Stuff with Friends

In late September, Evan and Corinne got a mystery illness.  They'd throw up, then be fine, then be feverish and fussy, then fine again.  After a week, Ryan started to get a sore throat, and tested positive for strep throat.  At that point, the little ones had rashes, and I put two and two together.  The pediatrician said they had classic scarlet fever!  Anyway, after a bunch of antibiotics, everybody felt a lot better.  In the meantime, (before we knew they had strep) we took a trip to the Arboretum in Arcadia.  Dad was feeling lousy, and the kids decided to mock him in his sleep.
  

  
After dropping Evan off at Joy School one morning, I backed into some guy's car.  I was pretty disgusted with myself.  Luckily, the damage was minor, and the owner said not to worry about it.
  

  
Now that there are at least seven LDS homeschooling families in our area, I decided to invite everyone to attend a park day on Fridays.  There is already a Friday park day for our ward after school, so I just tacked this on earlier.  On the first day, however, we got delayed by a rattlesnake!  We've had them before, but never in the backyard where the kids play.  Connor was walking around the pool as a consequence for something, and he saw it coiled near the sliding glass door.  We called animal control, and I had Connor watch it (to make sure it didn't go anywhere) until the guy arrived, which took quite awhile.  When our friends heard we had a rattlesnake, they sent their kids over to have a look.  Yeah, we were careful :-)
  

The rattlesnake was hiding under that piece of paper.

The officer gave a great lesson on snake safety.

We eventually made it to park day!

Monopoly and Dress-Ups

 
We had a couple of "late-overs" with the kids' friends.  Once was while the parents were at a late Dodgers game.  Connor and Isaac played Legos most of the night, and all the other kids ate candy and jumped in the crib.  The other night was a movie night with Elise's best friend and her sister.  Connor was gone to a birthday party, so it worked out really well.  We've started a Friday tradition of movie night for the kids while Ryan and I eat our take-out dinner in peace.  It's like a mini-date, but with a lot of popcorn vacuuming at the end.
  

Watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

Corinne finally got enough hair for a topknot.  I love how proud she looks!
  

Apples 'n Stuff

We made it out to Oak Glen this year for apple picking!  It was earlier in the season than other years we've done it, so there were actually apples on the trees.  That said, we spent most of the time attempting to pick raspberries.  It sounded like such a good idea, but the rows of raspberry plants were infiltrated with weeds that Evan called "pokey bushes." Our socks and clothes quickly got covered with sharp, thorny burrs.  Eventually, all the kids dropped out, and Ryan had to finish filling our carton all alone.  The apples were good, though, and of course we had to stop for cider doughnuts!  
  

The day was hot, and the raspberries were very ripe.

The ones we ate right away were good, but the rest fermented on the way home!

Eating Apples

Corinne found some wind-fallen apples in the grass.  (We let her eat them.)

On the way home, we stopped at Bass Pro Shops in Rancho Cucamonga just to look around.  Corinne wanted all these pop-guns for herself.  
  

  
On the way out of Rancho, Ryan saw a "famous cars" car show in a strip mall parking lot, and had to jump out and get some pictures.  Only Elise was game enough to go with him!
  

  
The second week of Joy School was at our house, and it went pretty well.  The kids finger-painted with pudding and we did a bunch of stories and activities related to the five senses.  I did discover, though, that three-year-olds can't concentrate with my older kids around, so I've decided to banish Connor and Elise to my bedroom on Joy School days.
   

I went to check on her during Joy School . . 

Elise started ballet!  She did a class at this same studio a couple years ago and loved it, so we switched back for this school year (instead of gymnastics.)  She gets to be with her best friend, Sarah (although they talk a lot more than they should.)  Connor picked basketball class for his activity this year, but I still haven't gotten any pictures (sorry Connor!)
  

  
I found these August pictures on Ryan's phone the other day, so I'm just going to throw them in here.  Corinne went swimming in our pool for the first time, and loved it!  She even liked the baby floaty (yes, it's actually Lincoln's, but we stole it!)  Unfortunately, like all our kids, she liked to climb out and tip it over, so we didn't leave her in for very long.
  

    
And some other stuff..
  

"Downtown"

The Ward Newsletter guy got this picture during Elder's Quorum

  

First Day of School, and the Getty

Evan started Joy School, and Connor and Elise had their first day of school during the first week of September.  Evan was sooo excited to finally have his own "school".  I debated whether I had time to do Joy School this year, but I'm glad I decided to just suck it up and do it.  I'm also still a big fan of the older kids' enrichment program.  It gives me a little bit of a break, and they do all kinds of stuff I'd never have time for at home!
  

First Day of Joy School

   

First Day of Eagle Academy

   
We're trying some new things this year with our homeschooling, including having a (mostly) set schedule of M/W/F for schoolwork, and a five-weeks-on one-week-off plan, so we can have time to catch up on random things and do field trips.  Connor is also doing a curriculum called Memoria Press in addition to the subjects he did in previous years.  It's pretty rigorous, and includes Grammar, Spelling, Composition, States and Capitals, Greek Myths, and Astronomy.  That sounds like a lot, but it's spread out throughout the week, and since we've never done any real Language Arts programs, I felt like he needed it at this point.  I gave Connor a pre-test for States and Capitals, and I was shocked at how much he knew (no capitals, but lots of states!)  I think he picked up most of it by playing "Stack the States" on my phone.
   

I don't know who took these pictures.  I don't know what they were doing to poor Corinne.  But, I know I couldn't delete them!
  

The shirt adds a lot.  

  
One Saturday, we decided to go get culture, and took the kids to the Getty Center.  We looked at a little bit of art, but the kids lost interest after awhile.  They did like the kids' room, but the best part of the Getty for families is just the lawn in back.  This turned into a total Corinne photo shoot while she practiced walking and the other kids roughhoused with Dad.  Yeah, if I'd known, I would have put her in cuter clothes.  
  

Reading Bed

Illuminating Manuscripts

Walking on the Lawn