Before I begin, I wanted to mention that I agree with Jane Ramsey regarding Affectionate bug.  It really does look like the pics of Syrphid Flies I googled online.  Thanks Jane

Our new school year is now almost three weeks old.  We actually homeschool year round, however, it is much less structured in the summer, a few weeks around Christmas and Easter.  Anyway, we barely started and I feel burned out already.  Maybe it is just me.  I have been having very, very vivid dreams that leave me tired when I wake up.  None of them seem really interesting, just real.  Then I am hormonal and not pregnant.  My children don’t appreciate how I have tried to set things up to be fun while educational.  I am tired and can’t seem to overcome a feeling of blah.  I feel out of focus and drifting.  Time seems to just move on, unmarked, unnoticed.  Thursday while studying the time of Moses and Joshua we made Nubian houses from clay.  It was something I have been looking forward to all summer and well it felt flat.  I couldn’t be in the moment. It was like I just wanted to get it done, to check it off the list.  I had so many fun little things we could have talked about and shared while working but nope I just treated it like something I just wanted to get done for the sake of getting it done.  Here are a few pics to show that, although I felt flat, at least the kids enjoyed the work. 

This one shows Aubrey detailing her home’s wall. 

And here she is relieved that it is done and looks great.   She tends to worry that she will not be able to make things as pretty as she would like.  Art frequently stresses her.  That is probably because, for at least the first 6 years of her life, I wanted to do it for her so it would look prettier. :-(  It is tough being the first born.

Here is Joshua with ours :-)  OK I helped him with his.  We did it together :-)  I did one side he did the other and no, I did not “fix” his side :-). He plans to use it to house a lizard (anole) and a beetle.

Joshua decided he liked working with clay and stick so he built a fort “for Max” uh huh :-P   Surprise!!!  I found a few beetles trapped in it at bed time.  Oh, that reminds me.  Today Joshua and Max spent some quality brother time outside catching things.  At one point Joshua told me they found a beetle larva.  I was distracted said “thats great son” and went back to what I was doing.  Several hours later I am sweeping the dinning room (we have new floors I am obsessed with cleaning them), anyway, I am sweeping the floor when what do I find squiring around under mt dinning room table ?  Yup, I huge beetle grub.  My outside yelled “Joshua, come get your beetle larva out of my house and never bring any bugs uncontained in here again”.  Inside I was soooo happy to have a fellow bug affectionado

Well, on that happier note I am going to go put Max to bed.