Life Happens

So much has happened since my last update, I don't really know where to start. I have been working on getting my dental work taken care of. That is almost done but with recent events I had to put the remainder of work on hold due to lack of funds. My school has been going ok. I have been getting straight As.

As most everyone knows, Cameron has been struggling with school. He has been failing and the school had informed me that he wasn't going to advance to second grade. I set up a meeting with the school to see about getting him some help. He had a math and reading tutor and started to improve. He has always dealt with bullies and I had to pull him off the school bus and drive him to and from school so he wouldn't get beat up on the bus. The trouble still continued at school and Cameron had been getting more and more angry. This last school year has really changed him. He was always angry, rarely smiled, constantly fighting with his sibblings and complaining even when I try to take them out somewhere fun. It was very sad and difficult to watch my boy grow darker and darker.

There was an incident at school and Cameron was suspended for a week and had a hearing about whether or not he would be going back. The police were also called. After my talk with the cops, I decided to hire a lawyer to protect Cameron from the school and the police. Things went well with the school, they let Cameron back in. Normally that would be a good thing but as soon as he went back, he got in trouble for fighting. And then there was another incident the next day. So I decided we had enough. My boy had suffered enough. I pulled him out of school and have been homeschooling him along with Kevin and Emily.

Homeschooling is the best decision I have ever made. Granted we have not been doing it long, but so far things are much better. Cameron's attitude is improving every day. He no longer has to fear getting kicked and hit and have his backpack taken from him and everything else those horrible kids would do to him. So far we are doing a combination of Abeka and unschooling. We are taking it easy on the structured stuff for now and mainly focusing on unschooling with light book work. I am gradually getting Cameron back into wanting to learn so we are trying to make it as fun as possible. I am also doing a unique schedule with the kids. We are doing 3 days on, 1 day off for 2 months and then they get 1 week off. This will go on all year, with the exception of holidays or sick days. I may change things later if this doesn't work. I just like the freedom to have that choice.

So for the legal stuff, things haven't been going too badly. I haven't had to give the lawyer more money which is great. Haven't heard from the police so that is probably a good sign as well.

Robert is still deployed and doing as well as one can be who is stuck out in the middle of the ocean.

The kids miss their daddy and want him to come home but it has been easier this time around. They are getting older and are starting to understand what their daddy is doing and why he can't come home for months at a time.

The rabbits are doing good. Still not friends, although I have not really tried to bond them yet. I want to wait until after Hershey is spayed before I really try to bond them. Velvet will be a year old next month. I can't believe she is already a year old. Hershey will be 6 months old and ready to go in for her spay beginning of May. I hope her surgery goes better than Velvet's did.

So that about sums it up. Life has been hectic, I had the flu recently and the house work has not been getting done as much as it should but I have been enjoying having all my kids home and the freedom to do what I want with them. I love my kids and as enfuriating and annoying as they can be at times, I love having them home with me. I love watching them learn new things. Kevin is doing basic math and I am so proud of him. Emily is working on her numbers and is doing really well. Cameron seems to have mastered telling time, we are slowly working on math and writing because it is his sore subject and he really dislikes it. So I am trying to make things fun for him to hopefully instill a love of learning.

Well I think I better end this and get to cleaning up some so I can go to bed. I will hopefully be back in the near future for more posts so I don't have to do these long updates lol.

Hershey

Hershey
Originally uploaded by elaine.pepsicola81

Feeding Hershey her formula.

MVI_0202

MVI_0202
Originally uploaded by elaine.pepsicola81

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Update

I just wanted to post a little update since it's been a little while. I got another bunny last week. She an american standard and is now 7 weeks old. It took me a few days but I finally decided on a name for her, Hershey. Velvet got spayed last week as well and had some digestive problems after that and had to be put on some meds for it. She was recovering and I thought she was doing great until today. I noticed her one eye was glued shut and had green discharge. I cleaned up her eye and called the vet to ask about it. They told me I should bring her in so she has an appointment in the morning. About two hours ago I noticed that my baby Hershey was not acting normal. She is shaking her whole body and while she is still eating and moving about, she seems to have trouble with her balance at times. I will be calling the vet first thing when they open to see if they can squeeze her in around the time Velvet will be there. I hope it's just my imagination and she isn't very ill, either of them. I love my bunnies so much. Robert says they are 'just' pets but not to me. I have always been loving toward animals and tend to treat them as if they were people. They have feelings and personalities just like us so why shouldn't I treat them with love and respect?

I'm also having problems with Cameron but that's a whole other story, will try to post on that this Friday. (I have an appointment with some people to discuss him)

The rest of the kids seem to be doing well. They have their moments but don't we all? I just barely passed my latest class with an A- so I'm happy. I was really worried I was going to get a B, even though a B is still passing, I still wanted an A. I just started my bussiness management course and hopefully that goes well. So far it is very interesting and I look forward to the next 6 weeks. I have also been working on my dental work. I have gotten about 3/4 of the work done and hopefully will be finished by the end of March. After that, it will be a lot of routine cleanings but hopefully nothing big for a while yet.

Robert is still deployed and will be for a while yet. He's been gone for about a month and a half and it feels like forever. It really helps that I have the kids, rabbits and my school work to keep me extremely busy everyday.

Well it's late so I think I will go to bed.

Christmas

I suppose I should update my blog. We had a very nice Christmas with just us. I had hoped that Robert's brother and step dad would have been able to visit but they weren't able to this year. :( So anyways, we had a very nice Holiday. Christmas Eve we made cookies for Santa, the kids had a ton of fun cutting out the cookies from the dough and then decorating them after they were cooled off enough. Christmas morning the kids had their stockings to play with, then breakfast. After breakfast we did presents. I had them go one at a time so it was less hectic and I could get pictures. Plus we didn't have that many gifts this year with money being tight so I wanted it to last a little longer. Velvet had fun running around trying to open gifts and chew on anything that was on the floor. It was a very nice morning. After the kids were done unwrapping, we put the stuff together that needed it and spent the day playing with the kids. Robert and I managed to go 2 days without spending more than a few minutes on the computers. It was easier to go without the internet than I thought it would be.
I will post a few pictures on here. The rest are on my Flickr.

http://flickr.com/gp/35480250@N07/p80478
http://flickr.com/gp/35480250@N07/26G6s0
http://flickr.com/gp/35480250@N07/xc1u75

Kevin and Emily's Birthday

Since Robert is leaving before their birthdays, we decided to do a little something for them while Robert was still home. We took the kids to Toys R Us to pick out a toy. Kevin got a big Bakugan ball that had the little balls and cards inside, Emily got a tinkerbell doll and Cameron got a little GI Joe action figure. Robert also got some nerf swords to play with the kids. After the toy store, we went home and everyone played outside for a little bit. Then we had cake. Emily and Kevin enjoyed blowing out the candles. Emily kept sticking her finger in the icing though lol. It wasn't much of a party but the kids had fun. I did the writing on the cake, it is a lot harder to do than I thought it would be, oh well, they didn't care. Kevin and Emily had picked the cake and candles as well as the icing I used to do the writing with so they were happy. I was having flash issues so the pictures aren't my best. Oh well, it was a good day regardless. :) Happy early Birthday to my babies.