BLAH!

Yes that is Blah, as in NOT BAH HUMBUG!!

While I am still in the pseudo-Christmas spirit, my stomach isn't. After having a sinus type cold for several days, I now have a stomach bug to go with it. The doctor who insisted on making me come in, gave me the dreaded diagnosis...Hmmmmm a VIRUS! Well, I could have told you that. I was just looking to alleviate the symptoms.

So since Monday I have had a little jello, a popsicle, a little oatmeal, and now I have branched out to a little mashed potatoes.

Yesterday, Mike and I "celebrated" our 9th wedding anniversary. He took Katie to ballet and Christmas shopping. I laid on the couch. He came home and bathed the kids. I laid on the couch. We got the kids both in bed. I went to bed. Such celebration!!!

Maybe next week!

Uncle Doug???

Could this possibly be Uncle Doug in a former time and place???

A nephew after his Uncle's heart!!!

Nutcracker Performance 2007

Katie had the opportunity this year to be in the Nutcracker performance that is put on by her dance school. After practicing every Thursday since October, they finally performed Sunday afternoon. My pictures are from the dress rehearsal on Saturday though. No flash photography on actual performance day.

Here is our Little Angel:

St. Nicholas Day

Shoes were put by the fireplace last night. And this morning St. Nicholas must have come since there were 2 candy canes and a book left for each child.

Our day went well. We finished lessons, relatively painlessly. The kids colored St. Nicholas pictures. I had a quick doctor's appointment for which I got a neighbor to watch the kids, so they had fun playing with friends. Nicholas took a nice nap in his actual bed instead of a car, as it has been lately. Katie and I made St. Nicholas day puppets, and then made chocolate chip cookies. We managed to survive Nutcracker practice as well as gymnastics with minimal I'm hungry complaints. And then everyone made it through a nice warm bath and picture taking session.

I would say it has been a good day!

Christmas Pictures

I had this grand idea....

I would take pictures of the kids in matching Christmas jammies, and then take another set of pictures of them in their Christmas finery. Then I would make a beautiful, stunning Christmas card out of the two pictures.

Here are the outtakes from session 1 tonight.

Maybe if I close my eyes and stick out my tongue this will all be over soon.

Hello, I am Mr. Grumpy Pants.

Hee, hee, hee. My sister is cute, but I look better with my tongue sticking out.

Huh???

GRRRR! I am so outta here!!!

Snow Day

Everyone loves a snow day.

But how many of you can say you love a snow day that begins at 7 AM with your 6 year old begging, and pleading to go outside before the snow melts. The snow mind you that is still coming down quite steadily in the 30 degree temperatures before the sun is even up.

Our snow day began at 8:30. It would have started at 8 but it takes half and hour just to put all the gear on 2 children. And that was without boots. You see, since we are planning to return to Texas quite soon, what did I need to buy boots for? I couldn't even imagine if I had more than that.

So here is our snow day in pictures.

I am currently calling our snowman Tilty instead of Frosty. As the day went by, he seemed to have some gravity issues.

Anyway, the kids had a blast, and since another 2 inches or so is expected tomorrow, I think we will be in for some more fun!

It Is Officially Winter

How do I know???

The electric blanket went on our bed last night. COZY!!!

Happy Birthday Katie!

She finally made it to birthday #6. It has been over a month of great anticipation. When your birthday is the month following your brother's it is hard to wait.

We filled her birthday full of fun. I was supposed to watch her best friend for the morning anyway, so she chose a playplace that she wanted to go to, and we called up another neighbor to come play with Nicholas. The kids ran and jumped, and went up and down the slides until they were STARVING...then we went to McDonald's for lunch (the birthday girl's choice).

Afterwards she played with her friend a while, and then in the afternoon had gymnastics practice. After gymnastics she chose a lovely dinner of Taco Bell (YUCK) and Cold Stone for dessert. Then we hurried home and to bed they went.

The following day we had some errands to run, and things to do, and then Katie had her birthday party at her gymnastics place. She got to invite 10 friends, and 8 of them were able to come. The played with the parachute, they built a house with a bed and couch from foam blocks and mats, they jumped on the trampoline, and into the pit. And some of them swung from the bars. She had a fabulous time!! And when I say fabulous, I mean FABULOUS!! After all, she wanted a High School Musical party.

SNOW??

Seriously....

Snow flurries???

It was 65 yesterday!

Ancient Egypt Come to Life

When you start out building a pyramid as part of a lesson on Ancient Egypt, you will find out how much knowledge has truly been absorbed by your child.

Not only will you have one very large pyramid, but two smaller ones will be built.

Then you will need the "basement" complete with sarcophagus and the pharoah's treasure chest with gold and jewels.

Of course you will need a few palm trees out in the desert. And Bob the Builder and his cat will temporarily become Egyptian citizens.

Later you will want to build the Nile River and after laying down all your blue blocks, will declare that you have nothing more than a "puddle". Definately not enough to constitute a river.

Lastly, you will begin construction on a wall to go around the pyramid. After all, it seems a wall is a very good idea (the Chinese did it) for keeping out the thieves.

The Benefit of Homeschooling

When your child is answering the question "Can you swim in a lake?", and answers no, teachers in the public school system would mark this wrong.

Here though, the logic of the child far outweighs the supposedly "right" answer.

No you can't swim in a lake. There might be crocodiles in it!!!

I figured her answer worked for me.

Mom's Night Out

I have finally held my first monthly Mom's Night Out evening.

Inspired by a group of friends in Texas that I used to meet with for a crafting out night, I devised a scrapbooking night out at my house. We started at 8:30 P.M. and the last person left around 1:00. We actually spent most of the last hour just chatting, but it was oh, so nice!

I baked pumpkin bread with and without chocolate chips for sharing. And several of the other friends brought food and drinks for sharing as well.

Everyone got a lot done, which was even better. I happily completed Katie's birthday party invitations, which I didn't intend to do, but then figured I might as well. I also scrapped these 2 pages which I love.

Things I Love

Check out this great site for weekly mass activities.

They have two levels: 3-6 year olds and 7-12.


We are back to loving this book.

I just finished up relaxing and watching this set of DVD's.

The kids adore and laugh hysterically through this DVD.

And with all the drama going on at my absolute favorite, Dancing with the Stars, I am gearing up for my next 2 nights of tv watching.

The kids, like Michele's have been playing with the Do-A-Dot markers a lot.

And I have also enjoyed this bad for you treat.

The Wiggles

The Wiggles have come and gone in phases at our house. First Katie when she was only a year or so, then Nicholas around the same time, and now Nicholas once more.

Lately he can be found singing Hot Potato, Hot Potato or Fruit Salad around the house or as he goes to sleep. And for this reason, I bought tickets Sunday morning to go see the Wiggles at the Cintas Center on Monday evening.

We didn't tell the kids where we were going, and the whole way there Katie made guesses. The zoo, a fair, the park, where??????? But once we got inside the building she looked around and saw the Wiggles merchandise and knew where we were.

I'm not sure who enjoyed themselves more, Nicholas, Katie, or me watching them enjoy themselves so immensely.

And for your entertainment, I present Katie and Nicholas.

Halloween

The island princess and her fireman friend.

The weather could not have been more perfect for trick-or-treating this year. Cool enough to wear costumes without sweating, but not so cold that we needed coats. The added bonus of having daylight savings time not changing until the following week, meant that we got to go around in sunlight for the first hour or so.

The kids had a blast walking around with some of their neighbor friends, and got lots of candy. Nicholas was the first to poop out, and just enjoyed a ride in the stroller. Then Katie declared herself done, and we returned home to hand out candy to the other kids of the neighborhood.

In the meantime, daddy had gotten the dreaded stomach bug, and was spending his time in bed resting.

Ballerina

The pretty ballerina

Another One Bites the Dust

The stomach virus has now successfully taken down, Nicholas, Nicholas again, Mommy, and Katie. All 3 seem to be recuperating just fine on a diet of oyster crackers, saltines, oodles of Dora soup, mashed potatoes, Sprite, Gatorade, Pedialyte, popsicles, jello, and anything else bland and tasteless.

Katie was hopefully the last victim, this morning. Daddy has midterms this week and next, so there is great hope in this house, that the stomach bug has officially been Clorox wiped, Lysoled, bleached, and sanitized OUT!!

Prayers would be most welcome.

MOM, I Puked!

While that is probably the grossest title ever, it is the statement that describes life the last 12 hours.

On Monday night at 9:00 during my favorite, Dancing with the Stars, Nicholas ended up throwing up in bed. On pillows, pillowcases, sheets, and into the mattress. You get the picture. But yet he remained absolutely normal in activity, and just kept saying I puked.

Then he woke up Tuesday morning, fine as could be. Spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday fairly normal. Then midnight last night, another round of throw up, with the call of Mom, I puked. He has since managed an episode of projectile vomiting. Amazing how far pancakes can fly. But he keeps asking me for food.

I'm telling you, this boy would literally have to be dying, not to be hungry. In the meantime, he will be subsisting on oyster crackers, popsicles, jello, and pedialyte for the day. He luckily had a doctor's appointment scheduled tomorrow for his 3 year old checkup and flu shot. Maybe this is just an effort to get out of the flu shot. Could he be that smart??

Definitely YES!!

The Boy Who Golfs

Thanks Uncle Doug!!

Purdue Game Day

Last Saturday we went with Grandma and Grandpa B. to the Purdue v. Iowa football game. We met up with my parents and brother there, and I think everyone had a relatively good time. The weather was gorgeous. A little cool in the shade and just about right in the sun. But the best part for the kids was getting to slide down the fountain after the game.

Plus we all got to enjoy a nice dinner together in our own private dining room before we all returned home.

It's Finally Out!!

It took a month and a half, but the little tooth that wiggled and jiggled is finally out!!

And the toothless girl couldn't be happier.

A Day of Learning

Okay. I know this weekend was ridiculously hot for the 2nd weekend of October, and I know that I complained that it was too hot and there were too many bees to host an outdoor picnic. But really, I didn't need the temperature to go from 91 to 51 in 24 hours. Really, a gradual downward spiral towards fall would have been okay by me. The kids didn't even know what hit them when I handed them socks this morning. I think Nicholas may have even looked at them as foreign objects never seen before in his short life.

Anyway, we went along in our lessons today, since it was way too cold to go outside, and I have instituted frequent breaks throughout the day. I find that we could sit 2 hours to get certain things done in the morning. Or I can break it up in 2 subject intervals and get it done usually faster.

So, we worked on our history lesson for the day on Egyptian writing, and did our map work. And as I am helping Katie with her maps we are reviewing what we learned about ancient Egypt's kings. And she tells me that the white king won against the red king, and took over all of Egypt. And I inform her that she has it backwards and the red king won and that is why the first pharoah's crown is red on top and white on the bottom. 2 minutes later, I find she was indeed right, and after I tell her, she smile and giggles, reveling in the fact that she knew more. I knew this day was coming, but I didn't have any idea it was coming this soon.

But so far, The Story of the World seems to be a hit. The textbook (if you want to call it that) is engaging and well-written. It presents new vocabulary with each lesson. The activity book is also laid out well, with excellent ways to eek out a good narration after reading. And then it has some awesome craft and activity ideas to reinforce the lessons. Plus the list of fiction and nonfiction books to correspond with each chapter is fabulous. With the addition of our own timeline, and using the globe to find places, this is definately turning out to be an excellent year of history.

The PARTY

While Nicholas informed me nightly that he wanted a blue birthday cake, I had already envisioned a dump truck cake for him for his 3rd birthday. After all, isn't a toy and dessert all in one a good thing? So here is the picture of the cake this year.

One brand new dump truck, 2 pans of brownies cut into squares, one package of Oreos crushed, and a package of gummy worms. 15 minutes and the cake was done. Oh, and don't forget the bed liner of wax paper so that the toy needed minimal clean up. Of course, being the birthday boy that he is, he managed to find the cake prior to the birthday celebration, but since it was covered with red plastic wrap, he only really knew that his cake was in a dump truck, he didn't see the gummy worms.

He still needed some help blowing out the candles for his official celebration this year. More spit than air seemed to be coming out. And as I served cake into bowls for his little guests, he swiped as many gummy worms as he could.

We ended the party with a ribbon pull pinata. Katie was the lucky contestant who opened the pinata filled with candy, mini-playdoh, cars, and bouncy balls. For you people who are nuts enough to use real pinatas and trust children under 10 with a stick, bat, or other whacking device, I am not that brave, and I have never seen one open that way. Seems the Daddy is always stuck using tools to gouge a hole at some point. So for now I stick with the ribbons.

This small but fun birthday party was definately a hit. He had a great time playing with his friends, being sung to, eating cake, opening presents, collecting pinata treasure, and playing outside in the heat and mosquitoes briefly. I don't think I have ever seen him so happy!

Happy Birthday #3

Happy Birthday to the cutest big boy ever!

The one who likes to say "Chicken Feet".

The one who asks for ice cream for breakfast.

The one who happily dips his apples in ketchup.

The boy who is always hungry.

The one who loves all things green.

The one who drives a pink Barbie Jeep around without a care.

Who loves Playdoh and Legos and playing outside.

The boy who is all boy.

The one with the sweetest wet kisses.

The one with the most vigorous hugs.

And the one who loves his daddy, mom, and sister at different times in different ways.

Happy Birthday #3!

I DID IT!!

While I am not completely thrilled with the new look, it finally is more fall themed and I got my picture of the kids up.

I finally with no help from any blogger people figure out how to clear the cache on the computer and that seems to have fixed the problem of making changes one at a time. Now unfortunately I am forced to do this if I make an error and want to make a change every time. I still blame Blogger, but I am done making changes until Christmas time.

Halloween Fun

We live in a very large neighborhood with lots and lots and lots (did I say lots) of young kids. And with Halloween comes the giddyness of young kids dreaming of what they will BE for the holiday. But also comes the goofiness of the young parents in the neighborhood. And last year that goofiness came a few short days before Halloween. But tonight when the doorbell rang at 8:30 in the dark, it caught me off guard, and made my heart beat a little faster with fear. Who rings the doorbell at night??

Why the Boo people of course. You see I received a lovely paper bag of treats with this picture enclosed.

The idea is that someone comes to your house after dark and deposits a bag of treats on your doorstep and then rings the doorbell and runs. Enclosed with the treats is this picture, which you are supposed to hang up on the front door so you don't get BOO'd again, and another page with what is this year a weird poem. The poem instructs you to make two copies of the poem and two copies of the above sheet, and then go BOO 2 other houses within 24 hours.

Last year was our first experience with this, and having never had anything like this type of neighborhood in Texas, I found it kind of a cute way to do something surprising for others. So I pass this on for anyone who would like to try it in their neighborhood.

This year's poem is this:

The air is cool, the season fall

Soon Halloween will come to all.

The spirits are after things to do

In fact, a spirit brought this gift to you.

Boo is the shield from the witching hour

Just hang it up and watch its power.

On your front door or window is where it hangs

It wards off Goblins and their scary fangs.

The treat that came with coupled note

Are yours to keep, enjoy them both.

The power comes when friends like you

Will copy this and make it two.

The others here among our friends

Will give Halloween treats near twilight's end.

We'll all have smile upon our faces

No one will know who "Boo'd" whose places.

Just one short day to work your spell

Work fast and no one tell

And don't forget a nifty treat

Like something cute or something sweet.

Please join the fun - let's really hear it

And spread some "Boo's" and Halloween spirit.

Like I said, last year's poem was much better but I don't remember it, but the idea behind it is a fun one.

Tree Installation

When having your old purple leaf plum tree pulled out by professionals, and your new October Glory maple tree installed...

the best seat in the house is definitely sitting on the driveway in the Barbie car with your cold drink of water...

Oh, and don't forget the baby!

Soccer Boy, Part 2

One boy -(minus) one pair of cleats - (minus) one pair of shinguards = PURE JOY!

What a difference 2 weeks and no soccer equipment makes.

All In a Days Work

For some, work is considered a job.

For others, it is too much fun!!

Still Angry With ME

Blogger still is quite upset with me. As you may have noticed a very large picture of my wee ones was once in the title, but has since disappeared. It takes approximately 3 days between each mistake before I get a chance to try to correct it. Something is wrong and I have e-mailed the blogger people but nobody seems to care about lowly old me on the totem pole, and therefore it may still take a few years before this site is back to being about something other than fighting to change the look.

Blog In Progress

I have been messing around with my blog, which I know is frustrating some of you, but blogger has decided to be difficult, and every time I try to change something, it lets me make one change and then revolts, and it is driving me crazy because it means I have to wait several days before it forgets that I irritated it and lets me try to make another change, so please just stand by, programming will continue in hopefully a few days, weeks, months.... who knows??

My Days

My days seem full and busy lately, much like a friend of mine. And while I wish that I could call one day of the week my own, I keep reminding myself that I volunteered for a few things that occupied my free time.

So here is a look at our weekly schedule.

Monday: School for Katie until 9:30, when we leave for swim lesson at 9:45. Then we return, eat lunch, do more school, put Nick down for nap, and finish schoolwork.

Tuesday: School for Katie, gymnastics 4:30 to 6:30

Wednesday: 9 to 12 at our church working Faith Lessons for Moms childcare. Lunch and nap for Nick, school for Katie

Thursday: School for Katie, gymnastics 4:30 to 6:30

Friday: School for Katie, gymnastics 4:30 to 6:30

Saturday: Ballet at 9:30 for Katie, soccer sometime between 9 and 12 for Nick, and other random gymnastics exhibitions and team things.

Sunday: Sunday school at 8:00 for Katie and I. Other random gymnastics exhibitions and team things.

It makes me tired just looking at it. Then throw in the doctor, dentist appointments, errand running, and other stuff that comes up, and whew, how did life get so busy from one year to the next.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

After returning on Sunday from our trip, we planned out Daddy's birthday. He asked for pancakes for breakfast, which we happily made and enjoyed. And then we went to the library to pick up a book I had special ordered for him, to Subway for lunch, and out to a nearby park for a little play time.

For dinner it was homemade pizza, and cake.

Katie really wanted to make a cake for daddy. So we ran out to the store to get a cake mix, frosting, and decorations. Talk about last minute planning. The kids chose a set of baseball players at Michaels and from there we planned what kind of cake to make.

I think it came out well for a last minute cake, and it tasted delicious.

The kids practiced singing Happy Birthday, and then enjoyed a very smoky candle blowing.

The Beach

The kids picking shells.

My water baby.

The boys throwing rocks.

On the Road

The mountains of Pennsylvania in the distance.

Midway through Pennsylvania

The best part of the drive...picking acorns at a rest stop.