Pleasantcooper

Ok, Gina tagged me, and since I've never done anything like this, here it goes:

 

6.  I HATE odd numbers, especially the number 13.  Now...if the number ends with 5, it's ok.  Why?  No idea.  For example, if the TV volume is on 11, I have to change it  to either 10 or 12.   However, I am not afraid of Friday the 13th, I'm not superstitious, just OCD :)

 

5.  Every time I get a headache, I think I'm having an anurism...Headaches just scare me.

 

4.  My biggest phobia is of killer whales.  Ask anyone who knows me well...I get teased about it a lot.  I have nightmares about them at least once a week.  I've dreamed that they have tried to eat my children--I woke up scared to death and genuinely worried that a killer whale will get them.  (even though I live nowhere near an ocean, or an ocean that you would find a killer whale in).  My theory is that my mother let me watch Orca (she worked in a movie theater) when I was around 7 years old and it scarred me for life.....

 

3.  I hate it when people are over competitive.  Even with sports or games, but especially with material things or with children.  It repulses me actually.

 

2.  I love to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation and play video games....translation: I'm a nerd and proud!!

 

1.  I am on a secret mission to win the heart of my little niece, Emily.  She pretends not to like me, but I KNOW she does!!

 

Ok, there you have it, I tag Janelle, she's the only one I can think of that reads my blog other than Gina and Sarah :) 

 

 

Hello and howdy!   Lots and lots going on this week!  International day is on Tuesday and Cam is doing Portugal for her country.  It should be really cute.  We've been working on it over this weekend, so we should be done by Monday night!  Cam also has a piano recital on Thursday night, which should be fabulous!  I'm excited to hear the other kids and just for the good fellowship.  So I will have a busy week...

 

I'm putting a few pics of some finished projects!  I'll post more as I finish projects, I also made a cool hat for my cousin/brother-in-law, Aaron.  It's grey with a black stripe, it turned out nice and he liked it which made me super happy :) !   Ok, done for now, will blog more later! 

The other day, Cam was reading out of her history book and while she was reading this, it really made me think....She was reading about Freedom of Speech and Press and here's what the book says:

 

"However, before I use these freedoms, I must think carefully and ask myself these questions:

 

1. Have I thought about what I am saying, or am I just speaking angrily or selfishly?

 

2. Do I know for sure that what I am reading or what I am saying is true?

 

3. Do my words help other people do what is right?

 

4. Do I use my freedoms wisely?"

 

Wow.....good guidelines, wouldn't you say?  I just thought that this was striking :)  Have a blessed day!

Hello Hello!!!  I'm loving this new theme look, not very original, but hey, I like it!  I haven't blogged in almost a year....and so much has gone on...kinda :).  

 

Everyone here is thriving and well!  That in itself is a true blessing and I thank God for that daily!  God is truly so good to me..even when I don't realize it, He is good.  On my birthday last year I had gone to dinner with Matthew and on the way home, I felt something....it was hope.  I was thinking about the holidays and all of a sudden I realized that I wasn't dreading Christmas!  I was actually excited about it...this is big news for me because I haven't felt like that for quite awhile, especially since my dad passed.  So I really had felt like the Lord gave me a true gift on my birthday:  HOPE!  It was such an odd experience driving home, I can't explain it, but I took a breath and felt such an overwhelming sense of peace and then hope.  I thanked God right there and have been so grateful since! 

 

Another new thing for me is knitting...I know, dorky!  But I have to say that knitting is truly a passion for me!  It's amazing to just make things.  I love making hats and scarves.  I also have made socks!  It is really an outlet of nervous energy for me--stress management.  I get excited thinking about new projects and shopping for yarn.  It sounds so boring I guess, but it's just great fun for me!  I love LOVE the look on someone's face when you give them something you have made!  Especially if they don't know you made it...then you can tell them you made it.  It's so funny...the face is :"YOU made THIS?"  haha!   Anyways, if anyone is in need of a hobby, you might wanna try it.  This year, my goal is to make a sweater that is actually wearable!  We'll see....I'd love to make sweaters for Camryn to wear. 

 

Well, I hope everyone had a really nice and peaceful Christmas (haha, not possible, I know it!! Especially if you have kids!)!!! 

 

Chrissy!

Yep!!!  Today is our 11th Anniversary!!  After 11 years I can say that I love Matthew more than I ever have!  He is such a good husband!  Not only do I love him, but I really admire the man he is....loving, honest, handsome, great father, and he has integrity!  He is my best friend and I truly respect and love him with all my heart!! 

 

So...Happy Anniversary Matthew!!  Marrying you is the smartest thing I've ever done!!!   Love you!!!  mmmmmkay

Hello!!!  I know, get over the shock, I'm blogging!!!  It's been so hectic around here and I haven't felt inspired to blog, however, today I feel the need to answer the question:  Why school your children at home?  You might be a little surprised at my answer, maybe not.  I would like to say that I feel that the ability to school my child at home is a true blessing from the Lord.  It really gives me a peace knowing that my daughter will be with me at home--learning and thriving--knowing she is safe.  Trust me, no kid is going to shoot her at home...unless they shoot me first. 

 

I should have made that a paragraph, so please forgive that error in composition !  I just want to say that as I child, I really sufferred a lot in school.  I was always a year or so younger than the kids in my grade because I started kindergarten at age 4.  I was very quiet and meek (it's true!! I swear!) and I was easily influenced.  If kids threatened me, I was truly scared out of my wits to go to school.  After I hit about 5th grade, it was even worse.  Kids were threatening me because a boy they liked would like me...stupid stuff, but to a child, that is very scary.  Having boys "like" me was strange too, I was so young, I had no idea about things like that.  My parents watched me and I was a very innocent child, until I hit 7th grade...Jr. High School was excruciating...it's no exaggeration, I hated it.  By the time I hit High School, I begged and cried to my mother to send me to the CGT school.  Kids are just so cruel and I felt the sting every single day of my life in school.  When my junior year came up, things were easier, and senior year also.  BUT, I was not truly happy and even though I was very intelligent, I just didn't feel motivated to improve myself and my grades.  Maybe it was because I was being taught by teachers that could care less about me?  Maybe it was because everything going on around me was so confusing and intimidating?  I did graduate and I danced home that night knowing I would never have to be in High School again.  So all of the people who lament not going to public High School, well.....think about this, only about 1% of the kids are cheerleaders and football players.  There are pressures in high school involving drugs and sex also.  People think, "Oh not my kid!!"  HAHA  Open your eyes, it's there bigtime.  So when the whole "if you homeschool your child, they don't get socialization skills".  That makes me laugh!!  I don't want my children being "socialized" the way I was.  I want them to grow and learn in a nurturing environment.  My children spend time with their friends that do happen to go to my wonderful church, but they also spend time with neighborhood childern.  My daughter is very outgoing and kind, she can make friends at the supermarket, she speaks to everyone, says hello and is about the cutest little girl you have ever seen!  So there ya go!  There is reason #1 I suppose.....because I had such horrible experiences in the public school system, I do not want to expose my most precious treasures on this Earth, my beautiful childern, to the same experiences that I suffered through growing up. 

 

Second....I want to know exactly was it being taught to my children every single minute of every single school day (is that possible, well, YEAH!! When I'm the teacher it is!)  There are certain things that I do not want my daughter to learn about in 1st grade.  Will these things come up someday?  Ofcourse!!!  But I'd rather have a discussion with her about these issues when she is mature enough to listen to my opinion and her father's opinion, think about how she feels and make her OWN decision how she feels.  I don't think that a first grader can truly grasp the concept of...say...homosexuality.  I just don't want my daughter thinking about that right now.  She honestly has no idea about it yet, and I'd rather her find out when she is older and can really comprehend the concept.  I want her to have the education and stability in her foundation as a Christian and as a human being to be able to come to her OWN conclusions...I pray she will always have mercy and love her neighbor.

 

That comes to reason #3!!!   I want her to learn about my Jesus and His Father!!  I want her to get a trophy for Bible memory!  I want to pray with her during schooltime!  I want her to say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing "America the Beautiful".  Is there anything wrong with that?  These things are completely erased from public schools and I find them important and significant!  I love praying with my children when we start our school day.  I rejoice when she says her scriptures and I can tell her about God's love through His word!  It's so crucial!  I want her to have a relationship with Jesus and I feel, as her parent, that it's my responsibility to be a witness of God's love every single minute of every single day!  I want her to see her mother and teacher as a light in her world!  I pray everyday for the grace to do this!  Do I fail?  Oh yes!! But honestly, it's a joy to school her and I focus on this:  Thank you Lord for giving me the health, the mind, and the financial ability to do this! 

 

Anyways, I just want my daughter and my son to have the best opportunities when it comes to education and life in general.  I feel that schooling at home is what is right for MY family.  For parents who do send their children to public or private schools....if that is what is best for your family, I say that's wonderful.  I NEVER judge others' decisions to no homeschool.  I do not think they love their children less than I love mine.  You have to do what is best for YOUR family and I support that 100%.

 

By the way, as an afterthought, my daughter is in 1st grade this year.  I must say that she is thriving and learning so much!  She is a fabulous reader (she learned to read in kindergarten...did I mention that I LOVE A Beka!!!).  She is learning about science and history, cursive writing, mathematics, spelling, art and PE!!  She is also getting straight A's...not only is that a huge and wonderful accomplishment for her, it is for me too!!  She has also started piano lessons and is so excited!!  She's doing really well so far!  She has a world of opportunities open to her, and I am going to help her to achieve whatever she decides to do with her life EVERY SINGLE STEP OF THE WAY!!!

 

I'd also like to add one more thing....if at any time I felt like my children were not thriving and learning everything they needed to be, my husband and I would explore other options at that time.  Like I said before, I want my daughter to have many open doors of opportunity, and if I can't give them to her, somehow, we will find a way to make it happen!

 

love you guys!  have a blessed day!!!  Chrissy 

Well, today I think was the best day we had by far!  The Animal kingdom was so neat!  I think it's my favorite park.  The safari was awesome!  Our pictures didn't do it any justice.  One funny thing, an ostrich was standing in the road ahead of a few trucks and we couldn't go until it moved!  That was, well, interesting.....took about a full 5 minutes.  Aidan had a blast in DinoLand.  There was a playground there that was really cool.  There were a lot of those netted bridges--Aidan wanted to go up one, so I thought "Well, sure, that's no problem there!"  Well...it led higher and higher and then there is a netted bridge about 15 feet long, pointing upwards (and steep I might add!), with a rope to hold to help you climb up!  I almost died right there!  So, with my purse (which seriously must have weighed at least 7-9 pounds) I start to climb up behind Aidan and then I had to lift him to the platform.  Then I proceeded down a huge twisty slide wondering how I ended up in that situation.  Now for the really crazy part--Aidan loved it so much, I had to do it AGAIN!  The things you do for your kids, lol!!  The Lion King show at that park is really awesome!  Camryn loved it!  Aidan played with his cars after about 10 minutes of it!  It was so beautiful and the singing and dancing was so good.  At the end, for the finale, the dancers picked kids to march with them and they picked kids in wheelchairs and a little boy with down's syndrome--I lost it and cried, if you could have seen their faces--it was so precious!  The parents must have been so thrilled for their kids--I know I would be.  We also saw a show called "It's tough to be a bug".  It's a 3D show that actually squirts water at you, filters in the smell of a stink bug, stuff like that.  Well, in the middle of it, they spray you with "bug spray" (tons and tons of smoke"--well, the kids both just start screaming and crying during this!!  It made me panic a bit too because it lasted so long and it was a little suffocating to me.  So I was trying to calm Camryn down (she was hysterical)-Matthew had Aidan to deal with.  Camryn wouldn't put on her glasses after that part!  LOL!  Too funny--Matthew actually loved that show.  

 

On the way to the Magic Kingdom (we left Animal Kingdom a bit early so we could have a few last hours to hit rides in Magic Kingdom), we saw a man on the bus with his family.  He was talking to another man, telling him he got wounded in Iraq--I guess that a bunch of wounded soldiers got special passes for the week--we saw quite a few of them).  Well, this guy got 3rd degree burns on 46% of his body, but he was ok and so happy to be at DisneyWorld with his family.  After we got off the bus, I walked up to him and his family and thanked him for making our country safe for my children and I told him I was so sorry he got hurt.  I was almost in tears.  He thanked me for telling him that and for our support.  He was so humble and nice, his wife just smiled. 

 

Anyways, it's so late and tomorrow is travel day.  I'm glad to be getting home.  There is so much more to say, but I'll blog more when I get home!  Pray for us--for a safe and drama free trip!  See ya soon!