The First Day of Summer

My plans for the week.

This summer, my goal is to keep the kids busy.  I also want them to go back to school smarter than they left.  Claire is already reading on a first grade level, but I want to get her to chapter books before the end of summer.  My goal for Paul is to get him to read simple sight words like "and," "the," and words like that.
Other goals include learning the names of all the planets, learning to add and subtract (Claire), learning to count to 100 (Paul), and learning all the state names.  Yes, I know that some of these are high goals, but I'm trying to shoot for the moon and no matter what, they will be learning.
Last night I got ready for this morning.  We have swim lessons at 11 a.m., so from 8 to 10:30 a.m., I planned on teaching.

Here are the kids reading words, math facts, and journal prompt for the day.  Yes, Paul is still three and I'm making him write in a journal.  Mostly he drew, which is just fine.

Claire was excited to get to work.  She didn't even want to put on regular clothes, but got to work in her pajamas.


It was the first day of swim lessons at the Benbrook YMCA.  Claire was in a beginning swim class, but she and her classmates did so well that the teacher advanced the entire class.  Now she's in a "Can Swim" class.

Paul was more apprehensive than we anticipated, but Mr. Marco got him going pretty well by the end of the swim lesson.  We love that both kids are in extremely small classes.  Paul's class has five kids and Claire's has three.

This afternoon we visited the Wedgwood Branch of the Fort Worth Public Library to see Lucas Miller present Science Rocks!  This guy is hilarious, and if you get a chance to see him, do it.  He sang songs about animals and other zoological issues.  He even rapped and wore different costumes.  Claire and Paul were picked from the audience to be backup dancers.

Now that we're back home, it's 5:20 p.m. and we're winding down for the day.  The kids are excited to read their newly checked out books and I'm about to make dinner.  Tomorrow will be another day full of excitement.

Captain Midnight Sugar Dot Express Boyette?

Yesterday I was driving the kids and Kaa and Big Paul (Adam's godparents) home from basketball practice when we saw an elderly lady standing on Granbury Rd. crying.  That's a major road in Fort Worth, so we were trying to figure out what was wrong.  Then we saw a tiny black Chihuahua dodging cars.
The dog was running fast, and we followed him with the car, but when he crossed the street, I pulled over and started chasing him.  Kaa said it looked like I was a track star.
Traffic stopped and I chased the dog across Granbury and down the railroad tracks.  I finally cornered him under a bush and then Big Paul appeared to help.  With the help of a leash from a neighbor, and a few bites, we got a hold of the dog.  I was so happy to help a little old lady get her precious baby back.
Panting as if it was our last breath, we walked the dog back toward the elderly woman.  Turns out, she was gone.  Apparently it wasn't her dog at all, but she was the first one to nearly hit the dog with her car and she was upset.
So now we're hunting for the owners of a precious black Chihuahua, whom the kids have named Captain Midnight Sugar Dot Express Boyette.  We've been to Petsmart and verified he does not have an ID chip.  We've been to the local vet who doesn't recognize him.  We've posted signs around the neighborhood.  I can't say that we are looking forward to finding his owners, because we've grown attached.  If there's a family looking for him, we'd be glad to return him, but if there's not, he's got a home here.