A Peak at Our Week: Tick, Tick! Time is Winding Down

In My Life This Week
There was POURING RAIN for a few days. We're pretty dry around here and our garden needed a good soaking, but sometimes I also look forward to rain because it means our days are slower and quieter with less running to-and-fro for this-and-that. This single Mom needs some days like that. Days filled with sleeping in, Netflix movies, library books and warm crockpot dinners.

This week was also a BIG ONE for my upcoming divorce: we went to court to establish custody, visitation, support, and division of marital property. Fortunately we - my husband and I - were able to come up with an agreement beforehand and everything went smoothly and quickly. 10 minutes, ladies! It's still not an easy time for the kids and I, but it's a bit of a relief to have these things decided legally.

Of less importance, Jake, Sam and I loaded up the new-to-us 6x4 trailer with bulky trash, hooked it up to the van for the first time, and dropped 740 pounds with of refuge at the Transfer Station. I can't tell you how AWESOME it was to FINALLY get rid of that stuff!

And I solved SOME of my little black fly problem with these...

On the Menu

• Baked Chicken Drumsticks and Fries with Asparagus (FROM THE GARDEN) • Beef au Jus Sandwiches with Baked Fries and Beans • Chinese Take-out • Chicken and Rice with Peas and Carrots • Egg and Turkey Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches with Bananas • Spaghetti with Tossed Salad •

Homeschool Happenings
Well, Cati and Sam just need to finish up Story of the World II: Middle Ages for this year. This week we read about Christopher Columbus and watched "Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World" from Netflix and then moved onto the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas, and did mapwork.  And Jake? He only has his English research paper and Biology to complete now, but it's QUITE a bit to finish in our remaining 15 days of school. (Not that he can't do MORE days! :wink:) 

But the BIG THING this week was that a friend gifted us 2 bikes for Cati and Sam. Our old bikes were in super rough shape - Did I mention that I ran over the front wheel of one with the van? Yeah, I did! - so getting new-to-us ones has been exciting and they've been riding for HOURS, sometimes even in the POURING RAIN. Now, I'm on a hunt for bike for Jake so he can spend the summer biking with his buddies.

Places We're Going, People We're Seeing
• Softball (C) • Scouts (J/S) • Library (C) •

Our Favorite Thing
Whoever said chickens weren't HILARIOUS has never had any! I surprised the kids with a pizza picnic for lunch. Ava, our newest hen, flew up into the tree house where Sam was, looking for nibbles. Sam threw a piece of crust down onto the lawn hoping she would go after it, but instead the 6 others made a MAD DASH for it and Sassy got the prize. For the next 20 minutes we watched her "chicken dance" around the yard with 5 others tailing her for a bite. QUITE entertaining! (Or maybe you had to be there? :wink:)

Something to Share

 Other Blog Stuff
Click these links to see what else happened this week and to get some FREEBIES around the web. (Some aren't highlighted red...for some reason. :sigh:)

• As the Garden Grows: Getting Ready for the 2013 Season

• Canning Quick Bread (Banana Bread Recipe)
• Question-of-the-Week: End of the School Year
• Critical Thinking Company: Sign Up for Catalog/Newsletter, Get Several PDF Workbooks (including Visual Mind Benders)

• Crafty Classroom: Formula Poetry Notebooking Pages

• Summer Reading Programs: Earn Books, Money and Movies From Different Companies

As always, linking up to these AWESOME blog hops!