Dancing with Cinderella

What I learned at church last Sunday

2012-02-07T22:44:00.005-06:00

I'm thinking that I'd like to make this a regular feature on my blog. It really helps me go a little deeper into the message and think about ways it applies to my life. Maybe we could make it a little blog hop...something for me to think about. Let me know if you'd be interested.

This Sunday, our lead pastor was away at our new campus and our associate pastor filled in for him. I'll admit, that when the pastor is away, I sometimes feel myself "check out" a little during the message, but not this week. Pastor K's message was so good! It was an amazing service!

The main scripture for the message on Sunday was Matthew 13:16-17

"But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

Pastor K talked about how we, as believers, are blessed because of the things we have seen God do and things we have heard that God has done. Things like God healing the sick, God stepping into someone's life and turning it around, God blessing our finances when we choose to give, or God restoring a marriage that had been broken.

As I listened to the message, I thought about the ways I have been blessed by what I have seen God do. I thought of some times when we have had a financial need and God has met it in an unexpected way. I thought about jobs that have come our way because God has supplied them.
But the main thing that I thought about is how I have been blessed when I personally experienced God's peace in my life in situations that we anything but peaceful.

I've heard the Philippians 4:7 quoted many times,

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"

There have been several times in my life that I have felt the powerful peace of God-a good friend died in a car accident when I was 19, when we lost my dad, and when we decided to move here with no job and no home, not knowing what the future would hold-I have felt God's peace.

During the service, my mind kept going back to a time when I had felt that peace that I haven't really shared about before. It happened on the day that I was taken by helicopter to the heart hospital with "bilateral pulmonary embolism", or multiple blood clots in both lungs.

I had been to the ER the night before with a racing pulse and difficulty breathing. My blood pressure and blood sugar were also through the roof. The doctor at the ER said the my high blood sugar was causing the other symptoms and didn't look into it any further. He gave me an insulin shot and sent me on my way with orders to make an appointment with my doctor at home on Monday (this was a Saturday night).

Sunday morning, I continued to get worse so back we went to the ER. After a chest X-ray, blood work, and a CAT scan we were left to wait for an answer. The doctor had come in once and said that she felt I had pneumonia but was waiting for test results to confirm it.

Finally, after a long time, the doctor came in and asked a question I wasn't expecting.
She said, "How do you feel about helicopters?"

I don't remember a lot about the time between being told I was going to be "life flighted" to the heart hospital and when they crew came to pick me up. I know it was quite a while and that they were delayed from the original time we thought they were coming. I remember that the wind was blowing and hearing that there was only one crew flying that day. I remember that I got a new IV and the male nurse that was putting in my IV was arguing that I didn't really need it, which made me a little nervous. There's something a bit scary about an angry nurse starting an IV on you (although I must say that he was the most knowledgeable nurse taking care of me that day and I was blessed he was there to talk me through what was going to happen.).

When the crew arrived, they came in and started asking me a bunch of questions. They actually asked me the exact same set of questions twice. One guy was standing next to me asking me questions and writing things down. Another guy was hooking up equipment, talking with nurses, etc and would ask me the same question about 10 seconds later.

Once they got me all hooked up to their machines and loaded onto the gurney (that's a weird word, but that's what it was) for the helicopter, they wheeled me out of the room and into the hall to make our way out to the waiting helicopter. It was the weirdest thing-every few feet all the way out, there were security guards along the hall and once we were outside, there were several more lining the sidewalk to the helicopter. It was a strange feeling having all those people watching me being wheeled away.

The helicopter crew (are they paramedics or is there another name for them? I don't know.) got me loaded up and then climbed in. They put a helmet on me that had a speaker so they could talk to me and a microphone in case I needed to talk to them. The pilot started the motor and off we went.

If you've never ridden in a helicopter, the best way I can describe the feeling is that it's like being on a really tall ferris wheel. It kind of rocks side to side as you lift off the ground. I thought I might be scared, but it was actually a pretty cool experience (not that I want to do it again). The only thing I didn't really care for was that I was right in the very front of the helicopter, which was made of glass. The only option I had if I didn't want to see what was happening outside was to close my eyes, so I did.

I rode with my eyes closed for a while trying not to think about what was going on. I knew if I let myself think too much that I would lose it. But trying not to think about something is a sure way to make yourself do just that, so I started to get a ~~little~~ lot nervous.

Before we left the ER, I had been told there was a med they could give me if I got panicky. I hadn't felt I needed it then but still had the option if I needed it after we got in the air. After about 20 minutes in the air, I was starting to think I needed it. I was feeling overwhelmed and afraid. My husband was out of town and I was worried about how him driving back. I was worried about my kids being taken care of, and I was afraid of what was going to happen to me. The reality was setting in of just how sick I was to warrant a helicopter flight to another hospital. I opened my eyes, ready to ask for something to calm my nerves.

When I looked out, we were just approaching a river (I think it was the North Canadian). I wish I had words to describe the view. It was breathtakingly beautiful! The way the river and it's banks snaked through the trees and the sun reflected off the water was so pretty. On the other side of the river, the blue sky touched the tops of the trees. It was view of creation that I hadn't seen before. As I took it in, this song immediately came to my mind.

I could hear the music in my mind almost as clearly as if someone had turned on the radio and as I "listened" to the song, I felt a peace fill that helicopter that was so strong you could almost touch it. It was an amazing feeling!

That peace stayed with me through the rest of the ride, being transported by ambulance from the helicopter to the ER of the heart hospital (nearly a whole block-ha!), and being admitted to the ER alone because my family hadn't made it there yet.

I was truly blessed that day by what I saw and by the song that I had heard! Even today, when I hear that song I close my eyes, see that beautiful view in my memory, and feel that sense of peace fill my heart. God is so good!

How has God blessed you by what you've seen and what you've heard?

Our December #4-Church Christmas program

2012-02-06T12:00:00.001-06:00

This year I had three kiddos in the Church Christmas program. Cheyenne had a speaking part and Sierra and Landon were in the choir. They started practicing in November and it paid off. This was one of the best kids' Christmas programs I have ever seen!

The night of the program, they were pretty excited, as you can tell.

Cheyenne got to wear a headset mic and thought she was pretty cool.
The play was about a group of kids who were going to throw birthday party for Jesus and wanted to invite their whole town. They went to see a TV news reporter who thought it was silly. In the end, he comes to report on their party and ends up accepting Jesus. It was so sweet!

Cheyenne played the part of the little girl who kept track of how many "RSVP's" they got for their party.

Landon and Sierra did a great job in the choir! We practiced those songs until I could hear them in my sleep, but it was worth it because they knew every word.
To be honest, I didn't think Landon would last through the whole program. I expected him to come down off the stage or to get upset after a few songs. I completely underestimated him. He did such a great job! I was very proud of him!

Sierra is a lot like her mom in that she does not like the spotlight. She was so nervous. A few minutes into the program, I noticed she was holding this little girl's hand. She kept holding on almost the whole time. The little girl let go for a minute and Sierra grabbed the bottom of the little girl's dress. Toward the end of the program, I saw her whisper to herself, "I'm okay." I'm so proud that she stuck it out, though.

Cheyenne got to sing her first "solo" too. She sounded great!

Cheyenne also had the part of Mary near the end of the program. She took the part very seriously.

During this part of the program one of the little girls Sierra's age sang "Happy Birthday, Jesus." She did a beautiful job! I had already heard her sing it in practice but hearing it during the program was so powerful! It brought tears to my eyes! I know her mom was so proud of her!

The last song was the kids' favorite because it had actions. Can you tell Landon's enjoying it?
All the kids did such a great job. After the program, they had ice cream sundaes. The perfect way to celebrate their hard work.

I can't wait to see their program next year!

A girl, a guitar, and another lost tooth (or two)

2012-02-04T05:43:00.006-06:00

Within the last 6 months or so, our kids have started receiving allowance. It's been interesting to see their different personalities when it comes to money. The older two are asked to tithe on what they receive because they get more. We don't check to make sure they do it because it's ultimately between them and God, but so far they have been pretty responsible for getting their 10% to church and have done so willingly.

The rest of their money is theirs to pretty much spend how they want. So, when they see something on TV or in the store they think they must have, I just say, "If that's what you want to spend your money on..."It's amazing that suddenly those things don't seem quite so cool anymore when it's their money being spent.

Dakota is the biggest saver. She hardly spends any of her money at all. She has a goal of buying herself a new laptop and she's pretty focused on it. But, she is also very generous with her money. Dakota gave money to Cheyenne and Sierra for their birthdays. She also bought her own ticket to see the David Crowder band in concert with the youth group.

Sierra is a window shopper. She gets this from me. Sierra loves to look at things in the store and ooh and aah over them, but doesn't actually buy anything. She'll be looking at something at the store and I'll say, "well, you have money if you want to buy it" She'll say, "I know," and put it back on the shelf.

Landon is like Dakota in that he is generous with his money. He's always trying to give it to someone. Last week, he went to bed and forgot to put his tooth under his pillow, so I did it for him. The next morning, he brought his tooth fairy money to me and said I should keep it since I'm the one that put the tooth under his pillow. He will spend it on something he wants, though.

Cheyenne is a spender. She can hardly stand to have money and not spend it on something. She's always asking if we can take her money and go to Wal-Mart. My answer is always, "When you know what you want, we'll take your money and go get it." Mostly, this is because I HATE walking up and down the toys aisles for hours waiting for them to pick something and because I can't stand to see them buy something they don't really want just because they want to spend their money. But also, I want her to learn to save.

Cheyenne got a pretty good lesson in the value of saving your money this week. She decided a couple of weeks ago that she wanted a guitar. She and Daniel have been researching them on the computer and looking for used ones on Craig's List. They had found one she liked that was in Tulsa, so Daniel sent an e-mail to the seller hoping we could check it out while we were there on Thursday. So, after we left Chuck E Cheese, we went guitar shopping.

The seller from Craig's list never called us back that day, but it worked out because she found a pretty good deal on a brand new one at the music store. It came with everything she needs to get started-guitar, strap, amp, bag, stand, and a DVD with some basic instruction. She was pretty excited!

When we stopped at McDonald's for dinner, she said she couldn't wait to get home to play her guitar. I told her that she didn't get a guitar and she had just dreamed it. She said, "No, I didn't, because I've already pinched myself to make sure." It was so cute!

As soon as we got home, she had it out of the box and ready to go. She played it for a little while, then Daniel showed her a thing or two.
She let everyone have a turn, but Landon and Sierra could only play it if they were sitting down on the couch. It's her baby!
After we finished Sierra's birthday cake, everyone else went off to do their own thing while she played her guitar some more. I was sitting at the computer and noticed that it got very quiet in the living room. I looked over and Cheyenne was sitting on the couch with the guitar on its stand and she was just staring at it. I could tell by the look on her face that she was dreaming of being in a band someday. Our church is just starting up a 5th and 6th grade band, so maybe after a little practice, her dream will come true!

Now for an update on Mr. Gappy...
Just a few days after he lost his top front tooth, he was eating a piece of cheese for lunch when he jumped up and started yelling, "Somebody get some salt water ready! Somebody get some salt water ready!" Apparently, his tooth on the bottom next to his front tooth was looser than I realized. That made two teeth in a week. I was pretty impressed!

On the way home from Tulsa on Thursday, he had a package of sweet tarts. He said, "Look, I'm a video game and this is my token," then he pushed the sweet tart through the gap in his teeth. He cracks me up!

Then yesterday, I was sitting at the computer (shocking, I know) and the kids were "cleaning" their rooms. He came running out of his room carrying a toy truck and telling me to "get the salt water ready" (it's what we use to rinse their mouths with they lose a tooth.) and handed me his other front tooth. He said it just "jumped out and landed in his truck."

If you're counting, that's three teeth in 11 days! Too many more and he'll have to drink his meals through a straw!

He has one more loose tooth that I know of, the bottom one on the other side of his front teeth. I wonder, how long before that one "jumps out" too?

My baby girl is 8! How'd that happen?

2012-02-02T19:54:00.011-06:00

It's hard to believe it was 8 years ago that this sweet little baby came into the world.

She was a happy, content baby from day one.
Nearly everyone who meets her ends up calling her "smiley", especially Pops. Can you imagine why?

First thing this morning when Sierra woke up, Cheyenne made sure the birthday princess had her tiara on.

We had a special birthday breakfast of chocolate chip muffins and sausage. This girl loves chocolate (as you'll see in a little while)!
We stopped doing birthday parties with friends a couple of years ago. Instead, we all go out and do something fun together as a family. Sierra's choice this year, again, was Chuck E Cheese. The kids love it there!
Here's a little secret if you're going to take your kids to Chuck E Cheese. When they open, there are tickets and tokens spread throughout the game area that the kids can pick up, so it pays to be there early. We got there around 11 and were the first ones there. The kids had over 300 tickets and at least 10 tokens before we even started.

I really think we need to get one of these at home. It's a giant hamster wheel! Dakota set the high score on this today!

The best part of Chuck E Cheese is the games, of course.

After we left Chuck E Cheese, we went guitar shopping. Cheyenne has been wanting a guitar for a while and finally saved enough money to get one. More on that in another post.
Then, it was time to head home. On the way, we stopped at McDonald's for dinner. They had these fun Ronald McDonald smiles and I couldn't resist getting the kids' pictures with them.

And this is my most favorite picture I took all day. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. In fact, I printed it off and have it on the fridge!
When we got home, it was birthday cake time! Sierra's requested cake was a quadruple chocolate ice cream cake. It was a two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream between the layers. We covered it with cool-whip mixed with Nesquik and then added chocolate chips to the top. I told you the girl likes chocolate!

I love shopping for gifts for Sierra because she truly loves everything she gets. She was so excited about this hair stuff! She always makes you feel like you got her just what she wanted.

All of the kids are going to be getting these Tae Kwon Do hoodies for their birthdays (Cheyenne was the first to get hers last month). Grandma P puts their TKD nicknames on the back. I love them!

As a surprise, Dakota slipped some cash in the pocket for her. It was so sweet and Sierra was really excited to find it.
Today was a really fun day!
Happy birthday Sierra!

Our December part 2-homeschool skating party

2012-01-30T22:24:00.007-06:00

This summer, we were invited to join a homeschool group in our town. I was so excited because all of last year, while I had a lot of online homeschooling friends, I didn't have any in-real-life friends who homeschooled. The group has been such a blessing!

We get together with the about once a month, sometimes more, to let the kids play or to go on a field trip. It's a lot of fun for the kids and also for me. It's nice to get to talk to other moms once in a while.

My kids' favorite thing we've done with the group, so far has been roller skating. We've gone a few times over the last few months and the kids really enjoy it. I've been really surprised at how quickly they've learned (and that no one has broken anything yet).

In December, our group decided to do our Christmas party at the skating rink. The kids got to skate, play games, and eat cupcakes. Then, we played dirty santa for our ornament exchange. The kids were so cute! Some of them had pretty good strategy for ending up with the ornament they wanted. A couple of sisters worked it out so that they each had the ornament the other wanted and then they traded after the game was over.

Landon loves to visit the snack bar. Since our group has the place all to ourselves, the snack guy always makes us fresh popcorn. Yum!

Sierra's little friend loaned her some knee and elbow pads. They just made her even cuter!
It's dark out on the skating rink, so this is as close as I could get to a picture of them actually skating.

I love our group's shirts. The group name is "Tranformers for Christ." The verse is Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

We had a great time at the party! Can't wait to do it again soon!

Our balloon solar system

2012-01-30T21:00:00.010-06:00

This year we are all doing Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy together (Dakota is also doing Exploring Creation with Physical Science on her own). I'd been wanting to get this book since last year and finally was able to get it (thanks to birthday money and a sale at Mardel) at the beginning of January. We're only on lesson 2 so far, but we're all really enjoying it.

Today, we backed up to the end of lesson 1 and did the balloon solar system model. We had so much fun with it! The book suggested that you use markers and construction paper to decorate the planets, but I decided to keep it simple. I mainly wanted them to learn the order and to get an idea of just how big the planets were in relation to one another.

Our first step was to blow up the balloons. This was Landon and Sierra's favorite part.

The book gave instructions on how big to make each balloon so that the sizes would be relative. Pluto was only 1/2 inch diameter while Jupiter and Saturn were over 25 inches.

We attached ribbons to the tops of the balloons and hung them from the ceiling in order. Dakota is the tallest of the four, so she got the job of hanging them.
Here they are showing off their creation. Landon wanted to "hold up the sun." Dakota put her hand around the "Earth" and said, "Look, I've got the whole world in my hand." The one Cheyenne is holding (and Sierra is helping with) is Jupiter.
While we were working, this song popped into my head and it's been stuck there ever since. Anyone else remember it?

What I learned at church today...

2012-01-29T17:42:00.003-06:00

Our church's theme for 2012 is AMPED, which means: to be energetic; excited; to make larger or stronger, increase or extend; to develop more fully

(definition from the pastor's notes)

In January, we have been learning about different areas of our lives where we need to be AMPED.

This week, we talked about being AMPED in our giving.

I've struggled with tithing for a long time. It's hard enough to make ends meet already. Taking 10% of my income and giving it away seems crazy when I'm barely able to pay my bills with 100%. How in the world would I be able to make it with 10% less? It just doesn't make sense.

It used to make me angry to sit and listen to a pastor talk about tithing when I knew that I had little to nothing in the bank and several little mouths to feed. How dare he ask me to give him MY money! I've heard over and over people say, "The 90% can do so much more with God's help than you could ever do with 100% on your own." But mathematically, that doesn't make sense. 90% is less than 100%, so how could 90% possibly go farther?

But then, I realized something. Tithing is not about giving money to the pastor or to the church, it's about giving to God. AND, it's not my money at all, but God's money. He is the one who provided the job and the paycheck. He is the one who has given us the ability to work. All he asks in return is that the first 10% be given back to Him.

Over the course of our marriage, Daniel and I have sometimes tithed on what we've earned and sometimes we haven't. There have been times when the logic and math of the checking account has overridden our faith in God to provide what we need and we have chosen not to tithe. Other times, we have stepped out in faith and given even when it didn't make sense to do so. I can honestly say that the times we have stepped out and brought our tithe, God has supplied everything we needed. It doesn't make sense. It isn't logical. But it is the truth.

For the past 6 months or so, Daniel and I have been faithfully tithing on everything we receive by giving to our local church. Sometimes it is a little scary when I look ahead at the bills that are soon due and start subtracting them from the balance of the bank account. My brain will tell me that we can't afford it this week or maybe we should just do half this time. But I have faith that God will provide and He ALWAYS does. We are not millionaires. We haven't won the lottery. But, God has provided for our needs. Here are a few examples-

-a month or so ago, Landon lost his only pair of glasses. We were able to not only replace them but we had enough to get two pair so he would have a back-up. On top of that, we were still able to go and enjoy a trip to Tulsa for my birthday. (the very next day, Dakota found the missing glasses in the backyard. God has a sense of humor! Ha!)

-a couple of weeks ago, we needed to replace two tires on our van. We replaced 3 of them before our trip to Disney World and the 4th one was finally worn completely out. One of the others we had replaced before was separating. We were able to get them both replaced at the same time. All our bills were paid AND we had two brand new tires. Around here, that is a BIG deal.

Both of those needs were met with only 90% of our income! I truly believe that it is because we give that we were blessed with having what we needed when we needed it.

A passage I loved from today's sermon is Malachi 3:10-12 (New Living Translation)
"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies."

If you don't already, I encourage you to take the step in faith and bring your tithe to God. The passage above says "Try it! Put me to the test!" Give to God and see what He blesses you.

Our pastor issued a challenge today for everyone in our congregation to commit to tithing for the next 90 days. Join us in the challenge! I know you'll be glad you did.

Don't you think Landon looks handsome in his new glasses? God is good!

Our December-part 1 Green Belt Rank Test

2012-01-28T23:46:00.008-06:00

One of the big events in December was when Dakota and Cheyenne had their third rank test for Tae Kwon Do. Their first test was for the rank of orange belt, which took about three months of training to earn. The second was for a green stripe on their orange belt. It took another six months. This test was for the rank of green belt and took an additional six months of training beyond their green stripe test.

For the test, all the students of the school (dojan in Korean) are allowed to dress in their uniforms and line up in front of Grandmaster Hwang, including the Tiger and Dragon classes. Sierra and Landon enjoy it because after the test, Mr. Hwang will write their name in Korean on their belt or uniform.

Here's Sierra warming up before the warm-up. :)

One part of the test was demonstrating forms for Mr. Hwang. Each advancement in rank requires mastery of new, more difficult forms.

They also had to show mastery of new self-defense techniques.
Both girls advanced to green belt. I'm so proud of them. It takes a lot of work and dedication to earn a green belt. They are in class 3-4 days each week and practice at home as well. When they test next time, it will be for a purple stripe on their green belt. It will most likely take a year or more to prepare for that test.

I love Cheyenne's face in this picture. She has good reason to be proud of herself.

It is an honor to have the Grandmaster present for the rank tests. Landon is always one of the first in line to get his belt signed.
Tae Kwon Do has been so good for my kids! It's about so much more than just learning to punch and kick. I can't wait until I can post pictures of their black belt tests!

Mr. Gappy

2012-01-25T14:18:00.004-06:00

Monday night, I left Daniel home in charge of Landon and Sierra while I took Dakota and Cheyenne to Tae Kwon Do. When I left, both of the children were in one piece, but when I came home I found this (he took it himself)

Here's one I took.

I'm trying to be okay with this. It just makes me a little sad that Landon and Sierra are old enough to lose their top front teeth. Kids' looks change so much when their adult teeth come in. There is a little part of me, though, that kinda hopes the other one comes out before the new tooth grows in, though. I think he would look adorable missing his two front teeth!

For now, both of Sierra's front teeth are still holding on pretty tight. I'm glad because I don't think I could handle both at the same time.

Getting back to the dance

2012-01-22T19:50:00.003-06:00

The past couple of months have been a bit "off" at our house. I can't really put my finger on what the difference has been, but we just haven't been ourselves lately. I'd like to blame it on the busyness of the holiday season but I don't think that's all of it. Mostly, we've just been in a funk. We've been going through the motions and getting through each day but that's about it. And so, I haven't really felt I had much to share here.

But yesterday, I decided I've had enough of this funk. We are going to get back to enjoying each and enjoying life. Here are some of the steps we are going to take to get back in our "groove."

#1-get back to eating together. 99% of the time, our family eats dinner together. But breakfast and lunch have become a different story. At breakfast, each person's been eating whenever they get ready and whatever they can find. This just doesn't get our day started off right. So I am determined that on weekdays we are going to eat breakfast together. I may or may not make something everyday but even cereal is better together. The same goes for lunch. Even on sandwich day, we will be eating together.

#2-get back into a school routine. Last year, I had a boxed curriculum that told me what to do and when. The first curriculum I bought this year required so much extra planning and tweaking from me to make it work for us that it really affected our routine. I found myself spending so much time on planning and researching that I didn't have much time left for actually doing the work. Last month, I bought some new materials and I think they are really going to help us get back into the swing of things.

#3-eat dinner earlier. The past 6 months or so, it seems our dinner time has gotten later and later. There are a couple of reasons for this-Daniel's work schedule and the kids' Tae Kwon Do classes. It's always been important to our family that we eat dinner together, so we try to wait for Daniel to come home before we eat in the evening. With his work schedule right now, he doesn't get home until around 8:00 most nights. That itself wouldn't be too bad if I was able to have dinner ready to eat when he came home, but I can't do that. The kids TKD classes most evenings are over around 8:00 as well and then it's a half-hour drive home. This puts me starting dinner around 8:30 and us eating sometime after 9:00. This is not good for us in a lot of ways. So, as much as I hate to do it, the kids and I are going to have to start eating before we leave the house in the evening. Not only will it be better for us, physically, to eat earlier, it will also mean we have some down time in the evening before the kids go to bed.

Okay, I feel better already. We're also going to be cutting back the amount of time we spend online, so I should be getting up from here and getting something done. It's just about time to start our schoolwork.

Before I go, here are a few pictures from the last couple of months.

We went to visit the replicas of the Nina and the Pinta when they sailed near Muskogee. Very cool!

We went to a Thanksgiving party with our homeschool group.

We made a Thankful tree to put on our front window.
We learned about birds.
And I almost burned down the house.
And that about covers November.

December pictures to come later.

It's good to be back!

Wordless Wednesday-VOLCANO!

2011-11-24T00:02:00.002-06:00

Wordless Wednesday-baking biscuits

2011-11-16T08:06:00.002-06:00

From Cheyenne's perspective

2011-11-10T22:58:00.018-06:00

I always have a lot of fun when I clear the memory card from Cheyenne's camera. I love getting the chance to see things through her eyes. Here are some of my favorites.

Disney World:

Siblings:

Butter:

The fair:

And herself:

Another little visitor

2011-11-10T22:15:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, Cheyenne and Sierra went to take out the garbage and came back in with a little friend.

I've only seen a few praying mantises (praying mantisus, praying manti???) up close before. We had fun watching this guy for a little while before setting him free.

Anybody else hearing the words, "Everybody was Kung Foo Fighting...", in their head now? (You know, Mantis from Kung Fu Panda)

(Oh, and just so you know, it's mantises, mantids, or mantes-all are accepted. I looked it up.)

Mmmmmmmm! Pepperoni pizza bread.

2011-11-04T14:43:00.001-05:00

Source: mommyskitchen.net via Tiffany on Pinterest

I found this recipe on pinterest a couple of weeks ago. It was so easy and looked so yummy that I just had to try it out. I was not disappointed. It was delicious! Perfect for a hot lunch (rare around here) or a quick and easy dinner for a busy night (which is every night at our house). I changed the recipe up just a bit. Here's my version:

You only need 4 ingredients:

*Frozen loaves of white bread dough
(I used two for our family for lunch but if Daniel had been home, I would have needed 3)

*Pepperoni

*Mozzarella Cheese

*Pizza sauce (for dipping)

All you do is:
*Set the dough out and let it rise according to the instructions on the package.
(This takes quite a while, so plan ahead)

*Roll the dough out to just an inch or so thick.

*Cover with mozzarella, then pepperoni, then more mozzarella.

*Roll the dough up so that the toppings are on the inside and place in a loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

*Allow it to rise again for 30 minutes-1 hour.

*Bake according to the package directions.

*Serve with pizza sauce on the side.

I forgot to take pictures of the process, but here is the finished product. Yum!

I love the way fresh baked bread looks! Can't you just smell it?

This is the other loaf, it didn't bake up quite as pretty, but it tasted great!

We will definitely be having this again soon.

Friday's Fave Five

2011-11-04T01:36:00.005-05:00

It's Friday! I'm linking up again over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five. Pick your five favorite things from this week and link up too!

#1 Date Night-Friday night, Daniel and I left the kids with Grandpa and Grandma and went out for a date night. We saw the movie Courageous and then went out to dinner. It was so nice to get out just the two of us for a while and the movie was amazing! If you haven't seen it, you should!

#2 Halloween Costumes-The kids were so cute in their costumes! I always love how their costumes reflect their personalities.

#3 Fun and safe Halloween activities for the kids-We didn't go trick-or-treating this year because Sugartown at our church was at the same time. I think I was almost as disappointed as the kids. I love trick-or-treating! But once it was time, I don't think any of us missed it at all. We had so much fun and it was really nice not to have to worry about traffic or scary decorations at the houses or not letting the kids have any candy until I went through it. And we didn't have to walk ten million miles, either!

#4 Going to a church that has fun activities for kids-Wednesday night, the adults from our church had the opportunity to go see the movie Courageous for free thanks to a generous family who reserved the theater for the evening. Courageous is an awesome movie, but it's not really for kids. To make sure that parents could attend, the church had movie night for the kids at the church (and nursery for the smaller kids). We watched Rio (cute movie), ate popcorn, and played games. It was fun!

#5 Having breakfast cooked for me-This morning, Daniel made us pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Yum! He cooked and the kids are doing the dishes. Can't get much better than that!

Paper Saving Idea

2011-11-03T13:29:00.003-05:00

One of the things we do every day in our schoolwork is some type of math drill. Sometimes we play games with flashcards, sometimes they play games on the computer, and sometimes I give them a fact sheet to complete.

I try not to use the fact sheets too much, though, for a couple of reasons. First, I don't have a printer right now so I have to write them out by hand. It seems like such a waste of time for something that they will finish in just a minute or two. Second, it's hard on Landon to see lots of problems on the page at once. He gets overwhelmed looking at all those problems and it's hard for him to focus on one at a time. Third, it uses a lot of paper. I don't really need to keep them but it seems like a waste to throw them away.

I have found a solution for all three of my problems.

I have several of these things lying around. You can pick them up for about $1. I always meant to put pictures in them to carry in my purse, but somehow never got around to it.

The pages are clear and are the perfect size for holding flash cards.

Just slip in the cards you want your kiddos to work on and hand them a dry erase marker. They can write the answers right on the page and then wipe it off with a tissue after you check them.
(just so you know, that is a 7. He was having some marker trouble at the top. )

I love this! It makes my life easier and saves me money, too.

I'm thinking I may use this for Landon's handwriting practice, too, by putting a letter or number card in for him to trace.

I'm also going to use it for the older girls' vocabulary quizzes.

Tons of possibilities!

What would you use it for?

Halloween 2011-part 3: the other costumes

2011-11-02T22:42:00.007-05:00

Sunday evening, Grandma Debbie and I took the three youngest kids to a Halloween carnival at Pops and Memaw's (my grandparents) church while Dakota was at her small group from church. They had a blast! There were hot dogs, caramel apples, carnival games, a cake walk, and CANDY! We came home with a cake, four cans of pop (that's soda for you non-Okies), some cream puff things, a dozen cookies, and a huge bag of candy. There was so much candy that when it was time to go home, they were handing it out to the kids by the handful. I thought it was funny that one of the men filling the kids' buckets with candy is a dentist. Think he was trying to drum up some business? HA!

The kids were really excited to finally get to wear their costumes.

We had Super Mario,

a cowgirl,

and a monarch butterfly (somehow I didn't get a picture of her with her wings on. She's just as cute without them though.)

Monday afternoon, we worked on some decorations for the house.

I saw something similar to this on pinterest and had to give it a try. I think it turned out cute. The night picture is not good, but trust me when I tell you it was pretty cool.

The kids also made paper plate jack o' lanterns to hang on the wall.
Sierra wanted to make some ghosts. She cut them out and hung them on the back door with the word "Boo".

The only problem was that she hung them on the inside of the door so when you stood outside and read it, it said "ooB"! She thought it was as funny as the rest of us. In fact, it's still up there and we all laugh about it everytime we go in our out the door.

Monday night was our church's Halloween event, called SUGARTOWN. It was so much fun! There were all kinds of inflatables for the kids to jump on, pizza, pop, a hayride, and more CANDY, of course. The kids got to wear their costumes again (thank goodness). Landon had saved his mustache to wear to Sugartown and he was so excited to try it on.

It was so cute! (Daniel tells me we had it upside-down but we tried it the other way and it didn't look right either.) He kept it on long enough for me to take the picture and then decided it was too itchy. I painted one on for him instead.

Since Landon wasn't going to wear the mustache, the girls decided to give it a try.

Dakota opted to just go as a regular nerd this time.

When we got to Sugartown, we found one of Cheyenne's friends in the same costume. How cute are they?
(I didn't get to ask her mom for permission so I won't show her face.)

The kids were moving so fast from one inflatable to the next that I barely got any pictures of them.

Dakota mostly just hung out. She was my runner for the evening, going to put things in or get things out of the van. Even though she was too big for the inflatables, I think she had a good time.
Halloween was so much fun this year! I think we have enough candy to last us until next Halloween!

Anyone have any good recipes to use up tootsie rolls?

Halloween 2011-part 2: Pumpkins!

2011-11-01T19:04:00.006-05:00

Carving pumpkins is both my favorite and least favorite part of Halloween. I love the way they look when they're finished and I LOVE the way they smell when you light the candles. But it makes such a mess! Makes for fun pictures, though.

Cheyenne, Sierra, and Landon went for the biggest pumpkins they could find this year. Apparently they enjoy being up to their elbows in pumpkin guts.

Dakota opted for a teeny tiny little pumpkin instead. It was so small, she could barely get her hand inside it.

I was so excited with the treasure I found for my pumpkin-Mr. Potato Head pieces! Adorable!
This year, we let the kids carve their own pumpkins. I helped Landon and Sierra draw the faces on theirs and then handed them the saw and let them go for it. I ended up helping Landon when his hand got tired, but the girls did theirs all on their own.

Landon was so funny. After we finished his, he came back and started cutting again on the side of the pumpkin. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm making, you know, hearing holes." Hahaha! It took a few minutes before we finally got the word "ears" out of him. Have you ever done that? I think he gets it from me.
Here they are with their creations-in order of who finished first (no surprises there).

(note that this one has "hearing holes" too)

And here they are, all lit up and spooky.

We saved the seeds to plant next spring. Maybe next year we'll be carving pumpkins we grew ourselves like we did a couple of years ago. That was so much fun!

Any pumpkin growing tips for us?

Halloween 2011-part one

2011-11-01T14:40:00.003-05:00

First up in our Halloween festivities this year was the Realife (the youth group at our church) party for Dakota on Wednesday night. She always has elaborate plans for what she wants to be and this year was no different. To really "get" her costume, you have to know the background of how we came up with it, though.

The youth pastor (who is amazing, in case you were wondering) encourages the kids to take sermon notes, so Dakota (almost) always makes sure she is prepared to do that...when she leaves the house. The problem is that somewhere between our house and the church, there is a black hole that sucks up pencils (there's always a time warp, but that's another story). It never fails that by the time we get to the church, her pencil has disappeared. So, I usually loan her a pen. But, pens don't like her either so they usually run out of ink about half-way through the service.

A month or so back, we were laughing about her pen and pencil problems on the way home from Wednesday night service. Cheyenne said, "You should get one of those things that soldiers wear to carry extra bullets and fill it up with pencils for church. Surely you would make it there with at least one pencil!" When she said that, a light bulb went on in Dakota's brain and she decided she would be a nerd for Halloween. But, not just any nerd would do. She was going to be "Captain Nerd" (aka Revenge of the Nerd).

So, the search began for one of those bullet holder thingys (we have since learned that it is called a bandolier) I couldn't find a costume one that didn't already come with "bullets" in it, so we decided that we were going to have to make our own. Here's what we came up with (oh, and every nerd needs a bowtie, right. Captain Nerd has to have a cammo one, of course). I don't sew, as much as I would like to, so I had to use glue. I used a piece of black elastic and glued it onto the suspenders at different points to make loops. Then, I added the paper clip "rivets" just for fun.

In true nerd fashion, we added some tape to her glasses. She even let me put her hair in pigtails!

To take her from regular nerd to "Captain Nerd", she needed some war paint. I thought it turned out somewhere between clown and swamp thing, but it was cute.

Next, we loaded up her bandolier suspenders with all kinds of nerdy supplies, pencils, erasers, staples, and even ruler nunchakus. Here she is all put together. She looked great!

As much work as it took to put this costume together, she said that next year she wanted to be something easy, like a cardboard box. I imagine that will change before next Halloween, though.
My vote is for her to go as a smarty pants. (Tape packages of smarties to her pants!) I saw it in a magazine a couple of years ago and it was so cute. I've tried for the past two years to convince her but she won't go for it. Maybe the third time will be the charm!

What did your teenager dress like this year for Halloween?

Friday's Fave Five 10/28/11

2011-10-28T08:39:00.004-05:00

#1 Awesome coupons I had some really awesome coupons this week. I also had a little room in the budget to play with, so I was able to get use some coupons that were expiring and still get everything else we needed. All together, I saved $50 on my total! I was so excited!

#2 Great deals at Goodwill Sunday afternoon, the kids and I made a stop at Goodwill to look for things Dakota needed for her Halloween costume. While we were there, I found some other great deals, too. We got a pair of pants, shirt, and shoes for her costume and three pairs of jeans for her, too. My best find of the day was a tae kwon do top for $2.50! It is practically brand new. I was watching her during class on Sunday thinking that we needed to get her a bigger top and trying to figure out how long we could wait with Christmas coming up and possibly having three little girls having belt tests next month. I love the way that God worked that out for me!

#3Dakota's Halloween costume The youth group at church had their Halloween party on Wednesday night. Dakota went as "Revenge of the Nerd". There's actually a story behind this costume which will come in another post-I'll just say our inspiration had nothing to do with the movie. I thought it turned out really cute, though, and fit her personality so well!

#4 Having "big kids" While we were at the library on Wednesday, I needed to make some copies and also print some things from the computer. I took the kids over to the childrens' section and got them set up with books and computers there, then went over to the adult section where the internet computers are. I realized how much the kids have grown up in the last year or so. I'm enjoying this stage where my kids are more independent. Wednesday evening, I spent some time hanging out in the nursery with some other ladies. There was a 2 year-old and a 10 month old in there and I remembered how much work little ones are. It's nice not to have to have my eyes on the kids at all times.

#5 Kids' prayers The kids have been talking a lot about prayer in their Wednesday night class at church. Landon was telling me a couple of weeks ago that he fell down and hurt his knee when their class went outside but he and Miss B. prayed for it and it felt better. Last night, Sierra wasn't feeling well so she stayed home from Tae Kwon Do. When I told Landon she wasn't going, he just stopped and said "Dear God, please help Sierra get better." It was so sweet! And, you know what? It worked. She was feeling a lot better by the time we got home. I was going to take her in to the doctor this morning, but she's looking like she may not need to go after all.

What were your favorite things this week?

Friday's Fave Five 10/21/11

2011-10-21T10:35:00.002-05:00

Head over to Living to Tell the Story and link up your Five Faves from this week.

#1. New Sheets! We had the same sheets on our bed since I was pregnant with Landon. The fitted sheet got a teeny tiny hole in it a few weeks ago that just kept getting bigger. We finally gave in last week and bought a new one. It's nothing fancy, just a cheapie from Wal-Mart, but it makes me smile.

#2. Laughing with my kids! I know I used it last week too, but we just have a lot of fun at our house and I love it. Just this morning, Cheyenne said, "True or False: Boys are more likely to be struck by lightning than girls." I said, "True." Daniel said, "That's because lightning is attracted to awesomeness." Dakota said, "If that were true, I'd be stuck everytime there was a thunderstorm!" Ha!

#3. Listening to Sierra read. Sierra finally finished up with the last story of her MFW !st grade book. The last few were pretty tough and she and I were both a little discouraged. This week, I picked up a book for her from the library that was a leveled reader. I wasn't sure how she would do with it because it seemed like it had lots of words per page but I decided to give it a try and then adjust the level of her next book if we needed to. She has done beautifully with it! I am so proud of her! It's a "chapter book" (actually it's just a collection of short stories, but if she wants to call it a chapter book I'm okay with that) which makes it all the more appealing to her. The best part for me is that she wants to cuddle up with me on the couch while she reads it to me.

#4. My son sitting on my lap. I went through a time recently where I didn't let him sit on my lap as much because I was afraid people would think he was too old for that. But I've decided that I really don't care what people think. If he still wants to sit on my lap, then why not? I've learned how quick the time passes and it won't be long until he decides he doesn't want to sit on my lap anymore. I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Last night after his Tae Kwon Do class, he said he had a headache and climbed up on my lap. It was wonderful!

#5. Daddy time. Daniel came in a little while ago and got the kids to take them to lunch (he was going to take us all, but I haven't gotten dressed yet. Yes, I'm lazy on Friday mornings). It works out for everyone. The kids get to have some daddy time and I get to have some quiet time in the house. Plus, I don't have to worry about feeding them lunch! They're bringing me back a burger, so I still get to enjoy the yummy food too!

To the Rescue #2

2011-10-21T08:27:00.005-05:00

If you're new to my blog, you probably haven't seen this post about our rescue of some baby possums. Let me tell you, that was one of the grossest things I've ever done to save an animal. I had to actually reach into the pouch and retrieve a couple of them who were still trying to nurse from their mother. Yuck! I won't ever do that again! (at least until I come across another dead mother possum with babies that are going to die without her).

Somehow little critters that need to be rescued seem to show up around here when Daniel's at work (I guess they know they won't get much help from him. Ha!) Well, we've been at it again with this little guy.

I was sitting at the computer the other day waiting for the kids to get up when the dog started barking. Nothing unusual because Grandpa usually drives down our driveway about that time of day. But he didn't stop. He just kept barking and barking and barking. Well, I was waiting for the kids to wake up, but I wasn't quite ready for them to get up, if you know what I mean. I wasn't about to let a barking dog interrupt the last few minutes of peace and quiet I had for the morning, so I looked out to see why he was barking.

From the window, I could see a little furry creature trying to escape from Butter. I thought it was a mole (I've saved one of those from another dog before). I grabbed some shoes and a towel and went out to save the poor thing from Butter.

When I got out there, I discovered that it wasn't a mole, but a gopher. Butter wasn't trying to hurt it, he was just trying to play with ~~his new friend~~ the terrified little thing. It was so cute! Butter would stand over it and bark and the little thing would open it's mouth really big to show it's teeth and raise up it claws. Very David and Goliath-ish. I reached down with the towel and picked it up. Butter got really excited that I was going to play with his new "toy" too.

I took the gopher out into the woods behind the house and let it go. I held Butter back to give it time to make it's escape and gave him some food to distract him. I made it back inside and found that my luck had held out-still no kids up.

Back to the computer for a few more minutes. Dakota was the first one up. I said, "See what happens when you sleep in? You miss cool stuff, " and told her the story. She was pretty disappointed until we heard the dog barking again. Apparently the gopher wasn't fast enough.

This time, she and Landon helped me. We scooped him up in a shoebox and brought him inside to observe him a little. Then, we tried again to let him go. The kids distracted the dog with more food (and the leash) while I took the gopher to a different place and let him go. Unfortunately, Butter is stronger than Dakota and he pulled her over around the side of the house where he could see where I went. Then, he got off the leash. Didn't take long before we were back to square one. Only this time, Butter didn't want to give up his toy so easily.

I finally got the leash back on him and took him back to the pen. Once he was locked up, I scooped up the gopher and took him back to the woods for a third time. He wasn't really moving much, but I thought maybe he just needed to rest a bit from his crazy meeting with Butter.

Sadly, he didn't make it. I guess playing with Butter got the best of him. But, we did the best we could. Like Dakota said, he probably would have been snake food anyway (way to look on the bright side Dakota!).

2011-10-20T21:03:00.002-05:00

I am so excited! I was chosen this week as the featured blogger (the very first one) over at the Clumsy Coquette for the Friendly Friday hop. Link up with us at the bottom of the page and then head over there and show her some love too! Then have fun hopping around and making some new bloggy friends!

Welcome to the Friendly Friday Blog Hop! I am so excited to be hosting and I hope that you will link up with me!

The Rules:

1. You MUST follow me on Google Friend Connect, Facebook or Twitter and you MUST follow the Featured Blogger.

2. Link up your blog name and URL on my linky. Please don't link to a specifict post.

3. Grab the Friendly Friday button and put it on your blog or in a post.

4. Go to as many blogs as you want and follow them. If someone follows you from the hop, please follow them back.

Want to be a featured Blogger?

I am going to start hosting a weekly featured blogger! I am so excited. If you'd like to be featured, please let me know in a comment below. I will randomly select someone each week. If you are picked, you will be given the code to host this hop on your page that week.

Featured Blogger

The very first featured blogger is Tiffany from Dancing With Cinderella.
I am a public school teacher turned stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. I have four kiddos aged 13-6, three girls and one boy and have been married to my high school sweetheart and best friend for 15 years. I write about family life, homeschooling, and making memories with my children.

Link-up

Homeschool Mother's Journal 10/16/11

2011-10-16T18:38:00.002-05:00

In my life this week…this was a pretty good week. I feel like we are finally getting into a routine and getting a lot accomplished during the day. My goal is to start moving our start time up by 5-10 minutes each week. I'd love to have everything finished before lunch so we can have more time for fun in the afternoon.

In our homeschool this week…We started working on our architecture theme this week by learning that God is the architect of the earth. We'll be learning about landforms for the next couple of weeks. This week and next week we'll be learning about volcanoes and making our very first lapbooks. I'm really excited to see how they turn out.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…Don't feel stuck to your curriculum. You know your children best. If you feel like you need to spend more or less time than the lesson plan calls for, do it. As long as your child is learning and progressing, there is no such thing as being "behind." Listen to your "mom instincts."

I am inspired by…the moms on the homeschool forum who's kids have graduated and are doing well.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…I don't have anywhere special planned to go this week. Something may come up later, but right now I'm looking forward to just a normal routine this week.

My favorite thing this week was…going skating with the local homeschool group. Can't wait to go again. Some of the other activities that they have coming up sound like lots of fun too!

What’s working/not working for us…things are going really well right now. The only thing I would really like to change right now is I wish I had a computer that would support our printer. 10 cents a copy is going to get expensive in a hurry. Plus, it's a pain to try to find time to go sit at the library and search online for all the things I need. It would be so much easier if I could just print things off as I find them. Oh, well. We'll make it work until we get a new computer.

Questions/thoughts I have…Wondering how everyone else works out lunch? Do you all sit down and eat the same thing at the same time together or do you all just grab something and eat when you get time? Last year, we stopped and ate together. Usually, I cooked something or we had sandwiches. This year, we've all been eating at the same time, but it's usually a hodge podge of left-overs, hot pockets, sandwiches...basically, whatever we can find. It's a lot faster this way, but I'm not sure I like it.

Things I’m working on…getting things planned and prepared more ahead of time. What I've been doing is working okay, but it could be better.

I’m reading...I just started reading Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. I like it okay so far, but not sure if I'll finish it or not.

I’m cooking…nothing tonight. The kids and I went by McDonald's this afternoon for a snack and Daniel's been snacking since he got home so no one's really hungry. We'll probably just have some sandwiches later on if we get hungry.

I’m grateful for…the awesome youth pastors and volunteers at our church. Cheyenne went to play Lazer Tag with the 5th and 6th graders Friday night and Dakota is gone tonight to the David Crowder Band concert. Our church always has fun activities for the kids and my kids love going to church!

I’m praying for…a situation that's been going on lately that is probably going to require me to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone soon.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…gotta love Pinterest, right?

Source: itsanadorablelife.blogspot.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Happy Halloween Boo Hop

2011-10-15T08:36:00.002-05:00

I'm linking up with Indiana Coupons and Debz Deals for their Happy Halloween Boo Hop during the month of October. Come hop with us!

My blog is about my family, our home school, and learning to enjoy our time with our kids while we have them. If you're stopping by for the first time, read this post and this post to get to know me and my blog a little better.

Friday's Fave Five

2011-10-14T21:27:00.002-05:00

I'm joining a new link-up this week hosted by Living to Tell the Story. It's called Friday's Fave Five. Just pick five things that have blessed you this week and link up a post about them. Super easy! Here are my fave five from this week.

#1-Laughing with my kids. My kids have the same sense of humor as I do and we have so much fun laughing together. I love that my kids still think I'm funny, although I do get a few eye rolls now and then.

#2-Taking my kids skating with the homeschool group. They had so much fun and Landon has asked every day since then if we can go again. It was so nice to spend time with moms who were actually enjoying their kids (and mine) instead of being stressed out by them. It was fun to have other moms cheering my kids on as they were trying to learn to stay on their feet. And, most of all, it was fun to watch my kids learn to do something new and succeed at it. Can't wait until next month so we can do it again.

#3-Going to church together as a family Wednesday night. Daniel's days off are Thursday and Friday so he very rarely gets to go to church with us. This week, he was able to get off early enough on Wednesday that he could go. I was so happy to have him there with us!

#4-Gettting to spend some one-on-one time with my kids. Thursday evening, Daniel picked up Landon, Dakota, and Cheyenne after Landon's tae kwon do class and took them home while I stayed and watched Sierra's class. Then on Friday night, Cheyenne was gone to play Lazer Tag with the kids from church, so it was just Dakota and I for her class. It wasn't a lot of time, but it was nice to be able to be alone with them for a little while.

#5-This quote I found on Pinterest today.

Source: 503galleries.com via Monica on Pinterest

What have been your five favorites this week?

Homeschool Highlights from this week

2011-10-13T22:20:00.006-05:00

We are FINALLY getting in a groove with our routine. Hooray! It makes me happy to feel like I'm in control of the day instead of being a slave to the curriculum.

Last year, it seemed like we never got into a good rhythm with our days. We would spend from about 8:30-4:30 doing school work last year with an hour or so for lunch. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and I still didn't feel like we were accomplishing as much as we should. I tried to do every single thing that was in the curriculum but there just wasn't enough time. I always felt stressed that we were "behind".

This year, I feel much more comfortable to go out on my own and not follow the curriculum so much. I'm still using their general framework, but I'm doing mostly my own activities on my own schedule. It's so nice to feel free to do what I know is best without feeling like I'm somehow failing my kids. I know them best, so why did I think that a curriculum manual could tell me what they needed better than my own instincts?
This year, we can have everyone's individual work done in about 2-2 1/2 hours (Bible, math drill, math lesson, journal, spelling, reading, penmanship, vocabulary, science/social studies worksheets, and sometimes art and tae kwon do practice) which leaves us plenty of time to do science and social studies lessons together. It also leaves time for laundry, chores, and some free time each day. I'm loving our routine so far!

Here are some highlights from our week-

On Monday, we began our unit on architecture. We introduced the unit by reviewing the days of creation and discussing that God is the architect of our earth. Our memory verse for this week was Job 38:4-"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me if you understand."
You can read more about Monday here.

On Tuesday, we did just the basics in the morning. In math, Landon and Sierra are working with me on understanding subtraction. For their independent work, they're working on memorizing the addition facts. To help with this, I had them sort dominoes by the sum of the two sides. They really enjoyed it. I had them do it again on Wednesday as well and added in flash cards to sort.

Tuesday afternoon was a surprise trip to the roller skating rink with the local home school group. This was the first time we were able to join the group for an outing and we really enjoyed it. Cheyenne, Sierra, and Landon knew a couple of the girls from church and Sierra had a tae kwon do friend there. Dakota was a little disappointed to be the oldest one there, but I think there are some kids her age in the group who just didn't come skating. Of course, I left my camera at home so I don't have any pictures, but it was really too dark in there to get any good ones anyway. I'm happy to say that all the kids came out of the skating rink in one piece!

Wednesday was back to a regular day. We did some memory verse work

some penmanship (Cheyenne is in LOVE with cursive writing.)

and the older girls made some flip books for the Volcano lap books they're going to be making. I love Dakota's title-"She's gonna blow. A guide to volcanoes."

I also had them make pictures for the front of their lap books while I read a book on volcanoes.

On Thursday morning, I had a doctor's appointment at 8:30, so they got a little break. I also went to the library and printed off the rest of the materials for our lap books. Can't wait to see the finished products. I'll post more about it when we get to the end of the unit.
We didn't get started until after lunch, but we still had time to get all the basics in and do a couple of things for our unit.
Here's Cheyenne working on spelling words
I taught Landon and Sierra how to play war with addition flash cards. They had a blast. For now, I just had them use +1 and +2 cards. Next week, we'll add the +3's.
And, in case you're wondering why Dakota never shows up in my school pictures, this is why.
She prefers to work in her room with the radio on. Apparently the rest of us are too noisy. Ha! I like music when I'm trying to concentrate too.

Tomorrow is Friday which means no school for us. Daniel's days off are Thursday and Friday so we save Fridays to spend with Dad. We'll also use them as a "catch up day" sometime if there are things we aren't able to fit it during the rest of the week or for field trips that take more than an hour or two. Daniel's taking Cheyenne hunting in the morning while the rest of us hang out at home. Tomorrow afternoon Cheyenne's going to go play Lazer Tag with the 5th and 6th graders from church. She's pretty excited to go because they aren't planning on getting home until around midnight and because she gets to take the "kids' phone" with her. I'm so glad Grandma Debbie volunteered to pick her up! I hope to be in bed by midnight!

I'm linking up this week with the Friday blog hop hosted by Mama to 4 Blessings and Home Grown Families and with Friendly Friday hosted by The Clumsy Coquette. Welcome new blogging friends! Can't wait to hop around and make some new friends! Leave me a comment and let me know you were here so I can hop over and visit your blog.

Magic pictures

2011-10-10T14:08:00.005-05:00

After using MFW curriculm last year (three levels-K, 1, and ECC), I decided that I need to simplify things a little this year. Trying to keep up with three different topics/themes was too much for me. So I started a quest to find a more integrated curriculum where we would all be studying the same basic topic but each child would be working at a different level. I was so excited when I found The Weaver curriculum. It sounded like just what we needed. I was also excited that I was able to get all of the various components of the curriculum used and pay much less than buying them new.

But, when things started arriving, I began to notice that it wasn't quite as I had expected. The basic curriculum is arranged by chapters. Each chapter has it's own "theme". For example, chapter 2 is architecture. Chapter 2 is divided up with assignments at each grade level. However, the grade level assignments aren't necessarily aligned with one another. For example, on Day 7 of this chapter, Grade 1 is discussing how people change from babies through adults, Grade 2 is discussing different types of shelter around the world, Grade 5 is talking about the industrial revolution, and grade 8 is talking about mining. Not exactly what I was looking for.

So, I am working on tweaking it to make it fit our needs better. I'm taking the basic theme from each chapter and using it to make my own unit study keeping us all on the same topic at the same time, just a different levels. I'm also going to go a little deeper into the theme than what the curriculum does.

Here's a general outline of what we're going to be learning about over the next few weeks. I'm sticking with the architecture theme.
I. God is the designer of our earth-land forms
A. Volcanoes
B. Mountains
C. Valleys
D. Canyons
II. Animal architects-animal homes
A. Birds
B. Beavers
C. Bees
D. Ants
E. Spiders
III. Historic Architecture
A. Egyptian-pyramids
B. Babylonian-ziggurats
C. Greek
1. Columns
2. The Parthenon
D. Roman
1. Arches
2. The Coliseum
E. Gothic-castles
F. Possibly some more modern architecture like the Eifel Tower, etc
IV. Homes around the world

I expect it will take us a little longer than the 10 days suggested in the curriculum, but we'll be covering a lot more information. The next chapter is about launguage/sound so I think we'll expand it and do a unit on the 5 senses.

I'll be posting the details as we go through our study. I'm excited to get into the in-depth planning and find some fun hands on activities for us to do. I've got a whole board of things on pinterest that look great!

Today was our intro day. We talked about what an architect does and what architecture is. Then we read the creation story from Genesis 1 and talked about God being the architect of our world. We also reviewed the days of creation.

Our project for today was to make "magic pictures" of the days of creation. I gave them each a white piece of paper that was folded to make six sections. Their job was to draw what God created on each of the six days. The trick, though, was that they could only use a white crayon. Once they finished, I had them paint over it with some diluted black paint so that their pictures "magically" appeared. It was fun!

I love that the activity was open-ended so that they were doing the same thing, but could interpret it in their own way. You can definitely tell a difference in their levels of understanding and their abilities when you look at the finished products.

I'm having so much fun planning this unit. Maybe when I grow up, I'll be a curriculum writer.

Tim Hawkins, the State Fair, and Disney on Ice (lots of pictures)

2011-10-08T17:41:00.008-05:00

Last weekend was so much fun! Daniel and I were able to get away for an actual date night on Thursday night. We haven't been able to do that in forever. It was awesome! We dropped the kids off about 2:00 and headed into town to run some errands and grab some lunch. Then, we were off to Tulsa for the night.

We checked into our awesome room at the Hilton (thank you priceline!) and then made our way over to the Green Country Events center to see Tim Hawkins. I was so glad we decided to get there early. It was general admission seating and when we got there (55 minutes early), the line was already to the parking lot!

Tim Hawkins lived up to my expectations and more. He was SO FUNNY! I've spent a lot of time watching him on Youtube and I really expected to have seen most of his act already, so I was really surprised that most everything was new to me. I was so sad that I left my camera in the van when they said that pictures and videos were allowed. Oh well. I've looked on youtube for some videos from that night, but haven't found any yet. But I did find a video from a different night of my favorite part of the show.

Friday morning, Grandma P., and Aunt D., our kids, and the cousins met us for breakfast at IHOP before we all went to the fair together. Cheyenne's jelly won first place at the county fair and went on to the state fair so we were excited to go see how she did. Unfortunately, she didn't place this year. This was our first year to enter so we did learn some things and get ideas so we can do even more next year!

Can you tell these kids were excited for the fair? They had never been to the State Fair before.

One of the first things we saw when we went through the gates were the seals. The show wasn't until later in the day but that didn't stop our kids from checking it out anyway. They thought it was cool watching the trainer work and watching this guy follow her around.

Next, we went into one of the exhibitors' areas. The kids got excited when they saw this booth because Grandma P. had just received her set the night before when they stayed the night and they had gotten to try it out. Poor guy missed that we were all together so he went through his whole demonstration for us before he realized we weren't going to buy anything. I think the one other lady standing there with us did, though.

Cheyenne and Sierra (mostly Cheyenne) have been asking and asking to get feathers in their hair. They jumped at the chance when Grandma offered to get it done for them.

I wasn't too impressed at first, but now that they've washed them a few times and the color has faded some, you can really see them well. I'll admit, they're kind of cute. But, we probably won't be replacing them when they fall out.

Next, we made our way to the Birthing Barn. There were tons of animals in there that were about to give birth or had recently had babies. Pretty cool! These sweet little babies were only 30 minutes old.

There was also a pig that had been delivering just before we got there and they were thinking a few more babies would be coming shortly. It didn't happen while we were there, though.

Next to the birthing barn was the petting zoo. The kids LOVED this part. I was expecting lots of farm animals but there were some exotic creatures in there too. The kids thought it was so cool to see a real Zebu (you know, from the veggie tales song).

The camel was pretty cool too.

And, of course, there were sheep and goats.

The biggest surprise was a kangaroo! I never expected to find that at the Tulsa State Fair. There was a wallaby in the cage next to it as well.

After the petting zoo, we went across to another building where they had some really cool hands-on science exhibits for the kids. There was ocean life to touch.

A giant area for building with blocks.

And a place where you could make really giant bubbles (somehow I missed getting pictures of it though.)

Next, it was time for Disney on Ice. The kids were pretty excited because it was Toy Story 3. One of our favorite movies (actually, we love all 3). We had a snack while we waited for showtime.

The show was pretty cool, but we were all a bit disappointed that they didn't follow the story line of the movie more closely.

I think the army men were my favorites!

The kids really got into it. Another first for Landon and Sierra.

It was Cheyenne's first time too (that she remembers anyway).

I don't know that I've ever posted about how much I love Mr. Potato Head (I'll have to do that later). They were adorable!

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!

After the show, we checked out some more of the exhibitors, played a couple of games, had some funnel cake, and said goodbye to the fair. It was a fun day, but we were pretty tired and still had a 2 hour drive to get home.

In honor of Tim Hawkins, we stopped at Chic-Fil-A for dinner. It was so good! I always think of my days at OSU when I eat there. It was one of the things available in the student union, so I ate there quite a bit. We had ice cream for dessert and it was delicious.

Such a great weekend! It was just what we needed.

Wordless Wednesday-Oh My Goodness! I really can hear the ocean with this thing!

2011-10-05T08:06:00.000-05:00

Homemade Carmel Dipping sauce for apples

2011-10-03T20:14:00.004-05:00

I found this recipe on Pinterest (I can't even tell you how addicted I am to that site. So many awesome ideas!). I wish I could send you to the original blog post, but the link doesn't work when I click it. I was pretty skeptical, but decided it was worth a try. Condensed milk is pretty cheap, so I wouldn't be out much if it didn't work.

I bought the condensed milk and apples last Sunday when I went shopping, but my family decided to eat them for breakfast before I had a chance to make the dip to go with them. So the kids and I picked up some more apples on Saturday.

I got this teeny tiny little crock pot last year at the Black Friday sale at Wal-Mart (actually Grandma P. picked it up for me. Thanks Grandma!)

The kids think it's funny because the picture on the box is pretty much life-sized. I think it's cute! And it's the perfect size for making just enough nacho cheese for our family or, in this case, making some heaven on earth caramel dip.

All you have to do is take the wrapper off the can of milk, put it in the crock pot, fill it with enough water to completely cover the can, and turn it on low. Let it cook for about 8 hours on low, then remove it and place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to cool.

Open up the can and dump it into another container-it needed to be stirred just a little.

Slice up your apples (or have your husband do it like I did. I'm not very good at using that thing. I always slice it crooked and end up having a use a knife to finish cutting off the core anyway).

Serve it up and enjoy. Be warned that you're going to want to eat way too much of this dip! It is that good!

You're welcome!

After you make it, be sure to come back and let me know how it turned out. I know you'll love it!

Can't wait!

2011-09-29T10:13:00.002-05:00

Daniel and I are going to see Tim Hawkins tonight in Tulsa. I have been waiting for this for months and it's finally here!

The kids are staying with Grandma and Grandpa and will meet up with us tomorrow for the Tulsa State Fair (Cheyenne has some jelly that made it to the State Fair-woohoo!) and the Icecapades.

The last time Daniel and I went on an overnight trip without the kids Landon was not quite two.

I. am. so. excited!

If you don't know Tim Hawkins, watch the video below. He is SO FUNNY!

Can't wait to share some pictures from our trip! Hopefully we'll be bringing home some blue ribbon winning jelly tomorrow evening!

Have a great Thursday!

Why Batman is not my favorite superhero.

2011-09-28T16:24:00.006-05:00

The person who invented this thing

better hope he never meets me in a dark alley! Sure he looks like a superhero on the outside, but in reality, he's just pure evil!

The kids and I had some errands to run in town this morning. By the time we finished, it was lunch time. ~~Since we didn't do the breakfast dishes and the kitchen was a mess~~ Since the kids were so good while we were out and about, we decided to grab something to eat before heading home for the afternoon.

I was feeling generous today, so I let the younger 3 get kids' meals with toys. They were so excited to get these

(do-it-yourself) Batman bobble head dolls. Sounds like fun, right? Wrong!

Daniel was still at work when we got home, so it was my job to help Landon put his together. I knew I was going to be in trouble when I opened the package and found this.

I am not very spatially intelligent. I need WORDS to guide me through the process. But this thing came with NO instructions. Only little tabs marked with ABC's and 123's and diagrams of what each piece was supposed to look like when it was finished. Not even a "start here".

Landon punched everything out for me and I had the task of making the flat pieces magically turn into a 3-D crime fighting friend.

I started with the "neck" piece and surprisingly got it pretty quickly. I was so proud until I set it down on the table and it popped open. Grr! So, I had Landon go get me the tape. It was going to stay together one way or the other. Got that piece done, then on to the "fist". Same problem. So I decided that every tab would get a piece of tape.

After about 10 minutes, Landon decided that he would rather watch TV so I was on my own. I got the fist done and moved onto the body, and head. Those two went pretty smoothly and I was starting to think I had underestimated my abilities.

Then, I came to the arms. Every time I would put one tab in, another would pop out.

Attracted by me ~~yelling at the thing~~ muttering under my breath "oh, come on!" and "how is THAT supposed to go THERE?", Cheyenne came in to offer moral support.

"Why are you putting ALL THAT tape on it?"
"Because I don't want it to fall apart when Landon plays with it."

"Oh. Well, at least it's going to be really shiny when you get done with it."

Hmm.

FINALLY, I got it finished, over 30 minutes later.

Cheyenne said "Can I open mine now?"

"No way! I'm not doing another one of those. You'll have to wait for dad."

"No, I can do it myself."

"Go for it then." (maybe a little bit sarcastically)

About 5 minutes later, she brings it to show me with the body, cape, and arms attached. "Look, I've got it almost done. It's staying together without ANY tape."

Then, 5 minutes after that. "I'm done!"
Smarty pants!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T07:28:00.003-05:00

Creepy, right?

Wordless Wednesday-Daddy got a new deer stand!

2011-09-20T22:49:00.003-05:00

Can you tell which one is ready to head to the woods?
She's dying to get out there and get a big one this year!

Back to (home)school 2011

2011-09-19T23:39:00.009-05:00

We finally got our new school year started last Monday, only a week later than I had planned. The week after Labor Day turned out to be a busy one, so we had to push it back. Last year, we started on September 13, so we really aren't behind at all. (at least I've been telling myself that to make me feel better).

We've made some changes to our days this year. The biggest one being the curriculum. Last year, we used My Father's World. I had three different levels going-K, 1st, and ECC (4th and 7th). It was CRAZY trying to keep up with everything. I loved the K and 1st, but the ECC was a challenge. It was a little too hard for Cheyenne and not quite challenging enough for Dakota. I was looking for something that would make it easier to include everyone and more of a unit study approach. This led me to The Weaver curriculum from A&O. I'm using it as our base curriculum and adding in Singapore Math for the younger three and Life of Fred Fractions for Dakota. I'm doing MFW 1st for reading with Landon (although I will be taking it slow. It moves pretty quickly). I'm starting Sierra out rereading the last several stories from the MFW reader and then we'll go from there depending on what she needs to work on.

Here are a few highlights of our week.

We start the morning together with prayer. I wish we would have done this last year. We take turns so everyone gets a turn about once a week.

Then we say the pledge and do some warm-up exercises to wake us up. The person who prayed is also the leader of the warm-up.

Next is our Bible lesson. This week, I've been doing the reading but I plan on having them take turns later on in the year. (don't they look excited?!)

After the Bible lesson, I send the older two off to work independently on Penmanship, spelling, writing, tae kwon do practice, etc while I do math with the younger two at the calendar.

Once we've finished that, I get Landon and Sierra going on things they can do by themselves. Penmanship, memory verse work, journal, etc. While I go over math with the older two.

We break for lunch around 1:00. They usually go outside or play inside for 15-20 minutes before lunch. Then after lunch, we finish up anything that was left from the morning, do science/social studies, art, or local field trips/errands. If
there is time after they've finished their work and before we have to leave for evening activities they can watch TV, get on the computer, or go outside.

I'm still tweaking the schedule here and there to try to fit everything in, but so far it's going okay.

Here are a couple of my favorite activities from this week:

We talked about the Tower of Babel this week. Sierra and Landon were to build a tower out of legos. Since we had discussed that the Tower of Babel was most likely a ziggurat, Sierra chose to make her lego tower one too.

Another day, we talked about building on the rock vs building on the sand. Landon and Sierra's job was to build a tower as high as they could get it on the carpet and then on the table. They discovered they could get it much higher on the table because it had a good foundation.

All in all, it was a pretty good week.

I'm linking up the the TOS crew (not)Back To School blog hop. Can't wait to check out how everyone else is doing with their new school year!

Wordless Wednesday-tell me how you really feel about starting school

2011-09-14T04:58:00.001-05:00

The annual feeding of the ducks and Theta Pond pictures

2011-09-09T12:44:00.007-05:00

Wednesday morning, we got up bright and early (actually, it was still dark out) and made the trip to Stillwater for the first time in over a year to attend a Celebration of Life service for a wonderful friend, R., who went to be with Jesus on Sunday evening. The service was beautiful! Just the way she would have wanted it, although she probably would have been upset with us all for making such a fuss about her.

Afterward, we had a chance to visit with a lot of friends we hadn't seen in a while. It was fun to catch up! We went to lunch at Eskimo Joe's (because you can't go to Stillwater and not go there) with some friends and their kids. Last time we saw them, there were three kids. In January, they were blessed with a sweet baby girl, A. So, in that group, the adults were outnumbered 2 to 1-8 kids and 4 adults. The kids had so much fun seeing their old friends and hanging out. It's a good thing Joe's is loud! Ha!

For dinner, we were joined by some other friends and their three kids. It's funny to think that when we all started hanging out all those years ago, Dakota was the only baby in the group. Almost three years later, we added Cheyenne and then there was a baby explosion! Now, if we all went together, there would be a total of 6 adults and 11 kids! Not a lot of restaurants that can seat that many all together.

(Can you believe that I didn't bother to get my camera out of the car? Ugh!)

While we were in Stillwater, we made sure to drop by OSU to get the annual Theta Pond pictures. I made sure to take my camera for the occasion, but I forgot to plan ahead and bring something to feed the ducks. Luckily, I had some whale crackers stashed in the car.

Dakota wasn't much into feeding the ducks this year. She decided she'd rather take some video of the other three.

This is the first year Daniel has gotten to come with us. Doesn't he look thrilled? Ha! (I'll be in trouble for that one)

I guess ducks don't really like whale crackers much because they didn't hang around for long. The kids spotted this little guy on a tree and thought they'd try their luck with him. He didn't care for our crackers either.

Landon wasn't very happy that our furry friend didn't want his treat.

Cheyenne likes to strike a pose for the camera no matter where we are.

Sierra found a feather (imagine that!) and thought she needed to have her picture taken with it.

As we were walking over, Dakota said, "Ya know, someday I'll be walking these very same sidewalks on my way to class." Five years. She could be going to school there in 5 years. How is that possible?

We took pictures on our bench (okay, maybe not the same bench. They all look alike)

And Daniel thought they should take some on the bridge.

I wasn't supposed to post this picture, but I thought it was funny so I did it anyway. (shh! Don't tell on me!)

Hard to believe how much they've grown! Cheyenne is now the same age Dakota was in the first picture and Sierra is the age Cheyenne was.

2008
2009

2010

2011

Wordless Wednesday- I love these kids!

2011-09-07T04:45:00.001-05:00

Miscellany Monday 5/5/11

2011-09-05T23:31:00.005-05:00

I almost waited too late to get this post up! If I don't hurry up, it will be Miscellany Tuesday and that just doesn't have the same ring, does it? Here are a few random things from the past week:

1. The van on my air conditioner died on Monday. It's been going downhill for a while, but Monday it finally just gave up.

*yes, I noticed that I said that backwards when I was proofreading my post. It's actually the air conditioner on my van that went out, not the other way around. It made me laugh out loud, so I decided to leave it. Does anyone else ever talk like that? I do it all the time!*

2. I'm so thankful that my mother-in-law is letting me borrow a car to use until the van gets fixed (on Saturday, yea!). It's a PT cruiser.

3. It's been a long time since I drove a "cool car". I've driven a mini van since Landon was just a couple of weeks old. It's kind of fun!

4. I have found a few drawbacks to driving a car instead of a van when you have many children. First, everyone is very close together. This means that someone is always touching/breathing on someone else. Second, the noise level is twice as high-Dakota trying to have a conversation with me, while Sierra and Landon are playing rock, paper, scissors, with Cheyenne singing along with the radio in the seat behind me...Normally, the noise is spread out in the back of the van so I don't notice it as much. Third, there is not nearly enough cargo room for all of our stuff. I took the kids with me to buy groceries this afteroon and barely had enough room for all the bags.

5. Guess I'll be sticking with my van for a while longer. Hopefully it'll be good as new on Saturday.

6. Our new school year "officially" starts tomorrow. We're not getting off to the start I would have liked, though. Landon pulled a cap off this weekend eating a sucker, so we've got to get him in sometime tomorrow (hopefully early in the morning) to get it put back on. I forgot to take my library list to town with me yesterday (and of course they were closed for Labor Day today), so I also need to check out books while we're in town tomorrow. I'm hoping we can get all that done and be ready to really dig in after lunch tomorrow. We get our first day off on Wednesday because we'll be going out of town to a funeral. :( But Daniel is working on Thursday and Friday, so we'll still be able to fit in 3 days this week like I had planned.

7. Sadly, our friend, R., went home to be with Jesus on Sunday evening. My heart is torn between being broken for her family and friends who have lost an amazing lady here on earth and rejoicing that she is healed in heaven. She will be missed!

8. I've still got a few things to finish preparing for school tomorrow so I'd better get to it and get to bed.

Yea! I made it with 5 whole minutes to spare!

Slim Down Sunday #2

2011-09-04T08:56:00.002-05:00

Goal – 24 pounds by Nov. 18.

Pounds Lost (Week 7) – The scale has gone back and forth this week between 1 pound up and 1 pound down. This morning, it said the same as last week, so I'll just go with 3 pounds down do far. I have a doctor's appointment at the end of this week, so my very short-term goal is 5 pounds total by their scale. So, only 2 pounds to go this week!

How it Went This Week:
I did pretty good with portion sizes and between meal snacks this week. Not so good with the water and salads. Also, not so good with exercise. I have added some exercise time into our school schedule for this year, so that should help me get started with some regular exercise. I'm going to have the kids start teaching me some of their TKD forms, too.

What’s my Plan for next Week:
More of the same. More water, more veggies. Less snacking, smaller portions.

My first time to use manual settings...

2011-09-03T12:46:00.001-05:00

Cheyenne volunteered to be my subject the other day so I could play around with the manual mode on my camera. I have no idea what I'm doing. I just pushed buttons until I thought it looked good. Ha! I still have a lot of work to do.

A bit too bright...

Too blurry...

Dark and blurry...

If it was a little clearer, I might actually like this one. Reminds me of a school picture.

This one was my favorite.

At least I had a cute model!

Anyone have any tips for me? I'd love to learn how to take really great pics!

Did you notice my new button on my sidebar? I'd love it if you'd grab it and put it on your blog!

Wordless Wednesday-self portrait

2011-08-31T11:45:00.002-05:00

She got me!

2011-08-29T13:54:00.005-05:00

At lunch today, the kids started getting a little silly. Landon started the "magic tricks". He put his fork under the table and said "I will now pull a fork out from under the table! Ta-da!"

That was followed by the other three making their food or drinks "disappear".

Dakota said, "Oh, I've got one! I need a hat!" She ran back to her room and got her Mickey Mouse ears she got from Disney World,

(hers were my favorite)

put them over her cup, and said, "I will now take a drink from this cup without touching the hat."

I said, "Yeah, right."

She climbed under the table and made slurping sounds like she was drinking through a straw. "Ta-da!"

I laughed and told her she was goofy.

She said, "No, really. Look in the cup."

I said, "I know you already drank it all before you put the hat on it."

She said, "I refilled it. Look in the cup."

I picked up the hat and, sure enough, she had refilled it.

Before I could say anything, she smiled, picked up the cup, and took a drink.

Yep, she got me!

Miscellany Monday

2011-08-29T09:21:00.003-05:00

1. Last week went by really fast! Cheyenne even made a comment about it last night. Hope this week slows down a little. I've got a lot of work to do before next Tuesday.

2. We are officially starting school next Tuesday. I still haven't ordered those math workbooks, but it's on my to-do list for today.

3. I'm trying to figure out our routine/schedule. My main problem is keeping Landon and Sierra busy when they aren't working with me. I bought some cool games at Ross a couple of weeks ago that they can play by themselves. I'm thinking I'll stock up on some puzzles at Dollar Tree this week, too. If you have any other ideas, please share. Landon, especially, needs to keep his hands busy.

4. This weekend is the Third Day concert. I can't wait!

5. Cheyenne is watching "Say Yes to the Dress." Here's the comment I just heard from a mother-of-the-bride, "I just pictured her getting married for the first time in a white dress." Really? I just can't imagine going into my daughter's wedding thinking that it wasn't going to last. I think that's really sad.

6. My heart is broken today for a friend and her family. She was recently diagnosed with cancer that has been very rapidly spreading. The doctors have just made the decision to put her on "comfort care" meaning that they aren't going to do anything to try to treat the cancer, just make her as comfortable as possible. I'm praying that she will have peace in her heart and comfort in her body as long as she is still with us here on Earth.

Slim Down Sunday

2011-08-28T22:36:00.002-05:00

I'm linking up this week with April at Heartfelt Homeschooling for Slim Down Sunday.

Goal: I am starting with a short-term goal to lose 24 pounds by my next diabetic check-up in November. Last week when I went to the doctor, I had gained about 12 pounds. I plan to lose what I had gained plus another 12. That's only 8 pounds a month. I can do this!

Pounds Lost (Week 1): So far, I have lost about 3 pounds. Not a bad start!

How it Went This Week: This week went pretty well. I had gotten into a bad habit lately and I've been able to overcome it this whole week. When I went into the gas station to get my Diet Pepsi fix, I was giving in to the temptation to also pick up a snack. Most of the time, I wasn't even hungry. I have made it for a little over a week without one. Yea!

What’s my Plan for next Week: I'm going to continue to add in more salads, etc and cut down portion sizes and between meal snacks. I'm also going to drink more water. My goal is to take baby steps that I can maintain.

Thankful Thursday

2011-08-25T00:05:00.000-05:00

So many things to be thankful for this week. Here are just a few:

1. I am thankful for a husband who is willing to work VERY long hours to allow me to stay home with my kids. He started around 5 this morning and just a few minutes ago (around 10:30) sent me a text to let me know he was on his way.

2. I am thankful that we have grandmas close by to help out with the kids. This evening, I dropped 3 of them off with Grandma Debbie so I could pick up some more medicine for Landon. It was great to not have to drag a sick kid into the store with me!

3. I am thankful that my kids are getting old enough to help with more things around the house. While I was getting dinner ready, the girls cleared, washed, and set the table for dinner. After dinner, they cleared and washed the table. Then, they helped clean up Landon's room since we have someone coming over to do some repairs on the house tomorrow.

4. I am thankful that Landon's fever came down before he went to bed. I expect to be up with him sometime to give more medicine tonight, but it was nice to see him feeling a little better.

5. I am thankful that I generally have pretty healthy kids.

6.I am thankful that God has led us to an amazing new church! I can see Him working in so many ways. I am thankful to get to be a small part of it.

I could go on forever, but it's late and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open. Think I'll do some reading while I wait for the sheets to dry (had to get rid of my little sickie's germs after he spent the day in my bed) then call it a night.

What are you thankful for today?

"...the most awesome and weirdest thing..."

2011-08-24T16:30:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday night, Daniel got off earlier than usual(you know, he only worked 12 hours instead of 14-15), so the three youngest stayed home with him while I took Dakota to youth group at church. Adult services are canceled this month so they can work on remodeling another building that the church has purchased for a second campus, (It's going to be awesome!) so I had the very rare opportunity to spend nearly two whole hours by myself (I couldn't believe it either). I loaded up a bunch of our school stuff that I needed to work on,dropped Dakota off at church, and grabbed a back table at Arby's (not the best place to work on school stuff, but the library closes early around here). It was so nice to be able to work on planning without being interrupted or feeling guilty that the kids were sitting in front of the TV (I'm sure that's what they were doing, but I wasn't there to see so I didn't have to feel guilty).

When I picked Dakota up, the first thing she said to me was. "I just did the most awesome and weirdest thing I've ever done!"

At the beginning of youth group each week, they have an ice breaker before service starts. She's told me about a couple of them-Rock, Paper, Scissors championship and a game they call Ninja. Sometimes they do something a little messier. Last week was one of those times. Of course, Dakota got picked to play (remind me to tell you about the time she played the Spaghetti O's game) . Her job was to sit still and "try not to get anything in your eyes" (the youth pastor's words) while her blindfolded partner sprayed frosting on her face and then stuck animal crackers on it. Apparently she's pretty good at her job because they won by getting the most animal crackers to stick. Ha!

Dakota was so pumped when I picked her up! She talked non-stop at 100mph all the way home. We stopped on the way at the gas station (my favorite-the one where they have diet pepsi in the fountain) for a drink. When Dakota saw our favorite gas station lady (seriously, my kids LOVE this lady) I thought Dakota was going to break right through the van door to get out. She said "I've got to tell B. about Realife tonight and invite her to come to church with us!"

They stood and talked while I got my drink. It was so much fun to hear Dakota talking so passionately about our church (the word awesome was used several times) and to hear her inviting someone to come with her, especially an ADULT! Unfortunately, B. has to work on Sundays and couldn't come with us, but I'm sure that Dakota's enthusiasm is something that she will never forget.

I'm so proud of Dakota! She is amazing! I love that she really doesn't care what people are saying or doing. She does her own thing. I love sitting next to her in church and watching how passionately she worships without worrying about what anyone thinks. She inspires me to be more like that.

I can't wait to see where her life takes her. I know it will be somewhere amazing!

Wordless Wednesday-My little guy is sick today.

2011-08-24T09:58:00.003-05:00

So glad that's daddy's pillow and not mine! Ha!

Linking up with some Tuesday Hops!

2011-08-23T09:40:00.004-05:00

I'm linking up today with the Sometimes It's OK To Be A Follower Tuesday hop and the TOS Review Crew hop. I can't wait to hop around and find some new blogs to follow!

Welcome new blogging friends. I'm a mom to 4 getting ready to begin our second year of homeschooling. Please check out some of my other posts and leave a comment to let me know you were here!

I think it's about time for school to start around here.

2011-08-22T19:51:00.004-05:00

I sent the kids to clean their rooms this afternoon. They usually end up discovering toys they had forgotten about and do more playing than cleaning. That doesn't really bother me, though, because the house gets really quiet for 30 minutes or so and it gets them away from the TV and computer.

Dakota and Landon were finished first. Sierra usually takes forever because she makes a game out of everything and she likes to take everything out of her drawers and toy boxes to "organize" it. I wasn't expecting her anytime soon. After the first two were finished and had come out, Cheyenne was still in her room. I was beginning to think she had fallen asleep when she came out and said she had something to show me.

She made me close my eyes and led me to her room to show me this:

She made it with post-it notes she got for her birthday (I knew they were a good idea!). Cool, huh?

Here's a closer picture

Can you see the numbers? It's a calendar! I asked her what she was going to do at the end of the month when the dates would be different. She said "I wrote the numbers with a pencil so I can erase them." Not sure how well that will work out, but I was impressed that she had thought that through.

She was pretty proud of it

Miscellany Monday

2011-08-22T08:19:00.002-05:00

1. I have become an e-bay addict! I've been buying curriculum the past few weeks and have saved over $150 so far. There are a few things that I will have to buy new, but it's nice to be able to save where I can.

2. Since Daniel's days off are Thursday and Friday right now, we have been having "Friday Funday". It's nice to have a day set aside to have fun together.

3. This week for Friday Funday, we made a spur-of-the-moment trip out of town. We shopped for laptops at Best Buy, found some good stuff at Dollar Tree, bought some fun school games at Ross, tried out Cherry Berry for the first time, bought the girls some new dresses at Sears, and had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was a pretty fun day!

4. Daniel and I are going to see Tim Hawkins at the end of next month. I am so excited! I first heard of him when someone posted a youtube video on facebook. I think the kids and I have watched almost every youtube video of him there is. The kids are bummed that we're not taking them. The last time we spent the night away from home without the kids was when I was in the hospital, but I don't think that really counts...

5. Labor Day weekend, we get to go see Third Day at the Tuskahoma Labor Day festival! I missed Casting Crowns last year when I was admitted to the hospital, so I'm pretty excited to be able to go this year. It's going to be awesome!

6. Two weeks from tomorrow, we will begin our new school year. I think I'd better get the rest of our books ordered!

Wordless Wednesday-Summer Spectacular Inflatables Party

2011-08-17T11:51:00.002-05:00

Movie night!

2011-08-16T22:34:00.006-05:00

Movie night is one of our family's favorite things to do together. We get into our pjs, pop up a bunch of popcorn, throw a quilt down on the floor and curl up in front of the TV. Once the kids have eaten their fill of popcorn, they usually end up with their pillows and blankets, too. It's a nice way to end the day.

This afternoon, we went into town to run errands and buy groceries. After our trip to the post office, library, Wal-Mart, and the gas station I was not really in the mood to go home and cook dinner. When I found out that Daniel was going to be working late and wouldn't be home for dinner, it was settled. It was definitely going to be a movie night!

We decided on Princess Diaries (the first one) for tonight. The girls had seen the second one, but not the first, so they were excited. Landon wasn't thrilled but decided to watch anyway. It didn't take long before he was enjoying it too.

About 10 minutes before the end of the movie, he asked me how much longer it would be. I told him it was just a few minutes so he could go on to bed if he wanted. He said he wanted to watch the end, but didn't quite make it.

We almost lost Cheyenne too. Five more minutes and she would've been out.

Sierra, on the other hand, was still wide awake. She's my night owl. She'd rather stay up late and get up around 9 or 10. Definitely my child.
Goodnight blogging friends! I'm off to tuck kids into bed and then tuck myself into bed. We've got a lot of library books to read tomorrow!

A peek into our day today

2011-08-16T14:08:00.005-05:00

Nothing special going on around here today. We're just having fun enjoying the end of our summer break. We'll be officially starting our new school year in only three weeks! If you had stopped by around lunchtime, here's what you would have seen.

Landon got this farm set for his birthday last month. It has tons of little tiny pieces and I really didn't think it would last very long before they were all lost. Surprisingly, they have been really good about picking it all up and putting it back in the box when they are finished. It comes out about once a week and is good for about 2 hours of fun!

We had a tv and video game "fast" for a while this morning after breakfast. I let them turn it back on around noon. I'm trying to ease them back into the school schedule where the tv is off most of the day except a little while at lunch time.

Cheyenne has decided that it's her official job to cook lunch for us everyday. She's getting better at it and most days she doesn't really need my help. All I have to do is set the table. She does the rest.

After lunch, the kids cleaned up the kitchen! It's kind of nice to have "big" kids sometimes (although it makes me sad to think that I don't have ANY little ones anymore).

I love having pictures of everyday things. Holidays and vacations are fun, but these are memories I like the best. Just our day to day times of being together.

And now, the outtakes. :)

I'm going to be in so much trouble for those someday! Ha!

A New Name

2011-08-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

I've been playing around with changing my blog's name for a while. It started as just a way for me to share our lives with family and friends who lived far away but now I'm feeling led to make it something more than that. I want my blog to be an encouragement to others to take time to make memories with their kids. We have our kids for such a short time and it goes by way to fast. We need to make it a priority to enjoy our time with them while we can, even if that means we may have to make some sacrifices to make it happen.

The inspiration for my blog's new name comes from this song

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I'm sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone.

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancin'
"Oh please, daddy , please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

But she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says, "Dad the wedding's still six months away but I need to practice my dancin'
"Oh please, daddy , please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

(Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com)

So, have you taken the time to "dance" with your kids today? You'll be glad you did!

Wordless Wednesday-oobleck

2011-07-13T16:15:00.002-05:00

Wordless Wednesday-Sierra's new belt!

2011-06-29T18:00:00.002-05:00

Wordless Wednesday-things to do while your sisters are at camp

2011-06-22T05:29:00.004-05:00

Miscellany Monday 6/20/11

2011-06-20T18:26:00.003-05:00

1. The girls are have been gone to camp for 3 nights and have one more to go. They come home tomorrow! I've been able to look at pictures from camp online and it looks like they are having a great time. It also looks like they will be in desperate need of a shower and a nap when they get home. :)

2. Dropping the girls off for camp was certainly an adventure. There were so many kids there. Pastor T said yesterday during the service that our church took over 200 kids to camp! It took 3 school buses to get them all there. Wow!

2. Our pastor's wife has been posting a few updates from camp on Facebook. Last night, she said, they had an amazing response to the call for salvation in the childrens' service (1st-6th grade). From the sounds of it, nearly all of the kids were either praying to receive salvation or praying with someone who was! AWESOME! That's what camp is all about. I can't wait for the girls to come home and tell me all about it.

3. Daniel's days off are Thursday and Friday, so Landon and I have been pretty much on our own while the girls have been gone. Saturday we played together for most of the day, including a 2 hour Mr. Potato Head marathon. We also, played with legos, painted, and played with play-doh. He isn't used to that kind of attention and he loved it. It was pretty fun for me too! Sunday, we had church in the morning. Then, we went to lunch and a movie with Grandma Debbie. We saw Mr. Popper's Penguins. It was cute and Landon really liked it. Then, we went to visit Pops (and Memaw) for Father's Day for a little while. For dinner, we went out with Granma P. and Grandpa. A very busy and fun day.

4. Today was much more relaxed. Landon and I slept in until about 8am then played on the computers for a while and ate breakfast around 10. We got dressed and headed into town to the splash pad and wading pool. It was pretty windy today and the temp stayed below 90 while we were there, so it was a good day for it. Landon made friends with a boy who was just a little bit older and showed him how to do cartwheels and flips in the water without holding his nose. He had a blast! Then, we went through the drive-thru at McDonald's for a Happy Meal and came home for some PBS and a nap. He's still napping and let me tell you, it's really quiet around here. I can't decide if I like it or not...

5. Cheyenne gave Landon the idea that I "might" take him fishing sometime when the girls were gone this week, so I guess we'll have to work that in sometime before the sun goes down this evening. I'm hoping Daniel gets home in time to go with us. Maybe I'll have some pics to post of our fishing expedition later.

6. We pick the girls up tomorrow morning around 11. Don't tell Landon, but, if we can get it in gear early enough tomorrow, we may hit the splash pad one more time on our way. He'll be very excited about that.

So, what random things are going on in your life this week? Write your own Miscellany Monday post and link up over at lowercase letters.

5QF!

2011-06-16T22:27:00.002-05:00

Woohoo! Five Question Friday time with Mama M.! Go on over to her place and link up. You know you want to!

1. What is your favorite summer time activity?

Anything where we can get wet! We like hanging out at the splash pad, Grandma P.'s pool, turning on the sprinkler for a little while, water guns, and even washing the van. A couple of years ago, we had a big family water balloon fight. It was so much fun! The kids are begging to do it again this year. If only the water balloons came pre-filled. My fingers got so sore from trying all those balloons!

2. Do you have one laundry soap you stick to, or do you buy whatever's on sale?
Laundry soap is tricky at our house. Landon has very sensitive skin, so I have to be careful what I use. So far, the only things I have found that don't irritate his skin (and that I can afford) are the really, really cheap liquid detergent (because it's mostly just water), original scented Gain, and Arm & Hammer. I really, really love laundry that smells good (especially towels) but when I tried the scented Gain it broke him out, so I have to stick with the original. I'd like to try making my own laundry soap, but I haven't gotten brave enough to do it yet.

3. What is your favorite dinner to make in the summer?

Anything that doesn't take much time or heat up the kitchen much. We love to use the grill in the summer, but ours broke before we moved, so we don't have one right now. We tend to do more sandwiches and popcorn/movie nights in the summer so we don't have to cook.

4. Do you have any talents?

Not really. I would love to be able to sing, really sing, but that's not one of the gifts I was given...

5. If you could instantly be an expert in something, what would it be? Why?
Right now, I'd have to say 7th grade math. I'm trying to get Dakota through the last few lessons in her math book and it's about to kill us both. There was one problem the other day that we never did figure out. When we looked at the answer, it made sense, but we never really understood how they figured out the answer. I think we may have a math book burning party when she's done! I'm so excited to try a different math program with her. I think we're going with Life of Fred. It looks like it will fit her personality perfectly.

All righty. We're gonna be up bright and early this morning to see the girls off to church camp. Not sure what Landon and I are going to do while they're gone, but I'm pretty sure he has some things in mind. I sure hope taking a nap in the afternoons is in his plans, but somehow I'm guessing it's not.

Have a great weekend!

Vacation Day 5-turkeys and Typhoon Lagoon

2011-06-16T07:55:00.004-05:00

Outside the back door of our hotel, there was a little pond with some ducks. The kids really wanted to pet them, but they could never get close enough (smart ducks!).

This guy also liked to hang out at the pond. I'm not exactly sure what it's called though.

And, in the mornings, we usually had a couple of these visitors outside our door.

Living in the country, our kids have seen turkeys before, but I don't think they'd ever seen them this close up. They had so much fun feeding them!

The ducks got their fair share too. And some kids from another room came out and joined the fun.

Once the turkeys and ducks had their breakfast, it was time for us to have ours. Then, we loaded up on the bus for Typhoon Lagoon!

I didn't want my camera to get wet, so I don't have any pictures to share. We had a blast though!

The first thing we went to after we got our stuff settled on the "beach" was the shark reef. I must say, I was expecting something much different after reading about it on the website. For one thing, the water is really deep and COLD! Most of the fish and sharks are close to the bottom, so you're not really swimming with them, more like swimming over them. And they ask you to keep swimming all the way across. You don't get to stop and really see things. But, it was a cool experience and the kids liked it (all except poor Landon and his sensitive skin. The cleaner they use on the equipment combined with the sunscreen on his face made his skin burn. He didn't even make it to get into the water. Poor kid!). Dakota and Cheyenne even went back and did it again later.

We played in the giant wave pool for a while. Let me tell you, those waves are STRONG! Then, we split up for the water slides. Dakota and Cheyenne were able to ride everything, but Landon and Sierra were just barely too short for the biggest slides. So, Grandma Debbie went with the big kids and we took the little kids. I'm not for sure about Sierra, but I know it was Landon's first time to ride a big water slide. I was a little worried about how he would handle it, but he did great! Daniel was the official water slide chaperon (I hate water slides) but they did talk me into doing the big family raft ride with them one time. I will admit that it was fun(ish) but I don't really care to do it again.
We stayed almost until the park closed then caught the bus back to the hotel for some rest. That night, we went back to Epcot and caught the fireworks/light show there. If you want to be able to see the show well, I recommend that you get your spot early (at least an hour before showtime). It gets pretty crowded around the lake.
During the fireworks show, I started getting facebook updates on my phone about all the tornadoes that were going on in Oklahoma that night. The one that got to me was news of a mother who was searching for her 3 year-old boy who was missing after being pulled away from her during the tornado. I was overwhelmed with how blessed I was at that moment. I was at the "happiest place on Earth" enjoying a wonderful vacation with my kids while other people in my home-state were out searching for theirs. Wow! I can tell you that I saw the rest of our trip in a whole different light.

After a little more of a relaxed day on Day 5, we were ready for another crazy busy day on Day 6. We were going to hit Animal Kingdom bright and early in the morning. If only we had known that everyone else in Florida had the same plan...

2011-06-16T07:13:00.003-05:00

Memorable

Healthy

Grand

Impressive

Lucky

My girls are leaving for church camp tomorrow morning. I hope they have a memorable time making friends, having fun, and most importantly having an encounter with God. I know it's going to be awesome and I can't wait to hear their stories when they come back!

After my appointment with the dietician this week, I know I need to be eating more healthy foods. (okay, I actually knew that already but she confirmed it). It's been hard this past year because it seems like all the veggies that I actually like are on the vitamin K list of stuff I'm supposed to limit-broccoli and spinach being the top two (only raw of course. NEVER cooked. Eeeeew). I'm hoping that I get to lose the Warafrin in September which would make things easier.

I've been having a grand time writing up the posts about our Disney vacation. We had so much fun! It's nice to relive the memories.

Dakota has been playing a game on the computer for a while that is an RPG (role-playing game) with Pokemon. Each person creates a character and they write about their character's adventures. The other day, she was reading some of her posts to us. Her writing was very impressive! I've always tried to encourage her to do more creative writing but she says she's not very good at it. I have to disagree. After she read the first one, Daniel said, "YOU wrote that whole thing?!" It was very good!

My kids are very into finding "lucky" pennies on the ground. Sierra is the best at it. She finds them everywhere. I think it's because she pays more attention than the rest of us. No matter how many she finds, she's just excited as if it was her first one.

Link up your own Thursday 5 at Flip Flops and Combat Boots.

Vacation Day 4-Epcot Center

2011-06-15T13:35:00.006-05:00

Day 4 of our vacation was the big event we had been waiting for-Princess Breakfast! Sierra and Cheyenne wore their most "princessy" dresses and their tiaras for the occasion. They were so cute! Here's Sierra on the bus to Epcot. Can you tell she stayed out late the night before? Ha!

When we got to Epcot, we made our way to "Norway" where we were going to be dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. We had to wait a little while out in the heat, but it was totally worth it!

When it was our turn, we went inside and were greeted by Belle (the same Belle that the girls and I had met the day before-she was incredible!)

The food was fabulous! Sierra especially enjoyed the giant strawberries.

And as we were eating, the princesses came around to visit as well as Mary Poppins. They spent time at each table signing autograph books and talking with the kids. So much fun!

While we were there, the princesses gathered up all the kids and had a parade through the restaurant. I loved it! The best part of Disney World is the kids, even the ones who aren't yours. They were adorable! We actually were there long enough for the kids to do the parade twice. Once they walked with Mary Poppins and once with Snow White.

All the kids had a great time, even Dakota (who would never be caught in a tiara, but did enjoy wearing her Mickey Mouse ears).

If you're taking little girls to Disney World (or even little boys-ours loved it), I think this is definitely a "must do". It's a little pricey just for one meal, but the experience is priceless!

Here are a few pictures from the rest of our day at Epcot.

We rode Spaceship Earth and a few other rides at Epcot and then called it a day. It was so hot (have I said that already?) and we were still pretty wiped out from the night before. We went back to the hotel and enjoyed some down time (naps). We had to rest up for another busy day on Vacation Day 5-Typhoon Lagoon!

Wordless Wednesday-You've Got a Friend in Me

2011-06-14T21:15:00.001-05:00

Vacation Day 3-Magic Kingdom Day! (pictures, pictures, pictures)

2011-06-14T09:07:00.009-05:00

I can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to posting our Magic Kingdom adventure. It's been kinda crazy trying to get back into the swing of things around here. Our brains have switched over to summer but we still have just a couple weeks of school work left to do. And just when I'm about to get it all ironed back out, the girls are leaving for church camp on Friday. I'm kind of excited about it, though, because it will give me some time to plan out the rest of our summer.

Okay, back to our vacation.

We woke up bright and early on Sunday morning so we could be sure to get there before the park officially opened for the day. Everyone met in the lobby of the hotel so we could all go together. While we were waiting, the kids wanted their pictures taken with this Mickey statue. Can you tell they were a little excited?

We hiked over to the hotel across the street to catch the monorail. (Later we learned there was a bus from our hotel that would take us to the monorail. Saved us lots of walking the rest of the week). The monorail dropped us off at the gates to the MAGIC KINGDOM!

When we got there, we found out that the park opened a little later than we had thought. That was okay though because we have plenty of time to take group pictures.

Something I wasn't expecting was the heat. Florida in May is HOT! We were melting standing there waiting for the park to open. Just when I thought we were gonna loose a couple of the kids, they started the opening show. It was great! The kids loved seeing all the characters. It was a perfect way to begin our day.

Just as we came into the park, we met Daisy.

Then, we were off to Tomorrowland! We stopped by the Monsters Inc. show and then the Buzz Lightyear ride. On the way to the ride, there was a mechanical Buzz talking the the audience. Landon was so excited! He kept waving at it and saying "Hi Buzz!". I don't think he even noticed that it didn't wave back. During the ride, we managed to capture Zurg and put him behind bars, but there was one little problem...

When we came out of the Buzz ride, guess who was there to meet us?!

We went on more rides and met some more characters.

I think Peter Pan was my favorite character that we met (other than the princesses). He was awesome and spent a lot of time talking to the kids. They loved it!

Then, it was time for a nice, cool snack. We went to the ice cream shop on Main Street and got some very yummy sundaes. As we were sitting there enjoying our ice cream, the parade began. Daniel, Dakota, and Landon went up for a better view while Grandma Debbie, Sierra, Cheyenne, and I watched from afar and finished our snack. It was the first time Sierra got a good look at Tinkerbell and the princesses. She was pretty excited!

When the parade was over, it was finally time to meet Mickey and Minnie! We had to wait a few minutes for them to get back from the parade, but it didn't take long. We were really glad that they were greeting their guests in an air-conditioned building. Did I mention that it was HOT?

After we met Mickey and Minnie, our group split up. Daniel, Dakota, Landon, and Grandma Debbie went back to the hotel to rest up for the fireworks show and light parade. I kept the two girly-girls with me and we did some girly things, like meet the Princesses (who just happened to be in the same wonderfully air-conditioned building as Mickey and Minnie.

Meeting the princesses was amazing! They were in a private room and only about 5 families at a time were allowed in. We were the last family in our group. When we finished taking pictures with Aurora, we had to wait a minute or two before the group ahead of us finished with Belle. Aurora stood and talked to the girls and asked them to please invite Belle to a tea party with her in the afternoon. They were a little star-struck and almost forgot to ask her until I reminded them. Cheyenne finally spoke up and Belle said, "Oh, that would be so lovely! Would you please ask Cinderella if she would like to come too?" Of course Cinderella accepted the invitation and she said to Belle, who had walked over with us, "would it be okay if Jack and Gus-gus joined us as well?" Too cute!

After that, we shopped, rode rides, and just had fun together until it was time for the light parade and fireworks show. Of everything we did at Disney, this in the one thing I would really like to go back and do differently. I was disappointed with our experience for the parade and fireworks. It was crowded, which I expected, but people were incredibly rude-pushing and shoving to get closer. I ended up getting separated from my kids. They were just a little way in front of us, so no chance of them really getting lost, but it wasn't the way I had hoped things would happen. I was looking forward to sharing the experience with my kids but I couldn't even see them.

When the fireworks started, I quickly figured out why there hadn't been a lot of people in that spot when I first got there. We were a little too close to the castle. We could see the fireworks that went the highest, but didn't really get the full effect of the show. Oh well, we lived through it and went on to have a great time the rest of the trip.

Once the fireworks show was over, we were off to ride one last ride-Splash Mountain. When we went before (when Dakota was 5 and Cheyenne was 2) it had been Dakota's favorite ride so I waited until she was with us to ride it. Poor Sierra was so tired she could barely make it over there. But once we got on the ride, she perked right up. We all felt a little refreshed after Splash Mountain, so when we came to the Pirates of the Carribean ride, we couldn't pass it up. The park was open late that night-til 3am-for resort guests, so there was almost no waiting to get on. It was great!

Before we left for the night, we decided to stop by and let Dakota and Landon meet the princesses.

After visiting the princesses, you leave the building through the gift shop. We decided that it was the perfect time to get the kids' their Mickey Mouse ears. I love that they each picked a different kind. They fit the kids' personalities perfectly!

By the time we left, it was about 1am. We had a fun, exciting, exhausting day! We ate a little snack at the hotel and all crashed into bed to get ready for day 4-Epcot Center.

Miscellany Monday 6/13/11

2011-06-13T09:20:00.003-05:00

1. We've now been back from vacation for two whole weeks and I still haven't gotten back into the routine. We've been staying up way to late and sleeping in way too long. That means that lots of things aren't getting done around here. Hopefully this week we will finally get things running smoothly again.

2. Daniel worked 86.5 hours last week. Yes, 86.5 hours in ONE WEEK! We are really looking forward to doing some fun stuff with the extra money next week but we've been missing him around here.

3. We had an exciting morning yesterday before church. Landon has his first loose tooth for quite a while now and it finally came out! I tried to pull it but it was still a little stuck. Landon just kept wiggling it and it came out. He was so excited! He got up at 6:00 this morning to show us what the tooth fairy left him.

4. Daniel actually got home before the sun went down last night! We had a fun night with daddy home. He made some homemade pizza for us (I just can't do it as well as he does) and we watched Toy Story. It was nice to be able to spend a quiet evening together at home.

5. The girls are getting ready to go to church camp this weekend. They'll be leaving on Friday and coming home on Tuesday. They're so excited. This will be Sierra's first time to go to camp. I think she's going to have a blast. I've been to the website for the camp and it looks like so much fun. Not like any church camp I ever went to, that's for sure. I can't wait to hear all about it when they get home.

Five Question Friday 6/10/11

2011-06-10T10:11:00.002-05:00

1. How close to your childhood dreams is your life now?
Hhmmm...some part of my life are close to what my dreams were and some parts are nowhere near. But I must say, I like this life better. I used to dream of important careers, money, vacations, cars, etc. In real life, I have four beautiful kids and an awesome husband to love me. I think I got the better deal in the end.

2. What is one must have item for the summer?
The camera! We have so much fun in the summertime and I want the kids to be able to look back at the pictures and remember.

3. Do you have your kids stay up on school stuff during summer vacation? (Or, if you don't have kiddos, did your parents make you keep up on school stuff during summer?)
Normally, no. We have always gone to the library program and read books during the summer but no real school work. This year is going to be a little different. I have some things in mind for us to learn about over the summer. Mostly just because I want to keep the kids busy. They'll have some things to work on, but it won't really be like our regular school year.

4. Do you can or freeze fresh produce?
No, but I really want to start. We missed the best time for planting here, so I guess it will have to wait one more year...

5. Do you get ready for the day first thing in the morning?
Only if I have somewhere I have to be early. I usually get up and put on some regular clothes, but they're usually from the day before. We don't go anywhere until around 5:00 most days, so I usually take my shower and get dressed around 4:00.

Thursday Five 6/9/11

2011-06-09T11:25:00.004-05:00

Happy

Giddy

Joyful

Excited

Appreciative

I am so happy to finally be able to see a light at the end the tunnel as far as our school year is concerned. It looks like we will be wrapping up our official school year on July 1! Not bad considering that we started in the middle of September and took nearly a month off in November/December for the holidays and moving. We'll take July and August "off" and start back with our new curriculum after Labor Day.

Yesterday, I was giddy thinking about how much the kids have learned this year. Landon knows ALL the letters and sounds (even the ones we haven't officially covered yet), Sierra is turning into an awesome reader, Cheyenne has learned the times tables, and Dakota did awesome with her Pre-Algebra and Science. And that's just scratching the surface. I love home school!

I am joyful that I have a husband who is willing to work VERY long hours to let me stay home with the kids! It's what I have wanted to do since Dakota was born and it feels so good to finally know that we are doing what God has called us to do for our family. It took a long time for us to get to this point, but I think that just makes me appreciate it more.

It was fun today to see Dakota get excited when her daddy asked her to go to town with him by herself. She'd never admit it, but she's still at daddy's girl.

When I was putting away Sierra's laundry yesterday, I noticed how many of them are hand-me-downs. I'm so appreciative of all my family and friends who have bought/handed down clothes for my kids. I've never had to worry about not having clothes for them. I'm also thankful that my kids are just as happy with "new-to-me" clothes as they are with brand new clothes. It makes it that much more fun when I do get to take them shopping for something brand new.

Head on over to Flip Flops and Combat Boots and link up your own Thursday 5.

Wordless Wednesday-just like in the movie

2011-06-08T23:09:00.002-05:00

Wordless(ish) Wednesday-being on vacation is hard work

2011-06-01T14:12:00.002-05:00

Sure wish I could get them to nap like that at home. :)

The kids' favorite Disney memories

2011-05-31T18:42:00.006-05:00

I found the perfect meme to link up with this week. Heidi at Reviews and Reflections hosts the Destination Disney meme. This week's topic is "kids' favorite Disney memories".

Since we just came back from Disney World, everything is still fresh in the kids' minds and they had a hard time choosing a favorite thing. Here are the answers I got when I asked them:

Landon: Splash Mountain, getting Buzz' autograph

Sierra: Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, getting the princess' autographs, princess breakfast

Cheyenne: Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror,Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, meeting the princesses, princess breakfast, Typhoon Lagoon

Dakota: Splash Mountain, blackberries at breakfast, typhoon lagoon, roller coasters

As you can see, the one thing everyone agreed on was Splash Mountain. They loved it! We rode it at least 4 times. I wish I had a picture from Splash Mountain, but, as the name implies, you get wet so my camera was put away for that one. If you don't know what it is, you can check it out at Wikipedia. Believe me, it's great!

I do have pictures of some of the other things, though.

These are some of my favorite memories from our trip.

You just can't beat seeing those smiles!

Now, go ask your kids what their favorite Disney memories are and link up too!

Our Florida Vacation-days one and two:traveling and Cocoa Beach (hope you like pictures)

2011-05-31T09:22:00.010-05:00

We're baaack! We had an awesome time in Florida! Disney World truly is a magical place and we loved it. I could definitely get used to living in the world of storybook princesses, pixie dust, and rooms that magically clean themselves while you're out having fun.

We started our journey to Florida on Friday afternoon around 1:00. The plan was to drive all night and get there sometime Saturday evening, get settled into the hotel, and be ready for a full day of Disney fun on Sunday. Traveling with 6 kids, we were expecting to stop A LOT on the drive. I expected the 1200+ mile drive to take around 28 hours total.
Here's one of our late-night gas/potty stops. The kids got in a quick game of tag and stretched their legs before piling back into the cars and going to sleep for the night.

Even after hours of being in the car, the kids had smiles on their faces.

Tag! You're it!

The kids really surprised us with how well they did. I can only think of a couple of times we stopped other than for gas or meals. We made the trip much faster than expected-about 22 hours instead of 28! We even made it too early to be able to check in at the hotel.
Since we had some extra time to kill, we drove over to Cocoa Beach. Of the 6 kids only 3 had ever seen the ocean before and none of the 3 really remembered it much. My favorite thing of the day was when Cheyenne came over the top of the crossover and saw the ocean for the first time. All of a sudden, she gasped and said "That is not what I expected at all!" I asked her what she expected and she said, "I don't know but I never expected it to be so BIG!" It was so sweet! The kids had a blast playing in the waves and sand. Definitely something we have to do again soon.

After the beach, we walked over to Ron Jon's surf shop before making our way to the hotel to check in. We decided to take the scenic route back to Orlando and drive by Cape Canaveral on the way.

I'm so glad we went that way. Not only did we get to see all the really cool NASA stuff, but we got some good views of some Florida wildlife too. We saw several alligators in the water along the side of the road. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), they were too shy for us to get any good pictures. Trust me, though, they were pretty cool.
A little further down the road, we saw dolphins! There were lots of them just a little way from the shore. We stopped and watched for a while wishing we could get in and swim with them (or maybe that was just me).

Dolphins are some of my favorite animals! I could watch them for hours.
(The video is so much better, but my dinosaur of a computer won't let me upload it. Grr.)

Can't wait to tell you all about our first official day at Disney World-the Magic Kingdom! But it will have to wait for another post. Right now, I'm off to put away some of the mountain of laundry that followed us home (too bad the room cleaning fairy at the hotel didn't do laundry too) and then to take Dakota to the dentist. Fun stuff! I know you're jealous!

I guess my name was supposed to be Jennifer.

2011-05-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! I hope you're having a great week! If all goes as planned, by the time you read this, I will be soaking up some warm Florida sunshine and shaking hands with Mickey Mouse. Woohoo! I don't think I've ever done a scheduled post before, so I hope I do this right...

I've mentioned here before about how people who don't know me or can't remember my name always call me Jennifer. It used to bug me a little, but it's happened so many times now that it's just funny.

Like the time just after Daniel and I got married and we went to take pictures of us all dressed up for some friends' wedding. The photographer said something like, "Okay, Jennifer, come stand over here."

Or when I stood for 5 or 10 minutes in the middle of Wal-Mart with a little old lady scolding me for skipping out on church for a few weeks. I tried to assure her that I HAD been to church every Sunday, but she was convinced (I had no idea who she was, but didn't think much of it because I didn't really know any of the older ladies in our church). As she walked away she said "Okay, Jennifer, I better see you there on Sunday."

One time when we first moved to Stillwater, I worked at Hardee's. One of our regular customers came in and asked me my name. He said, "Oh, do you have twin? I talked to a girl last night who looks just like you but her name is Jennifer."

Just last weekend after Landon and Sierra's Tae Kwon Do class, the dad sitting by me said, "Do I know you from somewhere besides here?" I listed off all the places I could think of where I could have met him before, but he said no. He said, "That's weird. You look so familiar. It's Jennifer, right?"

And the best one yet happened on Wednesday before we left for our trip. I was sitting at the computer when I got a text on my phone from a number I didn't know. It just said, "Hi." I replied asking who it was and the response I got was "Oh, I'm looking for Jenn. Is this the right number?" Apparently, you don't even have to see me to get my name wrong!

Hi! My name is Tiffany

but you can call me Jennifer.

Thursday Five-May 19, 2011

2011-05-19T07:38:00.004-05:00

Only one more day!!! We leave for Florida tomorrow and it looks like I'm actually going to be ready. I have Landon and Sierra's suitcases packed and ready to go. We're taking the day off school today to finish up. My goal is to have everything we can already loaded in the van before we go to bed tonight.

This week's Thursday five words are:

Irresistible

Positive

Successful

Vibrant

Glorious

On Mother's Day, I got to see my sweet little baby cousin L. He is absolutely irresistible!
Not only is he cute, but he has the best personality. I love to hear him laugh!

Last Wednesday night, Pastor Terren talked about the importance of having a positive attitude. Ouch! I needed to hear that.

We have had a pretty successful school year. We aren't quite finished with everything for this year yet, so we'll still have some work to do after our vacation. We're going to be a lot more relaxed though. Summer's here and it's time to have some fun!

Sierra loves vibrant colors. This makes for some interesting clothing choices. I usually let her wear what she wants unless it gets too outrageous. The other day I was trying to convince her to change her bow to match her clothes and she said, "But, I just like to mix colors!" Kind of like in this picture.
Gotta love the purple bow/green shirt combo. It definitely fits her personality!

The word glorious makes me think of this song.

Love the part that says, "You make everything glorious. What does that make me?"

Wordless Wednesday-little miss Smiley

2011-05-18T08:12:00.001-05:00

Poison control center knows me by name...

2011-05-16T22:54:00.007-05:00

This week, I'm killing three birds with one stone (or 3 blog hops with one post). I'm linking up as usual with Once Upon a Miracle for True Story Tuesday. I'm also joining one of my favorite blogging friends, Lynnette, for her blog hop-Blog and Share. The third place I am linking up today is The Life of a Sippy Cup Mom (I don't have any kids that use sippy cups anymore, but I love her blog name!) for Follow Me Chickadee. I can't wait to hop around and find some great new bloggy friends!

The kids and I have some really fun conversations, mostly during lunch time or while driving in the car. One of our favorite things to talk about is "remember when..." The other day, one of the kids brought up the time that Landon (who was 3ish at the time) bit a hole in one of those Hot Hands things while we were driving to daycare. Scared me to death! The older girls remember me calling poison control as we were driving (don't worry, he was fine). This got us started talking about all the other times I've had to call poison control-I can count 6 without having to think much. I'm sure there are more). Thankfully, the things my kids have gotten into haven't been too bad. We've never had to do more than give milk or water and watch them.

So far, I've called
*when Landon bit into the hot hands warmer
*when Cheyenne sprayed dusting spray in her face (she claims she thought it was spray cheese??)
*when Cheyenne ate an entire roll of peppermint antacids
*when Landon got into the bathroom cleaner and ended up with some in his mouth
*when the little girl at daycare climbed onto the changing table, got into the "child-proof" cabinet, and was eating vaseline by the handful.

And, the kids' favorite story to hear, when Dakota at the top off a marker.

It was Dakota's second Halloween, so she was about 18 months old. Back then, I was a student at OSU taking classes in Early Childhood Education, so I was all about giving her experiences. So, it wasn't enough for us to just carve a pumpkin for her to enjoy, I wanted her to get to help decorate it! So, I decided to let her color it with markers.

I went out and got her some special "kids' first" washable markers. They were supposed to come off with just water, so I thought they would be perfect for her. She could have all the fun she wanted and we'd just rinse it off in the bath. I showed her how to color on the pumpkin with the markers and she loved it. She was sitting in her highchair happily coloring on her pumpkin when I turned my attention to something else just for a second.

When I looked back, she smiled the biggest smile at me but all I could see was the blackish/purple stuff covering her chin and running down from her mouth. She was chewing on something. I opened up her mouth and took it out and guess what it was. Yep, the tip to the black marker she had been coloring with! She had bitten it right off and was covered in the ink!

We were brand new parents, so we did the only thing we knew to do. We panicked! I immediately called poison control to find out what we should do. The conversation went something like this:
Operator: "Poison control center..."
Me:"My 18 month old was just coloring with a marker and she bit the tip off. She has ink all in her mouth and all over her face!"
Operator: "Okay ma'am. Can you tell me what kind of marker it is?"
Me: "It's a 'kids' first' marker!"
Operator: "Uh, ma'am. On the side of that marker, does it say 'non-toxic'?"
Me:"Yes it does...oh."
Operator: silence--------(pretty sure he had muted his phone to hide his laughter)"She's going to be fine."

I'm sure they all got a laugh out of that call. We still laugh about it all the time.

Have a great week! We're going to be leaving on Friday for our vacation, so I'll probably be MIA for a little while. I was hoping to get some scheduled posts of for next week, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. It's been quite a while since we've been on a real vacation and I had forgotten how long packing takes.

Head over to these lovely ladies' blogs and join the fun!

Miscellany Monday 5/16/11

2011-05-15T22:08:00.004-05:00

We have had a pretty busy week and weekend and it's definitely not going to slow down any this week! I'm taking a few minutes to link up with Carissa at Lowercase Letters this week for Miscellany Monday. I didn't get it done last week and I missed it.

1. Only 4 more days!!! We leave on our way to Florida on Friday afternoon. The kids are getting so excited! I went on a BIG shopping trip on Saturday and I think I finally have everything that we need. I've been working on my packing lists and getting all the laundry done. By this afternoon, the first suitcase will be officially packed. I'm started to get excited about it a little more. I can't wait to see Sierra's face when she meets Cinderella!

2. Dakota and Cheyenne had their rank test on Sunday. They both tested for their green stripe and they did an excellent job! It was a crazy mess getting there, but they had fun and passed their tests, so that's what matters. I'll try to get some pictures up later this afternoon (I have to clear the memory card, so I'll have a good excuse for being on here. hehe)I love watching the rank tests. It's so impressive when all the students are out on the floor together doing forms or kicks! Maybe someday I'll take tae kwon do with them (ha!)

3. I had blood work done last week to check my hemoglobin again. My last level was 7.9. I'm really hoping for it to be above 8 this time but as tired as I've been lately, I don't think it will be. I will be so happy when it finally gets up to where it's supposed to be. Being tired all the time is no fun! I have an appointment with Dr. G on Tuesday morning, so hopefully she can give me an idea of how long it might take to get back to normal.

4. I think I have finally settled on a curriculum for next year. We're going to try The Weaver curriculum from Alpha and Omega. It looks like a good fit for us and more suitable to my teaching style. We're going with Singapore Math for the younger 3. Not sure what math we're going to use for Dakota but she's requested to switch from Saxon. Can't wait to get our new stuff in and start planning out our year!

5. I'm wondering what today is going to hold. We've gotten off to an odd start so far. The first child didn't wake up until 7:20 and it was SIERRA! You know, the child who loves to sleep in til 9:00-9:30 as much as possible. She sleeps so long most days that she almost missed breakfast. The other 3 followed over the next hour and guess who was the last one up at 8:20? CHEYENNE! She is almost always up by 6:30 at the latest. Wonder if that means the rest of my day is going to be weird too?

Thursday Five

2011-05-12T08:31:00.000-05:00

This week has absolutely flown by! I can't believe it is already Thursday! We leave for our vacation in only 8 days. I have so much to do! But we've been so busy lately that I haven't even had time to make my to-do list for the trip, much less actually get anything done to get ready for it. I'm hoping this weekend I will find some extra time to get some things done, but with tae kwon do classes on Saturday morning and the older girls' rank test on Sunday afternoon, it doesn't look like I will. I'm guessing there won't be much sleeping for me by the end of next week.

I'm joining up with Nicole again this week for Thursday Five. Go over to her blog and link up too!

The words for this week are:

Excellent

Simple

Joyful

Glamorous

Refreshing

I had a pretty excellent Mother's Day this year. The best thing this year was that Daniel was off work! He was supposed to have to work but found out Saturday that he was going to be out of town this week so they let him have Sunday off. Hooray!

The things that make me happiest are the most simple. This week, I pulled out an old reading textbook I used when I taught first grade (has it really been over 6 years?) for Sierra. Being a new homeschooler, I still have a little lack of confidence and wasn't sure how she would do with it. She did fantastic! After listening to her read it, I don't know why I was ever worried. Seeing how proud she was of herself after she read the first story was priceless! She made my week!

Seeing my husband's paycheck from his new job has me feeling pretty joyful these days. Once we get back from vacation and things get settled, we should finally have a little breathing room in our budget. It will be nice to have some money to put into savings finally! Can't wait!

I've been seeing lots and lots of pictures on facebook of my friends' kids all dressed up for the prom. They all look so glamorous! I can't believe the kiddos that were only a year old at my wedding are already old enough to drive and go to the prom! Wow! 15 years(almost) will do that I guess.

It will be so refreshing to have a change from our school routine while we are on vacation. I'm ready to make some changes to our school day, but I feel like I need to finish up the curriculum we have first. It has been nice the last few days since the kids have begun to finish up math and English. We've had a little extra time and I have enjoyed it.