Quiznos Taste Better Anyways

My kids love to enter contests that will contribute to their education by writing a paper or doing research or an art project of some sort. Not this time. I'm sorry to say that Subway has chosen to exclude homeschooled children from their creative writing contest.

The rules:

"ELIGIBILITY. Contest is open only to legal residents of the United States who are currently over the age of 18 and have children who attend elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted."

**The rules actually ASK THE PARENT TO HELP THE CHILD write the paper!**


I thought this was kind of funny:
A Homeschooling family was interviewed on Fox and Friends this morning on Fox News channel about the Subway Contest Homeschooler Exclusion! They also talked about all the misspelled words on the entry form.

Have you and your child write a letter to the subway president.
Frederick A. DeLuca, President
Subway Restaurant Headquarters
325 Bic Drive
Milford, CT 06461-3059

HSLDA has addressed the issue as well
Dear Mr. DeLuca:

By way of introduction, I am the President of Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and we represent 83,000 member families nationwide. This letter is to draw attention to your “Every Sandwich Tells a Story Contest,” and the unfortunate fact that homeschoolers are not allowed to participate.

The rules clearly state: “Contest is open only to legal residents of the United States who are currently over the age of 18 and have children who attend elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted (emphasis added).”

It is extremely disappointing that Subway would choose to exclude the estimated 2 million homeschooled students.

We understand that the competition is focused on traditional public and private schools because the grand prize of $5,000 of athletic equipment is designed to be used by a traditional school and not an individual family. A potential homeschool winner, however, could simply donate the grand prize to a public or private school of their choice or to a homeschool sports league.

Homeschooling is a thriving educational option. All the available research shows that homeschoolers are excelling academically and socially. We do not deserve to be overlooked.

We hope that you will reconsider the rules of your competition and choose to amend them to include homeschoolers.

Sincerely,

J. Michael Smith
HSLDA President

A Flower For Mom

This past Mother's Day I didn't get all the cute handmade gifts or cards that I have in the past when my kids were in school :( Their teachers always had them make cute crafts. I guess I thought maybe they would do it on their own this year(ha) or their dad would do it with them. (ha again!) I did do one writing assignment with them for Mother's Day I forgot to share.
They each had a flower with the word "Mom" in the middle and on each petal they had to write something about me.

Austin wrote : MOM
She buys me things I need and want.
I love her for having me.
I love that she loves me.
I love that she gave me a brother and sisters.
She is a good mom.
She lets me have pets.
She cares for me.
She gives me lots of food.

Faith wrote: MOM

She helps me with math.
She wears cute clothes.
I like when she listens to Jesus music in the car.
I like when she has babies.
She lets us go on field trips together.
She is the best!
Mom, I love her so much and she loves me and I love her but I love her more!
She is a good lover.

Baby Shower

Friday night my sister's and mom threw me a nice baby shower. My grandma cooked italian dinner and some of my really close friends came to celebrate. We enjoyed talking and laughing together. It was such a nice evening. Thank you to everyone!!!!!
p.s. for those of you who couldn't make it :( my sister says don't worry you can come to the next one.LOL IM KIDDING!!!


Big Belly Crew


Lots of Diapers!


Farrah practicing being a big sister


She loves babies


Farrah loves to "puker up" and give kisses


The big Q of the night was what was I going to name her???? I still don't know. We have a few names in mind but can't agree on any! HELP!


And a funny blog post I found on twisted cinderella's page I had to share!

Things not to say to a pregnant woman

You look 11 months pregnant!”
“Are you sure you want to eat that? You’ve already eaten quite a bit” or “You’re still hungry?”
When the woman is close to her due date don’t say, “You haven’t had the baby yet?”
No pregnant woman wants to hear about how hard your labor and delivery was. I’m sorry it was difficult for you but it’s not the best idea to share your scary story with a woman about to give birth.
“I bet you feel miserable.”
I think cankles are sexy. Insulting and sarcastic, this one will cost you. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term cankles, it is when a person’s ankles are as wide as their calves.
Calves + ankles = cankles.
Those stretch marks will go away, right?“ Women loath stretch marks and are sensitive about them. You’ll probably never see her naked again.

I’m not going to buy you new clothes if you keep outgrowing them.
Wow, that woman looks great for having two kids.You don’t say that to a woman who isn’t pregnant.
Honey, I don’t mean to alarm you, but have you ever read about anyone actually popping from being so big?
Honey, come in here and see this horse giving birth on TV. Oh, man that looks like that’s gotta hurt.
You’re dreading labor?! Do you know how sore my feet get from standing beside you that whole time?
“Wow honey! You think you’re big up front, you should see it back here.”

SAG Member In Training

Every other Friday Faith is in a music and art class. Last Friday the class put on a little skit for the parents. Faith, played a hunter in Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev. She loves to perform and show off in front of people.
Here she is Miss Faith:

California Citrus

Yesterday, (in the rain) we went to the Citrus State Historic Park in Riverside. It was a short visit due to me pregnant pushing a stoller in the mud up hill. (not fun) The kids found it interesting to see how oranges came to Riverside County in the late 1800's and early 1900's and sparked California's second "gold rush".
In 1873, two small navel orange trees were sent to Riverside resident Eliza Tibbets. Those trees, growing in near perfect soil and weather conditions, produced an especially sweet and flavorful fruit. Word of this far superior orange quickly spread, and a great agricultural industry was born. An effort to promote citrus ranching in the state brought would-be citrus ranch barons flocking to California. The kids got to learn about different types of citrus and taste them too.

Just One Day

So, my sister(who's also pregnant) and I are thinking of going in together to buy this empathy belly for our husbands to wear. Even if it's just for a day and of course we would want to see them TRY and sleep in it too!
During my pregnancies I have often said to my husband, "Oh, how I wish you could see how it is to be pregnant for just one day."
This great invention is a 35-pound belly, complete with breasts, bladder and lung-capacity-restrictor. They first have to put on the breathing band, which wraps tightly around the lungs. Then comes the belly, along with a piece that fits behind the belly to press on the bladder. This is great! This gives the guys a (small) glimpse into the world of being pregnant. I'll sit and watch as he try's to take care of the kids pick up Farrah etc. all with this belly on! I'm sure my husband won't go for it but hey it's just one day, I've been pregnant for 48 months!

What Did I Get Myself Into?

The kids have been taking violin for a couple months now. When I signed them up, I thought this will be a nice hour break for me. I could drop them off, run some errands with the little ones then come back and pick them up, ask how their lesson went and be on my merry way.
I figured as long as I was paying for lessons and getting them to class every Monday on time I was giving them the gift of music right? Wrong! I didn't know anything about violin when I signed the kids up.
First of all Violin teachers are very strict! Not on just the students but the parents as well. To be honest with you, she scares me!!!

Mrs. Hymel is very good at what she does, but I wasn't taking it too serious. I recently was lectured on how I needed to be. She uses the Suzuki approach, where an adult family member learns to play an instrument alongside the child and works with the child on a daily basis mastering the skills that are taught in individual instrumental lessons. Japanese educator Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) called this adult the "home teacher."
Yep, you heard that I have to learn alongside the kids. This is not an hour break it's the hardest instrument to learn in my opinion.
Yesterday, during class, I was put on the spot. She asked me to stand up and show her what she just explained...(I think she noticed I was day dreaming) ummm (pregnant brain) I looked at Austin as if he could please send me a sign or whisper to me what I was to do... talk about embarrassing!

Warning: Severe bragging about kids!

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Ok maybe I'll just SHARE with you a little bit, we won't call it bragging. But wait a minute... we did work very hard all year long, so I do believe I have earned bragging rights on this one! I just got the kids SAT scores in today. As I went to the mail box and opened the envelope my heart dropped. You would of thought I was opening a college acceptence letter I'd been waiting on or something. Not only was I nervous to see how the kids scored but was scared to see if I did a good job teaching and preparing them for the test.

SAT Standford 10 scores:

Austin is in 3rd grade:

Reading is at a 6th grade level
Reading Comprehension is 9th grade
Math is 5th grade
Language is 8th
Spelling 4th grade
Science 10th (not bad for a future paleontologist)
social studies 5th
listening and thinking skills 6th grade
bible he scored 643 which anything over 641 was considered highly Advanced. Exceptional mastery of biblical facts and principles.

Faith is in 1st grade

Reading is 2nd grade
Reading Comprehension is 3rd
Math 2nd
Language is 2nd
Spelling 2nd
Enviroment and Listening were both 2nd too!
In bible she scored a 569 out of 591 which is considered proficient, meaning she has a solid mastery of biblical facts and principles with a firm understanding of how to apply them.

I am so proud of both of them! Ok enough bragging for one day!

Excuse Me, I'm Pregnant!

There’s a funny thing about being pregnant. With all the blood rushing to the baby I am left with very little blood going to my brain!

Keep your wisecracks to yourself. (It's the pregnancy or at least an excuse for now)

I’ve been having a hard time remembering appointments, what day it is and what the heck I was going to do once I get enough energy to do it.
In fact, I had something I was going to blog about, but I forgot....

GROUCHY MOMMY

Whew...today was over 100 degrees! Pregnant+Swollen=Grouchy Mommy. Days like today I miss living at the beach and I miss our house that had a pool :( The sprinklers and little baby pool, just doesn't cut it in this heat. Thank God my friend called and invited us over to go on their new water slide. The kids had so much fun, we just had to get one for our own backyard! Who wants to come play?

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things going on this week!

1. 15 days left of school!

2. We are decorating the nursery.

3. After finally deciding on a VBAC, I now have placenta previa. I go in for an ultrasound today to see if my placenta has moved. If not I will have a scheduled c-section.

4. Austin got a filling on his first cavity today. (and he's the kids that doesn't eat sweets and brushes his teeth more than needed.)

5. I am having to return my beautiful necklace Faith got me for Mother's Day. (After finding out she STOLE it)...I am making her march back into the store and pay for it and her father and I will be making sure she doesn't EVER pull something like that again!!!

6. I have a wedding to do Saturday (12 updo's.)

7. I fired my house cleaner, but I think I am going to re-hire her after cleaning the floors on my hands and knees yesterday.

8. The kids and I have been doing alot of advertising for the family business. (We got 3 new accounts this week)

9. We are going to look for a new car on Sunday. (When the baby comes we will not all fit in the car we have)

10. I cleaned all the closets in the house (I think I'm nesting!)

11. I THINK Landen is getting over the terrible two's. (He's been really good all week)...I hope I didn't just jinx myself

12. Farrah still refuses to walk ( I will be carrying two babies on my hip this summer)

13. I need to start planning the kids birthday parties. Faith and Landen's birthday is in a couple weeks (I'm just so partied out!)

Happy Mother's Day

Justin and the kids spoiled me this Mother's Day! :) It started by taking me out to breakfast at one of my favorite restaurants. This picture was taken right before I woofed down a belguin waffle topped with stawberries and whipped cream!

A Day At The Museum

I heard the Natural History Museum not only had dinosaurs on display(my kids fav) but was crawling with bugs. Since we have been doing a little unit study on insects I thought it would be a good idea to head down to LA for the annual bug fair. We started off by running to go see Thomas the Trex of course! Then went on to look at everything else the Museum had to offer. We then took a lunch break and I let the kids run around the Exposition Park Rose Garden. It was beautiful, I sat and tried to regain energy before our tour started in the insect zoo. The kids had a blast!


The Rose Garden




(blowing mommy kisses)

NOT SO HAPPY FEET

Today I had the opportunity to participate in the Revlon Run in an effort to raise money for the tenacious fight against women's cancers. I of course did not run I waddled! This is my third year participating. I am trying to make it a point for My girls and I to do every year. It's kind of our Mother's Day tradition:) Last year Farrah was four weeks old and attached to the...... well lets just say I burned extra calories while walking and feeding her at the same time. (Talented I know) This year I left Farrah with daddy and just took Faith and my big belly along. Our team "Happy Feet" (wrong name for a pregnant women to be part of.) My poor feet were so swollen and hurting by the time I was done. It didn't help that I walked with the most fit and in shape friend I know. Now this girls works out everyday! She was nice enough to carry me through the finish line LOL. No really, it is so neat to see all the people join together in the fight. It's also very emotional, I am happy I was able to be a part of it, but my feet were not!


Stretching... this is serious we have to beat last years time







HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL MOM'S OUT THERE!

Water Chemistry

In science we are going over atoms and molecules. Water is made up of two chemicals, hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). There are two hydrogen molecules for each oxygen so water can be represented as H2O. Now the kids understand why we call water H20.

It made it easy for them to understand when I explained that a single water molecule is typically drawn looking a bit like Mikey Mouse with green hydrogen ears and a purple face: (we used grapes)
They spent a good half hour making molecules.





When daddy gets home from work today the kids can't wait to ask him if he would like a glass of "water"
(they think this is soooooo funny!)


Then they will hand him a glass full hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms together making h20 molecules and (explain it to him) why that is a glass of "water." I'm sure he will be impressed. He better be!

Giving Me A Heart Attack!

Austin just got a new skateboard ramp. I can't get him off it. He is outside almost everyday practicing. Now even Landen is going down it...I can't watch anymore! Boys will be boys!

Someday...

I know my oldest child is only eight but I still feel it's important to pray for their future spouse. Being that who they marry is a very important part of their future I pray for their future spouse's all the time. Some people may think this is wierd or not give it much thought but I started doing this since the day each of my children were born. We can dedicate them to the Lord and raise them to know him but to continue to pray for their future and who they marry is just as important.

This decision is more important than their education or their career. The kids and I often talk about this together. I feel that it is never to early to start to prepare them for this decision.
I want my children to marry someone who values God and family most important. I've seen in my own family when someone does not marry into this how hard it is for everyone.
What kind of family will your children marry into? It will affect your grandchildren and great-grandchildren for generations to come.

When we pray, God wants us to be specific in our prayers. If we follow Him, he wishes to give us the desires of our hearts. What does your heart desire? One of the things I very much desire for my family is for my children to grow up and marry men and women who love and seek to follow after God with all their hearts.

I heard a teaching the other day on praying for your kids future spouses. It made me think about it and last night the kids and I were talking about their future spouse's. Faith said, Mommy do you think it's ok that we not only ask God to make my future husband love Jesus, but can we ask Jesus to make him have black hair, brown eyes, and no beard! She also wants to make sure he will be ok with having 10 children. We all laughed! But really...Out there, somewhere, is the future wife or husband of your son or daughter. God knows who your child will marry.

Of course my children will ultimately decide who he or she will marry. What is important is that my children understand what an important decision it is to choose a life partner, so that they will not make this decision lightly. My children know I pray for them. I pray with my children so that they know what it is that I wish for their lives. When my children are old enough to date, (AHHHHHHHHHHH) (which I am not looking forward to) I will encourage them to pray about the people they spend time with. We talk about good and not-so-good qualities in a future spouse. They know they want to marry someone who loves God!

We all want what is best for our children, and the person they choose to be their spouse is perhaps the most important choice they will ever make. That decision should be theirs, but if you pray for them God will hear your prayers and will help to prepare your child's heart and the heart of their future wife or husband for the marriage that God has intended for them.

Morse Code

Today the kids enjoyed learning about Samuel Morse and the Morse Code. After reading about him they had fun writing messages to each other in Morse code. I too wrote them a little message. They had fun decoding it together.



Then in science we did a fun and easy experiment. My kids both love science! So I was a cool teacher today for doing this one. This experient was to show Capillary Action in Flowers. We do experiments the same way each time. We make a Hypothesis. We record our times...stuff like that.

So! We started with white carnations and added food color to the water to watch them pull water and show off their colors! It only took an 21 minutes before we saw color in the petals.



After 21 Minutes



After 3 hours

Baseball Season Starts

Don't be fooled by her diamonds and pearls this girl can hit!



Watch out for your brother behind you!


Now this is not your average two year old! sign him up!!!


Enjoying the bbq at the baseball season kick off.

Austin and Faith start baseball this week. Saturday they got to meet their teams and get their uniforms. Justin is coaching Austin's team this year and plans to coach Faith's next year.

SMILES ONLY A MOTHER COULD LOVE

Belly Laughs!

My sister and I are due about 3 weeks apart. She is having a boy and I am having a girl we thought it would be fun to take pictures together. We had so much fun taking these and of course eating tons of ice cream :)

If you want to check out more... go to www.byfaithphotography.com
enter website
go to view proofs then scroll down and enter password all lowercase. babyhope

My friend Rochelle Ax is the one who did these photo's she is amazing! Check her out! She's really good with babies and children also. I can't wait for her to take pictures of the new baby :)
Thanks Ro!

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer, observed annually on the first Thursday in May. At the official website organizers suggest prayer for these centers of influence and power: government, the media, education, families, and churches. I just spent a few minutes in prayer, and I plan to remind myself to do so throughout the day. Won’t you join me?