We are foster parents, with three biological boys and hopefully we will be adopting a little girl or two in the near future-Okay, so the near future has turned into 2 years! LOL I am starting my 4th year of homeschooling and love it, I think the kids do too?! We are having a lot of fun and learned a lot of new things last year (mom included). We are still in the Middle Ages for history, finishing up Apologia Astronomy then onto Christian Kids Explore Biology, Winston Grammar, and of course Math U See our trusty stand by, and too many other cool things to list here! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:07:00 -0500 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:07:00 -0500 Well I finally found some time to do a blog entry! It has been a very busy, crazy and emotional summer! Let's see, I blogged about going to Idaho, so we won't cover that... We did a bit of school here and there, and mostly the boys played in the neighboorhood with their friends. We went camping a couple of times, Eric took the boys backpacking with his sister and her family, then he went by himself a couple weekends ago. Luke had a really busy summer with his new youth group-about every other weekend he was gone. On Saturday we made a very last minute trip to Baker City Oregon to take Carmilita to live with her forever family. We left late afternoon and deposited her with Rebecca around 6:30. She was very happy to be there. Mommy and Daddy were pretty sad to see her go, but we figure God must have something really cool planned for us!! Eric's parents came and stayed with the rest of the kids so we actually had some time alone! We had a nice dinner and watched a movie in the room. We experienced one of those crazy thunder and lightening storms they get over there and a huge rain storm came with it! But it was pretty cool watching the lightening bolts! We came home the next day in a hurry so Eric could do his fantasy football draft LOL then there was a glitch in the system and they had to postpone it! but we had a nice quiet drive home with just the two of us. I have retired my paper scrap booking supplies and am delving into the world of digital scrap booking. I think I like it. I might upgrade the program I have so I can do some other cool things with it-we will see! so once I did that, we decided to put Levi in a room by himself. He was pretty excited and enjoyed his first night alone-he slept with the light on :) Nick did too! LOL I think they will actually miss each other! Let's see, all three boys are playing flag football and Levi and Nick love it! Luke is okay with it, but he is learning along with the other kids his age. I think by the end of the season he will like it better because he will understand what is going on. Luke is also playing Ultimate Frisbee on Monday nights and does like that. he really likes the kids he is playing with. Luke is about an inch taller than me now! His feet are huge, and he cut his hair! Once he decided to cut it, he went all out to a clipper cut #1! he looks very handsome. He is going to be taking guitar lessons, piano lessons, going to two youth groups one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. He is an 8th grader now so his school work has increased and gotten a quite a bit harder :) He is also doing Bible Quiz with a church out here in Woodland. It's awesome! they are basically memorizing 1 and 2nd Corinthians and then go to a monthly meet where they win prizes and could end up going to a national tournament eventually-not his year since he is a "novice" first year player. I will keep you posted on his progress. Levi is a big 5th grader this year. His work has ramped way up and he is learning a lot of new stuff. he still prefers history to anything else, but he's fine with science LOL! he just grew another two inches and a whole pants size! He is playing flag football, doing Jr. Bible Quiz and learning Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. His format is a bit different, but there is still bible memory and study-I love it, and he is doing VERY well with it. He has become a lover of reading and is working through the Magic Tree house series. he can't wait until 6th grade because he will get to go to the Jr. High Youth Groups and camps. And he can't wait for basketball season! LOL he says we are making him do piano-why can't he do guitar because that's what he really wants to do! Nicky no longer wants to be called Nicky in front of his friends :( but we can call him Nicky at home! LOL he is adorable, growing like a weed too. He loves being homeschooled and never ever, wants to go to a "real" school! YAY He hasn't grown as much as the older boys-thank goodness! LOL He will always be my baby! He is doing Jr. Bible Quiz too, flag football, piano lessons, which he can't wait for! and in general running around being an 8 year old. Though he says he likes school-he's being difficult right now! :) He hates reading, he hates, math, loves science, and art-all the fun stuff! Karlee is still with us, cute as can be. Her mom seems to be doing well, so she will probably go home to her in a few more months. We aren't sure if we will continue to foster, or just go onto the adoption waiting list. We get pretty tired of getting attached to these girls and then sending them away. Like I said, God must have something pretty special planned for us, because we have really enjoyed Karlee and Carmiltia! I can't think of anything else to ramble on about, so I guess that's it for now! I will try to upload some pics for you all! TTFN~ Natalie and co. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/722636/ Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/722636/ 1. I really miss my family that lives back there! 2. I LOVE Idaho! I don't know if I would like the heat-but I love the wide open! 3. Washington really is dark and dreary! The trees make me feel closed in and closterphobic! 4. The boys love it in Idaho and want to live there 5. Luke got excited about going to college and we looked around Boise State 6. I love it in Idaho and would move there in a heart beat! 7. Chickens are adorable and I want some! 8. did I mention that I really miss my family that lives back there?! 9. It wasn't as far away as I thought 10.Audio books are a wonderful gift from God! LOL I added new pics from the trip! TTFN- Natalie and co. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/699087/ Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/699087/ It's been a long couple of months. Grandpa Goody dying was much more difficult than I expected. Since he was terminal I thought that I had grieved and was sad, but once the day really came I found I had much more sadness to go through. It was like the end of an era-what brought me here was now gone, grandma and grandpa. I am feeling a lot better now. I am happy for the reconciliation that came out of it. Continue to pray for God's good work to go forth in our family. Perhaps someday Natasha will come to know the Lord and be able to find her own healing. Our Pastor's last day is June 28th. We are so sad to him and his family go. It's a huge adjustment and one we are not really looking forward to! I am sure God has something great planned for our church family. We were in charge of the egg portion of the Easter Egg hunt's this year. We had fun doing it. We roped off 4 different areas, and despite some miscommunication during the morning hunt, they both were a huge success. We have been house hunting, but every time we log in to look at things, the prices have dropped!! So we are trying to be patient and let things level out somewhat. The biggest dilemma is whether or not to move back to Vancouver or stay in Woodland. We just don't know yet. At the moment, it feels like God is leading us to stay here in our little town. That could change next week! Today's visit with Carmi's mom was a tough one! She ended the visit early, cancelled all future visits and wants to relinquish. I cannot in my mother's heart understand. I ache for Carmi's mom, and despite knowing this is probably the best for Carmi, I still feel for her. She has a sibling in Idaho who was already adopted and the family is interested in taking Carmi. We are pretty sad, figured it would be this way, but hoped it wouldn't be. We truly want what's best for her, but letting go to complete stranger's in another state is a little hard! I am reminded of the song that starts "I am not skilled to understand, what God has willed, what God has planned" and I know that is the absolute truth. If she does go, I know that it is beyond my ability to understand, and I do find great comfort in that :) On that sad note, we do have a happy one coming on Friday. She is 3, very articulate, and in very much the same situation. She has 3 other siblings who have already been adopted. I have no idea where this will all go. Maybe we are just meant to be foster parents, maybe the right child hasn't been relinquished yet. I find all of this much more emotional and hard than I ever thought it would be. I am thankful that these girls have had a safe, loving place to go while waiting. Did I mention a very nice bonus that she's potty trained! YAY for me! LOL her name is Karlee, that should be trying since we call Carmilita Carmi a lot! LOL Well, signing off to run Nick to baseball practice! Then back home to have a birthday party for Carmilita! TTFN- Natalie and co. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/683857/ Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/683857/ Everyone has been sick. Fevers, cold, sore throat and ear infections-YUCK mom is tired! My clothes are starting to get too big! YEAH go Weight Watchers! Maybe I will go to my class reunion! I have been excercising and walking about 3 miles. I have been pretty sore, but it's paying off! I went swimming with the boys on Tuesday and that was exhausting! It's really fun, but since you don't feel the pain during the time you are in the pool, you really feel it later that night!! LOL Let's see... I haven't decided if this is good or bad news, but Carmi's mom is doing really, really well! I really am happy for her, and I do want her to do well. It's going to be really hard to let go of Carm. We love her! We will be getting ready to register her for Kindergarten. She's going to do really well. She is starting to read BOB books and until she got sick was zipping right along. She learns sight words really fast! Hopefully the time we have her will make a significant impact on her life. I at least know that educationally she's getting every advantage. Hopefully she will place into a higher math and reading group that will follow her through her school career. YEP, we love her! Luke is a total computer geek. Now he not only can program a computer-he just rebuilt one some friends blessed us with-he is checking books out of the library to teach himself coding and C++! He's doing really really well right now. he's going to Winter Camp and is actually excited and says he wants to go even if his friend doesn't! BIG change! We are very happy with it though! He weighs 135 and is 5'3" tall. In just two months I will have my first teenager. Though he's already challenging, there are aspects that are fun. It takes a lot of prayer to parent a teen, and I find myself there constantly! One minute I am "mommy" and the next he wants to know when he can start learning to drive the car!?! And I hear the confusion only gets worse! Feel free to pray for me anytime! Levi is on a shark kick. He has about 20 books checked out and is reading each one! As long as he is reading! LOL He said he will get back to horses when he is done with his shark lap book. He's quite the little artist! he's got an eye for it and can look at a picture and free hand anything. He pays much attention to details, like the color of the inside of an animals ear, what color their eyes and fur are "in real life" etc. Nick's my little love bug! He loves being 8! I don't know why, but he does. He is feeling the change at church. He about broke my heart yesterday when we were talking about Sunday School and AWANA's. He asked if the pastor's son Geoffry was going to move back to Texas, I said yes, and he looked at me with the SADDEST face I have ever seen a little guy make, and asked "but who's going to teach my classes?" UGH my heart shattered! I said "I don't know". Whoever said change was good didn't go through it! LOL Nicks new academic adventure is Octopuses! Go figure! I need to hunt down his lapbook tonight. Hopefully www.homeschoolshare.com has one and that will make life easy-I love those guys! I can't think of any other updates at the moment! I posted a couple of new pictures in the Shutterfly files! TTFN- Love, Natalie and co. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/657612/ Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:39:01 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/657612/ Everyone has been sick. Fevers, cold, sore throat and ear infections-YUCK mom is tired! My clothes are starting to get too big! YEAH go Weight Watchers! Maybe I will go to my class reunion! I have been excercising and walking about 3 miles. I have been pretty sore, but it's paying off! I went swimming with the boys on Tuesday and that was exhausting! It's really fun, but since you don't feel the pain during the time you are in the pool, you really feel it later that night!! LOL Let's see... I haven't decided if this is good or bad news, but Carmi's mom is doing really, really well! I really am happy for her, and I do want her to do well. It's going to be really hard to let go of Carm. We love her! We will be getting ready to register her for Kindergarten. She's going to do really well. She is starting to read BOB books and until she got sick was zipping right along. She learns sight words really fast! Hopefully the time we have her will make a significant impact on her life. I at least know that educationally she's getting every advantage. Hopefully she will place into a higher math and reading group that will follow her through her school career. YEP, we love her! Luke is a total computer geek. Now he not only can program a computer-he just rebuilt one some friends blessed us with-he is checking books out of the library to teach himself coding and C++! He's doing really really well right now. he's going to Winter Camp and is actually excited and says he wants to go even if his friend doesn't! BIG change! We are very happy with it though! He weighs 135 and is 5'3" tall. In just two months I will have my first teenager. Though he's already challenging, there are aspects that are fun. It takes a lot of prayer to parent a teen, and I find myself there constantly! One minute I am "mommy" and the next he wants to know when he can start learning to drive the car!?! And I hear the confusion only gets worse! Feel free to pray for me anytime! Levi is on a shark kick. He has about 20 books checked out and is reading each one! As long as he is reading! LOL He said he will get back to horses when he is done with his shark lap book. He's quite the little artist! he's got an eye for it and can look at a picture and free hand anything. He pays much attention to details, like the color of the inside of an animals ear, what color their eyes and fur are "in real life" etc. Nick's my little love bug! He loves being 8! I don't know why, but he does. He is feeling the change at church. He about broke my heart yesterday when we were talking about Sunday School and AWANA's. He asked if the pastor's son Geoffry was going to move back to Texas, I said yes, and he looked at me with the SADDEST face I have ever seen a little guy make, and asked "but who's going to teach my classes?" UGH my heart shattered! I said "I don't know". Whoever said change was good didn't go through it! LOL Nicks new academic adventure is Octopuses! Go figure! I need to hunt down his lapbook tonight. Hopefully www.homeschoolshare.com has one and that will make life easy-I love those guys! I can't think of any other updates at the moment! I posted a couple of new pictures in the Shutterfly files! TTFN- Love, Natalie and co. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/657611/ Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:39:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/657611/ Well, I had finally come to the conclusion that life just sucks!! LOL And that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade-but I am getting sick of lemonade! Although I am continually greatful that my husband is still employed and pray for those who are without a job. This has been a tough week for WA companies. On Sunday night our Pastor resigned! We were in complete shock. I honestly now know what it is to be speechless! And as most of you know, that is a lot coming from me! They have been here for 12 years-our roughest years personally. They have changed our lives and continually draw us back to Christ and remembering who and what is important in life. God first, our marriage second "we started this thing and we plan to finish it!" and of course, our family. There have been many times it was like God used them to slap us around a bit, and many times Linda has made me cry because she was never afraid to tell me the truth, and was always there to hold my hand as I cried. Our marriage is solid, our family is solid, and we are forever greatful for the impact these two people have had in our lives.  I thought I was done crying, but here I sit, crying again. We dont' know what the future holds for our church. there will be changes, good and bad, but as long as God is the center and focus, it's all going to be okay. The new pastor is going to have some really big shoes to fill! I just pray that he will come with a contrite heart, and if he has half as much love for this congregation as Pastor Rob does, then we should fair well! If you think of us, pray for our leadership to hear clearly from God, for our congregation to be drawn together in unity and peace. I'm sure God will call some away, and others will just go-we've been through this a few times! It's never fun and we always grow as individual's. School Rocks! We are definately having a good time! All of the kiddos are having what I call "learning explosions" where it's all clicking and they are hard for me to keep up with. We have not done a lot this week. We talked a lot about how church is going to change, and that is a life skill. These kids will be watching this transition and it's important they learn how to handle church life and adversity just like home life. Luke seems to really be drawing close to God. Not that he's any easier, but it's nice to know he's relying on Christ and developing his own walk with Christ. Levi is studying sharks, we are studying about knights and middle ages, and we are trying to study astronomy, but it's slow going. We aren't enjoying it as much as we thought! Nicky Boy turned 8 on January 22! We didn't do a big party with kids, but had some special events instead. I surprised him by taking him to Build A Bear and he had a blast! He used money from Grandma and Grandpa Sundby to buy the Seahawks uniform form Commander (tha's his bears name) He was so precious watching him! Then my parents were in town, and we had a pizza bar! We bought pizza crust, rolled it out, each person built their own toppings and then we baked them! Oh they were scrumpdiliumptious! he got a ton of toys since Kay B Toys was going out of business! I spent a whole $22 on about 8 gifts! It was awesome! He said it was the best birthday ever! I am off to my nephew's 9th bday! Time sure does fly! TTFN- Natalie and co. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/652617/ Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:54:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/652617/ Well, It has been forever since I blogged! We've been so busy with school that I haven't had much down time. I'm not doing Christmas cards this year, so this is one big card to everyone! Merry Christmas! May you all find the gift of Christ this year and have a wonderfully blessed New Year!!! From the Sundby's Update #1  We still have Carmilita. She has totally stolen our hearts and is definately a daddy's girl. Spoiled, full of giggles, kisses and hugs, and leaving a huge imprint on our lives! She's never had a christmas tree, we had to explain what a stocking was for, and last year she got one present! OH MY! Talk about having your heart melt and shatter into peices! She is thriving, doing awesome, and is definately bossy and keeps her "brodders" in line! LOL They don't much like being bossed around by her. She has even stolen Luke's heart. Yes, she gets on his nerves, but he is so good with her and plays with her and it blesses me to watch them together. She gives him big hugs and wants to give him kisses, but that isn't cool and ain't happening! LOL Her mom is doing services, but still living in shelters. The state has filed for and recieved custody of Carmi. Unfortunately no one has anything nice to say about her, not even the attorney. I gues he is the attorney that none of the social workers like and is in most cases dreaded and difficult to deal with. In this case, he's been a breeze! The clock is now ticking on the Federal level. From here mom will have one year to clean it up and get together. No one is expecting that, but we all have to be positive and give her every opportunity to get Carm back. this is a very condensed version of what has been going on! Our biggest prayer is that they don't give any custody to the just turned 18 yo aunt-can we say night mare! Even the attorney is holding off as long as possible to do the investigation for custody-remember he's usually hard to deal with :) We will fight hard against this one, and pray even harder for the Lord's intervention. The other HUGE prayer is that the adoptive families of the older kids won't want to adopt her. By law they have to be given the opportunity to do so :( At this point that is really the biggest area of conern.  Maybe they are wonderful people, but we love her! and by the time any of this happens she will be here for close to two years! Update #2 The economy pretty much is in the toilet. Eric laid off his staff and is job sharing two guys with another branch. It's not easy, but things are falling into place. We had a Christmas party and got to know them on a more personal level and that was nice. We are so thankful to be employed at this point. Update #3  I took Luke out of the online school. It was a pain, rushed, and he wasn't retaining anything. I was stressed out, he was stressed out and free wasn't worth it! LOL We went back to the old curriculum called Ambleside Online that utilizes free books. We study in the manner that our founding father's did and it's heavy on the liberal arts. We study Plutarch, Shakespeare, Composers, Artists, and spend much time in the out of doors and taking nature walks and learning about the world around us. We spend a lot of time on the bible and developing character that will carry them throughout life.  Instead of memorizing dates and names we study the people cultures, and learn about the world. The US is such a young country compared to what came before this great country! We are a small peice of the puzzle. Nick and Levi are doing fabulous! Smart as all get out and love being homeschooled! Levi told me the other day he never wants to go to a "real" school! LOL Now that does a mom's heart good! They are growing way too much! Levi is about to start learning multiplication and is reading so well! They all love swimming lessons and mom and Carmi get in the pool too! Well, I nearly burnt my pizza that I am eating for breakfast :) LOL the kids had corn dogs-now you know why we have to stay on a schedule! We really go off the deep end if we don't! We have over a foot of snow with 1-3 more inches expected this morning. Which it has just now started snowing again. The kids were loving it, but are kind of ready for it to melt. Nick says he hates the snow, Luke likes looking at it, and Levi of course doesn't care what it's doing outside as long as he can be outside! We chained up last night and went to town to finish up our shopping. It was a bit of a nail biter! But we made it there and back safely. Now let the wrapping begin! I don't like that part much all that work for the kids to shred the paper?! LOL Oh well! TTFN- Natalie and co. p.s. I will put up some new pics! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/635395/ Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/635395/ This has been an incredibly long two weeks! I had to take Carmilita to many doctors apts. All but one ended with a follow up the next week making it a two week tour of duty  She had an ear infection, and needs glasses, and it's a pretty strong prescription. We will be seeing a pediactric optomotrist to help correct her "lazy eye", but we have to get the vision under control first. Her mom's not doing well. She's taken a turn for the worse. Tuesday she only stayed at the visit for 20 minutes, and she called and said she wasn't going to make it for Thursday's visit at all. I'm so torn between having compassion for this poor woman and so glad that Carmi's not with her. I don't know where this will all go, we are hoping for adoption, but that could be a very long road. In the process I am praying that this be the fastest adoption on record and we finalize before 3 years is up! You can pray that the Lord will open the right doors, we do feel like she is a part of our family, and we have bonded with her from the very first day.  Luke is a busy boy! He's full swing into his new virtual school. At first I was thinking I had made a huge mistake, but now that I have it all figured out and under control, I love it. It's a public school that uses the K12 curriculum. I like it so much I ended up adding in science, world history which focuses on world religions, and art that follows the history cycle he is in. We decided that it would be better for him to be learning about world religions at home with us from a christian perspective than getting hit with it in college from a liberal point of view-depending on his college choice. Nick was feeling a little bored with his math, and just finished up his book, so I enrolled him part time in the virtual school for math, art and language arts. I think I am going to drop the language arts peice. The K12 people told me he could start where ever he tests at, and the teacher said he has to take the tests so they have documentation that he knows the stuff. Well, that would be about 120 tests!! I don't think so!! Eric and I aren't seeing eye to eye, but I am the one who has to teach the material and go through the hassle of printing 120 tests! YUCK!! I'm pretty sure I know who will win this one! LOL I will put a picture of the boys Viking Longships they made this week in my pics. They turned out really good. For art we sketched landscapes and today we did watercolors. I will put those in too so you can see them. My chaotic week ended on a good note, even though I am really tired. TTFN natalie and co. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/603041/ Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:59:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/603041/ This weeks assignment was a bit thought provoking! When you leave home, what don't you leave without? HMMMMM... I would say this has changed a lot over the years. It used to be never leave home without a diaper, I think we even used to keep one in the glove box just in case  and we did leave home without the entire diaper bag one time, and there were several occasions when we didn't restoke the bag and were completely out of diapers! UGH! Now, it's my cell phone!  I feel naked without it, like life has stopped or something! Confession-there are times when I lock my purse in the car and bring my cell phone with me in my pocket LOL. I am forver thankful that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us, and that we don't need a cell phone to contact Him-you won't ever get a busy signal when you send up a prayer! Life doesn't stop even when it may feel like it, and we are commanded to pray without ceasing-and with all these kids and probably adding more, and an unstable housing industry-I seem to pray a lot more lately! LOL TTFN Natalie and co. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/603023/ Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/603023/ I thought this would be a fun way to add some variety to my blog. This will give you a better glimpse into our daily schedule and what we are up to with "school". Eric has been gone for three days and I am sooooooo ready for him to be home! I have to admit, he does more around here than he gets credit for. Even if it is just entertaining the kids and giving me some space, or taming a brewing argument between the kids! Assignment: How do you keep energized so you can get it all done? bouncy music? treat it like a workout? I dont' get it all done! I hate cleaning house, and I especially hate laundry and cooking-but I do it. It's far from perfect and there are some things I have decided not to worry about. I do have a menu laid out, but I don't follow it. I use it more as a guide for what is in the pantry and freezer. So I might have a roast on Saturday instead of Monday, and Lasagne on Tuesday instead of Thursday. You get the picture. I have every meal planned like this right down to snacks. It works really well for us. Do you use a schedule?, a housekeeping binder system? luck of the draw system?. I do have a schedule that I rarely keep. Pretty much if we are out of socks and unders, they get priority and washed first. If it's jeans and sweatshirts they get washed. I was keeping up really well, but since we got back from vacation, everything has quickly gone under! I need a vacation from my vacation! LOL I use a chore chart for the boys, but I haven't been using it lately either. Well, as you can see, I am feeling overwhelmed with schedule, school and home. Our schedule is new and I am not good at changing things. School has been a struggle, but is getting better-at least with the littles-Luke is making me nuts! Oh nothing new there LOL http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/594976/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:41:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sundby5/594976/