What We're Up to

Can you believe I have Internet access now and just haven't made the time to update my blog? It is so incredibly nice in my house and in this town that I have just been enjoying it as much as possible. And of course, more unpacking here and there. I've learned that baseboards actually can be kept clean! LOL. All it takes is actually sweeping them with a little sweeper, probably about 1 time a week. If you think that's neurotic, you should watch me try to keep up with the darn laundry! Haha! Philip and I have planted our first vegetable garden! We are starting with sprouts for iceberg lettuce (accidentally purchased, i meant to get romaine!), basil, strawberries and tomatoes. We're keeping the tomoto plant inside till we're sure there won't be any more frosts. We left our compost in our old backyard for a friend to pick up, so I got organic soil from Lowe's. You'd think all soil would be organic, huh? LOL. All of the boys planted with Ed the other day. They did sunflower seeds that will boarder our electric box, our compost bin and our air conditioner. At least for a season. Today we met up for a play date with a friend I was in high school with when I lived here for my 11Th grade year. She has two daughters, 9 and 6. Ed was checking with the kids this morning to make sure they realized they were going to spend the afternoon with girls....they did not care! Philip said, "isn't one of them 9?" That kid is just needing some time with people his own age! We enjoyed the time together, got caught up and the kids had fun hiking the same nature trail I mentioned in another post. I am trying to start up a weekly gathering of relaxed homeschoolers/attachment parents and I'm just waiting 'till I have a better idea of the parks around here. The families on my Charleston playtime yahoo list are very spread out, so I want to rotate parks so everyone that wants to join up can come w/out it being a huge trek.
I checked with my friend that I met up with today about how much math her daughter does a day for class and homework, as I have been having one of "those" months, feeling like I'm not doing the boys justice with my curriculum plans, etc. (mostly i am hearing comments in my head that haven't been spoken aloud from anyone, but i fear the thoughts, ya know??) From the sounds of it though, we are doing about twice as much per day as that particular class does, and so I'm feeling better. Tyler is really motivated to do his school work, based on the rewards of TV and video game time. He rarely complains. Philip is still more whiny than he has been ever in the past, but I guess we're all still adjusting to being here and being more home bound than we've EVER been in the past. There are these bugs here, flying gnats that they call "no see 'ems." They are outrageous!! They bite us worse than mosquitoes and itch more too, and get all in our hair! ARgh! They do seem to like it better cold and we haven't seen them or been attacked on a beach yet, nor in our own yard. The park about 200 yards away and around the corner from our home is almost always swarming with them. I took the kids to the beach the other day and we had quite a nice time. They all three convinced me that they were getting in the water no matter what, so why not let them wear their suits? So I did, and brought changes of clothes and we had a blast! I did not get in the water, just stuck my toes in and wondered at marvel of children: if they are having fun, they truly can't hear anything else or feeling the cold or heat. Why do we lose that once we hit adulthood? Why is it that we can't stay careless and young and free? That water was seriously COLD! Ugh. Anyway, I had fun burying Evan's toes in the sand and we all buried Philip from his neck down. I will add pictures to my dropshots account later. Would you believe in the 4 weeks we've been here, we've eaten out only 4 times? Once as a family, and two times for traveling, and once just me and the kids. That is very good for us! We've still been cooking or at least eating all meals at home and tonight we're having chicken tacos. Overall, we're all still pretty darn happy to be here. The boys are in an informal Pokemon tournament this Wednesday and Ed is taking them fishing on the Folly Beach USA - Pier tomorrow morning.
Well, that's it from us for now. I'll update more and add photos as I have time and think of it.