Where's The Books?

What to do? All the books are packed. I couldn't find the boxes that had all the kids school stuff in them. (No, I am not organized) So, backyard field trip it is. We headed to our new back yard to explore and do our school.

First it started with breakfast in bed. (Faith still wasn't feeling good)


Lots of critters....



We talked about how leaves know when to change color?
Why some trees stay green all year and others don't.
Then I had Landen put them in order of how they change.



Our Garden
We talked about our plans for our garden this year. What crops we can plant and how to start a garden.


Our fruit tree's (they need some love)
Then we talked about the parable and the fig tree.






Then we enjoyed hand picked grapes and read the story, The Fox and The Grapes. I had the kids try and jump up and grab the grapes up high and we talked about the moral of the story.






even Farrah was listening either that or bored by the teacher.


It ended up being a nice day of learning. I think I might leave the books packed for a few days.

Guess Who's Cooking?

Not Me!
We finally will have good meals in our house. Thanks to my kids;)
I signed the kids up for cooking class every other Friday. I can't pass up the deals on these classes. They offer such a discount if you take the class during the day while all the other kids are at school.

All recipes prepared at Young Chefs® Academy is a chance to explore many topics of study such as Math, Science, Health, Reading/Language Arts and so much more. Young Chefs Academy has highly credentialed curriculum support who identifies with the staffs teaching benchmarks. Plus the kitchens look like mini professional kitchens. Too cute.



The kids will be learning:
Kitchen safety and food handling;
Examples of food groups & recommended daily serving sizes from each group as recommended using the new food pyramid;
Recipe preparation using proper techniques and procedures;
Recipe nutrition and camping modifications;
Meal Planning - Planning a full meal including nutritional information and grocery lists;
Pricing & estimation of total meal costs;
Optional extension suggestions to meet further requirements.
www.youngchefsacademy.com

Moving Day

Today was moving day and I was hoping we could get it all done in one day. HA, who was I kidding we have so much junk! (even after two garage sales)
The day started off with an unexpected guest. I was not expecting her in fact I don't even like her. I haven't seen her in two years and she usually doesn't show up till my babies are at least 5 or 6 months. But no, she had to arrive early and on moving day! Thanks for the inconvenience Aunt Red. (errrrrr)
Then Justin and Faith were feeling sick all day with some sort of flu. Justin kept having to stop and rest because he was getting so dizzy. Finley was extra fussy today because of her shots she got yesterday. Then Austin was messing around with a pencil and stabbed himself in the hand with it. Now his hand is looking infected, his lip is cut from football and he has a sore foot. (Thanks to Aunt Brianna for nursing him back to health)














On top of all that I have been having nightmares.
One of the things we love the most about the new house is the backyard and the pool.













We're all part fish and love to swim, but I have my nightmares about the little ones. I worry all the time that they will wander where they shouldn't. I have nightmares of the unthinkable. We bought alarms for all the back doors, and Justin is checking in on some other safety things. We have given the other children strict notice that they are NOT to go outside without our permission or they will lose every single privilege they have!!! The alarm will sound anyway, but still....
My nightmares are prevalent, warning me to be extra careful, it only takes one second, especially Landen that kid is (excuse my language) hell on wheels, gotta watch him very closely.


In fact the first thing he said when he saw the house was, "oh cool, I'm gonna swing from that like Spiderman." (talking about the chandelier hanging from the upstairs vaulted ceiling)
We will be going out tomorrow to buy baby gates and safety nets. (ok I shouldn't joke about this)

We are almost done and I have to say thanks to Justin's NEW steroid friends at the gym (kidding) Notice I say NEW friends, that's because all the old one's know better they have moved us plenty of times before. Justin's friend Mike brought a diesel truck so a big thanks to him and to all our family who well, are obligated (haha) to help. Everyone got assigned a kid and those with no kids had to march up and down the stairs carrying boxes and listen to me bark out orders. I was able to get a lot done with all the help so THANK YOU to everyone!




Here's Captain Austin's room























and Princess Faith's room
















I will be working on Landen's room and the girls nursery tomorrow. I will post pictures later of the rest of the house.
Let's hope tomorrow goes better. I pray everyone wakes up happy and healthy and ready to move...I'm off to bed! Whew...

Finally A Smile From Finley :)

The smiles and coo's didn't last long then she realized she was hungry.

Spying On My Kids

One of my favorite things to do is spy on my kids. I love to watch them play in their rooms when they don't know I'm watching. Sometimes I even catch them in the bathroom talking in the mirror. (so funny) At night I often catch the kids praying after we have already tucked them in and said prayers. We will put our ears to the door and just listen:)
Here is a video of me spying on Faith. She's singing to Jesus. You can't hear anything you can just see how much she loves him:)

WHO'S THE BEST MOM IN THE WORLD?

Wednesday Already

Ack, Wednesday already, where has the week gone. To be honest, it has been spent in a haze of some sort. Packing box after box...

I do want to say thank you to all my fans (haha) for voting for me and my little blog. Even though I didn't win I was honored to even be nominated. Also thank you to Womb at the Innsane for picking me for Marvelous Mommy Monday. I'm telling you this is my week:) (besides all the packing)

The kids on our street are sad to see us go. Our house is know as the party house. We have the trampoline, skate ramps, basketball, swing set and free Capri suns for everyone. (at least my kids think their free the way they hand them out to every kid on the block)
The little boy (7yrs) that lives across the street comes from a broken family. Let's just say he has a bad home life. His parents are always yelling and screaming at each other. We find him sitting on our yard waiting for us to come home. It's really sad. He doesn't have a bike so he rides Austin's all the time. Austin was worried about what he would do when we left. He asked if he could give him his bike. After talking about it he is going to give the little boy his bike when we leave.

Justin and I were proud of him and felt that if he really wanted to he could give him his bike.
So yesterday daddy surprised Austin with a new bike








Daddy came home with one for Landen too...(I guess just because he's so cute)









and Miss Fashion Faith with her new glasses :)






I'm thinking I can give away this ugly couch of mine and maybe daddy will bring me home a new one???

I REALLY SHOULD BE PACKING

but I hate packing and would rather waste my time doing things like this...

Make My Day

I am not having a good day:(
This house is a mad house!


I do have to say, Thank you to all my bloggie friends for voting for me. I just looked over to see how I'm doing on the Dottie Awards and I'm tied for 3rd! Voting ends tonight so if you haven't voted stop by and vote.



It would really make my day! My house is a mess, the kids are fighting and I have tons of packing to do. Now don't you feel sorry for me?
Go make my day and vote for me:)
http://www.momdot.com/?p=1572


I'd better go......

Vote for Us! (cause we have nothing better to do) Dottie Awards

Vote for Kadi! Captain of the Cheersquad. She is hilarious! Check her out (Mom of 7!)
Head on over to her site:

http://www.wombattheinnsane.com/
(don't forget to mention that I sent you)






and duh... I just realized while I was voting for Kadi that I was nominated for a dottie award :) I'm in last place (I think) but there's still time to vote. So hurry up. Vote for me Homecoming Queen (LOL)

See us stay at home moms with large broads have nothing better to do. Can you tell?

Now, head on over to :

http://www.momdot.com/?p=1572

What House Do You Live In?

What House Do You Live In?
While I was searching around for some information I needed for school next week I ran across this poem. It was posted on the Kids Page at Pat's Web Graphics.

Thanks to Pat for the reminder that children learn what they live. I often catch myself being hard on my kids and expect a lot out of them.

Are we criticizers, or encouragers?


What House Do You Live In?

"I got two A's," the small boy cried.
His voice was filled with glee.
His father very bluntly asked,
"Why didn't you get three?"

"Mom. I've got the dishes done!"
The girl called from the door.
Her mother very calmly said,
"And did you sweep the floor?"

"I've mowed the grass," the tall boy said,
"And put the mower away!"
His father asked him, with a shrug.
"Did you clean off the clay?"

The children in the house next door
Seem happy and content.
The same things happened over there,
But this is how it went:

"I got two A's," the small boy cried,
His voice was filled with glee.
His father proudly said, "That's great!
I'm glad you live with me!"

"Mom I've got the dishes done!
The girl called from the door.
Her mother smiled and softly said.
"Each day I love you more."

"I've mowed the grass." the tall boy said.
"And put the mower away!"
His father answered with much joy.
"You've made my happy day!"

Children deserve a little praise
For tasks they're asked to do
If they're to lead a happy life.
So much depends on you.

- Author Unknown

ME AND MY BIG HEAD

I never thought my little life of being a stay at home mommy, doing hair out of my kitchen and changing diapers all day could inspire someone???
In fact, a lot of young girls come to my house to get their hair done. I always think they leave here going, "I am never having kids!" Or I think they feel sorry for me. I mean I don't work in some fancy salon somewhere. I work in my kitchen (dirty dishes and all.) They always come over wearing cute clothes carrying designer purses. I'm usually wearing sweats with a shirt that smells like spit up and my hair thrown in a ponytail. I have kids running around making one mess after another. How could this be inspiring? After reading my friend Krystyn's blog I can now blame her for my big head.

She posted this on her blog...
I met Bridget when I was about 16 years old. She was a cosmetology student and was pregnant with Austin at the time. She was my hairdresser for many years until I myself went to cosmetology school. She is actually who made me want to do hair in the first place. I looked at her ability of being able to make people look beautiful and make money from home, and at the same time being able to stay home with her babies.... and it was over. I wanted the same thing. And look where I am now? A stay at home Mommy who does hair from home :) Right where I wanted to be 10 years ago! LOL
So thanks Bridget. For being such a great example in my life of a great christian, wife, mother, sister, teacher and friend. You really are inspiring :)

~Thank you Krystyn, I never saw it that way...

A Day At The Fair

The first week of school and we already had a fieldtrip. (Am I a cool teacher or what?) We spent the day at the fair. My mom took the day off and went with us. It was so nice to have the extra help.

(thanks mom)




The fair offered a read to ride program. It's a program that gives the kids free ride passes for every book report they turn in.


They each turned in 6 book reports which got us a total of 18 free ride passes!





We met up with some homeschool friends



Went on some rides


played in the snow




and even got some learning in too...