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!

Why Homeschool?!

One of the main reasons I decided to try documenting our lives through this blog is because our family is seriously considering the idea of homeschooling for the next academic year. We've done research, talked with lots of people (on all sides of the issue!), and even done a "homeschool trial period" to see how our days would actually flow. Right now, I'm at a stage where I think it's important that we write down what our goals would be, including a mission statement for the upcoming year. Having things in writing always makes me feel like it's more official -- and hopefully I can use it as a reference on the "not so good" days when I ask myself "why?!" we are doing this. (As a disclaimer - if/when the time comes when I decide to share this blog with friends and family -- please know that the reasoning below is applicable to MY family, and has no bearing on what I think others should do with THEIR family.)

The number one reason, above and beyond all others is TIME. There are so many directions that I could go with this - but what it boils down to is that I love to spend time with my children, and frankly, when they spend over 7 hours a day in a school, I don't get to spend enough time with them. People of my grandparent's age are constantly saying things to me like "enjoy them while they are little, you will blink one day and they will all be grown up and moved out!". Which makes me realize, while my kids are still little now, that won't be the case forever, and I refuse to wake up one day and regret that I didn't give them enough of my time. I gave up a career path that I was passionate about because I value time with my family above all other worldly pursuits, and it doesn't make sense to alter my values when the kids reach an age that society has arbitrarily deemed "appropriate" to start public school.

While the kids were in public school, I spent a lot of this precious time trying to supplement their (lack of) ACADEMIC teachings. They would get home around 3:30, tired and exhausted from a full day of school, and because it was evident that they weren't learning anything, I would spend the next several hours teaching them how to read, write, do mathematics, etc. By the time we completed these tasks, it would be a mad rush to get dinner ready, prepare the home for Dave's arrival from work, and prevent all sorts of caused-by-pure-exhaustion meltdowns! By keeping the kids home for schooling I will be able to individually tailor their educational curriculum to their ability, and ensure that they actually learn something during the instructional day. We'll avoid schooling during times when they are sick, tired, or ill-prepared for instruction - and ensure that we have time to spend together as a family in a non-rushed, non-chaotic atmosphere.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." The bible tells me to teach my children about God all throughout my day -- yet how am I to fulfill this commandment if my children are not with me during my day? In the public schools my children are not even allowed to learn about their Savior - yet the bible clearly instructs me to ensure that God is at the center of all things.

In Luke 6:40 it states, "A student is not above his TEACHER, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." This leads me to question who I want my children to emulate... which teacher do I want them to be like? Would I choose a randomly assigned public-school teacher for them as a role-model, or would I choose myself and Dave, the ones God saw fit to bless with the privilege and responsibility of raising these precious little children? Of course I have bad moments... I'd like to pretend that I'm perfect, but I realize that I am far from perfection. Yet, I know that my imperfections are loved by Jesus just the same, and that even with my imperfections I'd rather let God work through Dave and myself, than leave my children's primary upbringing to a stranger.

Some additional reasons include being able to PROTECT THEIR INNOCENCE for just a little while longer as well as INFLUENCE WHOM THEY BEFRIEND. Before sending them off to the public schools the kids adored watching Signing Times, Go Diego, and Sid the Science Kid on TV. After just one year in the system those were no longer the "cool" shows, but Hannah Montana, SpongeBob SquarePants, and the Twilight characters were the names my kindergartener was dropping. (Thankfully after just a few weeks of summer vacation, we're back to thinking Sid isn't so bad again!) I realize that they will be exposed to "real life" and friendships outside of my control eventually, I would just prefer to defer it to a time when they are more mature and better able to comprehend what they are seeing and hearing, and consequentially, able to understand why certain actions are not embraced or acceptable in our family.

Lastly, I realize that we can REEVALUATE this decision at any point in time, and if it doesn't work - we send them back to public school! The world won't end and life will go on... but in the meantime, I will get the opportunity to spend a little extra time with my kiddos and experiment with something (homeschool!) that I've felt pulling at my heart strings for a long time now.

So - with the above established, here are Dave and my broad goals for our homeschool:

• Instill in our children a passion for learning, so that they choose to become life-long learners through higher education and beyond
• Help them develop desirable character traits including compassion, respect, confidence, honesty, humbleness, and a servant's heart
  
• Show them the importance of both God and family in their lives, so that their actions reflect that importance

Does it sound like we have fully embraced the homeschool option?! Truthfully, we are still thinking and praying about this potential endeavor all the time. Although we are right on the edge of the pool, ready to jump in - we still have some reservations. Thankfully I've been in contact with a local homeschool support group and I'm hopefully that these new friends will help persuade us that we can do this (or at least attempt it!). And every time I read my above reasoning, I become more convinced that this is the right option for our family...

Homeschool Trial Period

We've been doing a two week "homeschool trial period". The first week included an entire day of impromptu doctor appointments for Ellie because of her broken arm!
While we were sitting in doctor's offices, Belle and William hung-out with Shelby (one of my best friends!) while Russell and James hung-out with Papa Miller for the first half of the day. Shelby bravely took all four for the second part of the day - I'm so lucky to have such an amazing friend!

Other than the broken-bone fiasco, I've been pretty pleased with how the trial period has gone. We completed 3 math lessons, are close to finishing a writing lesson, and learned the answer to the question "what is science?". Specifically, the kids learned about the scientific method, different types of scientific instruments, various synonyms of the word "hypothesis", and how we use our senses as a scientist. We've also done various experiments in which they have had to think through the scientific method.

Today we did the penny experiment - the kids had to make a hypothesis about how many drops of water would fit on the side of a penny. Belle and Russell hypothesized 20-21, James hypothesized 61, and I hypothesized 6... after three trials, we confirmed that 20 drops is the answer!


Using the dropper gave the kids practice with their fine motor skills as well, and they had so much fun with it, I had to bribe them with lunch to get them to put it away!

(YES! I made them look at the penny and smile!)

We promised the kids that one of the benefits of homeschooling is that we would get to go on more field trips; so, to finish off our trial period we've planned a field trip to a lake for Monday. The educational part of the day will revolve around observing and recording what we find. The part the kids are really looking forward to is the picnic lunch and swimming in the lake!