Down on the Farm

Vic took the kids last weekend down to Baron Farms to get our beef. We bought an 1/8 of a grass fed cow. They were having a farm party that day and the kids had lots of fun. There was a big corn maze, music, and they got to feed the pigs (and Vic got to eat the roasted pig). It looked like a great time, I was sorry I missed it but enjoyed having a day alone!

I thought the expression in this pictures was amusing:

Erik's first day

Today was Erik's first day at the Russell Ridge Center. He is taking 3 classes: hands on science, beginning computers, and medieval history. He was really excited to go, especially to pack his lunch this morning. Today was science and computers. His science class went really well. He enjoyed it and liked his teacher. Computers was a little more chaotic. There are 13 boys in the class and the noise and chaos overwhelmed him a bit. But he stuck it out and did his best. I'm really proud of Erik and the changes he's made this year. He has matured a great deal. He has learned to read and really loves it. He also is more willing to do things. Our lessons at home are going smoother and he interested in doing more. He also is taking more responsibility at home and more for himself. He's definitely a different boy this year.

From the Back Door

Always makes me feel so grateful.

Erik and I went to Goodwill today and on our way in we were talking about how we could create darth vader for his halloween costume. Then when we looked at their costumes, darth vader was the first one we saw, and they only had one. So we just had to buy it. He's beside himself with joy over this outfit, and had to do a little dance about it. Turn your volume up so you can hear his tune.

boy's adventures

Erik spent yesterday morning building this fort. It's one of his best yet. This is him looking through the "peeper". It has a secret entrance like the old pyramids so that bad guys can't get in, and then he made a better entrance so that grown ups could enter.
He got lonely so he invited his friends (stuffed animals) to join him. He spent most of the afternoon yesterday and the morning today reading to them. You can see he has a shelf full of books to read and next to the shelf is a compartment where he has gifts for anyone who visits.

He also has a radio in there to listen to audio books, and a lamp. I love my creative boy.

Patio

This weekend we decided to finish our patio. This is not a true before picture, but it's when I got the idea to take a few pictures. We had to take out part of the old patio, lay down rock, level it out, and lay sand.
My hard workin' man.

Vic let me lay most of the bricks, which I thought was pretty cool. I asked him if he wanted to do that part, and he said, "no, that's the fun part, you should get to do it".

The almost finished product, it still needs the border and some clean up. Now the patio extends to both ends of the house.

Company Car

After waiting 5 months for what the company said would take 2, Vic finally got his truck today. It's nice! Compared to his old crappy truck, it's small, comfortable, shiny, NEW!

More on first day

I just wanted to add to the post in response to everyone's comments. First of all, she is beautiful, and I never tire of hearing it. It amazes me almost every time I look at her. Also, it really wasn't hard to let her go. We've had a tough year and I was glad for the break. And I was glad that she took her life into her own hands to make a change when I couldn't do it for her. It was necessary and timely, so I was glad. She is brave. Even when she was scared and crying she never said she didn't want to go. She's very unlike me in that way. Her side swept bangs came from being friends with a 13 year old who helps her keep up with trends. She also picked out her own clothes. She and I have such different tastes that I never dare buy anything for her. I took her to Goodwill and she picked out a few new things for school. She is her own person and I'm proud of her and happy I get to be a witness of her life.

First Day

So today was Taryn's first day of full time school. She had thought about it all summer and decided that this was what she wanted to do this year. It's obviously not what I would have chosen for her, but I felt like she was old enough that she knew what she was getting into. I told her that the reason we homeschool is so that she can be in charge of her own education and if this is what she chooses, she's still in charge. The more excited she became, the more I became excited for her. I started looking forward to not policing fighting kids all day and allowing her to have a new challenge. She's been a little bored since our unschooling experiment, and I think she wanted something more. We agreed that she would commit to going until Christmas break, and then we'd re-evaluate.

She is in the 5th grade this year. She's in a class with 2 teachers who split the day between them. Taryn has always responded better to male teachers, so I was glad that one of her teachers is a man. Taryn says he's old and she expected him to have more hair.

Last night she was so nervous about going. She says, "all the other kids know what it's like, I've never done this before." All I could say was that's true, and it's ok to be scared. This morning she woke up earlier than she needed to and was so excited to go she left for the bus 15 minutes early.

She didn't want me to pick her up at the bus stop like the other mom's do, so I waited at the front door. She met me with big smiles and said "that was so fun!".

I loved hearing about her day. She is so much more independent. She's brave and excited about life. I'm excited for her this year and I hope it continues to be fun for her.