A Love Note with 2x4s

We bought these 2x4s last year to make some gardening beds, but didn't end up using them because they were pressure treated and I didn't want the chemicals leaking into our food. 

So Kassidy has taken a HUGE liking to them and uses them for everything.  Currently, they are being used as jumping bars for the dogs.  She has them at different levels being held up by some spare bricks.  She is sooo creative.

The "I LOVE YOU!" was written last week by her and it melted my heart.  It was actually on a day that was not so great.  I had just finished crying because I was just in a mood where nothing about my house and life seemed in order.  She brought me outside and showed me this, of course asking why I had been crying.  It definitely made my day so much brighter! 

Taking pictures of it was really hard, because it is huge and she had to rearrange them because they were too far apart to begin with. 

I just love that girl more than I can explain!

3 or 2 babies, please?

This is the request written by 8 year old daughter on her whiteboard above her bed.  The "or 2" part was added a few days later.  We kept telling her the very, very, very slim possibilities of me having 3 babies (and also 2) during this one pregnancy.  But... we will see in about 11 more days!!

I hope it lasts

I am now about 5 weeks and 6 days preggo.  I wish it was a little more so I would feel more in the clear, but like everything it will just be a matter of time.

I would actually say that starting a few days after conception I became extremely tired all of the time.  I thought it was just me not being active enough and I chalked it up to being lazy.  Then, I found out I was expecting and it made sense.  The exhaustion got worse.  For the past week or so I have only been good from about 9:30-12:30ish.  Outside of those 3 hours, all I wanted to do was sleeeepppp.  It was almost to the point of not being able to function. 

Before I got pregnant with Kassidy, I went out every single night to hang out with friends.  No, it was doing charity work or volunteering.  I was usually doing stuff I should not have been doing.  About a week or two before I found out I was pregnant with K, I completely stopped going out.  All I did with my free time was sleep.  I was just exhausted and nothing sounded better than just laying in bed.  That lasted until about 6 weeks or so.

For the past 2 days, I have not been nearly as tired.  I could actually function and even though my energy is still low it seems like I have had a 2liter of mountain dew.  I feel so much better and I hope this part of pregnancy is over so I might actually be able to accomplish something!!

Can we just say school is done for the year???

Yes, I have been so over school for the past couple months.  Probably since we came back from Christmas.  I don't know what it is.  This is our second year homeschooling and I still don't have anything that I love.  I tried new curriculums this year and I am not loving any of them.  Some of them I think are awesome, like the A Reason for Spelling and Handwriting and our Bible Positive Actions.  They are great.  They are just not great for Kassidy.  She hates spelling... I mean Hates with a capital H.  We fight about it every. single. day.  Really, we do.  She is not fond of handwriting, but it is not such a fight.  Our Bible is great, but for some reason I don't think it is filling exactly what I want... I think I am not using the Teacher Book as much as I should be.  There is soo much to do and we just don't delve that far in because it seems to be complicated??  I don't know.

So, I am ready to end this year.  Graduate to 3rd grade.  Technically, I sure could do this I'm sure.  In Texas, there are no real regulations for homeschoolers.  We are required to teach reading, math, writing and citizenship... I think that's it. 

We will not stop this year, although I am seriously thinking about condensing all of our work down into fewer weeks.  Maybe you don't think that is ok.  I told my dad and stepmom a while ago that we would be done with school whenever K finished her work for the year.  They thought I was crazy.  Needless to say, they are not super excited about my homeschooling in general, but I do think it is growing a little more on everyone now that they know it is not a "phase".  I think it is perfectly fine to take the work we were "scheduled" to do and finish it in 2 more weeks.  That will not happen, but if my daughter got a fire under her to finish early I would be running with that! 

I get excited about the upcoming school year and what I will do differently.  I envision what I want and how I am not getting that at the moment.  Then, all I can think about is how much I want to be done with what seems to be failing now. 

A couple weeks ago, I actually considered re-doing our whole entire curric for the rest of this year.  It took sooooo much work to get this year planned and I just couldn't trash it.  It's not that Kassidy isn't learning.  It is that we are not homeschooling the way I want to be. 

Good news:  the year is almost over.  Soon, I will get to go to one of my favorite things, which is the homeschooling fair.  It inspires me so much and gets me ready for the upcoming year.  We are switching to a more year-round schedule and I'm excited about that.  I will be talking to K about what worked and what didn't for her this year.  Then I will start doing what I love but what takes a ton of time: planning and organizing our next year! 

How is school going for your family?  Do you get tired of what you are doing halfway through the year?  If so, do you ditch it and start over or stick with it? 

Nursing Babies

I do not care much about Beyonce, at all, but I saw this on my email news and checked it out.  I was hoping that it was her nursing in public, but I wasn't too sure from the headline.  It was.  I am thrilled that she is nursing in the first place.  I think more moms should nurse.  I am also thrilled that she did nurse in public.  Maybe many women will think "if Beyonce did it then so can I!"  I think it is great to nurse in public.  To be forced to miss out on everything going on around you because you must go nurse in a bathroom (gross) is awful.  I do definitely think that women should cover themselves a little more than the women in the bottom video.  There are some awesome nursing covers and I plan to get one.  I do not appreciate when women just whip out their breasts and leave themselves totally uncovered.  It's really the moments when the baby pulls away or is switching sides and the mother is left completely exposed.... we've all seen that.  That is inappropriate to me in must public places and makes everyone feel awkward. 

Warning: lots of uncovered mommies in this one!