Photo Post from Palm Sunday Weekend

Lucas and Caleb, Caleb said make a funny face. He looks pained in this picture but these boys were happy to see each other and definitely having fun. This was at Milano's Birthday party on Friday night. The girls and I went too. They got to bowl, play video games, play laser tag and also eat plenty of oizza and birthday cake. Lucas was happy to get a chance to hang out with his buddies from his SA united soccer team.

Emaleigh and Sadie

Addie and Rahlynn playing air hockey.

Lucas was playing opposite of Raylynn.

On the next morning, Saturday, we took the kids early to Morgan's Wonderland for their Easter Eggstravaganza event. The park is specially designed for special needs children with special assessinity and extra sensory stuff. There were several egg hunts divided by kids ages but we just hung out and played until the soccer games started at the fields just next door. Emaleighninsisted to dress up and therefore had to change to soccer clothes in a flash. The other two were dressed for work. Lucas was in his soccer clothes and Addie was dressed for the TCC fundraiser that we all participated in after soccer.

Emmy and Lucas's games were at the same time and I actually didn't get any pictures of their games on Saturday. Our friends, the Stacey's showed up to watch with us. 

We headed after the game for a quick lunch at Sonic and then to Wal Mart to sell goodies to raise funds for the TCC. The whole family dressed in their Storming Normandy Tshirts. I only got a photo of Lucas while we were there. They all did great. Addie and Lucas each got several $20 donations from passers by that thought they were cute, interesting or knowledgeable. Addie holds a sign that says "Ask me about D-Day"  When people ask she gives them a quick history lesson.  Many people are shocked that she actually knows her stuff here.  One of the first times she forgot what she was goingto say next and fell into tears.  This was another Saturday over a month ago.  The history teacher she was talking to was still impressed and dropped back by our table on the way out and handed Addie a $20 bill. Even though she started in tears, she was so encouraged by this interaction she has answered the question since then with much more confidnece.  Lucas just tells everyone that passes in a cowboys shirt or a soccer jersey that he likes his shirt and they usually head straight to the table to stock up on chocolate.

Saturday evening we got to host our Stacey girls for a sleepover so mom, dad and baby could have a date night.  It has been since the weekend that baby brother was born in December that we got to have them here so everyone was so excited.  They played hard until the sun went down then we ate some pizza, watched a movie with popcorn and then settled into bed for the night.  They are awesome fun girls to have for a sleepover.  We all went to church the next day and headed after to a picnic/ Easter Egg hunt. 

The Boys (minus Kevin)  Hudson likes to be held facing out and when you talk to whoever is holding him he looks into your eyes and nods ,like he is listening. Austin serves the US military in the army at San Antonio Military Medical Center.  He is a heart cath technician and had alot of knowledge and encouragement when mom was in the hospital with he heart bypass surgery.

Addie and Lucas took the opportunity after church to hop rides into the Stacey's truck.  All their girls wanted to ride with us in the van.  The also seized the opportunity to be super silly with Easter baskets on their heads.

Love Note from my Four Year Old

Emaleigh has been learning to read. Everyone has pitches in to help
her learn and it has been fun because she is so enthusiastic and loves it. But apparently she has also been learning to write notes. She brought me this one yesterday. On the front she wrote her name. On the back she wrote a sweet note with her own spelling. I Luv It!

Wednesdays with FPU

It is Wednesday. For most Wednesday evenings for the last year the Force family is at Journey Fellowship to lead others to financial peace in the Financial Peace University program by Dave Ramsey, yeah that dude on the radio from Tennessee. And if you can't get past his accent, search for his paid for in cash home on google and tell me then if you think he MIGHT know what he is talking about when he leads people to live like no one else.
We are 8 weeks into this class period. I love seeing people travel in thought about how they relate to money as they listen to these lectures. The first lesson is basically and introduction and overview and the word budget is thrown around loosely. After that class people seem like they just got to the front of the line of the newest, scariest, curviest, upside downiest roller coaster in the park and they know they are about to buckle into a commitment that will make them uncomfortable but will probably be worth it.
We always worry a little if people will try to jump off too early. Not necessarily dangerous but definitely without full value and there is tremendous value here. Our last two sessions have been smaller but every family stayed and we have watched people move from heels dug in to fully committed to getting out of debt and being intentional with their income and giving and saving like no one else so they can live like no one else. Anyway, it is why we still volunteer to lead this class. I love watching people grab on and walk into financial peace. The following is one of my favorite quotes. There are many
"If you move into a home with any debt and no money down, Murphy will move I to your spare bedroom and bring his three cousins, Broke, Desperate and Stupid" Dave Ramsey, FPU- Lesson 8, REAL ESTATE and MORTGAGES
The attached photos are completely unrelated to the post, just photos from today. Emaleigh asked me to take the one of her in black and red.

Cooking in the Family

I originally posted this on March 3rd, but when I tried to update the post with keywords for searching later all of the text was deleted.  Agh!!!!
In my post I talked about Emaleigh recovering from illness that started on morning of my birthday.  She and I were staying home from church and she was resting contently quietly and without need of attention from me.  So I was cooking some gumbo for our family lunch on a day with a bit of a chill in the air. My gumbo and jambalaya recipes that I cook are beth derived from MawMaw Myra's recipes.  She is not my grandmother though. She is grandmother of my dear friend Zac Tureau.  He and I along with Kari L'huillier lived together in Las Cruces for a while and we used food to make friends.  We started with a pot for 6 people but before long we were cooking for 30-50 and it was something I continued even after Zac left Cruces.  Food has always worked for me to bring people together in a happy way.  Eventually, in one of those cooking for many occasions after Zac moved, I captured Kevin with a pot of Jambalaya.
Here is the recipe for Jambalaya incase there is some out there you think worthy of capturing with a warm meal:


MawMaw Myra’s Jambalaya
1 lb smoked sausage sliced into wheels
2 chicken breast boiled and shredded
1 large white onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
some tobasco not too much
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups rice
4 cups water

Cook sausage in an uncovered large. pot on med-hi heat until it is very done, burned really, trust me.  Drain fat and add chicken, the bell pepper and onion and cook until onions are clear and mushy.  Add garlic, salt, pepper, tobasco or other hot sauce and stir before also adding rice and water. When mixture comes to boil and rice is about even with water turn heat down to low, cover and wait 20 minutes.  In 20 minutes uncover fluff rice and serve.  Serve with sliced white bread and white beans and ham.  Serves 6 unless my father in law is there.  In that case it serves 3

Birthday Surprises

Plans for today have been in the works for quite a while thanks to my sister, Amy. She is good at planning, gifting and celebrating among other things of course. She registered for her and me to run in a 5k race on this morning of my 38th birthday. That is perhaps THE thing that went according to plan today.
We drove up to Austin last night just so I could conveniently wake up in the same city of the morning's race. Good that that was our plan so our kids got some time to play together. Emaleigh and Olivia acted like they were presidents of each others fan club for two hours before we made very one settle down and go to sleep. This morning we got up, had a small breakfast and then started doing a series of things at the same time. My kids want to run too, can they register, do they even have shoes, we scrambled out the door to try to quickly get them registered. It takes cash only so Kevin and Emaleigh make a quick trip to pick up cash and hand it off and I register and they pin their bibs on just in time for the kids start. We race TO THE START just in time and then I check my phone. Kevin has texted me to say that Emaleigh just threw up. That is the thing that set the time for the rest of the day. I did finish the 5k with Amy. But after we got back to the Baltera home and hoped all was better and tries to move on with celebrate plans, Emaleigh let us know that it wasn't going to go that way by throwing up again. We drove back to San Antonio, but not before Uncle B picked up a sweet birthday cake with birthday wishes scripted in my favorite color for me. They sent it home with me. We were mostly home when Kevin and I decided to stop by Costco and pick up
birthday steaks to grill at home AND Emaleigh threw up again. OK, loud and clear. So we have been home most of the day with one sick but very sweet little girl and a boy who seems like it might be him before long and I think one kid still fully healthy. We did have steak, thanks to Kev, but we saved the cake til Emmy is better. The kids got together a gift for me. They wrote me a letter telling me to take a week off and they would do all the chores all week including washing my van. So sweet, I guess I may have to start another book.

Dad, Sorry I missed a day

It seemed like nothing much happened except that enough happened that there was no time to say so. Sometimes staying at home and homeschooling gives me the opportunity to start several things and finish none of them hence, nothing to write about.
Today seemed mostly the same. I will
attach three photos to this post. Here is a short description of each. Sorry if you have to scroll up and down for this bit. My phone always puts the photos at the end of the post.
1. Emaleigh Lucille Force is officially reading at what I am fairly sure is a first grade level. I learned over the weekend what the public school's expectations for the kinder readers are by end of the year and she is there. She could use more practice with sight words but I do have some tools for that. She is doing amazing with this Dick and Jane reader that we picked up from a garage sale.
2. Addie was right by my bed when I took that photo of ELF and insisted that I photograph her fish face.
3. Aunt Claudia gave me the shirt that Addie is wearing in this picture over 9 years ago. It is really a sweet shirt that she got from the thrift store in Del Norte. I was never able to wear it. I was pregnant with Addie when she gave it to me. It fits Addie perfectly. We decided it made her look a bit French. This is her French pose.

Yo Gabba Gabba, The Littlest Lyons turns 2!

When your papa is so cool that he rocks DJ Lance Rock's bright orange furry beanie for your 2nd birthday then you know life is good. Can you dig it? Can you dance?
Today was a busy day with a conference at Lucas's school, a little fundraising, a birthday party and a choir performance. Easily the highlight was the birthday party. This little girl is not to be overlooked. When she was only 14 months she preferred to be left alone in the swimming pool. Fiercely independent but purely her age in terms of fun potential. If there is fun to be had then she wants to be right in the middle of it. Don't tell her she's too little. Nothing is too big or too difficult for her. She's full of smiles and plenty polite. A favorite word of hers is, "thanks".
Fun party and awesome little girl. Can't wait to see what her next year brings. I am happy that we were invited to be a part of her celebration.
Yo Gabba Gabba style.

Unexpected Nicities

Today was full of surprises. Actually the two surprises I am thinking of came within the same hour or so. One was super awesome and one was a reminder that she who tries to do 70 things at the same time might not have enough brain left to remember to not...So the awesome surprise was a drop in by our friend and insurance agent, Tracey Blackwell. If you are not already friends with Tracey it is only because you haven't met her yet. She spills smiles wherever she goes so if you met her, you would love her. Kevin met her first and told me this. I met her second, he was right.At the beginning of this year, Tracey posted a status asking friends to comment if they wanted something from Tracey as part of Pay it Forward 2013. You may have seen posts like this, some said the friend would make a hand made item, some incldued a handwritten note or a date for lunch. I posted it as well and am pretty behind on handmade items for my list of people. Tracey brought to our home her smile and a bright purple box of Chalk-a-doos. There are like ten chalk holders, pre-filled with chalk, and stencils for making designs on the sidewalk. The little holders have fun faces like tigers,hippos, ladybug, elephants, snails and the like. It was a wonderful surprise at the start of the day for my homeschoolers and me.
From there, the principle of our school gave us a ride to the Chrysler dealership to pick up our van. We had a few things tweaked including taking care of a recall that was outstanding and getting a duplicate key made. When we bough the van in November, we were issued only one key which just made me really nervous. So so many reasons that it is better to have two keys. One of those reasons is incase I lock my keys in my car, Kevin, our homeschool principal, can come to my rescue with his copy. So the key is copied and crisis averted if it happened yesterday. Can I tell you that I locked my keys AND the copy in the car in the Frost Bank parking lot about half an hour after I picked up the van? Ugh, how embarrassing!
Well we made the most of our hour wait before pop-a-lock came to rescue us for a price by Journeying next door to our church and finding seething to entertain us in the pre-school room.
Aside: the pre-school room is where Kevin and I facilitate the Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. That is to say financial responsibility is so easy a 4 year old can do it.
So back to playing with the girls while we wait. There was this really cool build a track toy with wheels and spirals. Together we built a cool track to send marbles down. That right there was an impromptu lesson on gravity.
So two surprises, one awesome the other less convenient but ultimately a bit fun anyway. Now I have a friendly pop-aLock guy I hope I never need to call.

My Kids Go To Work

Last Friday the kids and I did a little brainstorming exercise. I asked them to tell me what they thought their chores were. The kids who could write had five minutes to write their list. Then I let Emaleigh tell me what she thought her chores were. Next I asked them to tell me how they were compensated and if they got paid for all of those chores or just some of them.
I was surprised about how many things they put on their list. It was evident though that they didn't really know what their work was worth. It was time to be specific and a little more detailed about what exactly was expected of each of them, what chores qualified as extra work and what the pay was for expected chores and for extra work. So together we made a list of chores for each kid. Addie and Lucas get 7 chores each and Emmy has 6. These are the chores for which they will earn a weekly commission provided they are done to be paid on Sunday. Then we made a fourth list of chores that they can do for extra money. The extra chores are worth a quarter each.
Today I finally finished putting our outcomes together on a board that is now hanging in our school room. The kids love it and as if on cue they got into chores as soon as it was up. I am optimistic that the brainstorming exercise means they have bought in to my plan for world domination by having them do all the housework leaving my more time for royal schemes.
In other news, Emaleigh ran inside from the back yard excited to tell us about the little creature with a fuzzy back that she found in the yard. I hope this little creature
didn't have any friends.

Twofer Tuesdays

That is just how Tuesdays go during soccer season which started again today. Choir practice and soccer practice both start at 5 pm and we have the challenge to get three kids to two different places. Did you notice that I said three? Today is Emaleigh's very first practice for her very first year playing soccer. She is really thrilled. She is a natural at gymnastics but this opportunity will allow her to shine for her daddy. Daddy doesn't get to see her practice at gymnastics on Fridays at 11, but he took her to practice tonight and she rode over there on a cloud. Her first game is this Friday.
Addie's practices with the Texas Children's Choir are every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-6:30 pm and once a month for a few hours on a Saturday. They have a performance this Saturday for a blue and gold ceremony. They are singing 5 songs AND dancing for one. Dancing is totally new for the choir since Addie has been with them. I can't wait to see how that goes.
So that's a typical Tuesday, rush to two places at once and then home to come together for dinner.
I need to say here, many days we would not have made it to our two places without the help of our great friends, the Huffs. D&D are almost like second parents to our three and I think we are for their three too! I guess somebody said it takes a village; for us life is definitely better with a couple of partners who love us and our kids as much as we do.
Actually we have a lot of helpers. We are so lucky.

Hey, Are You Still With Me?

Well, I have taken an almost two year break from publishing on this blog.  Honestly I thought it was longer.  I just looked at photos from my last blog post and Oh my goodness! my cute kiddos have grown so much since then.  We have lost teeth, learned to ride bikes, excelled in soccer, tried dance, started school a couple of times too among other things.  So there, that is kinda the last two years in a nutshell.  Well, my readership is very quaint, so I know you all know that so much more has transpired during that time, but let's talk about now. 

Raise your hand if you thought I was crazy when I said that Kevin and I had made the choice to homeschool our children.  OK, our choice was well thought out, deliberated and finally sort of encouraged by our oldes,t who was just having repeated heartbreak on a daily basis at school.  Her heartbreak wasn't the only factor, just the deciding one. 

I spent a bit of time during Spring and Summer reading about homeschooling, unschooling, rules and regulations. I went to the FEAST (Family Education alliance of South Texas) homeschool curriculum book fair in May and was flooded with information that made me feel underwater. Were we going to be traditional, classical, unit study or living books homeschoolers?  Which curriculum would we use?  Would we choose one company for all or spread it around?  Or use none of the above and totally wing it with what life threw at us. Well one thing for sure that I did know was that I always want learning to be a joy. And I want our homeschool to be so much more than public school at home. So I guess that is two things then...

The most fun thing I found at FEAST was SimplyFun. I started my little play as a SimplyFun playologist. SimplyFun's call is to build smarter kids and stronger families through play. I saw these games and knew I had to have them for our family. Who doesn't love some family play time that can also be educational?

  I was drawn to the game, Sumology, first because I love math (if you didn't know) and to Let's Drive second because I love road trips, but feel fairly deficient in geographic knowledge of the northern USA.  I signed up to start sharing these games with friends and family that I thought might like to play to learn like us. Now I am hosting parties for friends who get to earn free games and I am making new friends. The kids and I got to go to the SimplyFun convention for playologists in Las Vegas where the kids all got a Tibbar rabbit for playing so well while mommy learned more about new games and sharing. So that's new.
 
And here we are in the second week of actual planned and scheduled homeschool.  Ultimately we chose to start somewhat with a traditional textbook approach for math using the A Beka curriculum.  Addie is moving along swiftly in her math so far.  Many mornings she is up and at 'em by 6:30 cracking her math book and trying to work ahead.  She is moving through these lessons at almost double speed.  We chose A Beka for math pretty much because I knew it didn't suck and I found it for $5 at a book swap.  AND eventually a friend passed more A Beka along for language arts and then another for reading.  So we are doing some traditional homeschooling using A Beka.  We have not chosen a curriculum for science, but we are currently studying the ocean and specifically sea turtles.  We have many books by scholastic that we found at our friendly neighborhood thrift store to support this endeavor along with a great book from the library and a movie on netflix.  Addie and I drew sea turtles together yesterday.

That was SUCH a learning experience for both of us. Did you know that Addie is not perfect?  She sometimes forgets.  We got started by tracing a circle, but when the next step called for a free hand leaf shape for the body that was pretty much symmetrical, she lost it.  I mean she had a total meltdown and my patience was being challenged too.  This was supposed to be a fun artsy break for my artsy girl that also tied into what we had been studying. When she couldn't get that body perfect in her eyes, it was like the world was going to end.  We tried to keep moving forward, but it was as if she were possessed.  This joyful fun girl was being brought down by an imperfect leafy sketch. REALLY!!!

 

Eventually, she threw herself down on her bed in her room and mourned her shortcomings. Next she came back to get her paper and pencil and brought it back to her room as if I were the reason she couldn't draw a perfect turtle. And then like magic, 15 minutes later, she re-appeared and was smiling. She gave me a hug and told me she loved me and finished her turtle.  What a struggle!  This is going to continue to be a learning challenge I know.  We navigated it for the first time and I expect not the last, but ultimately she was pretty pleased and easy on herself when it didn't look exactly like the example we were following steps from.  I told her it was perfect and she is now proud because she did it all by herself.  She did identify things she wishes she did differently and wants to draw another one to send to her Grandma Prewitt.

 

Emaleigh is also homeschooling with us. She is working primarily on writing. We have write-on place mats for her to practice writing letters and numbers and she has also learned to write her name.

 She can spell the names of everyone in our family.  Her daddy was so impressed with her at bed time last night that she kept asking for more tasks to show him her brilliance.  At bed time...I was exhausted but she was so cute giggling as she ran out of the room to go do something to impress her daddy. 

 

The girls started gymnastics last Friday which I honestly think if you ask them, it is better than candy and probably the only thing we now have take away power with for Emaleigh :)

 

So what about Red? maybe you are asking yourself.  Well that lucky duck got a homeschool pass because he is at James Masters Elementary in first grade with the best teacher EVER, Mrs. Gallegos-Perez.  She is amazing and we love her.  She was Addie's teacher for both kinder and first grade.  We love her because she obviously has a heart for the job she is doing.  She loves her students but even when it was just Addie in her class she started a relationship with Lucas and Emaleigh and has always been encouraging to all of our kids.  She teaches the kids to their level and challenges them appropriately rather than choosing a class pace based on the weakest link.  I just always loved that if Addie could do what Mrs. Perez was asking, then she changed it to something a little more difficult.  For me, she actually promoted growth rather than "good enough"  So Lucas is still in public school.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Here they are on the first day of school.  I love how Addie wore the tie dye.  That would never go at her public school.

 

Well Kevin just got home about an hour ago and told the kids they needed to eat dinner and take a nap or there would be no circus this evening.  I just noticed that there are empty plates and all three kids and one dad are napping so I am going to go grab a moment of peace.  Maybe I will read a book I like.  Have a Happy weekend.