Category: Home and Schooling

WOW!  It's been over a month since my last entry!  Well, we've been a *little* busy this last month. 

First, we put out our first notebooking CD "History Pages - Ancient Times" and finished our free Bible pages!  You can check both of these out using our Notebooking links in the right sidebar.  We're very excited about both of these because they make notebooking history and the Bible a cinch to do - no excuses!  We've used a ton of great historical clipart to make each page specific to its topic.  The plan is to have all time periods finished by the end of summer.  Right now I'm working on the Middle Ages as we work through this time period ourselves.  Hopefully, it will be ready late spring.  Then the remaining set(s) (depending on how I divide it), we'll work on over the summer.  I keep saying "we" because my dh & kids are pitching in to help with these efforts.  From finding the clipart, to downloading & organizing the clips, editing & proofreading (at least "prooflooking" for any lines/frames that don't match up), creating CDs & packaging them for shipping, and also learning bookkeeping - they all have their own jobs with paid commission.  It's been lots of fun for all!   

Besides our notebooking project, we've taken every child, all seven of them, to their pediatricians for checkups, to their dentists for cleanings/checkups & back again for fillings (bummer!), & to their eye doctors.  I also went to the eye doctor and found out that the prism they put in my left lens for my double vision was put in upside down last year!  Instead of correcting the problem, it was making it worse causing my left eye to work twice as hard to not see doubles (which was now more like quadruples)!  Anyway, that is now fixed, praise the Lord!  Oh yes, another one had to get glasses which brings the total to 3 of the kids now & he's not very happy about that.  Then, finally, our 10yod has had several trips to the orthodontist and she is now sporting her new braces!  She looks so cute!  I guess that's just about it.  Next year, we'll try to be a little smarter about this and get all of these checkups before school starts.  Normally we do, but the summer got away from us and so here we are.

Let's see....we had a Fall Festival at church (complete with pony rides & a hayride!), we hosted a bonfire party for my parents' anniversary & birthdays in late October which was a hit for all of us, trunk-or-treating at church & Old Testament night at AWANAs, a birthday party for Elizabeth who is now 6, and we just finished up Thanksgiving at my brother's house this weekend...

Schooling?  Well, we went into "basic mode" for a couple of weeks, keeping pace with our math, lang arts, and reading.  You know, I make our schooling schedule so that doctor visits do not interfere and so that there's room to move things around, but it's just crazy to think that 25-30 doctor appointments is not going to interfere, right?  The original appointments were fine I guess, it was all the re-visits for fillings, fittings, prescriptions, and "new hardware".  So anyway, I've put off the Christmas decorations for now so that we can focus on getting at least 3 more solid weeks in before our Christmas break.  Dh is out of town for the two weeks prior to Christmas and also works day shift Christmas Eve & Christmas Day so things are a little out of whack as far as our holiday planning anyway.  I think I may shift the calendar a bit and have our own family celebration the two days following Christmas Day, not sure though.

Okay, now that brings us up to date!

Today, we're working on switching out our closets and seasonal clothes...making granola bars for our morning snacks this week...blowing leaves off the pond & bog so we can catch some fish to bring inside for the winter (goldfish & shbunkins)...preparing for this week's lessons...doing some last minute practicing for AWANAs tonight...updating this blog...& oh, yes, blowing the dust off the treadmill because mom's going to start walking again tomorrow!  I don't know that this is going to as much of a weight-loss effort as it is a try-not-to-gain-any-weight effort during this holiday season.  Either way, I'm ready to shed a few pounds (or 40)!  Anyone need an accountability partner for this?