First Day of School

Today we had our first day of school, and though it was a slower day where much of the material was review, I'd say it was a very successful first day back.

In preparation for "back to school", we had a movie night last night and let the boys watch Star Wars for the first time (Amy was in our room watching Noggin'). We popped popcorn and Bill watched with them so he could fast forward through any scenes we felt might still be a little inappropriate. And as expected, they loved the movie!

For the most part, I just listened to their excitement as I worked to clean out and set up the sunroom as our new home-school room. After the kids went to bed - a challenging task now that they were pumped up and having light saber battles - I set out their new backpacks and school supplies. It was almost 1am before I finally got to bed, and even later before I could fall asleep... A little anxious about the first day, I guess.

The morning went well. I got up at 6:15am and made coffee and finished preparing before the kiddos got up. Once they were all awake, I served them a nutritious and I'm sure brain enhancing meal of powdered sugar and chocolate donuts. Then we got started...

We're trying out My Father's World (MFW) this year. I'm using the First Grade level for Alex. Nathan will still learn from the Bible, science and art lessons included. To supplement the Reading lessons we're still using the Explode the Code books. We're also using Math-U-See and I have Nathan starting the Primer (Kindergarten level). He did fantastic with the first lesson today. Alex is now in the Alpha book (1st Grade level) and did great today, too. On Mondays we're doing history, so today we read about Davy Crockett and colored pictures of the Alamo. Tomorrow instead of history, we'll do poetry and music appreciation. Wednesday is science and Thursday is art. Fridays we have co-op, but we'll do the Science Exploration Day from MFW in the afternoons. Exploration Day is really for getting outside and experiencing the world around us, something we like to do anyway. There is also a science experiment to be done each Friday. I think the kids will really like that!

All we have left to do today is our read-aloud, which we'll do during lunch. I'm going to start reading Mr. Popper's Penguins to them. I feel certain they'll like it.

Right now their all taking a break. Alex is at the craft table drawing characters from Star Wars... naturally. :)

Today's success has me even more anxious to do it again tomorrow. I'm looking forward to another fun year of teaching and learning with my children!

Change is in the Air

I wish I was talking about the temperature outside!

I'm actually talking about life in general. Next Sunday is my last day to teach at church, other than the occasional substituting. I made the decision that I do not have time to plan out lessons beyond what I am already having to do for home-schooling. Our local home school co-op starts up in a couple of weeks and there I will be teaching intermediate and high school classes that of course will take quite a bit of time to plan for. Alex is also starting his 1st grade year, and we have a whole lot more to cover than we did last year. I also have plans to start Nathan on some Kindergarten level work, even though he is not old enough for public school Kindergarten.

I am looking forward to all of these things, but it's going to mean some big changes around here. The original plan had been to continue our schooling all summer by simply reviewing once the actual curriculum was completed. But with such a busy summer, we have not held to that too well. And, as I stated in a previous post, it's been way too easy to just leave the TV on all day and work around the new house. So this more leisure way of life is about to change. There will be no more television. There will be no more sleeping in until 7am. There will be no more relaxful "coffee-sipping time" and there will be no more hanging out in our pajamas for half the day. Okay, did I just admit that?!?

Seriously, we will have to get a lot more disciplined with our time. But I am looking forward to it. I think we have a lot of fun things planned out for this year, and I'm anxious to get started! Look for my post about our curriculum choices for this year - coming soon!!!

Too Good To Be True

I've always heard that little girls mature faster than boys. They talk sooner, walk sooner, potty-train easier... Sure enough, Amy started talking a lot sooner than either of the boys, and she was speaking in clear sentences in no time. She was walking before she turned one. As for potty-training, she's been showing signs of being ready for probably a year now. But we've had too many other things going on and I just didn't think she could really be ready. Afterall, the boys didn't learn until they were 4. But in the past week, she has potty trained herself. I've only had to give the usual assistance, but she doesn't need to be asked or reminded. She just goes. Amazing!

The other thing we've always struggled with is transitioning the kids to sleep in their own beds. With each of them, Bill and I kept them in our bed while they were babies. They were well over a year before we'd take the transitioning challenge. And challenge it was. We'd have to start out every night with them in their bed and once they were asleep, we'd sneak out. Of course, they'd notice and we'd have to come back in several more times before the night was over. Eventually, we learned the method taught by The Nanny where you sit on the floor near their bed and continue to move farther and farther away until eventually, you don't stay in the room anymore. It sort of worked. We dealt with them coming out of the room a lot and quite a bit of crying. Nathan did a little better than Alex, but he was also in the same room as Alex so he was never totally alone.

We haven't rushed this process with Amy so much because we've had a lot going on and felt like the move would just cause new problems. So we contined to stay with her each night until she'd fall asleep. But now that we've been in our new house for a couple of months, we decided it was time. We explained to her that we were not going to lie down with her anymore; we would surround her with her stuffed animals, tuck her in, say prayers, kiss her goodnight... and leave. Surprisingly, she was excited by this idea. She talked about it all day. And when it was finally time for bed, we followed these steps exactly. She smiled as we left and said goodnight to us. And that was the last we heard of her all night. We've done this for two nights now. We are so very proud of her. But I'm starting to wonder if it's just a little too good to be true!

** Please note: This is not to say that girls are necessarily easier than boys. Yes, it would appear they do mature faster, but I've learned, at least where Amy is concerned, girls are quite a bit more temperamental and the term "drama queen" almost always applies. :) **

Amy's Ballet

In a couple of weeks, Amy will begin her first ballet class. I don't know who is more excited - me or her! She loves to dance and I was so proud of her at her audition. I didn't know what to expect. Would she even step into the room with all of those strangers, without me? Would she actually attempt the steps being shown to her or just sit shyly in a corner? Would she start crying because I wasn't there? Those were my fears, and none of them came true. She tried everything and even when it was a teacher and just her and one other girl, with the other approx. 20 girls and teachers onlooking, she did her best to mimic the dance moves of her instructor. You could see the bright, anxious look in her eyes, the happy smile on her face - she was loving it! I hope to see that look for many years to come as she continues on this new journey.

Alex and Nathan's Day Out

Cody did not forget about the boys... I'm just slow to blog about it. :) About a week ago, he took them out for a special "guy's day out". They went to The Aquarium for lunch where they got to feed the stingrays, and then they went to the Lego store where he let them each pick something out. Alex chose a Lego set and Nathan chose a Bionicle toy gun that shoots balls (of course!!).

Cody even stayed for awhile after they got home to help them with their new Lego toys. Thanks for giving them such a fun day, Cody!!!

Just a Passing Storm

Thankfully, tropical storm Edouard missed us, for the most part. We did get some rain from it, even slightly heavy at times, but it didn't last all that long. It was just enough to confirm that we do need a french drain on the one side of our yard because should a really big storm come our way, we will most definitely have a problem! We also never fully lost power. It flickered off a number of times, though, but that was really more of an annoyance than anything else. Overall, Edouard felt like any other passing thunderstorm. I am so grateful for that.

So now we'll just set aside our store of water and batteries and consider ourself prepared for whatever else might come our way. :)

Getting Ready

For Edouard, that is.

This morning my wonderful mom went to the store and picked up supplies for not only her household, but mine and my sister's as well. We are now well supplied with water, food, and batteries.

Bill came home early today and has been working to prepare the outside of our house. Since this is a "new" house, we don't quite know what to expect. We have learned that it's common for our neighborhood to lose power, so we're expecting that. And we know that one side of our yard doesn't drain well, which is why my sweet husband spent hours this afternoon digging a trench to help drain water towards the street. He's also brought in or secured down any loose items outside, caulked a few cracks in our gutters and helped a neighbor down the street trim a large, unstable branch from their tree. Impressive, isn't he? :)

I'm not overly concerned since I know that this is only a tropical storm and not even a terribly big one. But of course, you never know what can happen and it's always better to be safe than sorry. A prayer or two wouldn't hurt, either!

Carpet Woes

Our old house had dark green carpet. When it was freshly vacuumed, I thought it was rather pretty, as long as you ignored my blue couch and loveseat (bit of a color clash). Of course, the carpet needed to be vacuumed at least once a day to look okay (more when we were trying to sell the house) because every string, piece of lint, or white dog hair stuck out like a sore thumb. Bill didn't like it because he thought it made our house look dark.

Fast forward to the new house. Light beige carpet. Bright, cheery? Most definitely. Hides the white dog hair and pieces of lint, etc? For the most part, yes. Crayola marks? Shows every one.

Yes, I did say crayola marks. I never realized that drawings left lying around could result in colorful crayon smearings on the carpet. The cluttering of little drawings and cutouts is not greater in this house than the old one, but you couldn't see what was happening on the old carpet. Argh! And here I was just worried about dog messes and other mishaps staining this light colored carpet. I never imagined this crayon problem.

Thank goodness for this stuff. It's not just for pet stains. Works like a charm!

Looking Back on Our Trip

Right after we moved into our new house, we left for a two week family vacation. Bad timing, but what a wonderful trip we had. We went to visit Bill's family for the first half of the trip where we spent our days playing catch up, enjoying a little fishing, and doing some fun crafts with our cousins. Amy was sick for several days, which wasn't fun. But we all had a good time and enjoyed being with Bill's family.

On the second half of our trip we met up with my parents and my brother and his family in Gatlinburg, Tennessee where we rented a chalet up in the mountains. We had an incredible view from a large deck that provided the most relaxing mornings and amazing sunsets. This chalet had six bedrooms and four full baths - it was huge! Of course, the kids still bunked together much of the time. Afterall, that's more fun, anyway. Bill, my brother Jason and my dad went on a day hike on the first day there while we girls and the kiddos hung out in the chalet. No complaints here! The second day, however, was our day to explore... the Gatlinburg shops! Our final couple of days in Gatlinburg were spent hiking the mountain trails and playing in the river. It was truly a fantastic experience - one I hope to repeat in the future!

The slideshow below captures both parts of our trip. Enjoy!

Correction to My Playlist

I'm sure no one really cares, but just to give credit where credit is due, In My Dreams is an REO Speedwagon song, not Air Supply. Someone obviously doesn't know their bands!

Too Much TV

That is what we have been watching lately. It doesn't help that we've been battling a stomach bug, but I'd say the biggest culprit for our frequent TV viewing is DirecTV. We have lived without cable for 6 years and have managed just fine. I always felt like the educational shows on PBS were good enough for my children, and I had too much to do to be spending time watching television anyway. Besides, cable is expensive... until we moved. Then we got a deal too good to pass up. So now we have satellite TV. This means the kids have Noggin, and I have HGTV. And we watch entirely too much of it. But these are educational channels so it's okay, right?

My Musical Blog

I have loved visiting some of my friends' blogs and listening to their musical playlists, that I finally decided to make one, too. After too much time perusing the selections and several computer viruses later (thank goodness for Norton Anti-Virus!), I had created my own playlist. I was having way too much fun pulling up old songs from the past. Of course, I'm still trying to decide on/find the perfect song for my blog to open with, but until I do, I like the upbeat "Dive" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Happy listening - I hope you enjoy the music as much as I do!

Amy's Day Out

Today Amy had a special day out with my nephew Cody. He goes off to college in a couple of weeks and wants to spend some time with my kiddos before he does. Isn't that the sweetest thing? Today was Amy's day, and he took her to Build-A-Bear, lunch at a country club, and finally the park. As you can see in the picture, Amy chose a PINK bear with a PINK ballerina outfit. Can you guess her favorite color?




I am just amazed that Cody took his day off work, as well as his own money, to spend the day with my little girl. What a special memory he has given her! And what a special young man he is. Thank you, Cody!!!

One Word

This is another MeMe that I felt compelled to do since Celeste basically "tagged" me to do it a couple of weeks ago. Thanks a lot, Cel! LOL

Here it goes!

1. Where is your cell phone? Cody
2. Your significant other? Bill
3. Your hair? Messy
4. Your mother? Mom
5. Your father? Dad
6. Your favorite thing? Peace
7. Your dream last night? Uncertain
8. Your favorite drink? Iced-Tea
9. Your dream/goal? Contentment
10. The room you’re in? Study
11. Your church? Baptist
12. Your fear? Roaches
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
14. Where were you last night? Home
15. What you’re not? Patient
16. Muffins? Pumpkin
17. One of your wish list items? This Moment
18. Where you grew up? TX
19. The last thing you did? Ate
20. What are you wearing? Shorts
21. Your TV? HGTV
22. Your pets? Shelby
23. Your computer? Slow
24. Your life? Hectic
25. Your mood? Anxious
26. Missing someone? Yes
27. Your car? Minivan
28. Something you’re not wearing? Makeup
29. Favorite store? Lowe's
30. Your summer? Quick
31. Like(love) someone? Yes
32. Your favorite color? All
33. Last time you laughed? Recently
34. Last time you cried? Days
35. Who will re post this? Unsure

Mosaic MeMe

I saw this on Celeste's blog and it was just too fun to pass up. Sometimes it was a bit of a challenge to find a suitable picture on the first page of photos, though!

Here's how to play:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

2. Using only the first page, pick an image.

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

4. Save image to hard drive and post to blogger.

5. Copy HTML code for flickr photo credits and paste into blogger at the bottom of the post.

1. What is your first name? Robin

2. What is your favorite food? Mexican food

3. What high school did you go to? Clear Lake High School

4. What is your favorite color? all colors

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Michael Biehn

6. Favorite drink? latte

7. Dream vacation? Ireland

8. Favorite dessert? brownie a la mode

9. What you want to be when you grow up? happy

10. What do you love most in life? God and family

11. One Word to describe you? Blessed

12. One hobby of yours? Quilting

1. Robin 1, 2. Delicious Mexican food in Flagstaff Arizona, 3. DSC_0143, 4. All The Colors, 5. Metal... GEAR?, 6. Vanilla Hazelnut Latte, 7. REAL... "REAL ESTATE" (IRELAND), 8. Brownie a la mode, 9. happy happy..., 10. God is love!, 11. Each day is a blessing, 12. Katrina Quilt Square 'flowers'

We're Moved In

This was my family's first real move... and I don't think I ever want to do it again! It's been quite an experience! We finalized our move-in on a Wednesday evening, having brought the remainder of our stuff from the old house and cleaned it all up for the new owners. We closed on that house the next day. We then left on a family trip to Ohio and Tennessee that following Saturday. Talk about a whirlwind of a week! Needless to say, when we returned from our trip late last Thursday night (almost 2 weeks later), the house was just as we'd left it - boxes and stuff EVERYWHERE. We managed to put some of it away, but you can no longer tell since yesterday, Bill and Brian emptied our storage unit into our sunroom. We're back to boxes everywhere. I'm trying to figure out where in the world I'm going to put all of it! I think the thing to remember is that for the last 4 months, I have lived without all of that stuff.... Perhaps I don't need most of it?

I'll post pictures from our trip and the move soon... I just wanted to let everyone know that My Family Zoo is still here, and if ever that title was the perfect description of my life, it's right now!

Indoor Sprinklers

My children asked me today if they could play outside in the sprinkler. I wanted to say yes because I know how tired they are of being stuck inside, and it's really too hot to play outside. But I would have to supervise them, and I just have so much to do inside right now. So I responded to their requests with, "No, not today."

While I was on the phone a short while later, Alex and Nathan came running into the kitchen to fill their cups with water. And then, as they were running back out, they stated something like, "We're going to be sprinklers." I did not make the connection until a few minutes later when I walked into the den and felt the wet carpet. Each of the kids had straws hanging out of their mouths. They were filling their mouths with water, and then as they would spin around in circles, they'd spit the water back out through the straw. Gross, I know. But it was quite ingenious. :)

Disregard the Last Post!

We ARE the owners of that house pictured below! :) A little more convincing and the owner finally agreed to pay for the necessary repairs on the house. We are so happy and so very relieved. Now it's time to do some serious packing and get things ready to move!

Still Without A Home

Well, the house in the picture at the bottom of the post below? Not our house. The inspection uncovered a lot of problems, which we expected with a 1973 house. Some of them we were prepared to take care of ourselves, others were big and needed to be handled before we could even accept the house. Unfortunately, the owner refused to fix the requested problems. So, we are out our option fee, the money for the inspection, and a home. And once again, we are quite homeless. Please pray we find a place soon!!! For now, we will be looking in the yellow pages for an apartment since we have to be out of our current house in less than 3 weeks. Do you ever wish you could go back in time and choose things differently???

Times are Changing

It's hard to believe that in just a few weeks, we will no longer be living in this house; it is all I've known since Bill and I started our little family. We've brought each of our children home from the hospital to this house. I thought last night about Christmas mornings, where they parade down the stairs and their little eyes light up as they come to the landing halfway down the staircase and are suddenly able to see into the den at the lit up Christmas tree and all of the goodies that Santa had left for them. I think about all of the birthday parties we've had in our backyard, especially over the last couple of years since Bill completed our deck. I think about the playset that my dad and Bill put together as quickly as they could before Alex's 2nd birthday. I think about when we built our garden box in the backyard and planted our seeds. I think about all of the times that the kids have awoken during the night, and we'd hear the pitter patter of their little feet coming down the hall towards our room. I think of my sweet little birds who make a nest of my hanging geranium year after year and how much I love to look out at them while I stand at the kitchen window. I think of all of the lovely updates we've done to the house, both inside and out. And most of all, I think about good friends and neighbors who live so close by and how wonderful and convenient it is to be able to get together at the last minute and to borrow needed recipe ingredients (or cake boards ;) ).

It has been a sad experience selling our house. But the time had come and we look forward to the next phase of our lives. We will still regularly see our friends and of course, we will make new friends within our new neighborhood. And just as we have done with this one, we will form wonderful memories in our new home. There will be birthday parties, get-togethers, a playset, a garden, etc. in the new house just like in our current one.

And speaking of our new home, if all goes well with the inspection today, here it is:

Coming Up For Air...

Life has been busy, crazy, hectic, stressful, and a bit over-whelming for our family this last month or more. For years now we have talked about selling our house and moving closer to Bill's work, family and church. It's not that we are all that far away from it all, but it is enough to make us think twice before participating in a church event, or making a quick trip to Granny and Paw-Paw's house.

In the Fall/Winter time frame we were seeing so many houses on the market that were in the location we wanted to live and were a nice improvement on our current house size. But we weren't ready to move at that point. So now, with it being a so-called "buyer's market", we decided to go for it. We worked really hard in March and beginning of April to get our house ready, and on my birthday it went on the market. For that first week, we had a showing every day. I'm sure many of you out there have been through it.... The quick, complete house cleaning every morning, grabbing kids and dog and racing out the door to go hang out at a park for several hours while the house is being shown, preventing the kids from hanging any of their artwork about the house, keeping the kids out of the house as much as possible to keep it neat and only allowing one toy out at a time to keep the mess under control. I wasn't exactly enjoying the whole process, but I never dreamed that after only ten days on the market, we'd get an offer. So just like that, our house was sold. But we haven't found a house yet. We are wondering if it really is a blessing that our house sold so quickly!

But the Lord works in mysterious ways. When we have seen a house we like, we've found out an offer was just placed on it that same day. We've put offers on two houses so far, and in both cases, others had also put offers on them that were higher than we could go. God was making it very clear to us that these were not the houses for us, even if we thought so. We are actually preparing to put an offer on a different house today, one that we've looked at many times and has sat on the market for awhile now. We have been aprehensive about this house, and yet loved it at the same time. I feel that God has been leading us back to it through all of our house-hunting. It will be interesting to see if it actually works out. In the meantime, we are just praying that by our closing date (less than 3 weeks away!!!!), we'll have some where to go - house or apartment, just as long as it's not a cozy spot under a bridge! ;)

And through all of this craziness, life is moving on. Baseball has continued to take much of our time. We're still trying to keep up with our school work, though not as well as I'd like. And today is Bill's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETHEART!!!! We're doing our best to make it fun and special, despite everything else we have going on. And tomorrow is Alex's birthday. So I also have a party to plan (just a small one this year ;) ) and a cake to bake.

I know it's all going to work out in the end. But getting through it has been and will continue to be hard. I'm just trying to keep my faith in God and know that He is in control.

The missing baseball cap...

is no longer missing. It turned up today in the van, having been stuffed into one of the compartments by Nathan's seat. Now we have two.

First Games

Today, both Alex and Nathan had their first T-ball games. Nathan's game was this morning and unfortunately, Amy and I had to miss it because of her Little Gym class. But it sounds like he had a great time. You might notice there are more pictures from his game than Alex's. That would be because I was in charge of taking pictures at Alex's game... while I kept an eye on Amy and Nathan (Bill was helping in the dugout). And though at times Amy and Nathan sat fairly happily next to me and watched the game, those moments only lasted about 2 minutes and then they were all over the place. But I did manage to get a few other shots, some where Alex was happily playing in the dirt, or looking off into the outfield while the other team was at bat. It was too cute. Kids are so easily distracted at this age. :) Oh, and you might also notice that in the picture where Nathan is fielding the ball, he is not wearing a baseball cap. That would be because we discovered it missing this morning when we getting Nathan ready for his game. A complete rampage of our entire house turned up nothing. It's vanished without a trace. Thankfully, even though his first game was played hatless, we were able to purchase another one for him later in the day. This is a very good thing because his team pictures are tomorrow!!!

Easter

I hope you all had a blessed Easter! We've been so busy lately, as you can tell by my lack of posts. But here are some pictures from our Easter activities (and yes, those are pictures of Easter morning, not Christmas :) ).

Amy on the Easter egg hunt

Alex and Nathan on the Easter egg huntNathan checking out the egg contents...Amy, wearing her chocolate bunny

Easter morning!Ready for church!Posing at Granny's houseThe whole familyTime to dye the eggs
Amy, just chillin'

A stomach bug?

That's what we're still trying to decide this morning. Amy woke yesterday morning and threw up several times. I immediately put her on the couch and covered her with a blanket, declaring to all that this was now the "sick" couch and this was the "sick" blanket, both of which were to be avoided by all but Amy. I take all precautions I can, but of course, with a stomach bug everyone usually gets it anyway.

As sick as the poor little thing was in the morning, after some lemon-lime Gatorade (thanks, Celeste!) Amy began to perk up. By 12:30 pm she informed me that she was hungry, so I began giving her oyster crackers. Not only did she keep them all down, but she downed over half of the large container of Gatorade and ate almost as many waffles for dinner as I did - plus half a banana! And other than a restless night's sleep (probably from over-eating), she didn't have anymore incidents. She's been actively playing all morning. So maybe it wasn't a stomach bug afterall? Whatever it was, I hope it's over and that we see no more of it for quite some time!

Something really cute...

A few minutes ago Alex came downstairs and told me to come upstairs with him. The way he put it was, "Mommy, come upstairs. You'll want to take a picture because you're going to see something that's really cute!". Then he took off back upstairs. So I obligingly grabbed the camera and headed upstairs where I found several somethings really cute in my bed...

Paper Art

In our house, we go through lots and lots of paper. We let the kids use the paper from our computer, and it amazes me how soon I'm having to refill the printer paper because it disappears so fast. Our downstairs is cluttered with drawings and creations out of paper. And though I'm tired of the mess, I am certainly not tired of this amazing display of creativity.

Nathan's skills at drawing and cutting out have been improving quite a bit in recent weeks. He really watches Alex and has learned to make cuts in his drawings to allow for leg movement or for the mouth to open and close. His drawings are becoming more detailed and not just the same thing every time; he's actually creating things. This morning he made a dog with spots (similar to a dalmation) and attached a leash so he could walk it. It's so fun to watch children be creative! Alex is in the kitchen right now making a book about Winnie-the-Pooh. I hear him sounding out words as he attempts to add the story with his pictures. I can't wait to see the results!

He attached the black thing (see by the head) just before I took the picture. I asked him what it was and he informed me that it's dirt. Makes sense.

The Busy Life

Here I thought my life was already busy, but I guess I didn't know the half of it! Tonight, we began a new phase in our lives... sports. Nathan had his first Mini-Tee Ball practice. And next week, Alex starts his Tee Ball practices. I never realized how seriously these people take tee ball, but both boys practice two nights a week. Alex practices for one hour each night. Nathan practices for TWO hours each night. Yes, I did say two hours. Both happen on the same nights. Both happen during the same time frame. Both are at separate fields. What a crazy schedule we are going to have starting next week! And poor Amy. Her one activity also happens to fall on one of those nights. And since there are only two adults to cart them to these three different activities that all occur at the same time each at different locations, we will have to reschedule Amy's Little Gym.

Yes, life just got even busier...

Teaching a Child to Read

As a new home schooler this year, I just assumed that the Explode the Code phonics currriculum would be enough to teach Alex how to read. I do think it helps tremendously with the process, but it is meant to be more of a supplement. And since we started with the "Before the Code" series, we especially needed some extra help.

A fellow home schooler spoke of how much they love using 100 Easy Lessons. I made a mental note of this, and when I saw that someone had a used copy for sale at only $5, I jumped on it. We started the reading program early January and I am absolutely loving it. Both boys participate and really like it, too. Alex has reached a point where he can sound out simple words, and for some he simply sees the word and immediately says it. He enjoys trying to read anything and everything. We are only on Lesson 26 of the 100 lessons so he is a tad limited by what he can read, but I am so impressed with this reading program. Nathan is really picking up on it, too! I may need to work extra with him because he is falling behind Alex, but he is still learning a great deal.

I was worried that teaching reading was going to be one of my biggest and most pain-staking challenges regarding home schooling. But what a joy it is to teach a child to read!!!

Where Does the Time Go?

In April I'll turn 33 years old. Yes, I know that is not old. Of course it's not... But my heart (and sometimes my body) tell me otherwise. I'm not going through a mid-life crisis; I'm not upset over my age at all. My concern is over the quick passage of time and how I'm spending it.

Life keeps us so busy these days with home-schooling and all of our extracurricular activities, not to mention the day-to-day chores and unexpected tasks that come our way. I keep so busy, I don't always notice how very quickly my children are growing up. My oldest is almost 6 and my youngest, who I feel like should still be crawling around on the floor, is almost 2-1/2. How did it happen? I feel like I missed something. In fact, I am so terrible at journaling that in many ways, I have missed things. None of my children's baby books are filled out very well. Poor Amy - pretty much any milestone recordings I've ever made for her were done in this blog. And I often don't get around to blogging everything. My kids will someday come to me wanting to know details about their childhood, and the only information I'll be able to share will have to come from my memory. That pretty much means they won't be hearing many details!

I've had several reminders of late at how quickly life is passing. My nephew, who I can still remember as a baby and toddler, is now a senior in high school and will be graduating this year. And then this past weekend I went to Austin for a wedding. It was a wedding of a young woman who I babysat for many years. From the time she was about 4 until she was too old to be babysat (and I felt too old to be still babysitting), I was the prime babysitter for her and her little sister. And here I was, at her wedding. And during the reception, they flashed through picture after picture up on a large screen and I saw so many pictures of the little girl I remember from so long ago. And yet, it doesn't seem so long ago. Where did the time go? The picture below is of me with these two beautiful grown up women who are now the same height as me - maybe even taller! And though they remember me and all of the games we used to play together, they are not the same little girls anymore. Where did the time go?

I remember my dad telling me a long time ago when he and I were out on a walk that the older you get, the more quickly time seems to pass you by. At the time, either in high school or a freshman in college, this information didn't seem too important or all that believable for that matter. I was complaining about wanting a stressful week to be over and he was giving me the old "don't wish your life away" speech. But now, here I am, finally seeing what it was he was talking about. It really was a "don't wish your life away" speech, and that advice should be taken seriously. I can remember when the holidays at Christmas seemed to go on and on and on and I just couldn't wait for Christmas day. Now I want Christmas day to take it's time coming, because the holidays seem so short. Summers used to feel like they lasted forever, but now they go by in the blink of an eye. It's becoming difficult to remember what year we're in. I have to think about it every time I write the date. My dad was right. Where does the time go?

There is really not much I can do about the passing of time. I can't stop all of our activities so I can keep things a little slower... a little duller. I can't stop my children from growing up. But I do plan to take in every moment and try to enjoy this time that God has given me here with my loved ones. It is often so easy to wallow in self-pity when the days get difficult or I feel too overwhelmed by life's challenges. But why waste those precious moments in feelings of sadness or depression? No one knows how much time we have here on this Earth, and what time we do have goes so fast. Every minute we have should be treasured and used wisely.

So on that note, I think I have spent enough time sitting in here at my computer. Now it's time to spend memorable moments with my children!

Back Again!

Once again, my geranium has company...

Happy Valentine's Day!

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins... if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." 1 John 4:10-12

Today is a special day where we make an extra effort to show our loved ones how special they are to us. Of course, we should do this every day, but especially on this day. I used to be pretty good about sending cards to relatives and friends to let each of them know how much we love them. I even used to make my own cards! But times have changed and now I do good just to encourage and help the kids make cards for others. And this year we seem to have hit an all time low with the cards. I'm just hoping to get each of the kids to make their daddy a card before he gets home from work!

Despite our failure with greeting cards this year, I have tried to make today a little special for at least my own children. Thanks to a dear friend who loaned me two eggs this morning, I was able to make chocolate chip muffins for the kids' breakfast. We had peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches cut in the shape of a heart for lunch, with Valentine candy from Granny and Paw-Paw for dessert. And each child is going to get a small heart-shaped box of chocolates and a Webkinz once their daddy gets home (I don't want him to miss seeing them get their Valentine surprises!). Hopefully we can also fit in a little Valentine craft before the day is out. And of course, we must watch Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown at some point, too. And for dinner, leftover lasagna. Yes, sadly, leftovers. But it's been over a week since we had it (I froze the leftovers) and it's not something I make very often. So, despite being leftover and not as romantic as steak, it will still be somewhat special. :) Here are some pictures of our day so far...

And since Valentine cards did not get mailed this year...

Happy Valentine's Day from our family to yours!!!

A Picture Post

Alex and Nathan, showing off their homemade firefighter helmets.
Amy, all set for Little Gym
Nathan and Amy
Alex with his sock puppet
Nathan, posing with his lunch plate (notice the face out of food)
Amy, with her favorite lunch item

Neglectful Again

Once again, I have been neglecting my blog. The funny thing is, there have been multiple occasions where I have purposefully taken pictures of the kids with the intent to blog and just never got around to doing it. Of course, yesterday we went bowling with the Contenders - Alex's second time to bowl but Nathan and Amy's first. I remembered my camera so I could capture the moment (and blog about it), but then managed to forget the camera out in the car. And once you've paid and have everyone in their bowling shoes, it's too late to run back out to the car for the camera! So no pictures to blog for that event. I can say that they all had a wonderful time, especially once one of those special gadgets to help young kids bowl became available. They loved using that thing! Sadly, that wasn't until our game was almost over.... not that we even got to finish. When little kids bowl and the ball takes several minutes to slowly make its way down to the pins, your game takes a long time. And I learned yesterday that you actually have a time limit! Oh, well. They had a great time and I've promised we'll do it again soon.

My camera is still out in the car, but as soon as I can, I will post pictures as an update to what we've been up to these last couple of weeks. And with any luck, I will post a little more frequently from now on!