What We've Been Up To

So, I thought I've give you guys a bit of an update on what has been going around here in the Mendez clan.

The first, biggest piece of new news: I'm working.

Okay, yeah, I was working before, but now I'm working more. And not just for myself. I've started working part-time as a career coach for a national outplacement company (that's the organization that your company brings in after a lay-off and tries to help you find a job).  The job is a virtual, work-from-home position, and I can still have complete flexibility with my schedule. And I'm getting paid pretty well, so that's great.

Going back to work "for the man" has been quite an adjustment for me. Heck, I haven't worked in corporate America for almost nine years! And it's been since Lily was born that I worked for anyone else at all! I'm getting used to it, but at least this is with a good group of people and a well-run organization. I don't think I could last otherwise.

And yes, I am still doing my own coaching business. Working for this other company is mainly to fill in the holes in between my personal clients. The new gig has seriously attempted to take over my entire existence, but things are slowly settling down as I get more into a groove and get more organized. And though I really do like this company, I really look at it as a temporary measure while in the growing pains of my own business. I am looking forward to my own personal coaching business exploding and doing that exclusively again soon.

We are still homeschooling. I know, we ARE completely crazy, but, heck, we were crazy before homeschooling entered the picture! No, we're still committed to homeschooling at least through this year, and looking at whether or not to continue in the fall again. Frankly, I'm having too much fun to stop. And I am eager to all the fun that we can have doing cool stuff when we get past the learning-to-read-and-write phase. Abby is reading like a fiend. Today she told me that subtraction facts were just the coolest ever. (?? - Really, Abby? Whose kid are you?) Lily is still working through her letters - this week is letter I for insect. It's gonna be fun. Last week we studied water, and it was snowing so Joel turned that into part of the science lesson!

But trying to work, even part-time, while homeschooling, is not easy at all. I've just had to get crazy-super organized in order to stay afloat the past few months. And giving a huge shout-out to Joel and the girls who have truly STEPPED UP in helping out. Joel has taken over a lot of field trips and science-y stuff and doing them on the weekends. The girls have been amazing about helping me out with the house related stuff. Really. They're not quite at the point where I can say go _____ and not be very nearby supervising, but they jumped in and do their share with a great attitude. And everyone has been pretty forgiving when the housework just gets put so far down the to do list that dust bunnies grow up and produce their own little clan before I can get to them, or laundry might take a week to get folded (which I hate because as soon as you're done the process has already had to start over again), and dinners have become a lot less adventuresome and a lot more "thrown together."

And one big project we did over the holidays - we flipped rooms. We flipped their bedroom with the tiny room I was using for my office. Then, since their bedroom was bigger, we are now able to have their classroom and my office in the same room. Oh my goodness, the difference that has made ALONE was worth the insanity of switching the rooms. That of course also meant I needed to reorganize the basement room which is now all playroom space instead of half-school and half-playroom. It took an entire Saturday of purging, cleaning, moving stuff around and "decorating" but the results were totally worth it. It's an adorable play space now and feels so open and uncluttered. 

Our days typically go sometime like this - Joel wakes up at an ungodly hour (not that early to some of you, but before I personally think is a sane time to start the day), and heads out. The girls usually wake me up at 7:15am - though it's been dark enough lately that I've been getting to sleep in until 8! I love it even though that throws my day off. We dress, get all those morning things done like brush teeth and make beds and put up little girl hair in pony tails, and then head down to eat breakfast while I try to throw in some quick cleaning like running the dishwasher, starting the laundry, whatever.  We start school at 9am and we are done by noon. Yup, we can get an entire day's worth of curriculum of kindergarten AND first grade in three hours or less! Then it's lunch, and by 12:30pm I'm working. We've found a Spanish speaking babysitter to come in two days a week to play with the girls and work with them on their Spanish, and the other days they will go down for "quiet" time for a while and then just play on their own downstairs, with me spot-checking on them in between client calls. (I've been checking out educational-related videos from the library, too, which is helping keep them happy.) Then at 5pm, I'm back downstairs cooking dinner and attempting to squeeze in some other house cleaning chore before Joel gets home.

So, it's working out at the moment. And I'm a firm believer in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule, so as long as this is working, we're gonna just coast as long as we can.

In other big "news," I've gone gluten-free this month. I tried it on a whim, and surprisingly, it has been really good for me health-wise. I'm not having reflux-related flareups hardly at all (except when I cheat), and I'm feeling a lot better. I've found some gluten-free substitutes (bread, crackers, pancake mix) and while they are edible and not the cardboard I expected, they really aren't that tasty. Maybe it's like using a nicotine patch; using gluten-free bread to break my cravings for wheat/carbs? Hope so, because my next goal is to go wheat free. I think that will "cure" some of my health issues. I am sick of being sick.

Joel has gotten settled in his position here in DC and seems to be enjoying it. He's staying busy, but is thankfully able to keep moderately normal business hours.

And to round out all that fun, Joel and I are both involved in different Bible studies at church. The men's groups are going through Experiencing God, and I am leading a women's Bible study group on
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Amazing book, by the way. Everyone should read this book.

So, that's about the extent of our lives right now! Throw in an inch or two of snow so far this year, getting the yearly winter cold, Abby going to a cheer leading class (they made my baby a flier which apparently is the person on the top of the pyramid and the one they THROW IN THE AIR- thank God I was not there to witness that and only found out afterwards!), the girls involved in church choir, and going to one very WEIRD homeschooling group party that I will definitely think twice about going to again. (Let's just say I was overdressed. Clean clothes, brushing my hair into a barrette and no makeup, and normal decent hygiene, and I was overdressed. Yeah, not even kidding.)

Our lives are never dull, that's for sure.

The Blessings of Homeshooling

This started out as a response on Facebook to someone, and quickly turned into so long, that I hard to turn it into a blog post!

I admit I don't get a lot of negative comments about homeschooling our girls - at least to my face. I have gotten a lot of "Wow, she's one of those weirdos" polite looks, and some of "Well it's a phase, and she'll get over it" kind of quasi-support.

I know homeschooling isn't for everyone, and honestly, some days I wonder if I can keep it up any longer. Homeschooling is not easy. It is HARD. It requires time and effort and a bigger commitment than I realized when I started. What I will say, that homeschooling the girls - something that started as a temporary measure while dealing with our crazy constant moving last year - has been one of the most amazing blessings on our family.

I am the first to admit that there are amazing, qualified, super-smart, gifted teachers out there. I am, in fact, related to a few of them! But being able to give that one-on-one attention and time to a child, teaching to their strengths and needs, is something that just can't be discounted. I believe with my whole heart that there are teachers out there who's gift and passion and calling in life is to teach children. I also believe, however, that they are often held back and strapped down by a system that is not working for the benefit of the individual child, since it is focusing on the masses. But that is about to get into a political discussion which is another argument for another day.

My dream is to never give homeschooling up, even though we do admit we take this as a year-by-year decision. We know better than to try to plan ahead too much, because God has had quite a serious chuckle or two at our expense this year!

Beyond what the girls are learning, I myself have learned things and have developed interests that I would have never found if not for homeschooling. (Case in point, new to my bucket list - learning to play guitar and Hebrew. Yup. Not that I have time right now, which is why it's on my bucket list.) I have learned more patience than I thought even possible with my personality. I have gotten so in touch with my girls' personalities, and spend time with them at this young age that I will never get back again. Especially since they refuse to obey when I order them to stop growing up so quickly on me!

And while I still hate math with a passion (sorry, Mom), I am getting into kindergarten/first grade science with a lot of enthusiasm! We got to go to a nature center this week and the girls learned about turtles from experts, and do lots of great activities, including racing different kinds of turtles! We made the dreaded volcano project (does anyone else remember that from elementary school?) and Joel is going to do a math experiment with them this weekend - to learn about measuring cups and estimating and stuff like that. Like I said, I still hate math.

And I literally get to watch my baby (yes, LILY) learn to read. She read her first little words last week. She picked up on it like a fish to water. Abby is reading everything in sight and driving me bonkers - I seriously can't keep up with her!

And we get to spend so much time out in the "real world" and learn about "real world issues." We've been very active in our church's food pantry outreach - from working in the gardens this fall and harvesting fresh food for the pantry (and subsequently creating our own garden that was very much enjoyed by the bugs and squirrels, sadly), to donating cans of food, to helping out at the Thanksgiving food give-away at the pantry. Joel ran a 5K in support of the program, and we cheered Daddy on for that as well.

The girls have met a missionary to India, and saved all their change and worked hard around the house (with a good attitude, which is MY main requirement) to earn enough to donate a pair of chickens and now a pair of rabbits to destitute families there. I sponsor a local missionary monthly in India. And now, Abby has heard about the problems in Haiti and wants to help "rebuild after the earthquake." Tell me, what kind of six-year-old thinks about things like that on her own?

Abby has displayed this amazing artistic side, and Lily who is our "Little Miss Serious" is also the funniest ham in the family. Which is saying something in our family. Being super shy, it is very hard for her to warm up to a group, but I have had the blessing to just watch her blossom in the past year or so. Seriously, being with my girls like this is everything I expected being a mommy to feel like and more.

So, as much as homeschooling has done for our children, I am amazed by what homeschooling has done for me.

New House Tour #1

I have finally gotten around to uploading pictures of our new house! (Or more likely, having the house cleaned up enough to be willing to take pictures!)

Let's start with the playroom. This is the "basement" of our townhouse.

Our homeschool area is also in the playroom. If you would like to see the pictures of that, click here.

Our front door opens immediately on a stairwell. So, I created a little station down at the bottom of the stairs for coats and shoes. (I totally copied this idea from a friend!)

Coming up the stairs, you enter the main living areas. Here is our living room.

And here, in another shot, you can seek our dining room. (I'm not showing pictures of the kitchen yet! I never can seem to keep it clean long enough to take pictures!) And yes, ALL the furniture you see is straight from IKEA. I love IKEA. Have I mentioned how much I love IKEA?

And walking up our staircase to the 2nd floor is this random weird shelf. I've turned it into a display for the chotchkies we've picked up overseas.

Okay, that's all I've got so far. If I can get the upstairs cleaned up and organized, you might get another post showing you the bedrooms and my office.

Julie, Joel, Abby, Lily

Hurricane Fun - Mendez Style

Being in a new place does not equal hurricane preparedness.

That being said, both Joel and I have lived through plenty of hurricanes, and the girls and I even did one (though it really ended up being a tropical depression by the time it got to us) in our house in Fairhope last year. Heck, we've even done earthquakes. So we know how to get ready. We just weren't.

(I left all of our hurricane supplies at our place in Fairhope when we packed out, thinking our renters would need it much more than we did. HA!)

Which meant a lot of trips to the brand new Target in our neighborhood.

Here is a picture of the girls entertaining themselves while we waited for Joel to come pick us up. Forget toys, just give them a huge concrete ball cemented to the ground for hours of guaranteed amusement.

One day I'm gonna take them back all dressed up and re-pose this picture. I love this shot.

Now the fun part of parenting during a hurricane is how to keep the kiddos occupied if/when the power goes out and while they are stuck inside with all the rain, and while you're trying to get everything ready. Besides the obvious charging up all the gadgets and gizmos and making sure everything that needed batteries had them, I also don't want them to be afraid of the storm.

Last year in Alabama, we created the ultimate tea party experience. We bought all sorts of treats and goodies and the girls dressed themselves up in their favorite costumes, and we did hair and nails, and we did fancy tea party right in the middle of the living room. Of course, we were Daddy-free at the time, which meant no testosterone in the house to mess with.

The girls piling on Daddy in the bunk bed.

This time I knew we needed new activities. I found several new DVDs and games for their Leapsters at the thrift store, and got the girls new coloring books. I figured at the very least - we don't need electricity to do school, so we could keep right on with that, but I did find several craft projects (Halloween and regular school-related) that I had ignored and pulled those out.

We prepped lots of food to use up what was in our fridge, and I made pumpkin muffins for the girls' breakfast for the next week. (The girls love to cook, so that is always a safe activity.)

I also took a trip into Michaels. (I am not allowed to go to Michaels. It's like crack to a crack addict.) I got Abby this kit to make friendship bracelets and started to teach her how to make them. I totally got flashbacks to sitting in classes in highschool making those things!

And we picked up a bunch of decorative iron-on patches so we could decorate the jeans we got at the thrift store. (We haven't actually gotten to that project yet, though.)

And, as a homeschool- related project, we counted up all the change we have been saving in the banks the girls have. The girls had over $15 in change! There was quite a long discussion over which charity to support with that money, but in the end the girls decided to buy a pair of chickens through a organization in India. (Rabbits are next, but we have to save up for them.)

In the end, I am so very grateful that we didn't get the kind of weather in our area that had been predicted all week, and kind of guilty in that others DID get that weather. I watch those pictures of New York and recognize all the places we used to live and go to, and just hurt for the folks up their STILL in such a mess. I can only imagine what that sort of devastation would look like in the DC area.

Halloween in Virginia

Here is our Trick-or-Treating pictures in our new neighborhood!

Neighborhood newsletter picture

Costume Parade

A little chilly that night, but we had a Mulan and a Tinkerbell.
Costumes brand new, courtesy of the thrift store - $3 each.

It didn't take long for the girls to get bored with the walking around (and hungry), so we headed home to eat pizza. Abby and Lily had the job of handing out candy. We went through 2 1/2 huge bags of candy!

The only picture I have without their coats on!

Catching Up - Early Fall Activities

Here are some pictures of our activities so far this fall:

From our church group's fall retreat:


Relay Races



Lily and one of our little friends playing with the ring toss

This my mother's face staring back at me. Throws me EVERY TIME.

At a fall farm festival in Falls Church:

It's all about the U in our house!

Ice cream soothes the savage beasts

Ice cream always gets us a smile.

Daddy field trip day to a museum in DC. (Mommy was working.)

However, running around the Mall was enjoyed a lot more.

We started back with homeschooling once we finished unpacking.

We LOVE Chinese food. But Abby did not learn to eat with chopsticks from us, she did this all on her own!

Love,

Joel, Julie, Abby, and Lily

Raspberry and Apple Picking!

One of our friends invited us to join them for apple and raspberry picking! We met up at a farm in Maryland.

We spent quite a while picking raspberries, but only about 10 minutes picking apples! The lady in charge of the field directed us down to the very end of the field, and we filled our baskets just by going to one our two trees! Amazingly, we picked 40 pounds of apples in those ten minutes.

Once we got home, the real work began. I had to figure out a way to use up and freeze the apples before they could go bad! Thankfully, Joel let me get this apple peeler at the gift shop on the farm. AWESOME INVENTION. I highly recommend it. It peels, slices and cores the apple all at once. Did I mention how awesome it is??

So, here is a picture of the apples once I got done prepping a batch. I froze most of our apples (poured a bit of lemon juice over them first) to save them for later.

Then, we got busy trying a ton of new recipes with our raspberries and apples. Here are our new favorites:

Baked Chicken with Apple Stuffing - This is super easy and very yummy. But we tend to like a little "kick," so I might sneak a couple cranberries into the stuffing mix on the bottom next time.

Honey Baked Apples - The recipe calls for cranberries, but I used raspberries this time. BUT, I bet it would be amazing with cranberries too.

But, I think I overcooked mine. Or, maybe using the muffin tin wasn't the best idea. I thought it would be better to help keep them from tipping over.

This is what they looked like with served up. I definitely need to try this one again to see if I can fix it.

Caramel Apple Pie - If you like caramel apples, then this is the pie for you. I've made this pie twice now, and it is actually pretty easy. I've never made a pie before and was able to do this well. One suggestion I'm gonna try for next time is to put the caramels into a food processor and turn them into shavings. Otherwise you get little gooey caramel pieces stuck in your teeth while enjoying all this yumminess.

It looked a lot better before I attempted to cut it. I haven't mastered that yet.

Here are some other recipes we tried, but I don't have pictures of.

Smoked Sausage and Apple Bake - This one was good, but a little too much sauerkraut for me. Joel liked it more.

Easy Raspberry Chicken - We prepped several of these ahead of time and froze them together in Ziploc bags. Not quite as pretty as the picture, but it is super yummy and easy on our busy days.

Raspberry Chipotle Sauce - Oh my goodness, this stuff is AWESOME. I make this with a pork tenderloin. I made several batches and put them in Ziploc and froze them. Which reminds me, we really need to eat this again very soon!

What we did this Summer

I love this picture I took randomly this summer. The girls were "playing homeschool." Lily was listening to the Addition Fact songs on the iPod (what Abby is dealing with in math right now), and Abby was playing teacher and beauty parlor at the same time. Yup. This is what homeschooling really looks like!  

So, I flaked out this summer from posting. I am so sorry, I feel like I let myself down as much as you guys. But I have a very good reason.

ROACHES.

So that apartment we moved into? Yeah, apparently the entire building is infested with roaches. Of different varieties. By the millions. I couldn't help but see the irony as I was learning more about roaches than I never wanted to know. I can now tell you exactly the life cycle of roaches, what kills them (nothing) and what doesn't (just about everything), and even what their eggs and poop look like. Homeschooling at its finest. IT WAS GROSS AND NASTY.

I really hope ya'll aren't retching right now and still reading.

We did find a new place to live finally, but in the meantime, we went through weekly full extermination sessions - emptying every single cabinet and closet and leaving the house for a full day, come home and put everything back, only to have them come crawling back out of the walls a few hours later. I am not even kidding. It was really that bad. Really.

We finally got into our new (beautiful, clean, safe neighborhood, and most importantly, insect-free) townhouse almost two weeks ago, and we are feverishly unpacking and trying to get re-settled.

Last week I added it up, and as a family, if you count the month long stays with family, hotels, and temporary apartments, we have moved eight times. In the past two years. To say we are all completely sick of it would be an understatement.

What else did we do this summer? We took advantage of the plethora of summer camp programs in our area, and the girls participated in church camp (VBS) for two weeks, Spanish immersion camp for three weeks, and one week of "ballet camp." (The girls really miss ballet.) And right now Abby is finishing up two weeks of "math camp", where they are working on the dreaded addition math facts. We're hoping this will get us over the hump when we get back to homeschool full-time next week. And we also did a joint birthday party for the girls in July.

 

And I have been working on networking and drumming up more coaching business. My website designer is feverishly (I hope) working on the re-design of my website. So far all I have is my new logo to share.

But, mainly, our hobby this summer has been apartment hunting and the murdering of mutant bugs. God, I am so ever thankful we are done with all of that.

Olympics Homeschool Lesson

Joel decided he wanted to do a little homeschool unit lesson with the girls on the Olympics. So I printed some things off the Internet and they went to town. I was very impressed!


The following weekend, he found out that the National Children's Museum was having an "Olympics Event." Well, of COURSE we had to go!

Here are the girls with the torches they made. Ignore the pouting for the camera.

They also had a "track" obstacle course for the kids to do. Abby was "too cool," but Lily loved it and did it over and over. And over and over.

Here is Lily "jumping" the hurdles.

Well, we were a little to prissy to actually jump.

And then we colored some Olympics related coloring sheets.

And even more cool (well, at least to us parents), was that there was a REAL, former Olympic medalist there to sign autographs and take pictures with the kids. Her name is Tiombe Hurd, and she still holds the record for the Triple Jump. Nicest gal.

Abby wanted to know where she kept all of her medals, and she laughed and told her that her Dad had some, and then she kept the rest in a case at home. Abby looked up at me, trying to decide if she would share her future medals with me. I think the jury is still out on that!

And of course, no outing is complete (at least in that heat!) without a visit to get ice cream! Which, of course, the girls say was their favorite part of the day. Little stinkers.