Broken Bone #3

Yes, it is now over two months since my last blog post, I realize this... I said when I started this blogging attempt that I've never been able to stick with it before, so at least I gave fair warning!

With that said, it's probably pretty important to document the unfortunate happenings of last weekend. Late Sunday afternoon William decided to flip himself off Dave and my bed in the two seconds that Dave turned his back. I knew immediately that he was hurt in a way he'd never been hurt before because of the tone in his cry. After waiting it out for a couple hours, during which he could be consoled only momentarily, I decided to take him into the ER. After an x-ray of his lower body (the region I was able to pin-point his injury) they confirmed that he had a broken femur, just above his knee. William was sent home wearing a plaster splint and we were given directions to contact orthopedics first thing in the morning.

(Daddy & William, late Sunday night)

The next morning we got the good news that the break was aligned correctly, meaning surgery was not necessary! Additionally, the original estimate of 8-12 weeks healing time that we were given in the ER was modified down to 3-4 weeks - AMAZING news! After visiting with the doctor he sent us to get a hip-to-toe cast, with a warning that it might not be possible to get a good enough fit on the cast, in which cast we would need to resort to a dreaded spica cast. So, off we went to have the hip-to-toe cast applied - keeping our fingers crossed that it would do the trick!

Unfortunately, we didn’t even make it home before the cast started slipping off William’s chunky thigh and so, we returned to the orthopedic office later that afternoon to confirm that we did in fact need to have the spica cast put on to ensure proper healing.

(William's hip-to-toe cast -- just a couple hours after it was put on, already sliding off his leg!)

That night we divided the bigger kids between Mama & Papa Millers' (they got Ellie and James) and Mama & Papa Hayes' (they got Russell and Belle). The next morning William, Dave, and I checked in at the hospital bright and early so that William could be given general anesthesia for the application of the spica cast. (By this time William was no longer in pain from the break - so that was a relief, though he *really* wanted to eat, and we weren't allowed to feed him until after the procedure.)

William did great for the procedure, and although it was (and still is!) really hard to comprehend *why* our little fellow needs such a HUGE cast - we were so relieved that everything went okay and that we could finally start the healing process. Although his mobility is severely limited, William is making the best of the situation and other than wanting to be held lots (which I'm more than happy to do, I just worry that my back will have permanent damage after toting around his bulk for the next several weeks!), he is really a very happy little kiddo!

Thankfully, a friend of mine brought over some size 24 month outfits with button-up legs and they fit him! For some reason, psychologically it is *so* much easier for me when the casts are hidden from view! The estimates for his recovery time have been increased back up to 4-6 weeks, but we've got the first week down in the books already! Although I hate to wish away any time I get to spend with my kiddos while they are little, I'll be counting down the days until this cast come off!

p.s. If you are counting Miller kid broken bones: William had #1 (broken collar bone during delivery), Ellie had #2 (broken humerus), William #3 (broken femur)... I'm wondering if it's possible to keep this count on one hand?!

2011-2012 School Year Plans

School has already started -- and we ARE homeschooling!! And, although I realize that my goal to update this blog on a regular basis has already failed, I do want to document my goals and plans for the coming school. With that said, here is what my curriculum for this year looks like:

Reading: Just lots of it! At night I'd like to read a chapter or two of a chapter book to the three bigger kids. I plan to incorporate lots of books that have been made into a movie, since getting to watch the movie is a motivating force for the kids to read the entire book! We did Charlotte's Web this summer, and just this week we got to watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the second book in "The Chronicles of Narnia". We'll start reading the next book in the series soon! Hopefully we can catch up with the release of the next movie so the kids can see the movie on the big screen right after finishing the book!

For Belle, I plan to encourage her to continue to read books from the American Girl series. I have made contact with a local homeschooling family who is considering starting up an American Girls reading club. If that gets going, Belle would adore being a part of the club! For Russell, I will encourage reading books out of The Magic Tree House series. So far, he read just one of the books; hopefully, I can convince him to continue along in the series! For James, READING is one of my biggest goals this year! Right now he doesn't even have any sight words yet, so getting him up to actual reading this year may be a stretch - but I think we can do it! I didn't follow a curriculum to teach with either of the older two, so I'm hoping to just be able to wing it again... we'll see how it goes!

Math: Math-U-See:I've purchased the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma levels. My plan is to have Belle and Russell complete alpha and beta and possibly get started on gamma this coming school year. We've done MUCH of alpha and beta already (on our own, without following the curriculum), so I don't think this is too much of a stretch. I've discovered that some of the math I've already taught them was just pure memorization though, and while that is good on one level, they really struggle with applying the logic behind one problem to similar problems.... For James, I plan to teach him to count to 100, understand place value, and MAYBE start basic addition problem solving.

Writing: Write Shop Primary, Levels A and half of B. I'm struggling with this because I know that Belle is ready for level B already, but I'd REALLY like to keep Belle and Russell together for this subject. Hopefully I can get Russell up to Belle's level so that they can stay together - so that means working through level A before starting level B. To justify keeping Belle in level A, I'll do lots of the suggested "extension activities" for her on top of the basic lesson. In addition to this curriculum, I plan to use copy work (primarily bible versus), journal time, and pen-pal letters to further handwriting and basic writing skills.

Science: I purchased lapbooks from Hands of a Child (http://www.handsofachild.com/) to use for different topics. My goal is to complete a study on the following subjects: heat and temperature, trees/seeds, spiders, dinosaurs, color, snow, rain, rocks/minerals, earth, space, and volcanos. I'll supplement this curriculum with lots of library books and experiments. The little kids will be involved with this area as much or little as they'd like, but I'll insist that Belle and Russell participate in the planned activities.

History/Geography: I plan to just do my own thing with this this year. My goals are to have the kids memorize the states and their capitols, along with the presidents (and potentially the years they served). If we accomplish this, I'll consider this subject a huge success!

Music: Belle started piano lessons a year ago, and Russell will be starting this year. I've been very pleased with the progress Belle has made, so my goal in this area would be for Belle to continue learning at the same rate, and for Russell to begin learning at a similar rate. Additionally, I'd like for Belle to become more independent with her practice... right now she gets so frustrated if I'm not sitting right next to her, so some independence in this area would be great! (With that said, I fully expect to have to sit with Russell for each practice for this entire year... God give me patience!!) We supplement their lessons with online note and key recognition practice. By the end of this school year I expect Belle and Russell to have both the treble and bass clef notes memorized (both the actual key and the note on the staff). Belle should also be able to identify some key signatures. The primary website we are using for this is: http://www.musicards.net

Typing: This is definitely an extra academic skill at this age, but because the kids are so interested in computer learning, I think it is important that they learn how to correctly type on a keyboard. The primary website we are using for this is: http://www.typing-lessons.org/. I hope that they are proficient at the first 6 lessons on that website by the end of the school year.

Spelling: I purchased the Sequential Spelling curriculum before deciding that I should wait at least a year before beginning that with my kids. So instead, I am going to use the lessons from http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/index.html. Russell is going to start right at the beginning, spelling level A, list 1. I just gave Belle a test to determine her placement level, and she's going to start at level A, list 15. For both kids, I expect that they complete a list a week, putting them 35 weeks ahead of their starting point by the end of this school year.

Preschool: I'm going to use ideas from the Funshine Express curriculum guide that I used in 2008-2009 when I did preschool at home with Belle and some of her friends. I have selected the topic areas that I want to incorporate, and I'll use the lesson plan ideas from those particular subject areas. I'm trying to align these themes with the science unit studies, so hopefully most of this learning time will correspond to our science topic. In addition to those units I plan to do a unit on personal safety, fire safety, healthy bodies (nutrition/exercise), various holidays, and a Dr. Seuss theme. The designated "preschool time" will be primarily for James, though I plan for everyone to participate at some level.

Whew... so there are my plans! I'm already anxious and excited at the same time to look back on this post a year from now! Let this homeschooling journey begin!

James and Ellie's Birthday Party Celebration

We combined James and Ellie's birthdays into one big celebration -- a superhero birthday party bash! Up until the day before the party I was just planning to do our "normal" party routine -- people come over, we serve some food and drinks, get out a cake and sing happy birthday, eat cake and ice-cream and then open the presents. Well, about 24 hours before the party was scheduled to begin I started feeling guilty that James wasn't getting the party he'd asked for. Ever since Russell celebrated his birthday at Jumpin Janes in March, James has been telling me on a regular basis that he also wants to have HIS birthday party at Jumpin Janes... I'd totally blown him off, and honestly, I hadn't even really told him "no". So, when the guilt set in, I decided that I'd make his birthday extra special at home, and thus, the "superhero birthday" theme began!

My first step was the convince my mother that we could make superhero capes for all the kids. Her exact response to me was "if I could make 10 superhero capes by tonight, I would be a superhero!". I informed her that I actually needed 12 capes, and promised her that I'd do everything non-sewing related to make it happen... if she would only do the sewing part for me. And, as usual, my Mom came through for me! She showed up at our house around 6pm with 12 super hero capes all cut out - and we then spent the next several hours cutting out the logo for the backs, ironing them on, and attaching the velcro. When all was said and done, we had made 12 child-sized capes (custom made -- each with the child's initial on the back logo and the right length for their height!) PLUS we had made a "villain" cape for Papa Hayes to wear! :)

James was THRILLED with the superhero theme, and all the kids were beyond excited for the party to get started! After the guests all arrived the kids were given their capes and got to decorate a "superhero mask" with stickers. The girls got pink masks and the boys got black masks. After everyone was satisfied with their mask I made the whole gang head outside for some photos. Here are some of the better ones I got!

(Superhero line up - Batman (James) at one end and the Villain (Papa Hayes) at the other!)

Next, we played some games! Dave and Uncle Bryon were in charge of hiding the Kryptonite in our "Batcave" basement for the kids to find. Dave had decorated the basement with black crepe paper, and the Kryptonite they were searching for was glow sticks. Even though Dave and Uncle Bryon forgot to activate the glow sticks (meaning they weren't actually glowing...) the kids enjoyed the hunt. The last game was "Vaporize the Villain" - and I think the adults enjoyed it more than the kids did! I gave each kiddo a bottle of silly string, and sent the Villain (Papa Hayes) outside to fight the superheros! The Villain illegally went for the water hose to fight off the superheros, but at the end, I think the superheros won the game!

(The Villain being vaporized with silly string!)

We finished the party off by singing the kids happy birthday (while Belle played the piano for her first time ever accompanying vocalists!), eating Dairy Queen cake, and opening presents. We didn't get any pictures of the birthday cake or singing, but I'm trying not to be too upset because Dave got it all on video! Both James and Ellie got tons of gifts and were beyond spoiled on their big day! The whole day was such a success, I'm slightly afraid of how the next birthday celebration will go... I hope the kids don't expect it to top this party!

(Mommy & Ellie opening gifts-- Superhero James, aka Batma, surveying his loot!)

"Lazy Days of Summer"?!?!

Aggghhh! Who ever coined the term the "lazy days of summer" apparently never had children! We are on the go constantly -- it feels like summer has just begun, when in fact, we are already in August!

Here's a quick recap of the end of July (I PROMISED myself that I'd do an individual post on James and Ellie's birthday party -- so that will be coming in the (hopefully near) future!)

In late July Ellie got her cast off! The after-cast x-ray confirmed that she had a break through the growth plate in her humerus, so we'll be taking another trip to the pediatric orthopedic doc in six months to confirm that everything is growing correctly. Just before heading into the doctor we all signed Ellie's cast -- and when they took it off in the doctors office she very LOUDLY screamed "mine" when they took it away from her. The doctor sent her home with the cast as a memento, though I quickly stashed it up high because it smelled horrendous! When Dave got home (he was in Memphis for the week) Ellie showed it to him very proudly -- I then asked her if we could throw it away, and she promptly walked over to the garbage can and threw it out!

(James signing Ellie's cast)

(Signatures)

Ellie w/ Mommy, Mama Hayes, and Russell

Hopefully our next broken bone experience is a LONG way down the road!

That same week Belle and Russell finished their swimming lessons. They both passed with flying colors and were super proud to show me that they are able to jump off the high-dive and swim by themselves(!!!) to the edge! It was really amazing watching them do that, because the last time they were in water without a life jacket they were not even CLOSE to that level. They made great strides this summer... if only we could make it to the pool more often to ensure that they keep moving forward!

(Belle jumping off the high-dive)

(Russell jumping off the high-dive)(VERY proud of themselves!)

Here are some pictures of how William, Ellie, James and myself spent our time while Belle and Russell were swimming! James LOVED going to their swim lessons daily, because that meant that he got an hour of play time in the park!

(William, Ellie, and James - playing at the park!)

That same week James did parent-tot swim lessons at night. Dave went with him the first couple sessions, I joined him for one night, and Mama Hayes took him for the last night. He had a great time, and is absolutely ready for the next level (without parent involvement) of lessons!

At the end of that week Kaylee and Caprice came over for dinner and a visit. (Other than for an hour last weekend) the last time we saw them was last July for Aunt Jenny's wedding! It's amazing how quickly kids and teenagers age -- both of them look so mature it's crazy! To think that I used to babysit Kaylee when she was younger than Ellie... I guess that shows how old I'm getting too! Of course the kids loved having them over -- they've been asking ever since when they are going to come for the next visit!

(Russell, Caprice, James, Kaylee, Ellie, William and Belle -- Ellie and Papa Hayes)

That weekend the Watsons came to town for an overnight visit. They brought burgers with to grill out (and the rest of lunch as well because Dave still hadn't returned from Memphis, and I hadn't gone grocery shopping the entire week...). They showed up just before noon, and about 30 minutes later Dave got home as well! (It sounds like a war zone when Dave arrives after a long time out of town - the kids go absolutely crazy!!) Bryon and Angie went out to celebrate Bryon's birthday that night, so we hung out with Joey. The next morning they took off bright and early, and we headed to church.(Joey and Ellie - BFF!)

(Belle, William, and Joey)

The following week we did lots of playdates with friends (the Rublys, the Schumachers, and the Donglingers) and I gave the kids a total break from anything school related... I guess that was the closest we are going to come to the "lazy days of summer".

So... I'm up to the big birthday bash! How is it possible that my baby girl has turned two and James is about to be four... I keep telling them not to grow up, but for some reason they aren't following my instructions!

Ellie's Birthday Weekend

Well, I knew that it was going to be a challenge making myself be consistent with blogging... but I thought I'd last longer than this before failing to post! We stay so busy that it's impossible to catch up with all the events of the past week already... so, here's a super quick synopsis of the week: Belle and Russell have had swim lessons all week long at 9am -- while they swim, James, Ellie, William and I play at the park nearby! James has had swim lessons at 5pm each night in the "parent-tot" class, and him and Dave have been having lots of fun with that! I got to join James on Friday evening (although he made it VERY clear to me that he would rather have Daddy instead!) and I was super impressed with how much his swimming skills have improved! He even jumped off the high-dive by himself (with one of his swim coaches waiting below to catch him!). Twice this week we met friends after morning swim lessons to play at the park and eat a picnic lunch -- so the kids have been exhausted at the end of the day after all their swimming and playing in the sun! Dave also had both Monday and Friday off work this week - so that was an added bonus!

On Friday evening Mama and Papa Miller brought corn-on-the-cob and burgers over to grill out! We made fruit smoothies and had a wonderful middle of the summer dinner! On Saturday morning we brought the kids to the Epworth parade in town! Our friends, the Rubly's, live on the parade route, so we were able to hang out at their place before and during the parade. My cousin, Josh, is the editor of the local newspaper, and he was covering the parade for his publication. So he joined us at the Rublys, along with his mother (my Aunt and Godmother) Mary, and his two kids, Ella and Jack (Dave's and my Godson). Although the parade took awhile to get started, the kids had a great time playing together and socializing!

Shortly after we got back from the parade Papa Hayes showed up with Kaylee! We haven't seen Kaylee since last summer when she was back for Aunt Jenny's wedding - so it was great to see her! The big kids were all thrilled to see her, while Ellie of course has no memories of her, and this was the first time Kaylee and William met. I'm so bad about remembering to take pictures, so I don't have any... but hopefully we'll get together with both Kaylee and Caprice at least once more before they fly home to Seattle!

That afternoon the neighbors across the street took Belle and Russell with them to the "fun day" events that were taking place as part of the Fire Department's 100th anniversary celebration. They tell me they had lots of fun jumping in bounce houses and eating ice-cream... hopefully they behaved themselves! While they were still gone my parents came over to babysit the kids -- and Dave and I got out for a (rare!) dinner and movie night! Together Mom and Dad were able to hold down the fort at home -- the kids tell me that the boys spent most of the night at the farm with Papa, while Mama, Belle, Ellie, and William hung out at home! Belle got to feed William a bottle for her first time ever -- an event that she's been looking forward to for awhile! Meanwhile, Dave and I enjoyed ourselves at Olive Garden followed by the movie Harry Potter, 7.2!

On Sunday it was Ellie's 2nd birthday! We all went into her room together to sing her happy birthday when she first woke up! She wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but she didn't seem to mind the attention! We then headed out to church for early service, ran some errands right after church, and came home for a quick lunch and birthday cake to celebrate! Dave baked her cake and decorated it himself!

Group shot, just before cake!

Ellie blowing out her candle!

Dave had to head to the airport early that afternoon, so Papa Miller stopped by to pick him up. None of us were happy to see him go, but Belle was an especially sad little girl. She spent the rest of the afternoon crying, it was really sad. :( Ellie went to bed at her normal time (7:30pm) that night... but I let the big kids stay up to watch the movie Charlotte's Web (again!)

Ready for sleep!

As you can see... they probably should have gone to bed at their normal time as well!

So that's our weekend in a nutshell... at least I'm getting this posted before the next weekend happens!

Another Summer Weekend

On Saturday morning Dave took Belle and James and met my parents at the Monastery to work in the garden. My parents are good friends with Father Placid, the guy who is in charge of the gardens, so whenever they have time to help him garden, they get rewarded with lots of fresh veggies and fruits. This time, they came home with a five-gallon bucket of green beans! Which of course meant that we needed to store the beans, so Dave, Mom, and myself spent Saturday afternoon canning the beans. We ended up with 20 pint sized jars, plus about 3-4 servings of fresh beans. I'm going to try to do another detailed post on the canning process of the beans so that the next time we need to can beans I can just reference my own blog instead of having to look it up again!

Saturday evening I took Belle and Russell to the play "Charlotte's Web". Since it was the first chapter book we read aloud together, it worked out great that one of the local theaters was putting it on for their summer play. Both kids really showed an interest in the play and expressed that they enjoyed the play over the movie even (which is HUGE since our kids typically choose a movie over ANY other option!). Belle said several times that she'd like to be an actress in a play next summer (this entire production was put on by kids ages 7-16). She will be old enough next year to audition, but I'm guessing that the time commitment is really big, so Dave and I will need to look into that before we make her any promises! After the play we stopped at Betty Jane's for some ice-cream. The kids were so well behaved at the play, I thought they deserved a special treat!

This morning Dave and I slept in (the extra sleep was desperately needed by both of us - though I still feel like I could sleep for a couple days solid if I was given the chance!). The big kids and Dave played outside in the sprinkler in the late morning and a couple neighborhood friends joined in the fun. After they got tired from the sprinkler everyone came inside to play and then eat some lunch -- at which time we sent the neighbors home so our kids could get some rest.

After naps Belle, William and I headed over to Grandma Hallenbeck's house for a visit. My mom met us there, and we attempted some group shots - apparently the timer function wasn't working though, so we don't have any photos with Mom in them.

I really need to make a point to visit with her much more frequently - she has so many stories to tell, and it's always an enjoyable experience. Dave and the rest of the kids headed to his parents house while we were at Grandma's, and we met them there for dinner. After some brats and watermelon we played x-box for awhile and then called it a weekend!

Mommy Made a New Friend!

I recently made a new Mommy friend, and we had her and her kids over for a play date today! The oldest, Jaden, falls right in between Russell and James' age (though he will be in Russell's class in school) and both boys adore him!

The youngest, Hailey, just turned three in May, and Belle loves hanging out with her -- while Hailey loves hanging out with William! :)



Katie and I are meant to be friends, we share so much in common, and I really enjoy the time I spend with her! We met at a "Moms Group" and really clicked, though neither of us pursued contacting each other after the initial meeting. Several months later I saw a post she made on a local homeschool support group chat site, and it spurred me to get in touch with her! It turns out she was also contemplating the idea of homeschool, though they decided (for now at least) to go the public school route. I've had a great time every time we've gotten together, and I'm really glad to have formed this new friendship! We are hoping to get together as families sometime soon so that our husbands can meet each other - hopefully they'll hit it off as well as Katie, myself, and the kids have!

On an unrelated note, Jen, Peter, and Benjamin stopped by today on their way back to Iowa City (they just got back from a vacation out East with my parents). Here's Ben practicing to be a big brother:

We had my parents over for dinner tonight - it was nice to see them again after they've been gone for the past two weeks! After dinner Russell got to spend the night at the farm with Papa, while Belle, James, and Ellie spent the evening playing with the neighbor girl, Kay. It was a wonderful start to our weekend!

Belle's First CAFE Experience

Yesterday evening Belle and I went to CAFE (Christians Activated to Feed) at our church. It's been a long time since I've volunteered at that ministry (think over a decade ago), and it was really good for me to get involved again. I felt so uplifted being able to help others, and I left with a renewed vision of how truly blessed I am. The most positive part of our experience was Belle's reaction to the ministry. She was such an enthuastic helper -- she was in charge of making sure I had glasses to fill with drinks, assisting elderly or handicap persons with carrying their meal and/or drinks back to their seat, and helping with clean-up after the meal was served and the guests were gone. She approached all of her jobs very dutifully and really warmed the hearts of many of the guests with her cheerful attitude and beautiful smile!

As we walked out of the church hand-in-hand, I had no idea how strong of an impact the experience had on her. It wasn't until we reached our car and I was about to pull out that I heard her crying... I turned around and she was sobbing, with her head buried in her hands. She had so much compassion for the people we had just served, that she wasn't able to process it all without tears, and the size of her heart brought me to tears as well. Among the guests was a little girl just about Belle's age, and it was Belle's interaction with this particular person that affected her greatest. We talked about how blessed we are to have a home with beds for all of us, food always on the shelves and in the fridge, and money to pay all our bills. Belle was trying to understand why some people are blessed to this extent, while others, like this little girl, are not so fortunate. It was a challenging concept for my little six year old to wrap her mind around, and her actions and words reminded me yet again how proud I am of the person she is becoming.

Dave and I both agree that we want to make volunteering at CAFE a regular part of our lives in the future. Unfortunately our Thursday nights are booked up for the rest of summer, but I'm going to make a point to avoid scheduling activities on Thursdays once fall hits so that we can attend CAFE at least once a month. As with all volunteer opportunities I've experienced, I'm positive that Belle and I got more out of the experience than the people we were serving.

Homeschooling = The Road Not Taken?

Today we went to story time at the library. We ran into two of our neighbors and while the big kids were engaged with the story time program I chatted with the other moms (while chasing Ellie around and nursing William!). In the course of our discussions my homeschooling secret came out... and neither of the ladies looked at me like I have 3 heads! One of them actually said that she anticipates she will end up homeschooling her children around junior high age!

In one of the homeschooling books that I've been devouring recently I read a stanza from the famous poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, and I cannot get it out of my mind:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I feel so strongly called to give homeschooling a chance - and I feel like God lead me to this quote at the right time, to nudge me over the edge. Hopefully I've got a strong enough grasp on Dave's hand that I can pull him over the edge with me...

Homeschool Play Date

It's 2:50pm right now (I know the timestamp doesn't reflect that... I can't figure out how to fix it!) and every Miller kid is sleeping! Woo-hoo! They've all been down for over an hour now, so I fully expect that someone will wake up shortly -- but for now, the house is quiet and I've been getting some much needed time in working.

This morning we went to a homeschool play date at Flora park. There were at least eight other Moms there, and several dozen kids! Belle found a female playmate her same age, so that was wonderful -- and there were lots of little boys James' and Russell's age! Hopefully these new friendships will grow in the coming months/years! So many things happened while there that really spoke to me about the benefits of homeschooling.

Here are a couple examples: two girls were talking (I think they are both 9 year olds) and one said to the other, "why do you get to homeschool?". The first replied "because my Mom says public school doesn't teach me anything." "Oh", said the other little girl, "we homeschool because my Mom misses me all day when I have to go to public school." It was so precious. Later, the little boys all decided that they wanted to climb some trees at the park, but the lowest branches were too high for them to reach. So one of them had the idea to move a picnic table underneath the tree so they could reach the lowest branch, and all together (at least a dozen little boys) picked up and moved the table to where they wanted it! The way the boys all worked together, and the look of accomplishment in their eyes was priceless!

Another reason to homeschool: during the school year at 2:50pm, Belle, Russell, and James would all be starting their exhaustion-driven melt-downs, just in time for me to pick them up from school. (None of them would have gotten to rest in a quite, calm, and restful environment - and they ALL still need that almost every day.) I would be scrambling to finish up a couple last minute things with work and in the kitchen and laundry room - and then I'd wait until the last possible moment and wake TWO sleeping babies (Ellie and William) from a deep sleep, to quickly put them into the car, and rush off to school to wait for 20 minutes in the car-pick up line. All the while I'd be sitting idle, burning gas, listening (with lots of guilt in my heart) to at least one of my babies cry because they are still tired and were so rudely awakened from their slumber... I like this scenario (five sleeping kids!) MUCH better!

First Homeschool Field Trip

Yesterday was our first field trip in our homeschool trial period. There were some really great parts, and some not so great parts. We left the house by 8:30am without any major melt-downs or yelling (woo-hoo, that's an amazing accomplishment in itself!) and arrived at our destination by 9:15am. We discovered right away that the beach didn't open until noon, but that worked out well -- it just meant that we had to do school work before the fun stuff!

The kids got a quick lesson about the 4th of July, and then we moved into our intended study subject for the day - science! We were supposed to be pretending that we were scientists, and our job was to "observe and record" (a step in the scientific method) the beautiful scenery around us. Birds were chirping, bull frogs were croaking, there was a perfect gentle breeze, the sun was shining, the lake was beautiful, it smelled of grass, trees, and campfires... perfect, right? Well, the kids were drowning out all the beauty with their whining and crying. "I don't know how to spell this word"; "I want to swim right now"; "This isn't any fun at all" -- it was pathetic. (Sigh)

We did our best with them, but honestly, it was rough. After several major meltdowns, the three big kids successfully accomplished taking some scientific notes about the world around them, and we re-gathered for snack and story time (I decided to start The Chronicles of Narnia!). Of course there continued to be lots of whining and complaining "he got two pretzel sticks, but I only got one", but I think they did listen to some of the story...After a couple games of "Mother May I?" and some tree climbing, we realized that people were at the beach, so Dave and the big kids changed into their suits and headed off to swim.

(Photography by Belle)


(Photography by Russell)

Ellie, William, and I stayed at our original spot for awhile, and then took a walk to the playground. Ellie had a great time playing on the equipment and swinging, while William slept the morning away in the Ergo baby carrier!


The little kids and I then called the troops in from the beach for lunch, and we all sat down for a restful lunch on our picnic blanket. At this point the kids were all amazing -- truly, amazing! There was no whining, crying, complaining, nada! But then our peaceful lunch was interrupted by some very rude people who thought it was okay to move in a group of about 25 people to a picnic table less than 10 feet from where we were sitting... my attitude took a nose dive at that point (William had been laying on a blanket about to fall asleep until these noisy people invaded our peaceful space...). I tried to make the best of the situation -- the big kids gathered "unusual" things from nature that we wouldn't be able to find around our home, and Belle and Russell did their skip counting for me. I then granted permission for them to head with Dave back to the beach.

Ellie, William and I stayed at our picnic spot for awhile longer. I was able to convince Ellie to lay down and close her eyes for a short time -- it was a moment I want to keep in my heart forever! Ellie laid on the blanket right next to me, sucking on her fingers with her eyes closed, opening them every now and then to peek at me, while I rubbed her back and held William - it was so peaceful (well, except for the loud, obnoxious people less than 10 feet away...). After Ellie decided that she'd had enough laying around we packed up our stuff and headed over to the beach. The big kids had made friends with other kids at the beach, so we sat and watched them play for awhile before calling it a day and heading home.

Would I feel comfortable enough to count this as a "school day" if we were in the middle of an actual school year? Absolutely -- we did history, science, writing, reading, math, and communication skills building (via making new friends). Although the day would have been MUCH better if I could have eliminated the whining; overall, I'd consider the day a success!

4th of July Weekend

We've had a busy weekend! On Saturday morning Mama and Papa Miller took the three big kids to the movie "Cars 2" and then out for lunch at McDonalds! Talk about exciting! :) Later that day we discovered that the babies from the robins nest under our deck are now learning to fly! Russell was outside and started calling for us wildly because he had caught the baby robin and was holding it! The Mommy and Daddy Robin weren't too happy with him, and they made their disapproval known by lots of loud chirping and swooping in close to his head! Later that night we went to Mama and Papa's for dinner, played some games on their x-box, and then called it a night!

Today after church Belle went to the farm with Dave, while the rest of the kids took a rest. After naps and the farm the big kids got to play in the sprinkler (Ellie kept running from the sliding glass door to the window to get the best view of the excitement -- she still has a cast on her arm, so she couldn't join in the fun).


(I swear - we feed Russell!)



(Lots of silliness!)

No - we did not see any fireworks (again) this year... the kids didn't really care, but I'm guessing that will change in future years! This will be our last year with a brand new baby at home though, so including fireworks in our plans in the future should become more do-able!

Tomorrow we have our first family field trip - I'll post more about it tomorrow!