The Saturday 7
Hey, check it out! I got a new background! I finally got sick of the yellow . . . and I'm dreaming of spring . . .
1. I had another good week, pain-wise, until yesterday. The sciatic pain came back with a vengeance and I briefly considered just chopping off my left leg. It's bearable until I lift my foot, when it becomes excruciating. Not great for normal activities - you know, like walking or putting on pants. Fortunately by about 7:00 last night, it was feeling a lot better. It drives me crazy that there's no rhyme or reason to it. I don't know if it really depends that much on the baby's position or if it has something to do with how I'm sitting/moving/walking/relaxing. I just get to live in constant suspense of "Will my sciatic hurt today?"
2. We had a play date on Tuesday. Not only did my marvelous friend drink coffee and chat with me for hours while our kids entertained each other, she also brought over a huge casserole. We've been eating that thing all week. I know this is a cliche, but we are truly so blessed by great friends. <3
Our girls are getting to the age where we don't feel the need to constantly supervise them anymore. Sometimes that comes back to bite us:
A little too much fun with the make-up. Lol. The picture doesn't effectively capture how Lucy's face was 100% pink - from her hairline to her chin. I went to town with the coconut oil, but she still had pink in her eyebrows the next day at school. Haha.
3. We got our taxes done on Wednesday and will be raking in the dough once again. I don't really understand why we make so much every year. I guess Justin gets a lot withheld from his paychecks (which we do on purpose - I like the lump sum at tax time every year. If it was in the paycheck every month, we'd just spend it.) And we keep popping out kids and making money off of them!
4. We had planned on using a good portion of our tax refund to pay Lucy's tuition for 1st grade. Until this week, I was gung-ho about re-enrolling her for another year, but we just got the official price list of tuition changes for next year and it is so ridiculous. One year, for one kid, for first grade is $5,000. Thanks to our tax return, we can technically afford that. But I can't help looking ahead. What are we going to do when Lena's ready for school? And, you realize, I have a third child in my belly that will eventually have to go to school. Are we really going to pay $15,000+ a year for Christian education? Should we keep sending Lucy to ACS as long as we can afford it and then pop her over to public school? Or is that just mean? Should we send her to public next year before she really starts making solid friendships at ACS? What about Lena? Should we send her to ACS for Kindergarten because that's what we did with Lucy? Or just put her in public from the get-go? Do we just need to trust God to provide the money? Do we need to live with my parents forever so our kids can go to Christian school? Are we just being chickens about public school because Christian school is all we know? Are we over-sheltering them?
This is too hard for me. Can someone just tell me what to do?
5. My mom finally came home yesterday after 2 weeks in sunny Florida, where she was visiting my brother and sister-in-law. My sister-in-law sent this picture home with her for the baby:
He doesn't really have a nursery, but I bought him nautical bedding for when he moves to the crib, so it'll fit right in with my "theme." Until then, the picture will hang over his dresser in our room because it's so adorable. I love it!
6. One day this week, I had a mini-meltdown. The girls wouldn't stop touching me, I was suffering from cabin fever, and I was so annoyed with their whining about the dinner I made. I ate dinner, threw on my shoes, told Justin to give the girls baths before bed, and left. Haha. I spent 3 hours looking at every item in Goodwill and Meijer. It was glorious. I can't really handle shopping that long, so I was bent over the cart like an 80 year old woman, but it was worth it. At Goodwill, I bought a small Valentine's Day gift for the girls, a couple books for me, some jeans for Lucy (after she had an epic tantrum on Wednesday because her favorite jeans are now too small and half her butt hangs out of them), and a maternity shirt (which means Murphy's Law will kick in and I'll go into labor before I get a chance to wash/wear it, right??). I didn't buy anything fun at Meijer, but I did get a few things I've been putting off 'til the last minute for this baby: breastmilk storage bags, gas drops, and other lovely postpartum supplies. It's amazing how therapeutic shopping by myself is!
7. And to end with, a few pictures that didn't make it on facebook this week:
1. I had another good week, pain-wise, until yesterday. The sciatic pain came back with a vengeance and I briefly considered just chopping off my left leg. It's bearable until I lift my foot, when it becomes excruciating. Not great for normal activities - you know, like walking or putting on pants. Fortunately by about 7:00 last night, it was feeling a lot better. It drives me crazy that there's no rhyme or reason to it. I don't know if it really depends that much on the baby's position or if it has something to do with how I'm sitting/moving/walking/relaxing. I just get to live in constant suspense of "Will my sciatic hurt today?"
2. We had a play date on Tuesday. Not only did my marvelous friend drink coffee and chat with me for hours while our kids entertained each other, she also brought over a huge casserole. We've been eating that thing all week. I know this is a cliche, but we are truly so blessed by great friends. <3
Our girls are getting to the age where we don't feel the need to constantly supervise them anymore. Sometimes that comes back to bite us:
A little too much fun with the make-up. Lol. The picture doesn't effectively capture how Lucy's face was 100% pink - from her hairline to her chin. I went to town with the coconut oil, but she still had pink in her eyebrows the next day at school. Haha.
3. We got our taxes done on Wednesday and will be raking in the dough once again. I don't really understand why we make so much every year. I guess Justin gets a lot withheld from his paychecks (which we do on purpose - I like the lump sum at tax time every year. If it was in the paycheck every month, we'd just spend it.) And we keep popping out kids and making money off of them!
4. We had planned on using a good portion of our tax refund to pay Lucy's tuition for 1st grade. Until this week, I was gung-ho about re-enrolling her for another year, but we just got the official price list of tuition changes for next year and it is so ridiculous. One year, for one kid, for first grade is $5,000. Thanks to our tax return, we can technically afford that. But I can't help looking ahead. What are we going to do when Lena's ready for school? And, you realize, I have a third child in my belly that will eventually have to go to school. Are we really going to pay $15,000+ a year for Christian education? Should we keep sending Lucy to ACS as long as we can afford it and then pop her over to public school? Or is that just mean? Should we send her to public next year before she really starts making solid friendships at ACS? What about Lena? Should we send her to ACS for Kindergarten because that's what we did with Lucy? Or just put her in public from the get-go? Do we just need to trust God to provide the money? Do we need to live with my parents forever so our kids can go to Christian school? Are we just being chickens about public school because Christian school is all we know? Are we over-sheltering them?
This is too hard for me. Can someone just tell me what to do?
5. My mom finally came home yesterday after 2 weeks in sunny Florida, where she was visiting my brother and sister-in-law. My sister-in-law sent this picture home with her for the baby:
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| She painted it herself! How talented is she? |
6. One day this week, I had a mini-meltdown. The girls wouldn't stop touching me, I was suffering from cabin fever, and I was so annoyed with their whining about the dinner I made. I ate dinner, threw on my shoes, told Justin to give the girls baths before bed, and left. Haha. I spent 3 hours looking at every item in Goodwill and Meijer. It was glorious. I can't really handle shopping that long, so I was bent over the cart like an 80 year old woman, but it was worth it. At Goodwill, I bought a small Valentine's Day gift for the girls, a couple books for me, some jeans for Lucy (after she had an epic tantrum on Wednesday because her favorite jeans are now too small and half her butt hangs out of them), and a maternity shirt (which means Murphy's Law will kick in and I'll go into labor before I get a chance to wash/wear it, right??). I didn't buy anything fun at Meijer, but I did get a few things I've been putting off 'til the last minute for this baby: breastmilk storage bags, gas drops, and other lovely postpartum supplies. It's amazing how therapeutic shopping by myself is!
7. And to end with, a few pictures that didn't make it on facebook this week:
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| My little yogis. They love "Cosmic Kids Yoga" on YouTube. |
One day this week, Justin was trying to take a picture of Lena, but every time she smiled wide, her eyes disappeared. He kept telling her to keep her eyes open while she smiled. The next day, she wanted me to take this picture of her next to her Valentine's Day craft. She said, "I keep my eyes open, Mommy" and did this:
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| Lol |
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| Lucy wearing my mom's reading glasses. If she gets my bad vision, at least she'll look cute in glasses! |
I don't know about elementary, but private middle and high schools around here run pretty close to $20k per year. So it seemed "cheap" by comparison. Personally, I think it is worth it, if your public schools are not very good. If the education that the kids will receive at the public schools is good, then just reinforce the Christian values at home (which you already do).
ReplyDeleteHomeschool! Haha, I know that's not what you want to hear, so please ignore me ;) Seriously through, I went to public school and it was fine. Or if you don't want to do that, you could consider doing K12, which is a free online program so the teaching is mostly done by someone else, but you can supervise/step in whenever you want or need to. I know we could never afford private school (unless my husband gets a teaching job at one), so I understand your dilemma!!
ReplyDeleteTax season is the BEST!!
Cosmic Kids yoga is so adorable! Sometimes my kids forget to actually move, though... :P
Shopping alone is like vacation <3
Also, I personally know a lot more people who were screwed up/scarred by private Christian schools than public schools. Sad but true :( But schools are not all created equal on either end of the spectrum, so take that with a grain of salt!
Delete
ReplyDeleteI think that you guys should definitely be able to find a good public school! I'm not sure how many options you have around there (or within a short drive maybe?), but I was surprised at how many different types of schools there are around me that I never would have figured (charter schools, etc). I think that how the kids are raised at home will be the biggest affect in their character. I've gone to private school (ACS!), been home schooled (didn't like it personally), and attended public school, so that's just my two cents. There were things I look back fondly on from my time at Algoma, but I also think I would have been just as happy in a public school (I was just a kid who liked to learn)! I wonder what our parents used to pay back then?