So long ago

It has been so long since I posted anything here. For my birthday in September, Chris got me an iphone. Since then, I hardly ever get on my computer. Everything is on my phone. So here is an update on my family.

Grant is almost 8. It is hard to believe he will be 8 in August. He finished 2nd grade this year and really came a long way in his reading. Reading went from his least favorite subject to his most favorite subject. He is playing baseball again this summer. He plays right field. His batting is really improving this year. Grant also loves swimming. Every time we go to the pool, he has a new trick to show me.

Katie Beth is 6. She is my little mommy. She likes to try and take care of everybody! She finished Kindergarten this year and is really doing well in all of her subjects. She can sound short vowel words out and some long vowel words. She took ballet for the first time this year. She loved it. She is our performer. She loves to go swimming too, but it is more for the social contact. Every time we go, she makes a new friend. She may not know or remember their name, but they are her friend.

Seth is 27 months. He is our comedian. He loves to make everyone laugh. He does everything he can to keep up with brother and sister. Everyday his talking is improving. The cutest thing he says is "I didit!" He is so proud when he can figure something out and do it himself. We have been working on reducing the amount of time he sucks on a Bobby (pacifier), but we have not eliminated it. That is our next step. In fact I am going to cut the tips off of them this afternoon. We have also been slowly working on the potty. He was trying to go on the potty, but now he just sits on it. I'm not pushing real hard, but we are getting used to it.

That is what we have been up to lately in our house.

He is being like the President!

Yesterday morning I was feeding everyone breakfast. Seth was eating a lot. He finished one bowl of oatmeal and was fussing. I told him to say "More Please" if he wanted more. His said "no." So I walked around the bar to get him out of his high chair. He started fussing again like he wanted more food and not down. I went ahead and cleaned him up and put him down since he would not respond using words.

Katie Beth answered and said he is being like the President. I said what do you mean by that. She responded that he said one thing when I asked him if wanted more and then changed and said another thing when I went to get him down.

I cracked up. I thought that was so funny for a 6 year old to put that together.

Curly Girl

All of my life I have had straight hair. I mean straight as a board, nothing can curl it hair. If I use hot rollers or a curling iron, it will be straight again before I can get out the door. Back in the 80's, when perms where the thing to do, I would have to get my hair fried to get it to curl. It was bad.

When I found out I was pregnant with a girl in my second pregnancy, I selfishly prayed for her to have curly hair. I prayed for more important things for her too, but I did not want her to have the curse of flat hair. (Now I know some think curly hair is a curse too. I have a friend who has very curly hair and would love to trade me for my very straight hair.) When she was born, she had a full head of black hair. As she got older it got lighter and curlier.

When it got to the point it was very curly, I realized one problem. I had no idea how to take care of curly hair. It is so different from straight hair. My hair is soft and hardly ever gets tangled. Her hair is so coarse and get tangled when you just look at it. She also has a tender scalp, so when we comb it out we have tears and cries of pain and I get very impatient.

I have tried so many things to make it easier to brush out her hair. My hairdresser told me not to use the products that say they will get tangles out. She says they are very acidic. What has worked best for us is during her bath I comb out her hair while there is conditioner in it.

As she has gotten older her hair has become more straight. We have let it grow out long and there is just a wave to her hair now, but it still tangles so easily. And we still have so many problems combing it out.

The other night I was reading Smockity Frocks. She had a link back to an old post she had done about a book called Curly Girl and how she took care of her hair. I found it so interesting that I read all she had on it. So now we are going to try the Curly Girl way. Last night I did not use shampoo on her hair. We just rinsed it and then put conditioner on it. I then combed it with my fingers and then we did a quick rinse. I did not want to rinse out all of the conditioner, but just a little.

This morning her hair is curlier. She is complaining that it is too fluffy and will not go behind her ears, but I do think it is curlier and looks better. We will see what this does and if it makes it easier to take care of her hair. The only problem is that she got make-up for Christmas from her Aunt Sandra and she put glitter make-up in her hair. Just rinsing it in water did not get the make-up out of her hair. I wonder how long it will take to get that glitter out?

Here is the link to Smockity Frocks: http://www.smockityfrocks.com/2007/03/curly-girl.html

Out of the Mouths of Babes

We spend Christmas Eve with Chris's family. We usually eat dinner that always includes beef tenderloin, then go to church for Christmas Eve services, and then go back to Chris's parents house to open presents.

This year when we went to leave for church, Grant wanted to ride with Chris's brother and their son Jackson. So we took their daughter Caroline in our car with Katie Beth and Seth. When we got to church Caroline said, "I know why we are going to church. We are going to church to celebrate Jesus's birthday." Katie Beth answered with,"Are we going to get cake?" I had to tell her, "No there would be no cake."

What I Have Been Doing

For the past week I have been cleaning out bedrooms. I started in my daughter's room. I have been wanting to paint her room, but it was so messy that you could not walk through it. We spent one day cleaning out and organizing all of her stuff. That night when I was giving kisses and hugs, my son asked if we were going to do his room the next day. I think he was a little jealous. He usually has the cleaner room of the two.

So, the next day we spent on his room. I thought his room would be easier, but it was actually harder. He had a bunch of little things that were very hard to classify. When it was done, he was glad.

After I had finished their rooms, my room was the messiest in the house. I tried all week to work on mine, but I had one big problem. The baby. His crib is in our room. I work the best while he is asleep. Finally on Saturday the kids had a birthday party to go to. I put Seth done for his nap in the pack and play in the living room and my wonderful husband took the other two kids to the birthday party and I had uninterrupted cleaning time. I was really embarrassed by how much dog hair was on my carpet and my comforter. I had taken my comforter off of my bed to take to the dry cleaners, but my dogs had decided that it made a good bed. One of our dogs is a Chow/Golden retriever mix and she sheds so bad in the summer. After all of my cleaning I finally took my comforter to the dry cleaners today.

In other news. I finally got all of my curriculum ordered. Today Grant's reading books came in and I am really excited about them. I have switched him to Sonlight for reading, but had to order them off of ebay. It took a lot of patience for me to wait until I found all of the books together and at a price I could afford, but I think this reading will be better for him. Last year we did Abeka reading. I love Abeka, but I think he was bored with it. When I started checking books out of the library for him to read, he started reading better. I think he will do better with reading real books instead of readers.

So, my plan for curriculum this year is ABeka for phonics, language, math, and spelling. Getty Dubay for handwriting. Math- U- See for Katie Beth's math. 100 Easy Lessons for Katie Beth's reading. Sonlight reading 2 for Grant's reading. Sonlight Core K for history. Some lapbooks and experiments in a bag for science.

I am still working on putting together our Bible. Last year I used a devotion book that Grant had and their memory verses from Awanas. This year I bought a book called Polite Moments. It is more of a character training book. I think I am going to focus on a "trait" a week and find verses to go with that "trait". I will write about how this goes when I start putting it together more.

In other other news. Our upstairs air conditioner is out again. This is the third time this summer. I am trying to be thankful in all things. I am trying to look to the positive. I put Seth to bed in his pack and play and I am going to go upstairs and clean bathrooms. I usually put this off for fear of waking him. Since he is not asleep up there, I know I will not wake him.

Off to clean bathrooms!

Science Swap

I am terrible about planning science experiments. When I do get around to planning them, I then realize that I do not have all the supplies, then I forget to put the supplies on my grocery list and I never buy them. So I was really excited when one of the mom's in our homeschool group put together a science swap this summer. At the homeschool conference I went to, I bought several science experiments in a bag from a company called Holy Cow Science, but if I participated in this I could get even more science experiments already planned.

To participate in the Science Swap, you had to plan a science experiment in a bag. You were to put all the supplies you would need to perform the experiment in a gallon Ziploc bag with the directions for the experiment and make enough for everyone in the swap to have one.

Eight families participated, so we made up eight bags of an experiment called bobbing raisins. We all met at a park and the mom that coordinated the swap had eight bags setting out and we put one of our experiments in each bag.

My kids were pretty excited to have some experiments to do and I was really excited to have experiments that I did not have to plan or gather the supplies for.

Yes Ma'ma, No Ma'ma

I have had a hard time teaching my children to say Yes Ma'ma, No Ma'ma, Yes Sir, No Sir. I have corrected them and corrected them and they still do not seem to get it. I was really getting tired of correcting them and not seeing them get it.

Then one day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, http://www.smockityfrocks.com/. She had a post about using a jar of marbles to give your kids an incentive to do things. I pulled out a jar and a bag of marbles and we started.

Every time they said Yes Ma'ma, No Ma'ma, Yes Sir, No Sir they got to put a marble in the jar. When the jar was full they got to go to Marble Slab for Ice Cream. They filled that jar up pretty quick.

So, the second time around, I made it harder. This time I could take marbles out. I told them if they talked ugly to each other, if they did not obey all the way, right away, or any other thing that I thought was ugly, they would lose a marble. It took them longer to fill it up this time, but it sure is a good motivator.

Yesterday they filled it up and we let them choose their treat. They choose Snow Cones. So last night we loaded up in the car for a trip to the Snow Cone stand. They really enjoyed their snow cones. I just wish I had taken a picture of them with the snow cone juice all over their faces.

This morning I emptied the jar to start over and they already have 4 marbles.

God gives Strength

Yesterday our Bible lesson was about God giving us strength to do the hard things in life. The verse it was based on was Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

When it was time to cook dinner, I had planned on grilling some chicken. The kids were in the backyard riding their bikes. When I went out to start the grill it was cold outside. They were out in shorts and t-shirts. I told them it was cold. When I went back to put the chicken on, the kids told me that God was giving them strength to stay out in the cold. I just laughed. Even if they did not fully understand the lesson, at least they were listening.

My Princess

Sometimes my little Princess just cracks me up. She comes up with some of the funniest things and when she tells me about it she is so animated that there is no way to retell it and capture that animation. So here is my attempt at it because I do not want to forget these things she has said:

Sunday Chris brought her home from choir practice and she runs in the house all excited and tells me "Mom I get to be a sheep and I have a solo." I respond, "You get to have a solo?" "Yes," she replies "and I get to be a sheep!" I think she was more excited about being a sheep.

A couple of days later she is telling me about her solo and says, "I get to stand in front by the black thing, you know the microphone." There is just no way to show her excitement over this. Later in the day I hear her downstairs playing the CD with her music and yelling the words, "I would sing so quiet." Did you get that? She was yelling, "I would sing so quiet." I told her she needed to use her pretty voice. She proceeded to tell me she was pretending that she was singing in front of everyone and she wanted to make sure they could hear her. I told her she would be singing into a microphone and everyone would be able to hear her just fine.

Another story about her was from the other day in the car. We were on the way to a funeral and she tells us that she has decided she wants to be a missionary. She wants to tell people about Jesus and give them Bibles. About this time Chris and I were pretty proud of her for saying that. She then proceeds to tell us that why she wants to be a missionary is because sometimes at night missionaries eat marshmallows. So my daughter want to be a missionary so she can eat marshmallows. She then tells us she is going to be a missionary around here on this Earth. She is not going to other Earths. How cute is that?

Carmel Apples

I thought I would make Carmel Apples with my kids. I am not very good at involving my kids in cooking or doing special projects. I thought this would be a good way to do both.

It did not go well. I cooked the Carmel in the Crock-Pot. I thought it would not get as hot as a pot. It did get very warm. On the first apple, they both hit the sides of their hands on the Crock-Pot and both decided that they would let me do it all.

Do you like how well I fix my daughter's hair? How about the swimming goggles around her neck?

For directions to how we made the apples, check out my other blog.

Be Careful With Your Pronunciation

I use to be a children's leader at Bible Study Fellowship. One week when we were planning our lesson about the woman at the well, the leader's manual said to be careful and say well not whale. Make sure the children understand it is a well.

I thought that is silly. The children would not confuse well and whale, but I made sure and explain that it was a well were they would get their drinking water in biblical times. That they did not have water faucets like we do.

Well, the very next Sunday when we were leaving church I asked my son what his bible story was this week. He said it was about Jesus and a Dolphin. My husband and I looked at each other very confused and wondered what they were teaching our children. Well, we went through a list of things that we thought the story could be about and he kept insisting it was about Jesus and a Dolphin. Then I remembered my Bible Study Fellowship lesson. I then proceeded to ask him if it was about Jesus and a whale. He said yes that was it! Well my husband and I had to reteach the story to him and make sure he understood what a well was not a whale.

So the lesson I learned, so well from my son, was to watch the way you pronounce things. You never know who might think you are talking about Jesus and a Dolphin.

A chair full of clothes

In our town we have a biannual kids clothing sale. You can sell the clothes that your kids have outgrown and buy new ones for the next season. The clothes have to be free of stains and tears.

I have been participating in this sale since it started. Before we had one here I would travel to one that was held in Little Rock. I love that I can buy everything my kids need for the season at once. Before there was not much for bigger boys, but this year I found more for number 1 son than anyone else. I was so surprised!!

Last night when I brought all of these home my kids were so excited. Number 1 son was the most excited. He had to try on everything. He kept saying, "Thank you Mommy, Thank You!"

So for all of these clothes, enough for 3 kids, I paid about $300. I also bought some shoes that I did not get in the picture. These clothes are all name brand too!! They are Gap, Old Navy, Gymboree and Children's Place. Sometimes you can even find boutique brand clothing.

You can choose to sell your clothes at 1/2 price on the last day of the sale. I did not find many pajamas and I also need a play coat for princess. I am going to try to go back on Saturday and see if I can find any more bargains.

My best bargain was the coat I bought for Number 1 son. It is a wool coat that looks brand new for $5. I was so excited. I even found a similar one for baby. Now the boys can dress alike. I also found a corduroy blazer for Number 1 son that looks just like one his Daddy has. they can dress alike too!

my sweet kids

Last night number 1 son and princess went to new classes at church. Number 1 went to Sparkies and princess went to Adventure Land.

In Sparkies they earn "money" for memorizing Bible verses and bringing friends. The first friend he thought of to bring was his sister. They really are becoming best friends.

That is one of the advantages to homeschooling. They spend everyday all day together, so they have to be good friends. If they were not they would have no one to play with.

Princess loved her new class too because they sung songs. Anything to do with music and she loves it!!

And Baby got to stay with me. He has been teething and he ran a slight fever on Wednesday. So he got to go learn about home management. He was pretty good in there. I hope he did not distract too many.

6 years

Our 1st baby is six years old now!! Grant had a birthday on August 2nd. I does not seem like he should be 6. I am learning how important it is to enjoy each day, because before you know it they will be in 1st Grade.

Today we went and ordered books for the new school year. It seems unreal that we are ordering 1st grade books. It seems unreal that he will be able to do all of the things in these books by the end of the year.

So in two weeks, ready or not Grant, we will start 1st grade!!