W.A.R. Has Been Declared

I've been doing some rearranging around here lately, so I set my Scrabble letter "WELCOME" sign in the laundry room so it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle.  

A few days later I noticed that the "M" had disappeared.

I thought it had just gotten bumped, and that it would turn up in a laundry basket or something.

I held on to my delusions until we found a partially eaten tomato on our kitchen counter...which led to the discovery that the "E" and the "C" were missing from my kitchen "RECIPES" display.

Do the missing letters spell for you what they spell for me?

M_CE

So I bought these: 

The first night I set three traps, and two were...effective, to put it politely.

But I still kept a close eye on that letter "I" in the kitchen (and a baited trap nearby), just in case the intelligent speller had not been caught in a trap already.

Apparently I was watching the "I" too closely, because last night the rest of my "WELCOME" letters disappeared.

(I checked with the humans in the household, just in case someone was playing a joke on me.

They weren't.)

I'm baiting the rest of the traps, and I'm wondering if I should stick with peanut butter for bait, or if maybe I should switch to this:

Think it would work?

For the Love of Eggs: Part 5

The chicken coop, as it was, wasn't quite how we imagined a chicken coop should look.

So after some research Mike built some nest boxes, (which we call the Chicken Hotel),

and he added a few places for the chickens to roost.

This week, after all the time and money we've spent caring for the chickens, they finally started earning their keep!

On Monday, we found three eggs.

Tuesday, we got one more.

So far today, we've found two.

And all but one of them have been found on a shelf in the barn on a pile of plastic bags.

 Silly chickens.

(Glass eggs to plant in the nesting boxes have been added to my shopping list...)

It Has Begun

It has begun.

This school year marks the beginning of my last 13 years of teaching.

Let's pause and let that sink in for a minute.

Yeah.

I only have 13 years left before I retire.

Amazing.

Anyway.  Moving on.

We started our new school year on Monday, and for the first time, all four kids are "officially" in school.

I have two 5th graders, a 4th grader, and a Kindergartner.

All of the books that are scheduled to be read in the first 12 weeks barely fit on the school shelves in the living room,

(although some of these books will carry through the whole year)

(The top two shelves are alphabetized by author, and the bottom row of over-sized books is too.)

and our school cupboard in the kitchen is full of the workbooks and notebooks we use (almost) every day.

(Workbooks are grouped by subject, and notebooks are color-coded according to each child's signature color...which also happen to be their favorite colors.)

Am I organized?  Why, yes, yes I am.

Maybe a little bit too organized?

Maybe.

But I'm OK with that, and so is my family.

It helps keep the chaos under control, and everyone knows where to find what they need.

And if they can't find what they're looking for, I know exactly where to tell them to look!

***

(Can anyone guess what song is now stuck in my head?)

Formerly Known As...

If each week got its own unique descriptive phrase, last week's would have to have been

"Internal Upheaval".

The room formerly known as the "Guest Room" became the "Music Room"

(so I can close the door on the new-to-"us" drum set),

   

which meant that what was formerly known as Isaak's room is now also the guest room

(but only when we have guests, of course),

and the many boxes of books, formerly stored along two walls in Isaak's room, are now once again stored along one wall on the upstairs landing.

Most of them, anyway.

OK, maybe 2/3 of them.

Fine. 

At least more than half.

What's Changed?

Compare these two pictures:

Can you tell how many changes we have made in the last year?

(Trash cans, junk, and flower pots don't count.)

I count six (oops, seven!  Thanks Dad!) that you can see, and at least three that you can't.

Any guesses?

***

Look fast...there are more changes coming soon!

Reading Record: July

I have NO idea how I managed to read this many books last month, but

I got all the 5th grade books pre-read, so we're officially ready to start school next week!