Our Own Little Nest

Back 2 School!

2011-09-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

We've nearly completed our first week of home school for the 2011-12 school year, and while I feel like a walking (or at this moment, sitting) zombie, it was a wonderful week! It feels good to get back into the routine. Starting back up with school equates to a much busier week overall, however, during those several hours of school each day, there's a slowing down that feels sooo good.

This year I decided to post about what our upcoming school year is going to look like. (And here's where I insert a side note that when I initially typed the above sentence, I typed "are" instead of "our". I told you...ZOMBIE.) I know there are curious people out there, plus I really think I'll enjoy looking back on this some day when I'm sending my baby off to college (waaaaaaah!).

First off, here are "first day of school" photos of the kids!

Our (loosely followed) Daily Schedule (Mon-Thu)

6:00-7:00 Sometime during the 6:00 hour, I wake up and have prayer/Bible reading time. I hope to add exercise to my morning routine soon, but that means waking earlier. Ack! :)
7:00-8:00 Daily Housework/Chores (me and kids)
8:00-9:00 Breakfast/devotions, school prep, chores, etc.
9:00-10:30 One-on-one time with each of the oldest 3, including some play & reading time with Aniston
10:30-12:30 Group Work, followed by any activities or experiments that may be in the lesson plan.
12:30 Lunch, Quick Tidy (if time)
1:30 Quiet Time. The first 30 minutes is spent having quality time with one child, doing whatever he or she wants. The boys read and do their independent school work during this time.
3:30 Read Aloud Time. I read quality literature to the children. Sometimes it will be related to our morning group studies, sometimes it won't.
4:00 Afternoon chores, supper prep, computer work, etc. etc. etc.

Our evenings are kind of irregular right now but eventually I want to have family read-aloud time in the evenings before our bedtime Bible story.

Fridays we step away from the usual schedule and the kids do worksheets related to their week's studies, learning games on the computer, and I'm hoping we'll do at least two field trips per month.

Our Curriculum:

Group

Bible: Devotions, Jesus Storybook Bible, Scripture Memorization
History: finish Story of the World: Ancient Times
       Story of the World: Middle Ages
       Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
       Activities and books recommended in the SOTW Activity Books
Geography: Mapwork related to History lessons
       Window on the World - 1 country per week
Science Focused Studies: finish Apologia Astronomy & related activities/experiments
       Apologia Zoology (Swimming Creatures) & related activities/experiments
   Dissect: Nurse shark, Snake (ew)
       Observe: Frog life cycle, Sea life (shells, etc.)
       Study 4 Famous Scientists
       Light Geology study using our rock kits and Geology
Science Ongoing Studies: Nature, Weather
Foreign Language: Undecided. Either Spanish or Ancient Greek.
Art Appreciation: Charlotte Mason Picture Studies (module 1 & 5)
Music Appreciation: Charlotte Mason Music Studies
Art: ARTistic Pursuits, DrawWriteNow, other random art/craft projects
Oral Language/Writing: CM Narration Ideas

Individual Studies

Pierce
Spelling: Spelling Power
Math: Math-U-See Gamma then Epsilon
Cursive Penmanship/Copywork
Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 3
English: Switched-on-Schoolhouse Language Arts

Xander
Spelling: Explode the Code
Math: Math-U-See finish Alpha then Beta
Print Penmanship/Copywork
Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 2
English: Abeka Language Arts 2

Emmersyn
Phonics: workbooks and Progressive Phonics
Math: Math U See Primer
Letter Practice

And that's it! Bring on the learning! :)

math wiz

2011-03-01T15:16:00.000-06:00

So I realize that I haven't posted here in many months. Every week I tell myself that I'm going to work on getting caught up. Then the week gets away from me and I tell myself I'll do some catching up on the weekend. Then the weekend gets away from me and the cycle starts over again.

I'm not working on catching up today...not ready to climb that mountain yet. But I am going to share something that entertained me today.

I was checking Pierce's math work and I got to a word problem. He had gotten the answer correct, and when I checked his method for arriving at the correct answer (sometime I always do at this stage to make sure they're understanding, etc.), I was stumped. It took me at least 5 minutes to figure out what was going on in that head of his.

The word problem went like this:

"Ben is thinking of buying a new car. One car he likes costs $16,899, and another costs $22,980. What is the difference in price between the two cars?"

The correct answer was, of course, $6,081. He got that spot on. But his method confused me. He wrote:

3,101
+2,980
6,081

I finally figured out how he got those numbers. IN HIS HEAD (this part of the method wasn't written out and they aren't allowed to use calculators yet, and when I asked him to explain it all to me, he worked the math out in his head again), he figured out that the difference between 16,899 and 20,000 was 3,101, and the difference between 22,980 and 20,000 was 2,980, so naturally the easiest way to get the total difference would be two add the two differences together.

Are you with me?

I was confused too.

I of course applauded his mad math skillz, then explained that he could also have subtracted $16,899 from $22,980 to arrive at the same difference. His response?

"Oh yeah...I guess that would have been less complicated."

Yeah...for both of us. :)

Staycation 2010: Day 5

2010-11-06T11:49:00.134-05:00

Wednesday, August 11 was Staycation Day 5. The kids were pleasantly surprised that "Daddy could eat breakfast with us before going to work", and when they opened their daily activity envelopes they were downright excited to find out that Daddy had taken the day off work because WE WERE GOING TO ADVENTURELAND!!!

Off to Adventureland we went! We got there at about 10:30 and started with the rides, then we had our picnic lunch outside the gates, rode more rides, and about 3:00 we finally sought refuge from the heat by going to the water park. NICE. WONDERFUL. AWESOME. In the water park, Aniston took a little snooze in her stroller while I relaxed next to her. Then at about 7:00 we headed back out to close down the park. We finally left at about 9:50. Ten minutes before they closed. Shew! We snagged a bite to eat from a drive-thru before heading home, exhausted but happy. Here are, ahem, just a few photos.

Ferris wheel!

Chris and the big kids on the gallion. They all loved it!

They wanted me to ride with them too, so I happily obliged. Look at all their faces! Priceless!

Pierce and Xander...hilarious

Teacups!

Aniston played in water puddles and with our water spray bottle while she waited for her siblings to finish riding their rides. The spray bottle was a nice way to cool down...just squirt it on the face, neck, arms, and AAAAAHHH. Sweet relief!

Emmy and Daddy on the Falling Star. She loved this one. A LOT.

The girls on the ladybugs. Aniston is mesmerized by all this new and fun stuff, and Emmy is all smiles, all day. :)

Xander's expression on the second photo makes me bust a gut. I have no idea what he's doing!

On the train.The kids loved this part! And the parents loved it too...it was a nice little rest for our tired bodies. :)

The carousel was a hit, which surprised me. They rode it on the way out to have lunch, and it was also the last ride of the night, before going home.

Emmy loved the Frog Hopper!

So did Pierce & Xander! And look at how Xander's looking at Pierce and laughing. They are such good buddies. :)

Aniston: mesmerized again. Emmersyn: all smiles again.

Right after we left the water park, Daddy took the boys on the outlaw, then we hit this ride. It went in circles, UP in the air. The big kids thought it was okay, but Aniston hated it. She cried and kept reaching for me saying, "Mama! Mama!". And Daddy's face really says it all. That's a classic parenting look right there! Haha!

I had to show this photo. While Daddy went on the Side Winder, Aniston kept hanging on the bars and pulling her feet straight up in the air, almost parallel to the ground. I was amazed that her little hands could grip the big bar well enough to hold on!

Daddy on the Side Winder. The photo on the left, he's the dude in red at the bottom of the photo. On the right, he's the one at the bottom sticking his hands out. :)

While Daddy took the big kids on the Log Ride, Aniston had some popcorn. This was about 8:30 at night, and she was exhausted.

She even started falling asleep as she ate her popcorn. Poor baby. But she was really a trooper!

The Log Ride was a huge hit! Also to be noted, the boys also loved the Tornado but they thought the Dragon was a bit too rough. Pierce also rode the Space Shot (Xander wasn't quite tall enough), but according to Daddy, on the way up he said, "Oooh no...I don't think this was a good idea!" Bahaha!

On our way back towards the gate, the kids kept saying, "Can we ride that one more time?" It was starting to get dark and it was fun to see all the rides with their lights on, so we decided to just close the park down! So, the Falling Star was ridden again, and in fact, when it finished, Emmersyn plainly told the ride operator, "I'm going to ride again," and didn't budge from her seat. I laughed my behind off, and then had to explain the "ride etiquette rules" to her. Mr. Operator didn't care and just giggled.

It was one of the hottest days of the summer (heat index of 106), but with lots of water and good attitudes, it turned out to be so much fun. And you'd better believe the kids slept like babies that night.

Staycation 2010: Day 4

2010-11-05T22:28:00.016-05:00

Day 4 of Staycation - Tuesday, August 9 - was jam-packed full of fun! After breakfast we packed a picnic lunch and then headed to a local lake. We climbed the Cordova tower, which was a first for me, and SO breathtaking. And (almost) free! We gave the suggested donation of 25 cents per person.

Then we explored below the dam, which the kids just loved. Unfortunately, the eagle-spotting area was closed due to flooding, but that was okay. We still had a ton of fun! We even found a little area that was shallow and had some sand, so we all took off our shoes and socks and played in the mini-beach. We ate our picnic lunch in one of the shelters and found a huge spider...ew. And we ended our afternoon with ice cream at our local Dairy Queen, which also has a play place in it.

After Daddy got home, we ate supper and headed out for a couple games of bowling. We had to adjust some overly-competetive attitudes, but once that was accomplished it was tons of fun! And, ahem, Emmy won. With a high score of 101. But I blame it on the fact that she had the nifty ramp and we didn't. And we didn't have bumpers and she did. So there!

Another fun day! And another good night of sleep in the tent (for the kids...the grown-ups can't do floor-sleeping very well so we slept in a soft, comfy bed). "Tomorrow" is looking to be another fun day too!

Staycation 2010: Day 3

2010-11-05T16:35:00.005-05:00

Monday, August 9 was Day 3 of our Staycation, and it was pretty low-key. Chris had to work most of the week since he didn't have that much vacation left. So we didn't do anything major most of the weekdays. But it was still a treat to get to open those envelopes and see that they would get to play video games (on a Monday!) AND go spend the entire afternoon at the pool.

It's the perfect pool for us because it's small enough that I can let the boys go into a different swim area, yet I can still see them very well so I don't have to worry.

That evening we all had supper and the boys got to play some more video games. And Mommy read books to the girls, relaxed, cuddled. Pretty awesome!

The slept in the tent, wiped out from a day in the sun. Wonder what "tomorrow" will bring....

Staycation 2010: Day 2

2010-11-05T10:00:00.022-05:00

Staycation Day 2 was on Sunday, August 8. We started off with breakfast and a relaxing morning, had a picnic lunch, and then we headed to the Science Center.

(We purchased a Tri-Pass that gives all of us entrance to the Science Center, Zoo, and Living History Farms for one full year. It was $200, and considering that we went to the zoo twice, science center once, and the farms twice in the first two months, I'd say we've already saved money, and we still have 9 months left on the membership!)

A local TV station's meteorologist is set up to broadcast from the science center on occasion. We went "on TV" (but not really). It was neat to see how that works. :)

Four of the five loves of my life. ;)

They had a puppet stand so Chris got in there and did an "show". Aniston wasn't sure what to think. A boy sat and watched happily, but Aniston kept staring wide-eyed. She very slowly crept up to the strange animals that kept talking to her and saying her name, and when she got up close, out popped Daddy. Aniston was not impressed with those little critters that had seemingly swallowed her Daddy's hands. Notice in the last photo, she's backed up and has a displeased look on her face. It was so hilarious!

We can't wait to go back! In fact, I'm hoping to take the kids there for our next "Friday Field Trip"...probably next Friday!

When we got back to the van, there was an awful, awful stench. We investigated and quickly discovered that the smell was from raw pork that had apparently fallen or slid under the back seat. It was incredibly hot that day, and the heat in the van must have accelerated the decaying process because it got bad FAST. We hadn't even noticed a smell before! Even after disposing of the pork, the smell was still so bad (some blood had seeped into the carpet and we had nothing to clean it up), that Chris couldn't stand it. So he grabbed two air freshener sticks and shoved them up his nose. It was good for a lot of laughs! By the way, how do you like his Fu Manchu? It's not my favorite look for him...

We picked up a pizza and ate it when we got home. After some relaxing, the kids went right to sleep, excited to see what Day 3 would hold...

Staycation 2010: Day 1

2010-11-04T21:12:00.000-05:00

After we got back from Kansas City, I realized that our little mini-vacation had whetted my appetite for a long vacation. And since I knew that there was no chance of us taking a vacation, I decided to plan ourselves a STAYcation. I was skeptical, but now I'm a convert to the staycation!

I spent a lot of time planning, researching, trying to get creative and make it the best experience possible for everyone. Here are some things that we did to make "staying home" seem extra-special.

1. We turned our living room into a hotel. We rearranged the couches and actually moved our queen-sized bed into the living room. The kids (except Aniston...we knew she wouldn't sleep well enough in the living room) got to sleep on the couches. That made it extra special for them because they love getting to sleep close to Mom & Dad.

2. I packed a suitcase full of everything the kids would need for the week, just as I would have if we were leaving for the week. This served two purposes. First of all, it meant that they only had a limited number of clothes to get dirty so they didn't put on a bajillion outfits a day, therefore saving me a lot of time on laundry, therefore making the week more relaxing for me as well. Secondly, it meant that each child only got a limited number of toys. Less mess. YAY! In fact, the upstairs (which is where their bedrooms and toy room is located) was closed off for the week. And they didn't mind one bit!

3. I stocked up on easy foods for the week so it wasn't as much work as far as meals were concerned.

4. For breakfast, I set the table up like a buffet, with at least four food options each morning. The kids just LOVED this.

5. Each morning, each of the three older children got an envelope whose contents explained what we were going to do that day. This worked beautifully because a) the surprise was the best part and b) it left me the flexibility to change plans last minute because of weather, etc. without the children having to be disappointed about their change in plans (you know how kids can be). :)

6. A couple of our dinners were "fancy" dinners. The food wasn't necessarily fancy but we set the table with a tablecloth, candles, and the kids each got to drink out of a wine glass. They just love that!

7. We upped our Netflix membership and stocked up on movies. This gave Chris and me plenty of options for vegging out after the kids passed out.

8. We set up the tent in our bedroom, where our queen bed used to be. The kids slept in there most nights, and loved it!

So. With that said...

Day 1 (Saturday the 7th)

Their day included video games (Emmy's card said "....or Mommy can read lots of books instead!"), then a Treasure Hunt ("Follow the trail..."x" marks the spot where your treasure can be found!"), and finally pizza with Grandpa & Grandma to celebrate Grandpa's 55th birthday!

For the treasure hunt, I decided where it would take place and then printed off the google satellite map of that location. I roughened it up to give it a more "olden" feel, printed it out, and then crumbled it up to make it seem even more authentic.

Chris dropped me off at the location of the hunt, and I went around putting "clues" up. You can see on the map where there are different colored dots. In each of those locations, there was a big piece of paper in the same color. Emmersyn was in charge of leading the group and finding the clues at the pink locations, Xander blue, Pierce green. Even Steven. The final location was marked with an "x", which were three separate bushes with their corresponding colored paper hanging on the bush and a treasure hidden in it.

And the treasures? Pierce and Xander both got these mini-robots they'd been eyeing for awhile, Emmy got a small Polly Pocket set that she can take in the bathtub, and Aniston got a ball. They were all so excited!

It was such a hit! I can't wait to do something like this again!

Then we loaded back up in the van and headed to the pizza place and enjoyed a fun, delicious dinner at Pagliai's (seriously the best pizza, the best ranch dressing, and the best Mt. Dew!).

And then we came home and the kids passed out in the "hotel room", eagerly anticipating Day 2....

Up, Up, & Away

2010-11-04T14:40:00.001-05:00

Back in August, we went to a nearby balloon festival. In all the years that this festival has been held, I had never been there before this year. And it was pretty cool. I hope to make it an annual event for our family.

This year, Chris wasn't able to come with us so it was just me and the kids. I can't remember what time we got there, but we watched as a dozen or more hot air balloons launched, and we also watch more than a dozen come from the north (ish) and land right in front of us. And then when it got dark, they did the Night Glow, which was very cool. The crowd and announcer did a countdown and then all the balloon operators turned on their flames, lighting up all of the balloons at the same time. It took a lot of coordination because if they didn't fire their balloons up enough then they would collapse, but if they fired them too much they would have a hard time keeping them on the ground.

Anyway, I took a ridiculous amount of photos. Many were deleted so my head wouldn't explode, and my favorites from the night are below.

Kansas City

2010-11-03T20:09:00.031-05:00

Back in July, Chris's boss paid for all of his employees and their families to go to Kansas City for a weekend. The trip included a day at PowerPlay on Friday, a nice dinner Friday evening, two nights in a hotel, a day at Worlds of Fun, and a day at Oceans of Fun, and a wonderful breakfast buffet both mornings.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home so I had to resort to taking photos with my phone. Boo. But that's okay.

We left Friday morning, the 30th: MY BIRTHDAY! We started off with a breakfast at McDonald's (the kids love Mickey D's breakfast). Chris's co-worker and friend, Jim, joined us and followed us down there.

It's interesting to note that we drove down there in a minivan loaded full of children. He drove down there in a cherry red Mercedes Convertible. With the top down.

Stark contrast.

Anyway, it was a 3-1/2 hour trip to get from where we live to our first excursion: PowerPlay. And here is the miracle of it all. We had to stop 0.0 times on the way there.

Zero stops.

ZERO STOPS.

Let me say it again...ZERO STOPS!

In fact, when we got there, Jim hobbled out of his car and made the comment that he had needed to pee for at least an hour, and "How on earth did your kids make it?"

It's truly a mystery.

Anyway, at PowerPlay they have TONS of games, plus glow-in-the dark bowling, glow-in-the-dark mini golf, and go cart racing. They also have a huge buffet area where you can eat all you want, go play some games, and then come back and eat some more. It's a beautiful thing. So we ate, then Chris's boss gave us our game cards that gave us unlimited play for 5 hours (wow). We bowled, played games, mini golfed, played games, played games, played games. It was super fun and also super exhausting trying to keep track of the wonder-filled kids. Jim also hung out with us which was nice because the kids adored him. And he was such a trooper and really helpful. :)

Here are some photos at PowerPlay. The ones I took are terrible, but they're all I've got! (Some photos taken from www.powerplaykc.com)

We left PowerPlay and went to our hotel room and relaxed for awhile. We all love staying in hotel rooms...it's so much fun!

That evening we had a yummy barbeque dinner courtesy of Chris's boss. It was so delicious, and even included dessert. YUM. And FREE. Even better!

Then it was bedtime for four very sleepy children and two sleepy adults. Aniston slept in the Pack N Play and the big kids slept 3 in a big bed which worked really well for them. Aniston cried in her PNP for about 10-15 minutes but then she gave up and slept all night. YAY! And they all slept all night. It was wonderful!

The next day, after enjoying a full buffet spread for breakfast (seriously the best hotel buffet I've ever eaten, and rightly so after finding out that it wasn't included with the hotel room and was actually quite expensive, but FREE for us! YAY!), we went with Jim to Worlds of Fun for the day.

It was approximately 936 degrees that day. But we survived.

Pierce and Xander each rode their first roller coaster. They started with the Timber Wolf, and actually ended up riding that one several times. I rode once with them too, which was so fun! They both also rode the Mamba with Chris and Jim. When the ride was over, Pierce (7) said, "You shouldn't have let me do that, Daddy." Bahahaha! And Xander (6) said, "Can we go again?!? So funny! So Chris and I took Xander on it again. I rode next to Xander and it was so hilarious to watch him. He put on a brave face but when the ride was going, he was all crouched down in his seat with a look of sheer fright on his face. I'll never forget it! What a kid!

Jim got Dippin' Dots for the other 3 kids while we were on the Mamba with Xander, and Jim discovered how quickly our children can inhale food. It's a sight to see.

We also went to Camp Snoopy which is where the little kid rides are. I spent quite a lot of time there with the girls while the boys all went on big kid rides.

Here are some photos of our Worlds of Fun excursion!

photos taken from www.worldsoffun.com

After only about 3-4 hours there, we were considering the notion of going home. (Remember, it was approximately 936 degrees that day. Actually it was close to 100 if I remember correctly.) Before leaving, we stopped by the RipCord. I was going to go on it with Chris and Jim, but then we thought, "Who's gonna watch the kids? Oh. Yeah." Turns out it didn't matter because it had stopped working, and soon after that the whole park - yes the ENTIRE THEME PARK - stopped working. No electricity. In fact, Kansas City had a partial city-wide power outage. So we left. And we were glad to have an excuse to find some air conditioning.

We grabbed a late lunch at Mickey D's (because our first few choices didn't have power), and then headed back to the hotel to relax and swim and relax some more. Aaahhhh.

We got the kids to bed, Chris left so he and Jim could go back to Worlds of Fun and ride some more rides, and I watched HGTV for several hours (after Aniston FINALLY stopped crying after almost an hour...she was overtired and wouldn't sleep by herself and wouldn't sleep with me, so I just had to let her cry for awhile).

The next morning after breakfast, we checked out and then headed to Oceans of Fun for the day. I didn't get any photos because I didn't take my phone with me, but it was REALLY fun! We enjoyed the wave pool (the kids thought this was really cool!), a small kiddie pool with a pirate ship and lots of fun stuff, Paradise Falls, Coconut Cove which had lots of smaller water slides perfect for our kids, and the lazy river. Chris took the boys on the Monsoon (see photo below) but other than that we didn't do any of the big slides because the lines were insanely long, and we just wanted to stay in the cool water as much as possible. :) Mid-afternoon I parked the stroller and Aniston took a nap. I lay next to her and snoozed for awhile too. It was so nice!

(photos taken from www.worldsoffun.com)

We were there from about 11:00 until 5:00 or so, and then we grabbed a quick bite to eat in the van and headed home.

It was a fun weekend! In fact, it inspired me to extend our little mini-vacation into a 9-day "staycation". Kind of like one last hoorah before the summer was over. I'll be sharing details on that soon. :)

oh, snap!

2010-11-02T21:22:00.000-05:00

This little booger wandered into our yard in July. I let the kids poke and prod him for awhile with a stick and he (she?) kept snapping at us (yes, definitely a she). It was funny!

(Please excuse the out of focus photos.)

When Chris got home he got it out of our yard expeditiously. Apparently snapping turtles can cause quite a bit of pain. And here I was letting my kids play with the little dude. He loaded Mr. Turtle in his truck and brought him far away from our house to let him go roam elsewhere, but before he did, I suggested we flip him over so the kids could see the underside of the turtle.

Presenting, the underside of Mr. Turtle.

The photo makes me giggle. I'm not sure why.

It was a fun experience! I love it when a science lesson just walks right into our yard. :)

parental birthdays

2010-11-01T23:45:00.000-05:00

The parental units in our house (um, that would be me and Chris) celebrated our 31st birthdays back in July.

For Chris's birthday, I picked up a couple of his favorite donuts and (I think) a mocha. Nothing better than starting off your 32nd year with a breakfast that paints the perfect picture of health, eh?

While Chris was at work that day, the kids and I were scheming. We went to Wal-Mart, picked out some little gifts (in the form of chocolate candy bars) for the kids to wrap and give to Chris. And while we were there, we picked up three bottles of silly string! Mwahahahaha....

The kids practiced shooting their silly string once to get a feel for how it worked, and we decided that I should lead a closed-eyed Daddy into the kitchen where the kids could bombard him. I wanted to make sure it was extra surprising for Daddy, so I told the kids, "And point it at his face so it'll really surprise him!"

And then Pierce pointed at some tiny print on the back of the bottle and said, "But Mommy, it says right here 'DO NOT POINT AT FACE'." Woopsies.

Anyway Chris finally got home, the kids got into their assigned positions (serious business I tell ya), and I led the poor, unsuspecting birthday boy into the kitchen. He opened his eyes and PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I love silly string. :)

Aniston started crying because she thought we were hurting her Daddy. Awww. And according the fine print on the bottle, she wasn't too far off.

The kids wanted to decorate, so we put up a birthday banner, and the kids taped balloons up all over. There were balloons everywhere, and they were so proud of their work. It was too sweet.

I don't recall what we had for supper, but I made an ice cream cake for dessert. Much cheaper than the DQ ice cream cakes (MUCH cheaper), and it was sooo delicious!

The following weekend we went to our friends Jason & Leigh's house, where we spent the evening hanging out with them and our friends Billy & Jess, and of course all of our kids. All twelve of them! The kids always have so much fun, and so do the grown-ups.

We all homeschool so we can take turns bragging about how smart our kids are. Hee hee. Ha ha. Ho ho. Actually we talk more about the struggles and blessings of our respective journeys, and it's so nice to be able to walk this road with others.

Anyway, there was birthday cake and even candles for Chris and my birthdays, complete with the singing of "Happy Birthday". And don't tell, but when I blew out the candles on my side of the cake, I spit on the cake a little. On purpose. Hee hee. Ha ha. Ho ho.

Not really.

And what goes perfect with birthday cake? Ice cream! HOMEMADE ice cream! Lots of it. Yum....

Once it got dark the kids played Wii, which is always a hit.

And their poor living room. It got totally trashed. But it was worth it! It was a fun night!

The next day, we went to my mom and dad's house, where Mom made FRIED CHICKEN with MASHED POTATOES & GRAVY. Per both of our requests. Because my mom's fried chicken is my favorite in the whole entire universe. YUM.

And now I have to end this post, because all I can think about is fried chicken.

The end.

dusting

2010-10-30T09:20:00.001-05:00

During the summer, we got to watch a crop duster as he sprayed the fields surrounding our house.

Chris says he wants to take do this job. I think he's a wee bit crazy. :)

It looks like the plane is ON the ground. CRAZY!

After awhile, I think the pilot (who, if it's the same guy as last summer, is 80-something years old) noticed me snapping pictures because he started flying right above us and even teetered back and forth. So I got more photos. It's what I do.

Oh no!!!! He's coming straight towards our HOUSE! Oh. Or not.

And away he went.

I wouldn't let the kids stay outside for very long because after about ten minutes, I could smell and taste the chemicals on my lips.

But basically, aside from the potential chemical poisoning, it was pretty cool to watch.

Independence Day 2010

2010-10-27T23:01:00.000-05:00

We didn't do a whole lot for Independence Day this year. As I recall, the weather wasn't very cooperative, but we did manage to see a parade, play with sparklers, see some fireworks, and just plain spend some quality time together. Not much can beat good old fashioned quality time, am I right?

At the parade!

Awwww....

Xander had a 'do rag thrown to him...it made his day!

You know you're a hick if....you light your sparklers with a blow torch. *Hock-thoo*

Is it just me or does the sparkler look really close to Emmy's face? Oy...

I love this photo. :)

And BONUS! The neighbor (who happens to be Chris's boss) was letting off his arsenal of fireworks that night!

Xander's 6th Birthday

2010-10-26T22:52:00.001-05:00

Xander turned six on June 21. Four months later, I'm finally getting around to blogging about it! (Sorry, Xan-Man...)

Xander's birthday was on Monday, and for his special day, he picked cinammon rolls for breakfast, Lunchables for lunch, and yep, McDonald's Happy Meals for supper. :)

His party was the following Friday, the 25th. He picked a John Deere theme, and when asked where he wanted his party, he picked "at home". Of all places! I thought it was sweet, actually.

Of course the kids helped decorate one of the cakes, as is tradition, and this specific cake was "Aloris's cake" since Aloris (the child we sponsor through Compassion) was born on the exact same day (and same year) as Xander.

So I got the house all party-ready, and by late Friday morning, everything was DONE. So we packed up our swim stuff and headed to a pool in a nearby town! It was such a wonderful way to kick off all the celebrations. All the kids had so much fun that we ended up going back to the same pool 3 or 4 more times during the summer. (And at only $10 for all of us, it was easy on the wallet!)

We got back just in time for me to get the kids and myself ready and finish party prep.

Oh, and a cute story. The week of Xander's party, I went to a party supply store (talk about last minute) to find a John Deere balloon. I thought for SURE they would have one since it's such a popular theme and they did have the JD tableware and things, but alas, no John Deere balloon. So I called home and sadly told Chris, and then I said (rather hopelessly), "Well, there IS a big huge balloon in the shape of a pair of cowboy boots??" Chris relayed it to Xander, and I could hear Xander say, "YEAH! COWBOY BOOTS!" I love him. :) :) :)

The party guests included my parents, Chris's parents, my maternal Grandma, my paternal Grandpa & Grandma, and Chris's sister & her husband (Aunt Lynn & Uncle Jim).

For food, he picked sub sandwiches, strawberry pretzel salad (Which may seem more like a dessert to most, but you can't argue with the name: SALAD people. SALAD.), potato salad, chips, and ice cream punch.

And for presents, he got lots of John Deere equipment, a Batman action figure (he almost picked a Batman party), a Batman outfit, a Star Wars toy, two Wii games (one of which was Batman!), Sorry Sliders, and a John Deere shirt. He was one happy six-year-old!

And I just love watching him at his birthday parties. Well, I love watching each of my children at their birthday parties, but what I love about Xander is that he's so quiet, contemplative, happy. It's such a special thing for me to watch. He has brought so much joy into our lives for the last six years...I can't even put it into words.
And now I'm off to grab a towel so I can wipe the tears off my keyboard.

In Which Grandma Flies to Florida

2010-10-25T23:59:00.001-05:00

Back in July, my mom went to Florida.

You see, my brother Trevor is in a Christian band that had the privilege of doing a national tour, and the final show was in Florida, so my mom decided to fly down to Florida and surprise him at his last show! I was initially going to go, but it just didn't work out. :( However, the kids and I brought Grandma to and from the airport, and seeing the kids' excitement and enjoyment was almost (um, not really, but let's pretend) as good as actually going to Florida.

We dropped her off at her gate and then ventured up to the very top level of the parking garage to watch her plane take off. It was fun!

(Photos were taken with my phone...not the best quality!)

Waiting

Aniston made herself comfortable after awhile. :)

There's Grandma's plane! I got Grandma on the phone and she spotted us up on the roof, so we all waved and waved and waved. And then the phone went dead because Grandma got in trouble for talking when her phone was supposed to be turned off. Heehee.

Going...

Gone! Bye Grandma! Have fun!

Chris, the kids, and I also watched her airplane land on her return flight, and after that Grandma took all of us out to eat at IHOP. Mmmm...IHOP.

Play-Doh

2010-10-02T23:00:00.001-05:00

Early in the summer, I started this dealio where the older three children take turns staying up 30-45 minutes later than the others, to enjoy some one-on-one time with Mommy. I'm embracing it while they still want to hang out with me. We do (almost) anything he or she wants, and the idea was to spend the last 5-10 minutes doing some sort of devotional together. I haven't been very regular about that yet, but hopefully that will change.

Anyway, the top picks for "things to do with Mommy" are:

-Take a walk to the end of the gravel road

-Make cookies or some other sweet treat for the next day (and the lucky kiddo gets to lick the beater!)

-Play with Play-Doh

Does anyone else love the smell of Play-Doh? I spend more time sniffing it than I do playing with it. My kids probably think I'm weird. They wouldn't be too far off.

Anyway, Pierce made these creations one night...

A freaky-looking worm of sorts.

A taco.

A school bus.

A something with a cherry on top.

I helped with the bus. :)

He's one amazing boy...

south

2010-10-01T22:22:00.002-05:00

One Sunday afternoon last May, we were itching to get out of the house. I wasn't familiar with the area south of where we live (and I'm still not), so I asked Chris to just drive south so I could see what there is to see. Chris happily obliged.

We stopped at a random park and went on a little nature walk. Chris took a photo of me with the kids, and since it is such a rare occurrence for Chris to get photographic evidence that the children do, in fact, have a mom, it had to go in the blog. :) Which is unfortunate, because I look super grody in this picture, but oh well!

I adore this photo. This summer I edited it and posted it on my other blog.

Aniston was almost falling asleep at this point.

Isn't that so precious? It made my heart explode into a million tiny pieces. :)

Hot and sweaty, but still cute!

They all wanted to take turns hanging from the basketball hoop. We're easy to entertain.

Playing...

We drooled over and took tons of photos of some of the beautifully restored old buildings on the square in one town. I posted an edited version of one of them on my other blog.

Then we drove south further and ended up exploring around a lake. Very pretty! There's a family friendly resort there that I would love to visit some time.

And on the way back home, we stopped at one of those road-side ice cream "shacks" and enjoyed our first ice cream stop of the summer.

The end.

Bzzzz

2010-10-01T07:05:00.016-05:00

Towards the end of May, our neighbors came knocking on the door to let us know that they had discovered a swarm of bees in their yard. It was already past bedtime for the kids so Chris wasn't enthused about heading over there to investigate, until I pulled the "we're a homeschool family...we can't pass up a learning opportunity like this! This is what it's all about!" card.

I love that card. :)

So we learned about bees.

We learned that hundreds of bees swarm around the queen, who can lay an egg every few seconds. Wow.

We watched the professional beekeeper rescue the bees to bring back to one of their apiaries. It was really fascinating.

We learned that hundreds of bees can fly around us, and even land on us, and you won't get stung once if they're docile and you're careful. They were docile and we were careful and gently shooed them away when they landed on us.

Or we took a picture of them on our hands.

We learned why it was so important for the beekeepers to have their funny suits on, along with their jeans taped down at the hem. Bees up the pants would not be pleasant.

And I don't remember what else we learned. It was four months ago...I can barely remember what happened yesterday. :) But it was very fascinating! We asked tons of questions and even got their names and contact info in case we ever decide to try out beekeeping for ourselves. Bryan, the beekeeper, had such a passion for it and was so excited telling us all about it. It was really neat to see.

And the kids got to bed almost two hours later than normal, so they were super excited about that! :)

sprinkler fun

2010-09-30T21:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, here we go. I'm 4-1/2 months behind on posting kid stuff, and since this blog is essentially our scrapbook, I'm going to play catch up, even if it kills me. Most of these posts will be light on words and heavy on photos. Ready. Set. Go!

These photos are from... MAY 23. Seriously.

This was the first go-round with the sprinkler for the summer. The big kids loved it, as you can see. Aniston stayed far far away, but looked super cute in her little two-piece.

wordless wednesday

2010-07-28T14:27:00.001-05:00

Tulip Time

2010-07-27T13:39:00.005-05:00

Because I'm totally lacking in the creativity department today, here are some random notes about our Tulip Time 2010 experience:

It was really cold. Really. Cold.
We went with Grandma (my mom).
We got corn dogs, funnel cake, poffertjes, cotton candy, and popcorn. I think I had ten bites of food. Total. I'm not sure my mom even got that much.
When a new plate of food was placed before my children, a feeding frenzy commenced. They almost literally dove in. It was embarassing at the time, but now it makes me laugh.
Aniston was being a social butterfly with a couple ladies sitting nearby.
Aniston enjoyed her first cotton candy, as noted in the photo below.
The kids' favorite thing in the parade was NOT the floats, but the marching bands. "What was your favorite band, Mommy?" Ummm....I didn't realize I was supposed to pick a favorite band?!?! So funny! Perhaps we have some future musicians on our hands?
Emmy was even trying to march in time along with the bands as they went by. She keeps a pretty good beat.
Emmy and Aniston both watched - mesmerized - as one of the young Dutch-dressed ladies took off her wooden shoes.

Spring Soccer 2010

2010-07-26T06:56:00.001-05:00

(Yep, still catching up!)

The boys both played soccer again this past spring and they loved it once again!

Pierce has improved greatly over the last year (his first time playing soccer was spring 2009). He's much more aggressive and seems to have a knack for it, except for the goalie position. He's not very good there. :) He does really well at defense, and his offense skills are getting much better. One game, he brought the ball down the field time after time after time, and each time he got "THIS CLOSE" to scoring a goal. After the fourth or fifth time of the "close, but no cigar" I heard him let out a big, huge sigh. He was pooped and frustrated with himself. But lo and behold, during the very last game of the season, he scored three goals!!! He was pleased as punch. (And so was I. And so was Grandma, who was at most of the games. And so was Chris, who was so disappointed that he had to miss that game.)

This season, he made us so proud with his positive attitude, his good effort (most of the time), and his StickToIt-iveness.

Xander showed a lot of improvement this season as well. He was WAY more aggressive than he was last fall, getting in on those (hilarious) "ball fights". I'm sure there's a technical term for it, but I'm a soccer novice and have no clue what I'm talking about! He also had some pretty good saves (and some misses too, of course) while playing goalie. I think he liked goalie...it didn't require him to pay as much attention as long as the ball was down the field. Haha! Xander had a tendency to lose focus and sort of "wander" around at times, but that's pretty normal for this age.

Xander made us proud too. He tried really hard (most of the time), and kept a great attitude. And he has such a tender heart. There were many times that he would stop running after the ball if someone else fell, almost like he couldn't help but make sure they were okay. What a sweetheart!

The boys were on the same team again, which is so nice as far as schedules are concerned. The boys get a long perfectly on the field, and I never realized until now how wonderful that really is. They may fight and bicker at home sometimes, but it brings my heart a lot of happiness to realize that when they go out into the world, they've got one another's backs. They make a good team. And I sure do love 'em!

Jump!

2010-07-23T15:25:00.004-05:00

This past spring, the kids sold all their old video games and used the money to buy a used trampoline. It was an amazing steal, in great shape, and the kids loved it! They were outside all. the. time. So it’s safe to say that I loved it too. ;)

The unfortunate news was that the trampoline got blown away about a week after we set it up. BUT, the good news was that Chris was able to fix it with a little bit of welding. He set it back up, anchored it in the ground with 3 heavy duty anchors and chains, and it looked like we were good to go!

Wrong. The trampoline is currently sitting in a crumpled-up heap in the corner of our yard.

Oh well! It sure was fun while it lasted! I even jumped on it a few times and let me tell you, it's not possible to jump on a trampoline without smiling. You just can't help yourself!

and then there were none

2010-07-22T09:22:00.003-05:00

Back in April I ordered a tadpole kit from Home Science Tools. (LOVE that sight, by the way! I've looked through their catalog and website dozens of times, which reveals that apparently, I GEEK SCIENCE!) The kids and I were SO excited to watch some tadpoles develop into African Water Frogs.

We received 5 tadpoles in the mail (who knew you could mail tadpoles?). When they arrived, they were SUPPOSED to still be eggs but ours had already hatched. No big deal. There were five tadpoles, and they were all alive. YAY! Two hours later, two had already died.

And then there were three.

Several days later, another died.

And then there were two.

The next day, another one died.

And then there was one.

This little guy (or girl?) lasted quite awhile. In fact, it looked like his legs were about to emerge when one day, he was floating upside down.

And then there were none.

Tadpoles are pretty finicky about their water, apparently. I think the first several died because the water got too cold. It was April, we opened the windows, and I think it got just a little too cold for them.

Sorry, little dudes.

The last, lone survivor was doing so well, but we think that Emmy put her fingers in the water. Normally that might not be such a big deal, but if she had any soap residue on her hands when she did that the soap can create a film and essentially suffocate the tadpole. And since Emmy washes her hands all. the. time. we think that's what happened.

So we're going to give it a shot again soon. If at first you don't succeed [at keeping a tadpole from croaking...heehee...get it? croaking?], try, try again. Right?

Tuesday Tidbits

2010-07-20T10:13:00.001-05:00

I found some old notes about the kids, so I thought I'd throw them all together for a Tuesday Tidbits!

Tidbits* for Today:

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Earlier this year, sometime AFTER Pierce's birthday but BEFORE the next birthday in our family (Emmy's) Pierce was talking about how, since his birthday was over, his was the LAST birthday on the list.

And then he stated, "Like Jesus said, 'The first shall be the last'!"

Yep, something like that! :)

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We went to a surprise birthday awhile back, and there were quite a few people there that we didn't know very well. So imagine our joy, our pride, when Emmersyn went up to two complete strangers and announced to them, "I've got new undies on!" The look on the lady's face was priceless.

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Xander came home from church many months ago and said, "There a girl in our church whose name is Emmy too. She walks kinda like Aniston (toddles). She's really cute...but not cuter than Aniston! Aniston's the cutest baby in the whole world!"

He's so sweet. And for the record, he's correct. The other Emmy is adorable. In fact, we're in a Bible study with her (awesome) parents and all of our kids get to play together when we're meeting. They have a lot of wild and crazy fun together!

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The discussion of whether or not we're having any more babies came up for some reason. Chris and I told the kids that we probably aren't going to have any more babies.

Emmersyn responded sadly, "But I will miss Aniston."

Apparently she thought we would be getting rid of all the babies in the house, and to her Aniston was (and still is) a baby. We laughed and quickly reassured her that we'd be keeping her little sister. :)

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Back when I started getting serious about my weight-loss journey, the kids asked why I've been eating so much fruit. I eat only fruit for breakfast, plus fruit and a serving of meat and veggies for lunch, and that was apparently a big change for them since they were used to seeing me eat cereal for breakfast every morning.

Anyway, I responded, "Because I'm trying to eat more healthy."

Pierce wondered, "You weren't doing that before?"

And I said, trying to be honest but not too harsh on myself, "No...that's why I'm kinda fat."

Pierce, bless his heart, looked at me and said, "No you're not!"

Love him!

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Xander has been praying a prayer that makes me smile. He says, "God, please help all the people who don't have food to get food from heaven." I assume he's referring to the time God sent manna from heaven, but I haven't asked or clarified because I just love that prayer. It is a constant reminder that, while our necessities don't literally fall from the sky, they truly are direct from heaven.

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As I was putting Emmersyn to bed one night, she looked at me with a mixture of love and sadness, and then lamented, "I wish I had black hair like you, Mommy...."

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*My kids do and say so many things that I want to remember, so "Tuesday Tidbits" is my way of putting little bits and pieces of our daily happenings into one big, random post.