The Beginning of Another Crazy Chapter-Our Homeschool

Today was the first day of our 'homeschooling' adventure and I'll just say...a day full of trial and error, mostly error, led to Savanah spending a good part of the day in her room and the 'teacher' in tears.  WOW, not what I was hoping for much less expecting but hey...the life of hands on parenting at it's finest. 

I'd like to go into describing our day so I'll start with my so called 'schedule'.  Ha, that's a joke at least in this 'homeschool'.  That silly thing ended up in the trash by 9.  Maybe we'll come back to a schedule when the kids are old enough to read a schedule, until then...no stinkin' schedule.  So, we began by going through the calender primarily getting familiar with day of the week, today's date, the time and so on.  Then we moved onto bible.  Unfortunately, I'm not completely impressed with the bible curriculum I picked out.  It received great reviews, however, I'm discovering reviews are becoming quite untrustworthy these days.  Math was next and Savanah was actually pretty excited about that...one trait she received from her father's DNA.  Oh, I've forgotten to mention, the entire time I'm trying to do "school" with Savanah, Bowen is running around like a crazy banchie pulling books off shelves, sitting in "sissy's" seat every chance he gets, doing everything he can to annoy both student and teacher, etc.  Once again, I had falsely fantasized about him playing happily and independently in the giant playroom he has at his disposal.  And again, that turned out to be something I hope to laugh about some day.  After math, we were all in dire need of  break/snack time.  What was intended to be a brief 10-15 min break turned into a less than stellar 3 hours on all of our parts.  I'm going to do my best not to relive that part of our day so I'll move on. 

One major thing I learned today (thanks to the schedule hanging out in it's appropriate location...the trash) was there was no way we were going to fit the majority of our schooling into the morning.  So, once Bowen went down for his nap, Savanah and I went back to our "classroom" (needs a new name) and finished our day with Phonics, Handwriting and Science.  Another epiphany I had throughout the day is the need to change the name from 'homeschooling' to something without the word 'school' tied to it.  In my mind, school looks a certain way.  No matter how many times I've read from experienced homeschooling mom's that every 'homeschool' looks different...I can't get what I know of 'schooling' out of my head.

I want to say, THANK GOD for my extremely gracious gift of a husband.  As usual, he is my level head, my sail, my voice of reason.  And thank God he looks to God and allows Him to lead.  Today I questioned everything about everything.  That's just the best and only way I can describe it.  Then comes my conversation with Ben.  He first tried his hand at giving me advice...NOT what I needed nor wanted.  Once it was clear he would get nowhere offering advice, he wisely turned to support, love, grace, offered a listening ear and a nonjudgmental response and a gave me a very gentle reminder that we truly ARE doing the right thing.

At the end of today I feel completely broken but somehow I know that's exactly where God wants me.  He wants to lead and when I try to control everything He, in His sovereignty, knows I don't budge at gentle reminders...He knows I need more of a swift kick to the gut.  He doesn't make mistakes and I don't believe He led us down this path to mislead us.  So, my job is to trust.  Way easier said than done.  After some confession and repentence, tomorrow is a clean slate.  Thank you, Lord, that you give us a clean slate. Please help me to show that grace to my daughter. 

Catching up 2009

Wow, it's been a long time since we've last updated our blog. Today I got a wild hair and decided to post some pictures of Savanah over the past year. We've done so much and I have no idea how to begin with all of our adventures. Just to give you an idea, Savanah has been on a plane ride 16 times in 16 months. She's been to San Diego, CA; Chicago, IL; Ft. Worth, TX; and Champaign, IL just in the past 6 months. Here are a few pics to show you how she's grown.

San Diego w/ Family
1st Birthday: August 16, 2009
Pumpkin patch
Halloween as a lamb
Dec. snowfall and pulling her 1st sled

Thanksgiving

Our little family drove up to Champaign, IL to be with Ben's family for Thanksgiving. It was alot of fun and we were able to visit almost everyone. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera out as much as I should've so I have limited pictures to post. We did, however, get some really good video and once I master that camera I'll be sure to post some of that video. One of the neatest events of this trip was having all 10 great-grandchildren surrounding Grandma Vi with Savanah being number 10 and the youngest. Aunt Beth and Patrick on Thanksgiving day.
John chasing Gambler, Emily's dog. This is a rare sight, usually it was the other way around. Gambler was definetly our entertainment for the week.

4 Generations!!

Savanah with her Great- Grandma Vi

p.s. Emily, I need a picture of you to post...the only one I have is of you and Ben in the morning over coffee and I know you wouldn't want me to post that one.

First visit to Tucson

This past weekend (Nov. 13-16) we visited Papa & Nani (Ben's dad, Jerry, & stepmom, Dell) in Tucson, AZ. It was Savanah's 2nd plane trip and 3rd state to visit in 3 months. She also celebrated her 3 month birthday while we were there! We had a wonderful visit just hanging out, walking to the park, and visiting with friends. The weather was beautiful and we had a blast dreaming up future plans of swimming in the pool and building forts in the wash behind Papa & Nani's house. Savanah has no idea how much fun growing up for her is going to be.

As you can see, Savanah is smiling all the time these days! It's so nice to see how happy she is. She's also perfecting her grabbing for objects. Soon we'll be moving everything potentially harmful out of her way. She seems to be doing new things everyday!

Daddy & Papa went on a hike while Mommy & Nani stayed in the comforts of the house!

Momma teaching me about all the pretty flowers. Papa & Nani's backyard is full of all kinds of flowers and plants to learn about! But we better watch out for all the prickly things...and there's lots of those out in the desert!

Lehrmann Grandparent's come to visit!

Grandaddy & Gramma KK came to visit this weekend to babysit me while my mommy & daddy went to a Family Life marriage conference. The marriage conference took place in Vail, CO. I think we all agree that priceless memories were made this weekend. Here are a few pictures that show what a great time we had!

On one of the famous Lehrmann walks. Well, that's not really fair to call it the famous Lehrmann walk since everyone takes it when they come, it just seems like Grandaddy has been on this walk more than anyone so he gets to claim it. Look, I'm big enough to fit in my stroller all by myself.

Cutest pumpkin in the patch!! Why does mommy always get to play dress up with me? Happy Halloween!!

One of my favorite bedtime rituals. Mommy reading to me.



I love my daddy!!

Whheeee...Grandaddy can't wait till he can actually throw me up in the air! Acting like I'm flying is good enough for now!

It snowed on the mountain tops this weekend!
Whiskey boy loving the fall weather!

Love this face!!

Ha ha!! Too bad I don't know how funny I look!
On a little hike

Some fun pictures- 2 months old

Some up close and personal shots of me with some of my favorite people!

Grammy Ray Ray and me...she's so funny!!
Ooooohhh...I'm not sure I'm liking this smooshy face stuff!
Life is goooooood!!

Ft. Worth vacation-day 3

We started day 3 off with pedicures. That is Daddy Louis getting his feet done in the background. After our pedicures we went for a walk with Grandaddy and Gramma KK. That night the whole family came over for dinner & we took our "professional" 3rd consecutive 5th generation picture.