Shortened Up

Natalee had been adamant for the last couple of weeks that she wanted to cut her hair.  I try to put myself in my kids' shoes sometimes and think about what it's like to be so reliant on other people to help you through life.  When she asked me a couple of days ago if I'd made her a hair appointment yet I knew it was up to me to follow through.  I was struggling - I thought we were growing her hair out.  However her mind was made up that she really prefers it short - no ponytail, no fuss, no mess.  She really hates wearing her ball helmet with a ponytail.  And who am I to judge?  I think I actually prefer mine short, too.  I only grow it out because I'm either too lazy to go get it cut or I think I want it long because long looks pretty on my sisters.

So today, off we went to Miss Abby and we both got ours chopped off.  Natalee was right - short hair does suit her well.  Abby left it long in the front and shortened the back, just like Natalee wanted.

She's so pleased.  She's pleased with the cut but also pleased she got to choose.  Sweet girl making grown up decisions like hair styles.

Before - it was brushed but we didn't wet it down or anything so the "slept on" look is what you get.  But you can see the length she lost.  She also lost the straggly-ness and unkempt look.

Great choice, Natalee and a big thanks to Miss Abby!

An Update {of Randomness}

Xavier is officially on summer break!  He finished his last preschool workbook today and all our other subjects are finished.  Natalee has reading to finish yet, though she's close.

Natalee is so pleased to help around the house these days.  She's growing into a fine young lady.

Mia now understands what constitutes a question.  Unfortunately she answers them all with "no."

 

She also really enjoys the worship music at church on Sundays.  Baby girl gets down!

 

She's SO close to consistently walking.  If she could just get brave enough!

 She really wants to walk so she can carry her sippy cup and her Kira along wherever she goes.

We have a fun week planned finishing up the details for the baby shower for baby A.J. (Kea & Miguel's baby due in June) that we're throwing this weekend.  We are also SO ready for the warm temps to come back.  The forecast says it will get up to 80 by the end of the week!

IT'S HERE!

Mike and I were chatting about how to best manage our 4 young people when out and about in public when #4 gets here.  When Natalee and Xavier were little we had the back seats out of the van and took the double stroller everywhere.  

We loved that double stroller.  We still have it, but what we don't have is the ability to take the back seats out of the van.  We kind of need allll the space.  Ha.  It does fit in the back, barely, but with not much extra room for other things.

I love having the ring sling in the diaper bag and thought it would be handy for Mike to have one too.  He's used mine several times with Mia, however it's purple and a little short for him.  Everyone raves about these Mahogany Jacquard tablecloths and how they make great, inexpensive shorty wraps and slings so we decided to give it a go.  I ordered Mike the manliest one, thinking it was just a tree.  He did point out it has birds and flowers on it.  Sorry, Mike!  It's better than purple, though, right? 

As soon as my sling rings arrive I'm sending this up to a friend to be converted.  The tablecloth will be split lengthwise, making a ring sling and a shorty wrap.  If we don't use the shorty, we'll either sell it or have it made into another sling for a friend or gift. 

I'll post when it's done! 

The DIY Homeschool Planner

{Nerd Alert}

I made my own homeschool daily planner this year.  The level of excitement about this planner is truly where the "nerd alert" comes in.  I can't help it.  Who doesn't love a good all in one lesson planner/calendar?  (Just me?  Okay, skip this post.)

In lei of trying to "drive" you through the planner with photos, I made a video.  It took many tries to not be interrupted.  It got long.  Apparently I was lonely and enjoying your company.

I felt admittedly dorky talking my way through a planner.  However I appreciated the couple of videos I watched of other people showing their planners so I thought I'd join in the club.  

Stop.  Did you love the looks of the planner we used for last year?  The one I bought?  No judgment here!  Purchase yours for 2015-16 here: http://www.mardel.com/Homeschool/Homeschool-Resources/A-Simple-Plan-Planner-2015-16/p/3285681

I misquoted by a little.  In the video I think I said it was $25-30.  It was on the lower end of that...$20+ shipping.  Like I said - it's been a nice planner, just a bit cumbersome to carry!

 

 

The link to these calendars ^^ http://www.imom.com/printable/2015-printable-calendar/  

 

The link to these calendars ^^ http://www.calendarpedia.com/ 

 

The link to the sheet on the left ^^ http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/our-homeschool-planner/

The sheet on the right is one I designed.

This sheet and many others (including the goal sheets), plus the inspiration for some of the other things I designed and included came from: http://www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/free-printables/7-step-curriculum-planner/

 I designed the log sheets. 

Overall I'm quite pleased and am starting to fill things in.  I'm ready to start lesson planning (I know, we're not quite done with this year's lessons yet!).  I anxious for the larger binding spines to arrive and to get tabs for the divider pages so it's even easier to utilize.  If you make your own planner I'd love to see it!

Are We There Yet? {12 Weeks With #4}

Twelve weeks under the belt with baby #4.  As if I could wear a belt at this point.  

When you just had a baby last year your body tends to lose it's shape a bit faster.  Shape.  Round is a shape, right?  Sigh.  

Sweet baby.  You are loved.  You are wanted.  I am excited for you to add joy to our family.  

Right now baby is the size of a lime.  I haven't had much sickness except yesterday (I.felt.terrible.).  I have had the worst specific cravings of my life and of any other pregnancy.  They are intense and instant and make me whiny.  I try not to be whiny.  Truly.  The cravings are never consistent and usually something we don't have which makes them feel worse even though all things and feelings are controllable.  High on my list of wanted foods are cheeseburgers that I don't have to prepare.  It'd be easier if it was a cheeseburger made at home but I don't want to smell them cooking.  Terrible, right?  Mike did grill me a delicious burger last night...sigh.  Food.  The root of much of my evil.  Ha!

I'm ready for the fatigue of the 1st trimester to move past.  We haven't sold our house yet so rearranging bedrooms to get Mia out of ours is on my summer to-do list.  I'd love ideas on making a little house grow (more!).  Otherwise, we're excitedly tossing around names and gender guesses.  The children keep coming to us with Bible name suggestions like Noah, Esther and Moses.  They are both cheering and praying for a boy and telling each other another sister would be okay.  

Life is in full swing (& bloom) here at the Beeler Joyful Jamboree.

Groooowwwwing!

Someone around these parts is growing up quickly!

She's climbing...

She moves that step stool and climbs up on it.  The other day she started shrieking in the bathroom so I hustled in and she'd climbed on the lid of the potty and was "stuck" - too afraid to come back down.

She LOVES bath time.  When I get her towel from it's hook she hustles to the far side of the tub in "hiding."

Her receptive language is phenomenal.  She understands no, come, go bye bye, get your shoes, diaper time, ni-night, and more...and of course the really important things like "where's your jelly roll?"

She's struggling to express herself with words.  They are all in there, I'm sure, but as such she's one and can't file them out quite yet.  We'd had quite a bit of this lately...

...when things didn't go her way.  I've started using single word signs and letting her watch a little more of her Baby Signing Time and she really is using it more, especially just this week.

Today's favored sign has been "more."  If I offer a bite of something she doesn't want she shakes her head or turns away.  If I say the item she wants, or hold it up, she signs "more."  Smart-cake!

In this video I was pleased to see her sign "more" and follow it with the sign for "eat/bites/food". 

I'm trying to be very conscious about naming items, colors, counting things out with her, etc.  All these things remind me that she's quickly becoming a big girl.

 

 

(a sometimes silly big girl!)

 

Love you, Sugar Bean!

Save a Life

Many years ago I was a very young secretary at our home church and a little girl in our town relapsed with leukemia.  The town was stunned and wanted to rally to do something.  We prayed, we organized a fundraiser to help offset costs of travel and expenses and then, when she needed a bone marrow donor, I prayed some more and began the work of organizing a bone marrow drive.  Back then, becoming a member of the National Bone Marrow registry was kind of an ordeal.  It involved a blood draw, which isn't something that can exactly be done in home.  I partnered with the National Marrow Donor Registry and we had an outstanding drive.  During that time I myself became a member of the national marrow donor registry and have never for a minute regretted that commitment. 

A few years later I received a call that I was a preliminary match for a person needing a transplant.  Was I still interested?  Of course, of course I was still willing.  I answered an hour's worth of questions over the phone and they sent the blood draw kit to my local doctor.  There were a few of us that were potential members for this particular person and as such they sent kits to our doctors so they could further test us.  There were six (I believe) vials that needed filled up.  I am not an easy person to get a blood draw on.  I don't regret a minute of that two hours and multiple sticks it took to fill those tubes. 

I didn't end up being the final match for the person in question.  I did pray for them - that their perfect match was found and that they were able to receive a transplant.  Had I been the match I would have willingly undergone the procedure. 

As a mother of four I am all the more stricken with intense purpose when it comes to finding matches for people who need transplants.  Everyone looking for a match is someone's child, someone's parent, someone's brother or sister.  I look at my babies and pray to God that if we couldn't save them and they couldn't save each other that God would save them through this process. 

It is a commitment.  I do understand that.  I actually have had to put myself on temporary "hold" from the registry through each pregnancy and nursing cycle, but after each time period I willingly go back on without question.  I am not a hero.  Those fighting these diseases are the heros.

Mike and I were dating (engaged maybe?) back when I did the Bone Marrow Drive but the weather was less than perfect and he didn't make the drive home from college to sign up.  There is a baby boy in our community, a 9 month old, who is looking for his perfect match and it reconvicted us that it was time to get Mike on the registry.  Truthfully I was prepared to pay for his kit and have it sent to our doctor's office, thinking it was still a blood draw process.  It is SO easy to do now.  Four buccal swabs and you're done. 

We sent for Mike's kit a couple of weeks ago and completed it in minutes.  It is in the mail on it's way back to the registry center.

Please hear me when I say this - do not sign up unless you are willing to follow through on your commitment.  You are committing to undergo a medical procedure - and while I see it as minimal it is still a commitment.  Think it through.  After you think on it, if you decide joining the registry would be for you, follow this link to order your kit. 
http://bethematch.org/Support-the-Cause/Donate-bone-marrow/Join-the-marrow-registry/Join-now/
You can make a donation to have the kit sent but you do not have to. 

Every 4 minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer.  Make a difference.  Save a life.

Show and Share Night

Our homeschool co-op had their 2nd annual Show and Share Night this weekend.  This is a huge event for our children and my personal children had been anticipating it greatly.  They generally only have 1-2 "events" a school year where we invite family and friends to attend and this was the "BIG" one.  We had over 95 people in attendance and I was blown away by the talent that all of the children shared.  

My children are still quite young, however I want to encourage them to not be bashful and to take these opportunities to present, so we worked on short memorization pieces for them to recite during the share time.  

Xavier got a little gun shy and I was afraid there was going to be a break down, however he pulled it together and did fantastic.  Have I mentioned lately that he's growing up?

He sang the 12 Apostles Chant from our bible curriculum, Bible Study Guide for All Ages.

Natalee was tickled pink to be presenting this year, which both floored and pleased me!  Last year she did a solo ballet dance and was happy to do so as long as she didn't have to speak.  This year she was happy to say her bible verse, Matthew 22:36-40.

Both of the children took part in a choral group led by Miss Janeane, and as such they got to take the stage with their class and sing:

 

Xavier participated in the Lego co-op class this spring, which didn't have a "performance" but did share a building structure downstairs.  Natalee participated in ballet class and they performed three pieces at the end of the share night.

 

I led this little class, using the DVD A Fantasy Garden.  We started class with warm-ups and a game, then spent some time with the DVD, paused for a story using my Usborne's Ballet Treasury book, did some "fun/wild" songs from the DVD, and then had another short dancing game before closing.  We met weekly for an hour and 15 minutes and I was very pleased with the girls at the performance.  

Besides our upstairs talent shares there were also tables set up downstairs with all kinds of things the students brought in.  There was a movie a family made, art work, Lego structures, lap books...it was really quite amazing.  I got so overwhelmed and involved in fellowship (a.k.a. running my mouth) for the time I was there that I didn't snap one picture!  Our children took their habitats that we'd carefully saved from this winter and got many sweet compliments on them.

We are thankful for the support of our family and friends that encourage us on our educational journey.  We've had a great co-op year and are also grateful for our friends!

Ball Season is Underway!

The kids had their first coed practice of the season last week and boy are we going to have a great summer!  Their coaches were fun and respectful and worked them hard for an hour.  Xavier has watched Natalee play for 2 years now, just barely missing the date cut-off last year, and was so excited for ball season to begin this year that you could probably feel his energy vibrating towards y'all wherever you live!  

There is some great reward in having to wait for something so long and having it live up to every expectation you imagined.  

He was on cloud 9 the whole hour, soaked up every tidbit his coaches fed him, and has his bag carefully packed and hanging ready for practice this week.

 

Xavier is what I often describe as a bit of a dramatist, so when he rounded the base to home and chose to slide into the plate I inwardly groaned.  He got up and I could see the scrapes and droplets of blood on his shin.  "Here we go," I thought.  "Here come the tears."  However, he got up, brushed off, looked at me from the corner of his eye, looked at his home plate coach, and said "whew."  Off he went.  He did put a band aid on a still bleeding spot when he got home but otherwise he never said a word.  That was a bit of a proud mama moment and a true moment of realization that he is growing up.

  

Natalee is getting to experience life as one of the older kids. This is her last year in the coed division.  I noticed that she was calmer, more alert, and more in tune with what is going on in the game.  I also noticed that, while she didn't bend down and play in the dirt, she did make sure she could still make a puff of dust with her cleat. 

Last year she was one of like five or six kids who played lefty.  This year she is the single lefty on her team.  I was pleased that she advocated for herself when she went to bat by telling the coach she batted lefty.

The coaches did an outstanding job at the first practice of talking to each kid, giving them an expectation or something to work on, and then taking the time to practice it right away.  There wasn't yelling or confusion but instead a lot of group and one on one instruction.

I'm excited for the season even if that does mean sitting at practice in the less than sunny and warm weather tomorrow.

Mia took it all in like the big girl she's becoming.  I know what she's thinking...only 3 more years until she can play!

Berestein Bears Live

We're becoming quite the theater regulars these days...

Daddy bought us tickets to see the Berenstein Bears live last week so we loaded up and headed north to catch the show.  

I decided to take a chance and take Ameliya with us.  The show wasn't until 7, which borders on her bedtime hour, however she loves music and bops along to the praise and worship time during church on Sundays so I thought she might enjoy the singing.  She was all gussied up for her theater debut...

  

 

She did love it and sat nicely on my lap with our ring sling as a "seat belt/wiggle reducer" until the end.  

 

 

When we went to Flat Stanley there were no photos allowed.  They did allow non-flash photography during this one, so I snapped a few with my phone.  The kids loved it!

 

 

 

The show was all about "family matters"...telling the truth, eating right, exercising, talking to strangers, etc.  It's fun to hear the themes come out in the kids' play.  I'm always amazed at what these folks can do with 4-5 actors/actresses, simple scenery and a good script!