Spelling Eggs..Easter Eggs!

We had a wonderful Easter, I hope your day was blessed as well..

Now what to do with the million eggs around this house?!? Use them for homeschooling or course!!!

We have done letter matching and numbers in Pre-K and that is super fun!!!

We also loved doing addition on eggs... Honestly it's endless!!!

This fine day we decided to do a little spelling/word making for reading time...

My kids loved this activity!!! We may add sentences soon...just gotta keep the eggs in order, LOL!

When you can make your kid smile while doing sight words...you know it's a good day!

My 'Why I Sign"

You may have seen the hashtag #whyIsign and wondered about it?? It's simply videos of people explaining why they sign in American Sign Language or ASL for short. These are Deaf, hearing CODAs (Children Of Deaf Adults), SODAs(siblings) and others that have had their lives impacted by ASL in a positive way. These videos are showing support of ASL for Deaf babies and children; especially with certain conferences about Deaf education attacking ASL in preference to oral only education for Deaf children.
Here is my why I sign video:

I messed up a few times... I am super critical and self-conscience when it comes to videos of myself! I honestly can't believe I'm even posting it, but I believe in solidarity of cause. Here is a rough  English version:
 I ask "What's wrong? Sick, are you sick?" She sleepily signs back "sick." I smile back and reply "No, you are tired?" She agrees and snuggles ready for sleep... I face the camera and explain "Why do I sign? Because my Deaf daughter is worth it! She needs to be able to communicate with me, and I need to be able to communicate with her.. Why? Family is important; like just like her~" 

Love~

In this life I have been blessed with this amazing man! He is funny, kind, strong and smart! He is so giving with his time, energies, money, and gifts, and you will never hear him brag on himself. I love him more than words can ever say, and even with all of my flaws, he loves me too! 

 These are some sweets we enjoyed~

 These were actually a gift for my birthday~ Macaroons!

When Mommy Ministers in Walmart....

    When mommy ministers in Walmart...

it's quiet, subtle, and for us kids..pretty fun! 

   Mom must love to shop! She goes down the rows trying to keep our little hands on the buggies (shopping carts) as she tries to keep her "cool" whatever that is??  We all talk, and push, and poke, and play! ~We are kids after all!

 Most of the time she says "we are going to run in, and run out!" We never do. 

   This was how our shopping trip was going when in the middle of the store a lady came up, well, almost bumped into us! She started to make small talk...then she asked my mom where she went to church? My mom told her and then she went on and on about church stuff...well, it seemed like it to me! 

    The Lady was talking about how she used to go to church, and how she was hurt by someone in a church..she started crying...mom said we could play quietly a little bit away on the bench so she could see us. I wonder if she didn't want me to hear?? She talked for a long time, my mom nodded, listening, all while watching us. I was watching her too.  We took full advantage! We pretended to be in a car, jumped around, ran around, it was AWESOME! 

Then I saw it~ the look!

   We walked back to the buggie just about in time for my mom to offer to pray with her, quiet prayer, God can hear really well you know? After praying, the lady dried her tears, talking about how she had never told anyone before the things she had told my mom. 

Mom of course asked her to come to church, and reminded her of how much God loved her... How much he wanted her to come home.. The lady smiled and said "I know."

As we were leaving I asked my mom about what had happened. She smiled as she said "God must have sent us to the store for a reason other than toilet paper."

I guess God is at Walmart too. 

PC: Jaye Martin Online 

When Mommy Cries In The Milk Aisle

Yep, sometimes it happens...right in the middle of an amazing life; overwhelm, and the tears it brings..
 It hit me this week right in the grocery store between the milk and the kefir, it was all I could do to stand there willing the tears not to fall, pressing the urge to run out of the store.
I was close to a panic attack and I knew it, I had to get ahead of it~
*Breath*
*Name five things in front of me*
Oh Father how many times have I been here...
*Breath*
Five items are still there...
*Breath*
Anchor of Hope! Hold on...God is right here. Hold on....it's going to be OK.
*Breath*
Coming out of it...
*Breath*
Did anyone notice??
*Wipes tears*
Hubs did, where did he come from since he was in another store??? His hand now on the small of my back... Silent, studying my face.
*Breath*
Smile, shoulders back~ it's time to finish the shopping.
Leading up to this moment was getting everyone ready for church, the stress that can come from having an ADHD kid through a service while sitting in the Deaf section near the front of a large church, the drive (constant bickering from the backseat) back to town, lunch in a restaurant, the multiple meltdowns, the stares from judgmental strangers, and the final straw was the store only having one little cart with my two little ones wanting/fighting for it! Umm, more the inconsolable screaming that resulted.  It doesn't sound like much, but it was one of my special little ones that has some issues we are working through...it was a huge meltdown. I'm sure people watching, simply saw it as a kid being a brat...having no idea. This is special needs parenting.
We finished our shopping, and headed home..one last meltdown in the car from my other special little one, arm pinned behind me trying to give her compression, and now the oldest is mad at me because too much attention is going to the ones melting down.
I cry again.
This time I calmly let the tears fall as gaze out the window, happy to be far from the milk aisle.

Our Christmas Break

~I just wanted to share what a blessing the break has been for my kids and I. I had wanted to do a little catch-up, but looked in their little eyes and thought better of it. Burnout was on our heels and we could all feel it! So we packed up the homeschool stuff, and put it away! We had some fun to be done! 

~ The week before I had complained to my bestie that I sometimes feel that I'm working away their childhood~ papers to grade, ASL vocab to learn, lessons to teach, breaking up fights, church responsibilities, housework(mounds of housework!), the laundry, household shopping, and the cooking...you know the list, the never ending list! Uhhg!

~My eldest is starting the early stages of becoming a little lady, and I can already feel our relationship starting to strain a little bit..time is so precious. I don't want my children to grow up and remember me being at home, but not really in their lives, you know? I want a relationship with them. I want to look back on these what now seem tiring, stressful, endless days as some of the best in our lives.

~So, I really used this break (2 weeks) to work on my relationships with our children.. We have played games, watched movies, modeled with playdough (anyone else have a love/hate relationship with play dough?), and just spent time talking...no not every minute, and at they still enjoyed quiet reading when I just needed a break! I'm human after all! I can honestly say I feel closer with kids than have in a good long while. I love that about homeschooling..I am here and we can change what we are doing when needed.

~I also spent time teaching my little ones chores, one on one. This is something I have been putting off because to be honest~ my little ones are lazy, especially my middle child! I love her to bits~ she is the most tenacious child I have ever seen! So I made learning to do a couple of new chores a fun 1on1 time with mommy! A time of lots of praise, and teaching her how good it feels to see a job done well.

Hopefully with the 2 littles doing a bit more it will free me up to spend more time with my little loves! Last year I wanted more fun in our homeschool and we did it! I need to go back and post about that soon!

~ This new year I simply want more time with my children! I want the closeness that I feel can be woven onto our homeschool experience.. I simply want:

Relationship.

Yeah, So We Got A Dog!

Now I know what you are think, well at least what I was thinking....if any family in the world does NOT need a dog it's this one! We already have our challenges and stresses and this mom doesn't need one more thing to take care of!!!!
...but then I saw her face!

 She came up to me so sweet and snuggled into the palm of my hand. Oh, man, I was falling fast!

I also, saw my kids' faces begging me for a dog!

Oh, and my husband! Oh heavens, what's a mom to do?!?

We heard about some pre-shelter (sounded better than muts!) puppies that needed a home~

Photo Credit: Emily

 I was so blessed to meet some amazing people that took in this pregnant dog, gave her a life and pre-natal care! They are some of the best people in my book, to love so deeply~ making the world a better place!
So yeah, we got a dog, her name is Sandy. She is so precious! She is quite stilled at chewing up our stuff, and quite talented at going potty on the carpet. We love her, we can't help it! She is so sweet sleeping at the foot of our bed. We are pretty blessed to call her a part of our family.