Christmas Buzz

I am so excited about Christmas this year. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. My family can look back on the days when I would have a count down written out. There's just something about Christmas that warms your heart during the cold season.

Unfortunately, Christmas was not a good holiday last year. I was very sick with my Bipolar and I couldn't find the joy. I went through the motions for the kids, but barely. Ken did all of the shopping for gifts, there were no Christmas cookies, I didn't even finish decorating the tree until the night before Christmas. I didn't know at the time what was wrong with me. I just knew that something was different in me.

I am so happy that the Lord has restored me. He has forgiven me for my sins and given me another chance to provide a beautiful and meaningful Christmas for my family. Right now I'm planning the Advent season. I'm also part of a cookie exchange so I need to start thinking about what kind of cookies I want to bake. I'm planning gifts (cheap gifts for the kids this year) and stocking stuffers. I'm even looking on Napster for some good Christmas music to play while decorating the tree.

Thank you Lord Jesus for Your mercy and grace that you have bestowed upon me. Thank you for second chances.

Back in the swing of things

Could it be...Maybe it's possible...My life may be resuming to normal. Now I realize that I am saying this after one good day. I should probably wait until I have a few more days under my belt, but this day has and continues to be a success. I don't expect all days to be as good as this one but if we can find the magic potion that made this one good, maybe I can continue in my bliss.



Today I woke up at 7am. Since I've been out of it until close to noon all other days, this was a shocker. To top it off, I was wide awake and feeling drug free. I was able to make breakfast and have a conversation with Nathan before he headed to the bus stop. Soon Ken left and it was just Kate and I. I then decided to pull out the school books that we had been using before I got sick. I looked and looked for them and finally found them in an area where I never keep books.



We started on the letter B today. First we did lesson 8 out of Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. First of all, Katie abhors this book and I can barely stand it myself. I'm using it because it's what we have and I know it will eventually work. I'm trying to supplement here and there with other ideas since she really doesn't like it. I think the reason for that is that she may not be ready for it yet.



Next, we read a Bearenstein Bears book about "Too Much Vacation." Then it was time for our Bible reading about Noah and the arc. We did a finger play about the animals (all beginning with B of course) getting on the arc and the sounds they make. It's a really cute finger play and Katie always enjoys these.



It was time to move to the table for our table work. I drew a bubble letter B. Katie then painted it with glue and used cinnamon to fill it in. It looks great and smells even better. Since we're working on the number 2 as well, I traced Katie's hands and she colored them in in all sorts of colors. Next we worked out of our Mead Handwriting book. Katie made a row of L's. Then onto Get Ready for the Code. Katie had to practice her T's in this book. Thankfully she knows all of her letters or it could get really confusing working on so many letters in a day.



That was it for the school day. That is a pretty typical day. Then it was time to organize clothes. This always seems to be the biggest job for me. I have to go through all of the children's old clothes and decided what they have outgrown. This goes in the charity pile. If they can wear it another year, it stays. Then I have to organize what they have for the fall. I receive so many clothes for Katie from her Aunt that we rarely have to buy anything for her. This year, Grandma and Grandpa really helped us out with dressing Nathan. So this job is finally done.



This has been my day so far. I'm not sure if you cared to hear all of that, but I'm glad that I'm doing so much better.

Books I'm reading

Chipped dishes, zippers & prayer: Meditations for women by Ruth Gibson

The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide by Alex Chapman and Kim Gratz

Strengthening Your Marriage by Wayne A. Mack

Things That Go Bump in the Night: How to Help Children Resolve Their Natural Fears by Paul Warren and Frank Minirth

Although I can hardly get past 3 pages of reading at a time, I found all of these books to have great meaning in my life right now. The first book is a time for short meditation with the Lord. This is something that all women need. The book on Borderline Personality Disorder was purchased to see how well I fit the symptoms. I am constantly being diagnosed BPD or told that I have characteristics or BPD. Now I can understand what the doctors are talking about.

Ken and I are doing the Marriage book together, although we each have our own copy. This is because of all the difficulties we've faced together over the past year. Finally, the book on fears is for Nathan. I want to help him get over some of his fears. So that's what I'm reading right now.

change of heart

Yes, of course it's been a long time since I blogged. I've been in and out (mostly in) of the hospital for the past few months. Without going into all of the gory details, Nathan ended up in public school. It wasn't my choice. I am dealing with a lot of grief over the decision, but have been having a change of heart. God put Nathan in public school for a reason. I know this for sure because no one wanted Nathan in public school. He's doing great. He already had three friends in his class before meeting the other children. He is in either the average or high level classes. Yet I still grieve the decision and see it as a failure of mine. I know, I know. I shouldn't view it as such but I do.

I still plan to homeschool Katie this year. We haven't started back up yet because I'm still trying to get my life back in order and get stabilized on my meds. I am looking forward to doing Little Hearts to Heaven by Heart of Dakota with her. It's a fun program. We did one week before being hospitalized and we had a blast.

Our first few days of school

We decided to start school a week early. This was my decision, although I convinced Nathan that it was a good idea. Katie was on board, of course. I couldn't sleep well the night before because I was actually nervous! I have no idea what made me nervous. I think it was because I was less than prepared. So we were up early (7am) to shower and take daddy to work. We dressed, brushed teeth, ate breakfast, cleaned our rooms, and finished our other chores. I started school by setting Katie up with Nick Jr. Yes, my daughter gets to watch cartoons in the morning. Shoot me.

During this time, I pulled out the books with Nathan. I introduced him to his new books and we dove right in. Over the last three days, I realized that during the first hour, I am just going over assignments and giving new assignments. The only thing that we do "together" is our read-aloud. When all of Nathan's assignments have been written in his book, he heads upstairs with his books to get to work.

Now Katie and I start school. I feel like we are already getting into a good groove. We start with our finger play. We do the same one for an entire week, so Katie really gets to learn it. This week, we are learning about Adam and the Animals that God created. Of course, our letter of the week is A. After our finger play, we read our Bible story. Next, we do a lesson from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Right now, Katie very much dislikes this book. I'm hoping that she will like it as she begins to read. Then I read two books to her.

Now we move to the kitchen table to do some workbook pages. She does one line of handwriting from a great Mead handwriting book. It's perfect for her skill level and only expects her to practice one letter a week. Then we do one or two workbook pages. This can come from computer printouts or from her phonics books. Finally, we end with Katie's favorite activities. One day we worked with modeling clay (a huge hit). The next day we drew with white crayons on white paper. Then we water painted with black to make our creation appear. Today, we glued marshmallows onto our giant A worksheet. We also have a huge A on our carpet made from blue painter's tape for Kate's animals to walk on.

After I'm done with Katie (about an hour), Nathan is allowed to ask for help. He's doing well at being independent in his work. I will answer questions about how a problem is done, but I will not help him with specific problems. When he is finished, I grade his work and put it in my grade book. The next day, when we go over missed problems, I add one or two points to his score for correcting his work.

School is not taking very long for me. I'm usually done by around noon. Nathan makes lunch from a schedule on our fridge. Then he finishes his work and is usually done by 1:00. He likes to get ahead by working on his assignments at bedtime. I don't usually mind him doing this.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to show soon.

Nathan's Birthday Party

We celebrated Nathan's 10th birthday this past weekend with a slumber party. I don't know why they call it that. Very little slumbering actually took place. Here's a photo diary of the party. Unfortunately since I was in charge of the events and the camera, I missed some good photos. My mother told me to take lots of pictures so here are lots of pictures.

The garage pre-party.

Table for 8, although we ended up with 11.

The gift table.

The slip 'n' slide was popular in the beginning.

Katie had fun in the water with the boys.

A few boys preferred rough housing to playing in the water.

We did a water bomb toss and ended it with a full blown water balloon fight.

Look out!

More slip 'n' slide fun.

Look at that arm!

Katie wasn't going to let the boys have all of the fun.

Here's a good action shot.

I had eight boys at this point. They decided to show off their muscles for the camera.

What a bunch of goof balls.

After the water fun, the boys played some hoops.

This is the worst picture of Katie I have ever seen. It looks like she's growing a mustache. Oh well.

Some boys were playing football and others were playing ladder golf.

Next, we ate and played some more. I don't have many pictures of that. Here is Katie eating a cupcake in the kitchen when she thought no one was looking.

Katie cleaning up after dinner. My little helper:)

More basketball.

Nathan and Katie grabbing seconds on dinner. You'd think I never feed these kids with the way they eat.

Katie decided to take a break on the couch while watching the boys play. Next, we held two tournaments at the same time. I ran a basketball golf tournament outside while Ken ran a Wii bowling tournament. The winner of the tournaments each won door prizes. One chose a disk shooter while the other chose a whoopie cushion.

After the two tournaments, the boys played sharks and minnows, hot potato, and limbo. The winner of the games won a rubber baseball, a water bomb football, and a pack of baseball cards. At this point in was getting dark. The boys were so loud, you could here them at the other end of the subdivision. Oh my! I feel sorry for my neighbors.

Some MORE late night basketball.

A little visitor stopped by for a few minutes to see his big brother.

Here are some shots of the Wii tournament.

A friend stuffing a cupcake in his mouth.

Finally time to settle down for a movie. They have popcorn in those red cups.

Still posing for the camera. They were wired and it was about midnight.

They finally fell asleep at about 2:30-3:00am. Not before watching two movies, playing hide and seek, and having a popcorn fight. Oh, I was NOT happy about that one.

Do you SEE my carpet?? This is the next morning.

I made breakfast and had to wake them up so that they'd eat. They were wound up again for another 2 hours before I sent them all home. I was never so happy for 9am to roll around. I was exhausted. I spent the rest of the morning napping and cleaning. Overall, the party was a success and the boys had a good time. No more parties for a loooong time.

Boys Being Boys

That is just a statement...not an excuse. Boys are rough. Boys think they're tough. Well, I had my first run in with the boys in the neighborhood being less than polite. Nathan told me that his good friend wanted to beat him up. This didn't sound like him at all. His friend is quiet and polite. Earlier today, Nathan tells me that three of his friends are punching him.

Okay, time for Mom to step in. I walk down the street and see the boys. They see me and begin to run. I yell, "You three come over here or I'll speak with all of your parents." They turn around and come over to me. One of the older sisters comes over too. I choose to speak to her, knowing that I'll get a better look at what really happened. Of course, I find out that Nathan was not innocent in all of this. (Big surprise.)

Basically, Nathan accidentally hit his friend in the eye. I truly believe that it was an accident because Nathan doesn't get physical with his friends. This said friend then threatens to beat up Nathan. Nathan does climb on the back of another friend and now they are all fighting. I asked Nathan to apologize for his behavior. He did, and one of his friends said it was okay right away. Another kid was reluctant to accept his apology. I'm not surprised by this kid.

So there are four prepubescent boys trying to beat up on each other. I hate being the mean mom that steps in, but I could see that they were not working it out on their own. This was just one more way that reminds me that I'm the adult. I know my mom finds that hilarious, but sometimes I still don't feel like the adult. I hope Nathan can make it through his childhood and teenage years without too many fist fights. Having only a sister, this is pretty new to me and I don't like it one bit.