Tuesdays Unwrapped

Emily at Chatting at the Sky is doing a series of posts on celebrating the small things in life. I don't know about you, but I am usually so busy going from place to place and so focused on my to do list, that I usually don't take the time to notice the small things.

We had our monthly Moms Night Out with the homeschool group we are part of tonight. I am awful about finding a million different excuses for why I should not take time for me and spend a night with these moms. I love the company when I get there, but getting there is a hard thing for me. It's almost like going to the gym. I struggle with getting there, but once there I love it. We had a great time of food and fellowship. We even watched a short video "It's My Homeschool and I'll Cry if I Want To". That video had us all rolling. After it was over, one of the older moms asked to speak. She has children that are in college now and I love listening to her speak because I feel like she has so much knowledge. There are times along this journey that I have wondered if I am doing the right thing by homeschooling the kids. There are times I wonder if I am failing them. She told us tonight that she has wondered the same exact things. She has talked to her husband about it and he has told her to "examine the fruit". Those 3 words shook me to my core. There are times that I think maybe I am doing this for the wrong reasons and maybe I am going to ruin my kids. Those words reminded me how awesome my kids are. Those three words gave me so much validation. School is what could potentially ruin my children. I know it was killing Michael's quest for knowledge. That is the small thing that I am taking the time to celebrate today. The pleasure of being able to listen to a mom speak that has been in my shoes and was very successful homeschooling her children. That might be a small thing, but it has had a tremendous impact on my outlook.

Easter 2009

Better late than never, right? We had a funfilled Easter weekend with family and friends.

I think the Easter Bunny enjoyed trying to take Michael down. He almost succeeded!

Bella kept an eye on the bunny at all times.

Couch to 5K Week 1 Run 1 of 3

I have wanted to start jogging for awhile now, but have been chicken! I could come up with excuse after excuse why I shouldn't do it. I'm too big. My boobs are too big and will bounce too much. I will look funny. What if I fall? What if I sprain my ankle? What if my heart rate gets too high? What if I get so hot I get sick? I finally decided enough excuses. I would never know if I could run or not, if I didn't give it a try. A good friend of mine posted on Facebook that she was starting C25K to get back to running this spring after taking the winter off. I decided now was as good as a time as any to try to do it with her. We can inspire each other and hopefully provide some accountability for each other. After the 1st jogging session this afternoon, I so wanted to give up! But I knew if I didn't say anything about getting it done, Shannon would ask if I'd done it. I need that accountability! I need to know that I'll have to tell someone that I didn't do the workout, if asked. I did day one today and it was harder than I could have imagined. I had been telling myself that surely I can make it through 8 sessions of 60 seconds of jogging. It's only 60 seconds! How hard could that possibly be? HA! It was so hard that I didn't want to move after the 1st 60 seconds! I didn't want to take a single step, much less walk for 90 seconds then start up again! I hoped I would love it like I love the body combat class, but I didn't. My hope is that it will grow on me. I think as it gets a little easier and I'm not scared I'm going to fall flat on my face or on my butt, I'll be ok. The way I felt after I completed the session, I think, made up for the pain. When I left I was thinking that I didn't know how in the world I was going to make myself do it again on Friday. I feel differently now. I feel like I accomplished something. Yes, it was only 8 sessions of 60 seconds of jogging, but the idea of being able to run a 5K at the end of 9 weeks is an amazing feeling.

Stuff

We are coming to the end of the co-op spring semester and I have to say I am soooooooooo happy about it! I know the kids love it and I do love it, too, but I am looking forward to the break! I am trying to decide what classes I want to co teach or teach or be a helper in. I did not realize when I signed the kids up in the fall that I could help in one of the older kids classes and take Bella with me. I thought she would have to be in the nursery with her age, so I chose to be in the nursery with her. I have realized that babies and toddlers might not be the age group I enjoy working with. We have two more weeks and we will be done til after Labor Day.

I had a great workout today with Ernie. It was so much fun to be at the gym and workout with weights together. The gym is filling up with our family and church members that might as well be family. It is such a joy to go work out with them!

I'm starting to think about homeschooling next year and what worked and didn't work for us this year. I do think I will be making some changes. I think it will be good for all of us. I think I am going to try to plan a lot more in advance for our school days. I think it will be an awesome year!

The older two kids started an exercise class for kids at the gym this afternoon. They both loved it. I loved that I can count it as PE and that they are getting more activity! They love the nursery worker that's at the gym in the afternoons, so I am thrilled about that. It's so much easier to leave them if they are happy waiting for me to get done.

I cannot believe it's been almost a month since I last posted on here! March was an extremely busy month for us. I will be very happy to see April roll in tomorrow!

Fun Lessons!

I learned that I can survive Ernie and Michael going to a computer thing from 2PM-11PM Friday and 8AM-11PM Saturday without losing my mind. I so look forward to the weekends and having some help with this sweet, very active baby girl. I didn't have it this past weekend. I survived!

I learned that I'm not shielding my real self from others the way I thought I was to keep myself from getting hurt. I am finding myself opening up and trusting after swearing I would not do that again after having who I am attacked by the person I thought was my closest girlfriend. I was reminded this week that some people are only in your life for a season.

I learned that I am still having major issues saying no when someone invites me to something or asks me to do something. I thought I had learned to put myself first, but obviously I have not, yet.

I learned that I have absolutely no self control when Girl Scout cookies are around!

I learned that Annalee enjoys helping sort and get her cookies ready for delivery.

I learned that I cannot drink coke all weekend because I was stressed and eat Girl Scout cookies and expect to see the numbers go down or even stay the same on the scale. I was up 4 pounds this morning!!! NOT a good way to start my day! I burned 1200 calories at the gym this evening, though. Hopefully that'll be a start to getting them off!

Those were my biggies for the week. For more things learned this week, check out Musings of a Housewife.

Sweet Bella and Bullseye

Bella loves the cat! He is so sweet with her and will be still and let her pet him til her heart's content. She was trying to pick him up yesterday. Considering they probably weigh close to the same weight, it was funny to watch!

We've had a pretty laid back week here this week. Michael has taken 3 sick days and skipped doing school work. It's the first sick days he's taken off this year, so I've tried to be laid back and not uptight about it. If he was going to school, I'm sure he would've missed much more than that from being sick. We took a break from co-op this week. The doctor told him to stay in and rest all week this week, so that's most of what we've been doing. Bella is walking all over the house this week. It is so fun to sit and watch her! I do think we are going to have to baby proof even more, though. The house has been baby proofed for a couple of years since I kept kids in the house, but I've never put latches on kitchen drawers. The cabinets are all latched, but she's trying to open drawers! Fun times! We are really enjoying her exploring.

What I learned this week...

1.) Three doctor's visits in two weeks is NOT a good thing!

2.) It is miserable to have the flu and mono at the same time... ask Michael.

3.) It is hard to try to keep the other kids away from the sick one all of the time!

4.) Family is amazing, loving, kind, eager to help if I would just simply ask for what I need.

5.) Ernie is my rock when I am weary, anxious and even downright mean.

6.) I'm thinking I might need to research or find a book or cd or transcript or something where Joyce Meyer talks about approval addiction that Michele mentioned in a comment. I am thinking that fits me to a T.

7.) Midnight to 2AM when up with a wide awake, but happy baby, is a great time to do some deep thinking and self examination.

8.) It is possible to only sleep for 3 hours and get up and make it to Body Combat, even though I stumbled in 20 minutes late this morning!

9.) It doesn't kill me to go to the front of the room for Body Combat when all of the back spots are taken. Not too long ago, I would have looked in the window and settled for the treadmill instead of going into the class and working out in the front.

10.) Ernie mentioned I'm more self confident after I've been to the gym, so I guess it's not just the way I feel, he can see it. That alone is worth going whether I'm dropping weight quickly or not!

11.) Somethings(people) simply are not the way they appear.

This month has been packed full of lessons in my life. I'm praying March will be some easier, less serious lessons! To see what others have learned this week, check out the carnival at Musings of a Housewife!