The start of something new!

Okay well maybe it is the start of the same old thing, but school has once again started. It is a little more challenging this year as I have 3 kids at 3 different grade levels.  The D-man is in 4th grade, which makes me a little nervous as we are getting closer and closer to the high levels.  I am not afraid of teaching the higher levels, I am just concerned about him not getting the things he needs in the lower levels to be successful in the higher levels.

Crab man is in 1st grade, although he hasn't learned to read yet.  We are working through Spell to Write and Read, and we just started it this year, so he hasn't gotten to the read component yet. He can memorize the Bob Books, but he isn't really learning to read them using the sounds.  So I have decided to wait on those for now.  I am taking the Spell to Write and Read seminar to learn how to teach it in a few weeks and I am hoping we can get more fully into the program after that.

Arnold is in Kindergarten and preschool.  Yes both, we do Kindergarten at home on 3 days a week and the other 2 days he is in a parent organized co-op.  That means he gets together with 4 other boys at one mom's house each week.  It also means every 5 weeks I have to host 4 more boys and teach preschool for the morning.  I really want him to have this interaction and time with other kids, but it does impact our school week with running him to and from preschool and then teaching my turn.

Sweet Baby has become much more of a problem this school year.  I can't turn on the TV and let him veg while we do school because our downstairs is so open and I don't want to let him wander upstairs because who knows what he will get into.  So I try to keep him occupied with toys and color books at the table with us.  Thankfully he still naps most days and we get an hour or more of baby free time.

So we will see how the school year goes and what happens

Happy Campers

Last fall we were looking for a tent trailer so that we can take the team on road trips.  A tent trailer wouldn't have been our first choice, but we have a towing issue.  We have a Honda Odyssey as our tow vehicle so we only have 3500 pounds we can tow.  After a quick look see at some local RV dealers we found the following.. 1. Most RV dealers don't carry many tent trailers. 2. They are very expensive brand new. 3. Tent trailers are pretty cool and have gotten much better than they used to be.

Did you know that you can get a tent trailer with a microwave and an oven.  They also have pop outs to give you more room.  2 king size beds some with heated mattresses.  They also can come with heat and A/C, most have heaters but the A/C's are less common.

While the new ones were too expensive they did help us find some styles and companies we liked.  Our fist choice was Starcraft.  We liked their layouts and packages. We also liked Coleman and Rockwood.  The Starcraft and Colemen were easier to find used. I don't know that we found any used Rockwoods.  We decided on a specific model Starcraft that we liked.  It had 3 beds, the table popped out, it had a microwave, oven and stove, plus a bathroom.  While we don't want anyone to use the bathroom as we don't want to have to dump the cassette, it has a shower sprayer and a basin so we can wash muddy, dirty boys off if we need to.  Because you know that camping equals muddy, dirty boys! 

We shopped the classifieds and found just what we wanted in Browns Valley, CA.  It is a several hour drive from us, but it was the closest one we found, for the price we wanted to pay.  We drove down there and ended up looking at the trailer in a down pour.  Since we stayed dry inside, it proved the trailer was still waterproof.  So we decided to buy the trailer, but had to make another trip back to Browns Valley to get the trailer as our hitch wasn't set up for the right connections.  We and we didn't bring money with us so we had to figure that out.

That was all last fall, we are now the proud owners of a Starcraft Tent trailer.  It has been in storage for the last 6 months.  We have lots of trips planned for the team this spring and summer.  We just have to work out all the kinks in the trailer.  We can't store it at our house because we don't have RV access to our backyard.  We have good friends who let us store the trailer at their house, in exchange for using it themselves.  Since we haven't really set up the trailer we decided to bring it to our house last week.  We are completely in violation of our CC&R's that state we have 72 hours to put it away. But we couldn't get it set up and make sure everything worked in that time so it has been there over a week.  It seems no sooner do we get it set up and we have to take it down.  Last week it was high winds and the threat of snow.  This  weekend we set it up and had to take it down, because we had to take the trailer for a VIN verification so the DMV would register it.

While it was open we found the the filtered water tap had a crack and was leaking.  Of course we didn't find the leak till the trailer was leaking water out of the bottom.  At least that water line has it's own shut off so we were able to stop the leak without turning off the whole water system.  Next the Coach tried the hot water heater.  It fired up fine and we got a little warm water before the water stopped flowing out of the faucet.  We found that the hot water tank has sediment in it and it clogs up the faucet when we run it.  So one more thing to fix, better here in the driveway then in the middle of nowhere at a trailer park.

This weekend we are going to take our maiden voyage to work out the rest of the bugs.  We were going to go to Burney Falls in CA. It is beautiful there and only about 3 hours away.  It is also in the middle of nowhere and there is no Walmart or Home Depot in sight.  So instead we are going south towards Merced, CA.  My parents live down there and the team can see Nana and Papa.  They were more excited by that than waterfalls anyway.  We don't know exactly where we are going yet, but there are more options down there so we figure we can get in somewhere.

It will be an adventure no matter where we go I am sure.  I am not sure how the well Sweet Baby will do. He still sleeps in a crib.  We have thought we could put his porta-crib on the table (when it is made into a bed) without the cushions, but now that he can get out of the porta-crib that could be a long fall.  So I am looking for a bed rail to see if that will work for him.  It will probably be musical beds for the first few nights.  Or every time we take the trailer out. 

Blessings, Holly

Cowboy Up!

So we aren't a country/farm family, we have always been suburban dwellers.  However I am drawn to the country and I am not that may generations removed from family who had livestock.  It seems to be in our blood and the team definitely got a good dose of that country blood. We knew from the time D-man was little that he was born to ride a horse.  His first pony ride he rode the saddle like he and the pony were on.  When he was in kindergarten we took him for his first formal riding lessons.  He was the star pupil (of course there were only 2 kids) his teacher was very impressed with his natural riding ability.  Since then he has taken horse camps on and off over the years.  He hasn't been in over a year though so when Arnold started talking about riding a horse we thought we should give him a shot and see if D-man was still interested in continuing to learn to ride.

I booked a one hour lesson that would be split 40/20 between the two of them.  The riding teacher and I got all of this worked out and settled.  Then came the boots, they have to wear boots to ride the horse.  If we show up without boots, the ranch has a bunch of them the kids can borrow, but I hate feeling like we didn't have it together or couldn't afford boots.   Arnold has a pair of "Buzz and Woody" cowboy boots that he wears everyday so I wasn't worried about him.  D-Man didn't have any boots that fit him, unless I made him wear a pair of mine (yes at 8 years old he and I can wear the same size shoe).  So we hit the Boot Barn for new boots.  They only had a couple of pairs of kids boots in his size (I guess next time he can go into an adult boot).  It took him over 30 minutes to decide between two pairs of boots in two different sizes.  While he was deciding I looked at Arnold's boots and oh my goodness they were getting very worn out.

So I asked Arnold if he wanted to pick out a new boots (as if I didn't know the answer to that).  He jumped right and a pick a brown pair and was ready to go (D-man is still deciding).  Since everyone else was getting boots I asked Crab Man if he would like them too, of course he would like some. Crab Man picked out a pair with red uppers and brown lowers and he was ready to go (still waiting for D-man).  Sweet Baby just wanted to run, he didn't want to be held or sit still he just wanted to explore the store on his own.  Thankfully they weren't busy and the employees were happy to help watch Sweet Baby while D-man continued to stress over brown boots or black boots.  We flipped a coin, still no decision, finally I had to give him 2 minutes and we were checking out.  He decided on the brown boots (they won the coin toss as well).  1 hour and $150.00 later we have 3 pairs of brand new boots, within 24 hours they look like this.

On to the riding...we get in the car to leave and Crab Man says something about his ride, Oh No!  I explained to him the he wasn't riding, I didn't think he would want to.  He doesn't like dirt or farms so go figure.  Here comes the DRAMA, all the way there is drama over why he can't ride and just to add to the fun, Arnold adds his own drama over the fact that he will have to ride a pony and not a horse.  Thankfully it is a short trip to the ranch.  When we get there D-man jumps out, Arnold jumps out and introduces himself, Crab Man is still belted in the back waiting for a written invitation to get out of the car.  I explain to Mrs. K that Crab Man is upset I didn't schedule him to ride and she offers to let him have 10 and Arnold have 10 as this is really just for them to decide if they want to do lessons or not.  THANK YOU MRS. K!!!

D-man is up first and while a little rusty get back in the groove and rides like a champ, he even gets the horse up to a trot.

Next is Arnold, since the big horse was already out for D-man and it would waste time to saddle up the pony Mrs. K decided to let the other boys ride the big horse.  I thought Arnold's wish had come true, until he got on the big horse and started freaking out that he needed the little horse.  Thankfully once the horse started to move his fears were forgotten.

Finally it was Crab Man's turn, he was already complaining he couldn't stand up anymore and he needed to go home.  He got on the horse with out a second thought and impressed Mrs. K and I with his abilities to handle the horse.  Thankfully there was no drama on his ride.

At the end of the day I have two of them that want to start lessons and surprise, surprise, D-man is still undecided!  Now I just have to rob a bank to pay for all these lessons!

I just have to include this photo of cute baby, he knows what a camera is for and as soon as it comes out he positions himself in front of it.  While I was trying to take the boot shots, he jumped in.

Food for the team.

We have had a busy week at my parent's house canning food.  Of course I had to bring the team with me so it wasn't as productive as it could have been.  We had to wait for some very stubborn pears to  ripen.  We were able to can 24 quarts of peaches, 18 pints of corn, 6 half pints of peach jelly, 12 half pints of salsa, 36 quarts of pears and 8 jars of pear jelly. 

We were also able to take in the Hillmar Cheese Factory while we were in Central California.  Unfortunately you can't tour the actual cheese factory because of those darn health codes.  We got to watch a video and then then kids got to do and interactive ice cream activity.  They got to shake jars of rock salt and ice with baggies of cream and sugar in them until it froze.  I had to drink mine because I let sweet baby help and well, he didn't shake very well.  It was still tasty though. 

The team was happy at Nana and Papa's because they have a pool.  They spent quite a bit of time in the water.  Sweet baby couldn't wait to get in, but his idea of getting in the pool is just to walk off the side into the water.  Needless to say it was exhausting to watch him in the pool.  We tried to keep him inside most of them time and just let him go in the water once a day.  Usually before bed as it was hot in his room and that helped cool him down. 

Everyone is happy to be home again.  It was so nice to come down the mountain into our beautiful valley.  Sweet Baby yelled "Daddy" when we hit the driveway.  He knows where he lives and who is there.  He was so excited to be back in his house.  The team was excited to be with daddy again.  He wasn't with us this week as he had dragons to slay.  They do love their daddy though. So after lots of kisses and tickles and loves everyone was off to bed and slept soundly in their own beds. 

So we are back home and back to school planning.  My goal was to have my lesson planned for the whole year before school started.  At this point I will be happy to have the first month planned.  If I only had one grade level to plan it was be easy, but with 3 to plan it is slow going trying to coordinate what everyone is learning. But school is scheduled to start 1 week from today, so I have to go get ink and finish printed and putting together lapbooks as well as going through all the curriculum books and writing my lesson plans. 

For right now I am just happy to have a few moments to jump in a shower and put on some clean clothes. 

Ta-Ta For Now.

Another Blog?

So I have several other blogs that I mostly don't write in.  I have a homeschool  blog that I think I blogged in once.  I have a blog that I started when I was in the hospital waiting for Sweet Baby and his subsequent stay in the NICU.  It seems weird to write in that one because it was started in the  hospital so I blog in there when the kids are sick.  Then I have one I started to post crafts that I complete, but let's face it I am raising the team and I don't get much time for crafts.  I might post my new school room on both that blog and the homeschool blog though.  I thought a new blog where I can just blog about our lives and daily living would be better than a topic specific blog.

So I will start this blog with a little info about me and my family.  I am a stay at home/homeschooling mom.  My hubby has a great job he loves in law enforcement and we are raising four boys.

We have the D-man who is 8 and starting 3rd grade.  He is very tall he comes up to my shoulder (of course I am only 5'4") so people think he is older than he is. He is my big hearted boy, he wants to do all things that help people and animals.  Of course I can't get him to help around the house?

Then we have Crab Man he is 5 and we will be starting kindergarten this year.  He is Crab Man because he is just crabby, since he was born.  Everything in his life is drama and if there isn't any drama going on he creates it.  Especially when it means he can make Arnold scream. 

Next we have Arnold he is 4 and will be doing Pre-K work this year.  We call him Arnold because he has this perfect little body and makes us think of a young non-body building Arnold Schwarzenegger.  He is the very sweetest of little boys well until he started showing the terrible twos at almost 4.  Before if you said no or things didn't go his way he would say "ohhhh" in his very sweet voice.  Now if he hears no or things don't go his way he hits the floor kicking and screaming.  Not so cute, but he is still very lovable most of the time.

Lastly we have Sweet Baby, who is probably upstairs as I type, screaming and crying for someone to come get him out of bed.  He is our precious miracle, he was born 12 weeks early after a very difficult pregnancy.  If you want to read about that drama you can start here.  He spent 66 days in the NICU and came home on oxygen.  Now he is 19 months old and he is walking, exploring, climbing and playing with his brothers.  He is very sweet and lovable, we really don't want him to grow any bigger than he is.

So that is the team, we are not planning on more as I don't want 5 boys.  We have friends who have 4 boys and their 5th is a girl.  My mother's new favorite line is "You could be like the Poole's" but I have hoped they would all be girls and I don't want 5 boys.  So unless God has other plans we are sticking with the team we have.

Holly