Country Fair

My brother had to come to DC to work one weekend and my nephew came to visit with us. So what do you do with 5 kids on a warm fall day.....

You take them to a Country Fair.

There were lots of animals to pet.

Lots of moon bounces.

Snakes....Yikes.

Bungy Jumping.

Something we have never seen before, but was a hoot, was pig races. The caller was hysterical and so fun.

Lastly a train ride. The kids loved it, we definitely go back again next year.

We learned in our Classical Conversations about pressure and how in can build, we did it in the experiment with mentos and diet coke and Nucleation and how the mentos have pores in them that make the carbonation shoot up.

Then Mrs. Sgambatti made these great PVC pipes and tire plugs to make a home made rocket. She was kind enough to make one for every family tot take home. So Kaleigh got to see the fun we had in school even though she couldn't come to school that day, we got to bring the fun home to her.


One T-Shaped PVC pipe, with tire plug at one end and hole at the bottom and cap on the the other end.

Fill an empty soda bottle about 1/4 filled with water. Attach bottle with water to the end, and attach bicycle pump.
Pump the tire pump until you see the water start to bubble.



This is what happens.

That rocket shot 30 feet up in the air. It was so cool. We had to do it 4 or 5 times.

Showers

After showering the girls typically wrap their hair in a towel, it works because there hair is long, however he insisted that he get to wrap his hair in a towel as well.

It was all good until Michael saw he had girl high heel shoes on as well, then he wasn't all that thrilled.
Oh well that's the life of a boy with three older sisters.

Found some pictures

Found these pictures when I was uploading some pictures from my little camera, I hardly ever used it because I really don't like the quality of the pictures but these aren't too bad.

We took the kids to a local water park, that a neighbor of mine told me about back in June. It was really a pool with some water features in it, the kids had all participated in the summer reading program and each completed 15 books for the summer, so they received a coupon book and in it it had free entry to this water park; so we only had to pay for two grown ups.

It was a great pool the water was not deep they had some decent water features and it wasn't crowded considering it was the last week of summer vacation for everyone.

They had a sand area like a beach.

Small water slides in the 18" water.

A water tower thing playground thing, is the best way I can describe it.

They were just doused in like 50 gallons of water from the bucket above, Madison wasn't having it but Jordan and Kaleigh loved it.


Some mid size slides for a little older kids but I didn't get pictures of the really big slides.
Oh well maybe next year, it was a nice park, clean and not too crowded, I think it's a keeper.

My Class

1st row (Nathan, Kaleigh, Ashlynn, Abby)
2nd row (Annabelle, Stephanie and Rebecca)

These are my sweet little 1st and 2nd graders on the first day of our Classical Conversations Co-op. They were so excited they made slime the first day, unfortunately they used food dye to get it the green color and no my kitchen table has a permanent green stain on it from the kids playing with it when they got home. So glad I did not get a new table like I've wanted.

This is Hilarious

Click on the video to get it started. Not sure where he got this from but he just came up with this himself.

First Day of School and First CO-OP

Well this year we are attempting to do two Co-ops. Not sure how we are going to get all of our work done and include extracurricular activities but we will do our best, it's the beauty of homeschooling. The girls had the opportunity to join a second co-op this year and since we know a lot of the families and it's held in our church building we jumped at the opportunity. We still however wanted to do our Classical Conversations Co-op it's really good and totally different than TNT (this co-op). So one co-op meets on Tuesdays and one meets on Wednesday, both are in the morning and both end at 12:00. So I can still do our school work in the afternoon (so we don't get behind).


Everyone got a back pack this year (even if he didn't need one...he had to have one).

Glad it was only $5.

We even got to wear new school clothes. Madison and her cup of Joe.

This is most of the kids that were at the kick off, if I'm not mistaken there are about 20 kids missing...some families are not back from vacation yet, but there are about 50 families involved in this co-op.
I couldn't get a picture of Kaleigh's face but she looked like a little deer in headlights when she had to sit with her class. She was so nervous.

They have to stand for pledge of allegiance.

Each class has between 10 and 15 kids not including the nursery. They begin with K-4 (which is the 4 year olds) and K-5 for Kindergarten and go all the way to 6 grade. The way this co-op works is they do unit studies for 5 weeks, so for 4 weeks they study the subject and then on the 5th week they actually do an activity. So the first unit study is Chemistry and then comes Civil War...I don't know what they are doing for chemistry but I'm involved with the committee for Civil War and we will be teaching the kids songs and they will be putting on a play for the 5th week activity. The rest of the year will be Weather, Australia, Fine Arts, Report Writing and Transportation and the Presidents Physical Fitness Challenge (I think that's what it's called). So it will be a busy year for us. Included with what the unit study they are also doing character training (a lesson from the bible), game time and lunch. So it's a busy morning.

One of the things about this Co-op is that I can drop off the girls on the weeks or the unit study that I am not teaching so that will be an interesting thing for us and a chance to get to spend time with just Madison and Jaden alone doing something with just two kids.

I'll post about our other co-op once I get pictures of that one and then I may not post for while, because I am teaching in our second co-op all year 1st and 2nd graders so I may be busy but I'll do my best to keep things posted.

New Bed

In one of my previous posts I posted that we had changed some rooms around this summer, splitting up the older girls and putting Madison and Jaden together in a room. Well it has been in our plans to buy the girls new beds although not all at once we didn't want to take that kind of hit, so originally this was going to be Jordan's bed and we were waiting for a while to get it but it went on sale last week and it was like $100 off so we had to buy it.. Well it didn't quite work out for Jordan but it did work out for Kaleigh.

It took Michael hours to put it together, it took so long because it literally had like a million pieces but I kept the kids busy (mostly the little ones) and he was able to put the bed together.

Love that she is going to grow into this bed and will have it for a while, she can't wait to get a chair so she can sit a the desk and work.
For now she pulls the desk out and uses the underneath like a hiding place with her sisters. So glad she likes this bed.

End of Summer

I supposed I should put up some pictures of a reflection of what we did this summer but the truth is, it's all kind of a blur. I have loved every moment (well almost) and we have had a very fun and busy summer.

Truth is I am looking forward to beginning school, since we home school I am not too sad that school is starting because it means we get to get back to our routine...in case you were wondering I like routine, my family does well in a routine....now don't get me wrong there is a difference between routine and mundane...and I crave our routine. Our family works best when everyone knows what to expect and what's coming next, there is no guess work or lazy days of summer (believe me we enjoy those too...sometimes a little too much), but for us knowing what comes next helps us to do the work that is before us....Sometimes it's school work, sometimes it's housework and sometimes...not too often enough it's God's work.

So what are the things that I will miss about the summer.....

sleeping in....at least for us past 7:00am

swimming at the pool... even with four kids...one of them a little afraid of the water

visiting with friends and family.....(loved our trip to the beach...not the sick part...Chicago, Atlanta and New York)

Loved our families visiting us at different time.....Thanks Guys

fresh fruit from my garden ...it took all summer but we finally got some kind of carrots and just today I noticed a green pepper growing, the first one since we planted back in April...I loved our tomatoes and cucumbers ...we were not successful on zucchini, strawberries or watermelon, but OH Boy did we have a lot of green beans...Yum.

the different camps the girls did that gave me time alone with my little guys (sometimes I feel they get neglected during the school year)

Over all I'll miss the warm summer days, flip flops, shorts and barbecues (although we'll still barbecue until it gets too cold) I won't miss the weather being too hot to walk...I like to sleep in so getting up at 6:00am was not really conducive to my sleep habits...LOL..

Most of all I'll miss the freeness of summer(is freeness a word), not having to worry about curriculum or early bed times and questions of "what are we doing tomorrow?" and the answer being "I don't know let's just see what the day brings."

AAAHHHH the lazy days of summer, we will miss you but we know you will be with us again....now on to some cooler, more colorful fall days.

Our Trip to New York

Every year I take the kids to New York to spend a week with my parents, sometimes Michael can stay for a few days sometimes he has to work (the summer is his busiest time of year to travel and this summer has been particularly busy) this year he was in Pheonix for the whole while we missed him, our week was so busy and fun the week flew on by. I took what pictures I could but not of everything.

We arrived on Saturday for my cousin's daughter Sweet 16 (I got to wear my new dress twice since Chicago....always a bonus)

Me and one of my aunts...love you Titi Alice.

The birthday girl cuts her cake.

My cousins, birthday girl in the middle, her parents on her left and my other cousins her aunt and uncle on her right.

She is a great girl...very encouraging to see a young lady pursue God so fervently. She is your typical teenager but has a true passion and love for the Lord.

We had to take Michael to the airport and since the Liberty Science Center is right near it, my mom, brother and I took all the kids (including my niece and nephew). I wasn't able to take many but here are a few I did get. Jaden, Madison and Isabella were scooping up rice in the young explorers area. This area was specifically targeted towards 2 -5 year olds.

Jordan helping Jaden dress in the skyscraper area as construction worker.

Tuesday we got to go to American Girl store and the Lego store downtown New York City.

Jordan's doll Ashley has a lazy eye, so she had to be sent to the hospital to see if they can fix it, she's been very upset that she had to leave here and wants to throw her a coming home party for her when she finally comes home in 2 -4 weeks.

Papa helping build Lego buildings from the legos the girls bought with their allowance money.

Gap sweatshirts Mima bought because we didn't pack any sweaters for our trip who knew it would be cold and rainy in August in New York....it's normally hot, hot, hot and humid.
We got to go to Rye Playland, a small amusement park we have been going since I was young, it
is considered a national landmark. However, they have now price fixed it and it is no longer
a cheap experience...but we went in the evening and got a discount (thanks Mima and Papa).
Bella and all the little kids got to go to Kiddie Land and of course I had to ride with Jaden because
he was too little ride alone on any of the rides. Poor Jordan was too big to ride some of the kiddie
land rides and too short to ride some of the big kid rides, but we found enough rides for her that

she was happy and I of course was happy with the funnel cake.

Why do they make most rides to spin around in circles?

On Friday before we picked up Michael from the airport they rented a boat for all of us. Here is my sister with Kaleigh.

My nephew Yael.

Jordan loves her uncle Dylan.

Everybody got to drive the boat.

Madison mad because she was done driving.

Everyone partying on the boat. The water was freezing so no one could go swimming, not that I would have wanted to it was still only 76 degrees, so if the water didn't get you cold the air did.

All 6 grand kids.

They at least got to put their toes in the water.

What started out as a little dinner party, quickly escalated into a good size party, especially after

I invited a few more relatives. :)

Badminton.

Aunt Helen and Dominic...he's such a sweetie.

My grandmother who is in her late 80's.

The newlyweds on the couch, wish we could have gone to the wedding but so glad we got to meet James finally. My sister and more cousins.

Bella.

My father's side of the family (Valle).

My step father's side of the family (Russo).

Some of my mother's side of the family (Gonzalez).

Finally a picture of us all together, it just doesn't happen to often.

So those are the pictures, I missed some dinners, an afternoon at the pool, one of my dearest friends house (her kids are getting so big) and Dave and Busters (although I don't know how I would have done that with everyone in 12 different directions). All in all though we had a great time and now we are home and back to school...