Caleb's 8th Birthday

Wow, 8 years?  On some days it seems like it was just the other day that this boy was born in a flurry of fear and anxiety, and on others it seems like it's been a lifetime!

Caleb is still the most bright, smart, sweet, stubborn, march-to-the-beat-of-his-own-drummer kid that I've ever known!

On to the pictures:

I signed the kids up for a toy store promotion a few years ago where they get a coupon for some money off a purchase, so we always try to go and spend that money (and then some) for a gift from Jes and I.  To no one's surprise, Caleb decided on a new DS game that he had been wanting: Wheel of Fortune.  

At least it's somewhat educational, right?!?  

While we were making our purchase, the lady who checked us out was told by both kids that it was Caleb's actual birthday.  She insisted that we head right on over to the customer service counter for a balloon and a crown.  He wore this crown every where we went that day.  

While we were there, they also announced his birthday over the loud speaker.  It was one of the major highlights of his day.

I always take the kids where ever they want for lunch on their actual birthdays and this kid chose IHOP.  He has always had a deep and abiding love for the pancake house, so off we went.  The wait staff came over and brought him ice cream AND sang happy birthday to him.  He just about came unglued, he was so excited!  

Just a few days after his birthday, we had Caleb's party at California Pizza Kitchen.  I kind of planned this party on the fly after saying for months that we weren't going to do anything big.  FYI- I say that every year. Every year I find myself doing another birthday party post.  

We had a yummy cake delivered that was made to look like a pizza.  It was super cute and super tasty too!

We invited lots and lots of friends,

and his sister had fun too!  I had these aprons (you can see them in various photos throughout) made for all the kids as take home gifts.

The kids toured the kitchens,

learned about all the pizza making apparati,

and made their very own personal pizzas!

We had fun with our friends

blew out the candles,

opened presents,

ooo'd and ahh'd over some particularly fun ones,

and squealed in delight over the ones we really wanted.

All in all, I think Caleb had a great birthday and party!

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

I've started, erased, started, erased and now started this post multiple times.  So, I'm just going to start writing and what comes out will stay.  So here goes...

About a month to month and a half ago, Jes got a call about a job opening in another large city.  He gets these calls/emails nearly every other day (that is NOT an exaggeration).  Most of the time he doesn't even entertain the idea of these jobs, but this one seemed interesting.  This company was very interested in talking with him so he agreed to a phone interview, which happened late on a Wednesday evening.

He came home from that phone interview and said, "I will never hear from that company again."  

One week later, he was headed for a face to face interview.

Two weeks later, he went to Georgia for what we thought was another interview, but ended up being a 'let's meet to make sure that we love you, since we already think we do' type meeting.

He was offered the job, tentative to a background check and drug screen, and after some back and forth about salary, he accepted.  

The background check and drug screen came back this past Tuesday and he gave his notice that day.

So, we are moving.  To Houston.

To say that I've struggled with this decision from time to time is an understatement as all my family, friends, the kids' friends, the kids' activities and my job are here, but I am choosing to trust my husband and my God and know that everything will work out.  

I am choosing to look at this as an adventure, but that does not mean that I don't have my moments of sheer terror and fear. 

I have lived in North Texas, with the exception of my college and graduate school years, my entire life, so this will be a huge change for myself and our kids.  

We are in the process of looking for homes and will start packing up our house and placing things in storage that don't need to have in the house.  

Jes starts work in Houston on the 25th of this month, but I will stay behind in McKinney to continue packing things up, finishing out the semester at work, getting the kids to the end of their activities for the year and getting the house on the market.  Caleb, Piper and I will join him sometime in June or July, after our house sells and we get everything wrapped up here.  Jes will commute home each weekend and we will covet our time together, trying to soak up as much as we can before he has to leave again.

This is going to be hard, especially the next few months, but we are all committed to making this work as a family.  However, prayers, good thoughts, well wishes, etc are all appreciated!

Here's to our new journey!

**Whew!  So, glad that's out so I can now talk about it and post picture of the absolute chaos that is and is to come!**

Big Changes

Without revealing too, too much, there are some big changes that are occuring in the Mathis household. 

We should know something in the next 2 weeks, but until then, I can't post out of respect and fear of jeopardizing the possibility!

I'll be back shortly to fill you all in and start posting much more regularly!

XOXO

School Update - A Month Late Progress Report

Hi friends!  I realized the other day that I had neglected to do our yearly progress report on how school has been going for Caleb and Piper.
In order to keep this somewhat brief and to the point, I'm going to break this up by the subjects that we've been working on.  So, here goes:

Bible
So, this year in Bible, we've been studying the names of Jesus based on the scriptures.  Basically, what this looks like is that we read the memory verse, which usually is the same for a couple of weeks, we read corresponding verses from the Bible and then talk about the concept.  There is also a visual component where the verse is printed on a picture that is visually representative of the verse (like Jesus is the bread of life printed on a picture of a loaf of bread), which is colored and taped onto a poster where we are collecting all the pictures.  I've been amazed at Caleb's recall of these verses, often he's able to quote them exactly after a couple of days of not seeing them.  Piper listens when we are discussing this and often chimes in with her point of view, which can be pretty enlightening for a 4 year old.  She's got such a sweet spirit and understands these things far beyond her years.

Spelling
This is a new subject for us this year, as the last couple of years spelling as has been integrated into the other subjects we've been working on.  This year, our spelling comes from Rod and Staff, a Bible based spelling curriculum and is just wonderful.  I've noticed from our friends that go to public school that they are often assigned words that just aren't useful for a 7-8 year old to know at that point in their lives.  Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against having themed spelling words based on what the child is studying, but I hardly think that a 7 year old needs to understand the ins and outs of things such as morgue and Iwo Jima, and Vietnam.  All words I've seen on friend's spelling lists.  I'm not going to pretend to know why those words were on 1st and 2nd grader spelling lists, but I do know I can pick our words, and morgue will not be one of them for a very long time.

English
In English, Caleb has been learning the basics of the English language, which makes me very, very happy.  We've learned a myriad of things in this section of our course work, including things like the differences in to, two and too, and there, their and they're.  Caleb understands and uses all of these correctly now, something that makes my English loving heart happy (sidenote: my first college major choice was English.  I love, love, love it!)  Honestly, even though these concepts seem to come fairly easily to my boy, English is often where our conflicts occur.  Even though he grasps these ideas, writing is still a struggle for him.  His handwriting is actually still quite poor, but he's working on this everyday.  He just really, really, really dislikes writing a lot, but I've seen quite a lot of improvement this year and I know we'll see more!

History
In History this year, we are doing an actual study of the history of the United States, complete with a study of each state.  We haven't really had a specific study of history until this year, and honestly History is NOT my favorite subject normally, but this has been really fun for us.  I did not enjoy history when I was in school, but seeing all the interesting things that we've been able to learn about this year has opened my eyes to another view of the subject.  This year's study of the United States has really made me want to take the kids on an extended trip around the US to show them all the things we've been studying.  True to what I expected, Caleb LOVES history time, but then again, his dad LOVES all things history too, so it comes naturally for him!

Math
Math for us this year has been from Singapore math, a method of learning math first by visually processing it and then working the problems in a sequential manner so as to build on each concept.  Most of the year, this method of learning has worked well for Caleb and we've covered a wide range of topics.  He still loves math and looks forward to working on the subject.

Art
Ok, so I have to be honest here, I do not see the need, nor do I want to teach a specific art curriculum to my kids.  We completed the first half of this curriculum that taught how to draw certain things, which was somewhat fun for them, but they just didn't care, nor did I, so I dropped it from our regular set of work.  We do crafts and painting and coloring and building things, etc, so I feel like they are getting the appropriate level of art knowledge.  We also go to the art museum and study works of art, so they are exposed to paintings, sculptures and other art pieces, so I'm ok with that.  I know some people will think I'm doing the kids a terrible disservice not delving deep into this area of study, but honestly, I feel like I'm doing so much more than a lot of public and private schools, so I'm ok with that.

Music
About a year ago, I got a fabulous deal on a keyboard and stand at a consignment sale.  Ever since the keyboard made its appearance in our house, the kids have been either trying to play it or begging me to play it.  I feel like that they need to have some formal training in how to do this, so I'm teaching Caleb first how to read music.  I bought a very simple book on music and how to read it and am working through this with Caleb until he understands the basics and I can start teaching him how to play.  I'm excited about this as musical ability runs deep both in my and Jes's family, so I feel like both of the kids will pick this up pretty well.  Caleb has exceptional tone and ability to match tone with his voice, so he's got the potential there, I just want to tap into it.

Reading
Caleb has always been a skilled and voracious reader.  This year, Caleb has really bumped up his reading level and has completed some chapter books that are far beyond his 2nd grade status.  With his curriculum this year, in conjunction with the studies we've been working on in history, Caleb has been reading books such as Squanto, Farmer Boy, On the Banks of Plum Creek, etc.  He's enjoying the stories and I'm loving seeing him branch out into other genres of literature.  Other than his assigned reading of various books, there is a set time between history and math called book basket time where he is allowed to read anything he would like for a set amount of time.  For Caleb, this is akin to a palate cleanser and allows him to rest a bit and just escape into a book.  Often, he is reading a book from the library on ninjas or Star Wars or some such.

So, that's what Caleb's been up to during school.

Piper, on the other hand, is a completely different story.  I've been playing a little fast and loose with her school work, letting her dictate when and what instead of me setting a rigid schedule and time table.  Before the school year started, I did purchase a preschool workbook with basic skills in it and she's mastered many of those skills.  She's not yet reading, but I've heard so many good things about the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, so I ordered it this week and we should be able to start that this next week.  I'm not pressuring her at all, but I do believe that if she can read and read well that her Kindergarten year will go much more smoothly.  We will use the same curriculum that we did with Caleb during his first year so I know what to expect there and can anticipate somewhat how the next year will go for her.

That's where our school year stands as of now!  We will continue on with what we're working on and finish on point by mid-May so we can take the summer off and just work on fun stuff and enjoy our time together!

48 Questions

I saw this over at a blog that I frequently read and decided that I hadn't done one in a long time, so here goes:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I was named after an obscure song from the 70s.  Apparently, it was about a dog who commits suicide.  Super duper happy, huh?!?

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?  A couple of weeks ago.  I don't tend to cry often, so it's got to be a big deal.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?  My handwriting is not great, in my eyes, but other people seem to think that it's good.  

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?  Turkey, if I have to choose.  Not a huge fan, but that's what I will always pick.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? 2 and I'm sticking to it.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?  Sure. 

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?  I wouldn't say a lot.  I am, on occasion, on the sarcastic side, but I've learned in all my years that some people are highly offended by that.  Being in the profession I'm in, I have to reign that in.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?  Yes, but I have often wished for someone to rip them out.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?  No.  My years for that type of behavior have passed.  Besides, I would be that .0001 percent would get hurt beyond belief.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?  Lucky Charms.  Hello yumminess.  I don't ever eat it, though, because hello sugar!

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?  I rarely wear shoes that tie, these days, so I guess no.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?  Mentally, yes.  Emotionally, yes.  Physically, meh.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?  Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?  Their face, in general.  Then teeth and hair and eyes.

15. RED OR PINK?  Red, but I'm surrounded by oh so much pink.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?  I am SUCH a people pleaser.  I want to make everyone happy with me and with everyone else, regardless my needs and wants and feelings.  I'm coming to realize, in my old age, that I can't control or alter other people, so I have to just be me.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?  My grandfather and grandmother.  

18. WHAT IS THE TECHNIQUE THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON THE MOST?  Probably anything to do with baking. I've come leaps and bounds in the baking arena and can actually bake things that are edible now, but there are so many pretty things I want to make that I know are out of the realm of my ability.

19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?  I'm at home, which equals no shoes.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?  Grapes

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?  My kids playing and House Hunters on the tv.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?  Red, red, red.  

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?  Clean laundry, but NOT fabric softener or scented laundry detergent.  I know that sounds weird, but the smell of my houses laundry clean with scent free detergent and baking soda does it for me.  Also, my husband's cologne.  That's a no brainer.

24. HOW IMPORTANT ARE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS TO YOU?  Very, but I'm not going to force them on other people.  We all have the ability and right to have our own opinions, but I don't think we should force them on anyone else.  We can, however, all agree to disagree and still get along.

25. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?  Oh, beach all the way.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?  Football, if on tv or game.  Baseball, if we are AT the game.

27. HAIR COLOR?  I am back to being brunette now, but I was just blonde.  I figure that hair is meant to be cut and colored, so I change pretty often.

28. EYE COLOR?  Hazel.  Most people think my eyes are brown, but they aren't.  They just haven't looked close enough.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?  Any kind of mexican food and sushi.  I LOVE sushi.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?  Always happy endings.  I loathe scary movies.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?  Snow White and the Huntsman

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?  Grey Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?  Winter

35. FAVORITE DESSERT?  Cheesecake, anything covered in chocolate.

36. STRENGTH TRAINING OR CARDIO?  I would have to say cardio.

37. COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?  Both.

38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?  I'm currently in between books, but have a whole pile on my nightstand.

39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?  I use a trackpad on my laptop.  

40. FAVORITE SOUND?  My children really, truly laughing.  Not the fake laugh that they both can and do do, but when they get really tickled and have that belly laugh going on.

41. FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC?  Anything but doo-wap.  I can't stand that, but everything else is great!

42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?  Probably northern Oregon or the Dakotas.  Oregon is probably further.

43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?  I have a head full of useless science facts and knowledge.  I can also, pretty easily, recall stories that friends have told me years later.  

44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?  Dallas, Texas

45. WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?  McKinney, Texas - Just north of Dallas.

46. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE?  Red brick with off white accents.

47. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR CAR?  Silver

48. DO YOU LIKE ANSWERING 48 QUESTIONS? Yes.

Piper's New Accessories

For about 2 years now, Piper has talked practically non-stop about getting her ears pierced.  It started out as an appreciation for all things sparkly, including earrings.  I used to take her to various jewelry stores so that she could look at all the pretty things and we would always end up looking at all the earrings.  I would always tell her that we would buy her some of those sparkly earrings, if only she would get those sweet little ears pierced.  Her answer, 100% of the time, was NO!  

Until about 1 month ago.

We had had this same conversation for about 2 years, so when she said she would do it, I decided that I would take her the first chance we had and get it done before she lost the nerve.  

With the holidays, our time has been limited to make the trip to the mall and get it done, so this past Thursday became the day and off we went.  Before we headed over to the mall, some friends who we have frequent playdates with texted and we invited them along.  In all, it was 4 adults and 7 kids (counting P) who came along to give support and love to Piper as she had this done.  (Have I mentioned my amazing friends?!?)

I've posted the progression of photos below because no words could adequately describe the change that happened in my sweet girl as the process progressed.

She climbed up in the chair and sat happily, not knowing what was awaiting her.  You'll notice her right hand is being held by my dear friend, Miriam.  She was a bit nervous, but was excited!

Still ok, but getting a little apprehensive.

She let the girl pull her hair back with the clips and they were working on marking her ears so she wasn't completely uneven.  This is where my friend, Alison worked her magic, as she is so very precise and made sure her ears weren't totally wonky.

I made sure that they would pierce both ears at once, as I knew that if we had one done there was NO WAY that she would ever do the other.  She was a little more nervous here and you can see Miriam is still holding her hand (right hand) and now I have the other one (left).  I was having her look at me and I was talking to her too.  Her brother's head is at the very bottom right of the picture, as he was cheering her on the whole time!

The very moment they pierced her ears.  She was NOT happy.

Poor thing screamed, not just cried, but screamed for the next 30 minutes.

Still screaming...

STILL screaming...

And STILL screaming!  There was a line of people behind us waiting to get pierced.  I'm surprised we didn't clear the store out...

We walked all the way through the mall to the food court to get lunch and she was still crying.  Poor little drama queen.  Bless her heart!   

I finally got a little smile out of her and you can kind of see her little pink, sparkly flower earrings, complete with one pitiful tear.  

And ten there was this no more than 10 minutes later.  Homegirl can turn it off and on.  As a side note, she LOVES, and I mean LOOOOOOOVES her new earrings, now I just have to get her a whole collection of her newest accessory!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our little hooligans to yours!

Choir Performance

This past Sunday, the kids had their first choir performance at my parent's church.  We started the Children's Choir program there in September and they have had fun, learned some old hymns and new songs and made some new friends.  

We've had a bit of trouble with Caleb as he gets so anxious over what is about to happen or where we are, but he does pretty well about 90% of the time.  He has had so many bad experiences in church that we have just avoided it all together for him (not church, but leaving him alone in a class).  I would like to enroll him and his sister in a local homeschool co-op this coming fall, so I thought we should try to break him of this fear and get him used to being away from me.

Here's a picture of Piper after the performance was done.  For whatever reason, Caleb refused to go on stage, sit with his class and sing, so he sat with us in the audience and sang his songs there.  

And here they are together.  These two surely keep me on my toes, but we always had an adventure in the process!

Halloween 2012

Of course, this Halloween recap is late.  Story of my life...
We had a pretty low key Halloween this year.  Last year was a lot of rushing around and packing as much in as possible.  Typically, the weekend before the 31st arrives, my parents' church holds their Fall Festival, full of games and candy.  However, this year the decided to hold their event 2 weeks beforehand which was the weekend that Caleb's Cub Scout camp out occurred.  We couldn't miss that, so I was hoping that I would be able to find another one but this seemed to be the year that just about every church and organization in town took the year off from holding their events.
Halloween was also on a Wednesday this year, which is our typical day to drive to my parents' church so the kids can attend their Children's Choir program.  We typically don't get back home until nearly 8pm from that, so trick or treating was out too.  I gave them the option to skip for the week and go trick or treating like we did last year, but they were both emphatic that they had to go to choir, so we went.
Piper had dance that morning, so both kids donned their costumes before we left and did not remove them until late that night, after returning home from church.  All in all, it was a good Halloween but, honestly, I did miss getting at least a little candy, but it's probably better that we didn't!  There's always next year!

Caleb's First Cub Scout Camp Out

This past weekend, Caleb's Cub Scout den went on their first big camp out of the year.  We all traveled to Cedar Hill State Park, about an hour away from McKinney for 2 days and 2 nights of fun!

Caleb was so excited about going camping, but more excited about spending time with all his Cub Scout friends!  He loves Cub Scouts and has really blossomed while in the organization and has had much success in this group.  All the boys get along so well and all the parents are so supportive and loving!  We are blessed to be in this group!

All of the boys in this group are homeschooled, so we all have a huge thing in common and are all working toward the bigger goal of raising up Christian men who will go on and become amazing fathers and husbands!  There is no ridicule or making fun in this group when one of the boys fail, but just lifting up and encouragement.

Since this was a family camp out, Piper came with us and so did her little friend who we have play dates with frequently.  It was nice for her to have someone to play with while the boys did their thing, as we were pretty scheduled with Scout stuff this whole weekend!

All the boys played games and were able to cross off some of the requirements for their wolf badge, what they are all striving to earn by the end of the year!

My boy is so blessed to be in this group and to have found all these other boys whom he shares so much in common!  We are blessed as parents to be able to participate in this amazing organization with these amazing parents!

My Grandfather

Exactly 9 days ago, on September 11th, we lost my grandfather.  The emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis that he fought so hard finally caught up with him.
He had had a good few days and then the Thursday before, he started calling everyone in his cell phone telling them that he was going home.  He had had a few episodes like this, where his oxygen would get so low that he would do things that he wouldn't normally.
My grandfather was an amazing man.  He was a retired "letter carrier", as he used to say, and had served in the Korean war in the Navy.  He was the most loving, caring, man I ever knew, always stopping to take care of his people before himself.
He and my Caleb had quite a bond.  Piper was born right in the middle of him taking care of my grandmother after her stroke, so even though he tried, they just weren't as connected as he was with Caleb.  My grandfather would drive from Garland to McKinney (normally a 30-45 minute drive), randomly just to see him.  He asked for him and about him constantly, checking on him and his health all the time.
I have to say, that even though we knew that his end would come soon, his passing was a shock.  True to form, when he was ready to go, he did so quickly.  My mom called me around 5:00 on the day, I was there by 7:45 and he was gone at 9:35.  We had hospice in place and they were a great support, but it's still so, so hard.
My mom and I are only children, so we were all really close.  There was a period of time when my mom and I lived with my grandparents.  I was even brought home from the hospital to his house.  So, this is so difficult.  Honestly, I feel lost without him.

Milestone

We don't have many milestones around the Mathis house anymore.  I've officially reached the point in my life where my youngest child is the age of many of my friend's oldest kids.  What this means is that many of my friends have children who are still in diapers, using pacifiers, not sleeping through the night, some even are infants which is a completely different level of torture.
Around here, we are all taking care of our potty business on the potty (even though I still have 1 tiny hiney that I have to wipe since Miss Diva refuses to do it), have given up our paci's, sleeping (mostly) through the night, and have thankfully given up all the other trappings of being a baby.
However, there are still a few things that we have yet to see conquored.  One of which, Jes and Caleb worked on this weekend: riding his bike without training wheels.
Admittingly, Caleb is not the most athletic child, most of the time choosing to read a book over playing a sport, but we really want him to learn this skill so off went the training wheels.
I've attached a couple of videos and in the second one, you see Caleb ride for a little distance completely unassisted.  For a kid who was late to walk and late to do most things physical due to his rough start, this is a huge milestone!
We are so very proud of our boy!  I just had to share!  Oh, and ignore my excited yelling!

Not to be outdone, here's  little video of Piper riding her scooter.  You get a little glimpse of my normal conversations with our little one.  I ask her what she's doing and she starts talking about a tiny bug.  That's my girl!

First Day of School

Yesterday was our first day of school around here.  Caleb, as you can see, started 2nd grade and Piper is doing some honest to goodness pre-K work now.
For Caleb, we are using the same curriculum that we've used the past few years, My Father's World.  I really have appreciated the way that this curriculum ensures that we hit all the important academic information while still teaching them the Biblical principles that are just as important.
This year, our daily work includes the following:

• Bible: This year in Bible, instead of just hearing a Bible story and learning a verse every week, we are talking more specifically about Jesus, who He was, who He is, what He did, etc.  I think that this more focused attack will be something that both the kids will love.  Piper is sitting in on this part of the curriculum this year now.
• Spelling:  We have integrated the spelling curriculum from Rod and Staff, which is a very good, organized, do-able way to teach spelling for kids our age.  This includes weekly spelling tests, which we will complete every Thursday, to ensure that he has a good starting place and foundation for this important skill.
• History:  Last year, we just did a very brief discussion, once a day, about Bible stories.  We enjoyed this, but Caleb and I were both really hoping for a more traditional history curriculum and we got it this  year.  We are still doing Biblical studies, but during the Bible part of our curriculum, and are doing a study of the United States.  We will read books about the discovery and founding of our country, as well as learn about all the states, something that Caleb loves to hear about and will love studying this year.  Piper is participating a bit in this now too.
• English: I was surprised when I looked at the English part of our curriculum this year, as it asks a lot of the student.  We only do an English lesson 3 days  week, but the 4th day (we only school 4 days a week) is something called dictation.  Basically, I read a sentence or series of sentences and Caleb writes them.  The other 3 days, we are learning sentence structure, parts, differences between words (there, their, they're), etc.
• Science:  Caleb and Piper love science, so they are super excited about this year's set of experiments. We've got some fun things planned during this part of our schooling and the kids are asking everyday if we can work on science!  That makes my little scientific heart happy!
• Math:  This year, our math curriculum is Singapore math, which is a great system for a kid like Caleb. The way this is taught is to have the child look at the math problem and be able to quickly decipher an answer and move on.  Caleb has always loved and looked forward to the math part of our day, but last year consisted of the lesson and then page after page of practice problems.  This just served to bog him down and make him frustrated in the process.  Once Caleb learns a concept, he doesn't usually forget it, so once we are done he wants to move on.  This type of math curriculum will allow us to do just that.
• Art:  We had an art curriculum last year, but honestly we didn't do much of it at all.  Art is something that I struggle teaching and doing, but the only part of our art curriculum that is needed is the first few weeks, which I am doing with the kids now.  I never have had much interest in doing art (crafts are a totally different thing, though!) but I'm not going to deprive my children of the opportunity to love it!
• Reading:  This year we've got a couple of places embedded in our curriculum dedicated just to reading.  After our history lesson, we have a time called book basket time where Caleb sits and reads anything of his choosing for a set period of time.  During this reading part of our curriculum, however, I will be reading various things to Caleb and Piper as well as letting Caleb read to me from those same books, all of which are history based.
• Foreign Language:  The only thing that I wasn't thrilled with with regards to the curriculum was the fact that they want us to purchase a computer driven foreign language curriculum which is kind of pricey.  I'm not completely convinced that Caleb needs this for 2nd grade, but we are going to start a more simple foreign language curriculum next week that will get him up to speed for this computer driven set for either Spring or Fall.

Piper is doing some handwriting work and is participating in the Bible, history, science, reading and some of the art part of our curriculum this year.  Other than that, she is just doing some sorting work, coloring, Play doh, etc.  Just typical 4 year old work, just to get her used to the process of school so that next year's start in Kindergarten isn't such a jarring experience.
I think that this year is going to be a good year and I'm looking forward to all the fun we're going to have!

Mojo

It seems I've lost my blogging mojo.  I just can't seem to get back into the swing of blogging.
It's not for lack of things to say or things happening, I just can't seem to get it together enough to write about these things.
Things around the Mathis house have been hard, in really every sense of the word.  Some of which, I attribute to summer being a very difficult time for us, historically.  So, I'm hoping that with the end of summer and the beginning of school, MOPS, Cub Scouts (that's new.  See, something to write about.), etc, I'll get back into the swing of writing again.
A girl can hope...

Piper Turns 4

On Saturday, Piper turned 4 and we had her party on the same day (blog post to follow on that).  It's just so hard to believe that she's 4, since it seems just like the other day that she was little bitty.
I know I'm a bit late posting this, but Piper had her 4 year well check yesterday, so I wanted to wait for her stats before posting.

Waiting for the bird show to start at the Dallas Zoo

Piper loves to go and do fun things, especially if her brother is involved, which is most of the time.  I didn't grow up with siblings in my house, so this relationship they have, while baffling to me at times, is really everything I ever wanted for them.  They do fight and they are totally normal kids, but they are happiest when they are together. When I was growing up, I always wanted to grow up and have 2 kids, the first being a boy to help take care of his younger sister.  I never knew that they would be such a team and makes me so happy that they are so close!
Most of the time, when we play with other kids, Piper is the youngest and sometimes the only girl.  But, Piper is super athletic, so most of the time she can hang with all the older boys and what they are doing.  We are starting to have friends that are just hers (meaning her age), though, so she's got her own little posse of kids that she runs with too!

Dinner at La Madeleine with Mama after seeing a local middle school rendition of her favorite book, Pinkalicious

Piper is all girl and one of her favorite things to do is hang out with Mama, which is always a good excuse to get chocolate somewhere.  She loves to shop and she loves to have her toes painted, but only by me.  This girl also loves to dig in the dirt and climb rock walls and run as fast as she can.  She's a well rounded girl, that one!

Modeling her new sunglasses 

One of Piper's weaknesses that I have no trouble indulging is her love for accessories.  This girl always has a bow or clip in her hair, a bracelet on, or one of her many pairs of sunglasses.  Like I said above, she's a girly girl!

Participating in a one room school house with a homeschool group at Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth

Piper has been growing in leaps and bounds in learning and has started recognizing and reading sight words.  However, Piper is full of attitude and sass, so sometimes when I ask her what a word is, she'll say she doesn't know, even when she does.  Then she'll tell us what something says, completely out of the blue, and surprise us all.  She's silly, that girl.  At this point, Piper can write her name and all the other basic stuff that she's been able to do for some time (letter, number, shape, etc recognition).  I have some homeschooling moms who have kids Piper's age and are pushing their kids to read and such, but I have decided not to do that at this time.  She has one more year before we start Kindergarten, so I'm just going to let her have her last year and do fun things with her while Caleb is working on his school work.

Posing for photos before her dance recital

This year was Piper's second year of dance and she moved up to the 3/4 year old class.  Last year's class was more about having fun and if the girls learned some skills then we were coming out ahead.  This year, it was all about teaching serious skills in preparation for them continuing on in their dance careers.  At the end of this year, all of the girls were evaluated to determine what class they should move up to and Piper was chosen to move to the 5 year old class due to her skill level.  She loves dance and looks forward to it each and every week, so we will be continuing it for as long as she chooses to participate.

Her first introduction to sponge rollers

Piper is just in love with all things that breathe and move.  She is super fascinated by animals and would do just about anything to help one, including bugs.  My mom watched the kids for me one Saturday while I was at a work thing and Jes was working, and when I picked them up Piper was full of stories that my mom told her about how she used to keep doodle bugs (roly polys, pill bugs, whatever you call them) as pets.  You can guess what I've been finding all throughout my house since then.
Piper also has a great propensity and interest and love for all things about the human body.  Granted, she comes by it honestly, but I have to say that she was given to the right Mama since that's my specialty.  She wastes no time reading about or talking about all the things she knows about the body, continually baffling normal people and impressing medical professionals.  One of my earliest memories is reading medical encyclopedias that my mom and dad bought for me, so I'm guessing I'm going to have to get this kid reading faster so that I can do the same for her!

Riding the carousel after a water ride (obvs) at Six Flags 

Yesterday, at her appointment, we found that Piper weighs 40 pounds and is 41 inches tall.  She's on the higher end of the chart, but is still smaller than where her brother was at this point.  Her blood pressure and heart rate were good, but just like one of our kids, there was something else that popped up.  She failed her vision test.  So, we have a visit to our favorite eye doctor in our near future for a more thorough exam and determination if she needs corrective lenses.
Piper is growing and maturing and is just the sweetest little girl that I've ever met!  I tell her everyday that she's my favorite girl and there are no truer words spoken!  She brings so much joy and light to our worlds and we are blessed to have her in our family!

End of School

Just a couple of days ago, we finished up our official school year.  It's hard to believe that Caleb's successfully completed both kindergarten AND 1st grade and is now a 2nd grader.
I've included the beginning and end of school year photos:

 1st day of school for both kiddos

This was taken just a couple of weeks ago, but you get the picture.  They've both grown and are just getting too big, too fast, if you ask me.

This summer, we will continue with some math, to keep up skills, and I've picked up a Handwriting Without Tears workbooks for Caleb to work on.  Handwriting has never been a skill that came easily for Caleb, nor was it something that he ever enjoyed.  However, I'm trying to convince him that it is important to learn how to properly write, even if he does make a good case against it.  I also was able to gather a few workbooks with fun activities in them for those Texas summer days that are sure to come that are just too, too hot to be out!  Also, one-third of our playgroup that we see weekly leaves in mid July and doesn't return until mid August to head to Michigan in order to avoid at least some of the summer.  Who can blame them, but we have to plan for that time too, so I've got lots and lots of fun stuff planned for us!

What's Up, Buttercup?

Yes, I'm really still alive.  We have just been super, super busy and I just haven't had time to carve out to update here.  I'm hoping, with the ending of school here and summer starting, I'll be able to get back on the horse and update more frequently.
Here's what's been happening lately:

• I had a very good endocrinologist appointment last week, where I was given a clean bill of health and don't have to return for a year.  That is unless I start feeling poorly or get pregnant.  Neither of which is likely to happen, but it was worth mentioning since we talked about it in my appointment.
• We are juuuuuuuuust about done with school proper around these parts.  Caleb has a couple more lessons to complete and we will continue with some very short, basic things through the summer to ensure he doesn't lose skills.  Piper hasn't really been doing anything specific, so this summer will be spent trying to come up with a game plan for the next school year.  This will be her last year as a preschooler, so we've got to start working on school skills like sitting for extended periods of time, and not running off every 30 seconds.  She's started to write and spell and is reading some basic sight words, so the transition into school work will be fairly easy, I hope, for her.
• My mom and I made our annual trek to the homeschool curriculum fair a couple of weeks ago in order to get Caleb's curriculum for 2nd grade.  Which, can I just say, I can't believe we're here already!  How did we get to this point so fast?!?  Anyway, I had done some research beforehand and couldn't find anything that I liked more than the curriculum we were already using, so I had pretty made up my mind we would go with that.  We quickly made our way through the vendors and made a bee line for the booth we knew we were looking for, purchased our boxes, and were heading out, all in under 2 hours.  
• That same night, we had a surprise birthday dinner for my dad with my 2 brothers and sister and their families.  It was super fun and my dad was so surprised!  Let me just take this time to say, I love my family so, so much and love hanging out with them!  They are so fun and I'm so, so blessed to have these people in my life and my kids' lives!
• School (my work) ended a week and a half ago and I've still got approximately 2 weeks left, maybe a smidge less, before I have to go back.  I'll be working my normal late, 4 night a week summer schedule, which will be brutal, but it's worth it in the end.  
• We are finishing up the year in dance with Piper this next week and her recital is the following Saturday.  Be prepared for some insanely cute photos coming up!  We're carefully considering letting her take a 4 week dance course in the summer as well, since she loves it so much!  

So, that's the long and short of it.  We've been busy, but things are starting to slow down a bit!  We're looking forward to a summer of fun and I'm sure I'll have lots to post about here!

Caleb's Birthday

Back in the fall, Caleb and I attended a birthday party at a local bowling alley slash arcade and had a blast! Ever since then, Caleb has been begging to have a bowling party for his birthday, so that's exactly what we did!

The boy wonder turned 7 this year, which seems so very impossible. His love for all things Legos has never died and this year the Lego company came out with a new line called Ninjago. Basically, it's little Lego ninjas and all their paraphernalia. As soon as Caleb saw his first Ninjago figure, he was smitten and that was the definite choice for the theme for this shin dig!

Here's the cake! My mom and dad have set a tradition of getting the kids' cakes for their parties, mainly because the local cake shop we like to use is near them. These bakers are the same ones who made my cakes, when I was in school, and let's just say that these cakes are just to die for! Yuuuuuuummmmmmyyyyyy!

Caleb had so much fun bowling and, despite it only being his 3rd time to bowl, he did quite well!

Caleb wanted to have a photo with Piper, but she couldn't be bothered to stop and smile for the camera.

She was most happy when she was in my mom's arms, so that's where she spent most of the party!

Caleb is just a sweet, sweet boy and is growing like a weed! I'm afraid, at this pace, he'll be 8 feet tall by the time he gets to his teen years! At his 7 year well child visit, he measured in at a whopping 53 inches (that's over 4 feet tall, folks...) and 60 pounds. I still don't know how he's so big, but there you have it folks, my sweet boy is growing up!

We Haven't Fallen Off the Face of the Earth...

Oh hi, it seems I have a blog. A blog that is woefully ignored. At some point, I'll do better...

I'm working on simplifying my life and eliminating things that are taking up more than their fair share of space and taking up way too much of my effort. However, eliminating things from ones life takes extraordinarily more time than I thought, originally. It will be done in short order, though.

Things around here have been good and bad, boring and exciting, easy and difficult.

It's just been life.

I'll be back soon to post some things here and try to get back into the swing of things.