Almost Summer..A Recap

As a recap I have to look over where we have been and where we are at this exact moment. We are coming up the 1 year mark of a very crazy summer in our lives. We unexpectedly moved 2 times, had a fire and started whole new way of life. A simpler way of life.

This time last year I had 3 people in diapers, 2 kids not sleeping through the night all while finishing 2ND grade and Kindergarten, all during 2 moves. I have to say it was a fun time. I do not remember feeling overwhelmed. I remember feeling like I was exactly where God wanted me. I had 5 kids and I felt like I could actually handle myself in most situations. We swam our way through the summer going through a box of swim diapers a week and formally potty training 1 of the 3 diaper kids. I always worry about homeschooling the next grade, so I spent some time worrying about how I was going to manage 3rd grade and 1st grade with 3 babies in the house. My summer blissful fully in charge feeling came to a crashing halt when summer ended and real life began....

Let me just say I should have been worried. It was a hard year!! This is one of those years that I am amazed I got anything accomplished. No, really!!! I know what type of days I had and they were HARD!!! REALLY HARD. Jack and Lucy fought a lot. Jack whimpered through many of his days as a 3 year old. Lucy spent most of her days tearing through any plan I may have conceived.

 And my sweet baby Priscilla just needed me. With all that being said I am amazed that we are looking at the last 2 weeks of our home school year. We finished our Math books early, we memorized LOTS of poems. We learned History Dates, States and Capital, Latin Root Words and basic survival skills of living a life with Lucy. We read lots of book, took lots of walks, put lots of noses in corners. We wrote stories, made pictures, did some painting and put out some sisterly fires. We practiced cursive and learned subtraction.

Now let me tell you what we DID NOT DO!! We did not go on any field trips, we never went to the library without Pete, we did not go to the playground very much, we did not leave the house several days a week. I did not talk on the phone while doing school. I did not turn on the computer several days. I did not skip doing school even when I REALLY DID NOT FEEL LIKE DOING IT!!! I did not take the kids food shopping in the middle of the week. We did not go to Rosary Group on Monday mornings. Lots of times we said no to having friends over.

I say all of this because all of these things that I did NOT do were very hard for me. I am a field trip kinda gal. I am a talk on the phone while on a field trip gal. I am actually a say no to school EVERYDAY, go on a field trip , end up at the playground all while talking to several people on the phone kinda gal. But I painfully learned that this type of year would be of no benefit to any of us...so with great heart ache I said NO to myself a lot this year and looking back I have to say I got a lot done because of it.

So all this being said I am looking forward to this summer...only 1 baby in diapers, Jack and Lucy are becoming great playmates and all I have left to do is worry about 4Th grade and 2ND grade. And after a year like this one I think ANYTHING will be easier!! Thanks for reading and helping me through this really hard school year!!