School is Back in Session

We have just begun our third week of school.  I like to start at the beginning of August so we can finish at the end of April or beginning of May.  It is a little more relaxing to have a month or so of school before all of our other activities pick up.  That way we are not feeling rushed to get our school work done before heading out the door to dance lessons or soccer practice.  Besides, it is normally too hot to do much outside in August in Texas.  This also gives us a chance to take a fall vacation (like a Disney Cruise!) when everyone else is back in school, crowds are lighter, prices are cheaper, and the weather is nicer.
One of my goals for this year is to be a little more flexible.  I normally have every subject planned out for the entire year, including readers, read alouds, science projects, writing lessons and projects, and history lessons.  I like to be able to check off these things as they get done, and I feel like if I planned it we must do it.  So instead of having every day of every week planned out, I have a general plan of things we want to cover, and I will just plan it out week by week.  That way if a subject or project comes up that we want to spend more time on we can do it.  I know that my kids will never remember every date and event that we cover in history, but I want them to have fond memories of learning.  I want to focus more on instilling a love of learning and not on stressing out about not covering every page in every book.  Besides, having a 2-year old in the house while school is going on demands a little more flexibility on my part.
Another big goal for this year is to go to weekday Mass regularly.  When I went to Catholic school growing up we went to Mass every Friday.  I know many homeschoolers who make it to daily Mass with several more kids than I have.  And I discovered this summer that I can take Luke to morning Mass, and he does pretty well.  Our plan is to go every Wednesday at 8:00AM.  So far, so good.
The boys have had great attitudes, have been at their desks to start on time, and have done a good job getting their work done.  I know we will have our rough days, but it is nice to start out on the right foot.

The Cruise Is Close

According the ticker on my signature at Disboards.com, our very first Disney Cruise on the Magic out of Galveston to the Western Caribbean is in 2 months, 2 weeks, and 1 day!  I am getting more excited every day.  In just 2 days we can book port excursions, make reservations for the nursery, and register the boys for the kids' clubs.  I have been reading lots of reviews for port excursions and trying to decide what to do.  Having never cruised or traveled to the Caribbean, we are not sure what activities we will like or if we will prefer to stay on the ship.  The plan is to try snuba (like SCUBA but the air tanks float on top of the water instead of being attached to your back) in Grand Cayman and either a day at the beach or a chocolate factory tour in Cozumel.  My mouth is watering as I have been reading over the menus.  Mostly I just can't wait to spend a week on a Disney vacation relaxing with my family.
Right now there are 2 projects I'm working on in preparation for 7 days of luxury.  The first is potty training Luke.  He is not old enough to go to the Oceaneer Club, so there will be limited activities for him.  Children who are not potty trained can not swim in the pools on board, so we are working on it.  We've been working on it for a few days now, and for him just being 2 years old I think it is going really well.

My other project is making magnets to decorate our stateroom doors.  This is something I only recently learned about, but apparently this is something that lots of people do.  There are some kind and generous people who will personalize Disney themed designs (called Disigners) for free.  You can print them out to make magnets to hang on the metal doors on the ship or to make t-shirt iron on transfers.  I'm waiting for the Disigners to finish some of my designs, but in the meantime I made a Disney Cruise alphapet.  I printed one out that I found on 4shared.com, cut them out, and laminated them.  I'm going to glue magnets on the back.   I figured that Luke can use them to play with before and after the cruise.

Down and Dirty

Last Sunday morning we ran in the Merrill Down and Dirty Mud Run at Cedar Hill State Park.  It was so much fun!  Nick and I ran the 5K and Zack and Michael ran the kids' 1 mile.  The course was in the grass, woods, and water and included 12 obstacles (2 of them were mud pits). 
The 5K started at 7:45AM.  It was cool and cloudy, which really helped since the first part of the race was uphill.  I knew Nick would do well, but I was hoping to keep up with him enough to watch him do at least the first couple of obstacles.  He broke away so fast that I didn't see him after the first 1/4 mile!  There were walls to climb over, a tunnel to crawl through, a 20-foot high inflatable with a cargo net to climb and then slide down, and a push-up station.  The only one I had trouble with was the slippery wall just before the last giant mud pit at the end.  The wall was at an angle, and you had to pull yourself up using a rope.  I really didn't think I was going to make it, but somehow I managed.  I'm sure this was strategically placed near the finish line where all of the spectators could get a few laughs watching everyone try to get over the wall.  It was really exciting to cross the finish line!  Nick finished in 41:21 and my time was 51:12.
The 1 mile race was at 10:00AM.  It was definitely warming up by this point, but they only had to go a mile.  Luke loved watching the kids take off at the start and cheering them on as they had their turn to crawl through the mud at the end.
We camped for the weekend at the state park, so when the race was finished we went back to the camper.  We grilled hot dogs and visited with friends who had raced with us.  We had gone to Mass the night before, so we had the rest of the day to clean off, rest, and relax.  We also celebrated with homemade ice cream and s'mores around the camp fire in the evening.  It was such a great weekend, that we plan on camping out and running again next year.

Paleo Power

For Lent this year I decided to give up creamer and sweetener in my coffee.  I thought about giving up coffee, but then everyone around me would suffer as well, and it turns out that drinking black coffee for 40 days was definitely a sacrifice.  I had also been reading about the Paleo diet everywhere I turned.  It wasn't something I thought was for me, but it kept calling my name, so I figured that maybe I should bite the bullet and try it during Lent. 
The Paleo diet, also known as the Caveman or Hunter/Gatherer diet, consists of meat and vegetables, eggs, healthy fats, nuts, and some fruit.  There are some different versions you can find online, but basically if you can hunt it, catch it, or gather it, you can eat it.  There are no processed foods or grains or dairy on this eating program.
I really didn't think I would be able to give up pasta and bread and potatoes.  Not to mention my favorite food group - ice cream.  That's why I figured if I was going to do it Lent would be a good time.  It took a couple of weeks to get used to it, but I was surprised to find that I no longer craved those things.  I did still miss my coffee mate and cheese once in a while.  I was hardly ever hungry, and I was able to lose those last few stubborn pounds of baby weight plus some with less exercise.  And it is pretty easy to adjust to family meals.  For the most part I just leave out the starch and eat everything else that the family eats.

Now that Easter has come, I have gone back to my beloved creamer in my coffee, but I have decided to stick with a mostly Paleo diet.  I mean this is a world in which I can have avacado every day, I don't get grouchy from hunger, and I can fit into a lot of clothes I haven't been able to wear since I was pregnant with Luke.  There is no calorie counting and no portion control.  I have read that even eating Paleo 80% of the time is great.  So I figure that if I can do this 80% then I will have the health benefits and still get to splurge once in a while.  I have given up Fiber 1 bars and yogurt but I've found that I love cashews and dates, beef jerky and roasted sweet potatoes.  I don't know if I will follow this eating plan forever, but I will definitely be doing this for a while.  I am amazed at the results!