Monday: the kids have AniManga (Anime/Manga) club at the library. This is a new thing, just started last month and they meet once a month for now. Not sure if once it gets going more, that they'll meet more often or not. So we should be able to get some work done tomorrow, because they don't have to be at the library until 4:30.

Tuesday: It's HALO3 DAY!!! The long awaited day is finally arriving. Both kids are excited and want this game bad. So, we're heading out to Circuit City early to pick up our reserved game. Hopefully the reserved line will not be too bad. *cough cough* Then we're gonna grab something to eat, and do some other errands. AC Moore - they have t-shirts on sale again, need to pick up some more (great night shirts); I need a haircut, so we'll head to the mall; Target for some cleaning supplies (Gonna try out the Method brand products); and a stop in the T-mobile store to have my phone checked. It keeps cutting off on me.

Wed, Thu, Fri: nothing planned for these days (right now). So we'll be able to get some work finished up then. :)

So, I picked up a book for Jake awhile back from the library. It is the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It is comic book style and actually very funny. I am reading it also and am almost halfway through. Jake started reading it this afternoon, and finished earlier. Now he is reading an Edgar and Ellen book. I wish I could get Amanda to read more often like Jake does. He gets into a reading mood now and then. She reads her fashion mags and manga's now and then. *sigh*

But this is the same thing that usually happens when we attempt to get back into things. There are always other things that we need to do. LOL

So, even though we've just began for the year not quite 3 weeks ago, we are already "behind". Between surgeries, picnics, new co-op, errands, trying to enjoy the last bit of summer.. we've not been in school mode much. I told dh that next week, I will not be outside doing any work.. we have to get some school work finished. (And it is such a yucky day today, I doubt we'll be outside working either. It is cool, but very humid and muggy and cloudy.)

So, here is what we've accomplished this week..

Monday - no work finished. Had errands to run, and took my brother along. He was bored just sitting around at home. While we were out, we had to run all the back to the house. Then headed out again. Ended up taking us 4 hourse when we should have been home within 2 hours of leaving the first time. LOL

Tuesday - no school work finished. Jake and dh worked outside, cleaning up the yard. Amanda and I worked inside, cleaning the living room.

Wednesday - no school work finished. Took my brother out to lunch at Panera Bread (whole fmaily came along). Then to his surgery follow-up appt. Then he came back home with us and we played cards for a bit. He was feeling bad (tired & a headache) so we took him home about 5:30 and stopped at Food Lion for some things and a chicken for supper.

Thursday - no school work finished. Spent the day outside cleaning up the area my FIL keeps his wood pile. Split and stacked wood on his front porch until the splitter decided to quit running.

Friday - Finally some school work!! It was our first co-op day with classes. The kids didn't get to have cooking class because the mom running this had a family emergency. So first class was more a free time. 2nd class was science. Tamrya, mom who is teaching science, had the kids learning about atoms & molecules. Amanda and Jake, and 2 other older kids, were "group leaders" for the class. So they were helping the younger ones at each station.

They did a neat experiment with water, baking soda, a battery, and some wire to see the difference being the 2. She had some worksheets printed up for them to answer questions about the experiement. Then they "built" molecules out of styrofoam balls painted red and yellow, and pipe cleaners. While Amanda and her group were building these, one of the other older girls came over (she wasn't in the class) and was building one, she said "Hey mine looks like an alien". Amanda and Emilee asked the younger kids if they believed in aliens. One little girl, Flo, said "I do. My daddy was an alien before he came to the United States." The odler girls asked her were he is from and she got a sort of spacey look on her face and said "Canada". LOL So, Amanda just thinks Flo is the coolest kid. hehe

Also, in science class my station I was helping the kids make paper match rockets. This was a very cool activity. You take a small piece on light weight foil, about a 1 inch wide, by 3/4 inch high rectangle. Lay a paper match in the center, putting the tip about in the middle. Then take 2 pushpins with the sharp tips snipped off and lay one on either side of the match. Fold the top half of the foil down, then both sides over. Pull out the pins and snip off an excess foil. Do not squeeze together where the pins were. These are the exhaust ports. Then you can use a paper clip bent into a spiral as a stand. Take outside and hold a light to the top of the foil where the match head is. If it works, the rocket will pop up a small distance, just a few inches. We had about 19 rockets and only 3 worked. So it is very hit or miss, but fun to try anyways.

So, then after science was lunch break. Wow.. talk about loud. 14 families, almost 40 kids in a room together. The room isn't small, but is sure was loud. After lunch, Jake decided to join the drama class instead of playing with Legos. (We'll see how long that lasts. LOL) and Amanda and I went outside with the other kids for some playground fun. Some play baseball, but most drew with the chalk. It was quite warm, so the poor kids were hot and sweaty. After that, it was time to clean up and go home.

We got home around 2:30 and my head hurt. LOL I was on the couch reading a bit, and figured about 4pm I wasn't going to feel any better. So Amanda and I did the dishes then made supper. We made Chicken Parm Bundles, and had corn on the cob. They were really good. Of course, Amanda did not want to touch the raw chicken. LOL

After supper we watched some tv, then I was in bed a little after 9pm. :) So next week.. School work shall be completed! hehe

We haven't been doing that well at keeping up with the school plans. LOL Last week, the first 2 days went ok. Thursday, everyone was tired from our picnic the day before, and Friday we had our first co-op meeting.

This week, I thought we'd get back on track. Dh and I did some errand running early Monday morning, but didn't get home until almost noon. Then was asked to help SIL carry beef she had butchered to her basement freezer. She didn't have enough room, so had to go find another frrezer. Meanwhile, dh and I stay at her place keeping the van running with about 1000 lbs of frozen beef in it. For 2 hours!! we waited on her to find a store that had a chest freezer in stock. So we didn't get back to the house until 4. Of course then it was time to get ready for supper.

Tuesday I spent gathering clothes that I want/need to get rid of. That took me longer than I planned. And yesterday morning the kids did get some more math work finished while I gathered things to take to the park for a swap meet. I did get rid of a few things, but not all of it. :( So I think our groups are going to plan another date to get together.

Today, I hope the kids will get more math work finished, and possibly some science. Then we are heading into the hospital to see my brother. He had surgery yesterday (thyroid removed). And I will have them take in some work there also.

On another note though, I've been wanting the game Pay Day for awhile. We used to play this in school (Middle school Home Ec. class) and I always like it. So last week or so I picked it up from the toy store. Dh, Jake and I play the other evening. We played for "6 months". Jake kicked our butts. He ended the game with almost $100,000!! I had barely half that, and I think dh had around $60,000. I kept hitting the mail spaces and getting bills. Jake hit a lot of the Deal spaces, so he made money on those and on the Birthday space. Dh kept winning the lottery, so we thought he was going to win. But during the last month, Jake had 2 deals.. and before he hit the end of the month, he rolled and landed on 2 "Found a buyer spots" to unload them. And he kept calling his dad the tycoon.. LOL

We started school on Tuesday. Neither child was thrilled, but they did their work. Basically all we are doing this week is math and some grammar, with a little history also. Very easy workload I think.

Yesterday was our 3rd Annual Not Back to School Picnic, so we only got a little work done and Amanda has some corrections to fix today. I was too busy baking zuchinni bread and making chicken salad sammies, so we kind of got a late start. The picnic was great. We had 11 families there, with almost 30 kids running around. Lots of yummy foods. I think all the kids went home filthy dirty, tummies full, and very tired. Mine went straight into the pool to cool down.

Last year, one of the moms wanted to have a swap.. and we had decided to this year also. Bit many of us forgot to bring our swap items along. I did pick up 2 very nice sweaters for Jake. One is a fleece pullover, the other a knit pullover. So we plan on organizing another get-together so we can all bring our swap items.

Randy is doing ok. He goes to the dr. tomorrow for a follow-up visit and to have his staples removed from his knee. Then I suppose he'll be starting with Physical Therapy soon.

The kids and I going to a co-op meeting tomorrow, so I won't be going with dh. A friend is starting one with one of her friends, and invited us to join. So the first day is more of a planning/oragnization meeting. It will be a "if you want to join a class, you can, or if you want to hang with friends, you can" type co-op. No taking a class you absolutely do not want to. So I am looking forward to that.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Dh had his knee surgery on Tuesday. Everything seems to be going ok. We were to change the dressing yesterday and he was able to shower. Much bigger cut than I thought there was going to be. The dr. said he cut the tendon that was given the problem, and removed a bursae. He goes back on the 7th for his follow-up. I am guessing they'll remove the staples then. I have no clue what that entails.. LOL

Dh's nephew and his mom came on Thursday with a pot belly piglet. They bought it from a livestock auction because they thought FIL wanted a pig for a pet. He was going to take it to his daughter's but the kids and I were going to keep him. But after thinking on it, I am going to find him another home. I just don't need another animal to care for honestly. He is such a sweet little guy and the longer he is here, the more attached we are to him. LOL He loves climbing into our laps and cuddling. ;) I'll post some pictures of him after while.

And the final days of summer break are here. Tuesday is the "big day". :D The kids are less than excited of course. But they are getting bored. Haven't been doing much at all except bickering with each other. We have our 3rd Annual "Not Back to School" picnic on the 5th. I have almost all of my printing finished. LOL Just need the pages from our book study guide printed out, and we'll be ready to go. Oh and I need to get our science work put into Homeshcool Tracker still. I'll try to get some of that done today.