Well check, check

Yesterday Asher had his 6 month well check-at 7 and a half months. Yes, I was a bit late on that one; I plead moving! On that note, I'll take a 15 minute drive to the pediatrician over an hour one any day. And as a bonus, daddy was able to take an early lunch break to join us-another perk of living this side of Raleigh. :-)

We are happy to report that our happy babe is growing and perfectly healthy at 18 pounds, filling out in all the right places and meeting his milestones. Even the shots weren't too bad, he took em like a champ-or so I heard...I got to skirt those with dad in tow!

What can I say about our almost 8 month old?  The first thing that comes to my mind is that he lives up to his name-he is one happy baby! He continues to be our most easy going, flexible guy-though this is probably more a product of being kiddo #3. Speaking of, he's just about the luckiest boy that ever was to have two big brothers to love on and entertain him all the day long. He's entered the "explorer" stage with gusto, putting any and everything into his mouth. He is SO close to crawling, no doubt that will be my next blog update. From what I can see so far, he loves the outdoors like his brother Bennett and makes himself at home in the sunshine. To see him ride outside around the neighborhood in his blue push car, sunglasses on and slouched comfortably to the side, one hand on the wheel-he is one cool cat.

In other news, we have officially moved into sz 12 month clothes and has the appetite to prove it. We're just starting drop one nursing feed per day and move to a 4 hr schedule with 3 full solid meals...for those of you nursing mamas, this is a big deal! Sniff sniff, you are growing much too fast little piglet.

Water boys playing in the pool with Poppy-Asher loves the water as long as it's not too cold!

Napping poolside-ie "flexible"

I can't say how thankful I am to have not one but three healthy children-it really is a blessing and we don't take it for granted. My heart hurts for those families whose doctors appointments are anything but routine. On these days when the normal vaccines are my biggest anxiety, I can't help but count my blessings. Asher Elliot, you are a good good gift to us and we thank God for you today and always. Happy 6..err 7...months sweet boy!

PS-I'm sorry for all the pink shirts. You rock them. ;-)

My School Year, a Review

It's no secret, I love a well planned day. So of course I was excited to use and review My School Year(Homeschool Record Keeping) from MySchoolYear.com to plan and organize our homeschool. MySchoolYear.com is an online, subscription based tool that makes record keeping a breeze. It is simple and sufficient for all of your organizing and documentation needs, whether that be creating lesson plans, preparing transcripts, printing report cards and more. 

The Homeroom is the place to start. It provides a great "at a glance" visual of everything going on in your classroom including upcoming lessons, events, attendance, special awards and more. 

The Planbook feature allows you to create your lesson plans, course despriptions and class schedules with a nice rapid repeat or quick split option. Once lessons are made, you can also mark them complete or modify as you go. To make room for flexibility, you can also change or entirely reschedule those plans as your homeschool demands. Either way, it's completely customizable to your needs and your individual student. Moreover, it's very user friendly and takes no time at all to set up your students!

Here's a simple glance at the list of classes I put together for Evan's first grade year, next I'll go into each subject and customize a lesson plan and schedule. As the year progresses, you can see on the right how it will give us a nice visual of our progress. 

Already it looks like I've left out spelling and our new history curriculum. No problem! My School Year makes it easy to edit and add new materials with a few simple clicks of the mouse. 

If you're having trouble navigating through anything, the Teachers Aide is your handy homeschool helper to guide you through next steps. It will also send you helpful reminders as things are missing in your schedule or come up due. There is often a learning curve to conquer with just about every new program or curriculum we encounter. Thankfully, this one isn't too steep and the teachers aid is there to be your gaurdrails. 

Depending on what state you live in, you will likely be required to keep attendance. One of my favorite aspects of this tool is that it enables you to easily generate all kinds of reports, including attendance. Having these reports readily available is a great feature. 

Attendence Screenshot

Another feature I like about My School Year Homeschool Record Keeping is that it allows you to share lesson plans with others. This is especially helpful with including dad or other family in on your homeschool week.

The only thing I've seen lacking in this program is the ability to upload one's own important documents. For example, our state requires us to keep immunization records, and it would be nice if there was an area available to upload whatever personal documents that may be pertinent to your homeschool record keeping. That one add on would really put this program over the top as a one stop shop for all of your lesson planning and documentation needs. Otherwise I have been very impressed and think it's a superior online planning resource; we will definitely continue to use our subscription through the year! 

Read more reviews from the schoolhouse crew here:

And, be sure to check out My School Year(Homeschool Record Keeping) on social media at the links below:

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/MySchoolYearWeb/

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/+MyschoolyearWeb
Twitter

On Falls Lake-A picture story

 

 

  

On moving

If ever you find yourself living in a castle of cardboard, here are some helpful moving tips I've picked up over the last few weeks...

1. Declutter, declutter, declutter! Moving is like Spring cleaning on steroids. Now is the time to refresh your space and get rid of things you don't use. If you don't wade through that box of useless but sentimental "stuff" now, it will haunt you on the other end. For us downsizing to a smaller square footage also forced us to think about bigger things we didn't need. We ended up donating a TON of stuff(which is a nice tax write off if you want to skip the work of a garage sale) and I was also able to sell a bunch online. In fact I funded all of our U-Haul expenses completely from selling things we didn't need to take with us. Plus, you're going to want to use the money you get from selling old stuff to replace the things you won't be able to find later, which brings me to the next point...

2. You will lose stuff. It's okay, just find you're nearest Target and buy the new toothbrushes(true story). Even if you are diligent to pack and label wisely(for the most part, not us), it's still incredibly difficult to get to things that may be boxed away. This is where making several trips comes in handy. If you can take a few loads before the big haul, bring the small stuff like cell phone chargers and Shampoo separetly.

3. Prepare to eat out, a lot. And don't worry about the extra calories, you'll burn plenty unloading boxes-especially if you move in the summertime.

4. It's a community effort. Moving is hard! It isn't just mentally exhausting, but requires muscle to accomplish. I cannot even begin to express how thankful we are for our friends, parents, aunts/uncles and church family who made it happen. Seriously, ya'll rock. I was almost sure we'd have to make two big truck trips and was blown away that we were able to get everything out of our house and ahead of schedule at that. To friends who gave up their Sunday afternoon to disassemble bunk beds, unloaded our dishwasher, vacuum, offer childcare and so so much more-we are beyond grateful. I should also note here that we were surprised and completely blessed by a local church here in Morrisville who reached out and helped us, strangers, unload on this end-heaven sent they were! So many evidences of grace on this crazy train.

5. Last but not least, it's probably a good idea to vacuum underneath those couch cushions before the whole world sees them-raisins, popcorn and pennies oh my! Just kidding, but seriously...I plead many small children haha! 

It's been one week since we moved and I can't tell you what a breath of fresh air it is to be writing this blog on the other end of it all, seated at our unpacked computer in a mostly put together new dining room. My last note would be that while moving seems an incredibly daunting task and is undoubtedly hard work, we got it done taking it one day at a time, having an amazing support system and trusting God for the big and small details-I did find those tooth brushes after all. :-)