When the rest of the world is on vacation

It slipped my mind that today was Martin Luther King Day. I remembered first thing this morning when my doorbell started to ring. It is hard to be a homeschooler when every other kid on the block has a holiday. What my kids don't understand is that, for the most part, they have the better end of the bargain as far as time off goes. The only thing they understood today was that they were chained to the homeschool table while every single child in the neighborhood soared past our driveway on a bikes, skateboards, and scooters. They understood that I was mean, math was long, and life was unfair. Not helping my case at all was the fact that the weather was absolutely fantastic today after a string of rather cold and windy days. I kept trying to lure them in with promises of shorter reading lessons, a history craft, and a "really fun" map of Assyria that they could color with any crayon they so desired.

It was a losing battle.

So, I compromised. We watched the "I Have A Dream" speech, covered our basics this morning, did history after lunch, then broke by 1:45 to go out and play. Truthfully, we got a decent amount done. However, I'm having a hard time getting back into a steady, productive pace since the start of the new semester. It seems every week there is some unexpected, very important reason to compromise our school schedule a bit. So today, I planned to do 11 hours of work straight with two five minute breaks to get us all caught up. (That's just about how ridiculous my expectations were.) When that doorbell started ringing early this morning, I saw my well laid plan go right out the window. I knew I was on borrowed time.

I think the neighborhood boys worked out a rotation to see who was going to come to our door next, begging me to set my captives free. About the seventh ring, I marched to the door, loaded for bear and ready to fuss at those boys for having all kinds of fun outside my house. But when I ferociously swung it open, there stood the adorable little toothless girl from across the street with her girl scout cookie order form. She is cute as a stinkin' button, and I immediately became deeply engrossed in calculating how far in debt I wanted to go for the sake of thin mints. The dog ran out, two little boys chased after her, and that was the end of school. There were scads of kids outside having a ball, and I decided if I couldn't beat 'em, I should join 'em.

I talked the boys into a walk around the block with Speedy Gonzales, who was sporting her brand new shoes. I love this picture. I think I'll call it Polka-dot lane.

I love these too. Makes me wish I had a big brother of my own. I hope he adores her forever.

That last one has me considering Buzzard's multiple requests to trim Emma's bangs. I'm not emotionally prepared to commit to a first haircut, but even I have to admit that she is starting to resemble Cousin It.

I decided to bake a batch of homemade cookies for the rootin' tootin' stinkers who foiled my plans for a marathon school day. These neighborhood pests are so naughty....and so fun to feed. They'll eat anything. They're like goats.

Warning...DO NOT click on this picture. You will be alarmed and disturbed by the amount of dirt caked under the fingernails of the grubby little hands clamoring to get a grip on my pristine baked goods. Boys are disgusting like that. Especially the naughty ones. Turns out, clean hands aren't necessarily a requirement if you're going to plop down in the middle of the dirt to eat your snack. This is why I can't grow pretty flowers.

It was a great day. Now tomorrow, the neighborhood rugrats are back to school. And I plan to go ring their doorbells all day long and ask their mothers how many minutes until they'll be home to play. :)