FAIR!

Sho doesn't love the fair?! Every year we have a good time, and this year was no exception.

We visited the animals

Made rounds on the tractor. . . .

and even roped a few animals!

The kids all wrote book reports to earn free rides, and enjoyed that too. . .

Some discovered new strengths. . .

but for some it was a bit exhausting too. . .

What a great day we had.

Disaster

Okay, so it won't make the news, and there are much worse things that could have happened today. Nevertheless, this was a disaster to me. I was clipping right along this morning, started a second load of laundry, but left the lid open so I could add a few more things. As usual, I got distracted. When I went back finally, I looked in the washer and my heart sank. There, in the middle of all that water, was my coupon folder. It had been there for a while, because it had sunk.

Do you have any idea how many coupons I have? oh my, what a disaster. Wet paper is SO hard to salvage.

Of course, the kids were only too happy to stop their lessons and help me lay out the coupons to dry. Here are the results:

I guess I won't be making that trip to the store today. . . and I'll be sure to close the lid to the washer next time.

Violin Masterclass

Back in March, Hannah got to go meet and play for Michele George, at a Suzuki Masterclass. It was exciting and fun for her, so when Mrs. George came here for another Masterclass this weekend, both Hannah and Rebekah got the chance.






Each student prepared one piece and got to play it for Mrs. George. They got a short lesson from her, and got to listen in on all the other lessons. I was quite impressed that Hannah and Rebekah sat through THREE HOURS of lessons that day! They were rewarded by getting to play all together at the end.





Mrs. George had them play an arrangement of Pachelbel's Cannon in D, made so even the beginners could take a part. Actually, she called it Taco Bell's Cannon, which was very much appreciated by the young students, especially since it was lunchtime!

New Shoes!

Yay! Jesse has cute new shoes! Thanks to Sarah, Jesse is sporting some oh so soft cute truck shoes by Shoeszoo.

check out the details here:

http://uglygrayhouse.blogspot.com/2009/09/congratulations.html

Thanks again Sarah--so sweet of you!

Guy

So Jesse doesn't really like to talk much. If he can get by with just one or two words all the better. His vocabulary is becoming pretty big, but those words seldom get used more than one or two at a time.

Yesterday John had a student over to help him paint. John introduced the kids, including Jesse, and told them his name. For the rest of the day, Jesse called him "guy". That is his general name for most people outside of the family. "uh guy" can be anyone from the cashier at the grocery store, to his Sunday School teacher. Jesse is an unbiased kind of person, "guy" encompasses all ages and both genders.

So, if you come to my house and hear yourself referred to as "guy", now you'll know it is a term of endearment!

NOT back to school day 2009

Our annual holiday of the homeschooling kind finally rolled around again today. Usually for NOT back to school day, we go out to breakfast, then on to the beach, just our family. This year, we did something different.


first, it was off for a yummy breakfast!

After that, we headed for a local waterpark where fun was had by all!

We actually spent the entire day there. I mean, we got there when they opened, and left about 45 minutes before they closed. I was impressed that Jesse had a nice nap, poolside of course. The boys and I enjoyed NUMEROUS trips around the lazy river (thank you Lisa!). . . . . re-named by Johnny as "the wavy river". The girls spent time there, as well as the slides, and a little time on the little kids playstructure as well!

Our homeschool group went today as well, so everyone had friends to play with. What a great day. We are now all VERY tired, and a little sunburned--well some more than others!

One sad note was that Hannah's new beautiful bathing suit did not arrive in time for today's trip. Of course, what was waiting on the porch when we got home--yep, the new bathing suit. I guess we'll just have to go back to the park one more time before it closes for the season. Who ever heard of a waterpark in CALIFORNIA, closing for the season?!?

oh well.

Because I love free stuff!

Thought I'd post a link to a contest I'm going to enter!
http://uglygrayhouse.blogspot.com/2009/09/back-to-school-and-back-to-blogging.html

Funny how you find out friends have blogs, and you didn't even know. Now I have more to read!

I'm looking at a new pair of soft shoes for Jesse. As of last week he had 2 pair, but we lost one shoe (still hoping to find it around here) from one pair. The other pair I had to wash, after he stepped in something yucky. Never leave soft shoes out where the dog can get them : ( SO mad at our dog!!! This is the second time he's chewed up a pair of soft shoes! I guess he loves the feel of soft leather too. ugh.

So, I'm off to shop.

Tune in later for a report on "NOT back to school day" which is being celebrated here today!