Spoiled Cat

A Claws update is needed!  

Yes.  This cat is still around.  It is truly a miracle.  In my eyes and the kids eyes.  Mallory will sometimes say, "I can't even believe we have our very own cat."  

It is starting to get really cold at night and we had to figure out what we were going to do with Claws.  We didn't know where he slept, but we wanted him to have a warm place if/when he needed it.  He basically uses us for food.  He seems to show up at meal times every day.

Jesse and the kids spent approximately 4 hours building/installing a cat door into our shop.  They built a ledge on the outside of the window and the inside of the window.  So he could lay in his bed and look out the window!!  Spoiled!  

While they were building this luxury cat spot... Claws was outside and he heard them sawing metal and he flipped out!  He did not like that noise at all!!

When they get it all done they want to show Claws his new home.  So they go and get him and they can not get him into the shop.  He won't go in.  He heard that awful noise and wants nothing to do with it.  Oh yeah... he isn't deaf anymore.  He is really good at ignoring us!  Like super good!  He hears!  The kids and Jesse tried to carry him and he meows and paces and stresses out.

Every day for about 5 days they would slowly try to get Claws into the shop.  They would only allow him to eat if he came in there.  Well they eventually won and he now likes the shop.

This is just a boy who thinks he is one cool kid with his jacket and bomber hat!!  

Doodle Bug

If I get a pencil in my hand and I have paper... I am going to doodle all over that!  My bible study books are covered in doodles.  So much so that a few weeks ago I decided to just take a notebook.  This is one bible study session of doodles.  

Then it branched into recreating signs I was seeing.

Now I am hooked!  I am filing this notebook and it has been so relaxing.  I had no idea this creative side of me needed to come out more.  

A Peek at the School Table

Some day I may want to look back and remember what it looked like doing school.  I took a couple snapshots a week ago.

We all sit at a table together.  Which might sound all warm and fuzzy and sweet.  But one of these kids (cough-Mallory-cough) likes to spread out over the whole table forgetting that the rest of us need to sit here too!!  So we have moments of "who's sheet is this?"  "Mallory where is your math sheet?"  "Please put your done sheets into your folders!"  "Do we need 16 pencils on the table right now?"

A look over Max's shoulder.  Here he is working on his handwriting book.

A look over Melanie's shoulder.  She keeps asking for homework and I haven't been good about it... but this week I happened to print off a bunch of sheets to see if she could do it.  I need to give the girl more credit!!  She did everything with a breeze!  And wanted more!  My only child right now who asks for more work!  This was actually her first day of "real" work.  She was beaming!  She showed everyone who came over her folder of work!  

(See Mallory's homework creeping over Melanie's homework.)

A look over Mallory's shoulder.  At third grade it seems as if I don't teach her much.  She is very independent!  I type up a daily assignment sheet and she just works her way down the sheet.  She even is amazing at teaching herself new things!  As a third grader she gets to do cursive.  She can never wait for me to help/show her so she just teaches herself!  And she is pretty darn good it and I think it might be a pretty good quality to have.  Don't get crazy though - we go over everything she does, correct it, and then do certain subjects together.  

This is a look over my shoulder.  At this point in the day it was Max's turn to be with me.  Now again this is not all sunshine and roses either!!  There are moments and days where this is super hard!  Three kids.  Three kids in very different learning ranges.  Three kids trying to talk to me at once.   

But the days that go so well, where you see the light bulb click, when you see the progress... that's the magic!!!  That is what pushes me to keep going and fighting the chaos!    

Big girl school was exhausting for this one!!  She takes her quiet time/nap in my bed and I have a rule that you don't get to sleep past 4pm.  So I woke her and I could tell she just wasn't ready to wake up yet, so I carried her out to the couch and was cooking supper and trying to talk to her and next thing I know she fell back asleep.  She still had marker on her face from the morning of school work!!  

Lefty!!

Melanie is a full blown left hand kid!  She has been since she was super tiny!

I love her being left handed.  However we use a lot of dry ease in our schooling and she has to be super careful or she will ease everything she is writing because her hand drags right behind the marker. 

 It is easier for her to draw with them.  It is crazy to me how quickly she picked up drawing too!  Maybe I forget at what age they do these things... that's probably it.

Right now she loves to draw people.  

Halloween Night 2017

It took me a while to blog this because it took me a while to recover!!  This whole day/event may seem petty and crazy... but I tell you in the moment IT WAS NOT!!  

Halloween fell on a day where we take Melanie to story hour at the library.  I thought, oh how cute would it be if you guys dressed up and went!  I got 2 yes and 1 no.

My one no... Maxwell!  This should really come as no surprise to me as he hasn't dressed up the past few years.  HOWEVER!  This child was so sad when I showed up with costumes for the girls and not him!!  His words were... "But Mom!!  I would dress up if I was an army man!"  It never crossed my mind to be an army man so I thought this was brilliant and we immediately went to Savers and got him a costume.  Which he was thrilled about!  Down right proud of!!  Thank you Mom!  Your the best Mom!!

Now!  Halloween Day!  

Nope!  Not doing it!  I never said those words!  I never dress up!  Worst Mom ever!

Then I have these visions on how to do Mallory's hair for Wonder Woman.  I pinterested it!  I had the vision!!  She was in her costume before any one of us was dressed.  She was ready!  I tell her how we are going to do her hair with her Wonder Woman headband.  She says, "Um.  I can't find it."

She literally could not find it!!  See as soon as she got this costume she ripped off the headband and put it on!  She didn't take it off for a few days!!  Now... its gone.  Like so gone!  We can't find it anywhere!!  Your telling me... Lynn this is why we don't use/wear the costumes until Halloween.  YES!  I agree!!  But I was tricked into thinking I was the worst Mom by telling them they had to wait until Halloween so I caved (peer pressure) and told them if they broke, ripped, or lost anything it was not my fault!!  And then when it really happened I should of not cared... but I did!  

Now Melanie who is a butterfly.  A few weeks before Halloween Max comes in the house with Melanie's headband to her costume in two pieces!  He found it outside broke laying in the lawn!  I had dug out Melanie's headband for a little photo session on the front steps and then put the headband on the counter.  We had friends over and Mallory took the headband and I asked her not too (because I know it is going to get broke) she promised she wouldn't.  Well... she didn't.  But she passed it onto one of the friends we had over... and she was wearing it and broke it and left it lay in the lawn.  

This begins Halloween!!

This year Lukas stopped over to walk with the girls while they trick or treated.  He does the scary side of Halloween and the little two do not like that!!  We had Lukas put his mask on after he was behind the kids.  Well Melanie eventually turned around and saw it and she ran!  

Max had to sleep with his light on all night.  He just doesn't like the scary side of Halloween.  I totally understand that.  I may be just like him.

Halloween also fell on a night were Jesse couldn't be with us.  (He was working out of town.) Grandma to the rescue!!  It was cold this year (we had snow the day before) and so we were piled under blankets and had a heater going!!

The cat!  Claws!  You guys, I can't even make this up!  Claws wasn't around all day and then when trick or treating started he shows up!  My Mom hates cats more then me!  He tried to sit with them on the step and then I think they made him leave because he was getting in the candy bowl.  Well I was out with the girls trick or treating down our street [I swear to you] I saw Claws chasing a group of kids into a yard!!  Then he eventually sat here in our landscaping watching everyone.  He even got into our house one time and was quickly hauled out by the kids because my Mom and I are not going to touch him!

We ended the night with some candy and sent the kids to bed and I found a glass of wine and ate a few of my favorite candy bars from the kids stash.  

I also swore off buying any more costumes.  

Pumpkin Carving

It has been awhile since we carved pumpkins.  It was so much work for Jesse and I do it... but this year we grew our own pumpkins.  We had a ton!!  Plus the kids are way bigger this year.  

As soon I mentioned we were carving pumpkins Jesse brought in the power tools.

Jesse and I used power tools to carve our pumpkins.  

Melanie was making this face the entire time she scooped.  She had never carved a pumpkin before!  She didn't even know what was inside a pumpkin!  I gave the kids dry ease markers to draw out their faces before carving and Melanie thought it was just draw on your pumpkin.

I eventually sat down with Melanie to help her.  She wanted a cat.  That didn't go well.  We settled just on a pumpkin face.  

Mallory's, Melanie's and Lynn's

Jesse's and Max's

This bigger kid stage is kind of fun!!  Less mess!  No one cried!  No potty breaks!  No snack breaks!  The things we may eventual miss and long for... but it was fun this year!!  ;)

Outdoor Day

RVA offered an outdoor day at Camp Forest Springs.  The kids had gone to camp over the summer and loved it so I knew we had to sign up and go to this event.  Jesse told us we had to do the bog walk and so we hit up that event first.  

It was a half mile hike into the bog.  Did I mention we had two 3-year olds with us!!  Oh and we had to wake them at an insane hour and be out of the house at 7:15 am to get here at 8:30am!!  We are homeschoolers!!  We don't do this get out of the house in the crazy hour of the morning stuff!!  Well I thought everything was going super well for our morning.  I packed the night before and so I thought I was on top of my game!  Until I got 10 minutes out and realized I had forgotten our lunches!!!  Turn around!!  Well we ended up late!  Surprise!!!  Homeschoolers don't do mornings!!  So we now have these two 3-year olds that we had to wake up to leave and well now they have to walk a half mile and it is only 9am!!  They were pokey and cranky and whiny!!  

But we made it to the bog!!!   And it is fascinating!!  

You could take your socks and shoes off and walk on the bog!  It is 20ft deep below this floating floor!  Does that freak anyone out besides me?  Melanie stepped out on the floating floor!!  The kids kept running far away and I so desperately wanted to yell for them to come back in case they fell in.  Thankfully no one did!!  

The 3 girls.  Max was off exploring.

The kids loved the bog!  Then we only got to pick one more adventure and I really wanted the kids to rock climb.  They are really into American Ninja Warrior and I thought this would be right up their sleeve.  Sure enough.  They loved it.  Mallory went to the top so quickly.  I think she was to the top within a minute or two.  Super quick.

Rang the bell and came back down!!

Max let his nerves and excitement get the best of him in the beginning.  

He pulled it together and made it to the top, rang the bell and came back down.

We had beautiful weather... super humid and hot... but for an outdoor day it was great!!  This might be one of the kids favorite field trips.  

Haircuts!!

One day I looked at the girls and I just wanted them to get their hair cut!  I called and got them in right that afternoon!!  I took some before pictures

Melanie has never had her haircut.  So this was her first hair cut at 3 years old!!  Mallory went first and did great.  She has had just a few haircuts.  She does not want short hair at all.  Like over lunch she was in tears (real tears) because she thought I wanted to cut it all off.  No no no no!!  I did not know, until that moment, that she was so attached to her hair.  She also tells me that Tangled is her favorite movie... so maybe she is going for that kind of length.  Not sure.  

Melanie gets in the chair and oh my gosh.  She was a hoot.  Even the stylist was giggling and asking if she could keep Melanie.  She was just making faces in the mirror and just being her funny little self.  Then an older lady walked in and Melanie could see her in the mirror and she says, "Why do I see a Grandma wearing pajamas?"  We lost it!  Giggles came!  Thankfully the lady didn't hear us or had no idea what she said.  The lady was not wearing pajamas... she was just wearing patterned pants.

Cut the bed head right off these girls!!!  Mallory wanted the curls and braids and Melanie wanted nothing.  Don't curl it.  Don't braid it.  But the stylist couldn't resist a few curls and a pony!!  

Books I Am Reading

I love it when I read blogs and they list the books they have read or are currently reading.  I am trying really hard to get back into reading.  I always am reading a self-help, faith growing type book, but I am trying to branch into a more fun easy read book also.  

Here is my stack at this very moment.

Crazy Rich Asians... is the fun book.  Ha.  I saw it on another blog and requested it at the library and it has not disappointed.  It is light and funny and I just wish I had more time for fun reading.  By the end of the day I sometimes just can't will my brain or eyes to read.  It is much easier to watch The Office and fall asleep within 5 minutes.  Literally.  Jesse gets so mad that I can't stay awake and watch TV (or movies) with him.  Please don't go and request it from the library just yet because I need about 3 more renewals before I will be ready to give it back.  And if you request it they will make me give it back!!  

desperate... oh moms!!  I did this book with 2 of my homeschooling moms this summer as kind of a book club of sorts.  There was only 3 of us so not sure that is a book club.  This book!!  Spoke right to my heart and soul.  I have so many things underlined!!  Shall I just share a few?  Okay!!

Anger and resentment were living just under my skin.  Exhausted, out of my mind, and still hormonal, every day felt like a fight.  Feelings of desperation were like an ever-present shadow over the good in my life.  Experiencing hope in Jesus felt like chasing gold at the end of a rainbow... getting to it was always out of reach.  Motherhood was something I planned for, something I wanted, so why was living it out so drastically different from my expectations?

..."good" motherliness has nothing to do with how God sees me.  Nothing.  I am pleasing to Him on my good days and my bad days.  His love for me never wavers... and never will.  Because I am His.

We can approach the throne of grace with confidence; can your children approach you with confidence, knowing they will be loved no matter what?  Let them know that you are on their team; that you are for them and not against them; that you will forgive, always, just as the Father forgives.

Good nuggets!!!  I already want to read it again and soak up more!!  Parenting is hard stuff!!  Homeschooling is hard stuff!!  I need these kind of books to put me back on the right path of why I do what I do!!  This book goes back and forth between a young mom who is drowning in her role and an older wiser mom who encourages her (and us) to keep fighting.

For the Love... is a book I just got and I am only 3 chapters in, but I can tell already it is going to be a good one!!  It is how to handle and love and give grace to ALL the people in our lives.

Claws Update

How about a little update on this wild cat that the kids are trying to turn into a pet.  

They really wanted him to have a collar so that others would know he was taken.  So they made him a pipe cleaner collar.  They continued to feed him Maggie's (our dog) left over dog food and milk.  Max was hauling our gallon jug of milk outside to pour into this little makeshift dish for this cat!!  Do you know me at all??  I. do. not. like. cats.  And my own son is hauling our milk outside to feed it to a stray cat.

Well a few days in and this cat has discovered if he meows outside this window the kids will stop their school work immediately and come out and pet and fed him MORE!!

Well he wouldn't eat or drink unless we watched him.  He was becoming a huge distraction to my students and very high maintenance in a quick hurry!!

It had been a good week with the cat around so they took their allowance money to Walmart and stocked up on cat supplies.  Wet and dry food... we have no clue.  Little dishes.  Flea Collar.  And a little cat lid for those wet food containers that were sitting in my fridge!!  (Eww!!)  Max and Mallory split up these items and each paid with their own money.  There were into this cat!!  

One night the kids and I headed out to Awana and got home late.  Jesse was home that night and was so excited to tell us about what Claws had did.  He caught and killed a bunny.  Jesse was so proud he took videos and pictures.  The kids were not proud.  Jesse tells them that he is sleeping out on the patio bench right now and we could go see him.  Oh, he has a little blood on him because he ate the bunny.  Max is grossed out done with this cat.  He refuses to go see him.  Melanie is yelling, "I don't like bunnies."  Mallory runs to see her cat!  Sure enough there is this cat with blood on his face sleeping on our patio bench!!  (Remember me and cats?!!!)  Now to put the kids to bed!!  Melanie comes into our room about 3 times that night crying because of "bad dreams" and we ask her what the dreams are and she keeps repeating, "don't like bunnies!"  By the third time Jesse puts her in bed with Mallory and she falls right to sleep.

Another few nights go by and we start to notice that Claws doesn't react to noise.  We can clap our hands and whistle while he sleeps and he doesn't move at all.  We are thinking he is deaf.  When he is awake and walking around if we call him, he never turns around.  The kids always have to go and get him.  

Now we have to bring our dog back home for a few days.  The kids are NOT happy about this.  But we don't have a choice.  Well the dog and cat meeting did not go well.  Maggie, the dog, did not listen to our commands and chased the cat.  Claws ran.  And didn't come back!!  For a good while!!  Like a few days went by.  Claws was to the point where he was spending his nights on our patio bench and now we don't know where he sleeps.  

It is still that way.  Claws comes and goes.  The kids feed him whenever he comes by and they have to stay there and watch him eat.  Now we realize why he does that because he can't hear and he must use the kids as his safety.  Sometimes we come home and he is laying in our driveway or on our front steps.  

Oh and they took off his pipe cleaner collar because he is such a climber we didn't want him to get hurt by having that collar on.  They put the breakaway flea collar on him and he lost it in a day!!  He came by this past weekend and he appears to have a broken tail.  He lives a rough life and the kids are trying so hard, still, to get him to stick around and stay with us.

Field Trip - Zoo & Ice Cream

The first field trip of the season was an ice cream social at a tiny zoo.  

All the local RVA kids showed up... ate ice cream... ran at the playground.  Then we grabbed our friends and walked around the zoo.

Er.  They ran around the zoo.

We walked with these two girls!  Melanie and Jojo!!  They are best friends.  

They have a side kick little brother... Roman!

We met up with the girls at the wolf pen.  The kids were actually getting the wolves to howl back at them.  It was kind of freaky.  

Watching a turtle in the river.  Trying real hard to get closer but the moms just won't let them!!

There are other boys in the RVA.  They just didn't make it to this event!  Max actually does amazing with all these girls!!

The oldest!!  Mallory is on the right.

This ham right here!!!  He wears all of Max's hand-me-downs and I just can't stand it!!   

They were trying to convince us they saw the most gigantic fish ever.

Or they are stalling because it was time to go and they weren't ready to leave just yet.