Friday, July 30, 2010

Webkinz obsession continues...


A trip to the local Cracker Barrel wouldn't be complete without visiting the Webkinz.  Nicholas said he was bringing every one of these puppies home and Matthew was in love with the shark.  Well, we ate our meal and left saying that we weren't going to purchase any Webkinz but it's something the boys could ask for Christmas.  Matthew was in tears saying he kissed the shark and he was scared he was lonely.  They discussed if they wanted to spend their money on buying them since we weren't going too...
Well, we got down the road a bit and Matthew was still crying and crying for shark because he was so lonely in the store without Matthew so they decided they wanted to buy them with their money.  So, we turned back around to the store and Matthew bought shark, aka Sharky and Nicholas bought TWO puppies..he says they are twins named Muddy and Mucky...

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

My brothers are here!!

My brothers are here for 2 weeks!  Of course, wrestling and wedgies are imperative when you get 4 boys together.  I, thankfully, was not included as I've been busy trying to feed everyone(which I love to do)...
They are busy trampling through the woods now and are going to shoot beebee targets later...
Off to make some more food!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

More vacation pictures

At the food/beverage convention they have tons of kids activities.  One night they do a *carnival* with games all centered around food themes.  The boys love this because they get to win tickets to *buy* toys at the end of the night. 

More beach pictures

Where we've been...

We spent last week at Myrtle Beach at the Kingston Plantation.  We go every year with a food/beverage convention and the boys have a blast!  Food, beach, kids activities...they love it!
The water was so warm this year I even got in(I usually never go in the water because it's so cold-must be this crazy hot summer we're having)

Monday, July 19, 2010

Baseball party



We got to have a small baseball party yesterday for our rec league baseball team.  It's been awhile since we were all together but this was the best time for the party because of vacations and All Star ball.  The cake was so cute and even had the kids in the positions they played.  The all recieved a trophy from the team as well as another trophy for winning the town's championship.  One of the mama's made cute little frames with each child's picture in it with a matting signed by all the coaches.  That truly was such a sweet gift.
There was not a dry eye in the place as well all ended a chapter and begin new chapters in the fall.  Some of the boys will play football, some will continue to play baseball and others I'm not sure...
It was bittersweet because we had some rough patches this season and it's been a L..O..N..G.. baseball season with the addition of All Stars(which just ended for us this weekend with a Silver bracket championship)..but we made some new friends along the way, was embraced by our new hometown, and the boys had a great time.  We will enjoy the next couple of weeks for rest and reconnection and then prepare for the next ball season to start...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Workin'

I got this beauty at an auction a couple of weeks ago for $5!!! (The fridge, not the boy).  They weren't even going to sell it because they figured no one would want it..boy were they wrong!  I asked them to start the bidding on and and I was the only one who did bid so it's mine!  It's an old Westinghouse.  It still works as well!  It just needed some love and my sweet Matthew started to sand off all the rust today so we could paint it.  Wouldn't it be cute candy apple red or pink?  I thought it would be great to hold cold drinks and eggs(from the chickens we'll get) for our farm store.


Nicholas was working his way through our scrap pile today.  He's building a fort.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Go Uncle Randy!!

My brother, Randy is in the state tournament again for Dixie All Star baseball.  If they win 2 more games, they go to the World Series!!  So, needless to say his two nephews have begged to listen to the games and cheer Randy on....Go Randy-we are all rooting for you!!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Done

I'm finally done ordering curriculum for next year.  I've hemmed and hawed(oh gosh..I don't even know if I've spelled that right and I have to teach spelling and grammar..ahhh!!!!) for months on what to do next year.  We were all bored to tears with my grammar selection for the last two years(It was Rod and Staff).  While I love the Mennonite culture and customs found in this curriculum, the boys would cry out of boredom when we did this grammar. Their is absolutely nothing wrong with this curriculum-it's effective and does it's job but it is boring.  Also, I think I was really sick of it after two years and ready for a change.  So, we're on to Shurley grammar.  With it's jingles and practice Cd's and lots of hands on/interactive things, I hope it's better this year.
 
We are also switching from Well trained mind suggestions(gasp!) and heading over to the Sonlight bandwagon.  I've thought about it for years and figured we'd do the 2 year American History study and if it doesn't fit us after that..well, we tried and I'm sure we'll learn alot through the process.  After that(if we want to change) well be back on the appropriate 4 year history cycle and all will be well in the world.

Reading will co relate with history and I've ordered all those books as well and have a reading comprehension guide with Sonlight.  I also ordered Shurley grammar's Literature selection book because it looked interesting and introduced them to words like stanza and metaphor..so that looked pretty cool.

Math-we switched to Saxon math late in second grade when we finished up Math U See for the year.  I switched because I love that Saxon has online help in the form of DVDs and CD-Roms.  I believe this will be a tremendous help as the boys advance into harder math.
 
Science is online..yeah!!!! I signed the boys up for a Chemistry class using the Real Science 4 Kids curriculum.  So, I'm so stoked that's off my to do list.

Also, I've been compiling a list of Nova, PBS, and various other documentaries on Netflix regarding weather, scientists, church history, etc.  We will watch one a week together and discuss.

Hmmm..what else..Oh! I bought Prima Latina with the DVDs.  So, we will be diving into Latin this year.  I took 2 years of Latin in high school but don't remember anything so this will be new for me too.
 
Art is a DVD based program called Atelier art.  It has great reviews and I purchased the artist study as well.  The boys seem to enjoy learning about artist's lives and really remember alot(mostly gory details..but still)...

I ordered a ton of logic/analogy books so I'll sneak a couple of those in weekly as well.

We using Spelling Power for spelling and actually will be starting that soon.  I don't want to start everything new at once, it will make my head explode.

Bible-well...that's still up in the air.  I've ordered the Bible selections from Sonlight and I'm sure we will do that plus the Bible memorization.  I'm not sure about the Native American prayer book though..I'll have to preview that one first...  But, I may do a Saint's study as well...maybe..possibly...

Also, the boys, along with Darryl, will be learning some basic car mechanics like changing the oil, fluids, etc. as well as they will be helping with several building projects.

They will continue piano and baseball.  We are also going to sign up for 4H.  It seems like a wonderful program and you can't beat free scholarship money and free curriculum!

So, that's it...a huge weight is off my shoulders.  Now, the fun begins with lesson planning....

I'm alot poorer now but it looks to be a fun year!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Fun at the drive in

We went with some friends last night to the drive in to see Toy Story 3.  This was a big occasion for our family because the boys used to be obsessed with Toy Story, more specifically, Buzz Lightyear.  So, I had to at least do a little something special for them.  I bought the boys new Toy Story t-shirts which they loved.  I also made Toy Story 3 snack packs for all the kids with some bubbles(for before the movie), stickers, Toy Story gummies, Toy Story 3 Cheezits, and some homemade rice crispy treats.  We had a picnic dinner and the kids got a chance to play and we got to visit with the adults for awhile before the movie started.
We had perfect spots to watch as no one parked in front of us and we all had a great time!

Here is Matthew sporting his new t-shirt.



Here is Nicholas with his shirt and added shirt on top-he's always trying to make some sort of fashion statement.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Guinea update

We have 4 guineas as of today.  We moved the tractor into the woods because that's where all the ticks are at.  We lost one yesterday but this morning he was waiting outside the tractor looking in at this brothers and sisters.  One has still gone missing and we haven't seen him since the first day I brought them home.  They really are kindof cute and I held one yesterday and fed him bugs.  They don't make as much noise now as they did when we first brought them home so I hope they are starting to feel more comfortable(either that or we've just plain wore them out).

My mornings...

This is what I wake up to in the morning.  Fresh coffee(we've just recently begun to drink coffee again-it used to be fresh hot tea), a coffee cup, a spoon for my sugar and my two vitamins.  He doesn't have to do it but he does....and I love him for the special things he does for me...

Friday, July 2, 2010

My Nini...

     My first born...he always is either making me crack up laughing or crying in frustration.   He makes my heart melt when he tells me I'm beautiful.  He is passionate about everything and loves like no other.  He is traditional and holds tight to things that are our past and our memories.
     He asks me last night if I would have time just with him to cuddle in bed and read a story.  He was crying earlier that day and said he wanted to be young again(I guess meaning 3 or 4)-he said he has such good memories..I'm glad.
    And we did cuddle in my bed with his bear, his special bear that is falling apart and has *band-aids) all over his body, but that he loves dearly, and we talked about memories and  read together and fell asleep together.  It was perfect, just me and my Nini...

Our first(of many, I'm sure) homesteading mishap...

This picture is of a guinea hen....
One of 5 I purchased yesterday...
One flew away within 5 minutes of me being home...I still haven't found that one...
As of right now, I only have 3 left...it changes hourly...
For being such a *stupid* bird they sure are smart at getting out of chicken tractors...
I threw a tantrum yesterday and vowed to move back to the suburbs...
But then I caught a guinea hen in a fishing net and all was well in my world in the country...
Stay tuned for updates...we're getting goats next-that should be interesting...