To Home School Or Not?

That is the question we (Joe and myself) find ourselves faced with right now. I have put off writing this post because I was not sure which direction my thoughts were headed. Now here I am writing it, hoping that I will figure out where my thoughts are headed.
I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching Noah at home for K4 but I find myself with conflicting emotions about next year. I wonder how I will be able to fit in being a Kindergarten teacher while adequately parenting my two younger boys. I am a stay at home Mom because that is what I desire to be and that is what works best for our family. I love being here for all of my children's 'firsts', their 'in-betweens', and most definitely their 'lasts'. I fear that I will neglect my younger two by spending so much time teaching Noah or that I will neglect giving Noah the education that he deserves because I am too focused on meeting the needs of Jonah and Micah. Both scenarios are unacceptable. So do I send Noah to school somewhere else?
So there you have it...my confusion. Do any of you have thoughts on this issue? I am at a loss. I know that everyone has to take into account their own situation and do what is best for their family, but right now I really just need some general advice...what worked for you?

Attn: Aunt Holly & Uncle Tj

I don't know how on earth this happened, but I have something that I think must belong to you. Sure, I gave birth to Jonah...I have pictures and a scar to prove it. But in light of recent developments, I think there must be some mistake.

1) He has Uncle Tj's "evil-knievel" tendencies. Recently I caught him sitting on the lazy susan that is built into my dining table. He was having Noah spin him around and around as fast as it would go. Every time Noah stopped spinning the table, Jonah started screaming.

2) He has Aunt Holly's mild/moderate case of OCD. If a room has a door, it HAS to be shut.

3) He has Aunt Holly's middle child syndrome. Although he could have gotten that from Joe.

4) Look at these pictures and tell me that he doesn't look exactly like Uncle Tj's baby pics!

Even though all of this evidence points to that fact that he must be yours, don't even think about coming to collect him. You will never be able to afford my finders fee. We will allow visitation anytime, provided you don't influence him any more than you have already done!

Important Dates

This is too funny not to share.
Joe got a speeding ticket a few weeks ago. (Not the funny part.) He HAS to go to court to see the judge. (Again, not the funny part.) Anyway, the court date is July 21st.
I was telling him that he needed to make sure that he told the crew that he would be taking off July 21st because he has to go to Springfield, GA for court. He got this strange look on his face and said, "I think there is something else going on that day. For some reason that date sounds familiar. I'm not sure what it is but I am sure that I'm not supposed to forget it."
This is the funny part!! See, I know why July 21st sounds familiar. Some of you reading this also know why July 21st is familiar. Joe's ex-fiance's birthday is July 21st. (Gasp! Yes, Joe was engaged to someone else before me!) I'm sure at one point in his life this was a very important date and he drilled it into his memory banks so as to never forget it.
I was trying my best not to laugh (and figure out a way to use this to my advantage) as he struggled to remember what was so important about that date. I could tell from his expression the minute he realized what that date was. He then tried to play it off by saying, "Oh, it probably had something to do with the water festival...I'm sure it wasn't that important." I couldn't stop the laughter. I had to confess to him that I had known all along. He then joined in and we both had a good laugh.
We have come to realize that it is the past that makes us who we are. It forever scars shapes us and we don't really have to forget it and move on, but rather appreciate it for what we learned. If we can do that and still have humor, all the better. I mean you really have to find humor in our situation. My husband's ex-fiance's sister married my brother, who was once engaged to my husband's cousin, who also happens to be the cousin of my brother's wife and the cousin of my husband's ex-fiance. In the end, I think we all can agree that we wound up married to the mate that God had picked for each of us. However grateful I am of that fact, I still find our convoluted process of getting there quite funny!

Back To Work

Thursday was my first day back to work since having Micah. I was not sure that I would even have a job to go back to since there have been recent layoffs. However, my boss called a few weeks ago and asked if I would be willing to come back. I did not really have a strong desire to return to work, but was not vehemently opposed to it either, so I decided to return for one day a week.
One day week is not really even enough to classify as a real job. I'm not even sure how long it will last. I do enjoy getting out of the house for a few hours without the kids, but I still maintain that my real job is being a Mom.
Noah and Jonah love their new sitter. Micah has not complained, so I guess that means that he is okay with her as well. The best part is that after spending nine hours with my three boys, the sitter was willing to come back this Thursday so that I could go to work again!

Customer Service...Take Two

Sorry to take so long to post again, but I do have a good excuse! The day after I posted about my luck with customer service, my Internet went out again. This time nothing I tried brought it back up. When I called the ISP, they said they were really backed up (How does that happen when they had four people willing to come out and fix the problem just the day before?) and would not get someone out to my area until the next week...AKA today. The repairman installed a new modem, seems mine had fried. I will try to update everyone on what has been happening this past week but it may have to wait until the kids are in bed tonight. Speaking of bed....Both Noah and Jonah are putting themselves to sleep, in their very own beds, before 8:30 every night, and sleeping ALL night!!! Micah still needs some help getting to sleep, but once he is down, he too sleeps ALL night. Whoo Hoo!

Customer Service

I usually have the worst luck when dealing with customer service. Actually I think it has less to do with my bad luck and more to do with the general lack of competence in today's workforce, but that is a topic for a whole other post.
I was having problems with my Internet connection, so I called the ISP 24 hour help desk. The gentleman on the other end of the line tried everything he knew to get my Internet working but to no avail. After an hour of trying, he told me he was going to have to send in a work order for someone to come out and check the connection. I left the computer up and went about my day as usual.
Less than 20 minutes later, the phone rang. It was the local service center wanting to set up a time to come out. I was shocked they had responded so quickly. He asked me exactly what error I was getting when I tried to connect, but when I went to the computer and tried, the Internet came right up! I did nothing different and we could not figure out why it had started working, but he gave me a local number to call if I had any more problems and hung up.
About an hour later, I got another phone call. The local service center was calling again to try and fix my Internet. I thanked them but explained that it was working and I did not need anyone to come out. Twice more before lunch they called and twice more I explained that I REALLY DID NOT NEED ASSISTANCE! I figured they had gotten the idea when the calls finally ceased.
I had just gotten Jonah down for his afternoon nap when I heard a knock at the door. When I opened the door, I could not believe my eyes. There on my steps was a repairman from the service center. He said, "I'm from PRTC. I was in the area and we received a work order to fix your Internet." I wanted to scream. I mean really, why is it that they are at my beck and call when they AREN'T needed??

Punishment

Me: Noah I told you to stand in the corner. Now get in that corner until I tell you to come out!
Noah: But my Daddy doesn't make me stand in the corner for this long.
Me: Well Daddy isn't here now is he?
Noah: No, but I wish...
Me: Noah, don't you dare say you wish your Daddy was here instead of me!
Noah: I wasn't even going to wish that.
Me: Then what were you wishing for?
Noah: I wished you were more like my Daddy.

AAKK! What to do? Where does brutal honesty cross the line to just having a smart mouth and how do I encourage one while discouraging the other?