A New Year, A New Beginning

It's the day after Christmas, and I have a million things to do.  There are still gifts in opened and unopened boxes all over the house.  The kids are currently enjoying our brand new flat screen amongst blocks of Styrofoam and ripped open clear plastic bags.  Adam is off running errands and spending gift cards from last Christmas. And I'm just sitting here overwhelmed, so overwhelmed that I don't know where to start. 

In the last month or so, I've been trying to get the downstairs organized and sorted.  It's gone nowhere.  Well, not completely nowhere...just almost nowhere.  As usual, life has gotten in the way.  Mostly, our joyous holiday season was interrupted by a most unfortunate event; my cousin Bryan's suicide.  I've contemplated blogging on that...and maybe I will someday, but not today.  Anyway, after a good two weeks of grief and brain fog I had to find the time to find 26 thoughtful gifts for Christmas. This number doesn't include my husband, or the gifts that Santa brings...so I had my work cut out for me! Normally, I don't wait until after Thanksgiving to get my shopping done.  So, finding the time to organize amongst shopping, taking care of my family (2 bouts of strep, 3 colds, and a tummy bug), school, work, and whatever else I do as a virtually single parent was near impossible.  I say "virtually single parent" because Adam has been traveling about 80% of the time in the last 3-4 months.  With all that said, I found myself asking "why?"  Why, as a stay-at-home mom, can I not find the time to get anything done?

I've said it before...I enjoy being busy.  I like doing things for people, working on projects, being involved with school and church activities, etc.  It was my hope that my life would slow down once both kids were in school full time.  Quite the contrary has happened.  Sure, I may have a few slower mornings where I get to enjoy some "me" time, but once the clock strikes 2:40 life begins.  That's about the time I get in the car (if I'm not in it already) and head to pick up the kids from school.  The kids are in school for 7 hours, and they have no desire to think about school when they get home, let alone do their homework.  This is a touchy subject for me.  I hate homework.  As a kid, I always tried my best to make sure I managed my time well enough at school to not have to do any of it.  Usually, I succeeded, and it was like a reward.  School has changed in the last several years and now homework is part of every child's day.  Assigned homework.  Daily assigned homework.  And when you have a kindergartner and a 2nd grader, it might as well be called "daily assigned parent homework."  I, along with my kids, do this homework every night.  And despite the fact that it shouldn't take that long...it does.  Add that to bath time, dinner time, and play time...you are left with no. more. time.  Forget extra activities, going to town, etc.  Believe me, I do actually understand why kids have assigned homework these days.  And it's not just homework that wears me down.  Really, that's just the tip of the iceberg!

There is a point to this rambling...and I'm getting to it.

So why have I been trying to clear and organize my downstairs? Because I'm taking the plunge.  I'm going to do what I said I would NEVER do. I'm going to home school my kids.  I'm going to start out with a public online charter, and maybe do 100% home school in the future.

I still have mixed feelings about this decision.  I love the school my kids attend.  I think, as far as public schools go, it's pretty awesome.  My kids have great friends there, and fantastic teachers. I guess I just want something more for my family.  I want to give my kids more time to be kids...more time to enjoy the home that they love.  I want to teach them how to be successful, responsible, contributing members of this world that God created.  I also want to build better relationships with them.  As it sits now, the time I spend with them is short, strained, and often on-the-go. 

Yes, this is a commitment...a very big time commitment on my part.  I say I don't have enough time.  Well, my days will look very different with two school-age kids in tow all the time.  And I can't fully predict the future, but I have a strong hunch that the stress in my life is going to start to diminish. Sounds crazy, but I have high hopes.

Bottom line: The Lord has blessed me with the ability to stay home with my kids.  He has also blessed me with a good education...a degree in elementary education, to be exact! So why not try out this home school thing?  I'm hoping for the best, but if I find it doesn't work out, I have a great school to send them back to.

Brownsmead Campout

(From Mid-August 2012)

 

For those that don't live in the area, Brownsmead is a small farming community that is basically on a Columbia River flood plain.  It's quite beautiful when it isn't covered in water...haha!  Brownsmead is a part of the Knappa/Svensen community and we all share Astoria's zip code.  My dear friend Andrea Weaver lives in Brownsmead where her and her husband Craig raise beef cattle.  Craig's family owns and operates Aldrich Point Dairy (also in Brownsmead) which wholesales milk to the famous "Tillamook" brand factories. Craig all but runs the dairy, and I'm sure one day soon he will take over completely. 

 

Anyway, at around mid-summer Andrea's parents graciously gave her their old travel trailer figuring her family would use it more than they. Andrea was stoked and immediately began devising plans to go on a trip.  It's "maiden voyage" was to the Clatsop County Fair and shortly after that...her "back 40."  Yep, we towed our trailers to her back yard.  Their cattle farm is on Blind Slough.  Country kids can find endless things to do when you provide them with a giant field, some dirt, a campfire, and a slough. 

 

We camped three nights total...mainly just our two trailers.  Our friend Sarah Rogers and her kids stayed one night in a tent as well.  While we were there, we had several visitors (Jasper's, Nicholson's, Jacobson's, Kinder's, and Adams') and overall, it was a great time.

 

Raelynn showing off her catch to Brayden, Katelynn, Emily...Cody is staring off the other way.

We had well-planned meals.  This was BBQ chicken night.

Andrea and I 

Soren was CONSTANTLY in the fire...Cody joined the fun

The Nicholson's brought their bean-bag game.  It was pretty competitive! This is Andrea and Daniel Jasper...not sure who their partners were in this round.

Andrea's brother Nick is a fishing fool! He was constantly baiting hooks and here he caught at least two catfish on one cast.  I filleted those slimy fish the next day and we ate them.  They were quite tasty!!

All the kids are impressed with the catfish

The kids caught quite a handful of frogs.

 

Synnove and Kate on the mini

Even the girls got their hands dirty :)

Card games in the trailer. I actually have a better picture of the kids with a flash, but I thought this picture captured the moment much better.  Fun memories :)