Weird Phase of Life

Have you ever gone through a phase of life where it seems like life moves on without you? I am feeling that way lately.  I know that most of it is because we moved, and therefore life in IL is moving on without us, as it should.  It still makes me a little sad that my friends' lives are moving on, their children are growing up, without us. I also realize that we are growing, changing, making new friends here, without our old friends.

I wish I knew how to ensure that the girls and their IL friends, and me and mine, all remain friends despite the distance.

With the consideration of middle school for Diva, I wish for my old support group so that I could discuss it with them. I know there is the phone/facebook/email, but alas, my friends are busy and not able to chat with me about it.  Wow!  That sounded whiney, and I really do not mean it to.

Reacting to change is difficult....for all of us.
God Bless

Homeschool or Catholic School?

Where should Diva attend middle school...that is the question.  We are close to making a decision, but really want to know that we are following God's chosen path for our little family.

1) - homeschool: easy enough, keeping the status quo, can challenge her when necessary, more one on one, ability to follow her lead, we LOVE using Seton, more time with Mom

2) - Catholic Middle School - we always planned to send them to middle school, more opportunties, more independence, great curriculum, school is able to deal with her individual needs, she wants to attend

There are many more reasons for both choices, right now we are close to a decision.  She will attend the middle school next Tuesday as a 6th grader for a day.  She is very excited!  In the morning, Hubby and I (and 3 little girls) will have a meeting with the principal answer some final questions.

Please pray that we make the right decision for Diva, for our family, and in obedience to His Will.

New outlook on being a woman of God

As most of you know, I am a very short tempered, quick to yell, mother. Obviously, I would like to change this about myself. I have recently realized that there are factors which make my attitude worse.

1) poor nutrition

2) not taking my vitamins

3) messy house

4) not exercising

5) doing it ALL myself

So, I have also come up with some steps to help.

Obviously eat better, exercise, and take my vitamins.

Also, when I fold laundry, I lay each pile by the child's place at the table. They cannot eat until they put away their clothes. I have a schedule of who cooks and cleans up, but struggle to stick with it. I am selling a bunch of stuff. This house is so small that we cannot put everything away, so I am selling off a bunch of things. My goal is to have them listed on eBay or Craigslist before bed on Sunday night. Lastly, to bring myself closer to God, I try to pray for the person whose clothes, toys, school work, etc that I am putting away. It is really difficult to yell while praying ;)

A year in pictures

A new daycare family, we all fell in love with Lil Dude

First play for the 3 youngest, 2nd for oldest...Sneakydiddle

1st visit to Dubuque - in the 4th St Elevator

2nd year in t-ball for the twins, Mom's first year coaching

On our way to Disney!

Starting down the Irish Dance path

Yes, Diva was in another play, this time it was "Once Upon a Shoe" - everyone was dual/triple/quadruple cast

Hanging out at the Roshek (aka IBM) building

Saying Good-Bye to old friends

Attended a wedding

Meeting new friends

Welcome to Iowa!

1st day of public school....orchestra

The day we became "those new neighbors ;)"

American Heritage Girls

American Girl Club

New Hobbies

New Look

New Favorite Sport and New Year

Music and dance

If you are from a non-musical family, like I am, and marry a musician, you might want to consider putting earplugs' and music or dance lessons on your baby registry.

Don't ever ever ever name a child Cecilia if music makes you crazy. It seems that St.Cecilia has blessed our wonder twin C with a love of music and uncanny musical abilities. Sadly, she did not bless me with the necessary love of music to parent this child. LOL

My house is very loud,and yes the girls talk a lot, which adds to the noise, but most of it is music. At this moment, there are 3 violins playing, not the same songs, not together, and one drum pad. Thank goodness we did not buy a drum lol. I may send a thank you card to the man at the music store that mentioned that children usually do not play an actual drum until middle school.

After violin practice,the girls are supposed to practice Irish Dancing, but I think they may have to wait. I cannot handle anymore music right now! I am thrilled that they will be able to go outside and ride scooters at lunch, hopefully some of the energy will decrease.

In the dream house,that I would to build someday, there will be a sound proof music room, with a dance floor...and a bathroom that has a door to the backyard. My friend has a bathroom that opens outdoors (and indoors), best idea ever!

On a related note....anyone know of a good pair of ear plugs...

Homeschooling in Iowa

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, we are now living and homeschooling in Iowa. Unlike Illinois, Iowa actually cares what I teach and if/how my children learn. This has been somewhat stressful for me. I have to send in test scores at the end of the school year. This of course means that my children must take a test. LOL They have never been tested in that manner before, so it should be interesting.

Next year to avoid this silly testing, my girls will all be enrolled with Seton Homeschooling. They are accredited. I teach and grade almost everything, there are a few things they test. Then I send the grades to them, and Seton sends me a report card. I turn the report card into the school district.

One thing that is a BIG positive about homeschooling in Iowa, is dual enrollment. Diva is enrolled at the local elementary school, for violin lessons only. She attends school on Monday 8-8:20 am lol. She does not appreciate the time, but loves the teacher.

My poor neglected blog. You can tell exactly when I opened my facebook account, the blog became redundant. I am going to try to use this blog as a home school review site. We use many ideas and products from different places around the web.

We will also keep a record of our girls Irish Dance performances and feisanna (competitions). All 4 girls are part of an ID school here in the lovely state of Iowa. They enjoy classes and are looking forward to competing.

A little background, we moved to Iowa in late August so that Big Guy could start working at one of the big name computer companies. We absolutely love the town we live it, the girls have friends, Diva plays in the local orchestra (along with lessons at the elementary school). We are continuing our home school path.

Happy Epiphany to everyone, God Bless.