First Week of School, Congrats to Shelby, and School Pictures

Hey everyone! We are finished with our first week of school, and finally into the swing of things again.

This was how I did the white board on the first day of school (and actually to tell you the truth it still looks that way... oh well). The question of the day was "Who is your favorite fictional character of all time?" As you can see I also put on the board that they were not to answer it until the end of the day, because I really wanted them to think on it. Finally after much thought they all had an answer for me. Darien picked Severus Snape (from Harry Potter), Zachary picked Wreck-it Ralph (from the Disney movie Wreck-it Ralph), and Nathaniel picked Violet (from the Disney movie The Incredibles). Their assignment after that was to write a story about them, a new story. I'll let you guys know how that turned out.

I also mentioned in a previous post that we have new bedtime rules in regards to grades, and this is what I came up with...

The New Good Grades / Bad Grades Bedtime rules

You can now earn a later bedtime by getting good grades, but you can also be sent to bed early for bad grades. This will be counted weekly, so at the end of the week on Friday mom will grade all of your papers. Your grades will decide your bedtime for that upcoming week Monday - Friday (weekends you will always keep your 8pm bedtime).

- If you get all 100%

     *then you get to stay up until 9pm

- If your lowest grade is in the 90's

     *then you get to stay up until 8:30pm

- If your lowest grade is in the 80's

     *then your bedtime will stay the same at 8pm

- If you lowest grade is 79% or lower

     *then you are to go to bed at 7:30pm and take your notes with you

Keep up the good grades and you will be rewarded

- If you get 2 great weeks in a row (meaning 90% or higher on all or your test and quizzes), then you will be allowed to take your DS to bed with you.

I don't know about your kids, but mine love to stay up past bedtime, and now they can earn it. The Abeka curriculum is a tough one with studying, notes to take, and a lot of memorizing, but I want my kids to be challenged. With this rule in-place they want to study, and not just slide by.

Now if you guys are still wondering about those chickens well here they are

This is their new coop (you can see three of them in this picture). Yes they have gotten much bigger. The coop we got off of amazon, and it was actually a rabbit hutch, but it works as a coop as well. I love it, and it's super easy to clean. The roof opens up, and the upper floor slides out, so I can take it out and hose it down.

Something exciting happened this weekend...

MY LITTLE SISTER GOT MARRIED

Yeah wow!

I know, they make a really cute couple (picture by Jessica Ober). They had their wedding in my parents' back yard, and it was beautiful. I was able to be there via Skype. Yes I was carried around on a laptop, and it was awesome.   It almost felt like I was there. I'm really happy for them both, and I'm sure they will have a wonderful life together.

I got the kids school pictures done early this year. I really wanted to do something fun and different this year, since last year we did the whole sailor thing...

I wanted a way, not to top it, but to at the least be just as cool... cute... oh I'm not sure... I finally decided that I wanted to do hats and scarfs (you know since we live in the northwest and all), and to make it unique, they wore their Hogwarts' house hats, and I crocheted scarfs to match (because the scarfs were super expensive on amazon).

I took the pictures with my iPhone at Scenic Beach in Seabeck, WA. I love them! Okay so their not professional but their good enough for me, and they were cheaper this way. I got them printed at walgreens, and I had a coupon as well. I'm just really excited right now about all of the money I saved.

In other Harry Potter news, we are planning another Harry Potter party. It's going to be in October. We have one every year, it's where we watch the movies back to back (we have to start early), and eat yummy food, and just have a fun time and hang out as a family. This year I'm making...

Chocolate frogs

Cauldron cake pops

And that's just the desserts. I'm really excited and can't want, and yes I will tell you all about it. :)

One year in Washington

So you know by the tile what this post is going to be about. I for one still can't believe it. Has it really been a year already? I must say that this place has really tested me. I really feel like it was a harder year than it should have been. It was not as hard as my first year in Charleston, SC but it is next to it (as far as first year in a new place).  Charleston was my first time away from my family, and it was a hard first year because I missed them very much, Jeremy was working all of the time (this is when I thought that was all of the time) (that was nothing compared to a deployment or any sea duty, which is actually working all of the time), I had a baby to take care of, and I didn't really know anyone there. It was a bad first year.

Here I just think that the stress of buying a new house right after moving across country, the weather, and also the fact that I have met very few people here, are the reasons why this as been a tough year. I guess it could always be worse. Other than all of that I think I'm adapting fine. A few weeks ago I deemed myself a true Washingtonian because when I started the car I switched on the windshield wipers out of habit, and it was sunny out. I guess I'm just use to it raining all of the time. I'm still not sure I like it here to much. I feel as if I am really trying though. It is beautiful here with the mountains and all, but you don't get to see them on most days, and I feel like the area is very run down. There isn't much here in the first place, and the whole area could use some TLC. I guess after living in nicer cities you get standards.

I've had a lot of late night talks with God since moving here. Most of it has been WHY, why here? I still believe he has his reasons, and I know I need to respect that, and I am. So because of that I'm just trying my hardest to find a way to like this place, to find a way to keep every other place I love more than here (lets face it, at is point it's almost everywhere) out of my mind. I'm trying to just love this place for what it is, and be happy that I'm here. Oh if only Jessica and Jessica lived here, I'm sure they would keep my spirits up. Hear that you two? You guys willing to move out here? Yup after I just talked so highly about this place... please ;)

Okay switching subjects now. So guess who is joining the Military wife lifestyle? My little sister Shelby. She got engaged to a Marine a few weeks ago (Also named Randy, so now family reunions will be very confusing with him, my dad, and me all named Randy/Randi). I just got the news Wednesday that she will be moving to Hawaii in the fall (yeah WOW). He's in "A" school right now, and should be moving in October. There is so much for her to do, and learn but I know she will be fine. How exciting this that though, that your first duty station is in Hawaii? Needless to say I very excited for her. I know she will love it there, and do just fine. I am also slightly jealous Hawaii sounds like an awesome place to live.





Oh and also I started a garden (I know this post is all over the place).

It was not easy. Our house was a remodel, that someone bought just to make a profit. So after they remodeled they covered the backyard with sod, which is great until you decide to dig it up. Yeah that took a while. After all of that I began to till the ground. That was not easy either because we have a lot of rocks apparently. So I finally finish that, then I poured potting soil on top and then planted. I got all of the plants at Lowes. I've always wanted a vegetable garden, but I have never really been successful at it. I would always plant one, then our dog would always destroy it. This is one of the many reasons why I'm not much of a dog person (Jeremy however is). I'll have to let you guys know if it works out this time.

Lately...

Okay so I know it has been a little while since I blogged. Well things have been pretty normal around here, and I haven't had much to blog about. Not that my life is boring, but I'm sure you guys don't want to read a post that is just about normal stuff like... Today I woke up, and showered. Then I ate breakfast..... you get the point. There are somethings (little things) that have happened in the last few weeks, that stand out, and if you want to hear about those than keep on reading.

We now have Start Trek DS9 on DVD! We just got it and I am super excited to watch it. So far we have only seen the first episode. We started watching that on Thursday, but only got half way through, then finished it yesterday. Jeremy is on this new diet and workout, and that has been interesting. He has lost some weight (not that he need to lose much mind you), and he super excited about it. The first week of his new diet however, he was super grumpy, it's funny how yummy food can make you so happy, and how not being able to have it, can make you so mad. I think that's why I avoid diets.

Homeschooling is going great. On most weeks we can finish early and take Friday off. We also just got our "Book It" stuff in the mail. I'm sure you remember Book It from when you were a kid. Well they also do it for Homeschool families. It also gives me the freedom to do the program the ways I want, and customize it if need be. I decided to do it by hours. They will get there ticket if they do 10 hours of reading. I even made up a reading log. Now of course once I told the kids about this, they were like "10 Hours! That's a long time." Then I explained... "You don't have to do it all at once. You can start by doing 30 mins a day, and if you do it like that, then it will take you 20 days. If you do 1 hour a day then it will take you 10." Of course after I explain that, Darien jumps in and says "Well I'm going to do 2 hours a day, so it will only take me 5 days." Yeah I really don't think he's going to do that.

On Thursday Link got lost! Wednesday night, I asked the boys to let Samson out, so they did, but Link went out with him. Now normally that's fine, we have a fence. Ten minutes later, I ask the boys to let Samson back in, and they did, but Link didn't want to, so they just closed the door. I didn't even know Link had gone out in the first place. So he was left outside all night. This gave him time to figure out a way out of the fence. I get up Thursday, and can't find Link anywhere, so I ask the boys if they had seen him. "Oh you are looking for Link... well he stayed outside last night." Oh my! Well he wasn't in the back yard anymore. So I start to make up fliers....

Lost Cat

Orange and white Tabby. Goes by the name Link.

Has a tag, but with wrong address and phone number.

Please call ***-***-****

We went out and put them up all over the neighborhood. We came home, and I notice our garage door is open, so I go in and close it. Once closed I hear a Meowww, and Link jumps out of a box. Yup he got out of the backyard, came around front, and went into the garage and hid. I know he is a smart cat.

This past weekend I had my little sister Shelby over to visit!

I know she is super cute!!

She came over and on Saturday we all went to the Renaissance Festival. 

Yeah that does sound like fun, and it should have been, but no. There were way to many people there, and because of that, we didn't get to see all of the fun stuff. Last year we had a lot of fun, but I guess now to many people know about it, and I hate crowds.

Also while Shelby was over, Link found a new hiding spot...

Yeah... Wow... and he's my chubby kitty, so I don't know how he does it...

Sunday we went shopping, just the girls. At least that was fun...

Well that's all for now, thanks for reading...