Homeschoolers Don't Get "Snow Days"

1.  This time last year, we were enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.  We had a hard time getting all the homeschooling finished because we kept taking time off to enjoy the outside weather.  We just knew it was going to turn cold again, but it never did.  When the spring came around I was a bit disappointed that we didn't have many snow days.  After this winter, I take it all back!  I think I would rather have the warm winter over the bitterly cold one that we had this year.  Technically, we're still having it...they've predicted another ice storm for our area starting this weekend!

2.  So what have we been doing while the below zero temps have kept us indoors?  We went roller skating.

Princess learned to skate this year

Older boys rockin their in-lines

Toddler Boy loves the arcade games

Game Boy spends 1/2 his time in wheels and 1/2 out

Of course, there are snacks too!

Our local skating rink has a "homeschool day" set up once a month.  All the area homeschoolers come one afternoon a month so the kids get to hang with their friends from the group.  I pretty much stay off wheels while we're there.  I spend my time visiting with the other moms and chasing Toddler Boy around the arcade and snack area.

3.  The month of January I did a Whole30 paleo diet and lost 22 lbs. in the process.  I'm just impressed I didn't die, I live for carbs.  My weight had been slowly creeping up again and I felt like I needed to do something extreme to shake up my system.  I'll dedicate a whole post to it soon, but overall I felt better and didn't crave the carbs once I totally stopped eating them.

4.  I chose the month of January to do the Whole30 challenge because birthday season at our house is in March.  Since becoming Catholic, the Lenten season has always been a bit tricky.  Almost all of our family's birthdays fall during Lent, this year 4 out of 7 occur during a time when we're supposed to be not celebrating.  What we normally do is hold our big party on a Sunday, with cake and presents from their grandparents.  On their actual birthday they get birthday presents from mom and dad and we make their favorite meal or go out to a restaurant of their choice.  Sometimes we do kid parties, but not every year.  It is difficult for us to do kid parties because their friends are not segregated into age groups.  They share many of their friends, so the same friends would be coming to a party at our house every weekend for a month.

5.  Princess is about to lose her first tooth!  One of her bottom teeth is loose and she keeps messing with it and eating apples hoping to get it out.  She is super, super excited about the tooth fairy leaving her something.  Our family has not done well in the fairy department in the past, our fairy tends to sleep in or arrives a few days late.  This time, I plan on being prepared.  I'll have Doug bring home some one dollar coins from the bank for our "tooth fairy stash".

6.  I just wrote in my last post about how Doug is never, ever sick.  However, this week he caught the stomach flu so he has been home recuperating for the last couple days.  I tried to keep the normal homeschool day schedule up as much as possible while he was here.  The first day off he was basically quarantined to our bedroom but yesterday he was back to the land of the living.  We didn't get the lessons going until 10:30 that morning and he was surprised that we could get it all done (we did skip some writing lessons because Doug wanted me to run out with him for a quick shopping trip).  Had we not done that all the lessons would have been finished before supper.  When we start late we tend to do schooling up until 5:00pm.  If we have something going on in the afternoon we'll get up early and get all the lessons done before lunch (or right after, sometimes we have to go until 1:00 or 1:30).  The flexibility is one of the things I love about this lifestyle.  Being available to take care of sick loved ones is also one of the things I love about being a homemaker.  The last couple of days have been really busy and somewhat stressful.  Sometimes I need a reminder as to why I choose this and what a gift it really is to be able to stay home with my family.

Still in the box!

7.  I'm got a new kindle in the mail yesterday!!  Happy, happy days!  My kindle fire stopped charging on me, this is the third time this has happened.  Every time I have called amazon customer service and they have replaced my kindle.  Last time they were supposed to send me a second generation but something in the order form got mixed up and they sent me a replacement first generation.  I didn't know the difference and when I called them two days ago they apologized for the mix up and are now sending me the correct kindle.  I am not particularly happy about the charging issues with the first generation kindle fires but I am happy with amazon's customer service.  I've always been able to get right through to someone and they've always been polite and quick.  Every time I get a new kindle I say I'm not going to let the kids use it and then eventually I cave and let them play games/watch videos.  At that point the device ceases to be mine because the kids keep using up the battery.


8.  Bonus take...I just came across this video on Facebook and thought I would share.  Frozen's "Let It Go", a mommy version:

I'm off to play with the new device...check out more 7 Quick Takes with Jen at Conversion Diary!!