April Update
Hey friends!!!! Hard to believe it's April, where in the world is time going? We just finished a lovely, week-long Spring Break and now are gearing up for our last "push" until summer vacation. The boys go home on June 19th, so it's nice to have an "end date" for our year.
What's going on?
PREGNANCY
Things are going great, I certainly can't complain. The first trimester was definitely the easiest of my three pregnancies and even those issues are over. The non-stop exhaustion is gone and replaced by a more normal and manageable tired. The constant-nausea is gone, and replaced by the simple need to put something in my stomach right away but not sick. I'm having to start some back exercises already but I think a lot of that ache is because I'm suddenly crazy-active, now that I feel so good! And in six weeks we'll hopefully find out if this little baby is a boy or girl! Can't wait!
I'm ALWAYS working our little nest here . . . with more specific projects in mind now. We're really working hard on going through the kids toys and simplifying. No matter which kid ends up sharing a room, we need to make room for a 3rd! Now that I'm feeling better, I need to paint our bedroom & hallway . . . and I'd love to have that done before we find out what we're having and I jump into a whole host of projects related to that!
WORK
Boys are doing okay, actually. It was good to have a break- always refreshes the patience-tank. Now that spring (summer) is here, it's been much more fun to be outside, especially since it's light at night. Makes it easier to take Shannon & Forest along with everything we want or need to do. And we should be swimming soon, if the warm weather keeps up! We're starting to think about next school year- doing evaluations, making decisions about what staff will return, etc. It always feels good to round this corner and think about finishing well. Out of our 8 boys, probably only 3 will return, so we have lots of transitions to work on!
KIDS
We took about a month off of any kid of school, due to visitors, etc. We're gearing back up for a good and steady two months, before summer schedules start here at the Ranch, and then vacation away from Florida. Trying to push ahead with Shan's reading & math mostly.
I was also able to participate in an event with a friend &; her homeschool group, to a really neat "Florida style" Pioneer village. I think we'll be joining this group for the next year- basically a "field trip co-op" where there are 10 families and we each plan two events during the year. They only meet the 1st & 3rd Friday of the month for events (which are always optional but obviously encouraged), so it's not a huge commitment. While the events are interesting (think museums, zoo, parks, farms, etc.) our main reason for participating is for Shannon to have a group of friends that aren't here at the Ranch.
Her best friend (our neighbor daughter who is Shan's exact age) will be going to public school in August . . . so that's going to be a big change in their relationship and friendship. For that reason and because I want her to stretch and get to know other kids, I think this will be a good fit! Forest can come along and obviously baby can too, when the fall comes.
Otherwise, these two just keep growing and growing! I love when I see glimpses of that 5 year old, going on 10 year old . . . those mature conversations, or mature ways of dealing with her friends. It's so neat to watch her grow and change. Forest seems to have made it over the "worst" of the threes, though there are definately still some issues that we're working hard on. I am so thankful for the chance to be home all day with him, so we can work on those things over and over again!
And of course their love for each other is my favorite thing in the whole world!
A few other pictures- my parents came to visit in March, we got away (just Jer & I) for two days, to St. Augustine, got to the beach and had a lovely and quiet Easter!
Our bed and breakfast- an old Carriage house for a mansion!
Beach trip
Easter
What's going on?
PREGNANCY
Things are going great, I certainly can't complain. The first trimester was definitely the easiest of my three pregnancies and even those issues are over. The non-stop exhaustion is gone and replaced by a more normal and manageable tired. The constant-nausea is gone, and replaced by the simple need to put something in my stomach right away but not sick. I'm having to start some back exercises already but I think a lot of that ache is because I'm suddenly crazy-active, now that I feel so good! And in six weeks we'll hopefully find out if this little baby is a boy or girl! Can't wait!
I'm ALWAYS working our little nest here . . . with more specific projects in mind now. We're really working hard on going through the kids toys and simplifying. No matter which kid ends up sharing a room, we need to make room for a 3rd! Now that I'm feeling better, I need to paint our bedroom & hallway . . . and I'd love to have that done before we find out what we're having and I jump into a whole host of projects related to that!
WORK
Boys are doing okay, actually. It was good to have a break- always refreshes the patience-tank. Now that spring (summer) is here, it's been much more fun to be outside, especially since it's light at night. Makes it easier to take Shannon & Forest along with everything we want or need to do. And we should be swimming soon, if the warm weather keeps up! We're starting to think about next school year- doing evaluations, making decisions about what staff will return, etc. It always feels good to round this corner and think about finishing well. Out of our 8 boys, probably only 3 will return, so we have lots of transitions to work on!
KIDS
We took about a month off of any kid of school, due to visitors, etc. We're gearing back up for a good and steady two months, before summer schedules start here at the Ranch, and then vacation away from Florida. Trying to push ahead with Shan's reading & math mostly.
I was also able to participate in an event with a friend &; her homeschool group, to a really neat "Florida style" Pioneer village. I think we'll be joining this group for the next year- basically a "field trip co-op" where there are 10 families and we each plan two events during the year. They only meet the 1st & 3rd Friday of the month for events (which are always optional but obviously encouraged), so it's not a huge commitment. While the events are interesting (think museums, zoo, parks, farms, etc.) our main reason for participating is for Shannon to have a group of friends that aren't here at the Ranch.
Her best friend (our neighbor daughter who is Shan's exact age) will be going to public school in August . . . so that's going to be a big change in their relationship and friendship. For that reason and because I want her to stretch and get to know other kids, I think this will be a good fit! Forest can come along and obviously baby can too, when the fall comes.
Otherwise, these two just keep growing and growing! I love when I see glimpses of that 5 year old, going on 10 year old . . . those mature conversations, or mature ways of dealing with her friends. It's so neat to watch her grow and change. Forest seems to have made it over the "worst" of the threes, though there are definately still some issues that we're working hard on. I am so thankful for the chance to be home all day with him, so we can work on those things over and over again!
And of course their love for each other is my favorite thing in the whole world!
A few other pictures- my parents came to visit in March, we got away (just Jer & I) for two days, to St. Augustine, got to the beach and had a lovely and quiet Easter!
Our bed and breakfast- an old Carriage house for a mansion!
Beach trip
Easter
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