To Junior High, She Will Go...

I did not see this coming.  I didn't expect to be sending Sasha to junior high; to high school, but not junior high.  But, the Lord had something else in mind.

I have felt like something wasn't right with our homeschooling for a few weeks, and I have felt very uneasy for days.  My prayers were pretty simple, "Help me. Something is wrong and I don't know what."

One day, it was warm so Sasha and I sat on the front porch and chatted while the other kids played.  She asked me a question about high school, which I answered. I asked her if she wanted to go to high school. She said she did. So then, I asked her if she wanted to attend junior high, not knowing why I was even asking her that since it was never our plan to send our kids to junior high.  She started to cry and said she did want to go. I immediately knew that this was right.  I felt the heaviness I had been feeling be lifted. It has been such a spiritual experience from me and I am so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven that knows what I need to do to raise these kids He gave to Will and I.  I knew I needed help, not sure exactly what, and He gave it.

She is registered for the fall.  She is beyond excited.  I am happy for her.  And nervous. I will miss her very much.  But, this is right. Off she goes. Love you so much, Sasha Belle.

Ode to My Joy

 How can you look at this picture and NOT smile??  Can you hear their laughter??  I can.  I hear it all day. I see their messes and mischief. They are little partners in crime, these two.

I try to sit down to play the piano, to practice Primary songs in case I ever get called to serve there, which the thought scares me out of my wits and keeps me up at night.  Anyway, I sit down and there come these two.  First they both slap the keys as I try to continue to play.  Then, they want to sit on me or by me. Then they kick me off the bench altogether.

I was thinking just this week that our home has changed now that they have joined our family.  It would be such a different place without them.  For the first time since we started having kids, I feel I am at my max. I can do no more. I can barely keep up. Having said that, we love these little ones that came to our family, one right after another.  They have brought us so much joy.  They have taught my older kids how to care for someone else and to put their needs ahead of their own.  They know how wonderful it is to hold a wee one and kiss their soft little cheeks.  They know that we all have to work together and that Mom can't do it all.  We have all learned so much and I am so glad.

But, enough of this sentimental stuff!!  I gotta go....Noah put some toys and other random items in the dishwasher so I better go fish them out......and start a load of laundry.....and get Audrey some milk in the PINK cup NOT the blue one....and.....on...and on I go........... But my joy IS full.

Addie is 8...isn't that great!!??

ADDIE TURNED 8 TODAY!

 

Up and ready to open her presents!  I love her morning hair!

 Sasha saved me once again and decorated her cake last night.  She did a fabulous job and Addie loved it!!

Holding her candle that I blinged up a bit with jewels.  You can never have too many jewels, right??

Holding her gifts from the family.  Another LaLaloopsy will now reside with us, and she got an Our Generation Doll from Target. (Looks like an American Girl Doll, doesn't it?? I LOVE those but not the price tag....dang!!)

Here is what the girls made at the party.  I got the containers at the dollar store as well as the rocks and other things they added to their gardens.  I made the toadstools from a batch of baker's clay I whipped up one night, then painted them.  They are my favorite!  They make the gardens look so cute, don't you agree??

 The girls were so cute, making their gardens.  They kept adding more and more rocks and jewels and it was just cute.  We sure have some cute girls in our neighborhood.  I am so glad they came!

Gotta share this gem of an idea from pinterest.  I strung these up with a needle and thread.  So much easier than crepe paper. That stuff drives me NUTS.

The books that our inspiration came from.  Addie got the pink one from Christmas and spent many a night in my bed, as we poured over each page, planning her party.  I will never forget that.  So precious.

 I loved sending the girls home with the fairy garden; it was different than what I usually do.They did get a small goody bag with a few pieces of candy, bubbles and a cute fairy poem I found in our flower fairy book.

It was a great day.  I am so happy to be Addie's mom.  She bring us joy and spunkiness we would miss without her. Happy Birthday, to our Little Lucky Boo.

An Alphabet Poem

We are still enjoying our book about poetry and wrote another gem that I want to post here in case the original gets lost or ruined somehow.  (Noah has become quite the terminator lately).

 

A Was An Anthill...

 

A was an anthill

B was behind it

C cornered it

D dodged it

E embraced it

F faced it

G guarded it

H hated it

I ignored it

J jumped on it

K kicked it

L lost it

M mounted it

N noticed it

O opened it

P peeked in it

Q quarreled with it

R ran over it

S stabbed it

T tickled it

U went under it

V vexed it

W walloped it

X x-rayed it

Y yo-yo'd with it

Z zig-zagged far away from it.

 



When will the Easter Bunny come??

The Easter Bunny is fun, isn't it?

It's fun doing things like this as

a parent.

BUT,

what isn't fun is playing Easter Bunny

and then rushing your little kiddos

off to church. Not my favorite thing.

 (Our ward shares

the building with the singles branch and so

we will be on the 9am schedule

forever more. Makes it hard for stuff like this.)

 

They can't even really enjoy

their baskets and the Easter Egg Hunt.

SO....

a few years ago I heard of someone

having the Easter Bunny come

on SATURDAY morning instead of Sunday morning.

Genius.

I have done this the past few years and LOVE it.

We have time to enjoy our Easter Baskets,

the kids spend all day hiding and re-hiding

all the eggs.

We spend Sunday celebrating the spiritual side of Easter,

and eating the rest of the candy.

If there is any left.....

 

 

 

 

Keep your big mouth shut...

Don't you hate it when you decide to say something...

to speak out...

and you think you are doing it well,

 but you end up hurting someone's feelings.

Ya  and I always end up making people

mad at me when I post about

homeschooling.

Maybe I should just keep my

thoughts and feelings to myself.

 

This has not been a good 24 hours for me in some ways,

but in others, it has been wonderful.

 

So, to you that have been offended

by my homeschooling related rants,

I AM SORRY.

That is never my intent.

But, I have come a long way.

I truly don't care how you

educate your kids.

We are all doing what

we feel is best.

There are challenges that come with both.

Sometimes I post about

those challenges that I encounter.

That's all.

**sigh**



Spring Fever.....

We all have spring fever.

Really bad.

We'd love to hop in the car

and drive to the beach, BUT

we decided we should do something

else, a bit of a mini-vacation.

We like to get a hotel for a night or two

in SLC so we can swim, eat junk food,

and swim some more.

 

 

We just got back from a little trip and my mom

came with this time.  It made things so

much easier having her there

so Audrey and Noah didn't

get into quite so much trouble.

 

All we did was:

Swim.

Eat junk with a few pieces of fruit thown in for good measure.

Stay up late.

Wander around City Creek Mall.

Go check out Clark Planetarium.

(Audrey missed this part.  She fell asleep in my arms and we hung out by this huge globe hanging from the ceiling and I very nearly slept along with her.)

We repeated the first three things.

 

 

We had fun running up and down our freakishly long hallway.

Yes, we ALL did this.  Even Grandma.

Noah had fun throwing anything and everything he could get his chubby little hand on into the pool.

Towels and other people's flip flops where his favorites.

He also threw my almost empty pop can in there.

Good thing there were no cameras in there recording us as we swam....

 

It was so very wonderful to have 2 rooms.  We usually only get one room, but since my mom came,

she got her own room.

They were adjoining, so that was great.  We were able to spread out a bit!

We only ate out twice while there!  Yay!

Our packing is getting better:  we didn't forget to too much this time: only a swimming suit

and a jacket. Oh and the camera.  That's why there are no pictures....my bad.

 

It was a fun time.  I was pretty much exhausted from poor sleep both nights...not gonna name names, but some little people do NOT sleep well when away from home.

I came home, had a nap and when I woke up,

The laundry was DONE.

I love my husband.

We ended our weekend at the park, flying kites and playing catch.

Baseball season is coming....

Bring it ON!