Fair Day

Working hard at the fair. . . . . .

Emily and Jesse taking a relaxing train ride. . . .

First time around was fun. Last time, not so much. . . . .


Sharing a treat!

Buggy fun

Tractor fun!

It was a long day full of all sorts of fun. Who doesn't love a fair?! There were animals of all sorts, snow cones, cotton candy, popcorn. . . . even sledding on California style snow. . . . . chopped up ice in an air conditioned hall. That was a welcome relief from the hot weather.

We spent more time shopping than most years, but that's for another post.

First day of school, sorta

So rounding out our busy week was first day of school---sorta. When you are homeschooled, that "first day of school" is kind of hard to pin down. Fortunately for us, we have "Friday School" with our homeschool group, and can use that for 'first day' pictures.

Here's the gang, on our way to Friday School

This year we have a huge variety of classes being taken in our family! Emily is helping in a younger kids art class, taking a card making class, and teaching a younger kids cooking class. Her comment to me on teaching "it's not as easy as I thought it would be" : )

Rebekah is taking gymnastics, writer's workshop and California History. She's not sure which is her favorite. She came straight home and started working on the homework for writer's workshop!!

Hannah is also taking gymnastics, as well as cooking and orchestra! She wasn't sure she would like orchestra, since she's the youngest (the age spread is at least 8 years!), but it turned out to be a really good experience. So good, in fact, that she came home and practiced for a half an hour!

Johnny is getting in on the action this year. He is taking art, preschool ; ) and Lapbooking with Children's literature. He said he liked the painting the best.

I think Jesse liked the park the very best.

All in all it was a very full first day of classes. In fact, so busy and full that I'm glad we only have it once a week!

Busy week

Well I guess it is really back to the fall schedule. What a week we have had!!! For homeschool we learned all about atoms, how small they are, and how everything is made of them. We also learned what protons, neutrons and electrons are, but haven't quite grasped all that they are doing underground in Europe along those lines.

A very memorable moment was Wednesday when I announced that we were going to learn about the concept of "Bouyant Force". I was met with sighs and eyerolls! Can you believe it? I asked what all the attitude was about, and Rebekah informed me that they knew all about that. I thought I'd call her bluff, and asked her to teach ME what it was all about. And she did. Scary thing is that Emily and Hannah added things to the lesson. So I guess that objective was checked off.

Emily brought it to my attention that they learned all this from Ruff Ruffman, a kids show on PBS. Hmmmm. Her comment "See Mom, TV really IS good! C'mon girls, I think Ruff is on."

Hey wait, save me a seat! Maybe this will streamline my planning for next week's lessons!

Mystery Revealed

We've had a mystery around here lately. Jesse keeps breaking out as if he is reacting to some food, but we can't figure out what it might be. Of course, he "finds" all sorts of things if they are dropped, and that's what we had thought was causing the reactions. Maybe in part, but we solved the mystery this week. . . .

Jesse has learned how to open the back sliding screen door. . . . . dog food has both beef and dairy in it (two things he reacts to). I'll let you figure out the rest (yuck).

Modern Conveniences

We are so blessed in this country! I love all the "modern conveniences" that we take for granted so often. Before the summer started, we were having a small plumbing problem. One we've had before, but it crops up from time to time and has to be dealt with. Over Labor Day weekend, we finally had a neighbor who is a plumber come over, and snake the pipes. What a thrill it has been to do laundry this last week!! All summer, we had to listen while the washer was running, and make sure it didn't overflow during the rinse cycle. There are 2 rinse cycles in EACH wash you know : ) It seems like pure luxury now to just toss laundry in, turn it on and go!

Some other things that came up over the summer. . . . . we noticed that the dishwasher just wasn't doing a good job. Most dishes would get washed, but some were not. The number of "not washed" dishes got more and more. Ugh. Do you know how many dishes a household of 7 makes every day? Add in a few extra dishes that the baby gets out of the low cabinet, throws on the floor and then walks on, carries off etc etc. Having said that, I can wash dishes, not a huge deal.

Well, not unless you factor in that the water heater was also on it's last legs. Hand washing dishes, with not much hot water, now that's more challenging: Step 1, boil/heat water on stove, Step 2, fill sink with hot water, Step 3, wash dishes. . . rinse and repeat until all of them are done!

So now we are in need of a dishwasher, and a new hot water heater. Hmmm, what's up with the fridge? Not completely cooling things? Freezer seems like it isn't doing a great job either. What about the rust under the "through the door" water and ice dispenser. Ugh. Add a fridge to the list of major purchases. . .

Last weekend we made our major purchases. . . . water heater, fridge, dishwasher. We were very happy that the timing was right for Labor Day sales, and that we had a coupon : ) Unfortunately (of course) the fridge had to be ordered, but they could deliver it all at the end of the week. The waterheater was actually purchased separately, but by the time we found the right one, we had to wait to put it in. All week I waited for a call from the appliance delivery people. . . .

Saturday, John spent the entire day putting in the water heater! Yikes! The new waterheater is bigger than the old one (our family is bigger than it was before!), and didn't fit correctly with the plumbing/gas lines from the other one. In replacing this, my poor husband hurt his back! However, at the end of the day, he won the battle, and we have really HOT water. . . to wash dishes with!

While he was installing the waterheater, I was on the phone trying to find out what "the end of the week" means, and where are the appliances!!! The kind gentleman on the other end of the phone said I'd be getting a call that night, for Sunday delivery. He said the dishwasher had just gotten in stock Friday. Hmmmm, when we bought the stuff, we had been told we could take the dishwasher THAT day, and wait for the fridge. Interesting. Oh, and in my book, Sunday is the first day of the week, and the end of the week is Thursday-Saturday.

So Sunday, the dishwasher and fridge did indeed arrive, and poor John spent the better part of the afternoon pulling out the old stuff, and putting in the new. The kids were very disappointed to find out that appliances don't seem to come in big boxes anymore : ( We were disappointed to find that the fridge has a dent in the side! Not a huge dent, but I'm still hoping for a partial discount!

To make this long story even longer, our new fridge is in, and beautiful. Lots of room which is wonderful. The dishwasher is in, and has successfully washed (and actually cleaned) it's first load of dishes.

I love modern conveniences! I think I'll go get a drink out of the new fridge, and start yet another load of laundry with HOT water, that will drain through the pipes!!

Back to school. . . . or not!

The last few years, our family has had a tradition of a "NOT back to school day". The day all the neighborhood kids go back to school, and Dad goes back to work, we take off and do something fun. This year we went out for breakfast, then to the beach. It was a wonderful day for it--hot at home, and nice at the beach!

This was Jesse's second trip to the beach, and he did NOT know what to think of the sand. He wanted to get down, and I was careful to make sure he was on cool wet sand, but no go. This went on several times: squirming, I set him down, he grabs my leg and cries, I pick him back up. After we had been at the beach for a while, he finally did get down and explore. Once he figured out what it took to walk on the sand, there was no turning back. I'm not certain, but I think every inch of him was covered in sand. I was amazed at what a good sport he was too! He got sand in his face, wiped his eyes and mouth (crunch, crunch) and it just didn't bother him all that much. In fact, when I changed him to go home, he was giggling!

Emily found one of the largest sandcrabs I have ever seen. No lie, this thing was at least 3 inches long. Could have been an appetizer if you eat those sorts of things (ick!). Sadly, the picture I took didn't come out well. Ah well, there was much more to enjoy than the sandcrabs!

A great day was had by all. Well mostly. There was a down side. Apparently someone didn't do such a great job with the sunscreen application. I should mention that this picture is just one representation of the down side of the day. Fortunately it is only representing 3 of us, the other 3 somehow had better/more effective sunscreen!

So here's to a great school year! We're off to a roaring start.