what we've been up to......

Our household has been busy, busy, busy within the last month or so.  Here's what we have been up to!

I ran my first 10K.  Now, I am trying to figure out what is next.  For sure the Tulsa Run in October and the Jenks Half Marathon in November, but it feels like I need something before then.  Of course, in Oklahoma you don't really want to be running long distances during the summer months, but I do like having something to train for.  Right now I am just working on building up my miles and enjoying my longer runs on Saturday with my sister!

pre-10K

afterwards with my sister

my good lookin' hubby who watches the kiddos while i run

Jason's dad and step-mom came for a visit.  I took a grand total of zero pictures while they were here.  The kids had a fabulous time with them and are still asking when Paw Paw and Elaine are going to be back over.

molly riding her bike one of the days scott and elaine were here.  luckily the weather was beautiful while they were here!

Lawson has been falling asleep in the floor.  Seriously.  He will be playing and then BAM, asleep.  I feel like a bad mom (a little) for not knowing when to put my kid in bed, but there is no warning that he is tired.

Molly's nap schedule or lack thereof continues to be a problem.  Sometimes she does great without a nap, other times she clearly needs one and will fall asleep easily (but then be a nightmare at night) but without fail, waking her up is terrible.  On another note, her head seems to be healing great.

Lawson's 15 month checkup was last week.  Turns out my big guy isn't so big after all.  We've known he is not gaining a lot of weight for awhile, but this appointment, he fell off the chart for weight.  My pediatrician and I discussed some reasons why he might not be packing on the lbs, and we will see the ENT in May to discuss surgery to get adenoids out, but until then we are loading him up on high calorie and high fat foods.  Kind of weird to be planning unhealthy meals for my baby.  Also awesome are the comments from well meaning people about his size, or what we are feeding him, or the fact that he still uses a bottle, not a cup.  After talking to a friend of mine I have decided the best policy is to keep my big ol' mouth shut about what I am feeding him and how I am feeding him.  Regardless, I am pretty sure he is the cutest 15 month old on the entire planet.

eating nutella for the first time.  he liked it.

Isabelle is ready to start school.  She asks everyday.  Her mother is maybe not quite that ready.  I am terrified to buy a curriculum and have it be the wrong one for her.  They aren't cheap and I hate making bad decisions.  However, I think I have found one that will be great, isn't too terribly expensive and I am almost ready to pull the trigger.  

Other things that are going on...

1.  My brother and sister-in-law find out the sex of their baby today.  I am pretty excited.  Not that it matters, but I am hoping for a girl!

2.  I have joined a book club and am ready to start reading!

3.  We are in the planning phase for our summer and I am already anxious to start doing some fun things with the kids.  

4.  Jason is still very busy at work, and is working on some pretty cool and exciting projects.

5.  I started watching another documentary.  WHEN WILL I LEARN???  After watching just the first half hour or so I am seriously thinking about trying to go vegan or at least trying to be vegan for most of the week.  Cuh-razy.

6.  We are selling our patio furniture and building a picnic table (and maybe a kids table also) to replace it.  I love this one from ana-white.com.  I can't wait to have it done and on our deck!

That's some of what we've been up to.  What about you?

A few reasons why we are going to homeschool

Yep.  We are going to homeschool.  There, I said it.  No more speculation.

When Jason and I started talking about school for our kids homeschooling was never on our radar.  After all, aren't homeschooled kids totally weird?

However, when it came down to it, we don't feel like public school is an option for our kids, and we can't currently afford private.  After talking to some other homeschooling families, we decided to at least look into it as an option.  Here are some statistics I came across in my research.

Over 2.04 million students are currently homeschooled.  That is a 78% increase since 1999.
When it comes to test taking, homeschooled students consistently outperform public school students.  They did well whether or not their parents were certified teachers.
Homeschooled students graduated from college at a higher rate than their peers.

And while those numbers/stats are impressive, they aren't the reason we are going to try this whole homeschool thing.  Here are just some of the reasons we are homeschooling.

Our big reason is cost of private education.  Yep, we can't afford private school for three kids. (or four for that matter)  And frankly, we think that even if the time comes when we could, we would rather pay for their college, or family vacations, or both.  And like I mentioned before, we just don't feel like public school is the right choice for us.  I am not bashing public school or saying kids should not go to public schools, but after prayer, it just isn't for our kids.

Another reason, I like my kids.  Whaaaat?  I do, I like my kids.  I don't have any desire to only spend time with them when they are at their worst during the day.  Maybe your kids are different.  Mine are at their best during the day.  About 4pm each day I start to think they are a little crazy.  They get a little cranky, don't want to obey, start arguing and fighting more and are generally just out of sorts.  Then we have dinner and bath time and story time and it is off to bed between 7-8pm.  If school started at say, 2pm and went until 6pm and served dinner instead of lunch we might have a deal.

Next, we decided that the best time to give homeschooling a try was during the pre-k, k and 1st grade years.  Who knows, maybe I will try it and it will be horrible and we will change our minds.  But, if I only try through 1st grade I won't have done that much damage, right?

And one last reason (but certainly not the least important) is our desire to teach our kids from a biblical world view.

The things listed above don't even begin to scratch the surface of our list of reasons we are homeschooling, but they are some of the biggies.  Making the decision to homeschool/go to public or private school is not one that should be made lightly.  We have spent time praying, discussing, and researching our options.  We have talked to people who we respect who are in public schools and private schools and who homeschool to get their opinions.  And, just in case you are in the camp who wonders, "How will those poor Dickinson kids ever get socialization?"  Rest assured that they are around other kids at MOPS, church, play dates, and soon enough, sports.

Have you ever considered homeschooling?  What made you take the plunge?  Or, what changed your mind?

Molly's Noodles

Last Thursday, Molly and I had the fun experience of going to urgent care for her to get stitches.  In my experience with kid traumas, here is the where stitches stack up against the others (number one being the worst).

1.  Concussion for Lawson

2.  Stitches for Molly

3.  Molly biting through her tongue

I am not counting the two surgeries (Lawson's and Isabelle's) in this list because they weren't really "traumas."

So, here's how it happened.........

pre-stitches at the urgent care

Molly and I were playing in the living room.  I needed to go make lunch so I told her we were done playing for a minute.  She decides to start running/spinning around the living room.  I had not got up off the floor before I heard a loud CRACK and see Molly's head colliding with the corner of our stone coffee table.  Honestly, I was not the least bit concerned that her head was going to split open.  I thought, based on the sound her head made hitting the table, that she was going to have a concussion.  As soon as it happened, I scooped her up and looked at her head.  Within a second, her and I were both covered in blood.  I started yelling at Isabelle to find my phone and call Jason while frantically getting something to cover the gash in Moll's head.  After yelling repeatedly at Isabelle, I realized the phone was plugged in on the counter.  I grabbed the phone, called Jason and yelled at him to come home, then proceeded to call the Dr. who said I needed to take her to the ER for stitches as their office was too busy.  At some point I thought, "hey, maybe I am overreacting," so I took off the washcloth and looked at the cut.  I was NOT overreacting.

Fast forward to Jason coming home and confirming I was not overreacting and Molly and I leaving for the urgent care.  Once we were there, we got in fairly quickly (praise God that her cut stopped bleeding pretty quickly at home).  The doctor and nurse were very sweet, but Molly did NOT enjoy her time there.  For starters they wrapped her up in a thick fleece blanket to prevent her from moving around.  Molly h.a.t.e.s. being confined or restricted in any way so this made her VERY mad.  It also made her extremely hot.  Then they put a paper with a hole cut-out over her face which only served to infuriate her more.  She was scream-crying for me to make them stop before they even started with the lidocaine shots.  Those apparently hurt like the dickens because just when I thought Molly couldn't scream any louder, she was.  She kept asking me to make them stop the poking and telling me she was ready to be done and go home.  When they started the stitches, Molly must have heard the word needle, because she then started calling her stitches, noodles.  If she hadn't been so upset, I would have thought it was much funnier.

right after they were done she asked to see her "noodles"

After we were all done, and Molly was mostly calmed down, I took her to get lunch at her favorite place, Chick fil A, and all was right with the world.  By the time we got home she was back to her old self.

We have to go back to the doctor on Tuesday to get her four stitches out, and until then we have to keep it nice and clean.  She is doing great and it looks like it is healing very well.  I am praying for no scar or one that is barely visible.  I would hate for my beautiful daughter to have a scar right in the middle of her face.

she has done great leaving a band-aid on and keeping it clean

I am not at all surprised that Molly was my first kid to need stitches, but I am hoping this is a one time deal. I don't think I can deal with any more noodles for awhile!

How we Celebrated

Here is a little recap of how we celebrated Easter this year!

1.  Saturday night we attended our church's Easter services.

best family pic out of like 10

handsome hubby

my bff, my sister

2.  We had Easter tacos for lunch on Sunday (a tradition for our family).

3.  The girls ate a ton of candy from their Easter baskets and then proceeded to act like crazy people the rest of the day!

4.  We had an egg hunt in the front yard.

another great one of the hubby

most of the fam

5.  Molly was finally able to fly her new kite.

6.  After a full day of family, food, and fun everyone in my house was asleep by 9pm!