PRAISE THE LORD WE'RE DONE!!!!!

I don't know about anyone else but the end of the school year was torture for us!!  We BARELY scrapped through...  Lol  But, we're done.  Gotta be honest, we didn't do the last 6 lessons of First Language Lessons, or the last week of Sonlight, or the last week of Wordly Wise, but I really don't care!!

What did we do in May?  Well we played a ton of soccer, the boys had several games between the 2 of them and Austin had a tournament where Wyatt played as well.  Austin scored his first goal and Wyatt played some wicked defense against kids 2 feet taller than him!!

Austin carrying the ball

Wyatt playing defense

We went to the Ohio Historical Society with some friends

Mom, take my picture with the zombie!!

I'm going to drive one of these some day!!

We also had scouts, Mother's Day, Memorial Day parade with scouts, played a round of golf, went putt putting, finished Awanas and ate lots of ice cream :)

Books read: Brucko, The Seventeenth Swap (a favorite!), and In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson.  They also read some fluffy books from the library, and we listened to James Patterson's Middle School book  on cd.  We've also listened to half of the Hobbit.

Hours: Both 125.  That brings them up to Austin 1287 and Wyatt up to 1303.

April Showers bring crankiness...

For heaven's sake, are we done yet?  AHHHH!!!!

That was pretty much the feeling of April.  We're tired, bored, annoyed with each other.  We are done!  But, we're not...  The end is in sight though!!

This was a pretty unremarkable month.  Reese, soccer, indoor soccer, church, and school.  I really can't even say we did anything fun, no wonder we were bored and annoyed with each other!!  We did go to a Crew game, which was really cool because the scoreboard caught on fire :)  Apparently there was a wiring problem in the speakers.  It was neat to see the fire trucks come and put it out!!  The game played on, just with no speakers or board, and we won 3-0!

April was a wet, cold month.  To cure the crankies some days they just went out and played soccer.  Looking out one day this is what I saw!!  I could have gotten mad, but why?

Books read: Usborne's The World Wars (this book took several months and was wonderful.  We were all sad when we got to the end!!), The Winged Watchman, Gone Away Lake and Thimble Summer.  I am done with real alouds.  I can't stand the sound of my own voice anymore, and they aren't really listening anymore!!  We also quit science and are doing health now...

Hours for the month: Austin 149, Wyatt 144

Totals for the year: Austin 1162, Wyatt 1178

And there goes March!!

Wow.  March is gone.  I cannot believe how fast this is all going!!
March went by especially fast because we crammed so much into it!!  Because we lost December (because of Wyatt's concussion) we decided to double up every week this month with Sonlight and take the last week off as a Spring Break.  We did ok the first 2 weeks but by the 3rd week we were all shot.  After the boys went to bed Monday I sat on the couch and just bawled.  I was exhausted, the boys were being mouthy and were not listening at all.  I cried uncle.  We finished one week that week and started our break on Friday.  This meant when we started back up on April 1st we'd have 9 weeks of school left, which puts us at the 1st week of June...
Soccer also started this month, which meant busyness for all 3 of us!!  Brian has enjoyed coaching Austin's team so far, and Austin has really enjoyed getting to know some of his new teammates.  Wyatt feels much more 'at home' with his team this season and enjoys going to practices.  As secretary I had a busy month organizing spiritwear, getting uniforms printed, handing out magnets, and getting ready to plan some large events.  We love the club we play for and Brian and I love being involved!
So, what did we do this month?
- Pinewood Derby.  Wyatt got 3rd place (out of 3 Webelos) and Austin just had fun in the open class.

- Indoor games started
- I started my Daniel bible study by Beth Moore.  Wonderful!!

- We went to Bounce Kingdom in Columbus with some friends (thanks to Groupon)
- We went to our first Crew game of the season!!
- Wyatt had his first soccer tournament in Hilliard, and Austin joined his team for the weekend.

- The boys had several friends stay over during Spring Break.
- We enjoyed a homeschool day at Hilltop and painted plates.

- We went to Lazer Craze with Auntie Jill and had a blast playing laser tag!!
- Brian and I enjoyed our first Secret Church at Hilltop, which was AWESOME.  Intense bible teaching from 7pm to 2am!!
- We celebrated Easter at Hilltop Sunday morning with breakfast, an egg hunt and service, followed by lunch at Nana's and dinner at Po's.

Books we read: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Wright Brothers, All-of-a-Kind Family, Hero Over Here, A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt.

Hours for the month- 119 for both (not much more since we took a whole week off.  Austin now has 1013, and Wyatt has 1033.

Yawn... February in review...

Not a very exciting month.  We just kind of coasted...
Things we did-
-We met with our good friend Dave Humphrey, Mgr at First Knox Nat'l Bank and he gave the boys a run down about saving and good spending, and a tour of the bank.
-The boys had an Awanas kick off party since we took January off.
-Scout Sunday at the Methodist Church
-We went down to Columbus to watch my BIL and niece get baptized, very special!!

-A Valentine's Day Party at Hilltop

-Blue and Gold Banquet
-The Boy Scouts went to Scout weekend at Snow Trails.  Austin LOVED it, I picked Wyatt up 2 hours in...
-The boys and Brian took their Hunter Training course (they all passed with flying colors!!)

-Austin crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts!!

School wise we just cruised along, nothing exciting!  It is exciting to start picking out stuff for next year!!  We're using the same stuff for the most part, not really switching it up.  I'm so in love with Sonlight I'm planning on using that up til they graduate!!

Books we've read: The Great Wheel, Terrible Wave, Little Britches, George Washington Carver, and Light and Color (for Science).
Hours for Feb- 123 for both, bringing Austin to 913 and Wyatt to 933.  Welp, they're both over 900- guess I'm done!!  Lol  The hours will pick up again as we start soccer back up in March.

January 2013 in review :)

Oh my goodness!!  January is over?  Really?  I think I blinked and missed it!!
The month was super busy and we accomplished tons of school!!  With bible study being on Tuesdays and Gym and Swim on Thursdays we have a new routine of doing the majority of our school on Monday and Wednesdays...  Especially with babysitting Reece everyday now this mama is whipped by bedtime!!
We didn't do anything super exciting this month, just the regular Scouts, Gym and Swim, and music lessons.  Austin, Wyatt, and Brian went on a Boy Scout campout called Klondike for a weekend (Wyatt was NOT impressed) and I got to spend the weekend having fun with friends and scrapbooking!!  Woohoo!!  We also had a Beulah's Mom's meeting where people came over to learn about summer camps (with the hope they would sign up and we would get a huge discount!).  And we had a family night with Hilltop at the YMCA.  Cub Scouts spent a day at The Works in Newark and both boys earned their Scientist Pin.  OK, looks like we did more than I thought!!  LOL

Lizzy helping the boys do their math on the back doors :)

The boys having 'recess' air-softing outside

Brian and the boys building cars at The Works...

We totaled 122 hours this month, bringing Wyatt's total to 810 and Austin's to 790.  Books read this month are Caddie Woodlawn, The Great Wheel, Old Yeller, and The Story of Thomas Alva Edison.  We also started listening to books on CD again and listened to book 1 of Cahills vs Vespers, The Medusa Plot.  I;m very pleased with how much we got done this month, though we will really need to step it up if we want to be done by the end of May!!

Beginning 2013...

Well, this is a rare non school post.  I have so many new things happening that my head is starting to swim a bit...
- We are looking for a new church, which has been very hard.  We have been at NewLife for 12 years and leaving was not an easy decision, but we felt God had made it very plain that we were supposed to.  Our last Sunday was December 23rd, which was also the Christmas service and that evening was two candlelight services so we went out with a bang!  We have many positive things to say about NewLife and if it was not for the pastors and leaders there Brian and I would most likely not still be married and my children would probably be unpleasant brats (well, more so than they already are...)
- I'm starting babysitting again, a sweet little baby boy who is 3 months old :)  This will help provide the little extra money we need, especially since Obamacare raised our taxes $100 a month ;(
- I'm starting a Bible Study with some new friends in Mansfield.  I'm really looking forward to fellowshipping with some sweet women and delving into God's word!
-I've started volunteering at Richland Pregnancy Center.  I'm just going once a week and getting things that need cleaned for the 'Baby Boutique'.  After the past election I realized I was too emotionally wrapped up in who won when I should be following Jesus and caring about people.  Because of homeschooling I'm only able to help in this capacity at this point but hope at some point to be a 'Mentor Mom', someone who meets one on one with young women.
- I've been asked to be the secretary for Wyatt's soccer club Foundations Soccer Club.  This is such a blessing because player's fees are waived for board members!!
- I am helping teach the gym classes at the Mansfield YMCA during the homeschool Gym and Swim program, which is another blessing since I don't have to pay for the boys to attend while I'm helping so the boys get free swim classes!!
- I have started working out again, on a regular basis and with a goal!!  I want to run a 5k on my birthday on March 30th!!  I really don't care if I lose weight, though it would be nice.  I want to feel healthy.  I want to be able to do stuff with my kids and husband like hiking and white water rafting and not die :)

So, lots of new things going on.  But, I've prayed over all of them and feel like I'm the path God is leading!!  I'm excited to see what my family will accomplish in 2013!!

December in review

I had big plans for schooling in December. HUGE!  This all went down the toilet when Wyatt fell and hit his head and got a pretty ugly concussion on December 7th.  The doctor told us only to do what didn't stress Wyatt out or cause any difficulty...  So, the 2nd week of December we only did math and the 3rd week all we did was Sonlight...  Not how I wanted to finish out the year :(  We are only through week 14 in Sonlight!!  Ugh!
Other than that we had a fun Christmas Scout Pack meeting (I got Wyatt's den nice first aid kits and Wyatt cried because everyone else got better gifts.  Austin got a first aid kit too ???)  and many church Christmas activities.  Of course we had several Christmas' and Wyatt had his TENTH BIRTHDAY!!  Wowza!!  Since it was an even year he got to have a sleepover...
No pictures, we really didn't do much...
Hours- Wyatt had 53, Austin had 54, bringing their totals to Wyatt having 688 and Austin having 668...  The only book we completed this month was Sings Down the Moon.
Ugh!