Weekly Update Jan. 26-30

This will be short, since I just updated on Monday. Dr. appt. went well. Baby's head is definitely down and he is loving stretching right now. I don't love it so much. He is getting the hiccups alot which are quite funny to feel. The time is approaching fast. Although I am ready for it to be over, it is quite overwhelming. I feel there is so much left to do, but just doing the regular daily things is draining enough.

We've had a really smooth week of school. The kids have been really motivated to get their work done without constant reminders. We started an organized chore system again that they mark on a chart and switch every week. So the same person doesn't have to do the same jobs every week. Last Saturday, the only clean up I had to do was cleaning the bathroom. I really like the new system. Don't get me wrong, I am not breaking any child labor laws. We are just doing the basics. It's nice that the kids are a little older. They can keep their own rooms clean and help out around the house. We bought some storage bin organizers from a fellow homeschooler a few weeks ago. I put one in each of their rooms. Last Friday and Saturday, we finished unpacking Tera's room and then I organized each of their rooms. (a little nesting going on I think). It has been so much easier for them to pick up and now almost everything has a place. This really helps Daniel out alot. If things are labeled, he'll usually put it back in it's place. Tera is just like her parents- a pack rat. I have to go through her room once a month or so and get rid of paper stuff. This time we went through things and put papers she wanted to keep in folders. Hopefully we can wait two months before deep cleaning.

I said this would be short, who knew I would find so much to say.

Update

I missed Friday's update.

WARNING: Whining about to begin

I am so tired of being pregnant. My back hurts, I can't get comfortable at night, I run to the bathroom every hour or two, heartburn, and those are the things appropriate to mention on this blog. Don't get me wrong, I am so thrilled to have a healthy baby, but I am so tired. I go back to the dr. tomorrow for a check up and a "head check". I had no idea what that was until I asked. Being a former school teacher, a "head check" to me was checking for lice. That's not it (I'm sure you were worried). Anyway, they are checking by ultrasound to see if the baby's head is down. I am having a scheduled C-section so I was wondering why this info was relevant, but anyway. I have had so many ultrasounds this time around, my kids recognize the word and can tell you what it means. One positive thing, we have great insurance that has paid everytime the doctor has ordered one. Praise the Lord.

Whining over

The kids started back to Monday Fun- our homeschooling group Monday enrichment classes. Tera is taking Hands-On Science and Daniel is taking Ocean Animals. We have really struggled this year to do the extra science experiments, so these are good learning experience for both of them. They both came home telling us what they learned and saying they really enjoyed their classes. I am not teaching this time around. Every parent has to volunteer one service hour for each class hour their kids are in. I am a hall monitor, which is one of the few jobs I can handle given my physical state right now.

JP has been working on learning to speak French. He is teaching us basic conversational interactions around the table at lunch everyday. Bon Jour! The kids have really been enjoying it. This morning I heard, "Bon Jour, ma mer, sa va?" from Daniel at breakfast. That means "good morning, my mother, how are you?" To which JP has taught us how to reply and ask the other person how they are. So it's really neat. I took Spanish in High School, so this is different for me. Our teacher had us choose a Spanish name for ourselves- I was Felicidad and my good friend, Tammy was Luisa (If I remember correctly). French is a stretch for me, but that's okay.

Well, it's late. Au Revior.

Weekly Update Jan. 12-16

I haven't done an update in a while. I am 34 weeks pregnant right now scheduled to deliver Feb. 20. I am tired and so ready. I was measuring one week farther at my appointment on Thursday. I have another ultrasound on the 27th to check and see if the baby's head is down. Since I am having a C-section, I'm not sure why they are doing that, but oh well. I am feeling like Humpty Dumpty's twin sister right now.

We received a package from Grandma today with lots of awesome crocheted goodies. It felt like Christmas. We all loved our things. Daniel is really into scarfs, he loved his new green scarf. Our favorite was the baby hat. The kids watch JellyTelly and one of their favorite characters, Michael wears a hat just like it. Thank you Grandma.

School is plugging along. Tera and Daniel are doing so good. Last year I flew by the seat of my pants it felt like but this year I give them weekly assignment sheets. They know what they are doing on a daily basis and it really helps the days go smoother. We are doing Saxon Math this year. I know it doesn't work for some, but it works for us. I showed Tera a sample of another Math book she could use next year. It had vibrant pictures and really cool things in it. She said she wanted to stay with Saxon. When asked the reason, she said she liked the way Saxon reviewed the concepts again and again. It helped her keep it straight in her mind. Enough said. Last year we pulled our hair out over Math because if we left a concept she would forget it. Let's just say we are not going bald this year. Daniel is very quick to pick up Math too. I rarely have to explain a concept more than once if at all. I am truly blessed that they are doing so good.

We found out that JP's workplace is going down to a 4 day work week the whole month of February. This really would have freaked me out before, but I am seeing God providing for us. Things may get a little tighter, but we are so much better off than so many people we are hearing about. I am truly counting my blessings. I was reading in a devotion that God goes before us into tomorrow. He is already there and taking care of us. We have seen His provision throughout our lives and know that He is with us no matter what.

jellytelly.com

Here's a couple of clips from the new web based kids Christian TV show started by Phil Vischer. We subscribe for $2.99 a month and our kids watch the 20-25 minutes of Christian programming everyday. They absolutely love it. They like everything but these are just a few of their favorites.

Check it out at jellytelly.com

Sanctity of Human Life Month- Choose Life

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Going rate for Sanity= $2.37

That was the price of sanity today. The kids did their normal chores for free and then I paid them for doing all the little things I have needed to do and just can't right now. They got 25 cents for each room they volunteered to vacuum. Picking up things = 1 cent for each object; Picking up trash= 2 cents; doing things Mommy asked you to do extra= 1 cent for each job. This worked great, no complaining and a fairly clean house. My kids are still young, so I can pay such low wages. I got the laundry basically done and put away. I had time to do their assignment sheets so tomorrow will go better. The kids are clean, in bed, and I am warm and toasty in JP's thermals. I am growing out of my regular pj's but his thermals he never wears fit nice and loose. I have regained my sanity.

Morning of Frustration

I usually blog when I am not frustrated and calm, but not today.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Those are my feelings right now.

Ran out of assignment sheets for kids so they don't know what they are doing for school. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Feel like the house is a disaster area, due to my inability to pick up anything not waist high. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Laundry piled up and washing machine wigging out this morning. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Still haven't put away laundry from the last time I did it. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Feeling tired because of low iron due to the "3rd trimester blues". AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Behind in getting Christmas stuff done. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

This doesn't sound like much but to my pregnant body, it's enough. Don't worry it's too cold for me to go running down the street screaming, so no one will know but you and me. As if running were an option for me right now anyway, a slow waddle is about all I can muster. The neighbors don't have to know how crazy I really am. Please don't tell them.

Repost: Star Ornaments: Recycle those Christmas Cards

The ornaments pictured below are a beautiful and great way to reuse Christmas cards. These would be good for Sunday School or Children's Church crafts. Last year, my kids made these with a little help. This year Tera is making them on her own and Daniel still needs a little guidance.

Here are the easy directions:
1. Find a star template and cut out two poster board stars.
2. Cut irregular pieces from Christmas cards.
3. Glue the pieces to the poster board stars. It's okay if they overlap each other and you also want them to overlap the edges of the star. Pick a prominent picture to go in the middle of the star that will be on top.
4. Trim the edges of the star.
5. Glue the two stars together so that the points are not lined up. You want to see all the points.
6. Edge with glitter.
7. Punch hole in top and string them up. Use as an ornament or decoration.

Thankfulness

Something happened today that I wanted to share so that God can receive praise and thanks. We had our chimney cleaned and inspected today, considering our late night visit from the fire department about a month ago. (scroll down to find that story)

Well, we paid $110 to find out we cannot use our chimney. It will take $1450 to fix. It's really not that big of a deal, we have central heat and air but wanted to offset the electricity bill with the wood stove.

Here is the cool part. When we were going to buy this house, we were turned down by our credit union because the house did not have central heat and air. We found a mortgage broker who worked with us to get another loan. Then that company required a central heat and air system. Our plan was just to heat with the wood stove and cool with the window units already here. The mortgage broker worked it out for the seller to pay half of the cost to install the HVAC and then rolled the rest into our loan amount. We were so frustrated at this whole process because our closing kept getting put off again and again. The HVAC was the big hold-up on getting the house.

Thankfulness #1: If we hadn't had to wait, we would be really cold right now. God provided us a brand new HVAC with a 10 year warranty. (actually we have two HVAC because of the house set-up). We would have bought this house and froze to death this winter with a new baby come February. GOD PROVIDES

Thankfulness #2: The chimney inspector told us today that there had been a chimney fire before that had severely damaged our entire chimney. Basically, if we use this chimney, we will burn our house down from inside the walls. Since the chimney runs upstairs near our kids room, that's very serious. The stove pipe issue that brought the fire department out was a different issue. But I feel now it was a warning from God not to use it again until someone looked at it. It is a very sobering thought to know just how much God is looking out for us and to realize how serious of a situation it was. GOD PROTECTS

Tera made the point tonight that when it seems God is doing things we don't like or understand, He is really just keeping us safe. How awesome to be reminded of how much God loves us and protects us.

Our Robin Hoods

For Halloween the kids dressed up like Robin Hood. Our camera is messed up right now, so this picture was taken at a Trunk or Treat.

Letters to God