aaaahhhh.....

Today was a pretty relaxing day, actually. After breakfast we went out back to work in the yard some more while the kids ran around on their new grass and jumped on the trampoline and Fin played in the playhouse. It was really nice. Matthew stained Peppers fence and I started planting veggie seeds in my new garden boxes that have finally found their permanent home.

We took a break and ran to Lowes as a family to get more stain and buy some starts that I didn't already have seeds for, and I made out like a bandit.
I planted:
lettuce, peas, carrots, green and yellow beans, broccoli, bell peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, chives, tomatoes and strawberries. And I still have our zucchini and straight neck squash to plant tomorrow. I'm so excited to finally have started planting. I've been chomping at the bit but haven't been able to plant any veggies because of all the other yard work. Fortunately our long growing season here in Sunny southern California gives me a grace period. And Matthew has decided that I do, indeed, need more garden boxes. So, although I doubt I'll see anymore before next Monday, I'm very excited to have more space to plant. I'd like to actually have enough to can this year. Last year, we ate everything as it came up.

A very tired gardener :)

These raspberries were gobbled up seconds later.

I, also, wanted to share that despite my excitement about the Calvert curriculum, finances and a change to the schools curriculum buying process have scrapped the Calvert idea for us. While we still get $700 or EU's to purchase curriculum from our charter school, it is now broken up into $400 for the Fall semester and $300 for the Spring. Calvert requires that you purchase the entire curriculum at once and thus we would have had to front the difference for both boys. Yikes. So, on the hunt I went for a new curriculum that was not only secular (already a bummer) but a complete package, within the $400 Fall budget AND that I liked.
And I found Oak Meadow.

http://www.oakmeadow.com/curriculum/first-grade.php
It's a Waldorf education style and I like everything about it although it's VERY lenient (and thus far below Milo's current level) in language arts. So, I'll be supplementing with A Reason for Handwriting for both boys(http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?event=EBRN&N=1030439&Ne=1030439&Nso=1&Nu=product.endeca_rollup&Ns=product.number_sold) and AOP's Lifepac Bible worktexts (http://www.aophomeschooling.com/product/bib0100/)for Milo and This other workbook (http://www.christianbook.com/bible-story-puzzles-lessons-goodness-grades/linda-standke/9780887248658/pd/48650?event=1016BIB|1776486|1016#curr) for Autry.
Those supplements are out of pocket but so worth the money. So, now that that's settled in my mind and ordered I was at peace about it today.
God is good all the time and all the time God is good.