She LOVES to READ!!!

As you know Caroline has been going to Langsford for reading help since November.  Well she has really improved.  She started at a low 2nd grade level and now I would as we are a middle or even high 3rd grade level. 

TODAY WAS A WONDERFUL DAY:
As we sat together reading she said; "Whenever I read I don't want to stop!!!  I just want to keep reading!!"  Music to my ears!!!

THANKS TO ALL THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE AT LANGSFORD!!!

http://www.weteachreading.com/

Snow Day 1/30/2010

I am not a fan of snow...well I am not a fan of getting the kids dressed to go out in the snow.  It can take an hour to get everyone ready and then they only stay out five minutes! 

Snow is fine, the only time I like snow is when it snows us in.  When the roads are bad and the snow is to deep to go anywhere.  I love to be snowed in or iced in (like last year) with my family!!!  Well we got the snow, but I believe that the brine worked because we could get out.

Off to the park we go..... 

And they are off!!!

Daddy: Kid number one

Tyler: The actual #1 kid

Samantha

Caroline

Jackson

Evan driving the race car sled, it actually worked

Morning snack!!!

"On the Day That YOU Were Born...."

Well this month is when we celebrate the birth of our oldest son and youngest son.  They are 12 day apart...if I would stop taking control away from God (ok, he was still in control) they may have been born on the same day.  Evan was due on January 15 and Tyler's birthday is January 17.  This year Tyler will be 14 (yikes) and Evan 4, where does the time go??? 

Evan's birthday is today, he was born about 6:30pm.  I have to say his delivery was about the same as all the rest.  The one major difference was that he only weighted in at 6lbs. 13 ozs.  being the smallest of all five (only took three pushes!!!).  It was lots of fun having a tiny baby after all the bigger ones (Jack being the biggest at 8lbs. 8ozs.).  We spent the usually two days in the hospital, when he was sent home he was jaundice that meant the light bed; it was a weird little thing.  Jack was in a "light suitcase" when he came home.  Evan was an easy baby!!!  He was completely breastfed until about 6 months when we started cereal.  He never took a bottle.  I was so proud; I didn't breastfeed the others that long. 

He has become the typical "BABY" in the family!!!  Gets whatever he wants and if he doesn't you will hear about it.  What is to be expected of a kid who has four older siblings??? 

Now Tyler was the first of five...done two days before his due date (what a good boy.).  I say I was in labor for 48 hours, the dr. said no.  What does he know?  My contractions started on MONDAY January 15 and he was born WEDNESDAY January 17, I wasn't admitted to the hospital till Wednesday morning around 10:30.  Tyler then was born at 5:56 pm, with the assistance of the vacuum  extractor.  I was home from the hospital 23 hours after he was born; no insurance.  I'm not quite sure why we didn't have insurance, Steve was a pharmacist with a job.  Guess I will have to ask him about that.  Tyler was a very good baby other than a case of reflux.  I held him all the time, my mom complains that she hardly got to hold him at all. 

I don't have a baby picture of Tyler on this computer, guess I need to learn to scan..This is when he was almost 10.

Tyler has grown into the young man I thought he would.  You would think that a kid who is 13 and has four siblings, all younger, would not like to hang out with them. Not Tyler.  There are times that I will find him playing GeoTrax with Evan, or Playstation with Jack.  God has blessed our family with a very special boy. 

God has truely blessed us with all five of our children...OUR QUIVER IS FULL!!!!

Dedecorating 2010

We have started to take down ALL our decorations today...what a job.  We have bought each kid an ornament every year since they were born and so do my parents so you can imagine how many they have especially Tyler  (13x2).  I started this so that when they left home and got married they would have LOTS of ornaments for their first Christmas tree.  Do you think it will work?  We have decided that we have too many ornaments, so we separated all the kids ornaments and have let them pick out the ones they still want on the tree (next year). They each got to pick out 9 ornaments.

Tyler's

Samantha

Caroline

Jack

Evan

This is one of my favorite family traditions.

My Word of the Year~~RELAX

The word of the year is.....RELAX!!! Oh, I so need to do that ALL THE TIME. I can get so overwhelmed with whatever I am involved in that I don't enjoy anything. When I add something new to my life I can become consumed by it and forget about what is most important. I did this when with every new baby, when I started to homeschool, when I became a teacher at the co-op, and then again when I became the co-op director. It seems as if I get so worked up with doing things perfectly that I will obsess over them and forget that I am suppose to be RELAXING!!!!

It is ok to obsess a little when you have a new baby, but when you are supposed to be homeschooling too you can't quit that. Of course that isn't possible of happening again. THANK GOD!!!! So when we started homeschooling I became obsessed with curriculum, our school room, and making it like "real school" to the point that the actual part of learning was lost. We have recovered and we now have homeschool fun instead of "real school" boredom. Then we started the co-op, I was teaching a class on American Government and I became obsessed with how I was doing. This led to me not working as hard as I should have been here at home for MY kids!!! I want to do right by the families who put their children in my classes, but come on I am teaching my own kids EVERYTHING. They disserve my 100%. Now the biggest area where I don't RELAX is the co-op director thing. Our school here at home has really taken a back seat to the co-op and that isn't fair!!!
So for this NEW YEAR I am going to make sure that my kids and their "home"school come first. So I have decided to RELAX, I have wonderful people who help me lead the co-op and they are willing to help as much as possible. It doesn't all have to be done by me!!! In years to come no one will care how the co-op turned out, but how my children turn out will be the most important thing.

"I, Jude, am a slave to Jesus Christ and brother to James, writing to those loved by God the Father, called and kept safe by Jesus Christ. Relax, everything's going to be all right; rest, everything's coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way!"   Jude 1:1-3

"Give in to God, come to terms with him and everything will turn out just fine. Let him tell you what to do; take his words to heart. Come back to God Almighty and he'll rebuild your life. Clean house of everything evil. Relax your grip on your money and abandon your gold-plated luxury. God Almighty will be your treasure, more wealth than you can imagine.   Job 22:20-22

So remember RELAX, breathe, and pray!!!!!!

A Little About the Kids....one by one: Evan

Evan is your typical youngest of five, spoiled!!! At three years old, he thinks the world revolves around him!!! He is a very sweet boy who still loves to snuggle with mommy and wrap his arms around my neck. I hope that last for awhile. He does have a temper as do all the kids (that is from me) and he doesn’t like it when he doesn’t get what he wants. He has been known to show himself in the most inappropriate places!! We are working on that, I have to help the older kids remember that just because Evan wants something doesn’t mean he should get it!!!


He started preschool at Kenwood Heights this fall, he is our fourth kid to go there, we love it. We are the “old” parents too by the way. Surprisingly he goes without crying, Caroline and Jack had so much trouble going to preschool, but Evan goes without any fuss. I look forward to seeing how his personality develops, so far is very different then the other ones.

He is a great kid and has defiantly completed our family. It is really funny how God knows just how to make things perfect. That is what our family is PERFECT.

A few words to describe Evan:

About to be FOUR

Boy

Cuddly

Demanding

Emotional

Funny

Good for the ego, mine.

Hot headed

Innocent, yeah right

Jack’s “bef friend”

Killer smile

Loving

Mommy’s baby

Neurotic

OCD, aren’t they all

Precious

Quite demanding

Remarkable

Sponge Bob loven’

Television addict

Under the table

Volatile

Wants to learn

eXcited

Youngest

Zinger

A Little About the Kids....one by one: Jackson

Jack is the firecracker!!! He is a boy who doesn’t really care about school, but loves the Wii, tv, Playstation and computer. I am afraid that he may turn into a robot!! I beginning to think we need to start a 12 step program for video game addicts. If I could find curriculum that you do on the Playstation or Wii we would be doing great. He is a fun kid and loves to make people laugh and he usually does. He wants to be with Tyler as much as possible and to Ty’s credit he enjoys it too sometimes. He has made some friends this year too and does enjoy hanging out with them, but doesn’t like staying the night at any ones house. We didn’t do t-ball this year (yes, we had a whole year without baseball), but he will be playing in the spring. He starts basketball after the first of the year. When he was a baby people called him happy Jack and I have to say he still is “Happy Jack.” I realized here lately that I may not give him enough attention. He doesn’t ask for it, but he deserves it and needs it. So one of my changes for the new year is to make sure that I give him the attention that he deserves. He is such a blessing to me!!!!!

A few words to describe Jack:

Adorable

Bouncy

Clown

Doesn’t like to clean

Energetic

Fun-loving

Good at video games

Homebody

Inquisitive

Jesus loving

Moldable

Need behavior adjustments sometimes

Outstanding in Math

Precious

Quick

Roller skater

Star Wars lover

Tenderhearted

Unique

Vocal

WONDERFUL

eXcited

Young

Zealous