I bought a camera at Costco that broke after their return policy of 90days… but they said that they would send it in for me since it was still under warranty!  Thank you Costco.  Anyways, when I took it in, they said that it was in great condition and if I had all the parts at home they would just refund my money.  So, me having to organize my whole home, had a file box with the label “manuals” on it.  I had every book, paper and cord it came with!  yeah….!!!  So I took it back and they gave me my money and I bought a new camera.  The same one, but one model up.  :)  Hopefully you’ll start seeing pics again soon.  I so missed taking pictures.  The good thing that came out of all that was that Rudy’s camera takes awesome video and while using his camera I was able to capture lots of moments on video!  I was slacking in that area… and now I’m not.  It was a trade though… less pictures.. more video or more pictures… less video.  Maybe I can get in both now that I’m in the habit.  Hooray for Costco and their excellent customer service!

Every day Jade does school at the table while Lauren crawls all over telling Jade stories that only Lauren understands, but Jade does soooo good. You can see that Jade just sits there with her head down and keeps studying… my precious Jade.  When Lauren and Benjamin start talking to her she has a much harder time staying focused, but she tries, bless her heart.  Lauren was cracking me up today and I kept having to get her down and tell her to stop bugging Jade and she would just giggle. She’s so cute even though she’s at the stage of bugging her siblings.. lol. She’s seriously always happy, unless she’s mad.. and when she’s mad, if you start to laugh, she’ll just laugh.

Jade loves to pretend she’s a scientist and one weekend she kept putting goggles on to pretend they were her glasses. lol  I thought that was fun and took an old pair of glasses to my friend Carey at the eye Dr. and had her pop the lenses out for Jade to play with. Lauren kept stealing them from Jade and looked so cute. Jade looks awesome in glasses as well, but I’ve yet to get a picture of her in them… but here is one of Lauren I thought was cute. She’s such a comedian.

Rudy and I were so blessed to be able to take Jade to San Diego for her Soccer Tournament this year. We had friends and family pull together to babysit Lauren and Benjamin for the whole weekend Friday through Sunday! We stayed in a hotel and got “Jade Time”. It was so needed for all of us. Jade loved the special time with no kids taking her attention. Not only that but we were able to sit and watch all four of her games without chasing the little ones. Jade plays goalkeeper for half of the game (check out that cool action dive picture Rudy took) and she is doing so well. She’s becoming very skillful in her position.  Just last week the coach made her one of three captains for her team.. she was so excited.  For the other half she is half back and we’re still working hard on practicing that position, but she loves soccer and I think she’ll keep improving.  Anywho.. her tournament was on Coronado Island and it was gorgeous. The field was right by the bay. It was a memory none of us will ever forget. We played soccer, ate food, drank coffee (and hot chocolate for Jade) and partied at our hotel pool with Jaders. We got to watch the Olympics too. Much fun!

I have been drowning myself in blogs and books and trying to figure out how to do what seemed to be the impossible task of truly homeschooling two children with a toddler running around. I was having serious doubts of being able to do it. Ben seemed to need me every second that Jade did and then that was followed by Lauren whining for me. But now we are in our fourth week and it seems to be good. I start them together now rather than the original delayed schedule I started with. I had Ben starting at 11 when Jade started doing independent work, but now I do math calendar and a story at 9 with both of them and then Jade begins her quiet time while I do Ben’s math lesson. When he is done I do Jade’s math while Benjamin colors or practices writing… whatever keeps him engaged while doing Jade’s math lesson with her. We have ordered a new Kindergarten book for the crafty type stuff so he’s not so work work and no fun… because Kindergarten is fun! So you may be wondering what Lauren is doing during this time? Usually wondering around begging someone to play with her.. So, that is my next mission. I was holding her a lot… but man, she’s heavy! lol. So, I get her started playing with stuff and this week was the first week she actually seemed to enjoy playing with toys. She’s playing with little people, and she flies Ben’s planes all over the house.. and then she comes and asks us questions and we just have to flow with the interruptions. Ben is very focused. He must finish anything he starts, so he has the ability to say something nice to Lauren and get right back to work.  Jade on the other hand completely welcomes the interruption when she is tired and will try to go play with Lauren and take off… I find myself saying, “Jade, come on stay focused” and she just smiles and comes back to the table. lol  Mostly, Jade stays on task as well… but some days it’s hard for all of us.  Jade has also read through half of Genesis. I told her for quiet time she could pick any book she wanted but had to finish it. She picked the beginning. She is very proud of herself as she nears the ends of books and lessons. She’s done awesome in all her weekly tests. All seems to be going really well.. just very busy.

Jade has soccer twice a week and then Monday is Latin and History at night and then Science is on Wednesday nights. So.. we basically have Friday free.. which fills up quickly. Life is busy, but I’m so blessed. I’m thankful that my husband gets up at the crack of dawn to go to work so that I can stay home and nurture and teach my children. I’m tired and so blessed!

How did I ever get housework done before? Oh my goodness. We’ve almost completed our first week of school.. which went beyond better.. so awesome, but I have mounds of laundry and dusty furniture and I think I have shoes everywhere!?!?! Shoes! I didn’t want to implement the “chores” the first week of school, and I’m even iffy on what chores I think they should do now. I used to have a whole list, and I loved it and it worked… but the kids are growing up so quickly, I don’t want to overdo chores. Mom guilt kicking in. So in the meantime, I’m not quite sure how I am going to do it. Rudy helps so much, but he leaves the house for work at 6 and gets home at 5:30, so… asking him to do lots of housework after 12 hours of work work seems unfair to him too… wife guilt kicking in. Today I’ve been doing laundry all day but not having time to fold so there is a HUGE pile of clothes right in the middle of our downstairs bedroom (the kids room). Poor kids. I guess I’ve always done that and then folded on Friday, but man.. the summer was nice. Washing, drying and folding a load as it came. It’s amazing at how small changes like that effect the house…. effect me.

I love this movie! My friend Kim wanted to take me out for my birthday. It took us a few weeks to match our schedules but when we finally got out we had such a blessed night. We went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and split the yummiest steak dinner ever! We talked for a couple of hours and then went to see Mamma Mia! We loved every minute. I loved the music, the singers, the dancers… the cast was amazing! I went out the next day and bought the soundtrack and have been dancing with the kids every night to the tunes! If you like musicals, and you haven’t seen this movie you must go see it! Really! It was so fun I wanted to stand up and dance right there in the theater. At then end of the movie the audience applauded and everything! Fun! Fun! Fun!