mocked

I went running at a park that is next to the high school in our neighborhood. I like to go here because David can hang out with the boys on the playground while I run. We went in the late morning yesturday which was also the time that the highschool had lunch hour. I like this location because there is a 1K route that I can run and keep track of how far I am going.
The one draw back on school days is the presence of all the kids. There is a long path between the school and the Dairy Queen and that is part of my route and while I was running on this path, some of the boys decided to tease and mock me. This is not new, sinc getting teased and mocked was a central part of my high school experience. The odd thing now is that I am old enough to be their mother. I have to say that it keeps me motivated since I want to keep running to get away from them.
My mother turned forty when I was a Sophmore in high school, so I am same age that mother was when I was a Freshman/Sophmore. I cannot imagine mocking people my parents age when I was in high school. I know these boys are trying to appear cool in front of their friends but they either think I am much younger than I am or they are obnoxious, I am not sure. The good thing is that it helps me realize that as challenging as my adult life can be, I am sure glad I am out of high school.
We have been going to a farmer's market on Wednesdays. I picked a favorite cheese, butter, honey and some veggies yesturday. There is a bakery there that makes the yummiest brioche with grapes, pinenuts and fennel. I am glad we can only go once a week and it ends it two weeks. We will miss the Farmer's Market, but not the temptation. Thinking of that brioche can also help me run a bit further.
Here is a layout I did with a photo of Liam at last week's farmer's market.

Credits: Template - AD it up by Chrissy W, Kit: Best Friends, Button, Ribbon & Triangles: My Darling both by Jannylyn Brokken, Alpha: Gel Dotted Alpha by Little Miss Liz

Great things on the abacus

I recently found the Homeschool Math Blog. Since Math is a not my strongest point, I need all the help I can get. The author uses an abacus with her kids too and gives instructions on how to teach different concepts with it. Today I worked with Christian on division on the abacus. We did word problems like there are 80 M&Ms and 10 people, if they split them up evenly how many M&Ms does each person get. We are also working on place value, so he figured out that he could have eight rows of 10 and he just counts his rows to get the answer. I was showing some of these things to David and he was impressed. I wish we had an abacus when we were just starting math.
We are also working on an art project that ties in with the whole ocean, shark theme. We bought a sheet from Goodwill and the boys are turning it into an ocean scene.

Credits: Art 101 by Linday Jane Designs

Credits: Hook Line & Sinker by Little Miss Liz, buy the kit and get the add-on free, Alpha: Tagged Tiny Alphas by Angie Kovacs
September 10th is a dollar day deals at Elemental Scraps.

Running Update

I wrote in my blog that I started running a couple of weeks ago. I decided it is time for an update. I am still running. Now when I go out on runs, I actually run more that I walk. On Saturday, I was very winded after I got up a hill and wanted to stop even though I had about 10 more blocks before I wanted to switch to walking for warm down. I kept pushing myself and comforted myself with the knowledge that there is a fire station where I would switch to walking and if I felt too bad, they could help me. By the time I switched to walking, I was not winded at all and was breathing at a normal pace. I know that if I keep working on they hills, they will not wear me out either. I have always had shin splints and my achilles tendon has been a bit sore, so I am cross training. I start my new term of ballet today and I will ride my bike there and back. Right now, I am swithcing between running and biking. In October when our community center opens back up I want to add lap swimming. I will also have access to a tred mill during the bad weather.
I am also through two weeks of journaling what I eat. This last week my problem has been not getting enough food. I took yesturday off from exercise so I could rest and make up the calories, I did not get on Saturday. I baked biscotti to help that process along.
I don't own a scale, so when the community center opens up again in three weeks, I will weigh myself there. I want to just try be healthy and not be a slave to the scale, so I am curious, but not really worried.
Here are two layouts I did yesturday

I used the September Grab bag by Collies Corner at Elemental Scraps. The Template is Gotcha Cornered by Chrissy W, Alpha is A Sunny Day by Juno Designs, the fruit and bee from Summer Days the Elemental Scrpas July Mega Kit

I used A Sunny Day by Juno Designs and Angie Kovacs Template from her Get Blocked 12x12 set

New Dieting Tool

Last night I was very hungry before dinner. I was working on the computer for a bit and Laim brought a pull-up into me, not any pull-up, but one that had been caste aside in their room a while ago. It stank and it was moldy. We threw it out, but when dinner was ready, I for some odd reason could not eat. I fell asleep the same time the boys did before eight, so I never ate anything else last night. I went running before dinner and had not snacked much yesturday, so today I actually have to eat some serious calories so my body doesn't think we have hit a famine and decide to start hanging onto the fat. They should bottle that smell and we can just grab it out of our purse whenever we are tempted by food we do not need.
Just a note on the pull-up. There had been a less then pleasant smell in their room for a while. We had tried washing linens, opening windows and things on that line, but it still lingered. I guess we need to go in every few weeks and pull everything out and search stray diapers and pull-ups the boys decide to pull of and throw in the closet.
Here is a layout for today. Looking at the flowers can also conteract the thought of that nasty smell.

Credits: Everything by Tracey Monette at Scrapbook-Elements
Flowers & Leaves: Summer's End Naturals
Paper: North Americana in Collaboration with Tracy King
Bracket: Quirky Acetates

A dream

I have a dream. I dream that someday my youngest son will just realize that he is tired and just go to bed at night. I dream of a world where a question posed after 7:00 pm, such as, "which tooth brush do you want to use tonight", will evoke something other than a 20 minute screaming fit and chase throughout the house.
If that dream cannot be fulfulled soon then my other dream is that I am allowed to respond to life's challenges by throwing myself on the floor and screaming more often. Picture, Starbucks, morning rush. Someone wants to pay with a $100 bill. I respond by dropping to the floor, screaming and yelling how much I hate dealing with one hundred dollar bills. Maybe the person would just get their debit card out.
Other then the nightly toothbrush related meltdowns, we have completed our first week of homeschooling. We are working on writing, reading, addition, subtraction, telling time and the most common Kindergarten and preschool subject....Sharks. It's all sharks all the time around here. Christian sits with Liam and goes through his shark book teaching Liam the names of all the sharks. The spent quite a while this evening with scrap paper, tape and staples makeing sharks. Christian wanted to make a hammerhead and Liam made a whale shark. If you have any unanswered shark questions. Leave them in the comment section. I will pose them to Christian and get back to you.
Here is a layout I did with Christian working with his abacus.

Credits: ABC 123 by Misty Cato

First field trip

There is a baby elephant at the zoo and today was free day at the Japanese Garden so we had our first field trip.
I wanted to get to the zoo early since Portland Public Schools do not start until tommorow, so I knew it would get busy, especially with the baby elephant. It was not too busy when we got there. Our membership expired several months ago and I hate the crowds and heat in the summer, so we saved up some money and renewed our membership today. We will enjoy it much more during the cool days of fall or less rainy days of winter on days we need a break from homeschooling.
The line was not too long to see the baby elephant. They told us that the baby weighed in at 291 lbs this morning. Mom weighs about 7000 lbs. That makes me feel so much better. I am still trying to ditch baby weight, but I don't have that much.
They are putting in a predators of the Serangetti thing next year. Liam posed with one of the Lions. We talk about how Liam and Lion both have four letters and start with li today.

Christian wanted to see how he measures up to bears.

I think this is an ibex. I just think it is cute.

Here is Liam enjoying the carp at the Japanese Garden.

This bird was hanging out on top of a waterfall. David thought it was a hawk. If there are any birders out there with a better answer, leave me a comment.

The nice thing about free day is that it is free, the drawback is that it is so crowded. I told David that it added a certian not of authenticity about how it is like to travel in Japan. There usually crowds everywhere, even climbing Mt. Fuji.

Korean Cooking

This afternoon, I made the Kimchi Jingae recipe that I talked about yesturday and a batch of Jop Jae noodles. The noodles take about an hour to make since the meat has to marinade in the fridge for a half hour. Both recipes take similar ingredients, so I was able to chop everything up and the just split them between recipes. We also had some extra tofu left and Liam wanted to eat some, I was able to toss together a sauce like they use in Japan with cold tofu and serve it to the family. Whenever the boys see me eating with chopsticks, they go to the drawer and grab out their own sets to eat with. Liam eats by stabbing the food. During dinner, he would take the noodles and dip them in the soup and pretend he was fishing. Christian would only eat noodles and rice and he kept begging for milk since he thought the noodles were so "spicy". (they were not) They finished the meal with some pineapple sorbet we made in the ice cream ball on Saturday.
This morning at 2:00 am, Liam came into our bedroom. I woke up and told him he needed to go back to bed. He said kiss, so I kissed him on the head and then he left our room and went back to bed. I assume he was sleep walking. I, however, did not fall back asleep for two hours and I had to work this morning. David had the day off, so I was able to grab a little nap after work.
Since today is the first day of September...there is a new Collab kit at Elemental Scraps. Sadie's Parlour. It is great for vintage photos. I have an envelope of vintage photos from my mother's relatives. I never met any of these people, but each picture has a story on the back. I also have my mother's wedding book which has a family tree in it. I might be able figure it out.
This Layout features a photo I took of Chistian and his foster mother on our first meeting in Korea. I also used a free template by Chrissy W. This is also my layout for the Font Jaunt that I am hosting at Elemental Scraps.