Easter Sunday

I remember looking at the calendar at the beginning of the year thinking, "Easter sure is late this year", and now I am shocked that it is already upon us. It is so hard to keep the focus of the holidays on what they are meant to be. To help keep Easter on the resurrection the girls decided to memorize a Bible verse for Easter (Matthew 28:5-8), they practiced together on their own and have it down pat! There was a little fighting over whether or not to add motions and I am honestly not sure what came of that, they plan to recite it at my Mom's before we eat supper tonight. Hopefully, it will go off without a hitch or Ella will be in tears, Laney will be mad, and Keira, well, Keira won't care :)!

It is hard to think of Easter without thinking of dresses. Ella and Keira's dresses are laid out ready to go, and I just now at 1:00am on Easter Sunday got done adjusting Laney's dress. You might be thinking that is because I had to work so hard on it--wrong, it is just because I put it off until now. I have no idea what Clark will wear, and I don't know if the girls have shoes to match their dresses. I don't have a clue as to what I am going to wear and Tony, honestly, I don't even care what he puts on.  Does this make me laid back? A procrastinator? Busy? I think it is a combination of all three. Don't get me wrong, I would love to walk into church with all my girls in matching outfits, and Clark in something that coordinates. But that, my friends, takes planning and time neither of which I am good at. I am sure there will be several families at church that do this and I will wistfully look over and think they are adorable. But, I am also sure I will look over at my own and think the exact same thing!!! We did plan ahead and buy the stuff for the Easter baskets a couple of weeks ago. It was a combo effort, Tony picked up a few things and I went back and got a few more. I was tired tonight (worked last night) so I fell asleep around 9pm this was a little before my kids were asleep. Tony woke me up around 10pm and asked me if I wanted to put the baskets together and set them out. Well, I was tired and told him to just do it and to let Laney help him (this is her first year to know the truth about the Easter bunny so to help soften that blow, she is now in on the setting up). They did an awesome job!!! Everything looks great!

Of course, now at 1:00am I am wide awake, [[sigh]]such as the life as a night nurse. I am sitting here contemplating on how different life is now, as opposed to three or four years ago. Three years ago I would have never NOT had shoes ready to go for Easter Sunday, three years ago I would have shot Tony if he set the Easter basket stuff out without me, three years ago I would have something nice planned out to make for breakfast. Oh yeah, all my kids went to bed dirty and need a bath before church, that would have been stressful to me three years ago!!! It is so funny how time and circumstances can change one's perspective.  One thing that will never change though is, us striving to keep the focus on what it is meant to be on - Our God lives, and because He lives I can face the future!!! If this Easter season you have not read the Easter Story to your children take the time to stop and do it!!!

Things I should have never said....

We have all been there. Your kid is pitching the biggest fit ever in the mall, you look up and there is some young girl staring at you. You know she is thinking "Oh my gosh, like really? My kids will never act like that!". At first you are mad and want to go over and tell her a thing or two about parenting, but then it hits you, you know what she is thinking because that was you 10 years ago!!!!! AGHHHHH!  Oh the things we have learned.

Nursing School and Homeschooling!

I would have really loved to blogged my way through nursing school. It was such an adventure, unfortunately I did not have time, but I am going to give a brief overview of what it was like. I will never forget the complete overwhelming feeling I got the first day I met with my advisor....
She said, "So how many children do you have?"
"Four" I replied.
"Uh huh and you homeschool them?"
"Yes mam."
"So, what are you going to do when classes start?"
"I am going to continue to homeschooling we will just do schoolwork in the evening and weekends."
"Oh, and what does your husband do?"
"Well, he worked for the guide plant for 9 years and as you know it recently closed so, he is also going back to school."
"Let me get this straight, you are going to be a full time student. Your husband is a full time student, and you are going to homeschool your four children?"
"Yes mam"
"Wow, you are a brave woman!, I hope that works out for you."
That is when everyone started saying stuff like that. I came to realize that being called brave was not exactly a compliment, just pretty much a nice way of saying you are crazy!!! After my meeting with the advisor (and after I finally found where I had parked..hehe),  I remember sitting in my car just crying wondering if I could do the task that lay before me. There were many people/ things that helped me out along the way; I took one day at a time, had some great babysitters, a supportive family, began drinking coffee for the first time in my life, and a husband that is extremely understanding and willing to help out. It was full of challenges, scheduling was the biggest one, it was a nightmare. There were some quarters I didn't get my clinical schedule until the week before clinicals started. Tony was on the semester system, and I was at a different university on the quarter system. He tried to schedule night classes when he could, and mine were always during the day. I feel very fortunate that my children's lives didn't have to change very much. For the most part, they were either home with Tony, the babysitter, or me.  I was blessed along the way, I studied a lot, but passed every quarter and graduated at the exact perfect time. God's timing is wonderful. Our severance benefits from Tony's job ran out in March of 2009 and Tony and I both graduated in May of 2009. I began working immediately, it took Tony a little longer to find a job, but by August of 2009 we were both working. It was the first time I had worked in nine years, and we are still getting used to it. I am thankful for a job that I enjoy and for the opportunity to work nontraditional hours so I can be a homeschooling momma!!!

Why????

It seems like whenever I tell anyone that I homeschool my children the first question is always, "Why?".  Hmmmm... it is now such a part of our life, and it feels like we have been doing it for so long; it is almost hard for me to remember why. Let's see....five years ago when it was time for Laney to start kindergarten, Tony worked 3pm-11pm at the Guide plant. If Laney had attended school, she would not see her Dad all week. Family has always been extremely important so, this was unacceptable. Homeschooling was the only logical choice. Back then, I was a stay at home mom with the three little girls, and we had a ball. We played all day, and then when the two younger ones had nap time, I did school work with Laney. We fell in love with homeschooling. Having the freedom to teach what interests your child, flexible hours, the family bond it instills, the feeling you get when you teach your child to read, really studying the Bible, all of these things are reasons why I homeschool. But, the main reason I homeschool is because that is what my heart tells me I should do. So many times I push my feelings away and do what is easier, or what other people want me to do, but I am not budging on this one, it is in my heart therefore I  find a way to make it happen! Now that I am a working mom, it is more challenging than ever. There are days I want to chase that bus down, but when I stop and think about it, it doesn't take me long to remember all my reasons why....