Oct. 13, 2009
Moving right along...
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I had my first interview for day care yesterday. It would be for an 8 month old girl (and she's a cutie!) Monday, Tuesday and every-other Wednesday from 6am to 3:30. I had really wanted to start with a real full time child and the hours kind of suck, but it's a beginning. If nothing else, the interview was educational for me, and I have a few more things put together because of it. At least the house was clean! Her husband is coming over on Friday and they will make a decision after that.
I'm expecting our inspection to happen within the next 2 weeks and I realized just yesterday that there is a very good chance that the inspector will come unannounced! We still have to get a gate installed on the main floor stairs and a ladder installed under the basement window for emergency exit. One more class and few other things to buy but money is tight, so prayers are appreciated!
I'm helping lead AWANA Cubbies this year and the Lord has brought us 12 kids when we expected 4! There is a large Bible Study in the neighborhood near our church and everyone in the Bible Study is bringing their kids to AWANA. it's awesome! Almost everyone in this group homeschools as well, so Rebekah has 3 other homeschooled kids in her Sparks class and Haley has 6 or 7 in Cubbies with her. I've managed to get involved in a homeschool group as a result of these families, All in all, a huge answer to prayer!
School is actually going pretty well, although finishing up anything is like pulling teeth for me for some reason! We're on lesson #92 of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and I just have to force myself to sit and go through reading lessons. I need to get it done with though because I start all over with it in February for DD#2. Galloping the Globe is a wonderful study and we are having a great time studying countries. It's a good thing I like it because it's a 2 year program and I figure I'll be doing it for 6 years straight. We're struggling with Math and I'm starting to question our math curriculum choice. We use Singapore and I think it's just going a bit too quickly for my 6 year old. She gets the number concepts, but is really struggling with word type problems. I suppose we'll give a bit more time, but it's frustrating.
My son has asked to do schoolwork with the girls, so today I had him work on some letter D coloring and we made a DLTK letter D buddy. My Kindergartner is making an alphabet book this year, and we work on a letter each week. We aren't going in order and I'm hoping that will help my "stalling at the end" habit! The ABC book is actually awesome and I'm really enjoying it so far. We've made an S out of sand, C out of cornmeal, bean B and we painted T with tea. We're going to make our D with dots this week and I'm hoping I can find something like that for each letter. I found the idea for it on Jamin's blog and the link is: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/alphabet_notebook.php
Leaving on a good note... no money, so I don't have to do finances, house is still clean from yesterday (and really, just has to stay clean now with the daycare starting), but I should probably go up and clean a couple of bathrooms and do some laundry.
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Sep. 19, 2009
Max Capacity
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I just typed a whole entry and then hit the wrong button and it disappeared.
In short... re-landscaping the front yard, homeschooling, taking care of the house, trying to get the daycare up and running, church activities, no money... we're stressed.
~sigh~ |
Aug. 5, 2009
Starting the new school year
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Well, I have my first 25 first grade lessons planned! I went out and got a big workbook for my Pre-school/kindergardener and I just need to buy the books in my Amazon cart that I need for Galloping the Globe and I will be completely ready to begin!!
In other news, the money situation has forced some fairly significant changes in our long term plans. namely, I am in the process of opening up my own in-home daycare. I'm doing it with my Mother-in-law who qualifies to hold a higher license than I do. I'm so thankful that the Lord is opening this door up for us, because the alternative was a full time job with at least 2 kids in full time daycare and a public school bound first grader. The thought was devastating! I'm just praying that the daycare things works out for us. I know it will be alot of work, but I get to keep my kids at home where they belong, I can show God's love to some other little ones and we can hopefully get out of debt and move forward with our original long term plans! |
Jul. 7, 2009
I hate titles
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Oh, I'm so not sure that I'm going to get through 100 Easy Lessons for reading this summer!! I really need to get my curriculum for next year together and re arrange the basement to give me a real classroom area. Money is really really tight right now and I'm not sure when when this will all happen.
On another note, my mom is in town for a few weeks. It was Megan's first birthday on June 25th and it will be Rebekah's 6th birthday on July 14th. No big parties for either of them. Have I mentioned the money situation?
We're having a pretty good day today though... got the girls bedroom totally cleaned up including closets, dressers and under beds. Laundry is getting done (thanks to the grams) and the girls and I made some monkey bread (it's baking right now!). I got a haircut yesterday (thanks mom!) and at least a couple of my eBay items sold. Here's hoping this is a better eBay week.
Boring entry... this is why I don't blog more. |
Jun. 19, 2009
Back over here
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You know, I really want to write. Everyday I think of something to write about, but I don't actually do it. Today I'm going to write... even if breakfast is a bit late as a result.
I'm in a funk and I feel like I'm struggling with everything. The Lord is pruning me, We're way behind in school, the house is usually messy, money is tighter than it's ever been, and I'm not having any fun. I feel like everything is toil right now, and I don't know how to snap myself out of it.
I've been reading a book called Holy Habits and in the course of the study I've read Psalm 90 each day for the past week. I know that I need to give my entire everything over to the Lord, but I've never figured out how to give Him the daily tasks and the little things... right now I'm not even giving Him the big ones. I've been praying 2 things... How Long? Not necessarily how long will I be struggling, because the struggle isn't important, my concern is that I'm not handling the struggle correctly and I know this, yet I still don't seem to be able to get in the right place to hand it over, and I'm not that person usually I don't hold on to "stuff", but I haven't figured out how to surrender right now. My other prayer is "Establish the work of my hands" I need to school my kids, keep my house up, Interact with my family in a fun way and try to save and make some money all on a daily basis. I need the Lord to establish the work of my hands because it's too much for me to do on my own.
This post is a bit of a downer, but time is up. Happier next time! |
Feb. 10, 2009
Once again...
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I'm not very good at blogging!
I've moved to www.6powers.org and hopefully will do better there! |
Sep. 18, 2008
Today's randomness
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Luke ate dirt… again
I got a high five from Rebekah when I handed her a clean stack of panties to put away… clearly she was concerned.
Rebekah spotted the new Swiffer I bought yesterday and told me that she knew what it was. She was very excited to get one… ”You’ll never go back to your old mop, Mom!” Seriously, too much TV!
Got my curriculum package from CBD… must finish housework before I can spend countless time going through it.
My niece introduced my kids to World of Warcraft and they are still talking about it.
Haley sorted blocks today by shape color and put them in order by size. Then she named the two biggest blocks mommy and daddy and found 4 baby blocks for them.
She also picked Jello over chocolate pudding with lunch today… I don’t understand that
Rebekah wrote the words blue, red, green, yellow, orange and purple today
Megan has nursed and slept.
I have blogged
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Sep. 18, 2008
The Move Part 2
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Once D accepted his new job, we quietly started making plans. We let our landlord know that we would be moving and began packing some.
On Thursday, June 12th, we had planned on taking the kids to the Livermore Rodeo. D got home from work and was in quite a bit of discomfort. He wasn’t exactly sure what was wrong, but he thought he was having back spasms. We attributed it to stress and I rubbed his back for a bit while he tried to relax. Eventually the pain subsided enough for us to take the kids to the rodeo as we planned and we had a fun evening out. D was still uncomfortable all night. He was OK on Friday but Saturday he wasn’t feeling well and was nauseous all day.
We went to church on Sunday and as soon as we came back he had another attack, this one much more painful than the Thursday night episode. Fortunately, we’d invited his sister and brother-in-law over for lunch so they watched the kids for us while I took him to the urgent care center. He was pacing and stretching and bending constantly, I told him he looked like a meth addict. We both thought it acted like a gall bladder attack, however D had his removed in 2003. Urgent care diagnosed kidney stones and sent us home with some big time pain medication.
On Monday, we tried to get in to see our primary care doctor, but had to settle for another doctor in his office. This guy decided that it wasn’t kidney stones at all because D didn’t have all of the symptoms. Dr. Smug decided that D had indigestion. We were both a bit incredulous at that and pushed hard enough that we at least got him to order some blood work.
On Tuesday the pain came back. We didn’t mess around and went straight to the ER this time. After many tests, they still didn’t know what was going on and we heard everything from kidney stones again to appendicitis. He was admitted overnight and on Wednesday (June 18th) our primary care doctor came to see him and he immediately said that it was gall stones. Even though D had his gall bladder removed, it’s still possible for him to get gall stones. Who knew? The plan of action was for D to have an endoscopy to remove the stones. So, on Wednesday, D was in the hospital waiting for the endoscopy and I was scheduled to go into the hospital to be induced. His surgeon scheduled his procedure on Wednesday at 7:30 pm so that he could be recovered before I went into labor. They were even going to wheel his bed into my maternity room. it would have been great except… I left for the hospital at about 8:30 Wednesday night and when I got there to check in, labor and delivery was booked, there was no room. I tried to be to be all mad about it, but really, what can you do?
D’s procedure went smoothly, they removed an 8mm stone. Since he was in recovery, I went home and hung out with him the next day, calling L&D every few hours to see if they were going to fit me in… no luck. I talked to my doctor finally and we discussed options. The problem was that she was leaving for a week on Sunday and didn’t see any way that I was going to get in for an induction before then. I opted to have her partner deliver me, but her partner wanted to have an appointment with me first, so we set that up for Monday. the appointment went fine and I was once again set up to be induced. |
Aug. 11, 2008
The Move... Part 1
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Sometime in mid to late March, we decided to seriously look at relocating outside of California. Although D’s job was relatively secure, his employer was announcing mass layoffs and we really weren’t interested in waiting to see if he would keep his job or not. After much research, we narrowed things down to Denver, Dallas or Seattle and D activated his resume on a few recruiting sites. He was quickly contacted by quite a few employers and interviewed with a company in Dallas, one local in Silicon Valley and one just north of Denver… I guess Seattle wasn’t interested.
The Dallas interview went nowhere. After a number of phone interviews with the Silicon Valley company, that one fizzled as well. The Denver job, however, was quite promising. D had a number of phone interviews and at the end of May he was flown out for a few in-person interviews. He was quite confident that he would be offered a position, we just weren’t certain that the offer would work for his career and our financial needs. A week later the offer came in and it was very clear to us that this was a great opportunity for D’s career and for our family’s future.
What a quick answer to prayer!
At this same time, I was also expecting our 4th child. She was scheduled to arrive on June 19th. D arranged for July 7th to be his starting date for the new job, but was expecting to commute to LA for training for the first few weeks. The employer that D was leaving was a very large employer and many people that we knew socially and from church worked there, and since he couldn’t turn in his notice until June 23rd, we had to keep our plans to ourselves. We only told our families.
Thus began June of 2008… The most stressful month of our lives… well, maybe only second to July of 2008 |
Apr. 2, 2008
Where should we go?
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We've made the decision to leave California. We're just never going to be able to buy a house here and even though our families are here, we have to move forward. So, where should we go?? We're thinking Texas, North Carolina, Kansas, Washington or Colorado. Any other suggestions? We need: A good job for hubby... he's in IT (he's a Unix/Linux DNS admin) A home that we can afford that: -is not too old -has at least 5 bedrooms -has at least 1/2 acre - no more than $350k It looks like DH will probably take a pay cut, but not as much as we thought, and the housing prices alone are so much lower, it makes sense to make a move. My question is, what about things like utilities and groceries? Can you tell me what you pay for things where you are? I'm in the SF Bay area and we pay: $2050 per month rent for our 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2100SF home built in 1963 on about a 10k SF lot, to buy it would cost between $550-600k Groceries (these are grocery store prices, although I don't buy most of my stuff there) -Milk, 2 gallons for 5.35 -Eggs 4.89 for 36 -Pepsi 1.79 for a 2 liter -bread about $2 per loaf (of the cheap stuff) -bananas .89 per pound -OJ 2.50 for a frozen one that makes 1/2 gallon (Minute Maid) Gas I paid $3.55 yesterday, but it's up to 3.66 at stations near my house Utilities Our gas and electric is combined... Dec bill $435, Jan bill $350, Feb bill $165 (remember, it doesn't even snow here!) Water is about $30 per month Garbage is $33 per month How much cheaper is it where you are? |
Mar. 24, 2008
W, X, Y and Z
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I see light at the end of the tunnel! We concentrated on the alphabet this year one letter per week, and I think we'll be done in 2 weeks! I can't wait. I'm a bit burned out and coupled with my natural tendency not to complete things, well I'm really having to push through.
One thing that's helping is that I'm really excited about the unit study we're going to end the year with. I found a 5 senses K level unit study here: http://www.sedl.org/scimath/pasopartners/senses/ and a lapbook to go with it here: http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/five_senses.htm. What I'm most excited about is that things are actually DONE for me... lesson plans, activities, templates for the book. I couldn't be much happier about it.
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Feb. 27, 2008
Happy Birthday Luke!
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Feb. 16, 2008
4 year old funny
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My oldest is sick. She threw up last night (all over her bed, yuck) and isn't feeling well today. She came into our room about midnight and I let her stay in bed with us for about an hour before I couldn't stand it anymore and tucked her back into her bed. She came back in at 3 and I let her in the bed again. I never went back to sleep because DH had to get up at 4 to leave for a motorcycle track day and I still had to pack up his cooler and make coffee. So I rolled out of bed at 3:45, got the boys off to the track and couldn't go back to sleep. I read random garbage on the computer until 5:30 and then went back up to bed with the sick child. The baby woke up at 6:15. I'm tired In any case, there's the background, here's the conversation we had a few minutes ago: Mom: When the little ones go down for nap, you and Mommy can cuddle in Mom and Dad's bed. Sickie: OK. Why? Mom: because Mommy is really tired Sickie: Oh, why? Mom: because Mommy had to get up really early to take care of Daddy and because there was a little girl in my bed last night kicking me and fidgeting around keeping me awake. Sickie: Oh... Well, that must have been the little girl in your tummy! |
Nov. 20, 2007
Update Updates
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Well, it looks like there will be 4 little Powers' come next summer. I can not believe that I'm pregnant, but it's true! Too old, overweight, and the last 2 will only be 16 months apart, but God apparently thinks I can handle it. I'm not so sure and am a bit overwhelmed by the whole idea, but as always, it's not about me and my little plans. We've had 2 ultrasounds already and although I was measuring small at the first one, it looks like I just ovulated late because the second scan showed correct growth and a heartbeat. We're hoping for a boy, because that would just be soooo perfect, but I'll take anything I get.
Schooling is going great. We're doing our first lap/flat book for Thanksgiving. I actually have all of the items for it completed and we're going to put it together today. I'm thinking of assembling a really big one to showcase a sampling of all the work she did this year, that way she can go back and look and everything will be in it's own compact and organized space... that just makes me smile! Also, I think that it will be a good refresher once I start Haley on pre-K work.
I'm still working part time and will be until I go on maternity leave with this baby. Fortunately, I should actually get some disability benefits this time so that will help a bit financially.
Time to put together a Turkey Day lap book!
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Sep. 4, 2007
The new year
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We officially started homeschooling today, and it was a complete success! I've decided to plan my own curriculum for now. I'm using the AWANA program she attends at church for Bible. Each week we're going to work on a new letter, then we'll work on letter combinations and maybe by late spring or summer she'll be reading. Math is just a bit daunting, because she's so good at it. She's already doing some basic addition, but since she can't write, I think I need to find some number stickers to use as answers for her worksheets.
We did everything I had planned for yesterday (forgot it was a holiday) and toda this morning in about 45 minutes, and she was begging for more. Haley looked at books while I worked with Rebekah and Luke played in his exersaucer. It could not have been better! I included Haley in the reading, of course and she'll do crafts with us. She is usually content to do some coloring or something while R and I are working together and I have some sheete to help her work on her colors as well.
Yikes, OK, I have 20 minutes to get the house straightened up, change clothes and pop dinner in the oven because hubby and I have FAITH training and visitation tonight! |
Aug. 6, 2007
Entering the Battle!
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The Battle for the Toy Box Contest!
I entered the Battle for the Toy Box Contest
on the HSB Company Porch. I hope to win
over $100 worth of, Tales of Glory, Bible-based toys
from one2believe!! |
Aug. 6, 2007
A Month and a half later...
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It's funny how time just keeps moving even if I can't always keep up with it! July was VBS month and it started with a bit of a nervous breakdown on my part. I just get so overwhelmed with everything I have to do and I didn't spend nearly enough time preparing for VBS and I was a complete basket case. Fortunately, I have a wonderful husband who lets me cry on his shoulder while he dispenses wonderful advise. I started focusing on doing everything for God's glory, and boy did that change my attitude. VBS was great, much better than last year, and I had much fun. My mom was out for VBS week and Rebekah's 4th birthday which was the following Saturday. She had her first real birthday party that she invited her friends to. We did it at a park and it was alot of fun. Instead of cake, I made cupcakes and let the kids ice and decorate them. We had a few games and prizes and boy,little girls get pretty excited when it comes opening presents! Rebekah did great though and even thanked everyone for each present. Now it's August and we're getting ready to go to Southern California for 10 days. My best friend is getting married and we're going to do the Disneyland thing with the kids. We're both very excited to be going on a REAL vacation. We go down south a couple of times a year, but this time we're going to stay in hotels (even one of the Disney resorts) and really make it a vacation. So, I'm working on having that all taken care of. My hubby and I are not very well known for our advance planning skills and my goal is to have absolutely everything in place by Friday of this week so that I can get mostly packed by Tuesday. The summer homeschool experiment has not turned out like I'd hoped, but I had some pretty unrealistic expectations I think. My mind holds a very ideal and perfect world. Nonetheless, I believe that we're moving forward with homeschooling, at least for the Pre-K year. Rebekah is working on writing numbers and letters and is doing a great job. She's using a wipe off placemat and dry erase pen set that I found at Target for $1. I've been realizing lately however, that we aren't reading together nearly as much as we should be and I'm going to start focusing on that more over the next few weeks. One of my issues is that the library shows that we still have an outstanding book from the last batch we checked out and I'm sure it's not here. I'm avoiding dealing with the situation though and that's keeping us out of the library. Silly, I know. Lots more to write, but all 3 kids are (kind of) asleep and I'm going to get some housework done! |
Jun. 25, 2007
Questions for Homeschoolers
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I'm still struggling with the mechanics of the actual task of homeschooling. I understand the concept and I have alot of ideas in my head of teaching opportunities, but I'm really struggling with application. So, here are my questions...
How detailed are your lesson plans? Do they get down to doing pages 5-7 of a workbook and reading 20 pages of a book and doing a specific craft or activity?
How far in advance are your lessons planned? a week or two or do you have the whole year planned by the summer?
How do you fit it in to your day? I understand that as the kids get older they will be helping to maintain the household, but until then, how can I do ALL of this?
I'm having a really blah day. It's almost 4pm and I've really not done anything all day. I think I'm just tired of having to work so hard at everything and it's getting me down. I'm not a natural housekeeper or organizer and I'm much more laid back than high energy, so I really struggle some days with having fun with the kids and keeping up the house when all I reallywant to do is sit on the computer and write and make lists and read fun stuff. I'm good at that stuff! |
Jun. 15, 2007
B week
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I overprepared for our first week of homeschooling and in my typical fashion, I followed up that week with completely under-preparing this week. This was B week, and while we didn't do ANY kind of book work, we read alot, went on a walk and looked for things that start with the letter B and went to a Peter Pan play at the library. I know Peter Pan doesn't start with the letter B, but it was fun anyway! We also went to the Farmer's Market last night and I let Rebekah pay for everything we bought. I guess in my roundabout way we hit most of the basic school subjects. I was planning on baking bread, but it's incredibly hot! Couldn't imagine running the oven this week. I'm really falling down with Bible teaching though, so this week I want to really concentrate on that. I also got 2 new workbooks from CBD, one is just to practice writing and the other is similar to the one I'm using now with a variety of activities. Hopefully, I can get Haley started on some of the easier worksheets so she has something to do while I'm working with Rebekah. On an unrelated note... hubby and I were supposed to go golfing tomorrow but it looks like childcare is going to be a problem. *sigh* |
Jun. 11, 2007
Week One
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Our first week was relatively successful. I think I planned way too much for my almost four year old!
In the end, we did quite a bit of workbook work (which she loves), a few crafts, she got to help me cook breakfast on Saturday and she found alot of words that have the letter A in them.
The highlight of last week though was Cowboy day. The rodeo was in town over the weekend and Thursday was family day, so I had the girls dressed up in their cowboy best, we made cowboy vests for them out of paper bags, brought their rocking horse downstairs and read a few cowboy books. The rodeo was definitely the highlight of the day, even though we missed most of it.
This is B week and we're off to a slow start. I don't really have my plan for the entire week worked out yet, but I do think I'm going to cut to 3 days per week of formal school time. This will give us a full day for errands and a day just for fun. We're also going to see a Peter Pan play at the library on Wednesday, so that should be lots of fun. |