A new school year about to begin!!

Well here it is, August 25th and some one rude reminded me that Christmas is 4 months away. Yuck!! I don't even want to hear about Christmas until AFTER my husband's birthday in early November. Pet peeve of mine

Anyways, school is about to start. It starts Sept 1 for Sam and Nichole and the 17th for Nathan. Why the delay with Nathan you ask? I'm homeschooling him and I haven't gotten all his supplies ordered and the ones I do have ordered are on backorder until about that time. But I've got him writing a report on a subject for one of his chapters in Social Studies, so I am doing something.

Sam is excited to go back to school. This year he gets to wear an I.D. and play the cello. Nichole just wants something to do. She will be a junior this year and she can't wait. I'm glad to see some of my kids excited about school, I just wish Nathan was more into it. Maybe he will as we start this new adventure in our lives. And I hope it works out for the better. I don't want Nathan going through what he went through last year ever again and if this is the way we teach him, then so be it. I can do this, I know I can and I will succeed!!!!!!!!!!!!

The above picture is what I think I will use for Christmas pictures (unless a better one is taken at my nephew's wedding on Saturday.) this year. I just wish that the boys were actually smiling with teeth, not this crap that they are pulling. Oh well, I tried. I also got to use Nichole's fancy camera. It's cool. I'm beginning to think that I need one. Nah, I'll just borrow hers when I want "nice" pictures.

Hugs
Kelly

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well, here it is 2010 and I've got nothing to show for it. Just kidding. I'm glad to see 2009 leave us as it was a difficult year for us. DH was unemployed from June until the end of August, making it a financial nightmare that we are still recovering from. I assume this will get better as the new year goes on. We had the typical illnesses in the house and the kids were generally happy.

Christmas was an uneventful one. Kids got what they wanted, DH and I got an unexpected gift from his mother and we are grateful to her for it. Had a nice Christmas Day dinner with my mom and spent sometime with her. New Year's Eve came and went without fanfare. I just cannot stay up that late anymore and haven't been able to since I had kids. My daughter spent the night at a friends house and stayed up until 5 am and was up until her normal bedtime, but she also slept in until 10:45 this morning to make up for it. LOL

DH and Sam have been sick for the last few days. Had to take Sam to Urgent Care, as his doctor was unavailable, they diagnosed him with ear infections in both ears and possible strep. So on antibiotics he goes and hopefully he will be fully recovered by the 4th (when they go back to school) I feel bad that most of his vacation he was sick for but I guess it's better than missing school during the regular hours. Hopefully, no one else will get sick and we make it through the next couple of weeks illness-free. Fingers Crossed!

I stitched most of the afternoon on the 2nd and got a lot done. I will post a picture in the next couple of days. It's going much faster now that the ugly green color is done with for the time being. Other than that, everyone goes back to school and work on Monday. YIPEE! I think I need a vacation.

I'll post again soon.
Happy New Year!

Kelly

A Pretty May Day

Hi there,

It's a beautiful day here in Milwaukee. We are supposed to get thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow, so I'm enjoying today. What's new in the household?? not much.

DH got his days cut at work. Now he is working 4 days instead of 5, which means he gets a 3 day weekend every week for the forseeable future (not happy here!!) DH loves the idea of working a 4 day work week but we lose a whole day's pay. Hopefully this isn't a long term decision for the company.

School is almost out for my kids and they are happy about that. I signed my daughter up for driver's ed (behind the wheel, observation and classroom) she's looking forward to it but not the idea of it starting right after school lets out. She wants to drive (I don't want her to, but she is at that age now and I do remember what it was like to get my license) so she will have to be there at 8 am bright and early for about 6 weeks or so. Then she wants to work at State Fair this year (just have to get her a work permit from the school) and that's fine, again long hours but the money is worth it to her and it's something for her to do during the day for 11 days. Not sure what the boys will be doing this summer, hopefully not sitting on their butts watching tv all day (not good idea, get out and play!!!)

Other than that, we (DH and I) are talking about removing the falling fence and putting up pretty bushes rather than a fence again along the back part of the lot. DH just needs to get out there and do something about it. That will be another time for venting I think...LOL

Gotta run and enjoy the day. Hope yours is a good one.
Hugs,
Kelly

Stuff/Life in general

Well, it's the Sunday before Easter and I'm sitting here waiting for the umteenth load of laundry to get done. Easter will be a low-key event for us this year as DH is traveling for work out of the state, my lovely daughter will be going to a concert (didn't realize it was on Easter Sunday until AFTER she purchased the ticket, oh well live and learn), My mom is going to her sister's house for the holiday which is fine but at the present moment, she is mad at me. So I'll give her some time to cool off and maybe she'll come around.

Got quarter grades this weekend and all I can say is that 2 out of 3 kids are doing great. Darling daughter is not. So we have taken things away from her and if her grades improve come June (last report card of the year) then we will give her those things back. Kids spent the night at my sis-in-law's house and DH and I went bumming around town, which is a cool concept for us as we don't get to do that often. The bullying has stopped for middle child for the time being and he seems happier than I've seen him in a LONG time. He just needs to speak up for himself and talk to the school counselor and things will get resolved (hopefully)

We are supposed to get at least 5 inches of snow (I know this is April, but in Wisconsin anything can happen) but it's not here yet, here's to hoping that it will pass us by completely (I know it won't but one can hope can't they???)

Started a new stitching project and maybe I'll finish this one. Need to get a couple of things framed too. The walls still look bare and we've been in this house for almost 6 years!!! Need to get crackin' on that one.

That's it for now, If I don't post again until after the holiday, I do hope you have a blessed one.

Hugs
Kelly

Life in general...............

Well, it's that time of year again when the sun goes down earlier and earlier everyday and I seem to get more and more depressed. I suppose I could invest in one of those "sunshine/natural daylight" lamps but those are SO expensive it's not funny. I could pay down a credit card with the money I would spend on one of those, so that's out.

I'm also bummed out because my middle child, Nathan is getting teased/bullied again. We had conferences last night with his teacher and academically he's great, getting A's and B's. But then I brought up the teasing/bulling to his teacher and his teacher was surprised that it was going on, especially in his classroom. But we reassured Nathan that this will stop and if it continues we can move his classes around but that is a last resort. First, Nathan is going to have a good long talk with the school counselor and hopefully this will get resolved. It hurts knowing that there is NOTHING I can do to help him and having his sister telling him to "suck it up" isn't helping either.

I want my son to be happy again. I don't like seeing him bummed out when it's time to go to school. School should be a safe place and I know (from personal experience) that teasing isn't a pleasant thing to go through and I can sympathize with Nathan. I just want it to stop. There is nothing physically wrong with him (except he wears glasses, BIG DEAL), he's just this bright, intelligent boy who happens to get the short end of the stick sometimes. He has no real friends to speak of. He's shy and once you get to know him, he's very outgoing. But it's getting to that point that is difficult. If you're a parent, you don't like to see your child hurting and he's hurting and I can't fix it. I should be able to, but I can't. Hopefully the school can fix this. Life is just not fair.

I know this is a downer post but this is bugging the hell out of me and need to "talk" to someone. I do have good news to share but I'll wait until I calm down a bit before I share it with you.

Hugs,
Kelly