Too Busy

I just filled in my calendar for the month of September. I have something going on everyday besides school. I am thinking I need to rethink some of the things I signed up for and remove a lot. I just told the lady at church who is in charge of women's Bible study that I would be going, but I am thinking now I will have to back out. I have to get school with the kids done and with everything going on I don't think that a hour and a half away on Tuesday mornings is going to be a positive thing this year.
I also signed the boys up for some ICN classes at the library and that is taking time away from schooling also. I know that the classes are educational, but I also don't want them getting used to running everywhere and not staying home. I have friends who home school that are always on the run and now their kids expect to be gone all the time and she wonders why. I am a home body and don't like running all over the place.
Corrisa has chorus which is fine, but the librarian always wants her to help out with preschool story time. Elijah goes, but Corrisa is also old enough to stay at home and get her school work done while I am at the library with him. I don't know. It seems like every year I start out with good intentions, but something back fires.
The kids go to the supervising teacher for 3 hours each week which also is taking a lot of time away. They go every Tuesday morning for an hour at 8 a.m. and then again on Thursday morning from 11-12. Miles stays from 12-1 on Thursday afternoons to get extra reading help. I am thinking I may need to do a every other week thing instead of every week.
I am sure it will all work out. I think I am just feeling overwhelmed with looking at the calendar. We are in walking distance of everything which helps save on gas.
I got some free school books from a teacher in the district. She gets new books every couple of years and has lots of good books that never got used and she gives them away. I got some and she has a whole storage area filled with more so I will get more. That really helps on having to buy books.
My toe is feeling much better today. It still hurts, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.
Hope you all have a great week. I will be busy, but am feeling the Lord's presence.

First Week of School

The first week of school was pretty much uneventful. I can not wait for Mark to go back to work because he throws every body's schedules off. He is always willing to let the kids stay up and play video games or something stupid even after I tell them to go to bed. He has been staying up all night playing video games and then going to bed when we start school.
I went to pick up Elijah's comp notebook at the preschool on Monday and they said to go ahead and bring him to school. So Elijah is going to preschool Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week. Luckily we only live a couple of blocks away from the preschool so we can walk as long as it is nice out. I forgot to say that he got his preschool grant back so everything worked out fine there.
Corrisa is doing chorus at the middle school. She loves to sing and so we let her stay in chorus, but she did have to give up piano because we can't afford it this year.
Miles, Briley, and Gabe had to give up soccer for the fall season because we couldn't afford that either. They didn't seem too upset by it.
I broke my toe yesterday and it hurts bad. I walked to pick up Elijah from school and walked the kids to the library and by the time I got home I didn't think I was going to be able to walk anymore. In fact I thought one of the kids was going to have to run ahead and get Mark to pick me up.
Mark started cleaning out our garage yesterday. He had me go through some of the old toy totes and throw away toys that were broken or that I didn't want anymore. It probably would have been easier if I didn't have 3 boys outside telling me that they wanted this or that. I didn't throw away much, but I didn't switch out some of the toys that have been out for some that have been put away for a while. I now have peace and quite because they are all in the toy room playing with all the "new" toys. Markus is even having fun because we found two old cell phones for him to play with.
Corrisa is upstairs going through all her clothes and getting out what she doesn't want or what doesn't fit her. That is always a fun time a year. It is almost as good as clothes shopping. It is too warm yet to switch out the boys clothes so I think I will wait another month. I am going to switch my summer church clothes for fall clothes. It is really too late in the year to wear my light colored outfits anymore and I miss my winter/fall clothes.
I think that is all the latest on the family. Hopefully I can keep everybody updated more regularly. I know that it will start getting busier once we get into church group meetings and Bible studies and such. We have our church's conference coming up in a couple of weeks. That is always a refreshing time of year.
Have a great week and holiday weekend.

How low can they go?

I am seeing red now. First off I want to say that I was over the kids not going to school. God had a different plan than I did. To rekindle the fire though, the school district decided to stripe Elijah of his preschool grant. They notified me by mail in July saying we were getting it and they today sent a letter saying he wasn't. I just took his supplies in yesterday. I paid for him to get a check-up which I couldn't afford and now this. How low can the school district go?
I was signed up for the home school assist program, but not now. I don't want the school district getting a penny for any of my kids. I have an email sent to a friend of mine who home schools to see if she can be my supervising teacher. If not there are a few other options in the area. I went from being sad, to peaceful, to irate in a mater of days. What makes it worse is that the kids love the supervising teacher we have through the district. She is super easy to work with and she is very helpful.
I feel like my whole life is caving in on me. We have no money. I am getting disconnect notices for everything. My phone has already been disconnected. My husband can't keep a job and now wants to travel far away because he thinks he can make more money elsewhere. Life really sucks.

New update

The kids aren't going to school now. I can't get free lunches and when my husband can't stay with a job long enough to get bills caught up then you can't send kids to school. I am so mad and upset. I was really looking forward to having time to myself for the year. I can't write anymore right now. I am very sad. Have a great week.

Well

Well, Mark has changed his mind and decided to let me put the kids in regular school for the year. I am very excited and relieved to say the least. This is for only a year so that we can all get refocused on what God wants us to do in our lives. Corrisa is still only going part time, but the 3 oldest boys will be going full time. I am looking forward to a year of building my relationship with the Lord and trying to destress my life. I have the backing of my pastor who is going to home school his own children and that really means a lot to me. I think he knows that I need a break.
Anyway, just wanted to update everybody on our situation. I have a busy next couple of days. I have to get school supplies and shoes. I have to take Elijah for his preschool physical and shots. Take Corrisa to find out where her classes will be and sign the boys up for school. Have a great week everybody.

Finally Finished

Well, I finally finished my project room today. It took way longer then I expected it too and I am so glad it is done. I got all the dressers moved in and most the toys. My husband quit his job last week so he was here and decided that we needed to move our old couch from the porch into the room and add the old big t.v. instead of the little 14 inch that the boys had. I couldn't get all the toys into the room because of Mark's change in my plans. So now I have to store all the toys and the toy table. I am hoping to get all the rest of the house in order because school starts next week.
I will try to get some pictures up of the room so those who have seen the room before can see the difference that the yellow paint made to the room. Much better then the ugly old wallpaper from before. Well, I am going to hit the sack. Have a great week everybody.

Corrisa

Well, my daughter had her 14th birthday on 8-8-08. Pretty exciting date I must say. She passed her driver's permit test today. She is so excited to start driving. I was never excited to drive and actually hated it until I was in my mid 20's and had to drive from North Platte, NE to Omaha or Boone, IA on a regular basis. My mom couldn't believe I would do it because I was always looking for somebody to drive me places when I was younger. Now I drive everywhere by myself with all the kids. Doesn't even bug me.
Anyway, back to Corrisa. She can't wait to get behind the wheel of a car. I already told her that I wasn't driving with her she has to have her dad or Mark go with her. I know my mom and sister want an experience with her too. Mom, I hope you are prepared for this you are not as young as you used to be. I have seen her drive a car on video games and she is terrible at those. Haha.
With all the uncles and my sister and 2 dads she has plenty of people to drive with and I think you have to have so many hours of driving experience before you can take driver's education anymore. She is thinking she is going to get an expensive and nice car when she turns 16, but the only one who is for that is Mark and well he doesn't always think clearly. I figure a car that can get her and her brother to her dad's every other weekend is good enough. My first car was $200 and it served its purpose just fine. Wasn't pretty, but kids don't need pretty when they will driving in the high school parking lot with a bunch on inexperienced and immature drivers.
Anyway, wanted to update everybody and for warn you all that the road is now not quite as safe as it was this morning. If any of my family members feel the need to drive with my daughter I will not be held accountable for any extra hospital bills because you have a heart attach or stroke. Love ya all.

Crazy busy

Well, I haven't had and still don't have Internet. I am borrowing my husband's laptop so that I can check my e-mail and such. We have been busy. Corrisa spent her week with my cousin and enjoyed it a lot. I still haven't got to see her quilt because it was at the quilters when she left, but we will soon see it. I am sure it is lovely. I will post pictures as soon as we get it.
I enrolled Corrisa in school part time. The boys will remain here with me except Elijah who will be attending preschool.
Miles, Gabe, and Eli have been with Nana and Papa Sharp for the past week and a half. They made a sudden request for the boys and so they have them until this weekend. Then we will be starting school.
Briley and I started working on his room last week. We got the five layers of wallpaper removed and started the primer. Corrisa and I are finishing up the painting. We got the ceiling done and the first layer on the walls. It is coming a long pretty good considering the walls are in pretty bad shape. I wish I hadn't removed the paper. Oh well as Mark says it is a learning experience. We decided we would put all the boys in one room and put the toys and dressers in the freshly painted room.
Corrisa took her permit test today. She missed 2 too many. She wasn't too disappointed, but wants to go and retake it tomorrow. We will see.
I have to get the boys signed up for soccer. It starts on Monday so I can't put it off anymore. Corrisa was going to play, but has since changed her mind. She is planning on doing basketball though.
Markus is growing so fast. He jabbers all the time. Can't understand anything he says, but he knows and we respond just like we do know what he is saying. We say he is built like Miles, talks like Gabe, and has Elijah's attitude. He cut two more bottom teeth so we are up to 8 teeth. Doesn't bug me unless he bites me. He eats anything you put in front of him. He is a pretty happy little guy.
Elijah has been wanting to catch a caterpillar all summer and before he left he finally got one. He was so excited. He put it in his little box he made a VBS. He stared at that thing all day. He wanted to watch it shed its skin. The morning after he found it it was in a cocoon. We are still waiting for it to come out. We are pretty sure it is some type of moth. I hope it stays put until he gets back or he may be disappointed.

Well, I think that is all that has been going on here lately. Have a great rest of the week.