Monday, July 28, 2008

Winding down

Well, our crazy days of summer are finally winding down. All camps are over, as are all vacations. The only thing we have left to get through are two birthday parties. My son will be 14 on Aug. 1, and my daughter will be 7 on the 10th. So, I am gearing up for those.

My son wants to invite a few friends over and camp out in the back 40. I'm not too sure I trust a bunch of 14 year old boys to not get too mischievous and do something that they ought not do. So, we will have to see about that one.

My daughter, on the other hand, wants to have a pool party. That is well within reason. I just have to get the invitations, get them addressed and sent out within the next week and viola - her wish granted! :-D

In between planning those two parties, I am also trying to get our homeschool schedule set for next year. We are going to have Grammar, Bible, Math, Reading, Science, and hopefully Latin (I still have to get that curriculum). We are going to be doing more notebooking this year than we did last so hopefully the girls will enjoy it as well.

I'm also trying to fit work into this crazy life of mine. It's been a bit slow for a month or so (thank goodness) but now it can start ramping up once again.

Until next time.

Denise

Monday, July 14, 2008

Back from camp!

Well, we made it through church camp, are home and totally exhausted! We had an awesome time up there and did lots of fun things. The weather cooperated fully, we only had rain one day, cold one night, and the rest of the time sunny and warm. Considering we were in Gaylord, MI, that is quite an accomplishment, even in July! :)

So now I am going through the mountain of clothes that the three of us wore that week, plus, add the clothes that hubby and sons wore, and I have quite the laundry to do! I also have to make sure that I have all my 13 year old son's clothes, as he is leaving for camp next week. So I have to wash everything he owns and get him all packed up, while still leaving him clothes to wear this week.

I also am going through the hundreds of emails that I got while I was gone!! I knew that I got spam, but I didn't realize exactly how much until I wasn't able to get on and delete them for a whole week. Talk about time consuming. Let's hope that there are some legitimate business inquiries buried somewhere in all of them. :D

Anyway, it was a great time but I'm really glad to be home and in my own bed again.

Until next time.

Denise

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Kids, gotta love 'em

So, my 10 year old daughter leaves for church camp on Monday. This is her third year going and both years previous to this, I have towed our camper up, taken her little sister with me, and stayed the week up there working in the mini mall. This year, with gas prices the way they are, plus the fact that our 13 yo son made the All Star team in baseball and it's district finals week, we decided that it just wasn't going to work. We told her on Monday and she had done nothing but cry every night. I had already told our pastor's wife that they would need to try and find someone else to work the mini mall and explained to her why, so it was decided - not going.

Then yesterday I get handed this card/letter, from my daughter. She takes off upstairs and leaves me to read it all alone. The first thing I notice when I open it up is $20 that she got for her birthday last week. So I commence reading. My daughter is begging me in this letter to please go work the mini mall this year - she can't imagine anyone else sitting in that chair but me and she thought I really enjoyed working there! Well, let me tell you, by the time I got to the end of this letter, I was bawling my eyes out. So, guess where I am going to be next week?!

I called my husband, talked to him about it, he said go ahead. I called my son (who had stayed at a friends house the night before) talked to him about it and he said "That's okay mom, it's only baseball and I know how Stasia is." Well, that made me cry even harder, because he was so gracious about it, even though it's a big deal. I think he was okay with it because he gets to stay with his Nana who spoils him absolutely rotten! I then called my pastor's wife and asked if the mini mall position was still open (because if it wasn't, I wasn't going), and it was. So I told her to count me and Lindsey in, we would be there on Monday!

The best part (I think), is that our children's pastor and his wife are going to take their camper up with them on Sunday, get it all set up for Lindsey and I, then I am going to drive the church van with 10 elementary age kids in it 2 1/2 hours away to camp. So we won't have to worry about the gas or getting our camper up there. When I told Anastasia about us going, I thought she was going to squeeze my head off she hugged me so tightly. And then she called and told her brother that she was going to do his chores for a whole month for not minding if I miss his games!

So anyway, I will be leaving around 6:30 Monday morning and getting back some time Friday afternoon and in between I will be spending time with my 6 year old and 100 some kids between the ages of 8 and 13!

Don'tcha just love em?!

Until next time,

Denise