So starts the busy season. I knew it was coming, and yet I put off so much work I should have been doing. Now it's like the last minute rush to get everything done.
Hubby is off the rest of the week. The last 9 weeks he has been working 20+ hours of overtime every week. The money has been nice and allowed us to pay off a couple of credit cards. But we would always rather have him. We altered our schedule and even napped a few days to be able to see him when he got home. He is taking a well deserved break now. He isn't getting much of a break at home, but at least he isn't at work, too. And he got a nap today.
Hubby hurt his back is the downside. It's his middle back and we aren't real sure how he did it. I do know that he couldn't lift his arms to drink the milk out of his cereal bowl. When I went to check on him, he had slid down to sit on the floor. We have been putting ice on it and Theragesic and he's eating Advil like candy, but it still hurts some. He's going to the chiropractor in the morning. We love the chiropractor.
I had a meeting for our after school program. It is coming along nicely and there are just a few more things to do. We sat down today and figured out a schedule from the start until our Christmas break. We have decided on curriculum and are seeking volunteers.
On my other blog, I talked about decluttering. That seems to be what our church is doing now. They are trying to identify all the resources and the duplicates and figure out what to do with them. That is basically cleaning out every nook and cranny of all the buildings on campus. I did our JAM closet tonight. Hubby had a committee meeting and the kids and I stayed over at our other building and worked. The kids actually watched a movie and I cleaned. I made dinner before we left and took it with us so we could eat when we got ready and didn't have to wait until we got home. That would have made dinner about 10 pm. It was just tacos and yellow rice, but it was good. We got to church about an hour before the meeting. We ate about 45 minutes later and were able to sit as a family before hubby had to go. That is so very important to our family.
We had to do a quick WalMart trip. We have a coupon for a $50 rebate for a weather radio. We thought they had them, but they don't. While we were there we got coffee. We do the grind your own beans. They come with a container that seals up air tight. I really like the one we have and wanted another. They were out. We got coffee any way because we were out. I hope they have them next time. They are really nice, so look next time you go to WalMart. All in all, it was a wasted trip. Except peanut butter. I kept forgetting to get peanut butter, but I remembered there. And they did have my brand. Maybe it wasn't a waste after all.
We got home and the kids went straight to bed. The baby was more than ready. Me, too, actually, but I felt a little blog time was needed. It has been a long day.
For those of you who are interested, HandsofaChild.com has their semi annual freebie out. It's called Hot Diggety Dog! and is the history of hot dogs. It looks like so much fun. We will be doing that one this year. And Office Depot has a rack of CD-ROMs that are 2 for $9.99. You buy one and get one free. They had some pretty good educational ones. I got typing and a game. I was going to get two educational, but needed a little fun, too I guess. The boy keeps telling me how much he really, really likes the game. The typing tracks your progress and you can print a report. I can use that in the kids' portfolio. It's a win-win. I love those.
That's about all I have for now. I am going to bed. We were going to try to get to the beach tomorrow, but that will depend on hubby and the chiropractor. Wish us luck. I pray you blessings.
Have a great day!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Compliments
I had to take this time to brag about my kids. This blog is supposed to keep you all updated about them, but somehow I end up taking over. I do try to include them, sometimes. Lately a few really nice things have happened with my kids.
Last Friday, we dropped the baby off at Oma's house. It was her turn to spend the night and she was ready. By the time hubby got home from work, showered, and we got over there, it was too late to even think about making dinner. Not that I had been thinking about it, but if you needed an excuse, there it was. We ended up going to a fabulous Italian restaurant by hubby's parents. It is usually slammed on a Friday night, but we walked right in and got seated.
When we were about halfway done with our meal, our waitress came over to refill our drinks. She complimented the two big kids and said they had wonderful restaurant manners. She said it had been a joy to serve us. She said it reflected well on the way their parents were raising them. She got a really nice tip. The kids do have great manners when we go out. We were very proud of them, and they had very big smiles on their faces. They even said thank you for the compliment.
That following Sunday at church, the big girl was sitting with the youth at our ten o'clock service. We were sitting at the table in front of the youth. The youth Sunday school teachers were sitting with the youth. The youth were feeling a little rowdy that Sunday I think because they were being a little rambuncious, shall we say. One of the Sunday school teachers leaned forward and said the big girl was so much more mature than all of his middle schoolers and most of his high schoolers. There sat my big girl, doing what she does at home- letting everyone else get themselves into trouble while she sat polishing her halo. I see it at home quite often, but it always amazes me.
At the grocery store yesterday, they had set up a little cooking station and were handing out free samples of pepperoni pizza. The boy stepped up and asked "May I have a sample, please?" with his best smile. Then he said thank you when she handed it to him. Then he complimented her on how good it was. The baby followed right behind, then the big girl. Then me, because it was really good. She said it was so very nice to hear "please" and "thank you". She said they were the most well behaved children she had seen in a long time.
I am blessed to be their mama. They do not always act that way. You should have heard them screaming at each other earlier. But they are great kids. I just wanted to share how great with everyone else.
Have a great night!
Last Friday, we dropped the baby off at Oma's house. It was her turn to spend the night and she was ready. By the time hubby got home from work, showered, and we got over there, it was too late to even think about making dinner. Not that I had been thinking about it, but if you needed an excuse, there it was. We ended up going to a fabulous Italian restaurant by hubby's parents. It is usually slammed on a Friday night, but we walked right in and got seated.
When we were about halfway done with our meal, our waitress came over to refill our drinks. She complimented the two big kids and said they had wonderful restaurant manners. She said it had been a joy to serve us. She said it reflected well on the way their parents were raising them. She got a really nice tip. The kids do have great manners when we go out. We were very proud of them, and they had very big smiles on their faces. They even said thank you for the compliment.
That following Sunday at church, the big girl was sitting with the youth at our ten o'clock service. We were sitting at the table in front of the youth. The youth Sunday school teachers were sitting with the youth. The youth were feeling a little rowdy that Sunday I think because they were being a little rambuncious, shall we say. One of the Sunday school teachers leaned forward and said the big girl was so much more mature than all of his middle schoolers and most of his high schoolers. There sat my big girl, doing what she does at home- letting everyone else get themselves into trouble while she sat polishing her halo. I see it at home quite often, but it always amazes me.
At the grocery store yesterday, they had set up a little cooking station and were handing out free samples of pepperoni pizza. The boy stepped up and asked "May I have a sample, please?" with his best smile. Then he said thank you when she handed it to him. Then he complimented her on how good it was. The baby followed right behind, then the big girl. Then me, because it was really good. She said it was so very nice to hear "please" and "thank you". She said they were the most well behaved children she had seen in a long time.
I am blessed to be their mama. They do not always act that way. You should have heard them screaming at each other earlier. But they are great kids. I just wanted to share how great with everyone else.
Have a great night!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Plan, Plans, Planned
I promise this is not a grammar lesson. I do like when we are doing school, but I would not subject you to that. Just an update on some past posts.
We have a mentor for the big girl. She is a very close friend of our family, and I had the hardest time asking her. Stupid tears. She is such a blessing to our family. She is very grounded in her faith and that's what I wanted for my daughter. She has to meet with the big girl once a week, but we see each other 3-4 times a week, so that's no big deal. The big girl is very comfortable with her and I hope they both take some great things away from this experience.
We finished "James and the Giant Peach". What a funny, funny book that was. It was one that we laughed out loud at and recited lines from. Roald Dahl is creative and amusing and a wonderful story teller. We started feeling very sad for poor James Henry Trotter. By the end, we were impressed with his ingenuity and intelligence and humor. I will say that the word "ass" is used a couple of times, as in "You ass." I just substituted butt when I read it, except the first time. I wasn't ready for it or I would have edited myself. Centipede is quite the character. Earthworm reminds me alot of Eeyore. Sad little creatures, really, but so cuddly in the books.
Our book now is "The Family Under the Bridge". It is the book that the big girl got in her prize bag from the library. It has been pretty good so far. It is about a homeless man that finds three kids nad their mother living under a bridge where he normally lives. He is not happy at first, but you know he'll soften up somehow. I'll let you know how this one is when we are done. Our next book is "Where the Wild Things Are". We also picked up our newest book on CD from the library today. We are doing "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH". I read this when I was a kid and remember loving it. We'll see how my kids do.
This is teh last week of Summer Reading Camp. I think they saved the best for last with the performers. His name is Scott Humston and he is a magician. He is also one of our homeschool dads. He has a great act and teaches the kids about character and integrity when he is performing. The boy got to go on stage and help him. I'll post the video. It was hilarious. The boy was GOOD! A better assistant could not be had. You get to see how much he loves to perform.
I am leading JAM again this year. We had a meeting yesterday and hammered out a lot of details that were bogging me down. I am not, and cannot, do as much of the administrative stuff as I did last year. So we are going to give it a try. I am actually excited about some of the plans that we have. I think that we can make this year very successful, but we are going to need some volunteers to get it done. There is also some changes in staffing at the schools that are close to us. The principals are changing at the high school that we get our teen volunteers from so we need to figure out how that is going to work. I do have some scheduling to do, which is what I need to do now, instead of blogging.
I also need to sit down and figure the scheduling for our confirmation classes. The retreat is the first weekend in October and we have to have four classes done by then. And I need to update our lesson plans. Thinga aren't going to go just as I wanted them to because...
I just got my first ebook to review. Look for that in a couple of days. It is a unit study on the solar system. I am really excited about it and it looks really cool. It has lots of activities and links for us to use, but more on that part later. We did the solar system when we first started homeschooling and we all liked it. I'm looking forward to doing this unit study. I just have to remember to be flexible with all of our plans as more material comes in.
Our co-op that we do with our friends is starting to expand. We are adding a new family to our group. We are also meeting every Tuesday. Now that we are at five, it seemed the only practical way to get everybody's lessons in. I'm doing an inventors lapbook. I got Microsoft Office from a friend and now have PowerPoint. I am going to try to put together a couple of presentations to use during our lessons. We'll see how that actually goes. I've had fun playing with it so far.
I will not be able to help with the homeschool group. Right now there is enough on my plate that I just do not think I can catch this ball and still catch all the other ones I need to. I think it would stretch an already tight schedule even tighter. We haven't even started dance and isn't that going to be fun when we have to sign up for that. I'm going to try and get some classes on the same days. I really don't want to do four days again. That takes so much time away from us. We'll see how the schedule goes. I just feel a need to be home as much as possible.
That's our news and updates for now. It's till early, so I think I am going to run with my kids outside. My prayer today is that we all listen to the words that God is speaking. Blessings on you all and all that you love.
Have a great day!
We have a mentor for the big girl. She is a very close friend of our family, and I had the hardest time asking her. Stupid tears. She is such a blessing to our family. She is very grounded in her faith and that's what I wanted for my daughter. She has to meet with the big girl once a week, but we see each other 3-4 times a week, so that's no big deal. The big girl is very comfortable with her and I hope they both take some great things away from this experience.
We finished "James and the Giant Peach". What a funny, funny book that was. It was one that we laughed out loud at and recited lines from. Roald Dahl is creative and amusing and a wonderful story teller. We started feeling very sad for poor James Henry Trotter. By the end, we were impressed with his ingenuity and intelligence and humor. I will say that the word "ass" is used a couple of times, as in "You ass." I just substituted butt when I read it, except the first time. I wasn't ready for it or I would have edited myself. Centipede is quite the character. Earthworm reminds me alot of Eeyore. Sad little creatures, really, but so cuddly in the books.
Our book now is "The Family Under the Bridge". It is the book that the big girl got in her prize bag from the library. It has been pretty good so far. It is about a homeless man that finds three kids nad their mother living under a bridge where he normally lives. He is not happy at first, but you know he'll soften up somehow. I'll let you know how this one is when we are done. Our next book is "Where the Wild Things Are". We also picked up our newest book on CD from the library today. We are doing "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH". I read this when I was a kid and remember loving it. We'll see how my kids do.
This is teh last week of Summer Reading Camp. I think they saved the best for last with the performers. His name is Scott Humston and he is a magician. He is also one of our homeschool dads. He has a great act and teaches the kids about character and integrity when he is performing. The boy got to go on stage and help him. I'll post the video. It was hilarious. The boy was GOOD! A better assistant could not be had. You get to see how much he loves to perform.
I am leading JAM again this year. We had a meeting yesterday and hammered out a lot of details that were bogging me down. I am not, and cannot, do as much of the administrative stuff as I did last year. So we are going to give it a try. I am actually excited about some of the plans that we have. I think that we can make this year very successful, but we are going to need some volunteers to get it done. There is also some changes in staffing at the schools that are close to us. The principals are changing at the high school that we get our teen volunteers from so we need to figure out how that is going to work. I do have some scheduling to do, which is what I need to do now, instead of blogging.
I also need to sit down and figure the scheduling for our confirmation classes. The retreat is the first weekend in October and we have to have four classes done by then. And I need to update our lesson plans. Thinga aren't going to go just as I wanted them to because...
I just got my first ebook to review. Look for that in a couple of days. It is a unit study on the solar system. I am really excited about it and it looks really cool. It has lots of activities and links for us to use, but more on that part later. We did the solar system when we first started homeschooling and we all liked it. I'm looking forward to doing this unit study. I just have to remember to be flexible with all of our plans as more material comes in.
Our co-op that we do with our friends is starting to expand. We are adding a new family to our group. We are also meeting every Tuesday. Now that we are at five, it seemed the only practical way to get everybody's lessons in. I'm doing an inventors lapbook. I got Microsoft Office from a friend and now have PowerPoint. I am going to try to put together a couple of presentations to use during our lessons. We'll see how that actually goes. I've had fun playing with it so far.
I will not be able to help with the homeschool group. Right now there is enough on my plate that I just do not think I can catch this ball and still catch all the other ones I need to. I think it would stretch an already tight schedule even tighter. We haven't even started dance and isn't that going to be fun when we have to sign up for that. I'm going to try and get some classes on the same days. I really don't want to do four days again. That takes so much time away from us. We'll see how the schedule goes. I just feel a need to be home as much as possible.
That's our news and updates for now. It's till early, so I think I am going to run with my kids outside. My prayer today is that we all listen to the words that God is speaking. Blessings on you all and all that you love.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Opportunity
It seems that there are always doors opening somewhere. Sometimes, too many. But what's that saying? When one door closes, another door opens. I'm just scared that some of those doors will never open again.
I have a meeting today. The meeting is to determine if I want to take on the challenge of moderating our homeschool group and the chat board. It is a big responsibility and I'm not sure I want to take it on. There are two others that I know of that will be at the meeting. If we work together, piece the responsibilities out, it probably wouldn't be too bad. But, that's why we're having the meeting. I'll let you know what happens.
I had a meeting yesterday with our associate pastor. She has asked me to help with confirmation classes. I am a little nervous about that, but I am really excited as well. The big girl is going through the class and I am looking forward to sharing the opportunity with her. With our church, confirmation is about learning where Christ fits into your life (all aspects) and how the United Methodist church does things. We celebrate some things that other churches do not. It will help them decide if they want to continue their journey with Christ and/or become members of the church. How did my daughter get old enough for this class?
Tomorrow I have a meeting with the JAM crew and our lead pastor. This is to decide what to do with the program and how the program should be run this year. I will not lead the program. I don't mind being the one to greet them and take roll, and even be the bad guy if I need to. But I will not be the one to administrate the program. It is very time consuming and I already have a full time job plus. If I take on the added responsibility of the homeschool group, I really will not have time for it.
The big girl won a prize bag from the library. She got a tshirt, Uno cards, ear buds, a book, two pencils, a cube puzzle and noisy putty. What a great bag. She loves the ear buds. They fit her iPod and are the ones that fit inside your ears. I told her not to get used to them. She has gotten to the point that she can not hear us when we talk to her in the van because of her iPod. That will not happen anymore.
I got to help with youth last night. When I dropped off the big girl, there weren't any adults there yet. So I hung around until the youth leader got there. She was the only adult. Two regular volunteers were out of town and the one who was supposed to come had a meeting. So I got to hang out. I had a really good time. I am shocked at the behavior of some of the churched youth, but then again they go to public school. Hubby and I had already decided that one of us would volunteer at least once a month. Yeah, that will be happening. The big girl asked if it was to keep an eye on her. I said no, to keep an eye on everybody else. She asked if I could do it and not hubby. She's scared hubby would make all the boys scared to be her friend. He would, but that's his job as a good Papa.
And in two weeks, it's date night at our church. It has been organized without me (knew it could be done) and the youth will be the volunteers. The big girl gets to help, the other two get to stay, and hubby and I get and evening out all to ourselves. It's only three hours, but it's still three hours. Hubby asked what I wanted to do, but you'll have to read my other blog for the answer to that. This is a family friendly blog.
School starts soon for us. We have been doing dome Spanish the last few days to get us ready for our new curriculum. The kids have enjoyed it and so have I. Even hubby is enjoying it. I am glad they are being exposed to a foreign language. I'm hoping to get to the point that we can have a couple of days a week that we can speak Spanish only. Wouldn't that be fun? But we'll see what happens. We went to a local drug store yesterday that had some pens and mechanical pencils for 19 cents a pack. Now I have to work on the rest of my list. New dry erase board is on it. We used ours to block off the girls' rooms from the dog and he tried to jump over it. Now we have claw marks in ours. Not easy to write on or read in some places. And I would really like an easel for the dry erase board. The list is getting longer as the year gets closer. Any donations would be much appreciated. That's just my plug.
Sign ups for dance are coming up. The two big kids want to take two classes this year, but that isn't going to happen financially. After the first full price class, the classes are only $20 each a month, but add six classes and you're talking $148 a month. Eeekk! As much as I would love it, it is not happening until more things get paid off. That is happening, but slowly. And not fast enough to afford six classes a month. Then there is a costume for each recital dance at $65 a pop. Man, I need to win the lottery.
That's our news for the last couple of weeks. Not much, but that's nice for now, too. It has slowed down a little, and I am grateful for that. It's quiet for a couple more weeks, then we start all over again. We love it and wouldn't change a thing. Except more beach time.
Have a great day!
I have a meeting today. The meeting is to determine if I want to take on the challenge of moderating our homeschool group and the chat board. It is a big responsibility and I'm not sure I want to take it on. There are two others that I know of that will be at the meeting. If we work together, piece the responsibilities out, it probably wouldn't be too bad. But, that's why we're having the meeting. I'll let you know what happens.
I had a meeting yesterday with our associate pastor. She has asked me to help with confirmation classes. I am a little nervous about that, but I am really excited as well. The big girl is going through the class and I am looking forward to sharing the opportunity with her. With our church, confirmation is about learning where Christ fits into your life (all aspects) and how the United Methodist church does things. We celebrate some things that other churches do not. It will help them decide if they want to continue their journey with Christ and/or become members of the church. How did my daughter get old enough for this class?
Tomorrow I have a meeting with the JAM crew and our lead pastor. This is to decide what to do with the program and how the program should be run this year. I will not lead the program. I don't mind being the one to greet them and take roll, and even be the bad guy if I need to. But I will not be the one to administrate the program. It is very time consuming and I already have a full time job plus. If I take on the added responsibility of the homeschool group, I really will not have time for it.
The big girl won a prize bag from the library. She got a tshirt, Uno cards, ear buds, a book, two pencils, a cube puzzle and noisy putty. What a great bag. She loves the ear buds. They fit her iPod and are the ones that fit inside your ears. I told her not to get used to them. She has gotten to the point that she can not hear us when we talk to her in the van because of her iPod. That will not happen anymore.
I got to help with youth last night. When I dropped off the big girl, there weren't any adults there yet. So I hung around until the youth leader got there. She was the only adult. Two regular volunteers were out of town and the one who was supposed to come had a meeting. So I got to hang out. I had a really good time. I am shocked at the behavior of some of the churched youth, but then again they go to public school. Hubby and I had already decided that one of us would volunteer at least once a month. Yeah, that will be happening. The big girl asked if it was to keep an eye on her. I said no, to keep an eye on everybody else. She asked if I could do it and not hubby. She's scared hubby would make all the boys scared to be her friend. He would, but that's his job as a good Papa.
And in two weeks, it's date night at our church. It has been organized without me (knew it could be done) and the youth will be the volunteers. The big girl gets to help, the other two get to stay, and hubby and I get and evening out all to ourselves. It's only three hours, but it's still three hours. Hubby asked what I wanted to do, but you'll have to read my other blog for the answer to that. This is a family friendly blog.
School starts soon for us. We have been doing dome Spanish the last few days to get us ready for our new curriculum. The kids have enjoyed it and so have I. Even hubby is enjoying it. I am glad they are being exposed to a foreign language. I'm hoping to get to the point that we can have a couple of days a week that we can speak Spanish only. Wouldn't that be fun? But we'll see what happens. We went to a local drug store yesterday that had some pens and mechanical pencils for 19 cents a pack. Now I have to work on the rest of my list. New dry erase board is on it. We used ours to block off the girls' rooms from the dog and he tried to jump over it. Now we have claw marks in ours. Not easy to write on or read in some places. And I would really like an easel for the dry erase board. The list is getting longer as the year gets closer. Any donations would be much appreciated. That's just my plug.
Sign ups for dance are coming up. The two big kids want to take two classes this year, but that isn't going to happen financially. After the first full price class, the classes are only $20 each a month, but add six classes and you're talking $148 a month. Eeekk! As much as I would love it, it is not happening until more things get paid off. That is happening, but slowly. And not fast enough to afford six classes a month. Then there is a costume for each recital dance at $65 a pop. Man, I need to win the lottery.
That's our news for the last couple of weeks. Not much, but that's nice for now, too. It has slowed down a little, and I am grateful for that. It's quiet for a couple more weeks, then we start all over again. We love it and wouldn't change a thing. Except more beach time.
Have a great day!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Harry Potter...
and the Half-Blood Prince starts today. It started at midnight, but we are going to the 9 pm show. That way hubby still got to work, and hopefully we can get home at a decent hour. It was a fantastic book and we all enjoyed it. I know that this movie will be a little darker than the previous ones, but I have two shoulders and so does hubby for the kids to bury their faces in.
There are a lot of churches and Christians that have said this is a bad series of books and promotes witch craft and disobedience. I disagree. It is fiction that is written about a boy that, through no fault of his own, has been given an enormous task in his life. Tonight's movie is more about the battle between good and evil and how our expectations are not always the reality.
We are all very excited about tonight. We are also, hopefully, going to see some of our friends there. We all have tickets for the same show, so it would be nice to have a chance to spend some time together, even if it's in a dark movie theater. If you've seen it, shhhh. We don't want to know. We'll see it tonight. If you haven't seen it or read the books, you don't know what you're missing.
Have a great day!
There are a lot of churches and Christians that have said this is a bad series of books and promotes witch craft and disobedience. I disagree. It is fiction that is written about a boy that, through no fault of his own, has been given an enormous task in his life. Tonight's movie is more about the battle between good and evil and how our expectations are not always the reality.
We are all very excited about tonight. We are also, hopefully, going to see some of our friends there. We all have tickets for the same show, so it would be nice to have a chance to spend some time together, even if it's in a dark movie theater. If you've seen it, shhhh. We don't want to know. We'll see it tonight. If you haven't seen it or read the books, you don't know what you're missing.
Have a great day!
Monday, July 13, 2009
I Know What I Forgot
It's part of the most exciting news of the week. I was chosen to be a reviewer for TeacherBookBag.net . I am so excited about it. They do ebooks and cover different topics and subjects and they are really good. I have downloaded several and am excited about the chance to review more. You can use them as your base curriculum, or use them to supplement. And I get paid in one of the best ways ever- free curriculum. I get to keep the ebooks that I review. I may also get a chance to review curriculum for Carson Dellossa. They have great workbooks and pocket books (like lapbooks) and we have actually used a couple of their products. The kids and I enjoyed them as well.
I have a couple of friends that review for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. It is a homeschooling magazine that is fantastic. One of the best things I ever did was sign up for a subscription. It is informative and funny, and I look forward to reading it when it comes in the mail. They had a great article on the history of Israel that had me pulling out a map and looking at the country. I learned alot about that country that helped me understand some of the problems in the Middle East. It is a faith based magazine as well, and it helps me reaffirm what my calling is- to spend time with my children teaching them to walk with Jesus all of their days.
I'm sure I'll think of something else that I forgot. Until then...
Have a great day!
I have a couple of friends that review for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. It is a homeschooling magazine that is fantastic. One of the best things I ever did was sign up for a subscription. It is informative and funny, and I look forward to reading it when it comes in the mail. They had a great article on the history of Israel that had me pulling out a map and looking at the country. I learned alot about that country that helped me understand some of the problems in the Middle East. It is a faith based magazine as well, and it helps me reaffirm what my calling is- to spend time with my children teaching them to walk with Jesus all of their days.
I'm sure I'll think of something else that I forgot. Until then...
Have a great day!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Hello Again
The last few times I have sat down to blog, I have gotten distracted. I feel like it's been forever. Because it has, but still.
The kids are in the boy's room, watching a movie. We don't have anything planned for tomorrow, so they are going to get to stay in there all night. They are so lucky. They love it, though. The boy has never liked sleeping by himself and will wander around the house until he finds a place in someone's room. We never really know where we are going to find him. He's funny that way.
We had a big day yesterday. We went and visited one of the home school families that we haven't seen in forever. We used to go to the park every Friday, but since recital, we have probably been twice. I know, big shocker. We are the only family in our Tuesday co-op that doesn't have a pool. We have been swimming with our co-op friends on Fridays. It is so much cooler than sitting at the park, sweating our bippies off. The kids are getting more practice and the baby is getting more comfortable in the water. Now we need to get her to swim instead of just wander around. One day, one day. We may put her in swimming lessons. We need to put all of them in swimming lessons. We want to learn how to surf when we go to Hawaii, but the kids aren't allowed until they can swim better. That has been quite the motivator. The big girl actually jumped into the pool several times Friday. I was so proud of her. I made sure she knew it, too. For someone who doesn't like to get her face wet, to jump in was huge for her.
Our float in the Fourth of July Parade won first place! Whoo hoo. There were only 13 of us this year. We had one driver, 6 runners with water, 2 dancing kids, 2 kids stuffing bags with water bottles and 2 adults. That was the smallest crowd that has run the float and we worked hard. But it was well worth the effort. Can you believe I didn't get any pictures of the finished float? I have pictures of it being built, but none finished. What was I thinking? There's no telling.
We are going to start school the beginning of August. It's kind of early, but we haven't schooled all summer. We've read, but haven't sat down for lessons. I've got about eight weeks of lessons planned out so far, and that's as far as I want to go right now. I am starting to realize that some of the curriculum we have may actually take a good chunk of time during our day. I am going to have to reevaluate after we get started. We'll do a couple of weeks and find out what works and what doesn't. Overall, I am pretty pleased with most of it, though. The big girl is excited to start her language arts program. She has decided to start with "Island of the Blue Dolphins" and even read part of it while we were at church on Thursday. The babay is ready to start her workbooks as well. She has been champing at the bit to do them since they came in the mail a couple of months ago. I am tossing around the idea of schooling all year, but that would mean some longer breaks through out the year. Decisions, decisions.
We have been doing summer reading camp at the library. That has been a lot of fun. The kids have gotten to see some really cool presentations this summer. The last one is a magician that is fantastic. He is also one of our home school dads. He travels the state with his act and teaches kids how to be responsible and respectable and respectful. The kids don't know they've learned something until it's over and then it's too late. They've already learned. I'm not always pleased by the book selection of my kids, but we are working on that. We are "defining the parameters" of the books the big girl can read. She's not always the most agreeable, but sometimes it's my way or the highway.
I know there's more, but I'll be darned if I can think of it right now. I've started writing topics down for my other blog, and I may have to do it for this one, too. We are taking a much needed rest the next couple of weeks, before we start the rat race again. Things are going to start to wind up before we know it. For now, though, just some breathing room.
Have a great day!
The kids are in the boy's room, watching a movie. We don't have anything planned for tomorrow, so they are going to get to stay in there all night. They are so lucky. They love it, though. The boy has never liked sleeping by himself and will wander around the house until he finds a place in someone's room. We never really know where we are going to find him. He's funny that way.
We had a big day yesterday. We went and visited one of the home school families that we haven't seen in forever. We used to go to the park every Friday, but since recital, we have probably been twice. I know, big shocker. We are the only family in our Tuesday co-op that doesn't have a pool. We have been swimming with our co-op friends on Fridays. It is so much cooler than sitting at the park, sweating our bippies off. The kids are getting more practice and the baby is getting more comfortable in the water. Now we need to get her to swim instead of just wander around. One day, one day. We may put her in swimming lessons. We need to put all of them in swimming lessons. We want to learn how to surf when we go to Hawaii, but the kids aren't allowed until they can swim better. That has been quite the motivator. The big girl actually jumped into the pool several times Friday. I was so proud of her. I made sure she knew it, too. For someone who doesn't like to get her face wet, to jump in was huge for her.
Our float in the Fourth of July Parade won first place! Whoo hoo. There were only 13 of us this year. We had one driver, 6 runners with water, 2 dancing kids, 2 kids stuffing bags with water bottles and 2 adults. That was the smallest crowd that has run the float and we worked hard. But it was well worth the effort. Can you believe I didn't get any pictures of the finished float? I have pictures of it being built, but none finished. What was I thinking? There's no telling.
We are going to start school the beginning of August. It's kind of early, but we haven't schooled all summer. We've read, but haven't sat down for lessons. I've got about eight weeks of lessons planned out so far, and that's as far as I want to go right now. I am starting to realize that some of the curriculum we have may actually take a good chunk of time during our day. I am going to have to reevaluate after we get started. We'll do a couple of weeks and find out what works and what doesn't. Overall, I am pretty pleased with most of it, though. The big girl is excited to start her language arts program. She has decided to start with "Island of the Blue Dolphins" and even read part of it while we were at church on Thursday. The babay is ready to start her workbooks as well. She has been champing at the bit to do them since they came in the mail a couple of months ago. I am tossing around the idea of schooling all year, but that would mean some longer breaks through out the year. Decisions, decisions.
We have been doing summer reading camp at the library. That has been a lot of fun. The kids have gotten to see some really cool presentations this summer. The last one is a magician that is fantastic. He is also one of our home school dads. He travels the state with his act and teaches kids how to be responsible and respectable and respectful. The kids don't know they've learned something until it's over and then it's too late. They've already learned. I'm not always pleased by the book selection of my kids, but we are working on that. We are "defining the parameters" of the books the big girl can read. She's not always the most agreeable, but sometimes it's my way or the highway.
I know there's more, but I'll be darned if I can think of it right now. I've started writing topics down for my other blog, and I may have to do it for this one, too. We are taking a much needed rest the next couple of weeks, before we start the rat race again. Things are going to start to wind up before we know it. For now, though, just some breathing room.
Have a great day!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Crazy Days
What a crazy couple of days it's been. We are usually pretty busy, and this was no exception.
Today we worked the float for church. I rode with the kids. The big girl was going to pass out water, but she got a little over heated, so she threw candy with her brother and sister. I packed bags with water bottles and handed them off to our runners. Hubby was a runner. Every year the church hands out bottles of water to the over heated crowd. More importantly, the over heated judges. We are not above a little extra influence. We waved and handed out candy and had a really good time. We are so tired, we cannot see straight.
After the parade, we had to go to the laundramat and do some laundry. Our washer isn't working, and hasn't since last week. I so despise the laundramat. We only washed, and brought it all home to dry, so we were only there about 35 minutes. While we were there, we read "James and the Giant Peach". It saved me from having to do it after dinner, and the kids were entertained and not running around crazy. Not that it would have mattered since we were the only people there. That was fine with me, too.
After the lanudry was done, we had to go to the grocery store. We like to cook for our Hymn @ 10 service in the morning that we go to, and needed food to do that with. We ended up getting a rotisserie chicken and made rice and broccoli when we got home. Hubby also sliced a pineapple and I cut a mango. Nobody else cares for the mangoes, so they were all mine. It was 9 o'clock before we ate. It was 10:30 by the time the kids got a much needed shower and off to bed. I am not far behind them.
Last night we were at church building the float. It turned out to be bigger than I had planned on and some people brought out the power tools. I left. I went to our youth house on campus and helped look after the kids that were over there. Three of them were mine, so really. We also did hot dogs for every one that helped. We had the dogs, homemade mac and cheese, chips, and root beer floats and brownies for dessert. After we all ate and the float was put together, we watched an awesome movie.
The movie was Fighting the Giants and it was so very good. It was made by the same people that did Fireproof. It is a Christian movie that really made us stop and think about our relationship with Jesus and how much he loves us no matter what we do. It is about a football coach in Georgia who is about to lose his job. His house is falling apart, his car is horrible, and he and his wife are having trouble getting pregnant. It shows their journey through heartache and loss and finally to leaning on the Lord. It was so good, the boy quit playing games on the computer and watched the movie. If you have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
Friday morning we went to our friends' house for lunch and swimming in the pool. The kids stayed in the pool almost the whole time. They got out to eat lunch and that was it. The big girl and the boy had left over burritos. I make pretty good ones if I do say so myself. The baby had a ham wrap. They were so hungry from swimming, they ate all the lunch, all their chips, and a ton of fruit. They were begging for a snack later and I brought out some apples for them to all munch on. There weren't many of them left when they were done. When we left there, we went to the church to work on the aforementioned float. We let the kids play their DSs on the way home to keep them awake. Everyone slept very late this morning. Hubby didn't get out of bed until 10, and I don't blame him.
The rest of the week was actually pretty peaceful. I had dance on Monday and Wednesday, and we had lunch with hubby Wednesday afternoon, which is always nice. We didn't go to the library for our weekly movie, but none of us wanted to see it. Hubby has been working like crazy and been on call for the last two weeks. The hours have been horrible, but some credit cards got paid off and I got new camera. Our old one was not working correctly and it was way past time. I had tried a Coolpix and didn't like it or the software that came with it. I ended up taking it back and getting another Kodak. I really like it and I got it on sale and 30% off so that was sweet.
We are looking forward to a slow week. The boy is going to Oma's for a couple of days for his chance to get spoiled. The rest of us are just going to lay around the house. After we fold the laundry, clean our bed rooms, the kitchen and the bathrooms, weed around and clean up the back porch... or not.
Have a great day!
Today we worked the float for church. I rode with the kids. The big girl was going to pass out water, but she got a little over heated, so she threw candy with her brother and sister. I packed bags with water bottles and handed them off to our runners. Hubby was a runner. Every year the church hands out bottles of water to the over heated crowd. More importantly, the over heated judges. We are not above a little extra influence. We waved and handed out candy and had a really good time. We are so tired, we cannot see straight.
After the parade, we had to go to the laundramat and do some laundry. Our washer isn't working, and hasn't since last week. I so despise the laundramat. We only washed, and brought it all home to dry, so we were only there about 35 minutes. While we were there, we read "James and the Giant Peach". It saved me from having to do it after dinner, and the kids were entertained and not running around crazy. Not that it would have mattered since we were the only people there. That was fine with me, too.
After the lanudry was done, we had to go to the grocery store. We like to cook for our Hymn @ 10 service in the morning that we go to, and needed food to do that with. We ended up getting a rotisserie chicken and made rice and broccoli when we got home. Hubby also sliced a pineapple and I cut a mango. Nobody else cares for the mangoes, so they were all mine. It was 9 o'clock before we ate. It was 10:30 by the time the kids got a much needed shower and off to bed. I am not far behind them.
Last night we were at church building the float. It turned out to be bigger than I had planned on and some people brought out the power tools. I left. I went to our youth house on campus and helped look after the kids that were over there. Three of them were mine, so really. We also did hot dogs for every one that helped. We had the dogs, homemade mac and cheese, chips, and root beer floats and brownies for dessert. After we all ate and the float was put together, we watched an awesome movie.
The movie was Fighting the Giants and it was so very good. It was made by the same people that did Fireproof. It is a Christian movie that really made us stop and think about our relationship with Jesus and how much he loves us no matter what we do. It is about a football coach in Georgia who is about to lose his job. His house is falling apart, his car is horrible, and he and his wife are having trouble getting pregnant. It shows their journey through heartache and loss and finally to leaning on the Lord. It was so good, the boy quit playing games on the computer and watched the movie. If you have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
Friday morning we went to our friends' house for lunch and swimming in the pool. The kids stayed in the pool almost the whole time. They got out to eat lunch and that was it. The big girl and the boy had left over burritos. I make pretty good ones if I do say so myself. The baby had a ham wrap. They were so hungry from swimming, they ate all the lunch, all their chips, and a ton of fruit. They were begging for a snack later and I brought out some apples for them to all munch on. There weren't many of them left when they were done. When we left there, we went to the church to work on the aforementioned float. We let the kids play their DSs on the way home to keep them awake. Everyone slept very late this morning. Hubby didn't get out of bed until 10, and I don't blame him.
The rest of the week was actually pretty peaceful. I had dance on Monday and Wednesday, and we had lunch with hubby Wednesday afternoon, which is always nice. We didn't go to the library for our weekly movie, but none of us wanted to see it. Hubby has been working like crazy and been on call for the last two weeks. The hours have been horrible, but some credit cards got paid off and I got new camera. Our old one was not working correctly and it was way past time. I had tried a Coolpix and didn't like it or the software that came with it. I ended up taking it back and getting another Kodak. I really like it and I got it on sale and 30% off so that was sweet.
We are looking forward to a slow week. The boy is going to Oma's for a couple of days for his chance to get spoiled. The rest of us are just going to lay around the house. After we fold the laundry, clean our bed rooms, the kitchen and the bathrooms, weed around and clean up the back porch... or not.
Have a great day!
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