Homeschooling lessons for me

I can tell I'm a little bit more relaxed about homeschooling these days. I am not exactly going "by the book" anymore.

I have four day lesson plans for Bible, history, read-alouds (chapter books I read to Megan), and language arts.

I have five day lesson plans for math, readers (chapter books that Megan reads to me), and handwriting.

When I started homeschooling with Megan, I would do everything on Monday that I was supposed to do on Monday. I would do Bible, history, read-alouds, language arts, math, readers, and handwriting. I didn't go ahead, I didn't make up from the day before. Right on schedule. The rest of the week would work the same way.

Sometimes this didn't work and we would get a little behind for the week. Maybe I would get my four days done, but still have math, handwriting, and readers I had to squeeze in over the weekend or something. (Seriously, I thought I would have plenty of time to teach Megan! HA!)

My theory was that as long as I had all the work from the previous week done by Sunday night, then I would be good! I have week-long lesson plans and they need to be done a week at a time.

Well, last week, I didn't teach Megan on two days because of some other things that came up, so I assumed we would get it done over the weekend. Well, that didn't happen. It doesn't help that she had a ton of homework to catch up on. Like 2 assignments of math, 5 assignments of handwriting, language arts, science, and I really try to get piano lessons in once a week.

So when I got up this morning, I knew we had some catching up to do, since we didn't get it finished over the weekend. My new goal was to have her homework done by 1:30 (when we usually start school), then we would do the last few lessons from last week (our spelling test, one more lesson in math, and Bible), do our AWANA verses, learn a little about Halloween, and then start on anything for this week.

So we did! It is amazing, Megan managed to get her math done this morning along with her handwriting. Really, I told her she couldn't come eat lunch until she had it done- and she did it! She still has language arts and science to do, but I didn't exactly need those done by today, so I let them slide...until tomorrow.

So now we are back on track with everything, mostly anyway. We got through our AWANA verses today and learned about Halloween. I even started some work for the upcoming week.

The funny thing about this is that even though we were behind in some things, we are 5 days ahead in our reader. We've been reading this detective book and today we were supposed to read chapter 6, then tomorrow, chapter 7, and by Friday, we were supposed to read chapter 10 and finish the book. Well, we just finished it all today. We sat down to read and since the chapters are only about 5-6 pages, Megan kept saying, "Just one more chapter?" If things were going good with Christian and Courtney, we would keep on reading! So we read all 5 chapters and finished the book. Amazing.

I'm learning about flexibility. Now tomorrow we won't have to do readers, so I might have some time to do two lesson in history. It's kind of nice to be able to work ahead or save some lessons for later. This doesn't work it all the subjects, but some it works really nicely.

I really like it that if she has an interest in something she is studying about, we can stop and research it a little bit more on the Internet. We are reading a chapter book about a missionary in China and how she encountered women who had bound their feet. So what did we do? We stopped and looked up bound feet on the Internet and did our own little research. It's amazing all the things I am learning too!

New Carseats

Can you tell which Ruwe kid did not like their new carseat situation??

Don't worry, she was much better about it the next day. Change is always hard, isn't it?

Football

Ok, the Nebraska football gave has been over for about 2 hours now...they won, blah, blah.

About 4:15, I informed Matt of the win and he said, "What, the game is over?" Yes Matt, it is.

Well thanks to X-box live, we can now rewatch the entire game.

Can you guess what the two boys in my house are doing right now???

Too much money!

I just checked our claim of benefits page to see what health care bills have came through and my jaw dropped. I know health care is a lot, but seriously, I think this is getting ridiculous!

Last week, after Megan fainted, I took her in for an office visit. She had never fainted before and I wanted to get her checked out. Usually an office visit is $128 after insurance, now I think that is crazy enough to see a doctor for only 10 minutes! Guess what Megan's was? $186.42 after insurance!!! (It was $193 to start!) Seriously!! It was a regular office visit just like everything else. I am tempted to call and see why it was so much more than usual!

Since we have met our deductible for the year, we are only paying 10%, but wow!

Changes in Carseats!

Ok, I am going to get on my soapbox about carseats on this entry, so just bear with me. This is my personal opinion and you do not have to agree with me if you do not want to.


Today we did the big switcheroo in the carseat department. Megan got moved to a high-back booster seat, Courtney gets Megan's 5 point harness carseat, and Christian gets moved into a convertible carseat and out of his infant carrier.

Tomorrow is the first day that Megan will ride in a high-back booster seat.

Ever since the day we brought her home from the hospital, she has been in a 5 point harness carseat. And she is almost 8.

Are we over-protective when it comes to safety? Why didn't we put her in a booster seat 4 years ago? Why does every other kid ride in a low-back booster seat and our children are still harnessed? Why you ask? IT'S SAFER!!!

I often cringe when I see 4 year olds in a low-back booster seat (Did you know high back booster seats are 70% safer than low-backs?). I cringe when I see kids not in booster seats that are the same age as both of my girls! I cringe when I see booster seats in the front seat of cars. I cringe when I see carseat buckles/straps not tightened. I cringe when I see kids with thick winter jackets on in carseats, whether booster seat or harness mode. How about one year olds who are front-facing? Christian will probably stay backwards until at least 2 or 3, thanks to new research that kids can actually break their neck when they are faced forward too early and are involved in an accident.

Honestly, I just don't get it. If there is a safer way to have your children ride around in your car, why don't you give that to them? Why do some parents move their kids to a low-back booster seat AS SOON AS THEY CAN just for convenience? Yes, booster seats are MUCH more convenient than harnessed carseats that you need to install and be kept in one car. Trust me! But they are not very safe. I will take the safety of my children anyday over convenience!!

To add to it, we bought Megan a high back booster seat that actually latches into the car, so if we get into an accident, she will not have the force of the carseat on her, unlike other booster seats that just sit on the seat. And this is why we had to buy a Honda! We had to have enough latches and tethers for three carseats! Seriously, if Megan was in a low back booster that wasn't latched in, we could've spent a whole lot less on a new car! But no, we want our children to be safe.

And just to remind everybody, Megan, or any of my children, will not ride in the front seat until they are 12 and they will remain in booster seats until they are 4 ft. 9 inches, like the carseat recommendations. Seriously, why do I see 8 year olds riding in the front seat? Do the parents not know that the air bag can kill their children if they are in an accident? I know these parents love their children, but why do they not make sure they are safe in a car? Honestly, I just don't get it.

I will get off my soapbox now. :)

"Something's roaring"

Courtney woke me up at 3:45 this morning with tears in her eyes saying, "There's something roaring in my room."

I said, "Ok, go get your blankets and sleep on my floor," so she did.

When I woke her up this morning, I asked her why she was on my floor. She replied, "There was something roaring in my room last night, it was Megan snoring!"

math homework

Today, we're going to go to the Children's Museum for awhile. We haven't been there in a long time and Courtney doesn't have preschool, so we have some time.

I told Megan though, before we went, she would need to finish her math homework, so when we got home, we could have school. Courtney and Christian were distracting her quite a bit, so finally I saw them two go into the bathroom. I got Megan by the kitchen table and set the timer for 5 minutes because I was tired of telling her to get it done. Little did I know that Christian and Courtney were having so much fun in the bathroom, it actually gave Megan some time to get it done because once they were out of sight, she got right to work.

I'm not sure what they were doing in there (I heard the toilet flush twice, so I think Courtney was showing Christian how to flush) and I usually don't encourage playing in the bathroom, but it was a good thing today!

You know you are not so worried about things anymore when...

1. You run out of milk last Friday and really don't worry about when you are going to get more. Luckily, grandma brought pink and chocolate milk for the girls last Friday and that is what we drank all weekend ( I saved some white milk for Christian).

2. You really know there is nothing in the kitchen to eat for breakfast, but really, we will find SOMETHING!! (How about canned oranges, apples and peanut butter, the last cheese stick, and chocolate milk??)

3. Food, isn't it overrated anyway??

4. I am not so worried about following our homeschooling lesson plans word for word. We are slacking a little in school today. We were busy with Matt home. Am I worried? Not so much, but yes, I need to get back at it tomorrow (If Megan EVER complains about having to go to school, I will remind her that she goes to school less than half the time her classmates do everyday AND she usually gets a day off a week. And yet, we still cover everything we are supposed to. :)

5. My jaw does not hurt anymore, which means my stress level has gone down because I am not clenching my teeth at night....but why am I getting migraines now??

6. You can't see the girls' bedroom floors for weeks at end. We cleaned it Sunday, didn't we??

7. I don't really care that we eat off of paper plates anymore. Seriously, why didn't we do this earlier??

8. What? You don't have any clean clothes? Why don't you look at the three baskets of clean and folded laundry? There's probably something in there. What? You want me to put those away too? What's wrong with just getting your clothes out of the baskets?

9. I can go to bed the night before and know roughly what I am doing tomorrow. We have finally settled into a somewhat schedule for mornings and afternoons. Why I am so schedule-orienated??

10. People ask me how school is going and I can give them a postive answer! It is going much better!!

Poor Courtney!

Matt left tonight for Des Moines and poor Courtney cried til she couldn't cry anymore.

She kept saying, "Who is going to go with me to Cubbies??" She didn't mention anything about him being gone the 3 days, she was just worried about Cubbies. So she called grandma and asked her to come. :) She has been great all evening! I love it when we have nothing to do (for now!)

Sunday Afternoon

It is almost 80 degrees out today and guess what we were doing?? Cleaning!

I had almost no "down time" this week to catch up on housework, so it had to wait until Sunday to get done. Seriously, when Megan said, "I have no clothes to wear!" this morning, she really didn't!

Most of what needed to be done today was that the girls needed to clean their playroom, bedroom, hallway, and bathroom. I don't think I have seen the floor in the two bedrooms in a long time! When the floors get covered, they start playing in the bathroom and hallway, and when that is disaster zone, then it is time to clean. We haven't been able to stay on top of the cleaning every night like we would like to with the girls.

They started about 1:30 and didn't get done til about 5. In the meantime, I tackled the kitchen. :)

We really should've made Courtney's middle name "disaster" because she is the expert! Almost 90% of the mess today was Courtney's, but Megan didn't have very good attitude today when we got started, so she got the privilege of helping Courtney clean it all up.

The most interesting part of the whole afternoon was seeing what Courtney cleaned off her bed. This happens everytime she cleans up her room. I don't really know why she stockpiles things in her bed at night, but she does. It's not just stuffed animals and books like her sister, today I found paint, paintbrushes, box of colors, cut-up paper, library books, her own books, many stuffed animals, dirty clothes, blankets she doesn't even use, toys, etc. I just shake my head and throw it all on the floor for her to put back to it's respective spot!! It amazes me every single time! I usually have to pull her bed away from the wall and their is even more "stuff" that has fallen along the wall!

Finally, we could see the floor in both rooms and I declared that Christian and I were going outside, I couldn't stand being cooped up anymore! Soon, the rest of the family joined me and we met up with a neighbor family outside and talked to them for awhile. Their daughter is one of Megan's good friends from school and they also have a baby girl Christian's age. It was nice to get out and get some fresh air! I think the girls enjoyed playing with their friend too!

Tomorrow Matt is leaving for Des Moines for three days. He will be working out of Des Moines for at least the next six months. Thankfully, he will only be gone a couple days at a time and not even every week and then he will be able to work from home the rest of the time. Poor Courtney, she cries at Matt every night, "Dad, why do you have to go to that other country?? I'm going to have bad dreams while you are gone!" Hopefully all will go well around the Ruwe house while he is gone!

US Debt

So you will need to click on this to be able to read it. Sorry, I don't know how to make it any bigger.

This is for all my political friends (Angela Stevens!), I saw this on Facebook and thought you would get a chuckle out of it like I did!!!

Vasovagal Syncope or heart arrythmia?

Ok, so I am having a little fight with my doctor right now, it is worth blogging about to me and it all goes back to Tuesday when Megan passed out.

In the afternoon, I took her to the doctor, she diagnosed her with Vasovagal syncope. She said it is very common in this age group and adolescents. Megan was laying in a hot bathtub for about 20 minutes, she stood up, she fainted. She had the typical signs of fainting and everything made sense.

But at the end of the visit, our dr. mentioned she wanted to do an EKG on her to check her heart. At the time, I agreed to it. I didn't have any reason not to. I had an appointment made for Friday afternoon at Children's Hospital. But since I had from Tuesday to Friday, I had plenty of time to think about it, ask around, and get people's opinion on this.

I personally did not want to do it. It was at Children's and it would take up half my afternoon, I would have to pay for it and even our doctor sounded doubtful that it would show any results. Pretty much, the results will be normal, BUT LET'S CHECK ANYWAY. (seriously, anybody else tired of hearing these words in the medical field?)

So after talking to a couple of nurses and some other people about it this week, Matt and I decided against it. I called Children's Hospital and cancelled the appointment for Friday afternoon. Well, little did I know, that Children's Hospital would call my dr. and tell them that I cancelled it! I got a phone call about 11:30 from a nurse at my doctor's office asking me why I cancelled it and it is a really, really important test that I should call back right away and get rescheduled. Ugh!!!

So I call them back and I am not so happy. I said something like "My daughter fainted once after laying in the tub for twenty minutes, I'm not convinced that it is her heart. But if you want me to consider rescheduling it, please call me back and give me some more information on it." So about two hours later, she called me back and said the doctor really, really wants this done because she wants to check for a heart arrythmia and I need to call back and reschedule right away! (talk about the guilt trip!) I never did call her back.

Ok, so maybe I should do it, yes, I respect my doctor's opinion and all. I think she is a great doctor and I have never had any trouble with her before. Yes, she is thinking of my daughter's health. BUT I also think she is covering her butt! I think having an EKG after fainting is protocal, but I guess the problem I have with it is that are as follows:

1. Megan has only fainted once and it was after a bath- seriously, this is why she fainted!
2. She has NEVER had any trouble with her heart before.
3. What are the signs of a heart arrythmia? Taken off mayo.com
A fluttering in your chest
A racing heartbeat (tachycardia)
A slow heartbeat (bradycardia)
Chest pain
Shortness of breath
Lightheadedness
Dizziness
Fainting (syncope) or near fainting

She's never complained of these, ok, except for the fainting this week.

4. I get tired of wasting my time doing and paying for medical tests which are "just to make sure" when even the doctor said that it would probably come back fine. I would have to find a babysitter, freak Megan out by gettting her heart checked at Children's Hospital, pay for it, and take time out of school to do this.

Yes, if this was more serious, I wouldn't even doubt having her take the test. Seriously, if she was just walking along and fainted, I would definitely have it done. If she keeps passing out, yes, I will have the test done. I will not neglect her healthcare. But in this case, I don't think we are there yet.

I take Megan in again in two weeks for her 8 year checkup. I will talk to our doctor more about it then. What ever happened to be conservative in healthcare? What ever happened to letting the parents make the decision? Yes, I know I am not a doctor and I should just stop fighting about this and take her advice and maybe I will eventually, but I am not there yet.

I also don't want to ruin the relationship I have with my doctor, I've been going to her for over five years and she knows my kids well! I may say something like this when I talk to her in two weeks, " I respect your opinion greatly, but I am not ready to run off and get her an EKG after one faiting spell. If Megan continues to have fainting or dizzy spells, I will not hesitate and get her an EKG." I also want to ask her if Megan has ever exhibted signs of a heart arrythmia, what other symptoms did she have that day that would point her toward that diagnosis? Help me understand it better and let me make an informed decision.

A Homeschool Sick Day

We are allowed those right? Because today we took one. :)

For starters, I fully intended to teach Megan today. Really, I did. I was going to teach her this morning because I had a dentist appointment this afternoon. It wasn't going to be easy, but I was going to attempt it.

But it didn't work out that way. :(

It was bath day at our house, so all three kids have to get through. Today, I let them take baths and take their time doing it. Christian was done, Courtney was done, and about 10:15 or so, Megan wanted to take a bath, so I said go ahead. She ran the water and played for about 20 minutes. After that, I told her it was time to stand up and take a shower. No big deal, she does this all the time. She can do it all by herself too, so I try to stay upstairs, but I'm not in the bathroom with her usually.

Today she rinsed herself off and hollered at me to help her. I went in and helped her and left again. About a minute later, she called me back and said, "I don't feel good, I feel like I'm going to throw up." This isn't like Megan, so I finished washing her hair, but in the meantime, she also told me she felt weak, was blacking out, and it was hard to stand up. I thought, "Let's finish washing her up quick and get her done." I've had this feeling before, but I've never experienced it with her. She washed herself off and I rinsed her off. She seemed to be doing fine. In the middle of this, she did squat down in the tub like it was hard to stand up, but she stood back up again, so I wasn't TOO concerned.

After I rinsed her off, I put the towel around her and helped her step out of the tub. This is when the trouble started. She stopped talking and started staring off into space. I said, "Megan, Megan! Stay with me!" Next thing I know, her knees buckle and I end up laying her on the floor. I start snapping my fingers in front of her eyes, "Megan, stay with me, stay with me!! " Her eyes were wide open, but I am getting no response. I also noticed that her face was getting very red and splotchy and she was getting very warm. She had passed out!

I leave her on the floor in a very awkward position, a towel under her, and I run to get the phone. I didn't know who I was going to call, my first thought was 911. I ran into my bedroom to get my phone, my heart is now in my throat and I am very panicked! I try to call Matt on my way back to the bathroom, but of course, I was shaking so bad, I couldn't even figure out how to use my phone (the same thing happened when Megan broke her arm and I tried to call 911 that night).

I get back to the bathroom and her eyes are awake. I said her name and she responded like nothing happened! She was smiley and back to her normal self. I called Matt and he didn't answer. I figured that I would not need to call 911 now that she was awake. Matt did not answer, but almost immediately I got a text back saying he was in a meeting. I wrote back with shaking hands, "Megan passed out, call me!!!" About a minute later, my phone rang and it was Matt. We both decided that she was probably fine, but I still needed to call the doctor.

She is still on the floor at this time with her towel. Courtney, who loves to do things for others said, "Can I go get you some clothes?" and ran off to get Megan something to put on. She brought back some pajamas and Megan got dressed. Both of us helped Megan downstairs to the couch. She was a little shaky on her feet yet, but she was with it! I called the doctor and they wanted me to bring her in. I also called both grandmas and told them what was going on.

I turned a movie on and just made her sit there and watch it. I was asking her constantly, "Are you ok? How do you feel?" Courtney wanted to get Megan something to drink (because that is what we do when we are sick). She had pulled a chair over to the pantry and was trying to reach the pop. I remember her saying, "Mom, I know she can have gatorade, but I can't reach it. How about a 7up? I can reach that. " I told her she didn't have a stomach ache and that gatorade would probably be better, so I helped her get some down for Megan. But of course, Courtney had to have some too.

After lunch, I took her to the doctor and she had a fancy name for what happened. The main reason is that while she was laying/ sitting in the bathtub, all her blood had gone to her extremeties. She must have stood up too fast and therefore, the blood didn't get to her head like it should've through her blood vessels. This is what made her pass out. The doctor says she sees this is alot in this age group and adolescents, it's a lot with how they are growing. The doctor said that we should increase her fluid intake because that would help with her blood vessels. She also told Megan that if she ever gets that feeling again, that she needs to sit down immediately. Megan said she's gotten that feeling before, but never passed out like this. (Honestly, I think if I would've sat her down right in the tub instead of washing and rinsing her off, she probably would not have fainted.)

She did great all afternoon. I was gone for about 2 1/2 hours, so she got to play with grandma. My hopes of doing school this morning was gone and so was this afternoon. We did a little bit tonight, but not everything. I guess this is the nice part of homeschooling- we do it when we can. My theory is that as long as everything for this week is done by Sunday night, we are doing good! I'm so glad this is nothing serious, but still very scary.

The Furnace

Last night, I mentioned to Matt that it was a little cold in the house and I think Christian wakes up sometimes because he is cold, so he turned the furnace up before he went to bed. He said, "Ok, I turned it up to 70, that should be good."

I agreed, but pretty soon, it started to get warm in the house, like warmer than usual. I went to bed and thought that Christian would be nice and warm then. I was a little hot, but I like to be warm when I sleep, so I thought it was fine.

A couple hours later, I remember Matt getting up and turning on the ceiling fan. Ok, he's a little warm, no big deal.

This morning he said to me, "Were you a little hot last night?" I said I was. He said, "Well, you know when I turned the furnace up to 70, I really turned it up to 79." No wonder!!!

Need some help?

Today Matt was home this morning because he worked all weekend and wanted to go into work late. He got to see the chaos that is part of our mornings, chaos that I do not like whatsoever, but today, it got crazier.

Here's how the mornings usually go.

7:30 girls and boy up, downstairs to eat breakfast and each get their own thing- Chaos #1.
Megan likes Captain Crunch, I like cereal too, but Courtney and Christian usually end up with cheese sticks, fruit, yogurt, etc. I am usually all over the place- I need to find a good solution to this that pleases everyone!
8:10 or so back upstairs to get dressed, brush teeth,and brush hair. In my eyes, this should take no more than 20 minutes for the three kids. Megan and Courtney are independent enough that they can PICK OUT and get dressed themselves. They can also brush their own hair and teeth by themselves. I have to help Christian, but he is only 1. :)

But lately, Megan has not been so independent (welcome chaos #2). Every morning, I hear, "I have nothing to wear!!!" I just bought this child a whole new wardrobe a couple of weeks ago! "What do you mean you have nothing to wear??" This has been going on for a couple of weeks now, so it's getting old fast. :)

Today though, she came nicely to me and said, "Mom, will you help me find something to wear?" So I said OK and went and helped her. After going through about three outfits, she settled on a dress, Great!! I went off to help somebody and pretty soon the whining began, "But I don't have any tights!" UGH, she told me she looked in all her drawers and even Courtney's. She was about in tears. I said, "Well, if you have no tights, then you are going to have to put another outfit on." She was not happy!

But in the meantime, we were having a little bit of trouble with Chrisitan. He has had a cold lately, but apparently he's got some troubles in other parts of his body. He was playing in his room- all ready to go- when I walked by and got a sniff. Stinky! I was helping Courtney and I saw Matt come upstairs, so I asked him if he would change Christian. It's usually a quick change. He started to change him and then realized that he had pooped up his back, he never does this, so apparently, he's a little sick. (Once I got in Christian's room to help Matt, Megan changed her clothes. :) Since Christian had gotten poop everywhere, he needed a bath.

It is now 8:30 am and departure time on Monday mornings in 8:35. We were not going to make it! Matt was going to take the girls to school, but Megan still had to brush her teeth and hair. It took her a half an hour to decide what to wear!!!

Matt and the girls walked out at 8:40! I stayed behind and finished Christian up and got myself ready. I had to go pick Megan up from Aldrich at 9:30.

I am very thankful that Matt was home this morning and took the girls to school, we would've been very late! I think we are going to start having Megan pick out her clothes the night before. I'm very glad Courtney gets dressed without a problem (for now) and Christian is usually relatively good!

When the snow comes, we will have to get ready even earlier. We will have to deal with everything that winter entails. I really wish I could just put Courtney on a bus and send her off to preschool and not have to get all the kids ready and out of the house in the morning! I am glad it's only three days a week!

Matches

This week in preschool, Courtney has been learning about fire prevention.

Tonight she said, "Mom, I really want to play matches, but my teacher tells me I shouldn't anymore."

I had to think twice on this comment. "Matches" is what we call the game "Memory" around here.
This is what I was thinking about at first, but after I put it together that she was learning about fire prevention, it all made sense. Her teacher told her not to play "with matches," not the game "matches."

Got it?

TGIF

Ok, I am glad it is Friday. That means the weekend is right around the corner and I will be able to breathe for two days.

Yesterday was crazy busy! From 10:30 am until 9 pm, we were doing something (picnic, appointments, dance class, groceries, Vala's pumpkin patch). I was exhausted last night when we got home! We didn't do any schoolwork yesterday, we have 4 day lesson plans, so we can take off a day, which is really nice!

Today we are back to normal. Courtney has preschool, Christian, Megan, and I are going to the gym in the morning, and then we are doing schoolwork all afternoon. We have NOTHING planned for tonight, which will be wonderful!

I don't even think we have much planned this weekend!

We have our new car!

Last night, we went and picked up our new car.

We pulled the Montana out of the garage for the last time and off we went. We're actually lucky we made it there, the gas gauge was on "E" and it had been all weekend. There was no way we were going to put more gas in it!

Our salesman sat down with us and went over some things with the car, we got pitched on more warranties,(but really, if Hondas are as good as everybody says they are, do we need an extended warranty?), we signed and handed over the title to the Montana, signed lots of paperwork, wrote out a check, moved carseats, figured more buttons out in the car, and headed out because we were already late for church! Oh, and I also took a bunch of pictures, so again, if Matt can show me just ONE MORE TIME how to download pictures, I will post some!

We left there about 6:30 and that is when we were supposed to be at church for AWANA. We drove through Wendy's quick. Since we had just bought a new car, we fed everybody off the dollar menu- everybody ate for $9.54! Not that we ate well, but it was quick. We sat in the parking lot at church and ate and we ended going in about 7. AWANA starts at 6:45!

On the way home last night, we were figuring more things out and they were right, the seats are SUPER comfortable. I think I could've driven around forever! We pulled it into the garage and Matt set my garage door opener for me. He also did a couple other things, but I was busy giving the kids a snack because they didn't have much for supper.

I am on my own today with the new car. Hopefully things will go well!

There is a mouse in the house!

I hate this time of year, for one reason, mice think they need to invade your home!

At 1:12 am, I woke up hearing some scratching, then a thunk, and then some more scratching. I woke Matt up and he did some investigating, but didn't find anything. I think it was a little mouse-friend who is in our bedroom wall.

Let's say I didn't get back to sleep until 4! (The little storm at 3 am was something nice to listen to!)

They better leave me along tonight.

Ten on Tuesday- Ode to the Montana

1. We will own our 2002 Pontiac Montana for less than 24 hours. We were supposed to get our new car today, but it wasn't ready. One more night!

2. I paid for almost all of that car. I had worked at Bryan Middle School until May and we bought it in July when I was 5-6 months pregnant with Megan. I had put all my money into a savings account and that is what we used (we took out a small loan). Do you know how many lesson plans, detentions, hours of teaching, etc. it took to pay for that??

3. I still want to keep my car. It's mine. :)

4. I have driven it for 85,000 miles. It currently has 94,000 miles on it, we got it with 9,000.

5. I keep thinking to myself, do I really want a big rust hole in the door by the end of winter? NO. Do I want to get rid of it now while we can still get some money for it? YES

6. I think while we are switching cars tomorrow, we should do the big carseat shuffle. Megan gets switched into Courtney's seat and she can now be in a high back booster, Courtney can get Megan's Britax Regent, and Christian can be switched into his convertible seat and out of his infant carrier. I need to consult Matt on this. They are all ready to switch!

7. Leather- I have never had leather in a car before!

8. I have also never had a rear back up camera. This will be wonderful for preschool drop-off. I am always worried that there is a little kid behind my car that I cannot see.

9. The sunroof is another added bonus- never had one of those.

10. This car better last for 200,000 miles like everybody is saying! We were supposed to drive the Montana until it died, but it didn't make it. I wonder how long it will last. Who will get it next? Where will it go? Matt keeps telling me, "It's just a piece of metal." But Matt, it has been MY car for the last 8 years! I'm pretty sure I might get a little emotional tomorrow night. :(

Secret Hiding Place!

Someday, I am going to find Courtney's secret hiding place. It is all she talks about lately!

When we need something, she says," Wait, I'll go to my secret hiding place and get it."

For example, we were out of ranch dressing tonight at dinner, she says, "I'll go get some from my secret hiding place, but you won't be able to see it." Ok, Courtney. :) She even gave some to her dad.

She asks me all day long, "Can I go get such and such from my secret hiding place?" I always say yes because I know it's all pretend! I think she went and got a chocolate bar from there the other day.

Whatever you want Courtney! She has quite the imagination going on lately!

Taxi Driver!

There's one reason I like homeschooling Megan- I don't have to play taxi driver every single day! I still have preschool three days a week, so it's not soooo bad.

But Mondays, just put a "TAXI" sign on my car!

8:40 drop off Megan at Aldrich Elementary for art class
8:50 drop off Courtney at Lifegate Preschool- Go home for 20 minutes.

9:30 pickup Megan from art class- Go home for 1 1/2 hours
11:30 pick up Courtney from preschool.

I'm glad this is only one day a week!

(Really, I know this isn't that bad, but when you've had bus service for two years and didn't have to take anyone to school, this is bad for me!)

2012 Honda Odyssey

Yep, we bought a new car today.

Actually, I like my old one. Just because it is rusting out, there is a big crack in the windshield, and the traction control button comes on every time we turn out of the driveway, I still like it!

We bought a 2012 Honda Odyssey, white with gray trim. I really don't like the shape of the van, it's too "boxy" for me, but we were almost forced to go with it. We needed two tethers and anchors in our backseat and this was the only van that had them, we looked at toyotas, chryslers, volkswagens, and kias. They only had one latch/ tether in the back center. Not what we need people!

We were also forced to go with a new one because the used ones were just as expensive.

Trust me, I don't want a brand new car!!! Nope, never. Who's going to put the first door ding in it? Who is going to spill in it? Who is going to color on the interior (girls! I need to get pictures of our old van before we trade it in)? Who is going to put the first finger marks on everything? I'm scared to get a brand new car!

We did put three dealerships against each other today, so I think we got the best possible deal. We are going to trade in our old van for the new one, plus they throw in all-weather floor mats- this was the final deal! We are also going to get luggage racks and some other options.

Now we are going to wait for all the salesmen from all the dealers to call us back and we get to say that we've already bought one! So sorry!!

Field Trip!

Courtney has a field trip today with her preschool class. They are going to Wenninghof Farm and she is so excited. She has been talking about "going to the farm" for over a week now.

Yesterday, I thought she was going to miss her field trip today. She had a nasty cough, so I took her into the doctor and she thinks it is croup, so she put her on steroids to take the swelling down.

I think she's good to go this morning! Better get going!

gone!!!

I just spent 40 minutes writing about why I loved homeschooling and now it is GONE!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Car Shopping!

Ugh, we think it's time to get a new van.

Ours has some pretty big rust spots under our sliding doors and Matt thinks we are going to have holes in the sides of the doors by the end of winter. I don't want that. So we're thinking that it's time to look into a new van.

Our theory is that if we get rid of it now, before the holes get too big, we could still get some money for it. There are also some other things wrong with it, but we are refusing to get those fixed ( like $1500 for the traction contol to stop turning on whenever you pull out of the driveway).

So we have looked at Chrysler Town and Country, Volkswagen (exactly like a Chrysler, not kidding!), Toyotas, and tonight, we looked at Hondas. I have to admit, I like the Hondas the best, BUT I do not like the sticker price.

In the past, we have always looked for a car that was a little over a year or two old with less than 10,000 miles on it. This way, the car had depreciated in cost and it was a great deal. One problem- that doesn't work anymore! Used (3 years old/ 30,000 miles) are only about $5000 less than a brand new car!!! We are thinking that we might as well invest in a brand new car for just a couple thousand dollars more. This is especially true for the Hondas and Toyotas. They have a very high resell value, but of course, we are not interested in reselling it. We are going to drive this van until it dies, or until it rusts out like our Montana! So, we may end up with a brand new van out of the deal.

It will be a sad day when I trade in my Montana, I have driven that car since July 2003. We got it 4 months before Megan was born. We have brought all three kids home from the hospital in that car. I might shed a few tears when I leave that car behind at a dealership. But man, those brand new Hondas are nice. :)

Birthday Week is Over.

My birthday was last Wednesday, it turned the big 34. Not that I'm too happy about it, but I guess life must go on.

I did something almost every day with people for my birthday. I was taken out to lunch three days in a row. :) That was fun.

Last night, I went on a real "date" with Matt. Andrew and Laura came over to watch the kids and we went out for pizza and a movie. We saw "Lion King" in 3D. Yes, it was a kid's movie, but I still loved it! It makes you laugh all the way through (mostly) and I love the songs! It's funny the things that I picked up on last night that I didn't pick up on 10-12 years ago when I first watched it. It's so hard to find a decent movie these days and I did not want to watch "Transformers" or any other manly moive. I have heard that "Courageous" is a great movie, but after watching the trailer, I think it would've been a tear-jerker! Maybe we'll save that for another time. There was only about 30 people in the theatre, so that was great for a Saturday night!

Now birthday week is over. I was thinking though, nobody ever sang happy birthday or got a cake. Which is perfectly fine!!! I'm not 5 anymore. :) Growing up, it was a big deal to go out for supper with mom and dad. The last couple of years, my mom has taken me out instead, which works! My birthday is always in the middle of harvest, so it's always hard to go out with my dad somewhere at 9 pm! We've tried it for many years and now with kids, it gets to be too late. Who has a baby in the middle of harvest anyway?? That's what we always said to my dad growing up. :)

So now tomorrow is back to normal life. Preschool, art class, errands, lunch at HOME, school/ nap/ quiet time in the afternoon, play outside until Matt gets home. I think we are finally getting down to a routine. Now if we could only get Megan to do her homework! I have had a couple people tell me lately that I should send her back to public school, right now. That is an option, I know, but as for now Matt and I want to keep pursuing homeschooling. We want to be persistent and not give up yet. Yes, it is stressful and it is taking a little bit of toll on my health, but I think we're finally coming around. I am settling into a routine and have found easier ways to get things done around the house. My goal is Christmas and I am going to stick to it!

This is a big change around the Ruwe house and it's going to take awhile to adjust. I am not one to like change, but it is a good change. If things get worse and I cannot handle it, yes, Megan will be going back to public school. But I don't think we are there yet. In mine and Matt's opinion, anyway. So if you want to encourage me, give me ideas on how to make things better or come help me do the daily chores around the house, encourage the girls to pick up after themselves, encourage Megan to do her homework, help put laundry away, enertain Chrisitan for awhile, do dishes, ask Megan what she is learning in school, help work with Courtney, etc. This is what I need right now. Ok, I'm done now. Really, I am done talking about the hardships of homeschooling. I am going to blog about what I love about it this week.

Need to go get the girls and boy ready for church.

Time to go to bed!

That is, for Christian!

You know the baby is tired is when he won't eat his lunch, whines most of lunch, and won't even let you read books to him before naptime. Good night Christian! Let's sleep 3 hours today!