Well, I didn't literally bite a bullet. The figurative bullet that I am talking about is the new cell phone in the family that we purchased. Yep, we "bit the bullet" and bought a cell phone for the boys to share. Although I say it is the boys, it is actually "our" (mine and hubby's) phone.
After moving into our rental house the boys have discovered a whole new world. See, we came from a house that was on an acre of land with not much around us. There wasn't much to do right around our house and they would have to cross very dangerous high traffic streets or open fields with all kinds of wild stuff around to get anywhere. Now that we are living in a neighborhood with sidewalks and parks all around us the boys are out and about a whole lot more then they used to be. I think it is great for them to get out and explore a little and even meet some new friends here and there. However, I am not used to them being gone and I get a little freaked out at times when they are not around. So, for my peace of mind (somewhat) I got them a cell phone to carry with them so that I can get a hold of them when I want to check on them. We just got it yesterday so we will see how they do with it.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Being With Family
When asked of Tyler, from the many people that he saw after Christmas, "What was your most favorite gift that you received for Christmas?" he would answer, "Being with family". Wow! What a response. The first time I heard him tell someone this I wasn't sure that I heard the entire conversation correctly. Then, I think it was the next day, someone asked him the same question again. His answer was the same. Yep, I did hear him correctly the first time. What an awesome response from a young kid. I was and am so proud of him for seeing and realizing that all pleasures are not just found in material things but in things that money can not buy. You rock, Tyler!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Welcome 2010
Well, I guess I can't say that I made a new year resolution to keep my blog updated. No, I don't see me keeping that one. I can't believe that it has been almost a full month since I was last on my own blog. Oh my!
A lot has happened in the past month. Here are a few things going on here:
Our visit to TX was one that was well worth the trip. My boys were able to meet some family that they had never met before. It was so cool, but at the same time makes me feel really old because the last time I saw some of the same family members I was just a child and we were all playing together. Now we are all (most anyways) grown and have our own families.Kind of weird to think about.
After returning home I gave the boys a few more days to relax and unwind before hitting the books again. With school also comes soccer. Kyle's team has played 2 games already this year and has won both of the them. One was today and boy was it a nail-bitter! They ended up winning but only in the last couple minuets of the game with a score of 4-3. Kyle had 2 of the goals and one assist. Way to go Kyle!
A lot has happened in the past month. Here are a few things going on here:
- We had an AWESOME and very blessed Christmas
- We had a wonderful time in TX visiting family.
- We are finally moved into our temporary rental home and somewhat settled for now.
- We are back in full swing with our schooling
- Soccer has started again.
- We submitted and had an offer accepted on a new home.
Our visit to TX was one that was well worth the trip. My boys were able to meet some family that they had never met before. It was so cool, but at the same time makes me feel really old because the last time I saw some of the same family members I was just a child and we were all playing together. Now we are all (most anyways) grown and have our own families.Kind of weird to think about.
After returning home I gave the boys a few more days to relax and unwind before hitting the books again. With school also comes soccer. Kyle's team has played 2 games already this year and has won both of the them. One was today and boy was it a nail-bitter! They ended up winning but only in the last couple minuets of the game with a score of 4-3. Kyle had 2 of the goals and one assist. Way to go Kyle!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Officially on Christmas Break
Well, yesterday, we finally finished all our planned school work for this semester. (WOOHOO) Even with our move and all the madness that goes along with moving we were still able to stay on track with most of our school subjects. Our main goals were to complete our entire math book and Bible study book before the end of the calendar year.
On Monday the boys took their Final Book Exam for Math and they both got 100% on them. I am so proud of them! They did a great job with the entire math book. The book we used was Math U See, Epsilon, which is a full course lesson on fractions. The next book that we will do (in the series) will be on decimals. I love the Math U See approach to teaching math skills. After a certain level and understanding the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division rules the curriculum teaches on full "topics", such as the one we just completed, Fractions, and the next one we will be doing, which is Decimals. Also, at the end of each topical lesson they are learning a little bit of Geometry and Algebra as well. It was really cool to see them doing algebra and they didn't even realize it.
The other Lesson Book that we completed was our Bible Study book. We are using books that are an Inductive Bible Study series for kids. They are written by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt. I love these books. The inductive part of it really teaches the kids to use their Bibles and look up a lot of scripture. They get to see how scripture supports scripture. The book that we just completed was "Abraham - God's Brave Explorer", from Genesis 11-25. The boys really enjoyed learning about Abraham and how he is an example to us, even today. The next book that we will work through is called "Extreme Adventures with God", learning about Isaac, Jacob and Esau. We are excited to see what God has to show us about these three men and what we can learn from them.
There was much more work that we completed through our first semester together. We are working through a US History and Science book that we hope to have completed by the end of the school year. We will be starting a new Writing curriculum in January and in the midst of it all we are ALWAYS reading!
I assume that today is also the day for most people to finally be all done for the year and you too can relax and enjoy your Christmas break.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
On Monday the boys took their Final Book Exam for Math and they both got 100% on them. I am so proud of them! They did a great job with the entire math book. The book we used was Math U See, Epsilon, which is a full course lesson on fractions. The next book that we will do (in the series) will be on decimals. I love the Math U See approach to teaching math skills. After a certain level and understanding the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division rules the curriculum teaches on full "topics", such as the one we just completed, Fractions, and the next one we will be doing, which is Decimals. Also, at the end of each topical lesson they are learning a little bit of Geometry and Algebra as well. It was really cool to see them doing algebra and they didn't even realize it.
The other Lesson Book that we completed was our Bible Study book. We are using books that are an Inductive Bible Study series for kids. They are written by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt. I love these books. The inductive part of it really teaches the kids to use their Bibles and look up a lot of scripture. They get to see how scripture supports scripture. The book that we just completed was "Abraham - God's Brave Explorer", from Genesis 11-25. The boys really enjoyed learning about Abraham and how he is an example to us, even today. The next book that we will work through is called "Extreme Adventures with God", learning about Isaac, Jacob and Esau. We are excited to see what God has to show us about these three men and what we can learn from them.
There was much more work that we completed through our first semester together. We are working through a US History and Science book that we hope to have completed by the end of the school year. We will be starting a new Writing curriculum in January and in the midst of it all we are ALWAYS reading!
I assume that today is also the day for most people to finally be all done for the year and you too can relax and enjoy your Christmas break.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Monday, December 7, 2009
New Place for the Holidays
Let's see...since my last update on the house situation we were waiting on our close date (on the house we were selling) and actively looking for a new place to call "home". Our close date was December 1st and all went smoothly. After a lot drama we finally found a rent house and started the moving process right away. We only moved 1 mile from where we were so we thought that we could handle things all on our own and move ourselves. We did handle it all on our own but it was a lot of work and we were exhausted at the end of each day. It took us a total of 11 days to do it. All the days included packing and cleaning, too. We had cleaning at both houses. The rental we found was very dirty. It took me 3 whole days to clean it before we could begin moving anything in.
We are now, finally, all moved into our new, temporary home. It feels so good to have it all behind us. It all seems so weird though. I guess everything just happened so fast that we really didn't have time to process the fact that we would no longer be calling that house "home".
Where to go from here? Well, we are settling in to enjoy the Christmas holiday and relax a little. All the while, we are actively looking for our new place to call "home".
We are now, finally, all moved into our new, temporary home. It feels so good to have it all behind us. It all seems so weird though. I guess everything just happened so fast that we really didn't have time to process the fact that we would no longer be calling that house "home".
Where to go from here? Well, we are settling in to enjoy the Christmas holiday and relax a little. All the while, we are actively looking for our new place to call "home".
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Week 14...of Homeschooling
We are just completing our 14th week of homeschooling and I have to say we are still going strong and things are great!
It is amazing how much the boys are learning and how much information we have gone through and learned these past 14 weeks. At the beginning of it all (back in August) I set out a plan for most of our curriculum and where we would need to be by Christmas (end of the calendar year) in order to be on track to finish it all by May on 2010. I am happy to say that we are right on track. And actually, if we had not had a few interruptions with the sale of our house and all, we probably would be ahead. So, all in all we are doing very well.
The one thing that really blows me away is how fast we have gotten through our math book. I have both kids on the same level and with the way things are going right now they will most likely complete 2 years of math in only one year (school years). Just amazing. In fact, just today they were introduced to the beginnings of Algebra...already! ...and they "got" it! Amazing! Can you tell that I am blown away? They are just learning SO fast (much faster then they would be in a classroom setting having to go at a slower pace). Wow!
It is amazing how much the boys are learning and how much information we have gone through and learned these past 14 weeks. At the beginning of it all (back in August) I set out a plan for most of our curriculum and where we would need to be by Christmas (end of the calendar year) in order to be on track to finish it all by May on 2010. I am happy to say that we are right on track. And actually, if we had not had a few interruptions with the sale of our house and all, we probably would be ahead. So, all in all we are doing very well.
The one thing that really blows me away is how fast we have gotten through our math book. I have both kids on the same level and with the way things are going right now they will most likely complete 2 years of math in only one year (school years). Just amazing. In fact, just today they were introduced to the beginnings of Algebra...already! ...and they "got" it! Amazing! Can you tell that I am blown away? They are just learning SO fast (much faster then they would be in a classroom setting having to go at a slower pace). Wow!
Still "Moving" along just one day at a time...
It has been a while since my last post and informing you about the sale of our home and our upcoming move.
Since signing the contract back in October, we have gone through the inspection and appraisal period. I am so happy to say that we got a near perfect inspection and the appraisal came back at even more then the sale price (not by much though). We could not be happier about that. We do have to complete some work (minor repairs) to one of the A/C units, but honestly that is to be expected for a place like AZ where you live by your A/C and depend on it almost everyday. (Yes, we even had to run it a little yesterday in the middle of Nov.) The rest of the inspection came back "clean". That is, kind of, not surprising since we are very particular people about our home.
We also get the privilege of having an extra week in the house so we can enjoy one last Thanksgiving here. That was an added blessing. Our new closing date is Dec.1st. It looks like my traditional "after Thanksgiving shopping" weekend will be a weekend of moving instead this year.
Even though we know we will be moving and not shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving we still do not know where we will be moving to. We have looked and looked for a home to buy. After, finally, finding one we were informed that the house we wanted was a "flip" house and had to go through a "seasoning" time. So much for that. So this week we have had to change our direction and start the hunt for a rental. We hope to be able to sign a rental contract this weekend so we can have a slow move and not have to rush through it. AND...after a full day with our realtor yesterday I know that we will need at least a week to just clean before we can even think about moving in. Seriously! What do owners do with the so-called "cleaning fees" anyways. ALL the rentals (except one) we looked at were horribly filthy!! Such a disappointment!
Since signing the contract back in October, we have gone through the inspection and appraisal period. I am so happy to say that we got a near perfect inspection and the appraisal came back at even more then the sale price (not by much though). We could not be happier about that. We do have to complete some work (minor repairs) to one of the A/C units, but honestly that is to be expected for a place like AZ where you live by your A/C and depend on it almost everyday. (Yes, we even had to run it a little yesterday in the middle of Nov.) The rest of the inspection came back "clean". That is, kind of, not surprising since we are very particular people about our home.
We also get the privilege of having an extra week in the house so we can enjoy one last Thanksgiving here. That was an added blessing. Our new closing date is Dec.1st. It looks like my traditional "after Thanksgiving shopping" weekend will be a weekend of moving instead this year.
Even though we know we will be moving and not shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving we still do not know where we will be moving to. We have looked and looked for a home to buy. After, finally, finding one we were informed that the house we wanted was a "flip" house and had to go through a "seasoning" time. So much for that. So this week we have had to change our direction and start the hunt for a rental. We hope to be able to sign a rental contract this weekend so we can have a slow move and not have to rush through it. AND...after a full day with our realtor yesterday I know that we will need at least a week to just clean before we can even think about moving in. Seriously! What do owners do with the so-called "cleaning fees" anyways. ALL the rentals (except one) we looked at were horribly filthy!! Such a disappointment!
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