Daddy's big, uh hum, helper...yeah, that's it!

"Anything you can do, I can do better...."

So, my poor husband can't go outside without his little helper anymore. As soon as Caroline hears the roar of the Husqvarna (yeah, I do know how to spell it...anyone impressed?), she shrieks, "I help Daddy mow!!!" and proceeds to dart out the back door. She rides on the "loud" mower for as long as Daddy can feel his legs, and then we whip out the ol' standby pushmower to get the last wee bits that need special TLC. This time, Caroline pulled out her "mower" and went everywhere he went. You go girl!

If only child labor laws weren't so darn strict...

Cute random picture

Ethan's first day of homeschool. Doesn't he look smarter already? I think his exact words after I took this picture were, "I'm bored". Seriously, I couldn't tell...

Let the games begin...

Okay, drumroll please, our first official day of homeschool was today. How was it, you ask? Well, thanks for asking and I will say, it was not as I thought it would be. I thought it would be, well, let me just paint you a picture....

Scene 1: (Harps playing in the background)

Mother, er um, teacher seemingly glides in like Mary Poppins, only in her Sunday best, and her pearls. Her son, eagerly awaits her instruction, and is full of bliss as he happily works on the perfectly planned lessons that his mother, um, I mean teacher has so thoughtfully prepared. They share wonderful times together as they work as a team. He is ever so grateful for all of the time and thought his teacher has put into his lessons, and thanks her over and over again. What a wonderful, fulfilling, fun-filled day of learning! The son thanks his mother/teacher endlessly and says that he can't wait for tomorrow's lessons. He gives his teacher a hug, a kiss on the cheek, and hops on his Schwinn to play a game of marbles down the street with Charles and Catherine.

Okay, REALITY CHECK...here is the real scoop.

Scene 1: (Middle child screeching in the background. Youngest child has crawled under the table and is eating Lord-knows-what. Son of teacher is still in pajamas and teacher is exhausted already)

Mother, er um teacher aims to get "class" started by 9:00. Begins at 10:00 after 30 minutes of yelling at son to "get yourself in here, NOW!". Teacher realizes at 10:01 that this is not what she had bargained for. By 11:00, we have one assignment half-finished because middle child won't leave eldest child alone, youngest child can't be found because he has learned to hide "Navy Seals" style, and eldest child is already bored out of his mind. By the end of first day mom is frazzled, discouraged, has lost an earring, needs Valium and a vacation, son/student is totally bored and is ready to "do some fun stuff", middle child/daughter is about to be put on Craigslist under "free stuff", and youngest child is delighting in the fact that he can now open all of the kitchen cabinets, make a symphony with the pots and spoons, unprogram anything that has a remote, and has eaten half his weight in day-old cheerios from under middle child's booster.

Mother re-evaluates the lesson plans and decides that she thinks this might be a bigger challenge than she thought...Mother then takes her Vicoden and blogs for therapy.

HELP ME!!!