What have we been up to?

Hello Friends!

I am connected to the world again. Last July our internet was having problems. The provider (was Bellsouth now AT&T) figured out it was because the neighbors had tapped into our line. They fixed it and within a week we had the same problem. They disconnected it with a promise to run a new line soon to fix the problem. Well 6 months later the problem has been fixed. I am just so happy to have internet at home again.

So I will try to update everyone briefly. Ha Ha. Like that will happen. LOL!

In August Katie and Kasie went to college. Kalie was very sad. We started school with a bumpy start and it took a few weeks to get into the grove. Katie and Kasie were both having problems with their roommates. Katie was rooming with her same roommate from last year (which I thought might not be a good idea). Kasie and her roommate did not get along from the start. They had VERY different levels of cleanliness, her roommate had a level of -5 and Kasie is a 9. LOL! Kasie was able to get a new roommate after about 4 weeks. Kasie loved her new roommate, but Chelsea had to move this semester because of costs. So Kasie has a room to herself right now.

In Sept I started working for our church. I provide the child care (MMCC) for the mom's Bible Study. It is every Tue morning from 9:00 - 12:00. I am making $10 an hour, which is almost half of what I made watching Carlee with only one morning of work. We have 3 classes, an infant class that has 2 babies, a toddler class that has 6 kids (18 month to almost 3 years), and then my class of 9 kids (3 years to almost 5 years). I decided after the 3rd week that my class needed to be more structured and I developed a plan. I am now "teaching" preschool again. I love it! My kids are great, so sweet and loving! The parents are thrilled and have been so supportive. Only 2 of the kids in the class go to any other kind of activity or group setting. All of these kids will be going to public school. I am working on the alphabet and numbers with them. Kalie plays a letter matching game with them (one at a time) every week. It has been wonderful for her to be the BIG one and she has really taken to "teaching" the kids. It has also made going to church on Sunday mornings much easier because she wants to she the kids.

The only bad part was that we could not attend our Tue morning play group. (the one with Lara, who also uses MBTP). But it is OK now, because on Jan 16th, they moved the day to Wed, so we can join them again! Yea!

We moved on September 12th. In August our landlord sold our home and the rest of the homes they owned in our neighborhood. The new owners wanted to fix the many problems in the house we were renting so they gave us the option of moving across the street. So in September we moved across the street. Crazy I know. The new place has 4 bedrooms instead of 3 for the same rent. So Kalie has her own room now! She doesn't sleep there, but all of her stuff is in there. The new house has a much better floor plan. We are loving the extra room and the new layout.

Oh one more major thing that happened, on Sept 30th Bill was baptized and became a Christian! We were all very happy and relieved. It was an answer to over 9 years of prayer.

We had a pretty uneventful October. Kalie's daddy was not doing well so we spent alot of time with him and less time on school work. I was trying to make Kalie do all that I had planned in about half of the time. That obviously did not work. LOL!

The mean neighbors moved at the end of October. (The new landlords evicted them.) A few days before they left, one of the kids brought Stanley (the cat) to our house and asked us if we wanted to have him. We of course said yes. They next week we took him to the vet. He got his shots, neutered and microchipped. That way they couldn't change their mind. LOL! So now we have 3 cats. In August we had to give Theadore away. Kalie was very sad. He was just to much for us to handle. We gave him to a family that has a large fenced yard. He is doing well there. Kalie still wants a dog (and a fish, a hamster, a guinea pig, a horse, some chickens and any other animal she can think of). LOL!

At the beginning of Nov Bill went into the hospital and we thought it was the end, but we were wrong. He rebounded and was feeling great. He even went to the Mall with us to see Santa the week before Thanksgiving.

Katie's best friend had her baby on November 26th. Kasie and her roommate (Chelsea) were in a small accident on their way home from the hospital. Kasie injured her bad knee, again. So she is back to frequent visits to the orthopedic doctor and physical therapy.

Bill took a turn for the worse the day after Thanksgiving and after about a week didn't recognize anyone except Kalie.

Katie was in a car accident on Dec 14th. No one was not hurt, but she totaled her sister Kasie's car. Kasie can not drive because of her knee injury, but was hoping to be released from the doctor soon so she could get her license. Now she does not have a car though. Katie has promised to replace the car or give her money to help replace it.

Bill's health declined very fast. On Dec 21st Bill was transferred from the assisted living facility to a nursing home. While we were doing the paperwork and getting him settled in, he was very agitated and did not even recognize Kalie. She was upset. We left him at about 4:30 in the afternoon. We had a few errands to run and the entire time we were in the car Kalie asked ALL of the difficult questions. I was completely honest with her. I didn't want anything to be a shock for her. He died the next morning at 4:30am. The girls went back to bed around 8:00 and slept until 1:00. We all took a mental health day. The girls called into work and we decided to have a fun day. We all went and got our hair cut. (I got 12" cut off mine.) Then we went out for an early dinner. Went to see the Christmas Tree display at the Hyatt and then the lights at Roper Mountain Science Center. We all left our phones at home and focused on each other. The next day I decided that we needed to get back into life and try to make things as normal as possible for Kalie. Bill's death was not a surprise, we were all expecting it, and it was somewhat of a relief.

We had a very quiet Christmas. Katie's boyfriend Charlie and his father (Barry) came over for supper. It was a very relaxing day.

We started school again on Jan 7th after a very long break (we had not done anything formal except holiday studies since mid Nov). The girls went back to college on Jan 8th. Kalie and I were having a great week. Then.....

On Thurs, Jan 10th (around 8:30pm) Kasie was in an accident. She was walking in the parking lot at school and someone backed into her and then drove away. Her body went into shock to protect itself and she was paralyzed for over 14 hours. She had spinal cord shock. (I had never heard of it before) I was VERY scared! We (I stayed with her the entire time) were in the hospital for 5 days. She has made wonderful progress since being released and is almost back to "normal". One good thing that has come of the accident is that she has finally been referred to a neurologist for her RSD.

We started school AGAIN this past Mon (Jan 28th). So far this week we are doing great! I am now taking a very different approach towards homeschool. In the fall I was trying to make Kalie catch up to where I thought she should be and do so much that we both were burning out very fast. After Kasie's accident I decided to take things much slower.

We are a little more scheduled with activities and a little less scheduled with school work. I know this is probable a reverse of what everyone else is doing. On Mon nights we have girl scouts, Tue morning MMCC, Tue afternoon an art class, Wed morning LTBAP (play group), Thursday morning Explorers (play group) and Thurs afternoon PE. We do not always go to both playgroups each week, sometime we do not even go to one. I just think after every thing that has happened the past couple of months we need to live and enjoy life a little more. Kalie is so smart and she picks up so much by just living that I figure we will have plenty of time later for a more structured learning schedule when she is older.

So I am leaning more towards unschooling for Kalie. We will probably not be using RightStart or ABeCeDarian much longer (she hates them). We will read every day, do some sort of math most days (not always a lesson, it could be playing a game, sorting, patterns, cooking, measuring), work on her animal notebook when she feels like it (which will probably be every day). We will continue to do MBTP (as science and social studies) 3 to 5 times a week. We will need to find a language arts program (one that is not very structured). Creative writing, music, Spanish and "whatever else" will happen when she is in the mood. This is not how I would like to homeschool but I guess it isn't about me. I am also leaning towards having her "repeat" 2nd grade. Not because I do not think she has learned this year or is on grade level with public school, I just do not want her to graduate high school at 17 and go off to college a week after she turns 18.

So that is the update about our life for the past 6 months.