Homeschool

I must admit that Elizabeth's studies have not been as academic as I would like.  It  has been hard to get into a good swing of things with a newborn.  But honestly, that's not the biggest problem.  I have still been heading into work a few days a week to help out with Jimmy's transition and to help tie up some loose ends that only I could do.  So, it has been hard to get a real schedule going around here.

And then my in-laws are saying that they are going to leave and go back home to El Salvador to stay there, so I get in my head how we can use their room, but then they change their mind and only my mother-in-law is going and my father-in-law is staying, so that kind of throws things off, too.  Also, since neither one of them is working right now, it is hard to find a schedule that works now and will work after they leave, too, if they do.  So, we are kind of playing that by ear, which means that everything is pretty much up in the air. 

One thing that we have been working on is sewing.  Elizabeth picked out a pattern to make a dress to wear for Easter, and so we have been working on that.  I have not sewn since highschool, so needless to say, we are just kind of figuring things out together and working our way through it with a seam ripper close at hand. 

The nice thing is that our renter, Charlie, has let us set the sewing machine up in his room so that we can use it there when he is not home.  This is great because before that, we had to set it up on the kitchen table and we could only use it when Gabriel was either sleeping or not home.  Otherwise, it was impossible to work on it with out him trying to sew his fingers together. 

Another thing that Elizabeth is doing is she is going every week to meet up with some other homeschoolers in DC.  The first 2 meetings were at the National Gallery of Art.  Today it is somewhere else, but they have a writing assignment that they find out before hand, and then they go around the museum and are lectured on the various pieces and styles that pertain to the assignment that they have.  Then they write their essay at home and send it in so that it can be graded by interns.  This is every Thursday from 10:30-1.  It's great because the fee is only $20 per month and it's doubly great because there is an awesome lady at church who has volunteered to take Elizabeth every week!  There is no way that I can go with her since I have the 3 little ones, too, and there's no way they would be able to handle that long in an art gallery, and this lady is very interested and knowledgeable about art.  I just don't feel comfortable with leaving Elizabeth in DC be herself yet.  She doesn't have a cell phone yet, either, so that's doubly bad. 

Elizabeth is making her schedule so that she will finish the geometry course that we got for her in the next month or so.  I am looking for an Alegebra II course.  Any suggestions?

In other news...

I think that we are closing in on purchasing a larger vehicle.  Our van is dead and so all we have now for our family of 6 is a 2 door compact Ford Focus.  Great car.  A little small.

So we have found a Suburban online and are going to check it out on Friday.  It's actually a pretty cool car and it holds 8 passengers, which is perfect for us.  We did look at a 12 passenger so we have extra space for the kids that we take to church, but we can't afford that right now, so we will have to continue depending on other people to pass by the house and pick up the extras that won't fit in our car.

So, I have written this post in various sittings, and all in a just type what comes out kind of method, because I know that any other way will result in my never posting again for the next 5 years, so I apologize if there are typos and if it doesn't really flow or make much sense!

And in the spirit of just getting things up here to share with people who are interested, above are some pictures of Gabriel's 2nd birthday!  The car cake was made by Elizabeth, and the train cake was made by Jordan.  I was so impressed with their creativity!  And they tasted really good, too. 

Ok...so now to hang out more laundry - now that our washing machine is fixed after almost 2 weeks! - before the little dudes wake up from their naps!