Playgroup

It was so good to go today, it has felt like forever since we have been there, what 2 weeks?!? Our newest member was there a little girl! Some new happenings here: Red has taught himself to clap his hands. (or his brother, most likely his sister has taught him) GG is reading her 3rd reading book for school. Yesterday she hid her 2nd book in her locker because she didn't want to be the first one in the class to get the 3rd book. Turns out there are 2 other kids reading the same as her so she was ok with moving on this morning once Mrs. S showed her how cool it was :) After she gets done with this book she gets an award (trophy as she calls it) which she has talked about since she started the first reading book. Monkey is doing better at writing his numbers and letters and has really taken to sounding out simple three letter words. It has started to warm up here and I am hoping it won't be long and we will be outside riding bikes and playing!!! Oh yeah we finally got our taxes completed and I must say I am very happy with the outcome. We are getting GRASS!

I am so excited that GG's teacher is back...

For the last week and a half she has been home sick and we have really missed her, it was nice to see her this morning in the classroom. On Friday the kids are playing the game guess who is who with their baby pictures. I haven't decided which picture I went to send of GG, all of her pictures are just too stinkin' cute! It should be fun to see all of the baby pictures that the kids bring. Tonight Marni is coming back to finish up our taxes, running an in-home business is more work then I thought it would be come tax time. But it will really help us out in the long run so everyone tells us, we'll see. We just have to plug-in the numbers now and then we will be done, at least that is what I am wishing for. Well not much else going on right now the kids are in school and Red and J are sleeping. Need to do some housework and then shower!

Olympics

Last night the kids and I went to a *new* church, we aren't switching but my friends go to this church and it is on Saturday nights so sometimes we go and the kids love the chance to play with other kids while I go to service. It also helps make the day go faster when J is working. We, of course, went to our normal church this morning. It was in the installation service for our new pastor and associate pastor, with lunch following. Anyways, after church I told the kids I would take them out to eat...first time I have done this by myself with the 3 of them. I had coupons for two free meals, only ended up paying $2.50 for us to eat with dessert included, not bad. While we were there the Olympics were on the tv and GG could see it but Monkey couldn't. Next thing I know Monkey is standing on his chair straining his neck to see the "Olympics"! I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I want to see the Olympics, mom." It was funny...my 3 year old wants to watch the Olympics...what could he possibly get from it???

Oh yeah that birthday party on Friday was super cool. GG painted a butterfly that can be hung up in her room and Monkey painted a car. I don't know how expensive it was but the place supplied the pizza and the cake. The parents only had to show up. Then afterwards the kids didn't want the party to end so they played in the really cool play area in the Mall, and us adults talked!

Yay! We are all better...

Let's just say that my wish of us all not getting what GG had on Monday didn't happen. I spent Wednesday night sleeping on the bathroom floor...I've never done that before and I don't want to do that again. All I can say is that I detest throwing up. About 3:30am it was J's turn and then when the alarm went off for the kids to get up for school it was then Red's turn. But now we are done with being sick and I am so happy and I feel so much better. Tonight GG and Monkey are going to a birthday party that is a painting party at the Mall, should be interesting. Red and I are going to walk around while they have fun at the party, heaven knows I could use the exercise! Until next time...

Wow did I need that today!

This morning Red and I went to Bible study. The lesson today was absolutely what I needed to hear. It was definitely an area that I have been struggling with and I *knew* needed work and I have been working on it but I'm not where I need to be yet. It was really good for me to hear what the Bible says about this area. Now I feel more equipped to work through this "problem area" and with the support and accountable of my small group I am hoping to grow and not struggle as much. I have a feeling it will always be a struggle but with the help of the Lord it should be easier to handle. All I can say is that I am very thankful for the ladies in my small group and for this Bible study.

In other news today our friend is coming over to do our taxes...I just hope we get a good outcome. We need to do some work on the yard this summer :) After lunch today I was getting all our tax stuff together and completely blew off Red's 9 month doctor's appointment. I am so mad at myself now. I hate feeling like an airhead. So I had to call and reschedule for next Wednesday. Anyways after Marni does our taxes she is staying for dinner. I love hanging out with her and so do the kids.

What a bummer...

This morning Monkey woke up and starting throwing up or as he says it, "I need to go puke." Poor little guy starts shacking while hurling. Then J's mom calls needing a sub because 7 teachers called in. So he is at school and he packed a lunch for him and GG so that she could stay all day and I didn't have to take the sicky out of the house. I want to scream right now because our house is way too quiet. Monkey and Red are taking their second naps of the day. Since J was subbing I couldn't go to my playgroup which bummed me out. I love those girls. I am feeling a little trapped right now, not really used to that feeling. When J and GG get home I am going to kidnap *the girl* and we are going to go grocery shopping, just the two of us. Well I am going to go twiddle my thumbs until the boys wake up.

Red's 9 months old!

He didn't want to smile for the lady at all! She was jumping around and putting things in his face to get him to smile and he just had this serious look on his face. He would look at me once in a while with a face that said, "Is she for real, mom?" or "Get me out of here, please!"

Curious George...

After church yesterday we quickly came home and ate lunch then headed over to my dad's so we could go watch Curious George! It was a really cute movie. One thing I didn't expect was Monkey to start crying. The animal control people caught George and took him away. That is when he cried. I had to explain to him that the monkey was ok and that they didn't hurt him. In the end everything turned out good so that made Monkey happy. Then last night right before I went to bed I hear laughter coming out of Monkey's room. I went in there and he was sleeping. I leaned over kissed him and asked if he was laughing because curious George was a funny monkey. He shock his head yes. It was really cute that even though it made him cry he still dreamed about the good parts!

This morning no school for GG, she threw up in the TOILET! I was so proud of her. That was the first time she has ever gotten it in...usually it ends up where ever she is...in her bed or on the couch. I hope it was just a little bug that doesn't pass through us all. That would totally stink.

Never going to do that AGAIN!

Yesterday I talked to Roberta about our trip to Disney and how much fun we are going to have being there. The kids and I got online and looked up a bunch of different rides and activities there. We even looked at the place we are going to be staying. Let me just tell you there were completely wired. It took me about an hour to calm them back down to normal. Then this morning GG came up to me and said, "I'm all packed." I asked for where and she told me DISNEY! I had to explain to her in great detail that we aren't going there for about 8 months. She was pretty sad but excepted the fact we weren't going today! Poor little girl just wants to see all the princesses!!!

This morning I gave all 3 of the kids a bath because I knew I wouldn't have time tonight we are going to our neighbors 50th wedding anniversary party. We also had to go to my in-laws this morning to wait for the furniture people to come and deliver the new goods. I washed Red up first in the tub and then got him out and nursed him while the other two played in the tub. GG decided she wanted to play the who can be the quietest game. It was going on the 7th time they were going to play and I wanted to clean them up and get them out so I told them that we would make it a tie it was already 3 to 3 anyways. I told them I would count to 3 and they were to say there name and it would be a tie. So I counted and they both said her name. I asked Monkey if he forgot his name. He told me, "I left my name at school." I said, "Oh no so someone could take it." He replied, "Yes, they could because I left it in my cubbie!" It was so funny we all started laughing. What a little goof :)

My imaginative children!

*I wrote this on Friday because for some reason Blogger was down and it didn't save it* The kids helped me make dinner and while we waited to eat they wrote a story using their wonderful imaginations. This is what they created:

Once upon a time there lived a family of five people. Their names were Monkey, GlamorGirl, Red, Craig and Jean. And a little cat named "Sally" and a dog named "It's okay to go". They liked to play in their rooms and play games. And stick their fingers in their mouth. They liked the taste of their fingers because they tasted like cheese. But their most favorite thing to do was pick flowers for their mom and dad. One day our mom lost her purse so she got a new one with a butterfly on it. The sister really liked it. She really liked the purse because she liked the papers and flowers. The family liked to sleep in cribs even the mommy and daddy, they liked small cribs. They also liked to sleep with food and would eat it all the time. Bananas is the best food they ate. They filled up on bananas everyday. And the whole town knew them as the "Banana Family". The End.

They are pretty silly little people. They love to have this story read to them over and over and over again. I thought it was very creative for a 3yo and 5yo! They really enjoyed the activity :)

Thank Heavens it's THURSDAY!

I am very thankful that today is Thursday because the kids have Cubbies tonight and that means that all the things I wanted to get done this morning while
they were at school I can do tonight. Red didn't sleep well last night or should I say he didn't sleep at all until about 4:30am. I did everything I could think of to do with him except for walk around because I knew I would probably fall down carrying him from exhaustion. He finally fell asleep...so instead of doing my normal housework this morning I slept. Now I am not sleep deprived and I can be the best mom I can be the rest of the day. GG had a sub at school today so he didn't send home any work to do except for her reading. I have come to the realization that even though my kids go to school I still *home* school them. Since I am home in the afternoon with no help it is either deal with fights because they are bored or have learning activities for them. Hmm hard choice right? Not really. We keep our days pretty busy with learning it makes the days go by sometimes too fast, we haven't even turned on the tv today and when we do it is for only 30 minutes. Unless we have a movie day. At the party on Tuesday the other mom there and I were talking about how great this school is but that she only sends her kids there for Kindergarten because of the money and the fact that there is a lot of homework. She said since her kids have gone to public school she can see the different strengths and weaknesses of our school and the public. But from talking to her the weakness of our school is only one area and the weakness of the public school are many areas. Basically no school is prefect be it; public, private, or home. So I think a combo is good :) Well the kids just got done painting so on to the next activity!!!

Our Valentine's Day and beyond...

First let me start by saying that J and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day, we celebrate our love everyday! When we woke up the kids came to me with cards they had made with daddy on Monday while I was gone shopping. That put a smile on my face. Then they gave the cards they had made J and that put a smile on his face. I helped out in GG's room for her party. J and I had bought the kids each a balloon through the school, the cheerleaders where selling them as a fund raiser. Seeing GG's face when she got hers put a smile on my face. She and Monkey each got two because they got one from Grandma, Grandpa and Aunty Liz. We came home with the balloons and a ton of CANDY! Now remember that I helped in GG's room, around 10:45 J came with Red for a feeding. So we were now both at school and it was pointless for him to go home because school was almost over so he stayed in GG's room (and ate) and then went to get Monkey. After school J told me to take GG and Red home, he had to get "something from the department". When they came home they had a dozen flowers for me and one for GG. It was really sweet. I had also just got done giving Red a bath so he smelled sweet too;) After lunch it was such a gorgeous day outside that J took the two older kids outside to ride bikes and play. Then they came in and we hung out playing the playstation. Something we normally don't do. But I must say that I am really impressed with GG and Monkey's ability to play on it. For dinner we met my dad, Roberta and Becky at this little place we all like. The kids gave the grandparents the card they made them and then they gave them the presents they bought from Disney World. We came home and got the kids to bed and J and I played our new game (that we bought from the Toys R Us that is closing) Upwords. I really like that game and I had a blast playing with J while Red rolled around on the ground. That is where I am going to end that day ;)

Today Red and I went to Bible study and now we are home and the kids are having quite time. Then we are going to be making our Amish bread. We have been doing the instructions for a little over a week now. The kids have enjoy the process and I am hoping that it tastes as good as everyone says it does! We'll find out tonight...

My day off...not really, more like mother/daughter bonding time!

This morning Red and I went to meet my mom at our half way point between the two houses. Lots of shopping places! I burned a whole through my Christmas money and bought a bunch of new shirts for me! I think I have about $20 left. I also got my hair cut :) It was a really good day with my mom and Red. Even though I bought stuff for the two older kids because I missed them so much. Only having Red was like being childless. At least for me it felt that way. I also saw a friend from Highschool that was really cool. We had a yummy lunch at Olive Garden so I am so stuffed I haven't eaten dinner. I am definitely ready for bed! Tomorrow I am helping out in GG's class for the Valentine's party so Red and I will be missing playgroup this week. But we still have Bible study on Wednesday morning. I think I am going to take this Bible study again. IT is AWESOME!!! It is called Entrusted with a Child's Heart. Isn't that title so true of mothers and their children's hearts?!?! GG had a moment the other night when she didn't get her way and so she threw a fit. She knows that is unacceptable behavior and she needs to use words to get her point across. Long story short she had to go to bed. After she had calmed down I went in and we talked about her behavior and what was wrong and how she could change it for next time. Then we prayed together. Her words still ring through my head they were so precious. She said, "Dear God, please forgive me for my sin of yelling and screaming. Help me to obey my mom and dad and not act in a bad way like I did tonight. Amen." I had to kiss her and leave the room because I was tearing up she was so sincere. She has such a sweet heart.

Sunday!

J had today off and so we spent most of the day hanging out with his family. They are so great. We had an awesome lunch. Now we are home getting everyone ready for bed. J and I have been talking about our trips for this year. We are going to go visit our new nephew who lives in another state and his parents too:) Then J is going to Canada with his dad near the end of summer and then the big trip to Disney world!!! I can't wait to go to Disney that is going to be so much fun!

Red has learned yet another new thing! It is amazing how fast he learns things. When we nurse the last couple of days he has been pointing to my nose and then my mouth. So I tell him "nose" and "mouth". Well now when he is not nursing if I ask him where is mommy's nose he will point to it. Same thing with my mouth. Very cool. I love watching him learn new things. Actually I love watching all my kids learn new things.

Bathtime fun!

This morning J went to help keep an eye on some students taking the ACT (I think it was that one!) test. I knew that today was going to be a long day because we were only going to get to see him for about 2 hours. I saved GG's homework for today that she did this morning then I gave the kids a bubble bath because we had all the time in the world today! It was funny because they came out all wrinkly. It was actually the first time REd took a bath with his brother and sister...there are pictures. Red's schedule has gotten more predictable that I am able to do more with pictures now so we'll see how long that lasts.

Couldn't resist

She was reading to Red while I was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch. It was too sweet I had to take a picture and share right away!

My dad the NUT!

Right now he is in Florida at Disney World with my step-mom and some of his siblings and their spouses. Yeah I know, we are going there in what 8 months. He has called me twice since he has been there. The first time I didn't get the phone so he left a message saying that I needed to call him back because he had something important to tell me. I called him and this is what he said, "Just wanted to let you know we are not going to get the kids anything." Then he called again a few days later to tell me the exact same thing. My dad is a goof like this and what he is really saying is, "Just wanted to tell you know we will be bringing home gifts for the kids. So make a date to come over so we can give them to our grandkids." My dad travels quite frequently either with work or pleasure and this is what he does EVERYTIME! The kids have come to know that when grandpa says he didn't get them anything that they have something waiting for them at his house. He can't resist buying them things when he leaves town actually he can't resist buying them things when he is in town. All they have to say is Grandpa can I have .... fill in the blank with what they want and he gets it. The funny part is that he is always asking us if he is spoiling them or if they know he loves them. I say no to spoiling because they don't ask for stuff all the time usually because he already has something for them! And yes to they know he loves them.

Sentimental...

I just got done cleaning the kitchen after lunch and thought I would update real quick. GG is reading with J. I think back to last year when she was in preschool and was sounding out words. I can't believe how fluently she is reading. Where did that little girl who was sounding out simple words go? Now Monkey is starting to sound out words. They are growing up too fast.

The reason for the title of this post is because last night my dough print of Monkey's hand got broken, by the Monkey. He was only 17 months old when we made it and it makes me sad because I will never have that little Monkey hand again. He was so sad, too. He started crying and asked if we could make another one just like it. I had to explain to him that he is bigger now so I can't make the hand small like it was. It was hard to handle his sadness with mine. But I just told him it is better to have the print broken then the actual Monkey broken. I think he was so sad because he liked putting his now big hand over the smaller one to see how big he has gotten. I am going to have to make some more of those prints because he will still get bigger!

New things

Right now the kids are sitting at the breakfast bar doing their homework. Monkey's is something I made for him to do because HE WANTS HOMEWORK! I thought this would be a great time to update. Oh yeah Red is on my lapping watching my hands type and occasionally trying to type too! Red has been doing some new things lately. He has learned to put the ball into his gumball machine he got for Christmas! He doesn't quite get that he has to pull the handle to let it come back out but I have a feeling he will learn that soon. He has started to shack his head up and down for YES and sideways for NO. I don't believe he really knows that is what it means but it is fun to watch him imitate us! Lastly he has gotten his first tooth! It finally broke through on the 4th of February. I will end with saying I CAN'T WAIT FOR SUMMER! Enough of the snow already. I just dislike being cold :)

Twinkle Twinkle little moon.

Wow I can't believe the last time I posted was 3 days ago, where oh where did the time go? We had much fun on J days off with jumps and jiggles, church lunch and super bowl. Yesterday was my catching up game because we weren't home most of J's days off, you know laundry and cleaning. Today we had playgroup at our house and we made Valentine's cards for the daddy's. We put foot prints on paper and we are going to have a little saying write on the card. The foot prints turned out really good so I think the daddy's will like it. This afternoon the two bigger kids did prints of their hands and feet which turned out really good as well. I am really excited about it. As for the title of this post that is what Monkey was singing today ALL day long. Twinkle twinkle little moon you look like a shiny spoon. Up above the world so high like a piece of cheese in the sky. Twinkle twinkle little moon you look like a shiny spoon. On a side note: Red is wearing slippers today! They are so cute and he is really funny with them. They have sponge Bob on them so he keeps grabbing at them. To funny!

A totally AMAZING day!

Friday was the most amazing day! We had such a fun filled day. We got up and headed to Navy Pier, to the children's museum we got there right when it opened at 10am. We went at the children's pace so that they could do everything they wanted to do. However, we did have to convince them to leave a couple of rooms so they could see all the other cool stuff, it is 3 floors! So this is what we did...first we walked around and played in the Monkey King room. Then headed to the water works room were the kids had a blast playing with water. Red was so excited to watch the water shoot up that he almost jumped out of my arms. We pulled them out of that room by telling them about the robot exhibit. Which was really cool, my favorite part of that room was a table that had domino's that you could set up and then dock down but it had different gadgets to make it all work. When you sat down it said to have everyone help and work as a team. We called ourselves "Team Incredible" the first time we set it up GG docked it over then the second time was Monkey's turn. We got them to leave that room by telling them it was time to eat. The kids wanted McDonalds and us adults wanted something else so J got our food with Red and I took the other two to get their food. The line was super duper long but they were so good. We stood in line for about 15 minutes. We decided that they did such a great job behaving in line we would get them ice cream. Oh another cool thing that happened at lunch was that we saw a girl from Western. She looked familiar to me but I knew I didn't have any classes with her so I pointed her out to J and he just looked at me like, "I know I know her but I can't place her name or from where" I said I think she is from college. He agreed that was probably the place but he wouldn't go up to her so I did. Yep they had classes together. So that was pretty neat. After lunch, back to the museum to go into the room called Tree House Playhouse (I think that was what it was called) then to the Playmaze room that had a bus and car and grocery store in it to imagine you are doing different things. Like GG and I played store and she was the cashier and I was the customer. Then to get ice cream and we sat and watched the little play in the middle of Navy Pier. It was a pirate play and it was really cute and the kids really liked it. Then back to the museum and the kids climbed the rope tunnel and then built houses with huge tinker type toys. We went into the tots room to see what was going on in there and they had playdough and goo, which was fun as you can imagine. Then to the backyard room where each of the kids got to put their faces on a bee, butterfly or beetle. GG and I also dressed up as Butterflies and ran around the room pretending to eat flowers! Then we went into the inventing room. The kids went down the piano slide and Red thought that was the coolest thing ever. He liked the music it made. We invented things together as a family and then individually. It was so fun. We had the kids measured and GG and Monkey are 4 inches apart in height and Red is 2ft 4 inches making him 11 inches shorter than his big brother. Then we went to dig for dinos! Monkey stuck his head in the bones of a dino's face it was pretty funny. It looked like it had eaten Monkey! The last stop we made which was on the way out because the museum was closing was the room with the ambulance and firefighter stuff. It also had a phone you can use to practice calling 911. The child pushes the number then listens for the questions and answers them, it had an adult phone on the side so you could listen to the questions to make sure your child was answering them right. Pretty cool. We were going to stay for dinner and go to Joe's Be-bop Cafe because there was a jazz band playing but we were all tired. Though we did stay for one last show of a magician. He asked for volunteers and GG raised her hand and he called her to come up. It was hilarious the things he was having her do. She had a lot of fun being up infront of everyone it was fun to watch her listen so intently to what he told her to do. For instance he told her to hold the wand straight out and keep it still. She made sure it was out and still. Then she was done and he did other things and got a couple more volunteers, cute twin boys. Then he asked once again for a volunteer and before he could even say what he wanted them for Monkey raised his hand. So he had him go up there and told him he wanted Monkey to ride the unicycle. Monkey's face was priceless! He of course didn't ride it but he had him do a fun tester. He was to pull on the string of one stick and the other one would go up and that is the way you could tell if they were having fun. He came out into the audience and tested some kids then he walked over to J and asked him if he was having fun. He said, "yes" then he tested him and it didn't work. It was very funny. After the show we left and came home to eat. I nursed Red while J and the kids played a board game before bed. Like I said it was an amazing day! We had great family fun.

Hair Cut

I thought that I could cut GG hair...well I should really leave it to the professionals. I wanted to only cut about a forth of an inch well I ended up cutting way more than that. It was due to the fact that she wasn't exactly sitting still and so I would mess up then have to make the rest even. Oh well it looks cute. Shorter then I wanted it but still cute.

Whirlwind of thoughts.

As I sit here ready to post I can't decide what I want to talk about first! I think I will talk about the funeral. As weird as this may sound it was really an interesting learning experience for me. We don't really get together with Joe's (dad-in-laws) side much, I got to meet so many of J's relatives. I also got to learn more about my father-in-law as a child with pictures and home videos. Of course, it was a little stressful with the kids but we were complimented on how well they behaved during the service...even though they were bugging the heck out of me. They weren't talking but they were very fidgety. I know they were board but there really isn't much *fun* things you can do at a funeral. Hind sight being 20/20 I wish we would of stuck to our original plan and took them to school instead. They were absolutely amazing during the wake but it wasn't so structured. Another cool thing that happened was the gospel was presented by Joe. Today the kids went to school for the last time this week. GG got a new reading book. I was so impressed by her yesterday she read the word "everything", that is a really long word! Monkey got homework today...he is learning to write his last name. On the homework was a website and I went on it to print out some more pages for him to practice on. That site was absolutely awesome. The kids and I played on it for awhile. It had so many things on it I bookmarked it! Tomorrow J has the day off so we are planning something special. Then I put the kids down for their naps and started messing around with a website for pictures. I have some pictures on it. I am having a hard time keeping up with the kids each having their own sites. So I think I am going to go this route instead. I was thinking for awhile of putting pictures on here but I just want to keep it a journal.