CAVA K12 Online Kindergarten

Yesterday I came home to 4 huge boxes on my doorstep. It was all of William's curriculum for Kindergarten from CAVA (California Virtual Academy). Then today another 4 boxes came, a desktop computer and printer just for William to use!
It's official, I am schooling William at home, online and off. He even has a virtual teacher, Mrs. Duffy. It's going to take me/us a while to figure this all out and get a routine down. William is excited about all his new stuff though. There are 6 subjects that we will be working through, Phonics/ Writing/ Literature, Math, Science, History, Art & Music.  Pretty amazing that they sent all this stuff to our home totally free. Art Supplies, Writing paper, science kits, Music CD's and a ton of reading books. As well as all the text books and work books for each subject, this is going to be an adventure!
Kindergarten here we come.

Late night sewing

When Billy is gone on fires I tend to stay up a lot later than I probably should. Last night was one of those nights. I have been wanting to sew myself a purse for a couple years now and I could never quite decide on style, fabric, size, etc. Well, my purse that I've been carrying around for the past several years is really tattered, worn and dirty and I decided that whatever I made was going to be better than what I was using. So, I made a small messenger bag that I have made a couple times before for gifts. I tried to write down all the things I wanted to design in to fit my needs before I started and I was able to make it with most of my wants. It doesn't zip closed... which I kinda wanted to help keep Jameson out of it... oh well. But it has three internal pockets, one zipper pocket, one pleated pocket and one sectioned pocket for pens. I also sewed a small tab where I can clip my keys inside. The front of the bag also has a small pocket, perfect for a phone and chap stick and I made a Velcro closure for that one.
All in all I am excited to run errands tomorrow with my new purse and give it a trial run.
Here it is- I didn't take a picture of the inside, but I lined it with the flower fabric. It's very fun inside!

Tiled

I successfully completed my first tile project all by myself! I started with measurements and then used the skill saw to cut a piece of hardie backer. Got a pile of tile that had been laying around and some thin set (ready mix). Pulled the tile saw out of the shed for the ends that needed cutting and pieced it all down. I finally got some grout today (ready mix again!) and grouted the tile.
Not bad for my first attempt solo :)  Nice that it was just under the kitchen sink so it really doesn't matter how it looks. Now it smells way better down there and will be so easy to clean.

Calf sitting take two

We spent the last 3 days with the baby calves again. This time we had the AM & the PM shifts :) The boys enjoyed helping me scoop the grain and checking for chicken eggs in the hen house. Zachary was not shy around the calves and even helped brush their fur today. The newest addition to the animal line up was Sheba the Llama! She is the protector of the baby calves and she is doing a great job. They no longer have to be loaded into a trailer at night because Sheba is on guard.
I remembered my camera this time :) Hooray.

Arts and Crafts

Yesterday I got some materials out for the boys to do some crafts. They enjoyed doing crafts so much at Dinkey Creek and they talk about it all the time. I thought I could try and start up Friday craft day. William and Zachary cut up colored construction paper and glued it onto a paper... they LOVE using their scissors! Then, I had seen a cute popcorn tree online that we did together as well. I drew the outline of the tree and they water colored it and then glued popcorn on once it dried.
I thought they did a great job and we will have these art pieces hanging up at least until Dad gets home from his fire (whenever that will be)

Dinkey 2013

It was a great week at Dinkey Creek this summer with the boys, despite Billy not coming with us. Being with Grandma & Grandpa, Aunt Tracy and Aunt Kristy & cousins helped to fill the void. What a different experience for me at Dinkey Creek this year being the adult instead of the kid! I was always on the go helping, cleaning, chasing down or carrying a kid with not a lot of relax time... but it was so nice to be there. Felt like home sitting in the middle of camp each day.
The boys LOVED crafts each day! I need to start doing more of that at home.
 It was especially fun to watch them play up above camp in the rocks & boulders where I spent a ton of time as a kid. It was also really nice that the water was low and the weather was really warm. Made for a less stressful and whiney week. Polywog Pond was the perfect destination for us most days, easy and low key.

We did a trip up to the giant redwoods, McKinley Grove, it's such a neat place. And it's only 5 miles up the road! As a kid I thought that place was SO FAR AWAY! :) Probably the windy road and my week stomach....
Shaver Lake was a nice mid week fun day. The boys LOVED the boat rides :) Thanks Grandpa!

Jameson was not quite walking yet, so he really covered himself in dirt everyday. He was in heaven! He even rolled in it on several occasions, I thought it was great. Plus that, I had no choice but to put him in the dirt! That boy is 23 pounds and packing him around everywhere gave me a workout each day. (I guess I get that workout everyday at home too..)

Roasting marshmallows was a fun treat a few of the nights around the campfire.

Spending time with the cousins was awesome! It brought a smile to my face every day to see Reanne, Sierra, Grant, William and Zachary (and Jameson) playing together :) They all got along great all week and balanced each other out in playtime with different cousin combos. A couple days we got out the bat and woofle ball and William and Zachary showed the camp how hard they could smack a ball. It was fun to play ball with the boys up there. The campers were impressed too.

I was so glad that Kristy and Tracy decided to come. It was nice to spend time with my sisters, even if it wasn't the most relaxing time because of solo mom duty.

I am looking forward to going back in 2015. We are going to try and make it an every other year trip. And next time... Billy does not get the option to stay behind! :)

 

PS- Of coarse I forgot my camera for this trip (gotta forget something right) So thank you to Tracy, Kristy, Dad and Bob Oliver for taking so many for me :)!!

Gone

I got a couple text messages this last week informing me that my old home was driving down the road. It left the canyon the day before the 4th of July. I was sad that we were not here to see it drive off, but maybe it was for the best. Today, the boys and I took a drive over to see the site and snap a picture. We have a lot of clean up to do.... looks like a dump site right now.
Maybe in a month we will take a drive to see it all set up in it's new home in Goleta :)