Mmmmm...

April 4, 2013

There's this gas station/tourist stop near-ish to the science museum that carries a million and a half different kinds of soda. We'd never been and had heard so much about it that we couldn't pass it up while we were nearby so we stopped in. Everyone got to pick their soda and we sat to drink them up. What a treat!

The Science Museum

April 4, 2013

Brad and I both fondly remember visiting the science museum when we were young and we decided that we should take the kids there while we were nearby. We hadn't actually done too much school while we were there so this would be extra great.

We got to see a rocket engine and pretend to be an astronaut.

 

We learned about erosion and and water systems.

 

We drove a tractor!

 

AND... we climbed this thing. I can't remember who fell, but someone did. I think it must have been mister W but it might have been miss L. Luckily, the floor was rubberized and no injuries were sustained (and that might be why it says no climbing under eight years old!).

 

What fun! We got to hang out with Grandma AND learn some stuff. Yay!

Another Lost Tooth!

April 3, 2013

On April 3rd, I was cleaning out the car. We were going to go get Brad at the airport and I was trying to make sure he'd have a place to sit! I had put the kids on the couch in the living room for quiet time and when I saw miss L coming around the car I started to get onto her asking her why she was not on the couch, etc. When I finally stopped she said, "Look, I lost my tooth!" I was so surprised! Sure enough she'd lost that second loose tooth. She was so excited to show Mawmaw and Pawpaw and to get that second visit from the tooth fairy who left her a gold coin. Yay!

Sleepy time

March 31, 2013

Each night, after the kids had gone to sleep. I would send Brad a text or an email with a picture of the kids asleep in their beds. When I found this one, it was really cute. Mister W fell asleep reading his new little critter book (a gift from Grandma). It was really such a great day.

Easter

March 31, 2013

We love spending Easter at my parents' house. They've got a huge backyard (complete with a "park") and I think they enjoy watching the kids wake up and enjoy finding baskets and doing their egg hunt. The kids woke up and enjoyed their baskets while I hid eggs in the backyard.

 

Then it was off to the races. We didn't dye eggs this year and instead miss L and I got some eggs to fill up. There were bunny fruit snacks (which they still think are candy, thank goodness!!), some chocolates and then lots of little figurines (the kids LOVE those "toobs" of figures). I was really worried that one of them would find all of the treats and the other all of the figures but they really ended up really finding the same stuff so I didn't have to intervene or even say anything. Miss L naturally found the harder to find eggs and mister W gravitated toward the easier ones. They got pretty much the same number of eggs even. I know it won't always be so easy but this year it really was. Yay!

 

Sweet little man was just sort of having fun with the whole thing. He wasn't that into finding the eggs and I was helping him a bit. He'd pick one up and want to hold it. When I'd put them in his basket he would then empty it out. :o)

 

After breakfast and egg hunting we waited for the cousins to be finished with church and come on over. I do have to say that's the one thing I really missed by being at my parents' house. Brad was able to attend Easter services at our church but we were unable. We certainly could have attended services at my childhood church, but it isn't quite the same as OUR church. You know? Anyhow, it was still an amazing day.

The cousins arrived. These two are just two peas in a pod. Miss L is pretty lucky that she has a cousin who is just 6 months older than she is. When we start talking about visiting, miss L starts talking about seeing miss H and they have so. much. fun. together!

 

 There was plenty to eat and lots of playing to do. We even had another egg hunt. Happy Easter!

SURPRISE!

March 28, 2013

Pretty soon after we arrived at my parents house I just couldn't shake the feeling that I just wasn't feeling well. I was tired. I mean I was TIRED. I couldn't remember stuff. I was kind of crabby. I was really starting to get worried that it was Lyme. I hadn't had symptoms of Lyme in over a year so I thought I was pretty much in the clear but I just knew that had to be it. Ugh!

Something in the back of my mind kept nagging me though and I started to think that perhaps I should just take a pregnancy test and just prove that I wasn't. I took the test. Here's what happened.

 

Now as a person who only six years ago was told that I would never get pregnant with my own eggs I don't think that I would ever be able to get one of these and not be happy about it. We prayed for children for so long and I remember having this peace that we would have a large family. When the twins were born I thought that was it. When I got pregnant out of the blue with sweet little man it was an absolute miracle. I used to joke that it was my dream to accidentally get pregnant. So this was a blessing. I do have to admit that I was really surprised. With sweet little man we weren't trying but we weren't really not trying either. I was ready for another little one. This time I'm just shocked. I had to call Brad and text him the photo. He was immediately smitten with the idea which put me at such ease. Brad is my rock. If he's at ease with an idea then I know it's okay. AND what a blessing it is. Can you believe it?! I mean CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! I did three rounds of IVF and a frozen embryo transfer, people! I'm not supposed to get pregnant. I'm so blessed that we went through those troubles. Seriously, without them I wouldn't have miss L and I simply cannot imagine my life without her. I just can't believe that this miracle is happening again.

Miss L is beside herself at the thought of being a big sister again and mister W is right there with her. Sweet little man has no idea what is going to happen to his life, but there you have it! WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!

ROAD TRIP!

March 24, 2013

A couple of times a year we load up the car and head across the country on a road trip. The kids are always covered in their toys but mostly end up watching the DVD players that we bring along as a special treat. Brad let us borrow his fancy headphones for the occasion and I couldn't help but snap this photo of mister W rocking the headphones. So cute!
 

More Homeschool!

March 14, 2013

We have no set curriculum for science or social studies but we fit it in as things come up (for example, we did some human body stuff when miss L was really into that and there are plenty of opportunities for fitting in social studies) so it makes such great sense that we do some different plant life cycle stuff right now.

As part of observing how plants grow we planted some carrots in a two liter bottle so that we could see the roots form. It was really easy. We just filled it with potting mix, put the seeds in, watered them and kept watching.

 

 We observed our seedlings coming up for our garden plot plants.

 

AND we made a model of a plant and labeled the parts. It had roots, stem, leaves, flower, and seeds. She loves these activities and when she's having an awesome time then that's when it really sticks!

Poor Sweet Little Man

March 12, 2013

Oh goodness. Sweet little man was the last victim of this year's never ending stomach bug. He's the only child I've ever had who reacts to being sick by wanting to hold onto me all day long. I hate it when he's sick, but I suppose that at least if he's sick then we get to snuggle...

Garden Plot

March 9, 2013

It's not a huge secret that Brad and I are wannabe farmers. This year we actually managed to get a garden plot at a local community garden (YAY!) and so we are really in it! The plots are big, 20'x20' and so we've been spending some of our time this long winter (no snow but DUDE it has been COLD) planning our plot.

The time has finally come to start our seeds indoors. We've tried this before without a lot of success. We haven't had a grow light before, so we purchased one this year, and I think we failed to pay enough attention to our growing seeds before. This year we are going to love these seeds like they are our children (well, maybe not quite THAT much) and we gave them a good start according to our favorite gardening guide Rodale's Organic Gardening. 

Here's to a great year in the garden!

Cookie Sales!

March 9, 2013

We have the BEST daisy scout troop known to man. It's all homeschoolers and the girls are absolutely fabulous. We didn't sell cookies as a troop but we did help our sister brownie troop to sell theirs and one early cold March morning miss L and I headed to Starbucks for a treat, and then to her cookie booth.

Miss L was mostly shy during the actual hour that she was there to sell cookies letting the other girls speak up more often, but it made quite the impression. She's talked for months about doing another cookie booth and selling more cookies. She'll just have to keep up the excitement for another year!

Poor Mister W

March 8, 2013

This poor sweet child. They say that a "weak" stomach is really the sign of a robust immune system because the body expels any invaders before they get to far down. If that's the truth, then poor mister W has the best immune system around. If someone just happens to mention, "I think there's a stomach bug going around," then mister W is sure to get sick within 24 hours. This one was a doozy too. It seemed to just drag on and on. I know that he's my kid, but seriously, look at him. He's so sweet. How can anybody not see that face and just feel awful for him?!

Homeschool!

March 5, 2013

We are continuing to work really well in this groove we've got going. Miss L is almost done with her handwriting book, "Handwriting Without Tears," and soon we'll just be concentrating on handwriting as it occurs. It's exciting to wrap this up! We've loved the program and miss L does a great job writing even though she has some trouble with her grip and her hands get very tired. I'm hoping that as she gains strength this will work itself out (and I hold my pencil incorrectly and though my hands do tire as I write, it isn't a daily hindrance in my life).

 

 We planted a bean! It's just a kidney bean but my plan is to observe it and to document its progress in our science journal. 

 

 I love our math program too. We're using Right Start math. It isn't perfect, but I really like it. I chose it because it didn't have many worksheets and was really involved between parent and child. I also like that it's a spiral curriculum, meaning each lesson builds on the one before. The drawbacks were also the assets. We had to really work on a few concepts because we knew we'd need them in the future before moving on and it was a big commitment for us to sit down and do the lessons together. Of course, the most important element of any curriculum is whether or not it was right for miss L and it most certainly is. She loves math and I have to say that she's pretty good at it!

This particular day we were working on symmetry. She cut out the shapes and then was to find the lines of symmetry with the georeflector (that red thing). 

 

She also spent some time playing a game where I would put in a number on the abacus and she would find the tens and ones cards to make the number. It's great for visual processing too.