Busy Busy Busy...

We have been sooo busy the last week and 1/2 I haven't had time to blog...

Let's see

Julia turned 7 a week ago, we had a b day party for her on her b day with some of her friends. She loved seeing them and had a great time playing, eating cake, opening presents and more playing :). She got some cool stuff and the most important part was her friends came and shared her day with her.

Monday J had to have 1 of her teeth pulled which went OK, the dentist and his assistants were wonderful and made it so painless for her I wanted to hug them. She was so nervous but got calmed down when she saw they were listing to her and really tried to make it OK for her. She was fine and is now telling everyone that it wasn't bad at all :).

Tuesday was the last art class for the girls, DH worked the night shift so he was home during the day and so F got to stay home with him and do some of his school work while i took the girls to Queens where they got to draw with charcoal. They loved it and drew some nice pics but got so dirty in the process it wouldn't come off of their arms and hands even after washing with soap 4 times.... but as long as they had fun...lol. J said she is going to miss the class, I won't miss the long ride to Queens but am now looking for possible drawing classes for her to take.

Wednesday I took the kids for a homeschooling get together at he Brooklyn Museum, one of the mom's arranged a tour of the Egyptian wing. It was a great tour and the kids learned a lot and had fun. A walked around with me while we followed the tour guide. She had her sketch book and drew everything she saw, she did some nice drawings of old necklaces made of stone and of some mummies, among other cool Egyptian things. J and F both had friends there so they really enjoyed themselves, F learned a few interesting facts, and some myths. A 1 hour tour lasted almost 2 hours with some play/snack time at the cafeteria for J and her friends while F, A and I toured the rest of the museum and saw artifacts, art and other things from various cultures. We decided that we need to go back a few more times and really look around.
The admission price is suggested and the kids get in for free so we will deff. make it back there sooner than later.

Thursday I needed to get things done in the house and to catch up on some book learning with the kids so we skipped park day and hung out here. We have been reading the Story of the World at least 2 times a week, doing math, spelling, playing lots of board games, reading other books, teaching the kids how to do laundry, cleaning up....

Friday was more of the same mostly because DH was working the night shift all week long and because I needed to get things ready for our trip upstate on Saturday. After we got done homeschooling I busied myself with cooking and cleaning...

Saturday we got up at 6 am and began our drive Upstate to see my step DD and our grandson K. We made it there in 3 hours w/o stopping once.. and even though it rained almost the whole time we were there we had a great visit with them. The 4 kids loved the time together, played inside and outside, ran around, and had lots of fun. After a quick lunch we drove to Howe's Cavern and let me tell you.. it is such a great experience to be inside a 1,000,000 year old cave! We had such a blast I doubt either one of us will forget it. The tour guide was good and informative and funny, we walked around and learned about so many things during the 90 minute tour. A boat ride on the river Venus inside the cave was the best part for the kids. It was worth the money. K is such a sweet child, so curious and excited about life and just so adorable. I missed him so much. I can't believe he will be 7 next month.

It was hard to say good by and leave. We ended up getting home around 2 am after a short rest at a rest stop. Then I had to clean up the apt., put away all our shopping from Walmart (I always stock up) do some laundry and get the house ready for J's play date with another one of her friends from dance class who couldn't make her party last week.

I am going to start writing the kids' 4Th quarterly reports as well as their annual assessments in the next few days and then take it a little easy for the summer and gear up for September...