From Whom all Blessings Flow

The last couple of months have been very challenging.  I started out extremely stressed and overwhelmed.  I cried a lot.  I had panic attacks.  And I yelled at Troy.  And then the Lord put me in several situations where he used others to give me his message.  He wanted me to know that it is not about me.  None of this is.  Sure it directly effects me but it has nothing to do with me.  After 2 weeks of these blatant messages I cried out to God and surrendered it ALL!  All of it.  Nothing left in me.  I am done.  It is no longer mine to worry about.  He is in complete control.  Immediately after (the next day) He began to provide for my family. I truly believe that it is my job to let others know of His provision for us.  That is why He does it.  So that we can tell others about how good He is.   I will not give all of the details in this post but I will let you know that someone generously donated several thousand dollars to catch up our mortgage (and they don't even know us).  We have received over $1000 in gift cards and cash and we have received so many groceries that we can't even fit it all in our home.  On top of that someone else has completely bought and paid for my children's christmas.  We did not have to spend a dime.  Many of these donations were from people that we do not know.  They are obedient to the Lord and with that they are blessing us beyond anything that they could have ever known.  I love every single one of these people whether we have met them or not.  They are my brother's and sister's in Christ and even if I never know them personally here on Earth, I will know them in Heaven. 

In case you ever wonder if you can or do make a difference in anothers life you would be surprised!  Today as I was putting away the sweet "manna" from heaven I began to sing this song.  It is such a good song and it expresses just how my heart has been feeling this last few weeks.  Here are the lyrics:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

 Praise God, Praise God
Praise God who saved my soul
Praise God, Praise God
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

 

I'm in the mood...

I have not been in the mood to blog.  I have signed on several times and have even started a post a few times.  I have been journaling and that has been good for me.  I think that it has kept me from the blog.  Lots of stuff has been happening here.  Troy is still out of work and to say it is tight around here is an understatement.  This has been hard for me the control freak, the planner.  I have been writhing over this.  Some interesting things have happened in my life in the last couple of weeks that have really freed me.

• I have been to two different women events at my church where the message talked about circumstance and how the things that we are going through are not all about US.  Sure we are a part of that circumstance but it is not about me it is not about how it is affecting me, it is about the bigger picture and that is bringing others into the kingdom of heaven.  Telling others how much Jesus loves them.  And if that means that I have to go through something hard then that is what I have to do.  
• In that I have realized that I have no control over this thing we call life.  Because of that I am free from worry. I don't have to be anxious because it doesn't help anyway. 
• Someone said that "God doesn't waste a second of [your life]." How true that is!  To know that not one second of this crap that I am in now is not for nothing is encouraging
• Today I also heard someone say that God is not frantic. He is not running around trying to figure our stuff out.  He is Sovereign and powerful and in complete control!  Isn't that awesome?
• The other thing is that in my own struggle God put someone in my path that I was able to love on.  It was totally random and when I walked away from the stranger he was fighting back tears.  We all know I am a crier so I couldn't say what I was supposed to say but I did write a note.  And I think that is what brought the tears.  The note just read "Just so you know...God loves you! Have a blessed day".  The fact that He used me in this situation really gave me a boost.  I am relevant in growing His kingdom and no matter what the circumstance He will provide a way. 

So that is it. I am sure I have missed some things but I am done for now! :)

Tot School-Tangrams

I have to first say that I do not go out of my way to teach Charlotte.  One of the reasons we like to homeschool is because it is work at your own pace and there is no pressure.  So I do not expect my two year old to do anything.  But we do however have fun educational toys that she can play with while I am working with the "Bigs".  That being said.  A few weeks ago I pulled out the tangrams. They are colorful and really I just thought she would like them.  This is what she did with them with no prompting:

They were in a pile and she started to separate them by color.  I know it wasn't shape (that is really for a much older child).  I was surprised to see that she would do that on her own.  (The lower picture is just of the pile).  I decided to pull out the sheets that have patterns on them and see how she would do with it.

She knew immediately what to do.  She matched the colors. Ellie decided to get in on the action as well.

This is a great intro to colors and shapes for Char and patterns for Ellie.  They were both very proud of themselves.  And I was proud of them too!

It's been a while

I have not posted anything lately I know. Not that I don't want to but because life gets in the way.  I have some homeschool posts and personal posts and even just kid posts.  I just have not had the time.  Maybe that will come soon.  What I do know is that life has been crazy.  I have been journaling more lately which is another reason I have not been blogging.  I have been needing to get things out just not in a public forum.  Maybe one day I will be able to share more but right now you can just pray for me! 

Thanks all!

Free Giveaway from DNG!

I love a good giveaway.  My friend and fellow homeschooler is a reviewer for Download-N-Go. It is a cool website that has unit studies of all sorts.  It is a fun thing to do if you are looking for something different.  Go to her website here and comment on her blog to win a study on tigers. 

Losing weight-Update

Well it has been a roller coaster but I am at 17 lbs weight loss! Here is a picture.

Beach

It is October and in Texas it is still warm outside.  We decided to take a trip to the beach yesterday with some good friends.  The kids had a blast and I am so glad we went!  Here are some pictures of our good time.

Tot School-Threading

We have been doing a couple of new things with Charlotte one is using buttons and plastic thread to practice her fine motor skills.  Here are some pictures.  She did very well with this activity and it kept her busy for a while. 

You can see that the shapes are all different.  Her favorite ones were the strawberries and apples.  We also talked about color although she could care less.  This activity was done in my lap and she was very content with that. I helped her only once before she had it down. 

To Halloween or Not to Halloween

This is a struggle I have every year.  I have no feelings towards Halloween.  To me it is just another day, the last day in October.  I really don't care about this last day in October.  I never have. I am sure I never will.  So why do I even bring it up?  Because I have 3 children that know about the last day in October, that talk about it in August and that have been counting down the days with the ticker in the corner of the television screen.  Not to mention the displays all over town in every single store front.  The costumes and the candy falling over into the isles of Walmart.  The elaborate decorations in my neighborhood where folks have turned their front yards into grave yards. It is all a bit ridiculous.  If I had the choice we would just go away that day to another land that doesn't know anything about Halloween. 

Growing up we never went trick-or-treating.  (I think Mom let us do it twice.) So Halloween was never a big deal, well maybe it was to us kids, but not to my mom.  We would stay in and have ice cream for dinner and watch the Star Wars Trilogy or something else just as fun.  So the tradition and memories that drive so many of my friends has no effect on me.  So why should I do it?  I don't think I should but there is guilt that I feel about not letting my kids do it.  I wonder if my mom ever felt the same way.  She was very opinionated about such things.  But there were those 2 times she allowed us to go.  Was this guilt?  I don't know.  I do remember that it was super cold and although we got a lot of candy it wasn't what it cracked up to be.  Should I allow my kids to make memories of the last day in October?

Our church has a fall festival that we have gone to in the past.  The kids are getting a little too old for it and honestly it is too many people in one space and I always get stressed out.  Every year I say it is the last and this year we will NOT be going.  But what about trick-or-treating?  I don't know.  I am interested to know how some of the readers feel about it all.

Letting Go

A few weeks ago I blogged about getting rid of all of the excess.  Today I finally had a garage sale that I would say was pretty successful. The thing is that I felt very sad and even though I liked counting the dollar bills I felt like I was getting rid of something that I really should be holding on to. 

I am a big purger.  I always throw away more then I should.  My house doesn't always reflect that because to be quite honest...I LIVE HERE! But for the most part I like to throw things away.  Never in my life have I experienced something like this whole clothes thing.  I can't get rid of my kids clothes.  I don't know why.  Jackson was 5 before I finally got rid of all of his clothes.  FIVE YEARS of holding on to that crap.  Even when I was ready to do it I still felt bad after.  The same thing today.  There was still a lot of stuff left over but I could not bring myself to take to Goodwill.  I needed to hold on to it. 

It is all still sitting in my car.  No one other then the driver can get into the car because of all of the clothes.  Little pieces of cloth that represent memories over that last 5 years.  It is hard.  I am sure I will get over it soon. Just not today.

Waiting for my glimpse

I don't have anything too interesting to blog about today.  But I thought it would be good to blog anyway.  Maybe I can talk about some things I have been feeling lately.

Our life is in this limbo now.  It is a hard place to be.  You want to have the assurance of a paycheck in two weeks when in all actuality you know that in a week and 2 days you could potentially be getting the last one.  It is scary that I have $88 in my savings account and although there is a severance it needs to last long enough for Troy to get a job.  It is scary when others in our situation crush your positive attitude about things because they are in the fire and it is really hot...and they are letting you know just how hot it can be.  Then there are those that seem to be getting it all.  It just all falls into their laps (at least that is they way it looks from the outside looking in).  I find myself wondering what the plan is.  Why is all of this happening?  What am I supposed to do.  So far the only thing I am getting is nothing.  Which means I need to keep doing what I am doing and wait.

Many do not seem to get this.  There are some that have asked when I am going to go back to work.  I would do it tomorrow if I had to.  But I have been prayerful in this decision and so far I have not heard God tell me to stop homeschooling my kids.  If anything I feel like when I pray this prayer more doors and resources open up to just solidify the decision in homeschooling.  I know that is hard for many to understand.

I can honestly say that I am not worried about God providing but I am really anxious to know what the plan is.  I know it is unrealistic to think that He would tell me, but sometimes he gives us glimpses.  I guess I will just have to wait and see.  Waiting...I seem to do that a lot these days.  I pray that He will let me capture a glimpse sooner rather then later.

Wow for someone that has nothing to say I was able to get some stuff out!

first test

So right after I blogged about wants and needs I got suckered in to an infomercial.  I was going to buy it.  I went to the website and started filling out the form. My dear friend on facebook made a comment about my blog post and then me rushing to buy this thing.  I stopped what I was doing and decided to wait.  The more I have thought about it the more I realize that I don't NEED this thing. 

The night after I finished the 5k Troy was talking to me and telling me how proud he was of me and how well I was doing with the running thing.  He also said he would like to buy me an iPod if this is something I wanted to really pursue; and it is.  I would much rather save our money for an iPod then something from an infomercial no matter how cool I think it is!  I know I will get a lot of use out of the iPod.  So that being said I think I passed the first test with help from friends! :) Thanks B!

Xanga

In 2006 I started blogging on a different site.  I don't know how to merge the two together but you can go here if you would like to read it!

In anticipation for the day that we can afford to get new floors I have convinced my wonderful husband to tear up the ones we have.  They are dirty and smelly and I am over them.  He has been a great sport and has done this task for me.  I would do it myself but I am not that great with a crow-bar.  (I made some holes in the drywall when doing it myself).  Anyway, in this process I have just felt like we have too much stuff.  Now by the typical American standard we don't have enough, but I don't feel as though we should be living by the American standard. 

I know someone who at the beginning of the school year buys 6 shirts, 4 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of shoes, socks and underwear for her four children.  These are the ONLY clothes they have for the year.  Imagine that? Surveying my girls closet they each have at least (not an exaggeration) 12 dresses a piece.  They each have at least 10 pairs of shorts and about as many skirts. Forget about the shirts; there have got to be at least 25 each.  They both have 5+ pairs of shoes and Ellie has about 15 pairs of panties.  I bet you have only seen them in about a 1/4 of those outfits.  Today Ellie wore a dress that my neighbor thought was new, she has had it forever just hardly ever wears it.  To top it all off I have only purchased about 10% of the items.  They are all hand-me-downs.  (I am so thankful for every single piece!)

Here's the thing; as much as I love that others are looking out for us and I love that we are being taken care of I don't NEED all of this stuff.  My girls cannot possibly wear every single piece of clothing in their closet.  There is just no way.  And really, did the children of the person(s) giving me the stuff wear all of it too?  I would have to think not.  It is just crazy.  So in all of this craziness I have been thinking about what is a want and what is a need.  Troy and I want a lot of things.  We buy a lot of those wants.  We don't NEED about 95% of them.  Someone or something has told us that we do but in reality we don't.  Troy was even a bit nervous about the amount of clothes we are getting rid of.  I just looked at him and said there is enough! 

Lately I have noticed that there is a lot going out (money) and we really don't have anything to show for it.  I added up the amount of expenditures that we thought we "needed" over the last month that were really "wants".  We are going to take that amount in cash and put it in a jar.  The rule is that the money cannot leave the jar unless Troy and I both agree that it is a necessity and not just a want.  It is okay to have wants and to even get them but we both have to agree that it is worth it.  I think this will be a great visual for us. We are horrible savers and I think that we will be able to have a rather large savings account after doing this project.  I will let you know how it goes.  I want to try it for 6 months.

I don't know what to do with all of the clothes.  Someone suggested that I hand it all down too.  I can't do that to someone.  It is so overwhelming. I could have participated in Tot2Tot but this was not the right time for so many reasons.  I think I might have a garage sale and then donate the rest. Either way it needs to leave my home for good!  For those of you that read this and are the ones that hand stuff down to me, I am not saying don't do it anymore but I will not promise it will all stay with me.  I am going to have a strict 10 piece rule from now on.  I will take out my favorite 10 pieces and then pass the rest on to someone else!  That way the next person doesn't have to be so overwhelmed and the clothing can be a blessing to them too.

The girls clothes that we are getting rid of.

 

The clothes from our closet.

Running it out for the Generations...

Today I participated in my first ever 5K.  That is 3.2 miles if you don't know.  I have been training for this for a while.  I actually injured myself 3 weeks ago and have not been able to run until today.  It was really hard.  I didn't run the whole time but I would say that I ran about half. Not bad I'd say.

When I crossed the finish line I lost it.  I started to cry and couldn't stop.  Several friends ran up and hugged me (sweat, stink, tears and all).  Even little Charlotte came up and grabbed my leg.  I was hurting.  The arch in my foot was so sore that I think I may have bruised it.  My groin felt like I had pulled a muscle.  Why was I crying though?  The pastor's wife came up to me and made the comment that it was a pretty emotional moment.  She wanted to know why.  I said because it was so hard.  But now that I have had time to process it all I realize that I was so emotional because this has been an emotional journey.

At the end of May I decided that I needed to seek counseling.  I was struggling with some relationships with friends, my marriage was less then desirable and I was just plain exhausted.  I was angry all the time too and this was so unlike me.  I went and saw a counselor at church and she had some really good things to say.  One was that I did not have clear boundaries set for myself and for others around me and the other was that I was wrapped up in some Generational Sin. (I will go into generational sin in another post, it is too long for this one!).  Anyway, I had put all of this pressure on myself and had decided that I was not important.  Everyone else around me was.  This is a pattern of sorts that other women in my family have, and maybe even still do, struggled with. I was not aware of some of it but my mom was able to bring some things to light.  The thing with GS (like my abbreviation!) is that it gets stuck to us and we may not even know about it.  We walk around paying for wrongs in the past, and many times we continue those wrongs.  We are held down by the bondage that GS brings.

Anyway, at the time I admitted that I did not pray for myself. Never. Not ever.  I knew that this was not a good way to live but I felt that I did not need to bother God with my problems.  After seeing the counselor and having a few revelations of my own I realized that I had a problem.  One was I was extremely overweight.  I had ballooned up to a weight that I had not seen in a non-pregnant state.  I was eating for 5 and not thinking twice about it.  I couldn't walk up the stairs at my friends house with out being so winded that I thought I might just have asthma.

I decided to join Weight Watchers and I have lost 15 lbs so far.  I also decided to run.  Something that even my husband said I shouldn't do because of my knees.  I started praying for myself and asking God for specific things.

Well I did it!  I ran my first 5K today and although I walked some I crossed that finish line. As I ran and the pain started to overwhelm me and the enemy started to whisper lies in my ear, I cried to the Almighty.  He got me through it.  When I thought I was done there was scripture and there were photos of girls that are held in bondage. The outpour of emotions, at the end of the race, was because today was just another broken chain of the bondage that the women before me and myself were smothered by.  This was a chain that will not be able to hold down the generations that will follow me and that includes my girls!

The motto for Kingsland Baptist Church is "Love God, Love People, and equipping the generations one home at a time".  I tell you that today some powerful things happened with the beginning and the completion of that run and I am so glad it did.

My Girls

*Warning still no camera...so no cute pics to update!*

My girls are really so very special to me.  They have really started playing with each other over the last week.  It will be very quiet and I will go looking for them only to find that they have shut the door to their room and are playing vet with all of their animals.  I know Ellie likes it because she can tell Charlotte what to do and Charlotte likes it because Ellie will play with her.  There is a time when toddlers stop playing by themselves and actually want to engage in play with others.  Charlotte has finally started to really make the transition. 

Today I realized it was 1:30 and I had not put Charlotte down for her nap yet.  This is very unusual because I am ready for her nap by then.  I found her and Ellie sharing a blanket in the gameroom watching Olivia and looking at books together.  They were so sweet and I hated to break it up.  When I told Charlotte is was time to go to be she jumped up and yelled, "Night, Hellie." She loves her sister!

Ellie is starting to tolerate Charlotte a lot more too.  I think that she is realizing that Char can play too it is just a little differently.  They have truly spent hours upon hours this week just playing together.  What a blessing. I am sure the cat-fights are sure to ensue but for now I am enjoying this time of sisterly love!

Work Bags

So with the never ending struggle that we are having with homeschooling I have decided to try something new with Jackson.  He has a hard time being motivated and although he is only 7 he still gets the concept of cause and effect and he knows his actions always have a consequence (good or bad).   I know that he is overwhelmed by the work load.  He is a lot like me in that aspect. If something is going to be really time consuming and even a bit challenging, I do not start it.  I wait. Sometimes I wait too long.  None the less I am a procrastinator and my son is starting, at a very young age, to show the same traits. So how can we fix this?  My friend, Emily, suggested that I let him work at his own pace.  Let him know what he has to get done by Friday and then let him work it out.  There is a system called the "work-box" system that, when it boils down to it, is your entire day planned out into little boxes, down to breaks, lunch and even nap time. 

Now I admit that I am obsessed with having things all organized.  I love to buy containers, baskets and boxes but really I do not have room for anymore in my school room.  So I decided to come up with work-bags that he can just put in his cubby everyday.  Also, instead of filling each bag daily I have decided to fill them for the week.  I apologize that I do not have photos yet, my batteries are dead in the camera (I will get some tonight).

Here is how I set them up for Week One:


Reading/Grammar
SSRW book and Assessment Book
Book 9 Reader (SSRW)
Instructions for the week written as a check list so that he can mark off each assignment as he finishes them.  There are certain assignments that require my assistance and those assignments are indicated.

Math
We are working on fast facts.  I noticed that he was struggling without a number line.  As his curriculum has been progressing he is beginning to really fall behind and his confidence in a subject that he is good at is dwindling.  So the beauty of homeschool is that we can stop and spend two weeks, or however long for that matter, on whatever he is struggling with.
So, 5 fast fact sheets
Flash Cards
Math Bingo game to be played with Mom.

Spelling
With SSRW we have one spelling test per day with 3 dictation sentences.  I admit that we have not been doing this like we should and his spelling words are super easy. 
Obviously I give the tests.


Handwriting
Handwriting without Tears Workbook
Instruction for the pages that need to be done. (We normally do 2/day so that would be 10 pages for the week).

Bible, Science, and Five in a Row are not in work bags because we are doing them as a group.  Today he chose to do all of his spelling.  He got frustrated after the 3rd test and said he was tired of spelling.  I told him he could stop if he wanted.  He was a little shocked that I said that.  I had to explain the concept again.  He is getting it slowly.  The key is that he has to do something everyday (unless he has finished all assignments).  I only sit at the table until 11 am. That is a good 3 hours that he has my attention.  He should be done well before that.  After 11 I am off doing other things.  Now, I will stay and help if he has used his time wisely and truly needs my help.  The other thing is that he must get everything done by the end of the day on Friday or else he is having school on Saturday and Sunday (if need be).  He will also miss out on video games on the weekend. 

We will see if it works.  I know that today was a lot less stressful for me.  As soon as he started to complain I just looked at him and said, "I am sorry that you are having such a tough time with the assignment you chose.  Maybe you should pick something else." He was shocked that I didn't yell! And he chose to just finish!  Who knew?

I will post pics of our work-bag system as soon as I get batteries. 

It's going

Well here it goes.  Homeschooling for us is not something that we do because it is the cool thing to do in our circle of friends.  It is something we do because this is what we feel the Lord wants us to do.  We are doing lots of new things this year including teaching Ellie and Charlotte.  We have also added several more things to our work load.  When someone asks "How is it going?" I have to answer, "It's going".  And it is.  It is just not the way I had planned. 

You see I am a planner.  Sometimes too much.  I had this whole system designed to teach my kids at the same time.  I had it planned out in 20 minute increments.  It was going to be great!  Too bad nobody told them!  The natives are restless and I know a lot of that has to do with not being able to leave the house.

Right now I am praying and asking for guidance.  Last week we missed math the entire week because Jackson's book was lost.  Come to find out, he had been hiding it and did not "find" it until he realized I was serious about the fact that he would have to pay me back.  I was so angry.  Troy wanted to spank him and I just wanted to send him away.  Instead we decided that he would have to get caught up on those 10 lessons (he has 2 per day) on his own time and there would be no reward until then.  He is still lolly-gagging around and frankly I am over it.  Today I told him that I was in a bad mood and that this was his one warning and then I would send him to his room all day until his dad came home. Needless to say he got right on his assignment. He knows I mean business.

Schooling with a two year old is hard and we are trucking along.  I am learning little tricks and so far many of them are working.  Most of the time Charlotte just wants to be held.  She wants to know that she is still important and then she usually runs off.  She loves her new puzzle and the new staking block thing that I got her. Yesterday she actually started putting together one of Ellie's puzzles.  It was a hard one and she actually got a few pieces put together!  I was shocked and proud of my baby all at the same time.

Ellie is the easiest and the most fun to work with.  She just gets it.  She is a perfectionist, though, and she gets frustrated when it is not right.  I am trying not to correct her too much because it puts her in a tizzy.  Really, she is 4 and doesn't need to be writing perfectly.  We are just doing PK activities!  But I do think she may be close to reading by the end of this school year (only because she wants to!).

So if you struggle with yours just know you are not alone!

Tot School

I ordered some new fun things for Charlotte off of Amazon.  I was looking for something fun for her while the big kids were having school time.  This what I got. 

Add caption

Stackable Nesting Blocks by GuideCraft

 

 

Bug Puzzle by Melissa and Doug

These should be fun for her.  She has already played with the puzzle.  She did really well with it.  We are working on the names of the bugs.  We can also talk about the colors of each one.  I have a video of her putting it together but I need to work on it before I can post it. 

Lap-booking

We are trying out Lap-books this year.  I did not know what I was doing.  Most of this was by the seat of my pants but I think it was more creative that way! And certainly less stressful.  I decided to make a little video of each lap-book.  We studied the days of creation and made something for each day. I wanted them to really remember each day and be able to recall them. I have to say that even my seven year old that hates to be crafty loved this project.  I am not sure what we will lap-book next but I hope it is as fun!  If you have any ideas I am all for them.  I know that they could be more informative but the way that I chose to do this one was a lot less planning and work for me! :)  I am sorry but the video will not upload.  I will work on it and get it fixed!

Redundant

I have been wanting to post an entry about this for a while.  Do you ever feel like your life is redundant?  Wake up, feed kids, clean dishes from last night, start laundry, school, lunch, sweep kitchen, laundry, finish school, take a nap (maybe if you are lucky), make dinner, hang with kids, brush teeth, bath time, bed time, up til 11 watching junk, wake up, feed kids, clean dishes from last night, start laundry, school.....you get the idea.  I don't want to leave out cleaning the litter box, feeding the animals, letting the dog out, letting the dog in, yelling at the kids to clean up, going in after them to do it right, mopping the floors, cleaning up spills, changing diapers (or now it is cleaning up accidents).  There are so many other things that I know I am missing. 

Don't get me wrong.  I love being a mom, wife and teacher.  Recently I have learned that it really is okay to take care of myself.  I have been doing this by running in the evenings.  It is a great release of all of the frustrations from the day.  Last night I just took off.  I usually run much slower.  It felt good. I was going really fast.  My legs were hurting in areas that had not been affected by my running before, but I didn't care.  It felt good.  I made it around the track quickly.  The wind that passed by my sweaty body felt FANTASTIC.  I could have gone forever.  But I couldn't figure out how to control my breathing at that pace.  So I eventually had to stop because I couldn't breathe. 

Where am I going with all of this?  Well as my life has been feeling redundant I have started adding some new things to it.  I started running.  Taking better care of myself. When the running became redundant I changed it up I ran faster and pushed myself!  So how can you make your life less redundant?  I don't know what works for you.  I know that for me this new phase of running has been good for me.  I don't necessarily like running, but I love the feeling it gives when it is accomplished.  I look forward to that feeling!

* I apologize for the way this is all over the place! I wrote this on two different days and my kids have been in and out!*

Losing weight

I have not posted anything about this yet because my before is soooo bad!  But I am biting the bullet because I have made great progress!

The before!  HUGE!  

12 lbs, 15 inches and 2 dress sizes smaller!

Please excuse the 2nd pic, Jackson took it.  I do not have two chins anymore!  But this picture shows that I do!  I am doing weight watchers and it is good.  I have also been training to run a 5K in September!  I will keep you all posted! :)

First day of school...

Today we had our first day of class at The Brown Academy.  Jackson is in 2nd grade and Ellie is in Pre-K but we are going to integrate some kindergarten mid year.  Charlotte started Tot-School today as well.

The day started well.  I was able to get some quiet prayer time in before the kids jumped into bed with me.  Surprisingly, Charlotte slept in until 9 am which was both good and bad.  Jackson and Ellie had a great breakfast and then we sat down at the school table to start our day.  We have changes in the rules and in the way our schedule is.  We also have a new reward system that the kids were excited about implementing.  Tight at the first break is when Char woke up.  She was ready for breakfast and the kids were able to go outside and play for 15 min.  They decided to swing.  I also took this time to get their first day of school pics.  They are funny because Jackson got dressed into pajamas today, Ellie doesn't match (go figure) and Char is in her panties.  Welcome to the flexibility of homeschooling!

Then we came back in and started again.  I took the approach that I would teach each child one at a time while the other had some other easy assignment to work on.  This worked well.  While working on reading with Jackson, Ellie colored her Bible story page and then read books in the reading corner.  While Ellie and I worked on reading/phonics, Jackson worked on handwriting.  Charlotte played with some pom-poms in a bowl that she scooped out with a giant spoon. I got this idea from my friends blog.  Charlotte loved it and Ellie even got in on the fun! The girls also worked on puzzles.  Ellie was able to piece together a puzzle by herself that she had never done before.  She was so proud!

All in all it was a good day.  It wasn't without its ups and downs.  Charlotte had 3 accidents which has got to be a record for her.  Then she spilled all of her chicken noodle soup on the floor.  It was everywhere!  Thanks goodness I have a dog that likes to eat off of the floor.  It made clean up easier! 

Now we are all relaxing and me? I am blogging!