Moving Forward into 2016

This week has been a week of closing chapters and saying goodbyes. I'll begin with the goodbyes.

My husband and I were able to help send off a wonderful family of 11 (!!!) that we have gotten to know over the past 8 years. They have certainly been an example to me with their faithfulness, kindness, and generosity. Their move was bittersweet. Of course we were sad to see them go, but we are so happy that they have received an answer to their prayers and will begin a new chapter of their lives. Thank goodness for modern technology allowing us to stay connected.

The rest of the week was mostly uneventful for us. It has been rather wet outside, though the weather has been warm. I am hoping that over the weekend, the sun will be shining and I will have a chance to rake up the leaves in our backyard.

The children had some changes this week that will continue to take place through  the new year. One of the biggest changes will be to this guy here. He will finally be moving out of the nursery at church and into the larger primary with the "big kids".

Our church moves the children up to the next class at the beginning of each year and it is done by the year you were born. Because George is a January baby, he did not get to move up to the primary last year and instead had to remain in the nursery. He is one of the biggest kids in there, but I know he has enjoyed every minute of it. He was asked to bring a snack for their last Sunday together and he wanted to bring homemade peanut butter cookies.

I know that the transition from nursery to primary may come with an adjustment period for him, or he may surprise us and dive right in. I do know for certain that his new teachers are wonderful women. I look forward to hearing about all of the fun he will be having in his big kid Sunday school class.

This not-so-little girl will also be moving up to the 6-year-old class. It is not as big of a transition as what George has, but she will be getting a new teacher and the children in her class may change some. Currently, they have combined the 5 and 6 year olds, but they may change this and the classmates she knows could move up to the 7 year old class and may no longer be with her. We'll just have to see.

This baby boy here does not get a major change in his life until the end of January when he turns 18 months old and joins the nursery at church. I am anxious to see how that will turn out. When Bridget was that age, she screamed every Sunday for what seemed like months every time I attempted to leave her in there. George on the other hand walked right in and didn't look back. I am hoping that Liam will do the same.

I also have a few changes of my own that will be taking place in the new year. I have goals that I have set for myself. Many of them will help me when my life will change drastically in mid-January when my husband's busy season begins and I will be doing this parenting thing primarily on my own. Last year things ran so smoothly as I had the children on an excellent bedtime schedule that made the rest of their day easy for me. After my husband's busy season ended, the routine eventually stopped being followed. This year, my goal is to keep it going. 

My biggest goal, however, has to do with making goals. I will not necessarily be starting all of my goals on January 1st. I plan to implement them gradually so that I don't get burned out trying to stay on top of things. I also plan to list my goals here soon so that hopefully I can be more accountable for them. 

I am certainly ready for a fresh new beginning.

Week in Review 2015: #50

Life

We did a couple of fun things last Friday night. We drove to Raleigh to attend a Nativity Celebration and to watch Disney on Ice. We had a blast at both events. You can read about them in more detail by clicking on the links.

On Saturday, my husband took the boys to his parents house while Bridget and I spent the day together and watched a performance of The Nutcracker Ballet. It is an annual tradition of ours and we enjoyed it just as much this year as we have in the past. 

This week was also the last week of the year for all of our extracurricular activities. No gymnastics or dance until January! I'm a little excited about that. I really do not mind taking them to their classes, but it does feel nice that the only place we need to be for the next two weeks is church on Sunday.

In other news, we are getting closer to going under contract with our new house. There are a few more details to iron out and with my husband being an accountant, it makes the process take longer because he wants to know where all of the money is going, did we get a credit back for not including something, why does this cost this much when Lowes sells it for this much, it should not cost $1000 to install an oven... I could go on but I will stop there.

I was also forced to get a new phone this week. So far, I have been able to avoid having a smart phone. A few months ago, my dumb phone completely died. The battery would not hold a charge for even 5 minutes. My husband changed my phone to one of his old phones. This worked out for the first month, but the longest phone call I could have was 10 minutes before the phone shut off without warning. I had had enough of not having a reliable phone, so my husband ordered a brand new phone and phone plan and now I am rocking a smart phone with a pink case. I would still prefer not to have a smart phone, but technology will not let me stay behind. So far, my new phone is still being used only for phone calls and an occasional text message, so don't get too excited. I might decide to take a selfie one day, but don't hold your breath.

Homeschool 

We did a lot of math drill sheets at the beginning of the week and Bridget has gotten so much better at her +9 problems. She is also wanting to read more. No more nagging at her to get a boo kto practice reading. Instead, she grabs the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading off of the bookshelf and sits at the homeschool table and reads whatever words she can. This is done during her free time, might I add.

We are still trying to get back on track but I am learning now not to stress it. We will be doing school next week to make up for the days we missed due to sickness. 

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Disney on Ice 2015

Last week, a dear friend of mine offered us her Disney on Ice tickets, as her family would be unable to attend the show. Not wanting the tickets to go to waste, she thought of my little family. I accepted her offer and the children were excited for the rest of the week and asked many times each day, "Is it time to go see the ice dancers now?" 

We were already planning on going to the Raleigh area that evening for a Nativity display, even though that plan was not yet set in stone because we had no idea what to expect and did not want to make the journey just to have it be a big flop (although it ended up being fantastic). The Disney on Ice tickets made the trip extra special. We took Bridget and George, leaving Liam at home with my parents. 

I loved seeing the looks of wonder on my children's faces as they watched the skaters dance on the ice dressed as some of their favorite Disney characters. I had never seen ice skating before (other than on television), so I was just  as excited. The show started with one of my favorites, Jiminy Cricket singing "When You Wish Upon A Star", with the Blue Fairy dancing on the ice.

Then came Bridget's favorite Disney characters from Beauty and the Beast! She was so excited and giddy! Rarely ever have I seen her express that sort of excitement in public. She was applauding and everything. 

Then many of the other Disney princesses came out. I tried to take photos of all of Bridget's favorites.

The dancers devoted a large segment of the show to the movie Frozen. My kids did not mind this at all. When Olaf came out, George started yelling, "It's Olaf! Look Mommy, it's Olaf!!!! Take a picture of Olaf!!!!!". I had the camera on him because of how excited he was, and he kept yelling at me over and over again and pointing his finger to Olaf. I finally turned the camera and got one of Olaf to make him happy.

A few other highlights of the show were of Aladdin and the Genie dancing to "Friend Like Me" (I still get teary-eyed when I hear Robin Williams' voice... brings back so many childhood memories of some of my favorite movies.)

I also liked the Mulan performance. I feel that this Disney "princess" does not get as much attention as the others, but I like her just the same.

The Lion King seemed to get the biggest audience reaction when Rafiki first came out and the "The Circle of Life" began playing. I failed to get pictures of that, but I did get Simba and Nala dancing to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight".

The finale:

We had such a great time. I am the worst at trying to remember to get tickets for shows like this and most often times don't even know they're playing until after the fact, so I know I would have never taken my kids to see Disney on Ice if the tickets hadn't been offered to me. Thank you!!

Week in Review 2015: #49

Life

Last Friday night we attended our church's annual Christmas party. During the party, the primary children got up to perform a few songs while dressed in costumes related to the Nativity. Bridget is always shy during this, and she had herself almost completely covered by her costume (she was a woman shepherd). George decided not to go up and that is okay since he is technically not a part of the primary yet (he's still in the nursery).

We also made a couple of Christmas ornaments out of perler beads this week. I brought them out while Liam was taking his nap. Bridget had a blast and could not decide what to make. George thought it was neat for awhile. He made the outer blue border around his star, but then wanted me to finish it while he picked the colors. Neither of the ornaments are very Christmas-y, but it is what the children wanted to make. They were very proud of their creations.

George and his blue star ornament

Bridget and her rainbow heart ornament

On Friday, Liam did not feel too good. He did not wake up until after 9 o'clock and by 10:30, he was asleep again in my arms. He didn't feel like he had a high fever or anything but was just very sleepy. He fell asleep again after lunch, this time in daddy's arms. That night, we had made plans to go to Raleigh for a couple of things (which I will blog about later) and my parents watched Liam at their house. He fell asleep there around 7:30 in the evening, which is rather early even for him. He is however, back to his normal self again.

I also took a break from blogging this week because I have been working on a homeschool-related project. My computer time is very limited, so I can either blog and/or browse Facebook, or I can get some actual work done. I opted for the latter this week and was able to get a good amount of work done, considering the interruptions I get every two minutes.

Homeschool 

As I had mentioned last week, we had gotten behind on our history notebook pages because I had only been making them a few at a time, but I am now working on just getting it all done for the year (and getting ahead for next year). In addition to that, I've made my own timeline cards. Nothing I found online was exactly what I wanted (I also need things to be very uniform). Because history is my favorite subject ever, my thoughts fly all over the place when I am teaching and I just need to stop and breathe and pick just a few additional topics to add to the curriculum (I could probably spend an entire year on ancient Greece). It is so easy to get lost in the study of the ancient world. Now that I've got it figured out, hopefully things will run more smoothly. 

I did manage to put together our Reading List for Story of the World, Volume 1 (Ancient Times) which will be an ongoing project, as we are barely halfway through the school year. 

Family Movie Night

With it being Christmas, we have been watching all of our Christmas movies almost daily. It has been nice and a real treat for the kids. 

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