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Superfudge by:  Judy Blume


Truthfully, Shaun read most of this one.  I "made" him read it for school while I listened and asked questions after each chapter.  I loved it so much that I had to list it here.  

I've been a fan of Fudge and his brother Peter since my teacher, the wonderful Mrs. Westmorland, introduced them to me in fourth grade.  When Shaun was in 4th grade, we read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.  He's always been able to identify with Peter. Back then, he and Peter had the same "biggest problem"...their little brothers!  Now that Shaun and Peter are in 6th grade, the similarities continue as the Hatcher brothers adjust to the arrival of their new baby sister.  Weirdly, I can also identify with some characters in this book:  the parents of Fudge and Peter.  I used to think Mrs. Hatcher was such a "Debby Downer" and now I see myself in her.  I'm not the only one.  Shaun actually told me that I reminded him of Peter's mother.  I'm getting old, I guess.  : /  

I loved, LOVED this book and so did Shaun.  We laughed and laughed as we read it.  Those are the best books... the ones that make you laugh out loud. I have absolutely nothing negative to say.  We've already been to the library to get the next one in the series.  

Smooth Sailing

Yesterday was one of those days that I used to dream about before we became a homeschooling family.  Everything went smoothly.  Everything was completed.  I felt like the boys actually learned something.  I was even able to sweep the kitchen floor.  The boys were SO glad to spend some time outside after all the rain we had last week.  Dinner was enjoyed by everyone and the Hubs even came home from work at a decent hour.  Days like that just don't happen often around here.  

Today was good, too.  The kids and I, along with two of my nieces, went to lunch before co-op. It was me plus 5 kids in a restaurant and everyone behaved!  Everyone enjoyed their day at school and then we all headed to Hamilton Mill for Shaun's appointment.  Long story short, the appointment didn't happen and we drove all the way out there for nothing.  Oh well. It was still a good day.  I'm so thankful that I'm able to stay home with my children.  They're so precious to me. 

2

The Secret Between Us by:  Barbara Delinsky

A mother and her teen daughter are involved in a fatal accident.  The police assume mom was driving when in fact the daughter was behind the wheel.  In order to protect her daughter, mom continues to lie to the police and the guilt eats both mother and daughter alive until finally they confess.  

Can you tell this wasn't my favorite book ever?  I didn't like it.  It was very monotonous.  That's really all I have to say. Except that this will probably be my last Delinsky novel for a while.  

On the other hand, I was quite impressed when Jordan correctly sounded out the author's name.  

Back to School

School "officially" began for us again today. Or technically it began yesterday.  It's almost 1:00 a.m. as I type this.  

Co-op was back in session.  Lots of changes, all of them for the better.  Shaun really enjoyed his classes.  He's taking a dissection class and a class on the Titanic.  He seems excited about both.  We will all go on a field trip to the Titanic exhibit at Atlantic Station this spring.  I'm really excited about that!  I think Shaun had a good day.  He even read aloud in front of the class.    

Violet and I spent the afternoon in the baby class.  Every parent now has to stay with her own baby, so we had plenty of help in there!  

Jordan had a little  bit of trouble.  In PE of all things.  Apparently Ms. Jessica is a slave driver and Jordan does not know how to do sit-ups. :)

  Chris found him in the bathroom crying about it.  Sigh.  He does this every time he has to learn something new.  The first time he went roller skating, he threw his skates down and informed everyone at the rink that skating was stupid.  All this because he couldn't skate with the wind without practicing first. The same thing happened with the sit-ups today.  I'm not sure what to do about it.  At least  he didn't scream that sit-ups were stupid!

We practiced them when we got home tonight and now he knows what he's doing.  I just pray that he shows his teacher what he can do next week.  

Job 21:22

I'm glad I had this verse to fall back on this week.  What a week.  

Co-op started back up again today.  I was in a sour, discouraged state and honestly just didn't want to be there.  But, I sucked it up and went inside and tried to act as though everything was great.  I really didn't want to be around all of the other mothers with their perkiness and their praise reports.  I know.  That's mean.  

Our group leader said something I so needed to hear during announcements.  She had been reading a devotional meant to encourage us during the fast (I missed most of it because Jordan had to go to the bathroom)and she pointed out that most of the time she or someone in her family is hit with a struggle whenever they are involved in a fast.  She went on to say that this was usually just Satan himself trying to break them down before they got their break through.  

Yes, I really needed to hear that.  

We had some unexpected news in our own little family this week.  Smack in the middle of our fast.  As usual.  I've almost come to expect it.  But still, it feels like a low blow.  I got mad, screamed "why", and then wallowed in a funk before I even remembered that it's not my place to tell God how to run His affairs.  It seems like I'm always needing reminders of this!  

And so, we'll keep on keepin' on.  Even if we don't feel like it.  We'll wait on God to give us answers and healing in His own time.  We will focus on being content and remember all of the times when God has shown out for us in the past.  We'll give our future, and the futures of our kids, to God and wait patiently until we finally see the end of our story. 

At the end of the day, I was glad that I went on to co-op.  I tend to close myself off a lot of the time- a sure way to feed depression.  I had a "therapy session" in the baby class.  Surrounded by my sisters in Christ, I was encouraged and we laughed a lot.  It's always so good to laugh!  God also brought a new friend into my life today.  I was once again reminded that He knows what we need, when we need it.  

Good Intentions

I came here tonight to blog about Job 21:22.  I read it today and it's sticking with me.  

"But who are we to tell God how to run His affairs?  He's dealing with matters that are way over our heads".

Letting go and letting God have His way has always been a struggle for me and I have some thoughts on the subject.  But, today has been one of those days and my brain and body are tired.  The minute I signed on, my words left.  I'll try again tomorrow.  

Violet seems to be sick.  Again.  She's been fussy and I've been giving her Tylenol since Monday.  Yesterday she only took 1 nap in the morning and then only slept 5 hours last night.  This is so not like her.  She cried a good bit yesterday, too.  Today she has pretty much cried or fussed all day when she wasn't sleeping.  We decided that I should keep her home from church and I'm glad I did because she started running a fever after the boys left.  I gave in then and made an appointment for her to see the doctor tomorrow.  We were just there last week for her checkup.  It's beginning to feel like our second home. 

Chris was home today and we finally got our Christmas tree down.  We did some much needed cleaning and some reading. He also cut the boys hair.  And we all listened to Violet cry.  We watched Duck Dynasty reruns, but Violet felt so bad so we were NOT Happy Happy Happy.  :(

Tomorrow's another day.  Prayerfully, a better day!  And MNO is on Saturday.  I can't wait.  

Full of Chagrin

Today the boys and I took Violet to a dermatologist to have her birthmark checked out.  Thankfully, it is just that- a birthmark.  Totally benign.  We'll have it removed when she's a pre-teen and we don't even have to have followup visits until then, unless we notice it changing.  

The appointment was in Cumming, and Chris had to work.  So it was me and the kids.  I get so nervous when I drive to appointments.  My sense of direction is not good and I'm infamous for getting lost.  Thanks to the navigation app on my phone we made it to the appointment on time.  We stopped at a "new" library on the way home.  By new, I mean a library that we've never been to before.  Then we had to hit the grocery store to have Violet's prescription filled and pick up a few things.  

By this time, we were all tired.  Tired of driving. We were hungry, too.  Its Fasting time again, and the boys are fasting sugar, so they couldn't get an ice cream from Chick-fil-a.  I was really tired from all the driving and I just wanted to get home.  

The main reason for stoping at Kroger was to get Violet's reflux meds.  I wish I could have just went through the drive through, but the driver's window on my Explorer decided to mess up last week, and I hate having to open the door at drive throughs.  We went in and I herded the boys to the pharmacy and we took our place at the end of the (very long) line.   

An older lady began talking to me about how my baby looked very young to have out and about. I told her that she was 4 months old and she just kept shaking her head and saying that she looked a lot younger than that.  Really, lady?!?

Jordan has learned to read and is going through that wonderful phase of reading everything!  He was reading all of the signs around us and talking about how we needed to go to Lindsey's window.  Lindsey is my cousin, who just so happens to work in the Kroger pharmacy.  I told Jordan that we couldn't go to her window because she was working and we'd get her in trouble.  Both boys started in then.  Shaun was telling me that we were supposed to go to the other window, the empty window where Lindsey was.  I told him no we were not.  And then Jordan asked me if we were picking up or dropping off.  I was like, "What?  We're dropping off your sister's prescription.  Why?"

Then my 6 year old points to the sign above Cousin Lindsey's empty window.  The sign that reads Drop Off Prescriptions Here.  "See?  It says we drop off at that window and we pick up here!".  

I was so full of chagrin.  As we headed over to the correct window I apologized to both boys.  Lindsey even filled our prescription right away and we didn't have to wait.  It pays to have connections!  I'm so glad that my boys were observant...we probably would have waited in the wrong line for 15 minutes, only to have to go to the correct window and wait even more!