Love Thursday

OwlHaven had this up today and I thought I would add my picture for Love Thursday. This is one of the many that I had hubby scan for me from when I was going through pics. This is Brittney when she was my little baby. Time flies

Works for me Wedensday

I am pretty one tracked on my taste in music. However I want to introduce my kids to all kinds including classical music. Trouble was I couldn't see myself listening to classical music much less the kids. A fellow mom told me about some great cd's.
They are called Classical Kids. There are many different ones. We have listened to two so far. You can find them on homeschooling sites such as sonlight, ebay, or amazon. They are more than music they are a story to listen too and just happen to have classical music in them along with a story about the composer. The stories are interesting and my kids didn't want me to stop the car until they found out what would happen, and they were introduced to classical music. Works for me!

I dont like to share

A friend borrowed my computer to do a paper for college. She was here at the house most of the day working on it. So I was without a computer. I did get some pictures looked through and have hubby scanning them. I will be doing some flashback favorite foto Fridays for a while. Some I wanted to get scanned in for scrapbook pages, etc. So did get that done.

All I know is I don't like to share my computer. Good thing hubby got my friends laptop running for her.

Gettin ready for the week

Weekend flew by. Hubby had to work this weekend so the kids and I were on our own. We had a good weekend. Got errands ran yesterday and went to a birthday party.

Today Sunday School and then home. The kids played games while I prepared lesson plans it is still taking me quite sometime to get my lesson plans done for the week, but I am still learning what I like and don't so I change them up a little each week. Add that to the fact that I am a perfectionist and it makes it a long process.

Menu is done for the week, calendar is plotted, to do lists are ready.....so I guess Monday here we come...ready or not.

Good news is family drama seems to be on the downslide or it at least seems that way to me (could be that I have become better at ignoring my cell phone)!

Favorite Foto Friday

Loooong Week

It is probably just me but this week has dragged by. Of course my wonderful schedule got flipped around but it was due to something uncontrollable with my friends brother in law dying. So trying to help them out. I doubled up on homeschool one day to allow one day for me to babysit my friends kids.

It has just been a drawn out week it seems, I was beginning to think Friday would never arrive.

This weekend will be busy, of course if I had one that wasn't I might not know what to do with myself.

Okay so all this post is about is how this week has dragged by and even with it dragging I still didn't fit in all the things I needed to get done and will still be busy this weekend. I know the weekend wont drag it will fly by just like it always seems to.

Works for Me Wednesday

Entertaining my kids (7 and 8) while waiting at a resteraunt is easy and a teaching experience. I carry lots of change. On purpose. We take our seat and my son can't wait to be able to count money. Both of them love it. We make up math games, change the amounts of the coins. Coins is something you almost always have, kids love to play with money, and they are learning without knowing it. A very simple thing if you remember it and use it once, the kids will ask to do it the next time.

Works for me!

Is it bad?

It is bad that with homeschooling the 3rd grade I am having to double check myself with the teacher's manual?....oh boy...I am going to learn a lot as the years go by.

Here is a sample of some of Britt's thrid grade spelling words through abeka. She has 28 words a week and 3 vocabulary.
refrigerator
manufacture
respect
apologize
calculator
discussion
mosquitoes
thunderstorm
lemonade

I am really enjoying the homeschool, both kids are too, I can really see how much they are learning and retaining. It is harder than what Britt is used to. Braden not so much yet since I retained him, but I know it will get harder. I keep seeing little things that show this was the right path for us.

I figure if they can do good using this abeka curriculium they should be doing good. Now I better spell check this post because I am not as advanced yet...LOL

Side effect

I have realized one bad side effect of me homeschooling the kids....

baking...

both kids love to do it.....

I love to do it....

we make it part of our time together....

the problem is I am going to gain 100 pounds...

But these are hot out of the oven and who can resist.

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday evening was a nice relaxing evening in we played Trouble with the kids. We also watched Hoot which is a cute movie. We all enjoyed it.

Saturday Hubby had the kids all day while I attended a Homeschool Moms Retreat day. I really got a lot out of the retreat and enjoyed it. I came home and ordered several things off the internet that I had heard about. Hubby and the kids had a good time he took them to the library, out to lunch, to the movie to see Barnyard which they all liked. Saturday evening we met at Logan's for dinner and to celebrate my friends 35th birthday.

This morning we went to church and this afternoon I got so much paralegal work done. I had been putting things off and off and further off but I finally sit down and did quite a bit today. Not caught up yet but I got quite a bit done and so that makes me feel better. Did lesson plans for the week got papers ready. Hubby cleaned out the freezer which was nice. We have two freezers he got one of them done, even cooked off some chicken for me. We had bought one of those foodsavers and he used it to repackage things.

So at least we got some stuff accomplished this weekend. Now to get the rest of my chore charts and menus done for the week.

I think only I could do this

I joke that if it is something klutzy or a small percentage it will happen then it will happen to me.

This morning at WalMart picked up a six pack of Sunny D, I guess I grabed it wrong because I dropped it. It hit my right wrist as I was trying to grab it. All of a sudden it hurt, I mean really hurt, by the time I got home it was swollen and about a 3 inch length bruise. Hubby wanted me to go get it xrayed (I have a history of breaking bones in the weirdest ways). I instead put ice on it and took some pain reliever. The swelling is down, I have a nice pretty bruise, but I don't think it is broken.

Ugh, so I have spent the day trying to do things with one arm, because it still hurts like heck.

Of course I am at this moment using one of the recalled Dell laptops on battery power maybe it wont burst into flames as I sit here of course with my luck I better turn it off now.

It Works For Me

We have set items for breakfast and lunch. No arguing through the week. The kids helped pick the menu so they know on Monday morning when they wake up it is cereal, Tuesday it is frozen waffles, Wednesday is scrambled eggs, Thursday is pancakes or toaster strudle, Friday is cereal. We don't do this for the weekends but it is so nice during the week. Same with lunch Monday's spagethi o's, Tuesday corn dogs, Wednesday sandwhiches, Thursday soup, Friday make our own english muffin pizzas.

It takes away the arguing and meal planning for those two meals which makes it much easier on me...It Works For Me!

Falling into a pattern

I think we are starting to get the hang of the homeschool. Of course still tons to learn and I am still not as organized as I want to be, but all in all it is falling together.

I am so thankful that we decided to do this. Things in our small school system are getting worse there are now several lawsuits against the school. People are lashing out at the wrong people. It is a mess and I am so thankful my kids are not there and that I do not have to deal with those teachers daily.

Today we are heading out for a homeschool group skate. Should be fun.

I have tons of paralegal work to catch up on and that is on my agenda for tonight...that is not fun but I must must make myself do it and get caught up. I know I will feel better when I am caught back up but making myself do it is not easy.

17 hours

That is how many hours I stayed in bed with a migraine. Yuck. It has been so long since I have had that bad of migraine.

I had a headahce yesterday morning, but I was still functioning. I even talked to a friend whose husband was suffering from a migraine, but I was still functioning. About 3:00 and I was no longer functioning and boom it hit. I had taken some Excedrin Tension Headache but no luck. I was out of my Zomig. I ended up taking two phenergans, 3 Melotonin (to help me sleep it off), 2 Alieve. Finally the nausea got kicked about 7 pm. I went back to sleep and when I woke up at 2 am the headache was gone. Now I am just dragging and feeling drained.

Of course this is on a day that I have lots to get done. Of course I have lots to do everyday.

Oops I forgot

Brae walked into the office this morning all excited he had gotten dressed without being prompted (or threatening of getting beat like I normally have to do to him.

Brae: Look Mom I got dressed

Me: Wow and without me asking thanks (looking a little closer)

Me: Brae did you forget to take your pajamas off first.

Brae: oops I forgot (running away to fix it)

Revamping the system and a free night

It is the end of our first week of homeschool. Kids are not doing school today because I need to revamp. I can already tell somethings that are working and some aspeccts that are not going to work. So I will redo lesson plans, do some supplementing and things like that today.

My parents want the kids tonight. They called saying they hadn't seen their babies all week. So of course I packed the fastest bag in history and had the kids on the curb by the end of the phone call.

So now hubby and I have a free evening. Hubby is on call so we cant go far from his computer. Still will be nice. I think I will get dinner and bring home this evening and if it is not scorching hot (yesterday 107 without heat index) we may eat then enjoy the backyard and the pool.

Exciting news for our house!

Braden started speech therapy before he turned 3 because of his severe apraxia issues. Speech therapy is about 20-25 minutes to get there, 30 minute session, and then 20-25 back home. So it takes a chunk of time.

He started out going 5 days a week,
About 2 years ago went to 4 days a week,
A year ago went to 3 days a week.....

today she said he is doing SO good and if we keep practicing and correcting she feels comfortable with him only coming...

2 days a week...

to some this may not seem like a big deal but going from 5 days a week to 2 is a big deal and just going from 3 to 2 is going to help so much not having to go into town as often is a big thing.

The biggest thing is the boost of confidence this has given Brae. I made him call his nana and papa and share the news. He is so excited he said "I am just getting great at talking"....he has worked so hard to overcome so many things and this speech has been so hard and he is getting there and he has worked on it, we practice he takes instructions...(Can you tell I am excited...LOL)!

Finding more and more available

When we first thought about homeschooling it was almost out of desperation of our current situation. I didn't know much about it, we had thought about it when we lived in Pennsylvania and had we stayed there probably would have learned more and done that. That didn't happen since we moved when Brittney was a year old. I knew a lot of people in Pennsylvania in our church who homeschooled. But here, I just hadnt.

Well the more I looekd into it and researched after we made the decision to do it. I found lots of people.

Today we went to a fun activity. A Homeschool Network group had rented out the entire water park. It was posted on the homeschool group website that we belong too. I assumed there would be a lot from our group. Only two that I knew were there. The others all from other groups and there were lots of them there.

I just never knew how much was available. I was glad I went to the group today they have a renissaince fair, and lots of activities. Plus our group that we joined has lots. Also learned of another group. If I am not careful I will have us too overscheduled and that is not the point of doing things the way we have chose. So I will be careful of what activities I sign us up for, but next week we are going to look at joining Choir, because both my kids love to sing and I would love them to learn properly (not from their tone deaf mother singing to High School Musical soundtrack in the van). Also have a skate lined up for next week. It is nice to know there are so many around here that do homeschool and that there are so many things to do it really lessens the feeling of overwhleming for me. Sorta that not alone so okay I can do this thing.

Not exactly what I pictured but it will work

Okay first my excuses....
I did it in between teaching the kids, while planning to have 15 kids over for a Brownie back to school party this afternoon, between housecleaning, and I really needed another cake mix and didn't have one...so with all my excuses in place...

It's not that it is bad it's just not what I wanted it to be...I was going to do vanilla wafers with kids faces on them but without more cake there was just no way to make it big enough...

okay no more excuses here is the back to school cake............................
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It is a Brownie Back to School Bash...4 of the kids (my 2 included) are homeschooled but I think the school bus means back to school to everyone.

Changes

I am trying to update my profile and my little blurb at the top of the blog and it got me to thinking about all the changes since I started blogging.

I did my first entry in June of 2004. We had returned from vacation with Anne and her family (wow Anne it's been too long we need to do another vacation).

At the time Braden had been through 4 surgeries on his brain and would have to have more. Braden's speech was unintelligible, we were in constant watch for signs of an upcoming convulsion seizure. I was involved in school, PTA president, I was working to grow my homebased paralegal business.

Now Hubby and I have celebrated 11 years of marriage, Braden has been convulsion seizure free for almost a year, no more surgeries are scheduled, his speech has improved SO much. He is very intelligible to anyone around him for any length of time.

Brittney has continued to grow and just surprise me wiht her wit and intelleigence.

I am now a homeschool mom, I have recently cut down my homebased paralegal business so that it would be more managable.

For someone who likes order, organization and loathes major changes, I have to say these changes are good!

Doesnt look to unhappy about it

Brittney was all excited to show hubby and I what she had done to her brother why he was watching TV in her room. By the expression when hubby grabbed the camera and took the pic Braden didn't mind it too much.

Five Things Meme

Following Manababies and Anne, here is my Five Things Meme

Five things in my freezer:
Box of Corn Dogs
Frozen Veggies
Popscicles
Waffles
Ice Packs for booboos (one with sharks, one with cats and one bob the builder)

Five things in my closet:
Clothes-that don't fit
Shoes - and more shoes and more shoes
Books - hubby built me great book shelves in my closet and I use them!
Purses - lots of purses, not as many as shoes but still quite a lot
Iron and spray startch

Five things in my car:
Empty water bottles
Trash from fast food places
Paper from straws (brittney and I try to blow the paper off at each other)
Wet wipes
Phone car charger

Five things in my purse:
Planner calendar
Wallet
Spoon (I picked it up out of the car to bring in and it hasnt made it to the kitchen yet)
Old To do lists
receipts waiting to be deducted from the checkbook

Five things in my wallet:
Credit cards
Lots of change (Because it keeps Braden entertained at resteraunts counting coins)
Coupons for eating places
Pictures
Free bowling passes that are about to expire

Trying to remember to chill

I have a very bad habit, I want things just so, I want things perfect. Most things I have come to realize aren't going to perfect. I can't control everyone else and so I just have things as organized as possible and go on about things.

With this decision to homeschool, I have been in freakout mode for the past week. Bringing on a major headache.

I ordered the abeka dvd curriculium months ago it is great from what I have seen. But I also want to do extra stuff....well the getting the extra stuff organized, plus the new incentives, plus trying to do some budget cutting, get my home based business organzied to do more in less time, and on and on.

Well I have come to an important realization. It is not going to happen all at once in perfect order. So I have decided to go ahead and start with homeschool on Monday using the abeka and an abbreviated schedule. We will do this and get used to this until at least September then I will integrate the extra stuff in.

I am going to have to just chill out and for those that know me even a little bit that is one of the hardest things for me to do...I am such a type A personality. But just picking a starting point has helped and we will do the little things I want in place (menus, semi schedule, and incentives for reading) but the rest will wait....or at least I am saying that now...LOL.

Tidbits of the day

I took the kids to a waterpark about an hour away today to meet up with some friends that we don't get to see very often.

I made a point get a water camera to take, I was so set on taking the camera I even forgot my sunscreen. Which I had to stop and buy. I even commented at least I have my camera. My goal was to take lots of pics and then take the film to WalMart to be put on a cd.

I ended up with the camera in my locker, and never remembered to get it out again. Oops. So taking it did me lots of good.

Tommorow I have lots of local errands and shopping to get done.

I have been on a search I am so addicted to Excedrin Migrain Quick Tabs (they dissolve) apparently they have quit manufacturing them...they are selling them on ebay for up to $40 a box...ugh...I don't think I am that addicted...but oh man I will miss them because they help so much.

I am still feeling a little overwhelmed over homeschool and other upcoming projects but I am hoping to get myself a little more together tommorow and this weekend.

Overwhelmed

When we made the decision to homeschool it was not an easy decision to make. We weighed the pros and cons. In the end we felt it was the best decision for us and the kids.

I have been really excited about it, but now....

I am starting to get overwhelmed.

I had planned to start homeschool mid next week, and honestly I am not ready. We are doing the abeka dvd curriculium and I thought that would be easier set out for me, but still feeling the overwhelming of what I have taken on.

I am still excited, just having to tamper down this overwhelming feeling.

Hubby is taking kids to church tonight so I can have some time. I am looking forward to that, I think once I get started with it then all will fall into place, but untill then I promise to be a stressed out mess.