More and more

Seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. We are still working on our school work in hopes of finishing by the end of June. Fingers crossed! The house is staying relatively clean, so long as you are not looking at the girls' rooms. Taekwondo is going well. I have taken over the white/yellow belt classes for most of the teaching; Mike is not even coming in until class is almost over now. John is working hard, but taking some time off later this week.

Some days I feel great about life. Even on days when the house is a mess and we are behind in school. Today is not one of those days. The house is clean but my mind is cluttered. I have quite a few things I need to remember to do, or deliver, in the next couple of days. John will be home and I worry school will not get done while he is here (it usually doesn't when he is home). It is easy to say, "just do it" but it is not always easy to do.

I have another pretzel order, with cupcakes this time! Too bad I cannot get her to respond to my emails regarding the colors. I think this is the part frustrating me these days.

Anyway. John has decided not to get a pool this year. I think we'll stick to the small one we have and the sprinklers, for cooling off. I have quite a few places I'd like to take the girls before it gets too hot. I would love to have school at the lake one day, but with our county getting out of school this week I'm not sure that would be a great idea. I'm sure the girls would not like doing school work while they hear other children screaming and splashing in the water. :)

This past weekend we took the girls to the NC Zoo. The NC Zoo was our second date years ago. Back then I was there, sometimes, once a week. Do you know the saying, "You can't go home again?" Well, it is true. My zoo is not the same. Once the African Pavilion was full of animals and now it is full of orchids. They now charge you $2/each to stand on a deck to "see" the giraffes, just to "see" them! The trip really made me appreciate Riverbanks more. However, Chloe is now happy she saw a polar bear! And I'm happy we won't have to go back for two, or more, years until they open the new polar bear exhibit.

I can finally tell!

I know some of you have been curious. And really I have been dying to talk about it, but it was a secret...until today!

Today, we gave our Shondraya (from John's work) a surprise baby shower!!! She is due in July and was not expecting a shower at work. She was REALLY surprised.

I just found out about the shower one-and-a-half weeks ago. I had started crocheting a blanket for her, thinking I had LOTS of time. I started working hard on it then. I did get it finished Tuesday.

Yesterday the girls and I made two batches of cupcakes and about a dozen candied pretzels with little feet and blocks that spell out BABY. They had so much fun doing it for Shondraya. They think she is so funny!

I will try to find a picture of her with the blanket so you can see her smiling face.




Now, to rest. :)

Wow! I am tired alreay!

Well, here it is Wednesday night and our event is coming up quickly. I spent today baking cupcakes and making candied pretzels. Tomorrow the icing will go on the cupcakes...if I can keep John out of them. :) Everything else is done!

John was at the school house again today and then tomorrow. Wow! It is so nice with him not driving so much to get to work. Still wishing he were there all the time, but I am trying to enjoy it while I can.

I have nothing else to say that would not bore you to tears so I'll stop here. Soon...I can tell you all about our event. Can't wait!

Normal = Crazy

I am trying to remember that our normal is really crazy. We have so many things going on in so many different aspects of our lives, and of course it all happens all at the same time.

This week we had our last Nature class. Well, we all thought it was going to be. :) While we were there, our fearless leader (April), thought we should schedule one class a month for the summer. Okay, a quick update. Our Nature class instructor, Ms. Chanda, will be leaving for a full-time, permanent job. Boo! Hiss! Boo! Okay, we are thrilled for her, but not so happy for us. So, April, thought we should get in a few more classes with Chanda before her departure. Of course, we all agreed!

So, there we all stood under the shade of the trees looking at Chanda's calendar trying to decide on days (and times for summer). They did agree, reluctantly, to earlier times during the summer for our Chloe who does not do well in the heat. I love this group of women!!!! We actually scheduled all of our classes through December!! Wow! When we get going, we just cannot stop. :)

Then I spoke with a friend this morning. Now, I'll say this is going to be very elusive, because I cannot disclose much information in case someone reads this who should not. Okay, we have an event next week. At first I thought I just needed to "get" something. Then today, after talking to my friend, I found out I am going to "make" something AND I need to be at this event early and late because my friend will not be able to be there. She needs me to set-up and make sure everything flows. I'll explain next week after the event, when it can be discussed. :) I just want to point out now I have two days next week that will be full that were not going to be originally. No, I'm not complaining about this one I just need to rework our schedule a bit.

John has been working at the school house this week. I have to say I've been loving it! He has not had to leave until after 7am for two mornings; and this morning not until 7:45! Not only was he in a good mood, but he even cooked breakfast while I started making cupcakes for the "Guard fam". It was so nice. I wish he worked there full-time! Oh, well.

The girls are doing well in school. They are finally back in the groove of "book work" and Chloe is even doing better with her math. We worked on it, just the two of us in a quiet room, a couple of nights ago and I think it really helped her confidence. We still have much to learn and to do before the end of school, but we are getting there.

TKD is going to be hard tonight. Master Mike is taking his wife to dinner for her birthday and I'm getting all of the classes. Brady has an awards dinner at school so he won't be there. Alex will be there, but after last week I know he has to be constantly monitored by me, or my girls. White and yellow belts need to learn a few new moves and the first bit of their form. Two new green belts are doing reverses for the first time. More reverse kicks for the blues and reds. Two new first degree black belts need to learn the "correct" kick (Alex taught the wrong one last week) and the nine-block. And green through first degree black belts all need to learn the first part of their forms. Should be an exhausting night!

Ever feel like you are so far behind that maybe you haven't started?

Well, that is me today.

A few years ago my friend, Monica, introduced me to The Well-Trained Mind. I loved the book! It made me believe I could not only homeschool my children, but they would flourish both personally and intellectually. Then I discovered the WTM website. I poured through all the posts, asked many questions and even answered a few. Then before I knew it the entire WTM website changed. I found it difficult to understand. I am not a computer person. Therefore, the changes led me away from the site. I go on every now and then to see what people are talking about, but, honestly, I still don't get how much of it works to this day.

Today, while the girls were reading, I jumped onto the site again. This time of year there is much talk about what people are using for diffent subjects. Why they like/dislike something. I like to see what others think sometimes. But today things hit me a bit differently. Today, I saw myself through some one else's eyes. As I read through the posts, I saw myself lacking in so many ways.

The women, and men, there all pour themselves into homeschooling. Not just during "school hours", but all day every day. They create forms to fill in and logs to keep track of things. They take their homeschooling books with them on long drives to read through AGAIN! They plan their entire year out in a matter of weeks!

I found myself growing more depressed with every post I read. I have not planned out this year!! And it is almost finished. I do not use a BOOK to guide me on how to teach life lessons (which I find to be a bit ridiculous...it is life, use it!). When I finally decided I felt bad enough I logged off. I sit here looking at my girls as they work wondering how bad am I doing. I don't get graded. I don't have (nor really want) someone looking over my shoulder saying, "You going to cover that?" I don't know what I want or why I even type this. I only know that at some point all the parts and pieces of my life must come together so I can teach my children math, science, cooking, laundry, banking and so much more. Life is full of things that must be done daily and I find myself not getting a lot of them done.

Note: I know I've said all of this before in different ways. Some days it just has to come out of my head in some manner.

Mother's Day

The girls made me some pretty tissue paper flowers. They helped John with breakfast, cinnamon rolls. John even got me another new book. Have I mentioned how much I adore Mary Higgins Clark? Well, her new book came out the same time as the other. Sadly for Ms. Clark, there was no choice; waiting years for a book is not the same as waiting months. :)

Today, was mostly nice. We did end up going into town for a bit, but it wasn't bad. For the most part I have been forced to sit on the couch and watch TV programs I want to see. :) Eventually, I will have to do something, but for now I'm enjoying my day.

I just wanted to add that my wonderful, loving husband and children cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast: cinnamon rolls. Lunch: Grilled New York strips, baked potatoes, and green beans. Dinner: chicken salad sandwhiches (John's homemade chicken salad). They are the best!

So much to tell ya!

First, I'll start with Cal. We took him back today to have his stitches removed. However, the doc didn't want to remove them because one spot did not look completely healed. We'll have to take him back in a couple of weeks, BUT he can go back outside. YES! I can sleep in my own bed and hopefully not be woke up in the middle of the night...several times. :)

Our home organizing is coming along. We purchased the second shelf for the classroom closet. It has made such a HUGE difference already. Everything that was in the closet has returned to the closet and I have even put some things that were in a bookcase in the closet. We purchased 16" shelves and it has made a remarkable difference. We have decided I need a third shelf, but only a three-foot one, rather than a six-foot one like the others. The three-foot shelf will house my sewing machine. I have agreed to let go of the desk I was keeping it on because it was in the middle of the room. I have to admit the room looks great without it. And with John's new rule of the classroom table has to be cleaned off each day I should have no problem with a place to put the sewing machine when I want it out.

I also reorganized the linen closet. I had recently worked on it, but a few weeks ago decided to donate a few things. Therefore, another reno was needed.

The girls are doing well with school work. Funny story: this morning at the vet's office the girls were doing some reading for school (we had a forty minute wait). An older gentleman came in and noticed the title of Jesse's book ("Franklin D. Roosevelt"). He told me he was impressed by the title for her age. I explained it was part of her history reading and he was happy with that. :) Most people in there just looked at us weird...probably wondering why they were not "in" school. LOL

The girls are counting down the days to my birthday. Before you say, "Aw, thats sweet." Hold that thought. They are couting down because that is one of the days for the next audition for CCT, for "Music Man Jr.". I still have not decided if I'm going to take them that day or the day before. I think we are leaning toward my birthday, so John can come to auditions. (Leaving work 1 1/2 hours early rather than 2 1/2 hours early sounds better.)

The great pool debate is continuing in our home. Last year we were going to get an above ground pool, then changed our minds. Now, John is convinced, again, it is a good idea. Not sure where we'll go from here. I'll keep ya posted.