Counting Blessings

As I think back on 2011, I realize that it has been an amazingly great year for me and my family. Here are some things that made it great.

1. I lived in Hawaii

Here we are celebrating our 2 year Hawaiiversary

2. Rand had/has a great job that he loves that brings in enough money for us to make ends meet every month and even save some for fun stuff like traveling.
3. We moved to the faculty townhouses where we plan to live for the foreseeable future. (meaning we have no plans to move anytime soon!)
4. We were able to decorate our new house in a way that makes me happy and feels like home.
5. We were able to rent our downstairs bedroom to students which has helped us to save more money for traveling and has taken the pressure off of me feeling like I needed to try to get a job.  I had been stressing about this since I didn't think I could work and homeschool the kids.
6.  We have been healthy.
7.  The girls are improving academically.
8.  The girls are thriving socially.
9.  After 15 years, Rand and I may have figured out this marriage thing and spent this 16th year having fun and loving each other more each day.

10. We were able to travel to the mainland this summer visiting family and taking the girls to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and NYC.

11. I was able to take a trip to visit my best friend in Las Vegas after not seeing her for 2 years.

12. After 8 years, I have finally figured out this homeschooling thing with curricula and a schedule that works,  making my life much less stressful.
13. I have been able to keep motivated to exercise regularly.
14.  I have made some new good friends this year whose husbands get along with my husband and whose kids get along with my kids and who keep me motivated to exercise (see #13).
15. I was able to be in our university's production of A Winter's Tale.  It was so fun to be in a play after an eight year hiatus.

16. And just a week before the end of 2011, I tried surfing and I like it!

Here's to 2012 being even more awesome!

Around the World with Sculpey

My oldest daughter loves Sculpey and her favorite thing to make is little dolls.  She has amassed quite a collection including dolls representing cultures from around the world.  When we moved I decide to make a display of her dolls and our world map.

Here it is (forgive the terrible lighting)

And here are some of the dolls up close.

China

Hawaii (of course)

Africa

The more things change, the more things stay the same part 3

Kali in a box 2001

Kali in a box 2011

Part 1
Part 2

Why I love having older kids

Don't get me wrong I LOVE babies.  Their soft heads and squishy thighs and sweet baby smell. I love them so much that I was worried that I would keep wanting to have more and more babies. But alas the baby hunger stopped after 3 babies.

And toddlers are just so cute.

And preschoolers.  Oh, preschoolers are so much fun!

But older kids and teenagers, yikes, teenagers...  I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out they are still pretty cute and they are lots of fun and....

• They can carry on real conversations.
• They can clean up after themselves - with reminders ; )
• They don't fight bedtime 
• They can be left home alone while you go shopping, exercise, go to a girls' night out, go on a date!
• They can help out with the household chores.
• They are more fun than work while camping or traveling.

Yep, having older kids is great.  They no longer let you smell their soft heads or squish their thighs, but they are so much less work.  And I am really enjoying watching them grow and mature. It is really amazing to see the people they are becoming.

Just Because

I was sorting through my pictures and found this one of Kali.  Isn't she pretty? And sandy...

Homeschool Schedule 2011

I am tempted to just copy and paste our schedule from last year because things haven't changed much.  In fact, I think I will and I will just make changes as needed.

7:00am  - I attempt to get out of bed.  This is a half hour earlier than last year.
7:30am - I go to gym to use elliptical machine
8:15 am  - Meet friends for weight training.  This is a recent addition.  I am hoping it will help spark some weight loss and it is fun to be with other women for a while each morning.
9 am - return from home, eat breakfast, computer time (Kids are awake by this time and are eating breakfast and watching TV)
9am - school starts - girls work on independent work while I finish up on computer and do other morning chores, such as start laundry and tidying up a bit. I am often called over to answer questions.
10 am  - I take a shower, put away laundry, more tidying, more questions
10:30 am - Read aloud (or, as has been happening lately because we no longer spend much time in the car, listening to book on tape)
11:00 am - "mom school" time - M and W - history, T - science, Th - depends on my mood (poetry, extra history books from the library, art, etc.) F - is our short day if we get all our work done or is a catch up day, if we miss another day during the week.
12:00 - lunch
1:00 pm - girls finish independent work
2:00 pm -school's out
after school - play with friends, instrument lessons, choir.  Sierra tried an art class, but didn't like it.  Kali and Arwen have been taking a dance class.  


This schedule has been working great almost 2 years now.  I am starting to feel a need for some tweaking. When I don't get in the shower until 10 am, I don't have time to do anything with my hair.  I end up just twisting it up and letting it air dry.  That works fine for Hawaii, but I often feel like a slob all day.  So I want to try and work on getting a shower earlier.  


Also, I am feeling like I need to give my girls more individual attention.  I spend time with them in the morning and afternoon on an as needed basis, but there is often much distraction (either from the other girls or because I am looking at the computer...).  I want to find a time to have a scheduled "meeting" time with them to focus on areas where they need help or to discuss what they are reading on their own.  I am trying to decide whether I should meet with them each once a week on Friday (our short day) or for 10 - 15 minutes each day. If I meet with them each day, I will have to cut something out.  I am thinking of cutting out our listening to book on CD time after we finish our current book. I think this meeting time will be even more important as Sierra does more independent work as a high schooler next year, so I'll have to figure something out. We'll have to see what works best.  I'll keep you posted. 

The Lost Tablet

It's Fall Break for the public schooled kids here on the island.  Yes, they get a fall break. Yes, already.  They actually started the school year at the beginning of August, so I guess now is as good of a time as any for a break.  For the last few years during the break, some moms have put together a play.  The first year I asked if my homeschooled kids could participate and they were happy to let them, especially since I volunteered to help direct ;)

I have to admit that it is almost as fun for me as it is for the kids.  It has been really fun to have a creative outlet, even if it is only once a year.  It really works out well because we rehearse and perform the play in just one week. So I get to immerse myself for a short period of time and then go back to my regular life. This year it was about a month of work because I helped coordinate a group of teenagers who wrote scenes for the play.

In the end we had a play about kids from Laie who went on a quest to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to gather pieces of a tablet that would restore world peace once brought together.

Kali played Artemis and sang a beautiful solo.

Arwen was an Egyptian and did a really cool dance

And Sierra wrote the Egyptian scene.

Here she is with one of  her Egyptains which she called her minions.