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....

we're vikings!

I don't know why more people don't just drop everything and homeschool! Ok, I do know why but still, look at how fun it is to play with your kids!

Today is day two of our total Viking immersion program. Yesterday we went to the library and checked out a ton of books on Vikings and the countries of Scandinavia. Today we started on our costume, which of course must begin with a sword and shield. There's nothing that duct tape can't do! Tomorrow we will create a helmet and I'm still trying to think it through... perhaps a little papier mache is in order.

And by the way, did you celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day on the 19th? We did! ARRRGH!

the flu or un-flu, but definitely NOT swine flu

We're a house of little sickies these days. Jason came down with a nasty cold/cough/fever/dry heave thing on Thursday and on Friday we took him in to make sure it wasn't the BIG one. With a negative test result Jason and I headed home to share the good news and prepare for the imminent probability of the whole family's illness. So far just Cameron has caught the bug from her generous brother.

I've been spending my time wiping every surface with anti-bacterial wipes, drinking ridiculous amounts of water and refusing to get sick myself. The nights are full of interruptions, mostly from sweaty, feverish Cameron and Hayden who wakes up when her plug falls out of her mouth. Jason is a constant cougher but he still manages to sleep through it all. We've watched a lot of movies, played Uno, Sorry, Life, Monopoly and eaten a lot of crackers.

Today the weather has been great so we went outside for a little fresh air. We harvested our carrot crop ( sigh...) and untangled the table and chairs from the enormous pumpkin vine. I think the lack of bees has affected this plant as there's lots of flowers but maybe only one pumpkin forming.

And now, I'm off to play another game with Jason.

i told you i'd crawl soon

I mostly do it when you're not looking. I'm very good at making my way around the living room. I really like finding strange things to put in my mouth. My big brother and sister have a lot of cool toys and I'm on my way to eat them.... bye!

We're back at it and the blog suffers once again! Here are a few pictures from school. In the shot above Cameron is glueing cereal to the letter a. She is doing a basic letter of the week program, Bible readings and nursery rhymes. We're studying the letter b this week. So, that means reading some Brown Bear, Brown Bear or as Jason used to call it, "Bobber, Bobber". today was our 09-09-09 party. The kids made cupcake toppers while the cupcakes cooled. We frosted, sprinkled and topped the cupcakes then enjoyed some Sprite in our fancy glasses while we played Sudoku (get it?). Happy 09-09-09 everyone!

it wasn't pretty but it's done

Today was the first day of school. All summer long I dreamed about this glorious day and how the kids and I would come together in this beautiful symphony of learning and love. I poured over my notes, created a week of lessons for Cameron, made copies and gathered supplies. I went to bed last night in eager anticipation.

And then, Hayden woke up at 4:30am. No problem, a quick little bottle and back to bed, then a couple more hours of sleep.

And then, Cameron woke up, panicked about something, calling for me. No problem, I just climbed into bed with her and tried to fall back asleep, because honestly, at this point I just wanted to sleep. This was not as easy as I thought it would be. For the next two hours she would lean over me and peek behind the blinds to see if the sun was up. For Cameron, if the sun is up, she must be up. Finally after 2 hours of this interrupted sleep and the constant smell of urine from her very full Pull-up we went out to the living room to watch Little Einsteins. I groggily got breakfast for the kids and coffee for myself and then dutifully ran on the dreadmill. Our goal was to start school at 9am and I was determined to meet that goal!

I shooed the kids out of the house to ride bikes at 8:30 so I could finish cleaning up breakfast and set out our schoolwork. It was at this moment that Hayden decided to let loose and fill up her diaper. Being the overachiever that she is she also sent poop up her back. We hustled off to her room to clean her up, change her, clean up the changing table, start a load of laundry and then clean my hands. Nine o'clock was approaching quickly!

Finally, we were ready. I took a picture of the kids and we sat down for prayer and Bible. Cameron was psyched about preschool. She was so attentive that I ran out of activities for her. This has got to be a fluke. I'm sure tomorrow she'll be taking off as soon as I give her the green light. Both kids had forgotten how much time and attention goes into a school morning. We have school from 9 until 12 with a snack and break at 10:15. Highlights of the morning include listening to geography songs and coloring their maps and learning about chimps in science.

After lunch (fishsticks.... my kids are crazy about fishsticks right now, ugh!) I sent them off to play and got back to the business of keeping house. There were floors to clean and the load of girl laundry to finish. And then of course, computer time, a wonderful reward for such a long morning!

So there it is, our first day. Only 179 more to go... they won't be pretty but they'll get done. Along the way there will be laughs, tears, discoveries, and fun, and I'll try to keep you updated about it all... now please excuse me while I get another cup of coffee.

3 year olds are weird

I remember when Jason was 3 years old and he would do really strange things. We have pictures of him wearing only underwear , climbing up a staircase, with a stuffed animal sticking out of the back of his undies. Jason was an orderly, neat little 3 year old, he played with imagination based in reason. Cameron is a completely different kid. She plays with imagination based in craziness. Tonight she was marching around the driveway in her "fishing soldier" costume.

She was re-enacting a scene from Tom & Jerry, by yelling out "Bu-shay bushika!" (the line is supposed to be "Touche, pussycat!"). This came from an episode where Jerry was trying to become a mouseketeer (like Musketeer, not a Disney kid). She would pull off her hat and take a deep bow every time she passed by me.

I'm sure this makes very little sense as you read it, but to me it is hilarious. She has adopted quirks from other movies also. Tonight Jason was explaining to me why Cameron has started closing the door after she leaves a room, apparently that habit was picked up from Charlie & Lola.

The other day when Darren was fixing the sprinklers she insisted on wearing her bathing suit and running through the water. And then she needed goggles. There's nothing funnier than a kid wearing goggles.

These funny times really get me through the rough spots with her. I ought to document the meltdowns as well as the good times, but somehow pulling out the camera is not my first thought when we're in the middle of a Hurricane Cameron!