Why Home Improvement Projects are Pointless While Raising Boys

Is there any better way to waste a perfectly precious rainy day than to patch the walls of the stairway and hall that your sweet angel-baby sons use on a daily basis? 
No. 
There is not. 
You guys, there should be special wall substances for parents with boys because I am here to tell you, dry wall does not cut it. 
Nope. Not a bit. 
Drywall has an amazing capacity for dings and dents, it scrapes and nicks, and then of course there is also the chipped paint. 

We have lived in this house for approximately 8 1/2 years.
In that amount of time my 3 boys (and their cousins and friends and quite possibly there father...) have managed to make approximately 78,005 dents and holes in the drywall of what we will now refer to as the Spackle grave yard. 
I am dead serious.
It's that bad.

The good news is, there are many dents and holes with a precious memory attached to it. 
Like the time the boys were practicing there Ninja Warrior wall climbing skills and one of them slipped and left a dent in the wall with their head. Or the fact that a loving grandparent gifted one of the boys with a dart board for their birthday and even though they are plastic tipped darts, and even thought the dart board was placed in front of a mammoth sized bulletin board, there are now no less than 7,293 small holes in the walls around said dart board (there could be a reason we never replaced those darts as they 'mysteriously' disappeared). 
I am patching holes and dents that have no explanation whatsoever. 
How, pray tell, do you get a perfectly circular dent in the wall the size of a $0.50 cent piece 2 inches off the floor in a corner? 
And what exactly is happening in this hall and stairs (besides Ninja Warrior training) that could possibly create all of these holes and dents? 

I have a few ideas.... 
Match box car races, sliding down the stairs on a plastic mattress into a pile of pillows,  sword fights (sometimes with real swords), running, throwing all manner of objects (let's be honest, there are almost continuous projectiles flying through this hallway), wrestling, and all manner of childhood mayhem. 
Also, when you are a home schooling family, and you buy your child a mini catapult and a mini ballista because you are learning about medievil times in history, it may just have an adverse effect on the walls of your home. Maybe. 
Did I tell you there is no drywall mud left on any of the outside corners? We are down to that pretty metal strip on every one. 
Every. One.

I know, I know, it's just boys being boys, having fun and making memories. They don't mean it. They are not trying to tear the house down around you as you sit on the couch trying to sneak in another cup of chai tea and read that book that's been collecting dust for weeks now. 
It isn't their fault that their mother is her own special kind of crazy and thought that it was time to repaint the white walls that haven't been painted since before her family moved into this home. 
Although, can the walls really be considered white anymore? Since the hand rails were torn from the wall because of boys hanging on for dear life as they run around the corner, the walls are actually a streaked and muddy brownish grey, but only from about 3 ft high and down. 
It's my own special kind of wainscoting. 
I call it Fingerprints and Boogers. 
I think instead of repainting we will just cover the walls in corrugated steel. The rustic farmhouse look is 'in' now. We live in the country, near a farm. So it could be a good look for us. 
Do I hear someone say ship-lap?
Or for a cheaper option, we could re-purpose some of that old wood paneling they like to put in trailer houses. 
That stuff is virtually indestructible. 
There has to be a creative and durable solution. 
Because parents, I just spent the last hour sweating in the 80 degree humidity of our upstairs hallway, patching 78,005 dents and holes in the walls, 
and there is a light bulb burned out in the hallway fixture..... 

How many more dents will there be when I get around to changing that bulb? 
Glory, maybe we will just leave it burnt out and go with 'mood lighting'. We can just wait to repaint when the boys move out. 

School Desk - Done

Looking at what we would need for school this year, I realized that Seth was in need of a new desk for school.

We were fortunate that Grandma and Grandpa Beaber had an extra desk in their basement storage room. They were happy to give it to us and we were happy to take it off their hands.

I decided it could use a makeover.

I, of course, forgot to get a picture of it before I started. But I grabbed a picture as I was sanding it down.

 It's a nice little desk, the perfect size for my student son.  However, even though it wasn't a bad color or anything, I wanted it to match the white desk already in the school room.

I also wanted to change out the dated hardware.

I began the process by dragging the little desk out to the garage and giving it a light sanding.

After the sanding is done, I wipe it down with a rag to get all the dust off.  Then I apply a primer coat.

After the primer coat, I apply the paint.  I painted 2 coats.  I also cheated and used spray paint on the spindles.

 Then I had a brilliant thought.

You see, last year I painted my oldest son's desk white, and the top, after he used it the whole year, is no longer white.

So my brilliant idea, was to paint the tops of the desks with chalk board paint.

GENIUS!

Thank you Sheila for sharing your paint with us!

Two coats of chalkboard paint later, and some nice new handles from Menards (that came with a rebate, no less),  we have a brand new desk.

I love the fresh new look.

Seth loves his new desk and he thinks the chalk board top is pretty cool. I was smart enough to repaint the top of Tate's desk with chalk board paint too. Now they both have fun desk tops and a good work space to do their school work at.

Yippee! We're off to a great start to a brand new year (even if we're a little late)!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what we're doing.

What have you been up to?

We'd love to hear about it.

-Jana



A New Start To A New Year

Just thought I'd share a few photo's of my students this year.

Funny, they look a lot like my students last year. 

Just a little older and a little wiser.

This month, we started our school year, although it has begun a little slowly.  We are okay with that.

We are starting a new curriculum, a whole new program in fact, with the school district in Antigo.  Part of the fun of being in on the ground level of a new program, is working out all the kinks.  So our curriculum is trickling in.  However, that has given us an opportunity to ease into the year, which has been nice.

It also gave me a little more time to focus on my Kindergartner.  We started a new program, a virtual curriculum, called Little Lincolns.  So far it has been going really well, and has been just what we needed to grab the Doodles' attention and get him excited about learning.

Can I just say that I am so blessed to have an entire room dedicated to home schooling my children?

Well, I am. 

I love it. 

It is a bright and cheerful place for us to learn together. It has enough room to store all of our supplies right there so we don't waste time hunting down books and scissors and stuff. Plus, I can close the door on the mess instead of having to clear it off the dining room table each day. 

I also want to say that I have the best students.

Most days.

Home schooling has been an unexpected blessing.  This isn't what I planned to be doing originally, but I am really thankful for this extra time with my boys.  It is exciting to be the one who helps foster their love of learning and gets to watch their eyes light up when they are interested in a subject. 

It's a hard job. 

But it is also a rewarding one.

It would probably be even better if I possesed more patience.

But, maybe that's why God has me home schooling.

So I can develop that quality.

See, everyone is learning something in this school!

So here's to a new year full of exciting adventures in learning!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jana



No More School!

As of June 1 we were done with school!!!!!!

As in finished, completed, over, achieved, concluded, executed, finale, terminated or however else you would like to say it. (see, I learned something this year too!)

Although we had a good year, I am glad to be finished. 

So are the boys.  Want to see?

Seth had to be a bit of a shyster, of course. 

However, I think the joy really radiates off of Tate and Wyat.  No guessing how they feel about school being over. 

In fact, Tate looks a little maniacal. Maybe I pushed him a little too hard at the end?

We celebrated by going out to eat that night as a family.  We went up to Pickerel for a fish fry at the Hill Stop.  I made sure to tell my boys how proud I was of all the hard work they had done that year.  Wanted to end things on a good note you know. 

Maybe then they would kind of forget what a crazy mother they sometimes have. 

Overall, I love home schooling my boys.  I love being with them and sharing a love of learning with them.  I love being the one who teaches them a new concept.  I love being the one who gets to see the light bulb come on after working hard at understanding something new.  I love to get hugs from my oldest son all day long.  I love hearing them laugh in the middle of the day, even when they are supposed to be quiet.  I love to see their excitement. 

Yeah, there are bad moments.  Yeah, I lose my patience (probably too much).  Yeah, it can be hard. 

But none of those things override the good things. 

The good far outweighs the bad. 

And I am glad.

Glad summer is here!

It's time for a break!

Don't you agree?

How do you celebrate the end of a school year?

I'd like ideas for next year.

The Checkered Churn

So I told you that my sister was up visiting me a couple weekends ago.

We had a couple of things on our weekend bucket list.  Three of which we were able to check off in one day. Score!

Today I'll update you on the first item we checked off the list:

1. Visit cousin at her restaurant:

    

Our cousin Kitty owns a charming luncheon restaurant and coffee shop. It's located downtown in Merrill, WI.  They call it The Checkered Churn, and they serve the most delicious lunches everyday from 11:00 - 2:00.  Everyday the menu is filled with fresh new entrees you didn't have the chance to eat day before. They are especially well known for their amazing rolls that are baked fresh daily in the store and used to make the yummiest sandwiches.

 Here the kids are posing with the daily menu. Unfortunately for you they covered it up so you can't see what the choices were.

  

Wyat and Ian enjoyed a little PB & J on one of the Churns yummy rolls. 

Jen opted for the 1/2 & 1/2.  That means you get 1/2 of a yummy wrap and also a 1/2 sized bowl of soup.  Mmmmm.

I opted for the full size sandwich.  Actually, it was supposed to be a wrap, but I love the rolls so much I had them make it on that instead of a tortilla. I mean if you're going out to eat, you may as well enjoy it to the fullest right? This had a cream cheese spread with a hint of pineapple in it, chicken, lettuce, and maybe some other yummy things in there, I can't remember exactly now. I just remember that it was delish!

Here the kids are being delightfully well behaved while Jen and I sat with Kitty catching up on the latest family news.  We were there for over an hour and a half and the kids were fantastic.  We only had 4 of them along, Tate and Lincoln stayed behind, but still, kids usually go a bit stir crazy when their moms are sitting around talking for that length of time.

And of course the kids needed to have a picture taken with 'the Kitty'.  It is always incredibly confusing for them when we tell them we are going to visit Kitty.  As you may guess, they have a hard time remembering that this is actually a person and not a small furry pet.  We have suggested that the Churn get a honorary 'Kitty' to dwell in the restaurant so the children don't have to be so confused (and slightly disappointed) each time we go, but we've been turned down. 

Something about health codes etc., etc.

Stay tuned, in the next post I'll tell you more about our 2nd bucket list item: the Museum

Home School Field Trip - part 2

Beginning where we left off:

After the Leigh Yawkeye Woodson Art Museum, I wanted to take the boys out for a special treat.

Sweet Lola's is a cupcakery in the square in downtown Wausau.

I really love the square. The city developers and the business owners have done a great job of making the square a cool place to dine, shop and find entertainment.

Back to Sweet Lola's. 

The boys have never been a to a cupcakery before. I loved watching their faces as they perused the baked goods through the case.  Seth and Wyat changed their minds at least once.

It was even better watching these boys of mine devour their sweet treats.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm. . . . .

Mmmmmmmmmm . . . .

 Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

It's obvious that he enjoyed his cupcake by the evidence on his face.

 I enjoyed mine too. (Although I tried to keep it off my face)

It was worth every calorie.

I got the chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting.

(Please excuse the blurry photo.  Tate is still working on his photography skills.) 

The cupcakse were good to the last bite. 

We all cleaned our plates and then licked the rest of the frosting off of them. (you would too)

Of course we couldn't enjoy all this deliciousness and not bring any home for Troy.

Fortunately, they have really adorable to-go boxes.

Thanks for the treat Sweet Lola's.

We'll be looking forward to our next visit.

Oh, I brought a cupcake called Irish Car Bomb home for Troy.  He was sweet enough to share it.

Let's just say, the frosting was divine.

If they are serving Irish Car Bomb next time I go, that will be the one I get.

I'll be having sweet memories of this home school field trip.  Who wants to join us next time?

Home School Field Trip

On Friday, the boys and I decided it was the perfect opportunity for us to go on a field trip.

This is another wonderful aspect of home schooling. We can pick when and where we want to take our field trips.

Over in Wausau, there is an Art museum called the Leigh Yawkeye Woodson Art Museum.
This museum is a hidden treasure.  They bring in new art exhibits every few months, but what really makes them a gem is their passion for making art, kid friendly. They even have a room in the basement designated just for kids and to play.  One of the best things about the museum, besides the activities they plan for kids around the current art exhibit, is the fact that there is no admission fee.

So let me spell it out clearly for you, they love kids, and it doesn't cost anything.

All this equals a perfect field trip opportunity.  Especially because of the current art display:

Does this book look familiar to anyone?  The artwork inside it is truly spectacular.  Very colorful,  full of imagination and whimsy, and extremely detailed. The art exhibit was all about the paintings that are the originals for the illustrations in the book. The artist, James Turney, really put a lot of time, planning, and creativity into his art. The art work is really spectacular.

I was especially interested in taking the boys to this exhibit because my boys have liked dinosaurs for a long time. Tate especially went through a serious dinosaur phase, where I'm sure he had most of the names of the dinosaurs memorized, even though he could hardly speak well enough to pronounce them.  I saw this as a perfect opportunity to expose them to an art museum, but with the ability to keep it interesting for them.

The museum also has a wonderful garden full of statues located along the paved walking path. Unfortunately both times we've been at the museum, the weather has been poor and we haven't really been able to enjoy it as much as we could.  We need to plan a trip when the flowers are in bloom and the weather is fair.

The kids really enjoyed the museum.  They liked the dinosaur paintings a lot. It was a good opportunity to draw their attention to different styles of art. It also gave me the opportunity to build into them a little appreciation for art and to inform them of many of the steps that go into the creation of a painting.

After our foray into the arts, I wanted to take the boys for a special treat. 

I had just the place in mind:

Sorry, but you'll have to wait for the next blog post to get the details.

Saturday Morning Chef

We are reaching new levels of independence in the Beaber home.  Today, we were treated with a home made breakfast. 

Pancakes.

Tate has been showing interest in working in the kitchen. 

Of course we want to encourage this. 

So today, he wanted to make breakfast all by himself.

The parents stayed out of the kitchen while he was measuring ingredients and mixing up the batter.  He did have the help of the brotherhood watching over his shoulder.

We heard a couple of random, slightly concerning comments coming from the kitchen, such as:

"Oops, that was a little too much. Oh well, it's o.k. if you have a little too much."

After mixing, he needed some parental intervention.  We had him make the recipe for 1 1/2 batches. So he had to do a little math as he went. When he was done, they were a little thick. Turns out he forgot to add the extra milk. And he may have added too much baking powder. We know he added too much of something.

Our pancakes are not usually this fluffy.

He not only learned about mixing and cooking, but about flipping. In all fairness, his dad poured the batter onto the griddle into huge pancakes.  Bigger pancakes than he ever makes when he's cooking breakfast.  So, there was a flipping error that resulted.

Whoops! Don't worry, it's all good!

Here he is, measuring out his own pancakes. 

Substantially smaller pancakes than his dads.

Here is the finished project!  Mmmm. All in all, a delicious and wholesome breakfast, cooked by my oldest son. Plus, it had the added benefit of being a great learning experience. Everything makes a great learning experience when you are a home schooler. Just this morning he tackled math, physics, and other science concepts. Not to mention reading comprehension and following directions.  

I bet the next time he makes breakfast, they will taste even better!

Now, when is he going to start making supper?

It's Fun to Play at the YMCA!

Last week we decided to make our own field trip (just one of the many blessing of home schooling). We really wanted to go somewhere we could burn some pent up energy since the winter weather keeps us indoors more than we are used to.  I get to the point where I just can't handle the kids running wild through the house anymore.  So I called up my sister and asked her what our options were down in the Fox Valley, where she lives. She discovered that the YMCA sells a day pass for $14.00 a family (plus the lady at the desk let my sister, mom, and I all count as one family!). You can even use the day pass at all of the YMCA locations in the valley area, there are 3 of them. Woot! One of the Y's has a gymnastics room. That's where we decided to go first and spend most of our time. Let me just tell you, it was so much fun!!!! The boys LOVED it. Plus it was really fun to watch them experience all of the fun gymnastics equipment. They had never had an opportunity to jump off of a trampoline into a foam pit, swing on the bar, run and jump on a spring board, and the spring floor, well, it was more fun for me than for them. The kids wouldn't stand still long enough for me to take a picture that didn't turn out fuzzy.
It was a great way to spend the morning, and even more fun because my sister, her kids, and my mom joined in the fun too. Then in the afternoon we went to another Y and let the little kids play in a fun indoor play park while the bigger kids went to the splash pad.
Let me just tell you, those kids slept GOOD that night.
We are definitely going to have to go back at least one more time this winter. I was pleasantly surprised to see Bible verses posted on banners and on the t.v. screens through out the buildings.  I didn't realize that the Y promoted their Christian foundation so boldly. Yay!
Next time, I am going to spend more time jumping off that trampoline into the foam pit. I felt like a kid again. And the spring floor, well, let's just say, my inner gymnast really wanted to bust out. I may have let her if I wasn't sure it would result in some serious sprains or even a broken bone or two.
Whoo Hoo!