It is almost May and that means summer is quickly approaching. Usually we continue schooling thru the summer, and take dance and maybe do a musical...but not this year. We are going to finish our curriculum and then have a real, old-fashioned summer. No classes...nothing.
You know, church camp, VBS, swimming, shopping, hanging out with friends, visiting grandparents, ice skating, being crafty, celebrating birthdays and just having fun.
So, in anticipation of that, we shall go get some ice cream, hang out at the partk, make some tees into tanks, and spend a week at the beach.
BRING IT ON!!!!!!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Go Ahead...Make My Day!
Sometimes, out of the blue, someone just makes your day, don't they?
After 40, I admit I have days I just feel gross and old. But compliments are wonderful and fill me with smiles for days! I have had several compliments lately, as in the past 5 months, but today's was great.
I was fridge shopping in Home Depot with the 2 youngest and wearing a black tee, and bright blue spandex capris and running shorts, and Nikes. My hair was not brushed well, and makeup, what little I had applied that morning, was almost gone. As we are walking out of the store, the greeter (a short, pretty, stylish woman of 40ish age) said, "Wow! You are so gorgeous! You really are beautiful! Wow!" I kind of looiked around to see the person, but there was no one, so I said, "Sorry?" And she reiterates, "You are just gorgeous! A real knockout!" So I said, "Well, thank you. I just love that you said that. It made my day!" And she just said, "Well, you really are. And it just struck me."
That came out of nowhere, but I really loved it.
Other compliments I got lately that made my day.....
1. Hard hit of the night goes to Brandee (said by Eric, one of the self defense instructors, after fight night)
2. Your family is amazing!
3. Your kids are so talented and such godly kids.
4. Your family is wonderful and beautiful!
5.You look fabulous in that dress!
6. Oh no! She's back! No suiting up for you! (for second fight night)
7. You're so athletic! (that one made me laugh)
8. I want to be a wife and mother like you.
Something as simple as a compliment can really make someone's day. Compliment people on the good you see in them and their family, interior and exterior, and you will make their day. Doesn't matter if you know them or not. Who knows what good could be accomplished if we all did this more often. It just makes you feel happier, stronger, more confident, and blessed, and most of all loved.
After 40, I admit I have days I just feel gross and old. But compliments are wonderful and fill me with smiles for days! I have had several compliments lately, as in the past 5 months, but today's was great.
I was fridge shopping in Home Depot with the 2 youngest and wearing a black tee, and bright blue spandex capris and running shorts, and Nikes. My hair was not brushed well, and makeup, what little I had applied that morning, was almost gone. As we are walking out of the store, the greeter (a short, pretty, stylish woman of 40ish age) said, "Wow! You are so gorgeous! You really are beautiful! Wow!" I kind of looiked around to see the person, but there was no one, so I said, "Sorry?" And she reiterates, "You are just gorgeous! A real knockout!" So I said, "Well, thank you. I just love that you said that. It made my day!" And she just said, "Well, you really are. And it just struck me."
That came out of nowhere, but I really loved it.
Other compliments I got lately that made my day.....
1. Hard hit of the night goes to Brandee (said by Eric, one of the self defense instructors, after fight night)
2. Your family is amazing!
3. Your kids are so talented and such godly kids.
4. Your family is wonderful and beautiful!
5.You look fabulous in that dress!
6. Oh no! She's back! No suiting up for you! (for second fight night)
7. You're so athletic! (that one made me laugh)
8. I want to be a wife and mother like you.
Something as simple as a compliment can really make someone's day. Compliment people on the good you see in them and their family, interior and exterior, and you will make their day. Doesn't matter if you know them or not. Who knows what good could be accomplished if we all did this more often. It just makes you feel happier, stronger, more confident, and blessed, and most of all loved.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
training
I am in training for life, for a couple of 5k runs, and for parenting. Neverending training. I have been diligently trying to train up children for 14 years now. Time is so fleeting. There is much training to do, and re-training, and doubling back to train the younger ones. Parenting is definitely not for the faint of heart, or for wimps who give up easily. You have to train to win this game.
I realized this past year that in 10 years they will all be gone and I will need to figure out who I am. That is when i began training my body. Never had much interest in exercise, but doing it on my own terms is kind of fun. I like to push myself. I like to see what I can become. And I still havent' bought a scale. I am training all of us to eat better foods and use more supplements to stay well rather than to head to the doc to treat illness.
I am training myself currently to be a mom of a teen driver, and in a few years to be a mother in law/grandma/empty nester. I can wait on those last three. Really. Not ready for that, but I am loving training for health.
Life is fast, life is good, life can be overwhelming if you don't take control of it and steer your destiny. But in the end, you just have to roll with it. God is the one in control.
I realized this past year that in 10 years they will all be gone and I will need to figure out who I am. That is when i began training my body. Never had much interest in exercise, but doing it on my own terms is kind of fun. I like to push myself. I like to see what I can become. And I still havent' bought a scale. I am training all of us to eat better foods and use more supplements to stay well rather than to head to the doc to treat illness.
I am training myself currently to be a mom of a teen driver, and in a few years to be a mother in law/grandma/empty nester. I can wait on those last three. Really. Not ready for that, but I am loving training for health.
Life is fast, life is good, life can be overwhelming if you don't take control of it and steer your destiny. But in the end, you just have to roll with it. God is the one in control.
Monday, April 22, 2013
WHIRLWIND
it was a massively busy week but very fun.
Today I am most tired.
I also decided to start running (and I use that term loosely) some 5Ks. My first is this coming Saturday. there are some ladies at church that are going to do these with me. It is a great way to have some fun while exercising.
So that is all I have to say because my brain is a bit fried after last week....now to teach PE, and give blood, and finish school...and oh yeah, the fridge had a water leak and destroyed the wood floor and kitchen linoleum so we have to shop for flooring and a new fridge tonight.
But in happy news the countdown is on for Florida beach time!!!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
You can't take It With You
Monday, April 8, 2013
NLD---Information on this disorder
Ever notice your child learning differently, responding/organizing information, communicating differently? We did. Found out through lots of personal research that this applies to one of ours. Life is not always easy, but it is joyous with this one! It is not treatable with medication or anything. You just have to recognize their weaknesses and work with them as best you can with love and patience and sometimes force them to think and act. Here is some basic info about Nonverbal Learning Disorder:
Its deficits are based in the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for understanding the spatial relationships between things. NLD manifests itself in children by making it difficult for them in several categories: fine motor skills, understanding what they see, drawing or writing what they see, remembering patterns in what they saw and organizing the information. NLD involves deficits in perception, coordination, socialisation, non-verbal problem-solving and understanding of humour, along with well-developed rote memory. People with this disability may misunderstand non-verbal communications, or they may understand the communications but be unable to formulate an appropriate response. They can be accused of being lazy or uncooperative. People with NLD, more than many others, fear failure. They may feel that they have to do too much at once, and then do not know where to start. This allows them to stagnate, and then do nothing. Sometimes they try to multitask and again end up doing nothing, which can lead to frustration. They may experience the world around them as a chaos, the actions that they must perform well and quickly creating a sense of helplessness. They can have problems with finding their way, remembering assignments. People with NLD can become confused and feel overwhelmed when the number and variety of nonverbal stimuli exceeds their processing abilities, especially when those stimuli must be processed in "real time." Knowing when and how to use physical contact and recognizing emotions in others can be problematic. They get lost, forget to do homework, seem unprepared for class, have difficulty following directions, struggle with math, can't read their social studies textbook, can't write an essay. They are hardworking, persistent, goal-oriented, and incredibly honest.
That is it in a nutshell. Some say there are OT things that can be done, games to play, ways to train them to think and organize, but they are who they are. Patience is key---sometimes a very difficult key. But the less frustrated they are, the better life will be. They just process things differently that the average person, and can get along well in life, just differently. The more abstract and chaotic the material/situation/information, the worse it can be, the more frustrated they are.
Its deficits are based in the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for understanding the spatial relationships between things. NLD manifests itself in children by making it difficult for them in several categories: fine motor skills, understanding what they see, drawing or writing what they see, remembering patterns in what they saw and organizing the information. NLD involves deficits in perception, coordination, socialisation, non-verbal problem-solving and understanding of humour, along with well-developed rote memory. People with this disability may misunderstand non-verbal communications, or they may understand the communications but be unable to formulate an appropriate response. They can be accused of being lazy or uncooperative. People with NLD, more than many others, fear failure. They may feel that they have to do too much at once, and then do not know where to start. This allows them to stagnate, and then do nothing. Sometimes they try to multitask and again end up doing nothing, which can lead to frustration. They may experience the world around them as a chaos, the actions that they must perform well and quickly creating a sense of helplessness. They can have problems with finding their way, remembering assignments. People with NLD can become confused and feel overwhelmed when the number and variety of nonverbal stimuli exceeds their processing abilities, especially when those stimuli must be processed in "real time." Knowing when and how to use physical contact and recognizing emotions in others can be problematic. They get lost, forget to do homework, seem unprepared for class, have difficulty following directions, struggle with math, can't read their social studies textbook, can't write an essay. They are hardworking, persistent, goal-oriented, and incredibly honest.
That is it in a nutshell. Some say there are OT things that can be done, games to play, ways to train them to think and organize, but they are who they are. Patience is key---sometimes a very difficult key. But the less frustrated they are, the better life will be. They just process things differently that the average person, and can get along well in life, just differently. The more abstract and chaotic the material/situation/information, the worse it can be, the more frustrated they are.
LTC photo time
Me, unloading.
Monday, April 1, 2013
LTC recap
So the weekend was a whirlwind of activity. the hotel was completely redone and gorgeous! It felt very modern and sleek. However, putting 7 people into a room with 2 beds is not going to work anymore. Next year we are going for 2 adjoining rooms with 2 beds each. More cost, but maybe we can sleep.
The kids studied hard and did really well, I thought. It was Jordan's first time and he was so excited he has decided to enter more things next year. With all that studying we got some good results, given that one has a processing disorder and one wasn't quite good at keeping the answer cube in place during the first round.
So here are the results.....
Jacob:
song leading-gold
drama-gold
chorus-silver
puppets-gold
bible bowl-individual silver, team silver?
art-gold
short film-gold
Emily:
chorus-silver
drama-unknown as of now
signing-gold
art-gold
bible bowl-individual gold-team gold
Elizabeth:
bible bowl-individual bronze, team bronze
drama-silver
puppets-gold
teaching-gold
Jordan:
bible bowl-individual bronze, team bronze
art-silver
It was tiring and fun. The best year we ever had, I think....On the way home we stopped at the Harbor in Rockwall to eat at Gloria's. YUM! And then just walked around in the breeze before going home. It was a good, busy weekend. We were tired, and spent Sunday at church, grandma's, then back home to make sandwiches, then back to church and then an awards ceremony.
And it is safe to say we are all looking forward to next year! Oh, no pictures???? Well, you see, I loaned my camera to my oldest girl who took some pics, but I haven't uploaded them yet.
The kids studied hard and did really well, I thought. It was Jordan's first time and he was so excited he has decided to enter more things next year. With all that studying we got some good results, given that one has a processing disorder and one wasn't quite good at keeping the answer cube in place during the first round.
So here are the results.....
Jacob:
song leading-gold
drama-gold
chorus-silver
puppets-gold
bible bowl-individual silver, team silver?
art-gold
short film-gold
Emily:
chorus-silver
drama-unknown as of now
signing-gold
art-gold
bible bowl-individual gold-team gold
Elizabeth:
bible bowl-individual bronze, team bronze
drama-silver
puppets-gold
teaching-gold
Jordan:
bible bowl-individual bronze, team bronze
art-silver
It was tiring and fun. The best year we ever had, I think....On the way home we stopped at the Harbor in Rockwall to eat at Gloria's. YUM! And then just walked around in the breeze before going home. It was a good, busy weekend. We were tired, and spent Sunday at church, grandma's, then back home to make sandwiches, then back to church and then an awards ceremony.
And it is safe to say we are all looking forward to next year! Oh, no pictures???? Well, you see, I loaned my camera to my oldest girl who took some pics, but I haven't uploaded them yet.
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