Good-bye Summer

It seems as if summer is over. I hate to see it go. I am not a fan of winter. While I do enjoy fall, I do not like that it opens the door for the cold winter months. We have a few more weeks of nice weather before I dread opening my door and leaving the house. Last winter I was very pregnant so I had an excuse. This winter I'll have to deal with it. Joy.

We've been having so many busy days. It seems as if we're always so busy but it doesn't feel like we do much at all. Where is the time going? We started a reading competition. They had such fun over the summer with the program for the library that I made sheets for them to fill out at home. Zach and the girls can fill it in for reading and playing on Starfall.com. Chris gets points for his co-op work and reading. I think that's pretty fair.

We're having fun with our new friends. It's great to find someone else who love board games the way I do. I could play them all day! I've developed a new obsession for Bananagrams. I've been playing on facebook and found myself reading the dictionary for fresh new words today. Who knew that fe, qat, qoph and ka were words? I can't say I know what they mean but they sure help me place tiles! The kids are having a hard time getting used to friends who aren't homeschooled. They are always asking if they can come over during school hours. It's something I have to get used to as well. I haven't had a friend with kids who actually go to school in such a long time.

Tomorrow is apple and banana day. We found apples on sale. It was an incredible sale too. There has to be about 45ish pounds of apples and we paid $5 for the box! We got about 10 pounds of bananas for 99 cents. So now I need to do something with them. I'm thinking apple butter, apple sauce, apple pie....not sure what else. Tons of banana bread and I'll make smoothies with a few of them. You can freeze them in the peel if you just want them for smoothies and bread later. I need to think of a few more ideas. I love projects like this! I will have to head over to walmart for canning jars in the morning so I can put apple butter in them.

Aaron has 2 teeth now! They are so cute when he's not biting me with them. He's learning not to but this past week has been painful. He has a habit of turning his head to look behind him while still latched. Not fun. It wasn't so bad when he didn't have teeth but now...ouch, is an understatement. He's also army crawling everywhere! He can take a few 'steps' crawling on hands and knees but seems to prefer getting around by wiggling and pushing off with his toes. It's absolutely adorable!

I'm enjoying my classes. I'm taking 2 classes towards a nutrition degree online as well as Bradley classes toward my doula certification. I really look forward to my Sundays. The class is fun and I get to take Aaron. Pregnant women really love babies. They ohh and aww over him and he flirts with them shamelessly. He's such a boy already.

Assumptions

A friend of mine on facebook is considering homeschooling. Someone told her she would be punishing her kids. She made a comment about that and got these responses:

If you think about it, they dont get to hang out w/ friends and have the social time most kids need and plus time away from home/parents which some kids "feed" off of.

depends on who you ask!! if I did it and was making the kids do it Colton would tell you it was punishment too. BUT all summer long's worth of "i'm bored" and " there's nothing to do" has made me feel better about school. Is schools in Bloomindale not an option or Alamo?

Sounds like parents who don't know anything about homeschooling or keeping their children engaged. Neither of those are homeschooling issues. They are parental issues. I hate to hear things like that simply because someone might actually believe it.

The one on the bottom probably shouldn't anyway. She needs a little practice in punctuation and grammar, lol.

Nature hiking

We had a really great day today. While we're still sad to have missed homeschool group we had a lot of fun. We started our day at the library. We got lots of science books. We also got tree, wild flower and bird field guides. We made a nature 'kit' with some sketch paper, crayons, pencils, paper bags and the field guides and set off to Red Oaks. Once there we found a few really cool wild flowers. Chris and Amanda took turns identifying them. Here are a few of them. Keep in mind I've never identified anything before, lol. If you see an error, please let me know :-)



Asiatic Dayflower

Blue Phlox

Goldenrod. I can't tell which kind, there are so many!

Small Wood Sunflower

We took a nice long hike and identified some trees(okay maybe just one, which was a black walnut tree, and took pictures). We found as many leaves as we could. We spent time in the discovery room where we read books, made leaf prints, drew spiders and butterflies and checked out the bugs and pollen. We found all the items in our scavenger hunt from the hints I made. We didn't see any birds but we sure did hear a lot! It was a fun trip.

Now it's time to make dinner.

Chris's first day of co-op and other things

Chris had a really nice week! Since it's a one day a week thing, his week is done. I love it. I haven't been around such school-y people in a while. Most were more go with the flow type people but they were all closer to structure than I'm used to. One was very structured but did so because her daughter was used to school and seemed to want her mom to mimic school at home. I don't know if I could do that, lol. We ended up being a half an hour late. I am the queen of getting lost. I got lost literally 2 blocks from my destination, that is talent. Not only did I get lost but I ended up two cities away from where I should have been. I need a GPS like last year. Chris has homework, how weird, though it's not the torture that is school homework. He has a week to finish it so he doesn't have to sit in a desk for 6 hours then come home and sit at a table for another hour or two. I think this will be good for him. He likes it, I like it and he's getting older and has new interests. Aaron was the perfect baby. He smiles right on cue and always manages to get ohhhs and awes. We were there for 5 hours and the only fussing he did was when I had him in the sun too long. I was chatting outside for about an hour and he'd just had enough of the heat.

I am thinking of starting a 4H club. I have always wanted the kids in one but I would rather them be in a homeschool club. Not because I have something against public school kids but because I don't like to be out late and I really don't like activities on the weekend. Plus, meeting places are so hard to find during evening and weekend hours. I need at least 2 more kids over age 8 before we can start. You need 5 to start a club. I will have to do some reading as 4H seems to be much more inclusive, as far as projects and topics, than I thought. It's not all live stock and plants after all!

I have thought up a fun way to teach letter blends to the girls and am excited to start it! I think they will like it and it will keep them interested. They are terrible learners when you sit them down and teach them. They learn so much better though movement, art and song.

Now, maybe a trip to the library. I have no ink and stuff to print. I also need some new books for the kids.

History

We've slacked on history. Not that the kids aren't learning any, I'm just not being a very good facilitator lately. It seems as though when we start talking history it turns into an all day event. We put a few things on our time line today, if it weren't for the need for the house to stay tidy until 4pm there would have been books all over the floor as usual. We talked about nomads and they wanted to keep going into the topic of the first farmers. I hate appointments when we get in a learning groove like that. Maybe we can get back to the happy place this evening. I already put dinner in the crock pot so that frees up an extra couple hours of prep, cooking and clean up time.

Books, birds and c-section awareness

Today was a really nice day. I woke up early to sneak in a batch of soap. I made two pounds and was a little disappointed. I had no blue dye to make the purple I wanted. I underestimated the mold I used. It could hold three pounds but I only made two. The kitchen was a horrible mess so it took way longer than I wanted. I won't be making anymore soap until I get my dyes and fragrance in the mail. That won't stop me from obsessing about the perfect recipe though! I spent a ton of time writing in my soap journal and messing around on soapcalc today.

We spent a nice portion reading and doing learning related things today as well. The girls are on a worksheet kick so I spent a nice chunk of my morning 'doing' math with them. We've been reading like crazy this summer! The summer reading program seems to have kicked it off but we have all taken off. We recently finished Sign of the Beaver. We're now working on Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox. The kids heard some of this book while I was reading this series now we're reading it to them. Chris is reading Elephant....something about an Elephant, lol. It's for a library book discussion and it's late so my brain is broken until I get some sleep. The girls are starting to read one of the Magic Tree House books for their next discussion. Zach is really enjoying his Miss Spider books. One thing I love about Zachary is his complete disregard for boy stuff vs. girl stuff. He is rough and tumble, loves bugs and sister bugging and can play barbies and dress up with the best of them. A kid after my own heart. We had a book exchange at MRU next week and I need to go through all those books. We got quite a few and while the kids have been reading them, they are all over. I need to make space for them. I have 5 book shelves in my living room and we'll be looking at a 6th soon.

Back to today! We all headed out to the library this evening. The children had a Birds of Prey presentation. The big kids had a blast. I wasn't there but I got to see some nice pictures of the birds. What beautiful owls. One looked exactly like a big piece of tree bark, wonderful camouflage. While the kids learned about birds, I went to my c-section awareness meeting(ICAN). I'm so glad Mack mentioned that I should go. I'd totally forgotten and had once again convinced myself that we meet on Tuesdays instead of Mondays. I really need to remember to put meetings on my calendar. It was a nice meeting, as usual. I really need to learn to come out of my shell with this group. There are two ladies there I really like but this stupid shyness, ugh! I did get up the courage to invite one to my homeschool group. I really hope she comes. I ended up with super toddler for some of my meeting. He was running around too much so Mack brought him down to me. He was good for a while. Then he got bored. Nicky should never get bored, it's not pretty. He started pushing the stroller into the wall. So, my little star baby got passed around a bit while I nursed Nicky and he went to sleep! I was so happy for that. He can be pretty bad at the library. This is one of those times I thank God my toddler is still nursing strong. It could have gotten ugly.

Tomorrow should be MRU. We're meeting at a park and I really don't want to go. It's just so far away! I wish I lived somewhere exactly between the two groups so I had easier access to MRU. If we don't go to group tomorrow we'll head over to one of these nature places in the area to get a passport stamp.

Well, I'm off to bed! I need to be well rested. I must get these children out of the house for some fun tomorrow. I'm also going out tomorrow night! I'm so excited. I love meeting with good friends.

Excuse any mistakes, I'm too tired to proof read. I barely remembered to spell check.

Loving the outside and dreading it too.

We've really been loving all the outdoor time. We missed homeschool group this week but we're planning to go to the zoo with a friend from group to make up for it. Amanda is slimming down already. Neither girl misses school. I got the notes from Frankie's IEP meeting and had to giggle. Frankie still can't read much. On the notes they listed that she'd had inadequate reading and math instruction before school and also that she'd made no real improvement at school so she must have a learning disability. It's funny that when I taught her I was doing something wrong but when they taught her she had something wrong. Amazing. I would have come to the conclusion that she simply isn't ready yet and she's not. She isn't LD she is simply not ready yet and that is okay :-)

The kids love park days! I missed them so much. We didn't go to HS group this week because there wasn't a park day due to rain. I don't think I mentioned that Chris got his CPR card at MRU last week. It was a really fun class. The kids learned a lot and had fun.

Now for the dread. Nicholas almost got hit by a car. It was no one's fault really. A man opened the door at the office we were in and he jetted out. The car swerved and missed him as I pulled him out of the way right before sliding into the pavement. It missed me by about a foot. As much as I'm against it, this little one will be using a leash from now on. I can't get the image of the car coming toward him out of my head. I can't stop thinking that he could not be here with me right now. That he could be hooked up to machines never to wake up and be the Nicky I know. I'm fairly certain I'll have nightmares about this if the road rash doesn't keep me up. This stuff is painful. Getting it wet is like being burned over and over. Fun stuff.

Back to being me!

Mack isn't around all the time anymore. He's been working on and off for the last couple years now. He really likes the security thing but it's really unstable in our area. He got a new position with MUCH more stable hours and comparable pay that isn't in the security field. I'm so glad he's not home all the time anymore, not to mention that we'll have extra money again. I can't be me when he's around. I get lazy and cranky. Since he's been away I have been early for all my appointments, the house stays clean and the kids don't fight or mess up around the house as much.

My girls are HOME! No more school, I couldn't take it anymore. I feel so much better, the stress was killing me! I missed them so much and I was really tired of feeling like the school owned my children. I found the work they did before they started school. Amanda has lost so much of the phonics she tried so hard to learn. Frankie hasn't improved but she hasn't lost any ground either. Now I know for sure I haven't done anything wrong aside from put her in school that is. I'll keep letting her go at her own pace. She's really interested in history and geography right now so I guess that is where the focus will be. We made a really cool time line the other night and she found a history of the world sticker book. She wants to put the things we read about in the sticker book on our time line. It should be a fun project. She is also into sight words. I ordered Picture Me Reading a couple years ago and the words are pictographs. She really likes those and she has a thing for flashcards. She put them some in the pockets of my pocket chart and is now 'teaching' the words to Zachary. They both seem to enjoy it. Amanda is all into writing stories. She spends most of her days asking me how to spell things. I put all the words she asks me to spell up on the wall so she can see them and doesn't have to interrupt her writing to ask me again. She wants to learn to write in cursive so I'll order her a Handwriting Without Tears book. Their approach is easy and not too stressful. I think it'll be fun for her. Chris isn't into anything right now. He still loves his rats but isn't reading much on them. He's just enjoying holding them and talking t them. Zach loves to have books read to him so I'm either reading to him or his Tag is. I really like the Tag system and so does he. I didn't think he would. He had it for 3 months before he decided he liked it. He's also hunting unicorns. It's really cute. I promised to build him a cave and buy him a bunch of toys and food for it if he finds one. No luck yet, but he hasn't given up! Yesterday we had a great day at Morton's Arboretum. I got teased about the girls being at group instead of school again but this time they WERE at school. Everyone welcomed them back officially. It was a great feeling!

Aaron had his 2 month check up today. I went because I had planned on getting the newborn screening redone and forgot the card so it's still not done. I will get around to it one of these days. He's getting so big! He's 24 inches long and 13 pounds 7 ounces. He's grown out of his 0-3 months clothes but he still wears them around the house. If he gets much taller he won't be able to, not to mention they are getting pretty snug.

I'm getting back into bulk cooking slowly. I made a HUGE pot of meat sauce yesterday before and after group. I browned the meat before we left and finished it when I got home. It tastes wonderful! I thought I burned it. Nicky took a spill while it was cooking and I forgot it was on. In the end Nicky was fine, though he did limp a little for the rest of the night, and so was my sauce.

Typical

I start a blog, write all the time for a few day and then just stop. I won't let this blog die. So, update time! On April 9 Aaron went back to the doctor's office. I need a referral for his newborn screening. The appointment was pointless. I didn't even need a referral, she just told me to take the card to the lab. I am glad I got to see what his weight is. It's sort of difficult to get a good weight on my fish scale since he's such a wiggler now. He was up to 11 pounds 13 ounces. He's getting so big! His thrush left but I don't think we treated it for long enough. He's still getting spots on his inner lips. She told me not to worry about his weird breathing that, it may have just been a fluke. I don't agree, he had it happen again a couple days ago. It worries me but it doesn't seem to hurt him so I'm not sure how I should handle it.

We went on our first outdoor outing of the year yesterday! We went to Cosley Zoo. It was so nice to be doing something I enjoy. I thought we'd leave quickly because it was a bit nippy and I was worried about Aaron but it started to warm up and we stayed for 3 hours. The kids had a great time and I got to hang out with the other moms and chat. Quite nice. My back was fine up until the end when Aaron's weight started bothering me. The ultimate baby wrap is pretty good if I could hold him for so long without feeling a thing. I don't like the way that it gives after about an hour. It's so stretchy that baby starts to move downward really slowly in it. It feels like it need to be tightened or something. I really want to get a Moby wrap. Now that I know how to nurse in a wrap I'm very excited to get another.

I converted the empty tiny bedroom we have into a food storage room. I'm not sure how long that will last as it seems like a waste of a room. I may switch the game closet with the storage room which sounds like a great idea now that I think about it! I could set up table and chairs in the little room for games and stuff.

The girls went to the dentist on Tuesday and the boys are going today. I think I'm staying home. They are just going for a cleaning but Zach may have a couple tiny cavities. If he does, I hope he cooperates with getting them filled. Amanda had to go because she had a really big abscess on her gum but there was no cavity in sight. I wonder if the one she got filled a few years back wasn't done properly.

Zach is really enjoying his new phonics program. I don't push him and it's super easy for him. He asks to do work all the time and now I have something for him to do that makes me feel good too. He does a page of math and a page of phonics. Usually that's enough 'work' for him but sometimes he'll sit there and practice his numbers and letters. He's quite motivated. The first time he did it it was funny. I don't think he knew I was serious and started talking about some movie, lol. He seems to get it now.

Have I mentioned I HATE, HATE that stupid school? My girls have another full MONTH and then some before summer. I thought school was out in May. Some idiot that works there loves to yell at them and call them names. If he does this one more time, I'm pulling them. The thought of that makes me mad enough to see red.

We got new pets! I finally got fish for my tank. We have three female mollies, a tetra and a platy. If these fish do well, we'll add a few more. I also plan on getting some aquarium plants soon. The hood seems to be broken so I'll have to replace that too. I tried buying a new bulb but it didn't work. Chris is now reading about pet rats. I got two from a pet store but it hasn't been 24 hours and I know they have a respiratory infection and that they aren't very nice. Lesson learned. These will go back, hopefully I'll get a refund if not it's a $8 loss. No big deal. I found a breeder in Chicago so we'll go pick up a pair of female rats from her.

Chris has been invited to another birthday party. So much for homeschooled kids not being social. This one is really cool. They meet and my friends house and then go to the downtown area of her city. They will have a scavenger hunt in the shops(his mom is going to be talking to the merchants to let them know to expect the kids). It's not adult supervised but I think they'll be fine between the 8 of them and the area isn't huge anyway. After that they head over for pizza. The party is about 5 hours total. He's so excited about this. Mostly the hanging out downtown without adults part, lol.

A bit of normalcy

Today feels so right. My girls are home and I'm feeling so at ease. They fight so much after school I wondered if things could be peaceful again with both of them home. Things are perfect. I had suspected that stress led them to fight each other and their brothers so much and it was. Don't get me wrong, they fought before they started school but the amount and intensity has about tripled since then. That's really saying a lot since they aren't here half as much yet the fighting is three times as much! And no, this isn't an exaggeration. I can't wait for them to be home for good. I really miss this.

I've also noticed that when writing I don't talk about our day to day stuff anymore. In older blogs, my entries were filled with the things we'd done during the day. It's not that way anymore. Things seem so empty without my daughters around. Today is so full already. I've done my normal stuff but the excitement I've been missing is back! Not that it's been a busy day. It isn't. It's been a really lazy day full with cleaning, clothes and planning. But even though that is all we've done we've seen lots of art done by my girls, Chris isn't stuck to his computer like he'd normally be, Zach and Nicky are off playing peacefully together(after they finished singing to me and dancing), the girls seem obedient and loving again. They don't have these nasty attitudes that they somehow grow at school. They are being them. It only took 2 days, they haven't been to school since Wednesday.

I'm really hoping we get to go on the trip with our group on Wednesday. My van is really acting up. We're pretty sure the issue is the fuel pump. Mack will probably take it in on Monday. It would probably be best if he went in today. I can't be stuck in the house this week. I really want to make this a week to remember since the girls are home and I've been stuck around the house first due to pregnancy exhaustion and then for the first weeks after baby was born. Speaking of my little Aaron- he's a month old! I can't believe it's been a month already. The memory of his birth is so clear to me. I hope it's always so clear. Nicky's has never faded. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. The hospital births and all the frustrations that came with them have never been so clear. Not sure if that is because of all the drugs or simply because part of me wants to forget certain parts. Not that much of most of those births weren't happy, they were, I just felt very violated and my wishes and concerns were so often ignore. I'm still trying to make peace, especially with my c-sections. I'm not sure I'll ever make peace with the nightmare that was Frankie's birth. Had any of the staff had any compassion, it may not have been so horrible.

Spring!

I'd grown quite tired of all the Panera meeting with homeschool group I LOVE my group but Panera and my toddler don't mix well. I just checked our meeting places and I'm so happy it's spring! We have lots of fun places to go this month.

April 1- 11:30a.m., Morton Arboretum, Lisle
Let’s meet in the Children’s area, using the visitor center as a warming area if needed. Dress for the weather.Cost: $7 Adults, $5 Youth, free children under 2 Morton Arboretum website: http://www.mortonarb.org/

April 8 - *1:00.*, Bowling, Fox Bowl, Wheaton
Join us for an afternoon of bowling. Outside food will be allowed but no messy foods such as popcorn or chips. Cost: $2.50 per game with free shoe rental. 1101 Butterfield Road, Wheaton.http://www.foxbowl.com/.

April 15 – 11:30a.m, Cosley Zoo, Wheaton http://www.wheatonparkdistrict.com/pgs/parks/cosley/default.htmlOlder Kids: Enjoy the zoo area together and then have some fun playing in Cosley’s open area where we can also have lunch.For the younger group, Dee has scheduled a program to start at 11:30. The class is for the little guys ages 4-2nd grade level. The cost is 4.50 per child, 3 chaperons are free but additional chaperons will have to pay 1.50. Please let Dee know if you plan to attend the program. The class description is below:
CRITTER CLASS INFO
This class is designed to introduce your students to the concept of sorting animals into groups.We will also discover adaptations that help mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians to survive in their environments.Students will view pictures, touch biofacts, and meet live animals to reinforce what they have learned.

April 22 – 11:30 Cantigny, Wheaton
We will be climbing on the tanks in the tank park and visiting the First Division Museum. Cantigny Website: http://www.cantigny.org/Cost: $5 a car

April 29 11:30 Blackwell Forest Preserve, Warrenville
The main entrance is on the north side of Butterfield Road, 1/4 mile west of Winfield Road and one mile east of Route 59.Dupage Forest Website: http://www.dupageforest.com/PRESERVES/blackwell.html*11:30 a.m. Bike ride, Meet just inside park entrance, lst parking lot on right.Bring your bikes and join us on a 6 mile bike ride to McKee Marsh and back. The entire length of the ride will be on a bike path.*12:30 p.m. Picnic & Lawn Sports, West ShelterBring lunch for your family and any of your favorite lawn games such as croquet, bocce, horseshoes, etc…

My little secret

Very few people know about it because I'm a little embarrassed about it. My daughters have been in public school since November. There, it's all out in the open! They wanted to try it and I hoped that they would decide in a week that they hated it and I could pull them but it took a while longer. At THIS point they hate it. It's done them no good and one of my girls has ballooned 15 pounds since November due to emotional eating and stress. Lovely, huh? They didn't decide for sure they didn't want to be there until about a week ago and since it's been so long since they started, I asked that they finish the year out. Honestly, this was about the worst choice I've ever made. My girls are both slow, struggling learners. I knew this. I'm just built to always think things are always my fault. This isn't my fault. I must keep telling myself that. I've had them seen by specialists, I've had them tested. They will have done nearly a year in public school with no improvement. It is NOT my fault. My boys learn wonderfully. That bit was more for me than for anyone who might read this, lol. They have only suffered. Sure I got a break from the two of my children that are the most difficult but at what cost? Their self esteem? Their physical wellness? I feel like a selfish idiot. They miss their friends, the ones that don't treat them like crap. I miss my innocent little girls that don't talk about boys all day and how they want to kiss them. I miss their desire to go play and read and all the good things they used to be excited about. Now it's boys, people who don't like them(they do have a couple friends but it's just not the same) and all the work they must do that prevents them from having any life outside of school. I sent them off to school today begging to be home. It makes me want to cry for them. I did this thinking it might be good for them. I really thought this through but apparently I didn't think it through enough. So, they will de-school for the summer since even if they were in school they wouldn't be going and we'll get back into the groove of things at some point in August or September. I just have to remind myself of their school experiences the next time I get such a stupid idea. They didn't do any better when they were small and went to school. Amanda had 2 years of preschool and a half year of kindergarten. Frankie had a year and a half of preschool. They got nothing out of that either.