Little Bear

Yesterday morning, as I was making my coffee in my quiet kitchen, I heard a sound outside the window that resembled the sound of someone throwing bottles into the trash can. I peeked through my window to find a bear's behind sticking out of my trash can. I ran and grabbed my camera. I came back to the window, tapped on the glass, and Little Bear looked up at me. Woah. I've got a bear in my backyard.

 

All the kids were still asleep, so I did what any sane mother would do. I went outside to get better pictures so I could show the kids when they woke up.

 Here he is, crossing second base.

 He took a nice stroll through the yard, and around our tree. I watched him put his nose in the air and take one last whiff before going through the bushes and into the neighbors yard. Bye, Little Bear!

Thanks for the mess.

*A little side note. I call him "little" because he was obviously not a grown bear, but still large! As John would say, he's more of a "teenager bear". I dubbed him Little Bear after one of our favorite characters from the Little Bear stories by Elsa Holmelund Minarik.

Our 2nd First Day of School for 2013-2014

Today was our second first day. Our first 1st day was almost a month ago. It was the day we were suppose to start, but I wasn't ready. We started anyway. It didn't go very well. So I decided we would wait a week so that I could finish up our plans and start things right. But then Grandpa Skube died, and then it was time for the beach. So, I'm claiming today as our official First Day of School. :)
As you can see, school happens all around the house. Our basement is our "school room", but we move accordingly. Overall, I would say it was a successful start to our year. We didn't get to everything I had planned because there were many, many, many interruptions.  It took the kids a long time to settle down, but I expected that. Hopefully after a few days they will get back into the rhythm of school. But we still covered a lot! I think the kids enjoyed themselves. Summer was nice while it lasted, but I believe we're all ready to get back into a routine.

Oh, Happy Day!

Lots of stuff packed, a borrowed vehicle that can fit all that stuff (and 7 people), happy kids, and painted toenails (even little Marguerite got her toes painted!). It must be beach time!! Oh, happy day! :)

*Funny story- I had mentioned to Mike that maybe we should ask our neighbor to keep an eye on our house while we're gone. John must have been listening, because while Mike was loading up the car, and while I took that picture of the kids, our neighbor happened to come outside. Then I heard John tell him that we were going to the beach, and could he look after the house while we were gone. Our neighbor told him that would be no problem and John thanked him. I just stood there and smiled, not sure what to say (I'm so good at that). So much for homeschoolers being strange and unsocialized! ;)

*And poor Rose. Her feet are looking more and more like her mother's. ;)