Plans. . . and Life

My dad "Papa" and Silas

My dad always says, "You make plans. Then, life happens."

I have a wonderful plan for homeschooling this year.  You can see it --->HERE<---.  I am so disappointed that my plan isn't going smoothly, but the fact is. . . it isn't.

Just after we began the school year, Silas had another bleed.  Two of our boys have severe hemophilia, a bleeding disorder.  I have another blog that tells all about it called Bubble Wrapped Birth. We had to get things moving with prophylaxis to help prevent more bleeds.  My parents and friends came to help, and they helped immensely.   Immediately following the port placement surgery and hospital stay, we started daily post-op factor treatments, then prophy for Silas at home.  My parents went home after Dad and I took a trip to Peoria (2 hours away) with Eli and Silas for a post-op check up at our hemophilia treatment center.  Everything looked great!  That was a Tuesday.  The following Friday, Silas slipped down after pulling himself up to standing behind a highchair, and hit his just 2 week old port on the way down.  I didn't notice this at first.  I was making sure his head was ok, and I picked him up to comfort him.  He settled down right away, and I didn't think anything else about it.  That night, I noticed that his port looked a bit puffy, but I wasn't sure and brushed it off as baby chub.  Oh, how wrong I was.  When he hit his port, he started developing a hematoma right over top of it.  It was horrible.  We were in and out of the ER for a week and a half getting peripheral IV lines placed.  Then, as soon as his port was back to normal, we started getting sick.  Isaiah got sick first.  Then, it s-l-o-w-l-y made its way through everyone else.  We've missed a lot of church, and school time hasn't been consistent.  We are still getting over the sickness, but the end is in sight.

---------------It's time to turn the page and start fresh on a new chapter!----------------

It is the middle of October.  Even though we've had a rough start to the year, we are still in the beginning of the year.  I am going to get the laundry under control this weekend, and spend some time meal planning.  Then, Sunday evening, I am going to set the table for breakfast and Bible class (and maybe even Music class).  I will get to bed at a decent hour, and get up early to tackle the day.  No more looking back.  No more guilt.  We can do this.  We are doing it.  We just need to keep moving forward!

Matt bought me this bookmark as an encouragement.  He's a good guy. 

The good news, the bad news, and more good news!

Last week was rough.  Isaiah was sick all week.  School was not good either.  We are back into the swing of things now.  Isaiah is feeling much better, but I'm going to try to get him in to the doctor today.  He still has a cough and last night he broke out in hives.  He took some Benadryl, and is getting some much needed rest right now.

First, the good news:  You can support Isaiah's popcorn sales for his cub scout troop by ordering online!  Click HERE to browse the popcorn and place an order!  To insure your order is attributed to Isaiah's account, please enter the keycode: 5631013244.  The popcorn is a delicious treat and you will be supporting a great cause!

Next, the bad news:  Because of Isaiah's sickness, he missed out on the campout last Friday night.  :o(  We let him and his brothers and sister campout in the living room that night.  They enjoyed it, but it was a huge disappointment to miss the real campout with his pack!

Lastly, more good news:  There is a plan in the works for one of Isaiah's cub scout buddies to come over on Friday night and camp out in our backyard!  I hope all are well and nothing falls through with this plan.  We will have a cook out for dinner complete with S'mores, of course!  Then, we'll have homemade waffles or pancakes for breakfast.  I can't wait!  This will be so much fun!

A Camp Out and Popcorn

Isaiah at the Blue and Gold Ceremony in February 2012

This week is very exciting for Isaiah.  He gets to go on his very first camp out with his cub scout den on Friday night!  I am a LITTLE nervous, and so is he, but it will be such a great experience for him.  I can't wait to hear about all his adventures sleeping in a tent on the campground!

He will also be starting his popcorn sales soon.  I couldn't do much with that last year as I was caring for a newborn at that time, but this year we are going to do it!  I have to get all his patches on his shirt.  He has several that he has earned, but aren't on yet.  :o/  I will be very glad to get that done.  I am going to ask his leader about getting some t shirts for all the kids so that they can all be "in uniform" when we go out to help Isaiah make sales.  It will be fun.  

First Week of School

Our first week of school was not uneventful.  Silas has been dealing with a muscle bleed all week.  We've had a couple trips to the ER for factor.  Nevertheless, it wasn't a bad week.  It takes about 5 hours to get through all the books.  The kids are doing really well.  It is very nice to have 2 official students now.  I think Isaiah enjoys not being the only one in school anymore, and Ana really enjoys it too.  We went on a couple afternoon adventures.  It would've been more if Silas and I weren't in the ER Monday night and Thursday night.

Monday, during our "book school" time, it started to rain.  It was not thundering.  So, I let the kids play out in the rain.  It was so awesome.  It has been so dry, and on top on that, Malakai had been in a  cast for almost a month and a half.  Now, it was raining, and they could all just have a blast getting soaked!  When the rain slowed down, they came back in and got back to their books.

Science Class with Daddy, the best Science teacher ever.  Seriously.

On Tuesday, we went to Nanny's place.  Nanny was Matt's babysitter from infancy through most of his childhood.  She lives in a retirement home now.  We met her at the back door, and she took us out to the patio.  The basket of her walker was stocked with cookies, juice, lemonade, cups, and napkins.  We sat and talked while the children ran around in the grass.  I let Ana take pictures.  Then, we went inside to look at the birds.  Nanny's place has a big bird cage.  It is the highlight of the visit for the kids.

After we left Nanny's, we stopped at the park.   They always love that!  Then, we went to visit Great Grandma right across the street at Liberty Village.  We came right as the residents were having dessert. The children are such a blessing to that crowd.  I hear many sweet loving comments from the people while we're there.  One lady, Marie, would keep Silas if I let her.  She loves the children so much.  She always wants to hold Silas, and . . . you know, she kinda reminds me of my Granny.  Hm, I never realized that until now.  

When Grandma was done with her meal, she was moved to the t.v. room where the kids were sitting and playing on the floor.  That didn't last too long.  Malakai thought it was more fun to spread out puzzle pieces.  So, we got everything picked up and went to Grandma's room.  Lots more energetic playing continued, and Marie came to the door.  She stayed in the doorway talking and playing with the kids.  Then, she asked me, "Can I come in?"  Grandma said, "Well, of course she can!"  So, then, Marie joined us in Grandma's room.  We left after a while and came home.  Whew, that was a busy afternoon!

Our next adventure was on Wednesday.  Matt took Ana out golfing.  It was her first time out.  He'd found her some golf clubs just her size and in a bag, all pink!!  While they were golfing, I took the boys to the park.

Thursday was stormy all day.  It was GREAT!!!  The grass is green again, and Aldada is looking radiant!  Well, "radiant" may be an overstatement, but much better anyway!

On Friday, we went to the library, but it was closed.  That was a total bummer.  We'll be back, though.

Now, the week is over.  Matt starts nursing school on Monday.  We will be on a much more consistent schedule.  I am very happy about this year.  Things are going well, not perfectly, but well.  :o)

Look what we woke up to find!!

Our First Pumpkin Bloom!

Our Garden, "Aldada"

This is the first year we've had a garden.  When it came to naming it, we called an official meeting.  Myself and all 5 children sat in a circle in the backyard.  Each of us were in a lawn chair except Silas who was sitting on a blanket.  Everyone had their own ideas.  Isaiah suggested "The Reeves Mighty Garden of Life".  Ana wanted to use the word "sparkle" in the name somehow.  Eli wanted there to be a reference to Power Rangers in the name.  Malakai liked every one's ideas.  I tried to make everyone happy, coming up with names like "The Mighty Sparkling Power Ranger Garden".  No one liked that!

Then, I said, "There is one person whose opinion we haven't heard, guys."  I turned to Silas, "Silas, what do YOU want to name the garden, buddy?"

Silas quickly replied, "Al-dada".  Everyone was so delighted with Silas's response that "Aldada" won the name debate unanimously!

We started kind of late, and are learning a lot about gardening.  The heat and drought has been hard on Aldada too.  Here's some pictures of the kids showing different parts of Aldada:

Pumpkins

We saw our first bloom on one of the pumpkin plants today!

Herbs

We have lavender, rosemary, oregano, sage, basil, thyme, and catnip.

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Red Peppers, Carrots, and Lettuce

The tomatoes are doing pretty well.  We started getting our first little cucumber today.  The red peppers are not producing anything yet.  The carrots don't seem to be growing much at all the last few weeks.  The lettuce is basically. . . pitiful.  This heat and dry weather has not been friendly to some of our little plants!  

"The Hills"

Yesterday, I let the middle 3 plant some watermelon seeds, little pumpkin seeds, and big pumpkin seeds.   Isaiah was at a party, and Silas supervised the gardening.  That bed still needed to be edged, and we were going to get some mushroom mulch for it.  However, since it is mid-August, my thought is that these things will never get done, and the most likely result would be wasting those seeds.  So, I told them to make little hills in a row, and I let them pick what they wanted to plant.  Some of the hills are too close together, but I don't care at this point.  It's probably too late to get a harvest from them anyway.  We'll see!!

The Books

Here's our school materials.  I've also contacted several places about field trips and have received nothing but positive feedback.  This is going to be the best year ever.  :o)

Our Curriculums:

Bible - "The Jesus Storybook Bible"

Music - "Music for Little Mozarts"

Reading - A mix of "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and "Learning Language Arts through Literature"

Grammar - "First Language Lessons for The Well Trained Mind" (levels 1 and 3 this year)

Writing - no curriculum (unless included in grammar lesson for the day), just paper and pencils

Math - Saxon "Math 1" and "Math 3" this year

Science - "God's Design for Life" (Answers in Genesis)

History - "The Story of The World"

Recorders - "Best in Class"  Matt got the recorders today!  :-D

Reeves Academy, Home of T.Re.E.S.

We named our school!  I wanted to name it something fun and creative like "The Reeves Exploration and Adventure Club", but Matt (who is much more level headed in this area) thought the name should sound more professional.  So, today, we both got our wish.  We named our school "Reeves Academy".  So, Matt is pleased.  ;o)  I am also pleased because our mascot will be a tree representing "T.Re.E.S." (The Reeves Exploration Society).  I think it is really cool.  I have a list of more than 30 ideas for field trips this year.  I am really excited.  Isaiah is in 3rd grade, and Ana is in 1st grade this year.

Here's my plan:

-The night before, I will set the table for breakfast, Bible class, and Music class (2x/week)

-We will get up and have breakfast at 7:00am, clear dishes, and have Bible class.  Twice a week, we will have music class.

-Then, it will be time for everyone to get dressed.  The little boys can play, color, or sit in on class time.

-Grammar and Writing - When I'm working with Isaiah on Grammar, Ana will work on a writing assignment. Then, when I'm working with Ana on Grammar, Isaiah will have a writing assignment.

-Math - Isaiah and Ana will work on their Math lessons.  I will sit and help whoever needs help.

-Science - When I am working with Isaiah on his Science lesson, Ana can play.  When I'm working with Ana on her Science lesson, Isaiah can play.  (I'm not sure on this one.  I have the option of teaching them together, but going deeper with Isaiah on the lesson.  I may just do that.)

-History - When I am working with Isaiah on his History lesson, Ana can play.  When I'm working with Ana on her History lesson, Isaiah can play.  (I'm not sure on this one either.  Again, I have the option of teaching them together, but going deeper with Isaiah on the lesson.  I may just do that on this too.)

-Recorders - Matt taught third grade recorders when he taught in Christian school.  He really loves the program he used, and has all the materials.  All we need are the recorders.  I plan to teach this, but if Matt has an opportunity, he may jump in now and then.

-LUNCH - Sometimes we will just grab a prepared sack lunch and go.  Other times, we will sit at the table or have a picnic if it's a nice day

-AFTERNOON ADVENTURE!!  I want the focus of school to be the adventure outings, the people we meet and talk to, the places we go, and the things we discover.  I know we won't be able to get out everyday, but I'd like to get out most days.

- We should be home by 4:00 or 5:00 to give me time to make dinner, and for us to get some housework done before bed.

- After the kids are in bed, I need to make sure things are all set to do it all over again in the morning.  Then, I can have some relax time with Matt.  :o)