I did it momma!!

Yea for Aleeyah, who officially wrote her first cursive "i" this morning. She was so excited when the teacher told her that it was time to write her letters. Of course I was a little nervous as to why the teacher wants them to learn cursive first. That was a little crazy to me and still is. I am just going with the flow though. I mean she is only 5! Aleeyah knows how to write all her ABC's in lower and upper case in print, so I am not to worried about it. Should I be? I am so new at this and I know that four of you are teachers. Does public school start cursive this early? Maybe you could give me some advice? Telissa (my niece), didn't start cursive till the end of third grade in public school. It was crazy to see the flash cards and they were all cursive. I wrote to the principal and she states that since I enrolled her into the K5 program she should already know how to write her name and letters in print. Thankfully she does, but still what I am concerned about is the reading? I am so confused, any help will be appreciated!!! Thanks you guys!!

On a lighter note we are getting to take tomorrow off from the home schooling. We did two lessons on Monday, so that means she is ahead. I love the fact that she only goes till 12pm and then has the rest of the day to play or do what ever. I can then get the next day's lesson plans together and grade her papers. Aleeyah is enjoying herself and she pounces out of bed and says "let's do it!!"

I am currently looking for a play group for her in the afternoon to calm the families fears of socializing. I want to make sure she has the playing that she needs with other children. Hopefully, when Jaren starts daycare next week, things will slow down for me. I won't be keeping him anymore, and really hate to see him go.

I wanted to update you guys on my little friend MG. I told you in a earlier blog, that they had thought she had Lupus. She is only 7, and it would be rare, but the test was pointing that direction. After praying for this child and her parents, they got the test back and praise the Lord it is not Lupus. They are not sure what is going on but she got a clean bill of health. Praise the heavenly father!!!
"If ye ask shall ask anything in my name, I shall do it" John 14:14

Our "first" day of school!

Aleeyah's first day of school!!

So as many of you might or might not know, I home school Aleeyah. I chose this method when I was pregnant with her. I told Sam when I found out that I was pregnant that I wanted to home school our child. I knew that Sam was okay with that since most of our friends home school their children. I knew from the beginning that this was going to be hard on me with Averrie, but that was a decision that I had made. I have not had allot of support from family or my friends.
I had a family member who told me that I was creating a "anti-social" child. My child is shy, I have to admit that, but she is far from "anti-social". She loves to learn and is excited to start her "school".

So today is Aleeyah's third day of school. She didn't sleep to much last night, and since she finished two lessons on Monday. I told her that she could take the day off.

"NO mom" she said "I want to do my schooling."

I love to see her so eager to learn. She loves the teacher that she has, who's name is Mrs. Bere.

Yes, I said teacher. I chose to go through the A Beka-K5 program. It did cost me a little more than what I would have liked, but it is known for it's excellence. A Beka sends you DVD's in which the child interacts with and you monitor them. At the end of each session there is homework that Aleeyah has to finish. She has already began to learn how to write her letter Ii in cursive.

I have a classroom set up with all that she should ever need. The board, the bulletin boards, the filing cabinets and even school desks for both her and Averrie. Homeschooling isn't for everyone, just as public school is not for everyone. This is not for the weak hearted and patience is an important part of the process.
Aleeyah is finished by 12-1pm and has to rest of the day to do what she likes. This also gives me time to finish the things that I need to do.

So I will now be writing mostly about what Aleeyah's does and making this mostly (hopefully), a scrapbook of her school years!!

Congrats Aleeyah on your first day of school baby girl!!

Oh you have to (because I said)

Please go check out this AMAZING giveaway that Lauren is having. These items are the best and there is so many things to look at... Check her out!!

Giveaway time...

Kristen is having a giveaway. This is for a necklace and it is adorable. Go check her out and enter her drawing.

Oh my!! Oh my!! Oh my!!!

We got back from Branson yesterday afternoon. UGGGG, I am really tired, and guess what...I need another vacation!! I have so many things going through my head today.

1. Aleeyah's birthday party is next Saturday, I am trying to get that together.
2. When I came home yesterday I found out that a teacher I had in school, that I just love has breast cancer. They caught it fast enough that she will be fine, but it is still scary.
3. Aleeyah starts home schooling on Monday morning. This is exciting for her and her father, but scares me to death. There are so many subjects that I am horrible at, but figure that Kindergarten won't be to bad!! Since I can't afford Christian School, she will be attending Abeka Academy at home. They are wonderful and well worth the money.
4. This is the thing that is giving me the most nightmares!! My husband has decided that since Motors was not doing so well, and he hit the 30 mark, he should maybe have a career change. I was thinking going to college to work on cars, boats or something like that. I never imagined what came out of his mouth!! He wants to go to college to be a helicopter pilot. Oh my goodness, I fell over. I just don't know if I can support him in this. I know I need to, but I just can't do it! What if he wrecked and it killed him? What if he couldn't do it and had no job? What if I had to relocate to his work? What if, what if, and what if? I just don't know what to think or do. I am praying that this is a "phase" he is going through.

Branson was the best. We are currently making plans to go back in November. They are playing Peter Pan on stage at the Mansion Theatre, and I have to take the girls to see it. They love Peter Pan. We went to Silver Dollar City this time, since mom and dad was with us, and it was great. Sam and myself were able to ride all the rides while mom and dad watched the girls for us. The American Plunge (log ride), was the worse!! They took pictures of Sam and me riding it and I look terrified. I have my eyes closed and I am leaned back, you can tell that I am screaming loudly! I must WARN you all, that if you go on vacation in Branson and see a location that states "Discount show tickets", DON'T DO IT!!! We decided that it was going to cost $150.00 per family to get into SDC, so we needed to try to look for a bargain. We found a place in DT Branson that said "discount show tickets". We decide to try it and we go in. This man tells us that all he needed us to do was go and watch a 5 min movie on a local retreat called Stormy Point Resort. He then explains that the movie and the tour of the homes will total around 49-60 mins, and then we would get our tickets, which saved us a $100.00 per family. Okay, we told him that we would do it and on we went. We get to the location at 11:00 am, our meeting was at 12:00 that day. We meet the man who will be explaining (selling) this vacation home to us. To make a long story short, after 3 1/2 hours and a tour, we were ready to KILL!! The home was gorgeous, and we were going to do it till he broke the news that he wanted $5900.00 right then, and $697.00 a month for 6 years and at the first of every year he wanted $500.00 for a maintenance fee! Uhhhhh, needless to say we walked out. They save the bomb for last, they get your hopes up and BOOMMMMM they blow you up!! So as a fair warning please don't waste your time. Yes, you get a discount but you waste your whole day doing it.

Giveaway!

Shauna is having her 100th post giveaway!! You guys go and check it out!!!

Birthday Preparations begin.

Yes, there is over a month left before Aleeyah's birthday party. I have to have everything done before that day. I can't stand to wait till the last minute to do anything for her birthday. Since her birthday falls on a Monday this year, that means the week after we get back from Branson we will have her party. That really doesn't give me alot of time to prepare. Aleeyah picked her theme this year and the winner was Pink Poodles in Paris. So, here are her hair bows and her adorable dress.

Thanks to JE*Designs, Aleeyah has this cute dress/bloomers to wear the day of her party. I am making her party invites!! I will post them at a later time. I got her party supplies all bought and they are being shipped to me this wkend. Of course after Aleeyah's party we have around 3 weeks before we are forced to prepare for Averrie's party. UGGGG!!!! Aleeyah's birthday list is huge this year. I mean a Nintendo DS and all the games! A carrying case! WOW, what happened to a doll? I know that this means she is just growing up.

I have Jaren (my nephew) three days a week, and his momma asked me to take some pictures of him yesterday. This is the finished product. Jaren would not take the hat off, and would cry when I tried to take it. He looks so much like his daddy it just blows me away. Jana (his mom), wanted a shot in just a diaper with a tie, I told her the hat was a prop I had not intended on!!

Last but not least, I have a prayer request to pass along. A friend of mine has a daughter who is 7 years old. She does not want her name out so I will just leave her daughters initials which are MG. She has been having a rash on her body for some time with a lot of swelling. They took her to a specialist today and they think she has Lupus. Lupus is a disease in which the body builds antibodies that fight the body. Hard to explain, but serious. Please keep MG in your prayers as well as her parents. Pray that they have wrongly diagnosed this baby girl, if not the years ahead will be extremely hard for her.