|
kimberlyinkathmandu
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Kimberly
Country: Nepal
Metro: Kathmandu
Gender: Female
Interests: My beautiful children and all that that contains, homeschool is quickly becoming an interest out of necessity, serving Jesus among the poor, and loving people no matter what.
Expertise: chaning a diaper in 5 seconds, cooking dinner while washing dishes, helping a kids with school work, playing polly pockets and nursing a baby:-), cleaning up toddler messes, getting marker out of clothes, finding creative ways to cover up baby spit-up, and setting up wooden train layouts while being directed by a five year old:-)
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
4/16/2006
|
|
| Okay, this may be a little known fact about me, but I love puppets. I always have, even as a kid I remember really liking puppet shows. Now that I have kids I want them to love puppets. I have bought some fun puppets, and even a curtain that we can hang up to have a puppet stage thing. Okay they have all gotten puppets in their stockings for Christmases, but not a one has really liked puppets. They humor me for a few minutes here and there but have not really just wanted to put on a show. I was actually thinking to give away or sell the puppets, after tripping over the puppet basket a million times. Then P found the puppets. She has put on at least one show for me everyday this past week. Her shows are a little slow, but hey at least one will play puppets with me. It is wonderful. I love puppets and now have at least one child who likes them. Go P play puppets.
| | |
| The past few months I have been thinking more and more about how to live simply and sustainably in America. Some things are easy and some hard. Some I think I just need to be more intentional about. Anyway I thought I would just write out what we are trying to do. We have a huge old garden that has been great for vegetables. So we have been canning and freezing away. We love zucchini bread and thanks to my mom's suggestion have a lot of bags of grated zucchini frozen so anytime this winter we can make some. We also have been hanging our laundry out to dry which smells so good. We have a push mower that is powered only by the pushing so no gas there, plus great exercise. We also try to be secondary consumers. That means shopping Craigslist, Once Upon a Child, consignment, or Goodwill stores. When we plant flowers in our yard we try to only use wildflowers that won't consume much water so we don't have to use a sprinkler on them. Also we always use shopping bags and when grocery shopping try to buy things only in recyclable materials. I have made some produce bags that are reusable so we don't even have to use those nasty plastic produce bags. Plus we have been able to get some free fruit and have been canning jam for the winter. We have several composting drums in the back yard which are great. It is amazing on wed morning as we take out the trash. We have one can of trash while so many people on our street seem to have so much more than that. We do however have a lot of recyclables. Our kids now check everything they pick up to see if it is recyclable. If you are wondering the wagon is recyclable Not that hard but I think it will make a difference.
| | |
| Lately my mind has been all caught up in what to do with the kids next year with regard to education. I have seriously been considering sending the middle two to parochial school just down the street. It is very integrated and the principal has adopted children from foster care and has a great heart for the kids in the school. He felt that it would not be the best option for Jedi as the third grade class is rather large and thinks homeschooling is teh best option for Asperger's kids. Adia would enjoy the school but has been excited about taking an art class at the art museum next year. Plus she is ahead in reading and behind in math. Math has been hard for her and it is worse with her competitive spirit to see Jedi breezing ahead in math while she struggles and struggles. It is great that I am able to give her a lot of time and encouragement as she plods ahead. Elijah could go either way. He enjoys company and has stated that he would like to do school at home but only if he can have friends over a lot to play with. He has several friends his age that he has met at various homeschool things so that is a possibility.
It looks like I will home educate the bunch again next year but it is a hard decision. I enjoy educating the kids, I seriously love the time curled up on the couch reading, exploring science in the yard. I especially love hearing Adia or Jedi read knowing I taught them that. Elijah is ready to learn to read so that is exciting. But it is hard as running errands involves four kids, all talking at the same time. There is no quick run to the store or quiet drives anywhere. I so much wish I could just go out for the afternoon without some of them for a bit. A trip to Target without four kids in tow would be delightful. does the bad outweight the good no, but somedays it seems reason enough to send them all to school and just have sweet p to spend the day with. It would be so nice to drive to the grocery store without four kids complaining about the trip, and the kids reviewing each purchase as to weather of not they like the food I will make. Anyway I am not sure why I am writing this I think I talk alot about how much I enjoy the time with my kids teaching them and people think it is all sweet, it isn't. It is hard and a struggle. One moment I love and wouldn't trade for the world. The next I am going crazy.
| | |
| Last night driving home from Awanas the kids were talking about wishes. Adia had seen something on TV about bracelets that you make a wish on and she was convinced that if she saved her money and bought one than anything she wished would happen. So the kids were busy discussing what they would wish for. Adia wish was to be the best babysitter and best tennis player in the world. Elijah would wish for a Lightening McQueen car that could drive him all around. Priya, who was hungry, said she would wish for popcicles. Jedi though made me laugh so hard. He said with great determonation that he would wish for earplugs becasue Elijah talks so much at bedtime. I know he finds that annoying but didn't know how much until last night. Funny he didn't say he would wish that Elijah wouldn't talk at night. I guess he knows that is impossible Later he said he would also wish for a starwars fighter gun ship as well. I was feeling so tired when I took them to Awanas then all the laughing made me wake up a bit. I love those kids. Who wouldn't really?
| | |
| It has been awhile since I have blogged and so much has happened.
We got a newer used van that actually seats 8. Yeah!
Elijah had his surgery to get tubes in his ears and his tonsils and adenoids out. That was painful for him and he even had to get admitted back into the hospital for a night after the surgery because he got an infection, but now he can hear and that is an amazing thing. His attitude is so much better and he is so well behaved. I think life is just less frustrating.
The kids all started taking a homeschool P.E. class and the older two are now pretty great swimmers. Yeah!!!
Jedidiah turned 8 and Priya turned 3. Where did that time go?
I have joined a book club and that has been great to have stimulating adult conversations
We have gotten a lot of snow and watched the kids enjoy sledding for the first time in their lives.
We joined the Y and have had so much fun getting back into shape.
We started a garden so we should have some great summer meals.
We started attending a church we feel like we can be a part of which is a great feeling, plus the kids are loving their Sunday School classes and learning a lot.
Life has just been crazy, but good. I feel like I am coming out of a winter fog. A lot of the winter I was home without a vehicle so going out was not even possible but the days we had a vechicle it was just too much work to get the kids all bundled up to go out since only Jedidiah could get his seatbelt on while wearing gloves Now that spring is in the air I am more motivated to get out and feeling more ready to try to make some more friends here in Omaha.
Last week Jedidiah had his evaluation for ASD at the clinic and that went very well. The dr. said we are doing all the right things and that Jedi seemed to be doing great. Then we went to the pediatrician who said she saw marked improvement from the first time she met him. Seriously it has taken his so long to get over the anxieties that life in Nepal put him under. It wasn't until about 2 weeks ago that he started actually missing Nepal. But he had to get rid of the anxiety before he could think fondly of life there. I feel so much less anxious now that he is less anxious as well. Friends were saying a few weeks ago that Silas and I are different people then when we were in Nepal. We seem so much more relaxed and it is true we are more relaxed. We both are enjoying exploring who we are and being able to just be a family without constant distractions.
As great as we are doing we still continue to miss Nepal. Priya found some hair clips the other week as I was doing her hair and they look like the ones Rekha uses so she started cheering, "Yeah Auntie here." and walked around looking for her it was so cute. Thankfully our Nepal family has kept us well supplied with Nepali Dahl and candy so we eat a great Nepali meal once a week on our metal plates although last night Adia said it would taste better if we were sitting on the floor like in Nepal.
| | |
|
