The Things They Say...

Just taking a moment to record some memories...

We were heading out the door when C (age 5) held the door open and told me to go first.  His daddy responded to his kind gesture with, "Chivalry, is not dead."  I told C thank you and as he closed the door he said, "You're welcome.  By the way, who's 'chivarly?'"


* * * * * 

After eating lunch:
E (age 7): I feel cold.
Q (age 9): I feel full.
C (age 5): I feel like I need to burp.

Friday Fifteen!

Yes, I'm still here!

So, here's a list to get you all caught up (since I've had so many comments wondering where I am...oh wait, no I haven't - but here it is anyway!)

1 - Gorgeous, 70+ degree temperatures have prompted school to be held outside.  Achievement testing at the beginning of the week prompted "Spring Break!"

2 - My kids are growing up so fast.  Our oldest will be TEN in 3 months and is growing up right before our eyes.  Our daughter's piano ability and reading skills have taken off like a bullet and our youngest has started to read.

3 - The Foo.d Net.work show, "Sweet Genui.s" drives me sweetly insane.  There is only one judge.  How can these contestants be okay with that?  And that judge drives me bonkers!  And yet, here I sit watching it!

4 - Our dog, Riley, will be 14 in May.  He's no longer able to go up the steps by himself and he's not putting much weight on his back right leg anymore.  It makes me sad.  But, at 98, I'd have a hard time doing steps, too!

5 - Will be joining my hubby on a business trip soon!

6 - This weekend is St Patty's Day.  I'm debating making an Irish Stew or serving homemade pizza with spinach.  Knowing no one, except me, likes spinach on their pizza, I'll probably go with the stew!

7 - Wow, can you believe I finally posted this month?

8 - Come on, leave a comment, you know you want to!

9 - We thought our desktop computer crashed this week, but after saying a prayer, it turned back on.  Thank you, Jesus.  I will be spending the majority of tomorrow transferring files to an external hard drive in the event it decides to commit cyber suicide.

10 - An ad for "So Slimming Jeans" should not feature a size 2 (or below) model...just sayin'.

11 - Wow, 11.  Aren't you glad I posted!?!

12 - Books I'm reading: -Marc Gungor's "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage" (we were fortunate to attend an event and I love his humor!)  - Richard Stearns' "The Hole in the Gospel" (a great read!) and -David Platt's "Radical" (another challenging read, similar to The Hole...")  What are you reading?

13 - I've done laundry every day this week, simply to hang it out on the wash line.  Clothes, sheets, blankets - soon I'll be emptying out drawers just to hang out laundry! ;)

14 - 10 years ago, I was finishing up my final year teaching Physical Education in an inner city elementary school, pregnant with our first child.  Never did I expect to be homeschooling a 4th grader, 1st grader and PreK student 10 years later!

15 - Have a great weekend!  Until next time...April, maybe! ;-D

When it's cold outside...

My baby girl!

Last week she watched her brother celebrate his 5th birthday.  Which makes them just one year apart for 9 days.  He's 5 and she's 6...until this Friday!  She's anxiously awaiting her big day.

In honor of her upcoming day, I just had to share this picture of her.

Notice she's using a spoon with her "scoops" chips...and she "ith now mithing 4 teeth!"  She lost all 4 within 1 months time.  A foot to the mouth helped knock the first one out in November. The second tooth was lost while Daddy was away a few days deer hunting...she was so excited to show him when he returned home!  The third tooth came out last Friday with a little help from her brother's head!  And on Sunday, she pulled the fourth tooth out.

We believe she's doing it for the money!  Tooth $ combined with birthday $ combined with Christmas $ - a December not to be forgotten!  ;-D

Trick or Treat!

While I despise Hal.loween, Trick or Treating has become something our little development does well. I enjoy being able to let the kids dress up in silly, harmless costumes (no gore or scare factor allowed in this house) and travel with them as we visit the neighbors.  T and I both enjoy walking with the kids, so we let a basket of candy on the porch!  After visiting a few houses, we load up the kids and head to the grands!

Riley did not trick or treat with us, but he would have been hurt had we not included him in the dress up! ;-) Actually, I put the antlers on him as a possible companion to Q's costume!

We try to be "A light in a dark world" and let our neighbors know we care about them. Tucked into the candy bags was a paper with a message "We thank God for our blessings every day, and today, we thanked Him for you." This year, we included John 3:16-18 from The Message at Q's request.  

Now, on to the costumes. E wanted to be a baker this year!  I'm so excited about her costume and what it means to me.  I already had the patterns for a chef's hat, apron and oven mitt and I just had to look online for felt cookie inspiration!

As I was sewing the chef's hat this past Friday, it dawned on me how special this costume was.  My daughter was next to me as I made it, just like she's beside me most times when I'm cooking.  My mom instilled in me a love for cooking and sewing.  And my mom inherited her love of sewing and cooking from her mom, my grandma, who we just laid to rest yesterday.  I related my feelings to E as I made the hat, "You know, E. Your great grandma was a very talented seamstress and a chef in a restaurant.  That makes your costume very, very special to me!"  And she couldn't have been more proud to carry her freshly baked "felt" cookies around the neighborhood!  I hope that she develops her love of cooking and sewing and that it will be something we can do together for many years.

C, my baby, is my wild card!  He choose an Indian costume, that Q wore a few years ago.  I'm not sure why he is making a fist like he wanted to punch me, but like I said...wild card! ;-D  He takes his 'job' quite seriously!

Q, my oldest, and truly the one that takes everything the most serious, wanted to follow in his daddy's footsteps and be an archery hunter (hence Riley with the antlers!)  He didn't want to smile for me either, he wanted the tough guy look, but I broke him!

And here they are, the Hunters & the Gatherers!  No, C isn't yawning, he's being an Indian!

How do you like that snow on the ground?  Pretty sure this is the first we've had snow when Trick Or Treating!

Wordless Wednesday

Budding Photographer, part 2

Because you asked for it, here are C's pictures (with added commentary)!



Q's practice



Legs!



Remember this picture - I'll post an updated picture later, thanks to Lee.



Drawing the practice before shooting!



Mom sewing E's bag - with an N! ;)



There's Q!



Self portrait, take 1.



Paparazzi!



Self portrait, take 76



Self portrait, take 248



Self portrait, take 5741





E's practice, on the other side of the creek.  She's closest!
The girl next to her looks like she's gonna pounce the paparrazi soon! ;-D

Here it goes again!

I first saw/heard this song after a friend posted it on facebook.  It wasn't until watching the movie Ramona and Beezus earlier this month that I figured out where the song had come from!  I love this video...if only I had 8 treadmills! ;)

Enjoy!

Totally worthy of a re-post!

originally posted 2.24.10

The best part of waking up...

It isn't folgers, but let me introduce you to my friend, cocoafee.  It's 95% hot chocolate and 5% (if that much) instant coffee.  But it works for me and is as strong as I can take it! :-D

My kids love to talk about my cocoafee addiction.  I did have to let them know that it's a word I made up and asked them to not use it in public! ;-)

My boys

Thursday morning, January 6, 2011
9:52 AM

They have their daddy's dark brown eyes.

One got his momma's dimples.

They share the same nose. 

They share a love to build legos.

I love this picture.  And there are a lot of things I could type about these boys.

But, honestly, the first things that come to my mind?

Why is my 4 year old wearing shorts? 

And what is my 8 year old doing with 2 blankets on his head?



Wordless Wednesday: Pestering my brother's dog!

Decorations!

We were decorating the tree last night when Colin asked where his pirate ship with the animals was.

Perception!

Colin (almost 4): Why does Daddy call me Batman?

Me: Because Batman is on your shirt.

Colin: There's no Batman on my shirt.

Me:  What is on your shirt, Colin?

Colin: Teeth.



He's right!

Laundry Day

At least someone in the house looks forward to laundry day! ;-D

Up to their old tricks! ;)

Its been since Spring that my youngest, 3 1/2, has taken consistent afternoon naps. 

I still send the kids to their bedrooms for some rest time and down time once or twice a week.  Our oldest usually reads, our daughter plays 'school' with her stuffed animals.  And our youngest, well, he has a train set in his room now, but he prefers to climb Mt Everest (otherwise known as the wire shelving in his closet).

He knows he isn't to climb, so on Tuesday, he hid from me.  And promptly fell asleep.

I opened the door to his room, saw an empty bed and heard snoring.

The next day, Wednesday, after a full morning at co-op and looking ahead to Bible study that evening, I decided to have them take another rest time in their rooms.  This time, it got quiet quickly in Colin's room - no climbing.  I wondered what he was up to.  And I found this.

When his Daddy got home, we asked him if we should take the bed out of his room?  He assured us no, we shouldn't.  LOL!!!

On Thursday, we used our free tickets from the library's summer reading program to take a relaxing train ride.  So relaxing, that all three kids fell asleep on the way home.

I'll let you use your imagination for that picture! ;-D