Rick and I were greeted by a friend at church who asked how we were. Rick said, "good, it was the first week of school". To which friend says "Oh, you've stared school all ready". Rick says, the kids are in public school now. Friend says "Oh, boy, you assume now days that if you're a Christian you also homeschool!"
To which I joyfully reply after being so refreshed by the honest reflective statement he made: "Yes, that's true and it should not be that way!"
I think I went on to say that it's good to have a church with all kinds of avenues of education.
I just thought this person said something most people would not have comment on...MAN.. I love it when people get it out there on the table!
Then, I don't have to be the only one!:)
I've Moved...Go Here...
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Pictures!
Just before school started the kids were locked in with the heat (though Caed is sporting a nice long sleeve shirt:*) and trying to keep themselves entertained. Caed opened his own French restaurant (notice his spelling) and made a sign for it too.
I have too many cats in my life because my kids keep talking me into rescuing kittens the size of your palm and I don't fight them very hard. This new litter found in our carport at just about 5 weeks of age is growing big and we only have the two twin boys (we call them twins because they are so identical that we can hardly tell them apart...not a white smudge on them). Their sister we found a home for. You may all ready know that last summer we took on two grey tabbies, a brother and a sister and we still have those as well as a cat from our A-town home that came up to us starving to death. They all love to cuddle with the kids.
Emma reading and listening to her tunes. My kids are archaic, they don't have I-pods or MP3's
Funny picture of Emma. The girl is always in motion!
Sterling prefers Victoria but he sure gets in some amazing nap time formations. He is seriously deeply asleep I promise.
Ceadmon and Clark (Clark Kent that is, and the other one is Bruce Wayne). Clark is the skinny-mini kitten. 
First Day of School! Gotta have that headed out the door pic of the year!:)
Caedmon in his 1st grade class. Desks are new this year!
Emma in her 3rd/4th combo class. Both kids have their bags of supplies to load their desks. They were very anxious to get those.
My big 6th grade lady. Trendy in her cut offs for the first day. :)
Saturday, school was done for the week, and we had stayed focused. Now it was 108 or so outside and we ended up locked in for the day. We were all very tired all day. Emma fell asleep for a 3 hour nap with Bruce on the couch! I love pics of sleeping children. The brown smudge on her lip was from a fall at school on Tuesday trying to get to the bus. She was a little worried about missing it at first but now they have done great. It's a new thing for them this year and even though it's just the first stop down the road, (where I'm working for an hour and a half at a day care) and the kids really wanted to, it's not my preference. I enjoyed picking them up last year and chatting with the teachers more. For this year though, it's the Lords provision for us for a little more grocery money.
Sunday Pasta. Today we wanted something simple for dinner and the heat is back. I love coming up with great combos. This one will be going on the Domestic site soon. The kids know I take pics of dishes so I can put up the recipe but Caed wanted one with him in it. I ended up loving his face. I Love my baby's blue eyes.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The First Week Of School
I have a few pics but I'll have to add those later. The heat is making me very unmotivated today and way too hungry. Just like the summer, no tight schedule and hot bored kids locked in the house. Humph.
So, I thought I'd try to update how our first week of school went for those who care to know.
Victoria's class is a bit smaller this year (only 28 rather than 36) so I'm excited about that. I think her new teacher this year will help Victoria's personality of needing firmness with grace. She is all ready a class helper by getting to enter class attendance into the computer.
Emma is in a combo class for right now. She was chosen along with ten other 3rd graders, to be in a 3/4th combo class. She did get the teacher I wanted (after Mr.E, who I had growing up, and who I really wanted for her got transferred to the school in the country) and I understand the combo class but what I'm not happy about right now is that they have her lunching and playing with the 4,5 and 6th graders. I called the Principal and he said they are trying to work some things out and even get a solid additional 3rd and 4th instead of the combo. I voiced my concerns and he was very respectful. My point was that the issue was the socialization with the older kids when I felt she was not ready. The 1st,2nd, and 3rd graders usually have their own playground with swings and jungle gym but the 4th, 5th, and 6th is a smaller more boring play area because kids at that age usually do basketball, dodgeball, or chat. I told him I felt it would not hurt some 4th graders to mingle with youngers, but it would be pushing those little 3rd graders to mingle with olders. If there is no change by this week, he will be hearing from me again. The difference between a 3rd and 6th grade girl is massive on a social level.
Caedmon has my old homeschool teacher, Mrs.B and I was happy for that. I worry about her because she has 28 1st graders. I helped in the class most of the day yesterday so she could get some assessments done of the kids and it's amazing how the bad, no..NON-EXISTENT listening skills of some take up all the teachers time sometimes. I applaud them all for keeping with their job with the lack of parenting kids have now days. Mind you, they are still fresh out of kindergarten and by the time they get up in the grades, they learn what is expected and what is not allowed but just to have all that to deal with is tough. I'm thankful Caedmon is so ahead in his academics so I don't worry about him falling behind. If he was a struggling student, I don't know if he would get the attention he would need. Right now he is assessed as second top of the class out of the 28.
As far as my week as housewife went, it was great. I had created a simple and strict schedule for the family and it's working well.
My mom had a bad scare this week though. She was at work and had terrible pain in her chest that went through to her back and shoulders as well as up to her chin. She drove herself to the hospital since I was too far away and she was very worried (I wished she had called 911, but she said she did not want to make a fuss). I got there about 10 minutes after she did and they were hooking her up for tests. I stayed most of the day, and thankfully Rick was off to get the kids. Her tests came back fine but they kept her for observation. Even the CAT scan had good results so she went home last night. She is resting today and does not have the pain at all. We are still not sure what it was.
Rick has started to get use to his new job as a T-6 (he does a different route every day). It has been so hot this week it's been tough. I'm really looking forward to cooler weather. The schedule we were on made for a very nice week with low family stress. We both enjoyed it very much.
Hope next week is good too but not expecting perfection, that's for sure!
So, I thought I'd try to update how our first week of school went for those who care to know.
Victoria's class is a bit smaller this year (only 28 rather than 36) so I'm excited about that. I think her new teacher this year will help Victoria's personality of needing firmness with grace. She is all ready a class helper by getting to enter class attendance into the computer.
Emma is in a combo class for right now. She was chosen along with ten other 3rd graders, to be in a 3/4th combo class. She did get the teacher I wanted (after Mr.E, who I had growing up, and who I really wanted for her got transferred to the school in the country) and I understand the combo class but what I'm not happy about right now is that they have her lunching and playing with the 4,5 and 6th graders. I called the Principal and he said they are trying to work some things out and even get a solid additional 3rd and 4th instead of the combo. I voiced my concerns and he was very respectful. My point was that the issue was the socialization with the older kids when I felt she was not ready. The 1st,2nd, and 3rd graders usually have their own playground with swings and jungle gym but the 4th, 5th, and 6th is a smaller more boring play area because kids at that age usually do basketball, dodgeball, or chat. I told him I felt it would not hurt some 4th graders to mingle with youngers, but it would be pushing those little 3rd graders to mingle with olders. If there is no change by this week, he will be hearing from me again. The difference between a 3rd and 6th grade girl is massive on a social level.
Caedmon has my old homeschool teacher, Mrs.B and I was happy for that. I worry about her because she has 28 1st graders. I helped in the class most of the day yesterday so she could get some assessments done of the kids and it's amazing how the bad, no..NON-EXISTENT listening skills of some take up all the teachers time sometimes. I applaud them all for keeping with their job with the lack of parenting kids have now days. Mind you, they are still fresh out of kindergarten and by the time they get up in the grades, they learn what is expected and what is not allowed but just to have all that to deal with is tough. I'm thankful Caedmon is so ahead in his academics so I don't worry about him falling behind. If he was a struggling student, I don't know if he would get the attention he would need. Right now he is assessed as second top of the class out of the 28.
As far as my week as housewife went, it was great. I had created a simple and strict schedule for the family and it's working well.
My mom had a bad scare this week though. She was at work and had terrible pain in her chest that went through to her back and shoulders as well as up to her chin. She drove herself to the hospital since I was too far away and she was very worried (I wished she had called 911, but she said she did not want to make a fuss). I got there about 10 minutes after she did and they were hooking her up for tests. I stayed most of the day, and thankfully Rick was off to get the kids. Her tests came back fine but they kept her for observation. Even the CAT scan had good results so she went home last night. She is resting today and does not have the pain at all. We are still not sure what it was.
Rick has started to get use to his new job as a T-6 (he does a different route every day). It has been so hot this week it's been tough. I'm really looking forward to cooler weather. The schedule we were on made for a very nice week with low family stress. We both enjoyed it very much.
Hope next week is good too but not expecting perfection, that's for sure!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The Sun Sets on Summer
Today was it, the last day. Emma is beside herself with excitement, Victoria got excited about a week a go in a big way, and just today Caedmon got on the wagon. I don't influence them or manipulate their feelings in anyway either way, so it's fun to see them develop their thoughts on their own. I was shocked though when Caedmon said he was excited. When I asked him what made him excited he said "having a new teacher". He loved Mrs.E. from last year, but am glad he is excited to be in Mrs.B's class. The amazing thing to me is that when I was 13, Mrs.B was my teacher through home study and she came out to bring me all my things and check in with me and my mom. I liked her then, and she is so the same. She just has silver hair instead of black. She always had the sweetest caring face. I've learned from observing her style at school, that she is very caring, but is also very intent on holding the children to account for their behavior. I see her out almost every day after school chatting with a parent to fill them in on what the issues of the day might have been, or what positive things she sees.
Today, we went to church after Rick picked up the kids from our friends who kept them all night. Not the best idea. Victoria had saved all her tiredness attitude for us and was immediately negative about how the boys in the next tent kept the girls up all night. We tried to explain that was part of the fun of the outing. She just was showing obvious signs of not getting enough sleep. So, after church they took naps.
Now, usually, they don't sleep, but they do just read or play quietly while daddy and mommy sleep a bit. Today, Rick had to wake them up to squeeze in their last trip to the pool for the summer. He took them for about an hour and I did some clean up.
They came home and I made a big batch of Pesto Pasta w/ fresh tomatoes and shrimp. I've been blessed with a neighbor who grows basil so Rick just went down and got some and I made the pesto fresh....ah, yum. Shrimp is a delicacy in our house and all the kids were elated to get it. We ate outside in front of the house, they on a blanket, and daddy and I on patio chairs. It was very relaxing. They finish and climb in daddy's lap, or swing on the tree branch while we chat about their excitement for school tomorrow.
We came in and they got ready for bed while I made a peach cobbler from the peaches we picked with friends the other day. Rick read some bible stories to them and Emma read from Psalms. She loves to read Psalms. They were given their schedules and read over each of their own. Not too complicated, and very similar except Victoria wakes up a half an hour earlier to shower and have her quiet time, and she goes to bed a half an hour later.
Then, it was off to bed as quick as you can! They have all been asleep for a while now and I'm loving that it's only ten! I cleaned up the peach mess and the counters to be ready for my morning tasks. The cool air is coming in and the bedroom fan is inviting me to put my feet up and chat with my sweetie.
The summer was good. It was not as hot as usual. The kids had lots of fun that was free (and funny!:) and we are all very ready for the fall season and all the people we see each day. God is good and his mercies are new every morning. I'm so thankful for the joy we have of following him.
I also start my new job tomorrow which is only for an hour and a half but it will be different to do any kind of work outside of home. I'm excited. I'm also excited to finally mop the kitchen which has not been mopped all summer! AHHHHH!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thankful .....Friday?
Sorry, missed again. I was all over the place yesterday. I'm not sure how many people actually anticipate these anyway so I've probably not let anyone down at all :) .
Still...
This week I have one big one!
I'M SO THANKFUL SCHOOL IS STARTING MONDAY!
I don't care if I get criticism for saying that...bring it on. You don't live with my restless and mounting-ly fidgety children every day so you can say what you want. You don't have my personality that can't seem to start a project or anything really and get it done when they are around all day.
I am so reminded the last month why our family works so much better with the kids in school. Rick and I were in the bubbles together last night just saying "oh, man, now we remember why homeschooling was tough on us!".
We are looking forward to the schedule, the structure, and all of us doing the jobs we do best. The kids really need the interaction and brain stimulation again. I guess if we lived out in the country or on some land where there was more to it may be different, but here in our little modular park, I have to be outside with them most of the time.
I really click well as the housewife/mom. That is what I'm so anxious to take on again. Structuring my errand schedule and housework, making their coming home treat for the day, organizing the house....I'm so in my element with that.
I'm also looking forward to the interaction with the teachers and the kids again. Some of them have become extended family to us. My kids do so well, having the accountability to us and other adults and so far we have been blessed with great christian teachers for them as well as a great christian principal. I'm just reminded how wonderful the situation is for now.
I'm loving their excitement to go through the supplies we got mostly free from CVS and load up what they need. I'm anxious to make a gift basket for each teacher for their room as well as some scones and a jar of our apricot jam from the summer.
The season is changing and I love it! I was genuinely excited to have them home in June and we did have fun but as the summer went on and July ended, the mood changed to boredom, bickering more, cabin fever, heat exhaustion, and I knew it was time for change. Now, it's here...
and...
FOR THAT I'M SO THANKFUL!
We are heading up to the school in a few minutes to see what classes they are in and if they got the teachers I requested. They are excited for even that and I'm right behind them with excitement!
Still...
This week I have one big one!
I'M SO THANKFUL SCHOOL IS STARTING MONDAY!
I don't care if I get criticism for saying that...bring it on. You don't live with my restless and mounting-ly fidgety children every day so you can say what you want. You don't have my personality that can't seem to start a project or anything really and get it done when they are around all day.
I am so reminded the last month why our family works so much better with the kids in school. Rick and I were in the bubbles together last night just saying "oh, man, now we remember why homeschooling was tough on us!".
We are looking forward to the schedule, the structure, and all of us doing the jobs we do best. The kids really need the interaction and brain stimulation again. I guess if we lived out in the country or on some land where there was more to it may be different, but here in our little modular park, I have to be outside with them most of the time.
I really click well as the housewife/mom. That is what I'm so anxious to take on again. Structuring my errand schedule and housework, making their coming home treat for the day, organizing the house....I'm so in my element with that.
I'm also looking forward to the interaction with the teachers and the kids again. Some of them have become extended family to us. My kids do so well, having the accountability to us and other adults and so far we have been blessed with great christian teachers for them as well as a great christian principal. I'm just reminded how wonderful the situation is for now.
I'm loving their excitement to go through the supplies we got mostly free from CVS and load up what they need. I'm anxious to make a gift basket for each teacher for their room as well as some scones and a jar of our apricot jam from the summer.
The season is changing and I love it! I was genuinely excited to have them home in June and we did have fun but as the summer went on and July ended, the mood changed to boredom, bickering more, cabin fever, heat exhaustion, and I knew it was time for change. Now, it's here...
and...
FOR THAT I'M SO THANKFUL!
We are heading up to the school in a few minutes to see what classes they are in and if they got the teachers I requested. They are excited for even that and I'm right behind them with excitement!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Late On Thankful Thursday
We were at the beach yesterday and I did not get to blog. I broke my next to baby toe so that took out the evening. Been laid up with it today too. Man oh, man.
But...I am thankful for:
But...I am thankful for:
- a great husband who is helpful
- children who are old enough to fend a bit for themselves even though my house is falling apart with mess by now
- time to get out to the coast. before i got hurt, it had been a great family day.
- another batch of cucumbers given to me to pickle when I can stand up longer.
- creative children who are always coming up with stuff to show me
- upcoming schedule structure, i'm looking forward to that
- brave men to fight these awful calif. fires.
I think that's about it for now.
I would like to ask for prayer that this silly toe heals quick. It hurts to be up on it and I cannot take much time out. I'm also worried about it healing right. Thanks.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Thankful Thursday
Here we go!
- So thankful God is intimately involved in our lives and leading us. GO HERE.
- Thankful my friend gave us a laptop. It's old but actually works better than our other one. It's not officially ours yet since they have to clean out their stuff but I'm so blessed.
- Thankful for a huge bag of strawberries that were given us and for the chance to pick wild blackberries with Rick yesterday so that I can make jam from them and maybe a pie. It was so painful though and next time I will NOT wear Crocks. I ruined them. Tons of thorns went into the bottom of them and when I pull them all out I will have a ton of holes.
- An older couple in our church said they wanted to watch our kids! We only have one this week but we took them up on it and went to the beach for a sunset dinner. It was lovely.
- Somehow our electric bill was WAY low. By about 50 dollars under budget. Amazing how setting that air conditioner at 80 helped.
- Emma's teacher from last year is such a blessing to me over and over. She is on Rick's mail route and sent home a bag that had a pencil bag LOADED for each of the kids for the first day of school. There was even a snack for them. I love her so much. What a dear woman.
- I'm thankful for time with just Caed this week even though he has been bored, hyper and restless for lots of it. It's been fun to have just three of us.
- I'm amazed at the overtime Rick has been getting and it looks like although they are tearing up his route into a bunch of swings, he may get to be a T-6 for a while (the guy who does others routes when they have their days off so he does a different route every day) which would mean at least a dollar more an hour.
- I'm thankful we get to go help harvest food for the food bank tonight and bring a little home. I don't know just what to expect but I think just going out to do the harvesting with Caedmon, Rick and I will be a lot of fun.
- I'm thankful my husband has a heart that is always longing to do what is right. He is always willing to hear me out when I need to vent and He has an openness to change. I'm very blessed by that.
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