2013 ElCloud Graduation Celebration

We graduated our first student (A) on May 18, the day before her friends graduated at the public school.  She really wanted to celebrate on the same weekend they did, but we didn't want to compete with other graduation ceremonies and receptions.  We set her celebration for 2 pm on Saturday, with the reception lasting until 4:30, knowing that most graduation receptions would be held in the evening.  We were very blessed with a full room of people that came to actually watch her graduate: family, church family, friends, and homeschool families. It was touching to know that they cared, even though it added one more thing to an already busy weekend.

As we were planning our graduation ceremony, we asked A what color cap and gown she wanted.  We knew that HSLDA sold navy and white gowns, but homeschooldiploma.com had a wider array of colors. She requested that Steve and I set school colors, instead.  We had thought we'd let each child be individual, but we complied with selecting school colors.  We didn't want to mimic colors from some of the area schools, and could not reach a consensus amongst the children, so we settled on blue, gold, and white.  The white was primarily added so that a graduate could wear a white gown if they wanted to.  A chose the white cap and gown, but decorated the room with blue and gold.

Congrats Grad pennant banner

17 yo A spent a lot of time looking for ideas online of what she wanted her celebration to look like.  We made several different decorations for her, though a few were adaptations of what she really wanted but we couldn't accomplish.  I still have gold glitter popping up here and there from the glitter banners and posters. There were several late nights spent rolling her fork/napkin diplomas, dipping pretzels, and creating the paper crafts we displayed.

Steve and I each planned to speak at A's graduation, as well as have a slideshow. In the end, we also asked two other people to open and close the ceremony with prayer: A's grandfather who is a minister, and our church's pastor.  The ceremony itself lasted about half an hour.

Order of Events:

• Welcome by Steve
• Prayer by A's grandfather
• Mom's speech to A (yes, I cried)
• played an mp3 of "Never Once" - the song by Matt Redman that inspired a portion of my speech
• Dad's speech which explained why we chose to homeschool as well as our pride in A's graduation
• A's life slideshow with her choice of music: Dixie Chicks' "Wide Open Spaces" and "Pomp and Circumstance
• Announcement of A's future plans and accomplishments by Steve
• Presentation of diploma (read by Mom) and turning tassel
• Special Thanks (A thanked me and presented roses to me - after Dad suggested it)
• Benediction by our church's pastor
• Receiving Line and Reception

We learned several things that we'll do differently next time.  For instance, I learned that even if I keep my speech light-hearted, and even if I've been fine all day long, and even if I go first ... I will still cry.  So everyone has to suffer through listening to me cry-talk.  Next time I'll have tissues with me, so I can at least wipe my nose. I'm adding that to my "things to do differently" list.

Now for the nitty-gritty details about our decorations and preparations.  We used the fellowship hall of our church.  A's picture table was set up at the front of the room beside the area where we spoke.

We set 4-5 rows of chairs up facing the front.  Behind that, we set up 4 long dining tables (2 per side).  Each dining table had a centerpiece that had two photos of A mounted on blue and gold paper, with a skewer between the sides.  That skewer was stuck into play dough in a small glass votive or cup, then topped with blue, gold, and brown M&Ms.  (We didn't purchase them specially made in those colors, we literally sorted them out of 4 very large bags of M&Ms.)  Around them we sprinkled the mortarboard confetti.

At the back of the room (which is where the doors are), we set up the two food tables, as well as the table for leaving gifts and signing her guestbook.  Her guestbook was 25 loose scrapbook pages that each had one photo or a quote on them.  They've now been placed in protective sleeves in a notebook for her to keep.  We love this idea, but it ended up being a traffic jam area as people tried to sign in (with a note) as they arrived. We also had those leaving gifts write their address on the thank you envelopes, which further slowed the progress in that area.  Next time, we'll move that table away from the door a bit more so it doesn't become so congested.  If we re-use the scrapbook-guestbook idea, we'll probably need a larger table.

Although we'd thought we'd have guests seated in the rows of chairs for her ceremony, we also ended up with people sitting at the tables, and a few standing at the back.  We underestimated the space needed for the ceremony itself.  Next time we may need to request to use the actual sanctuary for the ceremony and move downstairs for the reception.

 blue and yellow m&ms, frosted cookies, dipped pretzels, nuts, and cheese

Though we underestimated the space we needed, we overestimated the food we needed.  We had four 9x13 cakes (1.5 cake mixes each) that spelled out 2013. But we also had two 12x18 sheet cakes waiting.  Yikes!  We had cake for about 200 people, because we didn't want to be the family that ran out, but we didn't even cut into the two larger sheet cakes.  We've been eating cake (and cookies and pretzels) ever since.  We also still have extra ingredients for our blue punch, (note: we replaced the white cranberry juice with half white grape and half white cranberry peach juices, since they were easier to find and less expensive.)  And of course, we still have yellow plates and diploma fork/napkin rolls. That's fine. They'll get used. 

I'll be completely honest and say that the week leading up to the graduation, especially the 2 days before and the morning of, were chaotic and stressful.  One of those things I'll do differently next time is more advance preparations, including baking/freezing.  Though working in advance means making decisions sooner, and we had a difficult time with that this first time.

First time.  That is key.  This was a new experience for our whole family.  We'd not graduated any children yet, or planned a wedding reception yet, or even attended any other homeschool graduations.  We were learning as we went, but it was still a beautiful day.

presenting A with her diploma

This moment made it all worthwhile and superseded any of the problems (like cake decorations that didn't arrive at church looking as nice as they did at home, though even that was definitely amateur).  This is what we were working for.

That moment completed 13 years of formal homeschooling, plus a few years of preschool before that. It made up for tears (hers and mine) over early math lessons.  It was the completion of our goal.  Now A is off to college.  This week she's been connecting with fellow incoming freshmen at her university via a facebook group.  She's wondering if any of the girls she's met so far will be her roommate, writing thank you notes, and looking for a second job to help her save money for upcoming college expenses. 

We know that God is shaping her into a beautiful and accomplished young woman, and that He has great plans for her life.  We can't see her future, but we trust in the One who has brought her this far already.

Rejoicing in His Grace,
April E.

Busy, but blessed ...

I haven't been blogging much lately.  We've been so busy over the past month as we resumed school after baby B's birth, started baseball practice for the boys, tackled the spring clothing switch (for 11 people), dealt with our usual work and home responsibilities, as well as our 4H and church involvement.  On top of our usual stuff, we were trying to prepare our home for family visiting, planned our first homeschool graduation, celebrated a baby dedication on Mother's Day, and celebrated 19 years of marriage during the week between Mother's Day and graduation.

Now we're taking  a deep breath.  A has graduated, the other kids are in their final week of school, end-of-year celebrations are mostly over, and the library's reading program is about to begin.  For awhile, we can just focus on reading and baseball games for the boys, until the "oh-no-it's-fair-time-and-we're-not-ready" panic hits us. Who am I kidding?  Life will always be hectic.  Swim lessons, library trips, chores, church camps, baseball games, 4-H projects, and fair will keep our summer busy.  And at the end of summer, we'll drive our oldest daughter to college while we're also trying to start a new school year at home.

I have several blog posts rolling around in my head after this month.  We'll definitely post about the graduation ceremony and reception, with pictures. 

In the meantime, enjoy these tiny tidbits:

• In the middle of the graduation ceremony, my 2 year old was tired and trying to stay awake.  So she loudly talked to herself and me, ran around, and was generally somewhat embarrassing in the front row.  After the slideshow of pictures, everyone clapped.  2 yo V decided to clap, too.  So she stood up front, near Steve, and announced, "Me clapping my hands.  Me clapping my hands, too." Of course, everyone laughed.  Every celebration needs a little comic relief, right?
• While we were at the graduation, we locked our dog in her kennel in the living room.  All was well.  We returned home (with guests!!) and the living room smelled like cat spray.  What?!?!  It was finally determined that our adult stud Persian had walked up to the kennel door while we were gone and sprayed the poor dog while she was trapped in her kennel.  I have no idea why. Every time the dog walked by, we all said, "Eew!" and she was sent outside repeatedly.  Her shirt has been washed twice and still stinks -- which brings me to another non-graduation point.
• Our dog was attacked by something or someone 3 weeks ago.  We took her to the vet for one cut we could see, but that turned out to be a puncture wound with an exit 3-4 inches lower, and two other wounds by the bottom wound. (Uncertain if she was shot by a human or bit by a coyote/other animal.) The swelling was so bad that the stitches the vet put in ripped out and she was left with a 2 inch diameter open wound we have been bandaging 2x daily.  She's wearing kids shirts over her head/front legs, tied in front of her back legs like an 80's girl to protect her bandages. She was on her 3rd shirt (basically one per week) when the cat sprayed her.  Now she's on her fourth shirt.  Her remaining wound is 1/2 inch diameter, but not completely healed.  It's very difficult to tape a bandage on a dog, even though the vet shaved her side.
• Back to graduation -- whoever said "There can never be too much cake" was wrong.  Very wrong.  We had too much cake, and we're all going to be fat (or sick) from eating leftovers.  Thankfully we have a large family with lots of young kids to help. 
• I have a long way to go before I could call myself a cake decorator. Decorated cakes are very difficult to transport, which only makes them look worse. But in the end, they still taste great, and that's probably all that matters.

That's all for now.  I will post more about Mother's Day and baby B's dedication, as well as A's graduation later.  As my title says, it's been a busy month, but one that celebrates our many blessings.

April E.

Review: The Christian Mama's Guide to Baby's First Year by Erin MacPherson

Title: The Christian Mama's Guide To Baby's First Year - Everything you need to know to survive (and love) your first year as a mom
Author:  Erin MacPherson
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Format:  Paperback or Kindle
ISBN:  978-0-8499-6474-9
Price: $15.99

It's been two years since I reviewed Erin MacPherson's first book in the Christian Mama's Guide series, The Christian Mama's Guide To Having A Baby.  I wasn't pregnant at the time I wrote the review, but when I got pregnant with baby B, I pulled the book out to read.  Yes, it was my ninth baby and I've read multiple pregnancy books, but I wanted to read Erin's Christian Guide version while actually being pregnant.  It helped me keep my sense of humor about morning sickness, weak bladders, and fatigue in those early months to re-read her book. To be honest, it was the only pregnancy book I read cover-to-cover this time, though I did look up a health issue in other books once or twice.

Until recently, I didn't realize that Erin had written parenting books to go along with her pregnancy book, but she now has 4 books in her Christian Mama's Guide series.

• The Christian Mama's Guide to Having A Baby
• The Christian Mama's Guide to Baby's First Year
• The Christian Mama's Guide to Parenting a Toddler
• The Christian Mama's Guide to the First School Years

If you're like me, and you've read other pregnancy and parenting books, you know that some of them are very medical and factual, some are organized by topic, some by alphabetical order, and some are organized month-by-month.  The Christian Mama's Guide to Baby's First Year takes a topical approach, rather than a month-by-month or medical format.  The book begins with information on the postpartum period, and  newborn care. It then moves on to the topics of sleep, feeding, diapering, baby gear, medical care, playing with baby, and traveling with baby.  The book ends with chapters on taking care of Mommy, losing the baby weight in a healthy way, and two chapters on taking care of Daddy.

With so many parenting books out there, you might be wondering what The Christian Mama's Guide to Baby's First Year has to offer. My first response is humor.  Erin keeps a friendly and slightly sarcastic tone throughout the book. The humor helps keep the book interesting, because not everyone can focus on reading factual how-to manuals -- either because of their personality, or their new-mommy fatigue.  Erin doesn't gloss over the negative aspects of having a newborn (like diaper blow-outs) but she does laugh at them.  She takes the fear out of having a newborn.

Erin's book also offers us a synopsis.  She takes all the information out there (and you know there is a FLOOD of information out there for new parents to wade through) and she summarizes it.  She helps new parents survive the information overload, and get down to the essentials.  Rather than trying to sort through 5 different online lists, 2 magazine lists, and 3 book lists of things that baby needs, you can look at Erin's summary of things baby actually NEEDS and the things that make life a little easier for Mom and Dad.

Erin offers us camaraderie.  She laughs at herself and lets us laugh at her (and her friends) too. She even gets her husband and her friends' husbands to open up a little and offer their viewpoints.  Reading The Christian Mama's Guide books feels like having a conversation with your friends, the type where you share embarrassing confessions and laugh hysterically with each other while eating chocolate ice cream and wearing yesterday's sweatpants and a messy pony tail.  It helps to know we aren't alone as we find ourselves pouring coffee on the counter instead of into our coffee mug, while holding a wide-awake baby at 4 am.

Lists.  Erin MacPherson is a list-maker.  She likes to have a plan, and she likes to check the little boxes off.  The Christian Mama's Guide to Baby's First Year is full of lists.  Not overwhelming lists that discourage you, but helpful lists to help organize information.  Occasionally, she even offers two lists - one for the type A moms and one for the type B moms.  Which brings me to another benefit that Erin gives us ... acceptance.  Every mom is different, and every baby is different.  Erin helps us celebrate the differences rather than try to fit ourselves, or our baby, into someone else's "box".

The Christian Mama's Guide to Baby's First Year also offers us faith.  Most chapters include a "Time Out For Mom" blurb.  These brief devotions include a Bible verse and a prayer to remind new moms where true wisdom and strength lies. Her chapters also remind us that God has given our children to us, that we have a responsibility to teach them about Him, and that He will equip us to raise them.  However, Erin doesn't try to spiritualize every little thing.  She doesn't try to find spiritual applications or implications in diaper bags, leaking milk, or sleepless nights. Her book is well-balanced, and the faith aspect is there, but not so overt that it's going to turn readers off. 

The Christian Mama's Guide to Baby's First Year is a refreshing change from most baby-care books.  It's light-hearted, encouraging, and helpful.  The topical approach actually makes it easier to find information than when it's buried in snippets in a month-by-month format.  It may not include every single thing you COULD know about raising a baby, but it does cover what you NEED to know. It's the perfect gift for a new mom, trying to make sense of all the information out there ... as well as the experienced mom who can use the lists, the laughs, and the camaraderie offered in the book.

April E.

This book was provided free to me, by BookSneeze, for review purposes.  The opinions shared here are my own, and no other compensation was received.

Juggling Plates

Where have I been?  Busy.  I've opened my blog dashboard several times, knowing I needed to write, occasionally even having ideas to write about.  But I've continually been drawn away from the computer before I could write.

I've been busy trying to juggle so many plates, but I keep dropping the blogging one:

• homeschool Mom planning school, helping students, refocusing distracted kids, and looking ahead to next year
• busy mother preparing meals, supervising chores, fighting mount laundry, settling squabbles, enforcing rules, mending hurts, soothing fears, and holding little ones that cry "Me need you, Mama" and "Me hold you, Mama" 
• helpmeet and best friend to my hard-working husband - running errands, researching info, making calls, paying bills, preparing lunches for work
• mom of a newborn that needs to be held a lot, and often gets fussy so he needs to be held "just so" and seriously limits the ability to type
• mom of a graduating senior who needs to talk about majors, college paperwork, essay assignments, graduation ceremonies and prom details

I often feel as if I'm achieving very little in a day, though I know (deep down) that isn't true.  Even on days that I achieve nothing tangible other than feeding the family three meals and keeping the family safe ... I know I've been here to listen, to comfort, to hopefully point kids to Jesus, and to just love the family God's given me.  Even if I feel like my words are bouncing off the ceiling rather than being heard and remembered, I have to believe that some seeds were planted.

I don't really have anything wonderful to share, so I'll just post a photo of our latest blessing.  He is well-loved.

photo taken by my sister Sarah 3 weeks ago

One of these days I'll get back into a blogging schedule.  Thank you for being patient.

April E.

We're on a roll now!

Yesterday I managed to get into the library for the first time since my bed rest and Benjamin's birth.  I took 8 of our 9 kids with me.  (The oldest one works there and had just returned home when we were leaving, so she wasn't interested in going back with us.)  This is a big step in returning to "normal" for our family because the library is a very important part of our life as a homeschool family.  We prefer to use "living books" as much as possible as we educate our children, especially the younger ones.  So when I plan 3 weeks of school, I usually have 20-30 books checked out ... some more engaging and alive than others.  Baby B's early arrival halted school earlier than I'd planned, so we picked back up with the books I already had checked out. We're finishing those up this week, though, so it's time to collect books for the next few weeks!

Monday I put 16 books on hold, requesting them from libraries around our region.  Yesterday I added more to my holds list.  My 13 yo daughter walked up behind me at the computer and asked me, "Do you seriously have 21 books on hold?"  "Yes, I really do."  Then I went to the library that evening and filed 3 Inter-Library-Loan requests for books I can't find in our library system, and checked out 6 more books to add to the 6 still at home.  At the moment, my collection of library books (and books on the way) includes school books for the kids, as well as health and diet-related books I'm using for my own personal study.  I can only have 30 books (ILL excluded) checked out at a time, so I'm going to have to return a few before the requests all come in.  Of course, if the kids finish their history and literature assignments for the week, that won't be a problem. 

While we were there, 5 of my children also checked out books and movies for themselves.  They've learned to utilize the library system, and often request books from other libraries.  We picked up three items they had on hold while we were there yesterday.  Their books and movies are usually a mix of entertainment and self-education as they study topics that interest them.  All the reading children have their own library card, because I can't hold their items and mine on one card.  The youngest three (okay Baby B isn't really doing this yet) put their items on a sibling's card most of the time.  I'm glad they've learned to love the library and to use it regularly.

The library has saved our family a lot of money, enriched our education, and enhanced our lives.  I've missed being able to go in over the past 7 weeks.  I've been sending others to return items for me or pick up requested items as they arrived.  But somehow that's just not the same as walking in myself, looking around, talking to the librarians (we have great librarians!), and letting the kids pick out their own items. I'm usually in there once a week, though not always with all the kids.  Even our 1 and 2 year old children love going to the library, as we let them pick out a DVD, a book or two, and they get to play in the library's play area while they wait on us. 

After taking almost all the kids to the library and requesting books for the next 3 weeks of Tapestry of Grace, I feel like I'm back in the swing of things with our homeschool. We're rolling smoothly and counting down the weeks until the end of the year.  Since Baby B is now 5 weeks old, I guess that's a good thing.

Now if I can just get the laundry under control ...

April E.

Mommy has lost her groove ...

Last week I traveled with my sister to our parents' house for our grandmother's funeral.  We spent 13 hours together in a car heading south on Tuesday, and 13 hours together in a car heading north on Friday.  During that time, my sister played me several of her spotify play lists.  Most of her musical choices, I really enjoyed.  One of the play lists, not so much.  ;)  She introduced me to several new (to me) musicians and lots of songs I'd never heard before.  One of her current favorite groups turned out to be one my daughters love, but she played different songs than the ones they are often singing, so I didn't realize it.

As I was thinking how totally out of touch I am, I wondered what happened?  I used to always have music playing and I was usually singing.  I enjoyed a variety of music styles, and I loved discovering new genres and artists that spoke to me.  Much like my daughters today, with their mp3 players.

Part of the problem is that we live in the country and my radio choices (at home) are country or a secular pop station.  (I listen to country in the car.)  The other issues is that I have a large family, and young children.  Listening to secular radio with young children around is dangerous, and we have no Christian stations that reach our home and few that even reach our town.  Add in the sheer noise level of a home with 11 people in it, and we often just can't handle the extra "noise" that even our favorite music becomes.

We also have equipment issues.  First, my sound system in the living room kind of broke. The radio receiver no longer receives and the cd player can't play above a quiet level or it just shuts off.  Next, my CD-rom drive in my computer broke.  I can still use the DVD player and tv to play music, but that means no one can watch tv.  I usually get through a CD once before someone has a tv show, movie, or exercise dvd they want to watch. I could hide in my bedroom all day long listening to that CD player, but I doubt that would go over well with my family.  I don't own an MP3 player and even if I did I'd have to use someone else's computer to rip CDs and sync them to the MP3 player since my disc-drive is broken. 

I'd love to have spotify or other online music options, but our satellite internet limits just don't allow for listening to music.  We also don't have smart phones or phones with data plans, so we can't use our phones to listen to music.  Last of all, there are the cost issues with buying CDs or even music downloads on a regular basis.  Most of the time, new music just isn't in the budget. 

So, I'm grooveless.  I rarely listen to music, and I rarely sing.  I LOVE to sing!  I miss music.  I need to find a solution that returns music to my life, but I'm not sure what that will be, or when it will be.  Steve still listens to music as he drives to and from work each day (90 miles each way) though he often chooses to listen to talk radio instead.  He can even listen to Christian radio stations for most of the drive.  Maybe I'm grooveless until more of the kids are grown and the house is quieter.  That seems really sad, though.

Missing my groove,
April E.

Giveaway: Carmex Healing Cream and Healing Lotion

Carmex is one of our family's favorite lip-care companies, and in recent years they've also become one of our favorite skin care companies  with their line of healing lotions, creams and ointments.  We've found the healing lotion to be a wonderful year-round lotion, but when winter weather gives us extremely dry skin, we reach for the healing cream for day use, and the healing ointment overnight. 



The Carmex Healing Lotion and Healing Cream have a wonderful, non-greasy formula that soaks into your skin quickly to heal and protect them.  Both lotions have a very mild scent that is somewhat reminiscent of their original Carmex lip balm.  It's basically unscented, which is a big plus for the men in my family.  They both contain lanolin, beeswax, cocoa seed butter, allantoin and petrolatum for moisturizing and soothing skin.  The Healing Lotion also contains vitamin E and aloe to nourish skin, while the Healing Cream is concentrated for your driest skin.

Every member of my family enjoys the Carmex skin care products.  I have a set in my bedroom that my husband and I share, but my children know where to find it. My three teenage daughters are always using it, especially in winter months, or after they finish washing the dishes. It's a family staple!

The Carmex tubes of lotions and creams pictured above (4 - 5.5 oz.) are sold for $5.99 each. You can purchase them at Walgreens, CVS, and Wal-Mart.  Check with your local store for availability in your area.


GIVEAWAY:

Carmex is hosting a giveaway of one tube of Carmex Healing Lotion and one tube of  Carmex Healing Cream for one of my blog readers (open to US residents only). 

This giveaway will CLOSE on March 31, 2013 at 11:59 pm. One winner will be drawn on April 1.  Sign up using the Rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Good luck!

April E.

This review and giveaway was sponsored by Carmex.  The items were provided free to me, for review purposes.  This review contains my honest opinion.