Wasn't what I planned, Still Good

             It took me a while emotionally to write this post. We moved back into our house three weeks ago and  I was not all bubbly and excited or kissing the walls, like I felt I was supposed to be . I was happy to be moving out of the fifth wheel but  I was really overwhelmed and to be honest disappointed. I like to be honest on my blog. If I'm lying on here there really is no point to it so it took me a while to write because I needed some perspective...and the pinterest pin that goes with that is..

      The renters moved out on a weekend which had us slowly moving in all week long. The kids and I started unpacking and it was kind've  like shopping at your favorite garage sale. I say it like that, because a lot of the stuff I saved was sentimental. It's still kind've crap, but its our crap. The toys the kids packed away 3 years ago are more age appropriate for their younger sibling, so that's been pretty convenient. All of our family  portraits are taken Pre Waylon so I haven't hung up any pictures yet. I unpacked my beloved Fiesta ware plates, which I really missed. I discovered how long silverware drawers really are! It is  mind blowing! I found the most enormous Pyrex ever . I think its actually a standard casserole dish 9 x 11 but I forgot how huge they are! I am amazed at how quickly dinner is cooking, and I forget that I can have more than one burner on. It took everyone a while to get use to the ease of lighting the oven, y'all just turn it on? You don't have to get out a lighter ? I had to give the kids instructions. It's like they forgot how to live in a house. It's shocking really . Waylon calls it the green house.( It is by the way green. ) The bathtub has been a huge upgrade for him. My kids seem quieter now that we have more room. They just chill out. I'm trying to teach them how to use a backyard. I keep telling them to go out there. Their response is " and do what?" They have been playing hide and seek inside. Because our 1,000 square feet has all sorts of nooks and crannies to their young eyes. I'm sure you've been waiting for me to tell you that I once again have my very own washer and dryer and it is frickin AMAZING!


On one hand we are all excited to be in a house and on the other hand, the kids are all still in one room, which is not what I wanted. People keep asking me if I am so happy to be back in a house and I am ....but it's still not the amount of space I was dreaming of. When I put stuff away and it's all going in the same spot , I feel like I never left and it's creepy. Twilight zone creepy. Like the past three years were an elaborate dream. I know that sounds crazy....but its true. I really didn't think we would be coming back to the same house. I thought we were going to keep it as a rental. I thought a bigger rental would have popped up sooner for us to move into. I thought housing prices might stay lower and we could buy again. I just thought things would be different once we got to this point. Things are not bad either.  I look around and see so many blessings and the biggest ones are my children's smiley faces but it took me a while to accept that my expectations were not going to happen how I thought they should. How many times on this journey has my life not gone as planned? How long is it going to take me to really stop fighting that,  because I have really been fighting it this year. I think this is a  big moment for me and I'm trying to really accept that God's plan is greater than Kristina's plan. Cuz let me tell you, I got plans.

my new mantra?

     A few things we realized we didn't have packed that we thought we did.... silverware. I guess we brought it all with us. I left it in the fifth wheel for camping so we had to buy more silverware. A toaster. I have been promising my kids a toaster. Looking back I should've put one in the trailer, but it was just one more thing taking up space which was so valuable. I have never seen kids so happy to have bagels and eggo waffles before. I might have actually deprived my children.                A microwave. In our rush to move out of the house, I have no idea what we did with our microwave. A television. We had 2 TVs. One we put in our first trailer and then sold it. The other went to storage. If you have a TV in storage, I have bad news. If it's not a temperature regulated storage, your TV might break. We had a long week without television this summer. I'm sure my kids will start blogging about these conditions we parent them in soon!
    
  Then we have homeowner problems. The first one is storage. Storage has always been an issue in this house. We have one linen closet, so I'm not sure what to do with all of our bedding. I can always use those Space bags that I used in the trailer but I was really  hoping to leave those behind. I just don't want to see them ever again, is that asking too much? We had to buy shelves. I have no idea how we managed without shelves before or a bookcase. That was remedied this weekend with an Ikea trip. Did you know I have been to Ikea in California, Utah and Colorado. pretty special huh?

the kids game room

         I've had a few great moments in the house so far. On July 3rd Oceanside has an early Independence day  firework show. We were doing our normal stuff. Kids were in the living room, I was washing dishes, when all of a sudden we had an amazing view for the fireworks from our kitchen window. Waylon is under the impression that this is a normal occurrence and has been waiting for more fireworks by the window.      Another really cool thing is a space we have in our garage that Ian made a little room out of. It use to be an office, but  we turned it  into a game room for the kids. Except it is still the most quietest place of the house so I am constantly sneaking down there to nap or read. They usually find me pretty quick. But I love it down there, you can always hear birds chirping.

       We've also had a few mishaps. We were about to  sit down to our 4th of July dinner, when Ian tried to adjust the sinks water pressure. Never mess with plumbing before a meal. The valve broke off in his hand and we had to turn off the water to the house. No big deal for us. We've gone without water right? I think we've been to Home Depot every other day.Some times twice a day.  Then the kids told us that they saw a mouse, twice. I insisted that they were seeing lizards, which we have a lot of.     Nope .     At Tuesday's dinner , our mousey friends made an appearance, which again sent us off to Home Depot. Ian caught two and I could tell he wanted me to be impressed but I really wanted to scream into a pillow. Because EWWWW. Haven't had any since, but still.

          Have you ever heard of the six word memoir challenge?  The idea is to sum up your life in six words, to find the essence of your story. I think mine is something like, "Wasn't what I planned, still good. "   That most certainly might've been stolen from the Internet, because that phrase floats in my head but it doesn't sound like me. There have been so many transitions in our live. Especially  in the past three years and I really just want to be done transitioning. Maybe that's the lesson that I was suppose to be learning. If change is the only constant, maybe learning how to accept the transitions is my life long mission.

this is worth posting twice xo

Where do you even start? How do you start off homeschooling? " I wanted to look behind me to see who she was talking to

    

       A blog post is way over due. I see so many pictures on Facebook of the first day of school but we are not there yet! I woke up before dawn today and took my older boys to the airport where they flew to grandma's for the first time as "unaccompanied minors." They have been looking forward to this all summer and I have been trying not to think about putting my kiddos alone on a plane. They made it there safely and now me and the little guy are finding ourselves bored without them. This gives me the time I need to get ready for our next school year. We start as soon as they come back home .... enjoy your last few days boys, school is about to begin.
     Homeschooling has been a mixed bag for me. It was something I never had a desire to do. Even today at the grocery store, the cashier quizzed me on when my kids start school  and I kinda cringe when I say we homeschool. I cringe because then she goes on to say how she's not structured and she's better with summertime. As my neighbor here in the mobile park said to me this summer  " If I home schooled my kids, they'd be dumb." So I cringe, because I feel like people are putting me and my kids into a box, but I'm not shy about it. The weirdest change, is that I am excited about it. I searched out and sorted through curriculums. I've looked online and went into stores. I had all of my books put on hold and then purchased them on a day when I knew everything was 20% off. When I checked out, the gal at the counter asked me " Where do you even start? How do you start off homeschooling? " I wanted to look behind me to see who she was talking to! It's frickin crazy to me , that I'm going on three years of independent schooling . Other people are asking me about it too, what I am using and how I do it. I am really excited about this year. It's the first year I am really taking things into my own hands and it's a little scary but really exciting.
    The first year, we went through a charter school for both boys that was completely online. It was great because I felt so insecure in my teaching ability and I didn't want any responsibility for my kids education....but that's not really how it works. Even when you have a teacher in an online format, the parent is still there everyday making sure every task is accomplished and scanned in. There were areas that I found lacking and some tedious projects enhanced. When it came to 6th grade and there were multiple teachers to email and scan to, it got to be too much and we looked for something else. Our second year homeschooling, I paid for a private online school for my 6th grader and I found a great homeschooling resource in Colorado called CHEC. I purchased all of my 2nd graders curriculum through them. I felt that my second grader wasn't being challenged with the online format and his handwriting was a joke, since he was on the computer all day. So last year I got to experiment with a few books and see what worked for us. You will find what we used under "My Homeschooling Research" on this blog. At the end of last year I felt like I knew what books worked for us and what didn't. I got the hang of how classrooms are run online and through traditional books. This year we are only homeschooling through traditional books. I have always been the one that wanted someone to tell me exactly what to teach in each grade, but this year I made all of my own decisions and I'm so eager to see what's in store for us. I purchased most of these books from Mardel Christian Book Store or through Veritas Press. I will tell you how or why I came up with each item in hopes that it will help you someday...or so I can remind myself in 3 months when I am saying "what the heck was I thinking?" This is what I have come up with :

3rd Grade

Saxon Math 3- I have always heard homeschoolers speak highly of Saxon Math. I was really happy with our Math book last year but apparently they don't make one beyond 2nd grade. Saxon is notorious for repeating concepts. This bothered me when I picked up the enormous book and realized that we have already gone over half of this stuff. When I looked at the next year it was a bit too advanced. So I see that each year seems to be a lot of review but this is the thing that I have come to realize. That is what school is. Each year we review the same things and build upon them. Sometimes, we review the same thing with even more detail. This is how we learn.

Science- LifePac by Alpha and Omega   Last year my youngest wasn't given a lot of material to work with in his Science books and my oldest struggled with his Science online. I randomly picked up this curriculum and it turned out to be identical to what his very expensive online school taught. LifePac's come in unit studies. It comes in a box with 10 small books, that are each unit studies. Each small book has lesson reviews, experiments and Tests included. I loved this arrangement for Science, not all of their subjects. So everyone is doing LifePac's for Science.

History Heritage Studies 3- This book is by Bob Jones or BJU as the homeschoolers call it. I found this one the old fashioned way by comparing every history book in the aisle. I loved the pictures, which I think history books should have plenty of. It came with a workbook which I like for reinforcement. Also, it had a test packet. Very handy.


English 3 Writing and Grammar by BJU We used the second grade version of this book last year and I was really happy with it. This year I went a step further and bought the test packet to go with it for both boys. I didn't know they had a test packet last year. Live and learn and moving on.

Spelling Grade 3 by Purposeful Design- I'm a softy for colorful textbooks that we can write in. I chose this one by comparing it to other options and it looked like something I knew my kiddo would like or at least not fight me too much on.

Explode the Code 3 1/2 - This is a phonics book. Nothing was wrong with our last years book but the boy disliked it greatly. This one seems the same but looks different. I'm hoping to trick him into liking phonics.  I did like that they had 1/2 years. Year 3 looked like ground we already covered so I opted for year 3 1/2.

Handwriting without Tears- WE....yes we  worked really hard last year on handwriting. We went through multiple books and free worksheets. I was referred to Handwriting without tears from a kindergarten teacher and I'm really excited to try it out.

7th Grade:

Elementary Algebra by Harold  Jacobs- I found this book in a magazine called Veritas Press. Parents raved about how simple the concepts of Algebra were presented in this book. Then I found out it was out of print and that kinda thing really sets off my inner geek. I must posses those treasured textbooks that are irreplaceable. Of course Veritas Press is apparently buying all of the copies they can get there hands on, so I ordered through them. I will let you know if it's all it's cracked up to be. I even went on half.com and read some pretty amazing reviews about it there too. I ordered the enormous textbook, the test packet and the answers to the tests ,which apparently have the work to show how the answer was reached. That sounded invaluable to me, but it hasn't come in the mail yet.

Science- LifePac by Alpha and Omega- see notes above

America the Beautiful by Charlene Notgrass I started using this book last year to supplement the boys learning because I felt they were both saturated in World History and knew nothing about American History. Eventually my enthusiasm dwindled because there was real school work that needed to be done. What drew me to this book was again the amazing pictures that I believe all history books should have. Less Words and more pictures or at least 50/50. I want to visualize it y'know? Also this book has a map workbook so the kids can locate the area they were learning about and draw things indigenous to the area . I like that to reinforce and picture which area of our country we are studying. This year I bought the lesson  review book too. I also realized that this book is broken up into 30 units. Even though this is actually two enormous books we are going to get through it by doing 1 unit a week , 1 lesson a day. They really mapped it our beautifully for me.

English Writing and Grammar 7 by BJU- see Notes above


Reading Detective B1 by the Critical Thinking CO.- This book was referred to me by someone who apparently has a brainiac child. It reminds me a lot of state testing. It has reading passages and questions to answer. The promise of this book is to develop independent thinkers. The answers are not word for word in the story , the child will actually have to use their mind. I will tell you how it goes.

Vocabulary from Classical Roots A by Norma Fifer and Nancy Flowers- My seventh grader is an awesome speller, so instead of a spelling book, we are learning Latin. Hear me out! He's the kind of kid that reads books way above his grade level but then he will pronounce a word he read completely wrong. So we are learning roots of words, which I am hoping will help him for the rest of his life. He will not be speaking latin but he will know where some words come from. Lesson one starts out with the word mono- meaning one : think monologue, monarch, monopoly etc.

Health from Horizons- I had every intention of teaching my son a health class last year and since I didn't , we will do it this year.

Typing: I have heard of www.typingweb.com but I haven't really looked into it yet

I am also armed with my amazing planner, " A Well Planned Day" It has room to plan your lessons, track attendance, grades, shopping list. It was my saving grace last year. I actually purchased one for the 7th grader too. I'm not sure I'll get my monies worth out of that one...

      So that's what we will be tackling next week. When I put it all down, it makes me want to take a nap. If you're thinking about homeschooling , talk to some homeschool moms. We come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We have some very different ideas of what school should be like. That doesn't mean that it's not for you. I have taken small steps to get here, but I'm glad I'm here. My goal is to have educated children, who think for themselves and like to learn(or at least don't hate it.) I may have accidentally wandered into homeschooling but I am intentional about their learning. Good luck and may the odds ever be in your favor.

Summertime! Who's coming to Denver?

    

  Summertime! There is quite a lot happening over here in our trailerhood. I have been so excited foer Summer for the pure reason of warm weather and no homeschool but after 5 days of it, I gotta say Summer is exhausting! I'll take ya full circle on our shenanigans. Yesterday, we had to move to a new trailerpark. Which is actually a mobile home park Dun, Dun Dun! We moved to Denver last summer and discovered how insanely hard it is to find a monthly spot for a fifth wheel in the summertime. Denver is actually having quite a boom and even the rental market is extremely difficult to get into here. Yes, there are a lot of workers, family vacationers, snowbirds but there's just a lot of people! Did you know that I have met quite a few families that are from Denver, living in fifth wheels? It's just not an option I realized people were taking. Choosing to live in a fith wheel , in your home town. Anyway, it is very hard to have a spot for the summertime so I started looking in January. That's right, and even then people told me they were already booked, but try back to see if anyone had canceled. I was on waiting lists at several places. The park we stayed in all Winter and Spring doesn't allow monthly campers in the Summer. Two weeks at a time is the maximum stay. Then you have to leave for at least a day before you come back. This did not sound like a good plan with Ian's work schedule. It kinda made me resentful at all of these vacationers. "Go sleep in a hotel, this is my life, not my vacation!" I realize that it's silly to be frustrated with them. I hope to be one of them someday. But for now they are a great source of entertainment. People camp differently when they are on vacation as opposed to living in a fifth wheel. Sometimes they lock up all their storage and give you the evil eye, sometimes we are serenaded by people singing around the barbecue. One of our favorite activities is watching young couples back up their rigs, it's very funny to see the frustration , when it's not you. Okay so my point is, I had to find a somewhat crappy park to move into for the Summer , while all the campers had some of the best parks in Colorado at a maximum for 2 weeks at a time. Then I had an epiphany, if you can't beat them, join them. I decided we would move around to all of these parks all summer long! Ian reminded me how much work that would be and how frustrating it could be if something went wrong and we ended up sleeping in Wal Mart's Parking lot so we came up with a compromise. I booked 2 trips to Colorado State Parks in the Denver area for 2 weeks each. We also got a spot at this Mobile home park that will be our spot the whole Summer and we can come and go as we please. Yesterday we moved into the mobile home park and it was a lot of work, moving. Ian is usually right. I am excited we have little vacations to look forward to but it was very wise to have a place to land. Even securing this spot was like trying to get the management to release a nugget of gold. It is seriously ridiculous over here in Denver.
    On another note, Ian has about 6 more months until he is able to test to become a Journeyman Lineman. So from what my family tells me, this will most likely be our last Summer in Colorado. So I have a list of things I want to do. It amazes me that we have been in one area this long, (knock on wood everybody....no seriously) The advantage is that I actually have had time to form a list of things I want to do, instead of just being overwhelmed at being in a new city.
 Here's my  list:
Waterfall Hike ( I don't know where it is, but I saw it on Pinterest)
Narrow Gorge train Ride
The Incline
Train Museum in Golden
Children's Museum in Denver
Buffalo Bills Museum with a picnic on Lookout Mountain
Denver's Aquarium
Water World
Pirates Cove
Bowling
National Sand Dune Park
Mt Rushmore - It's only 5 hours away, will I seriously ever be closer?
The Elvis Movie theater- I don't know what this entails but I already bought the Groupon
Slip N Slide
Public Pools
Library Program
Sleep over for the boys
Rockies Game with a trolley ride
Heritage square Park
Picnic in Wash Park

Quite a list right? Here's the exhausting part. In the past 5 days we've already:

Had a picnic with friends
Went to a water park
ate Ice cream out of the cartons
Made a homemade volcano and watched it explode twice
Had a water fight
Went to the History Park in Golden where we : walked on stilts, played with a bean bag toss, used slingshots and panned for gold
watched Ian at work setting poles with a helicopter
Walked to town for an ice cream cone
went to the skate park and the  batting cages
and of course we moved which includes a deep cleaning of the trailer

So yeah I'm tired and I'm not sure my list of things to do is going to quench my kids voracious appetite for adventure but today we start with Houston attending a Kayak Summer camp. Is that not the coolest thing you've ever heard of?

First day of Kayak camp

 

our very own volcano, this kids is always down for anything

Keep checking on me, I'm gonna need a whole lot of coffee to get through Summer

Spring Break on the East Coast

   Before I do another marathon update, I want to write down all of our adventures we had on the east coast. After all, this blog is about my family and our adventures on the road. My mom lives in Maryland which gives us the opportunity to explore more of our beautiful country with every trip. We primarily made the trip for a wedding, but we always try to make the most of every day together. So here's what we squeezed in.
    My last post, I told you about Nate and his family. They drove 6 hours from their home just to be with us  that week. We decided to do something together with our families that we had never done before, so we rented a minivan and drove to Philadelphia. This was a 3 1/2 hour drive. It was such a hoot being together on that road trip. The van had a dvd player built in  and the kids watched Frozen and Brave. We broke out the girl movies in honor of our time with my niece. The boys were such good sports. The first thing we saw was the Liberty Bell. I had seen  it in 8th grade but since then, they have built an exhibit around the bell to showcase and display more of its history. I could've spent more time there, reading all of the fun facts, but with the four children we had in tow, it was more of a speedy walk down memory lane. The best part was actually seeing the bell. We posed in front of it and got our touristy pictures in and then we all tuned around to walk away. As we turned,  we hear the security guard yell out " DON'T Touch the bell ."You know that feeling you get, when you know it was your kid?.... Yeah .... I saw Houston with that sad look in his eye...filled with  shame and embarrassment. I mean what good is an exhibit of you can't touch it,  right? Never mind the obvious ropes around it....Anyway, Nate was thrilled that Houston touched it. He asked "which part did you touch"  and Houston stated proudly " the crack!" By the time we called Ian to tell him about our day, the touching of the liberty bell had become everyone's favorite part. Houston even said " I meant to touch it!"

Notice the guard rails!

     We went on to take a tour of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution was later ratified. The tour was great I love this picture, it speaks volumes.


Imagine George Washington in the same room with these goofballs

 

Our next important thing to do that day, was obviously get a Philly Cheesesteak. So we literally walked these poor children a mile around Philly looking for this place I found on Yelp. Apparently , there was a Man VS Food episode done here and I am all about those kinds of places. On our way we accidentally passed Benjamin Franklin's grave, how cool is that?

   So we finally got our cheesesteaks, they were huge and delicious. We went to this place called DiNic's which has apparently been a Philadelphia Institution of Cheesesteaks for nearly 100 years. The sandwich was just as mouth watering as it looks, I felt bad that Ian wasn't there to enjoy it because it was right up his ally, but I sent him this picture, kinda the same thing...NOT!  The unexpected topping was a spicy broccoli rabe and the oh so spicy roasted peppers. It was a total gut buster and we loved it.

I should tell you that my wacky children ate a slice of pizza instead. Criminal, I know.

We finished lunch with chocolate from a little place next door that sold odd chocolates. Houston got a chocolate shaped like an ear

   The next evening I got to have a night out with the girls. True, I didn't know these girls, it was Sara's bachlorette, but I will take a night out with the girls anytime, any day and anywhere.  Vironica escorted me there and I had the pleasure of getting to know Sara and her friends better. We had Thai food in Alexandria , Virginia which was the cutest little town with cobblestone streets. I think this is where I hurt my knee, but it was worth it.

I thought I had a better picture, but goofy one's really are more fun

We also had lots of grandma time. We had frozen yogurt ( more than once)  and went to see a movie. We went to Mexican Food one day and she took me to my favorite purse store. I love Spring Break WOO HOO!

      Then there was the wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. It was at a plantation that I had never visited before. It was nestled in between farmland and what I believe is the Patuxent River. It was a beautiful ceremony. The only way to keep Waylon quite though,  was to sacrifice my pearl necklace and tell him it was treasure. ( Don't worry , the necklace was only from Target) It was worth it to see Jon and Sara united in holy matrimony.

How cute is he though, right?

The reception was in a barn. I loved the theme and the decorations. It was beautiful and the  bride and groom were beaming. We took advantage of the surroundings to take some really cool pictures.


Isn't my mom beautiful? I think so

It sounds like a full trip, doesn't it? Oh no , it couldn't end there. My mom seized the opportunity of having all of her grand children in one place and the next day threw the biggest Easter egg hunt ever. Of course there was a jumpy jump there too because grandma's house is magical like that.


all the grandkids

       After a week like that, it's a miracle I squeezed in a run at all! An extra bonus was watching the Cherry Blossom tree's coming into bloom. Every year around this time there is a Cherry Blossom Tree festival in DC. Well,  they have Cherry Trees in Maryland too and they bloom every year around my birthday. I've always wanted to see them in full bloom. Thanks to this never ending winter, I left the day they started to pop. What a treat. We had such a great time. My family is truly blessed to have all of these amazing experiences.

Cherry Blossoms!

Go RVing!

      Go RVing! It's a sticker on the back of our friends trailer. We say it whenever things get way too complicated with our fifth wheel. Sometimes people thing we're on a never ending vacation and we say this phrase to ourselves because it makes us laugh. You have to keep your sense of humor when you live on the road...otherwise you'll probably end up in tears in a straight jacket. This was one of those weeks. You turn on the news and they say something like "Good news, it's not negative today." Well yee haw. You know you're insane when you cheer for weather in the teens! Let me back up...
        We knew the temperature was going to drop and that there would be snow. Up to this point, this season, the snow has been minimal and has melted pretty fast. On Sunday, Ian tried to gather some supplies and skirt the trailer for extra insulation. We've had heat tape on our water hose for a while so we were ready enough. I stocked up on groceries because I do not like to drive in the snow. I'm actually a bit afraid of being stranded on the road with three children in a ditch with no family around, so my motto is "it's not worth it." When I woke up on Wednesday morning, the water in the kitchen and the kids bathroom was frozen in the pipes. I was just grateful for the water in our bathroom working. Hooray for hot showers! I did dishes in the bathroom and overall I didn't get my feathers too ruffled. This stuff happens. It would have helped if our whole trailer was skirted, but Ian's been working overtime and well, this stuff just happens. The next day, all of the water was frozen. This was starting to get old. Ian asked me to go to the store and pick up supplies so he could insulate some more when he got home. Keep in mind the weather is negative this whole time. I did not go get the supplies because I was terrified to drive on these roads . So he insulated until bedtime hours and we tried to thaw things out as best we could. By the time our heads hit the pillow we had water in one bathroom. This was a huge success. Lets get some details here. Remember what it's like to go camping ? When you brush your teeth without water. How about using the toilet? You kind of need water for that. We used water bottles and at one time I shoveled snow into the toilet and waited for that to melt. Cooking is challenging without water. You can't wash your hands, dishes are piling up and we only have so many in these tight living conditions....So you can see the tension rising right?
     The next day was Friday. Still only have water in one bathroom, which I'm grateful for but still frustrated about. That's when I started to notice the creek behind the trailer. At first the way the snow accumulated was beautiful. It looked like we were above the clouds, then it started to melt in some areas. It appeared that it was partially frozen so when the water started to thaw it was looking for a path around the "iceberg" the path it chose was covering the sidewalk and creeping closer to the trailers. I was getting a little panicked but the water would rise and then freeze again. When Ian got home that night, he finished insulating and by that night we had water! Success! I made dinner and did dinner in the kitchen, we really lived it up!

This I what it looked like when the snow first fell, like beautiful puffy clouds!

    The next day, everyone was looking at the creek and getting antsy. It was definitely rising but then it would freeze into a slushy like substance. I mean how much can it thaw in 3 degree weather? We went out for frozen yogurt that night because, well we're crazy. We were siting on the couch singing duets while Ian played on the guitar...oh what a perfect life we live....then our neighbor knocked on the door. The water was rising. That was the end of our peaceful night. Ian started helping some of the neighbors that were already getting water creeping up on their rigs. Some people moved forward a few feet, some people didn't and this is what happened  to their trailer.

The jacks were covered in ice. The fire department came, at one point they said evacuate, then they said we were on pre evacuation status. We were told there would be cots for us waiting at the rec center. I did not find this comforting at all. All of my children were asleep. It all happened between 9:30 and midnight. It was one of those should we stay or should we go moments. At one point we were near the creek and we could hear the ice breaking and water flowing. It was so creepy. I packed a few days worth of clothes in my car along with the laptops and school stuff. Grabbed my insurance papers and declared I was leaving. Ian  tried calming me down and we decided to sleep in our clothes and wait for the fire department to come knocking on our door to evacuate us.
    We woke up and were surprised to see no water under our trailer. Again it was that decision, do we wait it out? Will it really happen? It's not super easy packing everything up. It's possible but it's definitely a hassle. Kids bikes and nerf guns are everywhere and we just put the skirting up on the bottom. You also risk all of your pipes freezing up in transport, and we just got our precious water back. So we waited for something to happen until my mommy hormones kicked in again and I declared we were leaving. I just can't wait for something bad to happen , you know? So my husband didn't protest, he packed up everything and we got to a new park. The whole time Ian was helping older couples get their stuff all packed up and moving people rigs for them. He's quite a stud muffin my man. So it's no surprise that Fox news wanted to interview him. He told us about it but we didn't think the clip would be so classic. I don't know if it's because I love pictures so much, or it's my husbands love for facial hair or if it's just that my knight in shining armor got me out of there. I got such a kick of the interview and I'm so proud of my man. Here's the YouTube complete with family commentary in the background. Enjoy.

This was Friday morning when the water started to thaw. Who knows how this weeks weather will affect it.

Home EC and Homeschool tricks

   Hello, from Denver! I'm so sorry I haven't written. I had such a great summer. The boys and I went to visit family that we hadn't seen in a while and that took us to North Carolina, Maryland and a few states in between! We came back refreshed and ready to take on the school year. I also did a lot of reading this summer. I have been totally sucked into the Voyager series by Diana Gabaldon and I'm still trying to extract myself. So that's where I've been in my free time. Last week we started kicking our butts in gear, getting ready for school . I was trying to organize myself for weeks in order to make our home schooling go as smooth as possible. So when I asked the boys to tidy up their room last week, they obliged me by throwing everything into the closet and then I exploded. In my haste, I grounded them from all electronics for the rest of the day. I don't know where you are but here in Denver it has been in the 90's and all of the public pools, mini golf's etc are closed down because Denver has already started school. So I had to think of something to keep them busy.
    This led to our day of cooking. We started off making meatballs. This was a big deal because I have a child who doesn't like to get his hands dirty. I made these boys chop garlic, measure oregano, cracking eggs, crumbling crackers (we ran out of breadcrumbs.) I admit, this day was much more hands on for me then I had anticipated, but we went with it. I had to make dinner anyways. After I made my children slave over the stove ...OK I fried them up, but they did roll the balls, we threw our meatballs into the crock pot and I let them choose a dessert to make. My oldest chose a chocolate pie out of our family's favorite Hershey cookbook. This was extremely exciting for them. Our toddler especially. One of the boys showed him how to pull up his chair to the counter. I am really regretting that they did this. He helps with dinner every night now, but the pie making was great fun. He took every task very seriously. I was trying to sneak him chocolate and he kept putting it  in the bowl. He was in a rare mood. Around 4 in the afternoon , we started the laborious task of making home made noodles. I tried this out with my mom this summer and we loved it. It took forever to make but fresh noodles are the best.

     If you didn't know, I am an extreme Master Chef fan. It is my favorite show. The boys watch it with me every week and they had an episode where they made noodles in the wilderness with nothing but egg , flour and a rock. Very impressive, so we were convinced we could manage. If you didn't know, Master Chef is coming out with a kid version of it's show in September and we are really excited for it. I'm grooming my children to become chefs. I feel confident that I can get at least one to cook professionally. My personal goal is to have them duel it out in the kitchen over the holidays and I can reap the rewards of their labors. Of course this is a long term plan....ANYWAYS!
    They were so impressed with themselves. I was equally impressed by how many dishes we dirtied and how exhausted I was afterwards. I think it took me a week to recover. I went back to reading, it was much less tiring, but I kept thinking of back in the day, when there was settlers in the colonies and parents taught their kids everything and every one was so self sufficient. Can you imagine teaching your child to survive in a world without so many conveniences? There's a pin on pinterest, that haunts me. It has ages that your child should have learned tasks by different ages. It overwhelms me, thinking of the things they still haven't mastered. Maybe not the best frame of mind to start home schooling but maybe it is. I don't know.

 
 I remember starting home school last year and after the first week, I drove by the public schools in the area to see what my other options were. I was so overwhelmed but I feel pretty strongly that having my kids switch schools several times during a school year is unfair to them. I have no way of telling when or how often we move. So homeschooling works for us. I am happy to say that this week has gone very smoothly. The programs with our online school are very familiar to us and I planned crock pot meals this week so I wouldn't have to juggle it all. My biggest concern was what Waylon was going to do, while my attention was on the older boys. Last year he was crawling on the ground attempting to get at the computer wires. Now a toddler, I didn't think he would care for all of us ignoring him all day. I received a brilliant idea from a friend. I do not take credit in any way for this but am so excited about it. She instructed me to come up with several different boxes of activities to occupy his time. I came up with three. These items are not to be brought out until it is school time. They are put away after school and I give him each item one at a time. So he doesn't get a box of new stuff in the morning, I dole out a new toy which is expected to keep him busy for about 15 minutes. So in essence I have my own little preschool boxes for him and it trains him to be in the mind set of school when we are. I have things like a puzzle, a special school snack, a new book, a tambourine, play food, an educational DVD, a hammer and foam board or Crayola's color wonder pages and markers and a cool superhero costume. On a side note I scored a slew of incredibly cool Halloween costumes at a second hand store! This approach has really helped keep him busy. Yes he still is coming up to me every 15 minutes or so when he is bored of whatever he's got, but I feel like he's staying active and at least I have something to give him instead of sitting him in front of PBS until nap time. Which, on occasion,  I've totally done, who hasn't? So day three of homeschooling has gone quite well, I'll keep you posted.
    

Homeschoolin' Momma

   

Last art project of the school year!

     Must blog... having a hard time finding the time....There's a lot of things I can tell you about Denver, but we're going to save those for another day, because today is our last day of school. So I'm finding time to write you this while the chicken nuggets are in the oven and the kids are kicked outside.
      I cannot believe that I made it through one year of homeschooling! I told my husband this morning " Can you believe I made it through without losing my mind?" He said that this was questionable. I agree, we've had some ups and downs on our journey. If you didn't know, we home school through an online program which means, I have teachers to report to and I facilitate the assignments they give the boys. Most days this works pretty well.  I feel confident that the kids are not behind in their studies and will be neck in neck with their peers when they return to school someday. I'm comforted by the fact that they're not in Kristina's school of hard knocks. If there's anything I want most,  it's for my kids to have a happy, normal childhood.  Normal seems to be questionable these days. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing but in the end,  I think keeping our family together is the best decision for us.
        You can't imagine how ecstatic I am to get through one year of homeschooling and still have my children like me.   Friends, you may think I'm a patient person, I am not. I get flustered at the end of the day when I think we're almost done and I'm ready to do a happy dance and realize we have an art project to do. I sympathize with my first grader when he says "are we done yet?"  We have had a lot of fun and have been able to bend the rules  with our flexible schedule. We've schooled in Colorado, Utah, Maryland, California and Nevada this year.  I am so comforted that we have not had to pull the boys in and out of schools with all of these moves. We skipped class a few times and went to the movies. We've taken field trips to Chimney Rock,  Mesa Verde, the hot springs, you know wherever.
      Some of my favorite moments were when Ian helped us build a scale out of gift wrapping rollers and tin cans. I remember making homemade paste because when you live 30 minutes from the store it's just not worth it. I didn't particularly enjoy that memory but I'm dang proud of myself for doing it. I remember when Wrex had to write a poem about Cleopatra. It sounded much better as a rap but I was also very proud of that moment too.

      One amazing thing is,  that in every town I've been to, I've been able to connect with another home school mom and be very encouraged. They make me feel like one of their own, even though sometimes I think I'm an impostor. They're always so cheerful as they charge along getting the best education for their children. Sometimes I feel more reluctant than the rest, but today I did get it done. If you can't tell I'm extremely proud of myself, but I am even more proud of my children, because they have learned independence this year,  among many other things. Wrex was a bit distraught yesterday when his PowerPoint presentation of 1910 to 1919 would not work on application sharing to present to his class. I tried telling him that this was  something that most adults can't,  even do but he didn't really believe me . 
     As one son goes into junior high and the other into second grade I feel that they are definitely ready for the challenges ahead of them and I pray that I am too. We're transitioning into our summer learning program, which consists of me teaching them to do whatever I want them to do. As I was instructing Houston to make meatballs in the kitchen this afternoon, I stepped out to prop the door open with my jogging stroller, because the door opener thingy  has broken off quite some time ago. When I came back, I saw him trying to stick his fingers in the can and I stopped him because I knew he would get hurt. So instead, I stuck my finger in the can and pop tomato sauce everywhere along with bloody fingers. Which reminds me, how much I have to learn and how  grateful I am that my kids are graciously learning with me. This is one thankful homeschooling mom who is so happy for the end of the year. Now id you'll excuse me, I am late for PE which just happens to be "Just Dance 2" today. Thanks for checking and happy summer!

A clay lineman for his service worker project

Science projects

We created our own time machine

A mosaic of a horse....you could tell that right?

 

 

Off to Denver

      Hey Guys! So we found out last week that we were headed to Denver. We thought we would have until Tuesday to get here and that Ian would have the whole weekend off. We thought of how nice it would be to not be in a rush for once....Wrong! Ian ended up working Saturday and even part of Sunday. When he left for work on Sunday, I figured we would just be leaving Monday. The trailer was pretty much packed up, so I had just finished my coffee date with my friends and was relaxing outside around 11 am when I heard Ian's truck pull up. It was so sudden, yet I should've been mentally prepared to go because I knew it was coming for several days, but it kept getting pushed back, and  I was in denial that it was really time to go. So I said goodbye to Tarah and Chandra, I think we were all a bit stunned that I was actually leaving, and just like that we left Alamo. I wasn't sure how far we were going to get. From Alamo to Denver it's a twelve hour drive, but towing a fifth wheel and traveling with children can just about double that.  We made it to Green River Utah that night and stayed at the KOA. Green River is one of those towns that I've driven through before and imagined it would be the end of the world to work out there, but after Alamo, I realized how many stores they had and all of the amenities I didn't notice before. Funny how that works. The next day was much more eventful . The truck had been running pretty hot the first day and an air hose that went to our jake brake had melted. A jake brake is an additional braking system that makes it safer and easier to slow down when you're towing a heavy fifth wheel behind you. Semi trucks have them too! Anyway our air hose had melted, so Ian fixed it before we left the campground. We went through some amazing mountains. It reminded me of "Thunder Railroad" at Disneyland, because we drove inside of mountains. We came out of the mountain and there was a train on the other side of the river and amazing pine trees. It was breathtaking but especially so after our time in the desert. As I admired the beauty of the mountains, the truck was running hotter and hotter. We made pretty good timing and made it to an hour outside of Denver in about 6 hours. That's where everything turned south for us. The truck was just too hot and we had to pull over and rest for about 15 minutes every mile. This was not ideal for the children, who had ants in their pants from being in the car for  6 hours. It was also extremely frustrating for Ian who had already done some serious work to his truck this year. Truck troubles are never ending, can I get an Amen? So anyway, we had been pulling over every mile for about an hour and a half and I pulled out behind Ian and looked in my rear view mirror and realized that the dirt bike which I tow on my 4Runner was no longer in sight. I asked Houston if he could see it and he said "No" so I honked twice and pulled over. Ian however, didn't see me and kept on going another mile. So I get out and we have a hauler that plugs right into my hitch and its big enough for one dirt bike and the KTM was laid on its side, thankfully not on the road but the tires had come off the track. So I called Ian, and he and Wrex pulled over and we're running back a mile down the highway while I gave it my best to lift the 250 lbs bike back up. Yeah, that was not going to happen. An amazingly kind truck driver came to my rescue and pulled over and lifted it up and strapped it down. I called Ian and told him I would meet up with him, he was so apologetic. In reality I don't think it was his fault at all. I know how I drive, I probably hit every pot hole from Nevada to Colorado and then flooring it from the shoulder to the freeway traffic was probably bound to loosen the bike. My bad, luckily nothing major broke on it and I didn't drag it a mile up the freeway, Phew! So another hour and we had made it up the mountains. Our air hose on the jake brake had melted two more times during this jaunt in our journey.
       We finally made it to our park. Oh yes our park! So when I found out we were moving I started calling around and everyone told me they were completely booked. Some people told me that even people's backyards had been taken and that the nearest long term solution was in Cheyenne Wyoming. I called at least 16 places and got nowhere. I called upon all my line friends and everyone was trying to get us a spot. Finally a guy we had worked with , who had stayed in the company yard in Denver a few days waiting for a spot for himself,  found us space at his park and called dibs on it for us. I was so grateful to actually have a spot, but I forgot about all that when we pulled up. It had been such a long day when we pulled up to our spot right next to the freeway. If you're driving on the 285 in Sheridan on your way to Costco, wave to me! I haven't been in a city for a long time and I was completely overwhelmed yesterday. Yes, I am right next to a Super Target and a Costco. so no more 6 hour shopping trip days, like in Alamo, but dang. The constant hustle and bustle which I can hear as I type this is frustrating. I was on the phone last night and the boys couldn't hear their movie over my conversation and likewise for Ian in our bedroom, so I took it outside, you know next to the freeway. Finally I went into the bathroom to finish my call. Such a glamorous life I live!We took the truck in yesterday so I'm car less. Yes, this all sounds a bit discouraging to me too. I had to remind myself, that usually when I get into a new place, I immediately find the things that make me uncomfortable but by the time I leave, I'm not ready to say goodbye. I think it's just human nature to dislike change.  Who would've thought I'd miss Alamo? Truly I don't, because that just can't be, but I miss my friends, my support, those girls that know what it's like to cook dinner in a mini oven and take a 6 minute shower using yoga poses to shave your legs. I miss them. But I am determined to stay positive today. I did have a few highlights yesterday. I went to a park further from the freeway and brought all my boys and gave my best puppy dog eyes and showed off my adorable toddler and she is trying to find us some room there. After I realized I do in fact have to stay at my park for a bit longer, I paid the rent and the very kind manager told me about a trail right outside our park. So opposite the freeway there is a trail that goes throughout all of Denver and we all went for a nice long walk last night. It was actually very serene and peaceful, just what I needed to clear my head. So I'm sure Denver will be just fine. Ian started work today and it looks like he'll have a more normal schedule and we'll actually get to see him. I've got a few leads on kids camps that I'm going to look into and the boys are trying to convince me to walk to the movie theater today. We will see. Ill keep you posted ~Kristina

Our Merry Go Round

     

    I haven't written in a while. The truth is I didn't think much was going on. I should be working on my never-ending laundry,  but when it's never ending what's the rush? I've been lost in thought today about what's happening out here in Alamo. To be honest it's a weird place. I went to California, for the kids school testing and since I've gotten back, it feels like my days have been running into each other. Ian has worked every day since April 18th. I'm sure his days are blurred even more than mine. It's like groundhogs day; laundry, groceries, homeschool, repeat. When you're in a town this small, and in a group this large, you might find yourself bartering for items.  One day I had to laugh, as someone handed me $10 for a screwdriver they bought off of Ian and I passed it down to Cayla so she could purchase some flour for me in town and she handed it back to repay me for the apples I had purchased through bountiful baskets. We have our own gypsy trading system going on here. Then we had to say goodbye to Cayla and Mike who had moved on to a job closer to home.  Then one day I was running ;ate back to the laundry room, and I met Chandra folding all of my clothes! It was a few day before Mother's Day and I just about cried when I saw my laundry folded. We continued our Sunday potluck dinners. What a neat tradition that Cayla left behind. There's always someone by the campfire in the evenings and someone always has smore supplies. There are five of us gals out here right now.  Which is pretty impressive, when you've been traveling around on your own. This Sunday four of us were walking around Alamo, exercising, laughing and chatting it up. We are all very different gals from many different backgrounds, but we're all here together  For me, it has made Alamo more than bearable even enjoyable. Not to say that every day we have a ball, but what we have here is support for each other . A line family. I find myself depending on all of them at one time or another. Not every job is large enough to have this many travelers on your same path .This sense of community , our little trailer hood, is affected when one of the guys gets injured, which we've had quite a few. Our friend sustained an injury yesterday. He almost lost his thumb. As in, it was dangling by skin. I'm reminded again how dangerous this job is. We have these people in our lives for a small period of time but these injuries can follow them forever.   Ian has all the hours and the time to become a fourth step apprentice. At this point we're waiting for that paperwork to be processed and then he can work on live electricity. We need your prayers. Pray for our friend, pray for our future.        
         We came on the road to stick together as a family and we need Ian to be safe so we can come home as a family. This weekend marks our one year anniversary of living on the road. To be honest I'm not ready to go home. I thought I would've seen more by now, done more by now. There's still more out here to experience. I may get lost in the day to day things like Waylon crawling up on the table every five minutes. Or last night he woke up asleep underneath his bed and our days are sprinkled with baseball, baseball, baseball. But we're still having adventures and there's still more to come. It feels like a change is coming. We've been told we will most likely leave this job any day. There are job opportunities in our territory and it's time for us to go back To the mountain states. I am so grateful to have experienced this type of community on the road. All of us so different,but coming together as a line family. I'll keep you posted until next time...