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Homeschooling

This summer we are home-schooling Emmanuel and Elena. Emmanuel is starting 1st grade, wow how time flies. Elena is beginning Kindergarden. We started home-schooling over the summer because starting the end of August we are going to be in Oklahoma for Linguistics Practicum in less than ideal conditions for home-schooling. Please pray for us to have wisdom as we teach our children. Jenny has been carrying the bulk of the load and doing a great job.

Ponce Inlet with the family

We had a great time with Rachel, Chris and family at Ponce Inlet. It was so fun to enjoy the beach together with family. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

shortly after we arrived on the beach it was shut down for a storm. The good part is that Florida storms seem to be short lived...so we waited out the rain in the van and then came out to a nice cool and somewhat deserted beach.

In central florida

We enjoyed a very late night game of Cities and Knights with my cousins Laura, Paul, and his wife Angie...good times

In a lot of ways it does not feel like our feet have hit the ground since we finished up in Missouri and drove our belongings to Wisconsin. It has been a good first part of the summer though. We were just at a family wedding in Pensacola and decided to visit Jenny's cousin in Orlando area. Our drive today went pretty well. Our kids are such champs to put up with so much riding in the car. 10 hours to the wedding, a few days there and then another 8 hours to where we are now. They are REAL troopers.

We got here at around 8 PM, but the pool was calling or names, so we took the whole family swimming, which was awesome and a good end to a day of being in the car. James really branched out today with his water exposure and was jumping off the edge of the pool into the water. He did so well. Emmanuel was swimming around some without any flotation assistance devices.

Elena lost her first tooth

Today we were at Ha Ha Tonka State Park eating a picnic. Elena took a bite out of a pickle and her gums were bleeding. We first thought she had something that hurt her gums...then on further investigation we realized that she had a loose tooth. She is so excited about losing her tooth. Will post pictures later!

James and Jada Turn the Big 3

James and Jada's Cakes for their 3rd Birthday. Jenny did such a nice job!

Slideshow of pictures from the birthday party

Today was a whirlwind of a day. James and Jada got all dressed up in "fancy" clothes today to celebrate their birthday. This morning at breakfast they opened their presents from Grandma Burkhart. Then we had a party for them tonight with some of their friends they wanted to invite.
The other week we took John and Jeanie out to eat and found out that John's birthday was the same day as the twins...so we had them and Nate and Anya up for dinner. It was Fabulous as usual.
Jenny made some Awesome cakes for the twins. James is into Soccer these days so his was a soccer ball and Jada's was a fairy.

I will put some photos and a picture slideshow that you can check out to see some of the party and hopefully share in the joy we experienced as a family today celebrating our wonderful twins.

Sickness in the house

Taking a nebulizer treatment in style

Jada is having trouble breathing and had a pretty hi fever last night. She is running around and playing like there is not problem today though. She was actually doing pretty good all day yesterday as far as energy and running around goes. In the evening she just crashed though. We had a get together at our house to hang out with some friends from out of town. She just laid on the couch the whole time.

I though she was pretty cute with her nebulizer and sun glasses. I guess if you have to take medicine you might as well do it in style.

Mr. Mom After movie time in the "fort"

Well, had fun with the kids tonight.  We watched a movie on the laptop in the "fort" we made in the kids room.  They REALLY enjoyed it.  They are all sleeping in the one room on the one bed and on the floor.  I need to get up there and get some sleep too.  They did not get to bed until late, but hey such is life.

After the movie was over we had some fun playing with photobooth. It of course was too dark in the fort, but we had fun nonetheless. I will add some of the pics.
The plan for the AM is to have breakfast with John Michael and company...so that should be fun.

Mr. Mom towards the end of March

So...for like two weeks or so the kids were sick.  One would get better, then the other would get a fever etc.  That time actually went pretty well.  We are blessed to have kids who do not whine when they are sick.  Sometimes they just whine in general, but it does not really seem to increase when they are sick.  Bonus!

This week has been the first "normal" week in a long time.  Whatever normal means.  I have been incredibly discouraged this week which makes for a rough time with the kids.  They certainly did their part to make things difficult, but I think it gets magnified exponentially when you are discouraged.  I wonder if this happens to "regular" moms, or if it is just Mr. Moms.  Probably happens to them too.

This weekend some of the students are having a mom's night out.  It is all women, otherwise I may have signed up. :)  Jenny is there right now.  It sounds like a good time.  They left at 2PM and went shopping at the outlet malls, then they are staying at someone's timeshare tonight and she will come back tomorrow afternoon.  You can stay one or 2 nights...she is just staying tonight.

Today I tried to call the kids mom's, aunts and other bio family so they could talk with them.  I think this was a big mistake as they were intent on being very loud while others are on the phone.  I guess they probably enjoyed their own time....and probably enjoyed screaming while the others were on the phone I guess. :(

Tonight my big strategy is to put mattresses down on the floor in the boys room, make a "tent" with them and watch a movie with them on the laptop in the "tent".  Then it is off to bed with them.

I kind of wish the weather was nice and we could have gone trapesing around campus together enjoying parks, but alas it is cold and wet.

Well, this is kind of long, you probably have not made it this far.  Hope you are having a good one.

Mr. Mom Day who knows what

So life as a kid is pretty sweet.  You can go on a road trip without ever leaving home.  When I was home being Mr. Mom on Friday the kids really enjoyed this "road trip" they went on.

The day as Mr. Mom didn't go particularly well, but we made it through and the kids said they had a good morning when Mom asked at lunch. :)

Making a girls and boys room

The boys in their new room setup

Just in case you are wondering if these posts are in order...they are not.  I am posting lots of stuff I have been intending on posting for a while.  :)

We made a boys and girls room early this semester.  We removed the bottom bunk from Emmanuel and Elena's bunk and put james race car bed under it.  We use the bottom part of the bunk in the girls room.  I think they were pretty excited about the change.

Valentines Day breakfast

The kids and I made breakfast in bed for Jenny on valentines morning.  We really had a fun time cooking together.  It gets quite interesting trying to think of enough things for 4 kids to do to help with breakfast in bed.  Several times I sent them up just to see how mom was doing. :)  This is a picture of all of the cooks. :)

Elena and her "Mansion"

From News

Elena had a great time building a "mansion" in her room during quite time.  As you can see she is quite proud of her creation...and with reason.

Car Show in Springfield

Emmanuel and I went to a car show in Springfield along with my brother-in-law Grady, his son and Sarah.  It was a great time to spend together and just hang out just as guys.  They gave out a 1934 Ford snap together model.  When we got home we put the models together.  Hope you enjoy the picture slideshow....oh...I almost forgot.  The highlight of our time was seeing Spiderman.  It was a seriously long line, but for the boys it was the highlight.  Also the motorcycle emmanuel is in front of has a 502 HP motor on it.  That thing was crazy.

Mr. Mom....I wish!

So this is a little late, but on Tuesday of this week Jenny was off of class and stayed home with the kids and they made Butter together.  We get raw milk from a farm here in Missouri and along with that comes a lot of Cream.  One of the things we can do with it is make butter, so she did that with the kids.

What an awesome idea and something so fun for the kids, enjoy the picture slideshow of the kids enjoying making butter.

Hanging out near St. Louis

Emmanuel Enjoying watching TV

All the kids enjoying a TV show

Getting in their corners for a wrestling match while the mom's were out getting pizza

The wrestling match -- one of many

Sometimes beauty comes at a great price, causing even the most simple things in life to be difficult.

The Kids were really enjoying dressing up a LOT!

Jenny and I and the kids came up to St. Louis to go to the Dr. today. On Facebook we found some old friends from Bible School days. We ate a yummy dinner...pot roast and potatoes. Yummy!
We are hanging out with Tim and Tiffany Conner and their two kids. Our kids were so glad to visit a house with kids their age. The kids spent the evening running around the house together and getting dressed up in costumes. I even got to play some ping pong with Tim.
Below are some pics of the kids hanging out together Saturday morning.

Mr. Mom goes to school

I have started helping out teaching the foundational Bible teaching class to the 1st semester students.  This has added some craziness to the schedule, but it is a great opportunity.  Today I taught my first lesson of 5 that  I will be teaching.  It went pretty well all things considered.
Monday- Thursday I am in the class so that means that I take the kids to childcare first thing, go to class for two class periods, pick them up and come back home.  Or after the two class periods I go to work in the IT office for the rest of the morning.  Gets a little crazy.
Tomorrow we leave for St. Louis about mid morning to see the Dr. and we are spending friday night with some friends from Bible School.  That should be a pretty awesome time.
The balance of the morning today was kind of crazy with the kids.  It definitely did not go as well as it could have.
Jenny is continuing to work hard on her linguistics and is in the middle of a longer problem right now.

Mr. Mom

Mr. Mom day whatever this is has been going pretty well.  This morning it  was warm enough that Jenny put the kids in shorts.  Nice weather for February. :)  We hung out this morning around the house, Emmanuel helped make the grits for breakfast.  The kids all seem to enjoy "helping."  James and Jada set the table.

We have started giving the kids an allowance.  This money goes into three categories, giving, saving and spending.  They enjoy going to the bookstore on campus and purchasing gum or nice treats like that.  The weather was great so we made the walk down to the Bookstore.  They REALLy enjoyed purchasing their gum.  We had several races on the way down to the bookstore and different ones won.  After we came home they have been playing outside enjoying the front hill.

Meanwhile the Jenny is in class cracking her brain on a big "problem".  She said she is particularly having a hard time figuring out something to do with stress in the words.  Not stress like life, but more emphasis on one syllable or another.

Today we are going to have spaghetti... :)  My favorite.  Better get back to the kids before someone hurts someone. :)

Mr Mom Day ???

So today has been "one of those days". It did start off good with the kid sleeping in. Then Jada was kind of laying around her room etc. I brought her down for breakfast and set her up to the table, she starts like heaving....yuk. I rushed her to the bathroom and she ony spit some in the toilet. Who knows what that was all about. Kind of scary though when you have a "heaving child". It could turn out to be quite the mess.
Breakfast went OK with no major mishaps after that. Then I had to get the homeopathic remedies made up for james and jada. I had to put these pellets in water and stir the glasses for 10 minutes each. LONG TIME. Anyhow, go through that and the older two kids were waiting to start "school". Elena loves to work in her school workbook, but she does not like to do the pages in order ,she wants to go through the book and pick a page that looks fun that day. The twins were supposed to be coloring, but ended up rolling crayons back and forth to each other...not all that disruptive.
The remedies have to be sipped over 4-6 hours so that means every 15 minutes or so...that put an interesting twist into working with Emmanuel and Elena. :)
My attitude has not been the best today either and that does not play out very well with the kids. They have been outside playing now for a while and I go the floor swept and moved the laundry that Jenny washed into the dryer.
I REALLY need to get some sleep tonight. Last night I told Jenny I was going to get to bed early because I really needed sleep...so much for that. I was visiting at the neighbors until almost midnight and then and then...you get the idea. No failures tonight though...I NEED some sleep.

Mr. Mom Day 6

Well, true to the life of a mom, the only expected thing is the unexpected. :) Jada had a little sickness yesterday, nothing big. To top it off the snow continued last night, and so today is a snow day, which means childcare is closed. So...day 6 came a day early. Usually on Wednesdays I get to venture out and work in the IT department...but not today.

I somehow thought I could avoid bundling everyone up and going out into the snow...yeah right. In the end I am glad we did it though, and the kids had so much fun. I can't count the number of times they went down the sledding hill. There were some older kids that were riding with the twins...so that was nice. Emmanuel is still outside right now.

I did not do so well with getting everyone bundled up and got upset with Emmanuel...that was a bummer. I guess it is another chance to model true sorrow and admittance of wrong. I think I would just rather be the perfect Mr. Mom. Yeah right.

Today is leftovers for lunch. :) That is awesome!

Mr. Mom Day 5

This afternoon the kids really enjoyed playing in the snow. We don't often get snow down here, so it was a real treat. Jenny found some snow pants for the kids, so that allowed them to stay warm while they played. Added some more pictures late in the day after we went out again. The Snow was REALLY coming down.

Today has been a mixed bag. The kids seem to be a little more ornry today than usual. Elena has been opening a present or two a day since her Birthday instead of opening them all at once and being overwhelmed. She got a new game for her leapster. She enjoyed playing it and even did well when her time was up...but when her brother got a chance...that did not go so well.

First thing this morning the twins colored at the table and I worked on "school" with the other two. Emmanuel was working on a worksheet for his writing and doing timed readings with his flashcards. Elena was working on a pre-writting book and a book about math/numbers. She just got them for her birthday and is pretty excited about "school". Emmanuel was having a hard time today with his letters and shut down...that was kind of discouraging. Neither of us handled that very well. Then he came out of it and finished his worksheet. He loved doing the timed readings...although he did not do as well as he has in the past. He had some words he got stuck on and that really hurt the number of cards he read.

Lunch is on the stove...Jenny left out the recipe and instructions. It is OK...but the potatoes are going to be crunchy I think. :( I guess better crunchy potatoes than no lunch, right?

Today has gone well enough that I am thinking of offering to watch some friends' kids; currently the wife has to stay out of the afternoon class to watch her kids. It would be on a trial basis, and their kids may enjoy playing with ours. :)

Oh...the trick for getting a moment's peace. Well, I put the kids in separate areas of the house with some toys; my oldest daughter thought she was in trouble. I guess we don't generally put them "alone". Ooops. Anyhow, I wrote one thank you note - wohooo! Maybe if I do this more often and select better toys it will work better.

Mr. Mom Day 4

Very quickly now. The kids are all upstairs playing well together. Who knows how long this will last. I am actually posting about Day 4 on Day 5. This may give an indication of how Day 4 went. Not so stellar.

I had a mom email her methods for getting a moments piece to do a task that requires focus. I put that one to the test on Day 5 and will let you know how that went when I get a chance. That said, any mom's out there that have advice for Mr. Mom you can put it in the comments...or email me. I am OPEN to ideas!

This truly has been a new area to depend on the Lord. I know that all areas of life are areas to depend on Him, but sometimes I think I have it under control...this is definitely not one of those areas. Maybe He will use it to draw me closer to Him. Please pray for our family as we adjust to this new schedule/thing.

Mr. Mom Day 3

So it is now almost 10:33 PM at the close of Mr. Mom day 3.  It seems that I am being eased into the realities of what everyday life is like being at home with the kids.  Today was yet a little "worse" if I can use that word than the first two days.  I was delighted to check email and get some advice from an experienced mom on how to get a few minutes to complete tasks that require focused attention.  I will have to try them out.  

Tomorrow I have the day as Mr. Mom off.  The kids are in preschool in the morning and I am working in the IT office.  In the afternoon I am working and Jenny will be watching the kids.  I may need to watch them if she has her afternoon class tomorrow.

Today I made lunch on the stove vs. a croc pot meal...so that was a little more challenging.  Jenny had put everything I needed out and the recipe as well though...so it was not too unbearable.  Again  I did a load of laundry...it seems that a load of laundry a day should stave off the dirty clothes.  It is nice that the kids a young enough to enjoy throwing clothes into the washer, dumping cans into the pot for lunch and putting items in the dryer from the washer.  They generally all answer with a loud "I Do" when I ask if anyone wants to help...so that is nice.  The drawback is that their ability to provide real assistance isn't that great yet.

Today at snack time I thought I would try to write some quick notes I needed to write...of course that did not work.  

One of the kids even said he was not that hungry and really did not want snack...talk about torquing you off.  You think you are doing something nice and here is one who isn't interested.  I suppose for it to be a nice gesture, they need to view it the same way.

The screeching and bickering were definitely on the rise today...kindof a bummer.  On a whole the day was a success,everyone is sleeping, Jenny made it to class this morning and I was able to go to Outreach ministry this afternoon.

Mr. Mom Day 2

So day #2 didn't go quite as well as the first day...but it was OK.  I was able to learn what most "moms" probably already know.  That the only thing you can expect is the unexpected.  I arrived to drop Emmanuel off for homeschooling and the teacher said "hey you are going to be home this morning do you want an extra kid?"  To which my words said yes, my heart and face said maybe.  With a little reassurance that I could call if there was trouble we added one to our crowd at the last minute.

The kids played well this morning together, not as well as yesterday...but I suppose some variation makes life interesting.  

My thoughts about not being able to do anything that requires real focus when watching small children were confirmed this morning.  Everything was OK, the kids were playing nicely and I thought I would sit down and read a few emails.  I am not sure if I was even seated before chaos and mayhem broke out between the kids.  :)

I was able to read some stories, we had coloring time and snack time...those I think helped the kids through the morning and me.  I had the kids helping me with the laundry as well.  Four kids standing around the open dryer door.  I would give one article of clothing at a time rotating through the kids.  They thought it was great.

Before I make you cry from boredom I will stop with the details.  :)

Mr. Mom Day 1

Today could definitely could have started out better. Jenny and I both woke up with our stomachs not feeling the best. We are not sure what it is...but we were not feeling so hot. I am thinking, great...day 1 as mr. mom and I am sick on the job. :) I took a little something for my stomach and so did Jenny and she headed off to class. On Tuesday mornings we have Matthew with us for the morning as well. He is the boy that Emmanuel does his homeschooling with.

As the morning has gone on, it has been working out just fine. This is only 1/2 of the way through the morning on day 1, but so far so good. The kids are playing well together.

Jenny got out a recipe for lunch in the croc pot, we have yet to see how it has turned out, but it looks good so far. :)

I layed on the couch for the first part of the morning and "supervised" from there. My stomach is feeling better and so now I am up and around.

Sweeping the floor, clearing the table and sweeping the crusties out from under the table. Throw in a load of laundry, clean out the kitchen sinks. Put the dishes away.

I am sure it is too early to be this optomistic about my first day...but I will enjoy it while I can. I thought you might like a sneak peak into the life of Mr. mom.