Home School Week 2

We had another great week!  We settled into more of a routine this week, although, our "routine" is very flexible!  The amount of reading that he does with the Sonlight Core curriculum is crazy, but I have already seen an improvement in his reading and comprehension.  Last week while reading the book "Walk the Worlds Rim", Luke was getting a big overwhelmed.  It's a 'wordy' book, with longer chapters and the story is somewhat hard to follow for him.  This week he did more of the reading from that book and was not as overwhelmed and bogged down by it.  It has turned into one of his favorites!

We had one day this week that had us both struggling.  At first I couldn't figure out what was going on and was chalking it up to the "honeymoon" period being over.  Luke was frustrated and having a hard time paying attention and I was impatient with his lack of focus.  It was about half way through the day when I realized that I hadn't started the day out in prayer!  Every morning up to that point, I had been diligent with prayer during my morning devotion/scripture reading time.  I would read and pray.  This particular morning, I had read...but for some reason forgot the prayer part!  There was an easy solution to that, and the next half of the day went much better!  It sure is proof that I can NOT do this on my own!

I am finding that we are still not getting everything done until 1:30 at the earliest.  He starts at around 8:15 and takes minimal breaks and we still aren't able to get through everything any sooner.  I'm not sure if we are doing too much, or spending too much time on certain things.  It turns out to be 5 hours of pretty intense work.

With all of that said, I still feel like we are doing exactly what we should be and I can't wait to add Owen to the mix!  (I have NO idea how I would be able to teach two of them, but I'm not going to let that stop me:)

This is the breakdown of what our week looked like.

Bible:
~He read several chapters from Genesis (1 each morning) from his Adventure Bible.  These chapters included the Tower of Bable, God leading Abram to Egypt, God's promise to Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham and Isaac.  A couple days he drew a picture relating to what he read.

~I read to him from Luke (NSV)...chapter 2:21-4:44.

~He read five days of the American Indian Prayer Guide...this week learning about the Taino's and Arawaks. Each day praying that these tribes would find Jesus.

~He has done really well memorizing Psalm 8.  He has 5 of the 9 verses down...but verse 9 is a repeat of the first verse so he only has 3 more to learn.  He enjoys this process.

History/Geography:

~He finished up Pedro's Journal.  He really loved this book and it was a great way to learn about Columbus' journey to America.

~He started a book called "A light and the Glory".  This week was reinforcement of Columbus journey.

Luke has learned a pretty accurate version of the story of Columbus.  He realizes why it is significant that Columbus lead this journey, but also realizes that Columbus became greedy and hungry for fame and did terrible things to the natives.  The readings that he has done has painted a real picture from the perspective of the Indians.

He has been following these journey's on the map and marking significant events on the timeline.

Reading:

He has been reading the book "Walk the Worlds Rim"...more about American Indians and also "Lawn Boy", a great story about economics!  He finished up the book "A Lion To Guard Us" today..and he was bummed because that was his favorite of all the current books.  I liked that one too!

Handwriting:

Luke has worked through a new letter each day in Cursive.  This still proves to be his least favorite, but he gets it done.

Spelling:

He worked with a new list of 20 words and at the today aced the spelling test, no problem.

Language Arts:

He worked on a few different exercises that included more noun and adjectives but this week added verbs and adverbs.  He had a few different writing projects that utilized these concepts.

He also worked on another letter that he completed today and put in the mailbox.  This week's letter was sent to his best buddy Andrew.  He likes writing letters!

He also worked on the dictation passage.

Science:

We did science on Tuesday and Thursday and it was a continuation of lesson 1 from last week.  He had some worksheets in his Science Journal that reinforced the concepts he had learned from last week.  I realized that the project with the balloons that we did last week was actually supposed to happen this week:)  It just meant that we didn't have a project to do today.

This is the condensed version of what went on here this week.  Just a few minutes ago he was looking at the book he will start next week (that will take the place of  "A Lion to Guard Us"..it's about Pocahontas.  He realized that tomorrow is Saturday and was bummed because he's eager to start it!

Here are a few pics (from Instagram) from this week...

We have been using different techniques for memorizing.  This is one of his favorite.  I wrote the verses on the foam type paper and cut them apart.  This is been the most useful tool for him and he enjoys doing it.  Today he put together the first 4 verses of Psalm 8!

He also writes it on the chalkboard when he has it mastered.  I will try to take a pic of every one!  

We do most of our reading at the dining room table, but we save his favorite for the the last thing we do in the day which happens as Truett naps.  It's usually a nice relaxing time of the day.  

We have to get Truett's bath and bathroom cleaning in at some point, so Luke read to me while we got these things done.  Multitasking.  

Truett is enjoying Cars, popcorn and a blanket..a very specific request from him this morning!  

This was one of the language arts writing assignments.  Last week he had to choose an object and use adjectives (according to his 5 senses) to describe it.  This week he had to write a crazy story about the object he chose last week.  He had fun being creative here and I look forward to more of this type of writing!  

Home School Week 1 (Dec 1-6)

I'm not entirely sure that I will be able to keep up with this, but I'm going to follow my SIL's idea of using the blog as a sort of journal for what we did each week.  I realize that this is probably not going to be very interesting for most, but it may be helpful to some..and maybe even interesting to a couple:)  

Let me start by saying that this week was AMAZING.  Of course, I do realize that we are in the "honeymoon phase" of home schooling and that I only have one kid that I'm teaching and that every week won't be all daisies and roses....but this week sure felt that way!  Like I said in the previous post, I do believe that God has my back on this one.  What seemed so totally overwhelming only a few short weeks ago came together nicely and ultimately became the most natural feeling transition.  

The benefits of home schooling have become apparent very quickly.  There are SO many reasons why I am loving this already.  I love the time that I am spending with him.  I love that I know exactly what he is learning.  I love that I know if he is actually "getting" it and can go over something until he does.  I love that we can alter his schedule each day according to how other things need to fit in.  I love that he is able to do stuff that he hates (handwriting) right away...to get it over with, but also to get it done when he is fresh.  I love that I can reinforce what he has learned at different points of the day..because I know exactly what he is learning.  I love that he can take breaks and do pull ups or run around with Truett or go outside and shoot hoops for a bit.  I love how much reading he is doing and I love how every part of his curriculum ties into scripture!  

I could go on and on about the things I love.  

This week, my biggest concern was the question "are we doing enough?".  I mean, we are doing the entire curriculum and he's doing the work, but because we can get through so much in such a short amount of time it leaves me questioning myself a bit.  

One of this week's projects was to write a letter to his classroom (his teacher suggested that he do this every so often).  When I was checking over his final draft it became obvious that I did not need to worry about whether we were doing enough!  In the letter he talked a bit about what he has been learning this week and seeing it written out like that made me realize that he (we) learned a TON!  

So with that said, I will share what it is that we are using for curriculum and just a tidbit of what he worked on this week.  

We are using Sonlight (Core D) "Intro to American History)  for his core subjects...History, Geography, Bible, Language Arts and Reading.  

Bible:  He has read Genesis 1-7 in his Adventure Bible and I have read to him Luke 1-2:20 from the NSV. We read together chapters 1-5 in the American Indian Prayer Guide.  This week we learned about the Mayans and prayed for them "that they would come to know Jesus so that Jesus would be their ruler".  Luke has also been working on memorizing Psalm 8..but this will take him more than a week:)  

History/Geography/Reading:  Luke is reading several books that cover all of these subjects. (and when I say that Luke is reading them..he is either reading them to me or I might read some to him....but we are reading them together) 

     "Pedro's Journal" (Luke's favorite)- this week he read Aug 3rd-Nov25th from the book. 

     "Walk the Worlds Rim" (a little more of a challenge for him)- preface-ch 4

     "Lawn Boy"- forward -chapter 3

     "A Lion to Guard us" - chapter 1-11

Throughout the reading of these books we are learning a bunch about American History.  We have a timeline book with stickers that we use as we go along.  This is a great visual for him.  We spend a lot of time consulting the maps to get a better understanding of the world!  

While he is doing all of this reading, we create a list of vocabulary words as he comes up on words that he doesn't understand.  By the end of this week he had around 20 words including words like "covenant", "rudder", "dinghy" and many, many more.  We created a little quiz using the app "Quizlet", but honestly, after he writes a word that he doesn't know and then looks it up in the dictionary, he usually gets a handle on it and doesn't really need to be quizzed on it.  He comes to an understanding of the word because it's usually one that is used several times throughout the reading that he is doing.  

Language Arts:  We work through different paragraphs (given to me in the curriculum).  We search out the different parts of the sentences..finding punctuation and capitalization etc.  There have been several different exercises each day.  This week we were working on nouns and adjectives.  At the end of the week I had to dictate a paragraph for him to write with the hopes that he would use the correct spelling, punctuation and capitalization.  We also worked on the letter to his class at school that he was able to finish and put in the mailbox on Friday before the mail lady came!  

Science:  We are using a curriculum called "Aplogia" and he chose the Astronomy textbook for this year.  He LOVES this.  In order to get through all of the lessons, we only have to do science twice each week.  He loves to talk about what he has learned this week.  He can tell you about Capernicus and Galileo and about NASA and, because of the sentence he created, he can list the names of the planets in order from the Sun to Pluto.  His sentence:  "My Very Earthly Mother Just Sat Until Neverland Pirates".  Of course, this is taking into consideration the question of Pluto's planet status:)  On Friday we made a solar system using balloons that were blown up in ratio with each other according to size.  This was a good project and visual for him.  

Math:  We are using the curriculum "Math U See".  So far I love this!  The idea is not to just memorize math facts, but to understand them AND memorize them.  The use of blocks to help visualize really helps with the overall understanding.  Because Luke has already been learning multiplication in school we are flying through the first part of this book.  I could just skip ahead but I want him to learn from the beginning using this style of teaching.  Each lesson in this book is supposed to take a week with several worksheets of practice for each day.  Right now, Luke is flying through a lesson PER DAY...but I am confident (because I looked ahead) that we will reach a point in the book when it starts to challenge him.  We are working quickly to get there so that he doesn't get bored!  I did have him take a placement test and he is in the curriculum that he needs to be in.  So..long story short, he's working on multiplication:)

Spelling:  He is working through a workbook called "Spelling Workout".  He is in the 4th grade book because at public school he was already working through the 4th grade list.  We really like this book with different lessons each day using his spelling words.  He aced the test at the end of the week....20/20:)  

Handwriting:  "A reason for Handwriting" uses scripture as the practice for cursive writing.  Right now he is just working on individual letters, but will soon get to writing (and memorizing) a verse each week.  He does not enjoy handwriting and chooses to do this first thing in the morning to get it over with.  He actually has great handwriting, especially for a lefty, but he just doesn't like the practice!

Phew!  So that was our week and now that I write it out myself, I certainly don't think he is slacking!  It's amazing to me how quickly we get through all of this and how completely relaxed we both are doing it!  

Each day he spends from around 8:30am-1:30 doing school work.  He gets several breaks in there including lunch.  This was also with me fumbling around a bit trying to figure out what I'm doing!  I think that we can make this time even shorter as we both settle into a routine.  

I consider week one a SUCCESS!!  :)  

Giant leap of faith...or at least it feels like one!

After much prayer, discussion, seeking wisdom and ultimately begging and pleading and more prayers from Luke, we have decided to go ahead and home school him.

I can't even believe that I'm saying that.

We are absolutely NOT against home schooling.  In fact, I have always envied the families who do it and do it well.  Before Jessalyn started school, I remember having several discussions about whether or not we should go that route.  We (obviously) eventually decided that she and the boys would go to public school...a decision that we do not regret.  All four of the school aged kids have gone to public school and have done very well.  We have a good relationship with the school, the staff loves on our kids, the kids excel in their academics and they have all made great friendships!

So why decide to home school now?

Since the day Jessalyn started kindergarten, I have always said that they would be in public school until I felt lead (or called) to teach them at home.  I said that we were going to take it year by year, and kid by kid....and see how it went.  And so far, it has gone wonderfully for everyone...except Luke.

Luke does not enjoy school, which is weird, because you would NEVER know it if you saw him there.  His teachers RAVE about him and his leadership qualities and the example that he sets for other kids socially.   He goes to school each day and puts a smile on his face and sucks up the fact that he has a pit in his stomach the entire time and spends every night before at the point of tears not wanting to go back and praying, praying and praying that he can be home schooled.  You would think that something is going on at school..but there is nothing.  Like I said above...he has great friends, is well liked, doesn't struggle with academics etc.

The boy just does not like to be in a group of 20 people all day.  I think that he's an introvert:)

Josh and I spent a long time discussing this.  Do you take a kid out of school just because he hates it?  Nobody really wants to be in school.  I hated school and made it through.  Eventually he's gonna have to go to work and deal.  All of these thoughts were on our mind.

The one thing that I kept coming back to is that Luke IS capable of handling it.  He has proven it for the last 4 years that he has been in school.  He CAN suck it up and manage a day being social when he doesn't want to be...and he does it well.  If he was not capable of doing these things then we would actually be more likely to make him continue in school.

All of that, and I couldn't possibly come up with another excuse as to why I couldn't do it.  I am home all day and have a 9 year old boy who is begging me to teach him from home....I don't have anymore good excuses!
Luke is well aware that home schooling is not going to involve sleeping in late, wearing his pj's all day (well..that might actually happen:), playing video games etc.  I have assured him that it will be a LOT of work and it will probably be harder than what he is used to at school because I will be on top of his every move.  He seems excited about it.  He is beside himself with excitement at the thought of having "Bible" be part of his school.  He loves to learn and read...and learning and reading we will do!

I know that God is orchestrating this whole thing because I have been resisting this for a long time.  On Thursday of last week I started getting serious about putting together a curriculum (thanks to Luke's constant nagging encouragement).  With lots of great counsel from friends and 4 days of research I feel confident with what I've come up with for him.  When I started, I was absolutely overwhelmed and at the point where I thought it was impossible.  But by Friday it all started to 'click' and it just started to fall into place for me.  It was amazing.  I went from completely overwhelmed to "I can do this!" or more like "HE can help me do this!".  I actually started to enjoy the process of choosing programs that would work for Luke and have started to get excited about teaching him!  I KNOW that is God working.

There are two big reasons why I have resisted this for years....pride and fear.

Those are not good things.

The reason I say pride is because I wanted (and still have on the back of my mind) my kids to go to school....having confidence that they would do well, be liked...and ultimately be a constant "pat on the back" for myself.  Every teachers conference, every compliment from someone in the school, every good choice they made...everything.  I wanted my kids in school so the world could see how awesome they are and ultimately how awesome I am.

I'm being brutally honest here.

I read something just yesterday that helped me deal with this pride issue..

At the end of the day, what matters is whether we have pleased Jesus. When it’s all said and done, we’re going to stand before him (2 Corinthians 5:10). Not our family, not our neighbors, not our boss, not our kids, not our colleagues. We will stand before Jesus. We will see him face to face. And in that moment, the only thing that matters is what he thinks. 

....not our kids teachers, not the other parents....

The fear part speaks for itself I think.  Home schooling is a BIG job...HUGE job...like holy wow, my kids education rests in MY lap.  ..and yet, why does that sound so crazy.  I suppose it should seem obvious.

I think God has used Luke's persistence as a kick in the pants for me and the more that I dug into everything, the less fear I have had and the more confidence I have found.

With all of that said, I am not claiming that I will rock this:)  I might actually really stink at it.  Luke might end up hating it.  I might end up hating it.  But, for now my confidence rests in the fact that God is taking care of this entire "leap of faith" and I know that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."!!!

Today I was relieved after meeting with the school principal and Luke's teacher.  Honestly, I kind of dreaded this meeting, not because I was afraid of their opinion, but because I knew that they would be sad to see Luke go.  I am loyal in general and it's hard for me to switch loyalties like this!  For example, when we first moved here I chose a dentist out of the phone book.  We ended up hating this guy.  He was mean and made my kids cry.  When the new Children's Dentistry opened up I knew it was where we needed to go and scheduled appointments right away.  When I had to go to the old jerky dentist to transfer records, I felt SO bad to tell them that we were switching.  It seems silly...he was mean and I knew I was making the right choice, but I still felt bad.

This is how I felt today, telling Luke's teacher and principal.... only I actually LIKE them!

Both of them were completely encouraging and 100% supportive.  I shared my heart with them, explained Luke to them (things that his teacher was already aware of) and explained that I was going to give this a whirl.  I was able to explain that I am not disgruntled with the school and explain that it was nothing that happened this particular year but something that he has felt since starting school.  Although his teacher was pretty sad to see him go, she understands and they both assured me that I can have access to any and all resources and that Luke is welcome to join ANYTHING he wants at the school.  If he wants to jump in on an art class or Spanish or music...he is welcome.  And they of course said they would welcome him back at anytime if we decided that home schooling was going to work out.

Since the serious discussion of home schooling Luke, there has been some other interest forming in the family.  We will see where this all leads us...it's scary and exciting!

Tomorrow will be his last day of school at school...at least for the time being.  I'm still sticking with the "go with the flow" method here.

Rest assured that he will still be given lots of opportunities to practice being social when he doesn't want to be!  He is already on a basketball team with several of his close friends and will be encouraged to take part in as many activities as possible!!

I hopefully will be blogging more about this journey as we go along.

...what have I done???!!!   :)

Grieving from a distance.

(The following post is nothing more than a rambling of the thoughts that having been rolling around in my mind as I try to decipher my own emotions in the midst of such a tragic event.)

I've been walking around in a 'funk' of sorts for the last day and a half and I know that I am not alone here.  In fact, I don't know many people who are not grieving with and for the community of Newtown, CT after the sickening events that happened there on Friday morning.

Josh and I were heading to do a few more errands as we prepare for Christmas when I heard about the shooting for the first time.  It wasn't until about 2 hours later as we were finished shopping and about to be seated for lunch when I read the news that 18 kindergarten aged kids were shot and killed.  I felt sick to my stomach and immediately wanted to get home to get my kids.  I knew they were fine, but I wanted to see them...especially my own kindergartner.

As more and more news and details were uncovered and released the more and more sick I felt.  I heard and read stories of how the events unfolded and can't help but picture this in our own elementary school.  I read about the shooters entrance into the school and how the office administrators came out to see what was going on, only to be shot instantly.  When I read that I naturally pictured that event happening at the entrance of our school, a school in a small town and very similar community.   It was an eerie feeling for me when I was in the school Saturday morning for basketball games.  Even though I know this didn't happen here, it was a strange feeling because of how I pictured things in my mind.  I imagine this to be the same for many parents of elementary school kids all over the country.

This tragedy has hit close to home for SO many.  All I know is that I have had no words for the way I have felt.  While I am drawn to reading the stories that have been written about the heroic measures of the staff and responders that day, I really do not want to have any more details of this day in my mind.  My reaction to it all is to try to dismiss it...to try to forget it.   This did NOT happen to my community, my school, my kids.  We are safe.  I still get to tuck my kids into bed tonight, I still get to see their sweet faces in the morning,  I still get to see the joy in their faces on Christmas morning.

But the problem with reminding myself that my family is ok is that I then feel guilty for being able to put these thoughts behind me.  I feel sad that I am able to do this when there are people who are thinking about their SIX year old children being shot and killed and who are NOT able to just move on.  People who's lives have changed in an instant.  It just doesn't seem fair that I am able to put it aside..just because the feeling of grief is uncomfortable.

Where is the balance here?  I have no idea.  I do know that the feeling of intense pain and sadness for the families and community will fade...for everyone.

I only remember having this feeling of intense sadness for someone else one other time as a close friend suffered the loss of her baby boy who was born still after carrying him to full term.  I remember this feeling well and as much as I would NEVER wish these tragic losses to happen to myself, I did sometimes have that feeling that I would have taken this pain on myself rather than having to see a friend go through it.  During this time I was also grieving from a distance as this friend lived hours away from me.   There was nothing I could do and just like now, because of distance, I was able to just put the thoughts and the grief into the back of my mind and move on with my day, only to feel that guilt of how unfair it was that I was able to do that while my friend simply could not and would not for many years.

I suppose the answer here  might be that we just need to let ourselves grieve and be sad.  We need to take these times and use them to appreciate our loved ones and our time with them.  The sharpness of this pain will start to dull...and I don't think we need to feel guilty as this happens.  I don't think any of us will forget what happened that day...even when the sadness is not as intense.

As we all send our kids back to school tomorrow I am CERTAIN that we will send them with a different feeling.  I know (and have believed this for a long time) that our days are numbered and that every day that we have in this life is a gift...but tragedies like this remind us of this truth even more.   I will NOT send my kids out the door in fear, but in faith that God has a plan for their lives and my life.  I remind the kids of this as well.

I love being able to live with this hope and security.  I honestly wonder how anyone could live through something like this (even from a distance) without being able to rest on the hope and promise that God is in control...even in tragedy.   Where can we find hope elsewhere?

I will be praying for our school tomorrow as I am sure it will be a difficult day for the staff especially.  I will be thinking specifically of Owen's kindergarten teacher who will have to enter the day facing a classroom full of wide eyed kindergartners, many will not be aware of the events of the week prior.  I'm sure that this look of innocence on the students will be the hardest part of the elementary school teachers all over the country as they imagine that same look of innocence on the students in CT at 9:30am on Friday the 14th...before they were faced with absolute evil right before their eyes.  I will pray that this week before Christmas will be enjoyed by staff and students as usual as we appreciate each day with a different outlook.

I will be enjoying the Christmas season with my family with joy, but not without thinking of the families that won't get that opportunity.  

It's Christmas time!

I think I've said it before, but Christmas gets more and more fun each year!  It is fun to see the kids looking forward to and expecting the different traditions that our family has started (or continued).  Each year that they get older it gets more fun.

This is the second year that we have gone with the borrowed tradition of a theme for the gifts for the kids.  I stole this idea from my SIL who blogged about it HERE .  This has transformed how we 'do' Christmas..in a good way.  If you read the blog you can see her take on it..but I will explain here too.

We give gifts according to this poem:

Something to Eat
Something to Read
Something to Play With
Something you need

And in addition to this a Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh gift..

Gold - Something Valuable
Frankincense - Something to do with the family
Myrrh - another need

We have always had the tradition of a Christmas Eve gift that for the last 12 years have been pajamas...and that is what the kids expect, although we always tell them that they might be surprised one of these times!

With that...each kid gets 8 gifts under the tree.  When you multiply this by 5 kids it can seem like a lot, and really, it is.  But..some of these categories do not require a lot of money.  For example, "To Eat"....last year this looked like a can of Pringles for one, or a box of Swiss Rolls for another.  This category can cost less than $10 in total for all the kids.  And let me tell you..they are never disappointed in this category!  When do they ever get an entire box of Ring Dings to themselves??!!  This is an exciting moment for them!

This year we added one more component that was VERY fun for the kids.  They are always asking to buy gifts for each other but at this point in life don't have a whole lot of money of their own.  Thanks to the suggestion from my friend Renee, we implemented a "Secret Sibling" gift.  Instead of this being an additional present, the secret sibling gift fell into the "something to play with" category...one that we were going to have to fill ourselves anyway.  So...they secretly drew names out of a hat, and as far as I know have been very secretive about it!  They had a few days to think about something they wanted to get and then each had some time to sit with Daddy on the couch with the computer (this is how we do all of our shopping!) and pick out something for their 'secret sibling'.  They have had much fun with this and are all anxiously awaiting the moment when they get to watch each other open the gifts!

To top off the fun of Christmas this year...we had ALL of the gifts purchased, delivered, wrapped and put under the tree by December 4th!  Those of you who know us know that we have spent MANY years doing ALL of our shopping on Christmas Eve...and wrapping until all hours of the night just in time for a few hours of sleep before all the opening!

Having this gift giving theme is very helpful.  I make a chart and fill in each category and Josh and I plan a few evenings on the Couch with some Christmas music in front of the Christmas tree after the kids go to bed and we shop.  We shop without any crowds, crying kids etc, etc.  I know that this takes the fun away for some, but NOT for us!  We LOVE doing it this way.  Besides stocking stuffers, we have done our entire Christmas shopping online.

The kids spend part of each day looking over their gifts under the tree.  Each kid has their own wrapping paper and each gift is labeled with what category it is.  Luke is pretty sure he's getting Pringles again....but you never know, I might have stuffed a Pringles can full of gum!  Jessalyn is hopefully for the Hunger Games series....but really, it could be ANYTHING in that box:)

Nana (my mom) usually goes all out buying the kids a gazillion gifts that she has to shop for and wrap..something that she has a love/hate relationship with!  This year, we talked her into just going 'in on' the "Gold" category so that it limits the amount of stuff the kids are getting and so that she can 'invest' towards something bigger and more valuable that the kids really want.  This works out perfectly for all of us as she doesn't have to shop for a bunch of individual gifts, or wrap them...and the kids don't end up with tons and tons of toys that they love for a few minutes (maybe days) and then dismiss.  So even with Nana's contribution, the kids still only open 8 gifts (including Christmas Eve).  The gold gifts are wrapped in some shiny gold wrapping paper, but are not put under the tree yet.  We figure we will let their imaginations run wild here.

This 'system' is one that I like because the kids know, for the most part, what to expect.  This also is good for us as WE know just what to expect and can plan throughout the year and be ready for Christmas financially.

I will end with some random pictures that I've taken this Christmas season...

This is something I made for my facebook cover photo..


Sweet sleepy Tru


Tree decorating...the day after Thanksgiving..


















Owen's turn this year to put the (sad looking) Angel on the tree.  The kids take turns each year.


My lovely daughter:)

Jessalyn's second room makeover.

When Jessalyn turned seven we had just moved into the parsonage.  It was the first time that she was able to have her own room.  Kirsten, Granny and Nana helped decorate her room and made it very pretty and perfect for her at the time.  She LOVED the day that her room was "revealed" to her and has enjoyed every aspect of the room since then.

As time has gone by, her tastes have changed some and her need to have a simple, yet functional space has become necessary.  Her busy schedule and the small space of her room usually equals a horrible mess...usually of clothes that don't fit in her dresser, or random scraps from various scrap projects.  On top of this, she has many wall hangings that are memories of different events and times, things that were made by her friends and other things that were sort of taking over the original decor on her walls.

One of the things that she's been asking for for the last year or so is a loft bed.  Really, a loft bed would work well in her room as space is limited and her stuff keeps multiplying.  We had some friends over just a few weeks ago who, in conversation, asked "Hey...you guys don't happen to want a loft bed do you?".  Jessalyn also happened to not be in the room at the time.  We jumped on this offer and decided that this was the route we would go for her birthday.

Not knowing anything about the bed, I had her pick out some bedding for a "potential" birthday present.  She had fun choosing what she wanted..which turned out to be Nana's gift to her.

We had planned to do this room makeover while she was at school on her actual birthday...(today, Oct. 29).  What we didn't plan on is was that there was going to be a hurricane this day (Sandy) and that school was going to be dismissed early!  This put a kink in our plans, but the day still went well.  Jessalyn ended up home before we had time to finish the whole project, but she hung out downstairs as we finished things up.  It actually worked perfectly as we were finished the project at about 2:13pm..and Jessalyn was born at 2:15pm!  We brought her up and revealed her 12th birthday present at the exact time that she was born 12 years earlier!

She was VERY happy with her super clean, functional, rearranged room with a "new to her" loft bed!

The fun part is that I took pics of her when her room was revealed to her 5 years ago and took pics again today.  It's a fun comparison!

2007:




2012:

Is 35 really that far away from 12??

Jessalyn and I share a birthday month.  In fact, she was born exactly a week after my 23rd birthday.  I've always loved her birthday (as I do all of my kids), but I am not much of a party planner.  When they are little it is fun to celebrate with family,  but as they get older and they want friends to come it starts to require a bit more 'planning'.  I don't really enjoy it.  I've been saying ever since she was in kindergarten (which was about the time that 'friend' parties started) that I can't wait for the time when she is old enough to plan her own party and be entertained without requiring much planning on my part.

It has been getting better over the years, but this year was definitely that moment that I've been waiting for!  She celebrated her 12th birthday with her friends (a little earlier than her actual day) and it was a GREAT time.  There was a little work involved from Josh and I as we prepared the basement to set up her campout, helping her and her friends make pizza and then making them breakfast in the morning, but other than that I didn't have to plan a single thing to entertain the girls.

There were six of them including Jessalyn and they enjoyed partying the night away together doing the things that 12 year old girls do...or at least, what most 12 year old's do!  There was dancing, singing, hair do's, giggling, squealing, eating, running around outside....etc.

At one point they were upstairs hanging out with me and Truett (Josh and Ethan went to a movie, and Luke and Owen were at another birthday party).  They were talking about their "group" and how much time they spend together and how much they enjoy each other.  It instantly brought me back to when I was 12 and I started telling them about "my group" when I was their age.  They listened intently, quite interested and wanted to know who was in "our group".

I went on to list names....Emily, Viney, Sara, Natanya, Angela.... (I know there were more, but this was the core group of friends for the longest time)...

This conversation made me remember my 12th birthday and many other's with this exact 'group' of girls.  My sister in law Kirsten put it perfectly when she said "those were some of my best birthdays...old enough to stay up late, young enough to still be non-self conscious."

How true is that?!!

It is very bizarre to look back to when I was 12 and remember it like it wasn't 23 years ago!  Looking at Jessalyn and her friends brings back floods of memories of me and mine.  Looking back, I had no idea that the reason 12 year can have such great relationships has so much to do with just being accepted for who you are.

Of course, I remember always wanting to be one of my friends for one reason or another.  There were times when I envied the way that they were and stuff that they had.  I always wanted Emily's work ethic...and her clothes and swimming pool!  I always wished I was as smart and inventive as Viney...and love her mom and her super cool "A-frame" house, not to mention the bee's and sheep (and the big brother that I always had a crush on!).  I always wanted Sara's crazy fun personality and her PERFECTLY straight little "bob" haircut...with the natural wave in her bangs, also her house was always so fun to stay at.  We all wanted Natanya's log cabin and fun traditions that she got to do with her family during Hanukkah season!  Her mom was always super fun too....she definitely drove the "cool" bus!  And I always respected and wanted Angela's strong convictions and her hand writing!  And although she didn't go to my school, my friend Brandy who was the closest thing I had to a "sister" for a few years played a huge part in my life during this time as well.  I loved Brandy's family and the fun that we had there.  I thank Brandy for my mad "running man skills" as she was the best dancer I knew..who introduced me to how much fun it was to dance to "Color Me Badd":)

So many memories..I could go on and on.

But...even though I'm sure we all envied one another for one reason or another, we were all able to just BE who we were.  There was no faking, not a huge amount of pressure to be something that we were not.  I could still be "me"...the girl who would rather have a ball in her hand or riding a bike...the girl who never dressed up and always wore shorts/jeans and tshirts, had short hair...and who would be the only one still sleeping at 10 am after a sleepover.  "My group" accepted me that way.

I love that Jessalyn has friends like this right now.  Of course, it's not all happy all the time.  There is a fair share of drama that happens on a daily basis with this exact group of girls.  There is the added variable of technology that we did not have as 12 year old's.  Ipods, cell phones, texting, social media...it changes how kids communicate today, but the overall relationship is much the same!  I'm thankful for her "group".

I'm also thankful that I still communicate (thanks to social media!) with all of my good friends from elementary school and beyond.  Of course, the girls that I listed above were my "12 year old group" and there were many additions and changes over the years.  I had very many friends who had a part in my childhood..and I fortunately have many good memories of this time in my life.

Was 12 really THAT far away?  It certainly doesn't feel like it at times!  Although, celebrating my 35th birthday and my own child's 12th birthday at the same time sure does make me feel old!!!

Also, interesting fact, my 12th year was the last year I spent without my husband in my life!  Will Jessalyn be fortunate enough to find her best friend...her husband... when she is 13?  I highly doubt it actually...if Josh has anything to say about it!!!  hahahaha