Better now...

Well, we have a few weeks of homeschooling under our belts and it's going much better. I stopped trying to fill the entire morning with stuff, but realized that we really can get it all done in a couple hours and that's OK. I also learned that it's sometimes a very good idea to stop in the middle of what we're doing, put on our shoes and take a walk. When attention spans are non-existant and the attitude goes south, a change of scenery and some fresh air does a world of good! For everyone involved!

Frustration!

It's Monday of our second week of kindergarten and I'm FRUSTRATED! DS has a horrible attitutde. He acts tired and mopey whenever we do something he doesn't really want to do. As soon as he has a break and can do what he wants, he seems to have plenty of energy. I think I'm doing interesting, age-appropriate things with plenty of breaks and short periods of time... Today we did some phonics (only about 10-15 minutes worth), some writing (just his name and phone number), story time, math, learned about Africa a little, did 5 minutes of science and then acted out the different jobs in a grocery store. I feel like I'm pulling out teeth! What am I doing wrong? He wanted to skip school or at least be done early. I reminded him that most other kids his age get shipped off to school in the morning and aren't done with school until the afternoon. They don't get to play with their siblings or their own toys. Maybe we just need more time to get into the rhythm of it all. Ugh.

Winner!

DH won first in his category, and we suspect he was second in line for best ship. The guy who did get best ship also won best in show over 2500 models. It's nice to be home, but somewhat of a difficult adjustment, especially for our tired kids!

Time to hit the beach!

I've never been much of a beach bum, but the beach here is great! The water is warm and doesn't have all the seaweed that I'm used to at a New England beach. It's a blast to ride the waves and let them carry you along. I even tried "surfing" with DD's little pink floatie-ring last night! It probably looked silly to see a grown woman laying on the little thing in the water, but who cares! It was very fun. Tonight we find out how Joe's model did at the contest. There are SO MANY ships! They judged last night and likely split up the categories further, which will affect how he does. He would love to get "best ship" but even winning 1st in his category would be an honor with all the great stuff that's out there.

Yesterday we went on the battleship USS Wisconsin and to the children's museum in Portsmouth. It's a really nice area here. We feel like with all the history, we could spend weeks going through everything! Hopefully the nationals will be back here in a few years and Joe will have 3 weeks vacation.

Virginia Beach - We Made it!

After a car ride that took considerably longer than it was supposed to, we are happily landed in Virginia Beach, VA, where DH is competing in the IPMS National model contest. The trip took longer because just outside Charleston, WV, a chemical truck overturned on the highway, causing it to close for many hours. Normally, when a highway closes, you get off at the first exit and find another road, right? Well, not in the mountains of West Virginia. We scooted down the breakdown lane for a mile or so and got off at the next exit. There was only one other road - a small two lane thing that went through a mining town. And everyone else was trying to get through the same little road! So, that wasn't much better. We prayed and prayed, asking God to get us out of there.

After a little bit, one basic need became aparent. I had to use a bathroom and soon! There were no restaurants and no gas stations. There were mining opperations all around, so ducking into the woods didn't seem to be a very private option. Just as the situation was appraoching critical, I noticed a lone port-a-potty on the side of the road! We pulled out of traffic and found that it was unlocked and even relatively sanitary! Hah! God answers prayer. After we all used that, we noticed on the car's nav system (praise God for that, by the way!) that there was a TINY little road that paralleled the one we were on. We found it - no more than a one lane alley behind a row of run down houses. But it worked! We saved some time by goin around the mess of traffic that way.

Pretty soon that ran out and we had to rejoin the endless line of traffic inching along the road. We felt stuck to the point of despair. Were we going to send the night there? In the car? It was about 5pm by this time. Traffic strted moving a little better once town officials overrode the traffic light ahead of us and we slowly made it to a fork in the road. Everyone was going straight, rather than turning right. We prayed for wisdom and took the "road less traveled". We flew! We were out! We were able to reconnect with the highway past the point tht it was closed. We had the highway completely to ourselves for many miles. We found out later that the highway was backed up for 12 miles! We passed about 6 miles of vehicles which were parked on the highway.

God certainly provided for us, even if He didn't make the mess miraculously go away. He provided for us in the midst of it.

Here's a picture of us after we got out!

Flies, anyone?

I'm insane. Someone please take me to the funny farm. I've been spending inordinate amounts of time and creative energy trying to catch a small fly, moth or mosquito to feed our frog that has recently emerged from tadpole-dom. I've been scanning our garage, staring at the walls of our house and now I even set some "bait" of cheese crackers on our deck. I almost caught one... I hope the neighbors don't see me creeping around with a kid's bug-catcher in my hand. Part of it is that I'm cheap. With gas just under $4 a gallon and we're about to go on vacation, I don't want to make a special trip to the pet store to buy live baby crickets that I could probably catch in my own yard (hopefully). The mother in me can't stand to think that the tiny guy is hungry. Oh well, wish me luck or it's off to the pet store we go!

Boys will be boys?

A curious thing has begun to happen with my 5 year old DS. He's obsessed with soldiers and military things. I have no idea where it came from, since he's had little to no exposure to it. Last weekend, we had our pastor and his family over for dinner. They have four boys, ages 5-10. They all played in the back yard while the adults talked inside. We looked out at one point and all the kids were sitting in a semi-circle around my DS (the youngest boy there) and he seemed to be giving out orders. Later, they were all saluting him. We asked him after they left what he was playing. He said that they were soldiers and he was the captain. Huh? How did he learn that?

I talked to a friend recently about it and her advice was "Don't fight it. It's built into them. They don't have to get it from anywhere." She said that with her 3 year old son, when he starts playing soldier, she emphasizes that he's the protector or the hero. I like that. That is how God made males, right? They're the protectors - why not encourage that? Vanquishing the bad guys. Why fight it. Dobson says that if you take every weapon away from your boys, they'll turn a peanut butter sandwich into a gun.

Spring - hurray!

I think we've finally made it to spring - more or less. Today was in the mid to upper 70s and the kids played in the sprinkler for the second day in a row. Unfortunately, the winds have now changed to the north so it's dropped drastically. Tomorrow is going to be cool, but then we're back up to the 70s.

DS is now into soldiers. Being Memorial Day, that was pretty appropriate. He was wondering if there's a such thing as "army cows". Nope, sorry, son. Boys must have that battle stuff born into their genes or something because he's been hardly exposed to it at all. Oh well.

As for writing, I need FOCUS! What do I work on next? Do I spend a lot of time revising "Trouble the Water" with the things my critique group found? Do I plow ahead with my new project? Work on magazine articles? All of it? Ugh.

Until next time...
Amy

Not really spring yet...

My poor kids are getting so impatient for warmer weather! It was in the 40s last week and DS was able to play in the sandbox on the deck and in the front yard on bikes. But, now we're back to 30s. Boohoo! It's St. Patrick's Day and Easter is this weekend, but it sure doesn't feel like it! We're all very ready for some warmer weather!

Our neighbors next door are moving out on Friday and the new ones moving in sometime after April 1. It's always a bit of a nervous mystery who we'll get next door! Neighbors can really make or break things. We're praying for Christian neighbors. It might be nice to break up the little clique that's so embedded in our immediate group of houses. I hope they like fireworks, too...

I read an Easter book with the kids this morning and it prompted lots of questions from DD in particular. "Does Jesus have a Mommy?" "Does He have a Daddy?" "Why is His face bruised?" "Why did He die on a cross?" It's so cool to see them starting to ask such great questions. DS knew a lot of the answers, which was also very encouraging.

I'm feeling somewhat stalled in my writing. What do I do next? I submitted an article to Brio and started working on a creation/evolution one for them, but I'm afraid it's going to be to "heady". I feel paralyzed by the Greenland project. Ugh. So, I've been trying to do better writing in things like this blog, as well as the kids' journals. It doesn't all have to be about me. How about that for revolutionary!

It's Been a While!

Well, I sure have been a slacker in keeping up this blog! I even forgot what I called it... We're anxiously awaiting spring. The ground is still snow-covered and it's around 10 degrees today. Ugh!

We've been taking a break from school, lately. We've had so much going on with MOPS and errands and all. I feel so unorganized, anyway. I have trouble knowing what to do next. My mind is so focused on the fall and what Kindergarten is going to look like that it's hard to focus on the "now". We still try to have educational discussions are go about the day. DS was asking about his adult teeth today, and we got onto a discussion about bones and how many we have. Biology 101!

Daddy worked from home for a couple weeks and just went back to the office a couple days ago. DS is still adjusting. A big hug from Mom seemed to help this morning. I did something right!

In my writing, I have another article under contract with "Encounter". Yay! "Trouble the Water" is at Moody Publishers now, and here I wait for 4 months, at least. I think I have all the revisions done, though. Now I'm trying to figure out where to go next. I've been reading "For the Write Reason" and been reminded that I need to seek God as to what He wants me to focus on. What does He want with this writing ability? Do I focus on writing articles for Christian teen magazines, where I've had the most success? I could branch out to more magazines. Or I could start another historical fiction, such as the Greenland idea. That's daunting. The research behind that idea still freaks me out. What does God have for me to write?

Be back soon, I hope!