It has been super crazy here in the Bond household. As much as there has been going on, I haven't really felt like blogging. Mostly because I feel like I say the same old thing all the time. I talk about school with the boys, soccer with the boys, etc. I'm sure everyone gets tired of hearing about all of that! So, I will just give a quick update on what's going on and we shall see how it goes!

Wally (19): Has been home from college for a while now. To earn money for his upcoming missions, he is working at McDonald's and delivering newspapers. He will be leaving in January to serve in Milan, Italy! We are super excited at this wonderful opportunity! Temporarily he has been in the community theatre, but this is his last weekend, so hopefully he will start catching up on some sleep!

Pokemon King (14): Just started public high school a few weeks ago. Sadly, he got a late start due to a move, but he is fitting right in. He's thinking of joining the German club. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do soccer this season. He couldn't try out for the school team, because we weren't in the district yet and the local soccer group didn't have enough interest for the select team and the recreational team plays on Sundays. So, he's pretty sad about that. We are hoping to get him in indoor somewhere soon.

Dinodude (11): Soccer, soccer, soccer! That pretty much sums up Dinodude's life. He joined the select team so he has 2 practices a week and games on the weekends. This weekend is the final tournament until Spring. Other than that he is currently in 6th grade homeschool and doing pretty well. He's a big help with his brothers as well.

Rocket (7): He, too, plays soccer. His soccer is like the select team only they call it the academy. Rocket's practice is the same day as Dinodude's and the same place, so that works out extremely well! His soccer skills have improved so much since he started. We are very proud at how far he has come and grateful we decided to do the academy instead of the recreational.

Chaos (4): Is still very chaotic. He just started playing soccer this season. He is a mini-Dinodude. Soccer is definitely his sport. He knows what to do and how to do it. It's like he's been playing for years. Well, I guess he has!

Bond and I have just been cruising along. Working, schooling, transportation, etc. Kids just keep us busy, but at least we stay out of trouble!

I can't believe it's April and I haven't blogged since January! Apparently the Bond family is super busy these days. So, here's the latest happenings.

Wally comes home from BYU in 5 days! Yes....5 days!!! We are so excited to have him home. We've missed him so much. Sadly, four days after he comes home, he will undergo surgery to fix an ACL tear. Poor guy....he tore his ACL doing a heel kick. Guess he'll think twice before he does that again! But, he wants to get it done before his mission. I don't blame him. All that walking and biking.....he's going to need that ACL in one piece!

Soccer season has crept its way into our lives again. Pokemon King, Dinodude, and Rocket are all playing this year. Pokemon King and Dinodude do some traveling, too, so that makes it even more interesting! We dread the day they all have games at the same time in three different places! Chaos will get to play in the fall. Until then, he's practicing up a storm!

So, for now we are just trucking along. As far as homeschooling, we are slowly getting things accomplished. I think we've hit the homeschooling blah season. But, we already took off a few weeks in February and March. I think we are just having trouble getting back into our routine. Hopefully, we will get into the swing of things here soon. After all, if we keep taking time off, we'll have to school through the summer and I know the boys don't want to do that!

Happy New Year

Another year has quickly come and gone. Wally is now back at college. Even though he was here for almost 3 weeks, he was so busy. I feel like I completely missed him. It was still nice to have him back. Poor guy, though. Shortly before he came home he did something to his knee. After a trip to the doctor, he found out he tore his ACL! How, you might ask? By doing a heel kick. Only Wally! It appears that he will need to have surgery. He is going to finish out his college year, then do it shortly after he comes home.

In addition to Wally's injury, Dinodude has broken, yet, another bone! This time his right thumb. How, you might ask, did this happen? For Christmas, the boys got an Xbox Connect. While playing one of the games, he fell and landed right on his thumb. Three breaks in roughly a four month period. That's got to be some kind of record, right?

Other than that, we had a pretty nice Christmas. Here are a few snapshots. After we downloaded the pictures and videos, we realized we had mor videos than pictures, so there aren't a whole lot of actual photos. Maybe next year!

It's All Relative Friday

Since it's Relative Friday, I'm going to jump and shout that....


WALLY IS HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

We picked him up from the airport on Wednesday evening. It was so awesome as we pulled up and there he was...sitting on his suitcase! I almost couldn't believe my eyes! It seemed like years, but also hours that we saw him last. He had some excitement trying to get here. First, he missed the first bus, so he had to get on a later bus. His directions seemed foreign to the bus driver, so the bus driver told him he should get on a train. So, he gets on the train, but shortly after realizes he left his ipod on the bus! He calls the bus company and they tell him he has to wait 24 hours. Wonderful! Not too much longer he gets a call from the guy who found his ipod! Yeah!! Only in Utah, right? So, he's going to send it to him. Then, he gets on his final bus to take him to the airport. On one of his rides, some lady starts talking to him like she's known him for years! Smile and nod....smile and nod! He gets to the airport with 4 minutes to spare! As he's approaching the terminal, the airport people are yelling at him. "Wally!! Hurry up!!! We've been waiting for you!!!" I guess they knew he was the last passenger and were cheering him on! So, he made it safely home!

As soon as we pull up in the driveway, 2 people approach us and it happens to be 2 of his friends from high school! Wally is extremely surprised! They came in and stayed for a while to catch up. I'm not sure how long they stayed, though!

Yesterday, he hung out at the high school visiting his friends and teachers. Then, later for the chorale concert and the tradition of Steak 'n' Shake afterwards. It's so nice to have him home...hopefully he can make some time for us, too!!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday's Ten

Ten Things I Love About Christmas...

1. Although Christ wasn't actually born on Christmas, I love being able to celebrate his wonderful birth!
2. Wally comes home from BYU!
3. Giving gifts.
4. Baking and decorating cookies.
5. Giving away alot of the cookies we baked and decorated.
6. Eating the rest of the cookies we baked and decorated.
7. The smell of Christmas. Not sure what that means, but sometimes there's an apple/cinnamon smell, a pine smell, or mulberry smell that reminds me of Christmas.
8. Watching my boys open their presents.
9. Watching Christmas movies.
10. Spending time with family.

Tuesday's Ten

Top Ten Reasons to Homeschool....

I know there are tons more reasons to homeschool, but here are a few that I'd like to share:

1. We can take breaks whenever we need them. Doesn't matter if it's a few minutes or a few days. If we need it, we can take it!
2. We don't have to sit up straight at a desk for long periods of time. Who in there right mind can even do that?! Even adults need to get up and move around.
3. Along with #2, we are not confined to one room. We can do our school in the schoolroom, on the couch, on our bed, in the hallway, in the basement, in the bathroom (Pokemon King, LOL!) or anywhere else that we can think of. I have a picture of one of the boys sitting in a storage box reading. The possibilities are endless!
4. We can read scriptures, say prayers, and say the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety and not worry about offending anyone!
5. Two words: Sleeping In!
6. If something is interesting we can learn more about it during school and not have to wait to do it on our time.
7. We can finish our math problems in class and not have to take them home for homework! This goes for anything. If we are in the middle of something interesting, we don't have to stop it just because the bell rang. We can keep going until WE are finished or ready to move on.
8. We don't have to wait for the rest of the class to finish before moving on. Since we don't have to do this, we won't constantly get into trouble because we can't sit still at a chair doing absolutely nothing. (This happened to Wally when he was in elementary school. He completed his test or assignment and kept making noises and shuffling his feet because he had a hard time sitting still. The teacher would not let him get up or even get a book out to read. He had to sit there and wait for the rest of the class. Seriously???? That is just plain ridiculous! What child, especially a boy, can just sit in a chair and do nothing?!)
9. We can move at a faster or slower pace.
10. One word: PAJAMAS!!!