Upward Basketball February 4, 2010

Jackson is playing basketball for the first time this year. It’s a great program called Upward. I’m sure most of you have heard of it so I’m not going to spend any time telling you about it. Jack had a game on Saturday and I took a few pictures. He is having a lot of fun and improving with each practice and game. But he’s still got a ways to go. Now hear this…I am NOT a sports photographer and I do not have a lens that even works for indoor sports photography. And I know these pictures are kind of icky. Maybe my next lens will be a nice telephoto prime L lens that will take great indoor sports shots. But probably not. Okay..on to the pictures.

Get outta his way. He’s ready to pounce!!

Jackson: My tooth is loose! Me: Okay, that’s great! Pay attention to the game!

Maybe Granddad can help with the tooth.

Watch out! He’s got the ball!!

During half time Grandad pulled the tooth out. Jack tried to give his bloody paper towel to his coach. His coach declined.

I don’t know why they were holding their ears.

The house that Mikey built February 4, 2010

I was just planning on doing a Mikey faces post and I was thrilled to be able to do that. I took a chance today and asked him if I could get my camera out and take some pictures of him and gave me a big YES!! So I got these and a lot more cute Mikey faces. While I was uploading those pictures to my computer Mikey began working very hard and precisely on this house. So I asked him again if I could get out my camera and take some pictures of his house and he was happy to let me. He hasn’t willingly let me take pictures of him in a couple of months or so. I really don’t know how long it’s been. So enjoy these precious Mikey pictures. I can’t promise you when I’ll be able to get more.

What’s the haps? January 24, 2010

So this blog is just being sorely neglected lately but I still post more often than some of my friends. You know who you are. Anyway…

Mikey started his new preschool this week and he really loves it. He’s going Mon-Fri from 12:30-3:30 at a local elementary school. It’s technically a program for “children with disabilities” which I’ve had a bit of an issue digesting because I don’t think the child has any disabilities. But I know it’s a great program for him and I won’t get a call every other day telling me to come pick him up because they can’t handle him. He has really taken to one of the aides and he actually cries when I come to pick him up from school because he doesn’t want to go home. His language is improving daily and we’re just constantly amazed at what he says and understands. I know he’s brilliant.

We’re planning on putting our house up for sale as soon as possible. Our real estate agent is coming out tomorrow to check out the house and tell us what she thinks we should do before putting it on the market. We will be replacing the roof in the next month or so. We’ve lived in this house for almost 8 years and we’ve really outgrown in. It’s been a good house for us but we’re very excited about moving into something bigger. I didn’t used to think that I wanted a big house but we just feel like we need the space now. With my growing business, the kids, Phillip’s music stuff, and homeschooling we just need much more space. And we’re all tired of living with one bathroom. We’re expecting to be able to make a decent profit on our house. We will also have a much better interest rate this time around that we’ve had for the last 8 years. It’s just time. We’re ready and we’re excited. And if we’re miraculously able to close by April 30th we’ll qualify for a $6,500 tax credit. So we’re really hoping things will fall into place.

I’ve done more bridal and wedding stuff lately and I’m really enjoying that. I used to be terrified of weddings and now they’re just not a big deal. I mean, I have to be prepared of course and there’s a lot to think about. But they don’t make me nervous in the least and I have a blast doing them. I feel so blessed to have been able to pursue this dream of having a photography business. Sometimes I still feel like I need to pinch myself just to make sure it’s really happening.

Jackson is playing upward basketball and he just had his second game yesterday. He scored his first goal in the game. He was pretty proud of himself. He’s so cute.

Speaking of cute, Phillip is still the cutest thing ever. I’m sure he’ll appreciate me writing that.

And just like that… January 18, 2010

my baby turned three.

Mikey was not excited about his birthday party for some reason. He didn’t want us to tell him happy birthday or talk about anything birthday related. He screamed the entire time we were getting him ready for his party and the drive over and for a few minutes once we got there. I really have no idea what got into him. But he eventually decided that it wasn’t so bad and he had fun.

The birthday boy. Oh wait…

The real birthday boy. This picture cracks me up. It totally sums up his third birthday. I wish it wasn’t blurry. Oh well, such is life.

Mikey wanted a green cake. These cakes pretty much looked horrible but they tasted pretty good. We won’t be using this cake man again.

Jack with his necktie shirt on.

I think Mikey was getting a “talking to” from his Granddad. That is serious business!

Phillip and Josh looking scary and like they probably shouldn’t be around small children.

Phillip with the scary blank stare.

Mikey enjoyed the opening presents part of the party.

Mikey smiled at this Mikey Mouse my mom got him for about half a second before he threw it. It was pretty funny.

Then he almost burned his face off on the candles on his cake. Dedee was the adult “in charge.” We didn’t sing “happy birthday” to him because that song makes him scream like he’s dying.

Christmas 2009 highlights #2 January 18, 2010

I’m so far behind on blogging! I’ve been so busy I just really haven’t had time. Here are a few more pictures from Christmas. Next stop…Mikey’s birthday party.

Phillip likes this cup.

My new pot that Aunt Gale gave me. It has already cooked gumbo and shrimp soup and it did a fine job!

Watch out!! Nana and Granddad got this Nerf dart thing for Jack. He was sort of okay with sharing it with his Uncle Josh and little brother.

Here we have our boys and my brother’s boys all sitting at the same time. As soon as I took this a couple of them ran away. That is a crazy bunch of boys right there!

The pig eats until he explodes. It’s pretty cool.

The four boys fighting in the dark with glow in the dark swords.

My mom with Garrett and Kyle.

My mom with her four youngest grandsons. My mom has SIX other grandkids and a great-grandson!!

And here’s one of my mom. Isn’t she cute? Don’t get mad, Mom.

75% off!! January 18, 2010

So I made our decision about next school year today because of a sale. Yep, that’s right. I went in our local school supply store because I heard everything was 75% off. I thought maybe I’d just grab a couple of things. Well, I ended up buying the bulk of our third grade supplies and stuff that we’ll use for fourth grade too. So I guess that seals the deal. We’ll be homeschooling for third grade. I would love to tell you that I spent hours in prayer and sought counsel from many wise and trusted friends, weighed the pros and cons and prayed some more. But I didn’t. A great sale made up my mind. Over $500 worth of stuff for $160. I did get some advise from friends too.

But I feel really great about next school year. This curriculum this year has kind of bogged us both down. Today we were able to really find some fun stuff. And Jack helped me pick a lot of it out. This is just some of the stuff we got:

- Science stuff including a magnet kit, big experiment kit, solar system kit, lots of books that Jack helped pick out.
- Geography and American history stuff that might actually interest us, including stuff about the president, mayor, and governor (Dedee!!)
- Handwriting without tears and handwriting without tears special paper
- Language arts, thinking skills, character building stuff
- Intro. Spanish stuff
- LOTS of math stuff!!
- Art books and some supplies
- A game about making wise purchases (such as buying everything you need @ 75% off!!)
- Some puzzles for Mikey

So I guess the main challenge I’ll have next year is that I’ll be sort of deciding what we learn and when. And I think I can handle that. We still need to buy some readers for next year but other than that, we’re pretty much set. Now…where in the world am I going to put all this stuff? I think I’ll put it in Phillip’s office. He won’t mind.

Certifiable January 6, 2010

The bug has hit me again and I’m really trying to get rid of it. It came upon me about a year or so ago and then kind of went away but I’m afraid it’s back. I try to ignore it or deny it or shoo it away but it keeps returning. What bug am I talking about? The baby bug.

And Phillip (and others, I’m sure) think I’ve officially lost my mind. And maybe I have.

It’s been worse lately. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because some friends of mine are expecting. Maybe it’s because I’ve been fortunate enough to photograph babies and expectant mothers. Maybe it’s because Mikey is turning three on Saturday. Maybe it’s because I’m reading about other families adopting new babies into their homes. I don’t know. But I do know that I have the ache. And I really do wish it would go away. I’ve been a bit more sad lately because of it. Most women can just “get on the good foot and do the bad thing” and voila… BABY! But we can’t. It’s a lot more complicated and risky for us to add another baby to our family. And it’s not something that can happen by accident like many pregnancies do. We would be looking at a long adoption process with many unknowns.

Phillip is much more grounded and reasonable than I am. He thinks about space and car seats and college and sanity and quiet and dirty diapers. I think of little feet and how they smell after a bath and the anticipation of seeing that new little face. He thinks two is enough. I think the more, the merrier. So needless to say, we’re not on the same page. We’re not even in the same book. He’s not wrong and I’m not wrong. And we are not at odds.

But maybe I do need to get my head examined.

He never does. January 6, 2010

Jackson fixed his new buddy Theodore a plate of bacon and eggs. I asked Jack if he really thought Theodore was going to eat that. Jack just simply looked at me without even the slightest grin and said, “He never does.”

So this is what we’re gonna do…. January 6, 2010

This is what we’re trying as of 2010 in the homeschool department….

Ready for it…

It’s profound…

It’s unexpedted…

It’s…

something we should have been doing since day 1…

We’re going to pray together every day before we start and read through part of the New Testament together.

I decided I should probably let God in this thing a little before I throw in the towel. Yeah, I know. It’s a no brainer. I don’t claim to have this stuff figured out, folks.

How’s homeschooling going? January 1, 2010

So I know I should be doing another Christmas update and/or writing about our 2009 year and all the things we hope to accomplish in 2010. And I’ll probably get around to doing that in the next week or so but right now the homeschooling thing is on my mind.

People sometimes ask me how it’s going and I’m pretty honest. I usually say that it’s going pretty good but we have days that it doesn’t go so well. There’s a bit more to it than that. I realize now that I had an unreal expectation of how this year would go. I thought Jack would LOVE being homeschooled. I thought I would be in a way his hero. I thought he would awake with great anticipation about what wonderful things he will learn today. And of course, that’s not how it has been at all. He pretty much dreads our daily adventures just as much, if not more, than he dreaded going to public school. I am not his hero. Sometimes I fear that we’ve actually grown apart this school year more than we’ve grown together. I feel like I spend the majority of my time with him threatening, bribing, and nagging rather than laughing, learning, and building good memories. I’m feeling very disheartened lately about the whole thing. I’m more convinced than ever that I will not be doing this long term. And sometimes I regret going down this road at all.

It’s not Jack’s fault that this thing isn’t working out all that well. He’s just a kid and I’m the grown up. I’m the one who’s responsible for making it work. And I just can’t seem to do it. I know that this is probably one of those hurdles that if we get past it, things will get easier. I know this is probably how a lot of homeschool parents feel the first year. This is the time when many give up. And I really want to persevere and come up with a plan of action that will work for both of us. But I know my weaknesses as a parent, as a teacher, as a human being and I just don’t know if I’m cut out to do this. If Jack’s going to hate his teacher, I would rather that teacher not be me.

So if you’ve been wondering how the homeschool thing is going, that’s pretty much it. I’m not saying that we’re quitting. I still very much want this to work. But I don’t know how to make it work. And I feel like I’m the only person who can make it work.

If you read my blog at all, you know that I post when things are good and I post when things are bad. I don’t do this to jerk you around or worry you unnecessarily. But that’s just life. Sometimes things are good and sometimes things aren’t so great. If I don’t post about the not so great, then the good won’t seem as good. Of course, I could lie and tell you things are wonderful but that’s just not my style. Anyway, I guess we’ll see how this second semester goes. I think I’m going to have to start doing things a bit differently if we’re going to be able to keep doing this.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6