A little bit of everything all rolled into one. It's kind of like "leftovers" night - not enough to make a whole meal out of, but enough for a bite of this and that.
Calvin and "The Finger". While practicing a tornado kick and simultaneously trying to hold onto his ankles (which I suspect is not really an actual move), Calvin not only whacked his middle finger hard on his ankle bone, he then landed on said finger and bent it all the way back. It was evident within minutes that we were experiencing a phalange-tastrophy, so off he and I headed to the Urgent Care. Once we were taken back and evaluated, the radiologist came to take a few X-rays. Cal was very serious about the whole ordeal, until the radiologist had him fold down all but his black and blue middle finger for the final X-ray. He giggled the whole time.
(Side note: Finger was not broken. Hyperextended. Looks awesome, and by "awesome" I mean "hurl".)
The Fantasy With My Husband. (Oh, for heaven's sake, get your mind out of the gutter - my mom reads this.) I am, of course, talking about fantasy football, and even though it is only week 2, the great Mark vs. Ann game is well underway today. So far, I am winning. Clearly, or I would not have brought this up. Mark has two players left tomorrow night, and while I am up 105-47, he still has Peyton Manning, Julio Jones, and the Denver kicker (whose name, as a kicker, is completely irrelevant) so you never know what could happen. Or not. If I win this, I am 2-0. I rock.
Adoption Conference. This weekend Mark and I divided and conquered at the Empowered to Connect Adoption conference in Nashville. I attended all day Friday, and Mark went for the Saturday sessions. I know I say it here often, but the dynamics that inherently make up adoption are complicated and there are elements in every day life that can show up. We were blessed to hear Dr. Karyn Purvis speak, and I am telling you it was a gift directly from the hand of God. I hesitate to go into any detail on here since this is a public blog, but suffice it to say this weekend helped Mark and I see things in a new light and have a much better understanding of some of Alina's unique needs. While we read a lot about adopting an older child and raising a child from "hard places" before we adopted, I realized this weekend that you can become so consumed with the day to day, moment to moment of living that suddenly you can't see the forest you read about a year ago for the trees you keep running into every day. This conference was a breath of fresh air and a wealth of valuable, practical information, so if you are an adoptive or foster parent, I cannot recommend this conference enough. There are things that every adoptive parent should know. We have some new strategies, made contacts for some new testing, and left with a renewed sense of joy in parenting all our children. We also realized (again) how amazing Alina's foster parents really are. The foundation they helped lay will be a gift to Alina and our family for life.
How's that Homeschooling? Well, most days it is good. Ish. We are already about 6 weeks in to our homeschool year, and I can tell you it is already going WAY better than our first year did...which is like saying that your second natural childbirth wasn't as bad because it lasted an hour less. Jude is attending a co-op on Tuesdays where he is taking a writing class, Latin B, pre-algebra, and a Red Cross Basic Aid Training course. He is loving it, and it has been easy and fun for me to work in some of that coursework into our other four days of school. Calvin is doing great. He has a memory that simply astounds me. Every so often, he will recall some minute tidbit from something we read about a year ago, and I have to do the non-committal "Mmmmm" sound until I can sneak away to confirm what he says. He's always right. He loves math, and is a whiz at it. Handwriting? Uh, not so much. Think cuneiform..on crack. Alina is doing well, also. Grade level wise, she is all over the place depending on the subject, but I'm telling you, this girl can learn. I am also telling you, she would prefer not to learn math. :) I'm really proud of her, and I'm excited to try some new methods with her that we learned about at this conference this weekend.
People often ask me if we will always homeschool. My answer is always the same - we will evaluate each child each year and decide. Selfishly, I think I would love to always homeschool. I enjoymost many days with the kids, I learn a lot, and I really treasure the time I get each day with them. I appreciate the freedom I have to structure our family's life without considering the demands of an outside institution. I am in awe of parents whose children attend public school and yet can still find a way to balance homework and extracurricular activities. (I know it can be done well. I wonder if it could be done well by me.)
What I Wish. I wish our sweet, beloved new(er) dog would not shed. He isn't a big shedder, but I have a "thing" about hair not attached to bodies. I wish I had called my Gram more often, because about a dozen times a day I realize I no longer can pick up the phone and hear her "Rello?" on the other line. I miss her every. single. day. I wish the day would come soon when thinking about her wouldn't make me so darn sad. I wish I could go back to Prague! I wish ragweed would stop blooming so my family could all breathe again. I wish we had a beach vacation planned. I wish I could spend time with some friends who I haven't seen in ages just to catch up and laugh and share what's been going on for us all.
What do you wish for?
That's all the random for tonight. Working on a few posts in my mind. Hope they make it out here soon!
Calvin and "The Finger". While practicing a tornado kick and simultaneously trying to hold onto his ankles (which I suspect is not really an actual move), Calvin not only whacked his middle finger hard on his ankle bone, he then landed on said finger and bent it all the way back. It was evident within minutes that we were experiencing a phalange-tastrophy, so off he and I headed to the Urgent Care. Once we were taken back and evaluated, the radiologist came to take a few X-rays. Cal was very serious about the whole ordeal, until the radiologist had him fold down all but his black and blue middle finger for the final X-ray. He giggled the whole time.
(Side note: Finger was not broken. Hyperextended. Looks awesome, and by "awesome" I mean "hurl".)
The Fantasy With My Husband. (Oh, for heaven's sake, get your mind out of the gutter - my mom reads this.) I am, of course, talking about fantasy football, and even though it is only week 2, the great Mark vs. Ann game is well underway today. So far, I am winning. Clearly, or I would not have brought this up. Mark has two players left tomorrow night, and while I am up 105-47, he still has Peyton Manning, Julio Jones, and the Denver kicker (whose name, as a kicker, is completely irrelevant) so you never know what could happen. Or not. If I win this, I am 2-0. I rock.
Adoption Conference. This weekend Mark and I divided and conquered at the Empowered to Connect Adoption conference in Nashville. I attended all day Friday, and Mark went for the Saturday sessions. I know I say it here often, but the dynamics that inherently make up adoption are complicated and there are elements in every day life that can show up. We were blessed to hear Dr. Karyn Purvis speak, and I am telling you it was a gift directly from the hand of God. I hesitate to go into any detail on here since this is a public blog, but suffice it to say this weekend helped Mark and I see things in a new light and have a much better understanding of some of Alina's unique needs. While we read a lot about adopting an older child and raising a child from "hard places" before we adopted, I realized this weekend that you can become so consumed with the day to day, moment to moment of living that suddenly you can't see the forest you read about a year ago for the trees you keep running into every day. This conference was a breath of fresh air and a wealth of valuable, practical information, so if you are an adoptive or foster parent, I cannot recommend this conference enough. There are things that every adoptive parent should know. We have some new strategies, made contacts for some new testing, and left with a renewed sense of joy in parenting all our children. We also realized (again) how amazing Alina's foster parents really are. The foundation they helped lay will be a gift to Alina and our family for life.
How's that Homeschooling? Well, most days it is good. Ish. We are already about 6 weeks in to our homeschool year, and I can tell you it is already going WAY better than our first year did...which is like saying that your second natural childbirth wasn't as bad because it lasted an hour less. Jude is attending a co-op on Tuesdays where he is taking a writing class, Latin B, pre-algebra, and a Red Cross Basic Aid Training course. He is loving it, and it has been easy and fun for me to work in some of that coursework into our other four days of school. Calvin is doing great. He has a memory that simply astounds me. Every so often, he will recall some minute tidbit from something we read about a year ago, and I have to do the non-committal "Mmmmm" sound until I can sneak away to confirm what he says. He's always right. He loves math, and is a whiz at it. Handwriting? Uh, not so much. Think cuneiform..on crack. Alina is doing well, also. Grade level wise, she is all over the place depending on the subject, but I'm telling you, this girl can learn. I am also telling you, she would prefer not to learn math. :) I'm really proud of her, and I'm excited to try some new methods with her that we learned about at this conference this weekend.
People often ask me if we will always homeschool. My answer is always the same - we will evaluate each child each year and decide. Selfishly, I think I would love to always homeschool. I enjoy
What I Wish. I wish our sweet, beloved new(er) dog would not shed. He isn't a big shedder, but I have a "thing" about hair not attached to bodies. I wish I had called my Gram more often, because about a dozen times a day I realize I no longer can pick up the phone and hear her "Rello?" on the other line. I miss her every. single. day. I wish the day would come soon when thinking about her wouldn't make me so darn sad. I wish I could go back to Prague! I wish ragweed would stop blooming so my family could all breathe again. I wish we had a beach vacation planned. I wish I could spend time with some friends who I haven't seen in ages just to catch up and laugh and share what's been going on for us all.
What do you wish for?
That's all the random for tonight. Working on a few posts in my mind. Hope they make it out here soon!
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