Soccer Season

Soccer season has begun. The boys have been practicing with their teams for almost a month now. We have three boys playing this year - Craig, Jared and Zachary. One has practice MW 6:30-8 pm and two have practice TTH 5-6 pm at different soccer fields. So every night of the week is busy for us. And Saturdays are going to be crazy. 

This last Saturday our league had a Jamboree.  The teams had their pictures taken and had a scrimmage against another team at some point.  Our day started at the field at 7:10 am and didn't end until 2:30 pm.  Long, hot day.  But it was fun too. Craig and Jared are doing great.  Craig plays center half and is a hard worker. Always getting to the ball and getting it up to the forwards. He had a great assist on Saturday. Go Jedi Knights!

Jared is fast. He outruns all the players on his team. By a lot. He may be a track runner someday. He is quick to get to the ball and has some great skills.  He scored a goal Saturday and assisted in quite a few more. Go Thunderbolts!

This is Zach's first year and he is fun to watch. He just loves to be out there and get after the ball.  I think every picture we took of him Saturday he has a big grin on his face. He's having so much fun. Alhough now that he's played in a game, he doesn't understand why he still needs to go to practice. He thinks he knows all there is to playing soccer.  But he still goes. I'm sure he'll learn a thing or two. :) Go Soccer Sharks!

We have a break this Saturday with the long weekend, but then every Saturday will be crazy going all over town for 3 different games. At least this past Saturday the pictures and games were all in the same area. That won't be the case the rest of the season. 

Love

Encounter with a Black Widow Spider

Several days ago I went out to water the garden. I happened to look at the plastic basketball hoop the kids have in the backyard and noticed what looked like a spider egg sac. I made a mental note to get back to it later and get rid of it.  Fast forward a few hours to when Jared went outside to play for awhile and came back in telling me he thought there was a black widow spider on the basketball hoop.  *Gulp*  I went out and sure enough this big black spider that I usually look at behind glass in a nature exhibit was sitting there on the kid's basketball hoop that although the hoop must not have been played with for awhile could be played with at anytime.  She hung there underneath that egg sac with her long legs curved around it, protecting it from us.

Of course, Jesse was out of town on this particular day. So I couldn't just call him down to take care of it. I started thinking of ways to get rid of her. But nothing seemed like a sure way to get her. She was in between the pieces of plastic so I couldn't just smash her. I thought of getting the vacuum and sucking her up, but reaching out with something that was connected to me felt like I was just getting too close. And what if she was able to shrink down inside that space and not get sucked up?  It all seemed so risky. Whereas, if I just left her there until Jesse got home late that night, he could do it. And I wouldn't have to worry. I decided that was the best plan. She wouldn't be going anywhere with that egg sac sitting there. I read online that it takes 2-3 weeks for eggs to hatch. So I figured I was safe for at least 6 hours.

It gave me the creeps though knowing that she was out there.  And in broad daylight. I thought black widow spiders liked dark quiet places. Not this one, apparently.

As soon as Jesse got home that night, I sent him right out there to take care of her. His solution?  Well, watch and see.

 

 

Note: The basketball hoop and stand were unaffected using this method.  They are still in good standing with no melted parts.

Back to School!

Monday was the first day of school for us.  We weren't quite done with summer, but I'm not sure we ever really would be. We really enjoyed the care-free, no-schedule, fun in the sun together time. But our kids have been really excited for school to start.

Our Goofballs on the first day of school

This will be an interesting year for us.  Through much fasting and prayer, thought and consideration, weighing pros and cons, reading and researching, we have decided to home school Craig and Jared this year.  Much of our decision was based on skipping up ahead a grade last year. You can read about that here.  He skipped up a grade and still got straight A's and would get frustrated he had to spend so much time repeating lessons over and over and doing homework of work he had already practiced at school and understood and would just get bored. (He doesn't get this from me). With 25-30 other kids in a class, the teacher isn't able to do much for him. With budget cuts, there aren't any accelerated programs really available. We've liked our school and love a lot of the teachers and the community of the school. But looked into some charter schools. But ultimately felt the best thing for him would be to home school and allow him the time, resources, and ability to learn at his own pace.  The resources that are out there are really fabulous. And if we were doing one, why not two?  Jared is a good student and does well at school but he learns some things in a different way and having one-on-one attention we felt would be a benefit to him.

So here we are. We started yesterday and so far so good. Craig and Jared are both really excited and enjoying what we've done so far. For history we are doing "The Story of the World" and started with how historians get information about the past. They created timelines today with pictures of themselves and personalized them. They had a lot of fun.  They also did some interviews of family members to create a Family History booklet.  We're hopeful for a great experience.

Zach started Kindergarten yesterday.  He has the same teacher both Craig and Jared had. And he already knows almost half the kids in his class between church, preschool, and his soccer team. So it has been a good transition for him. He is so excited.  We decided to send him to school because I felt like it would be hard to start home schooling and have all 4 kids at home trying to do it at once. We love the Kindergarten teacher at school and like the school, so like to still be connected. Plus Zach has been shy around people he doesn't know and getting up in front of people and we felt Kindergarten would be a good experience for him.

Here's hoping for a great year all around!

Running out of Summer!

Not much time for blogging...we are running out of summertime!  We are trying to pack it all in before school starts.  Here are some of the things we've been busy doing:

STATE FAIR

Insect Exhibit

 Zach's first roller coaster ride...so excited!

History of Rock 'n Roll exhibit

"Petting" Animals

MAKING FORTS

PICKING BLACKBERRIES 

(8 lbs worth!)

 TIE-DYING SHIRTS

FAMILY HIKE

We've been having a great summer. Just one more week and it will be time to get back to school. But we'll still be doing a few things summery (like going camping!) even after school starts. I'll post our completed Summer "To Do" List when we are officially done.