Big B’s most recent paper:

“The Loch Ness monster.  Fact or Faked?  Truth or Legend?  Hoax or Real Fiction?

Nessis has captivated minds for centuries.  The monster without limits.  You may be asking in your head, “Nessi is just a legend and all legends aren’t that real.”  Right?  But let me say that all legends have a basis in truth because, first of all, all legends had to start somewhere in history so they have to contain truth in their bowels.  **YES!  he absolutely said this!!  i laughed so hard tears were rolling down my face.  luckily he thought i was laughing about something else and didn’t realize i was reading his paper**

There have been many reported sightings and a whole lot of mysteries of the lake.  One legends says that a water horse, Cor (Loch Ness Monster) would lure children on it’s back to ride it, but when the child got on, he couldn’t get off and then the beast would dive to drown the poor kid and then probably eat him.  My story is quite different.  Here let me tell you it now.

Legend has it that in Scotland, in a deep lake called Loch Ness, a monster dwells.  It’s name is Nesse.  She, like all reptiles, breathes air and like the dinosaurs she is warm-blooded.  Some times people in boats and along the shoreline see her head or her body or her tail when she goes up for air.  Sometimes she would go on land looking for new food, for I know that if all I ate was fish I would want something else after a while.  There are many different versions of what she looks like but the general description is that she is as big as an elephant with a gray body, a hump like a capsized boat.  She has a long tail with black and white bands on it and a long neck with a small head about the side of a horses with similar likeness full of sharp teeth and four feet like flippers with claws on all of them for gripping rocks and sand and dirt.  No one knows how she got there nor if she’s still alive or if she is pregnant for she may have had little babies.

The one way we know Nessie may be real is when Romans traveled to northern Scotland they met fierce, tattooed warriors called Picts.  The Picts were obviously fascinated by animals because they had standing stones that were carved with animals likeness.  The Romans all recognized the animal carvings but one.  One of the a prehistoric monster that the Picts believed that an ancient creature prospered in the lake.  But one thing’s certain and that’s that the ancient Picts believed in Nessie.

Over the years Nessi became famous.  She inspired pictures and books, even movies!

People over the years have disagreed and agreed on the existence of this monster,  But one thing is real and that is that Nessie is real in our minds and hearts.”

and Little L is writing a paper on wolverines.  here are a few of his illustrations:

and here is a picture of his manga dude, jake skullpass   Little L says when he grows up he is going to change his name to jake skullpass….

i sit down and do weekly lesson plans, one for each boy, in the evenings.  they are required to follow those lesson plans daily.  this builds responsibility.  and they feel so good when they get to check something off!

one of the things they do on a daily basis is “daily journal”…  i love this!  they are very creative boys and come up with the most fun stories.

here is one of big B’s stories:

“A thousand years ago when dragons ruled and eagles soared.  One day an eagle and a flame fought.  The flame and the eagle turned to ashes and what was brought up from the ashes was the offspring of fire and death itself.  The Phoenix!

“Whew! Those rocks are steep!” said a very young wizard dressed in orange and black robes in orange and black whose name was Aaron Ashshade. He got to a yellow cliff in which he was trying to get to.  “Finally! I –” What he saw literally took his breath away.  “Gagh!” He choked.  “Fire Cliff.” he said.

About a thousand miles below the cliff face a sea of lava and fire went out into nothing.  The sky was set into a forever sun set.  Suddenly a wave of heat hit Aaron.  Then came a shrill shriek like that of an eagle on fire!

“Whoa! A Phoenix!” The fiery bird took off and a single feather landed next to Aaron.  The feather was a bright yellow feather with a purple quill.   It was in a forever orange flame.  Aaron found a stick a head taller than him.  He took a strip of black leather and took the feather and tied it to the staff with the leather and walked away sealing the gate of fire forever.”

here is one of little L’s stories… he was suppose to use his spelling words in a short story

“What if… I could fly!  I would be cozy in the clouds.  I would fly over the ocean and shire.  I would fly over to merry kids frolicking, “la la la la la”.  I would fly to a vegetable garden, pick a vegetable and take a bite of the sweet juicy vegetable.  Then I would fly over some people getting married, frolicking while eating a vegetable.”

handsome hubby was diagnosed with testicular cancer on may 25th.  he had surgery to remove it on may 29th.  as far as we know he is now cancer free.  he will need to be checked every 3 months for the next 3 years to ensure this.  but we are hopeful.

i had my appendix out last week and have been down and out for the last 2 weeks.  i’m scheduled to work on sunday and can’t wait!  i’ve been so bored.

the boys are at their grandma’s house and have been for weeks!  they will still be there for several more weeks.  then as soon as they get home they will go to their other grandma’s house for 3 more days.  LOL!  life totally got in the way there!

through it all billy blaze has been my escape.  he is always so happy and joyful.  he is happy to see me, whinnying to me and so happy that i’m there to see him, to brush him and to play with him.

handsome hubby came out with me one day just before my surgery and took some pictures of billy blaze and i together.  they turned out really good!

the end!

even when they act like punks…

and in order to get a “nice” picture i have to have him be serious and look away…

lucky for me i have Big B.  who is all sweetness…

they climb chicken coops…

sometimes they are super duper athletic…

and sometimes they are very scary…

but i always love them.

that makes me happy…

so does this.

billy blaze AND instagram…  LOVE

enter homeschooling.  there are many many choices out there curriculum wise and we are researching and researching and researching.

in the mean time… as part of my research i came across this wonderful sweepstakes!  some of these wonderful prizes could really get our family heading in the right direction!!

Extreme Spring Sweepstakes | Home Educating Association.

today was really wonderful with billy blaze i took out the orange ball and the green ball and gave him some “free” time to play. i sat myself down behind a panel, on a pedestal to read my book. billy played for a few minutes then came and stood by me, head down, and just rested it was so nice that he would rather be by me than play with his ball!

then a young cowboy showed up to work a young horse in the round pen, so i hopped the panel and put my arm around billy’s face so he wouldn’t bug them as they came into the arena… billy was fascinated with the filly in the round pen so i let him explore her while i set up the playground.

when i was ready for him i played the catching game until he wanted to be with me instead of the filly. it didn’t take long! we played with the bridge, walking on it forward and then backing onto it, then standing on it. we played with the half barrel jump. he would walk up to it and very carefully prepare himself, then jump it and turn and face. it was pretty neat since it’s only one barrel and i had it pulled away from the wall. he could have gone around it….

then we played with the pedestal. i asked him to put his front feet on it, then move his hind end around, away from me, both directions.

we played with the cones, weaving at the walk and the trot. the figure of eight, softly and with lots of trust on my part. i barely moved, just pointed

we did some sideways over a couple of trotting poles lined up. we played sideways in front of the poles, then over the poles, both directions.

this is preparation for sitting up there!  did this yesterday   (photo by Kelly Robinson)

then we went back to the pedestal and i jumped up on him! he was a little naughty on the left side, wanting to bite my leg, very dominant. so i let him “run” into my foot. his whole attitude changed! i hopped off and he turned on his own and sidled right up to the pedestal so i could hop on. i would hop up on my belly, then wiggle around and swing my legs up. he would stand so nicely! i played some pushing passenger and let him walk around a little bit.

the barn owner and one of the older cowboys showed up to watch the younger cowboy with the filly in the round pen. they were very excited that i was up on billy! the barn owner couldn’t believe how quiet and accepting billy was of me up there. and how he handled me wiggling all around to GET up there i’m not sneaking around!!

i LOVE the look on my face in this one… this is the FIRST time i sat on billy blaze! (photo by Kelly Robinson)

after i sat up there and rubbed and rubbed and scratched and scratched, he yawned, licked and chewed, lowered his head when i asked, licked and chewed some more… it was lovely. i hopped off, took him over to some nice dirt, knelt down and he quietly laid down beside me and just hung out with me for over 5 minutes!!! that blew the barn owners mind! LOL

it was just the best day! talk about being in the zone….