Gopher Busters

This morning as we were eating breakfast, Jake looked out in the backyard and asked why our grass and dirt had been dug up in a certain area. Jay immediately said, "Oh great...gophers." We had a gopher problem at one time at our last house, and they are really hard to get rid of. And, in case you've never experienced a gopher problem, until you get rid of the gophers, they destroy your backyard. Jay took the kids out to show them that if there was one hole, there would be another one nearby. Sure enough, they uncovered the holes and got a little gopher lesson from Jay. He then went inside to take a shower, and Jake and Addi declared that they were going to stand watch and wait for the gopher to come out. Jay told them that the gopher wouldn't be coming out anytime soon, but they were not deterred.

After standing watch for a few minutes, Jake got the brilliant idea that he was going to flood the gopher out of his hole. So, he turned the hose on and waited. A couple minutes later, I heard Addi scream and they came running in to tell me that the gopher had stuck his head out and gone back down. They considered this quite a victory, and decided that this method was definitely working, so Jake got back to work flooding the hole. Sure enough, a couple minutes after that, Addi ran in to tell me that Jake had gotten that little bugger to come out and had chased him up against the wall at the side of the house. He was now guarding him so that he would not get away. I then went out to keep watch, while they ran up to get Jay to deal with it. Needless to say, Jay was thrilled at their success. He got his big shovel and was about to deal with it (snake style), but Jake became very distraught that Jay was going to kill the innocent little creature. Apparently, killing poisonous, deadly snakes is okay, but not furry little rat-like things. I started to explain to him that we were not killing him just for the sake of killing him, but that this one tiny little critter was about to set to work on destroying our entire backyard. Still, Jake was not having it. So instead, Jay helped Jake to scoop the the gopher into a big bucket, and then Jake and Addi walked it down to the end of our street and let him go down in the canyon. I'm really hoping that the gopher hadn't grown too accustomed to his new home in our backyard and doesn't try to make his way back. If he does, he'll have Jake to deal with!

And, I'm sure this will come as no surprise, but Jake then declared that he is now going to start a company called Gopher Busters. Anybody in the area have a gopher problem that needs dealt with?

The Gopher Holes

The very proud "Gopher Busters"

Off to set the gopher free

School is in Session!

I hadn't planned on starting school until Monday, but we ended up having our first day today. The kids have been really excited to start - probably because they've seen their new markers, colored pencils, etc. sitting there for weeks and haven't been allowed to touch them - but, I've been holding off. I've been holding off for a few reasons: One, because I've been busy getting organized; two, because I've been waiting on some materials to arrive; and three, because starting school means actually committing to that schedule that I've been working so hard on, and I haven't been quite ready to do that. After all, it's still summer, and who wants to be committed to a schedule in the summer (or anytime, really)? The materials that we had been waiting on finally arrived yesterday though, and the kids actually begged to start school today. We didn't have anything going on and so I decided to go ahead and have our first day a few days early.

Here are the obligatory first day of school photos: I figured that I'd keep it real and show what my kids really look like for school most of the time - little unkempt ragamuffins with unbrushed hair, soccer uniforms (that have been slept in), pajamas, and, of course, cowboy boots. That's how we roll at the Herron Family Homeschool.

The morning went smoothly and I'm hoping that the kids excitement lasts at least a little while. I'm actually really excited too about the new curriculum that I'm using. Last year, I attempted a kind of hodge podge of various things without really having set goals in place. That didn't work so well for me, and by the end of the year we were pretty much just flying by the seat of our pants. I definitely learned that I need a better plan to follow. So, for anybody at all interested, here's what I'm using this year (Jake: 2nd grade; Addi: Kindergarten):

• Adventures in My Father's World (for Jake and Addi): This is the 2nd/3rd grade My Father's World (MFW) curriculum and includes our Bible, Literature, Science, Art, Music Appreciation, and History curriculum. Addi will have no problem participating in this as I can tailor it to meet her needs and level as well.
• My Father's World 1st Grade Curriculum (for Addi): I'm only using a very small piece of this curriculum (the Reading and Writing portion) for Addi.
• Math: Singapore Math (1A and 1B for Addi, 2A and 2B for Jake)
• Spelling (for Jake): Spelling by Sound and Structure Book 3 from Rod and Staff
• English (for Jake): Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl
• Handwriting (for Jake): Pictures in Cursive by Sandi Queen
• Art Instruction: I Can Do All Things art curriculum (this is included with our MFW curriculum)
• Art Appreciation: Child-Size Masterpieces
• Music Lessons: Piano (Jake only - taking lessons from me)
• Foreign Language (Jake and Addi): Spanish class once a week
• Extra-curricular for the fall: Soccer (Jake and Addi), Engineering with Legos class once a week (Jake)

Give me a few weeks and I'll be happy to tell you what I think of our choices!

A New Look

Jake has really been wanting to cut his hair short. He doesn't like it getting in his eyes, and he is obsessed with wanting to be able to spike it. So, after his last haircut (back before the beginning of the summer), we promised him that the next time we took him to get his hair cut, he could get it cut short. And, because of that promise, I've been stalling. His hair definitely started to get way too long for my liking, but I kept putting off taking him to get it cut because I knew that we would lose all of his wonderful blonde curls that I love so much. Really, I don't want us, or our kids, to be focused on looking a certain way, and we try to make a conscience effort to teach our kids that what they look like is not what's important. I'm just used to his curls and knew that he would look like a different kid without them. He's still as cute as ever...but with a whole new look!

Before...

During...

After...

Summer is Coming to an End...But I've Got a Plan in Place!

Certain events are marking the end of our summer...for example, Jake had his first soccer practice yesterday. He has been so excited to start back up again, and has been counting down the days. Addi is going to play this year as well, but she's still at the age where she won't have a midweek practice. They will just practice a half hour before their games on Saturday. She's pretty excited to start as well, but for very different reasons. I think that the only thing she really cares about is finding out what color her uniform is going to be. If it doesn't meet her approval, we could have a very long season ahead of us! I mean, what fun is playing soccer if the uniform's not acceptable?

Here is a rare photo of me included in the bunch. I'm NEVER in any pictures because I'm the only one who ever takes the pictures. But, Jay happened to take one of me this time. I have had some complaints that I haven't posted any pregnancy pictures. Unfortunately, due to the way the picture is, you still can't see my belly...just my puffy face and arms! I actually don't think I have one single photo of my pregnant self this time around. I'm going to try to remember to have Jay take a profile shot and post it on here. Just last night he said to me, "Your stomach's getting really big." Gee, imagine that. We've only got about 6 or 7 weeks to go!

We also had an end-of-summer family room campout. We have talked many times lately about trying to take the kids camping, but have just never actually done it. Instead, the kids built a fort in the living room and we all "camped out" in there one night. Needless to say, it was extremely cramped and uncomfortable and we ended up carrying the kids up to their own beds and sleeping in our own bed about halfway through the night. That didn't matter though. They got to fall asleep in their fort and didn't know any different after that.

And, finally, the plan that I have put in place for the Fall...you would laugh at me if you knew the ridiculously insane amount of time that has gone into making this little schedule. It has been an ongoing process this summer that has been visited, re-visited, changed, and color-coded. You would laugh even more if you realized that it will be a miracle if we stick to it for even a week (a new baby certainly won't make my schedule any easier to stick to either). I think I have mentioned though that I'm great at planning, and not so great at follow-through. Here is my goal for our fall schedule though.

I have named our first official day of school to be Monday, August 29th. So, come mid-September there will probably be a post about how my much toiled over schedule has been scrapped. But, we'll see. My personal goal for the school year is FOLLOW-THROUGH!! So, maybe the post will be about how great it is that I have such an awesome, color-coded, toiled-over schedule to stick to!

Summer Fun

I can't believe that summer is already coming to an end and we are gearing up to start school. Obviously, I have not been good about blogging over the summer, but we've been having a great time. So, I'm just going to post some pictures of a few of the highlights. I have, unfortunately, fallen back into my old ways and also haven't been great about taking many pictures, so many of our activities won't be remembered here. Here's what I've got though...

We kicked off the summer with a visit from cousins and, as always, had a great time together. And then, as always, we were so bummed when everyone had to go.

I know that I mentioned VBS in another post, but I failed to post pictures of "Crazy Hair Day." Jake was very excited because he was officially named the winner for the craziest hair. I, however, cannot take credit for his multi-colored, balloon-tied hair. That would be my neighbor, who saw to it that he had the craziest hair for crazy hair day. Addi, on the other hand, knew exactly how she wanted her hair to be - a little pig tail on each side of her head - so that's how I did it for her. When we walked outside though, Sarah (our neighbor) gave her a splash of color. Apparently, she keeps hair dye on hand for just such occasions.

Jake has loved participating in a couple of mountain bike races this summer (Jay did one as well). Aren't they cute?

The Cheering Section

And, we've gotten in some great beach days. In my opinion, the beach is a lot of work. There's always tons to pack, long distances to walk (with the tons of stuff that you've packed), sand everywhere when you leave, etc. When we go though, we always get a full day's worth of fun out of it because the kids love it. So, it's worth it. Jake and Addi do not like to do the same things at the beach though. Jake spends almost the whole time playing in the water and boogie boarding. Jay even got him up on a surfboard and he's dying to keep learning. Addi though, prefers to play in the sand, collect shells, and run away from the waves.

So, those are a few highlights in a nutshell. We'll officially be starting school up (at home) in a couple of weeks. I'm actually really looking forward to getting started and getting some structure into our days. I'm just not sure how long that excitement will last. It will probably start to fade somewhere around week two! I always love the idea of plans and schedules, and work really hard to come up with ones that I think will work. But, I usually have far better plans than follow-through. I'm working on that though.

Spoiled

My birthday was a couple of days ago. We don't usually do many gifts or anything like that for birthdays or special days, but this year I felt quite spoiled. No one else will actually care about the details of my day, but, as I've said before, I like to record things here to remember them for myself. So, read it or skip it...but you won't find it exciting. It actually started last week when I received a present in the mail...that I had ordered for myself!

You can all laugh at me now, but you won't be laughing when I "cellercise" my cellulite away! :) I've been wanting this mini-trampoline for a while, but...1) didn't want to spend the money on it 2) Jay thought it was the dumbest idea ever, and 3) Jay reminded me that I have other exercise equipment that doesn't get used. I wore him down though and he eventually gave in and said that I could get it. So, I ordered it and called it my birthday present. Now if I don't end up using it a lot, I will NEVER hear the end of it.

Then, Jay arranged for my parents to babysit the kids one night over the weekend (their gift to me!) so that we could go out to dinner. We don't do date nights very often, and our last one a couple of months ago didn't go so well, so it was really nice to have a nice night out together. One of the best things about it was that Jay arranged it instead of me. It's just nice to have someone else plan something for you. Plus, we had a gift certificate to use at the restaurant so the night didn't cost us anything. And if you know me, you know that that automatically makes the night a hundred times better!

Then, the day before my birthday, I got a card in the mail from my in-laws with a gift for me to go "pamper myself," which I will certainly take advantage of. And finally, my actual birthday was a really nice day. I got up and went swimming in the morning and when I walked back to my car, there was coffee and a muffin waiting for me that Jay and the kids had left in there. Such a nice surprise! Then, I came home and the kids gave me their cards and presents. Presents from the kids consist of them finding things of their own around the house and wrapping them up and giving them. I made quite a haul. I think I got some silly bands, a plastic tea set, a deck of cards, a bracelet, and a few other odds and ends.

After that, my neighbor took me for a manicure and pedicure which was so thoughtful of her and a really nice treat. And THEN...when I got home, Jay had washed my car for me and he and the kids had gone and bought me a new swimsuit and goggles for swimming laps. I've been trying to swim at least a couple of times a week for exercise and the suit that I swim in is basically coming apart. It might have something to do with the fact that I have stretched it beyond it's capacity, seeing as how I'm still wearing the same swimsuit at 7 months pregnant that I was wearing pre-pregnancy. Not to mention, I couldn't really actually see out of the goggles that I had because they were so scratched up, but they did keep the water out of my eyes. There was also a card in the mail from my sister. If you know my family, you know that we don't do cards and sentiment and things like that. I don't know why, we just don't. It's not "our way." Getting the card really made my day though and actually caused me to think, "That was really nice. I should start sending cards to people." Don't hold your breath though, because it won't actually happen. I just had the thought.

We then just hung out the rest of the day and grabbed a bite to eat with the kids that night.

Great day!!

VBS

Before I tell you about VBS, let me just say quickly that I know a couple of you have given me cases to give to my little detective. Thank you! :) The reason that he has not "solved" them and gotten back to you yet is because I have not yet passed the cases on to him. We have had a very busy couple of weeks, so he hasn't been so obsessed with his business...and because he has not been obsessed with it, I haven't gotten around to giving him the assignments. I figure that I'll wait until we don't have so much going on and he's back to being obsessed with getting cases to solve. He will be very excited once I do actually tell him about them!

One of the things that has been keeping us busy is that the kids have been attending VBS (Vacation Bible School) at my parents' church this week. It goes every day from 9-12 and they love it. Since I am literally never without my kids, I was excited to have a little time to myself. In fact, I was really looking forward to it. I had visions of actually using the couple of hours to get something productive accomplished. That hasn't really happened for a couple of reasons though. First, my parents church is a half hour drive from us (the kids have been there a couple of times with them and really like it, and so they decided that they wanted to go to their VBS). So, there really would be no sense in me dropping them off and driving all the way home to get things done here, only to have to drive all the way back to pick them up a short time later. So my plan was going to be to drop them off, and then head to some quiet location nearby with my computer, and try to work on getting blog posts written (I know, I know...there have been none), weekly menus planned, grocery lists made, etc. Uh, not so much.

As it turns out, I have ended up spending a good portion of my time at the church just hanging out while they do their thing. The first day, I could hardly bring myself to leave at all. I think I ended up sneaking out for a half hour. Don't get me wrong, the kids were fine and excited to be there. But, I don't ever drop my kids off anywhere, with the exception of their own church class that lasts an hour and a half each week. Really, not anywhere. I know that it's a normal thing to do, but it is not something that I am used to doing, nor is it something that I'm comfortable doing. I could not just walk into some place where I don't know the people and my kids don't know any of the other kids and just say, "Have fun. See you in a few hours." Sorry, not gonna happen. The place was completely chaotic with all the kids, volunteers, etc. and nobody knew my kids at all. It was all a bit disorganized for me. So, instead, I sat and watched the festivities for most of the day. Jake and Addi didn't even know I was there most of the time, but once in a while they would catch a glimpse of me and were always excited when they did. (I throw that in there to let you know that my kids are still at the age where they want me around. It's not like they were wishing I would leave!)

By the second day, I was able to venture out to Costco for a quick trip...not to actually buy anything, mind you. But, I did walk around and write down the prices of a few things as I am determined to get my monthly grocery budget and shopping organized and under control. So that was a small step in the right direction. Yesterday and today, I actually left for a little bit longer and sat in a Starbucks with my computer and good intentions. Really though, I used my time marveling at how crowded Starbucks stays and wondering about the lives of these people who just sit there and hang out all morning. I mean really, where are their children? Don't they have jobs? Things to do? Things to accomplish? Or, maybe, their kids were in VBS and they were wondering at my life and what made my life so easy that I had time to just waste an hour and a half away at a coffee shop, playing on my computer with no kids in tow.

My goal for tomorrow (the last day) will be to sit at the Starbucks and actually accomplish SOMETHING. I would love to have something to show for my absolutely unheard of time away from my children. I'm not making any promises though.

Because I have been hanging out at the church watching the kids though, I have gotten to see them in action, which I love. They are having a great time, and today, I managed to get a couple short clips of them singing the songs. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think they're pretty cute! Oh, there is a cowboy/western theme to the VBS, so Addi went decked out in her cowgirl gear today. She's in her cowboy boots about 90% of the time anyway, so it wasn't much of a stretch.