Week in recap

• Homeschooling: Josh and I have spent the better part of this week trying to play catch up. Sometimes I really struggle with crossing off all the boxes on the agenda, not realizing that it's okay that he doesn't read "x" amount of pages. He IS learning and is still FAR BEYOND anywhere he'd be in a public school arena. I get a little frustrated, however, when we go over something new... he does fine and then completely blanks out on the actual "homework" problems and misses every one. That happened twice today. However, unlike at a regular school where they're marked wrong and sent home... we go over every one that is incorrect, talk about why it's wrong and I make SURE he understands it. Therefore, as we move forward, his foundation is being built STRONG!
• Scouts: I need to get my Webelos on track. We didn't meet in December (because of horrible and extrememly cold weather coupled with busy schedules. It's nearly impossible. However, these guys are going to make rank ASAP and I need to get them interested in getting there. Josh did get to cut and begin sanding on his Pinewood Derby car. The race is in a week. We will be working on taht this weekend for sure so that we just have to set the wheels and we'll be good to go! :)
• Vehicles: I realize that it's time, now, to move to a new vehicle. One that will enable third row seating access without having to a) flip chairs up or b) crawl up over the seats. Neither of those is a viable option in my opinion. So, I'm searchign for the dreaded mini-van. It'll be a Toyota, Chrysler or Honda. I'm going tomorrow to check them all out.
• Extra Curr Activities: We are back to the craziness of life and actually NEXT week starts the PURE craziness of my schedule:

1. Mondays: Drew will be in his reading/language/phonics class from 10-11:50 and Josh starts his acting classes from 10:45-12:15. In a couple of weeks, Drew will have speech on Mondays at some point too... we'll have to figure out what we need to do to work that into the schedule. It's hard to GUESS where/what time they want you to be available for speech therapy (he has a tongue thing with the -s, -sh, -ch and -j sounds). We will get him there!
2. Tuesdays: Drew - school 9:30-2:30; Guitar for Josh at 3:30
3. Wednesdays: Drew - School 9:30-2:30; Gymnastics for Drew from 4-5
4. Thursdays: Drew - School 9:30-2:30; 1st Thursdays of the month are my Scout Roundtable Meetings and 2nd Thursdays of the month are my Pack's committee meetings and the last Thursdays of the month (bearing no holidays) are my monthly Pack meetings.
5. Fridays: Drew has his reading/language/phonics class from 10-11:50; Josh has sculpture from 2:45-4:15
6. Saturdays: FREE FOR NOW
7. Sundays: Cub Scout meetings from 4-6pm

Now, mind you, this doesn't take into account that both boys are about to start athletics: Josh will have tackle football and Drew t-ball....so we'll have shuttle duty to/from those practices as well..... in March Drew will start swimming lessons again... It's a busy, crazy, fun, full life but I wouldn't trade it for the world! Drew also wants to play soccer -- I'm not sure if we're going to sign him up for that or not... we'll have to see. It's an indoor league and it's only 8 games. I think he'd like it but again. We will see.

House:

• FLOORS: I am in the middle of a lot of revamping. . . I saw that Home Depot has their carpet installation on sale for $99. I'm thinking perhaps of getting carpet installed in my bedroom instead of hardwoods -- more for of the instant gratification kind of thing b/c otherwise waiting for hardwoods then picking out a rug... UGH... the waiting sucks. :) What color of carpets when you were going for a dark wood floor? I'm thinking DARK BROWN carpet? What do you think? Too much? I've never picked out carpet before. I had someone come and give an estimate on refinishing the hardwoods, handscraping and then installing them in my bedroom. $6200 UGH!
• PAINT: I had someone come give an estimate to paint all the trim/baseboards downstairs, the playroom (red), the hallway, prime and pain the laundry room and the ceiling and the door in the laundry room, strip and paint the kitchen island black, prime and paint my bathroom cabinets black, ceiling in the family room and the crown molding in the foyer and formal dining room along with the walls in the formal dining, foyer, upstairs hallway and the hallway connecting the boys rooms. $1700 for labor - i provide the paint. I think that's AWESOME! Even my friend that owns a painting/faux finishing building was like "that is shockingly low"
• IKEA STORAGE: I need to purchase the wall unit that will go in the playroom (with the addition of a third, the playroom got moved to the formal dining, the formal dining to the formal living and the formal living went BYE BYE!) I don't miss it AT ALL. I built it online and it's about $1300. I also built my dream scrapbook room $2300 and then am getting a $200 Bily bookcase for the niche upstairs for the boys books. It should all come together nicely.
• ELECTRICAL: I've got a company that is coming out to install a chandalier in the formal dining room since there is no light source in there and isntall a switch for it, swap out a switch or two for ones taht are dimmers or ceiling fan controls, and move one switch to a place where it's much easier to reach. That should be fairly easy.

So, this past week has been fantastic... it's been busy... lots of planning... lots of moving forward! It's an awesome life.