Bat.
Flying bat.
There was a flying bat in my house last night.
About ten minutes after KOJ pulled out of the driveway with all three boys, leaving me alone with Sierra, a bat came swooping out of my kitchen into the dining room.
Sierra was obliviously watching Dora. She was also nekid. Yeah, that's right. Nekid. I wasn't in any suitable shape for leaving the house either.
It has been a VERY long time since I've encountered a bat in my living space. My poor throat was so sore from screaming at the bat. What few brain cells I may have had left flew away with the bat.
A few fun facts. We only have one vehicle. It was at church with Jay. It was pouring rain outside. Jay does not have a cell phone and I had NO way to get a hold of him to come rescue us. My own phone was three rooms away on the kitchen counter.
Now all I could recall from being a child and having a bat in our house was my mom insisting that we put underwear on our heads. As an adult I didn't really think that was a sane idea. So instead I grabbed the fleece tie blanket my mom made me for my birthday, jumped onto the couch next to Sierra and threw the blanket over us. When I peeked out and could no longer see the bat flying around I asked Sierra to go in the kitchen and get my phone. Do you know that this child looked straight at me and said "No, scared." and went back to watching Dora?? Finally, after a few minutes of no bat activity I did a slumped over tip toe to the kitchen to retrieve my phone.
I called my mom first and got her voice mail. I left rather a desperate message. I called several of Jay's friends hoping they were also at church and could get my message to him but I got no help there.
While waiting for Dora to finish I grabbed the clothes Sierra got out for herself earlier but never bothered to put on and got her dressed in case we had opportunity to leave our bat infested house.
Finally, Dora got over and Sierra was then willing to come upstairs with me so that we could lock ourselves in my bedroom. Shortly after getting up there my mom called me back. She came over with her broom, turned on EVERY light, looked in every nook and cranny and could not find the bat. She did leave the front door open while looking though so it's possible the bat flew back outside while she was in another room. We did not have another sighting of the bat again so we are fairly sure that's what happened.
The end.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Kindergarten has evolved
I do a very informal kindergarten. I did it with Kayd and I've done it with Colton. I have felt a bit more pressure with Colton though because with him I have had the task of teaching reading. Kayd played on starfall and watched the original leap frog videos and mostly taught himself to read.
Colton though was a bit tougher. Part of it I think is just that I had never taught anyone to read before so we were both inexperienced in this journey. I tried ordinary parents guide to teaching reading - which I like and I suspect will work great with Sierra when the time comes. But poor Colton just had a block when it came to blending. So we tried just reading together with BOB books. But again he just had a block. I think part of it was confidence honestly.
A couple of months ago I happened upon a recommendation for Easy Peasy - all in one curriculum. It's right online and it's all inclusive. I began at the lesson they suggested for learning to read. It was a system that honestly never occurred to me. My brain thinks learning to read should be phonetic, but this system uses memorization. Each day the child would look at digital flashcards of the few words their short three or four sentence story would include. They see and hear the words three times a day and then read the story at the end of the third time. This WORKED! He was able to memorize the words by looking at them three times a day and thereby able to read the short stories each day. His confidence grew and now he's able to read books outside of this computer curriculum.
We recently got him the first book in the Explode the Code series and he's begun working through that excitedly. I'm thrilled with the progress he's made and excited that he's really starting to enjoy being able to read.
I really encourage you, esp in these early years, if something isn't clicking with your child seek out something else. Each of our children just learns so differently and I have to remind myself that it's the one size fits all approach in our public school systems that annoys me so much and therefore it's silly for me to think it should work in our home.
So now Colton's kindergarten day looks like this:
two or three pages of explode the code
reading a short story aloud to/with me
math notebooking and living math activities
Short, simple, sweet and we're covering the three R's.
Colton though was a bit tougher. Part of it I think is just that I had never taught anyone to read before so we were both inexperienced in this journey. I tried ordinary parents guide to teaching reading - which I like and I suspect will work great with Sierra when the time comes. But poor Colton just had a block when it came to blending. So we tried just reading together with BOB books. But again he just had a block. I think part of it was confidence honestly.
A couple of months ago I happened upon a recommendation for Easy Peasy - all in one curriculum. It's right online and it's all inclusive. I began at the lesson they suggested for learning to read. It was a system that honestly never occurred to me. My brain thinks learning to read should be phonetic, but this system uses memorization. Each day the child would look at digital flashcards of the few words their short three or four sentence story would include. They see and hear the words three times a day and then read the story at the end of the third time. This WORKED! He was able to memorize the words by looking at them three times a day and thereby able to read the short stories each day. His confidence grew and now he's able to read books outside of this computer curriculum.
We recently got him the first book in the Explode the Code series and he's begun working through that excitedly. I'm thrilled with the progress he's made and excited that he's really starting to enjoy being able to read.
I really encourage you, esp in these early years, if something isn't clicking with your child seek out something else. Each of our children just learns so differently and I have to remind myself that it's the one size fits all approach in our public school systems that annoys me so much and therefore it's silly for me to think it should work in our home.
So now Colton's kindergarten day looks like this:
two or three pages of explode the code
reading a short story aloud to/with me
math notebooking and living math activities
Short, simple, sweet and we're covering the three R's.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
a new plan
I love homeschooling. I know I mentioned that recently. But I have more reasons I love homeschooling right now than I posted about then.
Homeschooling can be flexible. It can be easily changed when it needs to be.
For example I have planned to finish this school year in mid June and start back up in mid August. That's going to change.
Kayd is going to finish his 2nd grade math curriculum by the end of February - and that is if we really draw it out. He's going to finish his 2nd grade spelling by the end of March. This is actually really great for our family right now.
We're going to move into math notebooking and living math activities until I can get his third grade math curriculum in May or June. I think that he'll enjoy the break from the formal math and honestly the ideas I'm coming across for living math and math notebooking look fun!
We will continue on with our planned social studies/history schedule of Magic Tree House books and various topics. This we will finish in June. We will probably take a week or two off in July but we're not going to take a big summer break this year.
We're going to want to get started on our next school year early because come the end of September we're going to want to take a bit of a break from formal school work. We will want to spend time loving on and getting to know the newest member of our family who will be arriving about then. That's right, this jungle is getting a new monkey. We're all very excited. The kids are beyond thrilled and that alone makes me beyond thrilled - though I was pretty happy anyway.
For science the next several months I plan to have the kids learn about the weekly developments of our newest family member. I love that we homeschool and that affords ALL of the kids to spend time in the babies first weeks with the baby and welcoming him or her into our home and family and daily life.
And so here I sit making a new plan. And for once I'm not frustrated at all at the need for a new plan. It's such a great reason to need a new plan.
Homeschooling can be flexible. It can be easily changed when it needs to be.
For example I have planned to finish this school year in mid June and start back up in mid August. That's going to change.
Kayd is going to finish his 2nd grade math curriculum by the end of February - and that is if we really draw it out. He's going to finish his 2nd grade spelling by the end of March. This is actually really great for our family right now.
We're going to move into math notebooking and living math activities until I can get his third grade math curriculum in May or June. I think that he'll enjoy the break from the formal math and honestly the ideas I'm coming across for living math and math notebooking look fun!
We will continue on with our planned social studies/history schedule of Magic Tree House books and various topics. This we will finish in June. We will probably take a week or two off in July but we're not going to take a big summer break this year.
We're going to want to get started on our next school year early because come the end of September we're going to want to take a bit of a break from formal school work. We will want to spend time loving on and getting to know the newest member of our family who will be arriving about then. That's right, this jungle is getting a new monkey. We're all very excited. The kids are beyond thrilled and that alone makes me beyond thrilled - though I was pretty happy anyway.
For science the next several months I plan to have the kids learn about the weekly developments of our newest family member. I love that we homeschool and that affords ALL of the kids to spend time in the babies first weeks with the baby and welcoming him or her into our home and family and daily life.
And so here I sit making a new plan. And for once I'm not frustrated at all at the need for a new plan. It's such a great reason to need a new plan.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Today is 8 years
Today is eight years.
Eight years since I turned 23 (yes that means I'm 31 today) eek!!
Eight years since my bonus mom made our beautiful bouquets.
Eight years since I walked down the aisle on my father's arm.
Eight years ago our parents were there.
Eight years since I married the love of my life.
In the past eight years we've moved a few times. Had four babies together. Yelled at each other. Loved each other. Supported each other. I've spent the past eight years with the same man. Day in and day out, and I've loved him more and more over those eight years. And I plan to spend many many many more years with him.
Thanks darling for being the King of our jungle!
Eight years since I turned 23 (yes that means I'm 31 today) eek!!
Eight years since I woke up in a hotel room with my sisters and little brother.
Thanks darling for being the King of our jungle!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Sew Saturday: a quiet book
For Christmas one of Sierra's gifts was a quiet book. She's the perfect age for it and I found so many awesome ideas for pages all over the internet. So I set to work on it in September. I finished it about two days before Christmas. Mostly.
Long story short, it was a LOT of work. I did a LOT of the sewing by hand rather than machine because I began the project and had it about 3/4 of the way done before I became more comfortable with using a sewing machine. I just used basic felt for the back pieces of each page and cut the other pieces out of felt. The felt flowers on the tree page are actually buttons I found at walmart. The potato head does have some pieces that she can play with and the barn has three finger puppets that go in the little doors. Her favorite pages are the ladybug and the bead abacus. It's been a big hit though I have found a few flaws with it.
1. She does not understand the concept of quiet.
2. She is absolutely certain that she must have an adult accompany her in playing with it.
3. The little pieces don't always stay in the book very well and I occassionally find them around the house.
But she does love it and I'm very glad. I do have a quiet book pinterest board if you want to see some of my inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my sew Saturday.
1. She does not understand the concept of quiet.
2. She is absolutely certain that she must have an adult accompany her in playing with it.
3. The little pieces don't always stay in the book very well and I occassionally find them around the house.
But she does love it and I'm very glad. I do have a quiet book pinterest board if you want to see some of my inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my sew Saturday.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Counting the blessings
Sometimes I find myself stuck in a rut. Sometimes I find myself seeing a blessing in every little thing. Today it's a blessing in every little thing sort of day.
Sierra is talking more in complete thoughts and it's so cute. Even though most of the time "me first" and "I had it first" and many other things she says aren't necessarily what I would prefer to hear, I love hearing her little voice and the sincerity with which she says the words. She means what she says. With all of her being and it shows on her face when she speaks and I adore it. And she is so patient with me when I struggle to understand sometimes the thought that she is trying to convey. She rarely loses her patience with me as I guess over and over again. She'll be a great mommy some day.
Kayden has been doing great with his school this week. He wanted to have an attitude the other day and I cut him off at the pass and despite his initial reluctance to do school he's doing his best at his work anyway and THAT is a HUGE improvement. His writing has improved by leaps and bounds and I'm so thankful that I decided not to push him in that area. He's getting there on his own. He's also found a LOVE of reading the past month or so and I'm so thrilled.
Colton has made huge improvements in learning to read. I am so thankful that someone somewhere recommended the Easy Peasy all in one website. The learning to read lessons on there built his confidence and have seemed to have broken through the block he was struggling with most of this school year so far. Today he read two stories to me in an early reader school book I picked up at the Salvation army. I'm so proud of him. He's also initiating reading to Sierra and that's adorable. He doesn't always read the actual words but I personally think it's an important step to be able to look at the pictures and create your own story anyway so I definitely encourage it.
Sawyer is still Sawyer. We're working on obeying and that's apparently a really hard thing for him to learn. He's got his own mind and his own will and his own way of wanting things done. I try to remember to only argue with him when it's truly important because otherwise he and I will spend the rest of our lives arguing with one another and destroying our relationship. Sawyer is teaching me patience and reliance on God. He's the one child where I feel like he doesn't truly receive my instruction. So I have to trust God to get to his heart without much help from me. Other than prayer. Sawyer also teaches me prayer. He's also been a good source of communication between Jay and I. It often goes "I just don't know what to do with him anymore!" sob. "Me neither." sigh. Sawyer, God definitely gave him to us to teach us something. He's also very snuggly. Touch is definitely his love language and unfortunately he doesn't believe in personal space. Academically he's smart as a whip and just going along with preschool level activities. He'll be more than ready for kindergarten this coming fall.
And quiet time. Quiet time is a new favorite blessing of mine. Sierra only naps sporadically and when she does she doesn't want to go to bed on time that night and then she becomes over tired and it's a vicious cycle. So I've read numerous places on other mommy blogs about quiet time. The whole family participates and it lasts for varied amounts of time in different households. This week we began with 20 minutes. I have the boys sit on their own beds with books. I put Sierra in my room with me on the little toddler couch with some board books. She doesn't quite get the quiet part of quiet time but I think that the intentional rest is really good for everyone. We do it shortly after lunch. Probably midweek next week I'll increase it to 30 minutes and eventually my goal is for a full hour. Today I read my bible during quiet time and I think that would be an excellent habit to get into.
Polar bear snacks. We're learning about polar bears and the arctic in school this week and next and these polar bear faces were fun little snacks. Poor Colton thought that the base was a rice crispy treat but it was in fact a rice cake. Two VERY different things. Unmet expectations right there. lol
And so those are a few of the blessings I can count today.
Sierra is talking more in complete thoughts and it's so cute. Even though most of the time "me first" and "I had it first" and many other things she says aren't necessarily what I would prefer to hear, I love hearing her little voice and the sincerity with which she says the words. She means what she says. With all of her being and it shows on her face when she speaks and I adore it. And she is so patient with me when I struggle to understand sometimes the thought that she is trying to convey. She rarely loses her patience with me as I guess over and over again. She'll be a great mommy some day.
Kayden has been doing great with his school this week. He wanted to have an attitude the other day and I cut him off at the pass and despite his initial reluctance to do school he's doing his best at his work anyway and THAT is a HUGE improvement. His writing has improved by leaps and bounds and I'm so thankful that I decided not to push him in that area. He's getting there on his own. He's also found a LOVE of reading the past month or so and I'm so thrilled.
Colton has made huge improvements in learning to read. I am so thankful that someone somewhere recommended the Easy Peasy all in one website. The learning to read lessons on there built his confidence and have seemed to have broken through the block he was struggling with most of this school year so far. Today he read two stories to me in an early reader school book I picked up at the Salvation army. I'm so proud of him. He's also initiating reading to Sierra and that's adorable. He doesn't always read the actual words but I personally think it's an important step to be able to look at the pictures and create your own story anyway so I definitely encourage it.
Sawyer is still Sawyer. We're working on obeying and that's apparently a really hard thing for him to learn. He's got his own mind and his own will and his own way of wanting things done. I try to remember to only argue with him when it's truly important because otherwise he and I will spend the rest of our lives arguing with one another and destroying our relationship. Sawyer is teaching me patience and reliance on God. He's the one child where I feel like he doesn't truly receive my instruction. So I have to trust God to get to his heart without much help from me. Other than prayer. Sawyer also teaches me prayer. He's also been a good source of communication between Jay and I. It often goes "I just don't know what to do with him anymore!" sob. "Me neither." sigh. Sawyer, God definitely gave him to us to teach us something. He's also very snuggly. Touch is definitely his love language and unfortunately he doesn't believe in personal space. Academically he's smart as a whip and just going along with preschool level activities. He'll be more than ready for kindergarten this coming fall.
And quiet time. Quiet time is a new favorite blessing of mine. Sierra only naps sporadically and when she does she doesn't want to go to bed on time that night and then she becomes over tired and it's a vicious cycle. So I've read numerous places on other mommy blogs about quiet time. The whole family participates and it lasts for varied amounts of time in different households. This week we began with 20 minutes. I have the boys sit on their own beds with books. I put Sierra in my room with me on the little toddler couch with some board books. She doesn't quite get the quiet part of quiet time but I think that the intentional rest is really good for everyone. We do it shortly after lunch. Probably midweek next week I'll increase it to 30 minutes and eventually my goal is for a full hour. Today I read my bible during quiet time and I think that would be an excellent habit to get into.
Polar bear snacks. We're learning about polar bears and the arctic in school this week and next and these polar bear faces were fun little snacks. Poor Colton thought that the base was a rice crispy treat but it was in fact a rice cake. Two VERY different things. Unmet expectations right there. lol
And so those are a few of the blessings I can count today.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Making hard choices
We've made choices in our lives. Before we met we each made choices. After we met we've each made choices. Since our marriage we have together made many many choices. Some really bad ones. Some super good ones such as four monkeys and moving back to my hometown with them.
While doing our budget for the new year this past week we had to make some choices. Well mostly I make the choices, I convey what I'm thinking to KOJ and he generally agrees with me. If he doesn't agree he says so and then I sometimes agree with him. It's not an argumentative subject for us. I mean I totally see where money can be a problematic subject in marriages but it's really not in ours. It's not more important than loving one another or loving God.
So back to the choices. Perhaps I should mention here that we are down to one vehicle and have been since about last August or September. It's a real bummer. BUT I've gotten mostly used to being back to one vehicle. Our insurance costs are less on one vehicle. The kids and I didn't do a ton outside of the house during the weekdays anyway. There are times it's inconvenient but really having a vehicle at all is a luxury to most of the world.
The library and two parks as well as the local fountains are within easy walking distance from our home for summer activities. There's a river walk in close proximity too that the kids love to walk to. We can see the train tracks from the end of our block. I prefer to shop on the weekends without the kids in tow anyhow.
So we had to make a decision. A few actually. The first decision was about replacing our second vehicle. We have been planning to use tax return money to do so. We are still planning on that. However my dad advises us that tax time is THE WORST time to buy a car. Waiting until fall will get you more car for the same money. So we had to decide to wait or buy once the money is in. We have decided to wait. We will wait until September/October and hopefully get a really good deal on a very fuel efficient vehicle.
Deciding to wait on the second car forced us to make other decisions regarding the children's summer activities. The past two years Kayd has played little league ball, last year Colton was able to play also. Not having a second vehicle would make it pretty much impossible to get to all the games on time so we had to decide to forgo baseball this summer. Last year Kayd was super blessed to get to go to daycamp with a ton of our church friends but without a second vehicle I have no way to get him there this year and so we had to choose to forgo daycamp. Colton is old enough for daycamp this year too so it's even more of a bummer.
It hurts my mama heart to not be able to give my kids the entire world on a platter. But I know deep down that they're lives aren't going to be ruined by one summer of less running around and fewer activities. Daycamp and little league ball are optional activities. My children have a home, they have plenty of food in their bellies, they have parents who love each other and them, they have God. My children really don't lack for what's important in life and I think that I would do well to remember that.
While doing our budget for the new year this past week we had to make some choices. Well mostly I make the choices, I convey what I'm thinking to KOJ and he generally agrees with me. If he doesn't agree he says so and then I sometimes agree with him. It's not an argumentative subject for us. I mean I totally see where money can be a problematic subject in marriages but it's really not in ours. It's not more important than loving one another or loving God.
So back to the choices. Perhaps I should mention here that we are down to one vehicle and have been since about last August or September. It's a real bummer. BUT I've gotten mostly used to being back to one vehicle. Our insurance costs are less on one vehicle. The kids and I didn't do a ton outside of the house during the weekdays anyway. There are times it's inconvenient but really having a vehicle at all is a luxury to most of the world.
The library and two parks as well as the local fountains are within easy walking distance from our home for summer activities. There's a river walk in close proximity too that the kids love to walk to. We can see the train tracks from the end of our block. I prefer to shop on the weekends without the kids in tow anyhow.
So we had to make a decision. A few actually. The first decision was about replacing our second vehicle. We have been planning to use tax return money to do so. We are still planning on that. However my dad advises us that tax time is THE WORST time to buy a car. Waiting until fall will get you more car for the same money. So we had to decide to wait or buy once the money is in. We have decided to wait. We will wait until September/October and hopefully get a really good deal on a very fuel efficient vehicle.
Deciding to wait on the second car forced us to make other decisions regarding the children's summer activities. The past two years Kayd has played little league ball, last year Colton was able to play also. Not having a second vehicle would make it pretty much impossible to get to all the games on time so we had to decide to forgo baseball this summer. Last year Kayd was super blessed to get to go to daycamp with a ton of our church friends but without a second vehicle I have no way to get him there this year and so we had to choose to forgo daycamp. Colton is old enough for daycamp this year too so it's even more of a bummer.
It hurts my mama heart to not be able to give my kids the entire world on a platter. But I know deep down that they're lives aren't going to be ruined by one summer of less running around and fewer activities. Daycamp and little league ball are optional activities. My children have a home, they have plenty of food in their bellies, they have parents who love each other and them, they have God. My children really don't lack for what's important in life and I think that I would do well to remember that.
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