Hey, It's Jade! and family

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Our Little House in the Prairie...

So, our house was officially listed last Friday.  The photographer did a fantastic job of capturing our "model home."  The staging is nice, and even though keeping it "nice" is difficult with two little hurricanes living here... it's worth it.  Check out some of the pix:
Curb Appeal
Entryway and kitchen view from living room.

Living area
Kitchen and breakfast nook.
Master bedroom.
Backyard with swing set and deck.
We've had about 10 showings so far, and the feedback we've received from just a few of the potential buyers that bother to leave feedback... is that it's too small.  Yep, it's a perfect little house for a couple just starting out or empty nesters.  We are moving because we need a bigger space if we plan to have another child... which we do.  But, this house has served us well with our two current children and has been our home for over 10 years now.

Michael and I are enjoying looking through listings for what we want in a new house.  Actually, Michael has already found us the perfect house... at least on paper.  I keep thinking there must be something horribly wrong with it if it's still on the market, but who knows.  We'll probably start going to actually look at places next week.  Don't want to get too excited about a place and then have to lose it because ours hasn't sold yet.  BUT if ours happens to sell quickly, we'll need a place to live, right?

We are in the throes of this next step in our life, and believe it or not, I am still super calm and excited about it.  For me, that's huge.  I do not deal well with change, and this type of change (MOVING!!!) is major.  So, I guess that's a pretty good sign that this is the right time and God's got it under control.  

P.S. The thing I struggle most with right now in keeping the house tidy for spur-of-the-moment showings... making my bed.  Ugh, I HATE making my bed.  Always have.  I am blessed with a husband who feels the same way, so we've just never done it.  Plus, the kids are always tromping on it and throwing the blankets off anyway, what's the point?!  So yeah, lol, if that's any indication of how NOT STRESSED I am about this whole experience... the fact that the most trouble is making my bed.  RIGHT?!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Spring Turns into Summer...

Well, we're on break from school.  You'd think I'd have more time to blog... but not really.  I still need to upload the pix from my real camera of our camping trip several weeks ago.  Oops.  And lots of other this and that's on my to-do list as well.

We are busy getting ready for a garage sale this weekend.  Trying to de-clutter the house.  Why?  Well, I'm sick of the clutter and everything collecting dust.  No more "maybe I'll need this someday..."  Ugh, no, get rid of it!  But, also because we are planning to put our house on the market and move.  Like soon.  CRAZY.  We've been here over 10 years.  And it's just time to get out from under it... find a bigger place in a different area and start over a bit.  Obviously, we don't want to go too far.  We are very connected to our church near here, our friends and my parents... obviously, can't wander off to far from them.   So, we're in full-swing to make this happen this time.  Talking and meeting with realtors, seeing what our options are, having a foundation company come out and fix what they can.  It's overwhelming, and honestly... terrifying.  But exciting as well.  Just praying that we are truly guided by God in all of our decisions with this.  Both of us really feel it's time to move, so... we're doing what we can to get that ball rolling.


The kids are going through their phases.  Callen is still in his "terrible two" mode despite having turned three in March.  He is challenging, and it's just a real good thing he's so darn cute.  Sheesh.  Preston pesters him like crazy and often completely lacks common sense, so he has his share of trouble.  I'm doing my best, but I often feel like such a huge parental failure with them so far.  Preston cries about everything.  Callen destroys everything.  I'm sure that most kids their age are like this, and I'm expecting too much on them and myself.  It's just hard sometimes to see the same mistakes day after day, and no real sense of them "learning" the right way to act/react.  I keep looking at myself and realizing that I'm the same exact way, though.  God must face-palm Himself a lot regarding my actions, too.  Lol. On a positive note, the boys and I have met a new family in our area that we have just fallen in love with.  They travel a lot so we have to take advantage of them when they're around, but The Stauffers have been a great addition to our friend circle in the short time we've known them.  April and I get along really well, as do Preston and her son, who is 8.  They have two girls, too... and Callen enjoys all of them! Another random, but positive, note is that the boys and I have enjoyed having smoothies lately.  Getting in our veggies where we can.  The boys have loved them all, so it's really easy to make us a quick drinkable lunch packed with fruits and veggies (spinach!).  I am loving having that option instead of always trying to come up with a lunch that they'll actually eat.  Whew!

Michael finished up his teaching semester yesterday and won't be taking on a Summer class since they wouldn't fit his regular full-time job schedule.  Hopefully he'll get to return in the Fall.  His full-time job seems to be going along just fine, no real news to report there apparently.  Other side things are going ok, and he only does pizza every once in a while when they need an extra hand and he's able.  His earache, migraine, hip/leg pains are all still present and bothersome.  As are the many medical bills arriving constantly for the things we've tried to do for those particular ailments.  I just want him to feel good again.  Is that too much to ask?  He works so hard to provide for his family, it just isn't fair that he always has to be so miserable.  The boys have enjoyed utilizing Netflix with him and they watch episode after episode of superhero cartoons.  I'm glad that Michael is good at deciding which ones are appropriate for their ages, 'cuz I have no idea.  But they're quickly becoming experts on all things superhero and comic books, haha.

I was able to accomplish this year's Connect4Challenge with my Usborne Books & More business.  I am going to convention in June for FREE!  That'll be such a blessing.  A chance to get away, learn more about making my business successful, meeting a bunch of people I only know via Facebook.  I'm really looking forward to it!  After the last four months of steady action, taking a bit of a break in May and then I have a bunch of events lined up for June to hopefully get right back into the swing of things.  Getting the commission checks for those months was definitely a nice thing, plus... now I don't have to spend out-of-pocket money and feel guilty about going to convention!  Woo hoo!

That's about all I can muster at the moment, as far as an update goes.  I do have several things on my to-do list that need to get knocked out over the next few months, so... prayers that those get taken care of easily.  And prayers that this moving business is a smooth transition for all of us.  I'm a natural worrier and get extremely stressed out with big change like this.  I'm TRYING to take it easy and go with the flow, but that is just not how I'm wired.  

Friday, May 3, 2013

Homeschool Recap, May 3rd (Week 34) DONE!

In our lives this week...
Just gotta say, so glad to be DONE for a little while.  We've got some crazy stuff up in the air, and I need a break to focus energies elsewhere.  However, the boys NEED activity, so can't sit still for long.  We'll see what can be done with our brief time out.

Even at 7, still an adorable sleeper!


In our Homeschool this week...
Tot School: What tot school?  ;)
Enjoying a good book and some sunshine.
Bible:   This week's name of Jesus was "The Alpha & Omega" and Preston's memory verse is Revelation 21:6. We looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that explained how Jesus is the first and the last!  Put our final picture up on the branch.  Isn't it awesome?
Names of Jesus Branch
Reading/Writing: We finished Spelling by Sound & Structure. Did a few final reviews/tests of words Preston has struggled with over the year. 

History: This week Preston learned about Alaska (read and watched the movie Balto) and Hawaii (read The Island-Below-The-Star) to close out the 50 states.  The boys enjoyed listening to the audio book The Scrambled States of America.  We also learned about the White House, and wrote a letter to the President and finished out our wall time line.  Reviewed some of the things in the History Notebook.
Working on White House facts and worksheets.

Math:
Preston is finished going through comprehensive reviews of each chapter using Math Mammoth worksheets, and took his year-end test.  He did great.  Really, the only questions he missed was because he didn't read the instructions and/or pay close enough attention to the signs. 

Science:  This week's we learned about a few more birds in Birds, Nests & Eggs. And used First Encyclopedia to talk about electricity and computers.

Music/Art: Done.
Spanish: Did a Spanish alphabet review and read a few easy reader books in Spanish.

We did it.  ALL DONE with 2nd Grade!!!


We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

April 2013 Tweets and Instagrams to Remember...

Apr 6th - Beautiful lilies in my yard. a ding a ding time!
  
Apr 6th - Great Grandma is 92 and pushing Callen around on on walker.

Apr 9th - I have already declared "I hate summer!" Too soon?  

Apr 10th - My snuggle bunnies, staying warm this morning.  

Apr 10th - He was sent to his room as a punishment, but it looks like I'm the one being punished. What a mess!  

Apr 11th - Nice little note from UBAM CEO for being in the Top 50 Sales Leaders last month!  

Apr 11th - Before I blogged I didn't keep a journal, I had a day planner... And I wrote EVERYTHING in it. Lol.…  

Apr 15th - This is what love looks like: a husband who can make the stove and counter tops clean like this!…  

Apr 20th - This morning's amazing scenery behind our campsite at Beaver's Bend with the Cubscouts.  

Apr 26th - Reason number 457,392 that my mom is a super awesome amazing lady. Not only does she watch my kids all…  

Apr 26th - Chris posted that he likes this, lol!  

Apr 29th - I probably have hundreds of pictures of him sleeping as a baby. 7 years old and still an adorable…  

Apr 30th - Smoothie success! Kids are loving it!