Yet Another Desperate Attempt to Catch Up

Wow. I am just a pathetic blogger. Apologies to all you adoring fan(s). I finally cleaned off our camera after we ran out of memory (we had pictures going back to February!). Everyone is either gone or asleep, and I'm awake, so since the planets seem to be aligned I'm going to take advantage of this rare occurrence!

All hail, King Joseph!

So, obviously we're not dead yet. We've just been sucked into that swirling vortex known as The School Year. Wait, I thought homeschooling was supposed to be relaxed, flexible, customizable, and all those happy go-with-the-flow things?


must... keep... straight... face.... Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa!!!!! Who am I kidding? Any family that is certifiably insane enough to assume the full-time task of educating its youngest members is destined to be suck into the educational vortex for a couple months. School itself only takes up about 3 hours of every day -- even less, excluding breaks. But there are weekly library trips, field trips, CCD, co-op classes on Thursdays, art projects, science projects, plus all the usual homemaking stuff like cooking and dishes and laundry and housecleaning and phone calls and doctor appointments....


So, yeah, that's where I've been the last couple months. Not that I'm complaining. Life is very full right now -- in a good way.



(Speaking of pathetic -- our garden's yield this year. I'm finally coming to grips with the realization that I just do not have a green thumb.)

One thing I've learned in the last few months is that I need to take better care of myself. Why do we mothers think that by completely sacrificing ourselves, we're doing our families a favor? I'm not being a good mother when I stay up late at night, even if it's doing something important (and not just watching free movies on Netflix). ;) Our daughters are watching us, and learning what it means to be a woman through our example. I don't want to appear tired, frumpy, and run-down on all time. My family is not forcing me into slavery -- I'm doing it to myself. So I've taken Mr. Pickles up on his many offers to take time off. Often I go shopping (SOMEONE has to support this economy!), :) sometimes I'll just go to a bookstore or the library. Another mom and I have also worked out an arrangement where we trade off babysitting each week. I've had to use most of my days so far for medical appointments, but once I did get a haircut and go to the mall. I'm learning to squeeze in these little breaks that I now know are so important -- I'd lost sight of who I was outside of Homeschooling Homemaker. I'm much more at peace with my life and children, now that I know I don't have to surrender everything I am to them.

Another benefit is that the kids get more time with just Daddy. Daddy is fun. He takes them to parks and McDonalds and all those fun things that their mean mommy NEVER does. :)


Ah, playground static!



Why yes, I do have monkeys for children.

Sigh... the baby is getting so big...