Yesterday we woke up and looked over and we were surprised to see Alan sleeping in bed with us. Why? He was supposed to be off playing paintball with his buds. But his alarm was set wrong and he didn’t even hear it when it went off ten minutes prior to us waking. I didn’t hear it either. It was smooshed in the pillows, I guess.

He asked if we wanted to go down with him. We’d go to a children’s museum while he played. We rushed to get ready, me telling Isabelle we were going to the purple place with the duck on it. Then Alan realized it would be too late by the time we got there. So, change of plans.

I checked to see what activities were going on in the Bay Area and we decided on going to an Oktoberfest. We’ve never been to an Oktoberfest. Well, that’s because we don’t drink. But we didn’t go to this Oktoberfest for the drinking. We went for the carnival!

We had fun, Isabelle riding and playing. Nathan watching and napping.

Yes, he fell asleep like this!

And when my sister joined us with her kids, Isabelle got to do it all again.

After many hours I was beat and ready to go home. We let Isabelle “win” an alien,

ride three more rides to use up her tickets,

then we headed home.

Bye Oktoberfest. Maybe we’ll see you again next year.

This sketchbook page is soooooo old. Remember when I was talking about the Chinese barbecue, over a freaking month ago.

And here are some leftover chocolate pops I made for the favor bags. Happily, I made extra so I was able to take pictures of them. I totally forgot to before or during the party.

I made them using a Wilton candy mold. How freaking awesome are they? They are melted candies. I painted the colored candies on with a paintbrush.

And here are pictures of the pirate hats I was working on that Alan talked me out of. This was my first draft. The idea was to make something simple, similar to a cardboard pirate hat, two pieces except more durable being made out of felt.

Alan thought it was too small and he didn’t think it looked like a pirate hat.

Then my second draft. I simplified the skull for ease of sewing and enlarged it.

Alan thought it was too big. It fit me. And he still didn’t think it was pirate hat like.

So after I gave up the idea of making hats for all the kids I still wanted a special fancy pirate hat for Isabelle.

I used this tutorial.

* I think Nathan has six teeth total now.

* Isabelle LOVES playing with the Wii. Right now she is a little…no a lot obsessed with playing Lego Batman.

* And yes Nathan said his own name. He said it all weird and cute.

* It was nice going to the park alone with Isabelle. I could actually push her on the swing easily.

* And I am sick right now. Again. Does it feel like I am sick a whole bunch? Or maybe me documenting when I’m sick just makes me remember it more.

Notice the gap? From the 9th to the 13th? Well, it gets worse.

Yes, here it jumped to the 22nd. Some lam-o drawing about construction equipment whose name I could not remember. I looked it up when I got home. It’s not a steam shovel. I’m probably thinking of that Mike Mulligan book. And what is this equipment really called? No clue. I’ve forgotten. But it’s definitely NOT a steam shovel because ya know we have something called gas nowadays young uns.

And that was the last page in my sketchbook.

So this was the first page of a new sketchbook.

And when do people usually exercise? I don’t want to do it before breakfast because I’m hungry. Ok, not really hungry. More like eager for breakfast. And then I don’t want to exercise after breakfast because I have food in my stomach. Then I forget the rest of the day. Excuses, excuses. Seriously, when do people exercise? And have I kept up with it. Not everyday. But when I remember.

And WALKING. When did it exactly happen? No clue. I didn’t sketch about it the first time. Didn’t take pictures either. I suck.

My little walker on Flickr

California recently passed a law where by 2014 kindergartners need to be five before September 1st. Isabelle just turning five, last month on the 12th, is right near the cut off point. She could go now but I wasn’t planning to officially start homeschooling Isabelle until next year.

Then, last month, Bethany mentioned how she started their homeschooling year with the Sonlight curriculum. I went over and checked them out and really liked them. I adore books and the thought of our first year homeschooling without any definite plan was looming and scary. So, the more I looked at Sonlight, the more I liked them. And the more I looked around at other options, I liked Sonlight even more.

So much so that we got a curriculum for Isabelle! It arrived last Wednesday and Isabelle has been impatiently asking to start school. E.V.E.R.Y D.A.Y. Every night I would tell her how many sleeps we had left until we started. Well, we finally started today.

That is one of many awesome things about homeschooling. We are not tied to someone else’s schedule. We are free to do as we please. Well, anyhoo, back to what I was saying.

Every week Sonlight sends tips and encouragement. Today we got our first one. One of the tips was to celebrate the first day by taking a picture of your child holding a sign saying “first day of kindergarten” with today’s date. Then we’d talk about how important it is to keep a record of the special events in life. I LOVED that idea. So, I rushed over and did up a quick sign to take pictures of Isabelle. Yay! Kindergarten!!

Oh wait. It’s not September anymore. Crap.

So, I go and rush off another sign.

Oh wait. Today’s not the 10th. Crap-ola. Again.

Third time’s the charm.

Doesn’t her face just say, “I’m so over this”?

So, how was our first day besides that big mess? Rough. I wasn’t as prepared as I’d like to have been. There was A LOT of reading in the instructor’s guides. Well, to me it seemed like a lot trying to squeeze it in when Nathan wasn’t around trying to grab and rip. He’s always around though so I didn’t really have much spare time to read.

Our first day was pretty much me reading the instructions then we’d do a bit. Read some more. Do a bit more. And on top of that I was Skyping with my sister so we could homeschool both Isabelle and her cousin Ebow at the same time.

So, to be accurate it was more like: read a bit of the instructions. Read from the books to Isabelle and Ebow a little. Then show the pictures to Ebow through Skype and repeat. Drag, drag, drag. That doesn’t include the time it took to try to get wayward children’s attention.

Tomorrow will be better I’m sure. I’m going to try to read the instructor’s guides tonight since the kids are sleeping. Well, Nathan is sleeping. I hope Isabelle is asleep. Earlier, she woke up coughing and threw up all over the bed and herself. It was all in her hair so Alan gave her the second bath of the night and washed her hair. And now he’s in with the kids and I hope she’s asleep.

Ok enough typing. Off to read so I’ll be better prepared tomorrow.

Last night, I stayed up late reading the first section of the instructor’s guide, basically the part that tells you how to use the curriculum. And you know what? I had already read it before! When I read it the first time, Nathan was underfoot and everything I read must have slipped out of my head. So, when I reread it last night, it all came rushing back.

So, today it made sense. Yesterday, I was supposed to read the sections of the books aloud and then have a discussion with the kids. Or a short Q and A. Not sit there dumbfounded scrounging the pages wondering what I was supposed to be doing. Duh!

It went nice and smoothly. But of course maybe it helped that Ebow wasn’t paying attention and my sister said she would hang up so we could just go it alone. We were done with what was scheduled so quickly that we just went on with whatever interested Isabelle.