I have a confession to make...

...I have not done a very good job training my children to keep their rooms clean.  And from the looks of our home right this minute, evidentally they haven't learned the importance of helping mom keep the rest of the house picked up either! 

If the truth be known, while my mom did the very best job she could do raising me (which wasn't bad at all I must say), cleaning and keeping a home wasn't exactly an area that I was trained in nor had a very good example of while growing up.  So while I love a nice, clean, comfortable home, it's something that I really have to work at and push myself to do.  I don't want to pass on the same lack-of-training to my own children, so I know I have to begin by making changes in myself.

This is something I've seen a few times and am seriously considering purchasing, not only for the kids but for me too!  We have, and LOVE, Times Tales and this product, Zone Cleaning for Kids and Laundry Basket Cleaning was created by the same wonderful people.  Because of how great Times Tales is, I'm thinking that their Clean & Flip charts would be a great blessing to our family.

Check it out, and if anyone has used this and has an opinion on it, please leave me a comment here and tell me what you think!

• Comments (6) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

While most of us may never have to deal with Social Services, there are plenty of stories out there of families who have been the target of unfair invasion by those who do not agree with their decision to homeschool and who think they are harming their children by doing so.

So what can we do to protect ourselves from those who would like to interfere in our lives and cause us unnecessary problems simply because we homeschool?  First of all, I can not recommend enough that every homeschooling family join HSLDA, the Homeschool Legal Defense Association.  HSLDA is a nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and to protect family freedoms. Through annual memberships, HSLDA is tens of thousands of families united in service together, providing a strong voice when and where needed.

And if you are ever faced with a social services worker at your front door, here are the steps you need to take:

• Stay calm.
• Be polite and friendly.  Smile.
• Get his name and business card.
• Do not let him into your home.  The only legal ways into your home are with:
  • an emergency situation (immediate and obvious danger to life and limb),
  • your permission, or
  • a search warrant.
• Do not allow him to interview your children.
• Tell him you are willing to cooperate if he will tell you what the charges are.
• When he tells you, tell him you will take your child(ren) to your physician and have him write a report to CPS.
• Repeat the above statements as often as necessary.  Do not be afraid of silence.
• After he leaves, write down everything that occurred and call Home School Legal Defense Asociation (HSLDA) and/or your attorney.

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

• Comments (4) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Ok, surely there has got to be some kind of glass breaking curse on this house of ours.  Here's today's episode in our lastest on-going drama...

Granted, this is not nearly as bad as the lasagna or chicken noodle soup mess, but this time, as hubby was trying to unscrew a blown lightbulb it busted in his hands.  Glass and powder everywhere.  So now he has cut hands AND I still don't have a light in my laundry room/closet because the screw-in part (whatever that's called) is still stuck in the, um, the part that you screw a lightbulb into!

Can I just say... I AM SO TIRED OF CLEANING UP BROKEN GLASS!!!!

Stay tuned for the next episode of... 'These Are The Days of Our Lives'.  Sigh...

• Comments (5) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you probably know about the many 'mishaps' our family has experienced lately.  First there was our spontaneous science lesson, then there was my REALLY bad day, and most recently, our lovely lasagna disaster.  Oh, and who could ever forget about my 6-year-old's big shocker as well as his run-in with a metal sign, my washer being ever-so-kind as to allow me to experience what women of old used to have to do, as well as my first experience with 'the other driver'!

Well, since everyone seemed to get such enjoyment out of these adventures, my 10-year-old daughter thought she would add one more to our ever-growing list of 'fun' things to do to mom.  Wasn't that so nice of her?  Here's her latest addition to the ever-increasing grey hair I keep finding in the mirror.

This WAS her bowl of home-made chicken noodle soup tonight.  Not quite as good as my award-winning lasagna splatter, but I give it an 8!  Just in case you have forgotten, here's MY addition to our latest fun around here...

Funny thing is, my hubby and I simply couldn't believe it had happened AGAIN and we both just sat there for like five minutes just looking at it without saying anything or even making a face, like it was the most normal thing in the world (which lately around here, it is!), hoping the other one would get up and clean it up first.  LOL! 

Ahhhh... the joys of family bonding time (as in, while hubby and I are on the floor cleaning up glass... lots of good time to talk).  There's never a dull moment around here... anyone want to come for a visit?

• Comments (1) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

So, how many times have YOU gotten the socialization question?  UGH!  Don't you get SO tired of hearing that?  I'm not going to go into all the actual definitions of the word 'socialization' or the comparisons of the 'socializing' home schooled kids get versus public school kids.  We've all been there, done that, got the T-shirt.  If you're new to homeschooling and need some good defenses to use just let me know and I'll direct you to some really great articles on the whole socialization issue.

Anyway, our latest happening related to this issue is that our local high school had try-outs for 'The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe' last week and while our 10 year old daughter has been in our church's Christmas and Easter plays for the past 6 or 7 years and even had a leading role the past two years, this was the first time she had ever tried out for something big such as this. 

She was so excited to try out!  Even though she had to go to a new place, a high school at that(!), sit with people she didn't know, wait for 3 HOURS(!), and get up on stage and read lines she had never seen before along with people she had never met before she couldn't wait to go!

The first day there were nearly 90 kids trying out.  Only about half got a call-back, including our daughter!  After that, only 33 were kept, including our daughter!  So only 1/3 of those who tried out were chosen and she was one of them!

While she was hoping for a main speaking part she was too old for the youngest girl in the play and too young for the oldest girl and you had to be at least 14 to try out for the Witch (she's only 10).  She also read for the part of Mrs. Beaver, but the Mr. Beaver that was chosen was short and our daughter is quite tall for her age, so we knew that wasn't going to work out.  So, much to her initial disappointment, she is in the White Witch's army!  She's ok with it now, but those let-downs are a bit hard on us all, especially those young, tender hearts.

But here's the funny part.  She's been homeschooled for five years, WANTED to do this, tried out with kids she didn't know in a place she didn't know and was in the 1/3 of kids who made it for a play at the public high school (and she did REALLY good too, even giving one of the characters an English accent as she read, all her own idea... how brave!), but yet people just can't seem to get past the whole socialization issue.  In fact, when she tells people she's going to be in the play they're like, 'Oh!  Really?'  And then when she tells them that she's in the witch's army they're like 'Oh, really?' with this look on their face.  It's actually pretty funny.

The play will be the last three days of March, with at LEAST four performances in those three days.  I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and share them here.

• Comments (3) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

For the THIRD time this week, our beloved hardwood floors have caused what would have only been a spill before (on our old linoleum floor) to turn into a dangerous disaster!  (The kids dropped and broke a plate as they were emptying the dishwasher a couple days ago, then my hubby dropped and broke a glass last night).

This used to be a very thick glass casserole dish.  But as I was trying to put the lasagna away tonight it slipped out of my hands as I was opening the refrigerator door.  Funny enough, the whole reason it fell is because of the many times our kids have spilled juice out of half-drunk cups from the refrigerator and evidentally a layer of thick, sticky juice has developed somewhere at the bottom of the fridge door which causes the door to stick just a bit.  As I had the casserole dish in my hands and tried to pull the door open it stuck and then jerked open.  It was the final un-sticking-jerk that caused the dish to slip out of my hands.

Oh well, tommora's anotha day...

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

My wonderful, sweet hubby and I were married nearly 12 years ago.  The photographer we used was very good, but also very expensive.  Especially for two young kids just starting out in life.  So a few weeks after we were married we looked through all the pictures that were taken and bought the few that we could afford.

A few years later I went back to check on getting the rest of them, hoping I could get a deal on them by that time.  No such luck but they told me that they keep the proofs and negatives for 5 years and after that they destroy them.  Since I still couldn't afford to get the rest of them I at least felt better knowing I still had a couple of years to save up before they were destroyed.

Fast forward 2 more years and 3 babies all together so far, a mortgage, and two vehicles and guess what?  We still couldn't afford to get the rest of our wedding pictures.  I knew the 5-year deadline was coming, and then had passed, but there was nothing I could do about it so I just resigned myself to accepting the fact that we had the best ones and that was good enough.  I put the whole thing out of my mind and tried to just forget about it. 

To make matters worse, one year ago Christmas Eve I discoverd I had lost my most prized possesion... my wedding rings.  My heart is still broken over this and I cry often over not having them.

On Christmas morning a few days ago, my mom had Seth and I sit together and open one last gift.  Imagine my shock and flood of emotions as I got my first glance at my wedding pictures staring back at us from a wedding album! 

Back in the early spring of this year the photographer who took our wedding pictures died and his wife put an article in the newspaper stating that she was going to sell all of his old proofs and negatives.  We don't receive the newspaper so I had no idea, but thankfully my mom does and she, unbeknownst to me, set up and appointment to see if they may still possibly have our pictures.  Well, can you believe that they did(!) and she bought all of our proofs and the negatives for every picture taken that day, which totaled over 150!  How she kept it a secret for 8 months I'll never know, but let me tell you... I haven't cried like that in a very long time.  I couldn't even look at them for about 10 minutes because I was sobbing and bawling like a baby.  It was like something that was dead was suddenly brought back to life.  Those were our history, the very beginning of our story.  And to see them after all this time, especially when I believed they were destroyed, well, it was just more than I could take in all at once.  And then, when I got to the picture of our hands with our wedding rings on, well, it was almost more than I could handle.  Through heaving sobs I kept saying, 'I'm so sorry I lost them, I'm so sorry' over and over to my sweet hubby, who the whole time just rubbed my back, wiped his own tears and said, 'It's ok honey, it's ok'.

Christmas is my very favorite time of year and I love buying gifts for those that I love.  But you know what?  Instead of just aimlessly meanering around until you find something you think somebody will like, why not put a little time, thought, and effort into your gift-giving.  And I don't mean just at Christmas time.  Showing someone you love them and that they are special to you all throughout the year is a wonderful thing!  But this gift that my mom gave to me and my husband far exceeds any other gift that I've ever been given, excluding Jesus and my children and such.  I'm talking physical gifts here.  And I'm not talking spending a ton of money either.  Do you know what I did this Christmas?  Something I've never done before.  I made some gifts with my own hands.  And those were more appreciated and loved than anything I think I've ever given before.  It made the receiver feel special and it made me feel so good inside.  I'll definitely be doing that again.

To end, here's a picture of the gift I made for my mom.  She absolutely loves Eyeore and her house is a bit on the chilly side sometimes through the winter, hence, her gift...

• Comments (8) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

We took part in helping to set a new world's record today... The Most People Reading Aloud Simultaneously!  The previous record was held by 155,528 students from 737 schools in the United Kingdom who read William Wordsworth’s poem, “Daffodils,” on March 19, 2004.

But today at 12:00 noon Eastern time 547,826 readers in 2,451 locations, 50 states and 28 countries all read the same excerpt from the classic "Charlotte's Web" at the same time to commemorate the release of the new movie coming out Friday. 

You can read more about it here, or read the press release here.

• Comments (1) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Ok, I am SO not liking the way I can't get any spaces between my paragraphs now.  What's up with that?  Gotta fix that pronto.

Anyway, I just wanted to share our latest adventure.  Last night we were taking the kids to see the Kentucky Christmas Chorus where the Lexington Choir and orchestra preform Christmas songs while we all sing and be-bop along wearing our Santa hats... it's so much fun.  It's on TV every year and we all love to go.

When we got to the arena dad let us out since it was chilly and raining and while we were waiting on him the kids wanted to ride the escalator (poor little country kids...LOL), so being the FUN mom that I am, I said ok.  We all rode down, and then back up and on our way back to the door to wait for dad our 6 year old turned and walked BAM!, right into a metal sign that had a lip sticking out on it all the way around, just at the height of his eyebrow.  Instantly he was pouring blood all down his face.  Poor kid had to try to run to the bathroom with his eyes closed with mom pulling him by his hand all the way.  Talk about trust on his part.

Anyway, I got him cleaned up and we rushed him to the nearest hospital where he proceeded to get 5 stitches.  It was a really nasty gash.  It looked much worse than it looks in the pictures.

We missed the Christmas Chorus, but we did make a stop at Toys R Us, where we proceeded to find NOTHING.  Ah well, at least we were all toghether as a family, right?  We got home about 1:30 this morning.

But I do have to tell this one last thing.  While we were at Toys R Us our 10 year old daughter took $6 of the $10 she made babysitting recently and bought her little brother a really cool 3D Cars book.  Our 7 year old son had also picked out a car he wanted to buy his brother, but dad said just one thing so our injured 6 year old had to choose.  Bless his heart, he said he really like the car but he kind of wanted the book more but he didn't want to hurt his brother's feelings.  Our 7 year old boy, being the fine young man that he is, said in a cheery voice, "Don't worry Cam, it's no big deal.  I probably would have picked the book too" and as he walked over to put the car back his eyes welled up with tears and he had to fight to not cry.  Oh my goodness, just rip my heart right out of me!  Can you believe that?!  I am so very, very proud of our children.  Daddy picked him up and told him in his ear that there was nothing he could possibly do to make him more proud of him than he was right at that moment.  What a wonderful daddy he is!  *sniff sniff*

I am so happy to see the heart that God has given our children and the love and compassion they have for others.  Oh, even the nurses commented on how good all the kids were while were at the emergency room.  They praised us on how well-behaved they were and what nice manners they had.  Sigh... it's so nice to hear those kinds of things sometimes, isn't it?  Let's you know you must be doing something right.

Ok, so here's the pictures of our little guy.

Before (I promise, it was MUCH nastier than this picture shows)...

And after...

Here's what our 4 year old did while waiting on brother (notice how she 'fixed' her headband herself, and no, she can't read yet)...

And here she is at Toys R Us.  It's SO hard to wait until Christmas!

The 3D book sissy bought was a big hit with BOTH boys...

Because here's the very first thing they did when they got up this morning...

• Comments (1) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link