I've become that Mom

You know the Mom I'm talking about... a minivan Mom! Yes that's right, we are now proud owners of our very first minivan. It's surprising we even made it this far without having to buy one. When we first found out we were pregnant with Caleb, we had talked about getting a minivan. My husband, being the frugally minded man he is, decided it would be worth it to buy more expensive but thinner car seats for our Saturn SUV that only seats 5 people and squeeze in three car seats across the back seat, rather than shell out the thousands of dollars it would cost to buy a minivan. I agreed, and we made it work... until we found out #4 was on the way. We no longer had a choice in the matter!



So here it is, our new minivan... not new, but new to us. It's a 2005 Honda Odyssey. Honda's are built to last, so we weren't too worried about buying an older vehicle. We were just glad we finally landed the deal we were praying for and were able to pay it 100% in cash and not have to go in debt over it. We were very frustrated with the search for a vehicle and often considered buying a newer Honda and taking out a small loan that we knew we could pay off in a short amount of time. Thanks to the wisdom of our dear friends who always give us great advice when it comes to finances, they encouraged us to continue praying that God would lead us to the right deal within our price range with exactly what we were looking for and could pay cash for it. I'm so glad we listened to them, and asked God to lead us, because not too long after we started praying that way, we found our van!

If you have been keeping up with my VBAC blog, you will know that we are expecting a girl this time. We are very excited to be evening out the genders in our home! But for now, I couldn't be a happier mama with my three beautiful children. I'm often tired, but loving what I do. Carter has started Pre-K this year, including a once a week homeschool co-op called "Classical Conversations." We go together each week and I get to sit in his classroom and help the teacher as she leads them through the process. It has been such a fabulous addition to our homeschool curriculum. Carter absolutely loves it! Thanks to Daddy working from home, he is able to keep Sydney and Caleb at home while Mommy and Carter get to have a morning at school together all by ourselves. Then during the week, we get to practice what he is learning at home. I am amazed at how much he has learned in 6 short weeks, and love to watch as Carter teaches Sydney what he is learning! I hope to share more about "Classical Conversations" soon. I highly recommend it to any homeschool family out there!




No, life just doesn't get any better than this! :-)

Thanksgiving Feast

For those of you concerned that my children will not have enough socialization, being a homeschooling family, here is the proof that they will be just fine.

Every other Thursday we get together for a science day with other homeschool kids. We actually meet every Thursday. The mothers meet for prayer time and the kids get to play with each other. Then every other Thursday my friend Shannon leads a science day. She is a former teacher and does such a fabulous job teaching the kids! We usually have between 8-12 kids. This week we had a Thanksgiving feast! Shannon read to the kids about Squanto.

Then they had a relay race where they had to balance a cranberry on a spoon across the yard without dropping it.

The kids all had a fabulous time!

Carter did a great job, even though he did have to hold his spoon a little bit! Shhh, don't tell!

Then they made their own little "pumpkin pies."

Their final activity was to put pretzel sticks around the perimeter of a house. Carter loved this, because it was just like putting together his puzzles!

Then they put pretzels on the inside of the house to show the "area."

Sydney had fun too with the little boy who is just a few months younger than her! Soon enough, she'll be our little scientist too!

To address or not to address

I've been thinking a lot this week about the big hooplah over the President addressing our children. Just thought I would share some of my thoughts on that. I will be the first to admit that I was initially outraged by it. Why? Because I was being told things like, "No President has dared to do this before..." and "As parents we should be able to control what our children hear when they are in school." Of course the icing on the cake was the list of questions that was being presented to the children to think about while they were listening to him speak and after he was finished. Questions like, "What is the President trying to tell me?" and "What is the President asking me to do?" Of course it was all over Facebook. Conservatives posting polls that the President shouldn't be allowed to speak to their children... Liberals posting that prior Presidents actually did speak to the children but never had to get permission to do it... it all began to make my head spin, and I actually forgot why I was upset about it to begin with!

Then the address to the students came and went... no big deal. I actually read some of what he said, and had no problem with it. And it made me wonder, why are we freaking out about these things? Don't we have much more important things to worry about? It also got me thinking about the reasons why many Conservatives and Christians were in an uproar about this. We don't want Government sticking its nose into our lives... into health care, religion, etc. But why do so many people send their children to public school if they don't want Government involved? It is a Government institution isn't it? I personally, had nothing to worry about, because my children are being homsechooled. This isn't a post to convince everyone that they should homeschool. But it makes you think. Yes I consider myself a Conservative. But it bugs me that so many Conservatives spend so much time complaining about Government getting involved in things... yet they send their children to a Government run institution. Doesn't that seem like a double standard? We are upset because we want to be able to control what our children hear at school. But do we honestly believe we have any control right now over what our children are hearing at school?

I'm not trying to stir up controversy, it just really got me thinking. When did our country become so split? Why are we fighting among ourselves? We talked about this briefly in my Bible study this morning. We don't need terrorists to come and fight us. We're doing a fine enough job fighting on our own. We are no longer a united country. When did we get labeled, "Conservative" and "Liberal"? It really saddens me.

This doesn't mean I'm not going to stick to my moral standards and convictions. I believe what I believe for a reason. But I'm not going to change someone else's mind until I start living out my convictions. We think we're going to change each other's minds about things but all we do is go in circles and bicker amongst ourselves. It's very ineffective. To reach other people they have to see something different in our lives. Not the same bickering they see from every other person. I just feel sometimes I am quick to jump on the Conservative band wagon and get upset over things just because everyone else is and that bugged me.

Maybe that was a ramble, so I apologize. But it was on my mind and I just thought I would share. I'll close with the number one reason I choose to homeschool my children:

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. " Deuteronomy 6:5-9

I can't control what Government chooses to teach my children. I can only control what I teach them. And that is what I have chosen to do!

The end of the summer

Well not too much has been going on since Steve's surgery so I haven't had anything to post about. But I just thought I would post once before the Summer ends and our chaos begins! Steve is recovering well. He still couldn't lift the kids (nothing over 10 lbs) for two weeks after his surgery. That was hard on Mom having to do all the lifting when we went places together, but we survived! Steve has started his Seminary classes and is working hard. He said he has studied more in the past week than he did his entire four years in College! I believe that as I have heard the stories of his slacker years in College! He is learning a lot and is excited to see what God is going to do with this.


We are officially starting homeschool "preschool" for Carter next Monday. So right now we are just having fun playing together while the summer comes to a close. I am planning to blog about my homeschooling since it is all a learning experience and hope to share some of that with you all! We are going to be following the Heart of Dakota curriculum for 2-5 year olds, called "Little Hands Toward Heaven." We'll start on Monday and see how it goes! I am not stressing over it since Carter isn't even 3 yet (will be in two months) and whatever he learns now is just a bonus! Looking forward to getting my feet wet in homeschooling to prepare for the real deal! Carter already has a great head start as he knows pretty much all of his letters and sounds and can count to 15.

Sydney is still a little joy. She has been taking off with the crawling thing. Now that she is more mobile, she is learning to sleep on her stomach. She never used to do that before. I sometimes find her in interesting positions like the picture above. I don't know how that can be comfortable! She loves to move all over the house. And unfortunately, pick up fuzz from the floor and put it in her mouth! Yuck! So she's always choking on that... not fun!

She has also discovered the cats. And the target of her obsession seems to be Therapy, above. Poor little guy used to get abused by his brother Roo and now he is the object of Sydney's obsession! She loves to pull his tail and try to eat it. Here he is "hiding" from her.

Look at her, looking so innocent on the outside of the gate, while Therapy stays safe and sound inside the baby gate hoping she will just "go away!" He stayed there a good 20 minutes without moving.

Who could resist this face? We are going to have to keep her locked up when she gets older! :-)

Just kidding of course...

Or this face? Carter has very curly hair, and I had a little fun the other night during bath time. He's my little ham, always loving a good camera shot! I think it's across between Jimmy Neutron and Peewee Herman! Love my little man!