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Friday, August 30, 2013

Noah's Ark

Since Jack's mom (the boy I watch) took him out of preschool to let me keep him, I feel like I need to up my game this year and have more themes and activities for the kids.  This week was Noah's ark week.  Monday we made a story book, Wednesday we made an ark, and today we made a rainbow.  We reviewed the story each day.  On T/Th, I didn't do much since I didn't have Kara.  Jack would just do a Noah's ark coloring page to go along with the theme.  I hope I can get many more weeks of themes/crafts to make it last all year long.




Friday, August 23, 2013

anniversary and crafts

Today Jack and I celebrate 16 years of marriage.  We've had some amazing times and some difficult ones, but I still love him more today than I did the day before.  I am so blessed!!

My first week of work has gone pretty good.  I'm still tired, but I am slowly getting into the routine.  This week Jack and Kara did a craft.  I found some canvasses on sale and I taped their names on them.  I let them paint all over them and then when it dried I removed the tape and their names were in white.  I think I will do this in January and make snowflakes for them!!


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

First week of school

It's official....I have a 7th grader, 5th grader and 4th grader.  The first day of school seemed to go well.  My day Friday went well, but adjusting to the new routine has made me very exhausted!!  I spent Saturday and Sunday making lunches for the week, so that helped but here is a sample of my schedule:
7:25 arrive at school to do early morning care
8:00 finish work, pick up Jack and Kara take Josh and some others to middle school at Amelia Church.
8:15 drop Josh off at middle school
8:00-11:45 take care of Jack and Kara
11:45 leave to pick up Isaac from K4
12:00 pick up Isaac from K4, take the long way home by Amelia Christian Church to drop of Jack (his mom is the morning secretary)
12:00-2:40 take care of Isaac and Kara
2:40 leave to pick up Jake and Jenna and drop off Isaac
3:00 head over to Amelia to pick up Josh from middle school
3:15 get Joshua and drop Weston off at salon
The rest of the day is spent cooking dinner, helping with homework, finishing anything I didn't get done and getting ready to start this entire process all over again.  I'm still getting up to do exercise classes twice a week at 5:15 am (and I try to go to other times during the week).  I just hope that I get my energy back.  I'm really dragging.  I'm hoping that once I get settled into the routine I will once again have some energy.





Saturday, August 17, 2013

End of Summer/Prayer

I'm finally posting the end of summer.  I loved you while it was here!!  I am happy to report that Friday went fine.  I didn't have Kara and the three kids watching went fine.  The mom shortened the time and the weather held off so that I could take them to the park.  I also met the other new little boy that I will be keeping.  So here is my prayer/desires for my children this year.

Jenna.....Jenna has two teachers this year.  One is an assistant pastor and one is a pastor's wife.  I've had Mrs. Edwards before and she is super!!  Mr. Johnson is new, but looks like he will be great.  Jenna had a rough summer.  One of her closest friends was not so nice to her at the pool this summer and even though Jenna never complains, I could tell she was hurt.  She is a lot like me (in a bad way) that she is not so outgoing and asking of things.  It broke my heart one Sunday night to see a bunch of girls (some older and some younger) sitting in a row behind us.  They were all laughing, talking and singing and yet Jenna was the only one not sitting with anyone.  I know she could ask to sit with them, but I guess she doesn't feel included.  Something we need to work on.  Its hard because the girls are either older or younger than she is. My prayer for her is that she will meet new friends this year and that her close friend will not be as rude to her as she was over the summer.  My lesson from her is that even when she is hurting, she never complains.

Jacob.....Jacob also struggles with having friends.  His best friend last year at school moved during the year and he had a hard time.  There are only three other boys in his class who are pretty tight, so it makes it hard for him.  There is a new boy this year so my prayer for him is that he will become friends with him.  I've also seen him becoming friends with someone at church, which makes me feel better.  I'm also excited to see Jacob play flag football in the fall.

Josh...  Josh is at the pre-teen phase. It's hard to believe in 5 months I will have a teenager in my house.  There is a lot that goes on at this age so my prayers for him are many.  Most of all, I want him to just be himself.  Everyone seems to love Josh and I swear that kid could make friends with a street pole.  He is outgoing and never meets a stranger.  On the down side he sometimes tries too hard and then does things or says things that get him into trouble.  I also pray for him academically.  This will be a tough year for him, but I am determined to get him through it.  We struggled on whether to send him or homeschool him and we are trying this month to month.  If it gets too hard, we will pull him and homeschool him.

All of this makes me realize as a mom how important it is to pray for my kids daily.  They are all are special and unique and I am blessed!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Our Final Week

This is the last week of summer vacation.  I am so sad.  This summer really went by quickly, more than I normally felt before.  This week we have been keeping Kara and the kids love that.  Jenna had another sewing lesson, and we visited the pool on Monday afternoon.  Tomorrow we get to meet the teachers and Friday I am keeping 3 new kids for the day.  One of those kids I will start keeping every day, but on Friday I have his brother and sister too.  The girl will be in Jenna's class.  I'm a little nervous about Friday....having 4 extra kids, 3 of which I don't know that well.

Next week will be an adjustment for me and I'm a little anxious.  I will do early morning care (for those who parents need to get to work and need a place for their kids) from 7:30 to 8 every day.  Not a big job, but every little bit helps.  Getting there by 7:30 might be tough for awhile. At 8 am I will pick up Kara and a new little boy, Jack and then drop Josh off at middle school.  I will have Kara on M/W/F all day long.  At 12, I will pick up another little boy (teacher's kid) from K4 and then drop Jack off. (so I'll never have the two boys together).  At 2:45 I can drop off Isaac and pick up Jake and Jenna and then swing by to get Josh from middle school.  Whew!  Hope I'm not taking on too much, but the extra money will come in handy, especially since the medical bills are starting to come in.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Week 10, Final Week

This is week 10 of summer vacation.  It is my last week before I start working again next week.  The kids have one more week.  Where has the summer gone?  I am so going to miss it.  We spent this week soaking up the sun at the pool and having another friend day/roller skating day.  Some of the pictures are from the weekend during our 5k run and all the festivities that went along with it (meeting cheerleaders and Sir Purr)












Sunday, August 4, 2013

Charlotte weekend, week 9

Friday morning we woke up and left at 4 am to head to Spartanburg, SC.  We went to the Panther's training camp.  The boys (and even Jenna) had so much fun getting the player's autographs.  Most of the players were very friendly.  When we finished training camp, we headed toward Gaffney, SC and went to the outlet mall.  We needed to get shoes and stuff for school and why not take advantage of tax free weekend!!  We ate dinner and headed to our hotel.  We relaxed and the kids used the pool (Jack and I used the hot tub) and then we walked around downtown Charlotte at night.  What a beautiful city!!  Saturday morning we woke up and went to the Panther's stadium at 7:30 am for the 5k run.  I really enjoy this run.  Its a tough course, but they seem to have a nice after race event.  We then headed to IKEA and walked around and got our cheap lunch and went back to Panther's stadium for the fan fest event.  Since we have had a rough few weeks we decided that we could use the extra family time so we spent an extra night in Charlotte.  We stopped at Concord Mills mall today and then headed home.  So grateful for the family time we had this weekend.  After the stress and anxiety that has been in this household for awhile, this was just the medicine we needed!!