Fishing Class

This year, we signed the boys up to take a fishing class that a nearby city offers. Vance's best friend was going to take the class, too, so I thought this would be a great opportunity for the boys to hang out. Yesterday was the first of two classes, and even though we didn't do any actual fishing, we had a lot of fun. They started the class off with a painting activity to introduce the boys to the type of fish that are in the lake we will be fishing in. Caden and Vance love arts and crafts, so this was a great way to start.

Then, the boys took turns at learning how to cast the line. Vance picked this up right away. Caden got it after a couple of tries.

After that, it was time to look at our bait options. Both of the boys liked the night crawlers and the meal worms. I didn't. But, one of the teachers told me that she has better luck with little pieces of hotdog than worms, so that sounds like a good idea to me.

Finally, we walked over to the lake to see if we could see any fish, but by that time it was too hot.

After the class, I took Vance over to pick out his own fishing pole at Wal-Mart (Caden already had his). He picked out a Spider Man pole just like Caden's. Yesterday afternoon, while I was teaching piano, Tevye got out Caden's pole and had the boys show him what they learned. For the rest of the evening, Vance walked around our TINY place casting his line everywhere. He got in trouble a couple of times for trying to catch Caden. Thank goodness actual hooks were not on their lines!

Math Problem

Okay, I owe Best Buy an appology. It turns out that the disc reader was defective, so they are off the hook. Either way, I still cannot post pictures.

Yesterday, Caden was taking a practice math test for the state testing that is coming up. He got to a word problem that showed an amount of money and said that the person wanted to buy a toy that cost 95 cents. How much change would the person get back?

Caden calls to me and says, "I can't do this one."
Me: "Why not?"
Caden: "I don't know how much the tax will be."

Yes, he has been trained well in the art of shopping.

Ice Skating

Okay- Best Buy didn't hook up our usb drive correctly, which is why I haven't been able to get new pictures online. However, my fantastic husband just fixed my phone, so I was finally able to get some pictures off of it. Around December, we found out that the ice skating place near us has a special deal once a month for homeschooling families- $5 per person includes over two hours of skate time, skate rentals, and a 30 minute lesson. So, we took advantage of that! Here are some pictures of our first time.
Caden had a great time despite the fact that he fell MANY times. Vance did not like being cold, and he complained most of the time, asking to go home. But, after a couple more trips to the rink, he likes it now!

Changes

Our computer crashed, so we had to rebuild a new one, and I almost know how to work it now. So, I should have new pictures up soon.

Re-Purposed Magazine

When going to wrap my nephew's birthday present today, I decided that I was tired of our wrapping paper. So, I ripped out some pages from an old issue of "Family Fun" magazine, and Vance and I taped together the colorful pages to create new wrapping paper. We had fun, I felt good about re-purposing something, and the paper turned out to be more whimsical than anything I could buy. Caden had fun making the card all by himself. Caden's drawing of an excavator is impressive since he wasn't looking at a picture of one as he drew it.

The paper lined up perfectly so that the sign saying, "For you," was on the top of the present. Also, we really like that doll (the picture that we taped to the center of the present) called a "Sing-a-ma-jig." The boys and I had fun listening to them at the store the other day.

RC Truck

I love January in southern CA! A few days ago, Tevye took his new rc truck to the field across the street from our house, and the boys and I tagged along. It's the best of both worlds to be surrounded by a green landscape yet still be able to view the snow-covered mountains off in the distance. The weather was comfortable, and Tevye's truck had not yet broken, so we were able to capture some photos of the afternoon.

Homeschool Art

I love homeschooling Caden! He likes it, too. We are studying animals in art and abstract sculptures. A while ago, he was given an assignment to find a real photograph of an animal to use as a model for a realistic drawing. My goofy boy (and I say "goofy" with much love and admiration) chose the photograph of a naked mole rat. They are not particularly attractive creatures, but they have buck teeth and wrinkley skin, which I imagine will be what I will look like in about twenty to thirty years from now. Anyway, here are the pictures of his realistic and abstract sculptures of this odd animal. This realistic sculpture actually has the two teeth on it, but it is hard to see them.

Caden proudly showing off his abstract work of art.

The materials: one hot dog bun, part of a necco waffer, four broken crayons, two nerds candies, and a rootbeer jellybean. It reminds me of an animal that might be featured on "Twilight."