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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Soccer Seeding...

With two kids on two team, and being the head coach for the littlest one, soccer had us going in different directions.  
Tyler's team is pretty new to the game, with a handful of kids returning this year, most the kids have not played.  We are also a young team so we were seeded in the last U8 Division.  After 3 weeks of practices, we weren't very sure what was going to happen today.  
To all our surprise, they did completely awesome.  Scoring wise they won 3 games and tied 2, having possession of the ball a good portion of their games.  With the exception of the last game, our goalies didn't have much action today. 
At the end of the tournament, our team ended up in the #2 spot, and will be recommended to move up a division.  
 Tyler said he had fun today.  When asked what position he like best he said that he liked to play goal, when the goalie doesn't see much action.  I asked him if he liked to play and he shrugged his shoulders and said "not really."  So, he probably won't play next year.  But he promised he would try hard the rest of the season. 

Cody was off at another field with Grandpa.  His games went okay from what was reported, they lost 2, tied 2 and won the last one.  He's having to work hard to gain the trust of his new team mate and getting them to listen for positioning. 
 Tyler's games were shorter, so we were able to make it to Cody's last game of the day.
He said he had a good day today and had fun.  He as put into his favored sweeper position, so that made his day. 

Monday, August 20, 2012

First Day of School

We survived!  
The boys had a great first day of school, everyone cooperated and we are slowly getting back into our routine. 
 A friend posted pictures of her kids holding signs on their first day; a white piece of paper with the wording edited on later.

 The new school room set up worked really well.  Each boy has their own space and I'm able to sit between them and go back and forth. (Now I just need to get a chair with wheels!)


Thursday, August 16, 2012

School Room / Craft Room Redo

In an effort to find some organization for the upcoming school year, the back room needed an overhaul.  It had become a bit of a dumping area and projects were everywhere!  Things were relocated, gone through, tossed and a few new things brought in to pull it all together. 
Here's the grand tour.....

Welcome to our School and Craft room

As you walk in, to the right is the computer and my L shaped craft area. 

Through the years, a collection of embroidery hoops has accumulated in the craft room.  Searching around Pinterest one night, an idea to use them as wall art appeared.  Hooray!  
Cute wall art for a crafty space.

 Above the craft table, the paper trimmers were hung on the wall with push-pins. 
On the 1st shelf there was room for the printer to sit up and out of the way.  Next to the printer are craft and sewing books, including some fun kids crafty books.  
The top shelf holds an assortment of cards, blank and different occasions.  Next to those are my beloved sticker makers, a Cricut owners best friend. 

A view of the right hand wall

Above the other craft desk, more cutting tools were hung; including a nice stack of  Cricut mats, an assortment of quilting rulers and cutting mats.  
On the shelf above there's room for more books, Cricut and cartridges, scrapbooking tools, sewing machine and always used sewing tools (thread, pins and scissors).  
I plan to add a second shelf above to hold projects that are currently being worked on and next in line. 

In the corner there is a small table that is holding ongoing projects.  (Not ideal)
This will also be our school poster wall, things like a parts of speech poster and maybe some science things as well as finished work.  Lots of room to add things as the need arises.  

Here is the school table with lots of room to work and great light coming in. 

Each boy will be able to take a side to work and spread out.   

Shared supplies sit in the middle, also acting as a divider.  
(Another Pinterest idea)

The shelving unit is next on our tour. 
1st shelf (bottom): Good Bad and Crafty things, a bin of ribbon and a sticker binder.
2nd shelf: Art kits and projects, science things and miscellaneous school books.
3rd shelf: School books and work bins
4th shelf: Office/school supplies, lots of blank space for more school things to come.
Top shelf: Miscellaneous projects and puzzles.  

Into the closet, the big filing cabinet is nestled into the corner.  

To the right of the cabinet is the start of the gift wrapping supplies.

The tops hosts the rest (and a couple of random bins/boxes)

Tucked up high in the nook of the closet are two shelves holding more boxes and office supplies.  
(Still a bit scary and unorganized)

The label maker ran out of tape way sooner than it should have, but once it's been replaced  the rest of the file cabinet will be labeled like this.

 Beading, yarn and embroidery are in the top.
The red light is adjustable and it was thought it might work well for this dark corner, but some battery powered tap lights are coming to replace it. 

2nd drawer holds sewing notions, fabric paints and patterns.

Crafty supplies hit drawer number three, lots of fun here. 

Drawer 4 hosts paints, brushes, glues (we have quite a selection), fancy markers and crayons. 

The bottom drawer is for the manuals for everything we own as well as our family files. 

A view of the left hand wall.
The stack on the cabinet is another scary site. 

Inside the cabinet holds my fabric and paper stashes.  
Both are a scary site and are on the "need to be organized" list. 

There are a few things that need some work, but it's become a feel good space now.  
We're ready for the school year to start and to start making crafty things again!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Olympic Gymnastics Show

In honor of the Olympics, Ty's gym held a gymnastics show today. 
Ty did well with his routines and had a good time showing off for the crowd. 
They also had the parts of the team gymnasts there, so fun to see them in action.  
Here's Ty's show....

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Six Flags

Over the school year, the boys earned tickets to Six Flags for logging reading hours.  This is a great program that was open to traditional schools as well as homeschooling families.  It also allowed me to receive a free ticket because I'm their teacher.  We loaded up the car and headed out for a day of fun!  We were unlucky in the fact that is has finally decided to be summer here and the heat was really turned up  today.  With that exception, we had a great day.  

 We explored a lot of the animal exhibits. 
 First ride of the day, a quick swing.

 Ty wanted to touch the rays, but they just wouldn't come over to where he was. 

 We all loved seeing the walrus, they're friggin' huge!
 The boys taking a spin, look at that face on Ty!
 We saw the sea lion pirate show for some fun.

 Then it was time for more exploring of the park.
The boys loved the M&M steps.
 Alligator Isle...
 We road a few rides, including the family friendly (tamest) roller coaster Cobra.  
Cody really wanted to ride Sky Screamer, so Keith went along. 
 It was too high for me, and I'm not sure we realized Ty could have ridden it was well, but he hung back with me and we watched. 
 Seriously high!

We road a few more jungle rides, lots of spinning around.  

Then we headed over to the butterfly habitat.  
This is such a beautiful thing to see, and amazing to have the butterflies all around you. 
We made the mistake of hitting this mid afternoon and it was ridiculously humid in the building.  
We will be going here first next time, while it's still cool out.



We road the bumper cars and the big wooden coaster next.  
This is where we realized that Ty's shoes put him right at the 48" height, a golden number at Six Flags!  

Of course we had to stop and smash a couple of pennies along the way. 
 As we were winding down we walked through the shark exhibit.
 Then over to the dolphin show. 





 The boys really liked this show, it was full of excitement.  

The boys and Keith made the Monsoon falls the final ride of the day.
 There they go, the slow climb to the top.
 AAAAHHHHH!

As I said, we had a great day.  
Next time I'm determined to make it over to the elephant show, it just didn't fit our schedule today.  
We also took advice from a friend and packed in sandwiches, such a great time and money saver.  

Can't wait to go again.