Class of 2010

Hannah is officially a Pre K graduate! She didn't get a sweet car or a big wad of cash but she did get a stuffed bear wearing a graduation cap, some mylar balloons, a bouquet of sunflowers, and a box of candy. She was pretty pleased. She was so cute as she was walking down the aisle with the rest of her classmates, waving to all of us. She had a nice crowd gathered for this most important event in her life--Aunt Tookie, Moo Moo, Bobbo, Unkie, Papaw, Grendy, me, her sister, and her cousin. Unfortunately, Ryan had to work tonight.

Tomorrow is a half-day and the last day of school. Hannah will be at school a whopping three hours, so I think everyone will just party it up. :) Since we're homeschooling, it will be just us after tomorrow. Kinda weird to think about. We won't have that "crutch" of anticipating school being back in session come August. I'm still very excited about what's ahead, trying to find activities to keep us busy during the summer. So far we have bowling, summer programs at the library, VBS, and our normal library day where we check out at least 20 books at a time. If anything else is out there (free or cheap!), just give me a holler!

I thought the hard stuff would come later

What I mean about the hard stuff is parenting and that can mean pretty much EVERYTHING! One thing I am referring to right now is violence in video games. I know, I know...I should stop letting Hannah play Grand Theft Auto. Ha ha. The game I'm talking about is a Kung Fu Panda game we got Hannah for her birthday to play on her V-Motion. Each of these cartridges has about 7 differents game that teach different things like shapes, colors, etc. There is a game that is supposed to teach geometry by breaking open boxes to find matching shapes (see pic). Some of the boxes contain these spiked metal balls that the characters throw at each other, making the other one dizzy and see stars. I was very surprised that they included such a thing in a video game aimed at ages 4-6. As far as I can tell the other games seem perfectly fine, and Hannah really enjoys it (in case you didn't know, she has a thing for pandas). The best thing I can tell her is that she can't play this particular game, because they don't act nice to each other. She seems understanding to this, but I can't believe I am having to deal with this at this age. Threw me for a bit of a loop. Yes, kids (including mine) are bombarded with cartoon violence and most of the time we don't give a whole lot of thought to it. Once in a while we'll say something like, "Squidward wasn't be very nice to Spongebob. You should never hit other people." We recently dealt with a situation where a little boy at Hannah's school was hitting her, and we have told her hitting back was not the way to solve it. I just didn't want her to think that hitting (or in this case, throwing mideval weapons at other's heads) was funny or even a little bit okay.

Ugh, the second she turns 5 and I have to start teaching her about being a decent person in society. I'm hoping the next big thing that comes along will be more simple, like...how does a baby get inside mommy's tummy? I think I can deal with that.

Slumber Par-tay!

Grandkids spending Friday nights with the grandparents were quick to become a tradition when Hannah was a year old. Then came grandchildren #2 and #3 almost at the same time, and we parents were really quick to continue that tradition. Three times the fun! :D

Last night Hannah stayed with my mom (she switches between my parents and my grandma), and my mom already had Emma, my niece. My sister and bro-in-law went to KY for a kid-free weekend with friends. My mom figured it couldn't hurt to see how Autumn would do spending the night away from home for the first time. Ryan and I were both anticipating a middle of the night phone call saying Autumn was melting down and demanding her daddy. To our pleasant surprise, Autumn did fabulous! My mom claims Autumn is so devious she would make Bin Laden surrender, but she just doesn't understand us Caulfields need constant stimulation. Whether it's clearing out shelves of DVDs at 2 AM, hiding the remote control, or stealing Grendy's watch, we are unable to remain idle. Of course, everyone was exhausted the next morning. All three girls took four hour naps, and somewhat recovered. :)

While both kids were spending the night with their Grendy, Ryan and I were able to enjoy a date. We went out to dinner and Ryan took me to have a pedicure as an early Mother's Day present. When we came home we were in awe of not having at least one child to get ready for bed, and we woke up on our own rather than the squawking of a toddler or a 5-year old crawling into our bed at 5:30 AM. While it was quite lovely in a sense, it was also a reminder that stuff like that is not going to last forever. Eventually the girls will become teenagers who will want to sleep in, and we will be the ones trying to wake them up. :P

Waiting on our medical insurance...always a treat...

Just got word today that our silly, sweet Autumn may be getting tubes in her ears. She has an ear infection that will not go away, and today we had our third visit with her doctor. Now we get to wait on our insurance for a visit with an ears, nose, and throat specialist. I know getting tubes is a pretty typical procedure for kids to go through, but this is my kid! As anyone can tell, she is way better than all the other existing toddlers out there (okay, she and my niece are about neck and neck but that's it! :P). I'm sure all will be well, but no one ever wants to see their baby go through any type of procedure. Ugh, hate that word.

Kindergarten Curriculum

I believe I have found the curriculum I will be ordering for the next school year! I will be getting the complete Kindergarten curriculum from Timberdoodle. I am so excited! This set comes with a ton of stuff and it definitely fits our budget. Just reading about the different products, I know Hannah is going to have so much fun with everything! I'm sure as we go along I will get various supplements and electives depending on what interests catch Hannah's eye. I have a feeling I might as well start planning a panda unit now.

A Family Decision

Another school year is coming to a close, and even though summertime bring a whole plethora of different activites I can't help but already think about the 2010/2011 school year. Thanks to a lot of prayer and personal conviction, Ryan and I have decided to homeschool our children. This is something that started to cross my mind while we were living in GA, but I didn't do very much research and eventually forgot about it. Just a couple months ago, I felt the Lord start to lay it on my heart again, and I was a bit more fervent in praying for the Lord to just lead us where He wants us to go. I prayed for him to bring someone we could talk to, who has experience with homeschooling. Just a couple weeks ago we ended up to a young woman in our Sunday school class who homeschools her five children, and she was a tremendous help in what we need to do to get started. What a blessing! I spent a few hours yesterday online going to different websites, trying to figure out what curriculum would be best for us. I think I am coming to close to making a decision as far as what to order! There is such a freedom in having control of my kids' educations. I am very excited, and when we talked to Hannah about me being her teacher she seemed to be excited about it as well. One thing that is often asked about homeschooling is the social aspect, and that was a concern for us as well. Hannah is a social butterfly and never hestitates to introduce herself to a prospective new friend. Since homeschool can take only a few short hours a day as opposed to the normal 6-8 hours in a public school, we will have plenty of time for extracurricular activites such as dance, church, sports, etc. Not to mention various homeschool groups in the area. Just thinking about all the possibilities just thrills me to pieces!

Party Like a Panda...and Purge Toys Like Parents!

Hannah had a great weekend of panda cake, presents, and friends she has not seen in a long time. She kept saying to me that she "turned into 5", as if she has mutated into a totally different creature. In a sense, maybe she did. She is no longer considered a toddler (I actually haven't thought of her like in a while), but a school-age (would that be right, seasoned parents?). She got a lot of "big girl" toys as gifts, including Barbies, Littlest Pet Shops, and a new art easel from her Grammie and Tookie complete with markers and plenty of paper to color on. She pretty much got anything with tiny pieces her little sister can easily swallow. :P

Her daddy and I are in the midst of a toy purge to make room for her new stuff. We make that a mission after Christmas and birthdays to avoid being piled up with toys the girls never play with, although there are plenty of toys we are passing on to Autumn. When Hannah was about two, she had a lot of Little People sets including Noah's Ark, the Farm, and Zoo. Autumn has gone hog wild over them! Besides, I personally would not want to give those up because they are too cute! Even though we have enough of those Little People scattered on the floor for me to step on, I would still love to get Autumn any new set I see. I guess I will have to wait for her birthday in September. :) I can't help but already start thinking about a theme...