Life

I've been terrible at blogging over here I feel like. So often I want to write and then get distracted by, oh life! I don't write a lot about our homeschooling life and don't know why, it's such a HUGE part of our life and I love it so much. I need to start blogging more about it! Trust me, my blog will not be all about HS but I will be adding in more. Right now I'm actually at a point of trying to figure out if I want to stick with what we've been doing or add some new things. I'm really intrigued by so many different curriculum's and it's just so hard to know which ones will fit our family, most of all which ones the boys will like. I have to start saying and looking at it as "boyS" because Jack will be starting a more "formal" schooling come fall time. We go year round, but in the fall is when they move up you could say to the next level/grade. I find myself drawn to FIAR (Five in A Row). I love reading, so there's a big portion of why I'm leaning towards it. I've come in contact via Internet with quite a few who do FIAR and seem to really love and enjoy it. So I'm pretty sure come fall we'll have this curc. and see how the boys do with it. If you have any opinions on it or other curic. please let me know. I think to give my children the best education I have to be open to trying different ones. I will say that expense does factor in. We're definitely not rolling in dough, and I also know I can give my boys an EXCELLENT education without spending tons of money.



One of the things I've been done poorly on so far this year is reading aloud to the boys. Chad reads every night to them, but that's separate. That's a bedtime routine. What I wanted to do this year was pick some books and read them aloud to the boys every day/evening, discuss what we read, and if we can do a project or craft that relates even better. But I will say it, having Emma and adjusting to having 3 under 6, and that last being under 6 months has been challenging. Jacob's very smart, reads amazingly well and from what I've observed (and discussed with other parents) he's well above other kids his age in his reading ability. Anyways he often does his homework at the dining room table and I'm sitting in the living room (it's really just one great room) rocking Emma, nursing Emma, changing Emma's diaper, playing with Emma, helping Jackson in some way...OK you get the point. I help and assist Jacob a fair amount, but he does a great deal on his own and I check over his work. He reads aloud, we discuss what he reads, we go over his math together and I make sure he understands what he's about to do then I check and make sure his answers are correct, he works on memorization of bible verses (AWANA), he has his spelling words, and that's a pretty typical day for him. We do have a new science curric. but we're waiting until Spring to start that. I try to take them to the library every couple of weeks to check out books, and we also use the chapel library as well. There's chores to be done, meals to be made, toys to be played with, and they get a little TV thrown in there as well. Then add in the sports our days and often evenings are filled...yet I am not feeling that I'm giving Jacob (currently) the absolute best education I could be giving him. I think in some ways although Jacob's NEVER been in public school (well he did go to a public school for his 1 yr of preschool that he was part of) my own schooling has me trained to feel that because he's not sitting doing 6 hours of school work, he's missing something. Never mind that he's getting more actual work done in half the time as a traditional brick and mortar school child is. Most of the time I don't compare or worry, etc...but there are times where I do. I know it's Satan attacking me. He does not want our family focused on Christ. He does not want to see our family feeling the joys and accomplishments that homeschooling brings us, he definitely does not want our children to hear and most of all LEARN the word of God during their "schooling" period! I have to remember that. I am determined to stay ahead of Satan and will not let him take this gift away from my children and our family. I will fight the doubts he seeps into my head.



With that, we're going to be giving our family an awesome "field trip" you could say! Being an Army family, and being so blessed as to live in Germany gives us wonderful travel opportunities! This weekend is Martin Luther King's birthday, so Chad has a 4 day weekend. I really wanted to go somewhere we have not been yet. I was thinking Chad wouldn't want to travel too far so I suggested places that were 4 hrs or less from here. The first one was Prague (said to be the most beautiful city in all of Europe!) and Salzburg (one place I'm dying to go to!!). Chad said "how about Venice"! I'm thrilled! We're heading out on our 6 1/2 hr drive early Friday morning (planning to be up and out between 4 and 5 AM....YIKES!) ***I'm NOT A morning person!****

We'll be down there by late morning. We're actually staying at Vecenza on the Army Post there and will take the train down to Venice. It's only 45 minutes away!! I'm so excited you have no idea! I have so much to do still before we go! I have to go the store and buy some snacks (going for healthy because I'm determined to lose weight and get HEALTHY!!), I'm using the money my parents sent me for Christmas to buy a larger memory card (At least a 4 GB), and some rechargable batteries. That reminds me I need to charge up our video camera. Thursday I'm going to clean the van, put Emma's new carseat in it (she's currently in an infant seat and it's time for her to move up to her Britax Convertable seat). I need to bring our suitcases up and get them packed. Make sure that any clothes we take does not scream AMERICAN (aka no American Flag shirts! LOL). On a good note, all my laundry is washed, being put away is a whole other task that will be done at a later time! LOL (It's folded!)



When we get home there will be plenty to do. Laundry of course, putting away all this clean laundry, cleaning up and getting rid of our bird cage (our cat managed to knock the bottom off the cage and kill the bird...we're done with birds at least until we move back to the states, I see no reason to be feeding Whisker's live birds that we paid for!). The playroom needs to be finished up. I need to shop for our friends son's birthday, as well as Jacob's upcoming birthday. I want to get my room all cleaned up, organized, and maybe rearrange it! :) We'll see how much I get done over the next few weeks!



Next time I blog will most likely be when we're back from Venice and I'll share pictures!

Long Time

Jackson after his tball game
My parents and the boys in front of the Bavarian Alps, at Edelweiss in Garmisch, Germany
Jack and Jacob up at Eagle's Nest, in the distance is Salzburg Austria, the views were amazing
Chad and the boys in The North Sea in The Netherland's
The boys at Keukenhof in The Netherland's

It's been over a month since my last post. Life's been busy to say the least! My parents came to visit for 12 days and we made the most of the time they were here! We went to Garmisch for a night, drove over to Eagle's Nest the next day. Came home and took a rest for a day and then we got up and headed to The Netherland's! We all stuck our feet into the FRIGID North Sea. The next day we went to Keukenhof which is a beautiful garden with over 7 million flowers and bulbs. We got there the next to last day they were open, they're only open for 2 months, so I'm so happy we got to make it up there before they closed for the year! (Next year I plan to go up in April with the kids and a friend or two and spend more than just 2 days!!). We stayed in Haarlem which is the home of Corrie TenBoom and next time I plan on going to her home, it'll be a great history lesson for Jacob! We came home and debated going to Rothenburg odt, and decided we all needed a break from the van and just stayed home. The next day off to Triberg, which is in the Black Forest. My parents bought a Coo-coo clock, which was the main reason for going there, but we got an extra treat by seeing the tallest Waterfall in Germany! We walked up to it and it was GORGEOUS! I still need to download the pictures from then!

We were home Wed. and Thursday, which Jacob has his last tball game on Wed (moved from Friday since it was a 4 day weekend) and Jack's on Thursday. Friday, my mom and I were up at 4 am and by a little after 5 am on the road with friends following in their van, to go to Poland! Mom loved it and of course I did too. I am tired of going there when it's hot though! The way down took us 5 hrs. We were stuck literally about 1 mile or LESS just outside of the town we went to shop in, because of an accident, which a fatatilty was involved. Thankfully our friend (the husband) asked the truck driver behind them for another route into town, so after sitting in the traffic for 45 minutes we got out of it and headed to town to get some shopping done and boy did we! My mom and I both got a ton of stuff. We finished up, went and grabbed a bite to eat, then headed home. We were on the road about 3:15 and got home with 2 stops at 7:30!! Pretty good timing! :) It was a great trip. Saturday (the next day) we took my parents to the airport.

The time went by so quickly and it was so very hard to say goodbye to them. Both boys just cried their hearts out, and that just made it that much worse for me and Chad. We hadn't seen my parents in almost 2 yrs (2 yrs would be in July since we moved here). I'm really hoping my mom (who retired in Jan) will come when the baby is born. It's killing her to think she'll miss out on one of her grandchildren being born. She's never been in the room for the birth, but she's at least been IN the hospital and if she DID come it sure would be easier to have her home with the boys. We'll just see...right now she's not planning on coming, but I'm hoping she will. I know my dad will not be able to. He works for Goodyear and after the 11 weeks strike getting vacation is not so easy and they're limited to the amount they can take at once (which is why they only got to be here for 2 weeks vs the 3 we all had hoped for).

The pregnancy is going pretty good. I have no real complaints. I am borderline for gestational diabetes. I saw a specialist on Friday and they have me doing a blood check 1 hour after I eat until June 11. I'm also following the diet, which isn't bad at all. I completely cut out pop (Pepsi) and that's been fine. I haven't gained any weight in the last 3 apts I've went to, which is nice. Hoping I don't gain too much more. I've only gained 6 lbs, but I had WAY too much weight on me in the first place so it's not necessary for me to gain really and my ob is happy with how everything is going.

Chad had knee surgery on Thursday. This has been almost 3 yrs in the making. He hurt his knee his first time in Iraq (2004) and he was actually put on nondeployable status when we moved here to Germany, but the "powers that be" felt they knew better than his Ortho and sent him to Iraq vs leaving him behind for a couple months to get surgery, of course because of him favoring his left knee for so long he now has damage to his right knee and his ortho believes he'll need surgery on that knee in the next year or two. But he did finally have the surgery and he's doing AWESOME. He's not complained ONCE! He's been doing great at finding a balance between keeping his knee elevated and walking around. He's really doing so much better than I thought he would, this soon! He's on convelesant leave until June 17 although it may be extended, because his ortho doesn't want him returning to work until he's been in Physical therapy for at least a week, and he said no physical therapy until after the 17th, so we'll just wait and see.

PWOC starts back up this week. I'm excited to see it started back up. They're doing a children's study this year too for school age kids, so everyone can attend! The kids are doing a Kids Beth Moore Study. Jacob's excited about it. I hope he enjoys it!

Well, I guess that's it! I have a headache and I'm exhausted. I've been passing out before midnight lately so it's a late night for me tonight.

God Bless