real time news–a decision to be made

I thought when school started it might be easier to keep up with weekly posts. Obviously I forgot what it’s like to homeschool AND have kids in public school and have a sweet 3-year-old who needs plenty of attention.  (Aren’t they like the black hole of attention at that age? :)

So, apologies for the very sporadic posting. There are also computer issues involved, but I hope to have those resolved soon.

Meanwhile, I need some advice / counsel from you, if you have any for me. (Please!)

Just as we were moving I heard about an excellent charter school here in Fort Collins. I heard it was so amazing that there were people driving 45 minutes every day to take their kids there. I got on the website and saw that yes, it looked to be an amazing school, but admission was lottery-based and that there were a huge number of applicants in the lottery pool. It was the weekend of our move into the rental here and I just decided it probably was too late to try to work it out for this year.

We signed them up at the local public schools, which are all very reputable in this particular area, and I felt like things would probably be just fine.

School started and we decided to homeschool Fluffy. The other two have had a relatively tough beginning, but are starting to settle in.

I found myself still thinking about this charter school. It is a K-12, with free tuition. It is classical / core-knowledge based. Its website had me practically drooling all over my messy desk, with its amazing curriculum and teachers with doctorates and the fact that they always have June, July, and August completely off and Latin starting in Kindergarten and all kinds of cool stuff.

It looks traditional and intense and family-centered all at the same time. And I could have all my school kids there at once, even when Rosebud’s in Kindergarten and Exacto’s a senior!

I decided to get started with the process of getting everyone in for next year, if possible. Last night I went to a Parent Information Meeting with a few questions in mind and planned to get us into the lottery and hope for the best for 14/15.

The lady running the meeting found out what grades my boys are in and said that this is very unusual, but she actually has an opening for one of them, and with the sibling preference program they have, ALL of them could start attending THIS YEAR.

I thought, well, maybe after this semester is over – don’t wanna switch them right in the middle. But she said that they don’t take new enrollments after October 1st.

So now we have a tough decision.

Exacto and Hummer are not super comfortable at their schools yet, but have passed the worst of the new kid awkwardness as far as I can tell. And Fluffy is loving homeschool.

But this charter school is the school of our dreams. It is what we would have wished for them all along ever since Exacto’s 1st year of school. It is close to CSU campus and DC could drive them in the mornings. They could all be in the same place and have an incredible education for free. It has to be now or not till next fall, after they’ve had a year in their current situation to get more comfortable.

Is it worth a huge upheaval again for them? Please tell me what you think!!!!

We are okay.

This is about 10 minutes from our house. Photo courtesy Coloradoan.

I want to thank everyone who checked on us during this past weekend of flooding in our area. It was quite the experience to see the sheer amount of water that could fall here (we thought we left that behind in Arkansas!). Also to have helicopters flying overhead many, many times over the past 3 days.

But we were fortunate enough to stay dry and safe, with only scheduling issues to deal with, as schools closed and things got rescheduled and cancelled all through the weekend and even today.

We know others have had it much worse and we hope and pray things get better for them soon.

quotables

9/15 ~ Exacto: "I guess choir teachers have to go to la school."

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~ Rosebud, with fervent tenderness: "I love worms better than potahto bugs now. Because they're too sweet."

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~ Hummer, as our home teachers were leaving, just before we shut the door: "Thanks for the brownies!"

Me: "They gave us brownies?"

Hummer, wistfully: "No."

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~ Fluffy and Rosebud were outside on the driveway. Rosebud pointed at the wetness on the driveway and said, "Can you hear it evaporating?"

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9/14 ~ A common conversation with Rosebud.

Rosebud: "Mommy, look at this worm I found!" (or potahto bug, or grasshopper, or any living critter she finds)

Me: "Oh, he's a cute one!"

Rosebud: "You mean SHE."

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9/10 ~ I was listening to a lovely song, one of my favorites, and singing along as we drove. For some inexplicable reason Rosebud kept telling me to stop singing and insisted that I turn it off when it was done. There was silence in the car (I was trying not to be resentful). Then Rosebud said, "I would like to eat a blue quesadilla."

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9/9 ~ Rosebud, eating dinner "The crust is yummy! It's as yummy as a lark!"

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8/23 ~ Hummer was watching me fill out paperwork to enroll him at his new elementary school, and as I marked his race/ethnicity as "White" he commented, "They should have a checkbox by 'Tan.'"

quotables

9/1 ~ We were having scripture study and suddenly Rosebud quietly got up, walked over to DC and patted his knee, then sat back down. I thought it was a love pat and smiled approvingly at her. She smiled back and said, "When the Birthday Boy fell asleep, I patted his knee."

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8/15 ~ Rosebud was displeased with her brothers for some reason (can’t remember why). She announced, “Mommy, I don’t love my buvvas.”

Me: “You don’t love your brothers?”

Rosebud: “Except Benjamin. He’s cute.”

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8/15 ~ There have been some epic Monopoly games around here lately. The boys set up our card table in the basement--which is unfinished but nice and cool in the summer--and have spent hours on end down there. Probably too many. Today at lunch Exacto was serving Hummer some milk, and suddenly Hummer said, “I own it! . . . .I mean, when!”

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8/15 ~ When the boys were catching crawdads at the Poudre river, I chuckled when I heard Rosebud calling them “crawl-mamas.” (the crawdads, not the buvvas)

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8/14 ~ Fluffy and Hummer were presenting their projects from the wonderful art camp they got to do this summer. Fluffy was presenting his collage in the style of Henri Matisse and said his name like “Henry” Matisse.

Hummer corrected his pronunciation, then commented, "He was ornery." :)

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7/2 ~ Exacto was teaching Rosebud how to play chess. She pointed to the white knight and declared, "I call these Mornings."

Exacto: "You do?"

Rosebud (pointing to the black knight): "Yes, because these ones are Nights."

Dear Mom, DC is growing old. . . .:)

week of August 26 – September 1

We started settling into the new routine. Homework is taking over our afternoons and evenings and I am not pleased. I think everyone should have time to crochet, like Fluffy. :0)

(I just thought Rosebud looked beautiful in this picture. She always looks beautiful.)

We were enjoying the gorgeous dry 90s weather and were a bit startled when school was closed on Friday, due to “unprecedented heat!” (Evidently many of the schools in our district don’t have air-conditioning and it was getting pretty uncomfortable indoors). We sure didn’t complain, though!

The day school was closed the high was 91, with about 43% average humidity. It rained a little in the afternoon, and then we saw this.

Welcome to Fort Collins, where we get Rainbow Days off from school! haha!

The next day was my Darling Cutie’s birthday. I’m not saying how old he is, but let’s just say it was a big one.

We had decided to celebrate on Labor Day the following Monday, and he said that meant Saturday would be a great day for a temple trip!

If we leave at about 5am, it only takes us 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to the Denver Temple. We got there just as the sun was rising.

It is SO MUCH EASIER to go to the temple now than it has ever been since Exacto was born. It is close enough that we can leave our Cute Ones home while we go (even sleeping!), and he is old enough to babysit them for that long.

I can hardly believe we’re at the point to be able to do that now – it seemed like our days of trading off and waiting at the stake center for each other would last forever. I guess that’s one huge benefit of growing old! I’ll have to ask DC since he’s the one doing that – haha. :)

Here he is on his %#&*th birthday. Does he look that age to you?

My heck, he’s handsome! mmhm. :)

And here’s a gratuitous selfie, since we were too shy to ask someone to take our picture.

Love how I have a fountain and a spire coming out of my head.

It was so good to be at the temple. I am learning many new things there, and gaining new understanding. This time I felt more strongly than ever how much our Savior Jesus Christ loves us. Also how amazingly loving the plan of salvation is.

(If anyone out there reading this ever has a chance to go to a Mormon temple open house, do it! The temples are open to the public for a couple of weeks just before they are dedicated. You can go inside and see how beautiful they are and what an incredible peace is there. I hope to invite several friends / family members to our Fort Collins Temple open house in a couple of years!)

We grabbed a Sonic breakfast on the way home and found these waiting for us. Awesome.

I didn’t know we had quadruplets! :)

DC forgot to turn his phone back on that day, and missed several kind (shall we say compassionate?) phonecalls from family and friends for his birthday. However, the messages brought him comfort on that traumatic occasion. (He is really going to get me for all this. heh-heh)

And the next day was Fast Sunday and I got ambitious with Rosebud’s hair. She looked mighty sweet, didn’t she?

Next up, DC’s birthday celebration extravaganza!

Hope you’re enjoying these, Mom! (And hope everyone else out there isn’t too bored by all the detail!) I love you!

Michelle