Life's many blessings

Its the beginning of a new month and so much to be thankful for.... I have a husband that works his butt off and may or may not get the appreciation he deserves at work, but boy do we love and appreciate him. I have 3 beautifully blessed children...Big E is growing in leaps in bounds recently. Not only is he excelling in everything I teach him in school, but now as a cub scout he's showing me just how much his love of outdoors and nature is a God send. Mad is a little bit of a toot for her age, I believe my mother in law has the right nickname for her "Pistol Posey." God love her though, she's a shinning star on in the darkness of any rough day we have. Not only is she a comedian, but she has a personality that could make anyone happy to be in the presence of. Baby GAP, he's so different from his sibling, but the way he communicates with everyone is the sweetest thing. He is just growing up so quickly he is super active and into everything, but on the other hand he could spend hours in my lap just loving on mommy. God truely has blessed us with a wonderful family. I also have an amazing support system, my parents and sister go above and beyond to help out with the kids whenever they can. Though my in-laws live far they could not be forgotten, they have helped us in so many ways the list is endless. God has blessed with with family all over the U.S. and those distant relatives that I have seen on a few times in my life have become very special to me after losing my grandfather this September. I feel sometimes I take for grant what blessings God has given me, I may get caught up in the things that just can't change or life itself. I sometimes feel lost knowing that I have things I want to contribute to in life, to my family, and so much more...but with 3 kids it seems like a dream. I hope and pray I can one day find my place in life, I know I'm a wife and mother, but I want to be more! I want to give more.... Thank you God, for I am not as gracious as I should be! You have blessed myself and my family immensely.

Childhood memories vs. real life

Family what does it mean? to you? to me? to them? fam·i·ly   [fam-uh-lee, fam-lee] Show IPA noun, plural fam·i·lies, adjective noun 1. a. a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not: the traditional family. b. a social unit consisting of one or more adults together with the children they care for: a single-parent family. 2. the children of one person or one couple collectively: We want a large family. 3. the spouse and children of one person: We're taking the family on vacation next week. 4. any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins: to marry into a socially prominent family. 5. all those persons considered as descendants of a common progenitor. When I read these definitions I thought well as a child I saw my family as def. #1, mainly focusing on the social aspect, then I think of my family now. The definition that describes us best would be...#4... Just a few summers back I lost one of the most important people in my life, my Aunt and God-mother, Cinci. Not only was she an all around amazing woman, she had so many life struggles she over came as a single mother. As a young girl I always looked up to her and knew she loved every moment of her life no matter how hard it was on her. I feel like she was a thread that held our family together, without her...not only is there a hole in my heart(missing her), but there's a hole in our family. Sometimes death can bring a family together, but in this case I think it did the exact opposite....since my aunt has past I see my family alot less than I had ever expected. Growing up my extended family was more than an extended family to me. I felt as though my cousins, aunts, and uncles were part of my immediate family. Holidays were something to look forward to, the time we would all take to spend as a family even when we lived far away. The bonding between cousins of all ages, the love and compassion we had for one another.... Then we grew up.... I believe I was in high school when I opened my eyes and realized, my childhood memories with my extended family were just memories. No longer holidays to look forward to, we were all growing up. As each cousin would get married, they would drift from the family. By the time I became a mom, I felt as though my only family was those that lived close. As my own family has grown and the years have passed, I feel as though my extended family is what I like to call a "Facebook Family". I love each and everyone of them, but if I'm not on Facebook regularly I have no idea who my family is and how they are doing. Communication isn't important anymore, I've never felt more disconnect from my "Family." Doesn't matter where you live within Texas or not you are still my family, you could love miles down the road or hundreds of miles away and I still think of you regularly. What has the world come to that the word family means so little. That a family that was once closely knit together, and looked forward to holidays and special occasions to spend with one another, is so distant? I don't really know my family anymore, unless I want to spend hours looking at their Facebook page. Sadly, my children have no idea what they are missing out on. From engagements, to weddings, to pregnancies, to births, to injuries....I feel as though definition #4 best describes us. We don't really know each other we are just related by blood.... Though I have to say, I know some of my family enjoys getting together, my family just isn't part of their get together's. For some reason when God made the choice to not have my parents have more than 2 kids, it meant that in the future our family would be small. The whole idea of a extended family would dissolve, and we would have to hope that through the grapevine we would stay up to date on how the rest of the family was doing. Its a great disservice to have such a small family, my kids have no cousins that they get to play with, I have no cousins that I can compare parenting stories with and bond with. For those of you who have kept in contact with me even if its rare, "Thank You"...for you really make us feel as though we aren't "Black Sheeps." I've wanted to share this for a long time, take offense if you want, or just read it and know that...."I miss each and everyone of my cousins, aunts, and uncles!" I long for my children's childhood to be as mine was.... I miss all of you very much! To the family I've losted... Mimi, Bampi, Cinci, Kerry Patrick, Grandpa Fisch I miss you too!

The 3 Musketeers! Jordan, myself, and Kerry Patrick

1st Grade is so fun to teach

So I got this amazing book from another home-school mom, called "Home Learning Year by Year" its by Rebecca Rupp. Well after reading everything about teaching Big E first grade, I got so pumped I planned as much of his first month of school as I could this past weekend. I had been scared to start planning to be quite honest. After going through Annunciation Austin last year and not really having my own system down, I feared failure. This book really broke down every subject and listed in detail what Big E needs to learn in 1st grade. So I broke down every subject with how I wanted to teach it basically making a lesson plan for each week. We hadn't bought any curriculum til last night, I was basically just collaborating a bunch of different books and print outs I had saved for him. Oh an Pinterest!!! Pinterest has been the most helpful thing so far in planning our first year home-schooling without outside help. This morning I woke up and printed out what was left to be done for class today, I was so excited to start. Big E was not in the slightest bit interested in starting today...of course. God definitely blessed us with a beautiful start to the day though.

After taking that gorgeous photo of the sunrise, I had Big E start my plans for our school day while I made breakfast. Every morning while I'm busy with breakfast, his job is to teach Mad, she is learning her ABC's, counting 0 to 20, Shapes, and Colors...Big E is an amazing teacher. After they were done its almost as if Mad respected him more than ever, and wanted to eat breakfast with him, instead of running from him...lol. Big E got to choose the order of our lessons, it seemed to work out great. He was getting excited about school with every step we took. He chose to do our art lesson first. This year we are doing a Famous Artist and Composers each week to learn about and try our hand at being inspired by their life's work. This week we are studying Picasso and Giovanni Gabrieli, we did paintings of our own to look similar to Picasso's work. Big E thought it was stupid til he saw how good he was at it...

I haven't taken a picture of his final product, the painting he was doing in the photos was just him doing his own design, but the project was to be inspired by Picasso, so he painted a second one that was very Picasso. Mad had a lot fun painting with him as you can see. After Art we proceeded with the rest of our day, doing the some how uncounted for in time, but definitely worth it "1st Day of School Book." I found this book and "My Calendar Book 2012" on http://www.ouraussiehomeschool.com/ This home-school mom/blogger has great ideas and a good amount of printables for starting school and a lot more. I can't get enough of her blog and all her wonderful tips and creative ideas for homeschooling. We also printing out a "Skip Counting" book 135pgs. I believe for free with a link she has on her blog. I like the skip counting because it also adds in learning your multiplication tables. Big E has blown me away today with how much his reading seemed to improve as if over night, he really started getting into all the things I had for him today, he was reading directions and doing a fantastic job of it. Big E did great on a reading comprehension page that I found online, he flew through it, reading and understanding what he read. I think he's finally come to a place with school where he can enjoy learning, its not as big a struggle as it was last year. I can only hope and pray things stay on that path. On top of all my other ideas, I thought of the idea of doing a chart for the week of healthy eating. If the kids eat something that's good for them they get a star. Mad even is interested in this, meaning she ate better today than she usually does. Hopefully its not just a fluke. We are also doing a spelling list every week and a test on Thursday. Big E has decided he'd like to enter in the Spelling Bee our homeschool co-op participates n, so we are going to get used to practicing our words now. All in all, we had a very successful day today...looking forward to what tomorrow has to offer.

Breaks my heart

Received the dreaded phone call about 30 minutes ago, Grampa Fisch has passed away. About 2 weeks ago he went into the hospital for numerous reasons, and went down hill from there. They had to put netting wall around him, he had Dementia and was beginning to get so disoriented he would swing at everyone. He also had to wear mitts on his hands 24/7 so he didn't pull his IV lines out. I went with Baby GAP to visit him twice in the hospital and so saddened by his state of mind. I think what hurts the most is knowing how confused he may have been and not able to communicate his frustrations with us. Tuesday night they were able to get his meds regular to calm him down enough to have him moved to hospice care facility. I took the kids and saw him yesterday, Big E was very uncomfortable with the whole thing, he and Mad blew him a kiss good-bye. I told Big E before bed that I didn't think Great Grampa would make it though the night..he didn't seem bothered by the fact. It hurt me to know that he just didn't get it, I wanted him to understand but at the age of 6 I know that a lot to expect. I think what I'm most bothered by and feeling the need to get my feelings out is the fact that my dad's family has nothing planned for a memorial or prayer service here. They are having everything up in Austin, Minnesota, I wish I could be there. I can't imagine not having any service down here in Texas when Grampa had been here most of his life, raising my dad and his brother. How do we say good-bye and have closure when we are ignoring the fact that he's passed. Grampa Fisch was my last grampa, my mom's dad passed away when I was 4, and her mom when I was 14. So Gramma Fisch is still here and the only grandparent I have left. I'm hoping to figure out a way to have an inexpensive service where friends from all over Austin can come and tell grampa good-bye, I pray that I can figure this out. My family and myself need closure.

In loving memory of Edward Fisch, we love you grampa and will miss you soooo much!

Proud momma

Now I know we all love to brag about how amazing our kids are form time to time, but on days like to today bragging isn't really what its about. We have been blessed with such amazing kids, and today was an example of hard work paying off. We went to 10:45 mass this morning but it was just Big E, Mad, and I...Baby Gap feel asleep so Hubby stayed in the car with him. It was one of the busiest Sundays I've seen in a long time, as if it was Easter or Christmas. We were about 5 min early and there were no seats, so the kids and i stood in the back. I dread standing in the back cause they can't see anything and thus are always distracted. Today was one of those I just want to get on my soap box kind of days. I'm in mass and I turn to the left to see 2 different families laying out blankets(as if its a picnic) for this kids to sit on and color or read books and magazines during church. As I turn to the right there's a girl much older than Big E drawing and her brother also older than Big E playing with Legos?? This happens from time to time but today it was in excess, all of these children were way to old to be doing this. Its one thing if they are under 2 or 3 and still learning reverence, which we don't allow even at that age. Its another when they are old enough to listen and understand and I they could care less where they are and what's going on. What as the world come to that we as Christians teach are kids that its too much to expect them to take an hour out of their day to be with God. I've never used the nursery that's available during some mass and if a family does there's nothing wrong with that. Though I have to say raising your kids to be reverent isn't only exhausting, but you miss most of what's going on in mass. Well today wasn't that much different from normal, I had to get on my kids for various reason, some being that they were distracted by other kids, and some being that they were talking. Either way I'm always proud of how hard they try, Big E is only a year form his First Communion and he loves God so much. He has a very strong spirit, I can't wait to see what the future hold for him, and Mad has recently started reminding me to help her with prayers. These 2 are really becoming little Catholics. What brought tears to my eyes today was to separate instances where each one of them pointed out their love for God in different ways. After mass I headed over to the religious book store to purchase a scapular for my grandfather who's ill and in the hospital. We were only in the store for a matter of minutes, but it was long enough to catch Mad's eyes on something she had to have. We were at the register paying and she hands me something very breakable(which may I add she never usually picks up anything in store, we have a hand behind your back rule in stores). She says to me "Mommy I want baby!!!" in my hands is a ceramic Holy Family, they were with children's faces and Mary was hold a very small Baby Jesus. At first glance I say no, but then notice a small $1.00 tag on it. It was on clearance regularly $12. I told her she could have it and had Big E find a $1 clearance item as well. Big E picked a cross with a star and the word "Noel" on it. We leave the store and head home. Later on we are in the kitchen about to have lunch when Big E brings up something that just about knocked me off my feet. I was telling him that his Great Grandpa is very sick and may not be with us much longer. At which time he says. "That's ok Mom, he'll be able to see us in Heaven." tear...at which point I decide to use that comment for some teaching. I ask him if his whole body will be in Heaven. He says no, and then I ask well what's in Heaven then. He stated very confidently, "Well you are reborn,(reborn I ask, what does that mean) it means that when you die and go to Heaven you are reborn into Heaven as a Ghost." His words not mine, I ask him what he means by ghost and he says that its like your body separates and I asked if by ghost he meant spirit. He says "Exactly Mom!" This amazingly wonderful little boy at the age of 6, understands what a spirit is and that your soul separates from your body and goes to Heaven with God. I even asked discussed with him if that meant who you were went to Heaven(aka A mother with 3 kids and a husband)? He said yes you go to Heaven just as you were here but without your body?!?! Its crazy it took me years to understand this and I think I may have been an adult when I finally did. Big E is so blessed with God's understanding of life and the world. I'm such a blessed mother. To top all this off just a few days ago Big E told me he know what he wants to be when he grows up.... he wants to help people and animals all over the world, but he desires to work outside...our little adventurer.

In this picture in Mad's left hand is her Holy Family, which she has walked around the house all day taking care of...she's such a little mommy.

Homeschooling with the Posey's

So we have spent the summer getting things together for our classroom this year. This will be the first year we homeschool without any help. Last 2 years Big E was in a kind of co-op, so 2 days a week he'd go to school and learn and then I'd teach him the other 2. At first I was scared to teach on my own, but now I'm so excited to take on a challenge that not only is rewarding to me, but teaches the kids. I've been collecting books and teaching items throughout the summer. We now have a school desk for Big E,a small children's table which I painted top with chalk board paint for practicing math problems. Plus a half wall of chalkboard paint for Mad to draw while Big E is learning. I've collected a good amount of learning posters and the ABC's in sign language...and the best part 3 dry erase boards. This year is going to be so much fun, on top of everything I'm doing at home, Big E is also going to be in Cub Scouts so that should be a great socially, but also great for our adventurer. He told me the other day when he grows up he wants to have a job where he can help people and animals, and be outside all the time. I'm so happy he loves being outdoors so much.

So I had to share photos of our school area...but I must add, my husband has destroyed our blinds in the kitchen trying to kill flies. I don't know if everyone else is having similar fly issues, but if the door is open for a second we have a whole army of flies come in ;)

Playdates make our days more fun

Over the years since I became a mom, I've had all different kinds of friends with so many different kinds of kids. Some friends would be so much fun to have playdates with but weren't ever available. Others we available too much and I couldn't stand the way they raised their kid. Still others were were crappy friends, but our kids played great together. In the past 6 years though, I haven't come across more than a few amazing friends. The ones that not only click with you, but also have really well behaved kids that I love my kids to play with. Friends like that makes long weeks feel short, and make those stressful days feel like they aren't going to take you over. To those few friends that have been there for me in more ways than one, thanks, for helping me clear my head when I need it the most. I love the smiles on my kids faces when I tell them we are going to play with your kids. Kiddos to all you hard working stay at home mom's who are raising well behaved respectful kids.

Great Grandpa turned 86!

My grandpa turned 86 last week, he's the only grandfather I have left and I'm so happy to have him. My dad, the kids, and I went over to the place he's living had a little cake and ice cream and enjoyed every minute with him. He's the best I've seen him in a long time. The cool thing about grandpas birthday is he shares it with his son, my Uncle Mark....so Happy birthday to Uncle Mark as well. We love you Grandpa Fisch!!!

Video Games

So usually I'm not one for playing video games, I've sort of outgrown them, but recently Devin and I have found one that we can play with Ethan and it seems to be a great game for learning. Though I'm sure some would disagree. Its called Minecraft, its very old school in how it looks, everything is in pixels kind of, even your characters are made of block like squares. Anyways what I love about it is that you mine for things like iron, coal, etc. when you find it you can use those things plus wood from trees you've chomped down and make things like ladders, doors, torches, and alot more. Ethan really loves building and digging, I do as well as Devin. Anyways, I'm just surprised to find a game I enjoy and agree with for Ethan to play so I had to share. It can also be played on the computer or even your cell phone...crazy huh?? What is the avg. video game time a kid should have per week, per day, whatever and should it be different depending on the type of game, learning versus pure play time? Please leave comments would love to get your input, I know there's plenty of info out on the web but I'd love to hear from my family and friends.

Day 1 of blogging

We've had such a lazy day. On days like today I enjoy not doing so much but also feel unsuccessful. We have so much to work, we were planning a garage sale for next week but since its a off week for people with paydays and I was able to register for the free spa day...I think u deserve a break.

The other day a friend showed me a New Blogger that  I'm in love with, the blog is called Our Aussie Homeschool. The mom has great suggestions for school and fun projects. I spent an hour or so the other day print out a bunch a great stuff and whole punching it for the safety of school. Which we are contemplating doing 6weeks on 1week off I think Big E will appreciative that and he can spend some weeks off visiting his Mimi and Grandad in Lubbock. Very excited about this school year....can't wait.

On a side note I have a precious boy sleeping on me as I type. Live our sweet Baby Gap. God has truely blessed us with wonderful kids.

Sorry for typos this is my first time trying to post from my cell.

I had to post these pics of the kids, Baby Gap sleeping on my chest, Mad wearing jewelry with her toes all painted, and Big E dressed up like Moses reenacting the movie with Moses and the Ten Commandments.

Enjoy

No more facebook

I've decided that I'm no longer taken part in Facebook, this blog will be how I share information with family and friends, if you want check up on us you knew where to find us. I'm in the process of learning about blogging, I want to be able to post a good amount of pictures so if you have any suggestions...i.e. do I need to go through a picture website instead or can I do it all on here..please don't hesitate to let me know. Time has been passing so quickly I drop my jaw at Baby Gap's age 7 months already. I just can't believe how quickly this has all happened. In less than 6 yrs Hubby and I got married and have had 3 kids. Life does have a way of surprising you when you least expect. We are currently in purge mode at our house, meaning we are de-cluttering to have things function better for the whole family. I love how every time we do this I feel like my house couldn't get much better than it is and then we out do ourselves again...lol. So far we are still organizing a functional home-school/ dining room. Its starting to come to come together day by day. Last week I empty all the closets in the house and decided to take a big step in moving the kids clothes to our closet to have a family closet. So far I think we are all pretty happy with the change, the bedrooms are more organized and getting everyone dressed is much simpler than ever before. Plus Big E stopped changing his clothes 4 and 5 times a day, which means less laundry. YEAH... Well I'm signing off to work on the picture transfer from facebook, hope to be back very soon.

Brushing teeth with little ones

Found this adorable song for little ones that struggle to like brushing their teeth and I had to share. The Toothy Song (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) We want teeth to be all right, Very shiny, very white! Toothies are our friends, you see, Chewing food for you and me. Come on now and brush along While we sing The Toothy Song! Now let’s get those top teeth bright, Front and back, so clean and white. Bottom teeth get their turn too, Don’t stop now, you’re almost through! Brushing teeth is so much fun— Rinse and swish and now…we’re…done! Mad loves it, hopefully she will start enjoying brushing her pearly whites.

Has it really been 2 yrs

Well I apparently suck at blogging...lol. I haven't blogged in 2 yrs. I'm going to do my best to start back up again. Let's see where to begin... We have had so many changes in the past 2 years. E. is approaching his 6th birthday in July, very exciting! He starts his 3rd year of home-schooling. We've decided to do it on our own this year so 1st grade may have a few bumps and kinks to work out. I'm very excited to get everything organized and be able to have more structure during the days. No more Tuesday/ Thursdays getting up and being gone for most of the day with 3 kids. We have joined a Catholic Homeschool group where E. can get some outside enrichment. Field trips, events, and friends it should great for him. He's also going to be starting swim lessons in a few weeks and he hopes after that to be joining a swim team year round. IT should be wonderful way to get out his energy. E's doing great in Math he's already aced basic addition and subtraction, now we are working on speed and accuracy. He's doing good in his reading books but doesn't enjoy reading like I wish he would. Its a work in progress. As for Mad she just turned 2 in April and is soaking up every word, phrase, and sentence possible. She's counting to ten regularly and is started to work on counting to 20. She has some of her ABC's down but is less interested in learning that. She reads every book she can find and absolutely loves when we read her stories. Mad is such a little mommy, she takes care of her babies and her new baby brother on a regular basis. She loves baby Gap so much she is a little rough with him out of love which has been a test on our parenting. We've started using Love and Logic it works wonders on Mad not so much E. Both of them are very into puzzles and have so much fun playing Trio and lots of other things together. So amazing as a mother to watch your children grow and bond with one another, I'm so happy we had them closer in age. Baby Gap was born few days after Christmas and is coming up on 5 months. He's one of the sweetest most laid back babies. He absolutely loves his siblings and just stares at them for hours. He's a big fan of jumping in is jumper on a regular basis. He's a tummy sleeper so tummy time has been a chore for him, he thinks its nap time when we put him on his tummy. He's also our biggest baby and biggest eater, so he isn't sleeping as long at night as E. and Mad did at his age. He's very attached to mommy just like Mad, the 2 of them definitely know how to wear me out. As for my DH and I we celebrated our 5 year Wedding Anniversary this year, things are going wonderful. I love how far we've come and how much love there is between us now compared to how we were when E. was first born. We are constantly learning from her mistakes as parents and doing our best to correct and bumps in the road. We really struggle to find a happy medium of organization in our home. I'm constantly frustrated with clutter surrounding us, yet I'm the reason its there. I'm the pack rat, I love my childhood memories, things my mom and given me and books I may or may not ever read. I'm on a mission to make our home more enjoyable and to declutter our lives. The question is can I do it and where do I start. I"m going to start blogging my way through this mess and hopefully when I'm done there will be some amazing pictures to show for my success!