Poor Alan. He is legit running a hospital here this weekend. Don’t worry. It is not the COVID, according to two tests at our local urgent care center. And yet, Alan and Daniel are the only two still standing. It starts as a scratchy throat, then it is sore. Snot kicks in, and for Caleb and me there is a cough. You can see why we worried it was covid or strep, but it is not. I have been up […]
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Can this also double as our year-end Christmas letter? I’m thinking it can. I’m going to do these in order of the year and my memory. Most things that happened have been forgotten, of course. But here are 10 happy memories. #1. The snowed out promotion ceremony All set for a stressful day at the Pentagon, when SURPRISE, snow buried D.C., and we got to have Alan’s promotion ceremony in the comfort and relaxation of our own home–in the basement, […]
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School started back yesterday. This was an exciting event that I’d finished in high gloss and framed in my mind as a victorious day ushering in a new era for me. Without a single pre-schooler following me around I will have a spotless house, serve gourmet dinners, volunteer at their school, and run wild and free through grassy meadows. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! High expectations. I love to do that to myself. Three years ago, my heart began to give me […]
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I love to study. Sometimes it baffles me when children in this house do not share my desire to pour over books and take notes. I love it. This is what I do. It’s what I have done my whole life. When JD, at 2 years old, would wake up in the morning, pull up a kitchen bar stool, and say, “Let’s study shapes, Mom!!” my heart would swell with pride. This is my boy. When Joshua memorized all the […]
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Well, if you’re new here you might not realize that I’m sort of a reluctant teacher. It’s not that I don’t possess the joy of teaching. Sometimes it is fun. The thing is that I cannot enjoy having so many things to do. There’s a fourth grader to teach, a third grader to teach, and a toddler running around. I finally threw in the hat and sent Daniel to pre-school, but it’s only three days per week, so sometimes he’s […]
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Tonight I’m hosting my home school moms’ group. That means that I will be spending all day trying to clean up my house, take care of four children, and cook. I need to make sure that I don’t fall into the prideful trap of cleaning up my house to try to make myself look good. It’s not about me. Let’s not put on a show and act like my house is always this neat, if I even manage to get […]
» Read moreToday the boys and I had to walk all the way to the mini-mart, which is all of 1/2 a mile. I put JD in the double jogger, that way I could put the milk I needed in the empty seat. How did we let ourselves run completely out of milk? Families of six cannot do such a thing! I didn’t let anyone ride bikes, so Caleb ran most of it. One of Daniel’s biggest wishes is to beat Caleb […]
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I mentioned before that I’m using this book to build a new family schedule. My first one was ridiculously over-zealous: I’ve scratched some of that mess out and shortened it and replaced as much as possible with “Sit on the porch and watch Daniel ride his trike.” However, a TRULY REALISTIC schedule would look more like this: 6:00 Begin hitting snooze button…. 6:30 Get out of bed. Take quick walk. 6:45 Argue with Alan over which is quicker: Keurig […]
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As I mentioned before, I signed up for the Make Over Your Morning Course by Crystal Paine, of MoneySavingMom.com. I can’t tell you how many of my friends have asked me how that’s going! And some of you mentioned the same misgivings that I felt:“I saw the part about her waking up at 5:45am, and decided that is not for me.” Boy, I love that I have friends that I can relate to. I have friends that are morning people […]
» Read moreSomething wonderful has happened to me lately, as a result of working with Coach Justin Cox. No, I haven’t lost any weight yet. It’s only been three weeks. Actually, I’ve gained 3 pounds, so let’s not focus on that… What I’m actually referring to is this. Some of you may remember that I have terrible psoriasis of the fingernails, and it has hit an all time high level of UGLY this year. I didn’t even know it was possible for […]
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