Wii

We exchanged gifts with Jon's family last night, since we'll be out of town Christmas day. Grammy and Grampy surprised the kids (and us) with a Wii. Totally unexpected and SO fun. :)

Christmas crafting

Now that the MOPS boutique is done, I have been able to do a few crafty things for around the house. I wasn't feeling too inspired until I went to Casey's house. :)

I copied this one exactly (words and all) from one she did:

I wish I could take better pictures, but it's 16x20" in silver. I also copied the idea of this second canvas, using words from a favorite song. These words are from "Let There Be Love," which Jon and I danced to at our wedding:

(I love how this next picture shows the reflection in the top of the newly cleaned dresser. Thank you, monthly cleaning guy!)

Last, I made a couple of bunting/banner things. This one says "JOY" and is above the cute Christmas card holder we made at MOPS.

This one that ended up on the staircase was supposed to have letters on it (I settled on "Let us adore Him") but the idea of making that many fabric or felt letters (and then stitching them on) was too annoying. Maybe I'll make those in time for next Christmas.

Levi-isms

A couple of new things Levi has said lately:

- Last night, he told me about something they had seen on a cartoon with a certain cat and mouse. "Mama, it was on 'Tom and Cherry.'"
- On Sunday after church, we were all in the car and Nate (or Lucy?) said, "Hey, I can feel my bone!" so we started talking about bones. Jon asked, "Does anyone know what the bones in our bodies are for?" No one answered for a second, and then Levi piped up: "They are for dogs!"
- "Mama, the flag in this shirt bodders me. Can you cut it out?"

Pickle Me

I took this video the other day trying to capture the crazy amount of noise and chaos the kids were producing. Of course, once I got out the camera, it had calmed down. BUT then I did catch the cute way Levi says the name of the movie Despicable Me. :)

This year's tree

The kids were so excited to get our Christmas tree this year. We went the day after Thanksgiving, and they wanted to rush home to put all the ornaments on. They went so fast, though, that they had all of them up within 2 or 3 minutes--all in a 2-foot-square area on the tree of course. I make sure to relocate my very favorite ornaments to the top of the tree--away from curious and clumsy hands (although I don't know how that blue Dodgers ornament ended up near the top...).

Lucy wanted a tree topper, but we don't really have one. I found this easy tutorial, and she and I did it together. The kids and I also made several miniature wreaths with some supplies I'd ordered a while back (mostly yarn and glitter pom poms).

A stream-of-consciousness update on school

I know I've been neglecting the blog lately. Sorry!

I've been thinking a lot already about next school year (2012-2013), because that's when Lucy will be in kindergarten and I won't be able to put off the where-will-she-be (home too? school?--public, private, charter?) question anymore. One thing I've learned over the past couple of months is that having one child in school (she's doing preschool 2 days a week right now) and another homeschooling makes both situations more difficult in some ways. (This was not expected--I originally thought having Lucy in preschool would be mostly helpful).

One of the benefits of homeschooling is eliminating the morning crazy rush. No matter how much I prep the night before, no matter how early I get up, if we need to be out of the house before 8:00 a.m. there is always rushing, stress, shoe hunting, unbrushed teeth, and carseat fighting (never heard of carseat fighting? It means two things: 1. children who fight their carseats because they're "too tight" and 2. children who fight each other while getting into their carseats). So, with one child in school, you have to deal with the morning crazy rush AND then come home with the homeschooling child to do all the work you could have been doing for the previous hour. Then later, you may be in a "groove" but must interrupt it to go pick up the in-school child.

So I would like, for simplicity and my sanity, to have both children in the same schooling situation--either at home or in school. And, while homeschooling with Nate is going relatively well (his initial excitement has definitely worn off, and he'd rather not do most of it, but he is learning stuff... and I had already decided at the beginning of the year not to be too intense with academics since he is doing fine in that area), I'm a little scared of homeschooling Lucy. She loves drawing and letters and projects and crafts, so the actual schooling part might be easier with her; it's the personality clashes and strong will that have me worried. And, frankly, it's the idea of even more work for me that is also worrying.

But if I "quit" homeschooling after one year, I feel like that makes me look like a failure. I value consistency and perseverance. When I think of our kids' long-term schooling lives, the picture I hate most is "a year here, two years doing this, then another year here, followed by a stint at this other place." I've always looked down on others' actions I perceived to be inconsistent, willy nilly, weak, and undependable.  I know the Lord is teaching me grace through this process (and through mothering in general), as I go through these types of decisions and realize my past perceptions were ungracious!

So here are my current options:
Homeschool both kids - I've come to the realization that to be an effective, loving, not-so-stressed-out homeschooling mom, I would need to quit my one-day-per-week/freelance job. This has been nagging at me for several months, and I've been ignoring it for several reasons. I really like this job. I really like my one day a week in the office. And we have genuinely needed the income it has provided. However, I know that if I didn't have that I-have-to-get-this-2-hours-of-work-done stress hanging over my head every single day, I would be so much freer to be more invested in and "present" for homeschooling. This is difficult for me, because this job is a nice boost to my ego and I like it. However, when I look at the big picture and my list of priorities, the job is way down on the list. But day to day, it doesn't get treated that way.


Try to get them into charter school - There is a local public charter school (Oxford) that has been around for a couple of years and focuses on addressing the learning styles of each student. I've heard great things about this school and think Nate would do well there (and Lucy too). To me, this is a much better choice than our regular local public school. The problem is there is a rather large waiting list (I heard 1,400)! I think April or May is when enrollment occurs--and the lottery after that. I guess I could get Nate and Luce into the lottery and let that be the deciding factor! Ug--but I hate to wait that long.

So there you have it: my current thinking on school/homeschool.

Boutique

I have to get that picture of me off the top of the page. :) There, that's better.

This week is the MOPS boutique, the thing for which I plan for several months and the thing that is really my only responsibility as member of the MOPS steering team. Sooooo I've been real busy with that but am REALLY excited about this year's boutique. We've done more than ever to promote it and to get the best vendors possible. If you live in OC, listen to 95.9 The Fish on Tuesday or Wednesday night to hear our commercial!!!

And please come on Thursday if you're close!

december1boutique.blogspot.com

How I feel by this time in the day.

Today I had to cancel Lucy's participation in gymnastics class indefinitely. She throws a fit about her hair and about the leotard every time, often also throwing a fit in the car on the way. I let it go on way too long, because I hated to waste the money we'd paid up front. But today was one tantrum too many, and I called 20 minutes before her class to say she wouldn't be coming. We drove by so I could fill out the drop form. She was very sad, but she knows why she doesn't get to do it anymore. So disappointing!

Levi's party

We had family and a few friends over on Sunday for Levi's birthday. He received cars, cars, and more cars--and he couldn't have been happier. :)

Levi is 3

Happy birthday, sweet, silly, funny, cute, car-loving, smart, independent boy! We love you!

2011 Pictures

We got our family pictures today, and I love them! Here is one that didn't even make it onto the Christmas card:

And some really cute ones of the kids:

The pictures are from Old Town Orange--it was fun doing them there. 

I stayed up WAY too late tonight looking through the pictures, picking my favorites, creating different Christmas cards, and now blogging. I just love them!

Big transition

Recently, Jon was offered the opportunity to change jobs and become the marketing/business development/finances guy for our friend's growing company. After several months of prayer, discussion, and consideration, he gave his notice at Howard CDM--and now tomorrow is his last day! He has worked there for nearly 10 years, driving every day at least 80 miles round trip to Long Beach. But beginning next week, his commute to 4STEL Engineering will be so much better (to San Clemente). We are so excited about having more time together as a family, and Jon is super excited about working at 4STEL, helping the company grow even more.

I am so proud of and thankful for my husband, for how diligently he works for our family without complaint. Look at this wonderful write-up his company sent out today:

From: Sonya Rodriguez On Behalf Of Martin Howard
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 2:03 PM
To: HCDM-All
Subject: Jon Varela's Farewell
Importance: High

All Staff:

As most of you know Jon Varela is leaving us and tomorrow will be his last day.

Jon joined us in 2002 when we started up a Wireless Company called Redpoint Wireless. Jon was our Los Angeles / Orange County Regional Manager. Jon excelled quickly and showed real leadership skills and dedication to our fledgling company. He was quickly promoted to General Manager in charge of our entire region which stretched from Sacramento to San Diego.

In 2006 when we sold Repoint Wireless,  Jon transitioned to Howard CDM as our Director of Marketing. Jon helped put a face on Howard CDM with revamping our website and marketing materials.  He’s the guy responsible for those great portraits everybody has in Outlook. Jon also transitioned into Business Development and helped to maintain our existing client relationships as well as developing new ones. Most recently Jon stepped into some messy projects left behind by others, turned them around and made them successful.

Jon is leaving us on a high note having completed all his project responsibilities and turning over all the communication and marketing materials intact and organized. He is leaving to assume a role as Marketing Director at a Solar Engineering Firm where he will have more time for his growing family and where undoubtedly he will be highly successful.

He leaves behind nine years of growth and development as a person and a wealth of friendships here at Howard CDM. Jon will always be welcome here at Howard CDM.

Join me this afternoon at EJ Malloy’s from 4:30 to 6pm for some cheer to send Jon on his way.

Thanks Jon for everything, 
Martin, Steve and William

Jonathan, I respect you and am thankful for you!

Pictures

I sat down to write the promised post and found I had no new pictures on the camera. So we just took these:

(That last one of Levi is him crying because he wanted me to stop taking pictures.)

Checking in

I'm still here! I'm busy with homeschooling (going well), work (fine), planning our MOPS boutique (December 1--planning is fun but I'll be glad when it's over), AWANA (great), and regular life. I will check back in this week with some pictures.

Vaccine movie

I've watched about half of this video already, and it is excellent!

http://vimeo.com/31036452

Car names

Instead of singing songs, lately Levi has wanted to play cars on his bed with me before his nap time. Today, my car asked his cars what their names were. Levi thought for a minute and said, "Marshmallow and Cough." So Marshmallow, Cough, and Rouge (my car) drove up the mountains (a pillow) and had a great time together.

Nate's baptism

A few weeks ago, after hearing that the church had a baptism service coming up, Nate approached Jon and me and said he wanted to be baptized. We've been talking over the past couple of weeks about what that means--that it isn't what saves us, that it is a public profession that we believe in Jesus, in obedience to what Jesus says in the Bible--and today Nate was baptized. He was nervous about the actual going-under-the-water part of it, but he did great!

Here's the video:


After the service, we gave him his first "grown-up Bible" as a gift. He loves it and said it is "just like Randy's"--one of the older boys at church.

 Oh, and when we told Lucy that Nate was going to be baptized today, she asked, "But what about me? When am I going to get bath-tized?" :)

Proud

In preparation for some family pictures today, I wanted to try to make a necklace similar to the adorable Allora Handmade rosette ones. Amy has a green one and let me borrow it so I could copy it.

I followed what I could tell from this necklace that I hadn't done with rosettes before: fold and iron the first part of your strip like it's bias binding and don't start twisting the fabric at first. Just make a super tight "snail." I really like how mine turned out!

I bought this lace trim a couple of weeks ago at a craft fair I went to with Colleen. This was the perfect use for it! Here's a side-by-side comparison of the necklaces. Mine isn't perfect, but I love it for a first try:

Yay!

On Monday Levi went to Disneyland for the first time--with Grammy and Grampy.

Autoreply

Nate wrote an email to Jon. Since Jon was out of town, his email autoreply message came back. Here's Nate's response to that:

On Oct 19, 2011, NateV wrote:
i don"t know what you are talking about but i will talk to you later ok ! love nate


Dear Howard CDM contact,

I will be out of the office Tuesday Oct., 18 to Thursday Oct., 20. I will be checking email and voicemail while I am out, but my response may be delayed. If you need immediate assistance please call Christopher Duvali at 562.427.4124.

Thank you,

Jonathan Varela

Hi

Homeschooling update: charter school

Over the summer, I tried to get Nate enrolled in a charter school. We would still have been homeschooling, but with the charter school enrollment, I would meet once a month with a teacher and show her the work we were doing. She would sign off on each subject area and attendance. This would mean I wouldn't have to file an affidavit with the state saying we are our own private school in our home, since Nate would technically be enrolled in a school. It would also mean we would be able to use funds through the charter school to purchase curriculum and supplies and enroll in classes (like sports classes, music lessons, or other extracurriculars like this awesome one).

I chose a particular charter (Sky Mountain) because it was the most pro-parent, the most open to whatever style of teaching/learning the parents chose for their child.

But the application process got majorly stalled in July because of Nate's special ed history. There was lots of back and forth, with emails and calls to various people at the charter and also at our school district trying to get the appropriate proof that Nate no longer needs services. The school year start date came and went, and we didn't get enrolled, so I moved on to plain old homeschooling and planned to file the affidavit in October, figuring that, at best, we would have to wait until January for the charter.

Then at the end of September I got an intake interview phone call, then an enrollment meeting call the next day, and then I signed the enrollment paperwork the day after that! Woo hoo! So Nate is enrolled in Sky Mountain.

I really like our Education Specialist (ES), the teacher who meets with us once a month. She has good ideas and is totally on board with how we "do" school around here--some formal (textbooks, worksheets, curricula), some informal ("natural" learning through cooking/making recipes, talking about stuff in our regular day, etc.).

As for using those funds we are allocated, I've sifted through the huge approved vendor list and found several great things. Nate is most excited to do a sport (which he never asked to do until he saw Lucy do gymnastics); what I've found so far either doesn't work with our schedule (on Mondays when I'm working or on Wednesdays during AWANA) or will have to wait until January to start. BUT it's so nice to have all these possibilities opened up to us!

Before & After

Before (I couldn't find anything taken from the right angle that really shows how stained the carpet was...)



During (Sunday)



After! (I left Levi's cars and ball there since that is the natural state of things anyway.)

Another Tanaka Farms day

On Saturday we went to another CSA day at Tanaka Farms. This one had a wagon ride, petting zoo, and small tour of the farm to view the pumpkins. The kids also played one game each. It was actually quite a warm day and a fun family outing!