Well I haven't posted in forever!

You know, I guess it's not a bad thing when life is so busy and full that you never post on the blog that is supposed to be all about your busy and full life, lol.

Truth be told, I've been trying to focus so much on schooling, the house and getting ready for another little one that I haven't really wanted to spend the free 10 minutes I have before bed on here. Writing. Which isn't one the my strengths.

I enjoy sharing and creating the blog, but writing for me isn't exactly perfect, I don't have all of those wonderful phrases and eloquent language as others. I usually end up misspelling things or using the wrong tense of a word, which bothers me to no end. And really, lets not even talk about proper punctuation. Eek.

But enough about me. I think it's time to actually time to get to why I decided now I should write.

 Update everyone on things as they are now.

Basically, it's because soon we'll be welcoming our little girl into the family and world. A big, scary, stressful world. But a family full of love, just waiting for her.

She wasn't expected. She wasn't planned. She was literally a gift, that we didn't know we wanted. But love her and want her, we already do.

Mia Ann is planned to arrive via C-section on Dec. 31 around 7:30 in the morning. We all have so much to do and yet all we have is time to wait, it seems.

Luckily, she's been a wonderful pregnancy. I've been so fortunate to have great health and comfort with her. Just now am I getting to the place where nothing is comfortable and I can't sleep (my little precursor of things to come, haha).

The timing of all this is a little hairy, life is never slows down to let you enjoy the things like you want to. But I'm sure we'll manage just fine. God has a way of making things work out that we never dreamed would, so I have to let Him handle the things that are out of my control. 

Not easy, let me tell you.

Thank you all for the support and love throughout this year. I hope that next year is full of blessings in return.

Love, Alicia

We finally settled on a name.

I know that some of you already heard on FB, but I thought since I haven’t posted on here in awhile, I would share it! It seemed like we could never agree on anything, but when Joe said Mia Ann, it just fit. Hopefully we’ll be able to me her before the end of the year and put a face with the name.

Once she is born, I’ll add her birthdate to this and print it out for the nursery

First day!

Well, we started our homeschool today, and wow did it go fast!

I think when you do this for the first time, you have a habit of comparing it to a public school day. It takes all day for your child to go through all of their lessons and subjects. But in homeschooling, it really doesn’t take that long, mostly because you are trying to get just one or two (or a handful depending on how may kids you have) children to understand a concept. Once they get something, you practice it and just move on.

I was amazed at how quickly we went through our morning. Nathan and I read a book, then based the rest of our subjects off of that book/theme. We reviewed and expanded his popcorn or word wall words (common words in writing/reading: is, a, and, I….)

Luke helped with this and then he and I sat down together (while Nate practiced writing his words on a dry erase board) and did his math. Since he had already covered what I consider geometry last year, I was a little nervous when the first lesson started off with defining a rectangle, but I was pleasantly surprised it started asking questions that he couldn’t answer right away. Not because he didn’t remember, but because it was new!

Since I am planning on using this program when Nate gets older, I picked up these dry erase sleeves at the teacher store. They have come in handy more than once! Now I can just tear out the worksheet and slip it in the sleeve, rather than always copy and print them.

Since I want keep track of what we have learned (and when) along with how many days we are in school, I picked up this notebook at the Dollar Tree. It lets me keep track and make notes of what we do each day we are in class.

Another thing I was really excited to find at the Dollar Tree the other day was a cardboard clock that is for teaching time.

I saw a great idea on pinterest (that I’ve also seen in classrooms) where you have clocks set to an important time. Some take cheap wall clocks and dial them to a time (no battery so they stay, lol) and then label what it’s for. Like lunch, recess, specials, etc. I used a paper clock like this so I can change it after an event or if it’s not the same time everyday. That and on the back it’s set up to teach time, so I get double use out of it!

We are off to a good start and I am planning on it getting even better as we go on.

New Addition (of the furry kind)

This is Molly, she an APBT just like Buck. And He LOVES her.

See, he’s even smiling! They were snuggled up, with her laying over his neck, but he got excited when I brought out the camera and rolled over!

So far, she’s fitting in just fine. Very calm like Buck and seems to be smart too. Picked up on walking on the leash and listens when you tell her no. But being so young we still have a long way to go. I was just glad that we could give her a good home, since her owner couldn’t keep her anymore.

Fishing

It’s rare that I think to, or take the time time to, pause and snap family photos of all of us, lol. Usually I’m so wrapped up in enjoying the moment, that I just forget! But this time, I grabbed my camera before heading out to the lake.

Nate was so excited, he loves fishing…and sitting at the front of the boat, lol.

Lucas got to sit by dad, which is his favorite.

And I got to spend time with all my fellas! Not to mention…go fishing! I’m sure that next summer I’ll have to stay home more and go out with them a little less. At least until the new addition grows up a bit. So I’m treasuring every chance I get to spend time with the three of them right now!

Maybe next time we’ll actually catch something, lol.

Setting up for our new adventure!

We haven’t gotten to the nursery yet, but we are getting ready for our first year homeschooling!

It’s kind of intimidating, I have to say. Being so used to a traditional classroom, I was feeling like we needed some really good space (or spaces) for the boys. And also, the layout of the day. Some sort of schedule to follow that could be flexible enough for extra time or interruptions, but predictable enough for success.

After some inspiration from Pinterest and some blogs I follow, I came up with a few different things today.

First of all, I wanted to really get us in gear for scheduling. I found this idea on Pinterest and thought it was genius.

Eventually, I’d like to back these and put magnets on them. But for right now, it works great! The boys can follow it and know what to expect and I have some accountability to follow it, lol.

Next I wanted to set up a reading/quiet area for the boys. I had originally thought about each boy having a nook in their room, but I wanted to keep all the books together. Instead I cleared out their tiny toy (i.e. horribly overflowing, never put away, heap of toys *aka death trap*) and made it better.

It still has a long way to go (not to mention a good remodeling, lol) but for now I am quite pleased. We’ve got a shelf for games and puzzles. Then a shelving unit with two sided access for books! The blue tub is full of big books, and there is a tub of musical stuff on top of the shelf. Oh, and can’t forget the chair in the corner.

I had thought about also putting the craft area in with the books, but (rightly) decided to move it downstairs. It makes way more sense to be down stairs since we mostly work at the kitchen table.

So I converted a poorly used space beside the kitchen into our craft area.

All of our supplies and the little stack of workbooks we have. Plus coloring books, notebooks and letter stamps. Everything is easy to find, has a place and is easy to reach.

I’m hoping that this gets me on a roll with the rest of the home, lol. Not to mention homeschooling this year

Egg!

It’s here! The first egg. I’m not sure which chicken laid it, but we sure are happy to see them starting.