Science success for today...

We have been so busy these past few weeks that I have not even considered posting a blog entry, or even reading most of the blogs that are on the right hand side of this page.  There also has not been much to share, besides random happenings, so I didn't feel too bad.

As we're waiting for our pizza to cook in the oven (decided on pizza tonight, mostly because it forced me to make the bread we were out of tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow), I had a few minutes so I actually decided to make good use of my time.  Wow, what a run-on sentence!

Today was a good day.  We got back into the swing of things after not doing much "school-work" since Thursday.  The best parts of the day were science activities, yea for science!  The girls last night put their very neat glowing necklaces that they received for hallo ween in the freezer.  I was talking to them about the chemical reaction and how cold or heat changes the rate of chemical reactions.  So, all morning and once Daddy got home they have been taking their necklaces out of the freezer, warming them in their hands until they glow again, shriek with delight and then put them back in the freezer.  Last night they also used these necklaces to have a glowing bath.  What a wonderful amount of fun we've had with these cheap little things.  Ada also managed to make-up a song about chemical reactions this morning.  I need to try to remember to find lots of educational and learning songs for every topic we study, as that seems to be what catches this girls attention.  That and videos.  I think history will be full of netflix or amazon streaming in this house once the girls get older.

We also made rain in the house this morning.  Last week our Sonlight K curriculum did not have much to offer for anything dealing with science (at least not to my liking) so we read lots of our water cycle books.  This morning we reviewed the water cycle and the girls helped me figure out (well, I lead them to what I wanted to go, but their answers were right on target) how to make it rain in a cut in half and partially inverted 2 L pop bottle.  It only sort of worked in my opinion, but the girls were thrilled.  And I was impressed with their recollection of the water cycle.  Ada even remembered the word "condensing," my 9th graders always struggled with that word!

Other school related stuff is Ada is trucking along with reading eggs and actually read a book (a short phonics first book, but a book) to me last week.  So exciting!  Also, for math we are looking at the hundreds place.  Ada is doing surprisingly well.  Maddie is struggling a bit and I think next year we will be reviewed a lot of Math U See primer with her, but Maddie is 4 so I am not concerned.  We've also had 2 whole troop meetings for Daisies as well, it is looking good for this year.

Um....pizza is smelling good so that must be the end of my post.  Let us see how Daddy did (with the help of 2 little girls) in making us pizza for dinner :-)

Sicknesses and more sicknesses

As the title suggests, we have been sick often these past few weeks.  After an eventful weekend a couple of weeks ago (including an art festival, face painting and bowling), Ada came down with a fever.  She had a fever for 3 days, was snotty with a headache for a couple of days and then was fine.  I, on the other hand, came down with this virus two days after her and have yet to completely kick it, two weeks later!  I hate my immune system, but am glad my girls have better immune systems than me.  Maddie and Hazel have been fighting it.  A little snotty in the mornings and complaining of headaches randomly, but overall fine.  So, last week we had 3 sick days, three sick days!  This week are are back to "normal" but have been dealing with crankiness when it comes to math as our work is getting harder.  So, I haven't been pushing it and they are slowly coming around, with one worksheet a day, each with four problems.  No stress, they will get it eventually. 

Soccer practices for Ada are winding down, thankfully.  She is still quitting when she feels done and is still throwing fits. I'm thinking next spring she might not be in soccer again.  In three weeks we start tumbling, so we will see if that is better or if it will be back to dance next year.  Maddie, on the other hand, is telling John he needs to be her coach in the spring for soccer.  I have started planning a daisy troop (girl scouts) with two other women that we are starting to get going.  It will be fun.  Ada and I are planning on heading to a half day girl scout activity at ISU Saturday.

The main events for the next couple of days in regards to me and the girls will be a nature walk planned for tomorrow (after a play and before grocery shopping) and then seeing the Laurie Berkner Band on Sunday.  The girls first concert and it will be exciting!  John and I even like the Laurie Berkner Band.

The other, family type, excitement has been the birth of my first niece!  My brother and his wife had Olivia Ruth Ann yesterday morning, and I must say, she is the 4th cutest little baby in the world!

Now, back to work :-)

Oh my goodness, busy busy...

We are now officially on our 4th week of homeschooling.  There are good days and bad days.  For instance, yesterday was awful for Ada.  She is just like me, poor girl, and gets so upset when she can't do something perfect or "right" in her estimation the first time.  Currently, the big issue is writing letters and numbers.  I praise her trying and her outcomes which generally look pretty good, or gently correct those that are backwards or a little off, but bad moods prevail.  Can you imagine a K teacher having to deal with her tantrums which I am used to dealing with?  I can't and would pity the poor women.  The pros for Ada over the past few weeks is that she is slowly learning to read (and spell), which is wonderful and exciting and I hope she continues our Reading Eggs program over the next year consistently (again yesterday was a bad day) so she continues to improve in the one area I was nervous about teaching.  Maddie is slowing working on phonics too but is always amazing me with her ability so far to keep up with us in math.  The inability to write numbers were frustrating Maddie today where things were clicking in that department with Ada.

The big excitements over the past few weeks have been my brother's marriage in Iowa City, going to homeschool day at Living History Farms, going to the science center, soccer practice and games for Ada (which has been good and bad due to her want to throw the other kids around), going to my new sister-in-law's baby shower (so excited for a little niece in a few weeks), going to Center Grove Orchard, new haircuts for Ada and Maddie and getting a new puppy (Abbie) a few days ago.  And, since my laptop is broken and I am posting this from the desktop I will close with pictures!

 This is Abbie the day we got her

 Ada covered in dust from "art class" outside

 Ada helping the blacksmith at Living History Farms

 Ada sliding down big slide at Center Grove Orchard

 Ada jumping on the Jumping Pillow at Center Grove Orchard

 Ada's first soccer game

 Ada on her first day of K

 John helping Ada wrap up an egg for the egg drop at the Science Center

 The girls learning how to wash clothes at Living History Farms

 The girls helping me peel tomatoes for canning, Ada thought it was gross

 Maddie and Hazel with a calf at Living History Farms

 Maddie, Ada and Hazel waiting for the tractor ride at Living History Farms

 Maddie and Ada hiking at the Ledges

 Hazel crossing a stream at the Ledges

 Hazel and Maddie on the first day of school

 Hazel loved the pin board at the Science Center

 Hazel watching her egg go up to drop at the Science Center

 Hazel and Maddie doing Reading Eggs

 Maddie bending metal at Living History Farms

 Maddie playing outside

 Maddie Rocking her new haircut

The girls at the Science Center

First week officially down, many more weeks to go :-)

Well, our first week is officially done and we are sort of starting on our second week.  The girls have been excited to do their work every day and are often begging me to find some more for them to do in the afternoon, we'll see how long that continues.  Right now we are only doing official school in the morning for 2-3 hours but, if they want more to do and I could get my work schedule more evened out we might extend it.  I don't want them to burn out so we'll see.

Highlights from this week:

• Ada and Maddie (who I am surprised is with us) have completed the first 2 weeks of our Math U See Primer Program.  I know they will slow down some as the information gets harder and Ada might be ahead of Maddie before Christmas, but right now I am happy.  I am also happy that I bought the next year, Alpha, used from an online used homeschool forum before this school year started, I might be using it for one or both of them
• Coloring and writing things every day.  The girls seem to enjoy some of the little observation and tracing worksheets
• The girls enjoying all the reading, as that is a lot of what Sonlight is, though I knew they would enjoy it
• So far not being too annoyed at Hazel wanting to do "school" with us but mostly taking her sisters stuff away when they are trying to work
• The girls love Muzzy!  I don't think they are learning any real french lately, but they are enjoying it and we can start more serious second language training in future years

Some other things that we have learned is that Maddie definitally does not have the fine motor skills to truly work on writing, and Ada is lacking in that catagory also.  We will work on tracing and such and random coloring.  This will also mean me modifying a lot of our "curriculum" for reading for Ada (and Maddie, as far as she stays with us on it), but since I'm the teacher I can do what they need and that is what this is all about!

This morning we also had a great time going to the science center since Daddy is home!  All three kids had a blast and could have stayed there longer but Hazel was starting to melt down with soap from the bubble areas in her eyes and I needed to get other things done.  We have a membership so we might make that a monthly (?) thing this winter once we need more inside stuff to do.  I just wish you didn't have to pay for parking downtown, as that will get very old if we keep the membership past this year.  Ada also demonstrated herself as maybe a budding sculpter.  They had one of those things where you can push "pins" through to make designs like your hand, except the pins were plastic and it was large.  The girls loved it and it almost makes me what to figure out how to build one for our basement.  Ada was making some interesting designs with it.  The last one she did, thinking of this on her own, was she pushed in a profile or her face and upper body then turned and pushed in the opposite facing profile.  It looked just like two people kissing and holding hands.  Very inventive!

Now, to plan for the rest of this week, which will include two more field trips so not a ton of book learning, but a lot of fun!

Side note, John and I had fun at the football game this past weekend but I must say it made us nervous for watching the game next weekend!

First Day of School!

Today was our first day of school, well, officially.  I did not get up early like I should have but the rest of the morning was good!  I came up with a schedule of sorts last night and so far it seems to be working.  I know kids have sort attention spans so we did a lot of switching it up.  Going between reading some to coloring to reading to flashcards and more writing or coloring.  The kids of course were also asking for reading eggs on the computer, which they ended their homeschool morning with.  This whole thing might work out :-)  There were a couple of meltdowns of course but overall it was good.  We also made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and that is always a hit!

This past weekend wasn't that exciting, but Friday night was good.  Friday night we went to a picnic for the Boone homeschool group we are going to join.  We met and talked to some people and the kids had a nice time running around with other kids.  I think it will be a good community :-)

Crunch Time

This week has, yet again, been busy busy busy.  A number of different doctors, dentists and physical therapy appointments have turned my weekend into a work and lessonplan-a-thon (at least it better be, with all I have to do).  The big news this week can almost be looked at as a lack of news, or lack of improvement.  After three physical therapy appointments last week and two this week, Ada's arm is not getting any better.  Her surgeon, who we saw on Wednesday afternoon, said that all other movements are just what they would want to see and have full function, except for bending it.  She can at most do about 110 degrees.  In everyday life that is not that big of a deal, except that she is having to try to find a new way to put on, and take off, her shirts.  Where it might come into play is with some exercises or sports she may want to do.  I can't see her ever being a compentitive swim person now, though I'm not sure she would want to be.  Softball and gymnastics may also be out.  If she did want to do these sports then we would find a way around it but she probably wouldn't go pro.  The big impact is solidifying for another reason why I am glad we are going to homeschool.  I can just see a public school PE teacher yelling at her or tell her she is not trying hard enough, or ever punishing her (God forbid) for not being able to do pull-ups or push-ups with her left arm.  Even if we had a note in to the teacher or a signed doctor note I can see it, at sometime, being an issue and an embarrasment for her.  But, we will never have to worry about it and that makes me very, very happy.

Speaking of homeschooling, a question might be asked if I have done any of my planning for next week yet.  The answer would be.....not really.  That is on my large to-do list this weekend.  Along with 14 hours of grading work (including what needs to get done today), making and canning applesauce, cleaning the basement and house in general and trying to find the motivation to do all of the above.  Fnding the motivation won't honestly be hard or homeschool planning for next week (as I am only going to do a personal plan a week or so at a time, the overall outline for the year is done by our curriculum). I love planning, really I do, though that might make me odd.  It is a switch to plan for different kids (well, sort of plan differently, it is yet to be seen how much different Maddie and Ada will need the plans to be overall) and to plan at a PK and K level compared to high school.  All these different subjects as well, it will be interesting.  But, I am very excited for Monday, as are the kids. I even had John move some furniture around last night to get a comfy reading chair in the homeschool room.  Now, if only I could start getting up to work or work out when my alarm goes off I would be all set :-)

A new puppy picked out and canning...

As the summer winds down it just keeps getting busier around here.  Yet again, I have found things to do besides my work.  But, oh well, there is always tomorrow to catch up :-)

Since we promised the kids a puppy after having to take Chief back (see previous post), I have been keeping my eyes open.  John was immediately thinking next spring, but as he says, once I get something into my head I can't rest until it's done.  So, I've been looking at petfinders.org, craigslist and breeders sites.  Breeders always seem to expensive, and knowing we need a puppy the shelters aren't being much help with a dog we know will be a large breed.  Then Wednesday I saw an ad for German Shepard puppies.  I contacted the person and their price was so reasonable since it was a mistake litter, and it included the first shots (something I haven't seen much of on craigslist) that we decided to do it.  The girls and I went to pick out our puppy on Friday, though she won't be coming home until she is 7 weeks old in the middle of September.  I am glad we went yesterday as the puppies were going like crazy and we had a few puppies to pick from.  John and I wanted a darker puppy and the girls wanted a girl, so that left one.  We have named her Abbie and the current home is already sending me update emails and pictures, which I love. Abbie has her own baby picture file on my computer already.

Another new and fun thing for the past 2 days is my first experience canning.  I bought 45 lbs of tomatoes from a farm in our CSA group on Tuesday, though by Friday I had to throw about about 10-12 lbs due to moldy tomatoes.  I still ended up canning 11.5 quarts between last night and this afternoon.  The whole canning thing is making me a bit nervous and I hope all the seals are obviously fine by tomorrow once they have cooled down.  But, I quickly learned my new pressure cooker with John's help and really like using it!  This morning the girls and I hit up the farmer's market and a local orchard and bought a lot of apples.  Tomorrow I am thinking of making and canning some applesauce, but we'll see if that happens tomorrow or later this week.  Apple butter or pie apples is another option that I haven't ever made before that I might try to can.  Perhaps I have gone canning crazy?  Oh well.

Tonight we had a fun night at a party for one of our friends as he turned 30. Tomorrow I think John needs to work on the garage and we need to clean and I need to do some (or a great lot, maybe 8 hours if I can) of grading.  But, I also know I have a week to get my first week's of general lesson plans done for our school year to start, and that picking away at my mind might make work impossible until I get those done.  But, we'll see :-)  One more busy week of doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, Ada's physical therapy and other odds and ends and then we officially start homeschooling.  I am nervous but looking forward to the adventure that will start next Monday and last the next 14-15 years.

And the "new dog" is gone, not such a wonderful start to the week.

The new dog, Chief, lasted all about 3 days in our house.  He was a sweet-heart and I have now been sold on Newfoundlands, however him and Lola did not get along.  Maybe it was because he was an unneutered male, or maybe it was just him, but everytime any of the girls or I were near Lola or showing her the least bit of attention he would attack.  And by attack I do mean biting and pinning her to the ground until I could pull her off screaming.  The girls even got caught in the middle a few times.  So, after this happened for the 6th or 7th (or 10th, I lost count) time during dinner Saturday night we took him back.  Ada and Maddie were besides themselves with crying and screaming that they loved him, but we just couldn't have Lola going through that.  The girls of course did not understand completely, and even the promise of a puppy would not sooth them.  When we went to the new Orange Leaf in town they calmed down a bit, but were still sad.  However, when everyone woke up Sunday morning they seemed fine, so noone is the worse for the wear, except for maybe poor Lola who is still yelping when we pet the bite marks on the back of her neck.

Today has been pretty laid back.  I still have not been able to get myself out of bed to do work or work out before the kids wake up, but we have started to read again after breakfast.  I really need to get myself and the girls on a better schedule that will lend itself to our homeschooling officially beginning in 2 weeks (yicks!).  This morning wasn't too bad, however.  The girls and I did some chores before breakfast, then read some and then the older two played their new learning game online.  I bought a subscription to Reading Eggs for both Maddie and Ada through the deal they currently having going with Homeschool Co-Op and so far the girls love it!  Of course they are only a couple of lessons in, but even if it doesn't truly work to teach them how to read it will be a fun game and a nice "between lessons" activity for one of the girls while the other is working on something with me one-on-one.

This afternoon I have been cranky though, with no children napping (and my capacity for ignoring the running around over my head not being the best today) and my own lack of being able to do work this afternoon, I am not the best one to deal with right now.  Of course that didn't keep me from doing something to try to better my mood this afternoon, besides working.  I saw yesterday that hip homeschool moms asked about blogs on a status update on facebook yesterday, so I went in and looked at the links this afternoon.  And I added a ton of blogs to my already long blogs list to the right.  That's okay though.  Always looking for new ideas and to see how other people are doing, especially since we don't have any friends who homeschool (well, I do have one, but she lives 2.5 hours away).

Maybe tomorrow will be better for moods and schedules.  Though that might not happen since I have to have two cavaties fixed tomorrow.  Yuck, I hate the dentist!  I wish my mouth wasn't so stupid with cavaties and such.  I take fairly good care of my teeth and my mouth, it just doesn't like me :-(  So, maybe Wednesday will be a better day?  Here's to hoping!

T-Shirt Givaway

I read a lot of blogs (look at my list on the right, there's a lot of good ones) and one of them is giving away some T-shirts!  The blog giving away these shirts is Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and you can just click this link to get to their post.  The T-shirts are homeschooling T-shirts and are from the website store for Great Products and my favorite T-shirt looks like:


The prices are good too, maybe my kids will be getting some new shirts for Christmas :-)

Run to Iowa City, Visiting the State Fair and Getting a New Dog

With how busy our last couple of days have been, I have gotten nothing done for work, nothing.  This means that my average per day for the next three days needs to be 6.33 hours of work (each day).  Good thing it is supposed to rain and we have nothing planned until Sunday later afternoon and evening!  However, with such a busy time, I have things to post about, yeah!

Yesterday morning started out in a rush as we were running late for getting the dogs and Camille to the vet for regular check-ups and heartworm tests. The reason for running late?  Us taking 15 minutes to catch Camille as she has figured out noone can reach her when she is under the king bed, in the middle.  We finally made it to the vet and Ada got pulled down by Harley in the parking lot, onto her face and bad arm.  The bad arm she also fell on the evening before when playing tag with a neighbor boy.  Screaming ensued, she said she couldn't bend it (though within a hour was back to bending in the minimal amount she has been able to since getting the cast off and pins out 2 weeks ago) and I was texting my mom and John.  My mom went and checked with the nurse of her surgeon and by 11:30 we were on our way to Iowa City for X-rays and visiting a resident.  The X-rays were not a big deal (if you ignore Ada throwing a fit) but we ended up waiting to see the resident for almost 2 hours!  None of the girls ate lunch, except for random bits of food my mom and her friends found at their desks, and all were cranky by the time we got on the road for the 2 hour drive home.  John had dinner waiting for us (bless him) at 7:45, when we pulled in, and our day ended up with not much to show for it besides being in the car and having cranky children.

This morning we got up, got ready, and headed to the State Fair.  On the way we got a call from my mom who said she had an order in her hand for Physical Therapy for Ada's range of motion.  Her current range of motion is being able to move her arm from about 10 degrees to 90 degrees, but nothing more, and most of the time she leaves it hanging limp like she is still in the cast.  I think PT is needed and hopefully it helps, though she is already voicing her opinion of having to go.  The State Fair was fun however, and Ada and Hazel got up to help Silly Sally (who they love) with several songs when we saw her perform.  Maddie (and the other 2) got to see lots of types of animals and Maddie is already crossing her fingers our 5 raffle tickets will pay off and we will win the horse this year featured on the Avenue of Breeds.  Maddie could look at animals all day (she is my daughter) but was happy that they got to pet pigs, horses, a day old pig, an hours old lamb and cows.  The day at the fair ended on a cranky note as Hazel needed a nap and Maddie fell when trying to climb on a table to see the eggs hatching, but getting cookies and water in the car helped. 

After the fair we headed to Indianola.  I have wanted another big dog for a few years, and John and I have looked at a few dogs at shelters or advertised on craigslist, but nothing became of it.  This past weekend I started talking with a women who said she had a very sweet 1 year old Newfoundland (a breed I love) for sale.  The price was high, and though we did get them to come down a bit, it was probably still too much, but we went to look at the dog with cash in hand.  When we got to their house I was taken with this dog for two reasons.  One, he really is a sweetie, and two, I did not want to leave him in this house.  The poor dog is covered, and I mean covered, with mats.  His ears cannot lay right and he is walking poorly with his back legs (and can't really seem to climb stairs) because of these mats.  I just cannot understand how he has gotten to this point, since the people have kept him up to date on vaccines and even updated a number of shots yesterday for us, but it is bad.  On the way home I was making many calls to various groomers in town to see who I could get him into soon to shave off all his hair as that is the only way I see of getting rid of these mats.  The house was also not that clean.  The front room was a little tattered, but not bad, but as soon as we saw the "dog area" where they had doggie doors that they were offering me, I had to force myself to not show my disgust.  The sliding doors were covered in mold.  All three kids were with me and I really wanted to tell them not to breath.  I couldn't leave him in that place and know we can give him a better life.  The girls love him (except for his slobbering) already.  The other dogs are not doing too bad with him.  They are not playing yet, and Harley is not sure what to think of this huge dog trying to play with him and slobbering on him, but all is well I think in that area.  The cats and the dog will need some adjusting.  He had cats at his other house, but so far mine are not ignoring him enough and he wants to play.  The only times we have heard him bark (and what a bark!) was with Sullivan hissing and swatting at him.  I believe the dog is playing (even when he mouthed Sullivan, at least I hope), though the cats are not interested in playing.  It will take some adjustment.  But I think that Chief will be a good addition to this home, that is if I can get him name right as I keep wanting to call him other names (so does John).

Tomorrow my goal is to keep the peace between all the animals, between all the kids, to work and to get Chief's neutering scheduled.  Hopefully all our trips and driving is done for a little while.  That is until my mom and I go to Sugarland at the State Fair Sunday, so excited for that!

Maddie's 4th Birthday Video and our past weekend's happenings.



Maddie's 4th Birthday Video

Since coming home from WI on Friday we have been busy busy around here.  On Saturday we went to Walker's birthday party, which was fun.  The girls always love playing in parks and we enjoy talking with friends when we can.  After that we quickly went home to change and do makeup/hair (all the girls required eye shadow and lipstick and the younger two wanted their hair flat-ironed) and then we headed down to Des Moines for Ryan and Emily's wedding.  The girls were little crab-apples during the actual wedding, but the reception was a hit all around.  They not only had good food, but they had a separate kids' food table.  It is always good to go to a wedding where you can talk to family, and the girls love dancing for most of the night.  Sunday (yesterday) was the Ames water park, which we always enjoy, then we had dinner with the in-laws since Nick was still in town. 

Today was a little more normal, though I haven't been able to make myself do the work I need to do.  I did not do enough during this past week being on vacation, so I need to play catch-up this next two weeks.  I also got it into my head to upload all our pictures (naming, editing, and to shutterfly) today and making Maddie's birthday video.  Of course Facebook would not let me load these types of videos anymore so we'll see if I can get it to work (above).  When I proudly showed the video to Maddie and the other girls she started crying like usual for these videos.  I need to stop picking such sad sounding song I guess.

Now in Door County.

We made it up to Door County (Egg Harbor, to be precise) late yesterday afternoon.  It was a pretty easy trip, besides having to make a number of stops for Ada who was battling an intestinal virus. 

The house we are staying in is nice, for a rental cabin.  Not sure I would pay as much money as my parents are paying for this place since it is obviously not cleaned between rental weeks very well (bug parts on comforters and our feet are black after walking on the tile floor for awhile).  It is, however, big and it is apart from other cabins which is good for the 5 dogs now in the house.  There are also two huge whirlpool tubs that I will enjoy and the girls have already enjoyed during this trip.

This morning was errands to get things we forgot and trying to find the places that we will be renting boats from and where the boys will go fishing from Monday morning.  This afternoon, after an unsuccessful nap time, we went to the beach.  What a nice beach Egg Harbor has!  Much better for little kids and feet compared to our two trips to MN and to NC.  Sandy, not many rocks, and shallow for a ways out.  The water in Green Bay was also nice.  A little cold to begin with, but all the kids were enjoying themselves.  Well, all the kids for the most part.  Hazel, minus a nap and not sleeping well last night, did not understand why she could not walk as far out into the water as everyone else.  Even putting her life jacket on, so that she could float and we could pull her, did not help.  She did not want anyone holding her, wanting to be the big girl and walk herself, even when it was too deep.  So, she only calmed down by digging in the sand.  Ada enjoyed attempting to swim with her life jacket on.  This attempt I was very happy about though because it means that she is gaining confidence in the water, which will work out well for their next set of swim lessons this winter.

We're definitely looking forward to the rest of this week, with more beach time, a fish boil, fishing and boating trips, light-house tours and shopping with the girls.

It will be a busy week.

Well, to start off my busy week of trying to get work done, plus other appointments and plans and preparing for our trip starting WI, I am of course doing many other things instead of working!  I always seem to do that, finding lots of odds and ends to accomplish besides what I really need to do.  Oh well.

My added accomplishments last night and today, instead of working, have been to sign the kids up for activities for the coming months.  Ada decided she really wants to try soccer.  So, since the deadline for signup is the 1st, I signed her up for a U5 team through Ames Soccer Club.  She's excited and we'll see how it goes since John volunteered to be a coach if they needed one.  This morning the whole signing up for stuff thing was getting to me, so I went onto Ames Park and Rec and signed up the older two for gymnastics (which will hopefully not end up on the same night as soccer!) and all three girls for swimming in January.  In fact, because Hazel is so little but wants to do swim lessons, I will be doing them with her for a parent-child class.  Guess it's a good thing I bought some new swim suits earlier this summer.

This past weekend was good.  We got some mild cleaning done and had a great dinner last night with a couple of friends of ours.  Adult conversation is always good, though the girls were trying to get all attention on them and show off all night, like usual.  Sat., I did some errands and ended up at Borders since it is closing it's doors.  I walked around overwhelmed for 45 minutes, and between the majority of the sales only being 10% off and looking up prices on amazon on my phone, I left with nothing.  I might try to find time to go back Thursday night to see if their percentages off have up, or maybe they'll still be open by the time we get back from WI.  I would like to get some new books for the girls to put away for Christmas, but we'll see.

The main anxiety this week, besides working and getting ready for the trip (and doing bills Thursday, I hate bills) is Ada's doctor's appointment Wednesday.  She will get her cast off and pins out.  Thankfully John is coming with us so I won't have to calm Ada and wrangle the other two myself, but I'm sure it will be a stressful day.

Well, back to work I go, after this nice brain vacation :-)

Well, we'll see how my second attempt at a blog goes....

Over this past year or eighteen months, as our lives has changed from me working as a high school teacher to me staying home and working as an adjunct faculty member so I could stay home and homeschool the girls, and as we moved from rural Gladbrook to Ames, I have starting enjoying looking at different people's blogs.  Especially homeschool blogs.  So, this will be my second attempt at blogging.  I probably won't do it every day, but I am planning on documenting some of our personal and homeschool lives as we embark on our first year of homeschooling.  Ada will be a kindergarten!  I can't believe it that my kids are getting so big!  Maddie will be doing preschool type things and Hazel will continue to work on being a growing and learning toddler.  With our schooling career starting in about 4.5 weeks, the anxiety has begun on my part, but I'm sure it will all work out and am thrilled that we have decided to homeschool the girls.  During these past few weeks I need to start planning (though I will try to only micromanage my plans a week at a time) and I need to get in a good schedule of getting up early so I get my 4-5 hours of work in a day, get time to school and play with the kids, get time with my husband, get time to do household stuff (including cooking and eating meals) and get time to work out and shower each day.  I've been meaning to get this schedule going for the past year, with no luck, but with a month to go my deadline for myself is looming.

Besides my plans and schedule needing to get together, our upcoming big events are Ada's cast and pins coming off/out next Wednesday and our WI vacation starting next Friday.  Then it is a few doctors appointments, the Iowa State Fair and going to Sugarland with my mom after coming back from WI.  Then school starts.  This past year has gone by fast and I'm sure life will only speed up as we become busier, but I wouldn't change being able to spend these next years with my children for anything!