Loving It!

I have now been reunited with my camera!! Yeah!!

Since our first day of school pictures weren't so hot I've decided to add a few more. These are actually classroom shots. For those of you who have never been to our house, our basement is half finished. On the finished side, we have a half bath and two rooms. One is used as a playroom and one is kind of a rec-room (where we keep the computer, piano, treadmill, etc . . . ) Well, the rec-room has now also become our classroom. I am pretty spoiled with this set up - I hope we always have it this good!

School is going really great. We have spent the past week tweaking things here and there, but mostly it has been smooth sailing. I feel like the girls are enjoying what they are learning, and I am enjoying teaching them. Really, I think the anticipation leading up to homeschooling was worse than actually doing it has been.

Here are Ali and Emma hard at work at their desks.

(This is actually an after-school shot - they are just coloring)

These desks are wonderful! We were blessed to be able to rescue them from the dumpster when Aaron's parents cleaned out their old chicken house (which has now been used for storage for many decades). It's nice that they can each have their own space that they are responsible for without cluttering things up too much.

Here's Meg at her favorite school time occupation. It's amazing how long a 3 yr. old can sit and cut paper into tiny pieces! (even if she does hold the scissors wrong!)

And finally we have little Jules (naked after pouring a cup of water all over her dress) enjoying "erasing" the whiteboard. There was a time when I was really worried that she wouldn't be able to deal with homeschool life. She couldn't stand having a door closed on her - but now she will play in the playroom, or her bedroom with Meg and Ali or Emma without pitching a fit. It's nice to see some of that hard work paying off!

Chopping Off the Mullet

A serious pet-peeve of mine: babies with mullets.

Both Meg and Julie had a gift for growing hair in the back, with very little action in the front. In both cases, the mullet had to go.

So here we are . . . my littlest peanut had her first haircut today!

Before:

After:

She did a great job and looks darn cute!

Making Memories

Ali's Kindergarten teacher was very much the sentimental type. Throughout the year she would send home various things like this . . . most of which have been saved in Ali's scrapbook. I decided to take a leaf out of her book for Emma (and probably for each of the rest of them!) I showed Ali her old drawing of herself and she was shocked at how she had drawn herself in Kindergarten. It's fun to see them looking back and acknowledging how they've grown and changed. The pathetic thing is that as I read this poem to Emma I almost started crying! I must be becoming emotional in my old age!

First Day of School

Well, we made it. Our first day of school is over (minus a few miscellaneous items). Overall, things went really well. Unfortunately, our day started out . . . rotten! I hardly slept last night, for many different reasons. I have been very tired all day, but I made it. The other big bummer was that I had the kids all ready this morning to take our usual first day of school pictures and quickly discovered that I didn't have my camera!! I apparently left it at my mom's house when we were there a week ago and never needed it at all this week. I'm sure that's no big deal for most of you, but for me to not have my camera for my first day of homeschooling, after a rather sleepless night . . . I wanted to cry! So, I scrambled to figure out what I was going to do. I ended up using the camera on my cell phone and Ali's Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital Camera. The quality of both of these is poor, but Ali's camera pulled through enough that I at least have some documentation. I might need to get over to my mom's house tonight and take 2nd day of school pictures tomorrow! : (

Really, all 4 of the girls did great. I can already see areas where I need to adjust, but for now they are pretty minor. Ali said her favorite part of the day (aside from recess) was History. Emma's was Math (she's obviously her father's child!). Meg enjoyed cutting up paper with her scissors and Julie enjoyed coloring (and, of course, snacking on crayons). Hopefully the rest of our week will go this well . . . with a bit more sleep for me!

The Pre-Homeschool Freak-out!

I'm starting to feel it! We start school one week from tomorrow and I have this sick feeling in my stomach as I ask myself, "What were you thinking?" Many other questions follow that one: "How am I going to homeschool and still accomplish my daily tasks at home?" "Can I add 8 more hours to my day?" "What am I going to do with Meg and Julie for all of that time?" and on and on they go . . .

Then the other half of my brain kicks in and I start answering those questions to myself. I know this is doable . . . Even with all these frustrations, it will still be better than our first grade experience . . . I'll just DO IT! It will just be life for us. When Ali was our only child I often thought that there was no way I could handle 2 . . . or 3 . . . or 4 . . . when the reality is that you just take it one step at a time. It just becomes life as you know it. I'm not the supermom that I thought I would have to be, but that's okay, no one is.

As I look through school books, etc . . . I start to feel really excited and blessed that I get to teach this stuff to my kids! How cool is that! I imagine projects and field trips and snuggling up with good books. I'm so thankful for the additional time to work on character development! How great that when Ali is being lazy or Emma is being stubborn, I can speak to those issues as sin issues (not just as bad choices) and help them to grow in their diligence and teachability. I am also glad [mostly : )] for the ways that God is going to use this experience to develop my character.

So for a while I'm flying high, and feeling like we will make it . . . then the cycle starts again . . . I must be crazy!

So, right now, I'm just praying for diligence, patience and wisdom and trusting that God will compensate for my lack of all three of those things.

Soccer Camp

Our week of Soccer Camp is now over! The girls have had such a fun time, and learned alot . . . but I sure am glad it's over. The camp is run by Tommy Heinemann (a college student from church), and he does an excellent job. The bummer is that it's out in Brentwood. So rather than having to spend all morning in the car, I've just been staying out there and finding stuff to do with the little ones. We found a great park, and an awesome McDonald's with a playplace to pass our time, but I'm looking forward to a regular morning at home tomorrow!

Warming up

Sweet sisters playing on the slide at Broughton Park

Sweaty Girls!

Ali and Emma with Tommy and Janie

(another college student from church

who coaches the little ones)

Happy Birthday Emma!

My little Emma is now 6! We started out our morning at soccer camp and then one of our tires blew out on the drive home. How fun to have a tire go out with 4 tired and hungry girls in the car on one of the hottest days of the year! Ah joy!

Well, little Emma, hopefully the rest of your day goes better!

Fun with chocolate pudding - Age 15 mos


Little Sweetie - Age 2 yrs


4th of July - Age 3 yrs

Big Girls!

Tonight we officially took down the crib. Meg and Julie are now enjoying their first night in their new bunkbed. They were both very excited about this change . . . but with that change comes training : ) Yep, little Julie is now learning that she must stay in bed. (My trick is that I put Walmart bags on the floor next to her bed, and I keep a monitor in her room. That way I can hear her as soon as her foot touches the floor and deal with it accordingly.)

They both did a great job tonight. Julie was not happy when I told her that she couldn't get out of bed, but she tried it anyway. I had been out of their room for about 2 minutes when I heard a loud thud and a scream. Landing on her head was a better consequence than any swat I would have given her! : ) That was the end of her adventures - for this evening, at least! I guess time will tell . . .


A happy little Meg - so proud to be on the top bunk!


Sweet little Julie - tucked in and ready for bed
(though her head didn't stay on that pillow for long!)


A grumpy face after mommy
told her she must stay in bed -
I know - so cruel!

Birthday Celebrations

We have had a lot going on this past week and I haven't posted any of it . . . so here goes . . .

Wednesday was my birthday . . . I turned 30. I keep thinking that it should feel like more of a milestone, but it doesn't. Life goes on.

I actually had a really nice birthday. Aaron took the day off, which meant that he got up with the kids and I got to sleep in (really great, since I'm still trying to catch up on my lack of sleep from my Harry Potter weekend!) I was brought breakfast in bed (donuts and frapuccino) and then we decided to make a family trip to the zoo. As I think over my life since Ali was born, we have been to the zoo 3 times and they were all trips without Emma (not to mention any subsequent children). So, my almost 6 yr old got to go the the zoo for the first time . . . pathetic! It was a fun trip, though it was very hot outside.

The one thing that was really disappointing to me was how blatantly evolutionary everything was! I know, it shouldn't surprise me. But it's so disappointing to be marveling at God's creation with my kids and then to see a huge display of Charles Darwin with all of the animals in the exhibit having been arranged to demonstrate how evolution "happened." All stated as fact. It's maddening to me. Thankfully, the kids were oblivious to it. The time will come when I have to tell them that the rest of the world is trying remove God from His creation, but I'm not ready to burden them with that yet. Now, I'll step off of my soap box.

We left the zoo at about noon and headed to Burger King for lunch (Nice, healthy day so far, don't you think?) We went home for nap time and while Aaron stayed home with the kids I was able to go out and do some shopping - by myself! : ) All I have to say about that is that there are few things in life that are quite as satisfying to a stay-at-home mother of 4 as a shopping trip where you find everything you were looking for, quickly, and at amazingly low prices! I got some clothes for Ali and some fabric to make an Elizabeth (American Girl doll) dress-up dress for a birthday present for Emma (See below). It was wonderful . . . no questions, no rush . . . ahhhh . . .

I came home to find that Aaron, Ali and Emma had completely cleaned my kitchen! (Nothin' says lovin' like a clean kitchen!) I got home just in time to get everyone ready to go. The Alligoods kept the kids for us and Aaron and I went out to the Olive Garden for dinner (adding to our long list of nutritionally bankrupt foods that we have eaten for the day! : )) We also got out to the mall to do some more birthday shopping for Emma. It was great. We returned to the Alligoods house and had some time to hang out (and talk Harry Potter) with them. It was a really great day!

Now onto Emma's Birthday . . .

No, her birthday hasn't actually passed yet . . . it's on the first, but the Alligood's leave for a week in PA tomorrow, so her party was early this year. We took Ali, Emma, Jonah, Karis, Grace and Abigail all out to Ronnie's to see Ratatouille. (Very cute movie, by the way.) We also had Miss Jodi and 4 Layman/Richardson siblings along with us, so we were quite a crew. Rather than giving the kids goodie bags we got each of them a kiddie combo to snack on during the movie. (I know that the kids love goodie bags, but in my opinion they are just bags full of cheap stuff that I will be sneaking into the garbage in a week's time!) Needless to say, getting refreshments for 13 people was rather time consuming, but we made it into the theater just in time.

After the movie we went to Krispy Kreme and did donuts instead of cake and opened presents there. She got all kinds of fun girly stuff, including Polly Pockets, a Fairytopia Barbie, a Make-up set and her Elizabeth dress. She was very excited about everything. The dress was especially a hit - with Miss Jodi in particular!

Friday night Amber and the kids stayed the night (Our hubbies are out of town for the weekend at high school camp.) The big kids got to watch Felicity and have sleepover in the basement.

So, like I said, we've had a lot going on! It has been a fun week, but I am VERY ready for Aaron to be home! Just a few more hours to go!

Happy Birthday to Me . . .

I am officially 3 decades old. Wierd.

Coming up on the big 3-0!

Back in May we had a Trivia Night and Silent Auction at church to raise money for our youth group's mission trip to Southall, London (it was a blast and - more importantly - our table WON the trivia night!) We also had the winning bid for an all expense paid BBQ pool party. As Amber's birthday is tomorrow and mine is on Wednesday, we decided to make it a birthday thing . . .
So, this weekend I managed to get away from Harry Potter for 5 hours and enjoy an adults only pool party. It was SO nice! The weather was perfect! Nice and cool, great for the hot tub. We got to eat food that I didn't have to cook and enjoy company with no children (you can imagine how often that happens!) It was a nice way to bring in the next decade!

The girls! (L-R Shantel, Amber, Jodi and Amy)


The boys! (L-R Cameron, Mark, (Jodi - an unwelcomed intruder), Aaron, Jason and Alan)

Finished!

Well, after about 22 hours of reading this weekend, I have officially finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I had a hard time putting it down (i.e. I started reading at 2:00am and read until 4:00pm, only sleeping for 2.5 hours and only stopping (briefly) to go to the bathroom and eat when I was starving)! I have to say that JK Rowling hit a homerun with this one. There were a few things that I probably would have tweaked, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it!

A Trip to the Dentist

Meg had her first visit to the dentist this week. (I meant to post this a few days ago, but I'm a bit of a technology idiot and I just now figured out how to get the pictures from my phone to my computer!)

She really did a good job. There were a few times when she told the hygienist that she "didn't want to . . . " (fill in the blank with any typical dentist visit happenings) Of course, there was none of that when it was time to make a trip to the treasure box!

It was nice for her to be able to have Ali and Emma there. They went first and she got to watch. In the end she got to pick out a Cinderella tooth brush and a Cinderella sticker . . . both of which made the entire visit well worth her time.

Resting up for the big event . . .

Well, the big day has finally arrived!! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released tonight at midnight and I'm thrilled! I have just gotten my kids down for their naps and I'm getting ready to head upstairs for some rest of my own. I'm also hoping to be able to go to sleep early tonight and wake up for the release party. Hopefully I'll be rested enough that I can spend most of my night reading. We've also planned for Aaron to get up with the kids tomorrow and take them out for the day, so I can spend my day reading. Obviously much thought has gone into this weekend for me . . . This will certainly be one of the highlights of the summer! Now I just hope that I'm not disappointed with the book! : )

Buyout: Officially Nixed

Many of you have heard our irritating buyout story. To keep it brief, Desco has been trying to buy out our neighborhood (supposedly to put in a Target and a Lowe's) for quite a while now. They tried to push it through a few years ago when Jason and Amber were living here, but it fell through. This spring they tried to make it happen again and we just got word yesterday that it is officially off. We are very glad for that, as we don't own this home and don't stand to benefit from its sale. We're hoping to rent for another 2 years and then buy our own home . . . so it's nice to know that we won't be forced out in the spring!