A Little Random Babble

Well, the kids are home from school again, yesterday and today, with temps hanging at 40 below zero again. I am not even kidding when I tell you that when I walk outside I get a fuzzy feeling around the perimeter of my nostrils and do you know what it is? My snot freezing instantly in my nose! Our high temps this month have been in the single digits and we still have February to get through. The school year is already going to be extended until mid-June. We have only had one other winter that was this cold but you know what's weird? It hasn't made me sad like it usually does. I think I have finally just come to grips with midwestern winters.

Anyway, our days off have not been as fun as they once were because I still have school work to get done, but we have managed to squeeze in a few games and some time playing Just Dance, as well as hot chocolate and brownies, but for the first half of the day the kids are left to their own devices (and by devices I literally mean devices...phones, Kindles, computer, TV).

I am not sure this post has any clear direction, just thought I would do a catch up. I guess I will talk about school for a minute since I promised to keep you all up to date on e-school and then never followed through. We love e-school. Love it, LOVE IT! I love having Alyssa home every day. This may sound kind of nuts, but I sometimes look over at her and get emotional, like I did when she was a newborn because I am just so grateful that she is here and that she is mine. This is so different than having them home when they are little (although that is its own kind of awesome), but now we can have real conversations, and cook together, and go to the movies, or ice skating, or wherever the day takes us. I believe I will cherish this opportunity that we have had for the rest of my life.

E-school has also been an interesting experiment in finding out who Alyssa really is. Do you remember Middle School? So much pressure to conform. My friends liked New Kids on the Block  and I liked Guns and Roses and The Smiths and it was such a struggle to figure out who I was and to learn that I could be whoever I wanted to be, even if no one else liked what I liked or if it  meant that I was two contradictory things sometimes. Taking Alyssa out of school has helped her to realize who she is, she hates One Direction no matter how much everyone else likes it. She loves Imagine Dragons. She dresses pretty quirky because she likes to. She is a proud, self-proclaimed nerd and that is totally okay. I wish I could have escaped Middle School. I hope that finding out who she is and finding peace with that will help her to stand on her own two feet when she goes to High School.

Making friends in e-school is a new challenge. It has meant stepping out of our comfort zone at times. There are only six 6th graders at our e-school and only 2 are girls. They do not give us class lists so I had to track down the mom of the one other girl. It took a few months to figure out how to find her but now her and Lyssa e-mail daily and we meet up weekly for lunch, or pumpkin picking or ice skating or just to hang out. We also know a handful of boys from church who do either e-school or WIVA (WI virtual academy) and we have met up for lunch and bowling, and are hoping to have more field trips and service projects as the year goes on.

This e-school thing is a whole new world but first semester was a huge success, academically and emotionally and I hope this new semester will be just as awesome. Alyssa has already determined that she wants to continue with e-school next year. If I am going to apply for Charter Schools for next year, I have to get apps in by Friday but I am not sure I even care. It is funny how badly I wanted it last year, but I see now that my worries were in vain. Alyssa has done great at home and the other two are doing great at our neighborhood school. The class sizes are way down and they are not in multi-grade level classes this year and they are both thriving. I am hoping that they can just stay there through 5th grade and then come home for Middle School. I am aware that that may not be the best option for all 3 of them but for now I am feeling pretty good about it.

And that is about all you have been missing out on...we are up to our eyeballs in school. I am 4 weeks in to my math class and happy to find that I am remembering decimals and fractions from my younger years. Let's just hope that when we get a little further in to the curriculum, I still remember what I am doing. I am really, crazy grateful for this chance to go back to school. I have never been a fan of BYU (sorry, but it's true) but I am changing my mind. I don't think I could have gone there on campus (too weird) but I have learned that they really want their students to succeed. The amount of FREE resources (tutoring, writing labs, math labs, help desk, online tutorials, etc) they have to ensure the success of their students is highly impressive.Thankfully I haven't needed any of that yet but going back to school is hugely intimidating and they have really come up with a fail proof method. I can't wait to get past these first 3 semesters so that I can quit going to Milwaukee every week and so I can start taking classes that actually count, but I really, truly believe that this program is inspired and I am super grateful for my friends who are doing this with me. Having carpool buddies or classmates that are just a text away helps me keep plugging away every week. This was an answer to prayer in more ways than one, but I won't make you listen to all the specifics.

About the only thing I can think of that we have done recently is The Class of 2014 concert, which was Saturday. This year we went with the Christiansens and the Deveys. This was our 4th year going and it was awesome, as always. I did not even take a camera but we saw Charlie Worsham, and Frankie Ballard (who we saw 3 years ago as well) and they are both crazy good on the guitar. We saw Easton Corbin who gets a big thumbs down. He actually has a handful of hits and was filling in for an act that couldn't come (Eric Paslay) but he acted like he was too big to be there and gave minimal effort and I thought it was disrespectful and lame. Boo. And the one that we had heard the least about beforehand turned out to be our all time favorite, Drake White. Have you heard of him? He only has one single, no album, but he blew the roof off the place. He has a unique sound that is country and blues and just gritty and sexy and powerful. It didn't even matter what he sang, it was brilliant. He whistled a verse here and there, he was skatting at times, he put down his mic and guitar and stood at the front of the stage and sang once, and he was freaking amazing. If he doesn't make it big, then I don't know what music is coming to. He was a breath of fresh air and we are so excited to see where his career goes. If he plays around here again we will be there.

And I guess that is all I have for you right now. But since I hate to have a pictureless post, here are some phone pics of Alex and Chloe at Monkey Joes. This was about a month or two ago when they had a day off school. Alyssa was at a friends house and I didn't bring a camera but I should have known better. These two kept asking me to take their picture.