A Trip to the Zoo and my 50th Post!

Fifty posts may not seem like much to some people, but it was neat for me to see that this is my 50th post!!

Tuesday, Mercie, Silas and I went to the zoo with my sister, her 2 boys, and my mom for her son Bryton's 4th birthday! The kids had a great time, and I enjoyed the time with my mom and sister. (Too bad my other sister lives in Baton Rouge...) I took lots of pictures, but stole my mom's idea and made a collage! It's my first one...so I think it's pretty cute!

I am so thankful for the time that I get to spend with my children! I do miss Mikaela and Eli, and although putting them in school has worked for this season in our life, I don't believe I'll be putting them in again next year. They aren't learning anything more than they were at home, even when I felt like we hadn't accomplished much, we accomplished more than I thought. They like it, but it's not as fun as they pictured. And Eli has been acting out when he comes home from school lately. Rod pointed out that it could be because he's not getting as much 'attention' from me as he is used to. And looking at it that way, I can see how that's possible. They get home at 3:20 in the afternoon. I have to help Mikaela with her homework, cook dinner, bathe the baby and Mercie and help Eli bathe. Mikaela bathes herself! I usually have to nurse/rock Silas for a while at night. We have to clean up and usually the only time I spend with him is doing his sight word flashcards and after Silas goes to sleep, I put Mercie to sleep and try to spend a little time with Mikaela and Eli before they go to bed at around 7:30 or 8. Now that this is brought to my attention, though, I'm going to try to spend aLOT more time talking to him, holding him (he has been wanting to be rocked and held lately, and I usually put that off -bad mommy!- because I need to do something else...), playing a game with him, etc. And by acting out, I mean he has a bad attitude, he's disrepectful, he's angry, he can't cope when things don't go his way, he flies off the handle...and this is NOT normally how he acts. So I'm not so sure school is the cause, but school is the cause of him being gone all day, and missing me, and missing out on the time we spent together, whcih is the cause of his acting out. So I'm resisting the urge to pull him out of school right now, and let him finish. They will be through in the middle of May, which isn't too far off. And I'm going to pray that God will show me ways to fulfill Eli's needs.

And...last night we got a bad storm, and we lost electricity for a while. The kids thought it was cool, to have candles burning and stuff. We were asleep when it came back on, so I'm not sure exactly how long it was off. Rod's little brother Rueben spent the night with us last night. He is Mercie's age, and they play great together!

Well I'm off to take a bath and get ready to start my day!! Enjoy yours!!