Delightful Suprises!

This year we are trying something new in our house.

We were blessed greatly when 4 years ago we received a call from a woman I barely knew.
She didn't live far from us. Our daughters were in the same homeschool book club. She had been praying and my name came to mind. She wanted to teach another girl alongside her daughter for a subject or two. The goal was to provide socialization, accountability and class setting experience. With babies all around and feeling like I was drowning a bit and some prayer, I agreed. She has become a blessed friend to have. I believe God's hand was in bringing us together. We encountered many things this last year and God used this special family to help point us in many right directions. Our daughters are good friends. A year or so into this arrangement, the younger brothers were given an opportunity to have play time. Just about the time God started speaking to my heart that the arrangement might need to change soon, she approached me and told me God was leading their family in a different direction. So last year, Fun Mom and I discovered Middle School English together.

Last semester, God started showing me other opportunities to share this blessing with a couple of other moms. One who has babies just like I had and another who was looking for a similar scenario for her oldest. Works out perfect one boy and one girl. So twice a week now, we have English class at home. One hour of 3rd grade English and an hour of play time. One hour of 4th grade English and an hour of play time. The only downside Fun Mom is getting older and we couldn't do the same for her. She did have fun playing with little ones. She even asked if she could borrow the camera to take pictures of Flutter Nutter playing Barbies. She thought that was very funny!

Our first day of English was amazing. We got through 3 lessons in both sessions. A small amount of homework. Everyone seemed very suprised at how much we were able to accomplish. Won't always be the case. But what an encouraging start!

The boys seemed to have fun, even though they both didn't really say much about. But both girls were thrilled. "It went so fast!" "This is fun!" "Thanks Mom, I really liked English." So I am encouraged. Flutter Nutter took a bat to the face during class, so I had to run up and love on him. He has a beautiful shiner. Maybe, pictures later? Meanwhile, the girls took the innitiative to proceed with the lesson. I checked their work and it was perfecto!

My only rule for them about the homework, is if it isn't done then play time will be reduced until we get our work done. I am soooo hoping that will be all the motivation needed.
But for now, I will rest in a day that went very well!

First day of School !

Today we started school.
We have an eighth, fourth, and third grader and a kindergartner and a get into everything, climb on your lap and take the pencils and laugh turkey.
We started the morning with lessons and when Big O Daddy O, finally resurfaced from the covers he went to go get our annual Krispy Kreme treats for the first day of school.
Suprisingly, things went really well. I was sick through late morning and lunch, stress of the last month caught up with me, but the kids kept plugging along.
Most everything got finished.
We celebrated by going swimming at the Y this afternoon.
1 Day done, 176 more to go!

~~ I got a lot of "why start on Wednesday? questions." Well I discovered not too far into my homeschooling venture, staying true to lesson plans that HAD to be Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri... all the time just didn't work for us. No flexibilty in it. This year, praying and pondering, I realized first days don't go well on Mondays for us. We have all the hullabub coming out of the weekend. So we had our crazy Monday/Tuesday. We started Wednesday. We are getting our feet wet, starting slow with 3 days and then a weekend. Instead of sticking to a M-T-W-H-F schedule (some things we do...like music lessons/spelling, etc.) I plugged everything into HomeSchool Tracker and we'll plug along. And LIFE is well, pretty much that way. Things just don't always happen on schedule or the day you specify. Just gotta roll with it. The beautiful thing is, IF we stay on track, some of our stuff will be done in April and the rest in early May. So, I have some wiggle room for sickness this year. That will be nice, it is a first for us. So we are just going to do what Homeschool Tracker tells us to do each day. Can't argue with a computer !

Quoteables courtesy of Daddy's Buddy!

Outside talking with friends, talking about Flutter Nutter and the sweet girl he likes. Daddy's Buddy gets asked about who he is gonna marry. He shakes his head no and then says,

"I'm not gonna have kids, cause I want to have a bunch of cool cars and motorcycles."

Lately, my boys have discovered sports cars, Mustangs and motorcycles. They count they as if they were playing Slug Bug (VW Bug) when we are driving around. Dad doesn't have a cool car cause he has kids. LOL. About two weeks ago, I overheard the kids talking... "Fun Mom gets the Taurus when she learns to drive. Dad will get a Mustang. When Hockey Player gets his license he gets the Mustang and dad gets.....

Please, oh please don't talk about life insurance and social security checks with them. They might devise our early departure to Heaven!

But not to despair about my chances of being a grandmother, and dear sweet Daddy's Buddy getting to experience all the joys and challenges of parenthood. On our way in, I scooped him up and he looked me in the eye and said,
"When I have kids, I have to move out?"

"Yes, " I say very sweetly.
I don't bother to tell him he'll be moved out before that. LOL!

Blowing Stuff UP!

Air National Guard had an open house this past weekend. Demonstrations with dropping bombs, shooting flares, missles and the planes' machine guns, and flight manuevers.
Kids were excited. Dad had to work. I was the lucky parent to take the crew.
The kids loved it. We had to wait in line for over an hour to get to the parking. When we left the distance it took us an hour+ to travel took us only 10 minutes leaving. The long wait didn't faze the kids any. They saw helicopters and planes. They had fun checking out the bunkers and "buildings" used for training. As we approached the show site, they saw the planes dropping the bombs. They really got excited then.

We parked and I let them climb up on top of the suburban. I didn't want to walk on down to the stands. We were way out in a field by now. We stayed 45 minutes before leaving. We missed most of the show by the time we got there. It was so packed I wanted to get out before every one else. Good thing, cause when I looked in my rear view mirror there was a line of vehicles for as far as I could see.

The kids did see the flares being shot off. Daddy's Buddy calls them fireworks.
The machine guns firing caused Flutter Nutter to break out in full belly laughs/giggles. They don't make the rat a tat tat sound you hear in the movies. The kids all thought it sounded like the plane was f*rting. Still makes them break out in laughter when we talk about it. We watched a few maneuvers. Dad of course wanted to know which planes we saw and I am like....ummmmm.... I didn't know there would be a test. "Big planes," I responded. "There are big planes and there are little planes. These were all Big!" He just shook his head.

Even though things didn't go like we expected. The kids and I had a good time. They joked and played Slug Bug in the car while we drove. Lots of conversation. Good time just the 6 of us, no distractions. Next time, I hope dad gets to take them.

Whew, it is a relief!

I am worth more alive than dead!

Social Security says so!

Several months ago, dear husband got his annual letter from Social Security listing out benefits should he get to meet our heavenly Father before we do. He wouldn't show me his letter. He was afraid I might do something harsh. Social Security indicated he was worth more in Heaven than on Earth. I beg to disagree that on most days. **grin**

However, Social Security says I haven't worked enough. What do they know ? ? There should be a higher pay scale for homemakers and mothers in general...stay at home or working moms! Soo, I am not worth much dead. Good to know.

Social security benefits would pay for child care. But there wouldn't be much left for all the eating out I know my family would do or for the cleaning service they would need to help keep things running, or for the extra shopping that would need to be done in the stores since dear hubby won't have time to garage sale.

WOOHOO, what confidence I have in my husband, that he cherishes me and loves me. LOL ! !

This goes right along with the little revelation I had a year ago. I like to have dear hubby accompany me sometimes on errands. He likes to seek, grab and depart. I like to look, and poke along. He has got to be in the right mood to do that with me. For instance, no children with us! So one particular outting, he was about done and said he was going to go have a seat and wait. It dawned on me, I could take as long as I wanted cause he would not leave me. If he left me, he would have to go home by himself to take care of the kids ! I knew that would not happen. :)

Job security, I love it !!

Just so you know, I don't make a habit of driving him nuts with this little bit of knowledge. But I do no longer fret if the line in the store takes a little longer than I know he would like. Or if I happen to change my mind and need to get out of line and start all over again.