Our Busy Life, My Busy Brain

At least I got a "real" post done last night...

I am laughing at I look at our calendar and wonder why it is I am tired, aside from all the other things going on internally and language/teaching wise around here! Stream of consciousness as I stand here at the kitchen counter typing just what pops into my mind in the next 10 minutes (and yes I am a pretty fast typist...not accurate though as you always see!):

Drive younger boys to school (12 minutes each way), drive to Vision Homeschool program (close to a 30 minute drive from us one way) every day this week (3 days twice a day) for girl's tutoring and Matt's state testing (goes on into next week as well), science and horsemanship class, soccer began for all kids this week...and of course practicing on different nights, checked out 4H last night and plan to begin that soon, having a friend spend the night tonight and hang with us tomorrow, art class for the kids today, piano at our house tomorrow, planning a little get together for dinner and Easter egg dyeing at our house for kids from church on Saturday evening (around 20 people), grocery shopping twice as we ran out (of course) of things and needed cleats for Olesya...had to create a grid chart to see who needed shin guards, socks, cleats and sweat pants. Working on rhymes and short vowels with the girls as well as beginning level readers which Angela is ahead of Olesya (of course) so it makes it harder as they need to be worked with seperately, introduced shapes and did worksheets on them, working on phonics on Time4Learning today (I need some planning time!), correcting Matt's two last math assignments and 1 grammar he squeezed in on the drive to testing, do ANOTHER load of laundry, shoot we are out of onions and I need some so that means another trip to the store which we live a bit in the country so we are at least 10 minutes from the nearest one which is too expensive so off to Walmart which is 20 minutes away one way and I know I need more fruit anyway so might as well get it, then looking up games on the internet to play on Saturday night for the party, wokr on the consonant H today with worksheets then see what we can find around the house that begins with the letter H...oh yea...HOUSE begins with H! Sight word bingo is on the agenda for today (sure glad Matt isn't home and is testing so I can have more one on one time with the girls!), look at what social studies curriculum we will work on next year together, thinking geography and might need a basic well rounded text maybe at a lower reading level and the girls could get something out of it but that isn't cool enough as we need some hands on stuff so maybe Janice Van Cleave's out of print geography text would be great for hands on things...maybe a lapbook...oh yea gotta check out a lapbook for the girls to work on while I am teaching Matthew and Tony writing and working on the science physics kit together! Maybe horses?? Will it be too advanced? What COULD Tony's mom work with them on that wouldn't require knowing what they don't know? LAUNDRY...need to move it over to the dryer so I can get another load going. Olesya's tooth is really hurting, we need to get in and get that fixed. Wonder what is going on in Joshie's little head, need some time alone with him maybe reading in bed. Trip for Kenny's next surgery in Chicago in June....ROAD TRIP!!! Great opportunity for all the kids to read maps and look at math with mileage, etc and maybe see some cool sights along the way...lots of corn, man Olesya LOVES corn~! Glad her birthday is in August as that is Corn Festival time. Can't wait to see Co, Ellie and the kids in Chicago, my heart still hurts missing them. I need to write Mary Alice, one of the dearest old matriarchs of our church who moved a few months back and for whom I know this was a difficult time in her life, haven't written since before we left for Kaz...gotta do that soon, maybe get some pics printed to incluce. CALL MOM this weekend sometime. Rabbits...the girls went NUTS over the rabbits last night as I wheezed and gagged my way through the 4H exhibits (Remember to grab inhaler from kitchen counter and put it in my purse...doesn't do much good sitting on the counter!), Matt wants to do robotics...of course...how in the world will we do that? Someone has to know something within 4H and can help us, right? Kenny wants a rabbit too, he looked so cute with his sweat pants and button down long sleeved shirt on the soccer field yesterday....that kids may be no jock but he sure has my heart...have the kids clean up the airfield they made out of chalk and chairs and rope on the patio, I do NOT need to maneuver through the runways to get to the freezer in the garage, are all the swimsuits washed and dried and not stinking from being stashed somewhere for the trip to the pool tomorrow? Don't forget to get some cash for Kenny and Josh to go to Banana's tomorrow with Kenny's friend's family (nice to be invited!!), Olesya HAS to pick up her marshmallow toothpick map and pitch it...but man was that awesome to see her interested and trying to copy a map all on her own without prompting for her to do anything! So glad to see curiousity there...how can I bring that out in Angela? Maybe the RABBITS!!! The look on her face was priceless as the goat nibbled on her pants yesterday....NO GOATS NO GOATS NO GOATS...I sure don't really want rabbits or pets but it is obvious God is talking on that one so rabbits would be easiest, right? Hmmm...hated hampsters and how they stunk up the whole house no matter what we did. Besides I don't want to step on one again in the middle of the night and squeal like a girlie girl. Remember to order the replacement Wii cable that broke off in the TV when Dominick tried to remove it for some reason. What ARE we going to have for dinner tonight...I HATE that question every single day! Dominick needs to PLEASE olpen the coconut on the kitchen counter for 3 weeks so the kids can all see inside (look up how do you open a coconut without smashing it with a hammer?), when am I going to get my 10 page paper done and my homework for 2 classes done? Can I squeeze in time Sunday night? Need to call Stephanie and see how she is doing with her 3 new kids, she looked frazzled and exhausted at the library last week...I know how hard it is...., gotta copy documents for Pearl S Buck and get them sent...no excuse why I haven't made that a priority and gotten it done before now, Walmart for that facial cleansing kit for Angela...the one that does miracles for acne...is that even carried at Wally? How expensive IS that stuff anyway, after all they have to pay for all those endorsements. Phonics Pathways is a GOOD curriculum and trains the eye to read, wonder if that is Kenny's issue? Would it help? Maybe we should try it out and see. Matthew needs to write more and finish homework for history class, keep on him about that, pick up the house and sweep....why do I have to sweep 3 times a day opr walk on grit? Where does all this dirt come from???? Sweep front porch and have Olesya clean around her birds nest a little but remember life is not perfect and this is LEARNING so let go of the mess somewhat Cindy...pay bills but make sure there is enough in the account FIRST, out of copy paper so get some at Wally, how can I help the girls make the connection between images of Jesus that they have grasped and a REAL God in their lives? Think a lot about that one, roll it, mull it...begin to introduce God Talk language, would Angela let me wash her hair and show her how to make sure it is really clean? Check again to make sure they are not rationing shampoo...they are not at the orphanage anymore and have dollar stores to get more ;-) Garage is DISGUSTING and filled with junk for the church rummage sale at the end of April, sure wish it was earlier, need to clean it out but can't with all that junk...glad the kids will have such a great service opportunity this year being home to help the women of Women's Union set up, our family has been so blessed by their generosity with funds for camp...oh yea, we need to raise more or we can't afford to send them all and this year we have all of them going...what could we do? I hate bake sales and car washes, can't we think bigger with one big hit for more bucks and maybe less small things? Hmmm....Clean up the kitchen table, what else could we put on display boards to help the girls...find a number line for negative and positive numbers as neither understands that at all nor has never seen one...is Kenny scared or OK with upcoming surgery? Need to talk alone with him but need the right moment for feelings to come out, Dominick rocks and I need to tell him that more often...we need to order more work shirts for him maybe??? Email Stacy, can't believe I lost her email and it disappeared into cyberspace when she was so kind and then I didn't make the effort to follow up...I stink sometimes...and here I sit typing this and not emailing her, what's up with that? When I hit send I will write her. Glad the girls are sleeping in and Dominick took everyone this morning, they are so overtired and need much more rest even though they are sleeping abouit 10 hours a night...remember Cindy they are on overload and will need more rest for growth, but they'll be insulted to go to bed at 8:00 PM...maybe Dominick and I can work out something for one extra sleep in day a week and he can haul kids? Wonder if the girls have grown much yet, need to measure them...too bad you can't measure their brains as I am sure THAT hs grown a ton already! We are so blessed that they are as sharp as they are and such tender sweet girls who aren't TOO girlie! Thanks for hearing my fears on that one God! What can we do to show Steve our gratitude for teaching Matt at...and doing a phenomenal job of it, almost college level as much as it could be for a 10 year old...gotta think about that...freezer, check the freezer...do we have any chicken left? Reach out to Pam somehow as she waits for her little one...loved seeing her mom at Wally yesterday (Is that now how I will conduct my social life, in the aisles of Walmart with kids in tow?), need to schedule a dinner date with Lenore and her family...maybe next weekend? Hate having not made that as much of a priority as I should have to say thanks and we appreciate everything. Look up web sites for first couple of science lessons on force...maybe some cool YouTube videos? Wonde if the girls would get anything out of watching it? Gotta get them writing more in English, work on that today. Math curriculum...will we be able to use Saxon with them? LOVE LOVE that program and it's straightforward approach, man has Matt soared with it! But can it be used for ELL learners??? Word tiles today, so grateful for loaners from Joshie's teacher! And theshirts she gave the girls are SO cute...need to find time to write thank you notes to tons of people but it feels too late and like so little. Wish I could send hugs in the mail. Need more "money" work with the girls, and don't forget to introduce standard measuring system...we can work on that in between trips to Delta next week, glad when CSAP testing will be DONE. Need a break for the kids, maybe a picnic to Ouray! Hot Spring sis definitely out for the rest of our lives...that would cost a fortune for all of us! Maybe when we only have one or two with us we can do it for a special treat. Gotta get off this thing, my 10 minutes are up and actually stretched to 13...why am I posting this? To remind myself to cut myself some slack! Force myself not to go back and proof it, it is OK as it is and if there are misspellings too bad, use my time wisely. so why am I blogging? Off to email Stacy!