My daredevil...
My live life to the fullest...
My try new things even if they're hard...
My independent...
My beautiful eyed...
My sweet, wonderful, and precious girl...
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
she's 5
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
first day
Here are the babes before we got our first day of school underway yesterday! So proud of these two!!!
Monday, August 22, 2011
horrifying things
1. My complete and total disdain (aka, freaking out in tears) for mice has been well documented here. I have blissfully lived our married life (9.5 years) without one mouse in our house. Well, that we know of. Our first little place was a bit shady. Anyway, it's been awesome. But it was always in the back of my mind knowing it can happen at any moment. I can't be naive enough to think we will be a mouseless house forever. Well, the streak ended folks. Thankfully they (yes,THEY ) were only in our garage and not our house. And thankfully my husband has dealt with it all and I never had to even see them (yes, THEM). We noticed recently that a trash bag we had set in the garage had been nibbled and it was obvious it was a mouse. What else sneaks in your garage and nibbles?! We still had never seen or heard anything, but Phil set traps for us Thursday night. We caught one the first night. Hooray, it's gone! But then we caught another one the next day. And we have proceeded to now catch 2 mice children. We had a freakin family livin up in here. Uninvited I might add. My sister said I should just hope it's not the Gosselins of mice. Seriously. It's kinda creep city that we've killed a mom, dad, and two children. But at the same time...adios amigos. I must say I've handled it quite well. I think that's mostly because it wasn't in the house and I never saw one. Because if that was the case, I probably would have up and moved by now, let's be honest. So anyway, pray with me that there is never a number 5. I would die a thousand deaths. K?
2. Now onto horrifying thing number dos. I can't believe I'm putting this on here but it's so hilarious I have to. You know the little light colored peach fuzzy hair on the side of your face? Well I was putting on my moisturizer the other day and saw a hair and went to brush it back thinking it was from my head. Oh no folks, it was on my face. And it was like 4 inches long. No lie. It was the thin, peach fuzzy stuff. Yet one had gone wild and grown out of control. I quickly yanked that baby out. But seriously, how long has that been there?! It's like I'm embarrassed for every thing I've done for the past few months (cause come on, that was growing for awhile!) I'm not sure where to go from here. I am not a hairy person generally, so maybe it's an age thing? Either way, I guess inspections are required on the regular from here on out. Yikes.
3. And now for the last horrifying thing...I have a child in first grade and a child in kindergarten. OK, so it's not very horrifying at all. In fact that part is exciting and awesome. I guess just the whole time flies part is horrifying. Did I not just birth these babies?! Parenting is like a whole mess of wonderfulness heaped up, but a little pinch of bittersweet is thrown in there too. Sigh.
OK, that's all I have to scare you with today. Hopefully back soon with some first day of school pics!
2. Now onto horrifying thing number dos. I can't believe I'm putting this on here but it's so hilarious I have to. You know the little light colored peach fuzzy hair on the side of your face? Well I was putting on my moisturizer the other day and saw a hair and went to brush it back thinking it was from my head. Oh no folks, it was on my face. And it was like 4 inches long. No lie. It was the thin, peach fuzzy stuff. Yet one had gone wild and grown out of control. I quickly yanked that baby out. But seriously, how long has that been there?! It's like I'm embarrassed for every thing I've done for the past few months (cause come on, that was growing for awhile!) I'm not sure where to go from here. I am not a hairy person generally, so maybe it's an age thing? Either way, I guess inspections are required on the regular from here on out. Yikes.
3. And now for the last horrifying thing...I have a child in first grade and a child in kindergarten. OK, so it's not very horrifying at all. In fact that part is exciting and awesome. I guess just the whole time flies part is horrifying. Did I not just birth these babies?! Parenting is like a whole mess of wonderfulness heaped up, but a little pinch of bittersweet is thrown in there too. Sigh.
OK, that's all I have to scare you with today. Hopefully back soon with some first day of school pics!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Dege
I just love reading the letters we have gotten from our sponsor children. We just got one today and I cry every time! There is just such a humbleness, sweetness, and simplicity that this girl can learn from. Here's what our 8 year old boy had to say this time:
"How are you doing whom I love? I am fine. Praise God. I am in good health and in peace. I finished this academic year with good result. I learn God's word in the project. I learnt that God loves his children.
It is cold here. How about yours?
Pray for me to love and fear God and to be a smart student.
Bye!"
(Then he drew a beautiful, colorful picture of some flowers and trees)
We love you sweet Dege!
"How are you doing whom I love? I am fine. Praise God. I am in good health and in peace. I finished this academic year with good result. I learn God's word in the project. I learnt that God loves his children.
It is cold here. How about yours?
Pray for me to love and fear God and to be a smart student.
Bye!"
(Then he drew a beautiful, colorful picture of some flowers and trees)
We love you sweet Dege!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
school-tastic
I've had a lot of people asking me recently what we're doing for school this year. And if we're ready.
Um, can you ever be 100% ready until you just go for it and see what happens? Oh, maybe it's just me then! I kinda always feel like people say it with a foreboding tone, like dun dun dun...are you SURE you want to do this?! It makes me laugh. Do I doubt myself sometimes? Wonder if I can really give my kids a great education? Of course! A lot, actually. But I also believe those are lies. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! And I really count it a MASSIVE privilege to be able to experience these young years with my children and teach them in the way they should go. I wouldn't give up witnessing these firsts for anything, folks. Really. Truly. It's a joy! I am not mother of the year, I am not a crazy organized person, I'm not a wild go-getter. But like I said, I believe I can do this because I abide in Him. And He's awesome.
I first started homeschooling when Gibson was 3, so this isn't our first go-round. I know, it was just preschool, but I was lesson planning and we were learning. It was very low key and low pressure. Just the way I think it should be at that age. But he was interested, so we did it. This year he will be starting "first grade" and Maya "kindergarten". I put quotes around them because we'll just be moving as they're ready, and not really just sticking to a grade level. I thought I'd list out our curriculum here, both as a resource for others, and just for us to keep track from year to year. And I also would love people to see that homeschooling can be affordable, so I'll list out the price. Keep in mind this total will be for 2 children.
1. Bible: Daily devotional and some study books that we already have. Free
2. Core (language arts, math, social studies, science): Time 4 Learning. This is an on-line program and is a monthly subscription of 19.95 for your first child, and 14.95 for a second. So roughly $35 a month for both children. We will be schooling 8 months out of the year (roughly), so that's $280 for the year for two kids. I have quite a few reasons for choosing this, but I won't go on and on here. If you would like to talk more about it let me know!
3. Handwriting and Spelling: A Reason For. It was actually cheaper to order it on amazon, so I got a teacher book for spelling, a student book for spelling, and two different levels of handwriting student books for $65 and free shipping.
4. Art: The World's Greatest Artists. The books for this study are available through our library, so the cost for us will be free.
5. PE: Family Time Fitness. It is a one time purchase of $77. It has 365 lessons with it, which will probably last us a good 2 years. And then we can start all over again! So this is a great deal. It has good ideas so you don't have to think it up yourself. Worth it.
6. Spanish: Speekee. It is an online subscription for $7.50 a month. For one school year that works out to be $60 for two kids. We'll eventually do something like Rosetta Stone, but this is a great place to start with young children.
So that is that. We are excited to start and it's less than 2 weeks away! If we start some of these things and just don't love them, I will keep you posted!
Um, can you ever be 100% ready until you just go for it and see what happens? Oh, maybe it's just me then! I kinda always feel like people say it with a foreboding tone, like dun dun dun...are you SURE you want to do this?! It makes me laugh. Do I doubt myself sometimes? Wonder if I can really give my kids a great education? Of course! A lot, actually. But I also believe those are lies. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! And I really count it a MASSIVE privilege to be able to experience these young years with my children and teach them in the way they should go. I wouldn't give up witnessing these firsts for anything, folks. Really. Truly. It's a joy! I am not mother of the year, I am not a crazy organized person, I'm not a wild go-getter. But like I said, I believe I can do this because I abide in Him. And He's awesome.
I first started homeschooling when Gibson was 3, so this isn't our first go-round. I know, it was just preschool, but I was lesson planning and we were learning. It was very low key and low pressure. Just the way I think it should be at that age. But he was interested, so we did it. This year he will be starting "first grade" and Maya "kindergarten". I put quotes around them because we'll just be moving as they're ready, and not really just sticking to a grade level. I thought I'd list out our curriculum here, both as a resource for others, and just for us to keep track from year to year. And I also would love people to see that homeschooling can be affordable, so I'll list out the price. Keep in mind this total will be for 2 children.
1. Bible: Daily devotional and some study books that we already have. Free
2. Core (language arts, math, social studies, science): Time 4 Learning. This is an on-line program and is a monthly subscription of 19.95 for your first child, and 14.95 for a second. So roughly $35 a month for both children. We will be schooling 8 months out of the year (roughly), so that's $280 for the year for two kids. I have quite a few reasons for choosing this, but I won't go on and on here. If you would like to talk more about it let me know!
3. Handwriting and Spelling: A Reason For. It was actually cheaper to order it on amazon, so I got a teacher book for spelling, a student book for spelling, and two different levels of handwriting student books for $65 and free shipping.
4. Art: The World's Greatest Artists. The books for this study are available through our library, so the cost for us will be free.
5. PE: Family Time Fitness. It is a one time purchase of $77. It has 365 lessons with it, which will probably last us a good 2 years. And then we can start all over again! So this is a great deal. It has good ideas so you don't have to think it up yourself. Worth it.
6. Spanish: Speekee. It is an online subscription for $7.50 a month. For one school year that works out to be $60 for two kids. We'll eventually do something like Rosetta Stone, but this is a great place to start with young children.
So that is that. We are excited to start and it's less than 2 weeks away! If we start some of these things and just don't love them, I will keep you posted!
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