Pictures with Uncle...How fun.

Why do I want to suddenly want to homeschool?

Homeschooling...

I have been having a few questions as to why I would take my son out of kindergarten, from a perfectly fine school in the middle of the year. Well let me go back a few years. Before my husband and I got married, I remember having a conversation about school for our future kids. Because I had a hard time in school, I have always been very adamant about making sure my kids get a good education and have a lot of parent involvement. I primarily meant a privet school or joining the PTO, NOT homeschooling. Because of barely graduating school myself I never felt qualified to homeschool. I was afraid of failing my kids and messing them up worse then I was in school.

Being a military family we move a lot and we have met a lot of homeschooling families over the years. In hindsight I think God has always had homeschooling in his plans, I just wasn't where I needed to be yet. I have been married over 7years and not once till about two week ago did I ever seriously consider really going for it.

So why am I considering it?

I never put my kids in day care just so I could go back to a mediocre job, all while some one else was raising and teaching my kids. I wanted to be the parent and teach them. I suddenly came to the same feeling about school. My son has already received 5 referral slips from school  this year. He talks back, doesn't show respect for others or his elders, has says things I don't think are ok for a 6 year old and his attitude has gone done hill since school. I am not the one to discipline him or correct his bad behavior. I am not the one to help him improve or fix what he did wrong.

My son actually does really well educationally in school and is normally done with his work quite quickly, and then acts out because he is board. I know they should be able to help me out it this area, but to me there is more then just fixing this problem. I want to teach him kindness, respect, sharing, love for others, and patience. These are not core lessons at school, but in my BIBLE.

Yes he does get in trouble for many other reasons, but as I was told recently, he is having a heart issue, and we need to figure out what it is. Hearing him say 'I don't know' is just frustrating and not helping him be a better person.

There could be many alternatives to taking my son out of school, such as having more bible devotions with my kids before bed, or getting the teacher to give him more work, or getting him tested. All very possible. But the honest truth is I just feel that this is what God is calling me to do right now, And if my timing is right with Gods then this will all work out.

Believe me I don't think he will have any 'social' problems, he is a very outgoing kid and loves to play.

Please pray for my family as we attempt this and that we all lean on God. If you have more questions as to why I am doing this, go ahead and ask, or if you have any recommendations please let me know.

I did some glamour shots of myself, it was fun.

Newest pictures of my two.

Another year older another year gone.

Last week was my 27th birthday. Up until about 4 months ago I was still feeling like the 19 year old that got married to her best friend. I only remember once when I looked into the mirror and realized,  I have two kids, my body has changed and I think I have started to see the skin on my chin get just a little lower then it used to be.

I have moved 5 times since graduating high school. I have left tons of friends behind and feel that many of them have stayed there. It is heart breaking at times, when I feel alone and crushed by life and all I want is one of my best girls by my side, and they are no where to be found. I understand it is a two way street but how hard is it to seem interested? More then just FB too. Do I not get wedding invites because I live so far away, or is because you don't consider me that close of a friend?

I switched high school half way between my junior year. Not one person called me from the school I left. No one wondering where I had gone. Did anyone think, "where was that girl that I went to school with for the last 4 years". I thought that someone would call to ask, but no. I thought even after graduating from a small school where I had made some amazing friends, even if it was just the last two years of school, we would stay in touch better. Once I saw some friends from the school I left at the movie theater, the girls just looked at me like I was an outcast. I was really hurt. They say high school is the best years of your life, I don't know who made up that lie, but I will never tell my kids that.

You know where you have friends that are always there for you, let you talk and vent about everything, then there are those who you are that for? Well after looking at some of my (what I thought my) closest friends I realize after all the years, there is one girl friend that our friendship goes both ways. I just wish we weren't 1500 miles from each other right now. It breaks my heart that those girls that stood next to me at the alter have moved on and with out me. It is nice to see them while we are home, but I am pretty sure it will never be the same.

My husband wants to move back to our home town after he gets out of the Army, in about 10 years. I think it sounds like a dead end. As much as I love Oregon I don't want to go back where everything is changed and no one knows my name, it would be like going to an alternate world where it looks the same but your memories are no where to be found.

Honestly, it isn't like I am the same person either, but I still crave for those friends who stick by me and know who I am. When you move so much it is really hard to make friends, and this time around I feel like it is getting harder. I could also be holding back, feeling a little hardened from all these moves and all these friends coming and going. When you make them, you eventually have to move, and rarely are they that one friend who is going to stick around even after you move. God has put some amazing people in my life, I just wish they were a little closer. Maybe that is why I hang onto my hubby so tight.  

Months of change, mind full thought and emotions.

About 4 months ago we moved across the country, We went from the hot muggy south of Georgia, to the dry hot dessert of New Mexico. That is my life as a military spouse, we move, uproot our children, and try our best to make the best of our new life, I tell my self it is an adventure, but there are days it is just overwhelming and depressing.

Many times this summer I have wanted to get on here and vomit my brain. I am not a highly educated woman, I barely finished high school. As much as I love to learn it stresses me out to do it in a classroom setting. I prefer to not get graded. Instead of a full knowledge of world goings on and political mud slinging, I know songs to Phineas and Ferb, Doc McStuffens, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Just knowing half this crap that goes on would depress anyone. But any person who wants to make a difference and be a good force in this bad world should know whats going on. 

Since moving here I have found out that NM has the 2nd worst schools in all of America, it has the highest rate of teen pregnancies, Santa Fe is a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, and the unemployment rate is ridiculous compared to the cost of living. 

This is the year, a year that could mean change. Every 4 years we get a chance to vote, a way to get our voice heard. September 26th was national voters registration day. I really hope that you have registered so that you have no excuse when you dislike the way our government is flushing our country down the flusher.

... more thoughts later

Love my little girl.

It's bugging me!

So I asked my husband a question yesterday, I expected a 'yes' even if it was a said grudgingly just to satisfy my want. When he said no, I was more then a little surprised. He said 'I love you though!' in which I responded 'Well if you really loved me you would join me!' How typical of a response is that?! I started "The art of marriage" a video bible study. I didn't really intend on doing it myself, I had really hopped my husband would join me. I am already doing a woman's bible study on marriage by myself... Why won't he do this with me? I know in his eyes he doesn't see any need for doing any of this, it is like that old saying, 'if it isn't broke, don't fix it.' That is so him. it is kinda starting to drive me a little bonkers. I have always been that one to read books or do studies to help benefit our marriage. I have the total opposite view, why wait when you can learn and perfect something now instead of waiting till it gets bad. But I am starting to get irritated that it is one sided. Sure he will learn to do new things for our sex life, and yes that is beneficial, but that is not one sided. I am really starting to feel that my desire and relationship with God is stronger, and I think looking at that and my life, is why I drift back, because I don't want to be the stronger one in our marriage. I desire him to be, another reason why I have to look to God more, he will fill that hole. So many things running through my mind. 

Are you potty training?

Potty Training… your toddlers step into being a big kid. Some say you can start training your child as soon as they come out. that is lots of work and so not my thing. When my son was 2 and a half we lived over seas and were on our way back to the states in about 4 months. I was so ready for him to be out of diapers and be done with rashes and ointments. I would change a diaper and just minutes later He would poop, and unknown to me it would sit in there till I smelled it, which some how was longer then it should have been. (I am not a bad mom I swear) I got in my head that he just had to be potty trained ASAP because I was going out of my head with all the diapers. I tried and tried, but he refused. My son would cry and and cry when I tried to put him on the potty or if I even asked him to try. I let him go around the house naked, nothing, he would rather pee were he stood then go to that potty. I had friends tell me that I should just wait tell after we moved and got settled in a bit, because even if by some miracle his gets trained some kids regress and then your back at square one again. So I just became more diligent on changing his diapers and we waited till our new home was set up. We used clothes diapers on our second child and so I tired those on my older one in hopes that that would help, but he complained about how they felt and didn't like wearing them. I even tried pull ups, the kind that turns cold when they pee, it freaked him out and he didn't want to wear them, no luck there. I decided to be patient and wait. I watched him closely for any signs of being ready and ask him on occasion if he wanted to try. We had bought a little boys urinal and thought that would be a fun way to learn. But since his Dad was at work all day he didn't have someone to mimic. When he was just about 3 and a half I found the Huggies potty training video online and requested a free copy. When it came I turned it on. He just sat there and watched it all, even all the parent parts. After watching it all, he went up to his dad and asked for big boy underwear. He refused to wear diapers anymore and hated me putting them on him even at night, till I got a sheet for his bed it was a must though. I have to say I was really nervous there for a while and wondered often if he would ever be out of diapers, it felt so horrifying and frustrating, and I was afraid he wouldn't get to go to school cause he wouldn't go on the potty. 

When my daughter started watching my son go on the potty she wanted to go to, she was 1.5 at the time. I was so thrilled, I thought this could be the coolest thing ever, having two kids out of diapers at the same time, AWEOME!!! I let her go when ever she wanted, but after about two months she didn't want to anymore, she would scream and yell and kick. It was too good to be true. I had my daughter in cloth diapers since she was 10 LBS. She had three things going for her (and me) to get her to train early, Cloth diapers, being a girl and seeing an older sibling do it. I still waited and almost a year went by before I saw the light. My husband was deployed so I didn't want to start something that wasn't going to turn out to be the real thing and frustrate myself over it. But I saw more and more that she was ready. Not wanting to wear dirty diapers, taking off her own diapers, and she loved to watch me go. It may sound weird, and some parents value there time in the bathroom alone, but I really think it helped my two know what to do by watching me. I started letting her go around the house naked, I figured out that if I put a diaper back on her she felt it gave her an excuse to go in it, that is what its for right? So we stayed home a lot during this time. Every time she went pee she got two M&Ms, poop was 3. For a time she didn't like going poop in the potty, that is why she got more. I heard that is normal, some how children feel like they are putting something of themselves in there and it is scary to flush it away. We watched the Elmo potty time movie a LOT, and over a couple of weeks it got much easier. I still had things I had to do out and about, so I would put a cloth diaper back on her, then take it off when we returned, I would usually find poop, but no pee, she would go as soon as we got home. 

People will give you all sorts of tips tricks and advice, including me, But what I think the biggest thing to consider is your two personalities. My son felt like he had no need to change, his Mommy changed his diaper, he went every where felling safe and protected. There was no motivation to change, what was his reason??? My daughter wants to do everything her older brother does, so that was her motivation, she wasn't easy peasy, but she wasn't nearly as tricky as my son.  I am a very laid back person and that some times hindered things at home, because I wasn't a scheduled person,I didn't set timers to ask or remember to direct them to the bathroom. I kinda go with the flow which was only good because I could easily stay home and give them apple juice all day long and know we were only a few feet from the bathroom. 

I am blessed that both my kids never really had accidents, it was usually my fault if we did because we didn't make it to the restroom at the store. I also never had to make my kids wear pull up or diapers at night either, as long as they went before going to bed we were good. Don't misunderstand me we still had them once in awhile because of lots to drink during the day, or if my little girl slept slept late. My biggest advice for any parent wanting to potty train is be patient, be willing to bribe, and don't lose your cool. Your child is watching and making them feel bad won't make them want to be on the potty any faster. 

Just having fun on an oddly warm January day.

We had the neighbors over and played with chalk on the drive way. The kids had so much fun. 

More money saving tips.

This goes along with what I posted the other day, about saving money through out the year. Found it on Pinterest, What amazing thing we can find there. I really think that so many of us have already been doing what we can to save money that much of this may not be new news.

Source: lifehacker.com via Jodi on Pinterest

Ways to save in 2012!

I found this in last Sundays paper and wanted to share. I don't know how you save money? Many of these things I already do, or don't do at all so I am not spending the money at all. But here are the ideas.

• Take advantage of happy hour deals, or early bird specials...
• Volunteer as event staff at festivals or venues. 
• Travel shortly before or after peak season. 
• Find out if your employer offers discounts, such as group buying, gym memberships or discounts. 
• Make a meal out of what you already have in you fridge or pantry. 
• Buy in bulk. this doesn't always work for everyone. 
• Freeze and store what you can't use right away. 
• Buy in season fruit and veggies. 
• Go meatless (unlikely in our house)
• Pack a lunch
• Use coupons, but only for what you would buy and use anyway.
• Buy generic, food and drugs.
• Keep car maintained. 
• Lighten the load in your car. less weight uses less gas. 
• Find lower gas prices, www.gasbuddy.com 
• Walk or ride your bike. 
• Buy used. 
• Wait for sales. 
• Buy only what you need. (we all know that isn't easy)
• Swap clothes with friends and family. 
• Insulate attics, walls and crawl spaces. 
• Turn off and unplug any appliances, lights, and lamps not in use. tips at www.energyhog.org
• Turn your thermostat to 68 or lower when your awake, and lower 7 to 10 degrees when your asleep or away. 
• Buy reusable terrycloth wash clothes and towels instead of paper. 

I came up with a few of my own as well. 

• Make your own coffee or tea
• use consignment shops and bring in your old clothes for new to you clothes. (one of my favorites)
• offer a service or trade with a friend so you don't have to go out and get it done. 
• use cloth grocery bags, some stores give small discounts for them . 

Hope you find some of this useful. 

E.

different but cute.

She has a hold on my heart

My newest project. Copied from Pinterest.

Source: iloveitallwithmonikawright.blogspot.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

I found this one online a few months ago and wanted to make my own. Here is how it turned out. I also repurposed an old journal that I wasn't using any longer. I like how it turned out, how about you?