The Last Day of Public School and the First Day of Freedom...

This is what Jake looked like as we got in the car and were ready to head to the 4th grade for the last time.  We were running late so there was no time to pose for pictures if we wanted to make it on time.

This is his last goodbye to Sadie...on the last day of school.

This is his last hug to me..on the last day of school.

This is me missing the shot of him signing I love you and blowing me a kiss, like he does every morning (he is a sweet boy)...for the last time, on the last day of 4th grade...

This is me getting ready by stacking up all the wonderful things we have collected in preparation for homeschooling next year.  It looks like we spent a fortune but 95% of the books Nana Harmon got for us for FREE!!!  THANK YOU NANA!!!!

This is what Jake will see when he walks through the front door after school...

This is the sign, you can't see in the picture of the books, on the cocoa (we don't drink coffee, so Jake dubbed it the cocoa table when he was about 3 years old) table, that Jake will see when he walks through the front door.  (This post has a similar pattern of repetition as a popular children's book...but I can't think of what it was actually about at the moment...It was not planned.  I am just trying to post all these pictures that took forever to upload...download?...which one is it.  My computer, and brain, are both running slow today.)

This is the sign on the front door that Jake would read....Oh you get it already!!!

This is me driving one last time to pick him up from public school...wasting precious gas...

This is Jake getting in the car after HIS LAST DAY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL!!!! (Well if all goes as planned anyway...)

This is the traditional ice cream cone we eat on the last day of school at Dollar Cone...Not sure what my hair is doing...I took a shower and immediately put it up in a pony tail and well something funky happened from there...

This is my ice cream with Jimmies or sprinkles to you non-New Englanders.  Really I just was playing around and when I noticed my favorite colored nail polish was in the picture I had to post it. :)

This is the mandatory trip that I promised Jake we would make right after school, to rent  Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, since he got 3 A's and 1 B.  Good job dude!

Here's the report card and free rental coupons...I didn't plan on taking a picture but since the guy gave us and extra one just to be nice I couldn't resist. :)

This Jake at the front door...FINALLY!  Drum roll please...For anyone that doesn't know, Jake has been asking to be homeschooled and we are finally doing it...Everyone (almost) but Jake knew we were going to do it months ago.  It is so hard to keep secrets and this was a big one...

This is Jake's first reaction to all the books.

Then to the note...

Soaking it in....

Tears...I was getting ready to hug him so it is blurry but I had to post it. 

What did he do next?  He immediately started checking out ALL the books....

And a little organizing took place.

This is his "I can't believe this is really happening" expression.  He had just hit himself in the forehead a moment earlier and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. 

Jake says he is soooo happy but he will miss his friends and the playground.  To which I reminded him that he will still see his friends and there are way better playgrounds we can play at WHENEVER WE WANT BECAUSE WE ARE FREE!!!!  Well, almost whenever... :)

I can't believe it's finally official: we are homeschoolers!  :)  If you are too and you would like some A-MA-ZING resources, ideas, and networking than you have to check out:




It is nice to know I have a place to go whenever I need encouragement or help and it is only a mouse click away!

Note to Aaron...

Aaron you will probably read this tonight at work while you are bored, so I thought I would let you know 2 things now so I won't forget:

#1-Jake told me he couldn't wait to do more yard work with you. :) I am so glad you are teaching him how good hard work can feel. You are a wonderful example to him and me. Thanks for killing snakes, going to school, and working all night for us. I love you.

#2-Jake also told me you broke a promise to him. You promised him you would take him snowboarding...The season ended sooner than we thought...There aren't enough hours in the day...or days in the week...He gets the craziness of your schedule, but I just wanted to give you a heads up. He has $8 left to earn toward the new Lego Star Wars: Clone Wars Wii game coming out...He could easily be bribed into forgiving you (not that he is mad...he just thinks your forgot about snowboarding and it bummed him out...and he just remembered that you forgot, so I think he forgot too...), if you chipped in a little more...Just saying. :)

Schedule revamp and Aaron...

Another week over...another one beginning. The cycle sometimes seems monotonous: wake up, hurry, feed, hurry, clean, hurry, work, hurry, study, hurry...You know the never ending cycle right? I love being a mom. I love being a wife. I loved being an organized homemaker. Loved because I am not that now and feel like I haven't been for months (Aaron would probably say years, but he better not). My main problem is that I had a cleaning schedule that worked pretty well, but then when our life changed (Aaron-in school again and working 3rd shift, and me working part time outside the home for the first time since before Jake was born), I refused to change the schedule. Over a year later and Aaron saying (on numerous occasions), I can't take it any more, I am agreeing that neither can I! When we say we can't take it anymore we are referring to: not a pair of clean socks in the house, dinner?...what time is it?, no there isn't any gas in the car, why do I always wait until the last minute?, where is-fill in the blank depending on the day (for example tonight it was the stapler...where does a stapler end up if not on the desk?)? I am pulling my hair out! My old schedule is impossible to follow since I am not here to do it and it is time for me to give up on it and make a new one! Duh, right? Smarter people wouldn't have taken a year to figure that out...This is a new week and a new schedule....That I am going to come up with before my head hits the pillow tonight!!!! Sorry for the rambling...

This past week,I am sad to say was NOT spent: studying the scriptures, eating right, exercising, keeping on top of my cleaning schedule, or making good use of time in general. But, we DID have family home evening...Yippee, for accomplishing one thing...Oh yeah, I did manage to get Jake almost a whole new wardrobe (he likes to grow in the middle of winter. When I say grow, I mean he wakes up and nothing fits...THANK YOU TARGET FOR YOUR CLEARANCE!), for not much money. I also saved tons of $$$ with my awesome coupon skills too. And the house was clean for almost one whole day...except laundry in our room. Never mind, scratch that off the list, the whole house was never clean all at once. Oh well.

This week can only get better since I was so slack last week, right?! Family Home Evening is planned and tomorrow we are starting a brand new tradition I am calling: "A Week Of Love", as we lead up to Valentine's day. We need a week of love and appreciation for each other! We kind of started today with a "Daddy Appreciation Day". Aaron was too tired to make it to church today (I am not sure how he functions...Thurs. through Mon. he gets only a few short hours of sleep when he gets home at 7am. He only has Mon. and Wed. nights off and he goes to school all day Tues. and Thurs., so the end of the week is the long sleepless part...) because he had to catch up on some much needed z's. When we got home from church, Jake and I cleaned up the living room (so we could hang out in it stress free) before Aaron woke up. We then spent the afternoon bringing him things he needed and taking care of him. What did he think of this? He asked me "What did you guys do? Did you break something?" :) We obviously need to do a better job of showing our appreciation on a more regular basis. What started Daddy appreciation day was when Jake and I were at church. Jake said "Mommy will you bare your testimony? You really should." I sat and thought about it. When was the last time I bore my testimony? I couldn't remember...Sad, I know. So, I did. I needed it. Jake needed to hear it. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders as I realized (again) in our crazy, hectic life I had a testimony of how mindful Heavenly Father is of my little family. How Jesus Christ atoned for me and everyone. How my husband sacrifices sleeping and a normal life in general because he loves us. Aaron takes his responsibility of caring for and providing for our family very seriously. I know that the only way we have made it through this year, and we will make it through the next, is because we know what we are doing right now, is what we need to be doing. Is it fun? Nope. Is it easy? Not at all. Am I handling it the best I can? Not even close. But, when I think of what Aaron sacrifices for Jake and me I can't help but want to do better. Is this where we thought we would be 13 1/2 years into marriage and back in school? NO. We are going to be stronger for it. I am even more thankful for my awesome husband than I ever was before. He amazes me every day. I can't keep up with the laundry, but he can ace all his classes (he is a math major people!!!) on little, to no sleep? I can and will do better. It feels good just to make the declaration. Now I just have to do it!!!

While I was laying on the coach being a lazy bones today and drifting off into my much loved Sunday afternoon nap. I caught a bit of Aaron and Jake's conversation. It went something like this: Aaron "So why are you being extra nice to me today Jake?" Jake: "Because we appreciate you. Especially Mommy. She REALLY appreciates you. She bore her testimony and talked about it today." :) I will be a better home maker again. I may not be a home maker full time, but life is so much better when I don't make it so obvious that I am not. Here's to a new week! Here is too a husband who works hard for his family! Aaron will probably get a chance to read this some time in the middle of the night when he has a little down time so Thank you Aaron. We love and appreciate everything you do for us. I love you more than you know. You are my hero. :)

And just because I love pictures...
Jake and Aaron with all our lovely Super Bowl snacks on our cocoa table (isn't it so cool? I saw it at the store and loved how it looked-Aaron realized it pulled up into a table and was sold on it). Smoothies (one healthy thing), pigs in a blanket, cheese sticks, pizza rolls...This is the first year in as long as I can remember that we haven't thrown/gone to a Super Bowl party. (I ended up having Primary leadership training with the stake leaders tonight before Aaron went to work any way.)


This picture?...Nothing to do with what I talked about...just because I love this face! We were sitting and playing with Legos today while Aaron tried to catch an afternoon power nap and Jake just looked so cute in his "lumberjack shirt" as he calls it. It does have something to do with what I was talking about! This is one of the new shirts from Targets clearance rack, it was only $3.98. :)..Notice the full laundry basket in the background...and who knows what is in that grocery bag. Oh I know, it was little trinkets that we were going to trade in at geo-cashing spots when Tina and the kiddos where here...3 weeks ago? That bag stayed on there even when we rearranged Jake's room. Oh yeah add that to the list of things I did accomplish....priorities: laundry or rearranging furniture...hmmm. I may have made a wrong choice there...But Jake's room feels so much bigger now. :)

The book I am reading...and thanks

Tina (my big sis), THANK YOU for recommending the book "A Thomas Jefferson Education". It is exactly how I have felt about education, but states it so much better than I do, and with real facts that make more sense than my rambling. :) I learn more about learning and loving it every page I read and I am only on page 60 something...I should be done by now, but...I can't even come up with a good excuse. Time is the one I will use today! Back to the point that the book brings up so perfectly (and teaches you how to answer the questions): Why is our educational system set up in a way that works to close the minds of our children? Why do they teach to the slowest student? Why do they teach to memorize and regurgitate, rather than actually learn...and love it? I am not liking the shift I have seen in Jake over the past couple of school years, from getting excited about learning, to HATING it...Not really hating the learning, just the process that it is force feed to you in our schools. Hating the coming home from 7 hours of school to have to sit and do homework. I hate it too...But the book I LOVE! Read it, you will too!!! (..and you will probably even finish it before I do...)