Abuela's Birthday

Surprise!

Charles a surprise visit from his Mom and sister!  (We got the visit too, but knew about it.)  He had had no idea, so the surprise worked!  So glad that they were able to come.

(The photos below were as he came out of the house, on our way to a party.  He had no idea that they were standing on the porch waiting for him.)

A Documentary on Young Entrepreneurs

The girls were asked to participate in interviews for a documentary about young entrepreneurs.  They had fun talking about their various businesses and plans for more!

Ahwahnee Visits

We love her.  She loves us, but is fascinated with Minerva.  She wants Santa to bring her a kitty for Christmas, clearly!  :-)

Teen Night

A night of games with teens and pre-teens at our parish.  We need to grow attendance, but had fun with those who attended so far!

Fall Sports

They are both busy with sports:  for G, soccer and ballet; for K, baseball and basketball. Soccer and baseball have nearly matching jerseys!

Our Porch Garden

Too many deer for a garden in the yard; ours has to be up on the porch where they have (not yet) come (to my knowledge).  We have a nice crop this year of fruits and vegetables that are new and familiar to us in our limited farmer role:  watermelon, beans, cucumber, zucchini, strawberries, mint, and tomatoes.  The fabulous vine of watermelon spilling down the front stairs is our favorite!

Fall Classes

With Labor Day over, it is back to the grind. An ambitious schedule this year, in part to make up for the fact that I don't know if I have challenged them enough in the past.  (List as my reminder.)

K
Guitar
AP English Literature
AP Human Geography
Honors US History
US History through movies
History with Kaluga (post Civil War US)
Psychology Workshop
High School Biology
Spanish (online through the Univ of Valencia in Spain)
Math (Algebra/economics) and Math with Kaluga
Religious Ed (confirmation)

G
Guitar
Design
Writing
Math/Math with Kaluga
Spanish
Herpetology
Comparative Invertebrate Biology
Arc of Democracy
History with Kaluga (post Civil War US)
Literature
Sewing (Starts in Oct)
Religious Ed

So far, AP Lit is a lot of busy work AND a lot of actual work.  The Arc of Democracy class (history) fascinates K, while K's High School Biology class fascinates G.  First classes started the third week in August; except for sewing, everything else will be in full swing by mid-September.  The slow accumulation of classes in the schedule is both reasonable and daunting... i.e. if it feels like a lot now, what will happen next week??  But so far, as long as we stay consistent and they work hard every day, it has been a reasonable load.

Labor Day Weekend

I don't like starting school before Labor Day, but had to admit that a three-day weekend was nice after a couple of weeks of classes.  We relaxed doing one of my favorite summer activities:  picking blackberries (for making blackberry ice cream immediately and later for planned holiday pies).

Thought this was just a neat street scene in Tomales