It's Birthday Season again!

We had a birthday yesterday, one today, then another one in about 3 weeks and another 2 days after that! Whew!

We've decided to take on birthdays a little differently this year. We've given the girls the option of having a big birthday party or cashing in on their birthday. Their "cash-in" option has two variations. Variation 1: Cash in place of the party but still a gift from us. Variation 2: Cash in place of the party and gift (which ends up being more cash that Variation 1). Both include cake and a few goodies. We couldn't do without cake and a few goodies.

They've all opted for the Cash-In Option, Variation 2. Double Whew! In the relief sense. So much easier.

I love how this money they anticipate for their birthdays is being spent....even much before any of them actually received the money. Some of their purchases include:

Buying off their sisters for many, many things. For example: "If you will share that with me, I will give you $2 of my birthday money...when I get it!"

One can never have enough of their own space: "I think I want to buy my own house with my birthday money. Do you think that's enough to buy a house...or not! 'Cause I would like to have my own space."

Then there are those that are the charity-minded: "I know what I will do with my birthday money! I will donate it to the church! Do you think that would be good....or, maybe some of it to the church and the rest of it to (now I don't remember where the rest was going). Or, I know, I will donate, like, $15 to the church, then $x to (wherever it was), then I would use the rest for (American Girl doll stuff, for example) for myself...that still would be good, wouldn't it!"

Gotta love it!

And on other notes:

Home schooling is going pretty well, except I'm feeling pretty inept as a teacher at times. I have more material than we ever would need but still I'm always wondering what we should tackle, in what order, are we "keeping up" with the rest of the world, etc. We got together with some other moms and kids that we know that are homeschoolers and have been longer than us. That was very encouraging to be able to bounce ideas off them and just know that they also have their days they don't feel all that adequate too! They are ladies from our church that I have known at least as acquaintances for many years, some better than others. It was only after we left that one of our girls realized that all the kids that were there are also home schooled.

Our baby is growing and growing. He is over 5 months now. He giggles, coos and talks, reaches for everything, squeals, stuffs his toes in his mouth... He is a joy to have around.

I wish I had been able to find the camera but I guess I will just someday update with a kajillion pictures all at once. For now I remain pictureless.

Our 2 y.o. talks and talks. When I was calling her the Birthday Girl the other day, she looked at me with a scowl and said, "I not Birthday Girl!!!" Later, I said something about having cake and she gave me a warning glare and said, "Don't call me Birthday Girl!!!" Of course it's not crystal clear like that but very understandable. I've been very surprised at how well she articulates when she talks.

I am running out of thoughts to share...it's gotten to be that time of the night again. :)

Another Updating Opportunity Passes...

I meant to have a full update, complete with pictures and all, but I had the night off Friday night and now last night I was pretty busy and veeerrryyy tired so I couldn't concentrate at all to even remember to update.

We don't have internet right now at home so I always just update myself on everything...email, blog, family page, etc. on the weekend.

Well, now it is time for my shift to end so...next weekend!

Or we will get internet back up and running this week 'cause I kind of miss it already!!! It was a nice break to get grounded the end of this summer but now I need my internet resources and contact with the outside world. :)

TTFN!