New Stuff!

My new dishwasher came yesterday and I am very excited. It has been awhile since we had one. My last 1 broke down, cost as much to repair as it would have been to buy new and besides, I had enough kids of dish washing age in the home, so I just delayed buying a new one. But... the time has come and I am excited and so far, have not even let those critters load it yet ( I really don't mind loading it, just unloading is not my favorite.)
The installers asked the typical questions, "You kids don't have school today?" and they explained that they are home schooled and he just said, "Huh!?!" Not one comment about socialization. I was shocked and ready.

OK.. I have a huge family decision to make. Prayers appreciated.

Writing

I have already started looking for curriculum for summer school. I think I want to focus only on writing this summer. I have looked at the "Lea.rn to Wr.ite the No.vel W*y", but I am not sure it will work for all levels. Any other good recommendations? I have a beginning reader, an emerging reader and a fluent reader. I think I want to work on story writing, maybe some character development and definitely sentence/paragraph structuring.

An Emergency Call to Service

We were in class today with plans to have a whole day of staying in and getting lots of school done. This month has been so full of appointments and outings, so today was going to be the one. We were working on Haiku poetry when a call came from our local food bank. 10 orders had come in all at once and the other volunteers were not coming in today. We live literally 100 feet from the church so we were there in under 20 minutes. It was crazy busy and the kids did a great job. They divided the work and really had fun serving.

About 6 months ago I reconnected with a friend who was pregnant and who mentioned that she wished I could provide childcare for her. I told her that we should think about it and left it at that. In the meantime, the 2 new foster children have come and my quiver is full (for me). She called 2 days ago to let me know that she had the baby and really wanted me to provide childcare. I had to tell her that I thought I was at my max. I hung up and felt so sad about it.

So today as I was at the food bank, in walks N (just  a kawinkydink) with the newborn and she hands him right to me. Oh he was beautiful and smelled just like a delicious newborn should and and and... I know it would be too much. But man oh man would I love to have him in my arms everyday. Of course, Jordan was whispering in my ear the whole time, "Mommy we could do it!", "I will help you.", "Oh Mommy, he is so sweet and precious!" I kept swatting her away like a bee buzzing in my ear. LOL!  When it was time to go, I put him back into his carseat with an, "I don't think I can." on my lips, but a "How can I work this out?" on my heart.

Anyway, A good busy day with very little school work completed.

Oh, but James did finish his Haiku:

the rain is splashing
wet drops fall from the gray sky
the ground is soggy

How about that!

Happy Birthday!

Today is James' 10th birthday! He is such a predictable, but easy to please kid. He is very much a child that thrives on routines. It is sometimes hard for him to stray, but at the same time, he can adapt to new situations as long as he has a "base" to go back to. He is very athletic and has been recently trying to teach the kindergartners how to do head and hand stands.

James waiting to whack the pinata on vacation at the big yellow house.

Happy Birthday Kid!

Entertaining Angels

We are needing to restock our personal needs closet again. This whole thing is so cool and Jordan really had fun packing the bags to be handed out. She loves shopping, so she will get to go into the store to restock. The toilet paper goes FAST!

Just FYI: When I made copies of our fliers, I went to the local FedEx Office and used my Teacher Discount Card which allows teachers, even home school teachers, to have a 15% discount in participating locations. You can apply online HERE.

Bowling Party

Had the annual Homeschool bowling party yesterday. The bowling alley was crazy chaotic as they had booked our group of 150 people along with 3 bus loads of 5th and 6th graders from one of the local public schools. They ran out of bowling shoes and most kids only had boots and socks so it was crazy and of course there were not enough light weight balls so you had these little kids trying to lug these 15 lb balls up to the lane. LOL! But it was loads of fun and entertaining. I laughed so hard as once again my youngest out scored the bigger kids. You know how the score board tells how fast your ball is going? Well, the average speed of other balls was between 7 and 9 mph. Jackson's average speed was 2.2 mph and he was hitting strikes and spares like a pro! They bowled 3 games with the final score being:

Jackson - 267
James - 254
Jordan - 262

7th grade was like, "I cannot keep letting my little brothers beat me in bowling!" Funny! There was lots of candy treats and the pizza at the bowling alley was good.

So Much Fun & The Ride Down

We had a great long weekend. The rental house was HUGE and beautiful! It was on a lake that was frozen over. There were fishing shanties on the lake and ever day snowmobilers would cut through the yard to the lake which made the boys so excited. There were so many rooms and beds with 2 kitchens, 2 laundry rooms and a wonderful view. I caught one sunrise (for just a few minutes) from the loft over the 3 story great room. We found a great oldies radio station that played jammin' music all weekend and my mother cooked like crazy! We did a really cute craft made of paper hearts of all sizes and colors. The treasure hunt was so fun and took them on a trek all over the house. There treasure was full of goodies, mini books, stickers and pencils. The pinata was so fun and luckily broke after every kid got a chance to swing at it. Candy and confetti scattered everywhere.

Now I must tell you about our trip down there.

First, the back story. There is a lady at my church who quite often blesses my family financially. This past Sunday was one such time.

Okay, so on Thursday we packed the car, I went to get gas and got on the highway. As soon at we got on the highway, my battery light came on. Now, my car is 11 years old and has always had a bad sensor that occasionaly causes some of the warning lights on the dashboard to come on in kinda of a weird way. Like, I had a headlight out and the seat belt light flashed until I got the lamp replaced. Things like that, so when the battery light came on and just flashed, I did not give it too much thought. Then it came on and stayed on and I started praying to make it at least to our destination 'cause I did not want to be on the side of the road with 5 kids in freezing weather. I told the kids to pray that "Helen" (Yes, yes... I have named my car) would get us to the rental house. We had to leave an Interstate Highway to get on a Route which was a little 2 lane thing.

As we are driving I am just silently praying as first the clock light goes out, then the digital odometer light went out which made me nervous as now I can't track where I am on my map. We got to the exit and the intersection of the street we were going to be on and I lost all electrical power: the spedometer dropped and the running lights went out. My mom spotted an auto shop, the traffic light turned green and I coasted right up to the garage door. TThe engine was still running. The mechanic came out and I explained what happened. He grabbed a battery tester and when he clamped it on, the battery read completely dead! He looked at me his mouth opened: "How is this engine still running?!" I knew we had prayed it into town.

This shop could not fix it so he charged the battery enough for me make it the next 7 miles to the house. I found another auto shop, called AAA and had it towed to the mechanic. It was my alternator. The amount of the repair; The amount I had in my pocket!

The guy fixed the car in just a couple of hours.

I just had to tell you guys!