Me: “Ohhhkaaayyyy….”

Eli: “My good deed is that I sneak around and refill the soap bottles when no one is looking!”

(Have I mentioned lately how much I love that kid?)

Me: (Laughing) “Well, I think that is awesome. I sure wish the Soap Spartan would drop by the kitchen today.”

Eli: “OK!” (Running off to get the refill bottle from the bathroom.)

I knew that I would love being a Mom, but I had no clue how utterly entertaining it could be!

I guess one could say that each number was cool, big, nice and “graet”.

When asked about the misspelling of “great”, he said, “Mom…you always taught me, ‘When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and says it’s name.’ So, it can’t be spelled ‘g-r-E-a-t’….then it would be pronounced ‘greet.’”

I just love homeschooling!

(My goofy boy modeling last year’s Halloween glasses.)

We have a handy-dandy globe that shows all the features of the earth, but without labels. It’s very useful for reviewing geography, because they can’t just read me the names like they could on a traditional globe. We used it today to review the names of continents and oceans. Eli, in a moment of forgetfulness, couldn’t recall the name of Antarctica.

I decided to give him a clue. “It’s the south pole….it’s ant…ANT….”

“Antarctica!” he shouted.

Then my little comedian smirked, pointed to the north pole and said, “So that must be Uncle Arctica up here!”

These kids of mine — they keep me laughing!

Behold Eli’s spelling page from today:

He overheard Zach and I discussing “picturesque” scenes as we worked on Z’s Vocabulary from Classical Roots lesson. So Eli got distracted and drew one scene we discussed: a picnic on a hilltop on a sunny day.

(The blue box above is where he drew the contrast between a stormy night on the left, and a sunny day on the right.)

But wait! That’s not all! Here is the illustration drawn sideways on the top of his spelling page. (Turned and conveniently labeled with arrows pointing to the various elements of his drawing.)

Should I be glad that he remembered the science documentary we watched, that featured the Shearwater, these amazing fishing birds that can dive up to 70 meters below the surface of the sea? Or should he be in trouble for goofing off and doodling, because we all know no public school teacher would put up with that?

I just find it so amusing, how both he and Zach are prone to doodling, just like their parents were. (OK, are!)  I guess that double-dose of artistic genes they received has to be expressed somehow?

Eli comes inside after playing outdoors for a few hours.

“Mom — I am starving! What can I have to eat?”

“I don’t know…I’m making dinner. Just have a cracker or something…”

“How about a piece of bread?”

“Sure. Fine. Have some bread.”

“I don’t know why I love it so much, but lately I just love having a piece of bread for a snack.”

(Pause)

“I’m like a duck or something…” muttering as he walks away, with a mouth full of bread.

Good heavens, that child cracks me up!

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of his creation. I think he did a fine job on his blue striped cat!

He was so funny about the eyes. “Yes, Mom, I want one to be bigger than the other, like in some cartoons. His eyes are closed because he’s yawning. And yes, I want to keep the rectangle shape around the circles because I think it is creative.” I love that my son marches to the beat of his very own drummer!

Eli’s been learning about North American animals. Yesterday, we talked about the red fox, and how the male is called a vix while the female is a vixen.

I’d forgotten that vixen meant “female fox” and told Eli that I’d most often heard it used to describe a mean, sneaky woman. But that it makes sense that the word names a fox since they are known for being sly.

Anyway, you know how it is with kids. You never really know if they remember little tidbits like that.

Fast-forward to this morning, when we’re reading the biblical story of Joseph and what Potiphar’s wife did to him. Zach commented on how dishonest she was, and then Eli goes, “Oooh…she was a vixen!”

I love these funny homeschooling moments!

Well, last week he was at it again. Only this time, it was playing a solo game of ball-less “football” at another beer display.

(What is it with this kid and beer displays?)

And, this time, instead of being totally mortified by his brother’s antics, Zachary insisted on capturing it on film! These kids of mine. They’re nuts. But apples don’t fall far from the tree, do they?

TOUCHDOWN!!!

After Eli’s first bite, he sighed contentedly and said:

“This yogurt! It’s LIFE-CHANGING!”

Life-changing yogurt. Oh-kay…

“Mmmm….about eight dollars.” (Each boy gets their age in dollars on payday twice a month, as an allowance. And Eli is not a saver!)

Eli was silent as he ate a few more bites of lunch.

“Hey! So when I’m 22, and I still live at home, I’ll get TWENTY-TWO dollars for my allowance!”

After we stopped laughing, we told him that though we love him, we hope he’s not still living at home at age 22, and if he is, he certainly won’t be getting an allowance from us.

“When you’re 18,” Donnie said, “The allowance stops.”

“No, I think when you have a job of your own, the allowance stops. And hopefully that’ll be around 16,” I said.

Eli hunched over, looking dejected.

“Man…” he muttered.

That kid’s a hoot!