Homeschool Soccer

It all started innocently enough. I saw an email on one my homeschool message boards about a rec soccer league. It looked like a great opportunity for Jake to get some exercise and meet other HS kids.

Then the catch...it's a co-op and each family must contribute. No worries there; we have a big SUV so I can haul goals and be done. Nope, they need a coach for the 3-4 year old team.

I've never played soccer, but I can read and watch coaching dvds, right? How hard can it be to teach kids to chase a ball and kick it? (stop laughing!)

So I agree to do it.
Turns out that it's the same night/time as Jake's Boy Scout meetings so he made it to only 2 soccer games.
Turns out my little team is very little - 4 kids.
Turns out herding cats is a heck of a lot easier than keeping four preschoolers interested in soccer for 2 hours.

After all was said and done, we really did have a good time. Ella and Hank now run around the house in their shin guards "playing soccer," and I got to meet some really nice parents. Shane was, as always, perched on my back in the backpack taking it all in.

We're already looking forward to spring when we get to do it again. :)

Playgroup Park Adventure

We thought it would be fun to have the kids dress up and try to get a picture of all them smiling at the same time and looking the same direction. Stop laughing!

We headed to the local park and let them all run like monkeys in an attempt to wear them out so they would be docile. It didn't work, but we all had a really good time so it wasn't a complete bust.

Click here for more pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to Summers Farm in Frederick with our playgroup. To say they had a good time is an understatement. The folks at Summers put together all sorts of fun things for little peeps, but the most popular with my two is the Hay Mountain slide. We could have easily spent the whole day right there.

Then we wandered through the pumpkin patch for 2 perfect pumpkins. This year the theme is small pumpkins. According to Hank you shouldn't choose pumpkins bigger than your hand so our front porch is littered with a dozen or so tiny pumpkins.

Click here for more pictures. :)

Leaf Collecting

Jake is in a co-op for Biology this year so we make the trek to Waynesboro, PA every Tuesday. It's worth it though because the teacher is an MD and very excited about the material. They do all sorts of experiments in class, and Jake seems to really enjoy the class.

He has to turn in a leaf collection of 15-20 leaves so we took a field trip to our front yard and the field next to us. We tried the iron/waxpaper method of preserving the leaves but all we accomplished was turning them brown. So now they're all being squished to death between the pages of some really heavy books (yes, we put them in wax paper first).

Here are some more pictures.

The Pink Carseat

Those of you who know Ella know that she is a girlie girl through and through. Princesses, purses, shoes and baby dolls dance like ballerinas around our house amid piles of trucks, trains and super heroes.

Shane has outgrown his baby carseat so we did the carseat shuffle. Shane moved into Ella's seat, and we bought Ella a big girl seat.

I was shopping on-line and had narrowed my choices to some seats that were on sale. I brought Ella over so she could make the final selection. Now the screen was filled with carseats - both regular and sale priced. As I scrolled from one on-sale seat to the next, she spotted a bright pink car seat.

"Mine! That one mine!" as she frantically tapped the computer screen. She's not one to waffle in decision making. Thankfully the UPS man seemed to know how desperately we needed this seat because it arrived in just a few days.

So now she sits in her princess seat with her purse and her baby doll while Hank and his trusty sword protect her from dragons and bad guys.

Virginia Beach

After Williamsburg, we took a quick trip down to visit my brother Uncle Potty as the kids call him (sorry Todd). He lives near the beach and the kids had a ball. It was a little cold but as long as you kept moving, you could stave off hypothermia. Before it was all over Hank was in his underwear running in the water (silly mom didn't think they'd get in the water so I didn't put their suits on).

This is one of my favorite pictures of Ella.

Here are more pix

Williamsburg

Bill's sister, Helen and her husband graciously offered us the use of their timeshare for a week in Williamsburg. I was a little (ok a lot) concerned about being in a 2 bedroom condo with 4 kids for a week!! But we really did have a great time.

Bill was sure the kids needed a rifle and Hank spent a lot of his time running down the street wearing his tri-corner hat carrying a rifle as long as he is tall and yelling "charge!"

Here's a link to some more photos - Williamsburg
Email me if it prompts you for a password.