All That's Been Going On

Well, it's really been a while since I've blogged. I keep forgetting that I even have the blog really. What has been happening over the past two to three months? Hmmm...busy kids at church three days a week. After Morgana turned one, we celebrated both mine and Chris' birthdays before Shawn turned fourteen and Phalyn turned four. We call this the season of birthdays! There are six of us in the family and from August to November five of us have birthdays. I'm so glad my oldest daughter is the lone hold out :) because it takes us until April to be ready for cake again...lol. Then to add insult to injury we throw in Thanksgiving right after our last birthday and Christmas right after that. We definitely are through celebrating for a while; although it really is a celebration every day when you have so many kids. We are enjoying our two week break from school right now for the winter holidays but will be ready to hit the ground running after the New Year. We promised our little guy that we would stay up and go see fireworks for the New Year this year. He got bit with the fireworks bug back when we went to Wild Adventures on the Fourth of July. He loved them! So now, every holiday, big or small, he asks about fireworks. So as not to disappoint, we will be going downtown this year to get a glimpse at the fireworks display. Then, we will be ready to get back to the wonderful world of homeschooling. I just spent several hours last night reviewing alot of information on the internet about homeschooling highschoolers and state graduation requirements so that I will be prepared to offer our son the best in the coming years and I'm thrilled and reassured with all that I learned. It's always good to be able to breath easy when it comes to their futures. I have a sneaking suspicion that my daughter is going to be more than ready to be dual enrolled in college by the time she gets to high school. She's an eager learner, I think. Well, I will do my best to stay more up on this blog although it's probably more for my benefit than for anyone that may be reading this ;)

Fast Growing Kids

I can't believe my baby girl is already one. You would think I'd be used to this after having four kids, but I can never get used to how fast they grow. As hard as it is to believe that my little baby is now one, it's just as hard to believe that the littlest of my babies is getting ready to turn fourteen! Ah, teenagers! Phalyn is soon to be four...unbelievable! And Makayla is eleven, anxiously awaiting twelve. A toddler, preschooler, preteen and teenager. It's such a challenge to homeschool them all...at the same time. I don't know how larger families do it. I guess, really, the schooling part isn't so difficult; it's the fact that I'm needed by four different children at the same time...NOW! Trying to keep the kids encouraged and on task is probably the most tiring of all. The older two kids like to set their own schedules so I find myself constantly reminding them to get things done.
One of the fun things we have recently begun is what the kids affectionately call, "Cafeteria Lunches". I have these cafeteria style trays of three different colors so they each know their own. I give them some fish sticks, or a pizza in Shawn's case since he HATES anything to do with fish; some fruit, like some grapes and strawberries; maybe some french fries; Go-gurt; and a Fruit Roll-up. Now, to me, that's a pretty big lunch but they don't snack as much later in the day and they are full and ready to finish their work. Speaking of Cafeteria Lunches, the troops have already started asking for them. Guess I better go get them ready! Love Homeschooling and wouldn't trade it for the world!

The Busy-ness of the End of Summer

Well, the summer is coming to an end and school is about to begin. It's an exciting time for me really. The trained teacher in me looks forward to the start of a new and exciting school year. The homeschooling mom in me tends to get a bit nervous when I try to think of new ways to excite my children about learning and all of its possiblities. I have a new preschooler this year which is always very exciting since at that age they are just so thrilled to be doing "big kid work". He love, love, loves to do the activity worksheets. I'm wondering if I'll be able to plan enough to keep him satisfied that he has completed all he needs to in one day. He always wants more and more to do. Oh, the challenge! I have one child, my new middle schooler, who has already begun her favorite subjects about a month early. She's done probably a weeks worth of Handwriting and Spelling and some English, too. She's uber excited...right now! Hopefully that stays with her throughout the year. My upper middle schooler isn't so excited about the prospect of doing "school work" again. He would just as soon skip school and play games or do anything beyond doing actual work. He does love to read, however. He just finished a 546 page book in about three days but he has a hard time finding something new and interesting to read next. He has favorite authors and is extremely loyal to them. I am that way too, but fortunately my author has been around in the book world for many years and has more novels than I am in years (ok, probably double that). My husband is the same way, very loyal to his authors but also has a plethora of titles to choose from. I guess my son will get to that point himself. Anyway, I strayed from the topic at hand. The only other "student" in my house is learning to....well, she will be learning to walk...soon...probably. She's right at a year old now and loves to scoot everywhere she needs to go. She does love typing on the keyboard when Mommy is at the computer. Future genius in the works, I can see it now...lol. So with school planning underway, even though with this economy I haven't even been able to acquire all of the needed curriculum for the group, summer is coming to a close. It will be a fun time with new homeschooling friends through our church homeschooling group and kids moving up into the youth group and getting more involved at church. Oh, what fun!

Missing my Babies

Ok, so they aren't babies anymore but even at 11 and 13 I miss them when they aren't around for very long. I'm sure they are having fun and will be for the next month but it sure is noticeable that they aren't home. It's unusually quiet and there are a lot less chores to be done. I haven't once had to fuss about their rooms being clean. I wake up each day listening to see if one of the older kids has gotten up and started watching TV or gotten on the computer then I remember that they aren't here. I miss having conversations with them. Shawn is getting to the age where we can really talk about things. We've been enjoying playing a computer game together and have been giving each other hints and sending items in the mail to each other. Makayla spent the last week playing with Phalyn so much so he wouldn't miss her that I think he misses her even more. He's uncertain about where they are. At times he thinks they just haven't come home from church yet and at other times he knows where they went. He is too young at three to have a concept about how far away they really are. He knows he can talk to them on the phone but none of that makes up for how much he misses them. It's evident in his moments of silence where he just sits alone and stares blankly at a cartoon and sighs or when he's laying on the floor drawing in his coloring book and quietly utters his feelings: "I miss Shawn and Makayla." It's only been three days, roughly twenty-five to go.

Mother's Day Weekend!!!

So far this years Mother's Day is pretty awesome! First, we had a Mother's Day dinner last night of fried fish, scallops, potatoes, hush puppies and grits. Yum Yum!!! Shawn gave me a cool homemade card complete with pictures (even though he thought I would be mad for using my pictures), Makayla made me a card with ribbons and decorations, and Chris gave me a very sweet card when he got home from work today that he signed for Phalyn and Morgana. My mom, aunt and cousin even sent me virtual roses on Facebook. Oh, what fun it is!!! I'm hoping that we can go to the beach on Saturday or Sunday too. Plus, I'm looking forward to taking pictures of Makayla at the beach. Sunday morning is a Mother-Daughter breakfast in Makayla's Sunday school class that we are planning to attend. And, this is my first Mother's Day with my sweet baby girl, Morgana! I don't think I could ask for anything more this year! It's an awesome feeling when you know you're loved! Hopefully these next couple of days for Mom (that's me) will carry me through the next week, or so. We'll see!!!

The Internet

What did we do before the internet? It seems all of my friends and family are housed within this box and screen...lol. Even those I spend time talking to on the telephone are gradually working there way into my computer world, too. I love it though. It's allowed me to stay in touch with people that I would otherwise not be able to and it's even allowed me to get closer relationships with people than I would have previously expected. Besides the fact that it keeps a line of communication between my children and myself whenever they are away. My computer has become my lifeline in many ways. Whenever it was down and I couldn't access the internet I felt almost lost and out of the loop, so to speak, nevermind the fact that all of our billing is done on-line. Between blogging, keeping up with Facebook and MySpace, playing games on Pogo or Bigfish and just surfing the net, it's amazing I have enough time in the day for anything else...lol.

I'm Baaack!!!

Well, after a month of not blogging...(it doesn't feel like it's been that long)....I'm Baaackk!!! We just spent a week visiting family which I always love but the toll it takes on you is ridiculous. I wasn't quite in the mood to go in the first place and by Wednesday afternoon I was more than ready to come home. You know, the usual family 90210. Well, I'm definitely glad to be back home. Even with the house cleaning I had waiting for me and having the animals all back together to clean up after I'm still more than thrilled to be back home. Fortunately, our next trip isn't until December for Christmas. Yippee!!! The older kids have a busy summer with some travelling but I'm pretty much staying here. Even if I decide to take the little kids down to visit their grandparents it won't be nearly as stressful with it just being me and the babies. Now, just to get things back on track with going back to the gym. Hopefully that will happen here soon so I can get my workouts back on track and continue losing some extra weight.

Cleaning and Cleansing!

As much as I dread all of the housework, whenever I get the chance to completely strip a room and clean it top to bottom it is very cleansing to the soul. We are planning to make a big flea market run in a couple of weeks so we are getting things together now. I'm enjoying taking the house room by room, however, by the time I finish the last room I will have to start back at the beginning again. The same goes for redecorating and painting which is also a current project. If all goes well I will have it all done before long. Breaks over, back to the cleaning of the house.

A Fun Day!!!

We had so much fun today! First we started the day by waking up and making homemade donuts. Makayla and I had a blast rolling the dough, cutting the holes, dipping them in butter and sugar and waiting on them to cook. Shawn just had a blast eating them. Then after that was done we decided to make Monkey Munch for a snack for later. While that was chilling we took a long walk to the park. The kids each rode their bikes and the puppy enjoyed being carried. They all ran and played at the park for a bit while the puppy slept in the shade with Chris. On our way home the puppy decided to ride in the bottom of the stroller while the baby slept. Once we got home we had some yummy turkey burgers and chips. We were hoping to be able to go to the pool but it was closed for a competition. We still had a blast today, I think!

My Computer - A Rant

Ok, for whatever reason my computer is being stubborn this morning. It's brand new and has been extremely fast up until this morning. So, the obvious question is, what happened overnight? Well, that's easy. We got a message on our answering machine last night letting us know that Comcast would be shutting down cable and internet service for a very short period of time between midnight and 6 am. Hmmm...they said that it was to make our services run faster. Unfortunately, that usually means that they hardly run at all for a while. The only other occurance since last night was a severe line of thunder storms but since the computer was off that shouldn't have affected anything. Nor do I think that would affect pages loading on the internet. I'm beginnin got have my doubts about Comcast all the way around. Since we have had Comcast (since December) we have had a myriad of troubles. From the phone being off when the modem or cable goes down to slow response times to computer troubles in general. We like the all-in-one billing feature and affordability but we are tired of having all of the problems already. Of course, the alternative for us is returning to a company that had our phone service totally screwed up, to the point of doubling our bills at times. Okay, my ranting is over for the morning and hopefully for the day! I'm hoping things can only get better from here today. We'll see, all of the kids aren't awake yet...lol.

Stuck in an elevator with My husband.

My husband.
Because no matter how much time we get together we never get sick of each other or being together. We have lively conversations and even debates but it never turns to anger. We can agree to disagree on things. We both enjoy our time together but know how to occupy ourselves when we need to be or have to be alone. It doesn't hurt that I think he's hot!

My Sweet Makayla

I can't believe that my sweet baby girl, Makayla, is 11 years old today! She is such an independent thinker and always has been. She definitely likes to do things her own way. We can really butt heads at times but she always lets me know that she "loves me more than the world"! I never thought I would be fortunate enough to have another baby girl. We lost one baby girl in September 2004 and it was the hardest thing I have ever been through. But 7 months ago in August 2008 we had our Morgana Abygael. Makayla was probably the most excited of anyone since she finally got the baby sister she always wanted. She has an older brother, who loves her but can be very, very hard on her. She always tends to notice the mean things he does over the nice things but I guess that's the way it goes. She also has a younger brother who's only three. He can be like her shadow at times, following her everywhere and copying everything she does. He does tend to get into her stuff at times but no more than any younger sibling, I think. Makayla is super smart. She is working a grade level ahead in Mathematics even though she feels that it is very hard for her. She picks up on new concepts really quickly. She also seems to love Science. Now, I'll claim she got the Math skills from me but I've never been very fond of Science. I am glad to see that she enjoys it though. Makayla is probably my neediest child. She needs more Mom time, more girl time, more one-on-one time. That's okay though. I enjoy spending one-on-one time with her. We have lots of fun together. Like coming up in about 10 days we are going to go see the new Hannah Montana movie together, as a late birthday present. I think we are going to have a lot of fun. I try hard to get into the things she is into. Anyway, my sweet Makayla...what else can I say. I adore her and I am always proud of her. I love my Makayla so much! What an awesome big sister and special daughter that she is!!!