Let's Play Catch-up

Well, I know there was a long gap in posting the past few post. Not that there wasn't a lot going on in the Turner household, I just didn't feel like writing. I will go through those spurts every now and then.
Like I said in the last post, this summer has been wonderful! We have been able to be outside a lot. The girls love it and so do I. It gets us out of the house and socializing with our neighbors. I have discovered that I really love to be outside. For the most part, the girls and I have just been hanging around the house. We haven't gotten out in Alaska much lately, because JT has been working a lot or having to do extra duties of an NCO (Non commission Officer). Thank goodness the rain has held off for as long as it has, otherwise I think I would really hate Alaska.
We have also found a church to go to here. I am so thankful for that. It is hard looking for churches and comparing it to our church home back in the Memphis area. We knew we wanted something that was biblically based and inviting and something the girls would enjoy. A family. We have found it. Ella and Olivia love it. This past Sunday Olivia came out of class talking about all she learned and Ella told me that she learned when we are sad Jesus is with us. Of course, that is something we teach at home too, but it clicked with her at Sunday School. They get to play with other kids their ages and JT and I get to worship. The pastor is pretty funny and the music is a mix of old school and new stuff. You see people dressed up or in a Harley Davidson t-shirt and blue jeans.
JT went on an awesome fishing trip with a friend from work. A guy JT met offered to take him and a friend fishing on his boat. They were originally going to Prince William Sound, but I don't think they made it out that far. JT said it was by far the best fishing trip in Alaska he has been on. He caught halibut, silver salmon, crabs, rock fish, a wolf eel, and I am sure I am leaving stuff out. We have so much fish from that trip. We ordered a deep freezer and we will be picking it up in a couple weeks. We are really hoping to feel it up with some moose very soon.
The baby is doing fine. She is still on track to come out around her due date...Sept. 24th. We still do not have a name, but we do have a list. At this point, we are not worried about it. I am sure something will fit her perfectly when we see her. I am finally excited about having another. We got to go to the hospital not too long ago and see a friend and her baby. Holding him made me excited for mine to come and it gave me relief knowing that I can do a 3rd child. I guess the miscarriage affected me more than I thought it would, so it has been really hard for me to be excited this time around. My mom will be here on the 19th and we can't wait. Hopefully, this one will make her appearance shortly after.
I guess our biggest news is that we have decided to homeschool Ella this year for kindergarten. She will be 5 not too long from now and she misses the school cut off date by a few weeks. Which was fine with us, because we were just going to wait to put her in school. I have been working with her this summer on writing her name and recognizing a few letters. Her penmanship is pretty good. She can copy anything you write down. She is coloring inside the lines in her coloring books. She is also very inquisitive about everything. She asks so many questions, sometimes it is annoying, but that is how you learn...asking questions. So I do my best to answer her or look up what I don't know. I had been thinking about starting school this year instead of waiting and then I decided against it until Ella was coloring one day. She wrote her name without me trying to get her to do it. She brought it to me and said "Look Mommy, I can write my name. I am ready for school." I told her we would talk with Daddy about it. He gave the thumbs up and so we are starting school next week.
Homeschooling is not something I have just decided to do or just doing research on. I have been researching and gathering information for about 3 years now. It is something we have had as an option with our nomadic lifestyle since we began our life with the military. Moving every 3 years or so is a lot on our kids, and if I can make that transition better for them by providing a consistent education, then I will.
Once we decided to go for it, I all of a sudden started having doubts about it. This is something I eluded to in a previous post. I felt like maybe I was going to harm her by doing school at home or maybe she wasn't ready or maybe she really needed to be in school with other kids and so many other doubts. But I know we have made the right decision for our kids and our family. Ella validated today that she is ready for school. Since we have been trying to learn our letters, it seems like things are starting to click now. She was trying to write "I love Daddy" and by herself she got "I love Da". She came to me for help with the rest. I praised her for a good job on what she did. She is loving learning and I want to foster that. I am afraid that if we had decided to wait, the love of learning she has now might dwindle away. Anyways, we have a very excited school year ahead. I have written my objectives for Ella to learn this year. I am sure I will add to this list when I realize that kindergartners learn more than I think they do, as well as subtract from that list. I am pretty sure Olivia is going to pick up a few things as well. I have some new things for her to work on and play with so she doesn't feel left out. As for socialization...we don't have to worry about that on a military post. There are kids everywhere.
Like I have said earlier there is a lot going on in the Turner household, and we are very excited about the things to come.