That about sums up the past couple weeks.

It's been hectic, to say the least. But I'm feeling pretty good with my level of productivity. I've even managed to squeeze in one walk a week so far! (Hey, baby steps.. right?) The boys have been doing fabulous with their school work! Sure.. they're a bit grumbly now and then.. but overall, they're doing great. Meaning, they're actually getting it done! Woohoo! We're still going through that oh-so-fun adjustment period.. but I think things are settling down a bit now and they're getting into the swing of things.

We're totally going on faith right now as far as their school books go.. I'm planning to start this year's curriculum (finishing up leftovers from last year right now) on October 5. No, I haven't ordered it. We're trying to wrap up a couple of projects and invoice them while also waiting on a check for some work J did way back in like.. May. I love contract work. It rocks.

Still. It's all coming. And it all adds up to more than enough (or just enough.. but whatever), so we're hoping. And praying.

But school is moving right along. I'm working very hard to keep it that way. And also keeping on top of the house work as much as I can.. But because of how hard I'm working with the cooking/cleaning/schooling.. at least I don't feel so guilty about not getting nearly as much done as I'd like to. So I'm feeling good, despite the never-ending to-do list. I expect to have a never-ending to-do list.

I was a little sad to see that the preschool activity supplies are currently unavailable from My Father's World.. I am told to 'check back after September 30'. So, for now, I have to stay creative with ways to distract the girls while we work. Torrin is generally easy as long as there's a train set or PBS Kids nearby. With Eliana? I occasionally have to turn to... marshmallows.


Yeah. She's cute.

Other things that work well?? Afternoon tea! Complete with a china tea set and snacks.

Of course, some days? Despite my best efforts.. they're still just crazy.


And, still.. the favorite part of school is definitely science. My Father's World uses Usborne books for their science and every lesson has fun activities to go with it. It's so easy to do, and they all use simple around-the-house items to get the job done. Right now we're working our way through Science With Water, so all the kids are getting in on the action and enjoying it very much.



There's our latest progress report, folks! Hope you enjoyed it.

I'm baaa-aaack! I figured I'd come stink up xanga again since I'm taking a break from writing..

So hey, y'all. I've put my other blog on hold for a while. I just couldn't deal with it anymore.. I love blogging, I love writing, but it just doesn't fit into my life very well at this point. So, I'm taking a break while I clean up my act, my house, and get school started with the kids. J and I also happen to be starting a little blog design and hosting business, and that is already going well.

I figure, I still have this blog for talking about daily life, if I so choose.. and I still have an anonymous blog for deeper issues. But Embellished Truth and Polite Fiction will probably be silent for some time.. I feel kinda bad about it because we just purchased my domain last March. But what can you do?

Anyway. I'm actually pretty excited about the coming school year. We are wrapping up what was left of our 1st grade work while we wait for our books for this year. The boys are moving right along with their reading, writing, and math skills. I think they're going to love this year's line up as we learn about US history and geography. Torrin is also starting this year. He'll be doing the Kindergarten curriculum (though we may switch to 1st if he gets bored..) and will join the older boys in some of their lessons and activities.

We're still using My Father's World curriculum and LOVE it. We get our math books from the school district and are using Math-U-See. The MFW curriculum is perfect for families like ours with lots of kids close in age. They make it very easy to not have to teach a separate curriculum for all the children by having adaptations for younger children in the older kids' work so that they can just join right in once they're reading and writing.

It's birthday season in the ChurchPunkHouse again! Aidan just turned 9 and this month Joella will be 2. Torrin turns 6 in November and then Eliana and Kieran round us out in January with their 4th and 8th birthdays. (I can't believe she's going to be 4!)

J and I celebrated our 10th anniversary last June! 10 years! And it was the first time I was not either nursing or pregnant on our anniversary! Go me! I like exclamation points!!! Weeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Sorry. Got carried away.

Don't know if I mentioned it, but last winter our lease was up on our van. It sucks. Our credit will not allow us to get a loan on.. well.. anything. And we DO NOT have enough money coming in to save for something. Oh well. Right now, we are getting by fine without a car, for the most part. We have friends who help us out when need be, but generally we just walk or take the bus to where ever we need to go (or bike.. accept not me. cause I can't ride a bike). It would be super duper if we could score some wheels before winter hits, but it's not looking like that will happen. Honestly, with the cost involved in owning a vehicle, unless we can get something reliable and big enough to move all 7 of us, it's just NOT worth it. So when we need to skip town, we spend a few 100 $$s and rent a van. No, it's not cheap. But it's cheaper than owning one.

Alright.. it's getting close to school time. I better get off my ass. I'm sure you'll all be hearing from me more often now as I bore you with the mundane details of my life!

Kisses!

I'm still alive. I do check in now and then and lurk around some blogs here.. but honestly, I've been busy with my other blogs.

It's a bit tricky to keep up 3 blogs, home schooling, and house work (ha! house work..).

Anyway, I promise I'll try to check in more regularly here.. I'm thinking I might pick a day to do a weekly update here. When I started my other blog, I was worried that I might just abandon this one, I didn't think it would happen that soon though!

So what's going on with me?

Not a whole heck of a lot.

We have no vehicle. Our lease on our van was up in December and our credit was so bad after the whole nightmare with our house (which was finally resolved), that we could not get ANYTHING (unless we pay cash).

We managed to hang on to the van until about February while the dealership was searching and searching for a way to get us into something. Nothing worked out of course and the lovely folks at Toyota financial (who the dealership did not bother to communicate with) sent us a nice bill for January and February. It was awesome.

Since then we have occasionally borrowed vehicles (mostly while there was still snow on the ground), J has been carpooling to and from work and soccer, and when we don't have a vehicle to borrow we walk the 1/2 mile to the grocery store as a family or take the bus (from our front door) to the local mall for shopping.

It's really not so bad.

And hey, we're saving money AND being green! Yay us!

Anyway.

The boys got WAY behind with home school this winter and we're playing catch up. They're catching up nicely though. We'll probably be doing school all the way through summer, but hopefully that will just help enforce the habit of doing it and make them slightly more cooperative. Hey, a girl can hope, right??

Everyone managed to stay healthy through the fall and winter, which was awesome. No family outbreaks at all, only one or two single person sicknesses. Staying healthy sure does help when you have so much other stress in your life!

J is doing well. We still can't afford his Bipolar meds (anti-psychotics cost hundreds of dollars a month on our insurance), but with lots of exercise and lots of talking about feelings and moods and such, we've been managing quite well. We've altered our diet some and that seems to help as well.

So that's about it.

I'm planning to go to BlogHer this summer - we have our tickets. I'm working on my second novel, if you visit my other blog (Embellished Truth and Polite Fiction) there is a link there to the first chapter on The Open End. There is also a link to Authonomy where you can read the first 5 chapters of my NaNoWriMo novel No Place Like Home.

And now.. for pictures!
 
Hope you all are doing well!!