Decision 2008

The great debate on what to do about schooling for Cailey next year is over and I finally have peace!! I have struggled with this decision since Cailey was 3 but decided to give public school a try this year. It's funny how things work out because at first I felt like this was a totally wasted year for her. I did feel like I was supposed to send her when I recieved the letter saying that she got into her year round school last year, but lately I've been wondering why I sent her. (I always analyze the mess out of things and want to know the exact reasons for everything that happens.) Last night a friend asked me why I sent her and the answer came to me as clear as day...she WAS supposed to be there this year. If I had homeschooled Cailey this year then I wouldn't have been able to work and raise the money we needed for the baby. Everything did work out (even if we don't have the baby yet). SO...the point is that I am homeschooling Cailey next year and finally feel peace about her schooling decision that I've been struggling with for so long. I just feel like if I don't try then I'll always wonder if I should have. I am not committing to homeschooling for the next 18 years, I'm just taking one year at a time...and I'm VERY excited about it:)!!

Time Served

This week I got a note from Cailey's teacher saying that she was out of lunch money and borrowed some from the class fund. Not a big deal, you say? Well it's HUGE considering we had been sending her lunch everyday! We set up an account for her at the beginning of the year and put 20 dollars on it. We told her that she could buy lunch once a month. Because of when her track outs have fallen she's only bought in October and November....OR SO WE THOUGHT!! Apparently my little angel has been buying lunch EVERYDAY since school started back in January AND eating her lunch from home for snack. Her teacher would ask her occasionally why she brought her lunch box and she said it was for snack time. I am not going to blame the teacher at all...but WHO sends their child a sandwich, chips, and a fruit for a snack? Gotta admit she's pretty smart to figure out she could do that- but not able to figure out that the money would come to an end at some point. I was truly heart broken when I found out about it. I couldn't talk, I couldn't think, I just didn't know what to. I really didn't think I'd have to worry about my five year old lying and manipulating the adults around her. I hesitated posting this because I don't want you to get the wrong idea about her. I talked to her for a long time about it, told her the story of the Little Boy who Cried Wolf and prayed with her. We figured out that all in all she bought lunch 14 times that we didn't know about. So other than losing some priveleges (such as treats and school lunches) Brian wanted her to do some work. He wanted her to realize that it took time to make her wasted lunch everyday and that he worked hard to make the money that she spent daily both at school and on the lunch things we sent from home. SOOO he got creative and had her pick up gumballs in the backyard today. She did NOT want to do it, nor did she enjoy it. All in all she spent three hours out in the yard (being supervised, of course) picking up gumballs. Originally he told her she had to get all of them but in the end that was impossible- she'd still be there now. Hopefully she learned her lesson and we won't have to get this creative again!

Brown Paneling and a 70's Couch...

When I was a baby and toddler I had a TON of ear infections! My eardrum would burst as soon as it would heal...I went through two sets of tubes and nothing helped. Unfortunately one of my earliest memories is standing up on the couch on the bottom floor of our split level house facing the wall and trying to climb up it because of how much pain I was in. I REMEMBER that pain...it was awful! So when I was five I got my tonsils out and the ear infections were over. Almost 26 years later I'm brought back to wanting to climb the walls because of an ear infection! Call me dumb, but I didn't know adults got ear infections like kids (and I'm in the ear business...on the kid side). On Wednesday my ear started hurting but I thought it had popped or something. After a couple days of taking Tylenol, being deaf in one ear and having excruciating pain I finally went to the doctor today. Yep...it's the return of the ear infection..ugh! Hopefully the drugs will help soon because I'm having flashbacks of the brown paneling and 70's couch....but most of all I'm having the terrible pain.

ALWAYS the Reliable One....

Braden is such a big helper and a people pleaser. He loves to help us with anything and does so without complaint! He will clean up after the girls and ask what he can do to help:). Even at preschool he is just so well behaved and helpful to everyone! I have a four year old girl in my class who is SO sweet but has difficulty getting her thoughts out and a hard time with talking loud. Braden came over and said, "Mommy, Ashton needs help with opening her milk." He is just a thoughtful and loving boy who aims to please....he's going to make an awesome husband one day!

What did you see?

Two cute things Cailey said this week:

Driving in the car she said, "Look at the stalk of birds!" Close...but I think she meant flock of birds:)

She brought a friend, Zackary to Awana this week in order to earn her last green jewel. When they asked her what his last name was she said,"His name is Zackary Sheree." (Sheree is Zackary's mom...the same Sheree I work with.) That just proves my point about using last names (I like for them to be formal and say Mrs. Johnston instead of Miss Sheree)...she doesn't know the difference and therefore doesn't feel more comfortable using first names. It was cute and most of all showed me that we're doing what's right for our family:)

A Busy Friday Night...

This week we had a ton of people come for FnF and it was SO nice to hang out and catch up with them. The men immediately took over the living room with the role of kicking back and talking about politics, sports, and more. The play room was taken over by the babies and mommies. It was so cute to see the babies interacting with each other! Upstairs was filled with all the kids 2 and up....all in Cailey's room! (That room had to be at least 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house!) I usually lock the other rooms so the entire upstairs doesn't get destroyed....it's been MUCH easier to clean up afterwards without also having to sort which room things belong in-not to mention Braden's beloved train tracks have stayed in one piece! This week Kinsey did something that I remember Cailey doing when she was the same age...she went in our bathroom and ate some of my deoderant! Cailey used to feed deoderant and toothpaste to Rebecca!! Just now I found Kinsey covered in bandaids! I'm SO glad that we don't keep medicine, etc. in the bathroom for her to get to. The Hileman's were the last ones left and Kellen, Addie, and Cailey put on a concert for all of us with Cailey's microphone...it was very cute! Brian, the kids, and I love having everyone over and hope it contiues to be successful!

This looks bad...but Cailey ane Kellen are
only covering their ears because the
microphone was loud...NOT because of
Addie's singing!

I'm Proud to be a Miracle!!

We were talking with Cailey today about bible stories she knows. She has to be able to tell the leaders at Awana tonight so she can get another jewel (like patches in the girl scout world). She kept focusing on Jesus dying on the cross...which yes...is a fabulous thing for her to know! However, they are looking more for a story that she's learned there in the last few weeks. We were trying to give her clues by reminding her about Noah's Ark and Adam and Eve and then moved on to miracles. She said, "Yes, we talked about Jesus raising the miracles....raising the miracle flag!" We both just cracked up laughing because we realized she was talking about the American flag...again...has she really called it the miracle flag all this time? I'm SOOO glad that I have this blog so I can look back and remember these funny stories:)!!

Mommies Can Have Playdates Too!

Almost every week I get to spend time with my good friend, Laura. She comes around 9:00 and stays until 4:00. Rebecca gets to play with Braden while Cailey is in school and then when Cailey gets home they have about an hour to spend together. Lately it seems like they want to hang around us more than with each other while the other kids/babies are sleeping. Laura and I finally started telling them that this is our playdate too so they need to go play with each other. Cailey thinks it's so funny and keeps saying, "Mommies can't have playdates!"

Reading Games and ABC Play With Me

My computer died and it was driving me crazy! Talk about addiction....I seem to want to be on the computer daily, so when it crashed it really threw me for a loop! Fortunately my techy husband replaced the hard drive and all is well now.

Cailey and Braden have been going to classes at Storybook Safari since I've worked there, mainly when I was teaching. This fall Cailey started a class called Reading Games and Braden started a class called ABC Play With Me and they love it! Sheree (my boss, nanny, and friend) teaches them both on different days and I can't believe how far they've come! Braden has learned some sight words (he get's so excited when he sees the words: you, stop, thank, big, and a few others) and Cailey's getting more out of it than school (or so it seems). I am SO thankful that they can take these classes because they enjoy them so much! Not to mention it gives me more time to spend with them individually because the classes are on different days. It's also been neat to have that extra time with Kinsey:)!!

Ms. Sheree with the Kiddos

Uncle Dentist?

Our very close friends, Laura and Dennis (parents of Rebecca, Hannah, Samuel, and Isaac) are referred to as Aunt Laura and Uncle Dennis by the kiddos. On the way home from school yesterday Cailey said, "Mommy.....is Rebecca's daddy a dentist?" I said, "No Cailey, why would you think that?" C-"Because his name is Uncle Dentist." It was a very cute moment...and a teachable one! We talked about what Dennis and dentist have in common as well as their differences:). The funniest thing to me is that it has taken her this long to ask...which means she's been calling him Uncle Dentist for years!!!:)!!!

Cailey Anne and Auntie Anne

On Monday Anne took Cailey ice skating and they had a blast! Cailey was very excited to tell us that she went around the circle eight times and had an icecream bar (Strawberry Shortcake to be exact.) Cailey hasn't been ice skating other than taking lessons in a long time. Now that she's done with the lessons I was curious to see if she could still skate. Anne said she did awesome and really enjoyed herself. They had to rest a few times but then they would just go back out for more:). Afterwards Braden, Kinsey and I met up with them at the mall and ate lunch together. Anne left yesterday evening and is already missed! Oh...and the highlight of Cailey's morning was that Anne put braids in her hair so they could be 'twins'.

Let it Snow...well, kinda

This weekend we were supposed to get 4 inches of snow. Knowing that the weather forecaster is ALWAYS wrong I didn't tell the kids about it so they wouldn't be disappointed. They saw it snowing Saturday evening and woke up Sunday to a dusting (pretty typical no matter what state I live in). They went outside in the morning to 'make' snowballs, snowmen, and eat snow. Kinsey was SO cute!! I hope it snows a lot soon so she can really play in it! Cailey wanted to eat it..but sadly there wasn't much for her. She ended up taking it off of the cars and eating it:). Braden played outside for a little while but didn't like the cold. Afterwards they all came in for hot cocoa and marshmallows:).

We always have to make a snowman...even
if it's little!

cutie patootie!

Prima Ballerinas

Friday night we had another time of Fellowship with friends and Cailey really enjoyed dressing up with Sarah! Someone gave us all of the dress up clothes and honestly I just took the bag and put it in the girl's room...I had never even seen most of the stuff they put on! (Cailey doesn't really ever play dress up other than putting on jewelry unless there is a friend over). It was pretty funny to see some of the stuff Cailey came down in- it was definitely NOT a Kodak moment...most of it was either WAY too small or way too big...but this was cute so I decided to post it:). The kids also enjoyed playing with Lindsey, Austin and Reese- and had a great game of hide and seek going for a while! Cailey has bonded with Janet and wants her to be her new teacher (as do I)!! We had a relaxing time and I am so glad we started doing this...it's such a great way to get to know each other better:)

Our MLK day tradition....

Every year over MLK weekend Auntie Anne comes to visit! (She's a teacher and has a three day weekend.) The kids get SUPER excited because when she comes at other times of the year she usually only stays one night...but for this one weekend she is able to stay until Monday evening!!:)!! It's fun for all of us when she comes and the time is filled with laughter, reading, running, playing, hanging out, and eating....of course!

HAMburger....

The other day I was craving a burger...probably due to all this working out and wanting protein:). Anyway, on the way home from the gym I told Braden that we should ask daddy to make us some hamburgers for dinner. Later on Brian came upstairs laughing and couldn't wait to tell me about something Braden said while 'helping' him make burgers. Brian was on his way outside to put them on the grill when Braden said, "Daddy, don't forget to put on the ham." At first Brian didn't get it and said, "I know they need cheese on them but first they have to cook." Braden said, "No daddy, mommy said she wants HAM burgers:)!!! SO CUTE!!!