Tid-bit tu....I mean Friday..

I have good intentions of posting on here on a regular basis...meaning at least once a week or so. Lately I have barley posted a couple of times a month. I think Instagram and Facebook are taking over. I snap the pic post it on FB and then forget. But seeing as I print this off once a year as a journal and scrapbook I better do something to keep it updated. 

Life around here has been CRAZY! I have pretty much been non-stop since school let out. One day my A/C was broken, my car was broken, Tanner was sick, my phone wasn't working, Todd was gone and I had two assignments due. 

I ended up shipping two of the kids to UT early, 1 boy is at scout camp, my classes are DONE as of this morning...at least for July...and the A/C, car and phone are now working. Nice! Things just might slow down a little. 

I'm glad it's been a busy of things worth doing. I really am loving school, I stay busy with hair clients, and this week, with most of the kids gone, I've been getting the house totally clean and organized! I love that feeling! We have pretty much decided to try homeschooling the kids this year. We'll see how it goes and worst case I'll test them and put them back into public school.

Diesel has devil eyes in this picture and at first I laughed and though oh-well, then the dumb, wet, dog jumped all over my FRESH CLEAN bed to dry off! I was SO mad! But it still cracks me up that he will hop in the tub with the kids. I have to shut the door to the bathroom so they actually get a clean bath tub :-)

Our A/C stopped working one night. It was over 100* outside and heating up quickly in our house so we escaped to Stake 'n Shake for dinner and a shake. They are cheap and yummy!

With the brothers gone I've been having some fun with the little ones. A stop for ice cream is a must :-) Believe it or not, I used to hate ice cream. I would rarely eat it and would usually choose something else if I had a choice. Since we have moved to TX where it's so hot, I can't get enough!

Well now I'm all caught up....for now. We're headed to UT in about a week for about 10 days. I'm sure there will be LOTS of updates when we come home!

Tate's 9!

Tate turned 9 on the 6th! Where has the year gone?! We originally started with a friend party every-other-year, but it so hard here where we have no family. So this year we decided to go a head and let him invite a few friends over. 

Todd was gone on Wednesday, which was the day his birthday was on, but home for the weekend so we delayed the party a couple of days. 

A good picture of all the boys (and a couple of girls) that game for the fun!

It was a water party but along with jumping on the tramp, playing in the pool, water gun fight, and a balloon fight, we played Red Rover and Tag. I think everyone had a lot of fun. 

On his birthday night we had Volcano Cake. A family favorite!

Opening a few of his presents the day of. He got a baseball and bat from Grandma C, magic set from Grandma B, a watch and remote control airplane from Dad and I. He also got a whole bunch of other fun presents from friends. 

It sure is fun to have the awesome kid in our family! We love his smiling face! Happy Birthday Tate!

Home school?

Todd and I are debating on whether or not to home school the boys. It's a HUGE decision and one we will not take lightly!

I have SO many thoughts about it, I had to write it all out to hopefully clear my brain. We value education in our family. Todd went to college, I'm in college, we want the boys to go...will home schooling be enough? Can I and will I have the motivation to keep my kids going? Can we work well enough together that I don't want to strangle them?

I want them to get a good education, and that doesn't mean that public school isn't good enough...but is it? I am a product of public school and I turned out OK right?! (don't be to harsh if you disagree) I think it is an Ok system, but I think there are many things that could be better also.

Todd's schedule is pretty crazy. 4 days on 3 days off. He wishes he could see the boys more and work with them more...is home school part of a solution for that?

I have all of these grand ideas and hope they can carry us far, but I worry about it. It's a matter of fasting and prayer. I am using this summer to maybe do a little bit of a test run and see if I can get us on some type of good schedule to have fun while learning and to see if the boys are on board with it.

I wish there was a fool-proof way to raise kids, but hey, if we there was where would all the fun be? (it's fun right!....right?) I really just want to make the best decision for our family. I know there isn't one-way-works-all for kids and I want to just figure out which way will work best for mine.

*sigh* hopefully I can figure this out.