Funny lunch

Also pinterest inspired...springy hotdogs and Pinocchio smoothies;)

Blessing our family

To get rid of negativity and fighting I made this chart. Anyone can get a point for anything I deem worthy (getting ready for school without being asked, being a good listener) and put their point anywhere they want for it any goal they want to reach. The fighting has really gone down! The bonus is that every goal is something for the family to enjoy together!

Yummy spellers

Well, I guess it is a Pinterest summer! Here I am quizzing E & A on past spelling words from this year. They agree because after spelling it in Twizzler's Pull & Peel they get to eat it!

My favorite gifts...

This year I focused on the magic of Christmas and found the season enjoyable and not that stressful! I tried to do something fun each day that felt like Christmas. We bundled up and drove around looking at lights while sipping peppermint hot chocolate, made batch after batch of cookies and bread, made cards and gifts, played carols every day, switched our scripture reading to Matthew and Luke, watched tons of holiday movies, set up two trees in our tiny house and so much more. We were busy, but I'm happy because we did all the things we WANTED to do. So now the day is passed and next week the decorations will all get packed away until next year (I think I will start earlier!). I would like to shout out to my favorite gifts this year:
1. A quilt for my dad. My mom made him a brown, cream and blue quilt their first Christmas and since then it has had a history of being stolen by various children...especially me:). I would like to go on record that twice my dad GAVE it to me even though he does not quite remember it. (in recent years my kids have taken it from me!). In all these years it has had a lot if use and love which has really taken a toll on the seams, material and yarn ties. Pieces are literally falling off!!! So this year (starting in July and put away for a month for having a baby) I made a new quilt as close to the old one as possible. I matched the colors and textures and followed the layout. I did make it longer since I always felt it should be long enough to tuck under the toes. It was such a close match that I tested it with naps several times with a slightly mischievous smile (I stole it before giving it?)! I decided my mom needed one too so I made her a NJ quilt with fall on one side and spring on the other. It was such a joy to sit around with my baby alternating between nursing and sewing! I love finding a gift that I know will be loved!!!
2. E's horse. My daughter has entered that phase in a little girl's life where she loves horses (is it a right of passage or something?). She researches them, spends forever by horses at the zoo, watches horse movies (Black Beauty is the fav of course!) and talks about how nice it would be to own a horse. A few weeks ago she was invited to a birthday party...at an equestrian center (yea!)...on a Sunday (boo!)...she was so sad, but I was sooo impressed that she did not ask to go. I told her that in the spring we could go on the pony rides at the zoo. Matt was brilliant and came up with the idea to get her a horse riding lesson instead of a toy. That is one of the reasons it is a favorite...he thought of it! So I found a place and bought a gift certificate and took a tour. They were very nice there and invited her to come down and watch the lessons as much as she wants and to look at the horses in their stalls before setting up a lesson time. Great! This means two horse outings!! It is a dream come true and she is sooo excited!!!
3. A racetrack for my boy. All A wanted was a little car track like his friend's. He loves playing with that and it is a toddler toy. He didn't know that cooler versions existed! So we got him a matchbox car system with four loops and the cars sometimes fly past each other and sometimes crash when they meet in the middle. He and Matt spent an hour or more setting it up and enjoying it! Seeing my boy with his skinny legs crouching over this I had Deja vue...he looked just like his namesake uncle when he got his racetrack for Christmas around that same age! It reminded me of playing with it and laughing hysterically as our cat chased the cars around at hyper speed;). It took me back to my childhood.
3. A massage gift card from my baby as a thanks for the midnight hours. I love this not only for how I will feel, but because it was completely unexpected and very thoughtful! Matt went above and beyond and it feels good to be appreciated.
5. My baby. I was in walmart when a woman in her 40's abruptly stopped and stared at my baby. She gushed for a bit and declared, "oh, you got your Christmas gift early!". I just beamed and said, "yes I did!". He is what I wanted for years and I'm grateful he is here!!!!

Thank you to all my loved ones and friends for helping me have a wonderful Christmas!!! Happy new year!

Blogger app

I've downloaded the blogger app for my iTouch in anticipation of hopefully getting an iPhone soon. Will this help me keep more up to date? Anyone want to place bets on that? ;)

I haven't posted my sweet baby yet. I'm in heaven and madly in love with him. Unfortunately, he is already growing too fast!

Summer plans

So I decided that this summer would not be wasted on sleeping in and pretending to not hear the kids fight while watching television. I have a grand view of getting things done, making my kids smarter and getting ready for the baby. My sister, Mandy, wisely said, "that's great, you should post it on your blog!" So once again, she is being a good example and I will share with you what we are doing so that the great ideas I found can easily be used in your home too!

Countries of the world...it is the nation wide theme for libraries to use as their program and Michaels craft store has joined in. Go to the store and pick up their booklet of 18 countries in the Passport to Fun book (for free). We picked out 10 countries for our 10 weeks of summer. Michaels has a schedule of their craft times when you can go (don't know yet about registration and costs) and do the crafts there or follow the online instructions and do it at home. One project is to make a different little "hat charm" that you pin onto your World Hat...one charm for each country you study. We will use the booklet's info for a starting point and find snippets about animals and landmarks. We will also eat something from that country for lunch or dinner that week and on Fridays see if we can find a movie in their language or that takes place there. All informational, but with a fun summer twist! (Also, I'm assigning Germany and China to the two different sets of grandparents for the week that we see them each!) I also bought the blank Dr. Seuss books for the kids to work on writing their own silly books (2 in a kit for about $5).

My wonderful neighbor found bookadventure.com, a free (Sylvan sponsored so I expect adds) service. I registered, then I registered each kid. Their account is linked to mine so I can see their progress and personalize rewards! The kids can get a list of suggested books to read or type in a book that they found on their own and see if bookadventure includes it too (I have yet to type in a title that they do not cover!). Each book has a quiz with 5-10 questions about it (depending on reading level). They answer the questions and get points for correct answers. They can redeem their points for prizes offered on the site (rocky mountain chocolate and tattoos are looking fun) or print certificates for redeeming at home (I offered a movie night date or buying a brand new book from a store...they always want star wars kids books)! E has already racked up 680 points in one morning and both have selected the types of books they want to read so we have titles to look for on our next library trip! (They also connect to funbrain.com for fun educational and free games and a kids almanac for free so we have another easy C.O.W. resource.)

We also have flashcards for subtraction, addition and telling time thanks to Grandma Elinor and her bargain shopping at teacher garage sales! We will cover science through kits and free online suggestions (I love familyfun.com and stevespanglerscience.com). I will also incorporate piano 3 times a week and see if we can get that interest going again! Dinner will be more fun because they each get a night to be in charge of cooking :) Go to spatulatta.com for videos of kids teaching kids how to cook! They have yummy simple recipes for the kids to learn.

Last, but not least, are the workbooks. I bought comprehensive workbooks for each kid so that I just have to tear out a few pages each night for the next day! (I found ones from: Kumon, brainquest, brighterchild and schoolzone (which often comes with coordinating software).) I also have "This is not a book!" by Keri Smith for the fun experiments (check her out!!!! The explorations look awesome!). I also have a money workbook and a fake, but realistic, money set for lots of practice in counting and making change. From the fabulous Mrs. Monteleone (E's teacher) I have a binder of all tests, spelling, blending and unit studies from the year for reviewing so that E is perfectly ready for next year and A gets a mini preview of his next year!

Sounds like a lot, but it is broken down in bite size pieces along with the kids helping out with my flylady.com household keep up (check her out if you feel like you can't keep up with the home). All should be done by 11:30 am so that we can pack a lunch and head to the lake for the afternoon or enjoy friends outside (gym class)! I've promised that rainy days and WAY too hot days are set aside for lots of movies and wii time so they seem happy about that. There are camping trips to take, vacations, my brother's wedding with built in reunion, outdoor movies at the lake, soccer...there is so much to do that sounds like so much fun! I just want to make sure that it doesn't all slip away from me! So here's our schedule:

Daily: Journal, worksheets, 15 minutes of reading and then E has blending and spelling while A has handwriting and writing to 100!

Monday: Country of the Week (C.O.W.) into, flash cards, silly book, piano, E cooks
Tuesday: $, This is not a book!, A cooks
Wednesday: C.O.W. food and art projects, piano
Thursday: $, This is not a book!
Friday: science, flash cards, C.O.W. movie, piano
Saturday: make up day if we need it along with a library trip to prep for next week!

I have it all laid out on the schedule and calendar and all the books and tools are in one spot so that it is ready to go...we begin on Wednesday since that is the first day of summer!

Wish me luck and enjoy any of the resources I found to make your summer program as easy as possible! And remember: it is all supposed to be short lessons that are fun and enjoyable! I will try to remember to blog along the way...maybe Mac will fix the iPhoto so I can start including photos again!?!

Bless that...

Last night my sweet boy (5 1/2) decided to give the most thoughtful prayer in the world. This translated into a prayer that could possibly rival the length of my mom's...numb knees and all! Sorry mom, you know that is a family joke ;) There is nothing wrong with trying to include every possibility in your prayer, but eventually it was SOOOOO HARD not to laugh because every thought was proceeded by "bless that..." We were all stifling our laughter and held it together long enough to make it through and thank him for being so considerate. So, what can a 5 year old pray about for 5 minutes? Let's see how much I can remember...

And please bless that...
we won't fight
that we will be nice to each other every day....and every night
that we will choose the right
that the baby will grow healthy and strong
that (fill in one of 6 relatives/friends on the list) will feel better
that we can sleep quickly tonight
that we will be safe
that we will be so happy in the whole world
that we will clean up our toys and not trip on them
that our fish will grow
that there will be no fighting in the whole world
that we will love each other
that daddy will go to work tomorrow
that we will have a good day at school tomorrow
that we will not get on red tomorrow (light system for discipline at school)
that we will stay on green tomorrow
that we will be healthy with healthy bodies
that we will not be sick
that our friends will not be sick
that we will have a happy day
that we will have a happy night
that we will have good dreams and not wake up
that we will feel so happy when we are nice to each other
that our friends will be happy
that .....

seriously...5 minutes of Please Bless That...it was too cute, but around 3 minutes it was sooo hard not to laugh! He says each sentence with such sincerity and intensity! And you can tell he is racking his brain for every detail to pray about to make it the longest prayer ever!

Needless to say, he is in charge of nighttime prayers and not morning prayers when we are in a hurry to run out the door! He is too cute and sweet!!!