WOW!

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since I have blogged! Life has been crazy! We successfully finished testing and I think the kids did pretty well. They focused, took their time and really tried - that's all I can ask! Thanks for praying! We will know the results in about eight weeks.

I have some exciting news - there is a new love in my life: My new washer and dryer!!! We have been saving for awhile and researching for the right one - and we finally went for it! They are made by Fisher-Paykel, a New Zealand company! One of the reasons we settled on this pair is the fact that they are small. Our basement door and stairs are narrow - 27" - and we needed something that would fit in the basement. As you can see we were a little wrong on the dryer. The black marks you see on the side were a result of the dryer not being quite narrow enough! Oh, well! It's in the basement - no one will really see it and Andy says he's going to get some Rustoleum and paint it. The washer is still 3.7 cu. feet - bigger than my old one. My old washer was rusting and dropping bits of rust in the wash, leaving nasty little rust marks on various pieces of clothing. I LOVE this new set! The dryer is a top load dryer - so cool! Except I am a bit short to reach the bottom of it! I have to have a stool to reach the small things! The other cool thing about my new dryer is that it collects the lint in a little bucket and I just have to pull the bucket and dump it into the garbage!!! No more lint dust everywhere! Sarah really like this feature:She just laughed when she saw the little happy face! It even thanks you for using it! So silly - but I love it!

Not much else is going on. We have 34 days of school left. I know I shouldn't be counting, but I am ready to focus on something other than school. I am already planning our schedule for the summer and writing out the jobs that I would like to accomplish. It feels good to know that there is a plan for the summer - though Andy's schedule is looking rather crazy! Pray for him as everything comes together for the next few months.

Daniel has been a real ham lately and has loved having his picture taken - here is an example:He's so cute - isn't he!?!?!

Busy Easter Weekend!

Our weekend started off by heading up to Andy's parent's Friday afternoon. We made a few stops along the way and finally got up there about 6:00 pm. The kids had a great time getting their Easter gifts (Matt - Bionicle LEGO (VERY excited about this!), Sarah - a Littlest Pet Shop set, and Daniel - a toy truck that he LOVES) and creating gimp lanyards with the new EZ Gimptool they purchased at A.C. Moore on the way up. They also got a gimp kit from PopPop and Grammy that they can't wait to use. After finally settling them into bed (right PopPop!?!?!) Lois and I ran to their SuperCenter WalMart which I LOVE. I so wish they had one here in Philly. I had to get supplies for the Easter Egg hunt that Andy puts on for the kids each year!

The next morning the kids woke up and we had the Easter egg hunt. Daniel was a riot. He's not very good at looking for things by direction - he looks everywhere except for where you are pointing! But he had fun. Matt and Sarah also had a blast trying to find the harder placed eggs. After the egg hunt Matt, Sarah and I headed off to the Smith's. My friend, Donna, had a birthday party for her daughter. We had not seen them in months - far too long! Matt had a great time playing with Zachary and Ian and Sarah had a good time with Courtney and Emma. I had fun talking with Donna. It's funny how we don't see each other for so long and can pick up right where we left off! She is an amazing mom and friend! I hope to see her a lot this summer.Sunday was Easter and the kids awoke to their baskets at the breakfast table. Almost all the candy was from CVS - so I didn't pay anything for that! They were happy with what they got. Then they dressed in their Easter finery - thanks to MomMom! and looked VERY smart indeed! See for yourself!After church - which was crowded with visitors - we went to my mom's for the day. The kids had fun visiting with their cousin Sam. Daniel entertained everyone with his guitar playing show! He loves to entertain!

Monday came fast and now we are in the middle of testing. Two days down, two more to go! They are doing pretty well. Please continue to pray that they would stay focused and do their best.

So Funny!

We use the Discover Card as our credit card and we pay it off every month. The reason we use it is for the Cashback rewards. I usually get the Borders or Olive Garden gift cards and the occasional SEARS for Andy. Well, we have accrued a number of points and so I decided to see what other partners they dealt with and guess what......! CVS is one of their partners!!!!! So I ordered a gift card and I can't wait until it gets here! Now I don't have to spend ANY out of pocket money!!!! This is sooo cool! Can you tell I'm a little excited!!! I know it's silly, but I just had to share!!!

The Proverbial Wall.....

We have hit it. We are tired. I know this point comes every year with homeschooling - usually it has come earlier - but it does come. We are tired of the curriculum, tired of working all day, and just plain tired! Rainy days don't help either (even though I love them!). So what do I do when we hit the wall? We stop. Matt completed Math, English, Spelling, and Reading. Sarah completed the same but Phonics and Vocabulary as well. We then ordered Pizza Hut - thanks to the Book It program - and went to Target to get some gifts for a birthday party we have this weekend. I have learned that there is no sense in pushing to get things done for the sake of checking them off the master list. They won't learn anything anyway. So for today we took a small break. Tomorrow will be another day to complete things and Friday is a half day. Next week is testing and we will only do history, civics, science, art, health, and music. These things, according to my kids, are the "fun" things. Please continue to pray that testing will go well and we will get accurate results.

Today, I also took off from the "big kids" to focus on the "little kid"! Daniel and I took out blocks and built towers to knock over with cars. He has this great belly laugh! We had fun! Daniel has a set of see through blocks that have a letter stamped on one side. Each item within the block correlates to the letter stamped on it. So in the 'B' block there is a 'bunch of bananas'. Of course, the teacher in me, had to go over what was inside the blocks. He thought this was so much fun and kept asking what was in each one. I am still amazed at his math ability. He can count to 12 and can tell me how many objects he has - like two blocks. Associating numbers with things is a big thing for a 2 year old! He definitely has a math mind - like his father! Though I recently heard that intelligence is inherited from the mother!?!?! Not likely in this case! I really have to work on focusing more time on my sweet baby. It really relaxed me!

Hallelujah!!!

Today was the first day in three weeks that Matt has completed ALL of his school work scheduled for the day! YEAH!!! Did I plan any less? NO! Is he capable of doing the work that is scheduled for him? YES! Today proved it. When he puts his head together and cooperates it goes well and he completes the tasks. Was it a smooth day? No, not really, but he got it all done! And I am extremely happy. Tomorrow is KidSport and I only schedule the morning work as we have to leave by 1:00 p.m. and don't get home until 3:30 p.m. When we get home its get dinner ready and get out the door for Kids Club. Tuesday's are crazy - but I really love KidSport and will do it any day of the week! I also planned a half day for Friday so that we can go to Andy's parents and spend some time with them. After this week we only have eight more weeks of school! WOOHOO!! 40 days! I am ready for the break and so are the kids, though we still do "things" throughout the summer to keep them on track. This summers goal is to learn our math facts backwards and forwards. I have several games planned to help meet our goal. I just think math is so much easier when you don't have to "think" about the facts - the extra step. I am also planning on a lot of reading - both my own and the kids! Only 40 more days!

Great Day

Friday was a great day! Andy and the kids left with the Hinson boys around 10:00 am - and didn't return home until almost 8:00 pm!!! You would think I would have gotten everything on my list completed - but do you know how long it takes to wash and fold and put away 10 (yes, that is TEN!) loads of laundry? I also cleaned my bedroom and went through several containers in which things that have no official home (or no time to put in their official home) have gathered and it was time to find homes or give them away. I also spent an hour outside in the front yard cleaning the trash that has gathered in our little fenced in area all winter. It looks so good right now! I love it when it is clean. I can't wait to plant my flowers - only about two more months until I can!!!!Andy and the kids had a blast with the Hinson's at Grammy and PopPops. They also loved visiting the farm where they retrieved the seasoned soil. Daniel is in love with cows! He was so excited! Andy said Daniel and Kyler really got along well and seemed to enjoy each others company. Here is a picture that Matt caught of them "talking". Isn't it cute!!! I pray that they will grow up to be fast friends.

Matt had a good time with Paxton. As Paxton gets older Matt enjoys him more. Before Matt didn't really know what to do with a "little" kid, but Paxton will be six next month and has really grown a lot in the last year. They had a fun time wrestling on the mats.

I'll let the rest of the pictures tell the rest of the story. It was a good day for all!Kyler thought it would be fun to go swimming!

You can't see the water, but Daniel thought it was fun to pick up the sandy dirt and let it fall from his hand into the water. Kyler enjoyed throwing rocks and seeing the water splash. It was a beautiful day! I so can't wait until spring!

Early Christmas?

Going off the previous post - I believe Christmas may have come early for me this year! Why, do you ask? I believe I may get a good portion of the day off of homeschooling tomorrow! Andy has to run up to his parents to get some manure for a garden he and some other members of the staff are planning and he has offered to take the kids with him. Frank is going up with him and taking his boys so Andy thought it would be good for our kids to tag along and get some fresh air. I am tingling with anticipation - giddy beyond belief that I may actually get caught up on the laundry and clean several rooms before someone comes along and tears thing apart!!!! I may actually get the fingerprints off the glass doors! I may get to clean my kitchen windows that have been driving me absolutely CRAZY because they are so dirty! I really am a neat freak/ clean freak by nature - but three kids and a crazy schedule have caused me to reduce the number of hours I can put to such tasks. Matt and Sarah are only able to go if they get their school work done by the time they have to leave. Sarah stayed up until 9:00 pm and has everything but Math to complete. Matt has a little more - Math, spelling, and Literature. But if he puts his mind to it he can get it done. It all depends on what his frame of mind is like. If he is diligent in doing his work and not goofing around, I may allow him to finish his work on Saturday. Hopefully, he'll wake up in a good frame of mind and get right to work.

This afternoon proved to be interesting as I received a phone call that my sister had been rushed to the hospital for an irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure. Thankfully, she is well and was released. The doctors believe that the episode could have been caused by either stress or a virus. The flu is going around something terrible at the school in which she teaches. It made Matt and Sarah nervous as they were concerned about their cousin Sam. I think it made Matt think as he asked if I had ever heard the saying "You never know what you got till it's gone" (he has heard it through a TobyMac song). I said yes and we had a good discussion about how we should appreciate the people and things in our lives each and every day.
"Does that mean school, too?" he asked.
"Yes, school too!" I said.
"I appreciate homeschooling as I know it may be gone someday." he said.
I think he is starting to see the struggle we are having in homeschooling. I know he likes being homeschooled - he just doesn't like the work. What he doesn't really understand is that he would still get work no matter where he did school. I know a Philly school would be easier - but he would be bored out of his mind!!! This week has been going better. He was behind up until yesterday, but he was diligent and caught up and now he may have the blessing of going on an unexpected trip! I hope he sees that when he is faithful in doing what he is called to do, he is blessed. Please continue to pray for his young faith and that he would continue to grow in his relationship with the Lord.