Friday, July 25, 2014

Caleb is Three!


Happy Birthday to my Big Boy Caleb!

He is such a joy.



 Growing up so fast. 
This was his last day of homeschooling for Pre-Pre-K (haha)



He's a water baby.
The only thing he loves more than being in the pool is watching people in the pool.



He also loves trips to the library.



This week we went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. Everyone had a really good time.
The water was Caleb's favorite, but he also loved just hanging out and taking in the sights.


Baby boo, I hope you have another great year. You are becoming such a big boy (just like you wanted). Have a great year in school and in your speech classes. We love you lots.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Summer Break

What is this?

The light at the end of the tunnel?

Nope. Just a break.

It's been a while... And there is so much to update about. The past few months have been composed of

Homeschooling


Roller skating practices and shows



speech therapy sessions, occupational therapy sessions, 
special education sessions, small group classes, 



Working



Dance practices and shows

(Photo courtesy of my mother-in-law's Instagram)

Haircuts 


And lounging by Grandma and Grandpa's pool




When I would tell people all that we do every week they would say, "I don't know how you do it." I always respond, "You gotta do what you gotta do". But looking back, I actually really don't know. It can only be God that has worked out so many things to make life go smoothly, even when it's busy.

But now that skating shows, dance shows and school is done for the summer, we can semi-relax for the next few months. Caleb still has his sessions until his birthday, but we decided to take August off for an actually honest to goodness break. A whole month!

When September rolls around we will be back at it again with soccer, roller skating and school for Elijah. Caleb is starting school too... Pre-K3, five days a week. This is because big C is turning three this year, so he is no longer in infants and toddlers. He's going to be a big kid now. Not entirely sure how I feel about that...

But in the meanwhile I'm going to enjoy my break. Research homeschool curriculum, work out the details of our upcoming vacation (the first one with just the four of us), get the boys' new room prepped and of course update my blog with all the things I didn't have time to the rest of the year. :-)

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Elijah is Six!

Elijah turns 6-years-old today!

He has been counting down since the day after Christmas and the day finally here. We will be celebrating with balloons and presents, as usual, and Elijah has requested that we eat inside McDonalds for his birthday dinner. I guess that's doable, even with the single digit temperatures that are suppose to be going on tonight. You only get a birthday dinner once a year.

Elijah has been keeping himself busy this Christmas season.

 Him and his art clothes line. That stocking has been there since last year. He couldn't bear to take it down. He made the Christmas tree out of paper strips for art, when we were studying symmetry. The Santa is an advent calendar. He glued a cotton ball on his beard every night, faithfully (for the most part). The Jesus picture is from Easter (another one he didn't want to take down). Next is a family tree picture from daddy's side and the last thing, you can hardly see, is his Build-A-Bear puppy Brown's birth certificate.

We also built a gingerbread house out of Styrofoam (since the real kind never get eaten and go to waste.)

He also (helped) decorated the tree. He could reach up even farther this year. 
We still have to work on disbursing the ornaments instead of hanging them all 
together in various spots, but I'm sure he will have it down next Christmas.

I hope this is a wonderful year for him. He is such a great kid. I wish him many more happy years just being a kid, having fun.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

One Little Word - Contemplate

Happy New Year!

I don't know if people even do the One Little Word anymore, but it has kind of become a tradition for me around New Years. I started a few weeks ago trying to figure out what I wanted this new year to bring and the big thing that kept coming up for me is "change". I'm not opposed to change, but I thought it was a little too harsh to put into action for a whole year. I really like some things in my life and I don't want them to change, but there are also things that I would love to change.

This is why this year my One Little Word is "contemplate". There will be a lot of this going on, hopefully. We are paying off things this year and with that, we need to think about a new budget and see where the "extra" money will be going. We are really close to getting rid of cable, but are still contemplating what we are going to do. And since we are staying where we are for a couple more years I am starting to contemplate the boys sleeping situation and whether to move them into the same room or not (scary thought).

But lastly, once all of our debt is paid off (we are almost there!!) we are contemplating moving. The big question that is looming is "where?". Pretty much anywhere in the US is up for grabs. But then there's all the smaller, yet still important questions. Where will be the best place to settle down? The best place to homeschool (if we decide to keep doing it)? The best place for Caleb to get the speech therapy (and other things) he needs? Where is inexpensive, so I can stay home at least-part time? Where are there jobs that pay a decent amount of money? But above all, where does God want us to go? It's a big decision and hopefully a big (direct) answer will be given.

So with lots of things to contemplate over the next year or two, we will continue to follow where the Lord leads us and maybe we will be surprised at the outcomes.