My Crazy Life of Homeschooling

Raising Homemakers

2010-06-01T19:59:00.003-04:00

Wow! I am so excited, I just stumbled on a new website that is all about Titus 2 women, young and old, married and single who want to learn and pass on the ability to run our householdswell for the Lord. (and I'm sure our families will benefit)

Check it out!

A new MOM blog and some giveaways!

2010-05-11T08:36:00.003-04:00

Hop on over and check out this new mom blog and see what they are giving away!

Paper Mache

2010-05-09T21:45:00.004-04:00

So, the paper mache penguin turned out great, but I will say that we are not a typical family in the way that my kids like messy projects. No....after a few strips of paper mache and Big sis could no longer avoid getting a bit on her hands, she was done.

He's pretty darn cute if I do say so myself :) (He should be, mom worked very hard on him!)
Black and White party at co-op. The kids all did great on their projects!

Yes, if she were in public school, she may have done this. Yes, I probably did this when I was little. But truth be known, I don't remember it....it didn't have any influence on who I am or my education. Quite frankly....I'd just rather skip it next time ;) Does that make me a bad homeschool mom? Think what you'd like, we like to be outside, we like to bake, we like to read, we like movies (gasp!), and darn-it, we like our workbooks! This folks, is why we are in a co-op, so the co-op teacher can get the mess out, she can get the paint out, she can clean it up, and I get the finished product and happy children and no stressed out mommy!!!! (and then we go home and work on our workbooks....)

Sans Training Wheels

2010-04-16T21:01:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I know your kid has been riding their bike without training wheels for quite sometime...mine could have done it too, she just didn't believe that she could ;)

Plus some of the fault lies with us, I've been telling Kelly we needed to do just this for sometime now. Take her to a big open parking lot and just show her that she can do it!

What do you know, but Kelly got her going, ran behind her holding on for all of 10 seconds and she was off on her own!

She can do it!!

Now the little one was getting her fun in too, but on the new scooter. We have also told her that she can ride her bike without the training wheels since she has such great balance on the scooter.

She doesn't believe us....oyvee!

Missing our friends!

2010-04-05T22:18:00.003-04:00

Friends are so important....even more important when you don't have family that live close by....even more important when we as a family decided that we needed to "invest in our friends like family."

Our friends that just moved to Colorado were friends that we invested in like family. As far as I am concerned, they are family. I love their girls like I would nieces; their son, just recently started actually talking to me! (this is HUGE, as he is quite shy!) Their baby, I could just eat up her endless cheeks and never grow tired of watching her explore her world. Their conversation... never at a loss for something to talk about: religion, politics, news, our kids, adoption, homeschooling, or just struggling to catch up from the past week over the noise level of 7 children :) In her, a fellow homeschool mom that has been doing it longer than me, but we could still commiserate about our kids' quirks. (Come on, I know your kids are perfect angels at the kitchen table during school...aren't they?)

Other things I love about them: they're a big family, they're passionate about their kids, they are strong Christians, they do some things different, but not extreme, and they put the adoption bug in my ear.

It's funny, what started out as a wonderful friend for my sweet daughter, instead turned into family friends.

We are so blessed and all around better people because we know the Delays.

Kid Bedroom #1 is Finished!

2010-04-01T19:56:00.014-04:00

Here is the bedroom, minus carpet before the painting began.

Primer

WOW! That is really pink!

We had some great helpers!

Almost finished!

Final touches, sponged cream over the pink to tone it down! :) Months ago I bought ribbon to spruce up the curtains and I finally sewed them! They are so chic! :)

And no, my children never make their bed....

Well, one bedroom down, next the baby room. Little sis wants the baby to sleep in her room, but I told her she would change her mind AND a baby boy wasn't going to want to sleep in such a PINK room.

My First Bulbs!

2010-03-20T17:58:00.002-04:00

I am so excited! Like a kid at Christmas, I love Spring....but this year is a little different. Usually, the first sign of good weather, I splurge at Walmart or Lowes and get a bunch of flowers that I plant on a marathon day. Then I drag the family (the kids are usually already helping) and I proudly show then the spring flowers....that the store had, but I planted....that someone started from scratch. This year, I skipped the first part and have just been watering ever so often, and today...a drug my family out to the yard to see the first bloom! The one I planted (last fall)! Now the daffodils have been blooming, but, some of them were already there, so that doesn't really count in my book...I just added a few more. But the crocus, that is totally new, and, this fall was the very first time I had planted bulbs. So naturally, I'm quite excited to see the fruits of my labor. God is so good, just when we (I)think we can take no more cold, no more brown, no more winter, He sends some of the best color all year long.

My crocus in the back yard.

The daffodils by the mailbox. I won't take all the credit, but I did do some of the work ;)

Marriage Advice (not from me!)

2010-03-09T21:42:00.003-05:00

So, a friend of mine has a great blog, where she had some unconventional marriage advice. Someone commented that they were not sure and wondered what others thought. Personally, I think she was dead on! Please head over there and see what you think.

As for me, the best thing for my marriage was when we took a class at church in 2004(ish) where we read the book His Needs, Her Needs and used the workbook that goes with it. Now, let me tell you off the bat, my marriage is pretty good, we don't fight too much (hubby mostly won't fight with me, even when I try!), and we get along pretty well. But, what I saw in this book, that it wasn't about me! Ha, who'da thought?! I don't know if we would have ever had major problem over this concept (for both him and I), but maybe little things here and there might have been simply harder without this knowledge. And even though my marriage is great at times, we have to work at it being great. I highly recommend getting this and reading it together.

Dana's ideas are all A+ ideas in my book. My favorite is naturally #5! Not because I don't sometimes struggle with this, when my head hits the pillow at night, all I really wanna do is sleep! But, yes.. sex does cover a multitude of sins.. And ladies, don't we want to be the ones to put that spring in his step?

So, what do you think, what should we do to make our men happy?

I need a teacher workday

2010-03-08T16:23:00.003-05:00

Again! Hey, public school teachers get them, the kids have to stay home with mom and dad and the teachers get to plan, plan, plan!

Seems like it was just January and I was begging hubby to take the kiddos to the zoo, on his day off, by himself. All so I could organize, plan, and catch up on some grading. Well, here I am wishing for another such day. It was wonderful planning out what I wanted to do with the kids each day, but this morning I turned my page on my planner and it was blank :( I can only "plan" out days so far in advance. Otherwise if we get behind those plans, they don't jive with what we are really doing and then, let's face it, it makes me feel oh so behind. We have been keeping up with my said pace pretty well, but it's been a while since I graded papers (they are mostly graded since alot of work is done with mom looking over their shoulder, Big sis, less and less though) or planned out our days beyond the workbooks.

What do we do besides the workbooks, you ask. Well, I try to plan out all my extra "homeschool" stuff that I get or I will forget to use it! Ha! Both kids get time on the computer, my favorite site for them to use is www.starfall.com but Bis Sis has truly outgrown this site. I would love any suggestions on a good learning site that doesn't have to many mindless games that I can direct my 2nd grader to! I also have the Learning Palette which they both can do a little math, phonics, or reading comprehension. Emma also has alot of flash cards that I seem to always forget about unless I schedule time for it. I also try to schedule time for puzzles or coloring or any of these other things mentioned randomly so that it breaks up the boredom of the worksheets.

There's not even a free day at home until Thursday or Friday to think about planning, let alone without kids :( Oh well, we will manage!

I've lost my Mod Podge!

2010-03-04T14:15:00.002-05:00

That's right I can't find my mod podge! And I'm not happy about it. You see, I have just about all the crafty, homeschool stuff you could possibly need after years of "browsing" for my scrapbooking and stamping needs in Michaels and Joannes for shopping therapy. And, about a year ago, I had the best scrapbook room I could have ever dreamed of. The best part, everything had it's place. It was organized mess, I could find everything right when I needed it (usually).

This is my beautiful craft room a year ago, okay, so it wasn't always this clean, but you know crafty people, sometimes we don't have time to tighty up while we are creating.

Well, we had grand plans to close in the garage and make it a school/craft room. :) Here I am, 9 months later, I still have a garage being unused other than to store junk. I know, my sweet hubby just hasn't had the time to finish this, there's no one to blame. I have packed alot of my craft room up into the attic till said garage it finished and now, we have moved the girls into the craft/playroom so that we can redo carpet and paint.

I want to throw a 2 year old tantrum right now! I own mod podge, I have a school project that I want to do and I can't find my mod podge!!!!!

This is the same room, right now....... :( The saver in me just can't go buy any when I know I own it......somewhere.....maybe in the closet......maybe in a box in the attic......anyone, some sympathy here.

Homeschool Recourses

2010-03-03T16:02:00.003-05:00

These are some of the websites that we use.

Lapbooking

Homeschool Share

Lapbook Lessons

SC Homeschooling

Palmetto Independent Educators

SCAIHS

Our Curriculum

AOP Horizons

Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten

History

All Through the Ages

Story of the World

Kid Websites

Starfall -ABC's and beginner reading

Math-U-See Drills

Other

Enchanted Learning - printables on anything!

There is a $20/year charge that is well worth it. I use this all the time for my K and 1st grader.

Cursive Worksheets

United Streaming - great educational videos, you have to have an account which we get free as SC homeschoolers

Pick a pencil already!

2010-03-03T07:41:00.002-05:00

He, he, he...you would think this was a simple statement. If you send your children off to school on a bus or drop them off in carline (nothing wrong with that at all!) then you may not understand where I am going, so go ahead and grab your coffee so I can splain. If you do homeschool, you may already be chuckling, or cringing, depending solely on you precious children.

First, let me just tell you that I love my homeschool mom friends! If I didn't have someone to share our school "issues" with where they laugh and nod in complete agreement, I would probably think my children were special, and I mean "special."

So, you say, pick a pencil and please sit in your seat. Pick and pencil and stop sword fighting with it! Pick and pencil and do't draw on my kitchen table!!! Pick and pencil and stop fighting over the one your sister has!!! That's it, here is your pencil that mommy has chosen for you! and here is yours, no we are not trading, no I don't care if it was yours 6 weeks ago when you were drawing a picture to who knows who, this is your pencil for the day!!!!! (Aaaaahhhh, let's get started)

Ha! This is not even what my girlfriend and I were talking about, it's just the beginning!

The real drama at the kitchen table is once you have assigned them all their pencils, taught them a little math or phonics or whatever, given them an assignment.

One whines," I don't have an eraser on my pencil!"

"Well", I sweetly respond, "look where the eraser should be, who picked the eraser off?"

She looks down at her lap and I can barely hear "I did".

"Well, next time you feel you'd like to PICK off a brand new pencil's eraser, you will remember that you might NEED that eraser, won't you?" I ask, trying not to get angry again, since we have already had this conversation on the day I caught her doing the deed.

This pencil problem is fairly easy to fix as other times, we have a "favorite" pencil that has to do so much erasing work that there us no more eraser and it's no one's fault. So I bought 2 packs of 3 big gingerbread erasers back at Christmas time in the wonderful dollar spot at Target and they have a permanent place on the kitchen table. There is always one at hand.

Except.........

in the car, when we are trying to get some school done while mommy runs errands, which is where the above conversation took place, oiveh!

Pencils are a pain in my side in the life of homeschooling, really. You'd think we had a gazillion laying around, oh wait, we do! Too bad half of them (usually that half they want to use!) are the "pretty" pencils, the cheap pack of Valentine or Christmas pencils that you buy and let your child pass out to all their friends. These cheap pencils are terrible, you sharpen them to perfection, because you know they have to be just right, nice and pointy, sharpened EVENLY around all sides (or your child, at least mine, might flip her lid) and then they write with it for about 3 words and the stupid lead falls right out!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHH! Yes, this drives my nuts!

You see, my sweet child is a little OCD, in comes my homeschool mom friends who have kids just like mine, (cool, we're not that special). So, she must have a nice sharp pencil, but naturally, she wants a particular one, usually the cheap one!

We've even tried the mechanical pencils, those are great to write with! Until she gets bored and starts clicking it and breaking it off in small mini-lead pieces while I explain long i and silent e to her sister!! And those suckers aren't cheap!

One day I will throw all the "bad" pencils away while my children are asleep and can't stop me and buy only #2 pencils (that is until the next holiday and they get a "goodie" bag with another cheap pencil..............

Monday Mornings in Homeschool World

2010-03-01T08:18:00.004-05:00

Does anyone else think the above phrase is almost a bad word? Quite frankly, I do! LOL! For whatever reason, my children and I are completely on the same page about this, and that, my friends, is bad news! We don't like Mondays! Like me in the morning, I need a cup of coffee, and a few (silent) minutes to get used to myself. In the same way, I feel like my whole family takes Mondays to "get used to ourselves" for the week. Naturally, this is bound to turn out bad because as I would love taking Monday's to do this, the reality is, we really need to get school started. We need to usually play catch up on the co-op homework that is not finished yet (mayday! co-op in 24 hours!), we need to get spelling started so that we will get all the week's lessons in and have the test on Friday (whoever heard of a spelling test on Saturday or worse yet, the next Monday?!). But, here I sit, almost 8:30, Monday morning, snuggled up under a blanket in front of the computer wanting another cup of coffee and feeling zero motivation. At the same time, I am listening to my girls talking to and (I am assuming) playing, all quite civilized, with each other in the next room. Why, I ask you, would I want to interrupt that when I know the reaction will be grumbling, whining, and compete anarchy in the ranks?! Maybe they are smart enough to know that if they play nicely on Monday mornings it will prolong the "free time", or maybe they just like each other better on Monday mornings, who knows? All I know, is I am not a supermom homeschooler! I would like to get back into bed with my coffee and a book and let someone else teach spelling, multiplication, go to the post office, grocery store and catch my kids up on co-op. Any takers? Oh well, maybe Kelly will teach them when he gets home from work ;)

Crazy Weather Part 2

2010-02-28T21:35:00.002-05:00

Well, after our 6-7 inches of snow, almost exactly 2 weeks later, we hap 70 degree weather!!!

We enjoyed the beautiful day by flying mini finger kites.

Crazy Weather Part 1

2010-02-28T21:25:00.003-05:00

So, 2 weeks ago, we had the most snow the area has seen in over 35 years! Only in the South would we have crazy weather like this!!!

We all had a blast first building a snowman and then a real igloo!!!

I am nesting!

2010-02-26T11:59:00.003-05:00

I know, it's a little crazy, I'm not pregnant (though I would love it if I was!), but here I am nesting! I am nesting because God has made me a promise, He plans to make me a mother again! Not sure yet, if He plans to do it with a pregnancy (we find out next month if Kelly's reversal was successful), but even before a pregnancy, Kelly and I plan to adopt!!!!

I am so excited and so bursting with joy at just how big my God is! I give Him all the glory for making this happen, and I can't wait to see how it pans out!

You see, about 2 years ago, I had the baby itch bad. First, I took care of it with a cute little puppy named Parker. He is a great dog, a little crazy and hyper, but not so much puppy anymore ;) So, I stated oohhing and aaahhing over any and all babies within a mile radius. I would go googoo eyed over chubby little legs and tiny hands. Then in a the fall, we started talking about reversing Kelly's vasectomy because whenever I would casually talk about adoption, Kelly would simply say he really didn't think he could love a child that was "not his".

So, we jumped in feet first on trying to reverse a poor decision we made as a young couple, sleep deprived and still knee deep in diapers and pull ups. What a wonderful experience that was! A friend loaned us the money, the doctor was a wonderful Christian and I was sure God would give us a child. I was sure I would be pregnant and glowing by the new year, ha! God, in His infinite wisdom, decided to teach me some lessons in patience.....and humility (as, I was not pregnant, and on a bi-weekly basis someone I knew would get pregnant!). You see, He needed to soften my hubby's heart. Kelly first saw my heartbreak month by month as we had no success conceiving, and then a terrible tragedy struck Haiti at the end of January. The first hint that things were changing was when Kelly said something to the effect that we should see if we could adopt a child from Haiti.....what! Who is this man? I'm not sure I believed him until he said something else just like that later in the same week!

Well, I did what an other self-respecting wife would do and got on the internet and started research! I start reading blogs, looking at how to sites and giving him little bits of info. Then, we were at Winter Jam, the preaching time had a bit of info about some of the orphans world wide and specifically in Haiti. Then the guy was about to lead us in prayer and he told us to close our eyes and mentally put a circle around ourselves and ask God what He would have us personally to do for these orphans. I already knew as God had been leading me this way for a few weeks, He had already broken my heart for them, and I had already been laying awake at night thinking about these sweet faces who didn't have a mommy to tuck them in. But something changed in Kelly that night and I confirmed it as we headed home and I simply looked at him and said "You know that we are going to adopt, don't you?" and he replied, "I know". Yikes, how exciting!

Last night we drove to Columbia to an adoption seminar and got our feet wet, I look forward to diving in and figuring out where all the money will come from and starting the "paper pregnancy" soon, stay tooned!

So here we are! I am nesting today, cleaning like a crazy lady this morning, bribing the children to help me with money (the best part is, they want money to help save for church, for the orphans overseas!), I am cleaning because I can't stand to look at some of this mess one more minute, but also, because there is a child that God has promised us coming to my house. (I know, not today) Yes, I would love to get pregnant sometime, but I also know that somewhere in this world, there is a baby, or will be a baby, that is mine!

So today starts with the first of, I hope, many adoption blogs and the first of many prayers for the next member of the Cote family.

The Letter A

2009-04-17T19:44:00.002-04:00

So at the beginning of our first homeschool year, I decided to make an alphabet notebook with E for preschool. We have used mostly www.homeschoolshare.com for our resources, some www.enchantedlearning.com

I have started taking pictures of our notebook that we are almost finished with (2 more letters!) and will be posting them up here as I can.

E still loves playing the sorting game with the capital and lower case letters.

Homeschool Happenings

2009-02-26T18:25:00.003-05:00

Oops, this picture is sideways (please tilt your head to the left to see the letter "P")

My little one has been working hard on her alphabet notebook and for the letter P, we glued dried peas, what fun!

Here it is in the process.

My precious preschooler!

The next day we started Q, so I seached high and low for all the quarters in the house (I may have even raided the kids' stash....shhhh) and I found about 60 quarters.

We talked about the features of the quarters and then seperated the old quarters from the state quarters and had a mini geography lesson with both the preschooler and the 1st grader.

I love the state quarters, there is so much info about each state on a little coin!

This is a great placemat map that can be found at Walmart and they even have a world map one.

BTW..we had about half old quarters and half state quarters.

King Tut Lapbook

2009-02-25T17:53:00.002-05:00

So, In January, we headed to Atlanta to see the King Tut Exhibit. I was awesome and I hope the kids will remember it for a long time. We did have a scare (literally) at the beginning. It was dark, as museums are and they were playing music that might be alittle scary for a 4 year old. Add the total unknown of what we are doing and the only thing my children know about mummies is that they chase you (Scooby Do in the Dr's office), all this combined, and I had a loudly crying 4 year old that would not go into the beginning of the exhibit. Here I am thinking, well, there goes the $16 for her ticket and the $25 for mine, and I am not going to get to see it. It's a very quiet setting, not something you can drag a screaming preschooler through until she understands that King Tut is NOT going to pop out from around the corner to scare us. :) Well, thankfully, once we did turn the first corner and she realized it was all quite safe, everyone was VERY well behaved. Mid-point there was another very dark place that she didn't want to go into, but once I verified that it was the "gold jewlery" and I told her it was darker so we could see it sparkling, my princess was good to go!

Here is the lapbook that we made when we came home. We couldn't take pictures, so I got them sticker books that worked great for decorating it. I really in a King Tut/Egypt lapbook.

Sorry, I can't figure out why the blog is putting them sideways, the pictures are not like this on my computer. :(

Fold out map with Egypt colored.

We did a little book on the Jews in Egypt. 1st, Joseph brought his family.

The top says they lived there for 430 years. Then the middle talks of the slavery and the babies being thrown in the river. Last part is how Moses delivered them.

Little coloring sheet showing Moses and some of the plaques, this is under the Jews mini-book.

A little mini book on furniture, we even saw some of this in Tut's exhibit.

This is the back, We wanted to show that the pyramids are in Egypt.

Homeschool for One More Year

2009-02-21T17:20:00.002-05:00

So, I've finally decided (outloud) that we will homeschool both girls again next year. I think that the oldest could benifet from staying home again and learning with me. The younger one really could go either way, but...I am not going to have different schools for them at this age. I could just see it, one at home and one in public school.....the one at home feels like she has less time with buddies. Then the one at school decides she likes which field trip we are going on and she wants to stay home for the day to "have school" with us. Uh....no. For now, they go where the other goes and I guess where I go too. It's daunting thinking about another year with little free time to myself, but I know it will be worth it in the long run. They are here with me for such a short time.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

Flower Lapbook

2009-02-12T20:24:00.005-05:00

I used links from this blog
http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/flowersandplants.html
for our flower lapbook.
We did alot of "field trip" stuff for flowers and plants, the girls really loved it. We had a group field trip to an educational nature site that included a flower class. We also went to a nursery and looked around. We did this awhile ago, so we will get the lapbook out again soon when we start planting for the spring.

Camping Lapbook

2009-02-10T20:23:00.004-05:00

This was so much fun to make. Since we were going camping, I wanted to make some things educational. I used a bunch of stuff from the homeschoolshare.com camping lapbook.

This was actually helpful, because I think we saw some and were able to stay away from it while hiking.

Things to be prepared for first aid.

Being prepared for camping

In the hiking spot, I printed out the info for the 3 places we went hiking.

Little according book to add photos from our camping trip.

Summer Olympic Lapbook

2009-02-10T20:08:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's very late for these pictures, but I wanted to share some things we've been doing in our first year of homeschooling. In August we watched alot of the olympics (I would record them at night) and I found a great lapbook to learn more, so this is out 1st offical lapbook ever! :) We used all the info here.

Back of the lapbook

Middle pages

This was a double lapbook because we had so much info to add into it

She picked this picture for the front

Homeschool Stuff

2009-02-10T19:49:00.005-05:00

This year we decided to do some creative gifts for Christmas. Here the girls are painting the ornaments that we picked up at JoAnn's for about $0.50 a piece. They really had a great time decorating each of them and adding their own little photo to the back.

More homeschool fun! Here we are practicing letters. The little one has been going thru the alphabet. Don't worry, this was a while ago, we are almost finished with the abc's.

This was our shaving cream practice. I gave her a ton of the cheap shaving cream and let her practice "writing" her letters with her fingers on the table. She loved this!

The letter "E" ;)

Moses

2009-02-10T19:34:00.003-05:00

We all loved learning about Moses for homeschool since we just got the movie The Prince of Egypt from Trinity's consignement sale in the fall. This day, I let the kids get the paints out and do whatever they wanted and this is what she came up with.

My little artist at work.

Out of control!

2008-10-20T15:37:00.002-04:00

As I stress about getting the MOPS craft and gab all prepped and ready, how to get laundry washed and packed for Disney, and what school stuff needs to be brought along for the 7 hour car ride (one way), I realize that my stresses in life are so small. It seems life around me is out of control. Not my life or even those super close to me, but people that I know. Just last week I learned that a mom of a 4 and 1 year old that I knew could take no more of life, so she took her own. I don't know what she was going through or why she could not drag herself out of a bad year, but I do know that her children will now grow up without her. Worse than that, they will someday find out that she made that choice for them. My heart breaks almost out loud for her and her family in the way that I hug my kids and kiss them one extra time for the day when I think of her.

If that is not enough to think about and put life into perspective, a friend's house burned down this weekend and I am told, she may have lost everything. No one was hurt, but in the mist of struggling with huge family problems, she now has lost her home.

My piles of laundry and junk mail just don't seem that important any more. I keep asking God why and I know He is not going to give me a reason. I know that bad things happen to everyone and that good things come from bad circumstances. I just feel like things are out of control today. I think I'm going to put dinner in the oven and sit in front of a book and try to unwind. Even though none of these things have happened to me, I still feel very stressed about them.

I miss the zoo!

2008-09-30T22:17:00.002-04:00

Yes, that's what I said, I miss the zoo! Why, you ask? Well, we are homeschooling and so we went ahead and got a yearly pass again this year thinking, wow, think of all the chances we will get to go to the zoo! What a great field trip!

Yes, it's sad, but I have NOT been to the zoo since I got our new passes! Our gas situation is just still so out of control and still so unpredictable. Every couple of days, several gas stations that I pass on the road are actually out of gas. I am very thankful that it is starting to return to normal and that I am not waiting in 30+ minute lines for gas like last week. BUT, I think that it would be unwise to make the 45 minute trip with my kids just to go to the zoo. On top of the fact that gas is scarce, you add in the price factor of gas and we are no longer talking about a cheap trip up the road a piece. (that's how they say it down here in the south, LOL, I thought I'd give it a try)

So, my hope is that gas flow in the south will return to normal and maybe, just maybe, if gas goes below $3.50 a gallon, we may make it for our 1st zoo field trip of the year. I can pray anyways! I just hope it's not too cold by then. :)

Did you miss us?

2008-09-06T19:12:00.004-04:00

So last night, I packed my little overnight bag and headed out with the girls to the MOPS Steering Retreat. One night in a cabin, we had 17 ladies last night and 14 stayed overnight until a little after lunch today. It was awesome! We had a great time laughing, crying, and sharing some things close to our hearts. Less than 24 hours, and it was so much more. Fast forward to dinner with my sweet family tonight. My oldest sweet child missed me so much that she couldn't contain herself and kept talking, interrupting me, her dad, her sister, and she only had about 3 bites of her dinner. The little one startes to argue with her sister, and all I know is that I am starving and I want to eat my dinner. My sweet hubby looks at me and says "Didn't you miss us?"

No.

I can't really say that I missed anyone yet and the craziness that often accompanies mom coming home from a trip, makes me wish I was still at the un-air conditioned, old cabin with my best friends. Just one more night, mind you, I love my family. I just could have used a little bit of a longer break. :) I'll have to settle for steering meeting on Tuesday and wait one more month till Dallas.

Camping in 2008

2008-09-01T21:30:00.004-04:00

What has this world come to??!!

We took our kids camping this weekend for the first time in 3 years. They are 4 and 6, so it might as well been the first time in their life since they don't remember our camping trips in WA. When you think of the adventure of camping, what comes to mind? To me, I think tent, fire, and marshmallows. I also think about sleeping bags, hiking, and being dirty most of the time (that's fine with me, I just really look forward to my own shower!) We went upstate SC to Oconne State Park so that we would be close to a couple waterfalls to see while we were on our adventure. We planned, we learned in our homeschool about being prepared, how to start a fire correctly. We made lists, shopped, got the necessary flashlights, camping coffee pot and all the great camping food that is a must: (I shouldn't have to tell, you but I will anyways, because I'm afraid you may not know!) hotdogs, marshmallows, eggs bacon, and trail mix. Then my master packer of a husband packed the car, now I will admit, we took alot of stuff. You tell a 4 and 6 year old to pick 2 toys to take for the weekend and the backpacks come flying out and they fill them with as much stuff (under the radar) and take them to dad at the car who thinks mom has approved all this and he finds a place for it all. Mom laid down the law when there were 6 stuffed animals all headed to the mountains with the 4 year old. We then drove, excited about our trip, the things we will do, the fish we will catch, and then we get there. This huge 100+ site park, full with mostly campers. Not, nothing against all you with campers, I am sure some of your kids really know what it's like to rough it, but when did camping become golf carts, fans and dish network with the tv? My 6 year old actually asked if we were poor since we didn't have a camper! Here I thought we were livin it up with our "3 room family sized tent and blow up mattress. :) I did really like the camp ground. We would go back, but now we know what sites look into the forest or the lake instead of your neighbors' tent or RV. We do know that on a holiday weekend, we will not go back. I hope that my kids grow up knowing that "camping" is about being in the outdoors and not taking all the comforts of home with you and that maybe someday we will be ambitious enough to camp somewhere that we have to walk in with nothing but the stuff that we can carry.

Disclaimer: we take the little fan for the tent, Kelly doesn't like to be hot at night. ;)

Growing Deeper Still!

2008-07-01T12:57:00.002-04:00

This weekend, 3 friends and I went to the Deeper Still Conference in Atlanta. We heard 3 great women teach, Priscilla Shirer, Kay Arthur, and Beth Moore. WOW! What a great time, great worship and great messages. One of my favorite moments of the weekend was the list that Priscilla gave of Jesus in every book of the Bible. She shares it on her website, it is from the song, "He Is". I hope you enjoy it!

In Genesis, He's the breath of life
In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He's our high priest
In Numbers, the fire by night
Deuteronomy, He's Israel’s Guide
Joshua, He’s salvation's choice
Judges, He’s Israel’s Guard
In Ruth, the kinsmen's redeemer
1st and 2nd Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles He is Sovereign
In Ezra, He’s the true and faithful scribe
In Nehemiah, the re-builder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He’s Mordecai's courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms He is our morning song
In Proverbs, He is our wisdom
Ecclesiastes, He's the time and season
In Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream
In Isaiah He is Prince of Peace
In Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, the call from sin
Daniel, the stranger in the fire
Hosea, the forever faithful
Joel, the spirit’s power
Amos, the strong-arms that carry
Obadiah, the Lord our Savior
Jonah, the great missionary
Micah, the promise of peace
Nahum, our strength and shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's brings revival
In Haggai He restores that which was lost
IN Zachariah, He’s our fountain
And in Malachi, He's the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings
AND THAT’S JUST THE OLD TESTAMENT
In Matthew Mark Luke and John, He is God and Messiah
In the spirit filled book of Acts, He is the reigning fire from Heaven
In Romans, He is the grace of God
Corinthians, the power of love
Galatians, freedom from the curse of sin
Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servant's heart
Colossians, He’s God and the trinity Thessalonians, our calling King
In Timothy, Titus and Philemon, He's our mediator and our faithful pastor
In Hebrews, the everlasting courage
In James, the one who heals the sick
In 1st and 2nd Peter, our faithful shepherd
In John and Jude, He's the lover coming for His bride
AND in the Revelation, in the very end, when it’s all over, said and done, when time is NO MORE. He is and will always be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, son of Man, Lamb of God, The Great I am, Alpha and Omega, God and Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
HE IS EVERYTHING THAT YOU NEED!

I'm tired

2008-05-05T18:55:00.002-04:00

Right now there are dirty dishes in the sink and on the stove top, laundry in 2 laundry baskets and on the couch that needs to be folded and put away. The grass and weeds are a foot high and there is no gas for the lawn mower (not that I want to mow the lawn), there are 4 bags of mulch to be layed, the desktop computer is broken and I don't know how to hook up the game systems to the new big tv (it's nice, but it's Kelly's, whatever!). My living room has stuffed animals all over and next week I have a last fun night with my best friends or MOPS and I don't have a babysitter. Life sucks today. It's not always this bad, but today it is. It's almost been 4 months since Kelly left. And please don't tell me that he will be home soon, or I am on the home stretch, I may snap. It's not close and it's not soon, because after a day like this, 70 or so more like this almost makes me want to crawl in bed and not get up for 2 months. Bedtime for the kids is in 10 minutes, I might make it another day. I just wish the cleaning fairy would come to my house while I'm sleeping tonight

Teaching

2008-04-26T20:35:00.003-04:00

Who knew that when I gave up on a teaching degree back in 98 to get married that I would someday come back into the education world? No me! No, I went on to be married, divorced and married again. Mother of 2 and just hanging on at times. You could say I have been teaching for the past 2 years with scrapbooking. Holding classes once even twice a month. But, this is not really what I think of when we talk about education. I'm talking about kids, my kids, actually. Believe it or not, I have been considering homeschooling for a couple months now and I am 95% sure that we will be homeschooling next year. Alexie will be in 1st grade and Emma will be 4.

This is not a lifetime decision I am making. I plan on evaluation our school plans every year and based on each child individually. I think the traditional classroom is great, I LOVED school when I was a kid. Right now, it's just not working for Lexi. She is not being challenged and there is too much negativity going on and it is greatly effecting her.

So! Homeschooling, here I come! I am looking forward to it, I'm excited, and I pray that I can still say that this time next spring! :)

Two books you have gotta read!!!

2008-04-22T07:08:00.002-04:00

So, I finished these 2 great books over the past couple weeks that I think EVERYONE should read. The 1st is a nonfiction that completely changed my view of God, in a great way! I can't hardly say much about it and not spoil the book, but it addresses the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" and it helps us see just how important a relationship is with God, not just the weekend rituals of church. The book is called The Shack by William Young. Go out, buy it, read it, I think you'll be happy you did. BTW...you may want to buy a box of tissues along with the book. :)

Okay, 2nd GREAT book is Email to the Front, by Alesia Holliday. It is a book a Navy wife wrote with her emails back and forth to her husband during deployment. For me(since Kelly is gone right now), I can completely relate to almost everything she writes about. I laughed so hard that I was crying. If you don't even think you would like the book, just stop in the library and ready the lawn mower chapter, I promise you'll end up taking it home and reading the rest of the book. The greatest thing about the book though is this: it lets all the wives whose DH have to go away for work (military and non-military) know that they are not alone. And for all you "civilians" it gives you a wonderful insight to what most have no clue is going on. All over the world, our military is risking their lives for us, and all over the country, spouses are pulling out their hair trying to keep the kids happy and the laundry done, all while counting the days till their loved one comes home.

Happy reading!

Family

2007-12-29T15:14:00.000-05:00

You know how some of your family members you love dearly, some you can only take so much of at one time, and some you just don't understand how you are related to? Maybe you feel you need a major vacation after a family reunion? I know we all have family like this, but I have never truly wished that I was not connected to a person or situation as I am right now. Never have I ever had one person cause so much widespread hurt among the people I love and call family. Please pray for all of my extended family right now, we are confused, we are hurt, we are crushed, and we have a long road ahead. We NEED God more than ever, I have faith He is carrying me right now, I cannot walk myself.

Christmas Lights

2007-12-27T19:04:00.001-05:00

We had two great light outings this year. The zoo, a new one for us, was a long day but well worth it. We did both a daytime visit and night visit all in one day breaking it up with dinner at Cracker Barrel in between. Here we are at the lights at the zoo.
It was so cool, they had 4D short version of Polar Express at the zoo, I think this is my first 3D type experience and I know it was the girls' first time. The 4D experience was that the whole place smelled of yummy hot chocolate!

The youngest could go to the zoo and skip the live animals and go just for the merry-go-round!
We've never done this before, but happened to be there at the perfect time to buy some nectar and get to feed the parakeets. Red loved this and never freaked out even though one landed on her head!
Kelly was not as happy about the bird thing, since right after I took this picture, one sat on his head and then peed on his head! EWWWWWW!

The other lights outing was the Lights of the South. The biggest difference besides the lack of wild animals, was the hay ride instead of walking, and the fact that the night we went here, it was about 27 degrees!! Burrrrrrrrrrrr.........

They have hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights starting with the story and Jesus, then the kids' favorite characters and ending with Santa himself. We got to roast marshmallows over the open fire pits and drink hot chocolate and apple cider to try to warm ourselves.

Christmas Program

2007-12-27T18:43:00.001-05:00

My sweet girl was in her very first Christmas program and Daddy was home to see it. Some of the angels sang more than others, but they all looked angelical! She choose to watch more of the program going on behind her more than participate, but Mommy and Daddy had a great time watching her.

On a side note: you should know that the angels are all 3 years old, and that they stood through the program was a great feat in itself, AND Mrs. Pat and Mrs. Alice said that this was the BEST year of angels, since no one took off their halos or wings until they were all finished.

Sara Groves

2007-12-27T18:23:00.000-05:00

On December 15th, Kelly and I went to see Behold the Lamb of God, with Andrew Peterson, and best of ALL, Sara Groves. After I saw her at the MOPS convention, christian music is about all I listen to, so I was really excited to find out she was coming to Augusta. The concert started off with the 6 different musicians taking turns singing some of their own songs. Then the second half was Behold the Lamb of God, a story of Jesus from creation to His birth in songs. It was GREAT and I recommend that you go see it next year if they come to your town! I felt so star struck and a little silly, but very excited to actually get to speak to Sara on her way out of the convention center while Kelly was cd shopping; and I was brave enough to ask for a picture along with 2 or 3 others. Sara's music is so wonderful and you should check her out if you've not heard any of her songs. She has a great sound and an even better message in all of her songs. This is Sara's site that has her info: http://www.saragroves.com/ and you can get most of her cds from you local Christian book store.

1st Day of Pre-School

2007-10-20T19:20:00.001-04:00

Well, I am not blogging in order, life is too crazy this year for me to really care! :)

My sweet blondy started preschool last month and she loves it! She only goes 3 days a week, but she is usually sad on the days she doesn't have school.

This is her excited for school, but she would prefer that Mommy DOES NOT take her picture! Too bad!

Now we are happy! If they would just open the doors!

Okay Mom, you may LEAVE! See ya later!
Plus, her patriotic selection of clothes granted her the job of flag holder on the first day, how great is that?!

MOPS Convention and Great Friends

2007-10-06T18:56:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it, I went to Orlando AND Disney with no hubby or kids in sight! Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure to attend the Int. MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) Convention. We had such great praise and worship, great speakers, and best of all I spend the weekend with some great friends and my all time best friend from WA, she lives in OR now ;) .

Here we are Downtown Disney, Friday night to check out the sight and to shop for the poor family members not here (the kids)!
Yes, here you see 3 grown women on the tram to Disney. We were SO excited (okay, maybe it was just me) and no we DO NOT have the kids with us!
Yep, my girls are quite jealous of this one, us in front of the castle at Disney. They have no idea what all was involved, but they are convinced that I went in the castle and saw the princesses and they REALLY want to go now.
Okay, call me silly, call me crazy, but I had to have my pictures "flying" on Dumbo, what ya think?

Moments

2007-09-03T19:54:00.000-04:00

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

My Baby Started School!!!!

2007-09-02T21:16:00.001-04:00

Here she is, eating breakfast for her very first day of kindergarten. She was so excited!

On the front porch, with her backpack, all ready!

Look at her! She was so excited, just waiting for me to leave. My baby is in school! Oh my! She loves it so much. :)

Calling all those who pray!

2007-08-23T22:21:00.000-04:00

Please take a moment or several to pray for my step mom, Chong Hwa. She was in a very bad car accident last night and the outlook is not very good. She is on life support and unconscious. The doctors fear that there will be brain damage if she does recover. Also, pray for my dad, Ray, who you can imagine having a hard time. Thank you.

All things are possible in God!

God Bless All you Mothers of Boys!

2007-07-18T18:44:00.000-04:00

LOL! I'm serious! I am on day 3 of 5 for VBS at our church this week and I am helping out with the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. I am one of the ones that rotates to all of their classes of VBS and boy oh boy! They are a breath of fresh air from my own preschool age children, but they are a hand full!

I am amazed at their true kindness to each other at times and then the split second later, they are being crazy kids. At this age, it is very apparent that the girls are surpassing the boys in maturity and that has been a huge eye opener. Some of these boys are so sweet and truly respectful, but they just cannot help being boys. They are constantly moving and pushing and hitting each other (only in a way that boys that are friends can do, seeing as if girls did that to each other, someones feelings may get hurt), and they are unable to really focus on task without being reminded several times.

I have decided that I am a mother of girls through and through. And, though I may be singing the blues when the teenage years are here; right now, I am glad that I have girls. I don't think I would have the energy to keep up with boys! :)

So, for all of you moms out there with little toddler boys, or grade school age boys, and you manage to keep up with them (even if it's barely some days), YOU GO GIRL!

And, if you would all say a quick prayer for me, we have 2 days left! ;)

Zoo Fun

2007-07-13T19:39:00.001-04:00

We had a great time hanging out as a family at the zoo a couple weeks ago. Seems like forever ago! We did all kinds of fun things, the girls rode ponies, fed the giraffes, and goats, and they even rode on the merry go round!

Family Pictures

2007-07-09T15:32:00.000-04:00

We finally went to get our family pictures done, what a terrible experiance! The lady taking our pictures didn't even know what she was doing. Luckly, there was another lady who popped in every now and then and we got some decent shots.

Our new Angel

2007-06-26T09:30:00.001-04:00

Here is our sweet new Angel. Prince, our other cat that we have had for a year, went missing a month ago. :( I was very sad, he was such a cool cat. My Mother asked when the obsession to always have a cat will go away for me, I guess never! I went out this last Sunday and got this adorable little girl cat I found in the paper. We named her Angel. She's so tiny! I think she will be a nice fit in our family, even Anya approves.

The BIG 3!!!

2007-06-24T22:32:00.001-04:00

My swetie turned the big THREE!! She's quite the big girl. We celebrated at Chick Fil A, just like big sisters birthday, but with a couple less kids to minimize the confusion. She had a great time and loved the Mickey Mouse theme that she had picked out. It was a great day all around.

I hate change

2007-06-22T16:12:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me ususally will tell me that I'm so good at making changes, moving, making new friends, things that go with being military. Well, those who have known me in the last couple of years, know I hate it. I'm tired of it. Well, I guess I need to come up with something else to pray for other that things to stop changing, because I guess God thinks I still don't have it down. :) He knows best, right? He knows what we can handle, right?

So....here we go again, more change! Kelly is taking a job with his company to go you know where. Yuck! He will be as safe as he can be over there, but he will still be gone a year. Yuck!

The thing is, something struck me as we tried to make this decision. In my Beth Moore class it was asked if you ever had a rough time and realized God was preparing you for something even harder. Oh yeah! You could say that it has NOT been a piece of cake moving here. I have been isolated, homesick for WA, my favorite place we have lived so far, and I have struggled to find a church family. Then, right when things seem to be getting better, I find a church, I have friends I can count on, and WHAM! I am faced with a year without Kelly. Do you think God was getting me ready? I sure hope so, I'm not sure I'm ready, but I'm going to do my best.

A Mom's Weekend

2007-06-02T20:36:00.000-04:00

Let me just start off saying that I have a great husband. He is so much more than the typical Dad when it comes to helping around the house. But, he and I had a little discussion (that's what we'll call it anyways ;) ) that prompted this thought.

Oh! How I wish that Mom's got a weekend!!! Don't you? I mean, the rest of the people in the world, maybe spend their Saturday morning sleeping in, taking it a little easy. I tell you what....if anything, weekends are harder for moms that the rest of the week. Granted, we don't have the work week structure in my house during the week, but there is a pulse. The weekend....does nothing but disrupt that pulse. Dad's home... things don't get done that may normally get done on a day to day basis, Dad's home.... the TV and video games are on ALOT more than normal. I don't know about you other mom's, but Dad's simple presence in the house even makes me lazy! My brain wants to take the weekend off, but oh, I will pay for it on Monday!

Don't get me wrong, Kelly is so great to me, that I end up getting to sleep in when he's not working or we are not going to church, but I just wish, after a Saturday like today (my kids were angels!) that I got the BREAK from the normal week like other people. I may stop doing dishes, and laundry and get to sleep a little extra, my I still have to think about meals, deal with fighting, entertain, and watch over my children, which on days like today is exhausting.

I'm sure tomorrow will be better and I already am winding down having my children in bed for almost an hour. Thank you God for a new day tomorrow! :)

On another small note, I have never really understood how my parents were during a draught in NM when they would see rain. We are so severely dry here in GA and SC and it has been raining steadily since lunch time! Praise God!!!!! I am beside myself, I keep going to the front porch admiring the rain and thanking God over and over for it. Who knew hurricane season would be a welcome change?

SAHM - What did you do ALL day?!

2007-06-01T18:06:00.000-04:00

I ran across this Dear Abby type article about SAHMs and I love it! So, for all you without kids, read and learn. And for those with kids, take a minute and read so that you know you are not alone ;)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/22/AR2007052201554.html

Hand Sanitizer

2007-05-31T09:06:00.000-04:00

Subject: Hand Sanitizer> >> >I know many of you have kids and grandkids and this could be important to > >you.> >> >> >http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp> >> >I just verified on Snopes.com (above) - it's true.> >> >> > >OK. I don't know where to begin because the last 2 days of my life> > >have been such a blur. Yesterday, My youngest daughter Halle who is 4,> >> > >was rushed to the emergency room by her father for being severely> > >lethargic and incoherent. He was called to her school by the school> > >secretary for being "very VERY sick." He told me that when he arrived> > >that Halle was barely sitting in the chair. She couldn't hold her own> > >head up and when he looked into her eyes, she couldn't focus them. He> > >immediately called me after he scooped her up and rushed her to the ER.> >> > >When we got there, they ran blood test after blood test and did x-rays,> >!> > > ;every test imaginable. Her white blood cell count was normal, nothing> > >was out of the ordinary. The ER doctor told us that he had done> > >everything that he could do so he was sending her to Saint Francis for> > >further test. Right when we were leaving in the ambulance, her teacher> > >had come to the ER and after questioning Halle's classmates, we found> > >out that she had licked hand sanitizer off her hand. Hand sanitizer,> > >of all things. But it makes sense. These days they have all kinds of> > >different scents and when you have a curious child, they are going to> > >put all kinds of things in their mouths. When we arrived at Saint> > >Francis, we told the ER doctor there to check her blood alcohol level,> > >which, yes we did get weird looks from it but they did it. The results> >> > >were her blood alcohol level was 85% and this was 6 hours after we> > >first took her. There's no telling what it would have been ! if we w ould> >> > >have tested it at the first ER. Since then, her school and a few> > >surrounding schools have taken t his out of the classrooms of all the> > >lower grade classes but what's to stop middle and high schoolers too?> > >After doing research off the internet, we have found out that it only> > >takes 3 squirts of the stuff to be fatal in a toddler. For her blood> > >alcohol level to be so high was to compare someone her size to drinking> >> > >something 120 proof. So please PLEASE don't disregard this because I> > >don't ever want anyone to go thru what my family and I have gone thru.> > >Today was a little better but not much. Please send this to everyone> > >you know that has children or are having children. It doesn't matter> > >what age. I just want people to know the dangers of this. Thank you> > >Lacey Butler and family> >> >

I AM A CHRISTIAN

2007-05-21T23:01:00.000-04:00

Tonight was the 1st night of my summer Bible class that I am taking with some women from my church and my MOPS group. I'm so excited to be doing my first Beth Moore series! This poem was read at the beginning of class tonight to get our minds and hearts in the right place.

I AM A CHRISTIAN
Author: Carol S. Wimmer