My Three Sons & Other Stuff

Schoolroom

2012-11-19T12:52:00.001-05:00

So... I promised a good friend I would post pictures of our school room. It's been about three years and I'm a little embarrassed that it's taken this long... But here goes.

Here's the teacher's desk, world map and a little mess.

Here are the student desks. Christian made those sweet little student chairs and is working on one for Theo for Christmas. Theo doesn't have his own desk, but ends up with stations throughout the room. :)

The schoolroom has been a work-in-progress. Each year Christian has added something new. He made the dry erase board from a shower board at Lowe's. And the white shelving and cubicles have really helped with schoolroom organization.

Here are some of the books we are using this year. I am mostly following Living Books Curriculum this year and history has been amazing so far (westward expansion for American history; Greece and Rome for ancient history). If you are curious about any of this, let me know. We love to read great books... living books that bring the stories to life.

Here's our weekly "schedule". We have to be a little flexible since we school at home.

Got this cool Western Expansion poster set from The Education Station. (I've had friends ask about this set. Click here if you are curious.) We really like having this reference as we read through our books. We also have our quarter map from Hobby Lobby. This has also been fun and educational as we have one very eager historian.

Anyway, I think I was waiting for the room to be clean before I posted pictures. This is really never the case, so these pictures are somewhat of a sham... a little like how we put our best side forward on Facebook. ;) You can't blame me, though. Here's what it might look like on a more honest day (in fact, shortly before start of this school year). Keeping it real...

We were a little disappointed to buy yet another house with a "garage room", but this room really is bright and warm and perfect for homeschooling.

Here are the boys on the first day of school 2012. They love the first day of school and (like Christmas) start getting a little anxious for it starting in August. I always want to put it off until the first of September but, thanks to my dear friend Emily who is always forging the way before me with parenting and homeschooling, we started giving First Day of School Gifts a couple of years ago. Now it's a "thing". Everyone looks forward to it and just can't wait to start.

I can't believe we have a 3rd Grader and Kindergartner. Wow. Love these boys. Thank God they still (most days) think I'm a wonderful mom and teacher. But... I sure am glad they don't have anyone to compare me to.

Here's to one more year of homeschooling! We take it a year at a time but, Lord willing, I'd love to do it again next year.

Summertime is over...

2012-09-26T14:54:00.000-04:00

Glad we have some pictures to remember this year by, because it seems to be going so fast.

Thought I'd share a few pictures from our fast-paced summer (plus a couple important ones from the beginning of the year).

Despite Christian's busy summer work schedule, we were blessed to be able to still take a little time off... once with friends and a few long weekends with family.

We had 3 family weddings this year (Christian's sister, my oldest brother and my youngest sister), a new nephew and time with both sides of the family. Here are a few pictures of our memories.

Our first beautiful bride of the year - Jody Marae (Feb 2012)

Christian made a movable chicken coop for a friend (April 2012)

Easter - Theo's new "smile" (April 2012)

Alex likes to incorporate hand-me-down soccer socks into his wardrobe. This one was just too good to pass up. I made him pose for a picture on the way to feed his rabbit.

Alex (May 2012)

My sister Misty and Doug Dillinger with neices and nephews (May 2012)

Uncle Lee made it to Misty's wedding! Love this guy! (May 2012)

Mother's Day lunch with Grandma. Aunt Jody's first Mother's Day! (May 2012)

Good fun with good friends (June 2012)

My handsome honey playing tennis with the boys (June 2012)

And the boys loving it (June 2012)

Toby and Alicia's wedding reception (June 2012)

Theo was a big hit at the reception (June 2012)

Our family keeps getting bigger! (June 2012)

Last year we were introduced to Jellystone campground. The kids had so much fun, we had to do it again. Christian's best friend, Lee, and his family joined us this year. We packed a lot of fun into 5 days. Father's Day, Uncle Lee's birthday, Theo's birthday, swimming, craft-making, movie nights, Dinosaur World, trying to fish, grown-up time around the campfire while the kids slept and a badly sprained ankle thanks to that crazy bouncy pillow (poor, brave Alex). Good times.

Happy Father's Day (June 2012)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Theo! (June 2012)

It was very cool to have our good friends from back "home" visit us this summer. We haven't gotten to see them much since having 3 kids apiece. It's awesome to have those friends where time doesn't make a difference. We love these guys.

Aren't they precious? (June 2012)

The boys helped take photos of the grownups :) (June 2012)

Steve and Ann are our family here in town. They lovingly open their home to us whenever we are home for a holiday. Here's their son David who blends right in with our red, white and blue matching Avenger T-shirts. The boys enjoy fireworks more and more each year, but I become more and more afraid each year. It will probably get worse than this, won't it?

4th of July at Steve and Ann's house (July 2012)

This is one of my favorite shots of the summer. Alex was away at an air show with Nana and Pappy, so Gabe took Theo under his wing and really played with him for the week. This picture is unposed. I gave the boys some watermelon for a snack and they took it out to the picnic table to eat together. It was such a sweet scene.

Gabe and Theo, hanging out (July 2012)

A long weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house is always a special treat. Here's a couple of pics to show the fun.

Gabe loves having a gun in his hands (July 2012)

Fun fishing (July 2012)

Theodore (July 2012)

Alex (July 2012)

Grandma, Grandpa and boys (July 2012)

Nana and Pappy treated the whole crew (minus Toby's kids...boo) to Wolf Lodge and King's Island. What a lot of fun memories packed into two days! It was a ton of fun and it took me at least two days to recover from the exhaustion. :)

The Looooong family minus 3 kiddos (August 2012)

The group that played with the kiddos all day (August 2012)

Chris used his birthday money (yes, we are almost 40 and our parents are still spoiling us) to buy a used minibike on Craigslist. The boys LOVE this.

Daddy and Theo (August 2012)

Daddy and Gabe (August 2012)

Daddy and Alex (August 2012)

I think I'll save soccer, start of school, and September for another post. If you've stayed with me this long, you must really love me. Love you, too. Wish we could've spent more time with each of you this summer.

Hugs!
Trina

We're back...

2012-06-03T23:13:00.001-04:00

So.... we made it through the holidays and thousands of birthdays. Then I lost my camera in January. Boo. We now have a new camera! Hurrah for craigslist. (This one was borrowed, but after this post you'll see the new camera in action.)

The boys play T-ball/softball in May and June. Just one more reason why I love Spring. They played their first game this weekend and it was sweet to see how improved they were from last year and how hard they played.

It was a beautiful day. We talked about what animal shapes the clouds made.

Here's Gabe playing T-ball... So stinkin' serious. He got hit in the head in this game and pulled out of that quite nicely. His favorite part of the game was giving his coach high fives (or finger fives) at first base.

Here's Alex. There's a little more sport and competition in coach-pitch softball (versus T-ball, which is just as cute as it can be). Alex was proud of some of his plays. He was able to knock a teammate home and make two outs.

And, last but not least, our wanna-be ball player who threw rubber balls in my face when I was trying to watch the game. He was very patient with us from 9 am to 1 pm, then conked out in his car seat on the way home.

Hope you are having a wonderful June!

Fall...

2011-10-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

It was such a hot summer, but this beautiful fall made up for it. We have enjoyed every minute we could outside. Parks, the forest, Race for the Cure, visits with family, airplane rides and lots of backyard play. We made our annual visit to the pumpkin patch last week. Here's a few photos from September and October... especially for the viewing pleasure of grandparents and Nurse Sharon. Love you!

Three sweet boys at the park

Climbing apple trees

Discovering another treasure

Scooting over the newly planted spinach

Following in Daddy's footsteps

Hanging with the big boys

"Hi!"

Growing too fast

You can just barely see Theo

Throwing hay...

Making great leaps...

Picking pumpkins...

Just bein' cute...

And feeding the animals...

So Little Time

2011-08-16T14:15:00.000-04:00

I always think I'm going to have MORE time in the summer. I won't make that mistake again next year! :)

It was a fun summer for us. Theo turned one, the boys both played spring ball, and we enjoyed having friends and family visit. Lots of swimming. We grew a garden. We took our first family vacation... only 3 nights, but well worth the time away and together! Alex was away from home for a whole week with Nana and Pappy at the EAA air show. I think he made a lifetime of memories.

Christian's work has been so busy this summer. Some long days and time out-of-town. Praise the Lord for a job to put food on the table... and the added bonus of camaraderie with co-workers.

Always too short, the summer is approaching an end. We start school September 1. It doesn't seem possible that I have a second-grader!

Alex took softball seriously. And he was good.

This was Gabe's first season to play. T-ball is so sweet.
He played well, but didn't want to run until we finally figured out that
his hand-me-down cleats were hurting his feet. Poor kid.

Theo is one! Cute little stinker.

Gabe did NOT want his photo taken with Yogi Bear.
We are threatening to make this our Christmas card photo.

Alex's first helicopter ride with Pappy at Osh Kosh.

11 Months

2011-05-28T22:13:00.001-04:00

Somehow our little Theo is nearly a year old. I'm not sure what happened.

He likes his mommy, his daddy and his big brothers a lot. He's starting to flirt a little with other people... as long as his mommy is holding him. He's likes table food... forget that yucky baby food stuff. He scoots all over the place with little to no interest in crawing or walking. He hides small objects in his mouth. He sleeps in his own bed!

Here's our 11 month photo shoot.

Isaac & Shanna

2011-05-28T22:02:00.001-04:00

Isaac stayed with us for the week when Joe and Talisha were on their honeymoon. All the kids came down with some sort of flu bug, which put a damper on the week, but we still squeezed in some fun.

Shanna came to visit for a couple of days. We loved having her! The boys were constantly working to get her attention. Here's a couple of photos from our zoo trip.

We also got to see the last of our butterflies emerge from its crystalis. Then we let them go in the backyard. I thought it was a neat experience. Alex cried because he had named all of them. He was disappointed that they wouldn't even land on his finger. Sweet boy.

Catching Up

2011-05-28T21:55:00.002-04:00

Gabe painted his first big picture with watercolors. He absolutely loves to paint. This picture took several sittings and three days to complete. He was super proud of it. :)

This is Mother's Day and Theo's first ride in a swing. You can see this may be a new favorite past time.

Gabe had his first tee ball game. He was serious about it. So very fun to see both boys playing ball.

We couldn't get our camera to work the morning of Mother's Day... so here we ar ethe Sunday after. Man, I love these boys.

My baby sister got married

2011-05-28T21:35:00.002-04:00

I can't believe my little sis is married! Isn't she beautiful? It was special to be a part of her wedding. It is amazing to see how much these two (why don't I have a good picture of them together at the wedding?) like being together. Their love is tangible.

My mom's three sisters were all able to attend!

Here's a few of the coolest guys at the wedding. I just love these photos.

Chase, Alex and Isaac striking karate poses

And being a little goofy, too

We were able to document the Jensen side of the family with Talisha. Mom, we miss you in this picture. I think Grandpa loved the attention of all his girls!

10 Months

2011-05-06T23:50:00.001-04:00

By now he's 10 and a half months. But you just want to see the photos...

10 month photo shoot in front of our home.

Pretty flowers

Ummm... looks yummy.

What you lookin' at, Bear?

Now THAT's funny.

Gabe brought some stuffed animals to add to the shoot.

Thank you.

Grand finale!

Bike Rides

2011-04-10T23:51:00.001-04:00

We took our first family bike ride of the year together. This was Theo's first bike ride ever, one of Gabe's first bike rides with training wheels and the first time I've been on a bike in about 2 years. Shameful. Theo wasn't crazy about the breeze and he was sleepy so it was a short ride... but we documented it anyway.

Gabe was feeling really grown up. He pedaled as hard as he could and kept accidentally driving off the road and falling over in the grass in the ditch. He'd look over his shoulder and yell at me. (His training wheels made so much noise that he had a difficult time hearing me... He must have thought I couldn't hear him either.) "C'mon Mom! You can do it!" I found great delight in this as I kept breaking to keep from running over him! But seriously, the boys had warrent to worry that I didn't know what I was doing. It HAD been awhile.

As for Alex and Dad (as my big boys are starting to call him), they left us in the dust.

9 Months!

2011-04-10T23:31:00.000-04:00

This little dude has stolen our hearts.

He ended up with a couple of photo shoots on his 9 month birthday... March 19th. Here's Theo outgrowing the bear that has been marking his growth.

And here is is again. I'm trying to get a photo with the "9 Month" card I made. He likes holding it.

He likes eating it.

Not so happy with me taking it.

April finds him teething (4 teeth through, 2 still working really hard) and scooting everywhere. I think he is going to skip crawling and go straight to walking. He ate some green beans tonight and I guess he may also skip the baby food (no interest) and go straight to table food. So he marches to his own drum. That's OK.

We all spoil him. Today he graduated to a big boy car seat (much to my chagrin, as I will not be able to fit in his naps when we are out on the town). The big boys sweet-talked him on the way home from church because he was so tired and they put him to sleep before we were home. Those sweet, sweet boys. Love 'em.

The Viking

2011-04-10T22:51:00.000-04:00

My favorite viking turned four last month. He asked for a "How to Train Your Dragon" party and then tried to back out of it, asking for a princess party instead. Certain that Daddy would not be fond of the change, we worked around that request, but he didn't forget about it. He even tricked Nana into buying him a princess book which I am requested to read every day. It tickles me how much he likes princesses, but truly... he is all boy.

Alex always stayed pretty clean and neat and Gabe is the complete opposite. Yesteday was a nice day. Everyone played outside a lot. At the end of the day, Gabe looked like he had rolled in dirt all day. I finally understand why moms have designated "play clothes". :)

Back to the party... what a fun theme! Christian made fun dragon signs and a cool catapult with a dragon target. After we made our party bags, we had a dragon egg hunt, played "Viking Says" and tried (and failed) a game of catch the dragon's tail.

We ate dragon hot chili with veggies and lava juice. Then came the cake. I'm always impressed by Christian's masterpieces. My talent is limited to smiley faces, rainbows and hearts. Meet Toothless.

Happy 4th birthday, Gabriel!

We have a tradition of celebrating again on the actual birthday. This year we had smoothies with whipped topping and then went out to eat at Applebee's. Plus Gabe got to go to Toys 'R Us with Daddy to pick out a gift. Lots of fun! Four is a great age.

A little overwhelmed

2011-04-09T21:35:00.000-04:00

In hindsight, it seems ridiculous. I've always thought I was busy. I was so busy in college, working through the summers and taking classes and working two or three jobs plus a full class load. I was so busy when I was in the workplace and dating and spending every cent of my money on who knows what. I was so busy in early marriage with our friends and church, working, teaching, babysitting, hanging with friends. I was so busy when I had my first son and with play dates, making meals, cleaning the house, watching two new babies. I was so busy with my second son who refused to sleep at night and then busy with homeschooling and moving and making new friends. And now I realize how much time I had then! I cannot imagine being busier. I am so amazed by moms with more than three children! How do they ever do it? I look around at my cluttered, dirty house and am grateful that tonight I have a clean kitchen and healthy kids. I love those boys. And my amazing husband. I really am so blessed. Giggle. And so busy.

Theo is 8 Months Old!

2011-02-24T00:13:00.002-05:00

Theodore James

I am totally in love with this fun little dude. He is so smiley and sweet. He will start grinning as soon as you hold up a camera. Even though he is cutting 4 teeth on top and feeling pretty miserable, I can coax smiles out of him with some goofy smiles or "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".

After a bad bout of RSV and two nights in the hospital, he is almost completely recovered! He has another month and a half of an inhaled steroid to help his little lungs recover, and he's pretty good about it. He does like to try to chew on the mask during treatments, though.

He sits up really well. Every now and then he falls backward and surprises himself (and me). Poor baby. But he is very strong. He isn't interested in crawling or eating real food in the least. But he does love to chew. On anything. Especially his saline bottle and Mommy's hair (the backpack is our friend).

Well, here he is. The cutie patootie.

8 month photo shoot with Mommy's bear and saline bottle.

Very unhappy with Mommy for taking saline away

Immediate smiles upon hearing mommy's songs and goofy voice

Additional photo shoot just because

Big smiles

Serious about his books

Loves rocking around in his Entertainer

Where Does the Time Go?

2011-01-14T00:03:00.001-05:00

Birthday Boy!

This Mommy is thankful for Daddies who can draw

Pin the Light Saber on Yoda

Those sweet boys

2010-12-21T22:51:00.000-05:00

Time is flying by... just wanted to share a few photos for the grandparents and aunts and uncles who are missing these sweet guys. We'll see you soon!

Ah, photo memories...

2010-12-11T21:58:00.007-05:00

Memories from this shoot:
Alex was a bit nervous
Gabe was uncooperative (again)
Theo choked on a leaf

I do love photos. It helps me recollect places and faces that I could not bring to mind if I didn't have a snapshot to remind me. A sunset Christian and I watched with his family on vacation. A cute little blond toddler feeding the ducks. The delight of being the center of attention at a birthday bash.

But not just MY photos... I love seeing yours! Each year Christian and I debate again whether or not to send out cards. In this computer age, it's pretty simple to just make a Facebook card, blog your Christmas card or email out a Christmas letter. But it all comes back to the fact that we just love getting cards from our friends and family! And, let's face it, if you don't send out cards, you get knocked off your friends' lists.

A friend let me know about a great deal on Shutterfly... Have you heard about it? There's still time for you! Shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas cards to those willing to blog about their experience! I have to admit, it's pretty hard for me to pass up a free offer.

I've used Shutterfly a lot this year for cool photo book gifts and prints, including really sweet birth announcements for our newest addition. They send out great promotions. I just recently hosted a party where Shutterfly gave away a free photo book and 10 Christmas cards to 14 of my friends plus me!

So, don't worry, you'll still be seeing Christmas cards from us. I won't overdo it with matching address labels, but they are awfully cute!

Hope we hear from you this Christmas!

My Little Pumpkins

2010-11-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

Pumpkin carving is not my specialty, but I married a master. Isn't he artistic? No template needed to create the boys' requests.

And here is the best part of Halloween: my sweet boys all dressed up. Won't it be sad when they quit dressing up for fun?

Check out the big space in Alex's mouth. His other top tooth is now loose! He will indeed be singing the song, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." I've been teasing him that he might have to sing that song and he's pretty tickled about it.

Wolverine and Spiderman (after much debate)

Gabe and Alex behind their respective pumpkins

And last, but not least. My cutie patootie. This is the third time we have used the dragon costume.

Is he tryin' to melt my heart?

Say "cheese", little dragon!

Classroom changes

2010-10-28T21:56:00.000-04:00

1st Week of School

8th Week of School

Soccer season is over

2010-10-28T21:53:00.006-04:00

Alex was pretty sad to see the soccer season end. He learned a lot this season and was really getting into the game. It was very fun to watch!

Alex in action

Alex was tickled that Grandma and Grandpa were able to see him play

Alex and his good bud, Sam

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-17T18:09:00.002-04:00

Is it just me, or is fall this year so much sweeter after our HOT summer? We took our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. It was a breezy day, crisp air and sunshine - a perfect October day.

There were hay bales to climb and jump on and a fun tunnel you could climb through.

We had a hay ride to the pumpkin patch where the boys picked their pumpkins.

The big boys got to go through the corn maze with Daddy while Theo slept and Mommy watched a little caterpillar make its way through the tall grass. (It was dark brown for those of you wondering about what kind of winter we're going to have.)

The petting zoo was a hit this year. Gabe is no longer afraid to feed the animals so both boys fed an alpaca, goats, sheep, a cow and ponies. And I'm pretty sure Gabe tried to torture a chicken.

All in all, it was success!

Race for the Cure

2010-10-15T23:19:00.001-04:00

Every year we remember my blood mother by raising monies and awareness for breast cancer at Race for the Cure. It's the one tradition our family holds dear. Some of our family couldn't make it to Louisville this year, walking in the Indiana race instead. I miss you, Mom.

Back row: Christian, Gabe, Trina, Dale, Susan, Theo
Front row: Toby, Alicia, Isaac, Alex

The kids pooped out pretty quickly. But then, it wouldn't have taken quite so long if we'd had a map of the course. Made at least two wrong turns, I'm afraid. Rookie mistake. It was a really cool walk over the Ohio bridge, by the way.

All the youngsters are riding. We're only halfway through

Tired boys

Our big guy...

2010-09-26T22:46:00.001-04:00

.. is growing up too fast. That's all there is to it.

Fairwell Mullet!

2010-09-19T23:00:00.001-04:00

Just look at this precious little angel! Isn't he the sweetest? How can you resist his sweetness? I can't. Really, it's hopeless. We all adore him. I smiled today in church when Alex reached over to touch his little toes while he was sleeping. He's irresistible.

Even so, I can't stand his mullet. I've been threatening to remove it for weeks (months?) and today he is THREE MONTHS OLD! So I celebrated by trimming off his mullet. Easier said than done. In the end, we used clippers and left a little bald spot or two. Still, I'm so happy it's gone. No baby needs a year's supply of mullet photos. :)

Before

After