A great day.

Shawn had today off because he needed to use up one last day of vacation before March 1. He chose to take today so that he could bring Abby to her skating lessons. He has also been bringing Joe with, who has his own skates too, so that I can go to yoga. Isn't that the greatest? Well, it is to me! He was thinking of taking them snowmobiling afterwards but the weather is a little too warm for that and the trails are getting either too slushy or too icy. I am actually really glad that he decided to stay home because we had a great day together. It seems that a lot of the time when he has time off we are both running in different directions trying to get things done or he is being a great hubby and taking the kids to give me some free time. Instead, after we had lunch we got our gear on went over to the sledding hill for a little bit. Afterwards, we followed the creek over to the lake so that Abby and Shawn could ice skate and Joe and I played in the snow and at the park. As we were walking along the creek I was once again reminded of what a beautiful city we live in and how lucky we are too have such a great natural park system right out our front door! After playing outside and treking back home through super deep snow, we had apples, popcorn and hot chocolate. Shawn layed down on the couch and fell asleep watching the olympics, I cleaned up the kitchen and got some dinner in the oven, the kids are still playing in the living room and I am playing on the computer. It has been a good day.

Climbing

A local business here, Vertical Endeavors, does a once a month homeschooling afternoon for homeschoolers to do indoor rock climbing. In the past I haven't gone because it is the time when Joe is usually napping, it is a little bit of a dirve and I wasn't sure if Abby would even want to do it. Well, recently Joe stopped napping, I have been more coMmitted to getting us out and about more and so yesterday I asked Abby if she wanted to try rock climbing. She got a huge grin on her face and screamed YES! We got to the place and Abby got really overwhelmed when we walked in the doors. She whispered in my ear, wanting to know if she HAD to climb. I told her no and that we could just watch for awhile. We signed some forms and then walked around and Abby watched some of the climbers. About ten minutes later she said she was ready to try. It was really fun to see her with the harness on and hanging from the ropes. She got frustrated pretty easily but didn't give up. I am hoping that Shawn can take her next time because I think he could help her a lot more than I can being that I am short and also 7 months preggo, it was a bit hard for me to help her. Here are two photos of Miss Abby doing her first "climb."

Winter

My kids have really helped me to love Winter again. For this, I am very grateful! For at least the last 20 years or so I have hated Winter and complained with most everyone else in MN about how the Winters here suck. This Winter what has changed for me is watching how much fun my kids have in the snow. I have looked forward to it snowing more and gotten excited each morning we've woken up after a big snow thinking about how much fun the kids will have outside. We have had a lot of snow this February and most of the people I encounter while shoveling are grumbling about it, but I just say I love it and I really do! I think I appreciate all the snow this month because we didn't have very much in January and it was quite cold so we spent a lot of times indoors. Once we got a big snowfall this month we have been outside everyday. My kids go out for hours at a time. They have built a fort in the front bushes, a slide on the snowbank, a cave in the front yard and a slippery slidy area on our front hill. Our house sits on a pretty big hill which is awesome because the kids will slide on it for quite some time. Joe doesn't like going on a sled but he'll sit on his butt, back or tummy and slide down over and over again. Abby and the other neighbor kids will go flying down the hill on their sleds, while laughing hysterically. We also live about four houses away from a huge sledding hill and love to go there, especailly after a new snowfall. I am so glad that we have had a ton of snow and hope it lasts awhile longer.

Being Grateful

Why is it that I let myself get caught up in how "tough" it is to be a stay at home, homeschooling mom? The other day it just hit me that I am lucky! I am fortunate to be able to be with my kids and to have the choice to keep them out of school and not have to leave every day for a job. I am fortunate that my husband and I agree that me staying home is the best thing for our kids and that school is not the best place for OUR kids. I am fortunate that my husband willingly and joyfully works hard so that we can have the sort of life that we enjoy living. I am grateful that my kids want to be home with me and that they are glad to be homeschooled. There might be plenty of bad days, plenty of moments that I regret what I say/do to my kids, plenty of days when I wonder what the hell it is that I am doing but I am going to do my best to remember that indeed I am a very lucky person and I am grateful for the life I have created with my family.

Crabby Joe

Joe keeps refusing to take naps which leaves us with an overtired, cranky two year old. Last night Shawn wanted me to finish buzzing his hair but Joe was freaking out and didn't want me to do it so I asked him if he wanted to do it. He sorta looked at me like I was crazy but then when he realized I was serious he got excited and jumped up on the chair and started buzzing daddy's hair. Abby got a turn too!

Reading

Abby is starting to show a lot more interest in learning to read, as I mentioned in my last post. She has been sitting down every day with chapter books that have pictures every 3 or 4 pages and "reading" these books for 10 to 20 minutes at a time. Since she can't read yet I am so curious as to what it is she is doing in her mind. I wonder if she is making up her own story or if she is in the process of figuring out the words and starting the reading process? She also likes to sit down with her A-Z Fancy Nancy Book and spell out all the words. She told me the other day that she wanted to get a spelling book, I need to get a little more motivated and look into our options.

School again

The other night I came home from yoga and Abby was writing a book. Shawn had stapled a bunch of blank paper for her and she was rewriting a Madeline book that she has memorized, with help from Shawn. A few days later she was looking at the book and she said that once she learns how to read she will be able to read her very own book. I agreed and then asked her when she thought she would learn how to read. I ask her these sorts of questions every few months when she brings up "starting school" just because I am curious to hear what her thoughts are about learning. I also think it is really funny that she is totally convinced that she has to "do" school to learn things, especially because I have really stressed that she doesn't need school to learn. So, back to our conversation. She said she wanted to start school when she was 6 1/2, which I told her was in just a few months. I told Shawn that she wanted to start school at 6 1/2 so he jumped all over that and started talking about doing a curriculum and sitting down each day to do a little bit of school. Of course, I was just cringing inside but didn't say anything because if Abby really does want to do a curriculum, which I am pretty sure she does not understand what one is, than I want her to do it. After that conversation she decided she wanted to start next Monday and she wanted to know what I thought of that idea. I told her I thought she should just play some more. That was pretty much the end of the conversation. The next morning she told me she changed her mind and didn't want to start school when she was 6 1/2. My girl totally cracks me up!
So, am I lame because I am not encouraging her to "do" school at home??????