A Bewitchingly Ordinary Life!

It's hard to believe that we are coming to the close of the first 2 weeks of summer vacation and more importantly the first two weeks in our summer homeschool journey.  I really wanted to do this for 2 reasons.  To give Aaron an jump start for VPK.  And to keep David in the game over the summer so as to not lose what he has learned [and to hopefully propel and push him a bit to learn above/beyond]. These first weeks have proven to be both fun and frustrating.  The first day was amazing.  Right to the schedule, both boys did everything asked of them with excitement.  No whining, no crying, no fighting amongst each other, even went down for nap times easily.   Cue: day 2.  All started out okay until sentence writing time, David had a little meltdown, Aaron ran amok a bit.  But we worked through it and had another successful day.  The days from there are like your typical school days.  Some days "you've got it" other days not...

I admit it!  I am getting excited about working on academic centered activities with my boys this summer!  I'm looking forward to a somewhat structured day with room for fun! I have had a blast this year working at JHW elementary and working with a great kindergarten team [not to mention just a great JHW team in general!].  And now I get to do more of the "fun stuff" this summer.  I guess it's true.  What my mom has told me all along:  teaching is in my blood :)  I've been working on summer lesson plans to keep us busy for 10 weeks and to continue opening up a wonderful world for my sons.  Listed below is what I have so far.  Not complete and always open for suggestions and input :) Here we go! Language Arts: [Aaron]: Letter recognition [which he's pretty well got down], writing all letters, writing his name with out tracing, proper use of a book, proper terminology, beginning phonics [David]: Easy reader books, vocabulary, writing, sig...

What I did not know before I had children. I did not realize that there was a whole big beautiful world filled with the most wondrous creations, all in my own back yard.    I never knew that a child's tears could drive me to tears of my own. I did not realize that I would switch places with someone  until my own infant laid helpless while paramedics worked with him.  I never knew that my own living room could really be a magnificent castle filled with laughter and magic. I did not realize that the words "I love you" would mean the world to me when I feel like I failed as a parent. I never knew the capacity to forgive until my own child wrapped his arms around me and I could never imagine much that he could do for me to send him away. I did not realize how I was seeing the world, people, even love through jaded judgmental eyes. What I came to learn when I became a mother. I came to learn that a blade of grass was so intriguing and could be used as any...

The older I get the more I despise presidential election years.  Not so much because of one particular political party.  But mostly because it tends to bring out the negativity in many of us.  And in today's time with multi-media and social networking at an all time high, we get instant messages on our Twitter feeds, Facebook news feeds, forwarded emails, etc about it all.  And sadly many of the messages are negative and meant to tear down the opponent or opposite view.  Or it stereotypes a group of people into one category.  Not that having opposing views is bad, but I think it's the way we approach it all. It's one thing to have a certain view and perhaps post intelligently with FACTUAL information that supports one's view, NOT tear down another's view.  It is in the time of election years that I see what I term "tin foil hat" theories emerge, youtube videos posted, quick snippets in feeds that are based on hoax information. I used to love to...

Tonight has been amazing.  A wonderful husband, working hard for his family.  Two beautiful sons, getting along, making excellent choices, no fighting, no squabbling, peacefully playing and now sleeping.  I was able to accomplish a bit of housework and even found some time to be "lazy".  Wonderful!   And wonderfully hard at the same moment.  Tonight is a night of struggle.  Not outwardly, but inward.  I think for a brief moment I was living in the allusion that through this journey of depression and Fibromyalgia, Cymbalta would be the miracle cure.   Apparently not.  While I've had days, even weeks of feeling great, tonight has been a struggle.  Both physically and emotionally.  That dreaded sadness.  The wonder of 'who are my friends?'  Am I really making a difference in anyone's life...all creeping back up.  I CAN say that it has been more manageable.  I only thought perhaps that thos...

The last few years have been nothing less than a roller coaster ride.  And most of it was hidden, a secret.  Disguised behind smiles and outward picture of  "I'm fine, thank you." It's somewhat hard for me to sit and pour this out, yet also freeing and therapeutic at the same time.  What is it?  Something that no one knew for a few years, and then only my husband for the last 4 months or so. I have a mood disorder, depression, anxiety.  It started simple enough.  The birth of two children, life, staying home at first and then going back to work....it all happened.  It was life.  It IS life.  Stress, fun times, stress, hard times, stress fun times.  It's normal, it's life.   Just a day here and there of feeling blue.  Then those days became closer together.  My already embedded, but not bad anxieties about various things, began to become stronger.  I never really liked, for example, other people except mysel...

When I had my first son I decided to be a stay at home wife and mom.  It was a dream!  I was June Cleaver!  As a 3 month old David slept soundly in my Mai Tai, dinner in the crock pot and I washed a window, I thought "I don't understand how people don't keep up on housework!" Well because you KNOW that I know it all.  Or at least I thought I did ;)  The months rolled on, David became more mobile and things got a little tougher but I was still queen of the house.  And then.... 2 pink lines.  Most ladies who have ever been pregnant, know what that means.  2 lines that change your life forever.  I was pregnant again.  David was 10.5 months when I found out.  I was so excited.  Life had gotten more perfect.  The days rolled on, not a lot of morning sickness.  David turned a year old, I was 7 weeks, we announced it that day.  Yippee, yay, everyone was excited. About a week later, the morning sickness set in, fa...