2018s First Day of School

And just like that we are out of the gate with this years new school year.  

Emma is in Challenge A within the Classical Conversations program.  It is basically their version of 7th grade.  While we are so excited for her and for the chance to watch her grow and mature within the program, it has been a difficult transition into conforming to someone else's schedule.  We have always been a family who started school after Labor Day so we could soak up every drop of summer.  But being part of this community means things aren't always just about our schedule and so we've had to start school earlier than we usually do.  I keep giving myself a pep talk about it...starting sooner will allow for more breaks and for us to end the school year earlier than normal! 

We usually take photos of the kids each year.  Last year we did this too...you can read about it here. This year, though, was a bit weird in how we started.  Usually Nick tries to be home and we all kind of do it together.  But he and I were gearing up to leave and the air conditioning in the Flex had taken a nose dive so he was out getting refrigerant to recharge the system.  We started without him but had a great time taking pictures together.  In a weird turn of events, Emma's back to school outfit from last year still fit and she wanted to wear it.  I think anytime you're 12 year old daughter is still willing to wear an Eleanor Rose outfit with Joyfolie Mary Janes, you should take that opportunity and run with it.  Emma is the sweetest thing in mostly letting me dress her still but I know any day now she will be declaring her independence.  Calvin can sometimes have strong opinions about his clothing but thankfully he was easy peasy.  "here're some shorts, here's a shirt" and he's just "okay".  I'm so blessed you guys! 

We had a good breakfast together and had our morning time while we sat around the table.  Morning time is simply a time that we are together and doing things together as a family.  We sang a hymn, read some poetry, and read a portion of a book together. We also did a devotion and then I introduced them to their new devotional books that they will be working on individually.  It's a great way to begin our day together.  

Even though we homeschool, we give our kids lists that we take to go do back to school shopping.  The kids love doing this and then when we get home I arrange their school supplies for them.  Some things like paper and glue sticks just go into communal receptacles for everyone to use and some things get placed into their desk so just they can use those.  This always seems to work great for us and it's always fun to see them excited about getting to use their school supplies! Who doesn't love new pencils?!?

After morning time the kids worked on their work...Calvin only had math, spelling, and handwriting to do. His Classical Conversation community days don't start for a couple more weeks, so until then, he will be doing light classwork.  This gives him an opportunity to ease back into the school schedule. Emma had some "about me" papers to fill out for her first day with her CC class and then had latin to do.  She was very diligent about her work and very thorough with her tasks.  I am hoping she will continue those traits throughout the school year.  Sometimes raising a tween is tough! 

After school work came chores and piano practice.  All in all it was a great first day of school. 

That night we dropped the kids off at my mom and dads and took off for our anniversary trip.  It's weird to not be with them for their first week of school but they were given all of their work to do with grandparents and they know what is expected of them.  And like I said, they have a really light school load this first week so it will be okay. It was hard for my Momma-heart to accept not being with them but in the end this was the way our schedules converged so we made it work.  

And that's our day! I can't believe the kids are in seventh and fifth grade!  How did this happen?  When did they get so old?  When did I get so old?  Yeesh! 

Happy back to schooling y'all! xo 

Very Punny! Gift Guide for the Pun Loving Person

Puns. Aren’t they grand?

I have so many friends who love puns so I thought I would share some of the gifts I’ve found for them.

Punderdome: A Card Game for Pun Lovers

$13.18

7 Days Punny Tee

On Porpoise Puns Mug

Have a Little Pun Book

Turnip the Beet Dish Towel

Hope this round up helps you with your shopping for your punny friends!

Pavlov Lunch Bag

Changing Classrooms is Hard!

Y'all change is hard!  

It's hard on me mentally, physically, emotionally, gah, it's just hard.  

These past few weeks we have been working on the transition of flip-flopping our playroom (affectionately known as the blue room) and our classroom (formerly located on the third floor of our home).  

These changes have been really hard on basically no one...except me.  I am such a weirdo.  

You can see some of my favorite photos of our classroom in this blog post.  

Our classroom has always been on the third floor.  Nick had to custom make our shelves and book cases to get them to fit to the pitch of the roof.  It was a really, really special place to me...in my mind.  

The reality of the situation was that we found ourselves in a predicament that we were hardly ever able to get everything accomplished when we had school up there.  We were lucky to start our day on time and if we didn't finish by lunch I could pretty much kiss any chance of finishing our work goodbye.  

In addition to that, the homeschool room very often during seasons of the year looked like a clumsy SWAT team had been searching for something amidst holiday decorations.  Things were strewn all over, nothing could be organized amidst the chaos.  It was bad.  Bad, folks, bad.  If you need to see something to understand you can read this old post but I'm warning you...it's bad.  

Why was schooling so hard up there you ask?  Well, it was really hard to pinpoint the reasoning...I always blamed it on a multitude of things which included it being so far removed from the rest of the house, it being too sunny and warm in the afternoon, it being really dark in the morning hours, it being too cluttered, and on and on and on.  

A couple of years ago God started working on my heart.  I still wanted to homeschool but I wanted it to be an ever-present pulse in our family.  For us it had always been something we do only up in the classroom and then we come downstairs, shut the door, and put it out of our minds.  I didn't want that anymore.  I tried incorporating school more into our every day life.  We did more school in the dining room over tea and after lunch, outside.  While we found ourselves enjoying school more we found our house starting to look like a used curriculum sale was taking place...random papers, books, and projects started to stray to every nook and bump out of our victorian.  And this Momma was getting mad.  

We tried for seven years to make it work.  But there came a breaking point when we decided it was time to change.  For the reasons mentioned above but also with the pitch of the roof it was starting to become difficult for the three of us (including two growing like weeds children) to maneuver around the desks like we had when they were so little. 

So one day on a whim, we changed.  I declared that we were moving the classroom downstairs.  

So we did.  

The toys and craft supplies went upstairs.  We are still muddling through where everything should go on the third floor.  And downstairs we are struggling with where to put everything.  We no longer have an entire floor of the house for our supplies but rather a single room.  Downsizing is now our middle name.  In the process I have found that it was a long over due process.  Projects, books, manipulatives, and supplies for children with much shorter limbs and much chubbier fingers are still hanging around.  Once we've gone through everything I'm hoping it will be a manageable amount for our classroom.  But it will have to be so we will make it work.  

There are parts of the classroom I will really miss but there are parts of the new classroom that I am really starting to find such assets to our family.  For example, our new classroom (the blue room if you'll remember) has three rose of sharon bushes outside of our massive picture window.  Four birdfeeders later and we have officially become "bird people".  Also, the classroom is right off the downstairs laundry room and powder room.  We have a large utility sink for washing brushes, taking our science experiments, and more.  I can also now fold laundry while watching them do their math.  Very convenient.  

Before the move, our families biggest arguements were about legos.  Dumb I know.  But the kids legos were in the blue room, which we have to go through to get to the laundry room and we have to pass through to get to the dining room from the kitchen.  It was always a fight to get them to pick up their legos in the middle of creating something or to at least scootch them over so I didn't have to plow through them with laundry in tow.  Now the legos are upstairs and, while we still insist on them picking up, they can at least display their finished projects without fear of someone stepping on them.  Where the legos once were downstairs is now a monstrous desk we found at Restore.  

With the children getting older, needing more head room, using less supplies, and wanting to create, this is a better solution for our family.  We also have school books on hand in the room off our dining room now for more dialectic discussion around the dinner table.  Words are starting to be debated and chewed upon.  

All that to say, the whole "still in transition" business is so hard for me.  At least once a day I find myself having to re-convince myself that this is a change for the best for the whole family and one day, eventually, I will love both spaces as much as I loved our little classroom in the sky.  

---

I struggle so much with change.  Do you?  How do you talk yourself down from despair when things are not perfect?  

Our First Hike Back in Indiana!

Hello sweet friends!  

We are back in Indiana and today was the first day it's been sunny.  I woke up in just a horrid mood.  I couldn't shake it no matter what I did.  Don't you simply hate when that happens?  I decided to do what I could to try to get out of my funk but no amount of bubble baths, quiet times, or rests were helping me feel better.  After praying I realized that what I needed was to get out of the house.  

So that's just what we did.  We took our first hike of the year (here back home in Indiana) and it felt glorious!  It was pretty cold, not quite in the 40's yet but there was a gentle breeze with the sun.  It was invigorating!  

It is amazing how much serenity the outdoors offers, whether in the way of a desert as we were in last month or the woods where we found ourselves today.  The birds, the smells, the stillness, the peace, it all culminates in a quiet churning that finds a way into the depths of our souls.  

I would encourage you to get outdoors.  Force yourself.  As one who didn't used to consider herself "outdoorsy" I can attest that it does get easier and once over a certain precipice becomes addictive in an ethereal way.  

Today has gone much better since our time outdoors.  We all were able to come home and concentrate on our tasks at hand.  We buzzed through all of our schoolwork and chores for, what other reason, than to get back outside! 

To the outdoors, friends! 

Great American Road Trip: Day 3

Day 3 was a lot of driving.  Ten hours to be exact!  

I was so glad that we split up this trip.  First of all, I have no idea how anyone could drive 25 hours straight, but also, I think 10 hours in the car is pretty much our limit.  

We all were pretty crabby by the time we got to our destination, El Paso!   

Thankfully our hotel in Oklahoma City had breakfast so we all had a high protein breakfast before we left...by the way if you are wondering, yes, the kids do sometimes hate that I make them eat so healthy.  'Tis life!  

We were planning on going to the Oklahoma Science museum but to our surprise the kids just wanted to hit the road.  Weird!  So that's what we did! 

On the outskirts of town we stopped at MACU, one of our churches colleges, and drove around.  We took a picture of Emma there.  You never know where she'll want to go to school! 

Then we drove on, and on and on.  So I guess it was okay it was dark the night before in OK because we got to see plenty of it on Day 3!  

When we got into Texas we started to see rockier soil and cactus which the kids were so thrilled to see!  So thrilled we got out at the side of the Interstate to take a picture.  Nick's saying "we're on the Interstate!" and when I was taking the kids photo the kids are telling me "um, dad's driving away" in Nicholas' typical I'm going to fake you out fashion.  

Oh how I love our little family!  After that we discussed the topography and how there's no line where the black soil ends and red begins and then red turns into dessert but it's more of a gradual process. I know I'm such a dork but I love that the kids can learn while we are traveling.  It's been such an experience to see them finally "get it".  Even in homeschooling where learning is more one on one, it still is not often times in real life.  That's just not practical.  But when it can be, amazing things happen!  

Anyway, we stopped in a small town where we stretched our legs and the kids played on the playground.  It felt good to soak in some sun and fresh air but it was still so cold!  

Then more driving.  Are you sensing a theme here?  It was super boring.  Emma and I both get carsick when reading otherwise I would have spent the whole time with my nose in a good book!

The kids entertained themselves with allotted DS time, writing in their travel journal, doodling, doing mad-libs, and one time we let them watch a movie.  I have been noticing that the less opportunities I give them to use DVD players or their game systems, the less they seem to care if they play them or not. Hallelujah!  

We arrived in El Paso about 10 our time, and 8 in El Paso time.  Our Apple maps pulled up a list of nearby restaurants so we chose Pei Wei.  The authentic welcome to El Paso meal is Chinese food, right?  We all were laughing about that but it sounded good to everyone and it hit the spot!  

Calvin got wonton soup which he kept describing as heavenly.  "You should try some Em.  The noodly part is just heavenly and the meat is heavenly.  The whole thing is heavenly."  

After the Chinese food we had about half an hour of driving through El Paso to get to our hotel.  El Paso by the way has a ton of people!  I would liken it to the citys of Philly or Indy.  That size.  The drive was really great because Nick, who has been here lots of times, pointed things out to us and we got to see the mountains. 

When we got to the hotel, I think it took us three trips with the luggage trolley to bring everything in...there was a lot of stuff!  But for a family of four who is homeschooling and staying somewhere for three weeks, I guess a lot of stuff is required! 

It feels so good to be settled and to have everything in its right place!  

Now, onto Day 4! 

Great American Road Trip: Day 2

We spent the night in St. Louis and awoke ready to take on the day!  

Our hotel didn't offer breakfast so I brought oatmeal cups (full of flax seeds!) to eat.  The kids scarfed them down along with yogurt, apples, and orange juice.  I was so thankful for kiddos who do not complain about me packing food and not eating out.  I am one blessed Momma, indeed!  

After breakfast we drove to the arch and spent some time driving around.  I always wonder if everyone does this or not but we always have to go and look at the edifices and the pediments and the whos and doodles.  I guess this is the weirdness of being married to an architect.  But I love history and he loves buildings and like I always say, it's a marriage made in heaven!  

We parked and made our way to the historic courthouse where the Dred Scott decision was made.  We had just studied this case a couple of weeks before so to stand in the courthouse where the decision was made that Dred and his wife would continue to be slaves was quite sombering.  I didn't know I could feel any sadder until we went out the other door of the courthouse and stood on the steps where the two were sold in a slave auction to two different owners.  

We walked to the arch which, just so you know, was frigid!  Brrr.  A seven minute walk feels neverending in the icy wind.  I could not wrap my hear around how this was going to go but you purchase a ticket with a  time that you can go up into the arch.  Then you wait around until they take the tickets for your time.  Then you go down into the ground and wait and wait.  After that you are shown a movie with the crowd of people you are going up into the arch with.  After the movie they assign you a pod or "tram" as they call them.  There are five seats in each one so they put people together according to how many you have in your group.  We had four and no one was riding solo so we had our tram all to ourselves.  After that you wait for your tram to come back down from bringing people down, you get in and go up.  

We were surprised at how small the windows are at the top of the arch. But the views to the east and west were spectacular.  It was a really good place for conversations as we had learned this year about the Louisiana Purchase and how much land that brought into America.  

After the arch we hit the road and headed towards  President Ulysses S. Grant's home.  It was a beautiful home and was really interesting.  They had a museum about him too in a barn her had created to raise race horses.  It was fascinating to learn how, during the war, so many people disliked him due to so many reasons: they thought he was a drunk, they called him the Butcher because he killed so many people, and they had derogatory names for him because he didn't like to speak to the press or be in the public eye.  But in the end he ended up becoming President.  

After the Grant home we went to lunch at Five Guys.  Calvin had been begging to go to one so we fulfilled his wish and took him to one last stop for his "birthday".  It was really good food and with happy bellies we started back on the road.  

We started driving from the St.  Louis area and in about seven hours we arrived in Oklahoma City.  The only part of the journey I was sad about was that it was so dark by the time we reached Oklahoma.  But the stars were out in the masses so we were able to look at those through the sunroofs.  So fun! 

When we got to Oklahoma City we were so tired!  We ate some dinner of leftovers and went to bed!  

Onto Day3! 

Great American Road Trip: Day 1

Welcome to our Great American Road Trip!  While we are not driving across all of America, Nick got me this adorable coffee mug before we left and therefore I simply had to call this trip by that name.  How cute is this mug? I love drinking coffee from a mug rather than those hotel paper cups...it was so thoughtful of him to get me this so I could drink coffee like a real, live person! 

There are so many things from family vacations, or trips, or whatever they are to be called that happen and then escape my memory.  Especially from this Momma.  I always think I am going to write them down but I am always too busy unpacking everyone to actually sit down and do it while we are on vacation.  When I get home I always tell myself that I will remember everything and will write it down as soon as I can but laundry and life quickly take over and before I know it I've forgotten when we went to that one place and when we stayed in that certain city and again, I've lost it in the deep recesses of my memory.  

So this trip I thought that I would write it down as it happens on here!  What a novel idea seeing as I have this website and all! 

We started out on Saturday, January 13th. We left about an hour later than I wanted to but I'm counting my blessings that it was only one hour.  After all, packing for a 23 day trip was a lot of work!  I am so much of a list person but this time the trip just seemed to sneak up on me and we suddenly seemed to just be chucking things at Nick to put in the car, hoping that everything would fit.  

The roads were horrendous.  The toll road was not great and sliding at 80 mph is really not great.  Thankfully by the time we got to Chicago it cleared up and after that it was smooth sailing.  We drove down Illinois to Springfield.  We arrived soon after the NPS site was open and we were able to go tour Abraham Lincoln's home.  It was so fun and neat!  We learned lots of facts and the kids were able to earn a Junior Ranger Badge.  I love that program by the way...it's like tricky homeschooling where they learn without me having to do it.  Win, win!  I will say, I was surprised that we were able to get through all of the house and earn our badges in under an hour. I think there must be more to do there during the summer months but seeing as there were frigid temperatures, we didn't stay long to check out the village experience that goes with the house.  Next time though!  

After Springfield we drove about an hour and a half to St. Louis, Missouri.  Nobody in our family had ever been to Missouri so it was a lot of fun to cross the border into Missouri with a lot of whooping and hollering.  I love our little family! This part of the trip was part driving to El Paso for work and part stopping in a cool city to celebrate Calvin's birthday.  

We went into out hotel to get checked in and relax a bit.  That's when we realized that nobody had grabbed Calvin's other shoes. Mom fail.  

After that we called for a taxi and then took that to the City Museum.  We had heard so many wonderful things about the museum.  When we got there there was a bus on the top of the building and knew that we were going to have fun! 

When we got there there were lots of things to do but we were all kind of cautious.  After the kids kind of got lost from us we all warmed up a bit and were able to have more fun!  We spent about four hours there and by that time we were ready to go.  Nick loved walking around and seeing all of the building parts that they had.  There were tons of building facades and the huge stone trim that goes along the top of buildings.  I was impressed by the walls that were made out of printing plates.  We both were impressed with how they made everything out of old building parts...rebar, conveyor belts, etc.  We were very  impressed and had so much fun! 

After the City Museum we took a taxi back to the hotel. We let the kids swim and then we got ready for dinner.  

We went to Cunetto's House of Pasta in the Italian district of St. Louis and we were able to meet up with our good friend Kyle!  It was yummy food and lots of fun to catch up!  

After dinner we had some errands to run and then we were in the mood for ice cream.  Heading back downtown to our hotel, we went to Clementine's Naughty and Nice Creamery.  They had really inventive flavors and they were made with all natural ingredients.  It was amazing!  Yum!  

And that was the night!  I would say we were super nervous about our car in St. Louis because we had heard really bad things but it ended up being fine.  

Onto day 2...

October Recap!

October came and went like a blur!  It was crazy!  

As a gentle recap, over the past 365 days I have taken on three new positions, I am now sitting on 2 boards of directors, and still homeschooling away.  It's crazy busy and most days I feel like I have lost my darn mind, but in a good fulfilling way.  And when I remember to lean into God's power and might (which I need to remember to do constantly...) I am reminded how much I can do when I do not rely on my strength but His.  

Anyway, October is my favorite month for the crispness of everything.  Do you know what I mean?  It's so great!  I was thinking of this the other day...it's crazy, weird that NOVEMBER isn't my favorite month since that one holds gratitude, my birthday, Christmas decorating, and shopping, but no, October still holds to be my favorite month.  

It started with this crazy brood!  We went to the pumpkin farm, picked the perfect guy, and came home to carve away!  It was so much fun.  I love our little family so much!  

And then blur, blur, blur, blur, blur and before I could fully blink we were to Halloween!  

This year Calvin was ninja (in New Balance Tennis shoes because that's how I roll) and Emma was Nancy Drew.  

Seriously how stinking cute are these two kids of ours?  Oh, and since we fast forwarded to Halloween from the Pumpkin Farm you can see that the majority of my pumpkins are now rotten.  Gross!  Guys, I need legit ways to keep these suckers alive.  Help!  Every year pumpkins fall victim to my pumpkin killing and the massacre just has to end.  Do I need to bleach them?  Talk to them?  Stop singing to them?  (Just asking that last one for a friend...promise!)

Anyway, now's where we talk about the no spend challenge and you wonder what happened to the girl who started out so gung-ho at the beginning of the year and now you haven't heard from about it in a million years.  So, we are still TRYING to do the no spend challenge.  Y'all it is so hard!  So, so hard.  So we'll use the kids' costumes as an example.  Emma totally went with the no spend idea and came up with something brilliant.  We didn't spend a dime on her costume and she kept getting so many compliments.  Calvin on the other hand had one specific thing in his mind...the kid wanted to be a ninja...again.  We tried making one at home for him, talking him through it, but alas, he was insisting on the costume.  So we compromised and we purchased him a less expensive costume than what he wanted.  No kid wants to have a costume that they hate and we didn't know what to do other than compromise.  We spend $20ish dollars on this versus the $75 costumes in previous years.  See?  We're making some progress!  

The pumpkins were another issue with our no-spend year.  I had to decorate my porch. Sorry, not sorry, that's just the case.  So I took a fence panel from my neighbors free pile at their garage sale, dragged out other things I already had but had to have some pumpkins.  Last year I spent over $60 on pumpkins.  You all!  That is crazy!  So this year we found a new place to get pumpkins and for all of them they were $20.  So I spent some but not nearly as much as I was in previous years!  

But back to Halloween...

We don't really "celebrate" Halloween but we trick or treat.  

For those of you just joining us, we live in a National Historic District and we just love it!  

From the street lights to the brick paved streets, we love our neighborhood.  Trick or Treating always helps me to take time to pause and reflect on how beautiful our neighborhood is.  The kids trick or treating is like going through a 1950's neighborhood.  All of the historic homes and picket fences make it so cheerful and nice.  

And I have to show you this because it was hilarious...

When there's a construction project why not be silly? 

So there's our recap of October!  I hope you all are enjoying your November! I've missed having time to write...gah!  Hopefully I'll be writing more! 

First Day!

Hello sweet friends! 

Today was our first day of school.  It has been a whirlwind of a summer with lots of surprises and fun time.  We spend a large portion of the summer traveling with Nick's job and seeing the world from inflatables in a lake.  It was a wonderful time filled with many memories and plenty of rest and rejuvenation.  I am so thankful for the rest because my new position started a few months earlier than initially expected! Everything has gone wonderfully and everyone has been so kind in helping me out to make sure I know what I am doing. 

Today was our first day of school and in traditional manner we took photos to commemorate the day!  It was a wonderful day.  We all started by eating zucchini cake from the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook.  Our whole family loves the recipes in this book and I highly recommend it! 

This year we have started Classical Conversations.  I am so excited to be doing CC with an actual community rather than at home like we had been doing in previous years.  I think it will bring a level of accountability to the children and me to finish the work and keep up with what is going on.  Now, that doesn't mean we can't go off on a tangent like before but it will keep us focused and on task to finish out the school year.  Anyway, our Classical Conversations community has not started yet so we will be doing school lite until it gets into our full swing.  I think this is a great way for us to ease into school. 

This morning we did math, history, life skills, and computer programming.  And that was it! I think this was a perfect morning of school! 

We have used this first day of school to be the beginning for lots of good things: we've started new chore charts, we are eating exclusively Trim Healthy Mama, and we are trying really hard to get back to the no-spend plan that so many of you have been following us in! 

We have been pretty good with our not spending in most areas but some have been really difficult to maintain. 

I hope you all are enjoying summer days whether you are back to school or not!  Here are our photos from this morning.  We were blessed to have Nick with us as he has taken the week off to reno our cottage.  He came home for photos after taking my car for an oil change (I am such a lucky girl!) before he headed down to the lake cottage.  We loved having Prinicipal Witwer in our photos!

The Priceless Gift of Losing my Camera

After work Wednesday Nick "gave me" one of my Mother's Day gifts early...a membership to Ashley Ann's Snap Shop workshops...where she teaches you how to take totally awesome pictures. 

I was so excited!  I mean, I have wanted a membership to Snap Shop for, well, forever!  and it was so thoughtful of him to think of me. 

I quickly started going through the classes.  This was going to be the best thing ever!  The very first thing she showed was neat buttons and bells and whistles on her camera. 

"I wonder if our camera has that button?" I asked Nick. 

And that's when the trouble started. 

We quickly realized that our camera had, poof, disappeared into thin air. 

It was gone. 

I was having heart palpitations.  I felt like I was going to throw up.  I was dreading the thoughts going through my head...it's really gone. 

I felt like such an idiot.  I should have had an eagle eye on the thing.  Who loses a dslr camera?  Ugh. 

We looked and looked and looked.  Nick went to businesses, churches, everywhere looking for it.  He took the third row out of our vehicle to try to hunt it down.  We called grocery stores, grandparents, and restaurants.  But to no avail. 

That night we didn't sleep well.  In the morning we both commiserated on how it feels like it's going to just appear.  How it should be around.  What on earth could have happened to it? 

Well, Thursday morning.  I found it. 

I woke Emma up for school and like all good fairy tale stories start, I was yelling at Emma. 

Does anyone else's children have a million backpacks that they hang up with stuff still in them?  I was going through a bag she had taken to play practice daily (the play has been practiced, performed, and we're done with it by the way) and there in the bag sat at least one outfit of hers, a water bottle, on and on.  I reached for her bag she takes to Awana's and that's when I felt the familiar weight and cylinder of the big lense. 

It had been found. 

This is a fairly boring story, I realize, except to say that there's nothing like losing something to make you realize how much you love something.  Aside from Easter and the Awana ceremony where the camera had been put in said bag, I hadn't used that camera for probably a good six months. 

Oh sure, I would snap a few "hey it's your birthday" shots but nothing in terms of capturing the every day.  Nothing to try to catch the glint in my kids' eyes when they are reading with Daddy.  Or the furrowed brow when they are building with legos. 

I had lost the desire to capture the every day.  It had become mundane to me.  There was no more magic in the daily. 

Or so I thought.  This morning I used the camera for the first time in months.  It felt like a raw and opened part of me was exposed again. 

And I kind of liked it. 

Seeing your life through the eye of a lens makes you see things you don't otherwise notice.  The way natural lights makes everything look amazing. 

How fun breakfast can be when you're poring over a random catalog of fireworks that came to your house (did they know we have a boy living here???). 

And how beautiful the view is out my window as I write this blog this afternoon. 

I am so thankful I found my camera.  Not only because, hello?, it was so super expensive, but because it has given me a new perspective to start seeing life through the lens again. 

And that is something that is priceless.

Release the Red Balloon

What a whirlwind it has been lately around here! 

School is still going full steam ahead...well, I guess that's not completely true as we've had a couple of sputtering times but we are homeschooling year round this year and not ending until late-ish July so we have to be full steam ahead!

April was a time of such huge change for me personally! 

I went from not working to accepting three, count 'em three!, positions in April!  I am now helping to clean our church, I will be a Classical Conversations tutor next school year (super duper excited!) and starting this autumn I will be the director of a church camp! 

God has blessed us in immeasurable ways and I just have to share a bit of a back story with you about all of this...

Emma is getting ready to go into the 6th grade.  The parochial school in our area that we have been eying (for years!) starts when students are in the 7th grade.  Needless to say that we have been praying like crazy about this decision and whether to send her to school rather than continuing to homeschool her.  And we're still praying about that so prayers appreciated! However, with the talk of private school came the talk that if the kiddos are in school then I am going to have to go back to work. 

Nick said this.  I more or less just cried and threw things like a toddler. 

I really and truly feel in my spiritual gut that I was made to be a momma at home.  I am a traditional housewife all the way.  Bread making, clothes washing, bed making kind of momma.  And just the thought of taking myself out of that setting made me sick to my stomach.  Literally. 

But once I stopped crying and throwing things (not really, I'm not cool enough to do that) I was able to quiet myself to listen to the God voice that, of course, spoke some sense into me.

God was asking me, "why would I give you a desire to stay at home and not take care of your needs to make sure you're where I want you?" 

That was a total duh, smack me upside the head, kind of moment.  Of course God has this. 

There is no need to worry.

So at that moment (back in February) I gave it to God.  Red balloon out of my hand, wafting up to God, I didn't pull it back to worry more, I just sent it up to God. 

And then in a weeks time it was like lightening.  I got the camp job.  I had a job at Notre Dame offered to me full time.  I had a magazine writing job fall in my lap. A bank was interested in me freelancing for them.  The church was wondering if I'd like to clean.  We joined Classical Conversations and there was this opportunity to help out. 

It was unbelievable. 

There is nothing else I could say other than truly, jaw dropping unbelievable. 

And this isn't about me, this is about God and what He can do in your life, my life, anyone's life, when we just let it go to let Him.  Let Him. 

Friends, wherever you are in your life right now, whatever you are going through, I hope this can be an encouragement to you.  Please let go of the worry.  Of the doubt.  Of the feeling that you have to have control and have an end in sight and know where you are going.  Because you don't.  God's got this.  Truly he does. 

So open your hand and release your red balloon.  Imagine it flying up to God and you aren't going to even try to take that worry and that burden back.  Just give it to Him and trust him with it. 

I promise He has good in store for you.  More good than you'll be able to shake a stick at.

Love you.

Like Popcorn Jelly Bellys

Sometimes in life you just have to push past the noise and do things for yourself.  Things that make you you, things that ensure you are being true to yourself. 

When I was a little girl we visited an old-fashioned hardware store after church one Sunday.  The floors were creaky wide planked hardwood boards and along an entire wall was a glass counter filled with jars of candy by the pound.  There was an employee handing out candy and he had me sample the newest flavor of jelly bean...popcorn.  It sounded gross but when I tasted that it instantly became my favorite.  I loved the way the flavor was so different and so unique. 

When I became a teenager though and then even in college, whenever there would be jelly bellys around someone would inevitably say how much they hate the popcorn ones and I found myself agreeing with how gross they were. 

I knew I had liked them but seeing them being scoffed I thought that I must have some weird memory of them in my head...that surely I was wrong and they weren't as good as I thought they had been.  And just like that I changed what I thought because of other people. 

That has happened in my life too.  With this blog.  A couple of years ago, before I moved to this platform, I wrote a blog I knew to be true to my heart.  It wasn't meant to be about someone it was meant to be about what was on my mind when someone outright did not like me and how I was going to react and deal with it.  Well, a lot of people reached out and were accusing me of saying things that were not in the blog at all.  Ouch.

I didn't really mind the comments because it's easy to see through hurtful comments to see hurt people who react by hurting others.  But what I did wonder was...Did those people really see all of those things in my one blog?  How did I miss all of these subliminal messages I was apparently putting in my articles?  

I found that I started letting that message into my writing...I was putting on different lenses when I started writing anything wondering what yeah-hoo God knows where is going to pull some weird, obscure something out of my writing that I had no intention of saying.  Because if it happened that one time...

Just like that I started censoring myself.

Thinking it would help, I reached out for professional help.  I attended writing seminars, consulted former editors of mine, participated in book launches, accepted invitations to courses led by other prestigious bloggers: I thought that would help give me direction but instead I ended up with a head full of even more restraints and rules with upon to censor what I have to say.  Idealogies such as imagine a person you're writing to, don't have too many topics, don't write about your kids, no one cares!, write about things people want to hear, do seo searches before you write to make sure people will search for your content with the right words. 

And just like that I popcorn jelly belly-ed myself all over again.  I ended up convincing myself that I must not be good at this.  That my "talent" and love of writing was some distorted memory, that I must not be cut out for this after all. 

Then last week, one of my amazing friends had me over for breakfast and in the warmth of her kitchen I put all of this to words and revealed to her my two year long struggle of writers block and why it's been so hard.  She said the words I needed to hear, "just write whatever you want."  As a fellow writer I know she gets the kind of smothering grasp too many restraints can take on your creativity. 

And just like that my popcorn jelly belly façade fell away.  It is okay to be me.  To like popcorn jelly bellys or to write or to watch one episode of Dick Van Dyke every morning.  Whatever weird thing it is, it's okay to be me. 

Last week I was stealing some of the kids jelly bellys (because Costco had 4 pounds for 9.99, yo).  Nick was in the kitchen with me and when I got to a popcorn one I said "mmm. I love the popcorn ones...they're my favorite."

I could tell you I have some super cool husband who said something airy"good for you, babe, but they're just not for me"  or something but instead the little weasel teased me about it...because that's how we roll, yo.

So here's the thing... 

I've learned that no matter what I do there will be haters (just watch the comments if you want some laughs from people who stalk my blog just waiting and have nothing but mean things to say...I'm sure they are coming!) but one of those haters shouldn't be me hating on myself.  There's no need to hate on myself because of my jelly belly awesome flavor love.

And that is how I'm feeling about writing too.  I want to write about what I want.  What interests me.  What I love.  Not what I think the world thinks they want to read.  I want to be true to myself.  True to me without caring about what other people deem as not good enough or weird or gross. 

So I'm getting back to me.  Back to my roots.  Back to Lindsay who does most everything okayish but not too many things particularly well.  Blogs like this one that really spill out my soul. Blogs about baking bread or perler beads or how to remove dry erase marker off my carpet.  Whatever. 

So, friends, this is me, bleeding out on the carpet for all the world to see. 

Not really.  I'm here in sweats occasionally stealing a popcorn jelly belly from my kids' easter basket.  They are the best after all...

Happy Tuesday!

Time 4 Learning Review

Last month I posted that we were starting to use the Time4Learning online program.  '

I had a lot of people ask me what I have thought about the program so I am writing a review to let you know what we are thinking of the program! 

First of all I would like to say that I have nothing bad to say about the program.  Both of our kiddos used it and enjoyed it. 

As you know, Calvin has high functioning autism.  For some reason it seems that every year after Christmas we are on a slippery slope of decline in his functioning in our classroom.  I am not sure if it is the season with no sun, or being off schedule for Christmas, or what.  So when I was banging my head against a wall trying to find a solution, Time4Learning was a godsend!

I was looking for something that I could give to Calvin to do on those days when all else has failed and I cannot get him to cooperate with schoolwork.  Or the days when you wake up and you know you just aren't feeling it enough to make a day successful in the homeschool realm...you know those days: when you grab the Pamprin and let Miss Frizzle sub for your class.  Those days. 

When I found Time4Learning it seemed amazing.  And I'm going to tell you it is!  Calvin LOVES Time4Learning.  The games on the level he is at (3rd grade) are really engaging and fun.  The only problem I have is that he likes to get every possible score on a test to see what the computer says, so I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't do that.  On the other hand if he does it I figure it is just reinforcing what he is learning so that's not bad, right? 

Calvin and Emma can do Time4Learning on our laptop, my ipad, phone, or on their tablets.  Each of our kids have their own tablets that we have them use for school.  So when we are going grocery shopping or somewhere they are bored out of their mind we can hop on wifi and they can get some learning done!  Content kiddos who are learning makes for one happy Momma for sure!  Win-win!

Another thing I have enjoyed (especially because Calvin is sneaky) is the ability to get on the teacher dashboard and see what he did and how he did at it.  That way when he tells me he did math I can know that he did his math. 

Time4Learning can be a whole curriculum, back up learning, homeschooling, after school learning, whatever you need.  It's not just for homeschooling.  And while we don't use it as a full curriculum there is Social Studies, Language Art, Reading, a place to just write for fun, art, science, and math!  There's so much that it is hard for the kids to get bored.  I love on days that the kids do school on there I don't hear "I'm bored!" 

Emma has been using Time4Learning too but has not been enjoying it as much.  Emma is very much our pencil and paper kind of gal.  She also has noticed that the older grades (she's using 6th grade) don't have as many fun games as her brother gets to do in the younger grade when he's playing next to her.  A lot of her work seems to be an explanation of what she is learning and then questions in a quiz, flash card kind of format on the computer.  She doesn't like this, I still like it because it is still a break from the same ol' same ol' of our every day so it can get her out of a rut when learning.  I would like to add though that a lot of what seems *boring* to her, I don't really know how you would make it gamey and fun.  It required a more lengthy explanation and I think they do a good job at explaining and engaging the student.

All in all, I would say that we love TIme4Learning and are excited to continue on with the program.  This summer we are traveling extensively and I am planning on taking their Nooks and having the program be the majority of school that we will do!  So super excited and so blessed to have found Time4Learning! 

*This review was entirely written by me, not the good folks at Time4Learning. I was compensated for my review, thoughts, and opinions*