Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. Mxyl has turned into Dictionary Dude! Able to define long words within seconds! Able to expound on word derivations to all within earshot! Able to look up any word you say before the suffix has left your lips! Seriously, every time I turn around he has his head in the dictionary - not the kids' dictionary, either, it's the Webster's New World University Edition. The worst part of it is that I've always found dictionaries irresistible, so when he tells me, "Hey look at this!" I do. We're not getting a lot else done.

2. In related news, my mother has been avenged several times over for all those times she asked me to do something and I had my head in a book. I now have 4 1/2 children who will sneak off and read the moment I look the other way. It's great to have readers and all, but I can see why my Mom had certain regrets about teaching me to read. We're not getting much else done.

3. It's lily season! I have a number of favorite plants, but these lilies have to be near the top. There's something about lilies that I find enchanting. These don't have much fragrance, but the sight of them is a feast for me.

4.We're having a really colorful gardening season just now. We are harvesting red and yellow raspberries, blueberries, and pink currants. We also have strawberries, but they keep getting eaten by little black beetles, so we've eaten scarcely any from our garden. Anybody know how to stop little black strawberry eating beetles? We haven't been mulching, so I think that's part of the problem. Also, after a nice harvest of plums, our 5 year old Asian plum tree has suddenly died. Suddenly as in one day it was fine, the next every leaf on the tree was drooping and yellow. Anybody know what could have killed a tree that quickly?

5. Zorg has crossed over! He's a Webelo, now! Congratulations, Zorg! In case you don't know, Webelos is a two year program at the end of Cub Scouts, and a kind of transition towards Boy Scouts.

6. I am (more or less) done with our home school portfolios! I still need to go through and pick out some samples, but I am hoping to do that this afternoon. Doing portfolios always makes me happy, especially this time of year when it feels like we aren't getting a lot done. I go back through our (unfiled messy pile of) papers and realize that we did tons of cool stuff. I feel so much better about slacking off!

7. Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart! We had a ton of stuff planned, but Klenda woke up with a high fever. We've scaled back to a relaxing day at home, but we are keeping our special dinner: build your own mini-heart pizzas!

More with Jen!