Just A Bit Busy....

Well, once again, I do great updating friends and family on our family happenings and then for some reason, I stop. I think this time however, I have an excuse. Are you ready for it?!?!? Okay, well......

We have been busy! Our homeschooling studies are taking longer than they have in the past 3 years - and yes I know, this year I am teaching a 1st and 2nd grader while also teaching/entertaining/keeping away a full of life 3 year old who thinks (and knows) that he is just hilarious. It is a job these days. I hope that satisfies as a good enough reason for all. If not, well, come spend a day here, handle all of the homeschooling and entertainment needs ON TOP OF all of the daily household chores....

To give you a better understanding of our day, I will let you into our typical daily routine, Monday - Friday, with VERY few days, or even weeks, off.... We are trying to 'train' the kiddos to not leave their beds until 7a. Somedays this works, most days it does not, so they end up snuggling on the couch with mommy - they *quietly* watch cartoons while I close my eyes until 7! At 7, we start the process of getting daddy out the door, but only after I have at least 1 cup of coffee. Once daddy leaves, between 7:45 and 8, our day really begins. I make breakfast for the kiddos and while they are eating, I am reading them the morning prayers and Bible verses from our Magnificat. After breakfast, we do chores. As soon as those are done and checked off of the list, we will begin school. In the morning, Robert and Hannah do their handwriting work solo while I do a bit of 'work' with Wesley. Once they are done, we move onto the mommy supervised subjects: Spelling, Language/English, and Reading. Typically after these are done, they are antsy because we have been working for 1.5-2hrs, so outside we go. Most days we go for a bike ride around the block a few times. Lately though, they have preferred the backyard. Whichever they choose is fine with me, as long as they are happy...and done with the 4 morning subjects! Around 11:45, I attempt to serve lunch. I say attempt because there is always the I like this, not that - this is nasty - I will eat if you let me skip nap - etc ~ UGH! Once lunch has ended, we enter my favorite time of the day.... nap/rest/reading time!!! Welsey MUST nap. Hannah, must read for 30min and is not allowed out of her room until 2pm. Robert must read for 30min and then he can play on the computer, do puzzles, anything that is quiet and he can do solo. I clean, start dinner IF I am cooking, sit for a few if I can, fold laundry, and prepare for science, math, and Religion. Once they are all up and fed... again.... I will do math. This is a 1:1 subject. So while I am working with Hannah, Robert is working with Wesley - teaching him colors, shapes, songs, etc. Then they switch and I work with Robert. After math comes science. To simplify things this year, I am starting with 1st grade science for both. Once that is done, we will go to second, and so on. Finally, our last subject for the day is religion. This includes a story every week from their children's Bible, with review questions all week. They also have a religion text and activity book that we use. Once school is done and we put all of our school marterials. Around 5:30 I serve the kiddos dinner. Then bath/showers, playing with Daddy, watching Figure It Out at 7, and then reading a book to mommy while snuggling in bed. Once they are out, I set about cleaning up from dinner. Doing some more laundry. Getting lessons for the morning. Hopefully taking a shower. Saying hello to my best friend and thanking him for all he does so that I am able to stay home and teach our beauties. He is such a great man... . Hopefully before midnight I will make it to bed where I say a quick prayer thanking God for the day and begging him to not let anyone have nightmares - this last part almost always is answered for 2/3's of the kiddos.... I will pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow for just a few hours before life starts all over again....

So, like I said previously, I hope that you realize this is not just an excuse. When I say life is busy, it is! And this is just a day where we have no doctor appointments, homeschooling field trips, the kiddos weekly run club, or Adoration that I try to squeeze in at least once a week. But, although our life is crazy and some days I feel like I cant breathe, it is a life I would not trade for anything! And without the hard work of my true love, this crazy, hectic, wonderfully blessed life, would not be possible.

On a different note, I realize more and more every day, what a great life God has grantI re me - even with all of its challenges that have come my way these past 3.5yrs, there is nothing I would change.... Well, 1 thing - to have my family about 590miles closer! If there is one thing I have learned in these past 3.5yrs, with all that has happened with me, with trusting God, and going from 2 to 1 incomes, and then on top of all that, our decision to beginin our homeschooling adventure, I have learned that it truly takes a village to raise children. Honeslty,I believe we would be completely lost of it were not for all of our incredible friends who are there in a moments notice, no questions asked. Who don't offer help just to sound nice, but rather because they rnd truly care. And our family who is only a phone call away at all times, no matter where they are....

Mommy/Son Date Night

After a week of superior behavior, Lil' Robert and I went on our long awaited date! He called all of the shots from what we did, to where we went - and it was SO much fun! We both had more fun than we had had in a while.... and it was just the 2 of us! Lil' Robert was so very proud of himself and all that he planned/prepared for tonight's festivities!

My 7 year old son was such a gentleman towards me. He not only rang the doorbell and presented me a flower before we left, but he also opened every single door for me - even if his hands were full, held my hand whenever we were walking, and set our table at dinner and dessert. My heart is just beaming with pride at how incredible this boy is! As we were snuggling together tonight, all I could do was praise God for such an incredible gift.

My Date picking me up!

Ready to Leave!

Where are we going? Nobody knows!

This is where we went for dinner - who would have guessed it?!?!?!?

Lil' Robert enjoying his nuggets, applesauce, and (ssshhh) sprite!

Having a great time!

He was so proud of himself for this!

Wwwhhhhhheeeeeee!

Silly mirror!

He tricked me telling me he wanted to get some pizza - ha! This will never happen!

He told me to close my eyes and when I opened them, he had drawn a picture of  him and I holding hands on our date!

Checking out the map at River City!

Our last picture before the night came to an end - eating some ice cream at cold stone! What an incredible and memorable evening!

Baseball's Never Been Hotter Than The Jacksonville Suns!

Today, we met up with our homeschool group, HomeGrown Homeschoolers, for a field trip/behind the scenes tour of the Jacksonville Suns Stadium! To say that we were excited is quite the understatement :-)

At first, we tried to keep the trip a secret and let it be a huge surprise for them today, BUT I needed some bribery for nap yesterday and told Ms. Hannah. Now, she was under STRICT orders to not tell a soul, but evidently, she is not ready for secrets.... not only did she not take a nap, she also told both brothers within minutes of me telling her. Ugh!

As usual with the Riker Family, we were running late, but luckily, this is common among home schooling families, and well, families in general, so we had plenty of time to spare. This would have been great, but it was a 90* October day - with no breeze. Another UGH!

Before the tour started, we took a group shot of all the kiddos - go figure, my midgets would stand in the very back where they were only visible from side angles!

 After the group photo, the tour began - at first it was the boring stuff, but after a bit in the fabulous Florida heat, we made it to the dugout, followed by the indoor batting/pitching/practice area, followed by the Suns weight room and locker room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this, we made our way to the main level, right behind home plate.

 

 

 

 

The kiddos were quite anxious to get to the third floor and after daddy finished taking pictures, we were off. The third floor held the press box (where there was an actual hole in the wall where a ball came flying through the open window and hit the wall - the announcer leaned to the left and kept talking as if nothing happened the entire time!), the crew room for the video guys and scoreboard people, and the suites where you pay too much money to sit in an air conditioned room and watch baseball!

 Once this was over, the tour was over, and it was time for lunch - Capri Suns, chips, and hot dogs - what more could a group of hot, sweaty, hungry kiddos ask for?!

 

After lunch and a few more pictures.....

 

....it was time to head down the stairs and get home....

.... but Wesley wanted to try and buy some tickets first!

As we were driving home, we saw the Jaguars practicing and as we continued towards the Hart Bridge, we noticed that the road was closed and there were many marines and combat vehicles. Curious, we pulled into a parking lot to watch, only to see a few Marines sitting inside of a tank. We pulled all of the kiddos out of the van and walked over to see what was going on. These gentleman told us that they were setting up the vehicles to show off for the Marine Corps Half-Marathon in the morning, but would LOVE to open up the other tank and give us a private tour!

We were able to watch as they lowered the gate, which was pretty cool. Who would have known that lowering a gate was a two man job?! We were able to see him climb into the drivers seat, instead of opening a door - the kiddos thought that was SO neat! He allowed all of us to walk inside, ask tons of questions, and then he even let the kiddos try on the bullet proof vests and helmets! This poor marine, was in full fatigues, and sat in the fabulous, non-breezy, 90* blazing sun....

 

 

We said our thank yous goodbyes and decided that since we had already skipped nap for the day, that we would take the kiddos to Adoration since it was on the way home. Let me just say, I am so very impressed with each of my children. They were so very respectful. The behaved so nicely. There was not a single poor choice made. Lil' Robert for the first time ever, instead of genuflecting in front of the Blessed Sacrament, he laid down prostrate - this brought tears to my eyes as he is going to be receiving this beautiful Sacrament in May of '13.

Once we left the chapel, we walked over to the Rectory to see Grandma, since we had not seen her in a few weeks because of the missions trip to Jamaica, but she was nowhere to be seen. We waited, Robert recited his entire Act of Contrition, Wesley acted like Wesley, and Hannah sat perfectly still. Finally after a good bit, we packed up and left!

 It was an incredibly adventurous morning! We all had a great time as a family and made some very, very precious memories!

Mommy knows best.... Or does she?!

As I was snuggling with my beauties tonight, as I have done almost every single night for the past 7 1/2 years, I began to wonder if anyone else came to snuggle with Robert, Hannah, and Wesley, would know just what they like and how they fall asleep. And after this thought, I began to realize just how very different each and everyone of them are - An Individual made in the image and likeness of God. A little person with their very own set of likes and dislikes. A unique child that is like no other.....

Little Robert likes to sleep with his blue fuzzy blanket and Little R, his monkey friend that he has had for the past 5 years. When he first gets into bed, he likes to read, this is slowly transitioning into him reading to me, which I adore. After this, he rolls onto his right side and fall asleep within 5 or so minutes. He likes for me just to be next to him as he drifts into dreamland. Unlike the others, I can not have an arm or leg draped over him. But, if I leave too soon after he falls asleep, he will wake up and not go back to sleep until I snuggle again!

Hannah will read until I get there, but once I arrive, she is ready to go to sleep. We turn off the lights and get cozy into her bed where she has to have her horse sheets, comforter, and pillow. Then she must be covered by her pink flower blanket and finally her striped blanket. Finally, against the wall are her 30+ 'aminals' that join her nightly. Unlike her older brother, she must have my leg over her. if it is not there, she will fight sleep even more than she already does. Once she settles down, the battle begins - her eyes will begin to flutter and just as they are closing, they are wide open. This goes on for a bit with the amount of time her eyes are closed increasing everytime until finally, they are closed... UNTIL I get out of bed! At this point they open with a jolt and she becomes very confused, scared, and disoriented - night after night! Once I promise to come back, she calms down and I move onto Wesley....

Wesley is our wild child and is quite difficult to get to sleep - thus, the reason he is last to snuggle with! Before I come to him, he will sit in his bed and just 'read' books and talk to himself or his animals. Once I arrive and get into his toddler bed - a.k.a. a wood bed frame with a crib mattress - the real antics begin. He will wiggle and squirm. He will sing and talk. He will smack his lips and clear his throat ---> NON-STOP until Daddy comes in for a chat/you better settle down and go to sleep or else speech! After daddy leaves, he will settle down and only whisper while he shakes his legs and wiggles his fingers. This will go on and on and on, until suddenly, he is still and quiet. Wesley goes and goes and goes until he will literally drop and fall asleep in seconds! As soon as this occurs, I am free to get up and go about the rest of my evening!

As I was thinking about this tonight, it hit home just how unique and individual each and every child is. How what works for Robert will not work for Hannah and Wesley and so on. I have really realized this with discipline and bad behavior as well lately. With Hannah, all you have to do is tell her that you are disappointed and the tears begin and she will immediately change the behavior. If I tried that with the boys, they would shrug their shoulders and continue.

I pray that as this journey of parenting Robert, Hannah, and Wesley continues, that God can lead me, guide me, and give me the wisdom to be attentive to each of their individual needs. That I can know what will work to correct behaviors. That I can find what teaching method each needs as we continue on this homeschooling journey. That I will always be there in a time of need with whatever that individual child might need.

I also pray that I will never lose sight that these beautiful, unique, individuals that God has entrusted us with, that they are ultimately His children and I should always thank him, even in the hardest times, for the gift of Robert, Hannah, and Wesley as I am so undeserving of this most incredible gift......