Ok, so I've been a terrible blogger this year. Life is super crazy and I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and write up blog posts. So here is a quick update...
Connor is almost 18 months and is the sweetest, most lovable child. He loves to run, read books, and play with water. He is so smart and I love watching him learn and grow. Speaking of learning... I have decided to start Montessori-style homeschooling with him (much of it right now are activities we normally do anyways). I learned about Marie Montessori's method in college and looked into it again and decided it really fit with Connor's learning style right now. I found a great online program (inexpensive to buy but given to us free because of Ken being in the military) that I'm using to get started: http://www.montessorifortheearth.com. Then, of course, there is Pinterest to fill in with other stuff! I'm being really flexible about it right now and only doing a little at a time, but hoping to have a decent routine going starting in the fall to make sure we take time each week to focus on learning. I like that I can customize everything to meet Connor's needs and he can learn at his own pace. Plus, I figured, why pay for preschool when I am a former teacher and can do it myself?! Another benefit of homeschooling for us is that it gives us more flexibility for traveling to see Ken when he's not out to sea. When Connor is 5, we'll revisit homeschooling to see if I will continue to homeschool through the elementary years. There are so many benefits to homeschooling, so unless Connor asks to go to public school, we may continue at home through at least the early elementary years. I could go on and on about this but then it won't be a quick update! I may post separately about this in the future though :).
Another reason I've been a terrible blogger this year is that I officially launched my photography business shortly after Connor's birthday. It's been slow going, but with Connor keeping me super busy and Ken not here much, I expected it to be slow for a while. Though I have already upgraded my camera to a full-frame Nikon D600 (thanks to my wonderful husband who believes in me and surprised me with the new camera at Easter), and have acquired some new clients! It's so nice to get paid to do what I love! And in case you were wondering... my website is: www.KimberlyTank.com and you can find me on Facebook: Kimberly Tank Art & Photography. If you need family portraits done, let me know!
Ok, for this next part... you might want to sit down... we are now raising chickens! Yes, that's right, as if I didn't have enough to do already, lol. But seriously, once we built the coop, the chickens are pretty easy. I just check on their food and water a couple times a week and scoop the coop once a month. Plus letting them roam the yard for a little bit most days and they love kitchen scraps! They really have been pretty easy to take care of so far and we're looking forward to fresh, organic eggs and possibly a couple dinner chickens (whichever turn out to be roosters since we can't keep roosters here!). Connor loves them and the dogs are starting to get used to them (and not eating them). I had hoped the dogs would be able to help me round them up when I needed to put them back in their run, but it's only worked about half of the time, lol. We'll see.
We've also been really lucky to have gotten to see Ken a lot this year. He's been able to come home a bunch and we went up to see him for a little over a week at Easter. So we've been busy soaking up our time with him too! Connor loves his Daddy and I love to watch the bond between them, it just melts my heart! When Ken came home for my birthday we went to Disney for my 30th and it was so much fun. He recently transferred to a new ship so he's started back with the in and out to sea stuff again, but he doesn't have a long deployment again until next year.
Well, I think that's about it for major things going on with us. As for this blog, I may not be putting up regular posts like before when I did a Connor update once a month and a few other things here and there, but I do hope to put up posts more often (especially with Connor taking a nice long afternoon nap now). There will probably be less family updates and more posts about projects we've done, homeschool ideas I've tried, recipes I've made, chicken stuff, and other such things I want to share with others. Because let's face it, I don't have a huge following and mostly family and friends are reading this, most of whom are on Facebook and can get my brief updates on there anyways! So this will be a pretty mode-podge blog... stick around if you enjoy reading a little bit of everything!
