Movin' on up.....

Just a taste of what's been going on around here these past few months....

Remember the dining room used to "double" as our school room?

Well, it's back to a dining room!

Detailed before and after pictures to follow.....including the furniture!  We had our first meal in it tonight, it was just glorious.....

Ashlynn and China.

For the last few weeks, in Ashlynn's curriculum, we have been studying Asia. Last week, we went more in depth with China and it's culture. I told her about the dress I had that messy-guy-Grandpa bought me while on business in the Orient when I was exactly her age. She begged to see it and had to try it on. Once she had the dress on she asked if I would take a picture of her in it. Little did I know what she had in mind!

See, she's been playing with photo shop for the last month or so and is apparently having way too much fun! Here is her "finished" product:




Oh, and check out the bag I made HERE.

You have got to check these guys out!

The last couple of weeks, Ashlynn has been memorizing The Lord's Prayer. Ofcourse, memorizing is always way easier when you put words to music.

Enter The City Harmonic.



They just happen to have one of the coolest sounding songs on the radio right now that includes The Lord's Prayer. So, here is your assignment:

1. If you have not heard them yet, go to itunes immediately and listen to their song titled "Manifesto".
2. Listen to all of their other songs.
3. Download their entire album.
4. Listen to it over and over again.
5. Enjoy.
6. Seriously, go do it right now. Now.
   

Africa here we come!

Not sure I've mentioned in the past, but Ashlynnie's curriculum this year has her visiting each continent in the world. We learn some super fun and unique facts about the land, the animals, the people and their culture. So far we have "visited" North America, South America, Europe and currently are in Africa.

What an amazing continent! It boast the world's largest animal, the world's fastest animal, the world's tallest animal and the world's largest burrowing animal.

We have explored the dessert, the jungle and the savanna and decided we must visit Kenya at some time in our lives. The kids put together a picture of what the savanna looks like to them, here are there creations:

And so it begins.

We started school yesterday with Ashlynn and Ryde. It's hard to believe I have a first grader and a third grader in the house! They have been good sports as we plow back into our routine and I know our schedule will iron itself out just right.

All of the kids needed a haircut, so they pulled up a stool in mom's salon (our family room) and I cut away. Gage, Ryder and Addie didn't shed enough to warrant a photo, but Ashlynnie sure did.

Here is our sweet girl before:




And here is the new do (we sent her hair to Locks of Love):








I pulled it back into a pony tail and cut away....and cut and cut and cut. That girl's hair is so thick I started having second thoughts about how short it was becoming the longer it was taking. Apparently, I need to get bigger scissors next time so I can cut the pony tail off in one clip and get on with the styling.

After looking at the finished product in the mirror she hugged me over and over again, thanking me and saying "it is exactly how I imagined it would be mommy!".

Ofcourse, I was most anxious about what daddy would think about the cut. The last time I took my scissors to it, he casually mentioned "it shouldn't be as short next time".

Oops.

Thankfully he loved it and was more worried about what it cost than the length and was very happy to learn I cut it at home (the Dave Ramsey in me must be rubbing off on him!). It is just hair, and it will grow back.....if that's was Miss Ashlynn would like.

Mom, what's for breakfast?

Ryder was working away in the schoolroom yesterday and showed me what he had drawn on his paper. At the bottom was a house, above that another house, above that another house and so on. Then there was what appeared to be a road with dashed lines and a giant house.

Ryde: "Mom, this is our house on the bottom, the next one up is Jesus', the next one up is mom's, then dad's and there is one for Ashlynn, me, Gage and Adysen."

"It's heaven, mom. See the street of gold. Remember, what you read in the Bible about that we would get our own castle? Well, I drew one for everybody. Do you think we will have our own or will we live together?"

Me: "I'm not sure buddy, but we definitely won't be alone! Do you want your own or would you like to be with mom and dad?"

Ryde: "Oh, um, I want to be with you guys. I don't even know how to make my own breakfast!"

Glad to know he needs us for something!

Scheduling, a dangerous job.

My dear, sweet sister sent me the coolest book on scheduling and organizing my household. She actually bought the book for herself and didn't see the subtitle (that was quite large:-)!) "A Practical Guide to Daily Scheduling for Christian Homeschool Families" and since she is not homeschooling yet, thought it might be good for me.

I read through the entire book in one evening.

It's like 175 pages of organization on steroids. I loved it.

I am not an organized person. Routine, yes. Scheduled, uhhhh...

The next evening I set out scheduling everyone's chart and what our goals for each day would be. It was akin to a really challenging math problem, trying to get all of the time slots for five people to mesh and become cohesive. But, alas, I came out the victor and our schedule was born.

Ofcourse, this all happened by Thursday night and I prepped the kids for it on Friday and let them know we would start Monday. Some of my kids fall into the type A category and begged to start at that very moment, so me being flexible said "sure, why not?".

I don't think that was part of the plan. Oops. Oh well.

Ashlynn started rinsing dishes (her new job) and Gage began to load the kids plates (his new job) and the next thing I knew.....water was all over the floor and Gage didn't realize the rack needed to be pushed in before the door was closed resulting in a broken plate.

Who's idea was this?

The rest of Friday actually went really well and all of the kids had quiet time (so did I!) and we all played together (scheduled now) read together (scheduled now) and made dinner together (also on the schedule). We spent Saturday really cleaning and Sunday was very relaxed. We are now in our official first day and it has been AMAZING!

Seriously, I am so not into schedules; I like to wake up and see where the day takes me. But we have not wasted a moment today, no TV, my house is clean, laundry is done (scheduled to be put away at 3:30), school is done, the kitchen is clean and I know what I making for dinner!

The best part of all, the kids love it. So thank you Nicole, now I'm sorry, but I can only call at scheduled times only.......:-)

A Glimpse

Here is a shot of our basement schoolroom and the play area for the little kids. Ashlynn and Ryde's desks were garage sale finds and Gage's desk was picked up at a thrift shop by my friend Gretch. It's good to have some order around here before school begins!!





I may have to visit this post from time to time to remember what it looks like when it is clean and organized......

Growing Up.

Now that Ashlynn is in first grade it really hits home how fast time moves. She has been working on addition and subtraction this week and it's just amazing what their little minds can grasp in such a short period of time.

Last Friday we hit a couple of garage sales and she found a headband she couldn't "live without". She only had a certain amount of change, which wasn't enough, so in her garage sale wisdom, she offered what she had and made a deal. She's braver than I am at these things!

Now, to feel old.

Monday, we were loading up into the car from the grocery store and Ashlynn pointed out a car: "Look at that green car mommy. It must be really old, like, from the eighties or something."

Really old. Eighties.

Wow, sixteen will be here way too soon.

Daddy's home!

After two weeks away, Randy returned home Thursday night. The kids were elated, to say the least, and have not stopped wrestling with him yet. He had to go to work today and they were all disappointed not to see him this morning when they woke up. Well, my early riser (Gage) was up and able to see him off. Personally, I'm glad he is home and not going anywhere soon!

This morning I took Ashlynn for her school pictures. There is a program that a photo studio offers for homeschoolers and I thought I might as well start. They are going to be your classic, cheesy school pictures, but that's part of being a kid! I'll post one when they come back from the studio.

Could this post be any more boring? Besides the typical crazy, busyness of my life, not much else going on.

My latest fave......

Here is my latest design, and one of my personal faves so far. Thanks to Paula for encouraging me to reach a little further for some creativity in this one.


On another note, school is going well. Today we finished with the seventh day of creation and Ashlynn drew a picture of God in a recliner resting (she thought of that all by herself!). Their creation books are all finished so I will try to take some pics with the kids holding them.

You should see the mound laundry in my living room, all cleaned and folded, just hoping it will miraculously get put away.
Busy, busy, busy!!! :-)

Volleyball

Last night we went to watch Randy play sand volleyball. The kids had a blast playing and Randy's team won!

School went well this morning, the first two weeks of the curriculum are all about Creation. The kids learned that God created darkness and light on the first day, then they colored the number one and glued it to construction paper that will eventually become their own little book.

They were both so anxious to start this morning, it was so cute!! They wanted to call me teacher instead of mommy and I told them it was up to them-but they can always call me mommy!!!

School Days

We start our first day tomorrow........I'll let you know how it goes and try to get some pics of the kids doing their school work.

It's been sooooo busy around here. I will try to update a little better this week, but right now it is 11pm, again, so I'm off to bed. :-)

Sooooo excited!!

I've been debating about what curriculum to use for Ashlynn (I know school is about to start!) and have finally decided on a great program. As much as I would like to pick and choose what we use, I know being organized this first year is vital for my sanity (and that of the kids).

During Ashlynn's dance lessons last spring I met a wonderful woman that homeschools her four children who introduced me to My Father's World; and today she invited me to her home to take a look at it. It is an awesome Bible based program that incorporates everything I am looking to teach Ashlynn this year (Ryder will be able to participate as well) that allows, even encourages, flexibility and creativity. My initial impression of looking at it online wasn't fabulous, so I was so glad to see and touch it in real life. It will be order this week!!

And one of the best things, aside from the cool ant farm, it will cost less than two months tuition did at Ashlynn's preschool, AMEN!!

Ashlynn holding her diploma.


Ashlynn and I outside the preschool/church.


Randy and Ashlynn after the ceremony.

Here are some pictures of Ashlynn's graduation. It was really cute and they sang a bunch of songs with cute little hand gestures to go with them. The best was when they sang "I am a Promise"; all of the kids got way ahead of the music and were singing it so loud-glad I have it on video!! Must admit, though, I am glad preschool is over. The getting up and feeling rushed to get her to school three days a week was not the most fun-I can't fathom trying to do it five days a week AND an hour earlier-Ashlynn would never get breakfast (not because of me, by the way, she is just a slow mover in the morning!). It will be exciting to see what the first year of school at home is like, Ashlynn makes sure to "remind" me everyday that I will be her teacher next year (amazing that a four year old can hold someone accountable:-o)

I'll post some pictures of her dance recital tomorrow!!

the great debate......decided

Randy and I were pretty set on sending Ashlynn to a private school for kindergarten this fall. so when an unexpected "wrench" was thrown into our plans we had to readdress our decision. We had intended starting homeschool in first or second grade (it gave some time for the boys to get a little older and me some time to get more organized!), but it seemed wherever I went homeschooling was there. Ashlynn started a dance class a couple of weeks ago and at least four of the other moms homeschool. In our neighborhood I know of at least five families (including the president of MPE) who homeschool. Not that the above are reasons to just jump into it, but for me it was like a nudge from God that Randy and I could do it-even with the boys so young.
We both agreed to pray about it, think about it, and most importantly ask Ashlynn what she would like to do. We presented her options with a very positive light on "going" to school-new friends, teacher and fun-or staying home and having mommy be her teacher. Without a second delay she said "definitely stay home with you, mommy". Randy and I both feel very good about the choice we are making; and if after kindergarten there needs to be some "readjusting" we will certainly tackle that when we get there.
So, here we go........