you might be homeschooling a pre-teen!

Ok end of rant.....

Saturday was my group's Ladies Breakfast Club. We meet the third weekend of every month at the Edom Bakery. It was a small group this month but I was really glad because one of newer members was there and this gave us an opportunity to get to know her a little better. Mom's Night Outs have never really worked well for me but I love the breakfast club and I think I'd go even if I found out not another mom was going to be there.

Going to breakfast put me in the mood to be out and about town though. So, I went home just long enough to get the kids ready to go with me (since Cecil had to work). First, we went to the library.

Branflake:

Rechecked out Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
as he is not quite through with it.
Rechecked out The Ice Dragon by George R. R. Martin
since he hasn't started it yet.
And he checked out the first book of the Redwall series by Brian Jacques for me to read out loud to him and Em.

Emily got:

Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel (again)
A Kiss for Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik
Josefina Javelina by Susan Lowell
The Rooster Who Set Out to See the World by Eric Carle
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
Milo the Really Big Bunny by Stephen Krensky
The Classic Tale of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter
There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer
Leon and Albertina by Christine Davenier

We then went grocery shopping, grabbed some shakes at Sonic and stopped at several yard sales on the way home. It seemed like all of East Texas had a yard sale going Saturday. I didn't really run across any good finds. The only thing I bought was at a house on my own street! LOL The man used to set up a stall at First Monday in Canton and was basically having a going out of business sale in his yard. He had a bunch of those Mountain brand shirts with the animals on them. Branflake is short on summer clothes so I bought him 2 shirts for $10. Now he and Em just need some shorts.

The rest of the weekend was wrapped up in yard work, good food, watching movies, and the kids and I laying around reading either out loud or to ourselves.

This is my DH's dog Sassy. Sassy is the only dog I've ever met that runs away from you when you call her. Once she goes outside there are only two ways to get her in. One, wait for her to come in or ask in on her own. (Believing it is her idea, is a must.)Two, pick her up in the car. She will get in the car in a heart beat.

Now around 4 AM this morning Sassy began whining to go out. Cecil and I do this pretend your still asleep until the other one gives up and gets up to let the dog out game. This morning I lost and got up to let the dog out. So, when the dog starts barking it is then MY Fault of course! Soon after she got out she treed a squirrel. Now this dog can sit under a tree and bark for hours on end. So, here is about how it goes this morning...

Cecil: "See if you can get that @#$%^&* dog in!"

Me: "You know she won't come in when called, besides she has treed a squirrel she won't hear me." Plus in my head I was thinking if he thinks I'm getting up and going for a drive at 4 AM to pick his dog up he is crazy!

Cecil: "Well I might as well get up! There is not going to be any sleeping with her barking out there....." He then ranted on and on and on....about stupid things like not letting her out and keeping her in a cage. Like those answers would be quite and peaceful.

Now here I'd like to point out that he got up and went to watch TV in the living room but did not I repeat did not do anything to get said barking dog to stop barking!

So... I lay there in bed with our windows open hearing this cursed dog bark on and on until I had enough. This was clearly going to take a woman to solve. I calmly walked to the front door, opened it up, lit a black cat, threw it into the yard, stepped out of the door way for the frighten dog to make a mad dash into the house, shut the door and began heading back to bed. My dh rushed into the hallway complaining that I woke the whole street. To which I replied, "Cecil they've been awake listening to your stupid dog bark for the last 15 minutes, at least now they can go back to sleep!" And to prove my point I did just that!

As I snuggled down in my bed I imagined the neighbors quietly thanking God that someone finally shot that stupid barking dog and wondered at the disappointment they are sure to feel the next time they see her. But that is OK. I now have a bowl full of black cats with a lighter sitting at the ready for the next time!

Let me just see if you get this:
Yes, that is the trunk of a car...
Yes, there is a woman and a small child sitting in it...
and...
Yes, they are scarfing down Krispy Kreme dough nuts...

Just a heads up: If you often find yourself hiding in the trunk of your car and scarfing down Krispy Kremes ...despite how ever so normal it may seem at the time.....

This is not normal behavior. You have a problem. Step away from the dough nut and seek medical attention.

Brandon Brag:
There has been two things I've really been struggling with with Brandon. Ok, I'm the mother of an elven year old boy I struggle with a lot more than 2 things. But we have made progress on two things that really deserve a brag or a 100 or so brags. Buckle your seat belts this might get windy....

One: We always fought Brandon's weight. It comes natural. Heaviness, love of food, and well... laziness are all in his genes. It is a bad combination that I fight myself. But it really reached a point where I was starting to get concerned and beat myself up that his weight might be spiraling out of control. We did go on the Daniel fast together and I really think both Bran and I learned some control there. Then the soccer season started. Brandon has never been sporty. In fact... we quit his first soccer league because kids on his team made fun of his lack of talent. Then our little home school group started soccer last year and his interest peaked a little. However, when we tossed around having it again this year I was really shocked when Bran was bursting that he loved to play soccer! Really a whole game based on running when you dread walking to the mail box to check the mail? Then when the teams were set up I realized that Bran would be moving up to the older group. Would he be able to keep up? You know what? Brandon is running. Brandon is really a player. I mean he is not the star of the team by far but he is actually in the game not just another body on the field. He is running, the whole game, and making plays! NO NO REALLY you don't understand my joy! This is a child that has set down on the floor while I was shopping because he said he was tired! The other night Cecil said he thinks Brandon might be slimming up a little. Lord I pray so! He is such a handsome sweet natured child. He deserves to be healthy too.

Two: This one is much shorter I promise! Just let me set a brief back drop. Branflake loves books but in the true lazy fashion that embodies the Branflake lifestyle prefers them read to him! He has read small chapter books to himself but prefers nice meaty novels. Wanting to encourage his appetite for books and because I enjoy the time with him I have read several to him. But this last Tuesday he picked a book up at the library... a good 5oo page 57 chapter novel..and he is half way through it. Pardon me while I do a lame Momma Victory dance!

Emily Entertainment:
Just a tiny funny. You know that some peeps think we home school mommas keep our little angels locked away from the evils of society. Pop culture and worldly ways never reach the ears of my pure little lady right. Well yes it does but apparently she filters it differently than others do. For instance just yesterday my little pop diva was giving an impromptued concert. Her song? If you want to be my mother your have to be my friend.... Just in case you don't know the song that comes from...it is supposed to be if you want to be my lover you have to be my friend...tell me what you want what you really really want...
LOL Ok it was much cuter in person......

OK Saw this and it looked like a fun way for people to kind of get to know me and may be figure out a little of who I am.