Embarking the Insanity Train

Why is it that I have difficulty handling my schedule? I know I should get rid of some things...but what? Showering?

Here is what a normal weekday looks like...

7:00am Get Kids up, Breakfast
8:00am Seminary Drop-Off (20 minutes each way)
8:30am Foster Kids leave to visit a parent - Mom and Dad have different visitation days.
9:00am Start School w/ Christian
10:30am Seminary Pick-Up (20 minutes each way)
11:00am Start School w/ Marlayna
12:00pm Lunch
12:30pm Back to School
1:15pm Foster Kids arrive home
1:30pm Foster Kids go down for nap
3:00pm Finished with School - Foster Kids get up from Nap
3:15pm Snack Time
3:30pm Appointments - CPS Workers, Counseling, Doctors, Therapy, etc. (Almost every day there is something)
5:30pm Dinner
6:30pm Guitar Classes, Mutual, Scouts, etc.
8:30pm Foster Kids bedtime
10:30pm Mike gets home
Midnight - Bedtime for me if I'm lucky

There is not even time on here to bathe the kids every day. I have to try to wake them up earlier, which makes for very cranky kids, or bathe them only on the nights we do not have anything outside the home...like Monday and Thursday and Sunday. Thank goodness their parents feed them morning snack and lunch.

Fostering is a full-time job...and I don't mean taking care of the kids. I mean the extensive over scheduling! These kids have no down time. They never get to relax. No wonder foster kids have behavior problems. They can never be little kids. They have more appointments than a college student. I had to buy a planner just to keep track of all their meetings, visits with parents, counseling, therapy, doctor appointments, etc. I've decided that fostering is WAY underpaid. I make lass than $1 per hour, per kid to take care of all this stuff. So basically less than $2 an hour. I've been accused of doing this for money...well...you be the judge.

Christmas 2009 Pics

We are not all together often, but when we are I try to get a family picture. My husband refuses to get professional pictures and he hates how he looks in photos. Christian also dislikes having his picture taken. So, it is quite a bit of finagling to get these.

All of Us Together for Christmas 2009

 

Mike and Celeste

Our "True" Selves Shining Through

Catch-up and Christmas 2009

The Catch-Up

It has been WEEKS since I wrote on our blog. Life has been...well...very, very busy. Since becoming a foster family, we have been constantly sick. The children often arrive sick, have very poor immune systems, and therefore catch everything...bringing their illnesses home to us...getting us all  sick as they are toddlers and have no sense of germ containment. Since Jabber Jaw and Big Boy arrived we have had...

• Swine Flu
• Seasonal Flu
• Brochitis
• Sinus Infections
• Colds
  
• Stomach Flu
• ER visits for accidental injuries

It sometimes take up to 3 weeks for the illnesses to run through everyone. By the time we recover there is a new illness making it's way through the family.

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Sam came home for a few days and spent Christmas with us. I had several times when I thought, "This could be the last time it is like this." Sam is an adult and may not come home for Christmas in the future, or she could bring a husband/family with her.

This year we decided to focus on homemade gifts. I wanted our family to put more thought and more of themselves into their gifts. Also, I hoped for each family member to be thankful for what they receive, rather than worry about getting what they want. It was met with mixed reactions at first. Nobody really wanted to spend the time making gifts. But, as time progressed, I saw each person take pleasure in making their gifts. On Christmas morning it was so fun to see each person anxiously await the look on each person's face as they opened the gifts made by them. We had a wide variety of gifts, as each person's talents came into bloom! I'm thankful that I stuck to my guns about the homemade gifts. At one point I almost gave into the complaining. I even had difficulty getting my gifts done since I was so sick with bronchitis, sinus infection, and then stomach flu during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The main family gift that made a big hit was a Wii Fit Plus. Everyone has been using it and having a lot of fun. I have to say that some of it is really hard! I am very sore! I hope to post some pictures of Christmas soon!

Marlayna Turns 15!

Our sweet girl turned 15 this week. She is still adapting to the colder weather and asked for these warm boots for her birthday. We shopped till we dropped to find the right style in her size...she has small feet and boots fly off the shelves here as soon as they come in...and were rewarded with the perfect pair!


Only a few more months before this girl starts tearing up the streets learning to drive. Tonight is her party with 10 girls RSVP'ing so far. Should be a full house! She has tons of friends here and the girls all seem to get along fairly well. I'm so glad we found such good friends.

Her health has been really good this year. I'm so glad! I think we have found most of the things that trigger her Fibromyalgia problems. The Guaifenesin treatment helped the most and she has not been on it this whole past year. I think that when you catch Fibromyalgia early, you may not need to take it for the rest of your life. She also limits her dairy (including ALL milk proteins) and sugar intake, which she says helps a lot. I also read something recently linking immunizations to kids with Fibromyalgia, so we are not doing any more immunizations for her except tetanus.

Busy and Feeling it!

I'm tired...big surprise, huh? Well, I'm just beginning to feel that life is getting TOO busy...so what should I drop if I want to do a Six-Month Inventory and drop the least necessary items off my list?

This week's madness:

• Marlayna's Birthday (Big 15! Only a few months before teaching this sweet girl to drive! AAHH!)
  
• Pediatrician Well Visits with Shots
• 2-Hour Guitar Workshop
• Three Days of Visits for our Littles with their Mom (Someone else takes them, I just have to be here and have them ready. It's like meeting the Kindergarten bus.)
  
• CPS Home Visit for Littles
• Marlayna's Birthday Party (13 girls!)
  
• Temple Youth Trip (2 hours away)
• Youth Dance
• Grocery Shopping
• Clothes Shopping
  
• Rotating the van tires at Discount Tire
• Daily Education for All Our Children
• Organize Service Project for November for Homeschool group
• Homeschool monthly meeting (Same time as Marlayna's Party)
  
• Weekly Library Trip
• Weekly Homeschool Friends Outing (coincides with one visit for Littles with Mom - leaving me running back and forth between events)
• Prepare Sunday's Primary Lesson
• Arrange Visiting Teaching appointments
• Daily Cleaning
• .....what else?

...And our 16th Wedding Anniversary that we don't have time or money to celebrate!

I do love my life, but there is a time to cut back when life gets too busy. I'm just not sure what I can cut. All these things are important and some are VERY required.

November '09 - Week 1

:: Daily Lessons ::

• Devotional: "Let Him Ask of God" daily inspirational readings.
• Read A-Loud Book: "By the Shores of Silver Lake" book 4 of Little House on the Prairie series.
• Core Phase "Littles": Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, and True and False. - We are working on learning our colors, counting to 5, shapes, and learning the "ABC song" and "Wheels on the Bus", "Once there was a Snowman".
  
• Math: Chris - Math-U-See: Delta - Marly - Math-U-See: Zeta - Celeste - Math-U-See: Algebra (review for mom...again!)
• Journal Writing
• Guitar Practice
• New Era and Ensign Reading
• Scripture Reading
  

:: Weekly Lessons ::

• Monday: Grammar Lessons - "Winston Grammar" - Chris: Adjectives - Marly: Prepositional Phrases.
  
• Tuesday: Guitar Lessons, Government Lesson, and Weekly Library Trip - "The 5,000 Year Leap" - Principle 5.
  
• Wednesday: Mutual/Scouts and History Lesson - "Story of the World", Vol. 2 - Chris: Chapter 6 - Marly: Chapter 39.
  
• Thursday: Homeschool Friends Outing - At our house this week.
  
• Friday: Science Lesson - "Concepts and Challenges in Physical Science" Chapter 2.8 "Air Pressure" - "Usborne Science Encyclopedia" Pages 142-143.
  

:: Individual Readings ::

• Chris (Love of Learner) - "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table", "Fables of Aesop"
  
• Marly (Project Scholar) - "Airborn", "Star Wars: Hostage", "Star Wars: Jedi Quest", "Skybreaker"
  
• Celeste (Mentored Scholar) - "Jo's Boys", "Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood" (I refresher for me on the 0-6 ages)

:: Projects ::

• Chris - Book Report on "Robin Hood" and a Descriptive Paper on how to make a bow and arrows.
  
• Marly - Book Report on "Catching Fire" and writing her own book.
  
• Celeste - Linux networking, super cleaning the 2nd half of the house, organizing kids bedrooms and my record keeping area.
• Family - LEAVES! LEAVES! and more LEAVES!

Fawns Without a Mama

We first noticed these fawn standing in our front yard about 9:30 this morning. Then the neighbors came out and scared them over to a vacant house across the street. They have been hanging out there in the shade almost all day because they saw people in the direction they wanted to go. One of the fawns can't jump over the fence, so the other has stayed with its friend/sibling(?) all day. Our neighbor called the Game and Fish department, but they said eventually they will find their way somewhere else, mostly likely tonight when it gets dark.

Unfortunately our dog, Maggie, got out and chased them. We hope they are heading back towards the forest. I hated to see that poor fawn smash into the fence while trying to get away from Maggie. So sad!