Talent Show Part 3--Romanian Gymnastics

Here is Gabi's version of Romanian gymnastics and ballet. He regretted that he didn't have a ribbon or ball to use as well.

Talent Show Part 2--Amazing Walking Baby!

I am not going to post all the videos from the talent show, but this 0ne was too cute to pass up. Corrie loves to do funny walks. She has her "squat walk" and her "backwards walk."

The Talent Show Part 1--Mr. Morton

Anyone familiar with Schoolhouse Rock will recognize this skit. I only videoed some of it--these girls were so funny!

Scared and Rambling

It's August--the start of a new school year.  I feel totally unprepared.  And a little scared.  Joe starts Kindergarten this year.  Need I say more.  I'm not actually scared of homeschooling Joe, he is really smart and loves to learn so even though he is super stubborn I think he will like school in small doses.  What I'm scared of is homeschooling three kids.  When I look at my shelf of new curriculum I can't help but wonder how in the world this is going to happen.  I feel this way every year though and we always manage to get it done.  It only takes a couple of days to get back in the groove but from this side--the beginning--it seems impossible and I'm scared to start.  I was going to start next week but there is no way I will be ready.  I didn't anticipate how busy this week would be and I've had no time to really prepare so I think I will push it back a week.  I am going to do some planning and make a loose schedule.  I try this every August and usually fail but I'm more serious than ever.  I am going to try to keep it simple and doable.  I am also going to set goals for each kid to help me prioritize.  For Grace and Joe the main goal will be reading, for Hannah the main goal will be writing.   Scheduling, planning, and organizing are on my agenda for next week--anybody want to keep my kids all week so I can actually accomplish this? :0)  
I still have lots of pictures to post, I was going to post a bunch this morning but my computer crashed twice and I have been paranoid that I will lose all my photos so I've spent the morning uploading every picture from the last two months to Snapfish in case my computer dies on me.  I can't upload pics to the blog and snapfish at the same time so you just get to read my rambling thoughts.  Fun, huh?  I have spent over an hour reading and commenting on everybody's blogs so you all owe me.  You have to at least read this drivel and if you are so inclined you can comment.  
I stayed up way too late watching women's gymnastics last night.  I felt so bad for Alicia--I wanted her to nail her floor routine to make up for falling off the beam but it just didn't happen.  She fell on her butt on the floor routine.  The commentators were talking about how nerves get to the older girls much more than to the younger girls and he mentioned China's gymnasts and referred to them as 14-15 year olds.  He thinks that China is blatantly lying about their ages.  I have to admit they do look awfully young but in my naivety I like to think that everybody always plays by the rules.  His comment made me question it though.  Anyway, the USA team got the silver medal and I hope they were happy.  When I finally turned it off they seemed all depressed, don't they realize that they still just won an OLYMPIC MEDAL???  You can tell I'm not a competitor or a passionate sports person.  Heck, I'd be thrilled if I was good enough to even go to the Olympic games.  Enough rambling.  I'll try to get some pictures up, my snapfish load is done.

Family Fun and Games

Ollie's family did a great job with planning games and other fun things for the kids to do--and adults. Every day at 4 the kids had activity time with Grandma and Grandpa. They played some classic games--Mother May I, Red Light Green Light, Duck-Duck-Goose--read stories, and did some crafts that were made into a scrapbook and "stained glass" pictures that were hung in the window of the house. We also had some other games after dinner for everyone to participate in. Here are some pictures...

These pictures are from the newspaper tower building. The goal--build the highest tower you can build with newspaper. This was a perfect game for the Patterson men, these guys love to problem solve and are good engineers.

This game was hilarious--Grace and Joe put on goggles and then submitted to having their faces covered in shaving cream. Then we all threw cheetos at their face to see which team could get the most to stick. They both loved it!

I missed this game, I was outside running my mouth I think. The idea was that you had to sit on the floor with a partner back to back, link arms and then try to stand up. Below are some pictures from afternoon activity time.

The boys spent most afternoons playing Blokus. The next post will be all about our family talent show--it was great!

More Pictures

Here is a picture of the house we stayed in. It was perfect for a large family, we all had beds and our own space. The yard was huge and had a pond in the front that the kids loved--there were lots of cattails that make great light sabers and countless frogs and even a turtle.

Grace and Joe with their cousins on the front porch swing.

Most nights we had dinner outside until we couldn't stand the flies anymore. The last couple of nights we had to move the table into the screen porch. I think the flies sent a message out to every fly on the island letting them know dinner was being served around 6:30 every night. There were lots of flies but thankfully almost no mosquitoes. Flies are annoying but at least they don't bite.
Corrie especially enjoyed eating sand.

This is Samantha, also known as Bootsie. She is Ollie's brother's little girl along with the cutie below--Melody. She loved Joe's goggles.

Lake Superior was pretty cold but that didn't stop anybody except me. The kids loved the water, it was really clear and so fresh.

The Ferry

Here are some pictures from the ferry ride. We drove our car onto the ferry which was pretty exciting for the kids (and for this grown up) and then got out of our cars so we could see where we were going.

Joe did so well with all of his little cousins. He really had fun with them and didn't once complain about being the only boy! Here he is making friends with Corrie.

Hannah discovered this raspberry stain while on the ferry. A berry had fallen down her shirt and was nice and smushed on her little tummytum. She also has a nice stain on one of her favorite tank tops.

That's Ollie's parent's Mini driving onto the ferry. I got to go out for a drive in the Mini one of the days on the island. I felt so cool, oh yeah I did. My ponytail whipping in the wind--I had it going on.