Lasting Impressions

I was just outside pitching baseballs to my son.  What fun to see his face light up when he hit the baseball.  Nothing says spring is coming like sunshine, blue sky, and a boy with a bat!
Memories of my own softball playing days came crowding in as I watched my sons enjoyment.  Most good, but not all of them.  One in particular stood out.
I never actually played t-ball, but I did go to a practice...once.  The coach lined me all up, put the helmet on my head, handed me a bat, and put the ball on the tee.  Then he stepped back and I took that as my sign to swing.  What I didn't see was a younger kid (mind you I was all of 6 at the time) behind me.  CRACK!! Yep, you guessed it.  My enthusiastic swing caught the poor child right in the head.  Even now, many, many years later I feel the remorse well up inside of me...and also the feeling of being blamed and punished for something that I never intended to happen.  The coach read me the riot act (as a parent I logically understand why, but as a child all I heard was "You horrible, awful kid look what you did!!") and sent me home.  I never darkened the t-ball field again.
So all you parents and coaches out there.  Be careful not to react in such a way as to send a child away from a sport to never return.

Shoeshine

So you know those moments where your heart is just overwhelmed with love for your children or your spouse? Well I had one of those today. My son Nathan has been choosing to wear his 'church' shoes on Sundays. His question before lunch today was "Dad can you teach me how to shine my shoes?" Now why this particular comment would cause that love sensation I'm not sure, but it did.

Learning

Well the school year for us officially started on September 6th.  I was nervous, let me tell you!  Me teach my own kids reading, writing, and arithmetic?! 
We started they day off just reading the Bible and then praying for each other.  Even now a week later this is the best time of the day.  The kids seem to really enjoy this part.  Then we do weather, days of the week, and our hundred day of school count up (bee #6 is on the board today).  Next we start school.  Nathan starts with penmanship and seat work and Emily and I do her language arts, reading, and poetry.  Then I introduce her new cursive letter and she does the practice sheets for that.  While she is doing that, Nathan and I take on language arts, reading, and poetry.  Then we all take a break.  After break Emily does seat work and spelling and Nathan and I do Math.  While he does Math worksheets Emily and I do Math.  Then she does Math worksheets and we are done.
On Fridays we do any tests that are needed and then right now we are doing science.  Later we will take on American History.
I've learned a lot this first week.  I've changed our schedule 3 times already :)  Also I've learned that at some point during the day I need to remove myself from their range and just be alone.
Let the Adventures continue.

The Decision is Made

Well we have made the decision to home school starting this next year.  We will be taking it one year at a time.  Several things brought us to this decision.  First, we have a hard time placing our children in public school.  Our district has been hit hard by these economic times and that has led to cut upon cut upon financial cut.  This year the number of teachers has been razed to the bare minimum and they are predicting around 40 kids per class!!!  Also, I have a hard time subjecting my children to friends that I wouldn't be comfortable letting them go to their house to play with.  Our children are not missionaries!
Our kids have been attending a private school and the curriculum they use places our kids at least one if not two grade levels ahead of public school (My 2nd grade son was learning some of the same stuff my 4th grade nephew in public school was).
Second, the gas money required to get my children to their private school was 3 times what the tuition for the school cost!!  Now David has a pretty good job, but with gas prices going up our gas was going to land at almost $800/month!!!
So we looked at our options.  Homeschooling won.  For less than one month of tuition + gas to get them to private school we could buy all the home school curriculum and outfit the 'school' room.
Now that the decision is made, I've ordered the curriculum and have started organizing the school room.  I must admit I'm part excited (always thought I'd be a good teacher) and part terrified (stay at home with my children and teach them!!)
Let the Adventure Begin!

It's a Foreign Language

You almost need a degree in Meganese to understand my daughter when she talks...at least about some things.  You have to just know what she means, or you are out of the loop.  I can understand what she's after....mostly, her father is a bit more clueless.  Some examples:
"Mom I want my tappings."
"Those are my click, clicks."
"I want to wear my rounding."
"Do you see my oncles?"
"I want to watch Sam."

The interpretations are as follows:
"Mom I want to wear my blue canvas shoes with the rubber toes."
"Those are my plastic princess dress up shoes."
"I want to wear my dress/skirt."
"Do you see my elbows?"
"I want to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs."

Now I'm sure you could have guessed the rounding, but every single other one threw my husband for a loop.

Kids are so fun, and I love all her little sayings and will miss them as she grows up.

Who Knew?!

So who knew dishwashing was a contact sport? Apparently in our house it is. Nathan faked right and went left and I smashed into his forehead with the edge of a plate. Whoops!

                                                               

Spring Cleaning Fever

Well spring is in the air.  It must be because my little fingers are starting to itch and my brain spin with spring cleaning ideas.  It doesn't help that I've been reading a book titled "Is There Life After Housework" by Dan Aslett (I think I spelled the name right).  My plan for spring cleaning this year is to start by SIMPLIFYING.
I was doing laundry this week (so what else is new) and Emily brought down her dirty laundry...all three baskets mounding full...and she still has stuff in her drawers!  Seriously?!  Nathan and Megan's clothing piles aren't much better.  So I'd like to downsize the kids closets and then just get rid of all that stuff that's been sitting there for years that I haven't touched since we moved in here 3.5 years ago. 
I'm planning to start in my bedroom, which is a bit overwhelming because our closet has a storage area in it.  I am so looking forward to decluttering our house!
Of course it may take me years to do it, but I'm hoping not.
Alright, off to bury myself in dust and stored stuff.

Getting Old

Well thank goodness!  It has been confirmed...I am NOT old.
At the dinner table tonight Emily (5) asked me how old I was.  I answered truthfully "32".  She said "For real?"  I confirmed that 32 was my correct age and asked her if she thought I was old.  With a little giggle she said "No, you're not old, but you are getting old!"

Sigh.  I can totally remember when 32 sounded ancient.  Looking back, 32 was when my mother was pregnant/giving birth to my baby sister.  I have more gray hairs now than I care to even try to count and I contemplate on and off having another child of my own, so I guess Emily is right, I'm not old (still reasonable child bearing years), but I am getting old (gray hairs proof positive).

Bumper Sticker Baby

Conversation between Me and my not yet potty trained almost three years old Megan.

Her:  I have an owie.
Me: Where is your owie?

Her: Ummmm, on my bum.

Me: Megan, did you poop in your diaper?

Her: Ummm, yeeeessss, it happens.

Laugh Out Loud!

It is so very true.  Poop does indeed happen!

And the rain came down!

Well it has been a while since my last posting. I am doing okay. Dealing very well with the miscarriage, I can even talk about it without crying!
Now as to the rest of my life, sigh, it is getting financially tight. My husband still has his job (good) but his hours are cut back (bad) which means our finances are not doing well at all. The conclusion of this is that I have to get a job. Up until today I honestly thought that meant a full time job, but taking a good look at all of our necessary monthly expenditures and holding it up against David's new income we should be able to meet our needs with out me getting a job, or taking our kids out of their school. However, a part time job on my part would make this much, much easier to do.
Without the job I would have to reduce our grocery bill to $500 a month...sounds not bad until you factor in two dogs, a cat, a guinea pig, 3 kids and that grocery includes all paper and cleaning products as well as food and that Nathan's goat milk alone costs $40 a month (more depending on how many Wednesdays are in a month). I'm not sure how to do that, but I am sure it is possible. People live on waaaay less than this and survive. That said anybody got any really good, doable tips for me on cutting that grocery bill down? On the plus side of this I could stand to lose a few pounds and this may just force me to do it!!
Oh dear it just hit me, this is the first time in my life (as an adult of course) that I have had to be financially savvy! We are dipping into the red every month and that simply just won't do.
In better much less depressing news, my children are still adorable. Megan has progressed to informing me when she is "stinky". Which means wet or in actuality stinky. One step closer to potty training (yay and boo!). She also sing songs "Let's go get my Emily." every day on our way to get Emily. She sure does admire her big sister, though that doesn't stop her from pushing Em's buttons!
Emily was emptying her backpack out today and said "Mom, can we keep my "m" paper? I want to remember how good I made M's." Very cute.
Nathan is doing so very well at school and is probably the best reader in his class. He rarely makes mistakes in math, is picking up science well, and his spelling has really improved this year. His cursive is still...interesting, but is much improved from last year and his teachers are super at pointing out all the letters that he has done really well instead of constantly pointing out all the letters he didn't do so well (though they do get a nod).
I love my kids and just thinking and writing about them has cheered me up incredibly.

Not so great news...read all the way to the end!

So I had been having some trouble back at the beginning of June. I felt like I had a really terrible UTI. Thing is the doctor couldn't find any infection, though he sent a sample to a lab and they managed to grow non-specific bacteria. I went twice because the antibiotics just didn't seem to be working. Next step...a specialist. I am so tired of specialists at this point (a history of problems I won't share here) which I thought were finally figured out and over, and here I was supposedly headed off to another one.

Saturday June the 5th I decided to just go ahead and take the test. You know the test with the little pink lines? Only I used a test with a digital read out. The only reason I took the test was because both times I went to the doctors office (saw two doctors in the practice) was because both of them asked if there was a chance I could be pregnant. Guess they should have just run the test themselves and saved my poor body all those antibiotics. Yes that is right, I am pregnant with baby #4.

Apparently when I get pregnant and am on birth control pills my body acts like it has a terrible UTI even though I don't. Of course I instantly went off the pill and my pseudo UTI cleared up almost overnight.

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about being pregnant yet again. My brain had moved on, we were done at three, my visions of how the future was going to go were in place, but it didn't take long for me to start getting used to the idea. At this moment (June 22, 7 weeks pregnant) I am still in disbelief that I am actually pregnant. Not even feeling that morning sick, just a tad bit in the evening. I am tired, but not as exhausted as I remember being with the others.

Week 8 (June 29th)

Well, here I am a week later, June 29th 2010, 8 weeks pregnant and feeling about the same...perhaps this baby has decided to be kind to me and spare me the morning sickness.

Week 11 (July 20th)

I guess I spoke too soon. Although I suppose technically s/he has spared me "morning" sickness as this little seems to kick in at night....right around supper time! I consistently started getting "evening" sick at 9.5 weeks and am now at 11 weeks and it is getting very slightly better. Exhaustion also set in. It's amazing how quickly you forget just how tired you can be! All in all my mind is starting to adjust to the addition to the family, though I must admit to some panicky feelings when I try and picture myself getting 4 kids out the door to school come February. Two in school and two to stay with me. Maybe my in-laws will spell me for a few weeks and take Nathan and Emily to school for me...I suppose that I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I figure it never hurts to be prepared.

Oh by the way my official due date is February 8th. If this little one goes late I could end up having a mothers day baby (Emily), an Easter baby (Megan), AND a Valentine's baby! Wouldn't that be interesting :) That would be six days past due date...Megan went 8 days past. Of course if s/he is born on Valentines day s/he would be my only non-Sunday baby. All three of the others have been born on a Sunday.

August 19, 2010

Since today is the day of hope, speaking up and remember child loss wether it is through miscarriage, stillborn, infant death, or accident, I am going to celebrate the brief life of my fourth child. I wasn't going to post this, but feel like I would like you to share with you and sort of get it all out there.

I have been feeling like it is taboo to speak of my miscarriage which happened three weeks ago yesterday, but have since decided I have every right to grieve, openly or otherwise. Man I thought I was done tearing up at the drop of a hat, but here I sit with tears leaking our of my eyes!

Overall I am doing well. I have many blessings and know that God has his hand on all things. I am thankful that if happened fairly early (12 weeks), that I have three healthy wonderful living children, that my husband loves me so much, and for the friends and family who knew when it happened and grieved with me.

Busy Bee Day

I am not sure what happened to spring sunshine. I think April forgot to end so that May flowers could bloom. Here we are on the 18th of June and I have little hope that the corn in our garden will be knee high by the fourth of July. I sure hope September and October are extra nice to make up for this wet, cloudy spring.


In other news I had three extra kids added to the household for the day. My niece Bridget, nephew Seth, and my friends little girl Bailey. All in all I find having friends over can be easier than not having them. Other than general supervision and guidance, oh yeah and feeding them, they entertained themselves pretty well. A few squabbles here and there, but nothing serious. However, it amazes me that adding even one more kid can increase the dishes by so very much, but adding three has pretty much emptied my cupboard bare. I have done dishes no less than 5 times today. Amazing. Had a light bulb turn on after supper...I made the kids clear the table, rinse the dishes, and put them in the dishwasher. Revolutionary I tell ya! I guess I can't totally blame the kids for all the dishes. I made home made mac and cheese for lunch, and homemade chicken enchilada's for supper, and am about to finish making two chocolate cream pies.


David and I spent last Saturday cleaning up the downstairs of our house. I think 80% of that was toys. We have reduced the toys downstairs by probably 90% and it looks so nice, and the kids are actually playing with what is there instead of just stirring them into even greater chaos. It will be one week tomorrow that I have managed to keep the downstairs of my house cleaned. I amaze even myself sometimes.


The kids enjoying the pool...so what if it doesn't have any water in it :)

Nathan's Heart

I love my son! Of course I do, he's my son, but let me explain why I got that mommy warm fuzzy feeling in particular.
So Nathan's birthday is August the 10th and because of that we 'celebrated' at school on Thursday, May 27th with cupcakes. He has a little girl in his class who is wheat sensitive and we made special (and quite tasty) wheat free chocolate cupcakes for her and I put the same white frosting on her cupcake as the other chocolate cupcakes. As we are getting ready to hand them out, his fabulous first grade teacher noticed he was looking sad or upset about something. At this point my darling son started to break down and cry (not harsh sobbing, just I'm upset and my eyes are leaking and mouth is sad looking cry). The reason for his tears you ask? Though we had made a special cupcake for Halley, Kylie who has no allergies or sensitivities that I am aware of, doesn't like chocolate. He was upset because she wasn't going to get to enjoy the cupcake. How sweet is that!!! Of course had I known that we probably would have gotten a different kind, but I had no foreknowledge of such a dislike.
On a note off my sons soft heart, I was impressed with the caring and concern shown by the others in his class. Several of the boys in his class got up when they realized he was crying and started patting his back and head and telling him that it was going to be all right. And Kylie, who indeed did not eat her chocolate cupcake, piped up and said "It's OK Nathan, it has white frosting. It's all good!"
I hope all of these children never lose their caring hearts for other people!

A bookworm is born

My heart is filled with warm fuzzies. My son is becoming a bookworm. For the last two days I have found him curled up reading a Horrible Harry chapter book. I LOVE IT!

I have been a bookworm for as long as I can remember. Even before I could read I remember asking and asking and asking my mom and older sisters to read to me. Especially my favorite alphabet book. That in fact was my inspiration to learn to read as fast as I could. I get a kick out of my first grade report card stating that I was struggling with reading...by fifth grade I was reading 11th grade level or more.

I was warned that after having kids I wouldn't have time to read...they underestimated my love of diving into a good christian romance, or comedy, or adventure. I even periodically go back and read some of my childhood favorites like the L.M. Montgomery books, Louisa May Alcott books, and my Narnia series.

My bookshelves are overflowing (literally), but there is always room for another good book.

Emily's 5 and Missing Megan

Well Emily's birthday party went well. On Thursday night I actually woke myself up with a stomach ache worrying over whether anyone would come or not. I hadn't had any RSVPs yet. Seems kind of silly I suppose to worry over that, but her little heart was sure that EVERYONE invited was going to come. Thankfully, though not everyone could come, her two best friends made it plus several other little girls and their siblings, and her three cousins came. I think she would have been happy with just her two best friends. I was pleasantly surprised that her little friend Lilli from Kung Fu joined us with her family. Emily's was the second birthday party of the day, out of three for them.

When we got home we unloaded all the stuff and then I was having Nathan and Emily pick up all the garbage that was in the van. Megan was following me around and I leaned into the van just for a moment to grab the actual garbage can to empty it and when I had done that Megan was gone. I didn't immediately panic. I went through the shop first because she had been peeking in the door way just a minute before, but when I didn't see her there I did start to panic. I suppose I should explain why I panicked so quickly. Megan is my wanderer. Though she is terribly clingy when strangers are around, on her own she explores and she loves to be outside. The last time she disappeared David found her all the way down our driveway and across the bridge heading out towards the main road. This road is easy on/off to the I-5 and it would only take seconds for her to simply disappear forever.

(This picture is taken from our front yard. The driveway is on the right and heads across the picture to the left. )

So after informing David I couldn't find Megan I ran down the driveway to see if I could see her. Nathan followed me and of course I didn't find her. Now panic was setting in. She had been missing for probably 3 or 4 minutes at this point. I came back to the house where David had been searching with no success and then really started panicking. On the verge of tears I went back out to the shop one more time, and David headed down the driveway, one more time. This time, thankfully, there Megan was in the shop calmly playing with...nails! Sorting them from one bucket to another. I sent Nathan running down the driveway to tell David (shouting all the way "We found her...We found her!") and I promptly burst into tears and picked Megan up and headed down the driveway after Nathan.

Even now thinking about it increases my blood pressure!

God is so good and I thank Him for answering my prayers for Megan to be safe and found!

(This picture is taken maybe halfway down our driveway and shows the covered bridge which begins our driveway. Main road is just across this bridge.)

Returning Home

Well, I had a marvelous weekend away from my crazy, can't keep it neat, or tidy, or clean house. I went to a Ladies Retreat up at Canby Grove Conference Centre (in Canby, Oregon). My friend Megan and I left Friday and came home Sunday afternoon. I wasn't sure I was going to get to go. Thursday night about, oh 8:00 PM I started not feeling so well. Everyone in our house except Nathan and I had already caught this particular stomache bug. Sure enough (almost two weeks since the last person had it) I caught it. All night I made visits to the bathroom, still determined to go to retreat. The next morning I got up and called my father-in-law and asked if he would take the kids to school, left my youngest in bed (she was happy and singing to herself), and proceeded lay down on the couch and try to convince myself I wasn't sick. I'm glad I did go, even though I missed Friday evenings speakers and slept instead. I felt much better the next day and back to normal by Sunday.

I love coming home after being away from my family. My marvelous husband had made sure the kitchen was CLEAN! Better than I ever seem to manage. My four year old informed me she missed me sooo much but that she still loved me as much now as she did before and that none of her love had gotten lost :) Made my heart warm. My son proceeded to eat 3.5 big bowls of the black beans and rice I made like he had been starved all weekend and pronounced it soooo goooood. Megan (my Mega roo, not my friend Megan...confusing I know) on the other hand, who had apparently been missing me all weekend, singing songs about "mommy back?" really didn't want much to do with me. Oh she didn't fully ignore me, but she wanted daddy to hold her and put her to bed which is very unusual. Two days later things are back to normal and she is my little shadow again. I'm glad my shadow plays so well by herself.

Well, aren't I chatty today!

Signing off to start all those chores! Despite the kitchen being clean (which it is no longer of course) nothing else got cleaned and the bathrooms are desperately calling out to me for attention!

Clean kitchen...dirty kids!

Are we done yet?

Well, I feel great this week, which is fabulous. We have had a icky stomach bug making its

way around the family. First my little Megan bug caught it on Saturday, then the next Tuesday my sweet Emily got it and followed it up with 3 days of a different bug, I caught that bug and hurt for almost 4 days, then I thought "whoo hoo, we are done" I cleaned, I sanitized...and wouldn't you know it, David woke up a week and a half later on Friday morning with the original stomach bug that Meg had. Now, starting Monday, Nathan seems to be down with the ouchy tummy stomach bug Emily and I had. Hopefully it'll clear up tomorrow and life can go on. I do not like watching my kids be sick and in pain when there is nothing I can do about it.

I am half dreading catching the original throw uppy bug, I HATE throwing up, but the other half of me just wants to get it over with since there seems to be quite a long incubation period for whatever it is. The cynical part of me figures I will get sick either right before or during a Ladies Retreat I am going on next week.

Ah, well life continues and since I am feeling so well I guess I should go tackle my dishes and the giant pile of CLEAN laundry. At least it is all clean this time. I have kept up on washing it, but folding and putting away after every load is still eluding me. Goal for next week, is to keep on top of the laundry.

Waking up Clean

Well, here I am the day after Easter enjoying my mostly clean house (just don't look into my living room where shredded paper (thanks to my 4 going on 5 year old) and blankets reign supreme). I woke up this morning and came downstairs and just enjoyed the fact that my kitchen was clean! I didn't have to clean it. Marvelous! Thrilling! OK so it doesn't take much to excite me.

This morning was parent-teacher conferences. I am a proud parent. Both my kids are doing so well and get top grades in Listening and following directions, getting along with peers, participation...I love it. Nathan is having trouble with his cursive writing. My poor little leftie is just finding it so hard to find that smoothness when writing and as a result it is a tad(!) messy. Better than the beginning of the year, but still not great. His teacher and I and then his dad and I discussed what we could do at home to help him with that without making it a chore. I don't want him to hate writing! If you have any fun ideas with the whole fine motor skills thing let me know.

Me and my Easter beauties

Muddler Meg

So I'm sitting at my computer with my youngest daughter (2 next Tuesday!) laying on the floor playing beside me, when seemingly out of nowhere two icy little feet land on my leg. This means that she has managed to shove her feet up the leg of my pants and plant them there. Apparently she agrees that she is cold as she has now gone and grabbed her mittens to put on.

My littlest muddler has lost her mittens, deserted the book in the picture, stashed her tights who knows where, smeared apple sauce and fruit juice all over my table...I could go on, but to give her credit she has also washed her own hands and put her shoes in the proper place. I'll take the little steps towards de-muddling my house. Besides which how boring would it be if a house full of children showed no evidence that children actually lived there?!