Robin's Nest

This morning was a bit strange around the yellow house. I decided not to go into work early as I knew I had to stay late... so why bother right? The littles woke early too and I marked the workbook pages and to my surprise they grabbed their books and complained how much homework that they had as they started writing out the answers! Teen years will be a blast! My sister from Oklahoma is coming to visit this month. I just told the littles and they are so excited! She is bringing two baby ducks so we must get a pond ready for the little quackers or they will try to swim in our pool. The last two that we had did that and it was a challenge to keep them out of the pool. Mostly I wasn't able to keep them out, then one day they were missing. We don't live in a suburb so assumed the circle of life had taken it's course and they had become lunch. About two months later I was cleaning the attic room... for what I do not know, and I ran across a dead rat in a cage. That'

Chaos! This is a daily event at the yellow house. Just when I think I am getting up waaay ahead of the rest of the house... the five year old notices and the day begins with a bang. A bang and a crash and of course a spill. Good Morning! And where is my phone... again I am perplexed at how I can put something in a spot or so I think I did. I had it when I got up, even sent some messages this morning. My best guess is that it has been taken by a small child and not to be surrendered until dead. The new set up of having the two tower computers in the kitchen for the kids to do "work" on is not working out that well. So today I am rearranging ... again. I miss the dining room table so off with the computers and back to school desks for those. The games are going back into the cabinet where they were stored before and a lock is going on the door when I am not here to supervise. There are two 2.5 gallon zip lock bags with game pieces in them from the last two "sessions&qu

This morning thumbing through the latest curriculum that was purchased, disappointment tried to sneak it's ugly veil over me. The books were chosen because this is the same curriculum that we used for number 7 & 8 in the beginning. Then I started reading the teacher's book and realized DH is not going to read this nor follow any of the activities that are suggested. This solidifies my thoughts that evening shift is the way I need to go or Baylor's for the time being.  There were doubts as to whether the girls are getting enough and looking through these books assured me we are doing okay. It's not perfect but Free style isn't failing. We won't do all the things in these manuals because we actually have covered a lot of it without clear guidelines. We will be sticking to the basics and plugging along. Reading what others have done can be inspiring and frustrating knowing we aren't doing that yet and may not get there. It has been a very busy week!

The morning comes and as a usual weekday it is way too early for me.  But get up and get started I do, because things will happen if I don't ... bad things like flooding sinks and milk on the carpet LOL. this morning we are having French toast sticks and DH thinks I have time to fill out paperwork for the charter school he wants the girls in. I am not sure on the charter school thing. Yes I wonder constantly if they are getting enough school work here at home and yes I know they do not always. (hmm wonder why...) But I am not ready nor are they to plunge into that get up and get moving on someone else's terms. Especially with this stuff on the ground! We have curriculum all over this house and it won't teach itself.  On my days off I do what I can we usually spend 6-8 hours doing "school" to make up for the time missed while I am at work. As I get ready to walk out the door this morning I hear yelling upstairs and I go to check on it. Oh the morning radio ne

It was a cold morning to start out and only got worse... reference a former post with warm weather and it makes the day seem even colder. But I had a plan or so I thought. I had a plan yesterday too... that didn't work out so hot.. but that was a different circumstance all together. Based one the events of yesterday at work I went home and got a little crazy with the "cooking". I think it is one way I am able to de-stress and I NEEDED to de-stress!  My first thought yesterday morning before anything happened was "I am going to make egg noodles for dinner tonight" I actually thought about it very early in the morning so it lingered :) Egg noodles are a found memory from childhood and they aren't hard to make just a bit time consuming. When my grandmother lived with us she would make them for us. She baked a lot it seemed like any way. She made a biscuit like treat called "bukti" some of them she filled with cottage cheese and others with jelly

This work day started like any other in my life lately. I got up made the kids breakfast, folded a load of laundry, placed another in the dryer.  Gathered up what I felt I needed for the day and gave the girls their worksheets for the day asked DH to please help them with the tasks. As I headed into the job that I just fought for last week after seeing it posted online, I wondered why I did that. Was it because I really want the job, was it because I was not too happy to see it was posted and I am in the position already? Perhaps I just like a good challenge and fighting to keep the position I am in seemed the right thing to do at the time. I do know I care about these people and there has been so much change in the last 10 months I really don't know how they would react. As I drove towards town part of me felt uneasy, not up to the task of defending my ground. After all it was ground I really didn't mind the idea of giving up two months ago. The feeling was just not going

Today not much got done except gathering eggs and cooking dinner. Oh and writing to a Gramma! Now this Gramma is out of our state and a certain someone likes to mail her copy work every once in a while. This requires a large manila envelope instead of a standard #10 envelope. The postage is always iffy on these so instead of making a trip to the post office that is 22 miles away we can put the package in the mailbox and the carrier will pick it up weigh it and leave us a note on how much is due. For some reason I cannot make it any easier to understand. The 7 year old has learned that you put a stamp on things before they go into the mailbox (my fault entirely). Now she cannot wrap her brain around it being okay to put something in there without said stamp. Here is the youngest watching the rooster from her own "roost"! Adapt and overcome! Currently they are making a story with stickers. But the questions repeat about whether the lady in the red truck will take the lette

For three months now we have had a birthday or two or three to celebrate in this here house. It is fun when it happens and sometimes it is even organized and the birthday person gets a cake and the meal of their choice. Most times it takes me by surprise and I am scrambling to get it together the day of. Even worse I end up working on their special day and things get pushed back. That was the deal for my youngest son for 18+ years. I was inevitably in the field on his special day :(  For now there is a new youngest and I have not been to the field since her arrival. Those days are behind me and although I cherish the times I had back then, it is time to move on. This youngest is having a very difficult time waiting for her June birthday to arrive and the one just in front of her has a birthday this week. Since we remain in connection with their birth families they get extra things in the mail from them and she is having a hard time accepting that the next package arriving is probably

Working full time sometimes leaves me exhausted and the last thing I want to do when I get home is deal with whining. But indeed that is usually what I come home to. My goal for April was to trim the whining to two days a week, not my whining, the little people in my house, their whining.   My whining is never going to end so no sense worrying about it. It is already almost the middle of the month. In a panic trying to get at least one year of  taxes done I realized I am the most disorganized person I know. I know a lot of people! Today was the first day in a week that I had away from work. It was productive but not as productive as I would have liked. But with two wild ones underfoot it was better than originally expected. We cleaned out two toy boxes and four plastic tubs of toys that had been banished to the shed. After all that we were able to choose to let some toys go and there were no tears in the process. Time to do some school work. After printing some worksheets and findi