Somehow it will all work out. It'll just take time. Thanksgiving is coming up, thank goodness we already have a turkey(free from DH's work). Now comes all the trimmings. How much will all that cost. Next comes Braxton's birthday. What to get him? I really don't know, I'm so sick of toys. But will it be disappointing if all I get him is books? Recently I went to a really great homeschool seminar with DH. She gave us some great book lists, so many of them I would love to own. Braxton is turning 3 so I might get away with it. Next is Christmas, which is going to be so small this year. The trouble with it is Chance my oldest is 6 and I'm afraid he'll be disappointed if we don't really get toys. Again I would love to get books. Ahh a dream would be a nice new bookcase too. And now for the reason Christmas money is tighter than usual. Our 3rd child is due Jan 13th 2009. I may go 2 wks early(I did with my first 2 children), exciting. We have gotten credit cards to pay for the birth and prenatal care. You see I will be having a homebirth. My sweet husband has been selling plasma to pay those new credit card payments. After the birth insurance will hopefully reinverse for some of it. Crossing our fingers! Normally he finds a little extra money in the budget to help me buy for Christmas but this year that money is just not there. Currently I am feeling this strong urge to get the house in order for baby. That means I really need a dresser to start unpacking baby clothes. Wish I had the money to go buy that dresser now! We have all boy clothes so if we have a girl(we don't know), I'm hoping for friends and family to buy us some pink. Please no polyester, my children tend to be allergic to it. I want a Moby baby wrap. I also need a new glider rocker. We haven't been able to get a nice one with either of our boys so they break before the next child is born. I have to be honest I blame my husband(DH) for the breaking chairs. He's hard on furniture. Something about the way he sits or something. You should see my poor kitchen chairs(I'm down to 3, he breaks them). I really should reread Living Simply with Children, by Marie Sherlock for some inspiration. I think I would be fine about everything if I could just get that dresser and glider. My husband is going to talk to his parents about borrowing one of their older glider chairs for until tax returns come so we can wait on that purchase. I would love to get started buying some cloth diapers. Not sure if I like how this blog is coming out. Sounds materialistic. So I'm just going to end it this way. Stuff is just that, stuff. It really will work out. The Lord will provide. I'll turn my worries over to him. That felt good to get out.

After the hoidays are over I'm hopeing to be able to save some money up to buy a few things for our little homeschool.  A math program and a reading program.

Okay do all kid's cut hair around kindergarten age?  I want to know!  I myself did.  What spurred this wondering.  My 6yr old, Chance told me yesterday he really wants to cut hair when he's older.  One of his very many future aspirations.  So he was cutting a craft feather.  Fine, that's okay.  I did howeverexplain to him he should never cut anyones real hair, or a stuffed animals hair, or even a pets hair.  So today we were sitting on the couch cutting out #2's to put on his number 2 poster.  I'm sitting right beside him.  I turn my head for a sec, look back and he's holding a piece of his hair that he cut.  Are you kidding me???  I was sitting right beside him.  I tried to be so serious and explain to him why we don't cut hair, all the while I'm just trying to keep a straight face.  Because I'm thinking yep this is kindergarten and I did it too at his age, but I did worse damage.  Ahh kids.

Oh and another gem from Chance.  That kid makes me laugh.  He came to me telling me his little brother hurt his "foot fingers".  He has insisted that is the correct terminology for toes for as long as I can remember, no matter how many times I tell them they are toes.  Kids!

And a little thing about my almost 3yr old, Braxton.  My Chance comes running to me telling me his brother is spraying chemicals at him in the bathroom.  All I can say is thank goodness I clean with vinegar.  I ended up getting sprayed too.  Little turd!  That's what I get for talking on the phone. 

Tuesday after our homeschool PE class at the local collage we went to an Apple Orchard.  I hadn't planned to go until another mom made a point to invite us individually.  I thought that was so nice that I couldn't resist.  We had originally planned a trip to the Children's Museum that day.  Anyway off we went.  We meet all at one of the mom's houses and followed to the Orchard.  Turns out the owner of the orchard is a homeschool family.  Grandpa seems to run it, a family kind of thing.  We had a pretty good turn out.  6 moms, 15 children.  Mostly boys in the group.  My boys had a blast although they were not used to how rough other boys can be.  Lots of wrestling which we normally do not allow at our house.  For the most part they had fun and a few tears when the others got rough.  Still it was all done good naturally so I allowed it.  We had a hay ride around the orchard and stopped to do picking.  The boys loved that they could eat as many apples as they wanted.  Both boys took advantage of that!  Braxton looked so cute picking and eating it right away.  He looked up and asked if it was okay every time.  Cute.  We picked Regent apples for the most part.  They are really good!!!  And some apples called Macfree.  Those were really good too.  We brought home a bunch of apples and the boys think it's so cool that they got to pick them.  So it's an apple fiesta at our house.  The boys are really getting their fill.  I'm glad we went, such a special day of picking and playing.  My only regret is I forgot my camera!  POOH! 

My boys are Chance age 6 and Braxton age 2 1/2

So excited we found a local homeschool group!  We joined one called Homestars.  Yesterday we went to our first WI History class with them.  There were 90 kids there!  They broke into smaller classes.  My 6 year old had so much fun.  Even recognized a few people.  In the evening they had their kick off picnic.  I just loved having my husband there with me.  It's great to pull him further into the homeschool world.  Then today we went to our first field trip with Homestars.  There was a couple tours, lots of hands on and fun.  It was cute to see Chance running around with all the kids.  And that he got to experience the fun of a field trip like the ones I remember back in my school days.  There is so many things being offered by the group, I have to pick and choose what I all want to participate in.  Much more than I really could do all at once.  Between the group, church, homeschool PE class, and homeschool friends we already have there is no problem at all finding the dreaded "socialization".  Really that's the least of my worries!

Today we had a great playdate at a local park.  Wish I had my camera, but no it's still lost.  Well a toad was found.  I had a pickle jar with holes in the lid for just such an occasion in the van.  Chance and Braxton carried it all around.  Our deal was they could keep the toad for the day and then before bed we would head back to the park to release it(park is 1/2mile down the road).  They talked with it and loved it all day.  Then come 9:00pm, we all piled in the van(including our dog Molly).  It's a rainy night but a promise is a promise.  We all said goodbye and released the toad thanking it for the visit.  I couldn't help but to get a little teared up.  Not because of the toad but because this was one of those moments with your husband and children that you know you will always remember.  I had a flash to an old me looking back.  Ahh you can't tell I'm a huge sap, can you?  I love my little family.

The toad was such a tiny creature, about nickle size.  According to our book it's called an American Toad, well that's creative, LOL!