Pitty Goo

Here's my baby, Lily.

She's my pretty girl, or as I like to say "my widdle pitty goo"

She looks like her Daddy

She does NOT look like me

I am a little sad about that.

However, despite the fact that she looks like her Daddy and NOT me, she is so stinkin pretty.  

I can't say that she gets it from me because she DOES NOT look like me.  

Does this mean that my hubby would have made a very pretty girl?  Hmmmmm

Don't tell him that I said that!

Weddings + Las Vegas = A Pretty Cool Time

My hubby has been working so hard lately.  His company does sound consulting and instillations for churches around southern California, and he works part time at our church at the Sound and Lighting Pastor.  On Friday, he finally wrapped up a looong instillation and was very much looking forward to relaxing.  However, when Saturday came a knocking, he drug himself out of bed to drive me to Las Vegas for a very special occasion.  

My big brother was getting married!!!

Phillip is my second oldest brother yes, I am the youngest of 3 AND the only girl, and I love him so so much.  He's been through a lot in his 35 years of existence, and we...his family...want him to be nothing but happy.  Well, he finally met a winner.  That winner's name is Annie.  She's beautiful, calm, cool, collected, goes with the flow, and is not high maintenance.  Most importantly she thinks the world of my big brother.  

What I love most about my brother is that he has always had the best sense of humor.  Sometimes it's a little "in the gutter", but hey, who doesn't have their moments of "in the gutter"?  He and Annie's sense of humor is what steared them to get married at The Elvis Chapel, by...wait for it...ELVIS!  

When my hubby and I arrived we went in and sat down in this teeny tiny little white room.  It was a little dated, and had your typical white wedding slatted arch decorated with fake vines and flowers.  Then Elvis appeared.  He was so nice and came over to shake our hands.  My hubby and I could not stop laughing.  It wasn't a making-fun laugh, it was a so-awesome-that-it-makes-you-giggle laugh.  

 Phillip and Annie came in, gave us hugs, and then Phillip took his place at the alter.  Elvis, then proceeded to walk Annie down the aisle while singing an Elvis tune that I've never heard before.  Sorry to all of those Elvis fans out there, but I'm not hip to the Elvis tunes.  

Annie had the biggest grin on her face and it made her glow.  Phillip might have been crying, but it was hard to tell because he too was glowing with excitement.  I, however, was crying despite all the hip shaking that the Elvis officiator was doing.  The ceremony was so sweet and wonderful.  I laughed, cried, and even danced.  That's right, since hubby and I were in the wedding party,  Elvis asked us to dance after they said 'I DO!'.  It was so great.  I think that I may have looked more like Elaine from Seinfeld than Michail Baryshnikov.  I didn't care.  We were dancing for joy!  Woo hoo!

After the wedding was over and we signed as their witnesses, we gave them big ol congratulatory hugs and then sent them on their way to do whatever newly married people want to do.

Since we had a few more hours to kill before we needed to start heading back, we drove down the strip and ended up at the Luxor.  

I've never been to Vegas so it was interesting to see the things that I saw.  Being from the bible belt has allowed me and my 'baby eyes' to be sheltered from a few things.  Well, thanks to Vegas, I may have just seen it all.  As Phillip would say, "What IS illegal in Vegas?....Murder?" They don't call it Sin City for nothing, people.  

The Luxor had an amazing Titanic exhibit going on, and since hubby is a huge understatement of the century Titanic fan, we had to see it.  It was probably the best exhibit that I've ever been to.  They created a life like walking deck, bunk room for the 3rd class, Grand Staircase like the one that you see in the movie, and they even had an actual piece of the side of  Titanic ship hanging from the ceiling.  It was so cool to actually imagine being there.  

After all of that we discovered that we were starving.  So hubby treated me to an extremely overpriced steak house.  Yikes!  There's also a reason why we eat at Chili's on our date nights.   Next time, if there even IS a next time, we're hitting up the buffet.  

Our first homeschool field trip

On Labor Day (useless holiday, if you ask me, but you didn't so I'll shut up!) my hubby woke up with the brilliant idea of taking the kids to an apple orchard.  We've never done this in the years past, so I said, "Heck yeah, buddy!" and rounded myself and our 3 punks up as quickly as humanly possible.  I also had every intention of making is a field trip for homeschool.  Visions of essays and poster boards danced in my head.  

We drove for about an hour and a half up to Oak Glen to the Riley Orchard #1.  

It was so purdy and purfect.  I kept waiting for a hobbit to appear.   It was rainy, which is a rare occurance in SoCal, and so so so green.  I was in heaven!  Plus, hardly anyone was there.  Awesome!

We checking in with ease, got a quick tutorial on how to pick the apples from the trees without killing anything, and then set off on our adventure.  

My hubby was determined to find the tree with the biggest apples and then strip that said tree of all it's fruits.  

Cheese balls!

My crew did a very good job of picking some prime apples, and I had every intention of using them apples in my first ever apple pie.  Ooooh yeahhhh!  I really couldn't contribute much to picking because I had a 7 month old strapped to my side.  I did give it a whirl once, though.

My hair hates humidity.

I think that I did an awesome job considering that I was one handed for the most part.  

We then ventured into the gift shop to see what else we could do besides ripping the trees bear.  

No, son, you MAY NOT get a coon skin hat!  Do we look like the Clampits?

The lady  at the counter suggested that we press some apples, and make some cider.  Killer, brahhh!  

My kids did such a fantastic job pressing the heck out of those apples.  I was amazed by their strength and determination to squeeze, squeeze, and squeeeeezzzzeeee.  

In the end, they made some pretty stinkin tasty cider.  

After we wrapped things up at the Riley Orchard, we headed down the hill to have some lunch at a quaint, little seasonal restaurant.  

The food was scrumptious, but their pie was kind of a bummer.  I knew that I could do better.  Muahahaha!

 In the end, all that my daughter really wanted out of this day was a caramel apple.  Thank goodness that they were EVERYWHERE!

The day was perfect, and my pie is cooking in the oven.  We will definitely go back there if not this year, then the next.  

Life At Home Without Money

Getting to stay at home with all three of my punk-a-roos is such a blessing.  I can't help but think back to the days when our first kid was an infant.  I worked full time for an insurance company during the day, and my husband would stay with our son while I worked.  When I would get home, I'd give my hubby a quick kiss, and then he'd head off to work at night. We never saw each other because we were just trying to make ends meet.  I had no choice but to work.  

Then a few years later God blessed my hubby with a stable job, and our first daughter was born.  We were blessed enough for me to be able to stay at home with her and my son. We lived in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment that was built back in the 50's in a sketchy neighborhood.  Ahhh the memories!

 I'm sure that things would/could be much more stable financially if I worked.  However, since I don't have a  career, I've never landed a job that paid enough to be worth being away from my kids all the time.  My hubby and I feel that it is more important for me to be at home and holding down the fort, than for me to work.  If the hubs came home and announced that I needed to get a job, then I would head out that very second and start looking.  I actually love working.  I love the adult interaction and feeling like I am contributing financially to our wellbeing.  But right now, in this juncture in our lives, I get to stay with my  babies.  Such a blessing! 

95% of the time we are living pay check to pay check.  Yes, this sucks!  Yes, we have debt!  No, we don't have any savings what so ever!  My husband works so hard constantly.  He's always waking up early and coming home super late.  It's a shame that things aren't better for us in the monitory sense, so that he wouldn't have to work so hard.  Yet, when I wake up to my kids in the morning, and I get to spend all day with their smily faces, the financial stresses of life fade away.  My husband loves the comfort of knowing that I am taking care "the home".  And I love it because he openly appreciates it.  

Every single time that I pray, I thank God for making it possible for me to be a stay at home Mom.  We make sacrifices all the time and we don't get to enjoy the finer things in life like vacations or cool toys.  But, hey, in the end all of that stuff doesn't matter.   We try really hard to make the most fun out of every thing that we do as a family.

What does matter is that I get to watch my kids grow.  I get to have a huge influence in their lives in every aspect.  I get to see their funny moments, and their sad moments.  I also get to see moments like this:

Now isn't that worth it?  If she was stuck with a babysitter all day long while I worked, then I would probably not even know about her new hilarious trick.  I would get to see her in the morning, and then I'd get to put her to bed at night 5 days a week.  I want to be there for all the day to day in-between stuff.  My children are my gifts from God himself, and I intend on spending as much time with these gifts as possible, while I can.  

Please do not be offended if you are not a stay at home Mom.  This was not intended to make anyone feel bad at all.  This is just what has happened in my life.  This is simple me, being thankful that I am able to be with my kids.  I know tons of women who have kids AND work out of the home.  My hat is off to these women because I know first hand the aching heart of wanting to be with my kids while I worked.  

They Grow Up So Fast :-(

The blessings and curses of being a Mother is seeing your kids grow up.  I am so proud of my little munchkins because it seems like they are taking on more responsibility every week.  However, seeing them getting older kind of breaks my heart a little because I want them around forever.  I don't want them to move away.  I want them to stay in my house....FOREVER.  That's not realistic, and I know that, but come on!  Can't a Mother dream?

My #1...my son...has taken to the role of being the big brother like nothing that I've ever seen before.  He is always willing to go and check on his sisters and help them out with whatever they need.  He's constantly looking over my #2's shoulder, making sure that she is doing things the right way.  It drives her bonkers too.  She says that she likes to do things herself, but she is so quick to run to him for help.  I also can bare witness to him taking care of his youngest sister.  He can't stand to see her cry, and when she fusses after she wakes up from her naps, he is ALWAYS the first one in her room.  She reaches out to him, and he picks her up right on out of her crib.  He even feeds her for me on occasion (like when I'm driving and she's starving).  I love it!  I can literally see him becoming a man....a good man.  He's only 9 for pete's sake!  

My #2 is growing up waaay too fast.  She has already well developed crushes on Justin Beiber.  She probably has crushes on some of those Disney Chanel kids who, in real life, are still milking it for all that it's worth even though they are in college already.  This makes me nervous, but to be honest I'm not surprised.  I had "boyfriends" when I was in kindergarten.  At least I think that I did.  Ehh!  She wants to help me all the time, which is great, but most of the time her helping just translates into being in my way.  I have given her a little chore which she hasn't started complaining about yet.  

Scrub Scrub Scrub, little one!

She loves to play with my hair and put on makeup.  Oh my goodness!  It's hard for me to breath when I think about her being a teenager.  She might be a little high maintenance.  Oy!  

The thing that I do love the most about them getting older is how inquisitive they are.  They are ALWAYS asking questions about God, Jesus, yes even death because they are interested in Heaven.  They are always talking about other people and what they are going through.  I love hearing them speak what's on their hearts.  When they are able to set aside themselves and focus on others, I can see that they truly do have giving hearts.  This makes me so happy and proud.  I know that when they get older and they harness their giving spirits, then God is going to bless them abundantly.  I can't wait!

First week of home school

Welp, our first week of home school has come and gone.  

Yes, we only have school 4 days a week.  Why, you ask?  It is because normally Friday is my hubby's day off, and we like to do family stuff on that day.  If we have school, then we have to put off family fun until we're done.  This is another reason why we are annoyed with the traditional school hooplah.  We wanna do what we wanna do, darn it!

Enough of that!  I want to share how well our first week went.  Albeit, we did not have our curriculum to work with.  It hasn't arrived just yet, so I had to take it upon myself to find free curriculum and worksheets on the internet and use those instead.  My hubby told me last night that he thinks that I am awesome because I am doing this.  That alone give me motivation to push onward with home school.

The most difficult part this week was trying to balance teaching different grades.  This week was just a review of what they've previously learned, but finding that balance so that they could focus was a tad hard. I had to set my daughter up with independent work so that I could work with my son on the harder things.  Then I had to do the same thing for my daughter.  Sometimes my son would take longer to finish his work and we had to wait to move on to the next phase of learning.  It was a little frustrating, but that IS one of the things that we love about homeschooling.  My son can pace himself if he needs to without getting frustrated by the need to "hurry up".  My daughter loved it!  She would wake up every morning begging to get started.  Love it!!!

Then there was the struggle of home school rules.  

I have only 3 rules:  Listen to Mom, Don't fight or argue, and above all else, Don't cry!!! 

 I set up a star system.  They both have 3 stars up on the board.  I will take one away if they break the rules.  They can earn their stars back if they are loving and encouraging.  

I also have a goody jar and if they are able to keep all of their stars on the board then they will get a goody at the end of the day.  If they are able to keep all of their stars on the board for an entire month, then they get to have a very special "Daddy Date" with their...Daddy.  My hubby quite likes being the ultimate prize.  So far, they've messed up enough to loose their Daddy Date prize :-(  They were able to keep their stars up there for a few days and get something from the goody jar.  

What's funny is that the moment that they argue/fight, cry, or don't listen, I'll take a star down and then my son/daughter will immediately compliment each other in an effort to gain a star back. 

Ahhh, I love my kids!   

I am really getting a lot out of teaching them.  I honestly thought that I would feel more frustration than fulfillment.  It's been the opposite which is awesome. I love spending time with them and being able to witness their educational growth.  I gotta say, it makes me feel kind of like Super Mom.  

Here's a picture of what our classroom looks like:

Can you guess which State we are learning about this week?  If you get it right, then you'll get something special out of the goody jar :-)

Why I Chose To Home School

Lately, when I've told people that I've chosen to home school I've been given the following responses, "Really?  That's awesome!  I wish that I could do that." and "Really?  Why would you want to do that?"

So, I thought that I'd take this post and explain a little bit why I/we have chosen to home school.

The #1 reason why is for my son.  

He is going into the 4th grade, and for the past 3 years I've had nothing but trouble from his teachers.  They always seemed to have issues with him.  Whether it be he doesn't sit still, he's too imaginative, he's not learning fast enough, he's too emotional, blah blah blah.  

One thing that his teachers all had in common was their unwillingness to help my son.  They all said that they wanted to help, but when approached with the idea of an IEP, his last teacher snubbed her nose at the idea.  

The bottom line is that my son is always in his own head.  He's always thinking about things and he has a hard time focusing on subjects that are not fun or interesting to him. Which only causes frustration for his teachers when they are trying to manage a classroom full of 25 + kids.  

To quote Uncle Buck:  "I don't think I want to know a six-year-old who isn't a dreamer, or a sillyheart. And I sure don't want to know one who takes their student career seriously. I don't have a college degree. I don't even have a job. But I know a good kid when I see one. Because they're ALL good kids, until dried-out, brain-dead skags like you drag them down and convince them they're no good."  

My daughter on the other hand is another story.  She's only been through Kindergarten and hasn't really encountered learning difficulties yet.  The only negative thing that her teacher had to say was that she talks too much.  She's a girl!  Get over it!  She might struggle with some things, and she might not.  Regardless, she can learn at her own pace and hopefully excel in learning at home. 

Reason #2 is because my hubby and I like the flexibility of home school.  We like that our kids can learn at their own pace without having to meet "industry standards".  We also like that we can move around, if needs be, without having to make our kids change schools.  The hubs and I have moved so much for work and such, and we never know what is coming next in life.  We pray all the time that God will lead us to where ever He wants us to go.  We are willing to move to another country if He sees fit.  Homeschooling gives us a little bit of that freedom.  

Another added bonus is that now we can go on vacation whenever we see fit.  Since my hubby works for our church he almost always has to work on major holidays, and then we have to cram a short family holiday in before the kids go back to school.  Not any more!  Now we can go and stay for as long as we want without having to worry about making it home in time for school to resume.  

Reason #3 is honestly for religious and personal reasons.  We, by no means, want to shelter our children or preserve their innocence forever.  Yet we do think that they should learn about certain things that are in this world from us......not the school system or other loud mouthed kids.  It's the old "garbage in, garbage out" kind of thing.  Without proper understanding of certain things in this world my kids can get the wrong ideas. You can assume what you want by the former statement, but it is what it is.  It is our jobs as parents to guide our children to the Lord and the path that He has set for them.  To instill compassion and love for other people and to see God's beauty in this world.  Homeschooling gives us another avenue to do that.  We can integrate Bible verses and Bible stories into their every day learning.  This way when sin comes a knocking, they can hopefully be a little bit more prepared to understand what is going on and to battle it.

I hope that this helps those who are questioning why we are doing this.  We are very excited to get started.  I plan on blogging about this new life adventure as much as I can.  My hope is that other Moms out there will be encouraged through my home schooling adventures.  It's not as hard as you think.  I know that a few years back when I first thought about doing it, I was afraid and intimidated because I am not a patient person.  Bottom line, children's education is more important than my patience issue.