Jr High Winter Camp

Last year, Laurel came to visit us while Aline was at camp and we talked about how maybe next year Alison could go too.  The camp is lead by the OPC and churches from all over the California and Arizona area meet in Idyllwild, CA every February.  As we signed the girls up, we found out that they needed counselors and since we had to drive up there anyway, Laurel and I agreed to help out.  It's been a LONG time since I've done youth ministry, but it was fun to be back at it with my own daughter in the group.

We all met up in the little town of Idyllwild before camp to get some dinner and took some pictures with this...I'm not sure what to call this, but it was cool.

Laurel brought Alison Salas, Aline and Lily from Yuma :)

 

 After dinner, we went to claim our bunks at the very rustic camp, and then met up with all the kids to play some classic youth group games.  I kept telling Alison that daddy used to do this stuff all the time and it was so cool for her to get a glimpse of our life before she was in this world.  There was a lesson and songs and then we were off to put 30 girls to bed...ha!  Sleep was not a theme of the weekend.

The next morning, it was snowing!  And very, very cold.  Pretty much everyone was in the same boat, as we were all from southern California or Arizona and not the most prepared for cold wet weather.  We tried to enjoy it as much as we could and savor a rare occasion to be in snow.

I think my favorite part of the trip was seeing these two Alison's reconnect.  You may remember Alison from my Alison's birthday party in Yuma several years ago.

We had some free time Saturday afternoon, so we took some snow pictures.

There wasn't a whole lot the kids could do during free time, so we pretty much spent it cozied up in the cabin, playing games.  I'm not sure I've ever been so cold as this day.  Laurel and I rocked counselor life as we didn't leave this spot for a couple of hours.  I think we only got up to make more hot tea...yes, I was the cool mom that brought my own electric kettle to camp.

 

The girls didn't seem to mind.  We just kept throwing snacks at them and would occasional shout out a word for their madlibs. 

 One thing they did have to do, was to make up a skit.  All of the campers were divided into groups with a counselor and each group had to preform a skit.  This was a highlight for Alison and her group won!

Laurel and I spent a lot of time saying, "Wouldn't it be nice if they lit that fireplace!".  It was so cruel to make us just stare at a beautiful, unlit, fireplace, as we all froze.

Overall, the weekend was great.  We had lots of time to catch up with friends, make some new ones, play games, learn and see snow.  They had a church service Sunday morning and then it was time to head back down the mountain.

One perk of it just being me and Alison, we weren't tied down to a group and went into town before leaving.  We went into some shops and bought the boys some souvenirs.

 

A glimpse of my day

I was standing in the kitchen when it hit me "This is the perfect picture of my every day life"...a little glimpse that is hard to explain and not very many see.

I scan a little too fast and I didn't want to narrate because the sounds are part of what I love.  Here it is in a nutshell:
Colin's math lesson was identifying measuring utensils and reading a recipe.  We were in the middle of making lemon bars, which was multi-tasking at it's finest; baking for math and making something to take to a Valentine's Day party and something soft that Alison could eat.  The crust was in the oven for 15 minutes which meant he ran off to play Legos.  Life with little boys means the second they are finished with something, they are either outside or building Legos.  This day, I could hear their chatter as they were building and laughed as they burst out in song together.  The counter still has Eli's math lesson open and Colin's coloring from when he finished spelling and decided to make Valentine cards for his friends.  The dishwasher is waiting to be unloaded because we forgot to run it the night before, which made all of our morning chores late (it did eventually get done).  Alison's baking supplies are out for her caramel corn making extravaganza that is about to happen and Colin's "uniform" for the bake sale is hanging on his door, all ready for when Alison needs him to hold the signs. Eli is in the middle of trying to fix his Lego boards with a knife and asking me to open a container of slime.  Alison is working on making signs for her bake sale and watching old videos on the blog, something she does quite often. I know these videos don't seem like much, but they will always remind me of our homeschool days. These sights and sounds are what sometimes overwhelm me, but always make smile and even more thankful.  Our days of full of messes and learning and playing and exploring interests.

Colin came back and helped finish the lemon bars while Eli made himself a naan pizza.
We finished the baking, math, art, spelling and even got through grammar.  We even learned about how Doritos are made while eating lunch because Eli just had to know.  The kitchen got cleaned up and then Alison and Lily made lots of caramel corn to sell on the corner of our street. They have had several successful bake sales and are constantly working to improve their business.

Science this week

We learned about the skeleton system and why it's so important.  While I read, the kids made bodies out of clay, showing that it's impossible for a body to stand up without bones....okay, well, Eli proved me wrong when he constructed clay feet, but he broke the rules.

After Colin finished his person, he made snowmen with "bones".

Our Weekend

It was a good one.

Colin had a soccer game and there was lots of skateboarding.

Alison won tickets to a play at the Turkey Trot, so we went to see 'Peter Pan'.

It was phenomenal and the kids are all asking when we can go see another production.  I realized that if ever there is a place to go see theater, it might be on the outskirts of LA and we will definitely be scoping out another show.  After the play, we found some Mexican food and discovered the Moorpark is the place to get good Mexican around here.

Our kids have not really seen any Disney movies, not for any particular reason other than lack of interest, so we watched the movie of Peter Pan the next night.

We also ventured up to Ojai.  We have only stopped for lunch there, on our way up to camping and we wanted to do some more exploring.  Our first stop was to get some coffee at Ojai Roasting Company and then the kids played at Libby park.

I have declared Ojai our new Flagstaff.  We all really enjoyed the day up there and it made us all start talking about when we'll go camping again.  Actually, Ben pointed out that both places have a Lawrence feel to them so maybe that's why we're drawn to them...Lawrence feel with mountain views.

We went to Ojai Olive Oil Compnay and the kids asked if we could just hang out on the property the rest of the day.  I couldn't blame them...I could have sat in the hammock chairs all day while they played in the trees.

The boys played outside while Alison, Ben and I went to taste all of the oils.  It was like wine tasting, but with olive oil.

They also had lotion and chapstick made with the oils.  Alison bought some chapsticks and we bought an olive oil and balsamic vinegar and they were with the trip alone...so yummy!

Our last stop of the weekend was to the mall.  Bath and Body Works has been calling Alison's name and we ended up at the Vans store buying some skating shoes...because apparently we're a skateboard family now.

Eli's Lego Candyland

Alison got braces!

We knew it would be a big day, I just didn't realize how big.

We took a picture before we left for the orthodontist.  Maya was cracking Alison up, as she insisted on being in the picture and then would cover Alison in kisses.

She was such a trooper.  She had to get a cleaning before they even started with the whole braces procedure...she was in that declined chair for over 2 hours!

She chose teal for her first band color and the second I saw her finished, she instantly grew up.  Sigh.  I was not prepared for how much older she would look.

Isn't she so cute?!

I had soft food prepared for the week, but I was also not prepared for how difficult eating would be.  They put "marshmallows" on her molars to change her bite, but that means that she doesn't really have a bite, on top of sore gums and teeth.

She basically has been living off of pudding and jello.  Eli has happily joined her snacks.  He sat with her one morning and they did math together, ate jello and he would occasionally give her a hug because she knew she was in pain.

CASA Valentine's Day

I love that California life means parties outside all year round.  They started the party off with a few games and then the kids passed out candy and ate some yummy treats. 

Poor Alison just got braces and could only eat the suckers out of her box.

 

Remember that time....

that Ben held both boys at the same time???

Now that baby can do a pull-up on those strong arms!

And that toddler, in his little footie pajamas, is washing dishes.

These strong boys sure come in handy around the house!

Beginning Anatomy

We finished our science study of sea creatures and moved on to human anatomy and physiology this past week. We're using Apologia again and I am still really enjoying these books. The kids were super excited to start this new study when they saw the bag I came home with from the dollar store. What I love most about this book is that it plans out easy activities that are doable, fun and engaging...and that all 3 of the kids can participate in. We learned about cells this week and made a jello mold of a cell. The jello was the cytoplasm and then different candies represented different organelles we learned about it.




In theory, we were supposed to flip the bowl upside down (so the jello was free standing and not sitting in the bowl), but that part was a fail, so we just left it in. The funniest part of it all, was how Eli dug in and ate it in the end.



You can also see in the background how much Maya loves our "symposium" time. That day, I was freezing, so we did our reading by the fireplace. Maya thought it was just the right spot to take a nap when we were done.

Celebrating, documenting, crafting

Colin is doing such an amazing job reading, we wanted to celebrate his work.  He said Chick-fil-A would be the perfect and requested a giant fry and lemonade.  Check.

 I made the kids a craft area in the garage.  Just had to document it while it still looks pretty and organized.

 Our homeschool group had a Valentine's box decorating day.  I was very impressed at how prepared they were!  It was a fun chance to craft with other kids and use some supplies that I would not have purchased.

Every Valentine's day, I remember taking a decorated box to school for the party and there was always that one kid who paper mached something amazing and then the rest of us felt bad for only putting stickers on a box.  I love how this levels the playing field for all the kids.

Our days are full

I used to hear all the time, "You've got your hands full!".  Now you could easily say, "You've got your days full!"

There was a shift in school this year.  I could write a million posts about why, but it really comes down to a few things.  

1.  Alison's taking 2 classes through CASA, which means getting her to and from class twice a week.

2. All three kids are in a stage of needing instruction for almost every subject.  The goal is independent work, but the curriculum I chose to use is more teacher lead at this point.  This is a hard one for me...I like the curriculum we are using; it fits our teaching/learning styles well, but there is minimal work for them to do independently.  However, I'm also not a fan of just busy work, so I'm somewhat okay with that.  On top of all that, the material they are learning is getting harder and not something we can just coast through.

3. The opportunities for activities around is abounding and I don't want to waste time here.  We have been blessed with an amazing piano teacher and the kids are thriving at lessons.  We've joined the Y and can go swimming any time we want.  We also got a homeschool pass to Dojo Boom and participate in 2 homeschool groups.  Right now, Colin is playing soccer and Alison is in crochet club.  And don't forget, some days are just too beautiful to be inside and we need to go for a hike or play at the park.  I have a list of things I want to add and I don't have a clue where we will add it.  This category would fall into the "First World Problems" category :)

While school can fill up an entire day, there are times that we have to pause.  Like when hard piano songs come and the morning is spent trying to learn it.

Or when a passion for drawing is sparked and the afternoon is spent working on art.

I struggle with the balance, but I am learning to not live in fear that they won't learn what they need to learn, but perhaps they are learning more than they would sitting at a desk all day long.  I am trying to be oh so thankful for this season that I get to spend days with my kids, teaching them and having fun.

The Truth about February

Here's a cute throwback picture for you to look at while I talk about the hard truths of February.

February 2013...I still have that sweater...

I need to somehow tag this post, so that it will pop up and remind me every February.

DO NOT FORGET

that

February is the month of forgetting.

Suddenly, kids have forgotten EVERYTHING.  Down to the basics of life. 

Mom: "Have you eaten breakfast?"  

They look at you with a puzzled look.

Kids: "Breakfast???  Um...no."

Mom: "Did you put away your breakfast dishes?"

Kid:  "Is that a thing we do?"

Mom:  "Is your math finished?"

Kid: "Was I supposed to do math today?"

Mom:  "Yes.  And by the way, you are still in your pajamas...you were supposed to get dressed 3 hours ago."

Kid: "That's weird.  I thought this was just a day to do nothing."

I wish I was exaggerating.   Every little thing you ask them to do, they look at you like you have 3 heads.  You open the school books and suddenly, everything looks like it's written in French to them.  And I'm not alone, this is apparently a very common thing.

It's also a month to forget everything you have planned...because it ain't going to happen.  Since the kids brained have now turned to molasses, it makes actually getting to anything have planned, impossible.

I really want to do some more research into this, but for now, it's making me rethink how I approach school during February in the coming years.  Ideally, I would make it a review month.

I think it has something to do with this cycle:

August=Summer fun all day long

September=Start school.  Everything is new and exciting and kids are just being introduced to concepts

October=Getting into the swing of school life and they have Halloween sugar-fest to look forward to.

November=Light school as Thanksgiving and family visits fill the weeks

December=Distracted school that is full of baking yummy treats and doing fun crafts and watching movies and the excitement of Christmas fills the air.

January=New Year, New You!  Just kidding.  The let down of Christmas hits and there is a 99% chance the family will get sick, which equals more light school.

February="Oh, we're still doing this school thing?"  You're over the sickness and the holidays and it's like starting from scratch.

It's a good thing we year round homeschool!

Colin's activities

Colin started playing soccer at the Y!  He's number 4...
  It's so fun to watch him play.
Colin is quickly becoming a California kid and is outside as much as humanly possible. He's getting pretty good at skateboarding

School News

We got a new white board :)  Not that exciting, unless you are a homeschool mom.

Colds have been the theme of our year.  We've had a consistent battle with them, no matter what I do to prevent them.  Alison was the first to get the snot and then Eli this go around.  The great thing about homeschool is you can still do some school when you're fighting a cold, and you get to do it in the comfort of your jammies.

But let's be honest, this is how Eli would love to be all day, every day.

I reread 'Teaching From Rest' by Sarah McKenzie, over our Christmas break.  It's an absolutely phenomenal book; a book I read at least once a year because it's that good.  Her words are always something I need to remind myself, but this year I thought a little more about her idea of implementing a "symposium" into the day.  Symposium means: a convivial meeting...for drinking and intellectual conversation.  We lay out a blanket, turn on some music, munch on a snack and then I read from a variety of books; poems, our Bible study, science, history, fables and looks at some art.  They listen and then we talk about what I read.  This is also a time I like to work on them serving eachother, but taking turns making a snack for everyone.  This day, Alison made caramel corn and Colin served (he did not want his picture taken).

 

Science and history are the subjects that I worry are getting neglected, so this is a way for me to make them a priority and give them attention they need.  So far, they are loving the symposium time and I am soaking it up as much as possible as this will probably only last a short season.  Alison is quickly approaching 8th grade and most likely will have to study these subjects more in depth on her own.

I saved the biggest news of all for last.
I still believe that the best things happen over breaks....don't be deceived into thinking that life should always be a break, because they wouldn't happen without the diligent work of daily life.
3 years of diligent work led up to this day!

Not only is Colin reading, but he is willingly reading books! This is HUGE. Up until this day, I would have to drag him to reading time and painstakingly read through a few sentences. He refused to read with anyone close by and a real book? Forget it. Praise the Lord for 'Hop on Pop'. I will forever love this book. That book was the key to building his confidence that he could actually read. From that book, he picked up 'Green eggs and Ham' and since this video, he has just continued to thrive.

Lydia came to California!

Lydia came to the LA area for a conference and I jumped on the chance to see her.  She had an early flight and evening conference, so I picked her up from the airport and whisked her away to Santa Monica for the afternoon.  We strolled along the Pier and had lunch at the seafood restaurant at the very end.  It was perfection; amazing food, beautiful scenery and a best friend.

 We had planned to also go to Hollywood, but Friday traffic said otherwise, so we just sat on the beach and talked.  Neither of us were complaining.  She'll just have to come back and see Hollywood...

Lyd still got a good taste of real LA traffic as we crawled through it for 2 hours to get to her conference.  

She came to sell her book and I got to help her set up her table.  I was already impressed with her work on the book, but her marketing skills take it to another level.

 

It was a really cool moment for me.  I got to be there when Lyd was first writing the book and was the first person to read the rough draft.  She asked me to use the book with my kids to work out any kinks and I can honestly say it is the best book I've ever read.  I have read many, many children's devotional books, but Lydia's is the first to bring kids into the conversation, instead of the parent just preaching to them.  Being college roommates, I was there to see her start studying marketing and now, many moons later, I get to see her work those skills.  More than that, I was blown away by how she's done this all on her own.  No one told her to write a book.  No one held her hand through the editing or guided her through how to publish it (again independently) or how print posters or taught her how to give a presentation.  She just jumped in with confidence and did it.