Time for School

Wow...it's over.  The kids started school today and I had to go back to work at early morning care.  Getting out of the house by 7:10 was tough, but we managed.  Thankfully, I do lunches in advance so we pretty much just get dressed, grab a bite to eat and we are out the door.  I have two in middle school this year!!  Jenna will be there next year. I'll be honest....I really had a rough weekend because I still really wanted to pull Joshua and homeschool him, but we are going to give it a try. I admire the little guy.  He has faced so many obstacles since the day he was born, but he has turned out to be a young man full of personality:).....his cleft palate was a start of a lot of things. He has endured surgery, many rounds of ear tubes, speech therapy, numerous teeth pulled because of his small mouth, some ADD issues (which does have a link to his cleft palate) constant leg pain at night and other issues.  Most of this does have links back his cleft palate.  This is going to be a very difficult year for him, but as Mandisa sings "he's an overcomer".  He will stay in the fight till the final round.  God will do great things for him.

Jacob started middle school.  Poor little guy....once again his "favorite school friend" didn't come back.  We did meet a kid at the pool Friday that will be in his class so I am praying for a good match.  Jacob is very good at getting along with everyone, so that isn't an issue, but I know he wants a "special friend" to hang with.  He had great spirits today.  I'm so pleased with the teachers he has this year.  He gets to start a computer/robotics class this year, so I think he will really like that.

Jenna is in the 5th grade.  She also gets along well with everyone.  She will do absolutely fine.  I love her two teachers so that is a plus.  Her group of girls in her class are so-so.  There is a couple that she is happy about and some that she wished she could switch out.  She didn't get with her "close friend", although they aren't tight (if that makes sense).

Me: well, today I went to the gym to work out and cleaned up some rooms in the house.  I have the rest of this week with two boys 3 full days.  Next week the older one goes to school so I will only have one of them full time 3 days a week.  Hopefully after Labor Day I will get into a groove as I will only be working T/W/Th from 1-5:15.  Until then I am not really sure if I am coming or going and I wake up every morning thinking "what day is it and what do I have to do today"!

more grocery fun

I had another fun day at HT.  Spent 11.33 saved over $60 in coupons.  Got two cookies, 2 balance bars, two packages of pens, one deodorant, one package of taco shells, refried beans, 4 taco seasonings, fisher peanuts, snackwells cookies,  two sugars, eye wash, two boxes of southbeach bars, one hair styler and 2 Hawaiian punches.  I then went to another HT with my mom's card and saved over another $20 in coupons, although my total was $40 because I had to get some meat and other misc. groceries.

August?

Oh, summer....where are you going?  In just about two weeks school starts.  This means my morning job is back (7:30-8:30) and we have to get up early.  No more pools, no more being lazy ugh!!  We surprised the kids over the weekend with a trip to Myrtle Beach.  It rained in the mornings, but I did two 5 mile runs.  We enjoyed the beach, pools, and slides and did some tax free shopping (SC still has tax free weekend).

In school news, it was our intentions to home school Joshua.  My dad is now retired so he really doesn't have the means to pay for one child any more.  I prayed that if God wanted Joshua back at SCS he would need a full way there.  The school came back with a $1k scholarship for him and we had to decline.  A couple months later a full scholarship was offered for Joshua to attend school, so we knew that this is what God wanted.  Also, I got a call from a friend from church saying she could no longer keep the little boy that she was watching and wanted to know if I could take him.  She wanted to make sure he went to a good home.  After talking to her and finding out that the kids were good and the mom was GREAT (a problem with one of my afternoon kids last year.....not Jack or Kara) I decided to go forward with it.  God even opened the doors even more and she asked if I could keep him and his brother starting in July....so we have been doing that.  I keep the boys on T/W/TH.  The older boy, Caleb, will be going back to school the end of August and after that I will just have Joshua on T/W/Th.  I will pick him up from preschool at 1:15 (right around the corner from my house) and keep him until 5:15.  This will still leave my mornings free and Mondays/Fridays completely free.  It isn't as much as last year, however, I am so grateful to be working again.  We may face this scenario again next year.....can he go back, will I homeschool, will I work....but for now, God has made things perfectly clear for me and I am grateful:)

Where is summer going?

I can't believe that it is July 15th.  I'm already dreading the school routine which will be here in about a month!!  Our summer is just flying by!  Last week I sent Jacob and Jenna off to camp and this week Joshua has been at camp so things have been quiet and different.  I'm glad they get the chance to go.  Jack and I couldn't work getting away this year since they went on different weeks, so we went to IKEA on Friday and spend the day together (with Joshua close by our side:).

Far from perfect....

My kids are not perfect.  My boys are well......boys!!  Sometimes all three of my kids do something and I say "what were you thinking?".  Sometimes it seems like when someone needs to tell me something about one of the three of them, especially the boys, it's something bad.  Last week I had the pleasure of hearing two days of good!!  Last week Josh went to a friends house from school to swim.  I admire this family a lot.  They have some strong Christian values.  The week before he also went over there, but I didn't realize the parents were gone and the grandparents were there.  When I picked Joshua up I was talking to the mom and told her how much I appreciated them and for having Joshua over and over the prior week when they weren't home.  I told her I hope it really was ok.  She told me that the grandparents called her and her husband and said 'Zach wants to bring a friend over and we know how you feel about it, especially when you are not home".  "He wants Josh to come over".  Her reply was "It's perfectly fine....Josh is on our approved list".......I know something little, but it still means a lot to me and even in our discussion she told me how much she liked Josh and he was welcome over there any time.
   Next day....Josh gets his braces off.  Then we run over to the dentist after a quick lunch for his scheduled cleaning/checkup.  The nurse comes out and asks for Mrs. McLean.  I get up, but she proceeds to come to me.  I knew it was too early for him to be done and my heart started beating because I assume something is wrong.  She comes to talk to me because she wanted to tell me how much she loves my son and how nice he was to her....carrying on a conversation with her and above all being so polite and mannerly.  My first thought was "are you sure you are talking about my Josh?" but then I had a proud mommy moment and was blessed that someone told me something positive about my child!!  Still working on his yes/no maam at home, and to keep it all his elders,  but we are making progress and for once it was nice to hear some good things about my children instead of the negatives.
     Sunday my dad came over for lunch.  Jenna gets up from the meal and says "thank you mommy".  I'm so used to hearing it, but my dad noticed and made a comment to me about it.  Again, it made me feel glad that someone noticed.  All three of the kids are really good about thanking me for their meals and especially grateful if they get a treat.....donuts, frozen drink, etc.  Lord please help me remember that there are positive moments especially when we are faced with the times that are filled with negative/or training moments!!

Grocery Fun

I love couponing.  I don't know why I get such a thrill out of doing it.  Today I got up early and for some reason the kids wanted to go.  I loved seeing Jacob's eyes as my total came down to $15.  I saved $54 in coupons and with my vic card, my total off the bill was $84.61 (that includes the coupons).

I got 3 deodorants, 1 shampoo, (2) two liters of orange soda, two bags of lays chips, 3 pop tarts, 2 popcorns, 3 taco seasonings, 2 breads, 2 pepperonis, two packages of paper plates, one box of spaghetti, one bag of breakfast bars, one bag of chicken nuggets, two boxes of cereal (trix and cheerios) one box of dove ice cream bars and a box of m&m ice cream sandwiches!!

Other things this week is that Josh got his braces off!!  I love his teeth!  I am so jealous as I needed braces so bad!!  He will thank me one day.  He still has a retainer and will get a top one in two weeks.

Summer Break 2014

We've so enjoyed week two and three of our vacation.  A girl could get used to this!!  I usually wake up in the morning and either take a class (or two) at the gym, run, or go biking with the kids.  We've spent almost every day at the pool.  We love to go.  The kids have fun swimming and I enjoy relaxing or talking to other people I know.  We've done some outlet shopping and yesterday went to the "endless yard sales".  Today Jenna and I went to yard sales around here and had a lot of fun.  Jacob and Jenna also had their annual checkup and Jacob got his 6th grade shots that were needed.  I also went to the doctor and we have two appointments this week, so our week will be busy and less time at the pool.  Jenna will be at a party and the boys are having friends over, so I look forward to a new, adventurous week.  I wish we could keep summer all the time!!!  Thankful for the break and for time with the kids:)