Showing posts with label Daily Happenings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Happenings. Show all posts

Monday, Monday

Monday, Monday
So good to me.
Monday, Monday
It was all I hoped it would be. ~ Mama's & Papa's


Making Volcano's






Micah helping Isaac with science experiments




Xavier showing Isaac static electricity


Painting w/water


Building Puzzles


Making Bouncy Balls & Flubber




Sabrina Performing Magic Tricks


Analyzing water collected from a local stream.


Not to mention watching TV, playing with Phillipe & Buddy, cooking, cleaning, drawing, singing, surfing the web, video games all before 3:00. Now what are we gonna do the rest of the day?

Holy Rattlesnake!

Holy Rattlesnake! I didn't appreciate Joel finding this in our yard as he mowed Saturday morning.





I tried to convince him to kill the thing, as I DO NOT like snakes. However, he said we cannot hurt nature and took it over to the woods so he could be free. Joel tried to convince me that they are a vital part of the ecosystem - they eat rodents & since I hate rodents... I tried to convince him that I hate snakes more than mice. It didn't work. Lucky snake...




Windbags, Tadpoles, Cookies & More

Today started out rough. Kids fighting, yelling, throwing tantrums, and me loosing my cool and yelling at kids. Ugh - I hate it when days go like this. The only conciliation I have is that after we all talked out a few problems we were able to get along the rest of the day and start having some fun.

First up windbags. No matter how often I pull these out, the kids never get tired of seeing how many breaths it takes to blow one up completely. So we blew up the entire stash and decided to make shapes and things out of them.

Dragonfly


Hat


Pyramid


Sammy the Elephant


After an hour or so we decided to go for a walk. Isaac and I have been reading about tadpoles and Micah knows a place near the house. We headed to the secret place that Micah was taking us to, although only Micah saw the tadpoles we did find a frog in hiding and see some water striders. On the way Isaac had to impress me with adding 2+2, 2+3, and asking his brothers how much 5x5 is. Then we had to count mailboxes along the way





On the way back we stopped by the playground.









After lunch...
Isaac played with the windbags some more, watched more Thomas on YouTube -can you tell this is a daily occurrence and played with his trains.
Sabrina was suppose to go down for a nap, but decided it was more fun to stay away and climb in and out of her crib. Then she decided it was naked time.
Xavier watched another episode of Pysch (his fave show) and ditched us to go to the pool with friends.
Micah made Peanut Butter Cookies, practicde using the wood burning kit, and ditched us for the movies.



In the end it turned out to be a pretty good day. Think I will curl up with a book and eat cookies after we tuck the little ones into bed.

Sewing Day


Micah has been asking me to teach him to sew for a few years. I figured today would be a great day to pull out the machines. I have a pile of "mom/honi can you fix this growing" and Micah is itching to make a cover for Buddy's cage.

After rummaging through the craft box Micah settled on some leftover denim material. After he cut and pinned the fabric I showed him how to thread the machine. Then I was quickly dismissed. Seems he has this - don't need momma at all. Wow! Considering how easy this was I should have "taught" him to sew years ago when he first asked.



Here is the completed project. Not to shabby for a first timer.

Atoms & Turkeys

Tuesday morning atoms were the rage at our house. Joel gave each of the boys a question concerning atoms. Micah spent the morning researching, building both out of Magnetix and having a huge discussion with Joel. I paid attention for the most part. I was right there with them as the talked about atoms and water molecules, but they lost me when they started discussing DNA, RNA, and genetic coding.


Xavier did some research on his IPod. Then decided he was going to write a song about atoms. He is almost done with it (so he says). He gave me a small taste of it, but I am still waiting to hear the final result.


While Sabrina napped Micah, Isaac and I headed back up to the library. Micah wanted to get some books on drawing. Isaac wanted to get whatever he could grab and I already had a handful to turn in and a list to pick up. I have been reading a lot of nutrition/GMO Foods/back to the land type books lately. So I picked up a few more of those along with a handful of Chemistry books for myself. Currently I am working on the "if I read it & talk about it - they may get interested and read it too" idea. It's not working out that great, but then the main topic of discussion over the last week has been about turkey sex or lack of it and having the job of being the "turkey sperm wrangler" (you need to read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle to get it). The boys are not to thrilled with the idea of reading about sex as it is, much less turkey sex. Oh well, maybe Chemistry will be different. Besides I never took it in High School so I might as well learn about it now. Maybe then when Micah decides to have these "chemistry" discussions with his dad I won't be out in left field.

The rest of our Tuesday consisted of video games, swimming at the pool, more talk about turkeys (specifically how we won't be eating one for Thanksgiving if I cannot find one which does NOT have the name Butterball on it, as I won't be eating a Broad White Breasted Turkey) and having a jail in our living room. Only the warden responsible for shutting off the living room decided to hide under the table.





Wednesday was not nearly as exciting and plain out sucked for me. I was not in a good mood. I woke up late & missed a meeting I was suppose to be at :-( Maintenance didn't show up to paint - must of mixed up the date on my calendar. Signed the older 2 up for Edge classes. Guess who agreed to be a taxicab every day for a month :-o Not sure what I was thinking there, but they both wanted drawing, skateboard design, and theater arts. Isaac went to gymnastics & I was suppose to meet someone afterwards only for them to not be there. Okay so I was 4 minutes late.... but seriously??

The boys spent the day reading, playing video games, talking about technology, and the Amish (thanks to another book I just finished reading). We also learned how Xavier will live in Maine on a farm and make his children wax the toilet for punishment if he doesn't make it into the Air Force and how women everywhere should be safe if he is around because he now knows how to deliver a baby in a cab (and pick a lock and kick down a door - thanks to a book he is reading).

For dinner we ditched all forms of good nutrition and had breakfast burritos, talked about Thanksgiving some more (yep we talked more turkey) then ended the day watching a show and goofing off. What turned out to be a crappy day had a wonderful ending. Well, except for the evil face we kept being given - don't be fooled, no matter how cute she looks right now - that is NOT the cute face...


"Not School" Learning

As all the kids in our neighborhood walked to school or hitched a ride on the big yellow bus today I sat on the porch thinking about how thankful I am to be at home with my children. I am thankful that I do not have to wake them up early during the dog days of summer to rush them out the door so they can sit in a classroom with 20-30 other kids learning from a prescribed curriculum. I am thankful I do not have to worry about whether they are bored to death, being challenged enough, or being held back because their interest is not something which does not correspond to their age. I am thankful we can go as fast or as slow as we want when it comes to different subjects. Most of all I am thankful that I/we do not have to look at the middle of August as the end of summer and the beginning of fall (which officially starts September 23rd).

So while hundreds of thousands of children across America watch their summer come to an end today. We enjoyed every moment of of our summer day and even did some "NOT SCHOOL" learning along the way. To many it may look like we spent the day playing (we did), but learning happens all the time.

So here's a look at our "Not School" Learning day...

Our morning consisted of watching "Secrets of the Dead: China's Terracotta Warriors". A trip to the library where a miracle happened and we only came home with 1 bag full of books & played puppets:







Our afternoon/evening was spent reading, drawing, napping (Sabrina & I), playing video games, watching Thomas videos, building tracks, swimming at the pool, and more reading. While it was a fun-filled day for us, plenty of learning was taking place. Objectives covered today: social skills, research techniques, history, the judicial system, science, religious beliefs, creativity/art, physical education, money skills, strategy, nutrition, our body/GMO foods, air streams, and more. It was a pretty awesome "No School" Learning day :-)

Schedules - Weekly Review

Starting off a new morning routine has been pretty easy so far. Xavier and Isaac are totally into it and things are definitely improving. We do not eat breakfast together as I had hoped for, but Xavier is up way earlier than Isaac and I and eats almost as soon as he wakes up.

Monday and Tuesday we got up, relaxed for about 30 minutes, had breakfast then went upstairs to clean bedrooms and complete the upstairs chores. Everything went real smooth and Xavier even practiced his guitar in the morning. We were done by 10 (which is good since we didn't get upstairs until around 9ish).

Things went a little different Wednesday though. I had to go for another Dr. appointment so when we got up we started off okay. Except we were having to leave the house early so the upstairs chores were going to have to wait until we got home. Isaac didn't quite understand why things were not going like the past two days. As I stood in the kitchen putting stuff into my purse he struts into the kitchen doorway, puts his hand on the wall, looks at me and says "Have you cleaned your room?" and started heading up the stairs. It was so funny. Who knew that in only 2 days my little one would be wanting to go upstairs to clean.

Today is another off day. Isaac and I woke up late (I really need to start setting my alarm clock). However, Xavier has completed all of his chores and is now playing his PSP. Which is an amazing thing and I better get moving if I plan to accomplish any of my goals for today.

Quick Update

Yep, I have gestational diabetes - Nope, my platelets are good after all (although they will recheck them when I go into labor)- So far, acupuncture has not worked on turning "baby girl" around.

I went for acupuncture twice this week and although she moved a little each time. She then went right back to where she was to begin with. So they sent me home with moxa cones to help (it hasn't done anything, lol).

I also had to go to a nutrition class and get my glucose meter Thursday. That took all morning long. Friday we were back at the hospital visiting the pharmacy to pick up more strips/lancelets for the meter.

The diabetes thing is not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be (Praise God). The biggest problem I have with the whole thing is having to be on a strict schedule of eating and testing my blood. I don't mind schedules per se... I just don't normally look at a clock through out the day so I have to set an alarm to remind me to check my levels every time.

To top it off we all ended up with a cold this weekend. Not the best end to a hectic week, but what can you do?

Oh well... I need to get to bed so I can start the new week a fresh.

What is the fascination...

with sticking stuff up one's nose?

Eight years after our last emergency room visit with a child because he stuck a bead (twice) and a rock in his nose (yes that is 3 er visits) Joel had to take our youngest to the er for the same reason. Only this time it was a bright blue BB from a pellet gun (not sure where he found the BB, but obviously he thought it belonged in his left nostril, lol). Although we tried to get him to blow it out before heading up to the local hospital, the trip took place. Luckily, he never had to be seen by the doctor, because he thought it was quite fun to sit in the waiting room and try to blow boogers into his daddy's hand.

Unfortunately, when asked "do we stick things in our nose?" hoping he had learned his lesson. His answer was "yes". Oh Lord, I do pray that we do not have more object in nose er visits from our son (or daughter to be).

Monthly Menu Planning

I have started shopping once a month for groceries, except for the perishables and things which require re-stocking (milk, bread, etc.). Doing this has cut our grocery bill in half, because I spend less money on junk and actually have enough food in the fridge/pantry for every night of the week. We still have been eating out more than we should especially since we trying to save money for another vehicle. So I thought I would share my menu for the month. Micah and Xavier cook on Monday nights so I even get 1 night off a week. That doesn't include the nights that Joel wants to cook out or make something new which is a couple of times a month. I am truly blessed!

1 - Stuffed Peppers
2 - Chef Salad
3 - Wings/Appetizer Night
4 - *4th July Cook Out
5 - Pork Chops
6 - M: Beef Stroganoff
7 - Shake/Bake Chicken
8 - Tacos
9 - French Dip Sandwiches
10 - BBQ Chicken
11 - Meatloaf
12 - Pork roast
13 - X: Beef Tips and Gravy
14 - Chicken Alfredo
15 - Subs
16 - Spaghetti
17 - Breakfast Burrito's
18 - Roast (beef)
19 - Stir Fry
20 - M: Sausage Pasta and Veggie Skillet
21 - BBQ Sandwiches
22 - Swedish Meatballs
23 - Kabasa
24 - Rotisserie Chicken
25 - Pork Chops
26 - Bacon Burgers
27 - X: still undecided
28 - Breakfast
29 - Pizza
30 - Chicken Salad
31 - Stuffed Shells

Now I need to figure out a breakfast menu in time to go grocery shopping this afternoon.

The Boat Has Been Rocked!

Yesterday I went for my ultrasound. I had a wonderful tech, we laughed, joked and yapped while she snapped the pics she was suppose to take of the baby. The boys were so upset they could not be there for the ultrasound (they went with me when I was prego with Isaac). The wanted to know the sex of the baby so bad. So I did a nice thing and had the tech write it in a piece of paper. I asked for her to just write it down so we could open it together. Forgetting that I was getting pics... She took a pic of the sex and stapled it into a piece of paper. I even looked away so I did not know.

Joel has been working midnight to noon shift. So he was asleep when I got home, and we waited, and waited. When he woke up we found out. I was in shock!! She wrote below the picture "3 bright white lines. A girl!!" and on the pic it was typed "Think Pink".

A GIRL!!!

Of course I was excited, but I was also in shock. I have 3 boys - this one definitely is gonna be different. The boat has been rocked for sure!! Last night I was scared. Girls have girly issues and DRAMA. Boys are easy. BUT by this morning I am already planning Mother - Daughter teas and Girl Scouts. Whoo Hoo! A girl!!

Who would have thought I would have ever had a girl.... only my Lord!! Praise his name! While I may have doubts of being a mom to a girl odviously He thought I could handle it ;-)

I guess it is time to change the name of my blog, lol
In Christ~
Tanya

Saturday's Photos

Saturday we hung out around the house and I was able to snap a few photos of the boys in the backyard.
Bang, Bang, Shoot
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Me & My Daddy
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Having Fun
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Gee Mom, Do you have to take my picture?
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Me & My Mommy
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My Boys
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The Past 2 Months...

We are finally settling into our new home. Okay well I am to tired to settle in anymore so the upstairs closet and a corner in my dining room still need attended to. I may get to it eventually but for now I just don't look in those directions ;)

We picked out our new couch almost 2 weeks ago and it was delivered on Valentine's Day - the perfect Anniversary present!! We are still waiting for Micah and Xavier's bedroom sets to get here. Hopefully we will get them next weekend as the headboard for Micah's bed was scheduled to be in the warehouse Feb. 20th and it was the main thing we had to wait on. The boys are definitely excited about having new dressers, a nightstand and a bed for Micah. We are slowly getting new furniture, but we have been truly blessed!! Everything is paid for and we are sticking to not owing anyone anything.

Not a lot has been happening around here. Our days are pretty typical: wake up, eat breakfast, do chores, school, play outside/go to park, eat dinner, hang out, Bible reading, watch TV, go to bed.

Isaac talks more and more each day. We got him an imitation plasma car from Wally-World. He loves it, and spends his mornings riding in a circle around the house going to "work" like Dada. Of course he has 2 jobs: 1 he works on helicopters and 2 he is a police man. If he isn't riding his car, he is yelling at someone to put "choo choo" on TV. Mistake #1 buying Thomas Train video. If Isaac had his way it would be on 24/7 (even when he is not in the room).

I will try to get some pics of the house and boys soon. Love to you all!

Isaac Photo Op

When I took my camera out to take a few pictures Isaac decided he would be my muse. Here he is in all his glory. (P.S. that is my new couch - YAY)!!

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Outdoor Fun

Skateboarding..
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Stealing Isaac's trike!
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Loving Chicken Alfredo

A few nights ago we had Chicken Alfredo for dinner. Isaac loves this meal so I gave him left overs for lunch and decided he could feed himself. Needless to say he had to have a bath before naptime.

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Eating grass

At first he was just playing...
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Then he decided to put it all in his mouth...
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