A Day In The Life

I truly intended to include photos in this post, but man, this was a hard one to do. The picture part got left in the dust by about 9:30 am. So maybe the next post will just be pictures of a day in our lives.

7:00 am (approx.) - wake up and try to encourage Caleb to go back to sleep while nursing. A no go, so we get up. Ethan and Elijah are already awake and playing on their toy computers on the couch.

7:05 - After bathroom break for me, I make coffee! Coffee, COFFEE, COFFEE!!! (I like my morning joe!) While coffee is brewing I get out the vacuum and do the boys' room. I always vacuum before changing their sheets since I feel weird (hello OCD) piling their blankets on the floor when it might (probably) has dust particles and other-things-I-try-not-to-think-about on it.

7:15 - change Caleb, pour first cup of happiness, doctor it up with cream and stevia, and enjoy a little ray of sunshine before I've actually seen the sun.

At this point Elijah has already done some whining - first that he's hungry when he sees me working on their bedroom and then later when I begin his morning habit (toast with peanut butter and jelly) because he's NOT hungry yet (because he'd rather go downstairs.)

7:30 - boys eat, I begin stripping their bunk beds. (Note: while I am a bit OCD, I only change their sheets once a month typically because it is my least favorite job in the world. Ethan and I have finally got a routine down for putting the sheets on the top bunk and it's still a major pain!)

8:00 - I make our bed and try to keep Caleb from crawling into our bathroom repeatedly. He is so cute, even though he now knows how to push the door open. Do some random clean up in the kitchen and sit down at the computer to finish my coffee (which is quite cool by now). Caleb nurses multiple times during this period as it's tons of fun to nurse for 15 seconds, get down, then start fussing in 30 seconds because you want to nurse again. Love the little bugger!

8:30 - take the baby downstairs to write up Ethan's schoolwork for the day on the whiteboard. Start a load of laundry. Get the boys moving on their chores while I finish up the beds (took off Elijah's bed rail, hoping he can sleep the night w/o falling off and I can retire the bed rail to the closet for 9 months or so (until Caleb's in bed with Elijah). Ethan takes a shower and I bathe Elijah and Caleb. Normally this is an Tues./Sat. evening event that Paul handles, but we were gone on Tues. night and Wednesday night we had church.) I consider myself victorious that Elijah does not put up a fuss during hair washing!

9:20 - nurse Caleb to sleep, eat a hard-boiled egg for my breakfast, get Ethan going on school while Elijah plays and then I exercise (currently doing Workout 2 on The 30 Day Shred - love it and hate it!)

10:00 - shower and dress, Caleb wakes up at 10:30. Work on school with Ethan.

11:30 - decide to run our errands now (while the sun is still out, which makes me feel more energetic) versus later. Everyone gets ready and Elijah whines about his shoes being tight, not being able to find his hat, yada, yada, yada. Eat lunch in the car.

12:15 - arrive in Cambridge to go to the co-op, but first makes a quick run through the thrift store since they're in the same strip mall. Get groceries at the co-op, drive back to our town, return a shirt at the outlet mall, and stop at the consignment store to pick up a check for items sold ($13.00 - woohoo!)

2:08 - arrive home, baby sleeps in van while we unload and put away groceries. Baby wakes and requires immediate sustenance. Ethan and I do his social studies and math while baby nurses and Elijah plays.

3:00 - make a batch of granola, check emails while having a cup of coffee. Go downstairs with everyone and do spelling/handwriting together (Elijah joins us for this part of school - though he listens to most everything we do).

4:00 - plug our school activities into our Edu-track program and we celebrate the end of the day with a movie and snacks. (Paul was gone in CA so I didn't have to make a big dinner.) We ate leftovers while watching our movie.

7:00 - brush teeth, do devotions, and tuck the big boys in. Elijah is very concerned he's going to fall off the bed w/o a bed rail so I have to give him a pep talk. Caleb and I do our nighttime stuff (washing my face, changing into pjs, change his diaper).

7:40 - head downstairs to watch a video. Caleb falls asleep and I tuck him in. I eat a little leftover ice cream from our w/e bday celebrations while watching the movie, then do some ironing while the movie finishes.

10:00 - write this and continue to be amazed that Caleb's been sleeping for almost three hours w/o waking up.

10:40 - finish blogging and head to bed - homeschool co-op bright and early in the morning.

Summertime Goals

Summer is here and we have one more day of homeschooling! Woohoo! I love homeschooling, as hard as it can be at times, but boy, we all need a break come summer. I applaud those who can homeschool year round, but it just doesn't work for us. We usually take a two month break from June to August.

I have many plans for what I need to get done during the summer. I thought blogging them would be just about as good as writing them done in a to-do list. Actually this way, I think I'll be more focused on completing them.

Here's the list:

• Gardening - this is hopefully going to be mostly harvesting, eating, and preserving (I'd love to get 24 quarts of spaghetti sauce made from our tomatoes). Paul laid down hay prior to planting so we're hoping the weeds are minimal.
• Read a new curriculum piece and learn how to implement it: Spell to Write and Read. At this point I'm not even sure it'll be relevant for Ethan as he reads and writes really well, but it will be for Elijah soon.
• Learn and implement a computerized tracking system for homeschooling. This is not a requirement for our state, but we thought it would help keep things more organized and be easier than my current system.
• Scrapbooking - I need to catch up on both Elijah's and Caleb's especially. I'd also like to work more on Felicity's if I have the opportunity.
• Take the kids to the park - the nursery moms at my church have organized some park days where we go to different parks and bring packed lunches. This is great for me and the boys! The other moms are a fun group and I enjoy the conversation. We're also doing some field trips which will be fun.
• Exercise - three to four times/week
• Lose 20 pounds or more - I'm in the worse shape of my life after having back to back pregnancies, not to mention all the stress after losing Felicity and carrying Caleb. Breastfeeding hasn't proven has helpful as I'd hoped. Basically I feel like my metabolism has taken a sabbatical and my hunger has jumped into overdrive.
• Blog more, but spend less time on the computer (if that makes sense)
• Go on vacation - we're currently planning on, just need to book a hotel.
• Clean out the minivan!
• Read aloud more - We're currently reading Treasures of the Snow but it's been awhile since we picked it up.
• Find good books on tape for travel time on vacation.
• Have Paul build deck clothesline for hanging cloth diapers to dry.
• Clean laundry room.
• Clean downstairs.
• Write in my journal.
• Have more quiet time reading the Bible. I was doing the 'read through the Bible in a year' program, but am currently so far behind it's gonna take me two years!

I'm sure there's much more I could add, but I'm having a brain-fart at this point so I'll probably have to come back and edit this. I plan on reviewing it come mid-August to let you know what I've accomplished.

M.A.C.H.E.

Paul and I (and Caleb, of course) returned home yesterday from vacation.

Okay, so it was really a homeschool conference. But seeing as how I didn't have to do any cooking or cleaning, and I was able to put on a facial mask one evening and take a bonus shower another, it was like a vacation. With a lot of educational overstimulation thrown in. And a lot of walking.

M.A.C.H.E. stands for Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators and every year they have a conference full of speakers and educational vendors. This year it was held in Rochester, home of the world famous Mayo Clinic.

This was our second year attending and my third year of teaching Ethan at home. (For those who didn't know, I have a B.A. in Elementary Education, but I don't believe that's necessary to teach one's children well at home.) This is a journey we have embarked on for a variety of reasons and overall, it has been a good journey. After attending the conference this year, I am encouraged and excited to continue this journey of home education.

There are so many methods and curriculum that one can choose from. Last year we were pretty overwhelmed with the whole conference. This year we were a bit more prepared. Carrying Caleb in the sling the whole time was tiring, but so much nicer than last year when my arms were empty and there were so many babies and pregnant women all around. This year I was able to smile at the babies and admire the bellies, without any pain. There's still sadness, but not physical pain.

It was fun seeing lots of friends I don't often see. We saw and chatted with MckMama and her husband. She said I was only the third stalker, I mean, blogger to come up to her. I also talked to the first boy I ever kissed (for the record, I now advocate waiting until marriage to kiss!) and Candy McVikkar, the founder of MissingGrace, an amazing local organization. Then I was spotted by a blog reader, which has never happened before and was kind of bizarre. I think her name was Deidra but my post-pregnancy brain could be failing me yet again. (Nice to meet you!)

Anyhoo, it was a fun weekend. I'm blessed that Paul enjoys going to these conferences as well and is my biggest encourager when it comes to homeschooling. Not to mention, he doesn't mind spending money on things that are "educational." Now to find the time to organize all our purchases.....

Week 20 MCA Scan and a Field Trip

Caleb had a great scan again today, praise God! We are so thankful as we learned today that the longer he goes without developing anemia, the less likely it will be that he develops it at all. We also learned that the earlier a baby develops Hemolytic Disease, the more severe it tends to be. This really is a week to week learning experience.

Before the boys and I headed down to the cities for my appointment, we were able to take a field trip to a town about 15 miles away to see the traveling Vietnam memorial. It is a half scale version of the real monument in Washington, D.C. While I have seen the real one myself, I don't know if the boys will ever get to, so this was a neat experience. It is a very solemn one, especially considering that 8 years ago America faced its worst terrorist attack ever.

I found myself in tears as I read a letter a woman had left at the memorial. It was wrapped in plastic with a flower and two pictures, a wedding one and a photo of a man in uniform. The letter began:

Dear Mike,
Today would've been our 40th wedding anniversary. We didn't even get to celebrate our first anniversary.

So sad! The rest was folded so I couldn't read it, but it was never meant for my eyes anyway.

The boys were able to explore some old army vehicles, even climbing inside a convoy truck. It was neat to talk with some of the veterans there who were volunteering.

I am so thankful for all those who were willing to make such sacrifices for our country.


Blessings,

A Plethora of Things

Okay, pizza's in the oven and I've got approximately 25 minutes to pound out a post. I'd really rather be reading my favorite blogs or on Facebook, but I feel like I need to catch up on here. There are so many thoughts and feelings swirling through my brain lately, it's been hard to think about a topic for a post, so I've just avoiding writing one. I used to thrive on multi-tasking, in fact I could rarely do just one thing at a time. Now I feel like if I'm going to get anything done, I need to focus on one thing at a time. It's been a weird transition.

Lately I've felt like I've been doing a pretty good learning to live with grief. It's hasn't caught me unawares lately, but I also haven't been able to bid it adieu. So, I've just accepted its presence and it seems like we're starting to be tolerable roommates. It's like a quote I heard, "You can go to Griefville, just don't pack an overnight bag."

We've had our share of allergies (Ethan) and sleep issues (Elijah) around here lately. Can anyone suggest any good remedies for dark circles under one's eyes? Plus we're trying to wrap-up our homeschool year. We have about 12 days left. I always plan on doing some stuff during the summer, but not much. The garden's mostly planted. Now it's time to start weeding - ugh! We've been having bizarre weather lately. Yesterday is was 96 degrees, but it's only 66 today. Give me 66 degree weather year round and I'd be very happy. With the weather at least.

The chickens are busy pooping everywhere, but are also laying nicely. I hear our rooster, Peter Drumstick, crowing quite regularly. Like many things, I'm learning to ignore it. A couple weeks ago we had a visitor, a groundhog in our "garage under the deck." But that's a post for another day. I know I promised a post about septic tanks, but the chicken poo has squashed my enthusiasm for the subject. It'll happen eventually.

And there's the timer for the pizza. I hope my homemade whole wheat crust is edible.

Why We Homeschool

This could be an incredibly long post as there are so many facets to homeschooling. I really want this to be concise and to the point. Have you ever heard this verse:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

I'm sure the majority of you reading this have. It's Deuteronomy 6:5. But do you know these verses:

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when though risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and thy gates.

These verses are the three verses that follow Deuteronomy 6:5. How can I teach my children to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might, if I send them to public schools where they are taught that God does not exist, everything is relative, and parents don't matter? Educating our children is a God-given right, which is also a constitutional right. It is a right that is being closely watched by the government and which may become harder and harder to protect.

I don't know what all schools are like obviously, but I've taught and subbed in quite a few, and despite the presence of many godly teachers, I know this is not an environment where the majority of kids can flourish. I know there is much wasted time each day where the teacher is busily trying to keep up with too many students and just as many behavior problems.

I'm not writing this to condemn parents who send their kids to public school. I am writing this to state my beliefs on why we homeschool our children. And just so you know, there are many trying days when I think about how easy it would be to send my children to public school. But we persevere. I am blessed to have a husband who supports our family in homeschooling and provides so that I am able to stay at home. I know there are many families who would love to homeschool, but can't because of various reason. If you are a homeschooling family, I applaud you and I encourage you to keep going when it's difficult.

It's hard to stop there, but I will. I'd love to hear why you homeschool!