Yes, I Am Going to Homeschool

Well, I ended a wonderful day reading an article that just put me up in arms about my education choices for my kids. If you are interested to see the article and all the counter-responses you can read it at http://teacherrevised.org/2009/05/30/the-case-against-homeschooling/ I totally believe the person wrote such controversal and biggoted statements on purpose to get the reaction that he did. Homeschooling parents have responded in force. Some to our detriment and some with good arguments. It makes me mad that in a country with so many so-called "freedoms" that our choice to believe in God, be a average american "white" family, and wanting the best education for our children is questioned. I have absolutely no intention of insulating my children from "real-world" issues and subjects and I can't believe that people still think that socialization is even an issue anymore. Since when is forcing children in a box filled with 30 other children their own age for over 6 hours a day preparing them for the variety of people and age ranges they will meet in workplaces, colleges, grocery stores, and every other place in the world except for school? The only thing I learned in public school was how bored I was, how mean other people are, and that being "average" and part of the norm will get you nowhere. I was not part of any major social group. I had good grades but didn't stand out and I wasn't a trouble-maker and so did not stand out that way. Because of this, even though I could have attended college and fulfilled any dream I had, nobody helped me or even pointed me in the right direction. Some would say "Well, then where were your parents?" But I thought the whole argument was that public schools knew better than parents on what was right for their kids?

Now don't get me wrong. I think there are many good things that can come from public schools and I have seen good kids come out of public schools with their faith intact. (My husband and I are good examples.) But in my opinion, I think it is much much harder. And much has changed in the public school system in just the 10+ years since I graduated and I thought it was bad then. If I have the ability and desire to keep my kids from some of those struggles, then why not? Well, then some would come back and argue that my kids would not be able to take insults or deal with these tough situations. They would be "insulated" from the real world. I would argue that I would prefer my children be children as long as possible. That they gain the maturity only gained from age and introduce them to those situations when they are physically and mentally mature enough to handle them. I do not feel that they need to be insulted, put-down, or exposed to unfair prejudices at an early age in order to function successfully in our society.

I fully intend to homeschool my children for as long as the Lord puts the desire in our hearts and we are able to. If at some future point that is no longer a viable option, then I am grateful we live in a country that values education and has provided parents several alternatives and choices. I intend to expose my children to many different cultures, opinions, and alternative life styles including all the so-called "dirty" ones; homosexuality, evolution, magic, witches, fantasy, sex education and belief in other gods. I will offer all sides and opinions on a subject, grateful that we have the time and ability to actually offer both sides unlike the public system that will only give you the popular or "left" opinion, and then, yes, I will give the biblical truth regarding these subjects. I hope to have open, honest discussions with my children and that no subject will be taboo. How many other "average" American parents and families can say the same? I believe in the Bible and that Jesus is the only way to salvation and will pass those values on to my children. But last I looked, freedom of religion was still part of what makes America so great.

I intend to involve my children in sports and music activities provided by the local communities, YMCA's, and private lessons that will expose them to all kinds of people of different ages, colors, and creeds. We will visit museums, zoos, aquariums, ponds, rivers, lakes, and plains to learn about our wonderful world and ecosystems hands on. If I was a child, I would much prefer this then the one or two field trips that might happen a year where adults are so busy sheperding kids from one place to another and keeping the trouble-makers in line that I didn't really get a chance to learn anything or stay at something that caught my interest. They will be able to "socialize" and know how to deal with many different kinds of people. Then I hear people argue, "It is good for kids to know how to socialize with their own age group." Since when is hanging out and learning from people your own age all the time considered socialization? I believe you are starting to argue yourself in circles.

I'm so grateful that the Lord put the wisdom in my husband's heart to ask me the question shortly after Sam was born, "What do you think about homeschooling our kids?" To be honest, it had never crossed my mind until then. I went to public school and just assumed that is what was going to happen with our children. Sure, I had cousins and knew people that were home-schooled but to be perfectly honest, I had some prejudiced opinions about it and didn't really know all that much. So instead of shutting the whole idea down. I did my research. I googled like crazy about homeschooling and met with some mom's at our church who homeschooled. I started asking questions. I have had 3 years to research curriculum, learning styles, and teaching styles. I've learned about reasons for homeschooling and some reasons why it might not be a good idea to homeschool. If you are unsure, start to do research yourself. You will find a huge community of homeschoolers of varied backgrounds and beliefs. And I can guarantee that a good majority of them are not isolated Christian fundamentalists.

Well, as you can see, my reading today has put me on the defensive and I could argue on and on and on. I will undoubtably make mistakes along the way as a parent and as a teacher. I'm just grateful that I believe in a Lord that has already forgiven me and I can move forward confident in that knowledge. I am so excited to get started with them in schooling that I sometimes wish that they were a little older so we can get started. Then I remind myself that these years will go by fast and I'm sure I'll be wishing they were little again. I have found a curriculum that I hope to be using for many years to come that has me so excited. It is a literature-based curriculum that is very different from the typical textbook learning called Sonlight. You can find their website at http://www.sonlight.com I didn't even know that you could teach using other methods besides the textbook way. I even thought homeschooling was pretty much doing the same textbook way of public schools but the freedom of doing it in your own home. Please do your research! Their are so many more options available now and homeschooling has branched out considerably since the time of our mothers. Email me if you have questions and I can point you to several resources that I've picked up along the way to help you get started.

Thanks for listening to my rant. I will stop now.

Garage Sales and Failed Pretzels

We started out this beautiful morning by going to garage sales in town. Tenino is a really small town though so we visited the only 4 in town. I was really hoping to find a twin bed because we want to upgrade Sam this summer to a big boy bed. He's getting tall enough already that he is rapidly outgrowing his todder bed and the toddler bed is definately getting a suspicious squeak from all the times he has ignored my instructions to not jump on the bed. I keep checking Craigs list too but just haven't been lucky yet. I'm hoping we'll run into something soon. I did walk away with 2 boxes of unused jelly canning jars for $2.00 each and a small pile of gently used clothes for Evie for $4.00. I plan on going garage saleing (yes it is too a word!....lol) a lot this summer. I forget all the good stuff you can find if you are diligent. I just wish our town was slightly bigger or I didn't have to drive 20 minutes to get to anything more significant in times like these.

When we got back and got the house straightened out I decided to try and make pretzels using Noelle's recipe. They failed miserably. The dough was a bit sticky so I had to add a little flour, I forgot to spray the cookie sheet so they stuck and I obviously didn't roll them out thin enough because they turned out as braided rolls rather than pretzels. But they tasted wonderful so I'll just have to work harder to get that perfect pretzel shape next time. Well, we are off to church this evening so we can have all of tomorrow off.

It's starting to feel like Summer

Yesterday was a wonderful day. The sun was shining but wasn't too hot. I woke up feeling slightly industrious so after the morning routine of breakfast and dishes, I decided to try out Noelle's wheat bread recipe. I have been unsatisfied with the bread recipes that come with the machine but had not been adventurous enough to look for something different. Let me tell you that it turned out wonderful! Thank you Noelle for that recipe and please pass on any more you come across. I look forward to trying to make Pretzels soon too.

The rest of the day, I ended up wandering from project to project. Nothing was really catching my interest. I made roasted chicken in the crockpot so I didn't even have dinner to prep towards evening. It was just one of those weird days where nothing was really interesting. When Dwayne came home and we had dinner we went out back to work on a few of the weeds that dominate our little garden patch. It is so funny to me that I have a son who can't stand to get dirty and wet and a daughter who I can't seem to keep out of the dirt. Isn't it supposed to be the opposite? After snapping a couple pictures, I decided to get in a long bath and enjoy a book. I finished the night cross-stitching while watching the new season of So You Think You Can Dance. Hopefully today I will have some interest in something particular and be a little more industrious.

Evie helping Daddy in the garden.

Sam not helping Daddy in the garden.

Memorial Day Weekend

We have had a wonderful weekend. The original plan was to have Dwayne's parents come up and stay with us for the weekend. However, that didn't work out so we had the whole long weekend to ourselves. Saturday we woke up and Dwayne helped me clean up the house a little and promptly went out and mowed the lawn so it wouldn't be pressing on him all weekend to get it done. After Evie's nap we went out and got our groceries. When we got home the sun was shining and it was really warm. Dwayne had dressed them a little heavy so I had Sam take off his shirt. He thought that it was pretty funny that he could run around outside without a shirt. Evie took one look at him though and came up to me demanding that her shirt come off too. I started laughing and went ahead and obliged her. She is still young and I figure societies expectations will hit us soon enough in regards to dress.

Sunday, we were pretty lazy around the house all day. I spent the morning making potato salad and getting food ready to go. Even though we didn't have company we decided to break out the grill and have a BBQ for dinner. The afternoon, of course, included some time gaming but the rest of the evening Dwayne hung out with the kids while I was inside surfing the internet. We are thinking that if our tax return is big enough next year then we might take a trip to Disneyland. So I spent some time researching price options, etc. After a wonderful dinner of BBQ steak Dwayne then let me go take a leisurly bath while he put the kids down for bed. I ended up staying up late though because I had to finish my book. And then I didn't sleep well because the house was just too warm.

This morning felt a little strange at first because Dwayne was still in bed with me. I'm used to him being up and about already getting ready for work. Sam crawled into bed with us around 6:30 and proceeded to snuggle, twitch, and squirm for half an hour pressed up next to my body that I gave up trying to sleep anymore and got up. I took one look at the sunshine outside and decided to try geocaching again. After all, we spent money on this device and there are so many places to discover and it is too lovely a day to spend inside. So while I researched some nearby coordinates, Dwayne got the cache bag, snacks, and diaper bag ready to go. I found 4 promising spots that shouldn't be too hard for the kids. I am excited to say that we have officially found one and it wasn't very hard. That made me so excited so we went back to the first place where we couldn't find it before and was still unsuccessful. I really don't think that one is there anymore. I had found some coordinates along a bike trail near a river and thought that would be a fun place to discover and have a nice walk. The first one was easy to find and we swapped out a trinket. The next one was further up the trail about a 1/2 mile. I figured that wasn't too far of a walk and decided to leave the stroller behind. Big mistake! The kids did fine all the way there but the walk back was a little troublesome. And to top it off we couldn't find the cache. So the high of the morning was a little letdown with an unsuccesful find and whiny tired kids walking all the way back to the van. However, once we got home, had some lunch, and put Evie down for her nap, I can honestly say that I am happy that we went. It was a beautiful morning and it gave us a good excuse to get outside. We also have the added benefit of finding a nice trail to bike or hike in the future that isn't far from our house that we didn't even know was there. Overall, I think it was a very successful and nice weekend.

Daddy was lucky enough to find the first cache.

But Mom found the 3rd (and prettier) one.

Medical Update

Yesterday was one of those fun days where I got to visit the gynecologist. Luckily, it was just a follow-up to some tests I've had done recently. As many of you are aware, several years ago I was diagnosed with polycycstic ovarian syndrome or PCOS. It is an endocrine disorder that cause several different things in me including infertility, hair growth in the wrong places, hair loss in other wrong places, running on high insulin (though not diabetic yet), and difficulty in weight loss among other things. I have been extremely fortunate in having a doctor diagnose me correctly and early and I have been able to control several of the risk factors and through God's wonderful works, had two beautiful children. Well, since moving to Washington I have not been as good about going to the doctor and establishing regular check-ups, etc. I hate finding a new doctor and rehashing all the bad stuff that has happened over the last several years including what decisions were made and why. Now that I am through having babies, I decided that I needed to get a hold on my syndrome again but for different reasons. My entire focus before was getting healthy enough to have children. Now that is no longer the case and need to find another reason to stay and get healthy. This was really pressing to me after aunt Sheri had been diagnosed with uterine cancer. I do not have regular periods, if at all, and I know that can be a risk factor for developing cancer later on in life.

After talking to my family doctor about some things going on that would be too detailed and too long to write in this blog, he suggested I go see a gynecologist about a procedure called uterine ablasion. Basically, they burn off the lining of the uterus so I will have no lining to grow and slough off. That would resolve worries about future cancer and the heavy bleeding I do have when I finally have a period. After several tests and talking to gynecologist, he really strongly felt that that would not be the best solution and suggested a birth control method called Mirena. Since birth control is not an issue for me (tubal ligation) I would have the birth control for the hormones it released. It would do the same thing as the surgical procedure but hormonally rather than physically with added benefits of controlling hair growth, etc. However, before we proceeded, he wanted me to go in for an ultrasound and confirm that I still in fact have PCOS and check out the lining of the uterus.

Yesterday's appt. was to discuss those ultrasound findings. Apparently, he feels that my ovaries are not cystic enough for him to be comfortable calling it PCOS. I still have some PCOS traits and characteristics but they are pretty minor and he isn't sure that PCOS is the cause of some of the problems I may be having. So I have pretty mixed feelings. Praise the Lord that the PCOS has backed off (because I am fairly confident that I did in fact have PCOS at one point) but then what is going on? Something obviously is wrong because things aren't functioning the way they should. So off to the lab for another panel of bloodwork. This time we are specifically testing my estrogen and testosterone levels along with a few others. What is funny, is I don't think those levels have ever been tested. The doctors were always checking my thyroid and progesterone levels because those were key numbers for getting pregnant but I don't remember ever getting my estrogen checked. You would think that would be important. The doctor also indicated that the lining of my uterus was not built up very well at all for not having a period in a while. To him, it almost looks like someone entering menopause. But that is good news also, because it means that my uterus isn't getting stimulated at all and so it isn't a risk factor for uterine cancer. So the Mirena or ablation would not do me any good for the reasons I had originally seen the doctors.

So we are in a holding pattern at this point until I can get more results from the bloodwork. In a crazy way I hope they come back with a definitave answer that we can treat and deal with instead of all these unanswered questions. Then we can move forward with a plan instead of the rote "change your lifestyle, eat better, and lose weight." I do need to do those things and it would probably help many things but I have a feeling in my heart that it isn't the cause of many factors going on in my body. And obviously I have been doing some things right if my PCOS has backed off so dramatically. In either case, it makes me so extremely grateful for my two children. They truly are a miracle if the test indications are true and I shouldn't have been ovulating or conceiving. Luckily, nothing is going on that is life-threatening at this point. It is just one of those things that if I don't get some stuff under control now while I'm young then the chances of a heart-attack, cancers, diabetes, and other things when I'm older rise dramatically. So pass a prayer thought my way when you think about it and I'll post more updates as I learn more.

Busy Fun Weekend

We went down to Oregon for a night this past weekend. I figured it was time to visit all the family again and made sure we had a full tank of gas in the van this past paycheck so we could visit everyone. It was a great weekend to travel because the sun was out but of course everyone else thought so too. So we didn't make great time traveling but it wasn't too bad. Saturday we slept in as long as the kids would let us which turned out to be around 7:30, finished packing up the last stuff we would need, ate a quick breakfast, and was out the door and on the road by 8:30. Our forcast said it would be sunny and in the 70s so that is what I planned for. I forget that Oregon tends to be 10-15 degrees hotter than what we have so I was unprepared for how hot and miserable we all got. After a quick trip to Target I picked up a couple pairs of shorts for Sam to ease his misery.

We spent most of Saturday at my mom's house, letting the kids run around the backyard, enjoying the sun. Us adults spent most of the afternoon playing Maplestory together. Mom got back from her obligations at school and we all had burgers grilled on the BBQ. The kids were roasting hot by this point and covered head to toe in dirt from all the adventures outside. Dwayne gave them all a cool bath and a scrubdown. Then Dwayne and I headed off to see a movie. We were very grateful to Mom and Melody for offering their baby-sitting skills since we still don't have friends or neighbors we feel comfortable enough with to leave our kids with in WA. We hadn't had a date in a long time. Dave and Charlene joined us at the movie theater and we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly watching the new Star Trek. We chatted a bit outside the theater when we were done and then headed back home. It was about 11:00 when we finally got to Mom's and I still needed a shower. Of course, Evie was sharing a room with us and heard us come in so it took a while to calm her down and fall asleep. The house also absorbed all the heat so it was extremely hot. Then Dwayne started to snore which then woke up Evie again. It was a horrible cycle and needless to say, I did not get much sleep that night.

Sunday, after breakfast and saying our goodbyes to Mom and Melody we were off to visit Dwayne's side of the family. Once a month they have a potluck so we were able to get say hello to everyone in one fell swoop. It turns out they were having Burgers too plus all the extras and sides that go with it. We were well fed after this visit. The potluck didn't start until 1:30 so we got there early to allow the grandparents time to see the kids before all the rest of the relatives showed up and compromised our time. When Evie went down for her nap, Dianne, Stephanie, Sam, and I went down the block to the park. The slides were already way too hot and Sam was pretty dissapointed. So Grandma volunteered to have him ride in her lap. He enjoyed that a lot and thought it was pretty funny. We then went to the other side of the park and found the swings. Those were his favorite and we spent most of our time their just letting him swing away. There was something blooming that was causing my eyes to itch really bad. To Sam (and Grandma's :) dissapointment I called a halt to the swings. We made our way back and had a lovely visit with all the family. Around 3:30 we made our way home. I wish we had remembered to take pictures. I'll get some more new ones soon posted here for everyone to see.

Funny Story

I ran across this funny story that I had to share with everyone. I cracked up. I hope you like it too.


"Dear Lord," the preacher began with arms extended and a rapturous look on his upturned face, "without you we are but dust..." He would have continued, but at that moment one very obedient little girl (who was listening carefully) leaned over to her mother and asked quite audi-bly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mommy, WHAT is butt dust?" Church was pretty much over at that point...

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful weekend. At first I wasn't sure what kind of weekend it was going to be. Friday night as I was reading Sam his bedtime story and the sun was shining through the window right on us while sitting on the couch. Sam takes a look at me and smile and I smile back. Then he looks at me more closely and starts giggling. I looked at him and smiled and asked him what he was giggling at. He looks more closely at my face and says, "You've got a mustache!" and starts giggling again. Well, at first I was horrified and then started giggling myself because he was taking such great delight in the fact that I have a mustache. Needless to say, after putting him to bed I visited the bathroom and promptly took care of that issue.

Saturday, Dwayne let me sleep in and when I finally rolled out of bed we worked together on getting the kids' rooms cleaned up really well. We emptied all the little cubbies, toyboxes, under the bed, etc. and put all the blocks in their correct box, put all the puzzles back together and just put all the toys back to rights. We also took the time to move the furniture and vacuum under it as we are starting to have fleas and I want to get them before they get real bad. We also weeded out the toys that are no longer played with, broken, or just no longer practical in the home. Dwayne's work has a fundraising garage sale coming up so we had a nice place to dispose of all the toys no longer wanted. Trust me, our kids are loved and even with the 2 boxes of toys going to the garage sale they are not lacking in things to play with. The children spent the rest of the day rediscovering their toys and played pretty quietly in their bedrooms.

Sunday, I got to sleep in again. I thought that was very nice of Dwayne and I soooo appreciated it. I actually slept till 8:30. That is so late for me, it was crazy. As I got up he was finishing up my eggs for me. He made me breakfast! He also did a load of dishes and switched laundry around all day, including folding and putting away. That was the best gift he could have given me. I'm pretty lucky that he helps me with these chores often enough that he knows how I like them done and where most stuff goes. There are always things that could have been done a little different or better (namely pots and pans and counters) but I just smile and try to remember the few things I don't have to do later. We spent the morning gaming and then when Evie woke up from her nap, I got to whip out my Jo-Ann's coupon and as a family went to visit the fabric store. I'm in the process of making my first quilt for Sam and needed a few more items. It cracked me up when we got there though. In the far end of the parking lot, a father and son were tossing a frisbee back and forth, and I saw no less than 4 men sitting in their vehicles waiting for wives who were obviously enjoying their Mother's Day in the fabric store too. We came home and Dwayne made dinner. We had already discussed what he was going to make and how to go about it the day before so I didn't have to worry (too much) about the process. Overall, I had a great day and it was so good that all of us were healthy again and the kids were even on good behavior.

This morning I woke up and looked at the mess in the kitchen and the laundry still left to be done, and toys scattered about and sighed. Smiling to myself, I reminded myself that I wouldn't trade it for the world because for so long I never thought I would be a mom or even a wife for that matter. Now let's see if I remember that gratitude when the kids start fighting................

MapleStory

Ok, I'll admit it. I have an addiction. It is a game called MapleStory. It is a massive multiplayer online game or MMO. About 2 years ago I would never have thought that I would like this game or any online game for that matter that would have me interact with complete strangers. I like to play games all by myself. I don't need other people to interact with. Well, my mind has been changed. It all started with my brother-in-law's family. They started telling Dwayne about this new game that they are playing online and wouldn't it be cool if we could play when they were on and all play together? Well, Dwayne checked it out and decided that he enjoyed the game and frequently played when he had some free time. I always looked over his shoulder and laughed at the "stupid game." How can he enjoy that? I hate role-playing games! Well, I succumbed to peer pressure one day and created a character. But I was going to figure it out all on my own. I didn't want any advice and in fact I didn't want to play with anybody so I created a character in my own world away from everybody I knew would be playing. After a few days of playing, I decided I was right! This game was stupid and I don't know why they liked it. (It turns out that my characters stats were way wrong making me extremely weak. But I didn't want help! LOL)

Well, about half-way through my pregnancy with Sam I was extremely bored one day and decided I would try again. Especially since Dwayne showed all the signs of someone enjoying himself. I even decided that I could ask for some advice and connect with my family in the same world. I chose a different job and followed others' advice and you know what? I was hooked. Over the last couple of years we've been able to spread our insanity to several family members and it is fun to catch them online when you least expect it. My mom even plays!

So what makes this game so special compared to other MMO's? It is hard to say. I like that it is 2-D vs 3-D. That helps extremely with some of us who get lost easily or even have trouble with motion-sickness in a 3-D environment. The characters are brightly colored and cartoonish. The graphics make me feel comfortable playing the game with my kids running around the house. No big boobs or scary monsters. In fact, my son cracks up hysterically when one of the monsters that is scary and tough in my opinion starts attacking me. I love the fact that this game is free. No monthly service fees or contracts required. They make their money by having a "cash shop" that you can purchase items to enhance your gameplay if you want. But let me tell you that you can have a wonderful gaming experience without purchasing any of those items ever. It is a high quality game. I love that you can interact as much or as little with other gamers as you want. There are a couple channels that if you are a social butterfly has tons of people and you can chat away to your heart's content. Or, if you are like me and want to just work on your quests and enjoy the game by yourself you can. Though I have made some online friends that I interact regularly with now.

Well, enough plugging of this game. I could go on and on because I love it so much. Dwayne and I are completely and totally entrenched in the game and even have our own guild of players that we lead now. If any of you want to try it out and join me in this online adventure you can find me in the Bera server under the name RoseDaughter. Here is the link to the official website. http://maplestory.nexon.net/WZ.ASPX?PART=/Main I'll be happy to walk you through and help you get started. Surprisingly it has been a good way to keep in contact with some family and friends better than when we were left on our own. And no, the makers have not paid me in any way for endorsing their product. LOL

So if you are ever calling me and I seem distracted it is probably because I have the game up and not giving you my full attention. I have gotten much better at turning away now though because I was realizing that the game was taking away time from my kids, my housework was getting neglected, and things weren't getting done. Balance is the key and I have gotten much better at finding that balance. But heaven forbid there should be a game update with new material. I get very excited.

As far as the rest of the news. Nothing much else is going on right now. We are still in recovery from being sick. The kids are doing much better too. No plans as far as I know for Mother's Day except to catch up on all the neglected housework. Well, I better go trim Sam's nails and keep a better eye on Evie and the pen she has found. She already has done some pretty artwork on her face.

Doing Better

We are doing better today. Though the weekend was a little rough. Dwayne and Evie came down sick on Saturday. Thankfully, they both seemed better by afternoon yesterday. However, Sam then had a fever and threw up all over the living room. But by bedtime he seemed 100% better and this morning has been complaining about how hungry he is. I'm glad they didn't last as long as I did with this bug. I'm still recovering though I am doing better. I still have a bit of cough and runny nose especially first thing in the morning. Needless to say, we didn't do much this weekend. Dwayne did find just enough energy to quickly mow the yard and I did a little weeding. But once that was done, we were bushed. We pretty much spent the weekend watching T.V and vegging.

Well, all the fish are dead. I have no idea what happened. But something obviously in our tank is out of balance somehow. They have been dying off one by one over the last several days. In some ways I am relieved because I really didn't want to have a breeding tank. In the next few days, I'll clean out the tank really well and set it up again. Then maybe get a couple more fish and start over next payday. The only thing I can think of is that we are reusing some old rocks from a previous tank and I didn't clean them well enough. Otherwise, everything else in the tank is new. We also don't have a heater since this is such a tiny tank. I figured the hoodlight would heat the water well enough. I think I'm going to go back to good ole reliable guppies. But no females! I know how they work, how to keep them alive for the most part and can tell boys from girls pretty easily. I think a sucker fish of some kind will help too. We'll see what happens.

Sick

Well, I have been really really sick this week. I went to bed Sunday night with a slight sore throat and woke up Monday with a raging headache, exhaustion, and sinus pressure. Luckily Dwayne was sweet and took half-days on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, I had an OB appt. (always fun) and so he took half a day again. Thursday I woke up with more energy finally but officially had a drippy nose and deep cough. But those symptoms seem to be responding better to the cold medicine so I let Dwayne go back to work. By the end of yesterday however, I can't speak. It seems I have developed laryngitis on top of everything else. It has been interesting trying to communicate to the kids what I need them to do. Let me tell you it really makes me appreciate the voice God gave me. So today I'm feeling a bit better. Still can't hardly speak but at least I'm able to get a few chores done. The house is a pig sty! As most of you moms can probably attest, the hubbies do their best but it just isn't done as well as when you do it. But I try not to complain because he has also put in a full day's work. To top it all off, Evie came down with a fever and cough yesterday too. I just hope the boy's will avoid this round of flu/cold. I feel like someone has been sick the entire winter and I'm so ready for us all to be healthy again. Hopefully, with the nicer weather expected this weekend we can kick this thing.