Gearing Up For the Week

Sometimes, you just have to say to yourself, "Self, I know you don't want to do this, but ya gotta."

Tonight I cleaned my house. Just the usual: finished laundry, did the dishes, picked up toys, vacuumed, scrubbed the kitchen floor, and bathed all the children. Not necessarily in that order.

I did this in an effort to prepare for my week. Because we are moving back to the school district the kids were in when we first got to Arizona, we've decided to put our lives back together and have the girls finish the year in their previous school. Then I will only have one child at home to teach and one baby to care for. Can I tell you that I am SO HAPPY about this decision? I know the girls will be fine in the school and Matt will finally have all the time he needs for learning. It was all a bit rushed with the three different grade levels to complete everyday. So what better way to prepare for a less stressful week than to have a clean house (and clean kids)?

Also, my exercise is resuming this next week. And my SparksPeople food tracking. My gut has returned. As well as my behind. Their reappearance doesn't make me happy. So, it's time to get everything back into place. Less stress. Less mess. Happier Mommy.

Here's to a good beginning to a good week!!

I {Heart} Spring Break

No school. It's like this wonderful fairy land. I am the fairy queen. "Gather 'round, children," I call and the little fairies rush to my side, wanting nothing more than to hear what I have to say.

"Yes, our Queen," they call in unison as their little fairy wings flutter and their beautiful array of pastel clothing brighten the world around them.

"Children, it is time to gather your belongings and place them in their proper places. Pip, pip!" And they float away, happily laughing and joking as they clean the home around them.

*Sigh*

I wish.

It really has been wonderful to not have to worry about school. Of course, the Fairy Children actually have had their monstrous moments. Fights, yelling, Matt nearly getting hit by a car. Heaven has been far from our home on several occasions this week. But, with no school, it did make house hunting a bit easier earlier this week. Look for the housing update soon.

Oh, and I've never used the phrase "Pip, pip" before this post.

A Lesson From Ferdinand

Today Matt learned about Spain. What I love about these lessons are the stories and games associated with them. So, as we learned that Madrid is a city in Spain which is on the continent of Europe (Matt calls it Syrup), we got to read The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and drawings by Robert Lawson.

The story takes place in Spain with a young bull named Ferdinand. Ferdinand is different from the other bulls. The other bulls love to run and butt heads and dream of going to Madrid to fight in the bull fights. "But not Ferdinand. He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers." He grows into a large bull and when the men from Madrid come to check out the bulls for the bull fights, Ferdinand goes to his favorite cork tree to smell the flowers. However, he sits on a bee and freaks out, appearing to be the meanest, fiercest, and craziest bull of all. The men take him to Madrid and when the fight begins, Ferdinand comes to the middle of the arena to sit and smell the flowers in the hair of all the beautiful women in the crowd. The Banderilleros, with their sharp pins to stick into Ferdy, can't make him angry and attack the Matador. The Picadores, with their long spears, can't make him angry and attack the Matador. The Matador, who wants to use his sword against the bull, does everything he can to anger Ferdinand, but the bull continues to just sit and smell the flowers. Finally, with no fight looming, Ferdinand is taken home and his life is spared.

It's a wonderful story about how avoiding contention can be your saving grace. My children really need to learn that one.

Of course, my messed up mind saw it in a bit of a different light. We are about to re-embark on our quest for a new home. This time around, our options are opened a little more. There are several things we want in a home and we are being a bit more willing to expand our possibilities. So Sunday we went driving around a bit to check out some other areas of the Valley of the Sun to see what's out there. There are some nice areas with incredible schools (I know, What? I don't want to home school for the next 17 years? Crazy!). I'm nervous, though, that our short introductions to the areas may not give us the actual reality of what the areas are like. I don't want to be like the men who come to get Ferdinand: I don't want to think I'm getting one thing and then find out I'm getting something else. It's scary. We plan to spend the next several years in whatever house we find. For a woman who has never lived in one house for more than three years at a time, that's a scary idea. I don't want us to mess this up. I am absolutely prepared to rely on my God given blessing of personal/family revelation. It's about the only way to do this. Sometimes, our eyes will deceive us, but our hearts will always guide us safely.

Just for fun, after Matt's lesson I Googled Ferdinand and found the Disney cartoon. It's about 8 minutes long, but grab the kids and watch it. So worth it!

Ready For a Shock?

Guess what....

....Not all the decisions I make are wrong!!!!

Today I had a few affirmations that, although I seem to make decisions that lead me down a rough road, it's the right one.

I had a few ladies from church stop by and visit today and this is where I had my realizations.

Affirmation 1: Home schooling is the right choice. As much as I complain about home school, I'm starting to get it. We're getting done by a decent time everyday, the kids are learning, and we're (for the most part) enjoying being together. One of my new friends told me that she completely understood why I wanted to home school the kids. She said that the elementary school across the street from us is the "Freddy Krueger" school. And it's not just because the testing scores are so low. I'm so glad to know that my efforts to teach, lifestyle alterations, and lessened time for myself is worth it.

Affirmation 2: Completing my theatre degree at a small college gave me more opportunity than if I went to a large school. The other of my new friends told me about how she was a Theatre Major at BYU. As I began to envy her, we started swapping stories and I realized how blessed I was to go to a much smaller school with a small department. She told me that she got to be involved in two shows during her six years in school. I was in about nine shows, directed one (the best one the school's ever seen, in my humble opinion), designed costumes, dramaturged, house managed, designed sets, and had an incredible time doing it. I'm sure she got the more complete book education, but I was able to acquire so much experience. I had always dreamed of going to BYU and never thought I was good enough to go there. Now I realize that, good enough or not, little po-dunk Adams State College gave me the experience I needed and wanted. I did more than most. How can I regret that?

I know that I don't make a whole lot of bad decisions, but it sure is nice to recognize that those things that make me question myself were/are good things after all.

A HUGE Thank You!

Some people's sisters marry real idiots. Thankfully, mine haven't. In fact, I really like both of my brothers-in-law. They are great men and they take good care of my little sisters. Okay, I'm shorter than both of them, but you know....


Anyway, my BIL Jabon has been incredibly helpful to our family. Not only did he allow us to live in his house for 2 1/2 months, but he's done all sorts of things for us. His latest achievement of the "Brother of the Year" Award happened just the other day.


Jabon built us a computer.


Yeah, read that sentence again. He built us a computer. I know a lot about using computers for lots of different reasons, but the mechanics of it all baffles me and I am amazed by people that can just grab a few extra parts laying around their house and create a desktop computer for their family to use. Hello???? Can we say "OH MY GOSH!"?


Jabon's goal was to allow us to do school a lot easier. I had no idea how badly we needed a second computer until we had one to use. The ability to multi-task has increased by a hundredfold. I can tell Emma to take one test while I work with Abby on an online assignment. It's amazing. We've shaved a good three hours off our school day.

Emma using the new desktop computer.....

....while Abby uses the laptop.

The blur back there is Matt. That's a pretty realistic shot.

And Millie hovering around the computer, that's pretty realistic too.

And so, to Jabon I want to publicly say Thank You SOOO Much! You're amazing and you totally ROCK!!

Millie-Me, Hair-dos, A Cute Boy, and SCHOOL

I don't know if you've been properly introduced to Millie. She is my Mini-Me, or Millie-Me, if you please. Millie is determined to do everything just like her Momma. Let me show you.....

This is Millie helping me with the laundry. She looks harmless, but really, about five minutes before this picture was taken, that laundry basket was completely empty and all of those clothes were neatly folded and stacked on the empty spaces there on the couch and table. She's such a good helper.

Millie also likes to type on the computer. She doesn't pound on the keys, she lightly places both hands over the keyboard and moves her fingers as quickly as she can. She's a writer/blogger in training.

She also loves to talk on my cell phone. If you get a call from me and all you hear is a baby in the background, it's probably Millie calling.

There's more she does, but I can't remember right now. She's a cute little girl and it's so hard to scold her when she looks at me with that look that says, "What, Mom? I just love you."

I've tried to branch out on my hair-dos for the girls. Emma's hair is so long that I can do some fun things with it.

I practiced doing inside-out braids on Emma. We did a Zuzu-type style. When she played Zuzu in It's a Wonderful Life, we did braids (not inside-out) up to the top of her head and then curled the piggy tails. See?

Anyway, for Valentine's Day she wanted a heart in her hair. This was the best I could muster in about the five minutes I had to do her hair before we ran out to church.

Abby likes to have the little horns on her head. She thinks they're cool.


And, Abby lost her top front tooth. She was so happy!!!

And, of course, this is my cute boy. Please, don't call him handsome. He's cute. Not handsome. Get it right.

This new school is killing me. I don't know if it will ever get any easier. The thing is, I've committed to a full semester. So, we're roped in this program until the end of the school year. It would be an incredible program for one or two kids to do, but three that are all third grade and under is tough. By fourth grade, the curriculum is supposed to be more independently completed, but until then it's very much run by the parent. You know, I remember hearing the stories about having three kids: with two kids, you have a hand for each, but there is no third hand for that third kid. That's kind of how I feel about this school. I don't have the extra hand for the third kid. But, I'm sure, as the weeks pass it will get easier. I was able to figure out how to handle three kids everyday, and I was even able to figure out how to handle four, so I'm sure I'll get this down, but for now, I'm spending most of my days doing school. I just need an extra 5 hours in the day. That's all. Or an extra me. Dang, where's Millie-Me when I need her?

Weight Loss Whoopsie

So, yeah.

This week wasn't my best week in the weight loss arena. This new school program may just be the death of me. We got our supplies Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday was mostly spent at the cardiologist, and so Thursday was our first attempt to teach with all the required materials.

Imagine with me: Three children, three curriculum plans, two children each needing to complete four hours of school and the third needing two, one laptop computer without wireless access so it was wired in the bedroom where Josh was trying to sleep after working the night before and the wire to the router is so short each kid had to sit with me on the floor against the bedroom door. We started school at 8:30am and finished sometime around 6pm. Needless to say, I missed some exercise, for a few days in a row. Then I fell off the bandwagon with a little bit of frustration and ate any chocolate I could find. (I was surprised how much I was able to scrounge up.)

So I lost nothing this week. Ugh. But, I'll just dust myself off and try again next week. And Valentine's Day and its plethora of delicious sugar isn't helping me any at all.

But, as we always say.....

WE CAN DO IT!!!

How'd you do?

Our New Routine

When we moved out of my sister's house, we decided to home school the kids to avoid changing schools for a third time this year, and perhaps a fourth school before the year is over, depending on if we extend our lease here or not.

I'd say the hardest part of home schooling is feeling like you are teaching the kids enough challenging curriculum. There are lots of websites and workbooks at the store, but I need a little more of a layout. I do love the casual hours. And in an effort to teach the girls writing, spelling, proofreading, and computer skills, they each now have their own blog. (BTW, their blogs are private, but if you want an invite just let me know.)

But, I've been too afraid of not challenging them enough. Josh and I heard of a program that is actually an online public school. This means that the kids can work through the curriculum at their own pace, it is moderated by the state of Arizona so state standards must be met, there is curriculum for math, language arts, science, history, art, music, literature, and even P.E. So, we signed up.

This program will be great, I think. The problem is that the materials (provided for free because it's a public school) won't arrive until next week, so I'm trying to work online with three kids. Because it's a public school, each kid has to do lessons for 2 hours (Matt) or 4 hours (Emma and Abby) and it has to be logged or we are in trouble for truancy. This means that I have spent my mornings and afternoons doing school. Then I make dinner. Then I try to prepare for the next day of school. Then I go to bed. Once our materials arrive we can use the workbooks and student guides instead of the computer and then kids can work simultaneously instead of one at a time. I'm very excited for that. But I hate my days being overrun by school.

The day the materials come, I will party. Until then, I think I've come up with some solutions to schedule everything. It's mostly a matter of getting used to the whole thing. I'm getting there. Today I had enough time to even workout and shower. It was great.

Dan In Real Life

Tonight I watched a bit of the movie Dan in Real Life starring Steve Carell.

I like this movie for a few reasons, but here are the top two:

1. I love the message of needing to live in the moment and enjoy your children. Dan has three daughters and puts them (and the rest of his family) off to pursue his own romantic feelings. As much as I love the romance in a good chick flick, this isn't the focus I like. It's the realization he eventually makes to be involved in his daughters' lives and let them be involved in his. I actually tried to do a bit of this today. When my children got home from school, I had freshly baked cookies, and the movie they've been asking to watch, waiting for them. My focus was on them and I even happily sacrificed the time I usually spend vegging out to make said cookies. I had fun getting everything done for them. I think this is a really good thing since when we move we've decided to homeschool the kids. The girls are two grade levels ahead of their class in reading. Emma is in the 99th percentile in her grade for math. They're both bored in school. Unfortunately, the schools here just aren't at the same level as the schools in Montana. So, I found today's attitude refreshing. And hopeful. Maybe I will be able to do this. I've homeschooled them once before, so I think I've begun the process of learning what works and what doesn't. This will prove interesting.

2. Another thing I love about Dan is the glimpse into the future that I get. Dan has three daughters. So do I. Do I think someday Emma will be begging for more responsibility and freedom to go out and drive? Uh, yeah. Do I think someday Abby is going to yell in my general direction, "You are a murderer of Love!"? Yes. Yes, I do. In fact, I can hear it ringing in my head. It's very loud and shrill. It makes me scared and nervously laugh.

Steve Carell is great. Dane Cook is actually very enjoyable. It's really a very great movie and I suggest it to anyone that hasn't seen it. And to anyone that has seen it, for that matter.