The Place With the Bunny and the Flags

Ever since in July when Jackson saw me on the Six Flags website discussing a trip with some playmates, he hasn't forgotten about going. We were supposed to go July 16. He was diagnosed with diabetes and admitted to Scottish Rite on July 15. Needless to say we didn't make it July 16, and we certainly weren't up for a trip to a theme park that soon after diagnosis when we were released from the hospital. But, with time, things have settled down, and we knew we wanted to make it this year (but before the Halloween rush.) So, we convinced Daddy to stick to that promise he made Jackson right after his very first ever insulin shot in the Scottish Rite ER. Off to Six Flags we went!

And, what do you know, Thomas the Train and his friends were there, too!

Jackson was able to follow in our footsteps and ride the old favorites including none other than the Mine Train! He loved it. Dad rode with him first, then I got the pleasure of cramming my rather not quite so child-sized body in there, too. :) Jackson told me, "See!? I told you it was WILD!" while grinning ear to ear!

Then, we made a huge mistake and took on the Scream Machine. Uh, yeah. The wood is warped or the tracks are jacked up or something. It was horrible. I mean horrible. Do not ride it. And, most of all do not put your children on it!!! Paul rode first, and said it was bad. I doubted him since Jackson for sure wanted to ride again. Uh, yeah. Trust your husband next time. :) BIG mistake. I was sore for days. I was so freaked out that we shook Jackson's brain up so much he would have permanent damage.

Preston, on the other hand, also did not trust Daddy. When you do ride share at Six Flags, you have to go all the way through the line all together and then swap off. (which in case you can't tell from my pictures wasn't really necessary because lucky for us there were NO lines the day we went...) Anyway, so Preston was forewarned he wasn't big enough for the Scream Machine but since he went through the line I guess he didn't listen. (wow, big shocker there!) So, he blew a gasket when he truly realized he in fact would not be sharing in the family brain damage. :)

Don't worry though. We learned that lesson. When it came time to ride the Mind Bender (yes, do ride that one!!! Awesome! Jax loved it!), we didn't take him through the line. Instead, we bribed him with Dippin Dots, juice boxes, and none other than Sylvester and Daffy Duck. He has no clue who either of them are but acted like he'd known them all his life! :)

Don't worry though..Preston did get his fair share of rides. He rodes tons of things in Bugs Bunny land, and he especially loved the Thomas the Train playground area. It was interesting to see him blossoming into his own little person. He used to always sit next to Jackson on every carnival ride we went to. This time, not the case. If it was like a truck or airplane that would fit two people, he went straight past Jackson to his OWN airplane. It was adorable. Kind of like, he doesn't feel so insecure and dependent on Jackson any longer. Sad? A little. Hard to see them grow up. But, I was proud. I love seeing them grow in front of my eyes and know they have the self-esteem to do it.

And, there was a roller coaster Preston could ride, too! It was fun. He thought he was a big boy then!

Oh, yeah. There's daddy before he gets beat up on the scream machine. See how noone is in line? Well, I guess not! Spread the word! Don't ride it!

We had a great time. I love fun, family days. More than Paul knows. It means so much when he agrees to let us force him into them. :) Even though Paul tickled Preston so hard he puked up the Dippin Dots (on Paul's shirt nonetheless), blood sugars went haywire that night, and we didn't get to ride everything we wanted (even though we were there like five hours..probably because we wasted 45 minutes in line for the "new" joke of a Monster Plantation), and Paul got us lost trying some "new" way to get there, I am thinking things worked out for the better we didn't make it July 16. This day was perfect just the way it was.

Homeschooling Part 2 (and probably the last part)

Whew! I am realizing keeping up with the blog is harder than I thought it would be lately. I am so busy! :) For sure homeschooling has its positives, but a downfall could be I guess that I am a lot busier to a certain extent. Certainly photographing my efforts, and then attempting to keep you updated on them is hard. So, I am afraid facebook might be the only place I put up my homeschooling pictures from now on unless I have something important emotionally to discuss about them on the blog. :)


We have enjoyed lots of crafts over the past few weeks (shh..most have been to prepare for Grandparent's Day surprises!). I really discovered you can tell alot about a child's personality by how they paint. Preston mixes all the colors together, doesn't care to rinse his brush, and even after he finally does rinse his brush asks if he can now drink the paint colored water. :) Jackson, on the other hand, only uses one color at the time, freaks if they touch, and carefully rinses AND dries in between each. Can you tell which child is me and which child is Paul? :)
I FINALLY decided on a table and chairs for them. I will admit it is not my first choice, but since I was so undecided how long I would homeschool my goal was to not exceed what I would have spent in tuition this year at TSS with setting up the homeschooling. After buying curriculums, supplies, and enrolling Jackson at the Kids Spot for classes I knew I probably shouldn't get top of the line tables and chairs. :) So, to Ikea I went. The table is a bit higher than it should be, but we are making do. We also do work downstairs at the counter and we do alot of dancing and stuff in the floor so really it is working alright.

Nothing like a fake smile, huh?

If you're wondering, his sugar was off here and he also was constipated. :) I guess that's the reason for the look on his face?

Me and Preston on his first day of 2k! :)

Another shot of Preston once again thinking school is for the birds if you it means you have get up early!

Another science day we used paper towel holders to make tin foil rockets! We discussed the solar system that day. The kids LOVED it.

Does your library have stuffed animals like ours?? :)

We have come a long way with handwriting thank goodness since this was taken!

Tasting the linguine...

So, that's pretty much it. It is going good for us. Although they are tiring me out quick! :) They ask to do school (well, mostly just Jackson) 24/7. It is good he is excited about it and goes to show all of us how much he really does love school like I knew he did, but really! I am tired! :) We still do other stuff, too, on top of school, including my working. But, we are doing alot of social activities where he gets to see other kids so that is good. I know he misses his friends. In fact, this week I was thinking it over and he is doing activities with friends/other kids 4 days out of the week. So, really I am doing better than I thought in that aspect.

I will say I talked endlessly on the phone today with our public school nurse. I found out more about what she does, how she does it, and learned she is actually there full time whereas I thought she was only in the building part of the day. I have to say I am praying hard for my decision about next year. I had a really low blood sugar today though (in the 40s) which was partially due to my fault I guess, but I thought what I did would work and it didn't. After talking to her, I was like I think he is going to Ola Elementary next year! After seeing 43 on the machine and realizing how unstable he still is, I thought yikes!

Keep praying for me. I want to do what God wants me to do. Not what I want. Not what Jackson wants.

And, poor little Preston. He's just along for the ride. Thank goodness most of the time he keeps smiling!

Homeschooling Part 1...

As most of you know, we decided to homeschool the boys this year a few weeks ago. While I will admit it was a tough decision, we are not looking back now, and I must sadly admit I enjoy it alot. I seriously have no life, huh? I really love watching them learn, but also love planning all their activities and having control over what they learn, how and when. Yes, that is equally sad. I am a control freak people. I need to work on that. But, even more importantly, I can be a control freak over snack and sugars. It doesn't mean they are perfect just because he is with me, but it does mean he can feel totally comfortable to look up during computer lab and say "check my finger, I feel low." And, he does. Then, I wonder would he have told his teachers that at regular school right then. Probably not. He would miss computer lab! So, really for right now this is such a good decision for our family. It has bonded me and the boys closer together. Most of all just the boys. They enjoy sitting side by side learning. And, yes Preston does school, too. He sits out a few activities, but he also gets one on one time learning while Jackson does computer games and other self-directed worksheets. And, I think that is awesome. Preston is getting such a headstart on 3K. And, Jackson is getting a headstart on kindergarten. We are doing alot of kindergarten concepts even if we are just touching on them. At least next year no matter where he goes to school (still undecided about that), he will recognize alot of things.

I will admit though he already is catching on so quick! Like punctuation, syllables, memorizing Bible verses, and learning how to spell his colors, and the concept of calendars and time, telling time on a clock, and some basic science concepts are all things he is already grasping.

And, Preston is learning how to spell his name and his shapes for right now. We are touching on cutting and doing lots of crafts with him, too. He already knew all of his colors which I wasn't even aware of until we started!

So, I wanted to just share with you our memories we've created so far knowing that it is impossible to teach and take pictures of everything! But, I was still determined to savor some of these moments since this could be my last year home with them before they both would attend school even if Preston does just go 2 days a week a few hours a day next year. Plus, I always took so many pics of events and activities at the preschool, I still wanted to have memories to scrapbook from this year as well. Keep in mind Jackson is keeping me on my toes. And, even if we are in our pajamas, we STILL are doing school. He won't let me miss anything. He even wants to do school on the weekends! In fact today is Sunday, and we did some school today. If anything, it is reminding me to sit down with my kids and spend time with them. That is a blessing in itself!

Here we were cooking linguine. We are doing cooking class like once a month and incorporating it into the special letter we are studying in handwriting for the week. That day it was L. They loved making L's with the noodles.

Here is Jackson doing a morning warmup shapes puzzle game. You should see how good Preston is at these things! He even did the "opposites" one. How he knew those I have no idea!

I had to show this one. This is Preston on his first day of 2K. NOT wanting to get up. After day one, I decided to let him sleep and not wake him up like this. :) He likes learning but not that much. So, we work on Jackson's stuff until Preston wakes up, and then we do crafts. As you can also see, we changed into clothes day one. After that, Jackson wanted to stay in his PJs. So, we did! Noone said you had to wear clothes to homeschool, right?

Don't worry though. Preston woke up quickly when he saw a "gwoo stick." Preston + glue stick = LOVE at first sight. NOT kidding.

Looking for letters to spell his name...(which by the way he says is just T O N )

Jackson just doing some free time painting...

Our very first time going to the library (also in honor of letter L.) They didn't quite get the concept of being quiet, but they did enjoy it. They were heartbroken they didn't get their own card though, so don't worry. I made them some and had them laminated. We are headed back this week (now that I let them look around and choose some books) to get books I am choosing for them that are actually very useful ones :), and they are stoked to get to use their library cards. You know those women are going to look at them (the cards) and me like I'm crazy.

This is one book I am going back to get...

Preston did not like that "susketti." (the linguine that he thought was spaghetti) So, he settled for a lollipop instead. Hey! It still starts with L, right?

Getting ready to cook. They really did help. They measured the water and everything. They love cooking. Hopefully that will stick until they are older, and they can help me in the kitchen.

More of Preston on day one wondering why in the world we woke him up.

Let me just say my 4 year old cuts better than me! Maybe it's the tongue that helps.

Doing some homemade worksheets until our math curriculum arrived. :)

In honor of the letter F, I made some flags out of toothpicks, and we went on a scavenger hunt for them at the park. Then we discussed who got the most or least of each color, etc.

Practicing our colors for Preston's sake... :)

The table (we didn't move school upstairs until we got more organized...we decided to homeschool on a Sunday and began school that Monday) the night before day one. I was desperately (overdoing it) trying to make it seem fun and like real school. Ended up we don't even use those bags. And, I hate how they turned out. :) But, still they were excited to see "stuff" when they woke up.

Jackson cannot do morning time discussion without a microphone. That isn't plugged into anything. I have no idea. :) Don't ask. This calendar thing is helping though. He keeps saying only a few more rounds until my birthday month! Rounds apparently are weeks. :)

Playing doggie bingo to go over our double digit numbers and those tricky letters like U and V that he always mixes up.

Don't pay attention to any handwriting stuff you see thus far if you are a teacher. :) My curriculum hadn't gotten here yet, and yes I was a mess teaching it without one.

Doing our first science experiment...

We made ice cubes, and discussed how water freezes and temperature. We also touched it before and after. The boys loved it.

Practicing sight words...

I have definitely discovered just like I thought when I chose The Sharon School for Jackson, he learns so much better by doing tactile, hands on activities and not worksheets.

See how they are doing so much side by side and together? It really seems to be making them cohesive or something. Not sure what word I am looking for here..but I like it.

I also think Preston has lived in the shadows of the school fun for so long that this has really boosted his self-esteem feeling included.

Here Jackson is doing a scavenger hunt labeling things that start with the letter L.

I am not going to lie. Preston is dangerous with a pair of scissors. :) But, he is doing better. He can do well without the paper. But, with the paper..not so good. It is still so early to teach this skill, but I am still trying. One thing I will say is I cannot tell if he is right handed or left handed? Any help there?

See? And, he's infatuated with markers. I don't know if he will ever use crayons again. :)

And, of course he loves paint. Even all over his body.

Well, that's it for part one! As you can see, it is not that hard to homeschool preschoolers. I am sure there won't be much to photograph if I homeschool them when they are 8 and 10 years old. :) Which I don't know if that will even happen, but I am just saying. This is pretty easy. Well, except for the handwriting! LOL Wait, and the scissors. Hmm..well, let's just say those preschool teachers are underpaid! But, I am overpaid. Why? Because I am getting a peace knowing they are safe and sound, and I am getting to hear their squeal of delight when they realize the fingerpaint tickles.

Isn't life good even when it's bad?