19 Years Ago Today...

...my 2nd son was born.

Drew was born on a Friday. The Tuesday before his birth as I was driving to the hospital for a check up, I received a little gift...a speeding ticket. Joy! What nerve that policeman had to give a ticket to a woman 2 1/2 weeks from her due date and on her way to the hospital. Can you imagine?!

Needless to say, by the time I arrived at the hospital my blood pressure was sky high. I had had pre-eclampsia with my first pregnancy so the doctor was pretty concerned. I tried to convince him that it was just stress but he wanted me back that Friday for a recheck. He said if my blood pressure was elevated at all I would be having a baby that day.

I guess you can figure out what happened since Drew was indeed born that Friday evening. The labor and delivery is kind of a funny story in and of itself but I'll spare you the details. He was a beautiful baby that weighed in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 inches long. He was born with a head full of brown hair that was as wild as could be. We were thrilled!

Drew's first year was filled with ups and downs. He ended up having two major abdominal surgeries before he was a year old. There were times when we wondered if he would see his first birthday.

At three years old, Drew had to get his first pair of glasses...bifocals. He handled them like a champ other than the first week when he buried them in a snow bank in our front yard. I guess they did take him a little getting used to.

Now, at 19, he has grown into an awesome young man with a bright future. He is in his third year at MSU and has a new job here in town. He has a great cluster of friends and one special one too.

We celebrated Drew's birthday yesterday because he already had big plans for today. As I type this, he is on his way to Dallas with Alicia and her brother Sam to go to a concert featuring one of their favorite musicians.

Wow, where have the last 19 years gone? Sometimes I just wish they were all little again. But, then again, what a joy it is to see them becoming what God has created them to be.

Happy Birthday Drew! We think you're awesome!
But you knew that already, didn't you?!

And since Drew was born on his grandmother's birthday...Happy Birthday Mom! I hope it was wonderful for you. We send lots of hugs and much love your way!

Extra-curricular Activities

I have been on a cleaning frenzy. I intended to give my house a good "spring" cleaning this summer while we were out of school but somehow the summer passed and it never happened. Don't ask me what possessed me to start it the week we started school, but I did. I think maybe it was the need to feel organized that got me motivated.

Anyway, I have dusted, vacuumed, cleaned blinds and windows (inside and out), cleaned ceiling fans and light fixtures, sinks and toilets, walls and floors, refrigerators and ovens, and just about everything else you can name. It feels great...for the 24 hours or so that it lasts.

Seriously though, I do feel better when my house is clean. It may not always be picked up and tidy but when it's clean underneath it all, I feel much better. I still have the girls' room and the laundry room to hit but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I figure by the time I finish the whole house, it will be time to start over. C'est la vie!

In the midst of the frenzy, we continue to have school. It is going great for the most part and we are enjoying it. We have even added in some extracurricular activities that I thought I would share.

In August, I signed the girls up for gymnastics at the local YMCA. They allow the home school group to come in and use their facilities on Fridays. Emma has loved it from day 1. The teacher is a young man and Kara has yet to warm up to him. I keep hoping that as time goes on she will get excited to try more and more. Last week at the end of class, the mom that helps out told me that Emma is fantastic. I had to have her repeat what she said because I misunderstood the first time and thought that Emma was in trouble again. I guess I shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions.

She was impressed with Emma's lack of fear and willingness to really try to do what they want her to do. Here is a shot of her working on a back flip.

And here she is on the balance beam.

On one occasion, Kara's courage was mustered long enough to try a few things. Unfortunately the pictures are not great but you get the idea.
They are having fun and it is a great way for Emma to burn some of her excess energy.

After gymnastics last Friday morning, we headed to the base for a ceramics class. Yes, I know I'm crazy to take a 3 year old and a 5 year old into a room filled with nothing but breakables but in the name of "Art class" I did. They actually did quite well and we had fun too. Here are a few pics of them cleaning their greenware and of the projects they chose.

The bear and the dog are Emma's and the ladybug family is Kara's. Last week they cleaned them and then they were to be fired over the weekend. Tomorrow we go back and they get to paint their goodies. I'll take more pictures of the masterpieces when they are finished.

Emma started piano lessons on Wednesday of this week and our Wednesday night children's activities at church called "Truth Trackers" started this week as well. So, as you can see, the girls are plenty busy and I'm frantic trying to keep up. Not to mention that Austin is playing football with one of the local Christian schools and he has practice every day with games on Thursday evenings and most of those are out of town.

Tyler and Drew are in class at MSU every morning of the week and working most afternoons so life is crazy...but good. To keep up with all of this, I have taken to carrying around a day planner that pretty much never leaves my side now. It is like carrying my brain around in my hand. Somehow I keep up with things better this way. So, if you happen to come across a little brown tapestry binder without an owner, please return my brain...I would be lost without it.

School Day Funnies

The girls and I had a fun day in school today.

At the end of each day, I read a book to Kara entitled Abadaba Alphabet by Sheila Moore. The book is a super fun way to teach the phonetic sounds of the letters if it doesn't drive mom crazy first.

Kara has caught on to most of the sounds and really has learned a lot by just sitting in on school with Emma and I and from listening to me read this book countless times (we've been reading it since May).

Today, as we read the book, Kara was eager to say most of the sounds on her own. She did quite well and I had a fleeting thought that maybe she was ready to start putting those sounds together into very small words.

I turned back in the book to the "d" page and found the word dog. I asked her what sound each letter made individually. With a little help, she got all three. So I said "Kara, If you put those three sounds together, what does "duh... ahh... guh say? She looked at me so enthusiastically like a light bulb had just gone on. She smiled hugely as she said "volcano?".

Okay, okay...so maybe my three year old isn't quite ready to read yet but I think she's brilliant anyway.

Along those same lines, I saw the following quote on our local home school support group's yahoo group and thought that it really summed up what our home schooling adventure is like these days.

"I compare what we do to a hike with puppies rather than a march with an army. We don't march steadily on with prescribed stops. We stroll along, sometimes running ahead, sometimes running behind, then stopping to chase a lizard, smell the flowers - or eat them!"

I'm not sure who the author is but it definitely describes school with Emma and Kara...and I'm happy to say that I'm loving every minute of it - still!