Saturday, May 24, 2008

Week in Pictures!

I love in that T was completly enjoying reading my Bible although he doesn't know how to read!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

New Things

I am excited to say that in exactly one month we are moving!!! This house was small to begin. When I say small I mean small. It is less than 1000 square feet. Over 1/4 of that is the girls room. Which now houses two sets of bunk beds a crib and last but not least our refrigerator. It won't fit in the kitchen for two reasons, first it is too tall to fit under the cabinet and second we couldn't fit our table in the kitchen if it were in there. The table takes up the table space and the fridge space and it is the smallest 6 person table you can get. I call this our mouse house. Not only is it tiny but it has no dishwasher. That means I spend at least an hour and often two hours a day doing dishes. Then there is the fact the washer and dryer are in the basement. I have the hardest time making sure all four kids are secure for ten minutes without getting hurt or hurting one another to go down and sort and do laundry. Actually we are buying my Dad's super duper capacity washer and dryer. They are the front loader LG ones. He bought them a while back and never even brought them in the house. They have been in storage. I am planning on having the set I have now hooked up at the new house too! Our new house is a tri-level so our laundry room is off of our family room. Which will actually be the play/homeschool room! I have decided to homeschool T. I was actually going to wait until he finished kindergarten. There are several things that have changed my mind but mostly if there is any year that will be fun it is the one coming up! I haven't picked curriculum yet but I have been doing tons of research. I think we will have a blast this next year! K will go to the public school in our district I would homeschool her but her Dad isn't quite sure this year. He said he will research it and think about it. The school district we will be in is supposed to be pretty good. She is in a charter school now, I absolutely love the atmosphere and I love the teachers but what I don't love is the testing. They do test called District Assessments (DA) They take them about once very week or two. They are the equivalent of the meap test (they do still take the meap). They have to get a 70% or higher to pass. If they don't they get held back the following year. They are doing these so much that they have very little time for regular class work. The math teacher told us during conferences that she needed to teach them division but she needed us to do it at home because they were so consumed with the DA's. Her handwriting is all but illegible but never has a comment been made because they don't have time to work on that. A lot of the kids that started Kindergarten with K are leaving. When we told her she would be changing schools she said she didn't mind because most of her friends were leaving too. This is going to be a big month. I am really excited! Oh yeah, I got a Dyson yesterday and I love it! I got the bigger one with the ball (the DC25) so it turns easily. T vacuumed his room all by himself because it turned so easily (he loves to vacuum)! http://www.dyson.com/

Friday, May 9, 2008

The New Mothers Day

Photo taken on 9-29-08. We were in the hospital. Hudsyn had just been born and my Mom was in for a round of chemo. We hung out for most of my stay since we were just two floors away.
So it's almost Mothers Day. I don't know if any of you remember from last years almost Mothers Day post but it is not a favorite holiday of mine. It isn't because I don't want my mommy-hood celebrated. I love being a Mom. Even more so than dark chocolate. A few years back I had three miscarriages the last of the three was on Mothers Day. It was by far the worst of the three. This with the passing of time has gotten easier. It only sneaks into my mind every once in a while (actually the other day I realized that my Mom has now met our babies). But Mothers Day always stirs those memories. I can remember the sermon delivered that morning, what I wore, who I sat by. I can remember details more clearly about that single event in my life over any other. This year Mothers Day will be difficult on a whole new level. It is not only my first holiday since my Mothers passing but the very one that celebrates Mothers. My Dad is in Arizona and Chad will probably have to work. I will most likely have to sit in church without my family. That will be unbearably hard. We always went to church with my Mom on her day and Dad on his no matter where we attended. We have traditions for each occasion Mothers Day is a backyard BBQ and Fathers Day we eat on the patio at East Side Mario's. If you had told me last year that my Mom would have went down hill so quickly she wouldn't be here for this Mothers Day I would have called you a liar. The truth is I thought with my mind that she might die but my heart never believed that. She had so much faith that death didn't seem, to me, a real possibility. This year I will to go place flowers on her grave. A whole new tradition. I wish that wasn't the new tradition but it is. Honestly I haven't been to the cemetery since the day of her funeral. I have put it out of my mind. I don't even know where her site is. I will find it on Sunday. Somehow. Her marker is not up yet. I know she is buried in the Garden of Faith. A more appropriate place could never be found. My girlfriend Karen's Mom invited us over for dinner on Sunday. Which I really appreciate. We will be going over for dessert instead. I don't know how I will feel on Sunday, if I know me I will throw something in the crock pot before church, come home eat with the kids and take a nap while they nap. I will be taking all five of them by myself and that along with the emotions that are bound to come with the day will mean I will probably need a nap. In the evening the kids and I will rent movies and snuggle in our jammies on the couch. We will eat popcorn and candy. This year we will start our new Mothers Day (evening) tradition.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Piano Lessons!

K is starting her long awaited piano lessons in June. She got a keyboard for her 7th birthday. She has wanted to take lessons for almost two years but she wont take lessons from a man teacher. In her news letter from school there was an ad for lessons from a girl. So I called the number and left a message. K asked what the teachers name was and I told her. She said that's Miss. M from my class. It turns out that it her para pro (teachers helper). She is about twenty and going to school to be a teacher. We love her! She is such a great helper. Her teacher always says that she will cry when Miss. M gets her degree and goes to teach her own class. When she called back she was so excited that K would be her student! God is so good to take care of the little things. It could have been any female teacher but she got someone great that she already knows and loves. Not to mention she can't play any summer sports because of having mono. She has been pretty bummed because of it. The doctor wants to give her a bit before she plays rough, I guess because of her spleen being enlarged. I am so excited for her.