Jul. 19, 2008 - Swim B-invite
Today we had the town's B-invite, and it started of rather rainy. We were glad we had the tent to set up and camp out under!! But then it cleared up and it really wasn't all that bad of a day.
The kids really did their best! Each one won one of their heats and was awarded a 'heat award' - a little bag of goodies. They each had 3 races, and I am told the top 12 times recieve a ribbon.
Caleb had a personal record in all three races - Freestyle - 25.8 s (12th place); Breaststroke - 32.3 s(9th place!!); Backstroke 32.5 s (12th place).
Jessica did awesome as well and swam two personal record times - Freestyle - 40.8 s PR; Butterfly - 50.8 s PR, and backstroke 50.1 s.
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Jul. 18, 2008 - Swim pictures
Here are some pictures of the kids at one of their swim meets.
And Heather this afternoon - I think she is trying to tell me something....
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Jul. 14, 2008 - Schedule and workouts
I am realizing that the summer is quickly coming to an end. I had said I was going to start 'school' again after swim team ends, and we only have 2 weeks of swim team left!
After going to a homeschool conference and hearing a talk about making a schedule, I sat down to alter mine, I realized I already had one from last year, but when it's color coded, it looks so much more appealing! I also made a monthly shedule of outside activities/commitments by week... so I divided the month up into the 5 wees possible, and each day into morning/afternoon/evening and wrote down the activities (Ie, Swim Lessons for Heather every M/W afternoon) so I can glance at it and see if a new activtity would or wouldn't work with our current priorities.
So now I think I am all set, we are working on cleaning out the house and setting up for school. Since the girls now have their own room, I no longer have a schoolroom to work and store everything in. We are also going to work on scheduling a specific area of the house to clean each day (Ie, Monday - bathrooms, Tuesday - laundry, etc.).
I have also started to excercise again more regularly, using Denis Austins pregnancy workout. Just 20 min a day but it helps to have the energy and toning.
Caleb is listening to Story of the World 4 - he has really taken to being in his room a lot listening to SOTW and reading. Currently he is working on a lego project.
Ok, off to do the chores and clean the bathroom today!
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Jul. 6, 2008 - Pregnancy update
Well, I am about half way through this pregnancy. Just at 18 weeks already. And I just realized an occurance that happens at this period in time that I am not so thrilled about. Things have just been agitating me. Nothing majorly out of the ordinary at all, but I just realized taht around this time in every pregnancy, things bothered me. With Caleb I had finals and was in a wedding, with the girls this was the time the older one weaned because I couldn't stand it anymore. Well Heather has already weaned, so I can only blame it on just the pregnancy hormones now. I think I will stay in and lay low for a bit till it passes so as not to say something or upset anyone.
In other news - Heather has moved in with Jessica now. We set up the bunk bed in the girls room and Heather has enjoyed sleeping in her own room. She really has taken ownership of it and we don't hear form her all night long. We still need to move her clothes in (though she takes it over and dumps it on her bed!).
Caleb then lost the desk under the bunk and we went to IKEA this past weekened and thanks to my dad, we now have a desk for Caleb - which he is throughouly enoying. I will have to post pictures once we get the rooms cleaned up.
I am just realizing that July is almost over and I had considered starting the school year in August. Wow! we still need to clean out the living room to make it work. I really want to be able to do more arts/crafts and games this year with the kids before the baby comes. It looks like we won't be doing many co-op type things so we have all day at home before swim team and other activities. We'll have to see how much energy I will have though.
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Jun. 29, 2008 - Extracurricular Activities
Now is the time of year that I ponder and plan what I want the kids to be involved with over the next school year and why. Here is what I was thinking (trying to keep in mind I will have a newborn in December. Does this look well rounded? Am I doing too much or missing something?
Caleb (7yr -second grade):
Swim Team (for discipline, perserverence) twice a week; CCD (to recieve First Holy Communion this year and to get to know other kids his age in the parish); Blue Knights (once a month, virtue and faith formation); Upwards Basketball (sportsmanship and fun - daddy will be coach); a homeschool Art class (fine arts); and possibly thinking about Cub Scouts (to get to know the boys his age that go to the parish school).
Jessica (5 yr - Kindergarten):
Swim Team (same as above); Little Flowers (starting in Jan, for Faith formation); Daisy Girl Scouts (to be with friends who will be in the parish school); homeschool Art class (because she would like it); and Upwards Basketball (on her cousins team).
Heather (2yr):
Swim Lessons (twice a week)
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Jun. 28, 2008 - Little Fishes
We had another meet today, and Caleb I think swam the fastest so far!! I need to get the 'official' time when it is posted because that time is always a little fatser than mine, so he may have done his fastest in all strokes.
Caleb:
Medley relay - breastroke: 35.3 split
Freestyle: 29.3 (we told him he would get a small something if he beat 31.0)
Breaststroke: 37.7
Backstroke: 36.9
Freestyle Relay: 32.5 split
Jessica:
Medley - breaststroke: 1:10.06 split
Freestyle: 42.4
Breaststroke: 1:00.9
Backstroke: 55.6
Freestyle Relay: 50.1 split
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Jun. 25, 2008 - Evening meet
Last night we had another meet. And it cooled down considerably from the day, and lasted so long - we left at 9:30pm!!!
The kids did ok, i think they were cold, and Jess had banged up her knee earlier on and it hurt her as well.
Caleb:
Medley relay - breaststroke: 38.1
Freestyle : 35.28
Breaststroke: 38.28
Backstroke: 39.48
Freestyle relay: 31.4 split
Jessica:
Medley relay - breaststroke: 1:21.0
Freestyle: 55.0
Breaststroke: 1:02.3
Backstroke: 46.1
Freestyle relay: 55.7
And boy were we tired!!!
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Jun. 20, 2008 - Busy week
We had another swim meet this week. Would have been beautiful if it wasn't mid 70's (that is great weather for being outside - but not wet!). It was a small meet so the kids only had 2 events. Jess did backstroke in the medley relay (I do not have her split but they got second place) and butterfly in 56.6 seconds (exhibition).
Caleb placed fifth in backstroke (40.1 s) and second in breaststroke (38.6 s).
I signed them up for a diving clinic this weekend, so it will hopefully help their starts. Caleb also has major swimmers hair - he was coming out crunchy and brittle when wet. I was told the tip of putting conditioner on prior to swimming and that did seem to help.
Caleb also bought his SOTW volume 3 CD's and is currently listening to them. He had to run out and tell me they were talking about Pochahantas... he was so excited! Now i have to figure out how to get volume 4 CD's into my budget soon because he will have these finished in about a week. I am very glad he is enjoying history so much!!
Pregnancy is going well. I am almost 16 weeks, and found out the pain I have is due to a varicose vein in the groin area - it will go away after pregnancy... but that's another 6 months and it won't be fun! Everything else looks good and seems to be going well. I can feel baby kick at times, but we can't hear the heartbeat with a fetoscope just yet.
Otherwise just trying to catch up on housework and yardwork. The rains brought lots of weeds.. and I need to get out to the garden and pick through the weeds. But the spring crops are almost done, so it should be easy once I find time for it. That's about all from here at the moment!
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Jun. 16, 2008 - What a good day!
Ever have one of those days that everything just goes great? Today is one of those rare occasions! Yay!
First, Caleb is complaining that his teeth hurt when he bites, I called the dentist to set up an appointment and have one for next week - they think it's probably the start of his permanent teeth coming down since he has not lost any yet.
Then we went and bought new swim jammers because his pair from January has lost all elasticity, and JEssica gets a new purple 'nemo' swim cap as well. Then we find out our friends have decided to do swim team after all and since they are on the way to practice anyway, I pick them up. Jessica lost an earring in the car, and while Caleb helps to look for it he finds his wallet that he lost about a year ago - with $8 in it!
At swim team, Caleb gets moved up to the next circle swim lane - this is HUGE!! This is a harder workout than what he has been used to, but he was up to the challange with a HUGE grin on his face. Months ago, I had mentioned that when they move up, we will celebrate, so Caleb wants to go out to eat at Applebee's. :)
I did find out he was DQed from the butterfly at the last meet - I am not sure why becuase they did not tell him. It was either a lack of two handed touch, or more likely his feet were not together on the dolphin kick... I kind of wish we knew so he could work on it next time.
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Jun. 14, 2008 - Second Swim Meet
We just finished our second swim meet. My dh so lovingly volunteered to do the bullpen, and he did a wonderful job! Though he did ask to do something like concessions next time!
Here are Caleb's times:
Medley relay (swam breaststroke): 37.0 split
Freestyle: 31.0
Butterfly: 37.8
Backstroke: 40.4
Freestyle relay: 34.7
Jessica got her storkes a bit confused today....
Medley Relay (freestyle split): 40.1
Breaststroke (But she got DQed becuase she swam freestyle): 40.6
Backstroke: 50.3
Freestyle Relay (she swam breaststroke, but luckily that does not DQ the team): 56.5
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Jun. 11, 2008 - Story of the World
With Amazon rewards gift certificates, I went ahead and purchased Story of the World Volume 2 CD's for Caleb to listen to at his own leisure. Well, a week later and he is on the last CD already. He has been listening to at least one a day!! I was kind of hoping these would tide him over the summer, but obviously not. Now I have to figure out how to work the budget to get volumes 3&4 somehow!!
He is actually picking up on subtle history references in his kids books as well. So I know he is actually remember what he is hearing. Yay!!!
Other than the CD's, we have not gotten around to much 'school' this week. Caleb had camp on day, and his swim ciach has encouraged him to come to swim team practice every day (Yikes!!). But he has enjoyed it, and we will take a break in the fall for a bit - maybe learn how to ice skate, before going back to swim team. They have their next swim meet coming up soon, so it will be interesting how much, if any, they have improved this week.
Otherwise we are enjoying the outdoors in the morning and meeting with various people and groups at parks before swim team practice. But the downside is that I am not getting much work done at home! I even 'had to' go shopping this week for maternity clothes since my belly has given up trying to stay in anymore. (yep at 14 weeks...) So just about exactly 6 months in maternity clothes (since baby is due December 9).
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Jun. 7, 2008 - First Swim Meet
Last night the kids had their first ever swim meet. Whoa! Did we not know what we were getting ourselves into!!! But it was fun, despite the wind advisory and Tornado Watch. We made 'camp' outside and thankfully some husband took pity on my as I was trying to lug the bag with 8 towels, my purse full of water bottles, a cooler with snacks, our lawn chairs and carry Heather all at the same time. (The kids were carrying their lawn chairs and swim bags, so they where helping out and dh was still at work - so he helped pick up later).
We got there, I completely missed the announcements and then the 8 and unders had warm up. I found the lineup list and had to look through all the events to see what my kids were swimming. And because I had two kids in it, we spent a lot of time running around, and not actually just sitting.
So - Jessica first was part of the medley relay in which she swma backstroke. The stopwatch did not work for us, but it was somewhere areound 40second split.
Then Jess had 25 yd freestyle, which she finished in 44.2 seconds, Backstroke in 45.2 and part of the freestyle relay with a split of 46.2 seconds.
Caleb swam with the 7/8 year old boys, so he was one of the youngest and swam Freestlye in 31.4s, Breaststroke in 44.5 and Backstroke in 35.9.
Heather had fun clapping and shouting "go go go!!!" Though she got very tired at the end - as we were there 4.5 hours!!
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Jun. 3, 2008 - Caleb Allergy Update
I just talked to Caleb's doctor's office again yesterday, after the latest round of testing. Here is the update. He still has some yeast in his system, but not much. It shows up a bit in his urine but not in his stools. They think one round of Yeast-Aid will get rid of the rest. So that means his gut is relatively stable and no longer leaky. But we still have allergies. The doctor was of the opinion that if the gut is healed the allergies will disappear, but now have realized some kids need some extra help.
So - we are going to retest with teh Alletess (96 IgG and 12 IgE) and the top allergens retest another way and then they want to formulate sub-lingual food allergy drops specifically for Caleb's allergies to try to desensitize his body.
Considering his gut is looking much better, and his overall allergies have improved so much, but we still have a few lingering, I am willing to try this way and see if it can help his body not see dairy as an enemy. I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with these drops and if they actually worked well or not?
In Homeschooling/Daily news - I have been inspired to make a schedule, I already had one but now it's color-coded. And so far it has been working pretty well. The kids are expected to get dressed in new clothes in the morning (including new underwear), make their beds and pick up their rooms before breakfast. Then they have free time until swim team. Then we have lunch and go on to Math, LA and American History - 3 times a week during the summer. Then finish cleaning up, put any laundry away and they are free to play until dinner (or finish the work they did not do!).
I have also been trying to go through the house and get rid of clutter makers... things that just pile up. My goal is to have the living room free of toys except one bucket and to keep it that way - so I can feel good about inviting people over and they don't have to see our mess.
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May. 29, 2008 - Pictures and end of month
Here are the pictures from Caleb's birthday party:
The rest of the month went by with some new moments. I atteneded a homeschool conference in Joliet (as a vendor, but am listening to all the CD's of the talks) and that was refreshing. But dh did not come up with Heather as planned, so what really happened was that Heather weaned. She tried nursing when I got home but she did not actually nurse, so I just decided to not offer again and it has been an amazingly easy weaning, not like the other two kids.
We also started WinterPromise American Story 1. We are kind of working on a two weeks for one weeks worth of material - just loosely and slowly for the summer. Here is a picture of the kids working on their Native American map:
I also felt the baby kick this past week for the first time - just the once. So it's nice to know that he/she is alive.
The kids start the swim team season next week. So practices move to the middle of the day and swim meets begin. It was fun to watch them today, as new people are joining the team - just to see how fast and strong the kids have gotten. During the winter months, they were the bottom of the totem pole becuase they were the 'newest' even though they were improving. Now they can see how far they actually have come since starting practices.
We also learned taht the kids best friends (one family with kids the same ages and one older) is most likely moving out of state this summer (as in 2-3 months!). I did not realize just how many things we actually did with them!! They will be missed very very much!! It's good for them, but just really sucks for us.
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May. 11, 2008 - My Baby is 7!!!
I am in denial - my baby is 7 years old as of yesterday. How did that happen??
I was going to post pictures but currently am unable to locate the camera, so I will do so later.
Yesterday we had the friends birthday party. We are learning from some other friends on how to make it low key and inexpensive but still fun. And since dh sprained his ankle and can't really walk, and I have been dealing with pregnancy queasiness - easy is good! So we reserved the party room at a local McD with a big indoor playland and played for and hour and a half. I brought cupcakes and made presents optional from the friends. Most brought a little something, and it was nice - he got $10 GC to B&N, $5 GC for McD, $5 cash, two lego racers, a few books (the kid picked out his favorite 3 Magic Tree House Books), a nerf dart gun, and i-dog, and a reindeer webkinz (now named Bob).
The kids all had fun and then we invited the families, if they choose, to eat lunch with us as well. Most stayed... so it was really nice!
Mom and Dad also learned to tone down and go for less this year as well (still getting upset at the lack of cleaning going on.... so didn't want to add anything to the mess). We bought Caleb some Usborne Beginner readers - he has been asking for the ones with Ghost stories - and the See Inside Planet Earth, Settlers of Catan, and a digital camera. And that was it from us!!
Later today we will celebrate with family, so it will be interesting to see what he recieves from them.
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May. 7, 2008 - More Pictures
We gave Jessica and early birthday present:
She got her ears pierced! We did it early because we will be on vacation a few days after her birthday, and we didn't want to deal with all the cleaning and/or possible infection while we were gone. She did not even make a peep! She did a LOT better than I did when I got mine pierced!! And she has been waking up in the mornings now saying "I can't believe I got my ears pierced, they are so beautiful"
Then we went to a farm, and since both kids are afraid of animals, I challenged them to a dollar if they held a baby chick or duck:
Caleb never actually let the other person let go, so I only allowed him 50 cents for co-holding.
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May. 7, 2008 - Pictures
Several pictures to share...
First we went to a wellness fair and Jess got her face painted:
Heather learned to fall asleep on her own:
Caleb made his own rocket experiment:
We went to the Children's Museum in Naperville, IL:
Then we went to the Field Museum in Chicago and they have this cute kids interactive area now:
Sleeping on an ancient egyptian bed:
Heather with Grandma Ewa:
And Jessica in her Children's Church 'concert':
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May. 4, 2008 - Marble
We found the missing marble!!! Heather didn't swallow it after all! *phew*
We finished reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe last night, and now the movie is next in que for netflix.
Caleb recieved his Wii MarioKart game and boy is it addictive and fun. There are cuicuits form previous editions (Like N64 and Nintedo DS) along with some new ones. And Battle mode - wow is that tough! But you play teams, so you can play on the same team or opposed. Lots of fun!! I have seen now several times that Wii playing is considered "PE" in some homeschool families!
This past week has also brough along some illness - Caleb threw up in the middle of the night from Thursday-Friday and slept in it - YUCK!! But has since been feeling better and eating less, but eating and keeping it down. Heather and I are getting a little congested, and Adam hurt his shoulder. I think Jess is all right except for a scrape or two!
And we are just awaiting the warmer weather, what is up with a high of 50's in May??? Brrrrr......
ANd we decided, Jess gets her birthday present early from us this year as well - she has a garden area and we will buy flowers for her to take care of, and she can get her ears peirced when she feels ready We were going to wait till her birthday, but we are leaving on vacation a few days later and didn't think it would be good to fly with newly pierced ears, or be away in case they do get infected, so we are offering it earlier to her :)
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Apr. 29, 2008 - Oh the third child
I thought this would never happen in 'my' family... but now I have empathy/sympathy for just about any situation...
Heather (21 months) swallowed a magnetic marble.... And the ped isn't too worried becuase it's only one. I'm not too much either because the risk comes with swallowing 2. But boy do these kids keep me on my toes. Which I am too tired for now with this first trimester stuff. I shut down around 2pm but unfortunately the kids keep going, and going and going :)
On a good note, Jessica is becoming a very strong swimmer! She is getting very fast at backstroke - faster than Caleb! She is a huge athletic trooper (must do it correctly and will try hard even if it hurts or is hard!)
I have to post some pictures soon of Caleb's science experiment he did on his own! He is quite the thinker. And recently I have been finding him with his nose stuck in a book!! I have been waiting for so long, my heart just rejoices at the sight (until I remember that he is supposed to be doing something else!! LOL!!)
We have found the 'gold' of the Jim Weiss CD's - the kids love the stories and listen to them over and over! I am really considering getting all the SOTW CD's to let them listen to (so I don't have to read and loose my voice!)
Currently we are reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis and St. Martin des Porres by Mary Fabyan Windeatt.
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Apr. 12, 2008 - It's the End of the Year
With the weather turning nice, we are calling it the end of the year. The kids finished the LA work, Jess finished all her math, Caleb had a few pages left but it was all review anyway, we finished SOTW1 and so we are calling it a year.
We will have a short unit study on spring cleaning!! LOL!!! Taking the time to work on some home projects and spend some time outside.
I know people have been browsing and wondering - yes #4 is making it's way into the world in early december at home, and I already bought a Moby wrap to welcome him/her (got to try a new sling each baby you know 
- yes I need to attend a sling-aholics anonymous meeting!! ). We are hoping for a boy so Caleb can have a brother - we won't find out until it's born though of course!
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