OK...

I think next year when I am ready to order school curriculum I 'm just going to send my credit card and my list on over to Jamie! She seems to have a lot better luck with ebay than I do! Every time I would get close to winning an auction for the teacher book and DVD for Math U See ebay would remove the auction! I don't really understand why exactly but it's pretty frustrating! I did finally get it from HomeschoolClassifieds.com - all of it except for one Student Pack for $40 plus shipping. It's not exactly a GREAT deal but at least it's somewhat cheaper than new from the publisher. I will still have to get one Student Pack from the publisher for $20 plus shipping though.

So you see, I need Jamie's help! LOL

Library Woes...

Well, after being a week "overdue" the state catalog system is back up - but not working so well! I've had SUCH a hard time with getting my books back in order...before I took my books back today I think I had like $100 worth of fines! LOL Well, maybe not that much but probably close to $20...they were all credited because of the new system screwing things up but it's a little frustrating to say the least! I can't imagine what it's like for the libraries in the state with school started and things still aren't running right!

*About those promised pictures...my PhotoShow is screwed up because Bob had to reload the computer last week and now I need to find my key for it...I'm sure it's gone into oblivion and I will just be done using it. I'm going to hold out on the pictures until I can see if Bob knows where we put the darn thing. I hate using Slide or those other ones online because it takes so dag gum long to upload your pictures!*

Shopping for School Supplies

Today I have been collecting everything I need for the school year - it hasn't been easy or cheap! Aparently I'm not the only e-bayer that waits until the last minute for curriculum because a lot of what a want isn't available so I have been forced to buy them new...Grrr...I should learn from this and get my stuff together earlier next year but I'm sure I will be saying the same thing come this time next year! LOL

Here's what's on the "menu" for 4th grade:

Math: Math U See Delta
Science: A Beka Science Understanding God's World
History/Geography: 50 States Under God w/SD as individual State and A Beka My State Notebook
Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting Book D
English: Easy Grammar Grade 4
Spelling: Wordly Wise 3000 Grade 4

Other than A Reason for Handwriting these will all be new to us...I used A Beka with Jozie for K4 and K5 but I'm sure it's a bit more advanced than when we used it then! LOL

I am looking forward to our year actually starting with our new curriculum. We "started" unoffically last week with some multiplication and addition/subtraction memorization drills and we have been working through M is for Mount Rushmore that I mentioned in a previous post plus I'm having the kids read to me for a few minutes. Not half as much work that we will be doing once everything gets here so I'm sure they will be disappointed that their day is going to be much longer this year than it has in the past!

Jozie was pretty excite to go outside to play with her friends after she was done with her school work and her chores today because we were gone all weekend - only to be disappointed that they were all gone to school! LOL

We had a wonderful time this weekend with very little fighting between the kids. I will post more with pictures later this week...I was so tired when we got home yesterday and busy getting school stuff together today that I haven't even loaded my pictures onto the computer yet!

A Fun Filled Weekend Ahead!

Well, my kids are driving me nuts and I have decided to bring them on a mini-vacation! Doesn't that make perfect sense?! (Not really but we do a lot of things for our kids that don't make sense?!) I've been wanting to go to De Smet, SD to visit the Ingalls Homestead since we've moved here but haven't taken the time. So since we are studying SD history right now I've decided to take the weekend and go for a drive and a night. It will be busy! I'm hoping to get a covered wagon for the night at the Homestead or at least a Bunkhouse - doesn't that sound fun?! I couldn't tell if they allow campfires but that would be even more cool to sleep in a covered wagon for the night under the stars and tell stories around the campfire! The only downside is that Bob won't be able to go. :( He has to work all weekend. I would wait but his dad is coming next weekend for camping with us here and Luke also starts soccer next week so that won't leave us any free Saturdays until it's over. Plus I plan on going to Prairie Village on Sun. morning. It's the Jamboree this weekend so there promises to be a lot of knee slapping fun for all there!

Most of this stuff closes down after Labor Day as well and we don't want to miss it since we are so close! I figure an hour and a half drive isn't that bad. I found a place I really want to stay - Prairie Retreat - but it's too far out of the way for my plans. If nothing else I'd love to go just to support the ministry! How wonderful would it be to spend a couple of days on a farm?! If we had 2 or 3 nights I would seriously consider it!

So, enough with my plans! I've gotta go get some laundry done if I plan on taking clean clothes with us and I want to get some of our curriculum ordered today!

My New "Look"

I decided to change things up a bit and go with a back to school kind of template. I finally figured out how to fix things but had to redo all of my lists! I feel like I'm missing a couple of people! I don't have most of the links bookmarked of my blogs I read, I usually just start at my blog and go down my list. So with my limited memory banks lately I feel like I've forgotten someone! Oh well, I'm sure I will remember eventually...so if you are one of them let me know and I will add you back onto my list! :)

Belle's Arm Update

We went to the Dr. this morning and he said it's solid. It looks great and she is no longer under any restrictions. She was THRILLED to hear that she get's to ride her bike and scooter again!

Strong Family History

I had my first mammogram about a month ago after finding out that my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall. It's not just her but my grandma on that side and an aunt on the other side of the family. My grandma was quite worried about me so because of my "strong family history" my dr. said she would give me a referral to have one done.

I must say it's not a process that I care to repeat - it was VERY uncomfortable - even with it being "digital" there was still a lot of pressure and whatnot. The tech. said that I shouldn't be surprised if I have to get some more views done because my tissue is still quite dense (you could have fooled me!) because I'm so young. She was right. I got a letter in the mail about 2 weeks later saying that I had "abnormal results" and I had to go in for further testing. Great.

The second time was worse than the first because they had to concentrate on one spot. Twisting and squeezing and pinching. It wasn't fun!

She said I should know in a few days but when a week went by without any phone call I started to get a little nervous. I ended up calling for my results and they said that everything came out normal and that I should just go back in another year.

So I guess I now get to make this an annual thing and I'm not even 32 yet!

How Does That Figure?

Ugh. The whole state of SD is upgrading the library catalog. The process started on the 11th and was supposed to be finished today. I went to our library website only to find out that the company has "encountered some problems" and they don't know when they are going to have it up and running! How frustrating is that? You can check out books but they aren't checking them back in so when you bring a book back it sits on a cart in the back waiting for the catalog update to be finished so they can check it back in. Which means that by the time this is all over there aren't going to be a whole lot of books left to check out! Our library isn't the greatest either so a lot of the books I check out are interlibrary loans and I can't get those without a catalog.

What a pain in the butt! You'd think they would do like one library first to see how it goes and then maybe do the whole rest of the state...but they didn't ask for my advice so I'd best just wait like the rest of the state. You'd think with most of the colleges starting this week they would have it done. I wonder if they will go back to the old reliable card catalog?!

Grrr...

I was trying to change my template so I saved the old one like it said to but it didn't save everything so I lost all of the stuff on the side...I'm going to have to go and hunt for what I've lost...it irritates me! Not only that but when I changed it to the new one it kept my old header on there and only made the background white...it looked kinda silly so I tried to reload my old one and all of the other stuff was gone. This is why I don't do a lot of changing on my own! I'm HTML retarded and I only know enough to screw things up!

Busy Week!

We've been keeping busy with several things over the past couple of weeks...

The kids reading program at the library ended with a prize day. They were pretty excited to get the prizes - Luke had the top reading time for their class - but were disappointed in the prizes. It seemed like they tried to keep everything equal for everyone - no matter how much effort the kid did or didn't put into it. I think each kid was supposed to end up with 3 prizes and since Luke had the top time, he got to pick first. The only problem was that he didn't get to pick what he really wanted for some reason. And a kid who had quite a few less "bug bucks" than he did got 7 prizes. Jozie didn't read much so she didn't have many "bug bucks" to buy with to begin with but then didn't even get to choose the prize she wanted either - they just gave her a goofy little craft thingy and some advertisements for a new PB*S show called "S*id the Sc*ience K*id" for pre-schoolers...she's 9. So when we got home I dug into the Christmas stash and gave them each a prize of my own to show them I was proud of the job they did. I don't mean to complain, they had a great time and it was a wonderful program but if you are going to get the kids all excited about all the prizes they are going to get at least follow through in the end and be fair about it!

We had a picnic afternoon a couple of Sunday's ago I forgot to mention! It was with our new homeschool group! I'm so excited! The plan is to have PE once a week for the kids - lead by parent volunteers - along with some other group outings and support. It was so nice to sit and visit with a group of other like-minded adults for an afternoon and not have to explain why we do what we do to everyone who asks. I get the feeling that HSing isn't the "thing" to do here in SD. It's rather disappointed to get the "Oh, that's great." reaction when people ask where our kids go to school. Since there are several elementary schools here in town I suppose it's the last place people expect to hear where they "go" to school. I think it kind of catches them off guard and they really don't know what to say.

So if you were a HS parent and were thinking about teaching PE for a month but were REALLY not an athletic person, what would you do? Not that I'm talking about me or anything...

I knitted a new beanie for Luke for this winter - he loves it and wore it for like 2 days all day - even to bed - before he realized it was too hot to wear it still! LOL It's green with a white VW symbol on the side of it. I only used cheap acrylic yarn because I've never knitted with 2 colors before and I wanted to make sure I could do it before I buy the 'spensive stuff and screw it up! I want to make one for Levi for Christmas because he drives a VW and it's also the initials for his last name. :)

Speaking of Luke - he had almost a whole week of Birthday events last week. We started with his actual birthday celebration on Monday which was supposed to include a trip to the local pool - which has a few watersides, a lazy river, and some other water features - but the weather didn't agree so we ended up going on Tuesday instead. The kids had a blast and wanted to know if we could go back ...probably not for $12 for 3 hours!

Wed. was the free day at the local zoo so we spent almost the whole day there - literally! We got there about 9:30 am and were about to go at 11 but saw our neighbors. Luke insisted that he wasn't ready to go home yet and wanted to stay and play with Joey so we stayed with them until about 3. We went home and ate "lupper" around 4. The kids were going to VBS at the Baptist church with the neighbor kids but Luke was having some issues with one of the older girls there (he punched her in the stomach the night before because she was picking on him and pestering him. He tried to tell the teacher but they did nothing about it so he decided to take things into his own hands...) so we decided it was best for him to just not go. I asked what he wanted to do and he said to go back to the zoo. We were there for another hour and a half just looking at the animals and paying more attention to the fact sheets and such that Luke didn't look at much while he was with Joey. He was pretty impressed with himself every time he read one of the signs! LOL

Thurs. was the only day we didn't do anything "special" because Fri. we went to see the new Star Wars movie. My mom sent money for Luke's b-day for us to go (thanks mom!). Bob had the day off from work but didn't want to see it (he went to work to change the oil in his new scooter) so he sent money for us to get popcorn and soda. We got a large and had it refilled - did we ever eat popcorn! LOL The kids liked the movie but I found the battle scenes a little long and since there was so much movement it was making me a little sick - esp. after all that popcorn!

Since Bob had Sat. off he took us around to some rummage sales. I didn't really find what I was looking for but got some US Geo. stuff for school and a couple of clothing items for the kids. I also found some Scooby Doo books and a puzzle for our nephew - Dakota. He's 3 and LOVES Scooby but I need a few points with him so I told Bob I wasn't sending it to him via grandpa when they come up to camp in a couple of weeks - Dakota won't be getting it until Aunt Risa can bring them to him on her own so he knows they are from me - not grandpa! LOL

In between our busy-ness we've been watching some of the Olympics as they unfold on TV. Rooting for the USA and booing when a certain country who I won't name seems to get away with way too much in gymnastics!

Bob starts school tomorrow so I plan on getting up with the kids when he leaves to start our day off with school as well. I have been reminding them since last week that we are going to start when Daddy does - even though we won't have our curriculum until the end of the month or early Sept. I have plenty of things they can work on until then! I'm going to have to make a "Do Not Disturb - school in progress" sign for the front door since all of the neighbor kids don't start school until the 25th. Hopefully if I can keep them away until after lunch so I won't have too many problems getting the kids to focus.

Oh! I almost forgot! I signed Luke up for soccer this fall. It starts the first week in Sept. and then there's another season next spring. This is our first experience with organized sports - except for Aikido. Hopefully he will grasp the concept of a "team" and "sportsmanship"...2 things that he definitely lacks! LOL It is 3 times a week but it only lasts for a few weeks so hopefully we won't get too burned out on it. He's pretty excited about it - we found him shin guards at a garage sale and he had time on yesterday kicking around his basketball (he doesn't have a soccer ball!LOL) and he said that they work great - he can't even feel the ball on his shins! We were looking for shoes while garage saleing but didn't find any in his size. I think I'm just going to have to break down and buy some. I hate the thought though because they are bound to be too small by next spring!

Jozie goes back on Wed. for her final (hopefully) x-rays on her arm. She's been doing great though except for a little muscle pain due to, I'm sure, over working it. She's excited to get it cleared up so she can ride her bike again! I asked her about joining soccer and though I would hae loved to sign her up as well she said she doesn't want to so I didn't. I suppose it's probably for the better anyway with her broken arm being so recent. She said she wants to take piano lessons instead so that we will probably do. I'm going to start both of them with it this year so by the time they are ready to start playing an instrument they won't have to work so hard at the music reading part.

Well, I'd better go get supper started. The kids are starving (what's new?)!!

Eight!

My boy turns 8 today! Little did I know what I was asking for when I prayed for a boy before he was born! LOL

He's been fun and he's been a handful but most of all he has been a blessing to our family. He's the most strong-willed kid I know - now my prayer is that we can mold that will to that of his Savior so someday he can be a great influence for God. No matter what he does or where life takes him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBA!

"Hey Luke!

How come you aren't catchin' anything?"
"I don't know! Why don't you ask the FISH!"

This was the conversation I overhead this evening when the kids were fishing with Bob. LOL

We've really been trying to get in some fishing this summer because we all enjoy it and there are plenty of lakes around to try out. Today it was pretty windy but we decided to try it anyway because Bob had the day off (his first day off in about 2 weeks!) and it was nice out. I don't have a license but I give the kids a hand here and there when Bob can't and I take pictures or read.

They didn't have much luck with catching anything that was really edible - except for a decent sized Perch and a few Bullheads. Jozie caught the most and the biggest fish - including a great big Snapping Turtle! LOL Between her and Bob the caught the same turtle 3 times and then got a little Painted Turtle as well. Bob also got a big old Carp on but lost his bait and hook since they weren't exactly fishing for the big ones from the shore. The Snapper took 3 hooks and sinkers too so we figured it was about time to call it a night.

The Shadow of the Turtle

Not So Happy Snappy!

We saw a little bit of wildlife as well in the from of Canada Geese, a beaver, and some beautiful American White Pelicans. The Pelicans are really quite numerous around here and are huge birds.

Beaver From Afar