Goodbye Heights House....

We have loved out little adventure in the city... and I feel like that was what it was. We loved the neighborhood, we loved the "feel", we loved our park, we loved a LOT about the house, we loved the area, we loved how close Dave was to work, we loved that we were so close to the church, we loved being by the library and walking the path to Target...

Yes, we have loved our little city adventure...

Onwards to a new adventure....

Wordless Wed-- or at least almost wordless

Whewwww...

Okay so we are moved..... again with the whewww.

I will say that we hired movers... my family decided that they would chip in if they didn't have to lug the contents of a three bedroom house out of said house and into different two story house!

But.... I have still moved, packed, shuffled, unpacked, shuffled some more, re- moved, shifted around, carried, hoisted, lugged more boxes, book cases, crates, tubs and containers than I care to THINK about right now... or ever again!

I am tired... my body doth protest.

None the less... it is done, I mean I have to unpack... and in three months re- pack a fair amount that we unpacked so that we can move, shuffle, unpack, shift around, carry, hoist and lug the boxes, book cases, crates, tubs and containers AGAIN.

But who is focusing so much on the future.. I want to live in the NOW! :0)

So for the now... I will unpack what we need:

toothbrushes, clothes, some toys and books and THE ENTIRE SCHOOL ROOM.


I will say that I am ready to get back to learnin! Ready to snaz up some lesson plans and put those kids minds to work as much as their muscles have been put to work lately!

I need to create!  Remember last year when I itched to craft... well the time is here again.  I have some cool things PINNED on Pinterest I am going to try my hand at.  I see lap books and a unit study in our future and I am ready for some PHYSICS experiments-- Brenda!

American History: Week 22-26

We have moved on towards the Civil War....

these past few weeks we have studied:

Texas revolution and entrance to US
adding of new territories and states

The Missouri Compromise of 1820
The Missouri Compromise of 1850
The Kansas/ Nebraska Act
presidents- Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce
abolitionists
Dred Scott case
Harriet Tubman
Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad
The Fugitive Slavery Act
The beginning of the Supreme Court
The Know Nothing Party, the Free Soilers Party, the Whig party and how they all became the Republican Party (not the one we know today!)
secession

We have studied the beginning of the Oregon Trail
Pioneers, with food, activities and books.

and we began reading Uncle Tom's Cabin (abridged version)

Whewww.   :0)

Catch up.. very random.

We introduced the kids to Pinkie and the Brain.  It makes me happy.

I worked on my macro setting.... can't get my focus right. (((sigh)))

 the kids were in the FASCAR activity for Word of Life program at church-- it was great, Dave had as much fun as the kids.  :0)

We are packing...

 and packing...

and packing!

Emily had her eye appointment and she has progressed SO much that her doctor took her off patching for 3 months and on Dec 20 when we go back if she has maintained her progress she gets to stop patching for another 3 months... if she has regressed, we will start patching again.  She is very excited to have a break! 

As a reward/ treat I took the kids to the Chocolate Bar in the VillageArcade.. YUMMO.  Matt decided to have Swirl (which is next door to the Chocolate Bar), Kaitlin had ice cream, two scoops and Emily decided on design your own chocolate bar--- she chose white chocolate with gummy bears, gummy worms and marshmallows.  She enjoyed it!

And then today we went to see the A.D. Players Treasure Island... Emily's friend LR got to come along with us....

so there is my random catch up!

Ocean: week 8-10

More about ocean life:

We studied about fish... we bought this fish who very sadly died two days later...we are a death sentence to pets.

We learned swim bladders and did an experiment to learn about how they work.

We learned about different size and shapes and how they are distinct to each fish and how they live....

and dot arted some fish...

We took a field trip to an aquarium store-- cheap field trip and saw all the different kinds of fish!

We watched a movies...The Incredible Mr. Limpet

We of course did all our notebooking...

After fish we are skipped ahead to coral reef's...

Weekly Wrap Up: Day 31-40--- the one that is boring with NO pictures....

We had a light week this time...

Monday---

this was Kaitlin's first day of choir but there was a parents meeting (which I later found out isn't till the 12th) so we left early but then Matt spilled gasoline all over him so we came back home and left again for choir.. just one of those things!

Had choir.

Left for a funeral all the way in Friendswood-- choir is at the Beltway and 45 north.. so it was quite the drive... by the time we got home from the funeral I was DONE and the school day never got started!

Tuesday...
basics


Wednesday...
we got some school done in the morning but had history and pretty much straight to church from there... so another partially lost day. :0)

Thursday...

We got started late after telling the kids we were moving... and got stuck on some English problems and then Matt's handwriting and seriously by the end of all that I WAS DONE. Later we picked up math and reading but that was it! Oh and Emily reached the castle in her typing program which is a REALLY. BIG. DEAL. for her and she was totally excited!

We watched Summer Magic with Haley Mils in honor of us "flitterin'... packin up our stuff and flitterin' far"... although it's not that far!

Emily got a number of consequences.. she was in EXTRA rare form! But ended the day well and I even felt sad when I had to put her to bed at 7:45 for an earlier consequence.... SO. HARD.


Friday... I dont even have anything to write for today!



I wrote this on the 2nd and never posted it.  We SHOULD be on day 45 and I would say counting some REAL learning we are on day 40-- we will just go with that M'Kay!

We started Physics and had a history lesson which I will post separately about...

We have done math, spelling but not everything, every day, and we are behind in most things...after the move I will re-evalute our "time off" and adjust as needed... I had given us basically from before Thanksgiving until Jan 3 off so we are still good! 

I am going to pick up a consumer math workbook and do some "money" stuff, all the kids need to know how to handle a money box-- we had some issues at the garage sale!  :0)  I love "finding" our deficiencies that way vs a TAKS test!  I see an area we need to work on and we do!

So anyway this is my weekly "s" wrap up for three weeks... it will get better after the move!

guess I shouldn't take too long a break on schoolin'

SOOOOO....

I am sorry I am neglecting you so much poor blog... you are having to pay the price for my overload and I apologize to you immensely!  I promise once I am moved that "I'm gonna hug you and kiss you and love you forever"... well at least I will actually blog, m'kay.

packing box number 5,432,345 today out of 78,345,234.  Gotta get to it.

But first lesson plans for the day:

School today:  measurement (room design), volume (how much will fit in this box), colors (paint samples for room), community helpers (post office for address change), math (if I drive my vehicle back and forth to Pasadena twice today what will my gas mileage be), logic (estimate how much we will make at the garage sale), science (mark all matter at the garage sale with a price sticker), consumer math (attempt to find a way to stretch non existent budget for two more days), PE (run up and down stairs a zillion times bringing stuff to the garage sale)


Do you think I can count today as a school day?

okay... again.

Just so everyone knows... I am packing.  That's all folks.

I am a little over my head right now but I KNOW that there is a clear, clear date where a HUGE part of the overload will be done.  So that helps.

A lot.

I will say that now that I have actually started packing I feel better.  I mean there is still a lot to do but since I am taking action... I just feel better! 

random... what would you do if?

If I had the capacity to INSTANTLY change one thing about myself it would be my weight.. closely followed by my teeth.

If I had to grab 5 things, not counting mammals of any kind.. I would grab: the external hard drive, my folder of important papers, my box of negatives that have not been scanned in, as much school books/ stuff I could handle and ME some clothes because it is hard to dress a fat person (I am just sayin).

These choices are assuming that my purse and camera are already safe in the car!  :0)

If I could do ANYTHING right this instant I would book a vacation.

If I count days already booked full of stuff and take out time for schooling, eating, sleeping and other such normal day activities... I have 9 days of packing.

If I could eat ONE thing every day that did not cause me to lose weight or any other problems it would be ROCKY ROAD ice cream. 

If  I had the ability to have ONE thing fix itself perfectly every day on my kids it would be their hair- always neat, brushed, braided and cut etc. (material not character)

If I had 1000.00 to spend on ANYTHING, but it HAD to be for fun... I would eat out and take a mini vacation!

If I could stop time for 20 minutes every day at what point would I stop it... maybe Dave leaving for work?

If I could instantly change a bad character trait in myself: anxiety.

If I had to eat at ONE restaurant every day for the rest of my life it would be...Crackerbarrel (such a wide variety)

If I could pick ONE tradition I wish we had started when the kids were little and kept up CONSISTENTLY  it would be... family devotion time.

If I could still be friends with one person who I am no longer friends with...Amy Kulik.

If I could turn back time, if I could find a way I'd take back those words that hurt you and you'd stay... just seeing if you are really reading!

If I could go back in time I would make sure I paid better attention in English.

If I could go back in any time period and just be a "fly on the wall"... I think I would choose to hear Jesus preaching or see one of his miracles performed.

If I could learn a new skill easily it would be: photography!

If I could buy one thing for decor in my house right now it would be frames....

If I could get a gift card to decorate my house right not it would be to Ikea.

If I could experience going to any of the wonders of the world I would go to the Great Wall of China.

If I could retire anywhere in Texas it would be near Garner State Park.

If I had to listen to a sound all the time I would like to be the ocean (minus seagulls and people).

If I could have an unending source of something coming in to my home it would be sonic cokes or electricity.

If I could sing in any Disney musical it would be The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast.

If I had the opportunity to change how someone feels about ONE thing... I would possibly change Matts eating habits.  ;0)

Wordless Wednesday....

I mean really what words are necessary... doesn't everybody have a daughter who ties herself to their bunk bed in order to achieve the ballet stance they would like?

Don't they???  Don't they???

“Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?”

So Yoda says.......

with this child I believe it.....

okay....

So all that was accomplished on Saturday was us getting boxes (and visiting with my SIL which was nice!). But really that is all that happened.

Sunday we got home from church and it is like this despondency washed over me. The house was not cleaned up and the thought of starting to pack while the house was not cleaned up just freaked me out. We started cleaning up and that led to where do we need to take this, and put this aside to give to them, and oh here a library book that was lost so go return it, and oh we have to do this before we do that....

and my attitude got more and more unsettled.

So Dave and I left.. we gave the kids their jobs (clean up their rooms) and we hit the highway.

We drove thru Sonic and I kid you not their card machine was down! I am NOT sad to be leaving this SONIC! Last week after running out of coke.. they gave me a drink with NON Sonic ice. REALLY!

We stopped by CVS to get a few cards to send and just drove around.

We got a text that went like this...

Kate: what is em supposed to be doing
Me: cleaning her room
Kate: she is helping Matt
Me: is her room done?
Kate: no
Me: Why is she helping Matt?
Kate: he is paying her in Legos


and there you have it.. Dave said very enterprising but not gonna work today.


So we headed home.

Sent Dave out to get stamps to MAIL said cards and return the library books we found (stupid library with their outrageous lost book replacement cost..... its a racket I tell you!)

I made dinner.... threw away Matt's gasoline soaked clothes from last week-- they were a lost cause.

The girls started packing some of their stuff but honestly there were so many questions I probably could have done it my self faster: but breathed through it and let them at.

SKILL LEARNED: How to use a tape runner and put boxes together!

All I can say is I am REALLY glad Dave has off tomorrow for Labor Day because we have a lot of labor we need to do around here!

:0)

Ultimately everything boils down to a choice...

We are going to move in the next 30 days back to Pasadena... we will be renting mom and dads house from them..

Big changes are happening.

It is not really a 100% perfect decision for us but we are just simply looking at it as a choice with benefits.

Some of those benefits include:

• a large house
• 3 bathrooms (we currently have 1)
• a large school room/ game room
• a bedroom for each kid (not necessary in life but we are happy about it currently)
• closer to some family
• close to some of my friends
• a POOL
• a large master bedroom and bathroom

did I say three bathrooms?


Negatives are:

• we like where we are living (not in LOVE with my house) just like the area and close proximity to Dave's work.
• I have gotten involved over here and will need to keep some of those commitments for at least this school year.
• Dave driving to work
• Dave not coming home for lunch
• Dave not being 10 minutes away
• farther from church-- where we will stay put for now
• NOT 5 minutes from a Whole Foods ;0) I just like SAYING that!

So there you have it.... our current choice!  We are excited... as usually most positive changes in life bring some excitement!  The kids are ECSTATIC.  Beyond ECSTATIC.

Hence these pictures...