I know it will say Jan 15 because it actually is 1 am but as far as I am concerned it's still Saturday night.  Today we celebrated Emma's 3rd birthday. I can't believe she is 3 already.  I need to figure out how to post pictures on here....

Still cleaning out junk...seems like it will never end.

Need to get to bed earlier than I have been...this is ridiculous!!!

Katie and I went to the eye dr. today.  She is getting glasses.  I hope she won't hate them too much and that they will help her.  She has complained for a while about her eyes hurting when she reads.

My eyes are worse but he said that with my glasses on I was self correcting so I don't need new lenses.  Yippee!!  Didn't want to spend money on glasses.

Still working on the big clean out..I am getting tired of it.  Need to finish soon.

I bought The Chronicles of Narnia book (7 books in one) and the family guide to Lion, Witch and Wardrobe...Can't wait to start reading it.  I think we'll do unit study for a bit.

Emma's 3rd birthday is tomorrow.  Her party is at noon.  Lots to do so I am done for now....better get some sleep.

I just realized that I never posted about Jenna's birth.  Jenna Rae joined our family Sept. 24, 2005.  She was born healthy and all my worries about the medications I was on during pregnancy were unfounded.  Praise the Lord!

Another update. My MIL is responding well to chemotherapy.  She is still "terminal" but has lived for 6 months since her dx which is the upper end of what we had read for life expectancy for a person with her type of lung cancer.  We continue to pray for a miracle.  She does not feel well a lot of the time but we are thankful for the time that we have with her. 

 

I have been cleaning out STUFF.  We have accumulated so much in the last year.  It seems as though I lose nearly a year when I have a baby.  I don't really function when I am pregnant and getting things done with a newborn (and the holidays) is nearly impossible. 

This week I felt compelled to get rid of junk.  The past few days I did a little work on my closet which is more of a storage room.  I decided today that I needed to start at the top of the house and work down.  So, today I worked with the older girls on their drawers and then in Erin and Rachel's bedroom.  It's still not done!  I can't believe how much junk they had stuffed everywhere....clothes, garbage,toys...UGH!  I can't wait until we get it finished tomorrow.

 

The one thing I felt today besides frustration was thankfulness to God for his blessings and provision.  We have so much...too much really.  Most of the clothes that I have in bags to give away (5 trash bags) were just given to us.  I rarely have to buy clothes for the children and it is such a blessing.

 

I have reached 38 weeks of pregnancy and I cannot wait to have this baby!  I have had a miserable month including hospitilization for 4 nights for a kidney stone.  OUCH!  I am off the pain medicine but we are unsure if the stone has passed or if it's lurking somewhere waiting to bother me again.  I have also started breaking out in hives again... it started after being on Macrobid for a week (just like in May) so I stopped taking it but I still get hives.  HMMMM  I wonder if it just triggers something in my body?

My MIL is doing really well with her chemotherapy and we are happy to have her feeling well for this time.  We hope it will last a good long while!

So, that is my short update for now......probably won't hear from me again until baby is born.

Karen

I'm not really sure how so much time slips by so quickly.  We have had a busy but different summer here this year.  4 weeks ago my mother in law was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer.  She is undergoing chemo to possibly give her a few months to live.  She is only 54 years old and it is truly heartbreaking.  It has set the tone for the summer.  We have mostly spent quiet days at home or swimming in her pool and visiting as often as possible.  We did manage to get away for a few days but we did it for the kids.....

Clever title wouldn't you say?  I haven't blogged in a while though I have been meaning to. I am hoping to get my thoughts together on parts 2 and 3 of Spunky's homeschooling questions that I started in my last entry. 

I am still suffering from hives and it is frustrating.  I wish I knew what was causing them.  I am just about ready to take my pills which I have been trying to avoid because they make me so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open.  (Not that I mind taking a nap but I probably should do something besides sleep around here.)

My #2 daughter, Erin, turned 11 on Sunday.  We had a family party here on Saturday for her. I need to download the pictures from my camera.  Maybe I'll try to post some here later.

Spunky is blogging on Homeschool: Conviction or Preference? 

 

When I started homeschooling I only knew one other person that was doing it.  I had a penpal in another state that introduced me to the idea and I started reading about it.  I can't even truthfully remember what reasons I gave for wanting to homeschool at the time.  Probably some academic and some not.  I remember watching a neighbor girl get on the school bus before my oldest was old enough and feeling so sad about it and couldn't even imagine sending my daughter on the bus the next year.............

Fast forward 7 years.  I now homeschool without a doubt out of conviction.  I think the next time someone says to me, "Oh!  You homeschool?  That must be fun!" I am going to laugh right in their face.  FUN?  I don't want to say it isn't ever fun....but for the most part it is WORK!  It seems to me that most people that don't homeschool out of conviction don't do it for very long (not a hard and fast rule...but for the people I know). I think you really have to be committed to it and for me it is a conviction that keeps me going.  Otherwise there have been many times I would have thrown in the towel and sent the kids on the big yellow bus!

Spunky said

I graduated in the top ten percent of my class from an "excellenet" school and yet I felt I was poorly educated. I had never read a "great book" and my understanding of both US and World History was pathetic.

I just wanted to comment on this....  I took honors classes (they didn't call them that but we had levels on I was in top level classes) in high school.  I was an underachiever and maintained decent grades and excellent grades when I applied myself.  I always believed that I had a good education. I even did well in college.  I didn't realize until I began homeschooling my children how much I didn't know.  I really had NO concept of anything that had happened in history at all.  I had learned how to memorize, spit back and forget....is this education? or test passing?

I love learning right alongside my children.  I also want my children to have firm Biblical roots in everything that we do.  I love being able to start our day with prayer and devotions.....and to be able to study science from a Biblical point of view.  I love being able to choose the best literature for my children and to allow each child to learn in their own way (something I am learning now!). 

My 5 year old son is a bundle of energy.  He would be heading to Kindergarten in the fall and I can just imagine the phone calls I would be getting from the school if they tried to make him sit all day long(well it would only be a half a day)  There is no question in my mind that he is a kinesthetic learner.  If he were to go to school I don't think he would be there a month before a teacher would be suggesting Ritalin for him.  (sometimes I wish I had a bit of sedative for him....)

So those are my thoughts on that for today.

Well, not really...but our homeschool year is winding down and I can't wait for us to be finished and take our nice long summer break.  I have been spending hours planning what to purchase for next year.  I think it is my favorite part of homeschooling...planning.  The big problem is narrowing it all down. I love so many of the things I see in the homeschooling catalogs.  I wish I had attended a homeschool conference to see some things hands on...but another year....no conference.  I have never been in the 7 years we have been homeschooling.  I am sure I won't go next year either as Lord willing, this baby will be nursing then.

Yesterday I woke up with hives.  I started being itchy a little on Friday night but didn't notice any welts.  Since I had just finished taking a round of antibiotics I thought I must have a yeast infection on my skin.  I have never had one like that before, but my best friend gets them that way so I called her to see how she treats it.  I was so itchy I decided to take some Benadryl.  By the time I got to Wal-Mart (I was going to get Monistat and Aveeno and a few groceries) most of the redness and itching was gone...hmmm...that didn't seem like a yeast infection.

4 hours later....I started to itch again but wanted to wait the 6 hours of the 4-6 listed on the package.  By 6 hours I was covered in hives and about to go crazy.  I took more Benadryl and an Aveeno bath which once again cleared me up.  However, 4 hours later they came back again and this time I did not get relief from the Benadryl.  I forced myself to not scratch and was going to wait up until 11:00 when it was time to take another dose.  I fell asleep and didn't get up until 1 when I took more.  I am not getting much relief from taking Benadryl.  I called the Dr. this morning and he said the next thing they could do was to put my on an oral steroid, BUT since I am pregnant (20 weeks) and the babies kidneys are developing he wasn't comfortable with that (so neither am I).  He is calling in a prescription for Visteral for me which is supposed to be a stronger antihistamine but he said it would knock me out.  (I'm all for that because this itching is maddening!)

All I can say is I hope this doesn't last much longer..............