Busy Summer!

The title says it all!

I have come here several times to start a post but have a hard time finishing it. Life has been busy in our household. Especially this month. Chris has been working so much. On one hand I am so thankful for the overtime which means extra $ in our pocket. But on the other hand Maggie and I are really missing him. Yesterday he worked from 12-8, but didn't get home until 8:40. Then he got up and left a little after 9am this morning and wont be off until 8pm. He hasn't had his two days off a week in awhile. It's really taking it's toll on Maggie, which in turn is hitting me hard too.

Enough of the complaining!

A friend and I started a new homeschool group for our county. So far we have 8 families and another lady/family who are interested in joining. The group just kind of happened. Beth and I went swimming on the 7th and we decided right then and there we would start a group. Thought of the name, went home and created a yahoo group. Since then we made flyer's and have connected with some people. I'm amazed at the response we have gotten. We had our first official park meet up last week and it went well. This week we are meeting at our local State Park for a Nature Scavenger Hunt and swimming!
We are meeting once a week. Every 1st & 3rd Tuesday is a regular park meet up day and every 2nd & 4th Tuesday is a planned activity. We are already planning our first field trip. We will be going to http://www.fairyland.org/ Still planning on when, but we are thinking the second week of September. We will be extended an invitation to the Mendo County group. The more the merrier!

Maggie and I started a new project. Making sugar crystals. Not sure how well they will turn out. We are waiting for them to form. Some sites say a few days, a few other sites say 1-2 weeks. Not sure what to expect! LOL
We have been doing a lot of baking projects. Mainly cupcakes. This week we mixed it up a bit and made Red Velvet Whoopee Pies. They were pretty good, but much too sweet for us. It would be a recipe I would pass on to those who like really sweet things, but not one I will make again. Chris took them to work and apparently they were gone pretty quick!

September 8th will be our first official homeschool day for this year. I have decided to use much of this year as a recap as well as throwing a few new things in here and there to keep her interest up. I bought Oak Meadows 1st grade curriculum more out of curiosity. I believe Maggie is ready work-wise, but I don't want to push it. She will let me know when she is ready on all levels to move on. I just don't think she is showing me those signs yet. I am perfectly fine with recapping this year. This will give me time to work on my record keeping skills and search out different curriculum's! Maggie is very much a kinetic/tactile learner (like her mama!) and so looking for the right curriculum is very important. I find she doesn't much care for workbooks, and things like that.

About a week and a half ago we took a lake ride on the pontoon boat with Beth and her family. We boated from the marina to Lakeside Park. We had a picnic lunch and the kids played at the park. Maggie's day was made when she got to hold Izeah. She had been wanting to for awhile and was too afraid to ask. Her entire trip was made because of that.

Well, this post is kind of scattered, kind of like me right now. I need to stay caught up on my blog. I really enjoy blogging, I need to make the time.

Until later!

B