Miss Piggie

Emma found her hair niche last week. She has been wanting to go get it cut in a short bob again as she likes every year but I've been trying to encourage her to grow it out a bit. When she was five, she had gorgeous long blond wavy hair. So, she asked to have piggies and has worn it that way ever day since. I'm fine with it if it make her not want to cut it short.

Brother and Sister...awe.Had to have one of his own. Those little baby teeth are spacing out and getting ready for bigger things I think. The kids pasta day today was fun. If you read my Domestic blog, you know I've been on a creative pasta kick. This was fun because I let them pick out the shape at the store and then I just put in cheese bits, ham bits, and frozen peas that thawed the instant they hit that hot pasta so they were crunchy and sweet. Just some EVOO, tiny splash or rice vinegar, seasonings and 2 Tbs. Mayo for creaminess. Oh, but the cheese has to go on after the peas so the pasta is cooler or it will melt.

Poignant Comment

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!:)

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.

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!