My husband now travels a lot for his new job.

We don't want the kids to miss story time or prayer time with daddy.

We now schedule daddy's evening phone calls so that we can put him on speakerphone and he can tell them his fabulous made up on the spot stories.

But the important part comes at the end.  The kids gather around the phone and lay hands on it and daddy leads them in their evening prayers.

Daddy doesn't seem so far away when he tells you a story and prays with you.

OK -- I know, I don't get here often enough.

More adventures in medicine have occurred.  Oldest daughter tripped and twisted her left foot the end of February.  We thought it was broken, but apparently it was just an overuse injury.  She was in a cast for three weeks, a walking boot for another week and four weeks of physical therapy.  She is still not back 100% but is dancing.

But the big news is that DH quit his job.  He had been with the same company for 14.5 years (in the tech field that is a LONG time).  He took an executive position with a company that is based in California.  We do not have to move right away -- he will telecommute and travel (about 60% travel) and once we sell our house we will move to NC.  The company has a major presence in the Raleigh area.

Next year the oldest two girls will be going to a University Model School.  They will attend classes two days a week and be schooled at home the other days.  DS is on the wait list (we are praying that he makes it off the list) and when he gets in he will attend 3 days a week (two are the same as the girls) and 2 days at home.  For us it is the perfect blend of homeschooling and private schooling.  Our youngest has another year before she is ready for school.  I don't know if I will try to get her in a mother's day out or keep her with me.  Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

That is it for now.

Blessings, Carla

Well, where do I start.

Over Christmas the kids were running through the house (yes -- they run in the house despite dire warnings of imminent injury and/or accidents).

They ran into the guest bedroom, DD#2 ran behind the chair in there.  DS ran into the chair.  The back of the chair got pushed up into her nose.  She screamed.

It wasn't bleeding much so we just watched it.  Two weeks later it was still hurting and she just didn't sound right.

I took her to the ENT.  He looked up her nose and sighed.  He looked at me and stated, "It is broken, the septum is basically crumbled like a fan"  He sent us over to get a CT scan (thankfully this child can handle ANYTHING so we didn't have to wait for a sedation appointment).  He called on Wednesday to confirm the septum break.

We went in today to look at the films and to talk.  Her nose needs to be fixed but doing it now would cause major problems as she grows and that outweighs any benefit now.  So she needs surgery but not until she is teenager.  She will be monitored quarterly until her nose has grown enough to have surgery and to make sure there aren't problems down the line.

UGH!  Thank you Lord for good health insurance!

Happy New Year! 

I confess that I am probably one of the laziest bloggers around (as evidenced by the elapsed time between the last entry and this one).  But many changes are occuring here.

First, the possibility of a big move for our family exists.  Big move -- think ocean crossing.  If not that, then DH will more than likely be changing jobs (75% or better) the offer is in the making and with that offer exists this possible move.

Second, we are looking into putting the children into a private school next year.  Not completely leaving homeschooling but doing it on a part-time basis.  The school is a University Model School which is operated as a family ministry.  The children would go to class 2 days a week (3 for DS) and do their work at home the other days.  We are feeling led to this and we and the children are excited about the possibility.

Third, many healthy/diet challenges are emerging for the children.  We have had to take DS off of gluten (wheat, barley, rye, spelt, oats) due to major digestive issues.   Within a week he was feeling so much better and is getting better by the day.  We also did IgE, IgG blood tests on the girls for allergies and as a result have taken DD#1 off of Oats and she finally doesn't look like she just finished crying (she always had really puffy eyes).  We have also had to severely limit her dairy consumption and that has helped too.

But in all of this school is still happening.  We switched from MUS to Singapore in math and the change has been good for the children.  We are also working really hard on writing skills (not my strongpoint teaching wise).  We are still pushing ahead on our Sonlight Core and they have to be reminded that they don't need to finish the readers in one day.  As a result they reread them a lot!

We have also dropped the Bible study that came with our Sonlight core and switched to the Bible Studey/Devotional Sword Fighting.  They are really enjoying it.

Back to cleaning the kitchen!

We stopped at a church today on the way to Central Market (great grocery store with a fabulous produce selection and bulk food section and bakery -- I could keep on going on about it) and the kiddos picked out pumpkins (they are holding the two smaller ones -- the two HUGE ones are in a wagon waiting to be loaded.

I was impressed that I was able to get this great picture in only one try.  I am somewhat disappointed that I didn't make the effort to dress them in somewhat matching outfits and do the girls hair -- but these are my kids in their natural states.

Aren't they cute!

It has been a very busy  last two weeks.  I am so happy that he will be back tomorrow -- oh so happy (in many many ways)

But in these two weeks, I have gotten all the clothes sorted.  I have many bags ready for donation.

The laundry system is redone and is much more efficient -- the color coding is working really well.  I can give all the kids (except the youngest) their own color basket and they will go and put their clothes away and come back with their basket.  It also makes folding and sorting A LOT easier on me.

My home office is completey decluttered -- COMPLETELY!!!!  WooHoo!  For the first time in 6 years I might add!

The house is actually clean and the kids have been schooled (for the most part) while he has been gone.  No one has been hurt, or gotten sick, and I haven't gone insane.

So not too bad.  He is just not going to make me very happy if he has to be gone this long again anytime soon.

OK, in the three days he has been gone.

I have had to call the locksmith.

I had to have new rear brakes (and one right rear rotor) put on my Suburban.

I had to get a brake light replaced.

So far so good -- emergencies I can handle.

DS had a swim meet this morning and knocked 10 seconds off his personal best in the 100 Free.  Yeah!  Unfortunately he DQed on the 50 back (missed the touch on the turn by about 1 inch) and DQed on the 100 breast because he pulled his arms back too far a couple times on the last two legs -- too tired I guess.  Things to work on in practice for a few weeks before the UT meet.

DD#1 got to go to a sleepover last night and had a blast -- it also lessened the bickering at home!  WooHoo.

I have been the housecleaning, laundry demon.  To the point my son asked me just how often I am going to be doing laundry!  I am instituting a new system for laundry where each child is being issued a color (DS is yellow) for hangers and clothes basket.  And their clothes will be hung or folded and put into their color of basket.  That way we when do chores (I am awaiting my MOTC order!) they can just go and quickly grab their color basket and hanging items to go put up.  I just need to get smaller/easier to manage baskets for the girls for their clothes.  I have enough of  the hangers for the girls in three different colors -- I just have to switch out all their clothes so they each only have one color.  I am going to be doing DD#1 today/tonight.  She will get blue (her clothes still need the smaller hangers and I already have a lot of blue, white, and pink).  They are already doing a great job in putting the dirties down the laundry chute -- just have to work on getting them upstairs.  I am also going to be making and laminating labels for DD#3's drawers (she has an elfa unit) so she can see by picture where things go.  The other girls will get ones with words that I will put on the front of their dressers. 

Time to tackle DD#1's closet and dresser -- I'm going in.

DH has been gone for 8 days.  He gets back tonight -- Thank you Lord!

DD#2 has been complaining the entire time, you would think I was a tyrant who lives to hang her upside down and pull out her toenails while tickling her and shining bright lights in her eyes.  I promise I don't, but according to her when she doesn't get her way I am the meanest mommy in the world and she only wants daddy and why can't we call him and so on and so on and so on.

DD#1 has been inventing new and creative ways to drag out her school work -- I never realized that one page in Math U See Gamma and one page of manuscript in A Reason for Handwriting can take 3 hours -- but it can, but she can "Accidentally" read the entire book Red Sand, Blue Sky and not remember the answer for the single question she has to answer so she HAS to reread the chapter, and she will "Accidentally" read the entire entry for Australia in World Book even though I showed her that the answer for question number 50 would be found in the two paragraphs I just highlighted.  UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now DS will very quickly get all his work done -- but I have to slow him down so he will write legibly -- he is trying to make a stop action Lego movie (Do they make 100 gigabyte cards for my camera?)

Oh yeah -- Did I mention my husband gets home tonight?

Yep -- we went to the dentist.  I took all four children.  Yes, all four children.  They like going to the dentist, they fight over who gets to go back first.  They love Dr. Sabrina.

Alek, Sarah, and Rachel had great check-ups.  No cavities.  Alek did get several sealents, he has had a lot of teeth coming in and with the deep grooves we just aren't taking any chances on his molars.

Ella will be going back next week and getting two fillings on her two front teeth.  There is a bit of decay there.  She did great with the counting and the little scraping, but the moment the hygenist turned on the "Tickle Brush" Ella calming started climbing off the chair and politely told Jenny -- "I don't want that".  There was nothing we could do then.  She wanted nothing to do with that tickle brush, nothing at all.  This however was a big improvement over 6 months ago when I had to chase her down as she ran out of the building.

Next week she is getting Demerol and Phenergan on an empty stomach and little sleep -- she won't have a chance.

Tomorrow we will do regular school.  I need the rest.

Real rain, what a concept!  Close to half an inch!  Too bad we probably won't any more for a while, but it nice today.

Alek and Sarah finished the Pacific Islands today and will move on into Australia tomorrow (i.e. they finished week 2 and onto week 3).  Rachel is moving right along with her reading and is so proud of herself.  The posting of words on the doors of the TV cabinet and then transferring them into her "Word Book" is really inspiring her.  She LOVES showing Daddy each day what new words she has. 

School takes so much more time this year with all four kids doing school.  I know it will get easier, but with swim and dance starting up in next week -- I am terrified at how long our days will be.  YIKES!  Plus with DH traveling again.  DOUBLE YIKES!

I took some more pictures today, I will post them tomorrow.

Blessings to all.

So this is my schoolroom -- at least one view of it.  The french doors lead out to a balcony overlooking the backyard and the lake (hence the name of the blog and my Sonlight username)  There is a second laptop on the shelf above the desktop to the left of the first laptop.

I will take another picture from the other side of the couch so everyone can see what is to the left.

What do you do when 20 kids start screaming SNAKE IN THE POOL!? (No we were not making a homeschool movie)  You have a dad grab the pool skimmer and one kid ask where the snake book is and all the kids start gathering around wanting to know is it poisonous.  Once it is caught you are surprised no one is pushed in the pool as everyone is jockeying for position to see the snake as it is quickly identified as Non-venoumous and 10 moms quickly yell NO to the question of "CAN WE KEEP IT?".  One mom joked that we fulfilled the first months science coops requirement!

The Oops was the bag of tortilla chips left on the gas stove the controller accidentally turned and the small fire.  It was quickly extinquished with wet towels.  The smell wasn't too bad. 

No accidents, and we didn't have to make use of the friendly homeschooling father/family practice doctor (yes our friendly family doctor is in our local homeschool group!).

The party was a great success -- everyone had a great time, we got to meet lots of new people and get better acquainted with the others -- beyond just the craziness of park time and MNO. 

I am exhausted so time to go soak in the tub and CRASH!

Whew -- I'm tired

1.  Library/Study is done.  The books are sorted and every shelf now has a category.  There is a history shelf, a hunting shelf (yes there is a whole shelf of hunting books), a travel shelf, a business shelf, a political shelf, etc.  It used to be a HUGE mess of books just shoved willy nilly.  Now it is nicely sorted and shelved.

2.  There are no more piles of stuff in our Master Bedroom.  In fact -- our room looks empty.  Just a bed and two night stands (we have lots of built-ins so we have no dresser).  I have been meaning to buy a chaise -- now I have to.  Hmm.  All my books are neatly shelved in the cabinets behind closed doors if they are fiction, all the non-fiction are out in the open by category.

3.  The school room is spectacular if I say so myself!  I will take pictures when I go upstairs and post them in a couple of days!

4.  I actually did go through the kids library -- SHH!  I got out one file box of trash, and two file boxes of books to donate.  I sitll have to sort the books, but it was 11pm when I finished last night and I was tired!

Now I never did get to my sons room, but I now feel like I can because there is nothing staring at me anymore.  There is very little to do for the party tomorrow.  All I have to do is go pick up the cake after church, and set up chairs and have the kids damp wipe them to get the major dust off of them.  Thaw some venison sausage and throw that in the oven about 30 minutes before the party starts.  Throw some queso in the crock pot and put out some paper products and plastic ware, make 5 gallons of iced tea and lemonade.  Voila!  Party Time!

Time to take some Ibuprofen, find a heating pad and go to bed!

Blessings everyone.

and the kids and I are home alone this weekend.

But not for long.  Grandma will be here soon, because we are hosting a Not Back to School Party on Sunday (yes DH will be back at least 3 hours prior to the start -- he has promised on pain of my disappointment to be home by then) and she is going to help me finish the decluttering job (I am about 90% done, just done to the nitty gritty). 

To get done on the decluttering is this:

1. Put up the books in the library study, but at least they are actually there.  I still have to rearrange them and dust the shelves but the only things in that room belong there and nothing else needs to leave the room.  Major accomplishment
2. Shelve the rest of the books in the school room.  See #1.
3. Organize school supplies and shelve neatly in boxes in lower cabinets in game room/school room kitchenette (yes I have a kitchenette in my school room with a mini fridge and microwave, hate me later).
4. Make a list of the items that will be going up on Ebay next month.  These are all boxed up, I just want to type up a list so I have an idea of what I have.  I need to figure out how to safely list the items with Teacher Editions so they don't get pulled.
5. DS's room.  Shudder, groan, feel migraine coming on, slam door shut.  OK.  It isn't that bad -- but I at least need to go and do a pass through his clothes.  The boy grows like a weed.  I need to pull the worst offenders of his short sleeve shirts that are obviously too small and have little holes in the collars.  I also need to weed out his books and instill some order in there.  It is the lowest priority this weekend.

Now for the party.  As of this morning, we have 16 families coming to our house.  That means 34 adults (including us) and 45 children if I counted correctly (could be more if the grumpy teenagers consent to attend).  YIKES!   It is potluck and we are providing the hotdogs, venison sausage (we have a freezer full from last hunting season), iced tea, lemonade, and the pool!  It should be a blast!

Time to get to work!

Almost finished with the second week of school, and all the kids are still alive, so I must be doing something right!  This is Thursday of the 2nd week and we finished week 2 day 3 of the schedule.  The only reason we are off a day is that DH took DD#2 hunting last Friday and I didn't want to get off on the schedules that early so I didn't school with the others.  I spent the day letting the two older ones work on there "Choose There Own Adventrue" project for Sonlight Core 5.  A good use of time if I say so -- and I'm the mommy!

The great declutter project is almost done!  I took NINE huge boxes of books to Half Priced Books on Tuesday and the kids don't know it but children's books is my next big decluttering goal.  There is so much that needs to be weeded out in there.  But I will need to do that either late at night when they are asleep or when DH can remove them from the house.  Otherwise I will here only "But MOOOOOOM, that is my most favoritist book EVER.  You can't give that book away, I will be SOOOOO SAD!"  You know the drill.

Something did surprise me last night.  As I was going through the mountain otherwise known as "too many things I have bought over the past three years of homeschooling", my son saw a new copy of Dailygrams level 5.  He asked if we could do them again this year.  We did them the last three years but I decided to not do them this year for time reasons, but I guess them really liked them.  Hmm, I can honor that request -- they really don't take much time.  I will just have to either buy another copy or just copy pages daily for his sister, or just have him do them.  His sister takes SO MUCH LONGER to do her work I might just have him do this work.

Had a good week, got A LOT cleaned out and donated, thrown out, sorted, taken care of.

Youngest came down with bronchitis.  Hers was viral and after nebulizer treatments, steroids and lots of fluids she is doing well.  The next youngest is now starting to show signs of it.  I will need lots of prayers if she goes of steroids -- she already climbs the walls.  Yikes!

Three more weeks until we start school -- are we ready yet?  I think we have been but all the daytime dancing needs to end before we can even begin to "do school" during the day.  This week we will finish organizing the school room and I have to buy new couches and chairs for that room since I got rid of the old ones -- they just weren't comfortable.  But I need to be able to shop without children -- furniture stores with kids is just not a good thing to try to do.  We are also trying to find a chaise for our Master Bedroom and hopefully we can get that at the same time -- we will see.

UGH, I really hate going there and am so happy that it doesn't look like that our daughter's dance team will be doing anymore dance competitions there for the foreseeable future.  I came home with a really bad case of bronchial pneumonia and three antibiotics later I am finally starting to kick it.

I haven't been able to get any organizing done in the week I have been home, but I have rested.

DS really enjoyed sailing camp and will do another session next week.  DD#2 & #3 have enjoyed their swim classes (not that #2 needed it being on swim team and all but she missed organized swimming, I just want #3 to put her head under water).  DD#1 is back to lots and lots of dancing and more to come.

We have picked DD#1's new ballet solo music.  She will use Chopin's Nocturne in C# Minor.  It is hauntingly beautiful.

I also came home to a water softener leak, lovely.

Finally finished unpacking everything and have loads of stuff from before the trip that needs to go to a donation site, but that can wait until I feel better.

Everyone else is doing it, so I guess I can too.

I have homeschooled for three years.  Spent the first year "deschooling" my son and basically just advancing them in math and letting DS and DD#1 read anything and everything (within reason).  Then Sonlight Core 3 and Sonlight Core 4.  Next year will be Core 5 and Core K.  DD#2 and #3 will be joining in the game. 

I have been spending the last few weeks getting everything organized, cleaned out and ready for the next year.