Enjoying vacation!

It is 8:19 am and my children are ALL still sleeping. This is vacation!!! Can you hear the peace and quiet at my house??

We are all ready for a vacation! After working hard at school for four months, we celebrated Christmas.  This was no small task because we had four parties in four days.  It was almost like a marathon!! Yesterday was our first day with nothing to do, and I was exhausted and just wanted to do nothing! To add to it, my feet hurt. :(  I wore my boots for two of our parties and kept them on all day; they aren't exactly gentle to my feet. Then on Christmas Eve, we had a some friends over for dinner, so I spent all day on my feet getting that ready. About 5:00 that night, my feet really started hurting! Luckily by about noon yesterday, they were feeling better, but that was so weird!

As for the next two weeks, we are going to try to get some stuff done around here.

1. Yesterday afternoon the boys and I cleaned their bedroom. Things had gotten out of control in there. :(  We are also looking to buying Christian a loft bed and giving his bed to Micah.  If and when this happens, I don't want a big mess in there!

2.  I also want to get my sitting room cleaned up. This is out of control also!! Megan does her homework in there at my desk, but Matt wants her to move to her room. This means either moving my desk into her room or buying her a new one. She obviously wants a new one!! I also have old curriculum all over the floor that I need to sell or put away for the next kid.

Courtney has also brought all her clothes that don't fit and all her stuffed animals that she doesn't have room for anymore into my sitting room and just dumped them all in a pile. :(

I wanted to do this today, and I may be able to get started, but I signed Courtney up for a basketball clinic today from 12-3, so I need to play taxi driver.  Megan might have clarinet lessons this afternoon, and tonight, and Matt's aunt is taking Megan out for her birthday. Whew!

3.  I also need to get all the Christmas presents put away and the tree taken down. I kind of want to leave my Christmas decorations up though since they are so pretty!

4.  Did I mention I am starting two new curriculums after break? I need to read up on those.  I also need to go through all our homeschooling books and get everything ready for January! Megan is picking up concert band at the local public school (along with her other two classes), so our whole schedule is going to be new! Anybody ready to get up an hour earlier??

I hear children moving around. Time to go!

Living it out!

Today I picked Megan up from school and like usual, she started telling me what happened in her classes.  Finals are starting tomorrow at her school, so they have been reviewing all week.

Today in her biology class, they played a game as part of a review session.  They play games quite a bit as a review, and Megan usually is one of the top placers. She currently has 3 free ice cream cone coupons on our fridge! Today was no different. She said that as they were playing, she could see on their computers who was leading. At one point, it was Megan.

At that moment, she decided that she didn't want to win, but would RATHER let somebody else win, so she entered a wrong answer and dropped herself to 11th place. She said the three people who did win (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) were kids who don't usually get a prize in that class.

On the other hand, she said she also did this because she doesn't want to be known as the girl who always wins the games in biology class.

I was kind of mad at first, "What do you mean you were letting somebody else win??" But then I thought about it again. "Wow! You are thinking of others! Way to live out your faith!" I was proud of her for giving somebody else a chance to win and not just thinking about herself!!! She said she knew the right answer, but purposefully put in the wrong one just to drop herself down in the standings!

Now hopefully she will do a great job on her final tomorrow!!!

It's the most stressful time of the year. :)

I haven't blogged in a very long time.

I am just not into it lately. By the time I get done grading homework in the evening, I just want to go to bed, and I don't want to do anything more!

But this week, we are taking a break. This mama needs it.

Most public schools are out on Friday, including the one that Megan attends. If you are a teacher, when do you have time to get things ready for Christmas, which is the following Tuesday??

I really think school districts should give the week before Christmas off, not the week after. I don't need time AFTER Christmas to get things done. I need the week before!!

We are going to do math everyday this week and if that is all we get to, then that is fine. I am not going to push it.

My poor body cannot handle the stress this time of year.  I have already broken out in a rash, had several allergic reactions (one where my throat was tingling), anxiety, rapid heartrate, was short tempered, and the list goes on. My adrenals are working extra hard this holiday season. I can tell when they are burned out for the day because I lose ALL my energy and I just want to sit and do NOTHING!

People tell me to "control my stress." How exactly do I "control" my stress?  My chiropractor told me to exercise and to journal, which helps, but when I am done, the stress comes back.  I just think about what I all need to get done and my heartrate jumps.

The only way I have learned to control it is by eliminating it.  The main thing I eliminated is school.
Today was the first day that I eliminated 95% of our homeschool subjects, and I was not as stressed as I was last week!! I figured I had to do something before my body went into a full-blown revolt!

And since I have very little homework to grade, I can return to my blog. :)

Merry Christmas!!!