Advent Calendar 2010

This past Christmas we did the Jesse Tree along with an Advent Calendar (with pockets) that I made. Christmas is one of my most favorite times of year because K always reminds me and asks me to read him the verses of the day. I need to figure out a Biblical countdown calendar for every month.with all the ornaments

next to the tree we hang the ornaments on

9 Months

My baby turned 9 months today! The time is going so quickly, but I'm sure that has something to do with taking care of two other little ones. I'm fortunate that he's not trying to "grow" up too quickly as he's not even crawling yet. He can get around by turning his backside and he's even pulled himself up once, but not really mobile YET. I'm completely O.K. with that though. I know he's capable and will take off when he's ready. He still doesn't really like table food, but will eat the baby crackers and stage 2 baby food. I think I might have seen him actually eat a Cheerio the other day though. L absolutely adores him and doesn't like to hear him cry and she always makes sure that I know when he is crying.
I took a picture of him today, but unfortunately am not able to upload it, so I will take another one tomorrow to post.

Family Ring

Now that T is almost 9 months old, I finally added his birthstone to my mother's ring. Although the stone is a little smaller than the others, I like the way it turned out. It's hard to tell in the picture, but there are two diamonds next to one another. As you can see, I decided to do something a little different. Instead of a typical "mother's" ring, I have a family ring. The first two stones represent my husband and myself.

Yes, the ring is on a McDonald's napkin. I thought it was fitting.

Christmas 2010

This year, I made the kid's Christmas outfits. I had originally planned to just make L's and then I got the idea to make the boy's shirts from a friend. L's dress needs to be altered, but I don't think it's too bad for my first dress. I think the boy's shirts turned out pretty cute.

It's hard to believe they're getting so big. K liked his shirt so much that he asked to wear it all day. He makes me so proud. I love being a mommy to these 3 kids!

Oh, and can you tell the kids helped me decorate the tree and I didn't move a single ornament.

Advent Calendar

This was the first thing I made on my own with my sewing machine. I made a reusable Advent Calendar to hold the ornaments we put on our Jesse Tree every morning starting Dec. 1 to countdown to Christ's birth. With all the ornaments on the outside of the pockets.

Here you can only see the first 5 ornaments that we had already done. The rest are in their pocket until their day comes. I love Advent. I love how K gets so excited about putting the ornament on the tree and actually asks for the corresponding story. If only ALL of school were that easy.

M & T

Just because....

Poor baby had been bitten by a couple of mosquitos.

T @ 8 months

T turned 8 months and although he's been rolling over for months, I haven't seen him do it yet. I think he's a little sneakier than his sister was.

Birthday Gifts

We had a couple of birthday parties last month. Since I never know what to buy young girls, I made them something instead.

A box to keep her special things in.

An apron for when she helps in the kitchen. (It's reversible, double sided)

K's Baptism

The most important thing that has happened since our last visit in October is K's baptism. This was a decision he made over a month ago, but I postponed it because I wanted to make sure he was ready and really knew what he was wanting and asking to do. One night, while we were reading My Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews, I pointed out to K that the characters in the book believed in God. He asked me how I knew and I showed him a plaque they had hanging on their kitchen wall that said, "Bless This House Oh Lord We Pray". That set off a conversation about what it means to believe in God and what being a Christian is about. Immediately, without prompting, he said the believers prayer and told me he was ready to get baptized. It happened so quickly that I honestly didn't know what to do or how to react at first. Of course, I was very excited, but at the same time, he is only 5. Luckily, not too many of his friends had been baptized yet, so I know there wasn't any pressure. After a month of two of talking to him about what being baptized means and talking to our Children's Pastor, K was baptized and he did GREAT!!!! His sweet little voice echoed throughout the sanctuary and although I couldn't see everyone, I could hear their little giggles of adoration.

After church, we went to lunch at K's restaurant of choice... McDonald's, with some friends.

I didn't take enough pics of his day. I'm sad to say I don't have any of us together as a family or him with his Nana.

Oops! (Again)

WOW!!! I guess, like those of you reading this, I have been a little busy and have fallen behind on my blog updates. These next few blogs hopefully will be able to catch you up.
Since Oct. 1, L rode her first horse, and LOVED it. I am in business for myself again. I became a Thirty-One Consultant and am loving it. M went hunting in NM and killed his first elk. We now (or did) have over 300 pounds of meat. I bought a sewing machine and have made several things so far (I'll post pics later). K learned to ride his bike. I'm still training for a 1/2 marathon, but have been advised by my Dr. not to train anymore (more details later). The kids sitter of 4 years graduates Saturday and is moving to New Orleans soon. We only have 10 days left until Christmas and 2011 is right around the corner. I'm sure I'm missing something, but I won't really know until I start looking at pictures. See ya in the next blog!

A Day of Firsts

K and L both had a day of firsts and I am so glad I was able to witness both of them. The church had a big event for Upward's last day of games. They had a petting zoo, big jumps, horse rides, free food, and games of course. As soon as we walked up to the playing fields, L started pointing at the horses. She kept saying, "I wanna see horses". Since K had a game, I told her we would go pet them after the game. By the time we got around to it, they were giving rides. L decided she wanted to ride one, so we waited in line. I just knew we would wait in line, get up to the horse, and then she wouldn't even touch it, because that's what happened a month ago when we went to my mom's. I was wrong. Not only did she drag me to the horses, but she picked out the one she wanted to ride on, and had a blast! She was so excited to tell everyone that she "rode a horsie".

Later that evening, when M got home, K rode his bike for the very first time. M had taken the petals off a couple of days ago so K could learn how to balance it without interference. Once he got to where he could turn without falling and got confidence, he asked his daddy to put the petals back on. He was able to ride it his very first time. Within 3 tries, we was able to actually start the bike by himself too. He was so excited that we wanted to go around the block. I know what we'll be doing after church tomorrow.

Last Day of Soccer

Today was K's last soccer game of the season. Although he started the season out, uh.. not so good, he finished pretty good. He likes to be goalie, so every time the other team started kicking the ball toward their goal, he would run and stand in the goal. They don't have goalies, but this is something he learned this summer at soccer camp and it was his favorite position, so he didn't understand they weren't playing without a goalie. It was cute!
Although I don't know that we will be playing soccer as an organized sport again anytime soon, I had fun watching the kids play and K enjoyed being on a winning team and watching his teammates score.
Next week, K is going to start going back to gymnastics and maybe even start swimming lessons soon.

K's Hair Cut

The other day K kept asking me if he could cut his hair. After a while, when I finally had few moments of calmness and quiet, I told him he could but I was going to finish cutting it when he was done. At first he was surprised, but then he disappeared and I kept cooking. After about 15 minutes, the quietness of the house became too much and I began wondering where he was. I found him in the bathroom. I had completely forgotten that I had allowed him to cut his own hair. Had I realized that soccer pictures were that same week, I might have reconsidered. Needless to say, he got LOTS of compliments on his hair cut that week and it made me smile every time I saw it.

Let Me Vacuum!

The other day, K asked if he could help vacuum the vehicles. As usual, I let him. After a few minutes, I noticed he wasn't vacuuming. As I walked around the vehicle, I noticed the shop vac was attached to his eye. I'm not sure if he just thought it felt cool or if he was really trying to suck his eye out, but whatever his reason... it gave me a reason to take a picture.

6 months

I know my little man is almost 7 months now, but here's a picture of him at 6 months. As you can see, he can sit on his own, but hasn't learned how to sit up by himself yet. I'm really OK with that though. He doesn't really like to be on his belly much, but he LOVES to jump in the jumper. While I was at BSF the other day, they informed me that he jumped for the entire 2 hours (aside from diaper change and feeding times.)

Gotta love the drool!

Don't Fall!

The girl likes adventure... much like her mom!

Line Up!

L was playing in her room the other day when she suddenly got quiet. Here's a picture of what I found when I walked into her room.

She had lined up her shoes on her bed all nice and neat. Although she normally tosses her shoes wherever when she takes them off, I've noticed that she randomly like to organize things. She's done it with their rocking chairs, shoes, and her dolls. I hope it's something that develops as she gets older. It sure would help maintain some organization in the house.

Playing in the ....

I had gone for a run and when I came home they kids and M were playing in the water on the trampoline. By the time I got the camera, they had already gotten off, but I still wanted to capture the moment. I'm not sure who had more fun... M or the kids. That's parenting in it's finest. Everyone had a blast!

Say Cheese!

K is the only one smiling in this picture. I'm not sure how I managed that. He's usually the one NOT smiling.

At the Beach

Today, after M left to go to his dad's house to help pack for their hunting trip that's coming up, K asked if we could go to the beach. The weather was nice. I didn't have a reason to say no, so we did. I got the 3 kids ready, got their food and snacks ready, packed a few toys, loaded the little potty (just in case), and we headed to the beach. As soon as we got there, K took off. Before I could lay the towel down on the sand, K was already out thigh deep. He was ready to jump in and swim. Lucky for me, he didn't. They played in the water and built sand castles. We stayed for a little over an hour, but had a good time. K is already asking when we're going to go back.

T just hanging out... T did pretty good, but as soon as I put him in the van, he fell asleep.

In His Heart

Last night while reading Very Last First Time with K, I pointed out that the main characters believe in God. He asked me how I knew. I showed him the plaque on their kitchen wall that says "Bless this house oh Lord we pray". He said he believes in God and we talked about what it meant to have Jesus in your heart and how He gets there. Immediately, K prayed for Jesus to come into his heart. He did it without being prompted or suggested. It was the sweetest thing.

4 (5) Month Check-Up

T had his "4 month" check-up today. Yes, I know he's 5 months, but since we don't vaccinate, it's O.K. Really. He weighs 14 lb 6 oz (88%). He's 26 in. long (73%) and his head is 17.5 in. around (95%) ~ surprise, surprise to that hehehe. I just thought he was the smallest baby. All in all, he's healthy and doing well.

PB & J

K made his own pb & j sandwich the other day and he did pretty good. He's getting so big!

Math

I've decided to allow K to write his math work on the white board instead of the worksheets and it seems to be going better. He enjoys it more and he's actually doing pretty good at math, but then again, he has been adding since he was 3.

Nap Time

The other day, I put L in her room to take a nap. After she played in her room for an hour, I allowed her to come out since she apparently was NOT going to take a nap. When I told her she could come out, I realized what she had been doing.... playing dress up.

About an hour or two later, she finally fell asleep right next to her bug friends. She had taken her shirt off because she had spilled water on it.

5 Months

T is officially 5 months old... He can hold his bottle (when he wants), he can sit up for short periods of time and he started sleeping through the night (finally).

Colors & Art

In teaching L her colors, I found this cute little catepillar at www.dltk.com , colored it, and cut it out. It's really great for sorting and seperating colors. We are also working on animals and yes, that is a blue horse. ;-)Some of K's artwork from the day... from top (left to right) smiley face, river, box, don't remember what the next two are... another box, a pencil, a Christmas tree, a fish and weeds, nothing, shooting stars, a baseball bat, and a flying bat.

Cloth Diapers

When my daughter was a baby, I had considered cloth diapering, but never took the jump. Recently, I started thinking about it again and I finally made an order. Well, today, when we got home, there was a package at the door.

When I started this mothering journey, I never imagined I would be a stay-at-home mom, but I am. I never thought I would homeschool my kids, but I am. Never in my wildest thoughts would I be using cloth diapers, but not only am I going to use them, but I'm really looking forward to it and am excited about it. I have a friend coming over on Monday to show me more.

1st Field Trip 2010

K had been asking to go to Chuck E Cheese's for about a week. We were going to go a few days ago, but he got in trouble and we weren't able. This morning, (the public school's first day), I decided to take the kids, knowing it probably wouldn't be too busy. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, L started clapping profusely. It was cute. We don't go that often, so I didn't realize she would know where we were, but not only did she know where we were, but she was excited to be there. Although there were a few moms, it was nice to worry about my kids while they played because there were only a couple of other moms there. Alex ended up meeting us, ate lunch with us, played with the kiddos, and beat K in a game of air hockey. They had a good time.