First Day of School

I have made it through the first week of school, officially. It was not without obstacles, but I (or WE) did it. School officially started Tuesday but for us it really began Thursday. Here's why: *Ollie complained of a headache all night Monday. He seemed eager to get to school Tuesday morning despite the fact that his head supposedly still hurt. He no more than walked into Mrs. Summers' room and threw up. So we went home. *Amelia had her first day at Holy Angels and I got a call (just after getting Ollie home and settled) from Mrs. DeVol saying that Amelia had been crying for 2 hrs. She wanted to talk to me. I lovingly told Amelia that she was ok and I loved her. I would be there to get her before lunch since it was a half day. *Isabelle enjoyed her first day of homeschool even though I am apparently not un tune with where she is at acedemically. So, as she stared at me as if wondering how I actually had a teaching degree trying not to insult her mother. Needless to say, we did placement tests today. *Preston had fun. He is a good little reader at a mere FIVE and we are off to a great start! Their little minds are so innocent and like sponges. You can mold them so easily at this point. So far so good, so I thought. Ollie ate a huge breakfast and played for hours. But have been nauseous due to headache. Kids came home and wanted to play. Then it hit: three out of five collapsed on the couch together with raging fevers. Within minutes, they dropped. Crazy. Headaches and fever. They slept for hours, waking for dinner, a little Disney channel, and back to bed. All stayed home on Wednesday just to be safe. And Thursday it was off to school again. Gotta love it. Our day went from that to this:

Homeschool

I am taking on a new adventure this year. Isabelle has been asking me to homeschool for the last 2 years. As a teacher, it is one thing to teach kids. It is another to teach your OWN. I often considered it but felt a lack of confidence doing it with MY kids. Something changed this summer. Being at the rink with many families who homeschool and learning about over 200 curricula and the over 200 families in Traverse City who belong to a homeschool co-op here, as taught me many things. Maybe I had the wrong impression of homeschooling? Or that the kids missed something? I will tell you that the children I have met certainly to do fit the "mold" I had thought. After talking with many teachers, administrators and other professionals in the area, I have learned the oh-so-many positives of homeschooling. The attitudes, intelligence, motivation, ethics, and more of these kids blows me away. Even talking to a local dentist the other day, he commented "good for you. that is amazing. the kids that I see who are homeschooled are sooooo smart. i can tell a difference." I have researched dozens upon dozens of curricula, read reviews and gotten opinions. I have decided to mix traditional with christian with environmental based. Here are my choices: Saxon math, Catholic Heritage, and Charlotte Mason. For those of you interested, you can google these and look at them. My initial plan was to homeschool all but Oliver just for 2 days. He needs to be in a structured environment for a bit with other children. And, maybe I need a bit of time too? Haha. Amelia, on the other hand, has fought me tooth and nail. She will by no means stay home. She wants the continuous playdate. So, we went back to the drawing board and really mulled it over. I had visited Holy Angels (our Catholic school here) last year per friend request. This particular person has 6 children and had been to our school prior. Her words to me were "once you see it, you will never look back." I kind of took it with a "grain of salt" and figured I would see for myself. You have to understand, I went to Holy Angels. I had nuns for teachers. I had my own preconceived ideas. Scott, on the other hand, was not sure he wanted the kids at the public school for middle and high school. Mainly due to size. We really want the sense of "community." I had some reservations about the school we were at. So, I was IMPRESSED. The values, faith, academics, tracking system, uniform, organic homemade lunches, small classes, etc. The list goes on. I went home and told Scott: we need to talk. Amelia had friends there from skating and she WANTED to go. We felt like if we were going to change, we do it now. With the changes going on at our current school and wanting the kids to change anyway in middle school, it made sense. And man oh man school shopping has NEVER been easier. I LOVE it!!! Sorry for the long post, but I know many of you who read this have had many questions for me. Yes, you think I am crazy. Maybe I am. But life is too short. If my kids want to stay home, all the better. I am a teacher. I can do this. What do I have to lose? They are going to get more from me one on one than they will get in the mix of 30 kids. NOT saying that kids that go to traditional school are not intelligent, well rounded, etc. I am just saying that there is much more that can be done one on one. If at any point it is not working, they will all go to Holy Angels. If they like it and do this for a while, they will eventually join Amelia when the time is right. Now, I had an abundance of calls and texts yesterday either from friends who knew what we were doing or from friends at school who did not. For those of you who called asking how the first day of school went: that will be a later text. Stay tuned...

Homeschool

I am taking on a new adventure this year. Isabelle has been asking me to homeschool for the last 2 years. As a teacher, it is one thing to teach kids. It is another to teach your OWN. I often considered it but felt a lack of confidence doing it with MY kids. Something changed this summer. Being at the rink with many families who homeschool and learning about over 200 curricula and the over 200 families in Traverse City who belong to a homeschool co-op here, as taught me many things. Maybe I had the wrong impression of homeschooling? Or that the kids missed something? I will tell you that the children I have met certainly to do fit the "mold" I had thought. After talking with many teachers, administrators and other professionals in the area, I have learned the oh-so-many positives of homeschooling. The attitudes, intelligence, motivation, ethics, and more of these kids blows me away. Even talking to a local dentist the other day, he commented "good for you. that is amazing. the kids that I see who are homeschooled are sooooo smart. i can tell a difference." I have researched dozens upon dozens of curricula, read reviews and gotten opinions. I have decided to mix traditional with christian with environmental based. Here are my choices: Saxon math, Catholic Heritage, and Charlotte Mason. For those of you interested, you can google these and look at them. My initial plan was to homeschool all but Oliver just for 2 days. He needs to be in a structured environment for a bit with other children. And, maybe I need a bit of time too? Haha. Amelia, on the other hand, has fought me tooth and nail. She will by no means stay home. She wants the continuous playdate. So, we went back to the drawing board and really mulled it over. I had visited Holy Angels (our Catholic school here) last year per friend request. This particular person has 6 children and had been to our school prior. Her words to me were "once you see it, you will never look back." I kind of took it with a "grain of salt" and figured I would see for myself. You have to understand, I went to Holy Angels. I had nuns for teachers. I had my own preconceived ideas. Scott, on the other hand, was not sure he wanted the kids at the public school for middle and high school. Mainly due to size. We really want the sense of "community." I had some reservations about the school we were at. So, I was IMPRESSED. The values, faith, academics, tracking system, uniform, organic homemade lunches, small classes, etc. The list goes on. I went home and told Scott: we need to talk. Amelia had friends there from skating and she WANTED to go. We felt like if we were going to change, we do it now. With the changes going on at our current school and wanting the kids to change anyway in middle school, it made sense. And man oh man school shopping has NEVER been easier. I LOVE it!!! Sorry for the long post, but I know many of you who read this have had many questions for me. Yes, you think I am crazy. Maybe I am. But life is too short. If my kids want to stay home, all the better. I am a teacher. I can do this. What do I have to lose? They are going to get more from me one on one than they will get in the mix of 30 kids. NOT saying that kids that go to traditional school are not intelligent, well rounded, etc. I am just saying that there is much more that can be done one on one. If at any point it is not working, they will all go to Holy Angels. If they like it and do this for a while, they will eventually join Amelia when the time is right. Now, I had an abundance of calls and texts yesterday either from friends who knew what we were doing or from friends at school who did not. For those of you who called asking how the first day of school went: that will be a later text. Stay tuned...

Elijah is 1!!!

I think the last post pretty much sums up my thoughts on Eli. We had the never ending birthday celebration for him. The older boys decided that they want to go to a MSU football game instead of having a birthday party. Yes, I was happy about this. It has been a nice break from the chaos of a party: invites, favors, party entertainment, kids all over the house, clean up, etc. Scott and I still wanted Eli's first birthday to be memorable so we did the cake tradition (Ann the cake lady)and the typical first birthday party. We did limit it to family, God parents and Eli's friend. :) You will see a pic below of he and Johnny. He was blessed with an adorable Pottery Barn Kids red lounger (a first birthday tradition from Mimi and Papu), a wooden rocking chair (a tradition from Nona and Gigi and great grandpa Walton), one gold dollar (Grandma and Grandpa J always give the kids gold dollars for each year they are old), money in his college fund and other very generous gifts. He got a ride on airplane from us and we could not get him off it! I am glad it was a hit. So Eli loved the attention AND his cake. I am going to blog the kids Favorite Things so we can remember what they are and how they change from year to year. I am trying to think of ELi's favorite food and there really isn't one. THERE ARE MANY. There is not one food I can think of that he will not eat. Take a look below at him demolishing the cake. We had to take it away from him. He had blue frosting up his nose. I also have to mention that our favorite cake lady replicated one of Elijah's bed shams for his cake. I usually coordinate first birthday themes with what the nursery theme is. She did an amazing job! But we did not expect anything less! Thanks, ANN!

Reflection...

I have to sit and reflect on the events of the past year. There are so many reasons to be happy and thank God for everything we have been blessed with. It is so easy to take for granted so many things. We have really been trying to instill in the children gratefulness. I am reading a book called "Growing Grateful Kids" and it really makes you think about how the things we say to our kids just in day to day life can affect their attitude. We have so many things to be grateful for, including each other and family. This leads me to someone: Elijah. Man, did we get lucky. This boy brings so much sunshine and laughter to our family. The kids (especially Preston) run to his room the minute he wakes up. It is literally a race to see who can get him first. Our kids have been told everything about the adoption and openness has been the rule. Of course they are careful not to make him feel like he is not one of them. On the flip side, he needs to know where he came from and his heritage. He is one fortunate kid. The love he gets from everyone around and the love the other four get from this "branch" of family we have stumbled upon is amazing. They do not realize how blessed we are that things have happened the way they have. Not all situations are like ours. Eli is now 1 and I have to step back and remember the last year of events. He is walking everywhere and eating EVERYTHING. He always wears a smile and lives for his siblings. I think I see the biggest bond between he and Preston. Preston seems to have a connection with him that is really unique. Just look at the pictures from birth until now. There has been a tremendous amount of growth in all of our kids, but especially our littlest. Adoption Day in the courtroom. Oh how we cherish you little ELi!

Ollie is 3!!!

Well the next in line for August birthdays is Oliver, otherwise known as O Town. Ollie is the child you cannot get mad at because he is so darn cute. We are so thankful for him. His sense of humor at such a young age, his love for his Mama, his cute little body, his facial expressions when he says something that might be borderline unacceptable but the face makes it so you can't be mad, the quickness about him, and more. I cannot believe he is 3. I can remember the day he was born. He was not going to wait for anyone: not even the doctor. :) Maybe this will be a turning point in the days when I feel like I cannot go one more minute without losing my mind. Don't get me wrong: I LOVE this kid. But, I am human and there are days when I do something and he un does it ten times worse. Over and over again. Or he is on the counters pouring his own drink as it is not making it into the cup but onto the freshly cleaned wood floor instead. I am the type of mom who lets the kids learn to be self sufficient and independent even if it is mess producing. However, I have often reconsidered this philosophy MANY times this last year! There are times that I say aloud "Please, God, help me maintain my composure." The girls just look at me. Hey, whatever works! The bottom line: WE LOVE YOU OLIVER!!!! Oliver with Aunt Sarah and Amelia

Preston is 5!

I cannot even believe that all of our boys are a whole YEAR older!! These birthday blog postings will take me a bit but I want to make them special. We are so thankful for Preston. He is the "laid back" one of the boys. He's such a sensitive guy and his total love for his siblings is sincere. He is addicted to Transformers and so we had a cake for each he and Ollie. Grandma and Grandpa J came up for the celebration and the kids were in their glory. The boys decided they wanted to go to a Michigan State game instead of having a "friend" birthday. This was fine by me! I know, even though I am not a big football fan, I am glad to have a break from birthday parties. Don't get me wrong. I think they are great for the kids. Preston is always the one to "wait" for the other kids to be tended to. I feel bad about that. He is patient and such a great big brother. We ALL love you P Dog!!!!