Snow much work....I mean fun

The entire city has been shut down over the snow we got yesterday afternoon. I took the boys to OT at CHOA at 1.  On the way there, everything was fine, light flurries. On the way home (less then an hour later!), it was just starting to stick but there were cars everywhere. It took me right at an hour to get home. We know several people that were stuck on one of the interstates last night or slept at a Target/CVS/etc.  As I drove back from CHOA (and we were sitting in traffic), I thought, "I am SO THANKFUL I have my boys with me."  I can not imagine being separated from my kids like many were last night.

 

Handsome got home about 3:45 p.m and I have never been more thankful we live close to his work.  The boys have enjoyed the snow very much the last two days and I now remember just how much work the washing and the drying is.  We had school today, much to their chagrin, but I encouraged them to go outside as much as they wanted.  It was really cold this morning, 15 degrees, so we started school and then took a mid-morning break. It is hard to get motivated in January.

 

My baby boy LOVED the snow. He does not remember the snow of 2011.  We pulled him around on the wave rider and the boys went down the driveway on the skimmer.  Their gloves were just caked with snow; the snow is some of the most loose, powdery stuff I have ever seen.  They were throwing snowballs at each other and trying to build a snowman but the snow did not want to stick together.  I put a Ziploc of snow in the freezer so they could play with it in the summer.  By far their favorite things this "snow-cation" are jumping on the trampoline, throwing snowballs at each other, and "sledding" down our side hill or down our driveway. We are using our boogie boards and skimmers as sleds.  At first, it worried me to see them sliding down the hill towards the road but there have really been no cars going up and down.

 

Can this be the end of winter?  :)



Thankful Leaves

Well, there is a lot happening here but I am not exactly sure what to say and, two weeks ago, I downloaded a virus to the computer.  It was resolved fairly quickly but now the computer won't log me into gmail (or Walmart photo or any number of things).  So I am on Handsome's computer.

This November I did "thankful leaves" with the boys.  Every day we wrote down something they were thankful for on a dye-cut leaf and taped it to their door. Here are our lists, in no particular day order:

Mom - Daddies that get into bed with little boys at 2:30 a.m.; Nanna and Poppa; reusable shopping bags; Mrs. Dawn; my special oldest; November 14, 1976 and my hot husband; my Omega; my 8 year old; Sam, my friend for 14.5 years; our freedom and the life of my friend, Red Mayo; Mr. Man; that my children have their mother; a body that can exercise; that we live on a budget and have money for car repairs and field trips; clean sheets; that there will be four boys on my Christmas card this year; our church; days that homeschooling doesn't seem so hard; for the tubs of clothes in my basement and hand-me-downs; that Dad got free tickets to the UGA game; for my job baby-sitting at LBC and the way the money has blessed our family; for the friends of my boys

M - Grandmama coming to play with me, Christmas, Beyblades and brothers, the Scrambled States of America game (he put this twice), cake, the Carolina wren that sang outside during breakfast, 10:40 because that is the time of my Five in a Row class, that the Troupes are coming over tomorrow, my friends, jello and snow, that I can play soccer with my brothers, pumpkin pie, Spartans, our trampoline, our Jungle Fort, our Christmas tree and my Tom and Jerry ornament, ice cream, that we are going to Nanna's tomorrow, Leap Pad and Pet Pals, meeting Nanna and Poppa at Wendy;s and eating a Frosty, our family, the wood for our fire, Beyblades and brothers that share with me, Spanish at Summit Academy. "I am thankful for playing outside and playing "Don't let Micah cross the 50 yard line" with my brothers."

J - food like bananas; Lala, Pam, Von, and my globe snowman; Sophia Fernandez; new socks; our walls; cheese; dogs; our food; Sam cat; books; God; Charlie Brown; a house; books and being with Grandmama; my Pals (stuffed animals); our games and our house and our food and our living room and our dining room; ice cream; M.

N - presents and families that love me enough to give me presents; good home; the day and the sun; my fish; snow; food; United States of America; my relatives; Martial Arts; H2O; Luke Waterworth; my marble run; me (that I am alive); M; Earth; land; the Troupes, good brothers; electricity and books; my family; Mom and Dad; my friends

L - a good coach; Thomas; the Troupes; chicken; birds; my toads- Jumpy and Goldie; my brothers; books; baked potatoes; heaters; that God gave us talents; vegetables and fruits; field trips; M; Operation Christmas Child; Martial Arts; Georgia, our state; Daddy; that N's splint is off; our house; Sam and cats; warm food; God

I think it is neat that each of his brothers mentioned M by name.  We have a great deal to be thankful for.  

Christmas is here!

Last Night

Well, I can only find pictures of three of the four on their first night in the firetruck bed.  I am sure N's are somewhere but I have tabbed through pictures for about 15 minutes and can't remember exactly what month (or even what year!!) I moved him into the bed.  Sometime before Mr. Man was born and that was...a long time ago.

Tomorrow, I will take apart the sweet bed and drive it to its new home.  Another little boy will love it and my baby boy will go to bed tomorrow night in a twin bed.  J is excited--he has been telling me for several weeks, "For Christmas I need a new bed. I am too big."  

But, oh my heart.  Another chapter closing.  Handsome drove halfway across South Carolina to get that bed for L when I was pregnant with N.  I have prayed over that bed (and the baby in it) thousands of time.  I know it is just a thing and that things aren't important.  I know.  But another link to my sweet babies--gone. Thank goodness they are here with me.  Thank goodness they get bigger.  Thank goodness there are new journeys on the horizon.

But, oh my heart.  My sweet babies.

Growing Up

My baby has decided he doesn't need a nap anymore. And, today at school, when I offered to walk the oldest to class, he quickly declined. The same thing happened last night at soccer. (Sigh)

 

 

That is my fb status tonight.  I am going to miss that nap so much. We are continuing to have going to sleep issues with M and the children still rise before 7.  Now that the nap has gone away...even the little break in the middle where the three bigs would play and the little ones slept...even that is gone.  Right now, the two youngest fight.  A lot.  And the day is so full and there is soccer at night.  

 

Just enough light for the step I am on, Lord.

Life as a Teacher...

You know, when I was younger, I never went through that phase where I wanted to be a teacher...I can say it hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be.  We have good days, we have bad days. But, most days, I feel like this is where we are supposed to be right now.  L and N were at Dollywood for 4 days with their grandparents about 10 days back; I picked them up last Sunday.  That made for a HARD day last Monday--getting back into the routine.

Last Thursday, L told me, "I am starting to get used to this homeschool thing."  Then Friday it was attitude out the wazoo.  Some days it is truly moment to moment.  I am not sure how much the children are learning but WOW! I am learning a great deal. I don't think I have ever prayed this much in my life.

September, for us, is a full month.  Lots of soccer games, camping one weekend, and several homeschool activities.  Tuesday I start baby-sitting during LBC again.  I am slightly nervous but thankful for the opportunity. What other job is available where I make $25 an hour while bringing along my four children and their books? Plus our friends, the Troupes, will be there too and L was excited about seeing Chris weekly when I asked him if he might be interested.

The money will be a blessing and it isn't that long. If it is a disaster, I will not do it in the Spring.

 Spelling out letters with these two.  I spend more time filling up their workboxes then big brothers. J is hit or miss about doing his stuff but M goes through every single box (not in order!)  They are usually done with their stuff in less then an hour but I know they enjoy it.  With J, I am working on cutting, coloring, and identifying the letters in his name.  He is also working on number recognition.

I still have M using the special pencils. He is doing a Reading Eggs online program that he LOVES and is a whiz at math. We haven't quite made the leap to reading yet, he is very good at memorizing but not at recalling. I am going to try and work with him on sight words this week.

Last weekend, we worked with both boys on their bikes. M is learning to ride without training wheels and J is learning to ride a 16 inch without Mommy pushing him. It is a work in progress.

Once a week, so far, we have gotten together with the Troupes. They match up in age with my kids perfectly (except for N--their son is 1 year younger then him but they still play well).  Last Tuesday, we went to the mountain Children's Playground and then on a nature walk. At their old school, my children kept "Nature Notebooks" so my hope is to do that at least once a month.  They each picked a bush (L Witch hazel, N Coral Bells) and we brought it home and they illustrated it in their notebook.  N is really into painting right now, I am hoping to get him some nicer brushes and water colors this week since Handsome has gotten paid.

I thought this picture of Lily was too cute. She is the only girl in the mix and 2 months younger then my J.  All of the boys are looking at a frog, she asked me to take her picture.

L with his nest. Our science is all about flying animals and last week we did the chapter on nests.  One of the suggested activities that I had not picked was to make a nest for yourself so L asked if he could do it.  This is a "Scrape Nest."

Ummm...big mess.  I did this the third day of school and haven't repeated it. :) I am trying to do some fine motor stuff so hopefully J will be the ONLY one without handwriting issues.   I am going to begin work on trying to procure OT for N and M this week. I have been praying a lot about it, we do not have the money to pay for it out of pocket.  At times I wonder if there is some basic skill that I am NOT teaching my boys--that each of them writing so far would have trouble with grasping a pencil.

Prayerfully, we will have a good week. They are not too excited about doing school on Labor Day but it is going to be a busy time.

My Boy

Preface: it is late and my washer would not stop filling up with water. It is spinning now but it pretty much indicates how my day is going.

Today was Mr. Man's first day of speech with his new teacher. I signed forms for him to be re-evaluated and his teacher was very zealous in her desire to "help him so much."

Lord, I don't know what to do.  At times, the problems they have, so minor, seem so big.  And I try to give those problems to you and I know that you love these children so much more then me but it just feels so hard.  And I am tired.  And it is hard.  And I am mostly patient and kind but it takes so much sometimes to find lego pieces and put elephant crafts together and listen to stories and help with chores. I am selfish.  It is hard.

I took them to play at the park this afternoon so boxes did not get done.  Then it was Stevi B's and a birthday party and so it was 9 before I started those wonderful workboxes.  And my brain is so tired.  So tired of being fun and wonderful.  So tired of being positive.  And I have Handsome supporting me but he doesn't know what I am doing.  And at times I feel this stretching is TOO MUCH. I can handle problems and we can solve these things but not when there are so many and so many unknowns.

His teacher--she thinks my boy is special ed. She says stuff like "he doesn't monitor his volume," "he reads the letters out of order."  If I sit with him and we sound it out, he knows that C-A-T spells cat but he just rushes through....could it be there is something more there?

In the beginning, it was Babies Can't Wait and head doctors.  Ear tubes. Developmental specialists. And then it was okay...just speech and people could understand him more.  And he is such a delightful boy, so much joy, I guess after hearing her today I started to think, "Maybe there is more to the puzzle."  And while I know information is not bad, I am scared.  And I feel alone in dealing with all of this.  The papers and the psychologists. The aunts' declaration that the class he will go in is full of discipline problems; what is best for my boy?  How will I know?

It isn't time to know now. And I have been praying that whatever I should do will be brutally obvious.  

As often happens, there is a song on the radio that speaks to me now--the lines I like, "If there's a road I should walk, let me find it. If I need to be still, give me peace for the moment."  That is what I am going for.  If I need to do it, let's do it. If I need to wait, give him more time--let's do it.

Help me Lord.  Help me do what is best for my boys.

Brothers and Uncles

(pictures taken the first day)

A couple nights ago, M piped up at the dinner table, "I want to be an uncle when I grow up."

We explained that his brothers would become daddies and that would make him an uncle.  In a few minutes he asked if he could be a Daddy AND an uncle and Handsome said yes.

Right after that conversation, N said, "L and I don't want to get married.  We are going to be bachelors and live together. L will have to get a car, he has more money then me."

:)  My heart smiled. I love the fact that they would WANT to live together when they are older.