Coming to the end of myself

Only 9 days to go until my scheduled C-section. I don't like this out of control feeling - looking around and seeing clutter and mess in every corner and feeling like I can't stay on top of it. Laundry is piling up, there's no food in the house (ramen noodles for lunch today). Even if there was food, I don't think I would be cooking! I'm wondering where that typical "nesting" burst of energy is that comes right at the end of pregnancy? I could use that now!
Yesterday I woke up somehow feeling like I ran a marathon. I think it may have something to do with my inability to sleep lately. The last 3 nights I couldn't sleep more than 4 hours. The reasons being this baby is very active through the night (foreshadowing of what's to come!), heart burn, and just being unable to get comfortable. So yesterday it felt like my body just shut down. I called Scott and he came home around noon and took the kids with him to the base to do the stuff he needed to do. I climbed in bed and slept til 4:30 p.m., got up, ate a bowl of cereal, visited with my neighbor, Mar and housemate, Rachel, then climbed back in bed for the night. It's weird though because this morning I was anticipating feeling rested and ready to go, but I feel like I could just do that again!
So, where does this leave our homeschool??? I'm trying to get as much school in as possible before the baby comes. I feel good if I do reading and math with Kai at the very least. Until I get my curriculum in December workbooks and readers are helping. I have no idea if I'm doing ok. I'm happy that Kai is reading, I'm happy that Ezzy knows his alphabet and most of his letter sounds. I think that's ok and I think that's where they should be, but I really don't know.
On a brighter note, this afternoon the boys' friends Amber (6) and Naomi (10) came over and they had lots of fun together. I think Naomi truly is Jude's bestest friend - he adores her and she adores him as well. It's pretty sweet to watch him looking up to her and just cracking up and calling her "Moamy." Gaby, their mom and I went grocery shopping and cooked dinner together, then had a relaxing meal with Rachel and Scott while the kids watched a movie and played. It was really nice to have the company and help with dinner and time to just hang out as adults, talk and laugh. I think I really needed that. Happy Friday!

He's getting it!

This Monday morning Kai totally surprised me. He came into my bedroom asking if he could go ride his bike. I said, "Well, today is a school day..." His reply was completely unexpected! He said, "How about we do reading, then word blocks, then math, then something out of our unit box and then I can ride my bike?" "That sounds like a perfect plan to me!" He smiled huge and went skipping out of the room to get dressed and even picked out clothes for Jude to wear. Then went straight in the classroom with Ezzy to choose their Bible stories, giving me time to get up, get dressed and grab a cup of coffee before starting the day. Um... hello! This is not normal behavior in our house, but maybe, just maybe he's starting to get the idea of homeschool. Maybe he's finding some comfort and enjoyment in the somewhat structure of the sort-of routine we have going. Or maybe it was a total fluke! Either way, I'm happy and we had a great morning together.

I love this tree - the huge leaves, the way it twists and turns, it's a pretty amazing tree and a great place to hang out and read together.

This inspires me

"The test of a man's religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting going on."

Saturday night sleepover

Kai's having his best friend sleepover for the first time- how exciting is that? I'm listening to giggles coming from the bedroom!

What I love so far

I'm just getting started on this new adventure and I'm already seeing some major changes in ME and the boys.
The process of homeschool absorbs me. It takes everything - my complete focus and attention, creativity and energy. But as I put that effort in I find myself smiling more, laughing more, giving more hugs, having more fun and actually enjoying my kids. I'm getting to know them in a deeper way - their intricate personalities, their sense of humor. We're spending more quality time together and instead of missing the extra time I used to have and other things I used to do I find I'm loving this.
The boys are changing too. They thrive with the extra attention. They do not miss school and don't want to go back. They have a new interest and curiosity in the world around them. They're getting along better as brothers. Behavior problems and tantrums are decreasing. They're becoming more focused and able to maintain a longer attention span.
We don't have a TV, but we did have a mini-DVD player that got a LOT of use. Recently this beloved contraption broke and video watching is now only available on our laptop. As Friday rolled around I realized the kids had not watched a video all week - and they hadn't missed it or asked for one. Wow - I couldn't have imagined that happening 1 or 2 months ago.
This Friday I was soooo tired. I had slept maybe 4 or 5 hours the night before and I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the day. My strategy? We got some blankets and our Bibles and lay under the tree in the backyard. After lots of Bible stories Jude brought some cars and Kai and Ezzy brought some nature magazines and books. We read and spent time just watching the insects around us. A dragonfly got caught in a spider's web and we intently watched it's struggle (until Jude decided to intervene and tore down the whole web!) We did a color match game and tried to match the right crayon color with the different colors in the yard - shades of green and brown, yellows and which blue matches the sky?
I knew they would need to munch so I grabbed turkey slices, cheese, crackers and water -about as simple as you can get - and watched them stuff their faces. They also wanted to suck a lemon that they picked off a tree in the neighborhood. The sun spilling through the leaves, shining faces, giggles and wonder as we passed the whole morning laying on a blanket just being together.
Added bonus - when I put Jude down for his nap the tiredness overtook me and I fell asleep with him. Kai and Ezzy played quietly inside their classroom and actually let me sleep. When I woke up I found them at their desk with coloring books. Talk about God's grace for a tired mommy.
I hope I'm not making this sound too idealistic. It's not - not by any means. I still have an emotional 4 year old throwing irrational tantrums, a 2 year old whose new trick is to hit me and say, "bad mommy," when he's mad, a 6 year old who always seems to find the negative or something to complain about no matter what we're doing, and a very active baby in my womb who doesn't give me space to breathe or a night of rest.
I guess I'm just amazed that I'm making it. I'm actually diong this. I'm not only being a mom to these 4 boys, I'm homeschooling them as well and I'm loving what it's doing to our family so far.

Beautiful Morning

Dad of the year award

This is what I woke up to this morning - my husband sandwiched between two kids. I think he deserves the dad of the year award for being such a snuggly bear. This photo was taken at 5:30 a.m. this morning - I'm not sleeping much lately. Last night I went to bed past midnight and was awake at 5. The baby is just moving so much and it's hard to be comfortable. This was an adorable sight to wake up to!

We had a beautiful sunshiney morning today. Paola spent the night last night, so I put her on the spot in the morning for a spontaneous Spanish lesson with the boys. We did the usual reading and math and rode bikes a little bit. Then they got out the playdough and had a blast with Paola speaking Spanish and learning new words - there was lots of Spanglish going on - so cute! Kai especially has been very resistant to learning Spanish, but even he had to admit that this was fun. I think Paola must have like it too because she said she'd love to do it once a week with them!! hooray! This was one of my biggest concerns with taking the kids out of school here - that they will lose all the Spanish they've learned. But I think if I keep doing little things like this, as well as playing with neighbors and maybe some extracurriculars, they will keep progressing.

Gracias Paola! Te quiero mucho!!

First blog post...!

Where to start?

With starting homeschool we also just moved into a new condo. This was a great way to get off to a fresh start with organizing supplies and a learning space. I've put all the boys in one room and used the third bedroom as a classroom (doubling as a guestroom). We now have a fun, relaxing learning atmosphere that I love - and the kids love it too.

I have a friend that just recently left Costa Rica to live in the states. She handed down to me tons of homeschooling supplies including some unit study boxes that she put together. These gifts as well as her advice and support have already been invaluable to me. We just finished a unit on insects that I think changed our lives. The boys took it all in with such fascination and wonder, it was pretty cool. She also left me with some tools to get started with for reading. With only 17 days left until my scheduled c-section I really don't have energy to lesson plan or get super creative. We're just trying to get through the days and learn something along the way! Here's a typical day so far...

start with Bible... nothing fancy just pick a Bible story, devotional, talk about it and pray!


Do a lesson in this book with Kai - he's on lesson 70. He loves it some days, others he doesn't, but it's working really well at teaching him to read.

These blocks are the best! Again, Kai doesn't always love it, but it's teaching him word families.

Jude and Ezra join in sometimes, but I let them participate as they feel like it. Today, this is what they were doing while I was doing this with Kai. They like to get in on the action, too, though. Here they are all working at their little desk. Too cute, of course Jude just scribbles and Kai and Ezra have to comment that he's not doing it the right way, and I have to explain that he's just a baby and when he scribbles he's really doing a great job!





Here are some more shots of the classroom and the stuff I'm using:

Kai and Ezzy's workbooks and journals

Our bookshelf

and boardbooks! I am so blessed that literally everything I have has been given to me and passed on by friends and family members. Amazing, huh?

With rainy season here, we have to make sure we take advantage of sunshine in the mornings and get outside while we can.

Our view

backyard "pignig" as Ezzy says. I love that they had to bring their books out too. We enjoyed this time of reading and eating before the rain came and Jude's nap time. While Jude napped Kai and Ezzy wrote "stories" (dictated to me) in their journals and drew pictures to go along. They love doing that and come up with some crazy stuff!

So that was our day today. I feel really good about it, except for one meltdown by Ezzy in the afternoon because he wanted his beans "molido" and they were "entero." This actually escalated into a tantrum and afternoon tantrums are really tough for me to handle, I just start losing my patience. Luckily daddy walked in the door in the nick of time to take over that one!

So I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes!