A New Year

This summer was kind of a blur.  Some fun things, like lots of time in the pool and a few visits from family members from afar. 

(My mom and my younger sister)

Some not so fun things, one friend moving away, another friend in a horrible car accident (be praying for Debbie), and also a mini mental health flip out/break down by me.  (I may or may not tell you details, but I am thinking my feelings/reasons are probably fairly common among middle aged mothers)

Then, on July 31st, L-girl started her junior year in the local public high school.

This same week, D-man left to spend a week in Washington D.C. for a conference and then on  August 8th, moved back to his apartment on campus.

On August 10th, L-girl and A-man left for a 3 day leadership retreat.

On August 11th, we moved A-girl onto her campus - not the same one as D-man.

 It was very strange not to have the whole gang there to move her in and say goodbye...and somehow with less people there, I still managed to forget to get a picture of she and I.  (Oops.)  The drive home was even weirder with only 2 kids.  We were like a "normal" family driving down the road in our mini van!

We are down to a 4 kid household and let me tell you it feels very strange.  It is very quiet.  Even though the two oldest are not exactly our wildest/loudest children.  Somehow their absence makes it very, very quiet around here. 

We started our homeschool year yesterday.  We still have three doing school at home.  (I will be honest, I would like to continue homeschooling through high school.  I suspect I am going to be outvoted though.)

Rainman and I are doing things a bit differently this year and I think it is going to work out well.  We have actually divided the subjects, so he will officially teach/be in charge of some and I will officially teach/be in charge of some.  We didn't do a good job of co-teaching/communicating last year and things got lost in the shuffle.  His work schedule has changed in that he is off most Mondays and Tuesdays and most of his other shifts are from noon to 8 p.m. so he will have plenty of time to teach.  He does work a few 7 to 7 shifts, but, I don't think that will mess things up too much.

I am actually excited for the school year.  I think it is fairly rare in the homeschooling realm to have a husband/dad that actually wants to teach and be involved in the day to day things connected with our school.  Rainman has gotten more and more interested and involved every year.  But, what I think has happened in the last few years is that I have felt a little pushed aside by his interest and his own excitement to teach.  He is the kind of person that jumps in with both feet and doesn't test the waters.  So, he ended up jumping past me and took off swimming with the kids at his side, while I was still carefully hanging onto the railings and climbing into the water.  They unintentionally left me behind.

I mean, I was still involved, but it was more often than not having work delegated and assigned to me by Rainman.  Like, "Make sure they read this chapter."  "Here is the science quiz."  "Study the capitals with them before they take the test."   If you know me at all, you know I really don't like people telling me what to do....even if I am married to that person.  Or maybe I should say, especially if I am married to that person!  Ha!

Gone were the days of me  designing our days and taking off for a fun field trip to get donuts or popsicles, just because I felt like it or something meshed with my lesson plans.  Instead, I spent quite a bit of time just waiting for someone to need me and then when they did, having to catch up and figure out what they had been working on with Rainman because I wasn't as involved in the nitty gritty details of what they were learning.  Kind of hard to explain.

But, anyway this year, we are splitting the course work.  We are each creating our own lesson plans for the kids.  I will still have to see how I can work on the spontaneous field trips that won't interfere with Rainman's  school day plans.  But, I am more excited for this year of school than I have been for quite a while.  I am hoping that our two approaches and teaching styles will help our kids become even more well rounded in their education.  We shall see, I guess.

Prom and Then, Prom Again

Prom was a busy weekend for us.

The prom for D-man and A-girl's school was on a Friday night.  Then, the prom for J-girl's school was Saturday. Then, Sunday, was Youth Sunday at our church and D-man delivered one of the sermons.

Originally, D-man and J-girl had talked about saving money and just choosing one prom, but in the end, they decided it was their senior year and went to both.

But, I am going to start with A-girl.  They went with a group of kids.  A-girl went with her friend, C-girl.  (much more relaxing way to enjoy prom than on an awkward date with a boy you hardly know)

I  was so proud of her and her dress.

I am going to brag on her a bit.  She put this dress together for $15.  The top part was a dress she found on clearance at a local boutique.  The bottom tulle was from a different dress in our stash of clothes for repurposing for the fashion line she and L-girl have.  She sewed the tulle onto a separate underskirt, so she didn't have to alter the knee length dress at all and it could still be a little black dress for later in life.

Voila.....old Hollywood glamour for $15!

She was able to borrow earrings from my friend, Alex.

I wanted her to have a little something special for her first prom and since she wouldn't be getting a corsage from a boy, I made her a hair comb.  (I just noticed that it is sticking out a little funny in this picture, but you get the idea.)  I went to an antique store and found the sparkly leaf pin and then just used invisible thread to sew/attach it to a hair comb.  She will be able to wear it as a brooch (if she ever wants to).

D-man and J-girl:

I love that crazy haired man/boy.  He has a great group of friends.

Goofballs.

A good time was had by all.

Onto prom weekend, Part II.

 She adores her big bro.  She has gotten to the point where almost daily she will ask when he is leaving for college.  Then she sort of reassures herself that it is still a long time away (in her mind anyway.....in this mom's mind....it is coming up alarmingly fast)

When D-man and J-girl went to prom last year, I went with him to pick out her corsage at a local florists shop.  The lady behind the counter whipped around her shop, grabbing this rhinestone bracelet and that ribbon and said, okay, that will be.....$90.  I gulped   I looked at D-man.  He looked at me.  I said to the lady, "Is there anyway we can bring that price down some?"  She said we could take off the rhinestone studded bracelet and that would bring it down to like $75.

I looked at D-man and said something like, is that the amount you had planned to spend?  Is that in your budget?  That kind of thing.  I was trying to give him a graceful way to get out of this completely stupid expense.  He was offended/embarrassed that I had said anything and huffed at me, "Yes, mom, that is fine."  Took out his wallet and spent stupid money.

As we walked out to the car, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.  I uttered phrases like "complete and total rip off!"  "what a racket!" "Why would you think it is okay to spend that much money on flowers that are going to die?" "I could make something like that for under $20."

D-man, in turn, uttered phrases like, "Why did I even bring you with, mom?"  "Enough, mom, I get it!"

I made him promise me that next year (which is now this year) he wouldn't be so stupid with his money and would at least consider letting me make something for him.

As prom weekend was getting closer, I finally said to him "So, are you going to let me make J-girl's corsage this year?"  He said, "If it will save me money and still look good, then yes."

So, I did.  I had some ideas about what I wanted to do and put out a call to my friends to see if they had any costume jewelry or brooches that people didn't want or were just sitting in their drawers.  My friends Paula and Alex came through and gave me all kinds of stuff to choose from.

This started as one of those headbands.  I added an old earring in the center of the flower and the dangling key.

I made his boutonniere too.

Not sure if you can see it, but I cut apart a necklace that had hearts and keys and attached the heart to D-man's and the key to J-girls.

In the busy-ness of the weekend, I forgot to get close-ups of the ones I did for their second prom. This one shows them off pretty well though.  For this night, I gave her the heart hidden in her corsage and him the key.  I also went to an antique store and found a brooch/pin for the center of her flower.  So, she can leave it as a corsage, but also take it off and wear it as a pin somewhere down the road.

I was actually really proud of how they turned out.  I used stuff we already had, borrowed some ribbon from my friend, Sherri, had the jewelry from my friends, Alex and Paula and bought Dollar Store/Walmart flowers.  Seriously, I probably spent like $22 total and that covered A-girl's hair thing, plus 2 nights worth of corsages and boutonnieres.  .

J-girl says I should go into business making these next year.  She didn't realize that I had made them until Sunday when D-man told her.  (Thankfully she hadn't make any bad comments about them before she knew I had made them.  Whew!  She liked them, she really liked them.....)

Christmas Happenings - Part 3

So, this happened right before Christmas....on the 23rd.

 
Blerg!  I have a man now.

So excited for him to open his gifts.

Our little neighbor J-boy, even made him something special.  It has something to do with Star Wars, but I don't know exactly who it is!

Some of his favorite treats...

A hand made calendar, complete with all our special days, birthdays, etc., and a coupon book for things like making him a special snack or to watch a t.v. show together.

 A-man went half home made...with the mask of....someone....from the new Star Wars movie and some Darth Vader socks that have an actual little, teeny, tiny cape that hangs off of your ankles.  It is the cutest thing ever!

A-girl went retro Star Wars for him.

L-girl went with some Star Wars socks.

Rainman and I went with a boring, grown up birthday gift for D-man.  Paying his commitment fee to the University of Georgia.  Woo Hoo!

For his cake (which we did NOT have on his actual birthday, but Christmas Eve), I made a cheesecake.  I haven't made one in probably 16 or so years, so I was nervous.  The top got a little overdone, but it didn't crack and  it was yummy.  He loved it and we decided that this will be our new tradition for his birthday cakes!

He was excited....can you tell?

Homecoming Part Two

Look what D-man finally did this weekend....after everyone else's pumpkin had rotted and was hauled to the woods.

It was so soft, that he didn't even scoop it out and empty it...he just took a hammer to its face.  Literally.  He was quite proud of himself.

D-man and A-girl went to their homecoming dance this weekend, too. Unfortunately, J-girl was competing with her one act, so she couldn't come.  Fortunately, D-man has a really good group of friends so he was still able to have fun even though he went stag.

A-girl went with her friend, E-man.

(Sorry about the red eyes, I can't figure out how to get rid of them on this computer.)

A-girl got a great deal on a floor length dress at Ross (like $25 or something).  She just tacked it up....

 put on her sensible shoes....

Hugged all the sibs goodbye.....

(Oh, and here is E-girl who A-girl borrowed the pretty black dress from for coronation.  i remembered to get a picture of her this time.  She came over and helped A-girl with make-up and hair)

And, off they went to the dance.  Where much fun ensued, even though they apparently did very little dancing.  Too much pop and country music.  LOL

I do like men in bow ties.

Homecoming 2015

D-man and A-girl made homecoming court at their school.

I like how their school does it because to even be considered for the court, you have to be a good student (good grades, good behavior,etc.).  The school picks the top students in each grade and then the students vote from that pool of students.

A-girl borrowed her dress from her friend E-girl (who surprised us and came home from college and showed up last night - but I guess I was so surprised that I forgot to take a picture of her!)  I loved that A-girl was smart and didn't wear ridiculous shoes under her dress.

(Her Chacos and the French pedicure she gave herself.)

J-girl was able to make it to the coronation, but she won't be able to come to the dance because her One Act play made it to State and that is the same day.

A-girls friend, E-man, also made an appearance.

My little girls were over the moon looking at all the dresses and picking their favorite ones.

Rainman had to work, but he was able to make it at the very end.  At least he got to see his baby girl in her dress, right?

This is D-man's best friend, S-man.  As they say here in the south, "They are a hoot when they are together."

All in all, it was a fun night for us.  Most of the kids and I stayed up until 1:00 talking.  We talked about who they thought was going to win......who actually won......the crazy weather.  We talked about our favorite dresses.  The announcer mispronouncing things (surprisingly NOT our last name).

Leading up until homecoming, you might say that I was either being a horrible mother or a great one.  I told both of the kids not to expect to win.  I didn't say it, or mean it, in a mean way.  I just told them they should just be happy that they got a chance to be on the court and have fun dressing up and all that jazz. (For the record, I never used the phrase "you should be honored just to be nominated"  or "you are all winners in my eyes")  I just told them they probably wouldn't win....and to have fun.  (I also said I wasn't planning to spend much, if any, money on their finery that they would wear for 15 minutes, so get creative.)

As we were talking last night, A-girl said, "I knew I wasn't going to win, so I was just so relaxed.  I mean, I was nervous about walking out in front of everyone, but otherwise,  he and I just laughed and whispered about everything.  It was fun."

Whew.

Then, D-man said, "Well, I thought I had a chance to win.  I mean, I am pretty likable, but I am not that kind of likable.  You know?  I figured he would win."

I did know.  I am pretty sure I was.... and am...that kind of likable too.  I don't consider it a bad thing.

I am proud to be their mom...they are plenty likable for me.