Life goes on

The summer came and went. We searched for a new place with a little elbow room. We cleaned and held birthday parties. We repainted the family room. We bought some bookcases, tv stand, coffee table and a bureau that all matched. We redid (are redoing) the downstairs bath. We had cool temperatures so beach days couldn't happen very often. In essence, we worked the summer away without much fun.

We started are homeschooling adventure. Off to a rough start, as Momma is a bit of a work horse. Once Daddy got me to relax, we have been doing better. His reading is coming along splendidly, which was my biggest concern. Phonetics is not a strong suit of mine. History is a christian-based chronological approach starting with God creating the world. As we were watching Ghostbuster as a family the other night, they were talking about the Sumerians and the Babylonians, Logan immediately said I know them. He has watched GB a hundred times it feels like, but now seeing it after our study has opened up the world just a bit more. He is doing 3rd grade Saxon Math. I am not pushing too hard. Although he has a natural aptitude, he doesn't care for math. I was the exact same way (except his natural aptitude is much greater than mine ever was). If he is still doing a few of the lessons when he starts 2nd grade, I'm not going to sweat it. But I love being there for those light switch moments. Although he generally gets the correct answer even when he doesn't have the full understanding, I love when I see the "click" and know he really understands whatever the material was. Like with even and odd or plus 9 addition facts. At those moments I thank God to be able to have this opportunity. We still have days that I want to pull out my hair because my boy can be frustrating, usually this is the day when he doesn't want to be there, he wants to play only. Then I think about those poor teachers with 20+ kids that must have someone who doesn't want to be there disrupting their class everyday. Because let's face it, no one, not even the teacher wants to be there every single day. Again, I am thankful for the opportunity.

Now we are getting ready for Thanksgiving as well. After the Christmas holiday, we are going to be cleaning and storing much to get the house ready for market. We are going to look extra hard for nice piece of land, a farmette. We will get a puppy. Next year, we will be getting a cow, a lamb, and some chicks. The kids also want a bunny rabbit. We figure we should do this while they are young and can enjoy and learn. And life goes on.

Happy 4th of July holiday

This year my sister & her family came up for the 4th. Having had to miss GM's bday to pick Z up at Murray State's CHA program the week before turned out to be very handy in that we were able to watch the fireworks together. Seems that for the last 2 years we have her party the weekend before the 4th, so they come for that. It was good to visit with them, but I always feel like a horrible host with nothing for them to do. We didn't want to go into the city with swine flu (half joking) and no standing room for anything with the 4th of July crowds. I also had no room in the refrigerator to thaw out anything from the freezer, even though I had tons of food in the freezer I would have loved to serve. oh, well. Joni & I did get a chance to run to Archivers and Joann's.

Homeschooling here we come.....

Logan asked if I'd homeschool this coming year. I didn't really think I would. Then he even asked Grandma to help him convince me to do it. Since he asked for help, I knew he was serious. I started reading about it. I really had all the pro's to it down before reading. I really don't see many con's except for the cost. My big hang up was my own selfishness. I was looking forward to that time when both kids would be in school and I could have a few minutes to myself, clean the house (really clean), organize EVERYTHING, and have time for all those projects we've been putting off. Aaawwwwe, I still get a little cold feet when I think of it. But to be able to spend more time with my quickly growing children, to help them learn how to find information that they seek, to help them to grow into strong of mind, independent,and critical thinkers, to be able to have snuggle breaks in the middle of the day, to watch them in each phase of wonder and each phase of growth, to know that even though I'm FAR from perfect but they will get Christian values and our family values reiterated to them more than any school could - it is definitely an exciting adventure that I can't wait to begin.

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Hello June

Wow. where does the time go? Logan's last day of school was last Wednesday. He then had a stomach bug (worse one yet) on Thursday. Today he starts camp invention - he's a little nervous. It's all day. So I understand. But he's going to have so much fun. He's worried about Gabriella & I having fun without him, but I told him we're just going to be cleaning the house - no fun here. We have 3 days until Don's Birthday, 6 days until Father's Day, and 12 days until Gabriella's Birthday, and 13 days until her dance recital. Oh MY! how this month will fly.

Logan was trying to talk me into homeschooling. We had discussed doing it for Kindergarten, but I just didn't think I could. I have plans for that first year when they are in school. Getting some real "ME" time, then comes the year of real "CLEAN" time the following year. But the more I think about it, the more I read about it, the more convinced I become that it's the right thing to do. I don't want my kids being influenced by people with other values and beliefs at such an impressionable age, I want them to have a better quality of education, to love learning, and to enjoy their childhood.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

I was just at Wal-mart. As I was shopping, I always look at clearance tags, to see if the price is something I'm willing to pay for the item. Well, I just could not believe it when I saw that many of the red clearance tags, where the same price as the item before the red sticker. If it was an item I knew, i knew the price or the item would have a similar item right next to it. They didn't even lower the price. But to my amazement, many of the spots were empty. I just hope that those people weren't thinking they got a good deal. Just shaking my head. It's like Circuit City (and now I think the camera place) going out of business by only taking 10-20% off the full retail price. I'm sorry, but when I can get the item cheaper elsewhere normally, WHY would I buy it from you. However, I know some people really stocked up on DVD's and such. But you could get them cheaper on-line or on sale at Best Buy, or everyday at Walmart/Target..... Head shaking again. Ok, that's my rant for the day. Got too much else to do, to worry about it.

Are you Cold?

Yep, we are all suffering under the cold symptoms this week. GM started losing her voice on Sunday. Poor thing. I actually went to church without everyone on Sunday, hoping the rest did everyone good. Don started getting the sore throat on Saturday night. Luckily, it is just a cold. And we have been extremely fortunate this season as far as illnesses go.
Logan enjoys it, as he gets more 'screen' time than his usual 1 hr/day. Too funny.
We're hoping to bake banana bread today. yummy. and hope the rest of the week will see our health improving.