Thursday

While Dan is deployed I'm trying to "make memories" with the children.  I decided to try and take a field trip each week.  Thursday is the best day since we have no other activities or commitments.  We were going to go to the zoo, but I wanted to stay inside because of the sunburn.  Hickam AFB has a really nice bowling alley so I thought that would be a good idea.  I told the boys to wake up and do their school work right away so we could get going before it got crowded for lunch. 

Things did not go so well.  The boys did not focus and kept playing around.  I was surprised because they usually get school done really quickly when there's something else they want to do.  As the morning went on I realized that this has been a problem for awhile.  They figure that if they just keep putting it off I'll forget and let them do what they want.  Well...no.  That's not how it's going to be.  They even told me, "I'm just going to do my schoolwork after we get back from bowling".  That was not an option!  I got quite frustrated and we got started to the bowling ally about 2 hours later than I had planned. 

I ended up making these to help the boys and I be more accountable about their school work.  Everyone wants to eat lunch so hopefully it will be good motivation!  Sorry it's sideways. 

We finally did make it to the bowling alley.  It was actually good that we were late.  Right after we got there 4 bus loads of kids left and they turned off the horrible, offensive music and put the lights back on.  It was fun and we all laughed when Mareea got the highest score of anyone.  Sure she used bumpers and the track to push the ball down, but still! 

Here is a picture of Mr. Ashton washing dishes for the first time.  Our dishwasher is broken so the boys are taking turns washing dishes each night.  I am so thankful for paper plates and bowls.  It's silly, but I would have never thought to teach them to wash dishes by hand if this had not happened.  I'm glad it did so that they can learn and not be like me...i had no idea!  I'd always had a dishwasher so when Dan and I were in our first apartment I didn't know you were supposed to fill the sink to wash the dishes and I would just let the water run forever as I did it.  My wonderful husband filled me in on how to save water.  Washing the dishes brings back memories of that apartment and our first year of marriage.  We had so much fun.  I loved that apartment...as little as it was.