A New Counter

If you look at the bottom of my blog, you will see something new. It is my weight loss tracker! Before you rush down there to see how much I weigh, I'll let you know that it doesn't have my actual weight on there. It just has my goal of pounds to lose. Maybe one day if I get brave and lose all the weight, I'll mention my starting weight but right now I'm not telling!!
Anyway, I like watching my progress and something about making myself accountable to the world is very motivating. That's why I put it on my blog.
My battle plan is to follow the Weight Watcher plan(although I'm not going to the actual meetings). I'm using the Flex Points plan. I also want to up my exercise whether it is long walks with the dog or playing on the Wii Fit. I am so determined to do this!
So even if you never look at my ticker, I'm going to pretend lots of people are watching so that I can feel a sense of accountability. By summer, I hope to have to go out and by some new outfits :)

One of Those Days

If you have kids, you will know what I'm talking about when I say I wish I could have protected my son Andrew from having a bad day.

- He had a rough start this morning when he somehow hit his own nose on a box he was holding. There was blood everywhere. Not huge amounts, just in lots of places such as his shirt, the floor, the carpet, his pants. . . lots of drips. We got it stopped fairly quickly, and he even made it to school on time. Oh, and I managed to get out all the stains with water and kosher salt.
-At dinner he bit his tongue hard enough to make him cry.
-After dinner, his new pet goldfish died.

You know, there are just some things we can't stop from happening to our kids. Today I think he learned to be careful with objects near your nose, chew carefully, and a lesson about life and death. These are all things we need to learn. I'm not glad he had a bad day, but having rough days occasionally is a part of life. So, I think I'm going to check on him one more time to make sure he's all tucked in and pray that he has an easier day tomorrow.

School Days

Well, it has been an interesting week. To make a long story short, I feel public school has failed my youngest son. So starting on Monday I will be a homeschooling mom. My older son is doing well, so he is staying in a classroom. I am getting really excited about teaching my kid; I think it is going to be super fun. I used to be a teacher, so I know what I am doing. However, I'm sad things didn't work out for him. We hung in there for a month and a half, but things didn't seem to be getting better. The teacher seemed a bit surprised, but she does agree he would benefit from some one on one attention. The large class size was not conducive to that. She also didn't seem to be challenging him enough, so he was getting so bored. He was coming home wanting to do page after page of workbooks I have for him at home. How many kids do you know that actually want to sit down and work after school? He is really wanting to learn. There are many things I don't agree with as far as this teacher's approach, but as a former teacher I'm not going to sit and bash her. Her style just didn't work for my son. I suppose I could have tried to transfer him to another class, but I just want to get on with it and put my el. ed. degree to good use. Next year I'll revisit everything, and maybe he will be ready to try a classroom setting again. Until then, hooray, it feels good to start making lesson plans for my son :)

Freckles

We have a turtle that spent all day last Friday digging a hole and laying some eggs. I was babysitting that day, so it provided great entertainment for the kiddos.
She was very intent on laying her eggs, so having me and the kids watch did not stop her at all. She is box turtle. Freckles used her back feet to dig. I counted at least 5 eggs.
Her efforts took all day. She covered the eggs back up with dirt. Then Freckles took a break under my impatient plants(even though she is a very patient turtle). We found a worm, and the kids were delighted to see her eat. She moved in behind my clematis trellis for a couple days. We gave her a slug once and even got her to drink from a puddle when I watered my plant.
The day we named her is the day she crawled away. She has been spotted in my neighbor's yard. Chances are that we will see Freckles walking around our neck of the woods in the future.
My awesome husband put a mini fence and mesh around the eggs to protect them from the neighborhood raccoon and snakes. In a couple months, we hope to see baby turtles digging their way out of the dirt.
I love that my kids (and I) can learn so much about God's creation right in our very own front yard. How often do you see a turtle lay eggs? Sometimes we need to stop and be joyful about the little things in life that can actually be pretty cool.

End of a Chapter

I'm feeling kind of sad tonight because this week feels like the end of a chapter in a book. It is a chapter I really liked! For starters, our friends are moving up to Canada. We are excited for them, but we have been helping them out in children's ministry for years, and they will be missed. I taught their daughter in school years ago. The girls have also babysat my kids, so I'm out a babysitter too. At first we considered moving up there with them, but realized it is not part of God's plan for us right now. We love them, and we will miss them.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my boys, and then they will be on summer break. The last day of school has taken on a whole new meaning because after tomorrow, their private Christian school will be closing its doors for good. They did not survive the tough economy. My kids have thrived there. Next year they will be attending public school. My younger son graduates kindergarten tomorrow. I get to go see his little program and hear the sweet songs they have prepared. It will be bittersweet.

Anyway, notice I said End of a Chapter and not End of the Book. Finishing a chapter means you get to turn the page and start a new chapter. I'm really excited about what comes next. Life would be boring without change(even though I don't always like things to change). I'm very excited to work with our new children's ministry leader; she has a lot of neat ideas. I am proud of my kids and what a great start they had at their Christian school. I have heard positive things about the school they will attend next year.

Change can be good. It is a reminder that God is in control. Tonight I'm just mourning the loss of a few things. However, bring on the next chapter! God's plans are better than mine.

Mom

Andrew had a school assignment this week and needed to write about his mom(me). Here is what he wrote:

Mom
1. She cooks good food.
2. She helps me open the tunnel.
3. She sels jewlry that she makes.
4. She acts out at my church on the stage.
5. She catches big fishes In the ocean

I kept the spellings and everything just as he wrote them. I love it! Number 4 cracks me up about me acting out. I hope everyone had a great mother's day!

Man on the Moon

My son did a book report on Neil Armstrong. Part of the assignment was to wear a costume to school and talk about the book. My husband and I went to many stores but couldn't find a costume since it is not even close to Halloween time. So we got creative. I'm going to give my husband most of the credit for this one. We found supplies at Walmart. The helmet we borrowed from a friend.He felt so cool walking in to school. He got a 100. The best part is that he loves to read, and that his teacher makes it fun.

Mouse Trap

This is a video a friend posted on their Facebook, and I think it is funny. The middle part is a little sad but hang in there until the end :)

Snowpocalypse

We made it through round 1 of lots of heavy snow. I live near Washington, D.C., and this area is really paralyzed with the big storm we had. My family and I spent days digging out and playing. We kept power the whole time. Many people did not, which was terrible with no heat and cold temperatures. Anyway, here are some pictures of our snow and the fun we had.The car is under there somewhere.



This is a picture of the roof. My husband got up there when I wasn't watching and walked across to clear off the satellite dish. Must have tv for snowstorms!



Our house gets crazy long icicles. We broke off a couple smaller ones and the kids had fun with them inside. Star Wars anyone?


David had a great time playing in the snow!


I had the 3 kids sit on the snow for a picture. This snow is overwhelming to them.

I just had to take a picture after her brother David threw a snowball at her face. Shortly after this, Daddy wiped her face off and she forgave her brother immediately and started playing again. Love this picture! She actually has already laughed at it herself after the fact.


Andrew really loves the icicles. One of them actually touched the ground. We kept breaking them off though to help the roof with the weight load of snow and ice.
Well, this morning we took a big trip to the grocery store. Another winter storm is about to hit us with maybe another foot of snow. Power outages are even more likely because of strong winds. We have lots of food now and more snacks than I would normally buy in case we lose power and the ability to cook. We will bundle up if we have to in order to stay warm, and we will be fine. I feel like we are making memories this week. I can't wait to take more photos of snow piled up on top of snow. However, I'm also looking forward to summer or even spring at this point. Virginia, the new Alaska! Except, in Alaska, they know how to take care of the roads I'm sure.

Snow Storm!

I am all settled in and ready to be stranded at home! You see, we have a huge snowstorm that is going to paralyze the whole area. Grocery stores are running out of food, and the storm has earned the nickname snowpocalypse. I am enjoying all the hysteria around here; it is funny to me. I know it is a ton of snow, but as long as I'm safe and warm in my house with my kids and my family, then bring it on! The snow has started and the roads are covered.
Anyway, we could have anywhere from 20 to 33 inches. I'm eager to see if we really get that much. I'm hoping we do. No matter what, this is a winter to remember.
Meanwhile, I am going to sit back and watch, go out and shovel when I need to stretch, and enjoy lots of homemade food such as soup we will make and the homemade pizza we just finished off. Just praying that we keep power; that would completely change my happy mood if it went out for days. However, I'm really not expecting that to happen.
Let it snow!

Celebrity Look Alike

Well this week on Facebook everybody is supposed to post a picture of someone that is famous that looks like you. I had a lot of trouble finding anyone close. I used a generator by scanning in a photo of myself and it came up with Venus Williams. Ummmm, not quite.
I mean seriously, here is my actual picture:
So as you can see, the celebrity generator wasn't working for me. I decided to waste a lot of time and find someone by myself. The best I came up with was this picture of Mandy Moore.

So what do you think? Do I look more like Venus Williams or Mandy Moore? Ha! Or maybe I look like someone else. Judy Garland was one of the suggestions from the generator. Sometimes wasting time can be so much fun!

Grateful

This morning my daughter was thirsty and kept asking for drinks of water. I filled up her cup yet again, but I was frustrated that she needed refill after refill. Immediately after she left the room, I sat down at the computer and checked up on the latest news with Haiti. I watched a video of people running through the streets all because of a rumor they heard about water possibly being available. Tears came to my eyes instantly.
I'm so thankful that all my daughter has to do is ask, and she can have a drink of water. I just push the water button on my refrigerator and out it comes. I am glad she doesn't know what it is like to be without water for days. I'm grateful for the simple things today, such as food, water, and shelter. In the meantime, I'm praying for the people of Haiti after this earthquake. I'm praying for all those thirsty kids and all those moms that would give their children a drink if they had any to give.