Stuff and Things

SO much has happened since my last post.  (I know, I know - you're tired of hearing that EVERY time I write.)

We had an AWESOME start to the school year.  We have, for the most part, stuck with a good routine and daily schedule, switching it up here and there when necessary.  These last week and a half have been a bit too relaxed for my liking, but next week is our Fall 9-week Break, which is sorely needed; and I fully expect us to start strong again after that. 

Part of the reason we've had a relaxed couple of weeks is because I made and canned 18 quarts of apple sauce and about 2 dozen quarts of apple cider.  Then my dad "surprised" me with two HUGE boxes of grapes from his buddy's vineyard; so last week, with the kids' help, I got about half of them done and canned into grape juice.  I have 6 dozen quarts so far, which means there are another 6-8 dozen quarts' worth of grapes left to can.  Oh, and I'm down to a dozen jars, AFTER buying another 2 dozen last week.  So this should be interesting.

K3's TPR was FINALLY filed with the court, and the initial appearance hearing was Monday.  It was adjourned.  It will likely be adjourned again.  If you remember from Liam's case, this is the norm.  But I'm more frustrated about this case than I was with his, because she shouldn't even have to be worrying about permanence.  This should have been over and done a long time ago.  I continue to pray for a miracle, but it's hard not to be discouraged some days.

Liam turned TWO a couple of weeks ago!  It's pretty ridiculous; I still can't really believe he's 2 already.  It still seems like it was just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.  Soon my K4 will also be 2; not sure how I feel about having two 2 year olds!  

Speaking of K4, we have, after much discussion and mind-changing and negotiating, come up with her new name.  :-D

Friday is November 1st, which means the beginning of National Novel Writing Month.  For the past three years, Hunter has joined me in the novel-writing adventure.  This year, Kaleigh will also participate!  For those who are not familiar with the Young Writer's Program branch of NaNoWriMo, the coolest part about it is that participants choose their own word count.  The kids and I discussed and agreed upon their word counts for this year; but I can't tell you what they are juuuuuuust yet.  Don't worry; you'll find out soon enough ;-).

Randy and I took the kids out to the county park for their annual "school" pics this past Sunday afternoon.  I SO wish I could share them here, but I can't.  Well, I can actually share pictures of three of them, but since I can't share them all, I don't really want to share any.  It doesn't feel right.

I guess those are the highlights.  

The day-to-day feels like a grind many days.  Liam and K4 take turns (or sometimes not) being whiny and clingy.  K2 and K3 take turns being deliberately disobedient.  Hunter can't quite figure out how to get to the maturity level of a 13 year old.  But Liam and K4 also take turns wanting kisses and hugs.  K2 and K3 are doing amazingly better at getting along with each other than they were several months ago.  Hunter is learning, even though slowly, and sometimes I am somewhat taken aback by his thoughtfulness and kind-heartedness.  So just as many days are fun and exciting and enjoyable.

Time to go think about dinner for tonight.

Nothing Exciting...

I wish I had something fun and exciting to post, but I really don't.

Unless you think chasing two sometimes-crabby toddlers around the house/yard/store all day is fun and exciting.

I did make the Pinterest Flubber with the three bigger kids yesterday.  They LOVED it.

I've been mentally preparing for the start of the school year, but now it's time to start more than just mental preparation.  As we always start on the Tuesday after Labor Day, we have just over two weeks until the first day of school.  Each year since moving here, I have been presented with at least one additional challenge: this year brings several.  Hunter will be in eighth grade and Kaleigh in second (which I think is the harder of the two for me to wrap my head around!)  K3 will be doing more Pre-K work this year; we will have a little more focus than last year, but I still plan to give her more play than anything.  Last year, in addition to my three students, I had a (mostly) infant.  This year I have two toddlers.  It will be an adventure for sure!

I've maintained a pretty decent summer routine, but I'm sure it would bore the reader, so I won't detail it out here.  But I think having that daily routine will help the transition back into the school year go a little more smoothly.

I have a few more things to get - I'd like a large bookshelf for the school room, and the kids still need notebooks - and I have a few little school room projects to do.  I need to make die cuts for the calendar, hang the white boards, and do a little rearranging to make the area more study-conducive.  Other than that, I'm feeling pretty ready.

I didn't get nearly as much done as far as house projects as I wanted to this summer.  I'm hoping to cram a lot into these last two weeks, but we'll see.

Happy Sunday!

Family Vacation 2013 Part 3 - From Maine to Wisconsin!

I'm sitting here feeding Liam his breakfast (he eats almost everything by himself, but oatmeal notsomuch), and decided it's a good time to put out the third and final installment of our family vacation adventures.

We got most of our packing done Thursday evening - it was so nice to put clean, folded clothes into the suitcases instead of trying to separate what was left clean from the mass of dirty laundry!  Wednesday morning, we finished up the last few things and headed out, leaving my parents to a day of peace and quiet.

From the moment we hit the east coast and I remember Tim Horton's, I wanted to make sure we stopped there once while we were out there.  So Wednesday morning breakfast it was!

The coffee was good but I was disappointed in their selection.  (I miss Caribou *sniff sniff*.)  The food was pretty good but a tad overpriced for having to feed a family of six.  Still, it's something I've wanted to try literally for at least 10 years, so I got that out of my system.

And then we were off to Boston!

We started off by driving all over the city, looking for a specific parking garage near the USS Constitution, because I knew that would be one main thing Randy would want to see while  we were there.  We finally found the parking garage, after a fascinating driving tour of modern and historical Boston.  We spent a good amount of time looking at the Constitution and the other sights in the harbor, including the museum gift shop, where I got each of the kids the Freedom Trail book that lists and discusses all the sights along the Freedom Trail.

Two views of the USS Constitution:

The cityscape from the harbor:

Cannons from WWII:

The kiddos:

Upon leaving the harbor, we decided to take the pedicabs across the bridge.  That was quite the experience.

Once we disembarked from the pedicabs, we decided to take the alternate trail, since the main trail was packed with tourists.  Some of the highlights were the Old North Church, the Copp's Hill Burial Ground, and a lot of old buildings.  We walked what WAS the shoreline in 1775, which is now several main streets and even juts up into the city farther down.  

It was very cool for the kids to see some things they have studied this semester in US History, particularly the Revolution, which is what we focused on during the last couple of months of school.  

Compared to everything there, I felt like we saw very little, though we were in the city for several hours.  It's definitely a trip we will have to take again!




Wednesday night, we stayed in a hotel in Swansea, MA, 20 minutes from the Providence airport.  The kids enjoyed having the hotel pool to themselves all evening, and everyone slept well and rose early to head to the airport.


We had an almost 3 hour layover in Cleveland, and once we hit Milwaukee, we had to take a shuttle out to where we had left our car.  Then we had a 30 minute drive home.  By the time we pulled into our garage, it had been a very long day of travel.  I, for one, was very glad to be home in my own bed with my own pillow :-).

Multiple Updates

I know the update on Liam is what everyone is reading for, so I'll lead with that.  Then if you don't want to hear about the hum-drum stuff, you don't have to.  ;-)

(Just a reminder, Liam is not yet his legal name; so we aren't breaking any rules here.)

We had pretrial this week, and while I didn't go, the CW updated me after the hearing.  BM was still going to fight because she "thinks she deserves the chance to parent him."  Yeah, don't even get me started.  Then her lawyer asked for the hearing to be rescheduled, but the judge denied his request, because there is only one other case ahead of ours, and it sounds like there is a pretty good chance they won't be ready - which means our trial would start Monday!  I received a subpoena in the mail last week from the DA's office; I'm not sure if they will actually want me to testify or if they did it just in case they go right into the Best Interest phase after the Grounds phase is complete.  (I can't imagine any reason I would be called to testify in the Grounds phase, since that is about proving there are sufficient grounds for TPR, and the Best Interest phase is about deciding what is in the best interest of child as far as permanency.  Typically a foster parent would be called in the Best Interest phase in order to state their desire/willingness to adopt the child.)

Apparently the judge gave BM a speech about doing what was best for Liam, and her attorney and a permanency counselor were still going to talk to her after trial about doing voluntary.  Still, I have to say, I don't really want her to do voluntary.  She is the person who would turn it around on herself, brag that she "gave her son up for adoption" (which is an inaccurate statement when CPS is involved), and try to make everyone feel sorry for her and believe she is a selfless person.  Yes, I'm aware it sounds somewhat selfish, or bitter, but after everything she has put him and us through over the past two years (because she was abusing him in utero), she should go through a trial and see what that's like.  But, that's neither here nor there; we will see on Monday how it goes.

The Little Man in question is teething, once again getting four teeth at once.  Between that and the periodic withdrawals, he can be quite the crank monster, not to mention he is drooling like nobody's business.  He still has his happy times though, which I am very thankful for - he is such a sweet baby!  At the moment he is digging through his diaper bag, pulling out snacks, his water bottle, and the few toys I keep in there.  He loves to eat - his favorite foods are bananas (his first official word besides Mama and Dada was Nana) and avocados.  He has absolutely no interest in walking (which is fine with me HAHA!) but can crawl like a maniac and get all the way around the main floor circle at a ridiculous lightning speed.

My little K3 will be 4 years old in only a month and a half!  It's so crazy to think about that, when she was just a couple of months over 3 when she came to us.  She has really grown in development over the past 8 months.  We have had some pretty serious behavior issues with her; she is in therapy, but at such a young age therapy can only do so much.  It is sad to think about the possibilities when it comes to realizing what is behind the behaviors.  I have a feeling that part of the deal is that she knows she is in a safe place now, and perhaps her mind has "permission" to start remembering things that maybe it wasn't safe to remember before.  I may be wrong about that, and I'm sure there are other factors and triggers as well - I'm quite certain BD told her she was going to come live with him soon - but I think that's at least part of it.  She loves to play with babies, and also enjoys coloring, though doesn't always like to sit still and concentrate for very long, as is typical for her developmental age.

Kaleigh has struggled through general number sense in school this first half of the year, but is finally starting to grasp the concepts, and has her addition facts down pretty well.  Her general reasoning skills tell me that once she really gets into math, she will excel, so for now we just keep practicing, practicing, practicing!  She is reading like a pro now, and of course writing and spelling follow.  Her favorite activity is still coloring, though!  She is a very meticulous child most of the time, and likes to color detailed pictures, as well as any activity that includes cutting and pasting.  A new fun thing she has recently discovered is word search puzzles.  It won't be long before she is doing crossword puzzles and playing Scrabble.

Hunter is plowing right along through seventh grade.  He's doing pre-algebra work, although the most frustrating thing with him and math is that once he masters a skill, he forgets it.  We've had to go back and review some fifth and sixth grade fractions work in the past two weeks; it just makes the new lessons move slowly.  He continues to be a voracious reader, which continues to thrill me to my core.  He is really enjoying the Rick Riordan books, and keeps reading the different series' over and over.  His New Year's gift of "Something to Read" is going to be The Hunger Games, which he has been dying to read; he will be totally surprised because I told him awhile back that he had to wait until he was older.  I think it will be good for him though.

At this moment, my Christmas cards are sitting in the UPS warehouse in Sturtevant! It's the first year I've had the time and energy to get cards done, and they are sitting in a warehouse while I could be getting them in envelopes!  GRRRR!

I have almost everything I need for the kids' Christmas Eve packages!  Pajamas, movies, mugs... need to get slippers, which I will do this weekend, and I saw some of those little fleece blankets for like $5 at Walmart a couple of weeks ago, so if I can find those again, they'll each be getting one of those.  

Next week is baking week.  I have several recipes ready to go; I'm going to have to swing by Sam's and/or Aldi to get more of the staples before we get started.  Hunter's math homework next week will be to double or triple each recipe (depending on how much we need) :-).  All three of the kids will practice following directions!

Off to enjoy the last few minutes of Liam's nap before he wakes up...

Little of This, Little of That

Things are quiet on the legal front.  

The next hearing on K3's case is on Wednesday; we will not be attending.  We haven't attended a single hearing for her yet, because they've all been for minor things.  And with the way things are going, I'm really glad we haven't wasted our time there.  On Wednesday, it is expected that the DA will drop the TPR petition.  Everything will start over from here as far as the TPR timeline.  In six months, they can file again; they can still use the material and evidence from the past two years, which I was grateful to hear.  There is no telling what BD will do; this case has turned from an almost guaranteed adoption into a waiting game.  And yes, we know as foster parents that everything is a waiting game and nothing is final until it's final.  But you certainly have a different mindset when you get a child who is on the way to TPR than when you get a child that is yet an unknown.  Not that we would love her any less; but you just have it in your head that you can't get your hopes up.  She was supposed to be our "easy" case, the one we didn't have to worry about.  Oh well.  God knows.  He certainly hears our prayers. 

The next hearing on Liam's case isn't until a week from Tuesday.  I really don't know what to expect.  BM just continues to spiral downward more and more out of control.  

Things on the home front are a different story.

Homeschooling more than one child at a time is certainly and interesting and challenging - but of course fun - adventure.  Hunter is in seventh, and Kaleigh is in first.  I am doing some pre-K work with K3, but not on a daily basis.  We are doing Social Studies, Science, and Literature together each morning; then we have a special (different each day), then lunch.  In the afternoon, K3 and Liam (hopefully) nap while I do math, spelling/writing, language, and reading comp with Kaleigh and Hunter.  They each do grade-appropriate work.  I really enjoy the freedom to choose what my children will learn and stay, as well as the ability to schedule their days/weeks and prevent them from coming home from 6 hours of school just to do 2 more hours of homework.  

Liam is becoming such a little man!!  He walks along furniture, but refuses to stand or try to walk with help - he crawls everywhere, and very quickly!  He discovered this week that he loves to climb stairs.  He made it all the way to the top the other, with no help (except a spotter, of course!), and yesterday while I was grading papers, I had to pull him off the stairs no less than four times.  He is eating mostly solids now, and his eczema has cleared up quite a bit, so I am seriously thinking it is a milk allergy.  We already know he can't have soy (*someone* kept force-feeding him soy formula and he would ALWAYS throw it up) so we are starting to try a little almond milk to see how he does.

Aside from Randy working some late nights lately, I guess that's about it :-)

Plans Change & Time Flies (Alternately Titled, "School Starts Tomorrow")

Last week, we had all kinds of plans for this weekend.  But then life happened.  So instead of the get-togethers we had planned, we watched movies and played board games and video games and watched more movies.  I think we all actually needed a couple of days of doing nothing to relax and get ready for a strong start to the new school year.

Exactly one year ago this weekend, we were up north at my uncle's cabin.  It was just the five of us - we didn't have Liam until two months after we got home.  

On that note, I cannot believe it is already September.  I can't believe tomorrow morning, our house will wake up with a junior in high school (!!!), a seventh grader, and a first grader.  I can't believe that next month we will have a one year old, the next month he will have been with us a year, and then it will be Thanksgiving and Christmas all over again.  When I was in high school, someone told me that the older I got, the faster time would go.  I figured it was true, but I just couldn't fathom HOW fast time could actually fly.  It definitely makes me want to savor and appreciate every moment of every day.  It doesn't always happen, but I do appreciate a lot more moments than I used to.

So, our days of relaxing come to an end with a good night's sleep.  And our new week begins bright and early tomorrow morning with a trip to the Y.

Night all!

A Week Until School Starts!

Today we begin easing into our new daily school routine.  The kids have been sleeping until about 9:00 most of the summer.  Today and tomorrow they get up at 8, then Wednesday through Friday at 7.  Starting next week we will begin our days at 6:30 so that we can fit everything in without working on schoolwork late in the day!

I have almost everything we need, although finding the best way to organize it all is not coming as easily to me as it has in past years. And I was going through our supplies last night, I discovered that I haven't bought any regular pencils yet!  Ridiculous!  Other than that, we are good on supplies (I think!), although I am watching for good crayon sales because I always like to stock up on those this time of year.  I do still need to get a couple of books for Hunter, but as usual, we are going to start the year off with some review, so we will be set for the first week or so.  

I do wish I could find a couple of desks, but I have little hope of that.  I may try to check one or two little antique places around here, but I'm not getting my hopes up.  If I could find them, it would make life quite a bit easier.  However, I do have a small desk that is currently in Ryan's room; he has never used it, and if these first few weeks of school go by and he still doesn't use it, I'll be re-commandeering it for more practical purposes than collecting odds and ends!

With the start of the new school year, the kids are going to start some classes at the YMCA.  Hunter doesn't know it yet, but he is going to take a rock climbing class on Monday nights.  I'm still looking into options for the girls; I was hoping to get them into swim, but the fall schedule isn't out yet and I'd really like to find classes that meet at the same times. 

Well, I guess that's it for now.  I have a TON of things to get done this week, and I have my doubts that getting them all accomplished is even realistic.  (That won't stop me from trying though!)

I hope as you prepare for the new school year - whether you are a parent, a teacher, a student, a homeschooler, or any combination - that things go smoothly and you enjoy a great start to a new year!

K3 Update and Planning for Fall

The trial for K3's TPR was adjourned until October.  There is nothing more to say on that, except please pray.  Thanks!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We will be starting summer school soon (as in, next week).  Summer school at the Shan Clan Manor consists of crafts, games, music, and a few academic subjects based on what each child needs to brush up on before the next year of school begins.  For Hunter this will be geography and math and typing, and for Kaleigh it will be reading (although she is doing VERY well with her reading) and writing and math.

As I mentally plan for this, I have inevitably begun thinking about beginning school in the fall, and I have to say, it struck me yesterday that I have had it pretty easy with Hunter these last two years.  This year I will have a pre-preschooler, a first grader, and a seventh grader. 

YIKES!

I am definitely going to have to kick the discipline level up a notch.  Or seven.  I may even find myself buying - GASP! - a lesson planning book.  EEEP!  

I'm also going to do some searching to see if I can any curricula for certain subjects, like social studies and science, that have lessons that can be taught to different age groups but worksheets geared to the different ages.  Might be a pipe dream.

Well, off to start breakfast and enjoy a day at home before starting up with all the chaos!

Life As We Know It

Life as a Mommy of four is busy, and fun, and rewarding, and scary, and CRAZY!  And I love it.  Not every minute of it maybe, but I do love it.

K3 has very quickly become a true Shanahan (no, her last name has not changed yet).  She is still learning and adjusting, and I know it will continue to be a process - as growing is with every child.  Her biggest struggle right now is obeying.  I get the feeling she never was really told what to do before.  That and she is definitely testing for consistency.  (I think you can guess what she is finding there, too.)  Her social worker told us before placement that she didn't have much consistency or discipline follow-through at her previous foster home, and that is definitely obvious.  But we are working on it, and she is learning, albeit slowly.  Potty training has gone GREAT, after a rough start.  She has now been dry for a week straight, including nights.  Today we went from trainers to regular underwear (ditched the pullups two weeks ago), and next time we're at the store she'll get to pick out some "special" ones (the ones she came with are pretty plain).  I also decided a little over a week ago to quit using pullups at night.  Since coming here, she only wet once at night.  I don't really want her to get into a position where she regresses at night, which I think happened with Kaleigh.  So, there you have it.

My littlest monster has really been a monster these last couple of days.  He is suddenly teething like it's going out of style.  Tooth #2 broke through Saturday morning, and tooth #3 just popped through this morning.  On top of that, he is going through some separation anxiety right now; I can't even leave the room without him starting to throw a fit.  This is making naps somewhat difficult.  For example, right now.  When he is happy, though, he is such a joy.  He is eating solid foods now, sitting up really well in the Bumbo, interacting with all the toys on his ExerSaucer and bouncing himself around in it, and laughing at almost everything.  He is such a sweet boy.

Kaleigh is also still adjusting to having another little girl around.  At times, she is loving and leading and sharing and is just a very good sister.  At other times, her need to control comes out and she tries to be the boss instead of the sister.  I am trying to help her learn that she and K3 are equals in this house - she is not any higher up on the chain than her sister or anyone else for that matter.  She knows it, but does not want to accept that she does not get to make the decisions or control anyone else.  It has been quite the frustration, this past week in particular.  I continue to pray for wisdom, grace, and more wisdom.

Hunter turned 12 almost two weeks ago now, and is also working at changing some behaviors.  Overall, he has done much better these last few weeks than he had been doing in previous weeks.  We continue to remind him that privileges are earned; they are not rights that one receives simply by reaching a certain age; and that they can be lost very easily and have to be re-earned, which is not nearly as easy as losing them.  He is doing well in his schoolwork, and I decided to be done with math for the year (we will still do some review over the summer).  He has almost finished his third reading workbook this year, and then he will be done with reading for this year as well.  That leaves science, grammar, and vocab to finish up before he is done with 6th grade.  I am pretty sure we will be working on all three during the summer, so I will just need to pick a good "stopping" point at which we can say 6th grade is over. 

I guess that's it from the kiddo side of things.  Randy and I continue to squeeze in time alone together whenever we can - which is sometimes next to never with our weekly schedule.  We did have a very nice weekend, with some good family time and good couple time and lots of just plain relaxing all around.  Randy is transitioning into a new position at work - which I know he will do a fabulous job in! - but we are about to see him a little less during the weeks for awhile as he works on getting things straightened out and in order and learns the ropes of the new position.  So our weekend family time continues to be as important as ever.

There are some updates I want to share regarding the status of the kids, but this entry is long enough, so they will have to wait for another entry.  

Happy Monday!

Terrific Tuesday!

Yesterday we took our first out-of-state field trip!

A friend and I took all four kiddos to Shipshewana, Indiana, for the day.  

We went to a great little bead shop that a lady runs in the shops area.  Kaleigh and I both found some great treasures in there!  Kaleigh spent about half of her spending money on beads! :-)  Most of what I bought will be for gifts :-)

We also went to an awesome Amish grocery store, where they sell a ton of stuff in bulk at extremely reasonable prices.  I wished I had a trailer to bring stuff home in!  I did get a few things to bring home though.  Then we went to the Amish department store, where the kids shopped with their spending money.  On the way out of town, we stopped at the Amish bakery; the kids had been talking about ice cream earlier in the day, so I thought for sure they would all be thrilled to have some.  BUT, only two of them went for ice cream; the other really wanted a doughnut.  Can you guess which kiddo that was?  After the bakery, we stopped at a farm where a lady keeps greenhouses and sells plants.  Lots of fun!  Then we hit the road and drove a little ways before stopping for dinner.  After eating, we were on the road for good - at about 7:00!  

The roads weren't too bad on the return trip.  We hit a little construction in South Chicago, but it was nothing compared to the construction traffic on the other side of the road!  We got to the park and ride a little after 10:00, dropped my friend off at her car, made a bottle for Ty, who had been screaming for several miles, and finished the last 15 minutes of our trek home.  

Everyone slept soundly once they were in their beds, although no one slept any later than usual today.  Two kiddos have visits today, so nap times will be missed and bed times will be a little late again tonight.  I'm hoping that tomorrow we can get back into a routine.

Update

Yes, I know, it has been ages.  It seems like just as soon as we clear one hurdle, there's another waiting for us!  

Ty got through his withdrawal really well.  We all survived the holidays, and then he got pneumonia.  He got through that, and we had BF (bio family) drama.  And now we're just getting over a round of family illness.  I guess we are a really close family - we share EVERYTHING!  :-)

But, everyone is doing great, overall.  Hunter is SOARING through 6th grade - subjects he was once behind in, he is now plowing ahead in.  My hope of him starting at grade level in 7th grade is beginning to dissipate.  Now I am beginning to hope he will start 7th grade a little ahead of his peers in some subjects, math in particular.  Yes, MATH - the subject he was the most behind in during 4th grade.  He is also doing really well with reading - the little 8 year old boy who hated to read when he came to us now cannot get enough of books!  It makes a Mama's heart so proud :-).  And his comprehension and oral fluency have improved greatly.  I just cannot express how proud I am of how far he has come.  He is not without his challenges - what almost-12-year-old is?? - but we continue to work on those and pray that God will help us guide his heart so that he continues to learn to make right decisions and grow in maturity and responsibility.

Kaleigh is also progressing very well academically.  She began learning to read in the fall, and her reading improves every day.  She sometimes just amazes me with the words she is able to sound out.  She really has gotten the hang of the sounding-out thing very quickly.  She, too, loves to read, both by herself and with others.  She and I always have at least one book that we read through together over a period of time.  Right now, we are reading through the Ramona series; we are nearly finished with Ramona the Brave.  She is also really into American Girl dolls right now, and a couple of weeks ago I pulled out the few books that I collected as a pre-teen; she latched onto those right away.  So now we are also reading Meet Addy.   I was concerned it would be a little too much for her, since it talks somewhat vividly about how slaves were treated; but she took it in really well, and I figured kids are exposed to so much fictional violence these days, that it won't hurt her to understand a little bit of our historical "violence."  And it's geared for 9 year olds, so it isn't TOO graphic.  Kaleigh is also working on writing - she actually has been working on this since preschool, but now that she is learning to read, she is recognizing the correlation to writing and spelling.  She loves to write notes to people, and sometimes I tell her the spelling as she is writing, but sometimes I tell her to sound it out.  It is fun to see what she comes up with, and I just love the way kids learn when they work things out for themselves.

Ty is growing, growing, growing.  He began teething a couple of weeks ago, and since a tooth has not popped through just yet, he is still cranky, cranky, cranky.  In between the cranky times, though, he is such a happy baby.  He is smiling and cooing and giggling all the time, and it is soooooo sweet.  The week before last he started rolling from back to front - I guess it won't be long now before he is on the move!  Yikes!!  

We got a call yesterday about a 3 year old little girl who is currently in foster care.  They are in the TPR (termination of parental rights) process with her right now, but her current foster family is unable to adopt her; so they are looking for a family who would be able to adopt her once TPR is complete.  After talking through it last night, Randy and I agreed that we would like to meet her and set up some pre-placement visits to see what she's like and how she might fit into our family.  We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we begin to move through this process.  

Well, I have a baby who needs fed and a little girl who is turning into a giant raisin in the tub.  Time to run!  Hoping I'll be able to update more regularly now that we have settled into somewhat of a routine!

Last Day of Break

Here we are, on our last day of fall break already.  I just cannot believe the way time flies.  It seems to always be slipping away from me; the flight of time motivates and challenges me to avoid letting idle moments pass by, to make each moment count for something: to get things done, to spend time with my kids, to teach, to learn, to accomplish, to love.

Anyway, it was a nice break.  We made cookies and homemade apple cider, shopped for Daddy's birthday and made him a giant Packer cookie (complete with green and gold frosting!), played games and watched movies, painted fingernails (okay, girls only), and went grocery shopping.  

On Friday, we woke up semi-early and made cinnamon rolls and coffee and surprised Randy with his birthday gifts.  Then, Hunter and Kaleigh spent the day with their great grandma and grandpa while Randy and I enjoyed a day out and about for Randy's birthday.  We had lots of fun just bumming around, and even used up the rest of our Flex-spend dollars (since it's getting near the end of the year, I was afraid we were going to lose some of our money!): Randy got some much needed inserts at the Good Feet store, and I was able to get new glasses, which will be nice since my current pair is over 4 years old.  We also enjoyed good coffee and good food and just plain old good time together.  I love spending time with my best friend, to whom I am just lucky enough to be married! 

Just before supper time, we picked up the kids and took them to Grandma and Grandpa's house, where they spent the night and all day Saturday.  Randy and I had a nice dinner Friday night at Olive Garden, then enjoyed a lazy cozy day snuggling on the couch with movies and yummy snacks.  At the end of the day, we joined our children at my mom and dad's for the family birthday celebration.  My mom made fried chicken and mashed potatoes and a Bailey's marble cheesecake.  There were football, and wine, and a game of Trivial Pursuit; and a good time was had by all.

And so on this, our last day of fall break, we celebrate our happy weekend like this:

WE CLEAN.

Yes, I am a mean Mommy and mean Teacher.  I make my children/students choose between schoolwork and house cleaning.  Muahahahahaha.  

In all seriousness, our weekends have been so packed for the last couple of weeks, that the house has become a bit of a disaster.  My dreams of always maintaining a perfectly neat and tidy house have been shattered.  They must be restored ASAP!  

So today we will do dishes and laundry, vacuum and dust and mop floors, make beds, and put away clutter.  We also have a couple of errands to run.  Then perhaps there will be time for a bit of relaxation this afternoon, before we jump back into school work tomorrow morning bright and early.

Happy Monday!

Weeks Five & Six - and a Break!

Well, at the end of week 5, I didn't feel like there was much to report.  So I didn't bore you with that.

Last week, we wrapped up week 6 of school, and since we also did two weeks of summer school before officially digging in for the year, I decided it's time for a break.  It worked out nicely, because we just finished a spelling unit and a Bible unit, just finished reading Journey to the Center of the Earth, and finally(!!!!!) got a firm comprehension of adding and multiplying fractions.

Well, there you have our wrap-up of the last two weeks ;-).

I feel the need to state again that one highlight of my week last week was on Friday, when I graded Hunter's math homework from Thursday and Friday, and I could see that he was really "getting it."  I even pointed to one fraction that he had forgotten to reduce, said, "This one needs reduced," and got in response: "Oh, that's one-half."  After weeks of struggling over the concept of reducing, he did it in his head!

Another big highlight of last week was when we picked him up from youth group on Wednesday night.  He had a sheet with several passages of scripture on both sides, and excitedly explained that if he memorizes all the verses by January 1, a large portion of the cost for the winter retreat would be paid.  He gets so excited about things, it's energizing (and sometimes tiring) to witness.  (And by the way, this was the first I'd heard of said retreat.  Don't get me started on the subject of one's child's first time away from home.  Just don't even.)  We told him that if he memorized all the verses and earned that portion of the trip, he could go on the retreat.  He came home and for his bedtime reading, immediately began working on the first passage, Psalm 1.  

On Friday, he said the entire passage to me from memory.  I was floored.  And thrilled.  Ecstatic, really.  That night, he had his first youth activity.  Later as I picked him up, his Small Group leader told me that the minute he'd gotten there, Hunter had rushed to find him so he could say his verses.  

My heart overflows.  I cannot express my joy in how he is so eager to get involved in the youth group and the memorization of scripture.  He was in AWANA last year, and did memorize verses nearly every week, but he never showed quite the exuberance he is showing now.  Granted, yes, there is something to earn.  But the verses will be in his heart and his head, and the thing to be earned is a weekend of fellowship with peers and godly leadership and training in the Word.  Can't think of anything that would be better.

Week Four

I have to stop and think for a minute... last week seems like a long time ago!

Hunter finished Robin Hood (the next book he chose) in two days.  Then he read it again, in two more days.  I think it's safe to say he enjoyed that book.  This reminds me of an article I once read about boys and reading, but I think that could get lengthy, so I will save it for another blog post!

In math, Hunter is working on the relationship between fractions and decimals.  I have to say, I'm a little concerned that he's not getting the concept that fractions are parts of wholes, even though I have used many different illustrations to help him grasp it.  In math (well, all of our subjects really; it just applies mostly to math) I like to teach/introduce a new concept, and then continue working on that concept until he really understands it well.  Then we move on to the next concept, having reviews every couple of weeks to make sure he doesn't forget how to do anything he's already learned.  I think we will be spending quite a bit more time on fractions and decimals.

Hunter got a B on his spelling test again, so this week we are adding an additional day of writing his words.

I finally got to the box that had our Ramona books in it, so Kaleigh and I started reading together again.  I've missed our Ramona time!  We continue our reading games, and her concept of putting letters and sounds together is growing; it is fun to watch!  I also got a lot more of our crafting supplies unpacked, and a great work center set up in the basement; so Kaleigh and I spent some time scrapping (card-making, really) last week and over the weekend. 

My dad got grapes for making grape juice, and in true Bissett fashion, had more than he knew what to do with.  So I got free grapes and spent last week canning juice.  I ended up with 5 dozen jars, but still have enough to do another 2 dozen at least; on Saturday I went in search of more jars and found a few more boxes.  Hoping to find apples soon so I can start on applesauce.  We'll need to get another shelf for the storage area soon!

We made it up to see my cousin and her new baby last Tuesday.  Emma is absolutely beautiful, and I enjoyed getting in a baby fix ;-).  We also had a lovely time playing with 2-year-old Annie, who I think enjoyed having playmates for a day.  I really wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often!

Well, I am off to check on the steel-cut oatmeal cooking on the stove, and to wake my Monday morning late sleepers!  Today I have quite a few things to work on around here, some of them fun and some of them not-so-fun, but all should make for a busy Monday.

Week Three

Our third week of school had smooth spots and rough spots.  I guess this is typical, though, right?

In Literature, we completed Black Beauty and wrote a book report on it.  Tomorrow we will pick out our next book, and now that we are in the swing of things, I am going to do a better job of planning out the timing so that we finish this one in two weeks instead of four!  I found a great site that has lots of companionship resources for classics, so we're going to use some of these worksheets as we read through the next book.  Also, I think Hunter will be presenting his book report orally this time.  Time to start working on those oral presentation skills!

Hunter didn't concentrate as well on learning his spelling words this week, and got a B.  Don't get me wrong; a B is still good.  I just know that it is not his best, since he has shown that with the right amount of studying and focus he is able to get an A.  

In math, we reviewed Greatest Common Factors - something we had just begun to touch on at the end of last year - and tackled Least Common Multiples.  He remembered GCF's very well; LCM's were rough at first, but once he got the idea, he did them easily.  Near the end of the week, we started learning about operations with decimals, which we will continue this next week.

Science/Bible/Social Studies - plowing ahead.  Nothing remarkable to report.

Although on Monday, Hunter dragged his math out all. day. loooooooong....  on Friday he had all of his homework done by 11:00 a.m.  This allowed us a nice afternoon of field trips: a trip to Sam's Club to get a couple of items (and try all the tasty samples, of course!), and a surprise outing to the movie theater to see Lion King in 3D!  The kids had never seen the Lion King (I was surprised!) so it was twice as fun as I originally thought it would be.  We all had a blast - it was really fun to watch them watch the movie, and it was also fun to see a movie that I saw the first time it was in the theater 17 years ago!

Yesterday, Hunter attended his first youth group activity.  The youth group met to help clean the church, and then went out to Pizza Hut for pizza (Hunter's favorite. food. ever.).  He had a good time, and it's good to see him starting to get involved in things like this.  

This week, Kaleigh memorized John 3:16 and the Pledge of Allegiance.  She is also working on the Pledge to the Awana flag, and almost has it down.  When she completes that one on Wednesday  night, she'll get her book and start working on more verses!  I was a little concerned about her ability to memorize, but she is doing a great job!  We will continue to recite the verses she has already memorized, so that she doesn't forget them over time.  Her learning to read is also coming along very well.  Every day she is sounding out more words, often all on her own.  One day this past week, she came to where I was working in the kitchen and said, "Mom!  'O-N' spells 'on' and 'O-F-F' spells 'off'!"  She was so excited that she had figured that out.  It was very cool.  We also got a hold of a used Kids Boggle game, which she loves to play; that is also giving her exposure to more words and teaching her how to recognize them.  It is missing a couple of letter cubes, so I need to get to a craft supply store and find some blank cubes that I can use to make replacement cubes.

I got a couple of boxes of my scrapbooking and sewing things unpacked, and I'm starting to get a nice little crafting area set up in the basement. I feel like the unpacking is coming kind of slowly at this point, but I also feel a tiny bit of accomplishment every time I get through another couple of boxes.  I keep thinking of that scene in The Incredibles where the mom unpacks the final box years after they've been in the home and says, "We're officially moved in!"  That's going to be me!  HAHA!!

Well, the Packer game is on and requires my full attention; so I'm going to wrap this up.  

Happy Autumn!!

Week Two

Our second week of school was MUCH less stressful than our first week!  I can't even begin to describe how much of a relief this is to me. 

Of course at the end of last week, I was giving myself pep talks: "It's just the first week.  We're still getting into the swing of things.  It will get better."  But there was still that little nagging... concern... at the back of my mind that we were starting the year off with a struggle and it was only going to go downhill from there.

I'm so glad my louder "voice" was right.

Hunter got an 'A' on his first spelling test!  He worked really hard on his first week of words.  He begrudgingly learned some new things in math (he strongly dislikes new concepts in math - he only wants to do things he already knows how to do).  He struggled through science, but that was basically because he wasn't paying attention to the questions; he often gets into the habit of reading the first few words of a question, guessing at the rest of the question, and then answering the imaginary question instead of the real one!  The second time through, he did much better :).  He is still enjoying Black Beauty, and is almost finished with it, at which point he will prepare his first book report!  We started the new reading comprehension book this week, and I really like it.  It's much more in-depth and creative than the one we used last year.

Kaleigh's main schooling right now comprises learning to read, memorizing verses for Sparks, and growing her comprehension of numbers.  I am taking a "play" approach to Kindergarten; most of her "work" is done through games that we play together, or observations as we go through our day-to-day life.

We are still waiting for another foster placement.  I'm ready (or at least, I *think* I'm ready) for more kids in the house, but I know God's timing is perfect; so whenever I'm tempted to start getting impatient or anxious about it, I just pray and ask God to give me peace and keep His hands on our future little ones, wherever they may be right now.

The cooler weather has been such a blessing this week.  I just love fall!  This segue from summer into winter, when the temps are hovering in the 50s and 60s, is my absolute favorite time of year.  I need to find the battery charger for my camera, so that we can get outside and take our school pics while the weather is so perfectly crisp!

After being sick all last week, and spending all of this week trying to dig out from under the pile of laundry and cleaning and shopping and dishes, I was glad to be able to get a little more organizing and unpacking done in the office today.  I still have TONS to get done, but every little bit helps, and the office is where the majority of the unpacking is left to be done.  Getting that area organized has been a daunting task, but I think once I'm through it, a big part of the remaining unpacking will go fairly quickly.

I had more I wanted to include in this post, but my head is pounding like crazy, so I think it's time to stop typing and give my eyes a break from the computer.

First Official Week of School

Well, we got through it.

It was definitely not the world's easiest first week of school, not by a long shot.  But together, we got through it. 

I was sick all week with a bad virus, so no "first day of school" pics.  I was doing well to get through all of Hunter's lessons with him.

Kaleigh didn't even do school work this week because I just wasn't up to it.  She has been doing a series of sort of "screening" tests for the last couple of weeks, so I can get an idea of where she's at and what she needs to learn this year.  She went above and beyond the goals I mentally set for her last year, so in many sub-areas, she is well ahead of the "typical" student starting kindergarten; however, there are a few things that I can see we need to work on.  She is somewhat lazy as far as reading; she has known most of the letters and their sounds since she was 3, and has known all of them except Y and W (sounds) since early last year.  We have been working on putting the sounds together in 3-letter words, and though she can clearly do it, she seems uninterested in learning to read overall.  It's definitely not something I can relate to!  I wanted to read SO badly that I started at 3 and was reading by 4.  At her age, I was sitting in a mainstream kindergarten class trying to figure out why a teacher was teaching me things I already knew! LOL.

Oops, sorry for that little sidetrack :).

Anyway...  Here's what I did with Hunter this week:

We continued science and Bible from last year; there's not much of a difference between the content at the 5th and 6th grade levels in those subjects, and why would we discard all the learning he can still gain from the 5th grade books just to put him in a book that says "6th grade" on it?

In reading, we are going to have more guided reading this year; I am going to alternate between current works and classics.  Last year, I let him pick what he wanted most of the year, because I just wanted him to READ.  He has developed enough of an enjoyment for reading, that I think he will get more out of guided reading this year than he did early on last year, when I tried the same thing.  Right now, we are reading Black Beauty, and he is really enjoying it, which makes me very happy :).  I am also planning to do reading comprehension again this year, but probably 2-3 times per week, rather than every day like last year.  I guess I'm kind of swapping the ratio on literature and comprehension this year.  Also, sort of related, my mom got me a bunch of used books from one of the schools where she teaches, so between that initial stockpile and Goodwill, I don't anticipate any shortage of good reading material.

We still have some catching up to do in math, but he is much closer to 6th grade level than he was to 5th grade level at this point last year, if that makes any sense.  Meaning, I think we made significant progress in getting him caught up last year.   He is now learning how to do long division with a 2-digit divisor.  He doesn't care for it any more than I did at his age, but by the end of the week, he was catching on.

In spelling, we also continued with his 5th grade book.  We use Zaner-Bloser, which is pretty advanced anyway; and when you get behind in a subject that already doesn't come naturally for you, well...  Let's just say I think spelling is going to be one of those things he always has to work harder at than anything else.
I am still putting together a social studies curriculum.  More on that later.

Well, I guess that's about it for the summary of our first week of school.

I hope the rest of you, whether homeschooling or with kids in mainstream school, had a great start to the school year as well!

Busy Summer!

I have sorely neglected the blog this summer :(.  But in my defense, it has been the busiest summer I have ever had in my life!  If you had told me two years ago that life would be even busier when I stopped working outside the home, I would have politely chuckled and nodded while thinking, "Yeah, okay."  But it's true.  My life has never been busier (although my first year of fostering while also working full time outside the home *might* make this a tie for the busy-ness award).

At the time of my last entry, we had just gotten back on the dual foster/adopt list and were getting ready to go on a family vacation.  Since then, we (obviously) went on vacation (which was very fun for all involved), I took and completed my final class and field placement (the two year olds I worked with were a blast!), we got most of our new furniture (still waiting on two pieces that were on backorder, as well as a shelf that they delivered damaged and is also now on backorder!), and have had quite a few people over to visit (I just LOVE having the room to invite people over!)

We did NOT have time to do summer school at home, as my field placement took up a LOT more time than I thought it would.  Therefore, though I would normally start our autumn term right after Labor Day, we are going to begin reading and math on Monday, and focus on those subjects for two weeks before throwing the rest of the subjects into the mix on Tuesday the 6th.  I could have started summer school three weeks ago when my class and field placement ended, but I decided instead that I would rather have the time as a *real* summer vacation with my kids, with neither of us having to focus on academics.  So we have done some summer crafts, played games, watched movies, baked and cooked and just generally had some good fun before jumping back into school.

I discovered some... disturbing news a few weeks ago.  I can't really give details, since this blog is open to the world wide web and all its viewers, but it is foster/adopt related, and has caused me to have even less faith in the system than I had before, if that is possible.  Grievous errors have been made which affect not only us, but other foster parents, and possibly our children in the future.  I hope to be able to give more details in the future - I hate leaving people hanging - but there is no way to know right now what will happen.  Please just keep us in your thoughts and prayers, as there are many difficult decisions to be made, NONE of which are under our control.

I finally went out and found some houseplants, something I knew back in February I wanted to do here.  I started with three, and hope to add to them in the coming months, as I continue to unpack and organize.

Speaking of which, no, I am not unpacked yet.  But I am getting there.  The lack of one bookshelf is putting a serious cramp in this plan, as well as the lack of storage in the office area.  Still trying to figure out how I am going to accomplish the storage of office supplies.

I am very much looking forward to a few hours alone with my hubby tomorrow.  It's been about three weeks since we had some time alone that was not late at night after kids were in bed.  We don't have any "major" plans other than being alone together and just "hanging out."  :)

I am seriously going to try to update regularly this year.  I am looking forward to what this school year is going to bring for us, with more space and opportunities, both in the house and in our new town, and I am excited about sharing the journey as we go!

p.s.  I can't believe I have a sixth grader!  I'm not old enough to have a sixth grader!  ;-)