Somehow I stumbled upon this quaint little homeschool blog called Books and Bairns (which is a Scottish word for a child; son or daughter). She challenged us to record a day in the life so that we might glean from one another the freedoms and liberties that come with our choice to homeschool. Whether we record a day that we skip school altogether or one in which we sit around for five or six hours reading, writing, and learning (HA!). This is what today, Monday, November 15, 2010 looked like in our little white house:

5:50am– I woke up and cleaned the office of an attorney I go to church with.
7:15am– I woke little sister and got her ready for school.
7:55am– Josh left for work with little sister in tow.
8:00am– Breakfast for the boys, everyone got dressed, and we started our chores.
By 8:45am we were in the car on our way to Publix and Kroger for my weekly coupon shopping. Not only did I spend $34, but that is also the amount of which I saved! Pretty good grocery trip.
We got back home around 10:15am. I unloaded the groceries and fed the baby a snack before putting him in bed around 10:30am for his nice, long nap (he’s such a great sleeper!). Once baby was sleeping, I posted my shopping success on facebook for my ladies at church (I taught a coupon workshop last week and some are still needing a little help).
11:30– We ate lunch. Corndogs and applesauce. Yum.
12:00– We finally hit the books. Mondays are usually light. We read, review our memory work from last week, and work on tomorrow’s presentations for co-op. Jesse gets to give a persuasive presentation on his favorite Thanksgiving dessert while Joshua will present on the guillotine. Afterall, what could get a seven year old boy more excited!?
After school we spent over an hour cleaning their room (the boys’ room, that is). This was the kind of cleaning that requires a trash bag. Out with the old, broken, and neglected. For 2011, the word is SIMPLICITY in our home. Their room looks wonderful! Let’s see if it can remain that way for a whopping 24 hours.
After all of that cleaning, the boys needed to go outside and run and scream for a while, so that’s what they did. Owen went down for a nap, baby boy was still sleeping, and the oldest two went out back and dug holes to play in where they plot the next major battle and discuss things like LEGO structures and who will be forced to take the first shower tonight. While the big boys played, I attacked a few large piles of crap. You know, those piles that start off as a few sheets of paper on your kitchen counter or bedside table and suddenly it’s twelve inches high and you’re having to balance each item you add, knowing eventually you’ll sort it all out, but for now you have no earthly idea what’s in there!? I had two or three of those piles. Yuck. I think I finally sorted them into categories such as: trash, file, bills-to-be-paid, coupons to save, and even a put it back where it belongs pile full of DVDs and books. Unfortunately the smaller, more organized piles are still on my bedroom floor.
Somewhere in the midst of our productivity I was able to strip a few beds, wash the linens and return them to the proper beds before having to leave to pick up little sister from school at 3:30.
We normally have a prayer meeting at church on Monday nights, but tonight I’m playing hookie and look forward to finishing up the laundry, putting the kids in bed early, and maybe even getting a bath where I might actually shave my legs!
On a side note, my husband asked me last week, “Honey, you go to the store all the time and you’re always making lists; why can’t you remember to get shaving cream??” My response was quite simple, “Well dear, I only remember to get the things I actually USE.” Thanks to jeans and very blonde hair, I only have to shave about once a week (if that!) with an electric razor. Sorry babe, I’ll try harder to remember.
Now it is 4:35pm. We have entered that time of day that most mothers dread. That time when the kids are tired, getting hungry, and aren’t sure whether they should crash or keep running. Mine are plopped in front of a movie at the moment. I’m hoping its going to rain any minute now. I will begin bathing the fab five as soon as dinner plates are cleared from the table and the bedtime march will begin promptly at 7:30pm.

All in all, a good day.

Happy Monday!

~audrey

That’s what I now call my dermatologist: The Butcher.

I don’t think she can let me leave her office without taking a piece of me with her. I understand, we had a skin cancer scare in the summer of 2008 which left me with a 2 1/2 inch scar on my left arm…then another scare on my right arm about a year ago…and this time, three stitches and another scar on my left thigh. I laughed it off as she told me she needed to remove another spot and it would leave a scar:

“Oh, it’s no biggie. I certainly don’t display that part of my leg anymore!”

But seriously, my husband is going to start calling me Frankenstein if she doesn’t lighten up. I’ve learned my lesson! Here I am, 28 years young and have had three cancer scares in the last three years. I’m out of the sun! I sit under the umbrella every time we go to the pool, I wear major sunscreen, a hat, blah, blah, blah. I’m being smart now. Let’s just hope the five or six years that I baked myself in hopes of the golden tan I never received didn’t do any permanent, terminal damage.

Just last month my OB/GYN informed me that I have “Fibrocystic Breasts” (is that TMI?). He went on to tell me that it’s nothing to be concerned about, except for the fact that the cysts make it difficult to differentiate a cyst from a lump that needs immediate attention. The next thing he said hit me the hardest:

You drink a lot of caffeine don’t you? Excessive caffeine can make cysts worse.

Um, well, didn’t I just tell you I have an average of five to six kids in my house on any given day? YES I drink a lot of caffeine! How else would I function??

Yet somehow his warnings were enough. From that day forward and for the last month and a half now, any coffee I drink is decaf. My coffee pot is resting on a shelf in the garage. But you want to know the biggest shocker?? I feel GREAT! You see, coffee dehydrates your body. For people who drink a lot of caffeine, you need to drink even MORE water and I was not doing that. If I was thirsty, I’d pour myself some more coffee. One of the first things I noticed when I quit drinking coffee was that I was going to the bathroom more often. And instead of reaching for my coffee cup, I now drink water when I’m thirsty (imagine that!). I have more energy now and I’m less irritable! Apparently the caffeine would not only keep me awake, but it also made me quite jittery and short-tempered. I didn’t even realize it until I stopped drinking it.

My poor kids!

Needless to say, I don’t plan on going back to the coffee habit ever again. I still enjoy a cup of coffee like a smoker likes his cigarette, but I only indulge about once a week and when I do, it’s decaf. A girls gotta have her vices, right?

I’m so excited it’s Friday again. Six more days until our foster children’s next hearing. I’m certainly not holding my breath for this one. I’m praying, for their sake, that they’re able to go home next Thursday so they can be reunited with their family and be with them during the holidays, but Josh and I are mentally and emotionally prepared for them to stay if that ends up being the case.

We’ve had a few ‘jammie days’ this week and I’ve come to realize that I’m just lazy on the days that I don’t get dressed and make my bed. Even if I have big goals for the day, I just can’t seem to get motivated if I don’t properly prepare myself…by getting dressed, running a brush through my hair, and picking up my bedroom.

So, I’m dressed, bed is made, kids are fed. It’s time to start school.

Happy FRIDAY ya’ll!! Have a great weekend!!

~audrey

I taught a coupon workshop at church last night and Josh made dinner for himself and the kids. As a result the kitchen was trashed a little messy when I got home. I was tired so I went straight to bed without touching a single dish or picking up the living or anything. I knew it wasn’t the best idea because I don’t particularly like waking up to total destruction, but I’m starting to see that sleep can be much more important than going to bed with a clean house.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous today with a high of 75 and not a cloud in the sky. I opened the windows when I got home from taking Little Sister to school and quickly debated with myself as to whether or not I should make the boys sit down to do their school work or let them play outside while I clean up for about an hour.

After filling my sink with hot water and pinesol, the decision was clear and the boys headed to the great outdoors to dig more holes in the backyard. The kitchen was clean in no time and I made the boys clean up the living room and their room. After a little less than an hour the house was clean, the boys were nice and dirty (just how they like it) and we were all sitting in the school room working on Week Eleven’s memory work.

It was totally worth it!

I can’t believe we only have ONE week left before our co-op takes a seven week break for the holidays! This semester has flown by and I look forward to taking it down a notch for those seven weeks. We’ll probably still do math a few days a week and spelling at least twice. I’d really like to steal a friend’s idea from last year by buying and wrapping 25 Christmas books; one for every day in December leading up to Christmas. There are books at the dollar stores and several $5 deals on kids Christmas books at the Christian book store. I think that would be a fun treat and of course I’d make the boys read the books to me so I’d be killing two birds with one stone. 🙂 It’s been so much fun having both Joshua and Jesse reading well this year. Life is a lot easier when your kids learn to read….and potty train….and stop using sippie cups…and no longer need a car seat….the list could go on forever but somehow life does not actually get easier as you pass these milestones. It’s fun nonetheless.

Well, the dishwasher is running and my babysitter will be here soon. I have a dermatology appointment today because I realized I have two very small cysts on my head which would not be an issue except for the fact that I realized I’ve lost all of my hair where both of the cysts are (we’re talking the size of a pencil eraser, but still!) so I’m having them removed in an hour.

Happy Wednesday!

~audrey

We were so blessed to have a dear friend of mine as Jesse’s tutor (teacher) at co-op this year. Mrs. Wessner is truly a gift from God to the eight children in her class. Some of our weekly memorization material is already put to music on the memory CD, but about half of it is not. However, every week Mrs. Wessner creates her own little ditties for the memory work that is not already set to music. These songs are always easy to remember and quite catchy! Usually the mothers are holding their phones in the air during class so we can record the homemade songs and use them throughout the week to help our kids with their memorization. Mrs. Wessner uses a variety of voices, her own animation, and the joy of the Lord to teach our children to love learning. It’s quite infectious and I always look forward to Tuesday mornings with Mrs. Wessner.

Just last night, Jesse was in the shower in my bathroom and Owen was in the bath tub in the boys’ bathroom. At one point I could hear Jesse singing about the Protestant Reformation in the shower while at the same time I could hear Owen (my three year old that sits in class with us on Tuesdays) singing the five phases of the moon (which Mrs. Wessner put to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes) in the bath tub. I have to smile at those moments when it really hits me that the things they are learning at these tender ages really will stay with them forever.

We sure love our classical home education and the Classical Conversations community.

Who knows what I may learn from bath time tonight!

~audrey

I was delighted to have a little time by myself this afternoon. The foster children are visiting their parents all day and my boys are with my sweet and wonderful mother-in-law.

I decided it would be the perfect time to FINALLY get my hair trimmed. I haven’t had my hair this long….maybe ever, but it’s in desperate need of a trim and my girl only works on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She has an opening for me in about thirty minutes and I’m quite excited.

Do you remember our trouble with squirrels last fall? Well, they’re back!! I am SOOOO tired of waking up to the sound of squirrels gnawing away in my attic. I literally grab our BB rifle every time I hear them and I run to the back yard. I wait and wait for one to exit my attic. I turn the safety off and aim steadily. I’ve gotten pretty good with my aim. I’m to the point where I’m almost willing to shoot a squirrel in a neighboring tree just in case it will teach all of them a lesson to stay away from the white brick house with the black shudders!! Their attic is CLOSED to squatters! Once again, it’s a good thing all of my surrounding neighbors are quite elderly and likely cannot hear me shooting at our local “wildlife” from my backyard. I don’t know if this is even possible, but I do think our neighborhood has an unusually high squirrel infestation. I probably hit one every two months just driving in and out of the neighborhood. That’s a lot of squirrels in five years! They’re EVERYWHERE!!

We still don’t even know how in the world they’re getting in.

I will not give up.

We may eat squirrel for Thanksgiving.

~audrey

I’m not one to typically write about poop, but this story I must share….unfortunately.

**If you are one of those moms who carries around a liter of hand sanitizer, bathes her kids every single night before bed, and has a very sensitive gag reflex, you may either want to stop here or put a small trash can by your computer as you proceed.**

Today was co-op and we have a family in Jesse’s class who are adopting a little girl from China in a few short months. All this week, the Chickfila down the street from our co-op is giving 15% of all designated sales receipts to the Digsby adoption. So, many families from co-op were planning to eat Chickfila for lunch today after school. We went with two other families, totaling ten children and three adults. As we finished eating Owen asked if he could go outside and play. I saw that there were no other children on the playground, so I said yes. About five minutes later we all went out and the other children joined Owen. A few minutes into play time, one of the little girls said, “Gross, someone let their dog poop on the playground!” Of course within seconds all of the children were crowded around the poop that was on the ground just to the side of the slide. I was not about to touch it….until, from somewhere up inside the playground, Owen’s sweet voice echoed out, “Oh, I did that!”

WHAT!?

Thankfully, my pregnant friend who just happens to be getting nauseous lately, was in the bathroom with her daughter. I quickly grabbed a huge wad of napkins, scooped up the obviously human poo and swiftly put it in the trash (all of which was outside, thank you Lord!). Those poor little girls were so confused and mortified that a child would ever think to drop his drawers and poop on the playground at Chickfila. I, on the other hand, was not the least bit surprised. Owen pooped in our backyard just the other day. When I got over the initial shock I asked him, “Well, did you wipe your bottom?” Very matter-of-factly he replied, “No Mommy, there’s no toywit paper outside!”

From there, we made all of the children put their shoes back on if they were to continue playing on the playground…for obvious reasons.

We left soon after that.

Apparently I need to clarify with my three year old that the freedom of being able to go to the bathroom outside is limited to wooded areas…with permission….and ONLY NUMBER ONE!!!

Life with boys is never boring…and rarely clean.

~audrey

I can’t tell you just how many times I use that phrase throughout my everyday life: “Well, if everything goes according to plan…”

The fact is, life rarely goes according to plan.

Today was the perfect example.

I put a movie on for the kids around 9am so I could busy myself with cleaning while I waited on the outcome of the court hearing this morning. The kids were forbidden to come out of the office (where they were watching a movie and playing games) because I was steam cleaning the carpets. You see, I have been waiting and waiting to clean the carpets and I figured this would be the perfect day. I would clean the carpets and we’d all pile into the car to drive for a few hours to meet up with the foster children’s parents and by the time we got back home, the carpets would be dry. The only problem is, the children were ordered to stay in foster care! SOooo, I was stuck with five kids, wet carpet, and no where to go. Thankfully, they all had coupons for kids meals at Chickfila so we picked up some lunch and spent a couple of hours at the park. Walking back into the house this afternoon was like a breath of fresh air.

Although things did not go according to my plan, I can rest in the fact that nothing took God by surprise today. I am learning to roll with the punches. I will simply take the bare necessities out of the children’s bags that I took hours to pack after doing half a dozen loads of laundry and they can wear the same handful of outfits every week for the next few weeks as to make my load lighter when they do finally go home. The good news is, the next hearing is in two and a half weeks and I don’t know why the judge would do that to the parents unless she intends to return the children on that day. Otherwise, this is just torture!

I have said all along, if the children have to stay past the hearing today, I will enroll Sister in pre-k. I’ve already called the school, she will be in the same class as a little boy we go to church with and it’s only about six or seven minutes from our house. Even if it’s only for two and a half weeks, it will help the time go by faster and it will make the next few weeks of schooling my boys a great deal easier.

I thought I’d be very upset if they ended up having to stay (only because I spent so much time preparing for them to leave), but I have total peace about the situation.

Please keep praying!

~audrey

Today is Wednesday. Our foster children should be released back into their parents’ custody after their hearing on Monday (11/1). That will mark the end of our journey on the foster parenting road; at least for a while. Eight children in twelve months has exhausted me. It has also shown me that I need to be putting 110% of myself into my children’s home education in this season of our lives and that is just not possible with two or three foster children in our home. Maybe when the boys are older and can work well on their own, but not now in these crucial early years. I feel like God has really prepared my heart for the end of this season. I’m ready. I’m ready to reclaim my house, which has been set up like a motel for the past year; borrowing furniture from friends, putting walls up where there use to be no wall so a sixth child can have their own room. Not to mention, the placement we have now come from a very good family who simply made a bad decision and got caught. I’ve gotten to know the parents quite well, they’ve worked their tails off getting everything done that was required of them to get their children back. That makes the process easier on my heart and mind.

On another note, I finally got a new dishwasher. Hand-washing dishes a few times a day for a family of four or five may not be that big a deal, but hand-washing dishes four or five times a day for a family of seven was no picnic. My hands were raw, cuticles bleeding, and knuckles cracking. Apparently I could not have been Laura Ingles Wilder afterall….although if I remember correctly, they all drank out of a ladle sitting in the water bucket and had only one dish each, so maybe I’m selling myself short. I was an old school cafeteria worker for three weeks, but I have now moved back to civilization and boy is it good!

I researched and researched dishwashers. I combed through Consumer Reports and every major appliance store in a 30 mile radius. You see, my house was built in 1971. My hot water heater is 27 years old and going strong. They just don’t build appliances like they use to and I am not going to buy another dishwasher in five to seven years (THAT is the average life expectancy of dishwashers nowadays!). The bottom line was that I did not have $1000 to spend on a dishwasher. What I found was this:

The Whirlpool Quiet Parter I. It had very good reviews on all the sites I checked out and it was on sale at Best Buy for $250! As an added bonus, my handy hubby installed it himself (I’m still wondering what he’s going to do with our old dishwasher and the giant box that the new one came in that are still sitting in the garage). I’m not sure how old our old dishwasher was, but I’m guessing 10-15 years. It was a bottom of the line–no buttons–just turn the dial to ON and walk away as your house fills with the noise of your dishes being cleaned. The new one on the other hand, quietly cleans every dish and every glass (even with baked on rice!) and the rinse aid brings them to a nice shine before the cycle is finished. It even has a ‘one hour cycle’ for when you’re in a hurry. Thank you Lord for my new dishwasher!

Yesterday was the last day of CC in which we’d be toting two extra children. They always leave half way through our day to go to visitation and therefore, Tuesdays have become my favorite day of the week. We come home from co-op and the boys shut down. They have lunch, clean their rooms, and then watch movies and chill out for the rest of the day. This is great for me because no one is running around and demanding my attention, so I’m able to clean clean clean until my little heart is content. That is exactly what I did yesterday. By the time Josh got home, the house smelled divine, supper was on the stove, and everyone was happy. I had my final night of Bible study last night and I ended up going with no make-up on and my hair pulled back and held up by a Christmas pencil with a bright green eraser topper on it. It was a lovely sight, I’m sure. But I didn’t care: My house was clean!

I have quite the to-do list going for next week when the children leave. I’ll fill you in on that later. Time for school.

Happy Wednesday!

~audrey

I go through huge waves with my food preparation. Sometimes I go months making the same ten things over and over and other times I’m excited to try a new recipe every other night. Right now I’m back to trying new recipes and OHHH do I have two good ones for you!

Last night I made Over the Border Shrimp Enchilidas, which is a Philly Cream Cheese recipe, and it was delicious and very simple.

I look forward to finishing-off the leftovers at lunch.

Then I decided to experiment with Pioneer Woman’s Maple Pecan Scones. (believe it or not, I couldn’t find the recipe on PW’s blog, so I had to link you to someone else’s blog that posted pics and the recipe…saves me time from having to type the recipe myself.) I will never buy a scone from Starbucks ever again! These were SO incredible and so incredibly simple. I cut my scones in half before sticking them in the oven because they were about 1/3 larger than the scones you would buy at a coffee shop and I knew the icing would be very rich.

I’m glad I cut them in half. They were perfect for dessert and perfect again this morning for breakfast. 🙂 Not perfect, however, if you’re trying to shed a few pounds rather than GAIN a few before adding a bun to your own oven.

On another note: 17 days until the foster children’s next hearing where they should be going home.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

~audrey

I have SOooo much to share from the last week or so I don’t even know where to begin.

I took six pages (front and back) of notes from the Priscilla Shirer conference. I will surely be sharing some of those in the days to come.

The kids and I have all been sick with colds, sniffles, fevers, coughs, etc, etc…nothing life-threatening. 🙂 (don’t you just *love* it when you’re on the computer trying to complete a thought and you can already hear someone in another room saying, “THAT’S IT! I’M TELLING MOMMY!”) Ugh!

Our school time has been great this week. More structured but also more relaxed, if that makes any sense.

I think I’m going to go ahead and hang my big white board in the “foster kids’ room”, even though we won’t be able to make the full “school room” transition until they leave.

I needed to go grocery shopping BADLY so I went at 6:00 this morning. Is there really any other way to grocery shop when you have five kids (or even TWO kids?)!? It only took me about 45 minutes to do two weeks worth of shopping and have it all unloaded by 7am. It’s amazing what you do when you’re desperate. We’ve been wiping our butts with Kleenex for the last three or four days because I just never could make it to the store. I had been carefully cutting off the fuzzy white parts that were starting to grow on our final loaf of bread because I didn’t have all of the ingredients I needed to make more. Thankfully, those problems are solved now and all is right in our world.

When I finished my grocery shopping and realized I still had a few minutes before 7:00, I decided to drive thru Starbucks. It was pure bliss to sit in the Hobby Lobby parking lot, sipping my latte, listening to Anthony Evans, and meeting with the Lord. Anthony is Priscilla’s brother, son of Tony Evans. What an incredible worship leader. More on that later. 🙂

Time for lunch. The natives are starting to bite my ankles.

Happy Thursday!!

~audrey