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family home school Kai mia sean

It’s (already) July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!  Unfortunately, we live somewhere with extreme wildfire danger, so we aren’t allowed to set off any “fun” fireworks.  We plan on watching a city firework display at my in-laws house tomorrow night.  It will be a good view, but the actual display is a little ways off, so you don’t get to feel that “boom” rattle your bones… I LOVE that.  🙂  Some of my best summer memories were watching fireworks near the waterfront in VA… seeing the fireworks and the reflection over the water is wonderful!!!  I always miss living in Virginia Beach whenever it’s time for fireworks.  Hurricane season… not so much.  And the mosquitoes… totally don’t miss those!  If NM was beachfront, it would be the perfect state for me… it’s hot in summer, cold in winter, mountains with snowboarding/hiking/camping, not many skeeters, there’s the Rio Grande, big lakes…  Anyways, what was I talking about?  Oh yeah, Happy 4th of July, Everyone!

This year has flown by so far and most of it has been a big sleep deprived blur to me.  I’m so thankful for pictures because without them, I’d probably think I was just nursing a baby for the whooooole first half of the year.  Oh wait, I mostly was… but no pictures of that… that would be weird.

Kai is now 9 months old.  He’s on the verge of walking!!!  He has actually taken a step and a half in recent days.  Not long now, then it’s serious baby chasing time.  He’s still not sleeping through the night.  DON’T recommend letting him cry himself to sleep to me.  The other night, I forgot to turn on the baby monitor, so I didn’t hear him wake up during the night.  I slept really well, until 7, when I noticed it was light outside.  I went to Kai’s room and I heard him whimper crying with that hyper ventilating “sniff, sniff”.  Now keep in mind, he pretty much ALWAYS wakes up at 3:30 am or 4 am every night.  Poor thing had probably been crying for HOURS… and never once did it occur to him to just go back to sleep.  I picked him up and nursed him, and he was knocked out so quickly because he was so exhausted… Yep, I pretty much felt like the worst Mommy EVER.  His poor little voice was hoarse that day.  🙁

Sean and I are still finishing up 2nd grade in our homeschool… we AREN’T running late.  We follow a round the year schedule where we school for 6 weeks, then take a week off.  This way, it allows for vacations throughout the year during non-peak times, and reduces our burn out.  Plus, we (meaning I) don’t have to suffer through so much stinky review after 2 months of brain coma during a summer vacation.  We should finish around early or mid August, then have 2 to 3 weeks off before beginning 3rd grade.

Mia will be starting pre-K this Fall.  She turned 3 in January, and has been asking to “do” school.  I originally planned on waiting until she was 4 to start, but I think I should take advantage of her enthusiasm.  I’m a little skeered to start schooling 2 kiddos!  I’m sure it will take some tweaking of our schedule to figure it out…  By that, I mean I’ll probably really have to come up with a schedule and stick to it.

So yeah, it’s July!  It’s mine and Nathan’s birthday month (We share the same birthday, yes we do!) and both our mommies have b-days this month too.  Ugh… I’m turning 35 this month… I’m ALMOST old.  I remember thinking my mommy was old when she was 36… SORRY MOM!!!  That’s pretty funny, because anyone who knows my mom, knows that she will never grow up  old.  🙂  Love you, Mom!!!

Again, Happy  Independence Day, America!  Everyone please be safe, don’t start fires, enjoy those fireworks, and eat lots of hamburgers and hot dogs!!!

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home school sean

2nd grade kicks off tomorrow!

I finally finished the lesson plans for our 1st 6-week session for our homeschool.  We school mostly year-round, going for 6 weeks, then off for a week.  This schedule works for us and helps us not to get too burned out, but also prevents us from having to do much review after taking breaks.  Sean will be starting the 2nd grade tomorrow!  We’re starting early this year (August 1st), so that we can take a whole month off after this 6-week period since that coincides with when the new baby will be born (assuming that he doesn’t try to make an early appearance, that is).

I’ve had Sean’s books since about late June or early July, but hadn’t started lesson planning until last week.  Procrastination = how I roll.  It’s looking to be a fun and busy year.  Sean says he is most excited to start learning Spanish.  We’re also hoping to get him enrolled in the Homeschool Arts/Crafts and PE classes at our nearby community center again.  He really enjoyed that last year.

Mia is also excited to “do school”.  Nathan and I joke around that she is like me, and likes to do “scholarly” things…  she is always getting out some sort of flash cards and asking to do them with us.  I always asked my mom to buy me workbooks and things like that so I could do more school stuff at home.  I know… nerd, huh?  🙂  So while I was organizing all of our books this year, I made bins for Sean’s books. my teacher’s manuals and one for Mia’s “school work”.  It will be nice to have all her markers and papers all in one place so she can join us during school.

I’m very thankful that I have the opportunity to invest all this time in teaching and training the kiddos.  Thanks to my wonderful husband for all of his support!!!  Not just workin’ hard fo’ da money, but all the dishes he washes, grocery shopping he does, diapers he changes,  toys he puts away, tense shoulders he rubs :), kids he plays with (so I can get a quiet moment), never complaining when the house is a disaster or has a hard time finding clean socks, and for just all the LOVE he shows our family… you da bomb, baby!

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family mia sean

Poor neglected bloggy site

I’ve been terrible about writing on here lately because Facebook status updates are just so much easier and quick.  But sometimes, you need more than 420 characters to get your thoughts out.  Or so you think.  Nathan already blogged about pretty mych everything I was going to say about our weekend…   So here ya go.  Yep, hard to believe that Sean’s already old enough to lose his first tooth!  Where did all the time go?  Time went really slow while he was a little one and wasn’t sleeping through the night yet, but after that, it’s like time has sped up soooo much!

Aside from that, we’ve been keeping busy with school.  Sean is zooming along through 1st grade.  He also just started a homeschool PE and Art class through our local County run community center.  We had initially started a PE class through UNM, but he quickly got bored with that because they didn’t have them doing anything really fun, plus, we had to pay for parking every week which added up, and didn’t make all that much sense for just 30 to 45 minutes.  Oh yeah, and it was really early in the morning.  This new class starts just after lunch, and is offered 2 days a week instead of just 1, and it’s only $10 a month.  Good deal.

Mia is now 21 months old.  She’s lots of fun and is starting to talk a little better.  Whenever you ask her where something is, for example, her shoes, she responds with, “Shoooooes!  Where are yoooouuuu??”  She looooves animals and we always hear, “awwwwww, doggy!” when we drive by a dog park nearby.  She doesn’t like being pestered by her brother, and makes it very clear when he is invading her personal space, by screaming.  We’re trying to break her of that habit (screaming)… it’s pretty annoying.  And for some reason, that gives her brother even more motivation to pester her.

Nathan and I celebrated our 9th anniversary back in September.  It’s been a wonderful 9 years being married to him.  Again… time has flown by!  9 years already!!! I love that man… *sigh*

On Saturday, I took the kids to a Lowes Build and Grow Clinic.  Sean built a periscope out of a kit with wood, nails, and plastic mirrors.  He really enjoyed getting to hammer pieces together and watch it take shape.  He’s been expressing a strong interest in learning how to build things, so I  think going to the clinics at Lowes would be good for him.  They also hold kids’ clinics at Home Depot on the first Saturdays each month (I think).  Mia was content to sit in her stroller and watch all the big kids wielding hammers.  We already signed up for this Saturday’s clinic too.  Sean will build a snowman.  I wish I got to do that kind of stuff when I was little.

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sean

“I can read now!”

Sean read his first book all by himself today. It was about a tan fat cat that ran fast. 🙂 He was so excited that he had to call Daddy at work to tell him. It’s pretty fun to get to share in his accomplishments… it’s like seeing him take those first steps all over again. 🙂

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funny sean

What do you want to be when you grow up?

me: What do you want to have as a job when you grow up?

Sean: a Knight!

I love that kid!

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funny sean

Things he says…

The other day at a restaurant, we saw some military personnel in their BDU’s (camo). Here’s how the exchange went:

Sean: Why are they dressed like that?

Me: It’s camouflage.

Sean: But….I can still see them.

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funny sean word of the day

Who’s the president, Professor Sean?

Me: What’s the president’s name, Sean?

Sean: NewracK Obama.

Nathan: You mean Barack Obama?

Sean: no, I call him “Newrack” because he’s the NEW president.

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sean word of the day

Professor Sean’s WOTD

Gargantuan – When people hit footballs (he said this while shaking his fist in the air).

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sean word of the day

Professor Sean’s WOTD

Today’s definition, according to Sean:

Corporation – Aliens 🙂

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sean word of the day

Professor Sean’s WOTD

Pollute – to be polite when there is a poodle around.