Time with Mom

I like to take my one of my kids shopping with me when I go out.  I don't always like taking all three of them.  If you have ever gone shopping with more then 2 kids life can be crazy.  Most of the time i spend in the store consists of, "Mom can I have (fill in the blank)."  or me saying, "Don't touch that." or "No you can have that."  By the end of the shopping trip (which is normally buy grocery) I'm tired, the kids are tired, and all I want to do is put everyone down for a nap when I get home.  

But with just one of my kids its another thing.  I can take my time and the stress level isn't so high.  Yes, that only child will ask for something and want to touch something they really shouldn't.  But in this case I don't have three kids all saying it and trying to run off in three different directions.  

Usually I just my trips with a single child in tow is to do some errands like going to the library, to the mall, or something like that.  But those are some of my favorite one-on-one time with my kids.  It is always during those times I get to teach some things I don't always get a chance while I have all three with me.  

With Dare-Devil Boy he likes to come with me to the library.  When we are there I use the time to teach him how to look up books on the computer that he might be wanting to get.  On our most resent trips to the library I've been teaching him how to play chess.  Which has been an interesting experience.  He does okay for a 8 year old.  

Dare-Devil Boy taking time to be Captain America while in Walmart.

With Wonder Girl she likes to shop like any other girl, but lots of the time she thinks that its a great time to perform her one girl show for me.  She likes to run around the store collecting things here and there that she can wear.  Then stop me to show off her current costume.  A pictures of a few of my favorite creations  below.  

Wonder Girl's old lady look.

 Her Rock Star look.

 Wonder Girl playing outlaws.

All in all these are the times my kids love the most.  They remember those times I drag them to the mall to get shoes or to Best Buy cause I need to get something.  They get the chance to play demo games with me, look at the latest TVs or end up breaking out in a dance in the middle of the toy store.  I treasure these times.  I know that I can't last forever.  Because one day they will be teenagers and won't want to "hang out" with mom.  So I'm going to take advantage of those moments with I can.

A Bit of Fun and Things I Like

I know I have posted in a while.  Well that is because I've been busy doing other things.  Mostly we are on break for the summer.  Not doing a lot of school but a bit of review for the summer.  So sorry if you been coming here looking for something new.  I will be resuming my more regular posting in the fall.  But for now I thought I would post a few fun things that I like.

There are lots of great shows out there and many not so great shows.  But for me my top 3 favorite are the following (not in any order.)

1. The first up is the British TOP GEAR.  I myself am not a car person or petrel head (as they say) but I love watching the show for the crazy way they review cars and they funny challenges that they do.  

I'll be honest this looks really fun to do.  I probably will never get to do this but it would be great.

This one is just plain funny.  My kids laugh everytime.

2. The next show is an old but very loved show...M*A*S*H*.  Yes you heard right I'm a huge fan of the 4077.  There crazy and witty comedy makes me laugh every time.  While the dramatic stories really make me think and appreciate more the price that was paid for freedom by all soldiers.  The humor is a bit curd for younger kids just so you know.

This is part of an episode is my husband's favorite part. 

3. Finally the third but not last show is DOCTOR WHO.  Yep I love this show.  It was really by shear accident that I even came across this show.  But I'm not the only one that likes this show.  Wonder Girl though loves this show even more then I do.  So much so when we talk about a certain Doctor (David Tennant's doctor) she refers to him as "her Doctor".  And has told me that she wants to be a companion of the Doctor when she grows up. 

This is the 10th Doctor (Wonder Girl's favorite doctor).

This is the current carnation of the Doctor.

Well I hope you enjoy a little bit of random fun videos of some of the things I like.  I also hope they made you laugh because that's one of the huge reasons I watch all the shows.  They make me laugh. 

The Force is Living with Us

Okay I will readily admit that I am a geek when it comes to things like comic books (In both Marvel and DC world.), Star Trek (Yes, I'm a Trekkie.  Something I discovered as of late.  A result that came from growing up with a father who is a Trekkie himself.), Tolkienite, and even more recently Doctor Who fan, among other things.  

But when Dare-Devil Boy wanted a Padawan (a Jedi in training for those that don't know) haircut from Star Wars I wasn't to keen on it.  (Yes, I'm become a Star Wars nerd too.)  Why would you ask?  Well to be frank I though it was crazy and look even stranger.  It would take any months me stating N-O, NO! to this haircut, before I would finally give in.  

My husband took Dare-Devil Boy to get it cut.  And I will admit he doesn't look as bad as I thought. So now he's sporting around a braid (An extention that was put in.  His hair was never that long.) and a tiny ponytail.  So as for now I have a Padawan in training walking around the house and a few more Star Wars battles taking place to save the us from the Empire.

Cooking Cookies with Sissy

Every year we make cookies with one of our closes family friends.  The cookies we make are not always the same every year but my kids have looked forward every year to making them.  This year was no different.

 P.S. (I've decided to change the name I normally use for everyone.  It was easier to remember and type.)



This years cooking experience was rather messier then normal, but the most fun the kids have had yet. 

 Sissy and Hondo rolling out the cookie dough.

 Cutting out the cookies.

 All the kids making cookies. 

Love this picture simple because he got flour just in that one spot on his hair.

 

 Kakes was really into making her cookies.

 Hondo thought that Sissy needed a flour make over.

Later on they had a flour fight and this is how he ended up looking.

 Sissy didn't come out as clean.  She lost the flour fight cause all the kids joined in to help Hondo.

 A friend stopped by later and help ice all the cookies.

Hondo loved the eating part the best.

In the end we made a good amount of cookies to give away.  The hardest part was trying to keep Hondo from eating the cookies and frosting once we were doing decorating the cookies.  He managed to seek a few while everyone was busy decorating.  But in the end they had fun and that's what mattered.

Snow Day

I know that it has been a while since I last posted anything, and I am sorry.  But I'm sure that you all understand how busy life gets.  Even though I didn't managed to find the time to sit and post anything;  I did manage to take pictures of the things we did do.  


One of the many things we did was play in the snow.  Although for most of you that live in the part of the world in which you get snow during these months it doesn't seem like anything out of the normal.  But for us (where we live) it has been unusual to have snow like this until later in the month or in January.  Most of the time we just get freezing rain and ice.


So it was to our surprise that on Thanksgiving we got a good few inches of snow.  Then just last week we got another good dumping of snow.  Which made a great excuse for all the kids to put on their coats, gloves, and hats and head outside for a romp in the snow.  All after a sometime doing school.  Yes, we still have school when there are snow days, but it isn't as full a schedule then we normally do.




So here is how "our snow day" went.

 

There is Wonder Girl gathering up snow.

 

 Dare-Devil Boy rolling in snow.

 Snow Angel

Taking a romp in the snow.

 She told me later she was gathering snow to make a sled out of our wagon.

September Overview

Sorry that I haven't updated since last month.  But really just got a bit more busy.  My husband has had a crazy work schedule the last month or so.  He's been on day shift and then one late night shift most times all in the same week.  So we've had to adjust.

But here is a quick overview of what we've been doing lately with school, church and just our crazy lives.


School:

History- We've been working our way through Colonial Life and learning a bit about Ben Franklin.  This has been the best part so far.  It was tough making our way through the discovery, conquering and settling of America.  Mostly the section of early explorers where the hardest.  Both Dare-Devil Boy and I got a bit bored.  But once we moved into colonial it has been great.  Learned about the Pilgrims (which brought up some great questions from Dare-Devil Boy.), the founding of Jamestown, and right now we are going finishing up on learning about Ben Franklin.  There was more but I can't fit it all in.  

By far for my husband colonial has been his favorite part too.  Mostly because this week we had a colonial meals all week and will have a tea party too some time this week.  My husband loved eating all the different dishes I made.  So much that he requested that we do add those meals to our menu, but also asked if we could extend colonial meals for the rest of the month.  

What we eat?  Here is a look at the menu (I wanted to add that I made all the meals for dinner, but they were things that they would of eaten for those meals back then):

• Breakfast- Fried Turkey (we don't eat ham so i sub it for turkey) with gravy, Dressed Eggs, and Breakfast Puffs
• Lunch- Chicken Salad Sandwiches and Cranberry-Apple Punch
• Dinner- Turkey Balls (again we don't eat veal), Sweet Potato & Apples, Green Beans and Baked Pumpkin Pudding for dessert.
• Tea Party (plan on doing it sometimes this week)- New Year's Cookies, Queen Cakes with Liberty Tea

I got the recipes from this book, Felicity's Cooking Studio. I will going to our library to look for more colonial recipes.


Science-  We've been learning about how the different parts of our human body works.  So far we have learned about ears, eyes, lungs and mouth.  

Life:

I've been teaching one of our AWANAS classes since last year.  My class is the Sparks class. It covers grades K-2nd grade.  My class as about an average of about 16 children, but we've had nights with more.  With such a big gap in ages, grades and reading levels it tends to get chaotic some nights.  I don't work alone, I have another worker that helps me.  But even with her we are don't always have enough people to do each child's book.  But the kids are loving it and are learning so much.  We've just finished working our way through a lapbook that I've made.  If you wouldn't like it you can downloaded here:
Sparks Lapbook

My husband has been working nights and days lately so his schedule has been crazy and to say the least not happy.  But he's managed to set up a few ministry things.  A few climbing days with varies people from our church.  Also a few CPR classes.  There has been a few great things going on with the youth group.  But other then working with our local church and work, my husband has been doing some online classes.  He is working to get his EMT license.  "Why?", you ask.  Well...there is lots of reasons.  But one that I can write here is that he's always wanted and enjoyed doing these kinds of things.  He has also wanted to get more in his training.  He currently is a Wilderness First Responder and we both feel that EMT training will help with the outdoor ministry and be a better way to provide for our husband.

There is more.  But that's about it for now in a nutshell. 

Pencil Box Lunch

A quick post about our first day of school.  

Unlike public or even private schools my kids done buy or bring their lunch to school.  They get it made fresh, made for on the spot and whatever (as long as we have it in the house) usaully whatever then want that day to eat. (This doesn't count candy, cakes or junk food.  That's a dessert in our houses.  And are given only if good.)

So to mix things up and make the first day of school fun.  I packed lunches.  But I didn't pack them in any old brown paper bag.  Nope. I used their old pencil boxes.  I cleaned them, packed what i could fit in to that box.  Which is more then I thought I could.  Then when it was time to break for lunch I pulled them out for them to eat out of.

It was an instant hit!  The only thing that didn't fit in the box was a drink, but that didn't bother them to much.  I just poured some milk and soy milk for them on the side.  This was simple, fun and my kids want me to do it more.  So it just might be something more regular we do in our school days.

Tea and Fish

Since little Wonder Girl's birthday she has been playing about everyday with a tea set that was given her.  She has managed to get almost everyone in the family to play with her.  Which has been great way to introduce manners to her and her older brother.  

As you can see in our of the pictures on of the things on the menu at her tea party one day was fish.  Not to tea but to drink.  I took the chance to teach some colors with her.  She had a good time and didn't even realized that she was learning.  

Tea and Fish

Play learning

Even Daddy and brother got into playing

Later on during that week she decided to go our side and try fishing in a mud puddle in our yard.  I don't think she caught anything.  Which was good cause it meant that I didn't have earthworms coming in the house that day.

Adventures with an Orange

So yes I have my weird and odd moments like everyone else and this is one of them.  Lately my kids have been on an orange eating kick.  That and the fact that they are in season right now.  

Well one day I was playing around with my Wonder-girl daughter and this is what cam out of it.  My odd and silly Orange.

This is Mr. Happy.  He is happy. 

 

But he's not always happy there are days his is very sad.

But today he is happy.

The end.