My Birthday~

I had a perfect birthday yesterday~ two cakes, two beautiful cards and one cute one. cuddle time with the grandbaby and no fighting amongst kids. I keep the two older granddaughters for the night to give Renee a break. Today~ I’m going to half-price books to see what I can find, would like some royal diary books for the Princess and G.A. Henty books for the boys. Then I get to finish doing some school planning for the next 6 weeks for the kids, i have finished history and science. I will be adding in a few things for the Ark as he needs more to do. I’m thinking Building Thinking Skills Verbal, Vocabulary from Classical Roots, and Student Intensive Writing Level A. I know I have a book he is supposed to do for a computer application class but have no idea where it is at the moment. *shakes head, this is the story of my life lately, nothing is where it is supposed to be.
Ok, I’m going to get ready to go, if I find anything good I’ll come back and edit.

Christmas Photos~

This is the typical after Christmas post~ lots of photos!!!!

 

Four of the men in my life~

My Princess with her Daddy,

This was the surprise gift, The Ark wanted StarWars Monopoly, but we didn’t want him to know he got it. He was so funny trying to guess what was in that present: a coat, boots????? You will see on Christmas was the reply…..he didn’t like that.

A very happy Princess with her Calico Critter House, with real lights!!!! Now maybe I can get a few minutes of peace and quiet?

I love catching the boys talking to each other, it warms my mommy heart…

Yes, that is a staged smile, but at least I have one…..Ace seldom smiles for pictures.

There was very little drama for the holidays so far, hoping to make it through one more week with none. The trip to the inlaw’s went ok, but the kids were tired so we left earlier than planned. Then yesterday we went to Renee’s and after dinner we played Michael Jackson on the Wii…..it was fun to dance with 3 of my daughters~ Renee, Jasmine and Kendra….I even beat them a couple of times, surprising them. Then we came home and opened the gift from Darius: a Vizio Blu-ray dvd player…..so we watched the only blu-ray movie we had: Alice in Wonderland….the color was amazing as was the clarity.

Well that is all for now, the husband had the day off from the church, so he is cleaning, I’m going to start planning our school year of Jan~June…..

Scenes of Christmas

Our Christmas Tree this year…..

My tiny village, The Ark didnt’ want it in their room this year * sniff, that made me a bit sad.

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies~

Working the bake sale at church, this is a terrible photo of me, I was exhausted and tired of smiling already.

Today is our 15th Anniversary~ this is the card that the Husband bought me~ the inside says “After all this time, I’ve still got the biggest crush on you”

I drew this in just a couple of minutes to show the Princess how to draw flowers and the Husband loves this drawing. I am going to print it for him and put it on a keychain for him, but he would like it in black and white, not red. The Ark and I saw an Austrian glass flower that looked similar to my drawing.

These cheap Christmas cookies, were the ones that my grandmother bought every year….this year we found some for my kids to try and to remind me that I do have a few (very few) pleasant memories from my childhood.

No post would be complete without a photo of my precious new grandbaby……

This photo is actually upside down but it is so pretty and the Princess latest on her own design.

the inside of the card….I love this drawing and the bright colors.

I”m 2/3 of the way done with the mil’s second knitted dishcloth, the Ark wrapped most of the gifts for me, we are still doing a bit of cookie baking and plan on making at least 2 pumpkin pies.

I survived the xmas party, but had to socialize much more than my norm, which is always taxing. Then had to do it all over again last sunday at the bake sale~ The Ark and Peanut were sick, so we didn’t get to take a xmas photo like I had planned, hoping to get one still maybe xmas eve.

I have to put poinsettias on the alter tomorrow morning and then go out and finish shopping. I would so love to be done already, but hopefully I will be tomorrow.

I will close now and get back to knitting that dishcloth….

Have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Not much to say

Because I’m on FaceBook and Twitter, there are times that I have little to share here as all the important things like : getting all A’s this semester and having a 3.83 GPA have already been said in both places so that all of my friends know. Some friends are on both, some are either in one or the other. So it seems redundant to write about it here.
I was in such a Christmassy happy mood but that has flown out the proverbial window in dealing with ungrateful adult children who feel entitled. So now I”m grouchy during my favorite season. I told a couple of classmates that to me Christmas is more of a new beginning than January…..Christmas means hope….but it is hard to keep that hope alive when being criticized all the time.

Perhaps it will come back, but truly right now I just want to bury myself in schoolwork and forget that Christmas is here. At least with school, I know who I am and where I am going, or at least somewhat…..

Speaking of school….I only have 3 semesters before I graduate with my BA in Psychology. So I’m starting to look at grad schools and study for the GRE, look at field work and thinking about my personal statement essay that I need to write. I think I’m going to specialize in health psychology and focus on women’s health….I think that will make me the happiest and it has the most potential for future growth. Plus my previous work/volunteer experience is all focused on women’s health.

The kids are hooked on the original Legend of Zelda game, I downloaded it to our wii, and they enjoy it….although they laugh at the graphics…..so we have been doing some bonding while playing. I’m also reading 3 chapters a day out of christmas books, our current book is the Magic Tree House series: Christmas in Camelot, I have the Gift of the Magi, but I can’t remember where I put it *shakes head, but we have a few others that I will probably read to the kids over the next couple of weeks.
I”m hoping to get a bit of money for some more games for us to play….the kids are finally getting into playing family games. I did buy the Ark Star Wars Monopoly for xmas and I have u build it monopoly as well. I would like to get Bananagrams and Scrabble, as well as a couple of the Lego games. The Ark also wants Risk….

After this weekend life will slow down a bit, we have a Christmas party tonight, I have to bake cookies tomorrow for the Youth bake sale, I made the flyers for it and have already made white chocolate peppermint fudge, just need to cut it up and package it tomorrow as well. Then the cookies~ I’m making white chocolate cherry shortbread cookies. I wanted to make cookies that look pretty since pretty cookies sell the best. Of course I will be working the bake sale on Sunday. We are also doing the Advent reading Sunday morning.

Next week, the kids have to do school on Monday since this week they have been sick off and on. But the rest of the week will be spent baking cookies, wrapping gifts and cleaning….I have no idea what we are eating for Christmas yet, I do know that this is the first year that the husband will not have to work the church on xmas eve, so we are going to his mother’s that night after the 5pm service. I was looking forward to it until she made the comment “just what we need 6 more people in my house”.  But now I’m committed to being there, although I’m thinking we won’t be staying very long.I guess I will have to go to Renee’s for a bit on Christmas day, but would so rather just stay home.

I still have quite a few things to check off on my reminder’s list on my iPhone, I love that app! I just jot my lists down there and then check them off as I get them done. It seems to help me stay focused in all the chaos….

I need to plan out the kids schoolwork for the next quarter, I’m dreading it but it needs to be done. keeping us on track = planning. So planning I will be probably starting after Christmas day…..the kids will be busy playing and I will have free time.

I have two school related items that I’m trading back into Amazon, so if they give me full credit I’m going to order the Holocaust movie for the Ark, we borrowed it from the library but it was horribly scratched and we missed a great deal of it. So we will get it. He loves studying the WW2 era…..so much like me at that age. Although I love all history era’s equally now, well with the exception of the Revolutionary…..I suffer through that one

Oh yes, I spend lots of time on Pinterest~ I love that site!!! I’ve made a few recipes I found there and so far they have been great!!! I love being able to pin things that I find on the web and then can go back to them whenever I have the time to cook/make/buy it. I did that for the xmas outfits I wanted us to wear this Christmas and it worked out great!!! I use it as my wish list of things.

Well, I guess I should go do something productive but I so don’t want to~ probably just a bit of lingering burn-out from the rough semester. Hoping that I feel rested and relaxed by January 09, when it starts again.

Now I wait….

For my grades that is, i hate this part of school, I know that I should have an A in Latin, but Clinical & Counseling 1 could be anything from a B+ to an A, same for my experimental class……although it is most likely I will end up with A- at the very least (well, I hope so anyways).

The Ark is going on a retreat this weekend, the purpose is for him to start bonding with the youth that are going to New Orleans, next summer with him. I’m really excited for him, he needs a weekend away and it is coming at a great time for him. He has been a trooper except for once or twice about babysitting the littles for me this semester. We went out today and had some Mom and son time, so he is happy.

We bought the Princess her gift: The Calico Critter Luxury Townhome plus the store we were at gave us the Sugar Bear Family and the Sugar Bear Twins for free!!! Which makes me a happy mom. Still need to get the Peanut his present, and the three granddaughters!!! but it is almost done, Oh yes, Ace needs a new pair of pajama’s, this year I bought the kids a new pair of pj’s for xmas as well, primarily for the Christmas picture taking that I hope to do.

I’m swamped with fundraising stuff for the kids: one is going to camp next year and one is going to New Orleans, lots of work for the husband and I to get the funds up. This month I will bake and help out at the bake sale and set up the poinsettias on the alter on Dec. 23. Then every month after that there will be a major fundraiser until July…..

On my Christmas want list is the Kindle Fire, I have the kindle app on my iPhone and love reading books on it when I can’t make it to the library! I doubt I will buy too many books for it, mostly download from the library. Even The Ark is excited to have a chance to read on it, and he is not my likes to read teen. So anything that encourages him to read more is great in my world. (PS~ I would really love to get the iPad but there is no way that I can afford one of them, therefore the Kindle Fire is a great substitute.)

Oh yes, I insanely added in another class to my Spring semester, so now I’m taking: Clinical & Counseling 2, Latin 2, Intro to Suicidology and Psychology of Hate. The husband and the kids are going to have to pull together and get school done, although I will be home, by 1pm on MWF and 5 on TTH. Yes, this all stresses me out, but this is what homeschooling can be about, and my kids need to learn to be a bit more independent from me and more responsible for their own learning. Plus, there are always weekends, right? No, I”m not taking this lightly, and will be revising our schedule during my break to make sure I know where we are and get the husband on board with what has to be done. I think this might make me a bit neurotic …ok, well maybe more than a bit.

Did I tell you we are reading for Advent on Dec. 18? We are going to all be wearing gray and navy blue, except for the husband who has a royal blue dress shirt, although I might make him wear his gray one. I’m hoping that Renee makes it to the service so that she can take pictures for me. We have such a busy week coming up~ I’m hoping to meet my friend Robin for lunch on Monday, Wednesday the Princess is back to the chiro, Friday is the annual xmas party that the husband and I always go to and then he has to work Saturday night, Then Sunday we will be in church and working the bake sale.

I’ve been home for 3 days and feel like I’ve done nothing, although I have taken the 4 kids to see the chiro, finished the take home final from hell, that took me 2 days of working on it off and on. Shopped for the Ark for his retreat, bought a gift, done some school with the kids, gone to a meeting, and tried to catch up on my sleep, which I so desperately have needed, Oh yes, I’ve tried to do some bonding with the kids. Even looking at  this makes me sad that I’ve not done more. I am working on math the with two youngest as I type this and going to work on my mil’s christmas dishcloths I’m knitting for her for xmas. so that is something I guess. Tomorrow had better be more productive…..

Ok, I need to find a way to unstress and do some knitting……..I’m frustrated right now.

Home Educating Family Publishing

Home Educating Family Publishing.

I’ve been wanting this program for the kids, I really like it and think he explains it so well and with the handouts, it will be easier for me to teach them with my limited spare time.