Favorite FaceBook Posts from 2009

Dec 30, 2009 - Anyone counting? Just got another raisin out of Ebug's nose.

Dec 30 - Note to self: that thing you heard somewhere about putting your toothbrushes in the microwave to eliminate germs . . . it only starts them on FIRE and the children FREAK OUT as the microwave emites scary electrical noises and you run for the fire extinguisher cause the flames look kinda big. Now I've got to figure out how to explain this to the Mr.

Dec 22 - and Ed will be starting the new year DEBT FREE!!!!! (You know, except for the house.)

Dec 15 - may have a new shoe-tier in the house!!!!! Wow I never would have figured it would be this difficult to teach.

Nov 18 - extracted a raisin out of Ebug's nose today.

Oct 23 - took the shotgun out back and hit the target 3 times. Oh ya. . .facebragging at it's best. :)

Sept 4 - Ebug just said "Look it mom!" I'm thinking why does he want me to watch him pick his nose? Then he starts to panic as he realizes stuffing a raisin up his nose maybe isn't such a good idea. One good blow and we had it out. I guess he didn't learn as much as we thought from his little Lego insident.

July 10 - As of today, Agent H has joined the crowds of library card bearing folks. One of the books he picked was Getting to Know Your Toilet. Hmmmm, the things I could share with my newfound knowledge!

June 18 - baby hauled the bottle chocolate syrup out of the fridge and realized that he likes what he found to suck on. I really should take it away but it's so darn cute. At least it's organic.

April 15 - extracted a Lego from Ebug's nose. Yep, same kid who recently swallowed the penny!

March 30 - 3 year old just swallowed a penny. As I'm calming him down, his brother frantically wanted to know whose penny it was. So does the penny just "go through the system"? Does anyone know?

To- ; Love-

The gifts that your kids pick out to give are hands-down THE best!

Example (results are from a shopping trip to the Dollar Tree):

Agent H to his papa (AKA: Dad) - denim trivits. He thought they were mouse pads
Agent H to me - a round pizza pan for serving snacks to them

Ebug to his papa - a cowboy gun and spurs
Ebug to me - a ping pong ball game
Ebug to LE Babe - a baby doll

The trivits really got me chuckling! Such sweet kiddos.

Sweet sleep

He was teething, congested, tired.

As I slid him around to my back,

he laid his head down,

and relaxed

into sweet sleep.

Diaper love

Look at that cute baby! He's sporting the new Apple Cheeks diaper I won during 1+1+1=1's 1000 subscribers contest. (I'm a faithful follower and have found so much inspiration from her site) We are veteran cloth diaper users and found this one to be easy to use and liked it so much that I think I'll be picking up another one or two of their packs. Carisa wrote a great review on her site so I'll just say "AMEN" to what she wrote. As you can see, LE Babe seems to be very comfortable getting around in it. Brrrr. . . gotta get some clothes on that baby, that's a little better. Another one of my baby product loves is Baby Legs, oh my!

Why wait till nap time?

This is why it's best to wait until nap time to do school. Notice the glue, the scissors, the sharpie in his hands, and the fact that he's on top of the table . . . all sorts of trouble just waiting to be had.

Music enrichment

Sunday evening was spent at Edinborough Park for a concert by The 1st John Philip Sousa Memorial Band.

The conductor told jokes over the kids' heads but Agent H laughed anyway and gave me a funny quizical look.

We folded and threw paper airplanes from our seats to the stage.

We munched on bags of peanuts.

The band was dressed in black & red and played Christmas music. It was festive and just the right atmosphere for Agent H to observe all the happenings and for his little brothers to be squirrly in the background. Oh, it's free the last Sunday of every month.

EH tells me these photos needed tweeking before they get published, so if you don't think the color is just right, you can blame me cause I don't understand all that nifty computer editing.

Preschool Theme: Horses

Ebug's theme for preschool this week is horses.

We've read books

Reviewed horse anatomy and "clothes"

Told stories of my brother's horse, of me jumping off his horse, of me falling in the mud from a horse. Fun times.

And I even hauled up the bouncy horse. Here are a few shots of the cowboys getting ready for the rodeo (or circus).

Agent H's Lego mosaic

Here's Agent H and his Lego mosaic tank. :)

Gifts we have LOVED!

1.) Lego Mosaics . . .once again I am reminded of how much I love these! Agent H recieved them for Chrismas one year. The idea is that you place one of the picture templates under a clear Lego plate, then you copy the design using mostly tiny single Lego pieces. Usually Agent H has kept to the templates but this week he created his own picture, a tank. This activity made it into his workboxes a couple times this week. Now the school nerd in me is dreaming of this.














2.) Cardboard building blocks . . . I always wanted these as a kid but sadly they never made it under our tree. Sniff, sniff. Love 'em, love 'em love 'em even though they drive me crazy and make a room look messy in 5 seconds.












3.) Tough Stuff Tape Player . . . it has been used and abused and still plays great. I really, really like audio books. A couple of times a week Ebug will get an audio book in one of his workboxes. He plugs in our teddy bear headphones and sits . . . quietly. I'll have to get a picture it is sooo cute!













Well this is all for now. I'd love to post more of our favorites if I get the time.

Sleep tight crunchy style

It's gonna be a crunchy post today. Life is full of humorus kid happenings and homeschool but we still have some wholesome crunchy goodness going on behind the scenes.

As we tuck the little ones in for bed at night, 5 out of 7 of the nights you can be sure you will hear the infamous words "my leg hurts", "my throat hurts", "my tummy hurts", or I have bugs in my leg" (yes you read that right and no we don't have flees, last I checked).

My cure for a leg ache & buggy legs (AKA: dry/itchy skin): Massage said limb with yummy coconut lotion and prop up on stuffed animal.

My cure for hurting throat: It used to be a Ricola throat drop but felt uneasy about putting a kid to bed with something they could choke on SO I was pleased when I discovered Super Kids Throat Spray by Herbs for Kids. It's peppermint flavored throat relief and does the job nicely.

My cure for upset tummy: Minty Ginger by Herbs for Kids. Squeeze a dropper of this tonic into mouth and let the ginger do it's trick.

A little backrub, maybe a small sip of water, a whispered prayer and hopefully they will stay put till the sand man comes. Of course everyone has their own tricks, these are just what happen to work for us.

I'm reading. . . .

I really do plan on posting a nice update on life around here sometime (along with the photos that seem to be so lacking around here). In the mean time I leave you with this comment from Agent H.

"Could you PLEASE be quiet . . . I'm TRYING to read the phone book."

Reflection

LE Babe has found a friend. It is someone he babbles and laughs with, plays peek-a-boo with, and discovers anew in different ways. He has found his reflection.

It had to be lentils

His big brothers stuck to dumping out boxes of cereal. LE Babe, he dumped out the bag of lentils . . . in the living room . . . on the rug.

First snow

The boys loved it, except for LE Babe (as you can see).

Ebug -Words to remember

More words to remember by Ebug (age 3 1/2) . . .

"Mom, you're my friend. Cause you give me time-outs."

"Mom, my tummy doesn't feel good. I think I'm getting a baby."

Just gotta write 'em down so I don't forget AND so they can laugh over them when they are older.

Agent H Stitching

Agent H has been watching me stitch LE Babe's baby blanket and got up the nerve to ask "Mom, can boys stitch?" You bet! I gave him some muslin, a hoop, a threaded needle and he went to work stitching his initials. It made a nice workbox filler.

Ant Math

Our Heart of Dakota curriculum often has a visual activity to supplement the Singapore math. In this activity we drew ant tunnels and used our ants (raisins) to do addition/subtraction stories. The first photo is what I did and the second photo is because Agent H loved it so much he created his own version. To add to the fun we played some Ant Wars.

Blow Money

Agent H said these words while talking about his money: "My money is mostly 'blow' money". Can you tell he's the son of Dave Ramsey/Peace University graduates? Wish I could say the same about our money.

Live like no one else so that you can live like no one else.

Bye bye curls

I took the boys to get their hair cut for the first time in a loooong time. One too many of my masterpieces equals "HELP"!

Agent H went for racing strips on the sides (inspired by his cousin's cool do).

Ebug got a nice clean cut.

LE Babe, well he lost his curly locks. One too many comments about the boys' little sister and EH wanted me to go out and buy him a monster truck shirt.

It's so helpful to have a big six year old along to take the photos!

Which foot?

At bedtime I told Ebug that he must have grown a foot this week. He (laying on his back) raised his feet in the air and said "which foot?"

To the Zoo

We started our zoo fun by stamping a trail of animal prints from our new Usborne Zoo kit and reading At The Zoo.

A little face paint resulted in one tiger and one lizard/snake boy.

Add a little brother, some Obi one Canobi and his sisters, and Ga and you've got a party at Como Zoo.

Sunflower fort

I loved the idea of growing a sunflower fort for the boys to hang out it. (Daring Book for Girls) Well, we tried but our sunflowers didn't do very well. I think we just really lack a good sunny spot for them to thrive. I do intend to try, try again. Next time I would like to plant hollyhocks around the base of the sunflowers to help fill in a bit. As you can see we did get a few beauties.

The first month of Acorns to Oaks

Placing the continents (index cards) on our earth (I heart blue tape)

Ebug engrossed in a book

Music exploration with the Boomwhackers









Ebug diving right into the sea activity bin (idea came from Pink and Green Mama)

Doesn't everyone practice their letter blends upside down?

Tin foil, more than meets the eye

Today, after finishing (or very nearly) our last day of school for the week, I loaded up the boys and we had picnic at a park. As Agent H saw his lunch (leftovers) wrapped in tin foil he seriously exclaimed "My very first silver!"

Sweet Baby Tunes

My Father-in-law gave us a spare CD player, just when I was thinking about buying one for LE Babe's room. Nice timing! Now LE Babe can settle in for the night to some gentle tunes. These are my absolute favorite lullaby CDs.


Sleep Sound In Jesus
by Michael Card




" border="0" alt="" />

Bedtime prayers

by Twila Paris

A 3 year old being honest

Agent H: "Ebug, if I give you one of my Skittles will you give me one of your Mike 'n Ikes?"

Ebug: "Let's find out."

Letter blends for K/1st grade

I'm pretty sure Agent H is going to break out in hives if he sees his letter blend flash cards in his workbox again. Agent Mama steps in with a stealthy move from Currclick (I could break out in hives of joy over this place). I took a look at some recent games I had downloaded from them and found the perfect letter blending activity for the boy who is trying to convince me that I should go to space with him someday. The game is called Blends Blast Off and it is moving your game piece along the game board to the bear in the rocket at the end. As you go you are matching a picture to the letter blend that is starts with. Will I be "busted" trying to sneak this past Agent H? Monday will tell.

UPDATE: After two days of the game, Agent H loves it, loves it, loves it!

Fresh cough cherries

I have found myself in posession of a jar of freshly made choke cherry sauce. I think a thick stack of pancakes should be served pronto. Much love and thanks to my mom and dad.

A couple of my boys got to go along for the picking of the berries. As the hunt was retold at dinner, Ebug told me they found lots of "cough cherries". It took Agent H interpreting for me to understand he meant choke cherries. So sweet!

LE Babe's 1st Birthday Party

There were cupcakes

Presents and family (of which I have no photos :( ).

That Quiz

I just found a nifty website that has quick online quizes (they seem to be mostly mathematical) for your children to see how well they grasp a subject. I tried out the telling time and shapes one. Quick, easy and you get your results right away. I can see this being an activity on the schedule strip. Here it is: That Quiz.

I . . .

LOVE HOMESCHOOLING MY BOYS! (I'm on a first week "high")

Day 1 Workboxes, how it really went

So my official 1st day of school post is done. Now I can post the "behind the scenes" details. :)

Agent H:
It took FOREVER to get Agent H in the groove of his first workbox. He was distracted by what I was doing with Ebug (we were deep in discussion about cows since they are our weekly theme), restless in his chair, and had 50 questions.

However, once he saw that Ebug was flying through his workboxes and had already reached the "snack" spot on his schedule strip he was motivated.

That said, once we finished the first workbox (which were coloring pages "All About Me" to be made into a book) and he put it in the "done" pile, I think the light bulb went off and he realized how this system works. He raced through his next workboxes.

It was lots of fun for me to hand him the timer and say "go ride your bike out front for 10 minutes". This is a fairly new priviledge for him to go out front by himself so he loved this! When he came in, he went directly to his desk and picked out the next bin without even being told. He says that this was his favorite thing on his schedule strip.

Ebug:

He and I started our school day. We went to his little table and talked, read, colored, and pretended to be cows. Then I had three bins set up for him which he proceeded to finish in about 30 seconds. I think I had to refill his bins twice. I'll be picking him up some more bins to fill. Ebug's favorite part of the day? Working on cows with me. Sigh, music to my heart.

A huge help was that my mother's helper (a very nice girl from our homeschool co-op who comes to help out once a week) came today and was able to help me balance the workload between the boys. Thankfully, LE Babe slept through it all.

The words of Ebug

Take a moment to listen to Ebug and he has fasinating things to share:

He said this when he was sad "That makes me cheer down."

"Do birds have blood cells?"

"It's Tooty Toot's turn!" As in R2-D2's turn in our Lego Star Wars game.

"Momma, you're MY best mom ever!"

First day of school '09-'10

We've started our new school year! This week is a review week for Agent H and the beginning of Ebug's preschool program. I decided we'd use Sue Patrick's Workbox system for our schooling method. There have been some great reviews on what it is so I'll just direct you to them for more information. Click these titles to view their posts: 1+1+1=1, Joyful Mother of Six Children.

In the morning the boys complete their chore charts then I hand them their ID cards so they can go "clock-in" to school and grab their schedule strips.














Agent H's (1st grade, age 6) Curriculum: HOD's Beyond Little Hands for his Glory, Hooked on Phonics, Handwriting Without Tears, and Singapore Math.

This is Ebug's work area. With him (Preschool, age 3) we are using Letter of the Week and Totally Tot's ABC lessons based on Chicka Chicka Boom.

I did some rearranging and made this reading/audio story listening area.

I love that this system inspires the kids to be in charge of completing their schedule. They see what "good stuff" is coming up so they are inspired to move through work they may not enjoy as much. I also like that I am able to do extra activities that I normally wouldn't have planned or thought we had time to do (cool educational games, magic science, file folder games, etc). Time will tell how this system works for us but there appear to be hords of homeschooling families out there in the blog-o-sphere loving it.