Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four is Enough...

Ok, so this image may be a little inappropriate but I seriously COULD NOT stop laughing when I saw it. Mostly I think that has to do with my stress lately over this topic of when you know you are done having kids. It can be soooo stressful! So, I'm looking for all you ladies who are DONE having children - like you have actually taken steps to ensure you are done OR have some final thing which ensures you won't have any more kids(i.e. you no longer have a uterus). I realize this is a sensitive and personal subject for everyone. But I just wanted to hear about some of your thought processes as you made that big decision.

So, if you are done having kids, tell us how you made that decision...

p.s. These people are for real. They're the Duggars from TLC's "17 kids and Counting"...but they now have 18 kids!

Injuries here we come...

So Peter has begun exploring. Which is really cute and fun to watch but it means that he is starting to get injuries. He is moving into that phase of constant bruises and cuts. A phase that won't end for at least 2 years. In the image above you can see his most recent one - right under his eye and across the bridge of his nose. It's from falling over the arm of the sofa while his mom was sitting next to him on the phone. I'm terrible, I know. It just takes a while to get used to his mobility.

His favorite thing by far is the stairs. I've never had a baby and stairs at the same time and it is quite the challenge. We keep it blocked off but that makes him so sad. He sits at the bottom and cries because he wants to go up so badly. I feel for him - his life isn't that exciting and the danger of the stairs is all he's got. Give it some time, Peter. Soon enough your mom won't watch so closely and you'll get to do all sorts of dangerous things...

That's the great part of being a boy.

What homeschooling looks like...

At least at our house it looks like this:

If you were wondering how it is going - it's great. We are using a program called K12(click on it if you'd like) that gives us all of our curriculum for free through the school district. I have a monthly phone meeting with a teacher who can see Elijah's progress and grades as we enter them in online. I didn't think I would like doing school this way but I actually do. It provides the structure I need and I just get to add in the fun. And especially he gets to play a lot more. The nice thing about this program is that it is fully accredited so if he was in high school he would receive a diploma just like everyone else - instead of trying to pull together a portfolio to show colleges. Right now Elijah takes these classes from K12:

Spanish
Language Arts
Math
Science
& Art

We start our day at just before 8 AM with breakfast. After that we empty the dishwasher and get it loaded with our morning dishes. We then proceed to our other daily chores which vary. At around 10 AM we start our official school. Elijah has handwriting practice and Spanish which is on the computer and he is able to do those pretty independently. We then work on the other subjects. Art and Science are only twice a week - alternating days. Mike is going to start teaching the Science lessons in the evenings just so he can have a role in the whole thing. We are usually done with our formal lessons by around noon.

(Here's a screenshot of our page at K12.)

After lunch Elijah and Andrew usually start playing - though Elijah does have violin to practice. We go to the library about once a week and pick up books for Elijah to read independently or to enrich the things we are studying - and to get myself and Andrew some books. Elijah also usually attends the monthly meetings at the library for boys his age and they play games and discuss different topics. His violin also has group lessons once a month. I mention those because they are little things we do to give him some social activities. He played soccer in the fall and will be playing some more sports in the spring. Hopefully these type of activities will increase in number. Luckily we have a neighborhood full of kids that he is able to play with every afternoon.

Anyhow, I just thought some of you might be curious how it works around here. I don't know how long we'll do it. I love it and it has enriched our lives for sure. I am also glad I was able to start when I only had one child to teach. Hopefully when it's time for Andrew to start Elijah will be even more independent in his work. I might put Elijah back in by middle school or later. Each year that will be a decision we will have to make - prayerfully and with our kids input. So, that's a little window into our school life!

What would you wear?

This past weekend my mother-in-law turned 60 and as a surprise my father-in-law gave her a two week cruise of the Mediterranean. She will be visiting ports in Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, and even Egypt! Afterwards she and I were talking about how she would need to get some new clothes including at least one coctail dress. I was wishing I had somewhere to wear a coctail dress and her trip seems like the best place in the world to wear one. I mean, c'mon, of all the places you want to feel beautiful I'd wager on the Mediterranean is at the top of that list. So, even though I don't get to go I still want to go "shopping" for a dress and want you to as well. I want you to go online and look around at different stores you love and find yourself a dress you'd like to wear while dining in Italy or on the deck of a cruise ship under the stars. Then come back and post a link in your comments. I will go and grab the image of the dress and put it up in my post with your name. Get it? Also, the bonus is you get to have the body of the model in the picture. So don't go to Lane Bryant and try and find yourself a dress because we don't need any reality in this game. I hesitate to post mine first because I'm think some of you might find a better dress that I'll want to steal but here goes:

I wanted something light and fun - with a little flavor to it. I looked at Nordstrom and then at J.Crew and finally narrowed it down to this one from Anthropologie:
This one is feminine and light and seems to be just the right thing for the warm evening breeze passing by. I didn't go for a more formal gown because I thought my jewelry could do the trick while still keeping a soft earthy feel in the dress. You might not feel that way - you might want a beautiful shimmering dress that is way formal. Just go shopping and show us what you find!

p.s. Let's also say that modesty is on hold for this too...

The first to respond is Mike J. - with this little ditty:You'd look great it in, Mike.

And Jamie's dress:Jamie's looks straight from Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday - perfect.

And these are both beautiful and sexy from Brooke:
The girl in that second image even looks like Brooke!

Here are Lindsay's dresses: So cute and I'm glad to that you showed us a great site for vintage dresses - I especially love the yellow one!

And here is Nora's dress:


This is way cute - you should get this one!

And Patria's choices - you may need to click to see them bigger:


I knew Patria wouldn't disappoint - I especially love that last one!

And here are my cousin Erika's dresses:

Those colors are to die for!

And Melissa's amazing dress:

It doesn't seem that unreasonable a price after seeing the price of some of these other dresses!

Stephanie's dress:

I can totally see you in this dress - it's totally pretty.

And this pretty dress from Emily:

This is a beautiful flowy dress - I love the sleeves. (Emily said she'd prefer another color.)