Did you know that's a 67% savings??

So it's been awhile since I've posted, but there's not a lot of homeschooling stuff going on here. We're just hanging out for December, enjoying the holidays, each other, and Daddy being off of work until after the new year.

We're reading lots of Christmas books and trying to do some Christmas crafts and activities. It's been a really good few weeks so far.

I'm nearly done Christmas shopping. For my side of the family, on my mom's side, we participate in a gift exchange, although I'm hoping to bring some new ideas for next year. :) We started a gift exchange last year, I think. It works well, though my Grandma is a rebel and rocks to her own beat and still buys for everyone. :) She says she can't help it. I think she has a Christmas giving addiction. And if giving gifts is her love language, then who am I to stop it? :)
We, the adults, each buy for another adult selected by random, or not so much, draw. This year I have aforementioned Grandma and Adam has my cousin's husband Leo, whom he has never met. :)

I'm nearly done shopping for the kids. We set a dollar limit and we've nearly reached that. I think we're going to go with something new for next year, too. A limit of three gifts. I'll be talking to my husband about that, see what he thinks, but I'm pretty sure he'll be all for it.

This year we applied to be in the Heroes at Home Wish Registry through Sears. We were accepted, along with over 30,000 other families. It's been a nice blessing to have and it's been so heartwarming to see the Sears commercials and in-store ads. It's so nice to know others care so much for military families. In addition to the gift card we received, we also received an email gift certificate for $100 worth of Christmas merchandise to decorate our home. So we went last night to shop for Christmas decorations!! It was so much fun! We were so excited to find out that most of their outdoor decorations were 50% off! We got some beautiful things we wouldn't have purchased otherwise. :) I will take a picture when my husband finally gets all of the lights up. :)

I've been wanting to have matching pajamas for all of us for Christmas morning. You'd think that wouldn't be such a difficult task. But for a family of four, two of which being little kids, to get matching pajama pants and a solid color shirt, would be over $40. And that's a little more than I want to spend on pajamas.

So I'm making my own! I've never done it, so I'm a little, or a lot, apprehensive, but I want to give it a shot. Besides, my WalMart is doing away with their fabric department so all of their material is 50% off. I'm excited to be taking advantage, again, of this great deal, but still a little sad that I'll have to drive to downtown Clarksville in the future to get my fabric. Oh well, I'm taking advantage of cheap fabric now!! :)

I will hopefully post pictures when I get them made, but don't hold your breath. :)

Ok, well, I have got to get stuff cleaned up. Adam's on his way home with new tires for his car, that we got for a WONDERFUL price....so I'm hoping to have stuff cleaned up so when he gets here we can go to WalMart, or I can rather, to buy some material. :)

I'll be back....sometime.

Happy Early Thanksgiving

I haven't posted in a few days and now there's a lot I'd like to post about and I'm sure I'll forget most of it. :)

We're leaving tomorrow to go to Ohio for Thanksgiving. I think I have about half of the things done that I wanted to get done. We're nearly all packed....which means, I have managed to get all the boys packed up but can't decide what I want to take to wear. :)

Last week we finished up our How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World lapbook. :) Thanks to a wonderful woman named Robin, we were able to start Cranberry Thanksgiving. First of all, that is one of my favorite FIAR books so far. I haven't read too many of them yet, we're still working our way through Volume 1, but I love it. We didn't do too much with it because I didn't want to stress out with getting a lot done due to the short week this week. I did find this great link on Scholastic.com that talks about the first Thanksgiving. It had a lot of great info and really helped my little guy who didn't know how Thanksgiving started. I'll try to find the link and post it here. :)

Adisson is doing very well skip counting by fives. :) He's very excited to learn to skip count by two's. I'm excited to work on that with him next month.

Adisson's also been enjoying his Master's Club A LOT! Last week he came home with three new badges! Tonight he had a little gift bag from his teacher's because his birthday is on Saturday. I really appreciate how great they are to him, and well, all the kids that go. :) What a blessing!

I guess I don't talk much about Zander, since most of my rambling is about school. Zander is getting more and more verbal. He has the BEST manners in the house. :) There's something especially rewarding as a parent when you have conversations with your toddler that go like this ..... I sneeze and say "Excuse me." Zander says "Bless you." I say "Thank you, honey!" and he responds with "Allcome!" Or if we're walking down the hall and pass each other, he says "Excuse me." :) He's very concerned with other people, too. If someone hurts themself, like is getting clothes from the washer and putting them in the dryer (we have a stackable unit) and hits her head on the dryer door and he says "Are you ok?" And if he does something silly and hurts himself we ask him if he's ok and he always says "Ohh, I'm fine, I'm fine." He's just a delight to be around. He's always making us laugh and we just enjoy being around him. He has a crazy temper and screams quickly, but that's just how it is to be two sometimes. Heck, I feel that way some days myself. :) I'm just so blessed and so grateful.

Last week we went to the zoo for our homeschooling class. I love the class. It's really great. Last week they touched a skunk (descented) and a boa constrictor and looked at a scorpion's exoskeleton under a black light. :) Then we hung out in the zoo for about an hour. It was unseasonably cold and I forgot my coat at home, but it didn't make much of a difference since most of the animals said they'd rather be inside, too and we didn't get to see them.

Ok, I'm just rambling now and I really need to get to bed as I have several hours worth of stuff to get done tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ohh, he looks kind of upset.... :)

So we're finishing up our How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World lapbook. We've got most of it done, we just want to do a painting project tomorrow. :)

Adisson had Master's Club tonight. It's pretty similar to AWANA's as far as I know. Same premise nonetheless. He goes on Wednesday nights for about an hour and a half. Last time he was there, he got his vest. He's been wanting it so badly so I was so excited to pick him up last time and see that he had it! :) He also got a patch that I waited until the last minute to get sewn on this evening, despite having two weeks to get it done. When he came home tonight, he had three more patches to put on! I was so happy for him! And to make life easier...I sewed them on to his vest this evening. :) Master's club comes early next week because of the holiday and I don't want to be rushed. :)

I'm so very excited to start Cranberry Thanksgiving tomorrow. Along with the incredible amount of Thanksgiving crafts I want to get done before next Wednesday. :) I'm trying to limit the amount of projects, but there are so many things I want to do! I think Sunday might be our craft day. :) And also the day we start packing for our quick trip to Ohio.

Adam's supposed to get his tattoo finished up tomorrow afternoon. And the boys and I are going to the zoo on Friday. I was hoping Adam would get to go with us, but it looks like he will have to work. :( He hasn't worked more than a few hours in the three weeks he's been home and on the one day I make plans with him to go somewhere with us, he's going to have to work a full day. Kinda disappointing. I was hoping to go to the art museum after the zoo, but if Adam doesn't go, we'll just come home.

There is no charge for awesomeness

There's a few things I want to blog about before I forget to do so! We've got some fun school stuff to talk about, too, but I'll write about that later today! :)

First of all, my baby turned 2 yesterday! :) 2 years old already! He's silly, funny, precious, wonderful and amazing, and just the most wonderful addition to our family. God has truly blessed me with my boys and I'm grateful for them everyday. :)

Next up, Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. :) When Adam and I were together in high school and afterwards, we always spent our Christmas' with our own families....but Thanksgiving, we always spent together. :) Of course since we've been married we haven't spent all of our Thanksgivings together, just 2 of the 5. By the grace of God he is home in time this year, which is truly amazing and wonderful! :)

Five in a Row, the best curriculum ever*, has a great Thanksgiving book to utilize for the holiday and I've been so excited to row it. But I can't find it. Now, I have managed to find a few on eBay, but my husband adamantly refuses to spend $30 on a worn out book. I've been searching for a copy of it for nearly three weeks so at this point, I'd pay A LOT for any copy....but to no avail. I've ordered it used on a few sites only to have my order cancelled because they really don't have the book they said they had. I posted briefly about my woes on the Five in a Row message board....about how I cannot get my hands on a copy (oh and my library does not carry it...I've checked....A LOT). And a wonderful woman said she had an extra copy she'd mail me...for free. And she lives just in the next state so it shouldn't take too long to get to me. Ok, no shame in admitting it...I nearly cried. It was just like God himself had said, I told you I'd get you a copy. :)

*Oh, so I'm biased because it's what we use and love. :) Besides being the best way for Adisson to learn, the manuals also come with the best author/publisher team ever....that in itself is worth....well, it's priceless really. :)

Things are going well here. We've been doing a little life learning lately since Daddy is still home so much. :) But since he's at work right now, I really need to get the kitchen cleaned up and laundry done. I'll be back later with school updates. :)

I'm a Pirate....ArghhhH!

Yesterday was a weird day. I'll save our crazy trip to Clarksville for my other blog, but I will share our homeschooling goodies here!

We continued working on our How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World lapbook. We didn't add much to our lapbook yesterday but we reviewed all of the country information we had made on Monday. We started a salt and evaporation expirement. We'll be adding those pages in the lapbook later this week.

Adisson started working on counting by fives yesterday. I think I'm going to purchse the counting by five's song by Skip Count Kid on Amazon.com. You can buy the whole album as MP3's and save over $4.00 over having the cd sent to you. I might do that instead of purchasing just one song. That way when it's time to learn how to count by other numbers I already have the songs.

We continued on with our handwriting exercise this week of writing one nice thing about each family member. Yesterday it was about Zander.

We were going to make bread yesterday but we ended up shopping last night and didn't get to, so we'll be making the bread today.

I also ordered piano lesson materials for Adisson. It's from Pianimals. They offer some samples on their website and I printed off those pages to see if Adisson liked them and he did, so I went ahead and got the A Book and the Holiday book. I know he'll LOVE learning some Christmas songs. He plays with my Grandma when we visit, as she's the only one with a piano, and he loves being able to show her something he's learned. So I'm excited that I think I've found something that he enjoys a little better than the stuff we've tried in the past.

We're also (or just me probably) working on stuff for the boys birthday party that is on the 29th. Instead of buying a pinata, I think Adisson and I are going to make one, but we'll see. That might be a little harder than I'm anticipating and I might just buy one instead. It's a circus themed birthday party. But I'm also planning a baby shower for my brother and his girlfriend for the same day, so I'm pretty busy with that. And some volunteering I've got going on this month for the Fisher House.

Anyway, that's what we're doing for school right now. I'm still searching endlessly online for a copy of Cranberry Thanksgiving so we can row it next week. But I'm pretty cheap and just can't justify spending $30 on a book. I know, it isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but I usually buy our books for under a dollar...it's just hard to think that I'll be spending that much money on a book that is in "fair" condition.

I hope your homeschooling adventures are taking you somewhere fun.

I love days like today!!

So, this is what we did today!!! :)

First of all, we are rowing the book How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. We started it today. It's such a great book! In case you aren't familiar, it's about gathering up the freshest ingredients from around the world to make an Apple Pie! We purchased the Fold N Learn from Five in a Row and it has the BEST pictures! It is soooo worth it! I'm hoping to add some great pictures of our completed Lapbook at the end of the week. We still have to do two things to finish up last week's lapbook from The Glorious Flight and I'll hopefully add pictures of that one as well.

We of course did our Math. Tomorrow we start learning how to count by fives. He knows how to count by tens really well, so I'm hoping we can learn the fives quickly. I think we'll be using SkipCountKid to help because Adisson can learn just about anything if you sing it in a song. :)
Our handwriting this week will culminate into a book. He is writing a sentence about a family member everyday. Today his sentence was My Daddy makes me laugh. Tomorrow he'll be writing a sentence about his brother. One sentence is just about all I can get from him without too much grumbling. :)

Our Bible time lately has been reading through a children's Bible. The stories are easy for Adisson to read and easy to understand and we love it. So we read three stories (2 pages each) each day. It's really great.

We've stopped doing a weekly spelling list. It's been very boring and it's too easy. I've tried making more difficult lists, but it's still tedious and boring. He'll learn how to spell in due time. I'm not at all stressed about it now. :)

We're allllways reading. He reads all day. Everything he gets his hands on. :) I try to schedule specific books to be read on each day, but he reads so much anyway that it doesn't concern me if he doesn't read that particular book.

Today we also tried an "Egg"xpirement. In the book we're working on this week, we're supposed to go to France to get fresh eggs for our pie. But instead of carrying around an egg through our journey, we're supposed to just bring the chicken, so the egg stays safe. So we put our egg in a baggie and Adisson was supposed to carry it around with him to see how long it would take to break. But we kept laying it down and not carrying it around. So we're going to try again tomorrow.

In England, we are supposed to bring home a "well mannered" cow. If we bring home the cow, we can be sure we have the freshest milk. Once we get home with the cow, we are supposed to milk the cow and churn the milk into butter for our pie. So today we made our own butter. I picked up some heavy cream at WalMart. We put some in cream into clean, empty baby food jars and shook like crazy. And then we had homemade butter! We're saving it until tomorrow. We're hoping to make our own bread. It doesn't have much to do with making apple pie, but we're learning the process of liquid and dry measurements and how to make things go from ingredients into something yummy. :)

Today the boys had dentists appointments. It was Zander's very first appointment. I was nervous for him. But he did sooooo good. His brother did wonderfully as well. We were super excited to hear that neither of our boys had any cavities!! I did hear that my baby needs to start working on giving up his pacifier.... :( but anyway! We stopped and picked up a gingerbread house to work on tonight after dinner! None of us had ever decorated a gingerbread house before and we were so excited to work on one tonight. We all had such a great time!!

So that was our day! I know, it's a lot and it was fun! Adam was home from work today...he doesn't work tomorrow either for the holiday. It's nice to have around so much, the boys will miss him when he's working more during the day. But it's so nice to have him around a lot right now. It will likely be that way until next year...which is a blessing! :)

Ok, I let the kiddos stay up late and it's time for bed! Enjoy your evening!!

Oops...I forgot to blog!

Ok, it's been entirely too long since I blogged. And I miss it. It just got so busy here. We went to Ohio for three weeks and then we came home and I was very sick and then we had to get ready for my husband to come home....it was intense.

But he's home, finally! It's been so nice to have him here! This weekend is a long weekend for him due to Veteran's Day so he's been off since Friday morning and won't be back in to work until Wednesday! :) Yay!

For a few weeks, schooling was a little scattered. We read allll the time and worked on math and played learning games, but the intentional schooling was not as frequent. But we've gotten back on track now.

Last week we rowed The Glorious Flight. It was a great story and Adisson loved it. He enjoyed the activities we worked on. He especially loves art so he was excited to draw some pictures. We made a lapbook, as well, and it was great. Daddy was excited to see what Adisson worked on!
I'll post pictures of our lapbook this week. I know, I've got to get some pictures of my kiddos up here!

This week, we are rowing How to Make Apple Pie and See the World. I really wanted to row Cranberry Thanksgiving next week, but I cannot find it anywhere. I've borrowed How to Make Apple Pie, but I really want to buy it as my goal is to have all of Volume 1 and Volume 2 books purchased before the end of this year...this school year, not 2008. :)

This week in Math Adisson will be learning to count by fives and working on his addition and subtraction facts. He's doing pretty well in math despite the constant whining about it. :) He despises writing so that's a chore. We've found a great kid's Bible that we are reading out of so that's been so much more pleasant. And he's nearly finished up his reading program...which was a second grade reading program. So I'm now on the hunt for more books on his reading level. I don't want to buy the next part of the program just yet because I don't know if he's really ready for it, but I might be getting it in the Spring, if he continues doing so well.

Ok, well, there is our update. Things are going really well here and we're getting excited for the boys' birthdays coming up. Zander turns 2 on the 17th and Adisson turns 6 on the 29th. We're having a big family party on Adisson's birthday as it's the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we've always had their parties on that weekend. We'll be purchasing birthday goodies this week!
WOO HOO!

I'll be back soon....I promise!! :)

Here's some "infortation" for you.

Holy smokes! I'm a tired mom tonight. So it would stand to make sense that I go to bed at 12:30 in the morning instead of blog, but I'm a chatterbox, er, uh, a typerbox??

Yesterday, I finally (FINALLY!!) got my boys registered with CYS. What is that you ask? Well, even if you didn't it is Children and Youth Services. And it's not like child protective services or anything. In the Army, if you have dependent children, they have to be registered with the post CYS in order to participate in any sports programs or receive childcare. We'd like to get tumbling in some gymnastics so we finally got our registration updated.... a year late. :) Not that it matters, you don't get in trouble if you don't do it, you just get excluded from participation in activities.

Then last night, which seems so long ago, Adisson went to his first Master's Club meeting. :) Which he LOVED! It's like AWANA's if you are familiar with that. He's VERY excited to go back next week. It's at a church we don't attend, because our church doesn't have a children's program that meets during the week due to location issues, but we are getting to know some of the people there as it's where we pick up our food from the Angel Food Ministries. Which, by the way, I LOVE!!!

Today we had our first Cloverbud meeting. Cloverbuds is a branch of 4H for younger kids (K-3rd) and the local homeschool group has a homeschool specific Cloverbuds group. And we went. I didn't care much for it, as nearly all of the moms knew each other and showed verrrrry little interest in getting to know me. But Adisson had a great time. :) So we'll go back.

We did other things today, but I guess I'll talk about my appearance insecurities.
I'm a petite person. I'm barely five feet tall and weigh under a hundred pounds. So to start with, I look like I'm getting ready to enter high school....not like I'm approaching my thirties. And don't say it. Please don't say "You'll love it when you're forty." because really, I don't care about what I'll love fourteen years from now. Just once, I wanna go somewhere that I'm not judged because I look so young. So I had my oldest son when I was 20. I'm 26 now....clearly that's an adult age. I just want to be treated like an adult, and not like I'm out with my little brothers. Sure my dad has kids that are just a little older than my son, and one that's younger than both of them, but I'm not out shopping with my brothers. These are my children. I guess I make matters a little more difficult as well. See, my husband and I, we're a little more contemporary than your run of the mill homeschooling family. Adam's got like eleven tattoos and gauges out his ears when he's on leave from work. I have three tattoos, with more planned, I dye my hair black and recently got my lip pierced (uhhhh, Grandma, I think you were there when I called Mom, so I hope this isn't a shock for you!!).

Maybe I bring it on myself. Maybe I should try to look more like the soccer mom you know that drives a minivan (I'm also a soccer mom that drives a minivan). But instead of being secure with who I am, I feel like I have to defend myself. I'm a pretty good mom. Sure, it gets a little hairy around here when Dad's been gone for eleven months. I am quicker to anger, quicker to yell, but it's incredibly stressful to be an Army family when Daddy's in Iraq. Although I shouldn't make excuses. But I love my boys. I love them so very much. I love them so much I feel like I am doing the best I can by ensuring the best education I think they can receive by homeschooling them. I love them so much that I do all that I can to be sure that they are happy, healthy, and know that every single day, they have two parents that would, and do, everything we can to show them how much we love them.
Even though I shouldn't concern myself with the ignorance of strangers, the remarks, the stares, the avoidance, the blatant disregard....it's hurtful. I'm a mom, too. Just trying to be the best mom I can to the most amazing children God could have given me. Even if I look like I'm 14.

What's up, doc?

The boys and I have been going to church for the last six weeks or so. Adisson seems to like it, Zander not so much. But I love it, so we keep going. It has been a very very long time since I have been a regular church attender, and it certainly hasn't been since I've been a mother. But if I don't tell my boys about God and what it means to love Him, who is?

Today was the church's first birthday (WOOO HOO!!) and as we left, we grabbed a piece of cake (well, 2) and shared them in the van. So really, what's better than church and cake?

This week, Adisson is going to try out the Master's Club at another church (where we pick up our Angel Food Ministries food). He's a quiet little guy, except in a much smaller group of his close friends, but my husband shared with me today that he was like that for awhile when he was younger. And I guess I remember being shy until you got to know me, then I couldn't shut up. Come to think about it, Adisson is very much the same way. :) But I want him to try stepping out of his comfort zone sometimes to find that there are really fun things out there.

Also this week, Adisson will be joining a local homeschool 4H group. It's not animal related (much to the delight of my husband) as it's for the younger 4H crowd. I'm pretty excited, it sounds like a lot of fun. I know Adisson's been talking about swimming lessons so we might give that a try after the first of the year. We have a lot going on this year already.

So that's our week at a glance. :)

It's been way too long..

I can't believe I haven't been here in a few weeks. We've been busy, I guess.

My mother-in-law came for a visit last weekend. My father-in-law was away at a big Harley Davidson thing, and due to Labor Day, she had an extra day off of work so she came to visit. On Friday afternoon, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. We had such a good time! And Adisson won 100 tickets all by himself and he's been talking about it since! We then went down to Nashville and stayed that the Opryland hotel...something the two of us have always wanted to do but the husbands weren't as impressed! :) So the boys and Memaw and I went to Nashville. On Saturday morning we got ready to go A Day Out With Thomas the Train. It was interesting and hot. The train ride was great...coulda passed on the rest. :) Came home, went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and watched Arthur and the Invisibles afterwards. Got up Sunday, took my mother-in-law to church (I don't know the last time she's gone, but I think decades is a true statement) where we heard a great message, amazing music (as usual) and then left to grab some Taco Bell. Then we took the boys bowling. It was so much fun to watch each of them enjoy their games. :) Then we came home and it was time for Memaw to leave. And I was sad to see her go, but grateful for a nap....she wore us out!!!
It's hard to remember what it's like to have two adults around. Adam's been gone now for 10 months, 2 weeks, and five days. When the boys and I get together with friends, there's many more kids than adults...so no one can help another mommy with her little monkeys because she's busy with her own. But with Memaw around, there was 2 adults and 2 kids....the whole time. And I truly forgot what a blessing that is. And I remembered again just how much I miss him.

At 26, I'm not a young army wife. Most of these ladies are just barely over 18. Sometimes with kids, sometimes not. Sometimes brand new to the life, sometimes they've been around for awhile. At 26, with five and a half years of army life under my belt, I'm not a newbie anymore. And in the store I see these girls, just 18 or 19, with a little toddler in the cart and you can tell right away that she's holding it down by herself....that her husband is gone too. And there's a good chance she's miles and miles away from her family as well. And I sometimes wonder how they've grown up so fast. I don't know if I could do what I'm doing now at 18. Adam left for Korea for a year when I was 22. Left for Iraq, for a year, the first time when I was 23 and left again when I was 25. And some days I'm barely treading water. It just makes me appreciate an Army wife even more. Moreso the young than the older, I guess. :)

In other Army news, I'd like to ask for this deployment to end already!! :) Because I miss my husband tremendously. :)

On the school front, this week we've learned an odd assortment of things as I've followed Adisson's interests. We learned about volcanoes and origami. Along with reading, writing, math, spelling, and bible stuff. I haven't done much art (oops!) and we're still waiting to start KinderBach music lessons until we get a keyboard, but there's always tomorrow. :)

There's more going on, but I've got to get some cleaning done and get to bed. I'll be back sooner this time!

Sinful blueberry pancakes

So today was a good crazy day. First of all, we heard from our superhero today. Adam doesn't call home much, once every three months or so, and today was the day he called for this quarter. :)

I forgot how much it takes my breath away to hear his voice, to talk to him, to laugh, to tell him how much I miss him. It was nice.....soooo nice. Adisson was thrilled, of course. He talked about it all day. :) Of course lately, his dad is about the only thing he talks about.

Adisson had his first math test today. We use A Beka, first grade. He was actually super excited. :) And of course, did really well. He was pretty happy about that. Then we had to get to the dentist. Adisson loves his dentist because he has a waiting room full of free arcade games. There's a racing game and then several pac man type games. He loves to play. I was VERY excited to learn that his good brushing habits had paid off as he had NO CAVITIES!!! :) WOO HOO Adisson!

We stopped by Goodwill on the way home and I scored an used lesson plan/curriculum for A Beka arithmetic for 2nd grade. For $1.49. I am thrilled!!

Tomorrow is sitter interviews. Kinda nervous. :) I hope things go well. I've been praying about it and I'll continue to do so.
I know I've promised pictures...I will get around to it. Just give me a little bit.

You'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.

So last week was a mess. A big hot mess. We came down with colds and everyone was grumpy. And it's starting to be that time for us. That time of the deployment where you just feel like you're done...that you've given it all you've got and it's time to be over. Adam's been gone 10 months now. I know the end is in sight, I know it will be soon.....but it's not as good as it being now.

I've been praying a lot that God gives us the strength to pull through these last few months...that we can do this, that we're strong enough for this, that we've done it before and we'll pull through it again. I know that we will, really, it's just ...... I'm past the breaking point....I'm just broken. And so is my dear sweet five year old. I know he struggles so much with his Dad being gone, I know it weighs heavy on him. But I can't really tell him how much longer we have. Partly because I truly don't know and partly because he's five and the concept will elude him.

So this week, we've got to get back on track. And we are. Tomorrow Adisson has a dentist appointment, which I really hope goes well. Adisson's had many dental issues in the last few years. But in his defense, tooth genes on both sides...not so great. As a matter of fact, downright cruddy tooth genes from me and Dad. :) So I hope tomorrow goes well. He doesn't mind going. He has the most amazing dentist. I just love him...will miss him if/when we leave here. :)

Wednesday I'm interviewing babysitters. It's about time. I'm still VERY apprehensive for my children's safety. It's hard to leave my kids with someone other than family. I pray that God helps me choose the right person.

I'll have pics up soon. I'm just a little crazy right now with all that's going on. And the colds that we had aren't quite going away, especially for Mama. :)

Boys don't put your feet in the dishwasher!!

Well, today could have gone better in the area of getting school work done. Unfortunately, my impatience and Adisson's fidgeting just made me stop before we were finished so we didn't get frustrated and angry. I was a little disappointed as we were going to start our Olympic lapbook today. But we'll get to it tomorrow and work on it this week.

Adisson's been pretty excited about the Olympics. He gets very excited when anyone does well and then yells when the United States does good. He made a few signs to wave around to cheer people on. It was then that I decided we should talk more about the Olympics. I don't know why I didn't plan a lapbook for the Olympics, it completely sounds like something he'd be interested in, but I guess it's not a big deal now as I've got everything ready for one now. :)

This weekend was nice. On Saturday we went with friends of ours to a farm...or someone's house with some animals in their backyard. Wasn't worth the $16 we had to pay but the boys had fun and I got to stop at fruit and veggie stand on the way home. I took pics of them and their friends but you'll have to wait until I have a second to get them up.

Yesterday we went again to the church we tried out last week. I reallllly like it. Adisson says he likes it. I wish I knew more of what they were doing in his class though as it seems like not much is going on. But he enjoys it so that's important. It's great and I hope to keep going. Last week, I invited my neighbor a few houses down and she went then and yesterday as well. She really likes it too and it's nice to have someone to sit with! :) She, well, her name is Magen, came over last night for a little while. Makes me clean up the house a little bit more when I know I am having company so I'm hoping to work on that.

We started to take a fresh loaf of bread to our neighbor yesterday as a thank you for mowing our grass last week and he wasn't home. I plan on taking it to him tomorrow although I was hoping it would have been nice and hot when we delivered it! Oh well. :)

I want to put some pictures up but I really need to get the kitchen cleaned up instead of hanging out online. I hope your weekend was nice and I hope your week of homeschooling or whatever you may be doing is wonderful as well.

God bless!

Chipmunks are good singers...

Today was a good day! The weather was so beautiful here on the Kentucky/Tennessee border. Had we not had plans today, we would have utilized our zoo membership and headed down there, but maybe next week.

Well our first week of school has come to a close. It was good. Really good. I'm pretty excited about that. Adisson did soooo good with his reading this week, exceeding what I had thought he'd be able to get done. His math is going well and his handwriting is going pretty good. I'm a little nervous that the A Beka books that we have for Science, Social Studies, and Health won't be fulfilling enough for him this year. He's technically in K, but we're using all first grade material and even that doesn't seem to be enough to leave him feeling full of learning. I've got some ideas I'm working on as to what to do about the situation, but I guess we'll just wait and see. We're going to let this month kind of work itself out and reassess what to do next.

The boys had their pictures taken today. Paige Kimball is a local photographer that I found on craigslist. She is reasonably priced and soooo good with the boys. :) Just really was nice and sweet to them, they just had a GREAT time. :) How people treat my boys is very important to me and I wasn't surprised at how she worked with them, but very happy. I'll be so anxious to see the shots!

I'm really overflowing with the things in my head lately. Which support group do I join (for homeschoolers), which co-op do we try out, what other activities should we commit to? I'm so very thankful that we have so many options that I'm having a hard time narrowing it down, but I really need to decide what we are going to do, weighing all the options for us. It's just a tough choice. :)

And of course, this is going to be an insanely busy time for us, the last four months of this year. We're heading to Ohio for a few weeks starting in September, I'm planning a baby shower for the end of September, planning a big birthday party for the boys in November, planning another baby shower for November, heading to Ohio for the holidays, getting reallllly busy here at home with a lot of redeployment activities, writing the newsletter for the Fisher House and my battery FRG, planning our vow renewal ceremony (which will take place next May)....oh, and I'm working on a family cookbook for my loved ones. :) Hoping to have it done by Christmas, which shouldn't be a problem....but see the previously mentioned list of things I also have going on.
Our God is an amazing God. And today after leaving the park having the boys all goofy from smiling so much, I was again reminded that nothing is too big for Him and nothing is too small, either. And I'm just going to keep praying and thanking Him for always reminding me of that. :)
God bless your weekend!

The Amazing Adisson and Zany Zander Show

So we finally got the van door fixed today! I guess I didn't realize how much I was used to having power sliding doors until one didn't work. And no, I'm not opposed to doing them manually, but they are heavier than other doors. It almost always took me twice to get the door closed.

School went well today, too. Yay! Adisson is a little more annoyed about the lack of more stuff to do. I keep telling him that there will be more. I worry a little, though, that we're going to end up going through these books pretty quickly and I'm apprehensive about starting 2nd grade level books when this is supposed to be his Kindergarten year. Today we did an art project. We do them more than just today. Adisson is very crafty, even moreso than his mom, so he's always doing something artsy. Today, though, it was a more involved project. It was a sunset silhouette. He painted a picture with watercolors and then drew out a scene on black construction paper and cut it out and glued it on the painted page.

It was a good day. I hate the feeling, though, that when things go well, that I'm on guard, waiting for the other shoe to drop. As an Army family, you take good news so lightly, regardless of what that news is. As a result, any time there's a good day, good news, whatever, in any aspect of your life, sometimes you just brace yourself for what's next. When Adam's home, he'll get home from work and say "We're heading to the field for a week." (Field exercise=camping for soldiers) Then the next day it's "No, we're not." The day after that "Yes we are, but it's two weeks now." Et cetera, et cetera. Just always has me on guard.

The boys get haircuts tomorrow as they are getting their pictures taken on Friday. It's the first time we're doing outdoor shots. We've always done pictures at a store that has a portrait studio. We're trying something new this time and I'm excited! We also have an FRG meeting tomorrow night. It's the first one we've had all summer, but will be the first one we make it to since January's meeting (they are every other month, sorta). I'm excited because it's getting to be that time, when this deployment is winding down and the buzz is in the air....just a few months left without our soldiers!!

Some things I've learned today:1. It really makes someone feel good when you apologize for something you've done. Sometimes, it's easy to just forget it and move on, but when someone says, "I'm sorry." for something they said or overreacted to, it's nice to hear. And I hope I can practice that a lot with my husband when he gets home. I try to be sure that I'm apologizing when I'm wrong, especially to my kids, but I want to be SURE that is the case.

2. I was talking to my friend tonight about praying. It's something I would like to read more about, not praying necessarily, I pray. A lot. God hears me rambling away to him all day long. But I want to pray with purpose and I hope I can do a better job of that.
I have to mop the floor in the kitchen and get to bed. :)

Reading and Thinking...

So I can't quite get to sleep tonight. First of all, my TOS magazine came today and I've been eyeing it all evening. I finally picked it up for a quick read....an hour later and I've barely gottne through 25% of it. And that's just looking at the pictures, saying "Ohhhh, I definitely want to read that..." :) It's hard to go through it when the boys are running around...I get so lost in the vast wealth of amazing information. :) LOVE IT!

And tonight my husband is heavy on my mind. I talked to him online today for a few minutes. While he's there, we usually talk online everyday via messenger. When we're busy, we leave messages for each other. And he was busy for the past few days, so when I finally got to talk to him today, I was aggravated that I had made plans and had to cut our conversation short.
Some days it's not so bad, him being gone. I don't want to sound flippant, but some days are easier to handle. Lately, though, our oldest son has been acting up like crazy and I know that his heart is heavy with thoughts of his Daddy. And those days are the hardest on me, and him of course. Hardest because I'm driven to the brink by the time bedtime rolls around and the hardest because I know he hurts and he misses his Daddy as much as I miss my husband. And my heart just breaks for him, and his little brother.

I know this deployment is eventually going to end. He's been gone two weeks shy of ten months. But some days, I ache for him to be home with us so much that it hurts.
(long pause, heavy sigh.....)

So, I should go to bed. :) We have to be at the car dealership for van repair in the morning.
We miss you, Adam. And he talks about you all the time. They both do. Stay safe, we'll see you when it's time. xoxoxo

Take Two...

Today was the last day of the Summer Film Festival at the theater we like. So we saw Horton Hears a Who with some of our friends. We've gone to several movies with them in the last few weeks, but wanted to make a point to go today as one of the boys starts school tomorrow. He's public schooled and today she told me if he was taking the bus to school it would pick him up at 6:25. I thought my eyes were going to fall right out of my head!!! Utter disbelief I guess.

School isn't taking us long to do. About an hour, to an hour and 15 minutes. Which is what I expected. Adisson is a bit annoyed, however, as he'd like to do some more stuff. I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, though. I'd like to go a little slower for now and we'll get busier in a week or two. Besides, I know the day will quickly come when he's not wanting to do any work at all.

We're going to play at the playground with friends tonight. It's much easier to go at 7:00 or so than it is to play in the afternoon. It's toooo hot right now.

We've got enough other stuff going on this week as well. The van needs fixed (one of the sliding doors isn't working and a part had to be ordered) , we have an FRG meeting, the boy's have an appointment to have their pictures taken, and really there's a whole list of other things that need done, but y'all know the life. :)

If you don't mind praying for us, I've been requesting prayers from many to keep my husband safe while he's overseas and for a timely return. More specifically, it would be nice to have him home by Christmas.

Gratefully, there isn't much else going on. I appreciate the ordinary days because sometimes the excitement of a bad day far outweighs the joy in a good day. Yesterday was not such a good day. :) Today though, ....... today I don't want to mail them to their Dad. :)

First Day of School!!

Our First Day of School!!

Well, the day arrived. Adisson's first Official day of Kindergarten. It was supposed to start with a breakfast at IHOP, but that got the boot after Zander stayed up until three this morning not feeling so well. I did tell Adisson we could go to Sonic for ice cream tonight to make up for that, but that also did not happen. Our first day of school went wonderfully. The rest of the day however, was horrible. But that's not the point, at least not today.

We are using Explorer's Bible Study and began our day with that. We then moved into our Hooked on Phonics. (On a side note, I know HOP is like admitting to the homeschool world that I have the ebola virus or something, but it's great, it works, and we've been using it, so I love it!). Afterwards we did our A Beka Health and Math and a little bit of writing with Draw Write Now.
Adisson was good. He was excited. He had no desire to stop learning things and just really had a good time. I was thrilled. :)

Just a little over a week to go....!!!!

Seriously, I've always loved school. I was private schooled for K and 1st grade and then public schooled from then on. Excluding Jr. High, I just loved school. It wasn't the school, the kids, the recess, the games, the sports, it wasn't that (although I did meet my husband in high school so I'm grateful for that). I loved the pencils, the brand new crayons, clean paper, the smell of books, the excitement of new material to be learned, new books to be read, new papers to write. As a matter of fact, one of my biggest goals is to earn a college degree, when the time is right for that.

So it should come as no surprise to me that I'm so over the moon excited for school to start with Adisson. I worry a little because he's pretty disappointed that he's not going to public school. But my husband and I truly feel that this is the best decision for him and our family. But I'm soooo excited for school to start.

I'm trying hard to come up with some extra special ways to make the start of school special for him. I'll let you know with the ideas I come up with!

You paid how much?

So while shopping at the mall last night, I ran in to Old Navy. Generally, I buy a majority of the kids clothes there. They are a fair price and look nice so we do a lot of shopping for the boys there. When I walked in the saleslady said that all clearance items were half off.... :) nice!

Well, the boys don't really need any summer clothes right now and of course, that's what was on sale, but then I saw the prices. T-shirts for $2.24 and $1.49. Seriously??

I started stocking up a little for next summer. I bought 23 shirts on Friday night and 23 items on Saturday night! :) Now, I did buy four pieces tonight for gifts, but the rest are for the boys. For next summer and the summer following. I'm still so excited!

I ended up getting $384 worth of clothes for $86, not including the gifts I purchased, but were also on clearance (about $10 purchase and I think a $40 savings, just on the gift purchases). YAY! I love shopping!

All Caught Up....

So, the boys got some vaccinations today. Adisson is five and got his 4-6 year shots. Zander got caught up on his shots (it takes forever to get an appointment at the hospital...then they tell me today that you don't need an appointment for immunizations). It was a difficult time for Adisson. He hasn't had shots for several years and I knew it was going to be difficult for him and it was. Which was difficult to watch. I tried to make up for it by having treats at home when we got back, like special cupcakes and a rented movie. It seemed to help a little. He was feeling better before we left the hospital, though. :) My little soldiers.

I finally got the last sets of flashcards that I need from Abeka. I still have a list of school supplies to get and lots of things to organize, but we're still doing good on time, so I'm not too worried about it. I have the first nine weeks planned and some monthly and yearly goals written down. I hoping the better prepared I can be, the smoother things will go for us when we get started up.
I've been trying to use Motivated Moms to stay on top of the endless amount of the things that need to get done around the house. It's a little tricky. I'm very much a box checker in some regards (such as cleaning) so it's hard when I can't get everything finished or when I clean on a different schedule. But I'm hoping we can work on getting things a little more organized and scheduled as it will be easier when we're schooling and I'd like to have it done before my husband comes home. :)

Sometimes my head runs on overload with all the things I want to get done, should be doing, should have done already, etc. I guess I shouldn't say sometimes, but rather nearly all of the time. My list of things to get done is a long list and I'm often overwhelmed that I'm the only one working on this list.

For example, the furnace needs replaced. The whole outside unit. It's depressing. It will cost a lot of money...money we don't have so we'll have to secure financing.
The brakes need looked at on the van. The ABS light keeps coming on and going off so it needs hooked up to a machine to tell me what th problem is. Unfortunately, I am having a hard time finding a place that will just give me an appointment time and check the van while I wait. Everyone wants me to drop the van off. Well, if my husband were home that would be fine. We could manage that. With him not home, I have to figure out how to leave the van there and get me and my little guys (still in car seats) home....and then back to the shop when it's time to pick up the darn thing.
And I'm in desperate need of some dental work. More than I can afford, even with the insurance we have. I also have to figure out how to get that done while taking care of the kids.
And there are so many things that need done in and outside of the house this summer.

I know God won't give me more than I can handle so I'm just praying for the peace and wisdom to handle all that He has given me at one time.

I know that none of this was taken care of by simply typing it all, but I'm a list kind of person and I needed to make one. There's a lot more going on, but I'm not feeling well and too tired to type it all out.

The only stroke I've ever had is one of genius!!

Oh goodness. So my train has veered so far off course. :) I mean, I'm miles away from the tracks.

I have to admit this, because you can't change what you can't admit, but we haven't done regular consistent school work since the first week in February. That was two months ago. Adam's Grandpa got sick and then the frenzy was on to get Adam home before his grandpa died. Then he did make it home and was home for three weeks. Then he left and a week later we went to Ohio. A week and a half later we came home and both of the boys caught the pink eye I'd had for over a week. So this weekend it's a reset.

Press the reset button now.

I have the house to get in order this week as well as a list that takes up the entire page, but it has to get done. Because on Monday, we're starting over. School time, dinner time, fun time, all the time.

Unfortunately, it's nearly one in the afternoon on Saturday and I've accomplished nothing on my list. But the little sweetie pie just fell asleep and that frees up a little bit of time for me to get something done.

Dear Lord, I have so much to get done, so much to do. I pray that I can accomplish these tasks with a joyful heart and a quick step! I want so greatly to get back on the tracks....I just feel like I'm pushing a very large train a long distance to get it to where it needs to go.

It smelled like books!

This weekend I attend the MidWest Homeschooling Convention. Oh. My. Gosh. I don't even know where to begin. Seriously. First of all, it was so refreshing to have some time to myself. I love my boys and I missed them a lot, but I truly needed some time to myself. It was amazing.

I have never been to a homeschool convention. I'm a homeschooling newbie for starters. At first, I was reluctant to spend the money and time away from the boys to go, but quickly realized that it was time and money very well spent. It was incredible. I only wish I knew how to not buy books. :)

I attended some great workshops. A lot of them really helped me see things from a new perspective and gave me a greater insight. Jessica Hulcey, by the way, is hilarious and practical. She gave me some of the greatest advice and I left her workshops with pages of ideas and notes that I am so excited to implement in our home. Amanda Bennett, while I did not meet her in a bathroom, is a truly amazing woman. I'm still humbled to have shared dinner across the table from her and her husband and can not wait to get started on some of her unit studies, as she is the go to gal for that!

And the books. The curriculum. The tools, the tips, the maps, everything. It's as if someone asked me what my dream day would be. :) Well, not really because my dream days are always days when I'm with all of my boys, but this was such a close second. I got to pick books up, look at them, flip through them, really look at the content and think "Would Adisson benefit from this? Could he learn from this? Is this his style?" It was incredible!

I did not buy curriculum. Well....sorta. I did buy a Bible study from Explorer's Bible study and also a First Steps in Faith Study from The Bennetts. But other than that, one of the best things I took away from the convention is the fact that I'm using the best thing for us already. Being a new homeschooler, I just want to be sure I'm doing the best I can to educate my son...well, that would be a true statement whether I was a new homeschooler or not. It's not that I've had doubts with what we're doing, but I need to know what else is available. There's always been a particular curriculum I've been interested in but I'm always in sticker shock. I listened to their workshop this weekend, stopped by their booth and held the books in my hands. And it's just not for us. What is for us is what we're doing!

I did find a few other things I'd like to purchase to help me teach Adisson some Science (it's an area of difficulty for me) and a few other things. But overall, I'm sticking with what we're using. We're a happy Five in a Row family and I'm pretty sure it's going to stay that way!!

Ok, I've got more to talk about but it's late, I'm exhausted and I want to sleep. More later....

It's always too long when we're apart.

Exodus 14:14...."The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still."

Sometimes I worry I'm not listening enough, that I'm still searching for my own answers instead of listening for His.

I miss my husband. I prayed for so long that he would get to come home sooner than 15 months. That someone would get up one day and say that 15 months is just too long to keep a soldier away from his family and reduce it back to 12 months. I've come to terms with thte fact that isn't going to happen. Which leaves me with ten more months to go.

That's a long time.

Again.

My husband came home.

My husband left.

And we did stuff. We went to Ohio. Visited with family. Went to the Newport Aquarium. Went to a casino (just me and Adam went with his grandma, not the kids.... :) Had a great big family dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Hung out with family. Came home from Ohio. Got a new TV (new to us....it was my aunt's). Went to Shogun. Went to Nashville. Shopped....a lot. Stayed in a hotel room (NOT with the kids!). Came home in the worst snow storm this area has seen in a lonnnnnng time. Went furniture shopping (scored some great deals and some gorgeaous furniture!). Painted our bedroom. Got our new furniture delivered. Went out to Logan's (a family tradition for us). Painted Easter eggs. Went to Nashville. Visited the Frist Center for Visual Arts. Went to the Grand Ole Opry Museum. Went shopping (Adam and I loooooove to shop!!). Went to our hotel room. Got up this morning....and took him to the aiport. And watched him leave.

Again.

And it so sucks.

And I miss you a lot. And I love you a lot. And I wish more than anything that you could be here with us all of the time. And sometimes I wonder if we are doing what is in the best interest of our family by staying in this position. I wish I had that answer.

So, my sweet husband is packing up soon as he'll be en route to our home in just a few hours. We're anticipating a few days of travel, but I hope to see him the day before my birthday. Adam's been in the army for nearly five years and he's missed birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, everything...at least twice so far. But he has never been gone for my birthday. Of all the days he's always home for, it's my birthday. :) I told him it's just me getting older, no reason to be around for that...but nooooo, he's always here. It's nice and of course I love seeing him, but if I could pick a time he was always home, it would be the boys' birthday, not mine.

We did get some good schoolwork done this week and surprisingly enough, we kept it very low key and almost a little on the light side. But maybe that has been a problem all along. I mean, technically, Adisson isn't even supposed to be in school for a few more months. So anything he's learning so far is just putting us ahead of the game. I've learned something about this experience though and we'll be focusing more on taking it a little easier in the future. I should be more concerned with him learning on his own pace instead of what I think he needs to be doing and when. I have found that if I give him less to do, he almost always does more. One of my first homeschooling epiphanies. :) We made a "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" lapbook this week and I will try to post some pictures.

I'm working on a few new volunteer adventures. This week, I signed up to be the Team Captain for a Relay for Life team in honor of my best friend's mom who lost her battle with cancer in November. I also contacted the closest Project Linus group to inquire about making and donating homemade blankets through them. I have asked Project Linus several times if I could start a local chapter, to give some of these army wives something to do during a 15 month deployment, but they have shot me down twice. Now I am making the blankets and mailing them to Nashville. I hope I can meet up with the ladies in Nashville at some point, but right now, while Adam is gone, it's not really an option. I had planned on donating my homemade blankets to the babies born on post, but feel that my time is better spent making blankets for little kids who are ill.

Well, my little tornado is asleep and it's time to work on some school stuff with his big brother.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Oh dear. It's been far too long since I've posted. And a lot has happened in the last few months but I'm not here to give you a 4 month recap. :) Who wants to read that anyway?

Today is Valentine's Day! Growing up I hated Valentine's Day. Well, more so when I was in Jr. High and the early part of High School. It just seemed that everyone was getting cute little heart shaped boxes and I wasn't. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have cared. :)

Because now I'm married. This is my fourth Valentine's Day as a wife. I've received gifts in the past, and I'm told my gift is on the way now (a book I have been wanting), but it's not so much about gifts really. Sure flowers and chocolate are nice and what girl doesn't love to get jewelry...but it's just diffrent for me now. Adam and I don't get to spend a lot of time together. In the 57 (holy moly!) months we've been married, we've lived together for 19 of them. We aren't spending this Valentine's Day together either as he's in month number four of his latest deployment. I sent him a box fulll of goodies. Candy, an entire medicine cabinet, and some books....oh, and toiletries. The medicine was because I know he dosen't like to go see anyone to get medicine when he doeesn't feel well. So I wanted him to have things right there in his room in case he had a headache or a cold. The books were "I Love You, Ronnie" and "The Five Love Languages" but I have my doubts that he'll read either of them.

This week has been a crazy week. Adam's grandpa, who has been ill for several years, is passing away. Adam is insistent on trying to get home for the funeral if he's able to do so. Which I understand and I hope he's able to make it happen. It's up to his commanding officers so hopefully, they have a soft heeart when making that decision. We are waiting here at home for The Call and trying to be ready. While I pray for his passing to come sooner rather than later to finally put an end to his suffering, I pray for Adam's grandma's sake that it isn't on Valentine's Day.

I hope to update this thing a little more often as maybe it will help me alleviate some of the stress I have been feeling in the last few weeks as I've had to have several things repaired around the house and wanted to SCREAM!!

And if you happen to read this, honey, which I doubt, I hope you know that I am praying for you right now. I hope you know that I love you so much and that I'm sorry you have to deal with all of this when you are so far away and can't be here. I am also praying that you are as prepared as you should be for your board tomorrow and that you are full of clarity and confidence. I LOVE YOU! Happy Valentine's Day!