Post Homeschooling.

We're in the post homeschooling phase right now.  Youngest son just had a birthday and is now 19.  He's probably going to be starting college in the fall (either college or an apprenticeship).  We've mildly tried to talk our daughter into going with him.  Her job is only in the afternoon so she can take morning classes.  We really probably need to step up the pressure because otherwise I'm afraid she'll never do it and I think that everyone needs to have some type of career skill that they can fall back on if they need it.  Meanwhile, we are trying to enjoy summer, and planning for the wedding which is in less than 2 WEEKS!

I'm on a push to try and get the kids to socialize because that can be a problem for homeschoolers especially if your homeschool group falls apart and you have to join another one for your kid's senior year, which is what happened to us.  This new group has been great and has been extremely welcoming and I kind of wish we'd just been in it the whole time.  Right now we have plans to meet with people from this group every week of the summer for either board games or Dungeons and Dragons.  I facilitate these experiences for my young adults by reserving the room at the library and staying and supervising.  I know my kids don't need me to supervise, but there are younger kids there, so for their sake, I stay and make sure no one gets into any trouble.  I'm also trying to get them to say yes to other social events which is kind of hit and miss.

I found another D&D group they could get into and they've joined that.  This one they can do without my supervision because I'm not in charge of it.  They just go to the meeting place themselves.  This is a huge step for these 2 extremely shy kids of mine.  (And no, homeschooling didn't cause it or the oldest would be shy too and he's not. So there!.)  They said no to a festival our library was having this weekend but they said yes to an event that's happening there tonight (which I will post about later).  My main focus right now is helping support them while they launch their way into the adult world.  I do think homeschooling and my particular type of helicopter parenting has made it more difficult for them to go and do things on their own, so we are all working on it together.  I also think that both of those things have made some things better for our kids and so there was a trade-off.  They are great people and we'll get through this and they'll be fine.  It's just not the same with these younger 2 as it was with the oldest.

Art Success.

Last night there was an exhibit of art from my daughter's art class.  She had 4 pieces in the exhibit and she won 3 ribbons.  In her category which was 10 to adult, she won first place, second place and best of show.  :-P

Latest Project.

My daughter is making little crocheted dolls based on one of her manga favorites.  So far, she's made 2 heads but no bodies.  I'm not sure if she's going to make some bodies next or just make all of the heads.  :-)  Last night she said one of the creepiest things ever:  "I enjoy juggling their heads".  It was a comment on how they fit in the hand well and are soft and don't make noise when you drop them, but it sounded really weird.

A few things going on now.

My daughter's art class is doing an exhibit.  We packed up the 4 paintings she's done this year to take to be exhibited.

These are the supplies we've gathered for the rehearsal dinner, so far, not including the pork roasts which are in the freezer, of course.  There are also a couple of board games in this picture because they are all over the house.  Ignore those please.

Last year in lieu of flowers at the funeral home, a friend of mine gave me a huge bag of flower bulbs for my house.  This is the gift that I hope will keep on giving for many years (if I don't somehow kill them!).  Aren't they beautiful?!

Finally, pet pictures from this week, Squinch and Duncan, Cosmo and Freckles.  :-)  Not pictured are our other 2 cats, Zelda and Zoey.

May 28, 2017.

Wedding preparation is ongoing.  We're not in the main prep because we're the bridegroom's family but we are responsible for the rehearsal dinner and we have to look good in pictures, so we needed to buy clothes.  My youngest 2 kids are also in the wedding.  We have the bridesmaid dress and we're going to go this week and get a pair of gray pants and a yellow shirt for youngest son.  Yesterday I went to Sams Club and got a lot of the supplies I will need for the rehearsal dinner.  The menu is now, therefore, kind of set in stone and I can't change it, which is good, because I've been changing it in my head about every 5 minutes since I started thinking about it, back in December.

The menu now is as follows.
Pulled pork barbecue.
Both regular and gluten free buns.
Green Beans.
Hash brown casserole.
Pickles.
Potato chips.
Various cakes.
Various drinks.

I'm thinking I may buy drinks not according to the flavors, but with royal blue and yellow cans, to match the theme.  Is that too weird?  I think it would be cute!   I'll also be serving bottled water.

The wedding colors are royal blue, gray and yellow, in case you couldn't tell from the rest of this post.  I dreamed last night that they had a practice wedding at our church and everyone just wore gray t-shirts, got in a circle, did a group hug and the practice marriage was complete.  :-P  

May 23, 2017.

I should have, at the beginning, started just typing the date as a title.  It's hard to think of titles and I always want to go with ones like "this and that" or "still here" or something like that.  I wonder how many times I've used those in the past 12 years?  Probably a lot.  

So what is the this and that of this week?

My aunt is in the hospital and I'm very worried about her.  Prayers please.

We had board game day yesterday and it was a great time.  My son got everyone excited about starting a new Dungeons and Dragons group as well but then I talked to the moms and some of them have serious reservations about D&D.  I understand this.  I remember reading Harry Potter myself to see what all the fuss was about (and loving it!) and I had some concerns when my youngest started getting fascinated with D&D.  I've since checked it out and I think it seems fine, but these ladies don't want to trust their 12 year olds to my judgement.  They don't know me that well.  I completely don't blame them.  Take me back 6 years and reverse our roles and I might not have let my youngest attend.  So, we are looking for a tabletop role playing game that is somewhat different and does not use magic.  I think we'll find one.  The other alternative is to start a D&D group but advertise it to different people or just restrict it to the over 18 people.  However, within our board game group that cuts it down to 3 and 2 of those are in my family.  :-)  Sometimes socialization for homeschoolers and ex-homeschoolers is difficult.

Third item of news is actually from last week, but I've not been blogging all that often, so it's still news.  Youngest son and I went to the local community college to try and figure out what his status is there with the financial aid office and to look around.  He's trying to decide between an apprenticeship for carpentry and going to this community college.  Right now, I think I'm in favor of the community college for a couple of reasons.  One is that we met with the learning disabilities director and he is going to really be a great help getting through the classes.  Second is that I kind of don't feel our son's future lies in carpentry because he's never really done it and I think at the college he might stumble into what he really likes.  Okay, there's a third.  There will be young women at the college that he could possibly meet.  (socialization issues again!) and (also apparently a fourth!)  fourthly, they have a choir and he really loves singing in a choir and would enjoy that very much.   We'll see what he chooses.  He really needs to get on it, deciding what he wants to do, because August will be here before we know it.

Speaking of things that will be here before we know it, the wedding is in a month!!!  We've got a ton of planning and things to do for that.  It's exciting, but kind of scary.  I'm going to have to dance in front of people!  Terrifying.

I hope you all have a good week.  Don't forget to pray for my aunt!

More pictures.

Graduation!

We went to Mississippi to see our son's graduation!  It was a quick, whirlwind kind of trip.  We left on Friday and came back on Monday, but we packed a ton of stuff into the trip.  Most importantly, my son and his fiance are now college graduates, with Bachelor of Arts degrees.  We also had dinner, makeovers, worked on some wedding flowers, brunch, got to meet a lot of my son's fiance's family, got to meet our son's friends and explore the town he's been living in for the past 5 years.  It was fun and tiring!  The most eventful thing was Saturday morning, during the graduation.  About halfway through, we heard a sound behind us and turned around to find that a man had passed out.  Several people got up to help and they ended up having to call 911 and perform CPR on the man until the ambulance arrived.  It was pretty intense there for a while!  For the rest of the weekend though, we had a great time.  Here are some pictures from the trip.

My future daugher-in-law gave me this succulent garden for Mother's Day.  It was my first mother's day without my mom, so being distracted on this trip was a good, good thing for me.  

We had a really nice hotel suite.  This is the kitchen part of it.  

The college where my son went, William Carey University, was devastated by a tornado in January.  They are rebuilding but have a long way to go.  Consequently, the commencement exercises were held off campus.  We drove by campus to take a look.  

This is my son and future-daughter-in-law's favorite park.  It's where he proposed.  We stopped by to take a look, walk around and play a game of pooh-sticks.  :-) 

We played a lot of board games while we were there including this one, Telestrations in which my son drew a ferret and my other son thought it was a lemon, below.  It ended up being a lemon with legs, crying and exuding rays.  :-)  It's a fun game.  

Add caption