Debate, sick kitten, piano and beautiful weather

I woke the kids up at 7:15 AM to get ready to leave for our debate between Mike and Joe (our candidates running for Congress).  The debate started at 8 AM.  I wanted to get there a couple minutes early but we arrived just as they started so we ended up sitting on the floor.

The kids did a great job - I think it was the food - they had a table of snacks so the kids ate lots of fruit.  I was disappointed at the debate because it appeared that they bussed people in.  After the debate I heard a woman introduce herself to Joe and said she didn't know anything about him before the debate but she would be voting for him now because of his stance on women's issues.

I don't understand the big deal about women's issues even though I am a woman.  I wish I could find someone to talk to that could explain it to me - someone who could have a reasonable conversation.  My friend that used to talk to me about the Democratic side is no longer speaking to me so ...

After the debate we returned home to work on school and get ready for piano.

Andrew recently discovered that he is now 3 1/2 so he loves to tell everyone.  He told his piano teacher today (he wasn't supposed to start until he was 4 1/2 or 5) and she had forgotten how young he was so she asked him to play the song they are working on.  He did great!!  I think she was a little impressed that he could do it.

After piano the kids played outside, riding their bikes and N's scooter and just enjoying the 70 degree day.  While I made dinner, the kids played in the backyard.  I made taco salad, peas and brownies.  I had some onions that needed to be used up so I sauteed them and put them in the taco filling.  EVERYONE raved about how good dinner was tonight - the only thing different was adding onions.  I didn't tell them because they don't like onions.  Maybe I should add onions to other things?

Everyone went to bed easily tonight because I had them up so early this morning.  Tomorrow we will have to take Oreo to the doctor because he isn't doing too well.  I am a little nervous.  The last time a kitten stopped being playful and got suddenly sick she died of leukemia.  Fingers crossed.

Girl Scouts and School

We had Girl Scouts first thing today as is our usual Monday schedule.  That might be changing in the near future.  Details later.  At Girl Scouts, we picked our country that we would like for Thinking Day.  We chose Ghana, Zimbabwe or Madagascar.  The theme for Thinking Day this year is "together we can save children's lives."  So we kinda led the girls toward a country that could really benefit from us helping them.  At first the girls were wanting Switzerland, the Caribbean, etc.

We also worked on planning our Bridging Ceremony which was supposed to be today but we never got it planned.  It has been moved to October 15th.  Our theme will be fall colors and leaves.  The girls were very creative.  Can't wait to show you pictures.  Cairn is the only one bridging this year.  Which is nice that I only have to buy one uniform a year.

After Girl Scouts we drove home and Andrew fell asleep in the car.  When we got home I carried him inside and laid him on the couch thinking he wouldn't sleep long since he hadn't had any lunch.  The girls and I had a quick lunch then we got to work on schoolwork.

Cairn worked on an assessment in Literature about Louis Pasteur, Elizabeth Blackwell and Sir Alexander Fleming and how they were pioneers.  She didn't really think Elizabeth was a pioneer even though she was the first women to graduate from medical school.  It is just normal to Cairn that women do whatever they want so it was hard for her to get her head around that that hasn't always been true.  She also learned about circumference, radius and diameters, Dante and the Divine Comedy and started working on her Book Review for composition.

Skylar worked on The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, counting sets up to 20, Pablo Picasso, and long vowels.  She is struggling with adding sounds to letters for example, she knows that A says the short a sound and I tell her over and over when it says its long sound or its name and she just never tries it.  I have to sound out the word for her to understand.  So today, I tried a little something new.  We will see if it works.  I will try to remember to get a picture of it.

Andrew continued to sleep until 4:10 (he fell asleep at 12:30) when I woke him up because I wanted him to sleep tonight too.  As soon as he was awake I started making dinner.  Cairn cleaned and sliced the potatoes, peeled and cut the cucumber and cleaned and sliced the mushrooms too.  She has decided she can cut things since she learned at our overnight.  She used to be scared to death of sharp knives, now she requests to cut things for me.

While we were eating dinner, we kept hearing the piano keys.  I finally went into the other room to find out who was playing the piano.

Guess who?!

Mr. Oreo!!

After dinner, I went over to a friends house for a little lecture and mom time.  I was supposed to be home by 9 but I wasn't watching the clock and I didn't get home until 10.  Dad did a great job getting everyone into bed.

School and then crazy evening

It was one of those days that looked to be slow and steady and then quickly turned into another one of those days.  We got right to work on schoolwork and everyone wanted to do their art lesson first.

Skylar's lesson was about color mixing - yellow and red make orange, etc.  This was another of those simple lessons that she has known forever.  Cairn's lesson was about primary, secondary and intermediary colors.  So I was able to teach Skylar about primary and secondary - she got that pretty quickly too.

After art, it took everyone a bit to get settled back down and on task.  We had "recess" at 10:45 in the front yard - trying to get the kids to ride their bikes.  As I was standing there on the driveway I noticed my car looked funny so I started walking around it.  I had a flat tire.  So I called Dad to tell him so he could come home early since we had an evening full of activities.  He told me to fill it up.  As I was getting the hose down, Andrew walked over and took the cap off the stem.  When I arrived with the hose, Andrew said, "all ready for you Mom."  Then we worked and worked trying to get the air in.  I gave up after a bit because I needed to get the kids back to school.

We finished up school about 2 PM after much fighting with Skylar.  Cairn and Andrew were finished about 12:30 but Skylar was in one of her moods.  When school was finished I sent everyone outside to the backyard so I could vacuum and get ready for my Girl Scout Leader Unit Meeting.

We were also having a friend over to see the new kitten.  Around 5 PM, we were in the front yard so I worked on the tire some more.  I jacked it up really high and was then able to get the air in the tire.  The stem was bent.  Pulled the car out so I could see if I could find the problem.  No luck.

Dad got home and I ran off to my meeting with Andrew and Cairn in tow.  Dad got Skylar to take to piano since I couldn't take her.  My meeting was uneventful except that Andrew fell asleep on my lap about 7 PM. He was exhausted.

Everyone wanted Oreo to sleep with them at night so Skylar got him first.  Andrew would get him next if he slept in his bed all night long.  (usually he comes in and sleeps with me.)  He said he would/could do it and he did so Oreo got moved to his room.  Andrew couldn't wait to get home to sleep with Oreo.

Oreo pictures as promised