Home School, Parties, & Horses

We have been pretty busy dating back to last Thursday due to various activities....my favorite being the big home school convention which started on Thursday evening at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee.  This is an annual event which happens every Memorial Day weekend and is actually called the FPEA Convention.  I felt like a numbnut because it took me the longest time to figure out what FPEA stands for.  I saw the acronym everywhere but nowhere would it define what it was.  It turns out it stands for "Florida Parent-Educators Association."  So there you have it. I will continue to just call it the "homeschool convention" because it seems much simpler.

So yes, I think I've probably mentioned that I'm planning to home school Calleigh (who will be starting first grade) come August or September or whenever one starts a school year when they are also having a baby at the end of August.  I was home schooled through fifth grade so it has just seems like the natural thing to do it with my own kids.  Until when, I don't know but after attending the convention, you certainly feel inspired to do it for many years.  The nice thing is that there is a great support system here because so many of my friends are also home schooling their kids of similar age.  Now, there are some people who, with a school year on the horizon, would be researching, planning, scouring the Internet for information on homeschooling, etc. Yeah, that's not me.  I have done nothing as of yet which I like to call "going into the convention with an open mind."  What can I say.  I work much better when I have a deadline looming in the near future...not months or years ahead.

The convention is huge.  There are thousands of attendees and there are hundreds of vendors selling their goods whether it be curriculums (apparently the plural word for curriculum is either curricula or curriculums...a little nugget to share during our homeschooling days), parenting books, educational games, educational toys, school supplies, etc, etc.  It was really quite something to see.  One would be tempted to be overwhelmed as the sight of it all but fortunately I am not one to panic too easily.   Anyway, it all kicked off on Thursday night and I was pleased to hear that Duncan wanted to attend some of it so this was the best time for him to come after work.  The kids and I met him there at the exhibition hall with all the vendors which was open from 5:00 - 9:00.  We had quite a time getting our badges.  The convention center at the hotel is enormous but they only had one elevator and a tiny one at that.  Apparently it never occurred to the designers that there could be conventions that involved attendees with small children in strollers.  Mental note for next year...Do not bring a stroller.  Naturally the badges were on the second floor and we were on the ground level.  Duncan wasn't there yet and I wasn't about to maneuver a stroller and three small kids onto an escalator when we grew tired of waiting for the elevator.  Eventually I decided we would pretend we were at Sea World and just park the stroller somewhere and take the stairs.  

We had a great time walking through the rows of vendors.  Many of them had items at their tables geared towards kids whether it was candy, light up head bands, fossils, and at one place, snakes and a baby alligator.  We got tons of hand outs which was really why we brought the stroller.  I was advised to have something to push or pull and not carry over my shoulder because my shoulder would get too sore.  We took a break half way through to eat the picnic supper I had packed.  All and all, it was a success and I think Duncan was glad he went.

The Bruins were playing Game 5 of the playoffs against the Rangers and when Aubree fell asleep (in the first two minutes of getting in the van) on the way home and stayed that way, I told Calleigh she could stay up with my and watch some of the game.  DirecTV had come that morning to move the box from the workout room to our theater room so I was excited to watch the game on the 100 inch screen.  You can actually see the puck!  Calleigh watched the first period and we had a nice time just the two of us although she pretty much talked nonstop the whole time.  Since that night, every night she has asked me if we're going to watch hockey.  One of these days, it will be back on.  Fortunately the Bruins were victorious in the series and there will indeed be more hockey although not for a few more days.

Eating our picnic supper at a table right outside the convention hall.

Duncan just had to take a picture of this sign that he saw at one of the vendor booths.

Science expirements

Fossils.  The lady at this booth was especially nice as we stayed there about ten minutes and the girls must have asked her like 30 questions.

Not I, not I.

Time to head on home.

Friday morning things kicked off at 8:30 with a keynote speaker but I didn't want anyone have to babysit that early so I skipped that and just aimed to get down there for when the sessions started.  They had about six 50-minute session blocks where you had to choose among about 10 topics which ranged from "Things I wish I had known" to "Learning with Jesus" to "Manners Matter & Mean Success."  It was very hard to pick only one to go to.  So, getting back to my schedule.  I had Ron and Elaine lined up to come here at 10:00 so I ended up dropping the kids off at Allen's at about 9:20 so I could get to the hotel by 10:30.  They were supposed to go swimming at our pool but when it was unexpectedly closed, they ended up taking the kids back to their house and then bringing them back here when Duncan got home from work.  I am so fortunate to have them! The convention actually has child care (at $75 combined for the two days but you have to be five or older so that pretty much ruled that option out).

After the first two sessions, there was a break for lunch and I met up with Dawn and Vasti, two friends of mine who have been homeschooling the last few years.  Dawn was actually my first boss in Accounting at the hospital and Vasti also worked at the hospital in Accounting for many years.  We all pretty much followed the same path...worked as accountants and then quit (although Dawn and I work some from home) when our children were born and now are doing home schooling.  It's great having them because their oldests are going into third grade so they have been through all of this for the past several years and have a lot of advice. They both have used "My Father's World" curriculum and it's worked well for them and after hearing a lecture on it and looking it over at their exhibit, I've pretty much decided that is what I'm going to go with too.

I went to more afternoon sessions and didn't get home until about 7:00.  It had been a full day and I missed the kids.  I guess because the whole day had been about them!  Initially when I had heard the convention was going to go from Thursday night through Saturday, I figured I would just go on the first two days.  I didn't want to go on Sabbath.  But after reading the lectures they had on Sabbath and seeing how spiritual so many of the sessions were, I decided to go.  I was actually really surprised at how spiritual it all was but then, I guess that's the reason a lot of people homeschool in the first place.  I felt bad about leaving Duncan with the crew to take to church but I really didn't want to miss it.  The second session I went to made the whole convention worthwhile, in my opinion.  It was titled "Establishing Parental Control in the Home" and the speaker was Reb Bradley who is a minister with six kids.  He had so much practical wisdom and his first point was that we need to have our children do our will and not theirs.  As an example he used Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and how he prayed "Not my will, but your will be done."  His 50-minute talk was really inspiring.  As soon as the session was over I called Duncan because I knew he would be on his way home from church.  Sure enough, I heard the kids all loud in the background in the car and when I asked how it all went, Duncan said "Well, Aubree was a pill, Brady was a big pill, and Calleigh was a pill and then got a little better."  I told him "Good news!  I just got out of a lecture on how to make it all go away!"

I had told Ron and Elaine that I had seen a booth for the distance learning high school that they've been doing consulting work for.  Elaine decided to pop in to the convention that afternoon and say hello.  She was amazed at how big this whole homeschool thing has become over the years.  Oh, and one funny thing I forgot to mention.  On Friday when I had been strolling among the vendors, I had a kid who was probably about 16 and was manning one of the booths stop me as I walked by.  He had obviously noticed my big belly and struck up a conversation.  "Oh, what are you having?" I told him a boy and then he says "When will he be born?  "End of August" I say.  "THIS August?" He asks me incredulously.  I decided I wasn't going to to go with the curriculum he was selling.

Sunday was another busy day with two birthday parties on our schedule.  The first was at our own clubhouse for Calleigh's friend Cassie who turned six on Aubree's birthday.  It was to begin at 1:00 and so the five of us trekked down there to find no birthday festivities going on whatsoever.  I was mystified.  I knew I had the right day and time.  We stayed for about 45 minutes since we couldn't drag the kids away from the pool so quickly but eventually we had to leave so we could go home and have a bite to eat before our next party.  I sent a text to the mom and she promptly called me to apologize that she had forgotten to notify me that it was postponed because her brother in Boston had unexpectedly died and they were just on their way home at that moment.  So yeah, proper notification probably isn't the first thing on your mind.  The next party was at 2:30 for a friend, Isabella Clarke, who was turning three.  Duncan stayed behind with a napping Brady while I took the two girls.  We had a very nice time complete with a snow-cone truck that came especially to make cones for the party.  And just as an example of the small Adventist world, I was sitting at the table with the great grandparents of the birthday girl and they told me they were from Avon Park.  "Do you know Don and Lenora Copsey?" I asked.  "Oh yes, they are great friends of ours and we live right down the road from them." I had to explain that they were "sort of" related to me in that their son is married to my mom's sister (that would be Uncle Terry and Aunt Toni).  It's a small world.

A safari theme.

Waiting in line to go out to the snow cone truck.  Aubree seemed to be a little worried.

Getting to put their own flavors on their cones.  And yes, they put every single kind on it.  

The birthday girl.

This gift bag cracked me up!

After that party, we had a short reprieve at home and that it was off to Ron and Elaine's for a cookout there with Russ and Saray.  Elaine had gone all out and had a huge spread of food much of which had been grilled.  Duncan gives me a hard time as to why a vegetarian would want a grill but she had grilled up a ton of veggies and they were delicious.  Russ and Saray had brought birthday presents for the kids and Calleigh was just tickled that they were getting more gifts.  She has asked the day after their party if there were any more presents and I had said no.  So now, when she saw they were indeed getting more, she was almost smug.  "See Mom.  There ARE more presents."

Yesterday we had yet another party, this time a Memorial Day pool party at our neighbors the Ottatis.  There were about six or seven other families there and the kids very much enjoy their pool.  We had all been thinking about going to the beach but then after thinking about how crowded it would be, got the Ottatis to invite us all to their pool and it worked out very well.  We did have a drowning scare or two with a couple of the kids but I'll save the details for them to write on their own blog.  Thankfully everything ended well but it's a reminder that there can be tons of people around and no one may notice a kid silently struggling.

Calleigh jumping off.  

The food spread.

Dessert from... who else?  Jennifer.  

Aubree showing off her blue tongue from the cupcake.

Jennifer and Allen.

From there, it was back home to change and then we were off to the Arabian Nights which is a dinner show involving horses.  We had never been before but thought the kids would like it and were able to get a coupon to make it affordable for a family of five.  We aren't sure why someone would ever pay full price but we assume there are many tourists who do that very thing.  The food was pretty good but I'm sure people are attending for the show.  The show was 90 minutes and I must say it held the kids attention for most of it.  Brady loves horses so he seemed especially interested.  In between the acts he would start yelling "Where did the horsey go? Horsey come back!"  And he was really loud.  I'm glad it was a big place and voices didn't carry very far.

Proof that I do exist.

They got to ride "horses" in the arena before the show started.

"Horsey!"  For the record, I call it a horse and he calls it by the nickname of horsey.

Getting to to pet them after the show.

With all this activity, it was nice to have just a regular day today.  I do enjoy the stay at home days where we don't go anywhere and just get stuff done around the house.  Duncan gave me a good laugh though.  He apparently didn't realize we hadn't gone anywhere today.  He had been driving last night when he parked the van in the driveway and had kind of parked somewhat in the middle of it because his truck was parked on the street.  When he got home from work today and couldn't park his truck in the driveway, he says "Nice park job."  I just chuckled.  You only have yourself to thank on that one, buddy.

Brady, on the other hand, is not making me laugh.  Rather, he's trying to give me a heart attack.  This morning the kids were all in the tub and Aubree had closed the shower curtain.  Yes, we finally just got a shower curtain for their bathroom.  I started to open it because I wanted to be able to see what was going on.  Brady didn't like that idea and started to pull it closed and the next thing I know the whole darn curtain and rod falls down.  Brady starts to cry and I realize it has hit him and there's a bunch of blood right below his nose.  In the distance between the tub and the girls bed I took him to, I was praying "Please Lord, please, don't let me find some huge open wound or something worse." The logistics of it alone, with two naked girls in the tub and a naked boy with soap suds in his hair, were enough to stress me out if I had to take him somewhere in addition to what was actually wrong with him.  Thankfully, I found no wound and it appeared it was just a bloody nose.  His nose had no strange lumps on it and he didn't cry when I touched it.  It appears that crisis was averted.  Thank goodness.

Playing with the CD player in the buff after the shower rod incident.  I sent this picture to Duncan to show he was okay.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, Duncan and Brady are walking into the living room this evening and I hear Duncan yell "BRADY!" and Brady starts screaming.  He walked smack dab right into the pointed corner of the sectional which was about even with his left eye.  Yes, it's got fabric on it but it is pointy.  Again, we had some tears but no damage seems to have occurred.  But honestly, this kid is aging me.  I told my mother...it's not like he's a boy doing dare devil stuff or something.  It's just random stuff that keeps happening to him.

The darn sectional corner.

A few more pictures before I close:
 

Yes, that's my boy trying to play with the hose in his shirt, diaper, and purple high heels.

Last Tuesday I took the kids to Ikea to grab a few things.  I dropped the girls off at the play area and they have to put their shoes in a bin when they go in.  Brady followed right along as if HE were staying.  I felt so bad to break the news to him.

He got over it though and was my happy little companion.

My yellow team enjoying a Kids Eat Free lunch.  While we were eating it started raining and we had to run back to the car in the pouring rain, much to their delight.  We made a memory!

Shopping at Lowe's with Daddy later.  

That's an empty cherry tomato container in front of them.  They had eaten their lunch and said they wanted a few more tomatoes.  Next thing I knew, they had eaten the whole thing.  They love tomatoes!  Here they are making muscles for a picture to send to Papa (whom they got their love of tomatoes from).

Calleigh drew this picture of Arthur which I thought was pretty good although Duncan asked why he has four ears.  Hmm. Good question!

The sticker maker from Uncle Russ and Aunt Saray was a big hit!

Can't wait to have one of these in our own backyard.