wish list

Today Jason is constructing his Lego wish list. Not only does he write down what set he wants but he also includes the price, number of pieces and set number. He then cuts out each item and then tapes the list back together to make a cool design. I don't know what goes through his mind when he does this but every once in a while he constructs a list in the hope that someone out there will read it and buy something on it for him. It inspired me.

Because we home school we are at home ALL THE TIME! That's not a complaint, it's a statement of fact. So in the spirit of the great wish list master Jason, I too have constructed a wish list of things that would make our home schooling adventure a smoother ride.

Art and craft supplies:

• paper: there's never enough paper, construction, computer printer, tissue, etc.
• glue: sticks, white, crazy, rubber cement
• paint: watercolors, acrylic
• markers: they always dry out no matter how vigilant I am
• tape: that's our battlecry, "WHERE'S THE TAPE!???"

Sports equipment:

• balls: our neighbor has a steady stream of whiffle balls coming his way. We also would love soccer balls, basketballs, red rubber balls (like for dodgeball), plastic golfballs (because they sail over the fence nicely also...)
• jump ropes
• tennis shoes (because honestly, they wear out or grow out faster than you can imagine)

Games:

• decks of cards: because a certain little baby loves to suck on them and then we always know who has the 9 of spades
• Risk: ugh, I know, but the boy loves it!

Science kits:

• stuff to grow: plants, ants, butterflies, whatever
• rockets
• chemistry sets
• anything to do with building: I guess you could insert Legos here...
• kid's cookbooks

So there's my wish list for now. It's kind of long but with Christmas coming maybe our school will get a big boost for the second semester. I'm just putting it out there, just like Jason, hoping and wishing!

(And for those of you who need a picture, here's Cameron dressed up in her own special way just to get the mail...)

aquarium

Yesterday we had a great opportunity to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with our whole family and our friends for a home school day. We took off at 8:30 in the morning because Darren and I absolutely love a certain cinnamon roll shop on Cannery Row and we were determined to have a yummy snack before the aquarium. With treats in hand we found a bench and started to eat but looked up just in time to see a family from our group. Sheepishly we gobbled up our cinnamon rolls and spent some time talking with them. We were able to check in and enter without waiting for the rest of our group so we got the kids busy at the touch pools and bat ray tank right away. After such a long car ride they really needed to DO something!

After a while we were able to meet up with the rest of the gang. We ate our lunch outside and headed back in for more sights. I really liked the jellyfish and shark exhibits but the darkness was very uncomfortable for Cameron so we didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked. The kids really enjoyed the seahorses, otters and penguins. After about three hours fish fatigue set in and we were done.

No day in Monterey would be complete without a stop at Dennis the Menace park so we took the kids over there to completely exhaust them before the long ride home. The kids loved climbing on the train engine and Jason took bravery to a new level as he explored the very top of the train. They also loved the suspension bridge, crazy slides and tunnels. When we were convinced that they were worn out we piled into the car for the ride home. Have you ever driven for two hours with three children in the back seat and experienced total silence? We have, and it is a beautiful thing!

Cameron's Riding Video

Hi everyone, this is Cameron. Since Jason got a biking video, I want to show one too.

Jason's Bike Movie

Hi everyone, this is Jason. I have a very cool movie to show you. And make sure you see my cool trick at the end.

birthday bonanza!

October is a huge birthday month for our family. I could list all the birthdays of all our relatives but honestly, I'd probably leave someone out and then I'd lose a blog reader. And with my inconsistent blogging I need all the committed readers I can get!

Monday was Darren's 35th birthday. As he puts it, "halfway done". He's a little sarcastic.... The kids and I made a cake for him and wrapped all our fabulous gifts. I think he was pretty excited about the sticky spiders that he got from the kids and the ridiculous amount of sprinkles they poured on his cake. He said, "hey we could eat this cake at the beach!" and yeah, it was that crunchy!

Wednesday was Cameron's 4th birthday. Because she doesn't like big crowds and lots of attention we just invited two of her friends to come over and play for the afternoon. Cameron requested a mermaid theme party so I did my best to make that happen. I bought the girls unfinished wood boxes at Michael's and had them paint them. Then I pulled out a large bucket of assorted beads and let the girls fill their treasure chests (because you find treasure at the bottom of the sea, obviously). We enjoyed some delicious cake and opened a few presents. I think it was a success because Cameron did not cry or run and hide from her guests ( and yes, those were two very real possibilities!).

And just because.... Miss Hayden, crawling baby on the loose! She likes to use things like this Mater toy to climb up to a standing position. She's in that funny stage where she can stand up but then cries because she doesn't know what to do next. Just stay cute Hayden!

we're back!

Greetings blog fans! We're back from an unfortunate blogging hiatus. Shortly after my last post on the fabulous viking sword and shield our power cord for Big Mac suffered an injury. We did our best to ration our battery power and get charges from relatives but it just wasn't enough. Yesterday while on our field trip to the big city (to go to a farm.... more on that later) we stopped by the Mac store for a free tune-up and purchased a new power cord. I'm a little miffed that I can buy an ipod shuffle for $49 but a power cord goes for $69. It hurts. The nerd at the desk told me everything was good during the systems check and they just had to deal with a few permissions issues..... what? Anyway, the most important part of the visit to the Mac doctor was that the nice fella glued my g key back on so I'm back to my speedy pecking.

So what happened around here during the power outage? Viking helmets of course! We used paper mache to create our fabulous helmets. And what color does a girl viking paint her helmet? Pink!
The other big news is that Fall has arrived. The kids wore sweatshirts for their morning recess and told me it was FREEZING outside!
And finally, our trip to the big city. Yesterday we went to San Luis to run errands and go to Avila Valley Barn with our home school friends. We had a great time on the hayride, in the pumpkin patch and in the hay maze. The kids love to run through the maze over and over again. Cameron has already painted her pumpkins and they are beautiful!

Cameron was completely accessorized.

I guess Jason was practicing his future prom pose....