A very merry month....

I hope you are all enjoying the HOLIDAYS!

I know we are!

**************

WE ARE LOVING CHRISTMAS

MUSIC!

We have it one all

day long!

Sweet Sasha and I

LOVE the duet with

Kenny Rogers and

Dolly Parton, "A

Christmas to Remember".

We sing it everytime they

play it! It does

kinda make me

giggle that I love one of

her songs so much!

Sasha asked me if she is

a kid or what because

she sure sounds like she

is little. Funny, and very true!

**************

LOVING the SNOW!

So are the kids!!

Does getting your kids

all dressed in their

snow gear count as a

WORKOUT?!

Addies is so cute; after I get

her all dressed up, she asks me

"Mom, do I look darling?".

Probably because I tell her

that when she is all bundled up.

Kids just looks so dang cute

in hats, coats, scarves, snow bibs and all that.

*********************

SETH loves to get pelted with snow

from the snow blower.

Doesn't look like much fun to

me, but he LOVES it and

laughs and laughs.

LOVE him.

****************

WE MADE A GINGERBREAD HOUSE

for FHE. We enjoyed the finished

product for about .05 seconds and then

the kids asked if they could eat the candy off it.

I said, "Why not".

**sigh**

********************

We went to the ward party last weekend.

It was fun and when Addie heard the word

"PARTY", she went right downstairs

and found a dress to wear. Seth even

wanted to dress up a bit.

So, how come when it is Sunday morning,

those two dislike, very strongly,

the whole getting dressed up thing??

Anywhoo, Addie has several old

dresses of Sasha's that fit her

right now and since the ward

party, she has been wearing a

different one each day. Actually

she changes dresses all the day long.

Does helping her change into dress after

dress count as a WORKOUT?

Oh, and she found Sasha's old

Christmasy socks with bells on them

and has been wearing those

puppies for DAYS.

*************

Sasha and I are having a hard time focusing

on school right now, but

we are getting it done!

We want to work hard so we

can play during the holidays.

**************

We have enjoyed having my dad

over to watch college football

nearly every Saturday.

Sasha and I are the

designanted "snack makers".

And the ones in charge

of keeping Casey away from

my dad's dog. Brittany

is older and so not amused

with Casey's non-stop

antics. Casey wants to play.

Brittany DOES NOT.

***************

I bought a card reader so I can

upload my pictures to the computer,

but it is still sitting on my counter.

It has instructions.

I will have to read them.

I am too tired to do that.

I better get it done so I can post some

pictures sometime soon. Ugh.

********

I found a mouse, a live one,

in my washing machine the other night.

How did he get in there????

He is dead now.....

**********

My dryer is broken.

Does that mean I don't have to

do the laundry? Nah,

I didn't think so.

*******

Merry Christmas! Enjoy your month!

Giving Thanks...

Well, it's that time of year. Thanksgiving. I love this time of year. So do my kids because they know once Thanksgiving is over, next is the BIG ONE: Christmas. They are already praying that they will get a certain toy. Oh, dear. This year has been a year of transition for us and has been rough, but also many great things have happened. Sasha got baptized. How thankful I am that my dear, sweet husband was worthy to baptize her. We started another year of homeschool and I love it. Seth started Kindergarten and he is already smarter than me. Seriously. Addie has stopped saying "hate" so much and that is something to be thankful for! LOL. We are having a baby girl, who we will name Audrey, around Valentines Day. I am thankful for every kick I feel. The other morning, very early, I woke up just wanting to know she was ok. My mind began to worry and fret when I didn't feel her for longer than I would have liked. When she finally did give me a little kick, I felt so thankful. What a joy this baby girl will be. I am not sure why we are getting her, when it could have gone the other way, but I am so thankful. What a bright spot she will be to our little family. I am thankful for this ward. AMAZING. Generous. LOVE it. I love the YW and serve with the most amazing women. One even wears a rockin' white mumu.......love her to pieces. I am thankful for our prophet and for general conference. I have been reading the talks lately and it has helped me so much. Love them. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we will.

p.s.
Are you going shopping on Black Friday?? Me, not sure. Did last year......just for fun......

Dear Casey:

Dear Casey:

(Our highly entertaining pup)

I was just wondering why you decided to chew the cord

that I use to upload my pictures with?

I know you were excited to see us all go

downstairs to clean someone's messy room,

and since you aren't allowed down there,

you found your own entertainment.

I know you like to chew, but geez.

I need that. I need to upload

Seth's birthday pictures.

It is one thing to chew on pieces of

wood that you find outside, which

actually does bug me a tad

since you drag them into

the house and then our floor

gets covered with little pieces

of wood. Plus also, you don't pick

them up. Naughty, naughty.

If you could just chew wood or your

own toys ONLY, that would be super.

Plus, you are supposed to eat DOG

food. Not PEOPLE food. So, could

you stop barking at us when we are

eating. It is bad manners.

I am glad you have figured out

that sleeping on the couch is

where you'd like to be,

because I sure like getting up with you

at all hours to let you out of

your barricade down the hall so you

can sleep there. You are so stubborn

and boy is that fun. (OK fine. Sleep on

the couch. But if you pee-pee or poo-poo

on my floor like you did when you first joined

our family, I am GONNA sell you. Ok I can't

because my kids love you to pieces and

it would break their hearts. Guess we are

stuck with you. At least you smell

nice after you have been groomed

and bathed. Bless "Ruffledale Doggie Salon").

From:

Your Owner

(The one with blond hair that tells you to

stop barking at the doorbell.)

I can't believe I just did it!!

I just added the ticker I have been dreaming about for a long time. Everytime I go to add it, I stop myself and tell myself to wait a few more weeks, or wait for one more doctor's appointment to get through. Well, I decided to just add it anyway!! I hope I am not jinxing myself. I think this one is a go. Come on, little one, we are waiting for you!! :) Valentines Day is just around the corner and we can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Conversing with Addie...

Addie is my little shadow and we have some very nice conversations. She always makes me smile.

Addie: "Can we make a recipe?" This means she wants me to get out a bunch of spices, a bowl with water and let her have at it. Yes, I have let my kids do this. I have given them flour and water, sent them outside and told them to make "Little House on the Prairie Bread". And boy, oh boy, did they.

Me: "Addie, what are you going to get me for Christmas?"
Her: "Fabrics". Sweet. I really do want "fabrics" for Christmas.
Me: "What about Daddy?"
Her: "A white tie." Sounds good to me! :)

Her: "And for you a wedding dress so you can marry dad."

Her: "Look, I am wearing underwear!!" (Showing you that she is indeed a wearer of the undergarment. At least for the moment. She went through a phase where she was not sporting underwear, so we had to ask her a lot!)

Her: "Is it my turn to say 'payer'"? And boy, if it isn't, she growls, snarls and stomps her feet. Then she cries all through the prayer that someone else got to say. She mumbles something like "poop....I was supposed to say the 'payer'". Will and I usually laugh but sometimes we grit our teeth and roll our eyes. She likes to say the 'payer'. Always. I think she does this in primary if she is not chosen for something. Sorry about that, Primary Teachers. :)

She loves to pick out our clothes and if you don't wear what she picked out, she is really bummed about it. You have to be sneaky and put back her "suggestion" or else. She loves to do "school" and you have to give her an actual worksheet to do. You have to explain how to do it and don't cut corners just because she is 4! She asks me how to spell words, copying her big sister, all the time. She is so funny, and fiesty, and cute, and helpful, and honest, and golly we just love our Little Boo.

Halloween 2009

This year our ward party was on the night before Halloween. We had a soup dinner and then headed out in the parking lot for the famous "Trunk-or-Treat". The poor kids had to wait for an eternity, in their eyes, to get dinner over with! I ran out of candy very fast! There were so many kids there! I'll do better next year!


Addie eating her haul after the ward party. "Any chocolate for me?", is what I wanted to know! Hand it over!

Happy Seth eating waaay too much candy! Oh, well. Like I can talk. I LOOVE candy. Well, mostly just chocolate.

Heading out the door. Note that Seth is NOT amused at my desire to get a picture. Sasha is a Southern Belle, Addie is a princess (hooray for our huge dress-up bin downstairs.) Seth decided to be Luke Skywalker at the last minute. Again, hooray for the dress-up bin.

Well, Seth is making an attempt in this picture to look happy! Poor kid. I just won't leave him alone, will I!? My camera decided to be dumb so I didn't get any the next night which was actually Halloween. Grrrr. Oh, well. They looked pretty much the same except Seth decided to wear his Darth Vader costume and Addie put on Sleeping Beauty this time. Sasha said once she wanted to wear her costume from last year, and I was like "No way!" I spent so much time sewing this years' costume I wanted her to wear it! :) I hope I got a shot showing her cute hoop skirt on the last post. She really did look darling! I even did an zipper......I did have to unpick each side.......twice......!

Will wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow, who we all love and a cute lady in our ward has told me on more than one occasion that he looks like Capt. Jack! We did our best with what we had around the house. He is such a good sport and lets me create his costumes each year! :) So sorry that there isn't one of me..........actually I'm not. I don't like getting my picture taken these days. I was a witch. I had a orange and black hat on. I wore Will's black graduation gown. That's all! :) Hope you all had a great Halloween.

Halloween Party!

Homeschool Halloween Party!
I wanted my kids to have a Halloween party so we invited some of our homeschool friends to come over for pizza, games and fun. It went well! I found a bunch of games online that were very easy to do with things you already have on hand. Here is one:
We had the kids divide up into teams and wrap eachother up with toilet paper so they looked like a mummy! They had to do it by the end of a Halloween song I had playing: Witches Brew. They all had more fun doing this than I thought they would! They played it several times!

Sasha wrapping up Addie. Where was Seth during all of this? Hmmmmmm......

My friend across the street brought this totally awesome jello! It looks soooooo real! I couldn't get over it! It tasted really good, actually. Some kids would NOT try it. Mine did! :)

Sasha eating an eyeball! How fun! It was a great party and something I think we will do again.

Happy Almost Halloween!!

FINALLY, it was the night they have been waiting for all month! We carved our pumpkins tonight for FHE. It was quite an event! Will helped Seth, I helped Addie and Sasha did her own except for a tiny bit of assistance from me.

Seth enjoyed himself by squishing the "pumpkin guts". Then he wiped his hands all over his shirt and pants, of course. He is such the boy! :)

Nice job, Sasha! She did great all by herself!

Addie told me what shape to make her eyes and nose and I did the cutting. She did get a knife and stab hers a time or two. Yikes.

Will here working on Seth's. He was the last to finish. No surprise to me! He is so detail- oriented and does such a good job on stuff like this! Nice work, Babes.

The night ended with us dancing to our favorite Elvis song: "A Little Less Conversation", the remixed version, of course. We love that song. (It was in Ocean's Eleven, if that helps). I made sure the blinds were all closed, cranked up the music and we all danced and danced. :) Happy Almost Halloween everyone!!

"Can I watch something...?"

Just wondering if any of you have

some things that work in your

family for controling TV time

and computer game time

for the little kiddos in

your home.

What have you tried?

What works?

What didn't?

Many thanks!

p.s.

Happy Columbus Day!

Be nice to yourself....

I walked into a 7-Eleven the other day and could not help but overhear a conversation between the cashier and a customer. It didn't take me long to get the gist of their conversation. Diet pills and what works. "So, if I take that one, I won't be hungry?" she says. "Nope", the other one says. "Oh, I gotta have it, then!!", was the reply. I was in line by then and said to the cashier, who was the one wanting the diet pills, "I think you are beautiful just the way you are." I meant it. She laughed and said I was beautiful, too! I said "Well,thank you. We all are!" Then I told her we as women need to be nice to ourselves. She was of average build and I personally don't think she needed to take diet pills.

Then today I was on Facebook and a comment was posted about a billboard that was seen about plastic surgery and basically it said to come visit this doctor after your body gets "ruined " by pregnancy. My friend that posted this was irritated by it and wondered who else was. I read some of the comments and felt so sad to read several girls, who only one I know personally, said yes, pregnancy did indeed ruin their bodies. That some of them were planning some plastic surgery to "fix" their post-baby bodies. How can this be? How can we look at ourselves as women after creating a life and say it has "ruined" our bodies? Thoughts and feelings like these only come from one source. It is not from our Heavenly Father, either! The Adversary will never have a body. He will never have an eternal family. He will never have children. So, he does all he can to make us as women despise our bodies. The media and Hollywood help him in this goal, big time!

My body has changed since having kids. By the world's standards, my body is not pretty at all. But, my body is a gift from my Heavenly Father and I bet it saddens him when we think or say negative things about our bodies. I don't want my children to ever hear me say anything negative about my body. Ever. I want to teach them to love their bodies and to take good care of them. Staying healthy by eating right and exercising, all done in moderation. When negative thoughts creep in my mind about my body, I try hard to recognize where they are coming from, and to keep those thoughts at bay.

My body has been through a lot in the past 4 years. Four pregnancies, four losses, two D&C's, and two "deliveries" of babies that stopped growing inside me. I gained and lost weight like a yo-yo through it all. I have not been able to exercise consistently since I have had a lot of time either being sick with morning sickness, or recovering from a loss. But, I have not let this stop me from trying for another baby. The world would probably frown at me for not losing all the weight I should before trying again. But, I am stubborn that way, I guess. Having a baby is a gift. It does not ruin your body.

If we feel like we aren't where we want to be with our weight, ok, lovingly take better care of yourself. Make changes in your diet or exercise, but do it with love. Go easy on yourself. I don't want to loose weight to please the world, I want to loose weight to be more healthy. That is a good reason, isn't it?!

I teach the Beehives in Young Women's right now. I so remember being that age. I was so hard on myself at times. Things have gotten worse and the pressures are even greater now to be perfect than they were when I was that age. I taught a lesson recently and stressed the importance of not listening to the media and letting our Heavenly Father be our guide. Not the TV or a celebrity. I hope they listened. I hope I can listen and do better, too!

I guess I want us all as women to love ourselves and be nice to ourselves. Having children did not ruin my body. It completed it. :)

Chocolate Pudding Painting....

I read an idea in Family Fun magazine about making a tree out of your child's

hand print. But they used paint. We used chocolate pudding. OH, ya!

Who doesn't want to create edible artwork!?

After they stamped their hands on the paper for the tree, they glued on scraps of

paper for the leaves.

Seth told me this was the best Monday EVER! I agree. Pudding at 10am on a Monday

morning is for sure a good thing.

www.Time4learning.com

I was able to use an internet program for a month for FREE, yes, free! My favorite word! But I need to critique it as part of the requirement!

I found that Seth used it way more than Sasha did. He is such a computer junkie that it was not hard to get him to sit down and give it a try! He usually does http://www.starfall.com/ so it was a bit hard to get him to try something different. I was amazed at all the different catagories they had: farm fun, shapes, feelings, at the zoo, vehicles, tools, and more. He loved playing the matching games they have and Addie was right along with him, watching as she always does. You can keep track of what they are playing and when they did it, which is kinda of nice. They even have a playground area that has games they play for a certain amount of time, and then they have to go back and do more lessons. Genius. It is set up for you to use this as your only curriculum but I don't think I would use it like that. I want physical evidence that my kids are doing school work, just in case I ever have to prove that I am teaching my kids!

Sasha had her own level and I loved it for her! She loved the telling time area and also the math addition area! The games were so fun and Seth and Addie would sit by and laugh right along with her! I LOVED the english segments and helped her with basic grammar! SOOOO much more fun than worksheets she I usually have her do! I really do love this program and would like to have access to it all the time! For what I would be using it for: just a reinforcement to what I am teaching them, it is perfect! Go check it out: http://www.time4learning.com/

The Solar System...

We are doing a unit on the solar system and found some ideas here:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/astronomy/solarsystemmodel/

We did not go all out like they did; our distances from the sun and sizes of the planets are not completely accurate, but hey, we had fun.

I also found directions on how to make a rocket out of paper and using Alka-Seltzer to power it. You need a 35mm film canister whose lid fits inside the top, so I am having a bit of a challenge finding that. They suggested going to a film developing store and asking if they have some. Tried Walmart this morning and they send their film out to be developed. (I think the lady thought I was weird when I told her what I wanted them for. Or maybe she was just jealous and secretly wants to come over when we launch our rocket.)

Anyway, you make a paper rocket and attatch the film canister upside down. Turn the rocket upside down so you can fill it halfway with water and drop the alka-seltzer inside, quick put the lid on, set it right side up and run away. **BOOM** You have lift off. I am so doing this. Gotta find a film canister. And some alka-seltzer.

Just tell me WHY?

Why do I read all these crafty blogs?

I have several that I follow and yet.....

I don't usually make what they make.

Sometimes I do.

But honestly, I just don't have much time

these days. Or money. Or energy.

I admire their craftiness and yet I wonder....

how do they find time in their day to do all this?

My house is a mess pretty much all the time.

It gets worse as the day wears on. I realize

that since all my kids are with me all day

that this is what will happen until they are married. Or

go off to college. Or a mission. Or just plain move out.

Now that I work with Seth regularly now, it has made our school day longer. I didn't think it would make a big difference, but it has.

That and the fact that I am doing more with Sasha and it takes her longer to finish assignments. I have to keep my eye on her and keep her on task.

She is my lally-gagger. KWIM?

I have heard it may be another year before she will work more independently.

I have many projects I'd like to do or try.

I have several rooms in my house

that bug me.

But, at the end of the day, I am pooped.

Or broke. Or both.

So, I guess I will just keep following other

people's blogs and live vicariously

through them.

Can anyone relate or is it just me? :)

School Stuff....

To finish off the unit on Egypt, we made a model of the Nile River.

We put rocks, lots of mud, sticks, grass, and other similiar items in

my turkey roaster. We used foil to make the outline

of the river and poured water in and let it

flood just like it does each year.

It was very entertaining and the kids played in it all afternoon. Yes, it became

a huge mess all over the patio and baths were a must after they

were all done.

I decided to make a game for him to work on his sight words. I put them on the

wall with putty-stuff and he hit them with a fly swatter as I said them.

He loved it! Sasha took turns calling out the words, thus helping

her with her reading (bonus), and then Seth called them out

to Addie, who needed help knowing which word to slap,

helping to reinforce them with Seth even more.

Yippee for games. You could do this with spelling words for any

age group. :)

I want to win this....

http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2009/09/giveaway-halloween-skirt.html

I love these. I want to win one. I want to make one if I don't win one. So dang cute. I think I need to sew something today.......

Just singin' in the rain....

We had the most beautiful, glorious, yummy-smelling rain storm the other day!

I was in H E A V E N!

Seth and Sasha immediately grabbed their umbrellas,

and went out to play and sing in the rain.

I love rainy days.

I love warm summer days, don't get me wrong.

But something about hearing rain coming down,

and the yummy rainy smells,

makes me smile.

I wish sometimes it would rain a wee bit

more here.

But, I will just have to enjoy those rainy days when they come.

Walk like an Egyptian...

We have been studying about Egyptians recently and today Sasha decided to turn herself into a princess, using an old white sheet, some flowy fabric, and her own imagination. I was there to supply the safety pins and rubberbands to keep it all on and in the right place. I love that she is able to get excited about what we are learning and that she is so creative and artistic. We had fun learning about Ancient Egyptians so far and have one more chapter in the book about them. Seth is particularly intriged that they used to remove the organs, except for the heart when mummifying, and put them into jars. We all thought that was, um, interesting and pretty gross, actually. We have had fun talking about what Egyptians used to think happened when you die and it has been so wonderful to talk about the gospel and point out what we know to be true. Some books I found that have supplimented this unit mighty nicely are:
Egyptian Mummies: Peoples from the Past by Delia Pemberton (This one had great pictures that we all enjoyed), Egyptian Gods and Goddesses by Henry Barker (This one held even Seth and Addie's attention span.), and finally, Ancient Egytpian People by Sarah McNeill. (I love that The Story of the World history books have lists of suggested books so I can try and get them to go along with the lesson. Great program.)

Baked Oatmeal....

Mmmmmm, smells goooood! I found this recipe on http://www.prudenthousemaker.com/, which is a great site for finding great, cheap recipes and just lots of other things. I tried it this morning and it was a hit! It does take some preparation; not quite as quick as a bowl of cereal. But, lately I have not been buying cereal much; shocking I know for those of you that know I used to buy boxes and boxes of cereal on sale and with a coupon. Anyway I am trying to make breakfast a better meal and am always on the lookout for something new to try. It tasted like I was eating dessert for breakfast, so I was thrilled! Ha ha. Give it a try....

2 eggs

1\2 cup applesauce

3\4 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)

1 cup milk ( I used powdered from my food storage)

3 cup oats

1t salt

1 T baking powder

1 t cinnamon (I used more but I like a lot of flavor)

2 cups chopped fresh fruit (I used fresh nectarines because that is what I had and it was yum)

1. whisk the eggs, applesauce, sugar and milk. Once creamy add oats, salt and baking powder. Mix well. Add 1 cup of fresh fruit.
2. Pour batter into 9x13 dish. Sprinkle top with a little brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Top with rest of fresh fruit, pour on some milk and enjoy.

Big News for Seth......

His tooth finally fell out! Yay! His new tooth has been coming in behind

it for several weeks and the baby tooth was only

slightly wobbily and he was scared for it to

come out. Who woulda thought he'd be scared

of that? He was in his room for a....ahem...small

timeout for some sand-throwing at the park

and up he came all excited and holding his tooth.

Kinda worked out nice and ended his timeout in

a timely way. It has been lost twice tonight

and did you know that pieces of old popcorn

left in the couch look just like a baby tooth?

I hope that darn thing makes his under his pillow.

But, if not, I am sure the toothfairy understands.

Oh, and note the nice scratch the dog gave him today. I was not happy. That dog. Grrrrr.

He wanted an extreme close-up, so here ya go. Enjoy.

Slow cooker beans and rice

I found a new website that I {heart}. It is called http://www.5dollardinners.com/. Right up my alley. I have a bunch of beans in my food storage and needed some new ideas on how to serve them to my family. Good, eadible recipes, KWIM? I made this for dinner and just sampled a small bowl. Hey, I was hungry. Anyway, it is yummy and super cheap to make. Here ya go.....

1 cup black beans (.40) or you can use 2 15 oz cans of black beans.
1 T olive oil (.10)
1 cup brown or white rice (.40)
2 garlic cloves, crushed (.10)
1 15 oz. diced tomatoes (.59) (I had some tomatoes from my garden I wanted to use in today's meal, so I diced them up along with a can of tomato sauce. So, that is an option.)
1 tsp ground cumin (.05)
salt and pepper.

Total cost for this meal is $2.10

1. Soak your beans overnight. Then in the morning drain and rinse them. Cook soaked beans for an hour in a saucepan with at least 2 inches of water over the beans.
2. Place olive oil in slow cooker. Stir rice around in the oil. Add cooked beans, diced tomatoes, garlic cloves, ground cumin, salt and pepper and 2 cups of water. Set on high for 4 hours. If you use brown rice, set for 6 hours. Top with cheese, sour cream, a little bit of ranch salad dressing, or whatever you like. I plan on serving this on top of some shredded lettuce, and with tortilla chips and salsa on the side. YUMMY!

A Special Day for Sasha....

Sasha got baptized by Will on Saturday and it was wonderful. I gave a talk and Aunt Dar gave the opening prayer. She was baptized with another little boy from the ward. (Addie had a rough afternoon and never did run out of things to cry about. **sigh**)

What a lucky girl to be baptized by her daddy.

Love her dress. She looked so pretty.

What a special day for you, Sasha. We love you to pieces.

Ward Campout!!

It was a blast. The kids waited allllll daaaaay loooong to go. Seth and Addie even wanted to wait in the van until it was time to go.....it was noon, so I said um "no".

We made our treat to share and set off as soon as Will got home from work.

We giggled as we set up our "3-man" tent. We were nice and cozy in there.

We ate a yummy dinner of hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, salads and desserts.

The talent show was great. One sister in the ward sang

some songs and her little girls danced to the music.

Addie saw them and that was that.

She danced the rest of the time. It was cute.

Seth was horribly embarressed.

Addie lost her shoes in the grass and it got dark before we could find them.

But, the next morning, there they were.

Breakfast was yummy.

Will and I want to buy some mats or pads or SOMETHING next year.

OUCH.

But it was so fun. We love this ward.

A homemade scripture bag...

Since Sasha is getting baptized on SATURDAY, Will and I have her some scriptures of her very own for her birthday last week. I wanted to get her a cute scripture bag, but couldn't find any that I liked. Most of the ones I saw at the stores looked, um too old-lady-ish. Some of the girls in YW's have darling ones that were made from a placemat. So, I found this red one at Walmart and got to work.....(sorry I cut off Sasha's head in this. It is Saturday, and well, I didn't do her hair......it looked kinda messy........)

I just sewed up both sides, sewed on the handles, which are just ribbon, sewed on the ribbon all around the entire thing, glued a flower on and ta-da! All done in less than an hour. Woulda done it faster but had some onlookers that occasionally needed some attention. Funny how wherever I am, it is the place to be and here they all come to watch me. Ha ha ha. The cost was less than $2.00 for the placemat, the flower I had already, and I did buy both spools of ribbon but did not use much of either of them, but all in all, it cost me about $3.00 to make this and I love it. FYI, Walmart did not have much of a selection at all! Good thing Sasha likes red..... :) It would be fun to make some of these puppies out of fun placemats found wherever you can find them! :)

I am kinda embarressed...

My last few posts have produced many nice compliments that I promise I wasn't fishing for. Homeschooling is just a huge part of my life and I have been sharing it on my blog. I hope that those of you that have praised me for being so amazing, and such a good mom know that YOU are equally amazing and good mothers as well. I don't think that homeschooling means you are a better mom than anyone else. It just means you have just chosen a different path. I still have bad days and holler at my kids. My kids fight like cats and dogs, probably more than yours because they are around each other all the time and I feel like they are still adjusting to that part of homeschooling. I wonder if the adjustment period will end sometime soon.....seriously. Anyways, thanks for the compliments, but I really am just like you. I just spend 3-4 hours a day playing teacher to my kids.

So far, so good.....

Ok our first few days are going well. I am LOVING the Book of Mormon program and the kids seem to like it too. What a relief. We are starting each day with a primary song and so far nobody is hating it. We do Book of Mormon first, then Seth and Addie color while I work with Sasha. Who, by the way, asked when we would be done with school 15 minutes after we got started on Monday. Golly. That girl is a crack-up.

1. Still loving Saxon for math but have had to jump to lesson 10 since they are moving very slow. Lots of review that she doesn't need.
2. Rod and Staff for english is ok. Kinda hard for 3rd grade so I am kinda picking and choosing what she does on the worksheets.
3. Love the All about Spelling program for Seth. He already knows most of the sounds the letters make and that surprises me. He even held a pencil for me and wrote some "A's". He is not a big fan of coloring or drawing or anything of that nature. Yes, I have my work cut out for me.
4. I think I will do art, history and science on Thursday's and Friday's.
5. Sasha is writing in her journal each day. So far each entry has been about our dog. Oh, brother. Oh, well. I told her to write about anything she wants. She loves that dog, I tell ya.

So far, so good. But it is only the 2nd day of school. :) Oh, and can I just say I am ready for fall now. I love summer but I am ready for some cooler weather now, thank you very much. :)

I am ready.....

I am ready for a new school year.

My curriculum is all here minus the bazillion library books we will check out during the year. Yay for free resourses.

I am trying several new programs this year: Rod and Staff for english, All About Spelling for phonics (will be for Seth), and an awesome set of cd roms: one about the Book of Mormon, One about Latter-day Prophets, and one called Scripture Notebooking where they get to journal about what they are learning.

Keeping with the Saxon Math program for Sasha. I found some fun things called Math Wrap-ups (far right in the pictures). Sasha has used them this summer to help with her math facts and I hope she continues to like using them. Seth likes to swing them around the room like a lasso. I scream "Those are NOT toys!!! They were exspensive!!!". He stops and finds something else to swing around like a lasso.

I am excited for school to start. I lesson planned last night and could hardly sleep because my mind was racing all night. "Did I put too much in one day?", "I want to do this more frequently this year."

If you told me several years ago I would homeschool, I woulda looked at you funny. But now I am here doing it and I love it so much. Yes, it is different. Yes, it is hard sometimes. You won't see me out to lunch with my girlfriends or shopping all alone at Tai Pan. I have to be ready for the comments some people make about my decision. I have to be ready for someone to tell me my child can't read fast enough or well enough if they are behind other kids. (Yes, this happens. I don't understand why. If a public schooled child had a hard time reading, would you go tell his parents? Probably not. But, if a child that is homeschooled doesn't read well, by cracky, their mom will hear about it. I assure you she knows and is praying about it and is doing all she can to help her child.)

But, I am ok with that. Although, I was not prepared when I started this journey to feel so different when surrounded by non-homeschoolers. I often wonder what they are thinking of me. Do they think I judge them. I don't. Do I think more people should homeschool? YES! How cool would that be to have 20 families in the neighborhood that homeschool instead of 3?! It would be great.

I know it might sound self-righteous, but I really do want my kids near me. I have realized more and more lately what true miracles they are. I don't know how they made it here, but they did and I am not about to send them away from me. I am grateful I live in a country where I can educate my kids myself and you can educate yours the way you want. What a blessing that is to all of us! Happy Back- to-School!

I am ready!!

Happy 8th Birthday, Sasha!

The day started with Seth waking up earliest, as usualy and he was so excited for Sasha to get up and open her presents. It was really cute! Sasha opened her presents from us and then got ready for her friends to arrive for the party. They all had fun! I had a cute craft for them to do (I should post a picture, huh!). We picked up my dad for dinner and ate at the Oaks up Ogden Canyon. The kids loved being right by the river! They wanted to go tubing again! So did I!! We ate cake and ice cream back at our house with Grandpa Burt and that ended her special day. It was a fun, busy day! I can't believe she is 8! She got some scriptures last week, for when she gets baptized and you never did see such a proud girl to have her own set of scriptures! She keeps saying, "I can't believe I am 8!!". Neither can your dad and I!! We love you to pieces!

Have you read NieNie??

If you haven't, do it right now. Get a box of Kleenex though. You're gonna need it. Allow yourself some time to go back far enough to read her story. Amazing. Inspiring. Heartbreaking. Come back and let me know what you think........

Burt Family Reunion!!

This past weekend was the annual Burt Family Reunion at South Fork Canyon. I went here during the summers as a little girl and always had a blast! The river goes right past the cabin and as we would tube by, those that stayed behind would squirt you with the hose! So fun!! We missed last year, but the kids all remember tubing and wanted to go this time despite the fact that it was not that warm! The water was FREEZING, but we still went and it was so much fun! We all laughed as one of us would drift into the trees! Me and Sasha did that regularly! OUCH!!
Here comes Sasha! She was old enough to ride by herself this time and did great! It is kinda scary when you hit rough spots, but she rocked it!!

Will rode with Seth on his lap and they did great! Seth loved it.

Addie and I getting out! She fell off my lap once when we hit a big rock, but I grabbed her speedy-quick. She didn't even bat an eye. The water is not deep, but is kinda swift at times. I loved every minute of it and so did everyone else. My cousin Julie went with us and my cousin Zac. We were the few that wanted to brave the cold water. We are awesome. We had to climb a small rock wall to get to the cabin and our legs were so rubbery from the cold water, I guess, it was kinda hard. Plus I started laughing and that never helps! Ha ha ha!

The cabin actually belongs to my Aunt Elaine's in-laws and they have always been so generous letting the Burt's party here each summer. We ate lunch and munched on yummy desserts all afternoon. You know I was lovin' it!

My cousin Cole, Aunt Elaine, and my dear old Dad. Fun, fun day!!!!