September in Vancouver and SW WA - Page 3

The ARC here picks things up as well. Not sure if they do furniture--probably worth a call.

: Hug Feel free to vent mama! Sorry you have to deal with this I agree that an ND would be worth a visit--especially if you've got insurance coverage. Doesn't sound like there's anything to lose! Hope you get some things figured out.


Speaking of longies. Leslie, do you have a favorite (free) knit longies pattern? Rowan is all grown out of his soakers and I need to get to work! This time of year the knitting bug starts to come back and I'm itching to get my fingers on some yarn


Anyone spoke w/ Allison?

How 'bout Courtney? How are things going? Is Avery in school now? Hope that's going ok!


I'm having trouble keeping up with just about everything these days. Trying not to stress about it--I can always get to the cold frame next year, right?

Me too! Keeping up!

Hot out today! Went and bought Bri a container to fill water in and she had water play out doors. She was pissed that I had to bring her in but I didn't want to burn her up. Need to pick up AmberLeigh soon. Thinking about going to OMSI with Bri maybe Wednesday or Thursday...probably morning time. Anyone up for going and hanging out in the playland area for an hour or so?

Lisa

pm me you're email addy for longie patterns.

from Lilly

:::::

Hi Lilly! Bri has her well check up today. I bought her a 41 qt container to put water in and put some measuring cups in it and she went to town yesterday. She loved playing with it, in it, etc. Cheaper than a water table!

Lisa

I would love to go down to OMSI, but M is on another gas saving kick. I can't say I blame him, with the crazy high cost of gas and the amount that he has to use for work every week. $75 + every week is starting to get a bit ridiculous.

On the up side though, in a week I will once again {I hope!!} be contributing to the family financially. My store reopens on the 16th. I took advantage of the sun today to take photos of most of the stock, so those should be up on the 13th. My eyes are killing me from staring at the sun reflecting off of the white backdrop though. I'm excited. Terrified of failure, but still excited.

Ali had her eye check up today. She's a bit far sighted but still doesn't need glasses. She might need them in a few years. She is terribly disappointed. She wants glasses so that she can be like her big brothers and sister. I need to find her a pair of frames to wear around.

Does anyone happen to know of a local, affordable candy maker / chocolatier? I'm putting together a small 'gift with purchase' for the first 10 people to buy from my store and I wanted to include a little bit of candy or chocolate from a local store, some where that sells on the web as well as locally {so that I can include their card as advertisement for them}, but my budget is terribly small and mostly spent. Any suggestions for places?

Jessie, there were a few candy makers at the Battle Ground Farmers Market. I'm sure there's one at Vancouver, too.

What a sweet idea. Get it. Sweet idea...LOL I crack myself up.

So I met with a few mommas from the Clark County Homeschoolers group, and we're talking about Monique Dupre, and one of the ladies says, "Oh you would really like a lady who frequents the Camas get togethers, she told us about her workshops, too, her name is Amoreena...."

It was pretty funny...and nice to have you as a connection with them, too. I think the Friday meetup in Camas would be perfect if it were not for the boys Millennium art class from 1-3 on Fridays! Oh well! I'll just have to keep my eyes open for get togethers.

Andy and Zach have joined a Lego Robotics team up here near us, and they are really loving it. Reggie has been taking them, and the parents evidently sit around eating snacks and discussing homeschooling...and he, my social recluse, is really having a ton of fun. I mentioned maybe I should go one of these times and he pipes up "ohhhh no missy, you aren't taking this away from me!" I thought that was really funny.

We're going to an eXcell Science Olympiad open house next week, and then the Mad Science workshop as well. September is pretty busy! October is looking busy too with the WF Vet workshops.

Are you guys going to any of that stuff? Am I going to see anyone around?

We should have a playdate next week hopefully the weather will still be nice!

Allison, I was just thinking of you this morning and wondering how the puter sitch is/was. It sounds like it's still not fixed?!?! :

I would totally come to the park, but alas, what is in the gas tank needs to last until thurs night. no extra trips here.



Amy, you sound soooo busy!!!! Lego Robotic team? tell more. I wonder if there's one in the se/gresham area.

: Allison I had totally resolved to call you today too. We're up for park day. Today or tomorrow would be good Sent you an email today. Probably a long shot, but you should check it out. As for Madeline, did you try any of the park days? Maybe you should post on the cchomeschoolers board? There are some other active groups in Clark county too. Have you tried any of the Christian groups? What about HCA? There are a couple of older (6-10) girls at ACE.

Amy, glad to hear you're liking lego robotics. We'll miss you at ACE--you could always stop by on your way home from Washougal to catch the tail end of things. There is usually a troop of 9-12 yo boys...



What about this cake party thing we always talk about and never plan?

Well you don't want Madeline to meet AmberLeigh now...AmberLeigh loves school so much she is on a kick to convince other homeschoolers to go to school. She talked about that all day yesterday. I feel like a horrible mom since she seemed so depressed last year. I should have just sent her then. Oh well it was nice for her to spend time with her sister.

Bri had her well check up appt and all is fine and dandy. She is tall and skinny. She is only 17 lbs 10 oz and is 31 inches long.

Allison, sounds like you're really frustrated. I can relate on so many fronts, especially not having as much time to attend to the older kids and having a messy house that inhibits creativity (sigh).

Several thoughts on your post, will see if I can get them all down:

~It's so easy to feel inadequate when you read books about people who have thrived BUT remember many of them only post the good stuff and they didn't start writing till their kids were older. Life is different when you've got babes/toddlers in the house--imagine what things will be like when Nomy is 3! I know, from direct observation, that you are anything but inadequate!! Someday you'll look back on this busy, stressful period of your life and maybe even miss it.

~Is it possible that the boredom has to do with the end-of-the summer transition? With HCA classes starting soon they may find that they've got enough going on. I know that you & Joe have been thinking about becoming less formal but if the kids enjoy the classes and you get a little time with less pressure, it might be worth keeping them signed up (or at least looking for someplace else they can go and take classes and play with other kids)

~Sounds like you're an introvert and Maddy's an extrovert. Ugh, I dread the possibility of dealing with this one, but I suspect that may be the case with me/Rowan. Lilly's temperament is quite different from Maddy's, but having 1 or 2 friends that she can see regularly has really been enough to fulfill her social needs. Just keep looking and you're bound to find that special friend. Better yet, maybe she'll find the kid herself and she's probably old enough that you can start thinking about playdates w/out parents so maybe that'll take some pressure off.

~The Who site has some group links. Have you tried finding other christians through the LIG yahoo group? Might even be worth a circle discussion at the next conference if there's enough people. From some of the reading I've done it sounds like not finding other people on the same wavelength just goes with the territory when you're unschooling. Sounds like lots of people in other parts of the country just have to make friends with the school-at-home folks 'cuz there aren't may other unschoolers

Got more on my mind but gotta run. Hang in there! We've chosen a difficult path and sometimes it gets bumpy!

Haaa haaa Allison I just left you a message about getting together perhaps tomorrow.

I'm meeting a couple other HS momma's at Lewisville tomorrow, not sure what time, but it should be a nice day, nice day enough for water play.

Allison if you are there I'll bring your CD! :

The Lego Robotics group is a team up really close to where we live, they just had a couple of openings left so I jumped on it. The kids really love it.

Allison, forgot the most important part. Wanted to tell you that I signed up for several field trips through Kim's group and I'd be happy to bring Madeline along if you guys sign up for any of the same ones (maybe Michael too but I might need a dry run to be sure that I'm up for it).

I'd also be happy to try bringing them to ACE sometimes. You're on my way anyhow so it shouldn't be any hassle. I brought Melissa's son with us when she was sick & pg and it was no big deal.



Amy, I've heard good things about lego robotics hope the kids continue loving it


Our church is having a homeschool thing tomorrow and I can't decide if I want to try and go or not...

Cool beans! Thanks for the tip. Hmm now if I have time to get there before Tuesday... I want to promote a local business, but it has to have a presence on the web, too, so people can order more for themselves {but if I can't find that, I might just buy some small sweets and then go with Kickshaw Confections or something like that later}.
I so knew she would be crawling soon. WOW did that time fly or what!

Would love to do something on Friday. Thinking of finally doing that mall-library thing that I've been putting off. Park sounds nice, too. Saturday is good, too. Tomorrow I HAVE to clean house. Dude, M being home for two days somehow causes gads more cleaning.

Went great! Thanks for asking Kids are all signed up and set to go! G is taking Messy Science {Was going to do Simple Machines, but Nate is in that class and I really do not want them in a class together!}, Ana is taking the Learning Through the Year {the Spanish class}, Nate is taking Scrabble, Simple Machines, Super Creative Writing AND Drama. He's going to be so busy! Their teachers seem nice, especially the K/1 teacher. They start classes on Tuesday. I'm a bit nervous, but hopefully it will go well.

Do you happen to know if we're allowed to bring in treats on birthdays? I forgot to ask. Nate's b-day is in October and I know he'll want to bring something for the class if he can.

Ana is so, so excited to start. Gunner was bouncing off of the walls, even more so than usual today {M forgot to give him his medicine this morning and it was like it supercharged him somehow}, but Ana was so calm and sweet and looked so grown up sitting in the chair doing a puzzle and politely chatting with the teacher. I'm nervous about how Nate and Gunner are going to do, but Ana is going to shine.