Well, Elliott is officially done with second grade now. His last day of school was Thursday, but his last day of doing anything work related was Tuesday. His summer vacation lasts until the seventh of July, when we officially start homeschooling. I think he would kind of like a longer summer vacation, but he's on board with starting school in July so he can have more time off at other times of the year. :)
We started summer vacation with a bang. We drove to Bismarck yesterday and went to the zoo and Red Lobster. We considered staying the night, but couldn't find a hotel with a decent pool that had openings by the time we made up our mind to stay the night. So we came home. We are planning on going swimming at one of the hotels in Minot today or tomorrow, though. My husband is going to make some calls when he comes in from mowing the yard. We're trying to decide whether to spend the night in a hotel, or just do the afternoon at the one with waterslides. Decisions decisions!
We have a few fun things planned this summer. Living in North Dakota, a lot of the stuff is only open from Memorial to Labor Day, so we are planning on having a fairly busy summer. We have plans to work on some school stuff that is related to different places in the Dakotas. As I have been doing research, I've discovered quite a bit about my current state that I didn't know before. :) I'm looking forward to learning even more! We believe that having a good foundation of state history is pretty important, too. And since this IS Elliott's home state, and the only state he's lived in so far, we think now is the time to really find out more about it, and do some traveling to see it in person.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Target Sales on Groceries
Normally we don't buy much in the way of food at Target, because there's just not a lot of selection at our smallish store. Most of what they do carry is similar (or even better) in price to the grocery stores in Minot, though, so we do pick some stuff up there sometimes.
This week I noticed that there was a $10/$50 coupon for food and beverage items at Target, though, so I thought it might be worth checking into. Then I saw that Pepsi was on sale as well. I'm the only one that regularly drinks soda at my house, and I'm cutting back, but I still go through a 12 pack every 3 weeks or so, and was down to just 3 or 4 cans left, so it was time to buy some anyway. :)
I didn't take any pictures, but I did end up spending $52.47 on food and beverages all together, so I was able to use the $10/50 coupon to bring the total down, and then used my red card to get another 5% off. A few of the things that I purchased (veggie straws, archer farms salsa, and organic eggs) had cartwheel coupons as well. So I think we ended up getting some decent deals. It was nothing compared to the deals I used to get when I couponed a lot and really paid close attention to everything I bought, but it was still decent savings.
Adding up the amount I saved because things were on sale, the $10, the 5%, and the cartwheel savings, I ended up saving about $20, which is pretty good, considering Target was a spur of the moment stop with no preplanning at all Sunday afternoon. :)
This week I noticed that there was a $10/$50 coupon for food and beverage items at Target, though, so I thought it might be worth checking into. Then I saw that Pepsi was on sale as well. I'm the only one that regularly drinks soda at my house, and I'm cutting back, but I still go through a 12 pack every 3 weeks or so, and was down to just 3 or 4 cans left, so it was time to buy some anyway. :)
I didn't take any pictures, but I did end up spending $52.47 on food and beverages all together, so I was able to use the $10/50 coupon to bring the total down, and then used my red card to get another 5% off. A few of the things that I purchased (veggie straws, archer farms salsa, and organic eggs) had cartwheel coupons as well. So I think we ended up getting some decent deals. It was nothing compared to the deals I used to get when I couponed a lot and really paid close attention to everything I bought, but it was still decent savings.
Adding up the amount I saved because things were on sale, the $10, the 5%, and the cartwheel savings, I ended up saving about $20, which is pretty good, considering Target was a spur of the moment stop with no preplanning at all Sunday afternoon. :)
Monday, May 19, 2014
Always a Project
When my husband and I bought our house seven years ago, it was in great shape. In fact, of all the houses we looked at, it was the best, as far as new paint, carpet, appliances, etc. I wasn't sure my husband would be totally happy here, since he had mentioned that he wanted to do some work on whatever house we ended up buying. It turns out I had nothing to worry about. :) Immediately he added ceiling fans to the bedrooms, living room, and dining room. Then he slowly started working on other projects, including adding screen doors (and then changing one a while later to include a doggy door), an exhaust fan in the upstairs bathroom, converting a broom closet into a pantry in the dining room, converting a second closet with hanging rods in the spare bedroom into a linen closet, ripping Elliott's closet out (he uses an armoire now), adding a bedroom to the basement, adding built in shelves to the basement, redoing the shelves in the pantry to add more shelf space, redoing the back porch, fencing in the backyard, putting up motion lights, replacing the range, building shelves for his workshop, along with smaller things like painting, minor touch ups on dry wall, etc. Have I mentioned that he works about 60-70 hours a week on average (with some weeks reaching over 100 hours)? Even though he is always incredibly busy, he still always seems to come up with new projects he wants to do around the house, and he enjoys doing them, so I guess it's okay.
Right now he is getting ready to replace the flooring in the room that will soon be Elliott's school room. When Snoopie was going through her bad separation anxiety, she ripped the carpet up by the door in there. So for several months now, our floor has looked like this:
Needless to say, I am ready for some kind of floor cover. :) Because that room has the back door and receives a lot of traffic (the dogs are in and out pretty frequently, and we spend quite a bit of time in the backyard, too), we decided to do a fake hardwood floor. Carl is planning on starting it this weekend. I'm really excited! I'll try to remember to post pictures after he's done, although it might take a while, since he has surgery next week and will probably need to take some time off from things like that for a short while.
Right now he is getting ready to replace the flooring in the room that will soon be Elliott's school room. When Snoopie was going through her bad separation anxiety, she ripped the carpet up by the door in there. So for several months now, our floor has looked like this:
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| Snoopie even managed to scratch the floor enough there that Carl decided to patch it a little |
Needless to say, I am ready for some kind of floor cover. :) Because that room has the back door and receives a lot of traffic (the dogs are in and out pretty frequently, and we spend quite a bit of time in the backyard, too), we decided to do a fake hardwood floor. Carl is planning on starting it this weekend. I'm really excited! I'll try to remember to post pictures after he's done, although it might take a while, since he has surgery next week and will probably need to take some time off from things like that for a short while.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Officially Homeschoolers!
I turned in all the paperwork to the superintendent of Elliott's school last week. Some days Elliott is really excited about homeschooling and other days he says he wants to continue to go to public school. My husband and I have been praying and talking about it for months now, though, and we really feel like it's what is best for our family. We want Elliott to be happy with his schooling where ever he goes, but ultimately as his parents, the decision is ours.
I'm pretty nervous about doing it myself. I guess it's because it's something new and exciting. I know Elliott is going to miss out on some fun stuff, but there are so many more fun things that we can do that we couldn't do while he was in public school. We have some really fun lessons and field trips planned. I know that we could always still do fun stuff during the summer, like we already do, but there's something to be said for traveling during the school year when crowds are smaller and prices are cheaper. :)
I just finished ordering the last of our homeschool stuff, I think. We will probably end up adding some more supplements if we need them to fill the time, but all the basics are covered now. We've run a couple of trial days to figure out about how long we will be working on each subject. It looks like in order to hit the mandatory hours each day, we will end up supplementing a fair amount. We are planning on doing a lot of that as unit studies, though, and hitting a lot of different subjects in the course of the study. We are starting with an outer space unit study, and it will obviously cover a lot of science and reading, but it will include math, art and social studies as well, to a smaller degree.
Elliott's last day of public school (for a while anyway, he might end up going back down the road) is next Thursday. I can't wait to begin the next chapter! I think we will do a little in June, but start actually keeping track and officially schooling in July.
I'm pretty nervous about doing it myself. I guess it's because it's something new and exciting. I know Elliott is going to miss out on some fun stuff, but there are so many more fun things that we can do that we couldn't do while he was in public school. We have some really fun lessons and field trips planned. I know that we could always still do fun stuff during the summer, like we already do, but there's something to be said for traveling during the school year when crowds are smaller and prices are cheaper. :)
I just finished ordering the last of our homeschool stuff, I think. We will probably end up adding some more supplements if we need them to fill the time, but all the basics are covered now. We've run a couple of trial days to figure out about how long we will be working on each subject. It looks like in order to hit the mandatory hours each day, we will end up supplementing a fair amount. We are planning on doing a lot of that as unit studies, though, and hitting a lot of different subjects in the course of the study. We are starting with an outer space unit study, and it will obviously cover a lot of science and reading, but it will include math, art and social studies as well, to a smaller degree.
Elliott's last day of public school (for a while anyway, he might end up going back down the road) is next Thursday. I can't wait to begin the next chapter! I think we will do a little in June, but start actually keeping track and officially schooling in July.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Our Recent Reading List
I know it's been a while since I've posted about the books we are reading at our house. We do still read a lot, but it seems like now that the books we read are often longer, and Elliott has more homework, we just don't get as much reading done together as we would like. Currently Elliott is kind of transitioning more and more away from picture books. There are still a few that he loves, but he very rarely reaches for one anymore, unless it's a holiday themed one. Of course right now we are reading some Easter picture books, but after Easter he might not touch another picture book until we pull out Halloween books.
We just finished reading all of the Guardians of Childhood books by William Joyce. We really liked them all. The movie is one of Elliott's favorite, so he was excited to check out the first book. I think it took us about a week to read it. At least one of the others also went that fast, but one of them took us over two weeks to read. It wasn't that the book wasn't good, it was just a busy time. It was the one we were reading when we had a lot of extra stuff going on. So far there are four books out, with at least one more planned. They are most appealing to kids in grades 2-6.
We are currently reading Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. We have only been reading it for a few days, and we both like it so far. It's a really long book (nearly 550 pages!) so it will probably take us quite a while to read it, but so far neither of us have lost interest. It's the first of Cornelia Funke's books we've read, but Elliott has already added another one to our wishlist on Amazon. According to Scholastic, it's most appealing to kids in third to fifth grade.
I included links so you can learn more about the books if you like. They are my affiliate Amazon links.
We just finished reading all of the Guardians of Childhood books by William Joyce. We really liked them all. The movie is one of Elliott's favorite, so he was excited to check out the first book. I think it took us about a week to read it. At least one of the others also went that fast, but one of them took us over two weeks to read. It wasn't that the book wasn't good, it was just a busy time. It was the one we were reading when we had a lot of extra stuff going on. So far there are four books out, with at least one more planned. They are most appealing to kids in grades 2-6.
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| Guardians of Childhood |
We are currently reading Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. We have only been reading it for a few days, and we both like it so far. It's a really long book (nearly 550 pages!) so it will probably take us quite a while to read it, but so far neither of us have lost interest. It's the first of Cornelia Funke's books we've read, but Elliott has already added another one to our wishlist on Amazon. According to Scholastic, it's most appealing to kids in third to fifth grade.
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| Dragon Rider |
I included links so you can learn more about the books if you like. They are my affiliate Amazon links.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Lots of Changes
I can't believe it's been almost two months since I've written a blog post. We have had some pretty crazy things going on at our house that have taken away a lot of my free time.
Elliott is still in public school, but we have already talked to his current teacher about the fact that we are homeschooling next year. She even said that while she thinks most kids benefit greatly from public school, she agrees that homeschool might be best for Elliott, because their school is too small to offer him the extra stuff that he needs. I've found all of our materials that we plan on starting him with for third grade now. We are sticking with a plan that is fairly close to public school for the most part, for while we transition. In fact, we are using the exact same handwriting, language arts, and math curriculum choices that his school uses. We'll be using a different curriculum that is also mainstream and found in a lot of public schools for Social Studies, but are using a Christian based alternative for Health and Science. Because Elliott works so fast, and learns things quickly, I also have A LOT of supplemental things planned, including books and workbooks that go much more in depth in a small section of every subject (human anatomy for science and health, Colonial America for social studies, a variety of classic books for language arts, and extra word problems and brain teasers for math). Elliott is really excited, and has actually already started working on some of the stuff, even though we don't officially start until he's out of school. :)
We just agreed to purchase some land in the same town we currently live in. We've talked about moving for quite a while, and have been working on saving money for a move, plus working on paying off debt. With the price of this land, we decided we should just go ahead and go for it, and buy it while it's available, so that's what we did. :) We close on it in May. We will be putting a house on it after we get this one paid off, so most likely in 2 years. We're planning a large garden for over there this year and next year, though, so we will still be using it, just not as much.
We have recently completely changed our eating habits. We haven't ever really had terrible eating habits, but they were certainly not as good as they should have been. Even still, we have room to improve, but necessity has forced us to remove artificial dyes and high fructose corn syrup, and I have to say, it's going really well. We've also switched to organic on anything that is readily available to us that way, and are working on switching even more stuff. Right now, we are checking around to see where the best place is to get meat locally. Living in the middle of nowhere has some positives, like more organic fresh produce that is grown locally. But it's also harder to find organic stuff that isn't priced extremely high in grocery stores. Plus the growing season is short here, so farmers markets are only open for a relatively short time frame each year. We're definitely fans of Amazon subscribe and save for snack foods, bulk flour (I make all of our bread products from scratch now), and a few other things that are cheaper that way. :)
Elliott is still in public school, but we have already talked to his current teacher about the fact that we are homeschooling next year. She even said that while she thinks most kids benefit greatly from public school, she agrees that homeschool might be best for Elliott, because their school is too small to offer him the extra stuff that he needs. I've found all of our materials that we plan on starting him with for third grade now. We are sticking with a plan that is fairly close to public school for the most part, for while we transition. In fact, we are using the exact same handwriting, language arts, and math curriculum choices that his school uses. We'll be using a different curriculum that is also mainstream and found in a lot of public schools for Social Studies, but are using a Christian based alternative for Health and Science. Because Elliott works so fast, and learns things quickly, I also have A LOT of supplemental things planned, including books and workbooks that go much more in depth in a small section of every subject (human anatomy for science and health, Colonial America for social studies, a variety of classic books for language arts, and extra word problems and brain teasers for math). Elliott is really excited, and has actually already started working on some of the stuff, even though we don't officially start until he's out of school. :)
We just agreed to purchase some land in the same town we currently live in. We've talked about moving for quite a while, and have been working on saving money for a move, plus working on paying off debt. With the price of this land, we decided we should just go ahead and go for it, and buy it while it's available, so that's what we did. :) We close on it in May. We will be putting a house on it after we get this one paid off, so most likely in 2 years. We're planning a large garden for over there this year and next year, though, so we will still be using it, just not as much.
We have recently completely changed our eating habits. We haven't ever really had terrible eating habits, but they were certainly not as good as they should have been. Even still, we have room to improve, but necessity has forced us to remove artificial dyes and high fructose corn syrup, and I have to say, it's going really well. We've also switched to organic on anything that is readily available to us that way, and are working on switching even more stuff. Right now, we are checking around to see where the best place is to get meat locally. Living in the middle of nowhere has some positives, like more organic fresh produce that is grown locally. But it's also harder to find organic stuff that isn't priced extremely high in grocery stores. Plus the growing season is short here, so farmers markets are only open for a relatively short time frame each year. We're definitely fans of Amazon subscribe and save for snack foods, bulk flour (I make all of our bread products from scratch now), and a few other things that are cheaper that way. :)
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Birthday Parties
Last Saturday Elliott turned 8. It's hard to believe that he's so old! For the last two years we've done a big party where we invited everyone from his class, but this year he decided he wanted to do something smaller and only invite a few friends. Originally I thought this would save me money so I was all for it, but it turns out it's still going to be kind of expensive. It's probably a good thing I only have one child. ;)
The Lego Movie comes to theaters on Friday and Elliott and his friends have been anxiously awaiting it for months now. Elliott decided that what he really wanted for his birthday was to be able to take a group of friends with him to see this movie, and then go out to eat "somewhere fun" after the movie. So yesterday I passed out invitations to four 7 and 8 year old boys for a movie this weekend. I had already talked to some of the moms about it beforehand since I knew I wouldn't be able to send out invites until right before the party because we wouldn't know what time the movie starts.
So far I've heard back from two of the moms that their kids will be attending, but I'm not sure on the other two. Even if it's just Elliott and two friends I think they will still have fun, though. :) We're going to see the movie and then eat at either Pizza Hut or McDonald's. We'll do the presents there, and then take the boys all back home. The "party" won't be crazy expensive, even if we decide to get the kids snacks at the movie theater, and I won't have to do much clean up before or after the party. So that is definitely a plus. I keep telling my husband that our next child needs to have a summer birthday or adoption date so we can do stuff outside for parties. Haha.
The Lego Movie comes to theaters on Friday and Elliott and his friends have been anxiously awaiting it for months now. Elliott decided that what he really wanted for his birthday was to be able to take a group of friends with him to see this movie, and then go out to eat "somewhere fun" after the movie. So yesterday I passed out invitations to four 7 and 8 year old boys for a movie this weekend. I had already talked to some of the moms about it beforehand since I knew I wouldn't be able to send out invites until right before the party because we wouldn't know what time the movie starts.
So far I've heard back from two of the moms that their kids will be attending, but I'm not sure on the other two. Even if it's just Elliott and two friends I think they will still have fun, though. :) We're going to see the movie and then eat at either Pizza Hut or McDonald's. We'll do the presents there, and then take the boys all back home. The "party" won't be crazy expensive, even if we decide to get the kids snacks at the movie theater, and I won't have to do much clean up before or after the party. So that is definitely a plus. I keep telling my husband that our next child needs to have a summer birthday or adoption date so we can do stuff outside for parties. Haha.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Issues At School
So we have already decided that we are over 95% sure that we will be homeschooling Elliott next year, but we are going to try to finish out second grade in public school. That decision is getting harder and harder to stick with, though.
Elliott has always had an issue with bruising pretty easily, but never without a reason. Well, it appears my child ends up with a whole lot more bruises than other kids anyway. And because he tries to be tough, he doesn't get the help he needs at school. It's driving me crazy. Last Monday, he came home with scratches and bruising by his eye. His face was STILL red when he got home from school at about 4, even though he told me it happened at his recess at noon. I asked him what happened, and he informed me that one of his "friends" had pushed him down, and then shoved his face back into the snow when he tried to get up. That same kid then jumped on his stomach. I asked Elliott if he told his teacher, and he said he hadn't, because he didn't want to get in trouble. I told him he needed to say something about it the next day to his teacher, but he insisted that it was fine, and he didn't want to get in trouble. Tuesday and Wednesday he didn't play with that kid. Then on Thursday, that same kid pushed him down at recess AGAIN. And once again, Elliott didn't tell the teacher what was going on, even though he had a bump on his head again. Neither of these issues had notes in his planner either. And Elliott told me his teacher didn't even notice his face, until someone else said something about it.
So Friday morning my husband called the principal and we set up a meeting with him and Elliott's teacher. We told them that we weren't happy with the fact that our child keeps getting hurt and he's afraid to tell the teacher because he will get in trouble. Back in October or November, this same kid pushed Elliott down, and Elliott apparently interrupted the teacher to tell her. They both got sent to the principal to discuss what was going on. According to the principal Elliott didn't get in any trouble for that incident, at least not from him. But they both ended up missing recess for the next three days. That seems a little harsh if you ask me, that the kid who gets hurt gets punished that much just for interrupting to tell the teacher what happened in the hall.
We talked about more stuff while we were there, but this is already long enough, so I won't go into it right now. I'm fairly happy with the solution we came to regarding Elliott getting hurt (the principal sat both boys down and explained that they aren't allowed to play together at recess again until he tells them they can). The principal and teacher both sat down with Elliott and explained to him that he WON'T get in trouble for coming to them when he's hurt, unless he did something wrong, too. His teacher also reminded him how important it is to be honest about what happens, and that if he hurts, he needs to tell someone so they can help him feel better. The teacher also said she would try to do better about letting me know if he gets hurt at school.
Elliott has always had an issue with bruising pretty easily, but never without a reason. Well, it appears my child ends up with a whole lot more bruises than other kids anyway. And because he tries to be tough, he doesn't get the help he needs at school. It's driving me crazy. Last Monday, he came home with scratches and bruising by his eye. His face was STILL red when he got home from school at about 4, even though he told me it happened at his recess at noon. I asked him what happened, and he informed me that one of his "friends" had pushed him down, and then shoved his face back into the snow when he tried to get up. That same kid then jumped on his stomach. I asked Elliott if he told his teacher, and he said he hadn't, because he didn't want to get in trouble. I told him he needed to say something about it the next day to his teacher, but he insisted that it was fine, and he didn't want to get in trouble. Tuesday and Wednesday he didn't play with that kid. Then on Thursday, that same kid pushed him down at recess AGAIN. And once again, Elliott didn't tell the teacher what was going on, even though he had a bump on his head again. Neither of these issues had notes in his planner either. And Elliott told me his teacher didn't even notice his face, until someone else said something about it.
So Friday morning my husband called the principal and we set up a meeting with him and Elliott's teacher. We told them that we weren't happy with the fact that our child keeps getting hurt and he's afraid to tell the teacher because he will get in trouble. Back in October or November, this same kid pushed Elliott down, and Elliott apparently interrupted the teacher to tell her. They both got sent to the principal to discuss what was going on. According to the principal Elliott didn't get in any trouble for that incident, at least not from him. But they both ended up missing recess for the next three days. That seems a little harsh if you ask me, that the kid who gets hurt gets punished that much just for interrupting to tell the teacher what happened in the hall.
We talked about more stuff while we were there, but this is already long enough, so I won't go into it right now. I'm fairly happy with the solution we came to regarding Elliott getting hurt (the principal sat both boys down and explained that they aren't allowed to play together at recess again until he tells them they can). The principal and teacher both sat down with Elliott and explained to him that he WON'T get in trouble for coming to them when he's hurt, unless he did something wrong, too. His teacher also reminded him how important it is to be honest about what happens, and that if he hurts, he needs to tell someone so they can help him feel better. The teacher also said she would try to do better about letting me know if he gets hurt at school.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Homeschooling
I've mentioned on here before that my family had been considering homeschooling for a variety of reasons. Even though Elliott is still in public school right now, we do quite a bit of additional school type stuff at home. I've found that he tends to behave better at school if we are working on new stuff that he finds fun at home. He picks up on new stuff very quickly, so public school tends to be boring to him when he understands the lesson the first day, but then has to spend another 2 weeks (or more) listening to his teacher talk about it. My husband has voiced concern that maybe Elliott is getting TOO far ahead in some stuff at home, but I don't really see it that way, and neither does Elliott. We just work on the stuff that he is interested in. Like for instance, right now he is working on fully memorizing multiplication tables, and is also working on adding and subtracting fractions. His class at school is no where near ready for those things, but they are both things that he wants to work on at home. He's also already finished his cursive handwriting book at home, so we just ordered a new one for him that has more copy work, so he can get more practice with making sure that he has his letters connected properly. We tried having him copy things that I had written down, but that was too much stress and work for me, since he uses a totally different style of writing than I do. :)
Recently Elliott came to me and told me that he wants to homeschool full time next year instead of going to public school. I've been praying about this for a long time, because I have felt like that is what is the best fit for my family, but Elliott was opposed to it, because he likes seeing his friends everyday. When I asked him why he changed his mind, he said it was because homeschooling is more fun, and he can learn about the stuff he wants to learn about. I reminded him that he still has to do science (he pretty much only likes to learn about animals and weather, and has no interest in anything else science) and language arts. I also pointed out that he still has to learn all the same things that his public school friends have to learn each year, but that we can add more stuff to it.
After having a family meeting, we decided that Elliott will finish up second grade in public school, but then start homeschooling in June or July. We have been looking at curriculum for various subjects, and are just amazed at all the choices. I've actually enjoyed reading reviews and narrowing down my choices to a few, and having Elliott look at stuff that is included in different ones. We haven't settled on anything 100% for sure yet, but we have a pretty good idea on everything except science (we want to do a human anatomy study for the bulk of health, but our state standards require him to touch on lots of stuff, instead of allowing him to just study one area in depth each semester or year). I do feel a little overwhelmed by everything, but I feel at peace with it for the most part. The biggest concern is just making everything fit in every day, including school work, cleaning, and the things that I enjoy (crafting and reading mostly).
When I first mentioned homeschooling, it seems like my whole family was against it, but now some of them are actually supportive. :) My brother is my biggest supporter, which really isn't surprising, considering he is also the biggest supporter (aside from my husband and son) of me staying at home instead of working outside of the home anyway. But even my mom has come around and is supportive. That really means a lot to me. My mom and I are pretty close (we talk on the phone for around 10 hours each week). There are many things that I do different as a parent than she did (a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I only have one child, and she had four of her own, plus two step children), and sometimes she isn't all that supportive of different, so it really means a lot to me when she IS.
Recently Elliott came to me and told me that he wants to homeschool full time next year instead of going to public school. I've been praying about this for a long time, because I have felt like that is what is the best fit for my family, but Elliott was opposed to it, because he likes seeing his friends everyday. When I asked him why he changed his mind, he said it was because homeschooling is more fun, and he can learn about the stuff he wants to learn about. I reminded him that he still has to do science (he pretty much only likes to learn about animals and weather, and has no interest in anything else science) and language arts. I also pointed out that he still has to learn all the same things that his public school friends have to learn each year, but that we can add more stuff to it.
After having a family meeting, we decided that Elliott will finish up second grade in public school, but then start homeschooling in June or July. We have been looking at curriculum for various subjects, and are just amazed at all the choices. I've actually enjoyed reading reviews and narrowing down my choices to a few, and having Elliott look at stuff that is included in different ones. We haven't settled on anything 100% for sure yet, but we have a pretty good idea on everything except science (we want to do a human anatomy study for the bulk of health, but our state standards require him to touch on lots of stuff, instead of allowing him to just study one area in depth each semester or year). I do feel a little overwhelmed by everything, but I feel at peace with it for the most part. The biggest concern is just making everything fit in every day, including school work, cleaning, and the things that I enjoy (crafting and reading mostly).
When I first mentioned homeschooling, it seems like my whole family was against it, but now some of them are actually supportive. :) My brother is my biggest supporter, which really isn't surprising, considering he is also the biggest supporter (aside from my husband and son) of me staying at home instead of working outside of the home anyway. But even my mom has come around and is supportive. That really means a lot to me. My mom and I are pretty close (we talk on the phone for around 10 hours each week). There are many things that I do different as a parent than she did (a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I only have one child, and she had four of her own, plus two step children), and sometimes she isn't all that supportive of different, so it really means a lot to me when she IS.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Getting Out of Debt?
I started this blog as a place to write about money saving ideas and to track my progress on getting out of debt, but I've definitely moved away from that for the most part. Since it's the beginning of the year, I did just look at our finances, though, to see how close we are to being out of debt. It's not nearly as close as I would like, but we are making progress, so I guess that still makes it a good day. :) Our total debt is now officially less than what our home is valued at by the county, so that's certainly good news.
We ended up making progress toward our total debt by about $8,000 this year. Our savings accounts are all in better shape, too. We didn't do anything like buying a car or any other major purchases last year, but we ended up traveling to Missouri three times, instead of the planned once. I was also hospitalized for several days in March. Our insurance covered the total bill, but there was a lot more gas used during that time (the hospital is about 35 miles away and my husband was traveling back and forth twice a day), and my husband took my son out to eat every night so he would still have time to bring him to see me. Either way I'm a little disappointed by our total. Almost everything moved the right way, although one of the credit cards stayed at almost the exact same number.
Our goal this year is to drop our debt total by about $14000 this year. If we achieve this goal, and my husband stays in the Air Force, we should be able to afford to move into a larger house in 2015. :)
We ended up making progress toward our total debt by about $8,000 this year. Our savings accounts are all in better shape, too. We didn't do anything like buying a car or any other major purchases last year, but we ended up traveling to Missouri three times, instead of the planned once. I was also hospitalized for several days in March. Our insurance covered the total bill, but there was a lot more gas used during that time (the hospital is about 35 miles away and my husband was traveling back and forth twice a day), and my husband took my son out to eat every night so he would still have time to bring him to see me. Either way I'm a little disappointed by our total. Almost everything moved the right way, although one of the credit cards stayed at almost the exact same number.
Our goal this year is to drop our debt total by about $14000 this year. If we achieve this goal, and my husband stays in the Air Force, we should be able to afford to move into a larger house in 2015. :)
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Happy 2014!
I know I haven't been around for quite a while. We got to go to Missouri for Christmas, for the first time since I moved away. While I was there I didn't spend much time at all online, and chose to spend time with my family instead. I meant to write a post before I left, but things were a little bit crazy. In the last week and a half before I left for Missouri I ended up working on the scrapbook for my mom for over 50 hours. That was in addition to the time I spent crying and trying to get myself back under control so I could work on it without the fear that my tears would ruin all my hard work. Haha. It ended up being 30 pages long, because I was fairly certain I couldn't possibly fit any more pages in there and still have it close. :) I was pretty pleased with it, though. I'm a bit of a perfectionist (ok, maybe more than a bit), and since this was such a big deal, I was even more picky than usual. My mom loved it, though, and didn't even mind the minor things that I thought were wrong with it.
We had a really nice time in Missouri. I got to see most of my Mom's family, and even a few members from my dad's family (I've never been as close to my dad's side as my mom's, and his side's Christmas dinner happened before I went home). We got to take Elliott to some places that do a lot of decorating for Christmas, and he LOVED it. We have a few places up here that decorate for Christmas, but nothing like back home. We even got to watch the tree lighting at Silver Dollar City, which was one of his highlights from the whole trip. :)
Santa had no problem finding my mom's house, and he brought Elliott more stuff than he should have. Haha. Then by the time he got presents from Grandmas, aunts, uncles, cousins, and great aunts and uncles, we weren't sure we were going to be able to fit them all in the van! After some careful arranging by my tetris loving sister, we got everything in, though. :)
It felt so weird being somewhere relatively warm for Christmas. A lot of people were complaining about the cold, but it honestly felt warm much of the time to us. We had negative temperatures as highs shortly before we left, though.
We came home on Friday, and it was a warm 35 degrees, but a little bit windy. We were hit with the cold snap Saturday, though, and hit hard. Yesterday the wind chill stayed below -60 all day. Our heater worked hard but couldn't get our house above 62 or 63 degrees all day, so we spent most of the time wrapped up together on the couch. Elliott had his first ever "too cold for school day" today since it was still really cold, with a windchill in the -50s this morning, so we got another family day, until Carl had to go to work. Elliott and I spent a pleasant day together reading some of his new books he got for Christmas, as well as doing some school stuff to get him back into the learning mind set. :) He told me today that I'm a "funner" teacher than his teachers at school and maybe we should home school all the time now.
We were sad a lot, but it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Elliott only cried twice that I saw. Once when he was sitting in Grumpy's chair, talking about him, and the other time when we went to the cemetery to see his headstone. He was concerned because Nama's name was on there. In hindsight I realize I should have prepared him for that, but it was honestly something I hadn't even considered from his point of view.
We had a really nice time in Missouri. I got to see most of my Mom's family, and even a few members from my dad's family (I've never been as close to my dad's side as my mom's, and his side's Christmas dinner happened before I went home). We got to take Elliott to some places that do a lot of decorating for Christmas, and he LOVED it. We have a few places up here that decorate for Christmas, but nothing like back home. We even got to watch the tree lighting at Silver Dollar City, which was one of his highlights from the whole trip. :)
Santa had no problem finding my mom's house, and he brought Elliott more stuff than he should have. Haha. Then by the time he got presents from Grandmas, aunts, uncles, cousins, and great aunts and uncles, we weren't sure we were going to be able to fit them all in the van! After some careful arranging by my tetris loving sister, we got everything in, though. :)
It felt so weird being somewhere relatively warm for Christmas. A lot of people were complaining about the cold, but it honestly felt warm much of the time to us. We had negative temperatures as highs shortly before we left, though.
We came home on Friday, and it was a warm 35 degrees, but a little bit windy. We were hit with the cold snap Saturday, though, and hit hard. Yesterday the wind chill stayed below -60 all day. Our heater worked hard but couldn't get our house above 62 or 63 degrees all day, so we spent most of the time wrapped up together on the couch. Elliott had his first ever "too cold for school day" today since it was still really cold, with a windchill in the -50s this morning, so we got another family day, until Carl had to go to work. Elliott and I spent a pleasant day together reading some of his new books he got for Christmas, as well as doing some school stuff to get him back into the learning mind set. :) He told me today that I'm a "funner" teacher than his teachers at school and maybe we should home school all the time now.
We were sad a lot, but it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Elliott only cried twice that I saw. Once when he was sitting in Grumpy's chair, talking about him, and the other time when we went to the cemetery to see his headstone. He was concerned because Nama's name was on there. In hindsight I realize I should have prepared him for that, but it was honestly something I hadn't even considered from his point of view.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Christmas Time
My little family is celebrating Christmas this weekend. We will be leaving for Missouri next weekend, and since my husband is still at work when Elliott goes to bed next week, this weekend was really the only logical time it would work. We buy way too many gifts to make just celebrating in Missouri an option. It would cost us a fortune to mail everything there and back, and it wouldn't all fit in the van with my husband, my sister, my son, me, our two dogs, two cats, and luggage. So we have sent a few things to my mom's house already that I ordered online, and some of Elliott's books that he picked from Scholastic (one of my sisters that lives close to my mom is a teacher so we ordered them through her) are already there. We'll also take a few gifts from here to open on Christmas, but most of them will be opened here. We even made arrangements with Santa for a drop off Friday night at our house. :)
My sister will be coming over, of course, and in addition to opening presents and eating together, we'll play some games, and maybe even watch some movies. My sister might not be able to be here for everything. I don't know if she is going to have to work any or not. She isn't on the schedule, but she said she might need to go in anyway, depending on how late she works on Friday night. Either way, it will be lots of fun. I'm really looking forward to a family day. :)
My sister will be coming over, of course, and in addition to opening presents and eating together, we'll play some games, and maybe even watch some movies. My sister might not be able to be here for everything. I don't know if she is going to have to work any or not. She isn't on the schedule, but she said she might need to go in anyway, depending on how late she works on Friday night. Either way, it will be lots of fun. I'm really looking forward to a family day. :)
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The Little Things
Today was a pretty brutal day. My husband came home from work late last night complaining that his back was really hurting. He had physical therapy yesterday, and he isn't sure exactly what the problem was, but the pain was more severe than any he has had so far. He didn't want to go to the emergency room last night, but ended up staying awake (and keeping me awake) most of the night anyway because of the pain. So today, the first thing he did when he woke up was call the clinic on base to see if he could get in. They ended up telling him to go downtown to have it looked at so we left right after I dropped Elliott off at the bus stop.
The weather was awful. It was snowing, and windy, and visibility was terrible, even during daylight hours. I ended up driving back and forth from one place to another all day long today, and had my headlights on the entire time. The doctor downtown wanted my husband to stay home tonight, and gave him a strong narcotic. But the doctor on base, who didn't even see him, said he still had to work, but could at least take the narcotic. By the time I dropped him off at work (he's on second shift today), and got home, I had such a headache from the eye strain of trying to see well while I was driving. I sat down in my recliner, with my little dog by my side. When I woke up she was asleep on my lap, and our little kitten was curled up on my chest. It's funny how snuggles from them can make it all better. :)
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Elliott's at my sister's house tonight. I knew I wouldn't be home in time to pick him up off the bus, so since my sister was off work today anyway, she agreed to switch their weekly sleep over from tomorrow night to tonight so I didn't have to call a friend, and then drag Elliott back out in the cold in the (relatively, considering he goes to bed at 7:30) middle of the night to get my husband.
The weather was awful. It was snowing, and windy, and visibility was terrible, even during daylight hours. I ended up driving back and forth from one place to another all day long today, and had my headlights on the entire time. The doctor downtown wanted my husband to stay home tonight, and gave him a strong narcotic. But the doctor on base, who didn't even see him, said he still had to work, but could at least take the narcotic. By the time I dropped him off at work (he's on second shift today), and got home, I had such a headache from the eye strain of trying to see well while I was driving. I sat down in my recliner, with my little dog by my side. When I woke up she was asleep on my lap, and our little kitten was curled up on my chest. It's funny how snuggles from them can make it all better. :)
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Elliott's at my sister's house tonight. I knew I wouldn't be home in time to pick him up off the bus, so since my sister was off work today anyway, she agreed to switch their weekly sleep over from tomorrow night to tonight so I didn't have to call a friend, and then drag Elliott back out in the cold in the (relatively, considering he goes to bed at 7:30) middle of the night to get my husband.
Monday, December 2, 2013
I Hope You Had a Great Weekend!
We have been pretty busy lately. Christmas time is always busy around my house, but this year is even busier than usual. I told my husband we were going to have to cut some of our usual activities to make the time that I needed to work on the scrapbook for my mom, but it seems like instead, I've added to our list. Giving makes me incredibly happy, though, and since that's what most of our extra projects are about at this time of the year, I'll probably end up keeping them all.
I hope everyone had a nice weekend. My family celebrated Thanksgiving 9 days early this year. My sister works retail, so we knew she would be working on Thanksgiving, so we did the turkey dinner and stuff the week before when she came over on Tuesday like she does every week. It was fun. I actually think she was glad to be working on Thanksgiving this year anyway, so she wouldn't be as sad about missing my dad. We did a smaller Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving, with just my husband, son and I, before heading out to do some shopping. I am fairly certain that I finished my Christmas shopping, aside from a gift for my sister in law and the $10 gifts that I will be buying for my family's gift exchange.
Tonight is Elliott's Christmas concert at school. He is an angel. He's not exactly happy about that, but he likes it better now that he helped me make his halo. He is still not happy about wearing a "dress," though. :)
I hope everyone had a nice weekend. My family celebrated Thanksgiving 9 days early this year. My sister works retail, so we knew she would be working on Thanksgiving, so we did the turkey dinner and stuff the week before when she came over on Tuesday like she does every week. It was fun. I actually think she was glad to be working on Thanksgiving this year anyway, so she wouldn't be as sad about missing my dad. We did a smaller Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving, with just my husband, son and I, before heading out to do some shopping. I am fairly certain that I finished my Christmas shopping, aside from a gift for my sister in law and the $10 gifts that I will be buying for my family's gift exchange.
Tonight is Elliott's Christmas concert at school. He is an angel. He's not exactly happy about that, but he likes it better now that he helped me make his halo. He is still not happy about wearing a "dress," though. :)
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Great Deal on Pictures at Walgreens
Today I finally got around to ordering the rest of the pictures that I plan on using in the scrapbook that I am making for my mom. It's pictures that we used in the slideshow at my dad's funeral. We ended up using close to 200 pictures total, so I knew I needed to do some research before ordering pictures to make sure I was getting a good deal. I knew I would at least be ordering a second set of all the pictures for myself, so a difference of just a few pennies per print adds up fairly quickly on an order that large.
After checking for coupon codes at most of the big picture printing sites I could find, I ended up going with Walgreens. Prices are $.12 each for 4x6 prints, if you have them delivered to you, which in my experience usually takes 7-10 days. $.12 isn't the best price out there, but I found a coupon code for $30 off a $60 photo order. Considering I already planned on ordering nearly 400 pictures, I decided it would be worth it to see if there were 110 more pictures I wanted to print off. I ended up not getting the pictures ordered before I picked Elliott up from school, but when I got home and was working on it some more, he asked what I was doing. He asked if he could have some of the pictures, too, especially of him and his Grumpy, and his Mommy and Grumpy. He ended up deciding he wanted most of them, and we ended up ordering 522 pictures total. The total was $62.64, so after using the coupon code RMNWALG30, it brought the total down to $32.64. After paying shipping and taxes, I ended up spending $40.45. That is a total of less than $.08 per print, including tax and shipping!
So if you are in the market for a lot of prints, or enlargements or anything for Christmas, now is the time to order them.
After checking for coupon codes at most of the big picture printing sites I could find, I ended up going with Walgreens. Prices are $.12 each for 4x6 prints, if you have them delivered to you, which in my experience usually takes 7-10 days. $.12 isn't the best price out there, but I found a coupon code for $30 off a $60 photo order. Considering I already planned on ordering nearly 400 pictures, I decided it would be worth it to see if there were 110 more pictures I wanted to print off. I ended up not getting the pictures ordered before I picked Elliott up from school, but when I got home and was working on it some more, he asked what I was doing. He asked if he could have some of the pictures, too, especially of him and his Grumpy, and his Mommy and Grumpy. He ended up deciding he wanted most of them, and we ended up ordering 522 pictures total. The total was $62.64, so after using the coupon code RMNWALG30, it brought the total down to $32.64. After paying shipping and taxes, I ended up spending $40.45. That is a total of less than $.08 per print, including tax and shipping!
So if you are in the market for a lot of prints, or enlargements or anything for Christmas, now is the time to order them.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Update
So it's been several weeks since I've made a post, but things are really starting to return to normal around here. I had a really rough day on Monday, but we made it through. Veteran's Day was the first day I had to make it through that would have absolutely guaranteed a phone call to my dad if he was still alive. It was a little rough going out with my husband and son to celebrate the day, but I managed. We went out to eat, saw a movie, and even did a little bit of Christmas shopping.
I lined up my house sitter this week, and am working on finalizing our plans to go home for Christmas. Elliott has never spent a Christmas with anyone other than my husband, my sister, and me. It will be a new experience to spend it with most of my mom's brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, etc, along with my mom, my siblings, and our little family. He will of course spend time with my husband's family, too, although that will probably be a different day.
I'm just glad that Elliott has a Christmas break that is long enough to go home this year. Since he missed the first 12 days of school, we wouldn't pull him out of school for even a day or two for Christmas.
Speaking of school, Elliott is doing really well. His teacher was impressed by how quickly he finished his work from the first three weeks of school. His grades are good, and he genuinely enjoys most subjects. His teacher says she really enjoys talking with him, and listening to his ideas. She says he is very creative, but instead of just coming up with new ideas, he actually tries to find a way for them to work.
He is obviously still going to public school, but we are supplementing at home with different things that he wants to learn. His favorite things are history, science, and handwriting, but there's really not a subject he doesn't like. Most weeks when we sit down together and discuss what we want to learn that week, he includes all different subjects. He is obsessed with books. Most of his Christmas list this year was books. And other than one $5 movie, he has spent his allowances and extra chore money from August on, on books. We are running out of room, even though we just boxed up another 100-150 books that he had outgrown. We plan on putting a bookshelf in the craft room in the near future. :)
So that's the update on my family. I'm going to try to get on here and write more frequently, but that's it for now.
I lined up my house sitter this week, and am working on finalizing our plans to go home for Christmas. Elliott has never spent a Christmas with anyone other than my husband, my sister, and me. It will be a new experience to spend it with most of my mom's brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, etc, along with my mom, my siblings, and our little family. He will of course spend time with my husband's family, too, although that will probably be a different day.
I'm just glad that Elliott has a Christmas break that is long enough to go home this year. Since he missed the first 12 days of school, we wouldn't pull him out of school for even a day or two for Christmas.
Speaking of school, Elliott is doing really well. His teacher was impressed by how quickly he finished his work from the first three weeks of school. His grades are good, and he genuinely enjoys most subjects. His teacher says she really enjoys talking with him, and listening to his ideas. She says he is very creative, but instead of just coming up with new ideas, he actually tries to find a way for them to work.
He is obviously still going to public school, but we are supplementing at home with different things that he wants to learn. His favorite things are history, science, and handwriting, but there's really not a subject he doesn't like. Most weeks when we sit down together and discuss what we want to learn that week, he includes all different subjects. He is obsessed with books. Most of his Christmas list this year was books. And other than one $5 movie, he has spent his allowances and extra chore money from August on, on books. We are running out of room, even though we just boxed up another 100-150 books that he had outgrown. We plan on putting a bookshelf in the craft room in the near future. :)
So that's the update on my family. I'm going to try to get on here and write more frequently, but that's it for now.
Friday, September 27, 2013
The Importance of an Emergency Fund
I know I haven't been around much lately, and I honestly don't see that changing a whole lot in the very near future. I don't ever get on my computer anymore lately unless there's something specific I need to do. I do still use my phone to get online for a few things, but typing anything very long out on that is a major pain.
Today I'm paying bills, and I am thanking God again that we took the time to make an emergency fund before putting all of our extra money toward debt. When I said something about that to someone else, they looked at me like I was crazy and said "But you didn't rely on your dad's income or anything right? Why does it really matter to your finances?"
Here's the thing, a trip to Missouri from North Dakota isn't cheap. Neither is eating out at least once a day every day for over a week, because you are at the hospital from 9 am to 9 pm. Especially when you are providing food for extended family as well (we didn't pay for it every single time, but we did the majority of the time, because it just made the most sense for my husband to be the one to go get it). Gas to get to and from the hospital (over 25 miles each way) isn't cheap, especially in a minivan. Sending my husband and son away from the hospital for a few hours a day wasn't exactly cheap either. We ended up buying two new shirts for me (one for visitation, one for the funeral) as well as new shoes, two new shirts for my husband, and a new shirt for Elliott. We also bought the flag display case for my dad's service flag, and another case for my mom to display some of my dad's things in. Due to my mom now living alone we also did several things around her house to increase security, and those things weren't cheap either, but we certainly didn't want her to have to pay for any of them.
And then there's the loss of income. Yes, my husband took vacation time from his full time job in the Air Force, so he was still paid for his time off. But he didn't have vacation hours from his second job to take. So over the course of nearly 3 weeks, he lost around $400 in income.
A lot of those expenses were things I wouldn't have even given much thought to, when planning what an emergency might look like for my household. Luckily I had enough in my emergency fund to cover most of it anyway (and the rest? It came out of the paycheck we got paid while in Missouri, that would normally go to paying off extra debt, and from our Christmas fund, so none of it had to be extra credit card debt).
And while, of course, the timing is NEVER good for something like this to happen, it did seem like an incredibly bad time with all the expenses that come at this time of the year for us. Things like school pictures, first fund raisers, my cosmetology license renewal, new shoes, and a major growth spurt that shot Elliott right out of shoes we just bought and into the next size jeans.
So now our debt repayment plans are on hold, probably for the rest of the year, since we need to build our emergency fund back up and save to go see my mom again at Christmas time. But there are things more important than money, and family is definitely one of them!
Today I'm paying bills, and I am thanking God again that we took the time to make an emergency fund before putting all of our extra money toward debt. When I said something about that to someone else, they looked at me like I was crazy and said "But you didn't rely on your dad's income or anything right? Why does it really matter to your finances?"
Here's the thing, a trip to Missouri from North Dakota isn't cheap. Neither is eating out at least once a day every day for over a week, because you are at the hospital from 9 am to 9 pm. Especially when you are providing food for extended family as well (we didn't pay for it every single time, but we did the majority of the time, because it just made the most sense for my husband to be the one to go get it). Gas to get to and from the hospital (over 25 miles each way) isn't cheap, especially in a minivan. Sending my husband and son away from the hospital for a few hours a day wasn't exactly cheap either. We ended up buying two new shirts for me (one for visitation, one for the funeral) as well as new shoes, two new shirts for my husband, and a new shirt for Elliott. We also bought the flag display case for my dad's service flag, and another case for my mom to display some of my dad's things in. Due to my mom now living alone we also did several things around her house to increase security, and those things weren't cheap either, but we certainly didn't want her to have to pay for any of them.
And then there's the loss of income. Yes, my husband took vacation time from his full time job in the Air Force, so he was still paid for his time off. But he didn't have vacation hours from his second job to take. So over the course of nearly 3 weeks, he lost around $400 in income.
A lot of those expenses were things I wouldn't have even given much thought to, when planning what an emergency might look like for my household. Luckily I had enough in my emergency fund to cover most of it anyway (and the rest? It came out of the paycheck we got paid while in Missouri, that would normally go to paying off extra debt, and from our Christmas fund, so none of it had to be extra credit card debt).
And while, of course, the timing is NEVER good for something like this to happen, it did seem like an incredibly bad time with all the expenses that come at this time of the year for us. Things like school pictures, first fund raisers, my cosmetology license renewal, new shoes, and a major growth spurt that shot Elliott right out of shoes we just bought and into the next size jeans.
So now our debt repayment plans are on hold, probably for the rest of the year, since we need to build our emergency fund back up and save to go see my mom again at Christmas time. But there are things more important than money, and family is definitely one of them!
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Staying Busy...or Doing Nothing
It is funny how everything seems to be working this week. Elliott started school on Monday (12 days later than the rest of his school), after we arrived home on Saturday. It seems like he and I both want to either be incredibly busy, or doing absolutely nothing this week. It doesn't seem like there has been much time spent in the in between. Usually we spend a lot of time outside playing basketball, or just running around in the yard. I think Elliott has spent a total of 30 minutes outside with Snoopie (normally he's required to spend 30 minutes a day outside making sure she gets enough exercise, but we haven't enforced that lately, because he's been busy doing homework, and my husband has been able to play with her instead), since we've been home. We haven't even picked up the basketball once, and I don't think I've been outside of the house, when I wasn't on my way to or from somewhere.
Elliott has nearly finished all the work his teacher had for him, and will most likely finish it up tonight. There was A LOT, but his teacher left it in my sister's classroom, so she was able to pick it up Saturday afternoon, so he was able to get a great start on it over the weekend. When he's not at school or working on school work, he just wants to read, or sit and do nothing. I'm a little bit worried about him, but I know I am acting pretty much the same way, so I'll give it some more time. He and my dad were close. Elliott always said I was the only person he loved more than Grumpy.
For me, it seems like I'm happiest when I stay busy lately. But if I sit down and take a break, there's no telling when I will be able to convince myself to start again. My husband has been pretty busy as well. I think that is the only way he knows how to deal with his emotions. He wants to be so strong for me and Elliott, but I know it's incredibly hard for him as well. He has always said that he married into a great family, and there is no doubt that he and my dad had a better, stronger relationship than many people have with their own fathers. In fact, I would say that my husband's relationship was better with my dad, than the one he has with his own dad.
Because my husband has been so busy, I've had more projects to do as well. He added more shelves to my pantry, so I've been working on rearranging everything just the way I want it. I've also been working hard on getting caught up on laundry, and getting everything actually put away. I'd say I have less laundry out right now (including clean and dirty) than I've had out for several years.
But then there are times when I just want to sit and stare at the TV, for hours at a time. Sometimes I'm ok for hours at a time, and then everything comes crashing down again. I've talked to my mom every day. And she just sounds so sad, no matter what we are talking about. It's really tearing me up. I know in time, we will all be better, but in the meantime, I just needed to vent. Sorry about that.
Elliott has nearly finished all the work his teacher had for him, and will most likely finish it up tonight. There was A LOT, but his teacher left it in my sister's classroom, so she was able to pick it up Saturday afternoon, so he was able to get a great start on it over the weekend. When he's not at school or working on school work, he just wants to read, or sit and do nothing. I'm a little bit worried about him, but I know I am acting pretty much the same way, so I'll give it some more time. He and my dad were close. Elliott always said I was the only person he loved more than Grumpy.
For me, it seems like I'm happiest when I stay busy lately. But if I sit down and take a break, there's no telling when I will be able to convince myself to start again. My husband has been pretty busy as well. I think that is the only way he knows how to deal with his emotions. He wants to be so strong for me and Elliott, but I know it's incredibly hard for him as well. He has always said that he married into a great family, and there is no doubt that he and my dad had a better, stronger relationship than many people have with their own fathers. In fact, I would say that my husband's relationship was better with my dad, than the one he has with his own dad.
Because my husband has been so busy, I've had more projects to do as well. He added more shelves to my pantry, so I've been working on rearranging everything just the way I want it. I've also been working hard on getting caught up on laundry, and getting everything actually put away. I'd say I have less laundry out right now (including clean and dirty) than I've had out for several years.
But then there are times when I just want to sit and stare at the TV, for hours at a time. Sometimes I'm ok for hours at a time, and then everything comes crashing down again. I've talked to my mom every day. And she just sounds so sad, no matter what we are talking about. It's really tearing me up. I know in time, we will all be better, but in the meantime, I just needed to vent. Sorry about that.
Monday, September 9, 2013
He Didn't Make It
My dad passed away on August 29th. There was just too much wrong with him, and he didn't want to be hooked up to machines. On Wednesday he pulled everything out himself, after my family talked to his doctors about it. My dad knew what was going on then, and knew he wouldn't live without the machines, and made that choice for himself. He lived approximately 28 more hours.
Everyone thinks he was trying to hold on so long so he wouldn't die on my birthday. He almost made it. There was less than one hour left of my birthday when he died. It was peaceful, though, and he wasn't in pain. My mom, my sisters and I were all in the room with him.
They moved him out of the ICU after he pulled everything out, so Elliott was able to come in and tell him good bye, while my dad still understood what was going on. Elliott was able to tell him how much he loved him, and how he was the best grandpa anyone could ever have.
Everyone was able to make peace with it, and Dad knew we all loved him. We are still having an incredibly hard time with it, of course, but we are glad he isn't in pain anymore.
Leaving my mom to head back to North Dakota was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. I think it was the first time she had cried when I left since the first time I did it after Carl and I got married in 2005.
My dad hasn't been a part of my everyday life for several years now, and the pain and sadness is still so sharp and awful. I can only imagine how much harder it is for my mom, and my brother and sister who talked to him pretty much everyday.
Everyone thinks he was trying to hold on so long so he wouldn't die on my birthday. He almost made it. There was less than one hour left of my birthday when he died. It was peaceful, though, and he wasn't in pain. My mom, my sisters and I were all in the room with him.
They moved him out of the ICU after he pulled everything out, so Elliott was able to come in and tell him good bye, while my dad still understood what was going on. Elliott was able to tell him how much he loved him, and how he was the best grandpa anyone could ever have.
Everyone was able to make peace with it, and Dad knew we all loved him. We are still having an incredibly hard time with it, of course, but we are glad he isn't in pain anymore.
Leaving my mom to head back to North Dakota was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. I think it was the first time she had cried when I left since the first time I did it after Carl and I got married in 2005.
My dad hasn't been a part of my everyday life for several years now, and the pain and sadness is still so sharp and awful. I can only imagine how much harder it is for my mom, and my brother and sister who talked to him pretty much everyday.
Monday, August 26, 2013
In Missouri Again
I know it has been way too long since I last wrote a blog post. I had just planned on taking some time off week before last so Elliott and I could spend some time together doing whatever he wanted before he headed back to school last week. We were able to do that, and really had a lot of fun.
But now we are in Missouri, and Elliott still hasn't started second grade. My dad is really sick and is in the ICU. My mom took him to the hospital last Monday and the life flighted him to a bigger one. Tuesday the nurses said we needed to come home. He has a lot of different health issues, and right now they are just kind of building on each other. But we still have hope. He is off his sedation, and understands what is going on around him. He is able to nod and shake his head.
Everyone at Elliott's school is super understanding. Darla talked to his teacher before we left on Tuesday, and I talked to his superintendent on Thursday, and both were sympathetic and understanding about the school he is missing. It's been pretty hard on Elliott, though, since he can't go back and see his Grumpy. The waiting room is pretty boring, but he's been a real champ.
But now we are in Missouri, and Elliott still hasn't started second grade. My dad is really sick and is in the ICU. My mom took him to the hospital last Monday and the life flighted him to a bigger one. Tuesday the nurses said we needed to come home. He has a lot of different health issues, and right now they are just kind of building on each other. But we still have hope. He is off his sedation, and understands what is going on around him. He is able to nod and shake his head.
Everyone at Elliott's school is super understanding. Darla talked to his teacher before we left on Tuesday, and I talked to his superintendent on Thursday, and both were sympathetic and understanding about the school he is missing. It's been pretty hard on Elliott, though, since he can't go back and see his Grumpy. The waiting room is pretty boring, but he's been a real champ.
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