Black Friday......

BLACK FRIDAY......
Me and Cara at Burger King!


It was sooooo much fun! I was at our local Walmart at 4:30am and had a hard time finding a place to park, which is not normal for this Walmart, at all! My sister was going to meet me there so I could help her get a trampoline for $140 and then she was going to stash it in my garage. She was late getting there, so I made my way to the toy department, giggling to myself at the throngs of people with messy hair just like mine! The pallet of trampolines was surrounded by people, waiting to pounce once the clock struck 5:00am. We all decided there was enough for us all to get one and that we didn't have to fight over them. So, once 5am came, we all helped eachother get those heavy boxes into our carts! It was really cool! I didn't have a cart; Lindsay was on her way with one. So, I decided to stand on my box and search for her. There were so many people all over the place, she could not get to me and could not even see me for awhile. It was funny. We got her tramp paid for and loaded in my van, and she went home. I, on the other hand went BACK into Walmart to find Cara and her family.

A little background:
Cara and I have been buds since we were juniors in high school. We have been great friends for so long, and I know her family well and they treat me like I am one of them! Every Black Friday, her mom and sisters spend the day shopping with each other and they always start at Walmart, arriving at 4am. I have wanted to go with her, but this is the first year I have made it! We live about a mile away from eachother now and they met at my Walmart this year! How could I NOT go! We spent about 4 hours in Walmart, just walking around, searching for deals and laughing at anything and everything. I felt like a kid again. I found all the deals I wanted just by digging in the "go back" carts and also by wandering the aisles looking for stuff that people had decided they didn't want and just put on any old shelf. It was way cool! By the time we were ready to check out, the lines were not super long anymore and we did not have to wait at all. My sister, on the other hand, stood in line for at least 30 minutes at 5am earlier that morning. We then headed to Burger King for breakfast. I parted ways with them after that. They were headed to KMart, Target and ???? I went home and had a nap! I stayed up until 11:30 the night before, so excited for the next day, so I did not get much sleep at all! Two of her sisters did not sleep at all the night before....they are crazy, I'm tellin' ya! Anyway, it was so fun and I am so doing it next year!

Oh, one more thing, Sasha asked me this morning if I am still her teacher and if we are still doing school? She was concerned because we haven't done any school over the Thanksgiving Holiday! LOL. I explained, that yes, we are still doing school and that we are on break right now! She really enjoys homeschooling and Seth and Addie even do their "school work" right along with Sasha. We have had days when she says "Can we be done with school now, Mom?" and we have just gotten started! LOL. But, she is really such an obedient child, and I do try to be flexible, but also make sure I am meeting my school goals for the week. It is going well and I love that I have time to do stuff with her, that I would not have if she was gone all day long in school.

This week we are doing:
Studying biographies. Reading some and writing one.
Investigating light and sound
Getting into motion
Finishing up Meeting the Native Americans then starting the 1st chapter of The Story of the World, (Thanks, Claire for letting me borrow this history curriculum) which begins with the Roman Empire.

I am got my Saxon Math workbook in the mail, so will continue that. I love the program so far. It takes things so step-by-step and I like that for math. Not my best subject. Hee hee hee. Off we go....may the force be with me......:)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Not the picture you were expecting? Thought I'd post some nice picture of us all dining on a beautiful feast? Nah, I'd rather post the pictures of my kids being totally grossed out at the raw turkey. They all wanted to help cook the huge turkey that Aunt Lindsay brought over earlier in the week. Well, when I cut the package off, they were grossed out, big time. But, wait......when I told Sasha she had to reach inside the cavity and pull out the neck bone and gizzard bag, I think she 'bout threw up. They screamed and screamed and yelled for Daddy to come quick and check out the livers and all that jazz. I finally got it ready and shoved it in the oven. Whew. Who knew cooking a turkey could be so exciting.......

Here is me and my sweet Sasha Belle. She had so much fun today playing with Audrey and Sean. The pumpkin pie was the biggest hit with the kids. Me, too actually. We put up our Christmas tree tonight and rocked out the country music. It was so much fun! The kids had a ball opening the boxes of decorations. I love, love, love the holidays!

My friend Cara and her sisters have a fun tradition of going shopping on Black Friday, just for fun and to get a deal or two. I have never gone but since they are shopping in my neck of the woods now that I have moved, I am in! We are meeting at the Walmart at like 4:30 am and holy cow, I must be nuts. I wonder if we will witness some crazy people fist fighting over at TV or something. Geez, I hope so.........not really. That would not be cool. My sister is coming too so she can score some big items and stash them at my house! I am excited for this! Maybe I should go to bed now........nah. I might as well stay up all night and blog away!

Where have I been and what in the world have I been doing?.....

I have been neglecting my blogging, but I doubt you have noticed or even care much. Much has happened in our family and I have been very preoccupied. I won't get into all of it here, but I will just say it has been a tough time for my family. On a good note, I have decided, after years of concidering it, talking myself out of it, then concidering it again, to homeschool my kids. I know, I am nuts. Homeschoolers are weird and anti-social, are they not? Nope, they aren't actually. The homeschooled kids I have met recently are amazing. There are 4 homeschoolers in my ward and they are wonderful.

In case you are wondering why I would do such a thing, here are some of my reasons, in no particular order:

**I want to be the one to see my children's faces light up when they understand a new concept.

**I want to take full responsibility for my children's education and not leave it to a system that may or may not care about my child.

**I want to have control over what my child learns and how they learn it.

**I want to foster a love of learning that they can carry on throughout their lives.

**I want my children to learn together and create strong family bonds.

**I want to learn, grow and challenge myself right along with them.

**I don't want to get them away from me, I want them to be with me.

**I want them to learn at their own pace, and to not to be expected to be like everyone else.

We have been homeschooling this entire month and it has honestly been wonderful. We have done science experiments with sound, collected rocks, make Hansel and Gretel's cottage (I gotta post a picture of that! It is darling), written a poem, played store with fake money, learned about the 1st Thanksgiving, and on and on. We do reading and math first thing in the morning, since they are the hardest and require a fresh mind. The afternoons are for history, science and other things. We have a history lesson with 3 other homeschoolers on Tuesdays and then the kids play for several hours. I have purchased and or borrowed my curriculum and am loving what I am doing. The decision to do this came after much prayer, thought and talking it over with eachother. Sometimes I think I am nuts. It would be so much easier to not do it, but I know it is right for us. I have hesitated to post about it since I am not sure what others may think or say.........but, there ya go. We are a homeschooling family now.

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Happy 5th Birthday, Seth! I can't believe he is 5 already! Time just keeps flyin' and flyin'. His birthday is actually tomorrow, which is Sunday, so we kinda celebrated today. He wanted to go to the new Chuck E. Cheese they put in near us, so we got up and did that first thing. We got 100 tokens, you know I had a coupon, and that was just enough for us all to play some games and get some tickets. We got some $5 pizza on the way home and had a pizza party. We decided to just finish it out and so we had the cake and opened the presents today. We couldn't stop ourselves. It was a great party day!

I used my Cricut machine to make his name and the stars then I glued them on wooden skewers. He picked out strawberry cake mix and bubble gum ice cream.

This is the main thing he wanted and told us so daily. An Indiana Jones whip. It is actually soft and so I don't forsee any injuries. It also makes cool "whipping" sounds and plays the theme song from the movies. Very cool, Bud.

They had a game where you hit a button, over and over, as hard as you can and it flips balls into a dog's mouth. It was right up Seth's alley.

This ride was HILARIOUS! It was a bike thingy and the faster you pedal, the more you go up in the air. A little boy was on it first and was having a hard time getting it to go up in the air since you have to pedal hard and fast! Well, Seth got on right after that boy and he got up in the air in no time at all. He is so strong and athletic just like me........not really. He takes after his dad.

Hubby tag!!

HUBBY TAG......
1. Where did you meet your husband?
At an early morning institute class
2. How long did you date?
Our first date was November 13th he proposed on November 23rd, and we got married on Feb. 5th, 1999
3. How long have you been married?
10 years on February 5th!!
4. What does he do that surprises you?
Nothing Will does surprises me. =)
5. What is your favorite feature of his?
His full lips.
6. What is his best quality?
He treats me like I am a queen.
7. Does he have a nick name for you?
Sweet Pretty Mommy
8. What is his favorite food?
Chinese food, banana pudding with Vanilla waffers.
9. What is his favorite sport?
He just likes to watch the re-cap on Sports Center mostly.
10. When and where was your first kiss?
In his apartment the day before he proposed to me.
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
Eat junk food and hang out.
12. Do you have children?
3 precious ones
13. Does he have hidden talents?
He has a silly side that most don't get to see. He can do lots of voices like Fog Horn Leg Horn.
14. How old is he?
41 years young!
15. Who said I love you first?
Me on the phone late one night.
16. His favorite music?
Classical
17. What to you admire most about him?
His faith and knowledge of the gospel.
18. What is his favorite color?
Sky Blue
19. Will he read this?
You bet!
20. Who do you tag?
Carrie, Misti, Tammy, Jamey, Liselle, Krista

Happy Halloween 2008!!

What a handsome Indiana Jones! I made him a whip out of some rope and he grabbed his brown duffel bag to complete the look! He looked so good! :)


I went as a clown! Those eye lashes rocked! Seth told me he didn't like my makeup.......

Sasha and her friend Liberty at the ward party! We had a chili cook-off and then the kids had a trunk-or-treat! It was very well-attended and I ran out of candy pretty quickly! I had like 8 bags, but there were so many kids there!

Here we are at the ward party. We look awesome! I am totally laughing at Seth's costume! I bought him a Hulk costume a month ago and that was all he wanted to be. Well, a few hours before the party, he drags out this old dragon costume that I got at a garage sale a long time ago. He wanted to wear it instead of the Hulk costume that I spent $25 on. That dragon costume is kinda rough lookin' and has a hole in the side that I didn't notice until we were already at the party. Will and I had a good laugh about it.

Sasha's costume turned out sooo cute and I am so proud of myself that I made it all by myself! Addie's Tinkerbell costume came from a friend of Sasha's who has outgrown it. I wasn't sure what Addie would be since she changes her mind a lot, too. But, she did go with Tinkerbell! The kids went to the trunk-or-treat and then Will took them around the neighborhood a bit. Addie went to one house and came back home. She liked getting the door better. We had a lot of kids come to our house! I was thrilled it was not cold at all! Wahoo! It was nice to not have to worry about keeping the kids warm! It was a fun night and I am glad we all dressed up!