Getting down to the wire

Beth and Matt have just three days left of school! They have had a lot of fun the last week or so with end of the year activities. They both had field day, where I ran a water relay booth. Then they had their school carnival, where they got free tickets and a free lunch for doing 100% of their homework. I was able to bring the little girls to that one, and they had fun playing games as well. Yesterday Matt had his kindergarten picnic, and spent pretty much the whole day outside eating and playing. Beth has her first grade picnic today. After that, two more days, and that will be it! Where has this year gone? We arrived in DC just days before the kids started school in August, and it has been craziness ever since. We've decided to homeschool them next year, so this will be it for a while. I'm looking forward to taking a nice long summer break, and then we'll pick up with homeschooling in late August or Early September.

Beth the bookworm in her school uniform. Quite a bit shorter than it was in August!


Kiddos at the school carnival


Matt playing at the kindergarten picnic

Memorial Day Camping

What a great weekend we had! Camping was so much easier this year, now that our youngest is just under two. She can actually walk around and play on her own, and boy did she have a good time. Matt and Beth have gotten to be pretty good swimmers too, so that was really nice. Carrie bounces in between digging in the dirt with Katy, and going out on the lake with a floatie. I'm looking forward to many more trips to come.

Air Show

There are times when raising children on a military base is nothing short of awesome. What a great weekend we've had! All this took place right down the street from my home. We walked over to tour all the planes, but could see (and hear!) the air shows from our backyard as well.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game....

Beth is seven, and is playing baseball for the Rangers. Matt is six, and is playing t-ball for the Red Sox. Both kids had their first game today and did very well. It was a perfect baseball day...hot and sunny. I slathered the kids with sunscreen, packed lots of water, toys for the two little girls, and off we went. This was Beth's first baseball game, now that she's aged out of t-ball, and she scored a run! I was so proud of her. She looks so tiny in her pink batting helmet with the ponytail hole in the back. She is back to being a small fish in a big pond, as her new team is  ages 7-9. I have to say that is was very cool watching the game right on the edge of the Potomac River, with the Washington Monument and the Capital Building in the background. Not to mention the National Airport, with it's constant stream of aircraft taking off and landing. I guess there is something to be said for city life after all.

Beautiful Carrie

I love this kid. When did she get so grown up? 

So, what's new?

I've been meaning to update this blog for awhile, but the change in Blogger has really thrown me off. It's sad to say, but I am not even thirty yet, and I feel like all the new technology is leaving me in the dust. My kids on the other hand soak things up like a sponge. It's scary to think how behind I will be when they are teens.

Anyway, here we are in May. I can't believe it...where has this year gone? We have been in the DC area for eight months now. I go ahead and say a year...I'm pretty generous with the rounding up. We'll be out of here in summer of 2015 in any case, so that is about three years from now. It's been one crazy year for us, but I feel like things are finally falling into place. We thought about moving off base, or onto another base, but have decided to stay put. We don't love it here, but I just can't bring myself to do an extra move right now. We already moved twice in 2011. My kids didn't get into the on-base charter school for next year as we had hoped, so we have decided to return to homeschooling. I use to term "return" lightly, since my last bit of homeschooling was for half of kindergarten. This will be a little different, as I'll now have two in grade school, and one in pre-k. Plus a little toddler tagging along. :)

I have been praying and wishing for months that my kids would get into that charter school. I just wanted it so much. When it came to light that they had not, I prayed that they would get in off the waiting list OR God would help me adjust my attitude and get excited about homeschooling. Well low and behold, he did exactly that. The first thing that happened was I met the leader of the homeschool co-op on the base we live on. It was totally random...she just happens to be the mother of the one other girl on Beth's baseball team. She invited me to come and meet their group, so that had me feeling excited to meet some other people in the same boat. The second thing that happened was that I met the leader of the homeschool co-op at the base 15 miles away, where Carrie goes to preschool this year. That was even more random. I saw them at the food court, and recognized her daughter as someone Beth had played with at the park a few months ago for quite a while. Her daughter was obviously school-aged, and this was the middle of the day, so I assumed they were homeschoolers. I walked up to them and gave her my name and e-mail and said that I'd love if Beth could meet some other homeschool kids since we were going to be starting up next year. It's really not like me to walk up to people like that, but I just felt led to today. She then told me she was the leader of their co-op, and gave me the information on that. So it was a double win...hopefully a friend for Beth and maybe some co-op classes for the kids as well. Both groups seem to offer a lot, and I'm looking forward to doing some networking. The final "attitude adjustment" I got this week was from talking to the other mothers from Carrie's preschool class. One mother's husband is deploying for a year just weeks before her third baby is born. Another is battling cancer while also raising three small children, and she always has a smile on her face. Suddenly my "problems" seemed very minor. An old house? A poor public school system? Please...we are so blessed.

The Birthday Boy!

Matthew Warren, my little Bubba, is six years old. Wow, time flies. He is such an awesome kid. He is so sweet and so smart. He wants to do be just like his dad, and loves to sport his Coast Guard hat while working with his tools in the garage. He is the best brother I've ever seen, and is Beth's partner in crime, Carrie's favorite playmate, and Katy's loyal protector and helper. He spends his afternoons riding his bike, playing baseball, and tinkering with his phone. Yes, his phone. He loves gadgets, and was lucky enough to inherit a very nice "broken" cell phone from a friend. It isn't activated, but can play games and take pictures. It's mildly concerning that my six year old is already more tech savvy than his old parents.

 I delivered two dozen cupcakes with tours of gooey icing to his kindergarten class yesterday. His teacher got me back by letting him eat four, and then sending the rest home on the school bus. I had to laugh. After baseball practice he had another cake that I had made more the family, and opened a few presents. Tomorrow is his actual birthday party, which will be a picnic at the park with friends. I just hope we have good weather. In our family we do parties every other year, and this is the year of parties. It's been a crazy few months! In off years we celebrate just as a family.