The Silly Side of Life

Back at it...

2012-01-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to start up our new semester of school. I think that we were all ready to get back into our routines. The girls love school so very much that I am very sure that they wanted to have school again.

I am even more excited since we are starting a new curriculum. We have many curriculum books, lots of fun ideas and many things that I have been using to make a great and diverse schooling. The problem being that I have to take a large amount of time to do it. Something that is not always a possibility. Our days where I do not have the time are not so exciting, but still good.

Now, with this new curriculum I am freed from needing to scrounge together all that time. I do not need to worry that I am missing something, and I am happy to have a very fun new curriculum. The girls and I both loved out first day with our "new school books" and I am glad it was all a success. After a year of looking for good curriculum, learning their learning styles, as well as my teaching style, I am very happy and think this is the right pick for us!

Fret Fret and Coo Coo Ca Choo Lou doing our fun Math activity. Fret's turned into a museum where the cheerios came to visit each room and the number showed how many could come at once. I told her I was glad I didn't look like a cheerio. :)

Kay Kay drawing pictures to go along with the words she read. A little change up for our phonics work today.

I was so impressed with her picture of the band that I had to get a picture.

Sitting around listening to a story while I made lunch.

They have had an increased interest in reading lately that I could not be more excited about and I am doing my best to encourage. They got loads of new books from the library and with their new reading lights at night, I am hoping it will motivate Fret Fret to want to learn how to read even more.

Family traditions

2011-12-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

The other night I had busy stuff to get done, and Daddy and the girls sat down to watch Kung Fu Panda 2. I came into the living room to find this cozy little scene.

Then we woke up to find so much snow outside that the dog didn't know what to do. Jo stayed home for a while in the morning until he couldn't remote into work and we got the joy of shoveling him out. Less than fun! He went into work, got what he needed, rebooted the computer and headed back home as the snow was still falling.

The girls and I had much more fun and interrupted Daddy's work long enough to get pictures. It has always been my family's tradition to have ham and homemade noodles on Christmas. Buttered and pan fried. So delicious. This year as it is just us for Christmas we were talking about having things much easier. But honestly ham is so easy to cook and is on sale so we are going to have one. With the just kicking around the house yesterday I thought it would be fun to make noodles. It was so much fun. I am usually so stressed this time of year that the noodle making can be a burden. Not this time. Watching the girls get all starch covered faces reminded me of being a little girl.

This year I have been feeling a great excitement and anticipation for Christmas. Preparing, advent, Christmas songs and trying to teach my girls what Christmas is really all about, has fostered in my heart a greater feel of Christmas. I can't explain the joy and love that has been growing. The excitement and gratitude for a God who came to earth as such an innocent baby. To be singing and praising him for coming to save us. Learning about the hope and longing the Israelites had for a Savior. But to have one that was so much more than ever expected. Just incomprehensible.

So I look forward to Christmas morning with the girls. Celebrating his birth day. Making it a celebration that is so much more than presents and greed. But joy and rapture.

Can't Keep Up

2011-12-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I look at blogs and just wonder how. How do they do all that stuff, manage to take pictures, and then find the time to blog about it on top of that. I was so glad that I got all caught up on my laundry yet alone add fun, pictures and more time at my computer. If I get stuff done it is guaranteed I have barely looked at my computer yet alone typed anything coherent.

So, I blew off housework, left the computer off and remembered the fun of readying ourselves for Christmas with my girls. We had a ball!

The girls made fun Christmas scenes with construction paper. Reindeer out of traced feet and hands.

Then I taught the older girls how to sew. They had to go one at a time since I only had one cross stitch needle so they would not be poking themselves to hard and bleeding all over the place.

They all made finger print ornaments that turned out even cuter than I thought they would.

So, for one day I felt like some of those Blog moms that manage to do everything. Then of course it was back to the dishes, laundry that is once again piling up and not having the time to get out the camera.

VBS Rocks!

2011-07-13T19:23:00.000-06:00

The girls had a complete blast at VBS again this year, and once again we walked away with at least one prize. Fret Fret won this year, not a big surprise as she is a rule follower and loves to achieve for her teachers. Something we really pray she keeps up. The fun thing about it is that it has slightly changed our homeschool routine. The girls loved "Centers" and we have incorporated that into our routine. This way mommy lays out options and they feel a bit more in charge of their decisions. Has worked fabulously.

KayKay did rather well with her teachers and only had a few reports of difficulties. For a girl whose emotions are so near to the surface, we are very thankful. She has been improving her listening at home as well and I for one am very happy.

Coo Coo Ca Choo Lou loved spending the whole week with Avery, and of course came home every day covered in sand and water from the water table. We hope she worked well on her sharing skills and she had much to say about everything she learned all week as the other two did, so we know she was paying attention.

Fret Fret was so good about all her classes and lessons and was so happy to get to hang out with her friends. The girls in her class seemed to keep urging eachother on to more and more fancy outfits each day. I was told that the other girls were wearing DRESSES NOT SKIRTS! She was allowed to start wearing dresses, though not her fancy Easter type dresses I saw on some of the other girls. Starts so young!!

Too much going on to stop for a picture!

Around Camp

2011-05-31T09:30:00.000-06:00

This trip was unlike any other I've had in Utah, the camp site was grassy, there were lots of cotton wood trees and I was not dusting sand off of everything in the tent. Actually there was more dirt in the tent from setting it up at home first than any we drug into the tent while camping. The girls loved when the cotton would fly and have adorable "Cotton Parties" dancing around and catching some.

The girls did not understand why I did not want them only playing in the tent at first. I could see the rain clouds building and knew that we had limited time outdoors. Of course they felt the tent was half the fun. They were so adorable. Even when it came to sleeping they were excited. As soon as dinner was over they kept asking to go to bed. All for the novelty of sleeping in the new tent (which the new tent did make life much nicer). Not that they fell asleep quickly even though we forced them to stay up until after bed time hoping this would help.

Grandpa taught the girls tree climbing, which they felt rather adventurous doing. They did not like that the rules were firmly stated that they could not climb trees without a grown up and showed me the children across the way doing it alone. Granted these were also the children that ran loose all over the campground with, or without shoes, and had what looked like a three year old running around the wet grass for hours in footsie pajamas. Which was all lessons for the girls to see that our family may have different rules than others, and they need to follow ours.

They did rather well with this and I was very proud of them. Especially as the other children ran wherever they wanted to, and our girls had to stay on the grass in our site and not go on the road. Kay-Kay would then lurk at the edge of the grass and follow the other children along chatting with them. The little boy from Switzerland, who did not understand a word she said, barely slowed her down. When the father came over to her and told her this, she then counted at him in Spanish. The father once again explained that they did not speak Spanish either, not deterred Kay-Kay made up her own language and there was much laughter by us all.

The girls' favorite part of camp was rocket balloons and bubbles, though they were saddened by the tree that was very good at catching the balloons. Very fun to watch them blowing bubbles and chasing them as well. Poor Coo Coo Ca-Choo Lou though got very wet and cold hands as she did a lot of spilling. She even managed to spill a little on Grandpa's chair and kindly pointed it out to him, using the same hand that held the bubbles, and proceeded to spill the rest.

The girls thought we should have stayed camping for "Fifty-Ninety Days!" and with how much fun they had, I could see why. I was ready to come home, and really am once again appreciating my bed and not having to run to the bathroom constantly with Kay-Kay who peed more often than any human should.

I will share more about the adventures out of the campground later.

Leaving Colorado

2011-05-31T08:10:00.001-06:00

So, in the entire idea of going on a camping trip, the best part of the 5+ hr drive in the eyes of the three girls in the backseat was leaving Colorado. Something they had never done before and was of such excitement that we made it all the way cross the border and then a little before any complaint or, in the words of Kay-Kay "I don't want to sit in the car anymore." We were by then 45 minutes from our destination of Green River Utah and it was rather easy to keep them happy for such a short time. Though some of the girls started growing extra body parts, and one changed species all together.

I know that for most families this is a short road trip, but for us it was a first. having the girls so close together in age has kept us very close to home. We were aided by coloring, joking and shockingly only one short movie. I honestly had not foreseen that. We did make really fun pipe cleaner creations which included but were not limited to glasses and fishing poles. I had a whole bag of goodies to keep the trip going well that I did not even need to break into. It encourages us that trips in the car could be a foreseeable thing in our future.

The Stanley - 13th Wedding Anniversary (give a few weeks)

2011-05-23T22:42:00.004-06:00

We always talked about celebrating our 1oth wedding Anniversary at the The Stanley in Estes Park, well kid pushed it off a bit, so we went for our 13th (give a few weeks). Here is a fun college of the outside of the hotel.Click pic for a better look :)

Yes of course we had to see room 217, the room Stephen King stayed in when got the inspiration for The Shinning. Oops, someone left the door to the room open, we got a picture...