homeschool...begin!

One of the perks of homeschooling is that you can make your own schedule. That includes when you start your school year, what days you do it, and how long. Although we follow the traditional school year calendar, we don’t start until a week after. Why? Because Ethan’s birthday usually falls within the beginning of the school year and honestly, no one wants to do schoolwork on their birthday.

Like other first day of homeshool in the past, I went easy on them. Today was mostly a rundown of the schedule, plus a little testing, just to see where they are in certain subjects. I did have them do what we call "dailies" which are certain things we do everyday: entries for daily journals and gratitude journals, scripture study, and daily reading in a book of their choice. We also started up our devotionals again; we each take a turn saying the prayer or sharing a scripture. We like to start the school day that way to set the mood.

As you can imagine, the school day didn't take too long, but I guess it's going to take some time to get back into the swing of things, because the kids were constantly doing this:

Goofing off and joking around. Oh, well. They settle down when I tell them to, so it works out.

Here's to a brand new year of homeschooling!

he's 16!

Birthdays are always a mix of emotions for me; I love that the kids are growing up and becoming their own person, but at the same time I'm sad that they're not so little anymore. Such is the life of parents, I suppose.

Ethan turned the big 1-6 today; 16 years old, I really can't believe it!

He loves IHOP, so that was our first stop of the day; this kid loves his pancakes! Unfortunately, Scott couldn’t join us because he was out of town for business (Hawaii, no less!), but he comes home later this week.

Ethan decided to change it up with his usual order (he always gets a Rooty Tooty Fresh N’ Fruity) and ordered the New York Cheesecake pancakes with his combo, and ended up liking them. And, he ordered them himself instead of having me do it, like in the past.

He really is growing up.

Afterwards, we went for a spin in Walmart for some birthday shopping, but according to Ethan, their LEGO selection isn’t as impressive as Target’s. So off we went to the bullseye store.

It was funny because I told Vanessa and Jeff to bring their allowances in case they wanted to buy anything and Ethan thought it applied to him. So he was looking for a really cheap LEGO set. While we were in Target, I pointed out one of the bigger sets that he’d expressed an interest in, but he replied, “I don’t have enough money for that, Mom.”

His face lit up like a Christmas tree when I told him I would pay for it because it’s his birthday.

Love that kid. 😄

We got some Chick-Fil-a for dinner because Ethan wanted to wait until Scott got home from his business trip to eat at Red Lobster. So it was a quiet evening, with a content birthday boy finishing up his LEGO creation.

Couldn’t ask for a better kid to spend the day with. 😎

16 Reasons Why I Love Ethan

  1. I don't have to prompt him to tell me he loves me.
  2. He gives fantastic hugs!
  3. He's naturally curious about things.
  4. He loves to discuss things he sees or hears about in the news.
  5. He has his own opinion on things and isn't afraid to share them.
  6. He listens to other people's opinions and tries to see their perspective.
  7. He loves sharing jokes.
  8. He's nice to his younger siblings...when he wants to be, ha!
  9. He's thoughtful and kind.
10. When he finds something that interests him, he dedicates himself to it.
11. He likes hanging out with family.
12. His creativity with Legos knows no bounds.
13. He doesn't let his Asperger's restrict him.
14. He honestly doesn’t care what others might think of him because of his Asperger’s.
15. At the same time, he tries to be polite and kind to everyone around him.
16. He has a wicked sense of humor!

senior year, baby!

Well, it's happened: I now have a kid old enough to be starting his final year of high school.

Yep, Ryan is officially a senior in high school.

I wasn't able to take a cliche 1st Day of School picture, but that was only because he had to be at the school at 4:30am for the Senior Sunrise. As a student body officer this year, he was required to help out at the yearly school tradition, then head over to the school to get the morning announcements ready. So I really didn't see him until he got home from school that afternoon.

He said hi, I asked him how the day went, he said fine, and then he plopped down on the couch and took a nap.

What a way to start the year, I guess.

The next day I asked if I could take a picture and he didn't hesitate to agree.

"I figured you'd want one after yesterday," he told me, grinning a little.

I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I quickly snapped the picture and sent him on his merry way.

And here's my handsome senior.

 And, just for contrast or comparison, here's a side by side of him.

The left is his 1st day of 1st grade since we homeschooled for Kindergarten. Gosh, that brings back memories! And makes me a little sad at how grown up he is now.

But, I'm also really proud of him and everything he's done to get to this point. He's a great kid and I hope he makes this last year of high school his best!

2017 comp soccer

Today was an exciting day for Jeff, and not just because of a solar eclipse.

Yep, Jeff's first game of his competitive soccer league was today. Unfortunately, Scott was out of town on business, so he missed it, and my brother borrowed my DSLR camera to document the solar eclipse. So I didn't take too many pictures.

I did manage to take a pic right before the game started, and the one above to send to Scott. Afterwards, I sat back and enjoyed the game.

You would think that after all this time with my other kids participating in sports, I would have a beer understanding of soccer. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. Basketball I get, thanks to my brother Fred, but soccer, football, and lacrosse? I'm still learning.

Anyway...

This pic was taken after the game. Their coaches are congratulating them on their first win and reviewing what they did well, and what they needed to work on. All in all, they did well for a brand new team still getting to know each other and learning to work together.

They're off to a good start, though.

Go, Copper Mountain!

adding another teenager to the mix

The day Scott has been dreading has come to pass: Vanessa is now officially a teenager!

It's been a bit disorientating for us to realize that our little princess is no longer "little." I mean, she's just an inch or so shorter than me, for crying out loud! And, okay, that's not hard to beat considering I'm only 5'2" but still.

At least she's not too old to still take pictures with her daddy.

I think this has just become one of my most favorite pictures.

Since family tradition dictates dinner at a restaurant of the birthday person's choosing, we had a whole day to kill. Vanessa wasn't interested in anything other than her new art stuff she got as presents, but I did manage to get her outside of the house when Jeff decided he wanted to go swimming. Surprisingly enough, Ethan agreed to a swim, and since Vanessa didn't want to be home alone (Ryan was at work), she tagged along.

This picture is an attempt to get the 3 of them in one shot. That's Ethan attempting to drown Jeff in the far right side of the pic. ;-)

Vanessa insisted on Nielsen's for dinner, since she wanted their famous frozen custard instead of a birthday cake.

Ryan was nice enough to fix his schedule so he would be done with work in order to join us. I don't know if it was because it was his sister's birthday or because of the food, but it was nice to have him there...even if he did glare at me every time I tried to take a picture.

At any rate, it was really nice to have the entire family together to celebrate. Time is winding down for these opportunities, considering Ryan will be a senior this year and graduating, then heading off for a mission soon after that. The kids are growing up!

13 Reasons Why I Love Vanessa

  1. She still loves to give me hugs.
  2. She's creative and loves to create art.
  3. She works hard at improving her drawing.
  4. She still gets so excited (and loud) at things that interest her (Pokemon, video games, etc.).
  5. She's learned to not care what others might think of her.
  6. She loves her brothers.
  7. She enjoys family time and hanging out with us.
  8. She's not picky about clothes.
  9. She likes to learn new things.
10. She likes to talk to me about EVERYTHING.
11. She's not in a hurry to grow up.
12. She's loyal and kind to her friends and family.
13. She cares about others and tries to make them happy.