Celebrate Success

Nicholas reading to Megan. I can't tell you how much this picture means to me! First, just the fact that he's reading to his little sister is so sweet! I nearly jumped for my camera :)

But this whole reading thing hasn't been the easiest thing for him either. Sometimes he struggles and gets frustrated. But he's hung in there with me and he's seeing some fun results from all his hard work :) (and let me just say that the one-on-one teaching he has a home schooled child has been the very best thing for him)

My friend, Jenny, told me about a book series that her son, who is just a bit older than Nicholas, loved. Captain Underpants. We had seen the series at Barnes and Noble but when he asked for it, I distracted him with something else. I really didn't want to encourage his fascination with bodily functions ;) (BOYS!) But after Jenny mentioned it, I thought maybe we'd check some out from our local library and see what they are all about.

You know what? They aren't all that bad! And the best part? He wants to read them! And they are chapter books! Wow! He still can't read a whole lot of them on his own; he needs some help with a word here or there. But that's ok since he has a big brother who indulges him every night with some quiet reading in their room :) Oh, the reading going on in this house right now!

Stepping Out in the Winter

I'm not a winter person at all. I hate the cold, I hate wearing a coat (it makes me very claustrophobic), and I hate trying to find everyone's winter things and get out the door! That's the worst! I love summer when we can all just slide on our flip-flops and out we go! Now it takes FOREVER to get out the door right now! But, last Friday, in an effort to make good on the promise I made last month, I took the kids to the zoo! I had signed the boys up for a class and planned some one-on-one time with Megan.

We went early so the boys could see some of the zoo before their class. When we went to the zoo for the lights, it was completely packed. It was hard for them to see their favorite animals. You couldn't even get in the reptile building at all! Brandon was so disappointed. We did go to the tiger area but it was too crowded to spend much time there.

This time, though, it was EMPTY! We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves! So, I indulged them. We went where they wanted and spent as much time as they wanted. It was so fun to see the places they chose!

See how empty? It was great!
Of course, first up was the reptile building.

Brandon had a staring contest with a snake. ICK!
Nicholas was so fascinated with this little frog. I don't think I've ever seen a frog so long and skinny!
Then off to the tigers :)
I love this picture.

And this one.
Of course we had to visit the aquarium :)
We visited the North America section for the first time in a very long time. The kids were amazed at the size of the bears! We also couldn't believe how big a Bald Eagle's nest is! It was so fun to roam around reading the info on each animal and really taking our time.

My little prairie pups ;)
When we left, we were all cold and very tired...just the way a winter zoo trip should be :) We can't wait to go back!

Creation

Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let the birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens."
God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after it's kind; and God saw that it was good.
God blessed them saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth."
There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Genesis 1:20-23

One of my Favorite Traditions

One of our New Year's resolutions from last year (the one we actually stuck with ;)) was to make Friday nights, family night. The kids often pick the menu then we do something together...play games, watch a movie, take a walk, go somewhere....whatever.

Of course it hasn't happened every single Friday; sometimes other things have come up here and there. There have been some business trips for Todd, tween nights for Brandon, and Kristen often doesn't make it but that's o.k. On those nights we spend the evening with those that are here :)

I can't tell you how important this has become to us. The kids literally count the days til Friday! This time we've carved out just to hang out and be together has become part of our schedule and we all love it!

Megan's making her "mad" face after Todd had her draw four :)
This is what Nicky does when he has to draw:
mmhmm he pouts. (I love how Megan's cards are showing here. She plays most of the game with her cards flipping around!)

Megan gets her daddy back though with a nice series of draw fours and draw twos ;)
Nicky decided that he would rejoice in that too!
Their expressions in these pictures from last week are common to us on Friday nights. We have so much fun! This really was the best resolution ever :)

Busy Saturdays

Last Saturday was a little different for us. We had three kids in things ALL DAY LONG! Basketball games started last week so for the next seven weeks, we will be very busy on Saturdays :) When I got our game schedule right before Christmas I just about had a panic attack! For some reason, I assumed Megan would cheer for one of the boys' games. I don't know why I thought that. She's not, of course ;) So we have three separate game times each week. Last week, Nick's game was at 9:20 this week it's at 12:20 and it will be different next week. Megan's are always the same and Brandon's flip between two times so that's not too bad. But Nick's are crazy.

The good news is that they love it! This is their first year in basketball and Megan's first year cheering and they all are really having so much fun! So, even though I'm used to a way more relaxed Saturday schedule, I'm happy to do this for them :)

First up, Nicholas:
You can barely see him in this picture, but I love it!
He took his job guarding very seriously:
So cute!

Brandon:
Brandon's age group only has two teams so they get to play each other every week. What's really funny is that he knows some of the boys on the other team from co-op! Last week, he and Kyle (a very good friend) were even assigned to each other as their person to guard! I think they both had some fun with that :)
I couldn't get any good pictures of Megan last week. I'll have to make up for it this week ;)
She's still cute ;)

Finding Beauty

I was in Megan's room yesterday and noticed some really beautiful things outside her window. Of course, I ran for my camera :) I don't know why I'm so obsessed with pictures of snow. I've actually found myself longing for summer...leaving the door open while the kids play outside, grilling, NOT BEING COLD!

Anyway, yesterday morning, while the sun was out, the snow was sparkly and beautiful....I couldn't help myself!

Scenes from Megan's room:
From the living room:
I was lamenting to Kristen about how I would love to have a picture of the snow all smooth and glistening, but then I realized that my snow is rumpled and messy because there were little people playing in it and that made it all the more lovely to me :)

A Little Bookworm

One night last week, after getting Megan all tucked into bed (which takes FOREVER), I went into our room, collapsed on the bed and pulled the blankets over me. I was seriously tired! I never go to bed that early! (Todd actually wondered aloud if there was a reason for the exhaustion....there isn't other than I was tired!)

I was laying there talking to Todd, when in walks Megan with her "I'm too scared" line. Usually, she gets escorted back to her bed with a "It's your very own room and all the things that are in it are your things. There's nothing to be afraid of." speech but this time, I lifted my blankets and in she crawled! It was so wonderful to have a tiny snuggle-buddy! After a while, I carried her to her bed and snuggled a bit more before I left her sleeping.

Well, that bit me in the butt! She's by far the hardest of the kids to get to sleep anyway often ends up in our bed around 5am (which I love), and now she has this delicious memory of snuggling in Mom and Dad's bed! GAH!

A couple of nights ago, in an effort to keep her in bed after she repeatedly got up insisting that she's scared and needs to sleep in our bed, I gave her her flashlight. My instructions to her where to not leave it on and not shine it in her eyes. Well she did leave it on, Brandon, being the doting big brother he can be sometimes, went in after she was asleep and turned it off :) The kicker is that this was what I found when I went in to check on her before I went to bed:
She had books in her bed! Little stinker ;) I'm not so sure she was trying to go to sleep! This wasn't a huge shocker for me as there have been many nights that I've gone into her room shortly after leaving only to find her sitting up in her bed with a pile of books. She even turned on her light a few times, but she stopped as soon as she realized that I would see it ;)

Happy New Year (belatedly)

I totally forgot to post our New Year's festivities!

The truth is, New Year's Eve was never really a big deal to me. As a child, my family occasionally got together with family and had a little celebration, but usually we were home. As I got a little older, I had great expectations for New Year's Eve but was usually disappointed.

When Todd and I were dating, he took me to the big party downtown. It really was a good time and I'm glad I had a chance to go once. Since Kristen always spent New Year's Eve with her dad, what else were we going to do? By the next year, we were married and spent the evening with some dear friends. We did go out at the last minute; I suppose we felt we "should" ring in the New Year with a bang, but honestly I just wanted to be home. We had a tragic pregnancy that ended a few weeks before and we were still licking our wounds.

The next year, we had Brandon and we never went out for New Year's Eve again :) It didn't feel right to spend it anywhere else but home as a family. Most years we were asleep as the year changed over ;)

I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but Todd started asking things like, "So what are you making tonight?" and dropping little hints that maybe New Years could be a bigger deal than what we were making of it. So last year, I decided to actually plan something for us :) Todd's family has paella (a delicious Spanish dish) on New Year's Eve, so I started with that, then planned yummy snacks, games, and movies and let the kids stay up as late as they could. We had a ball!

And so this year, our new tradition continued....

My dad came over earlier in the day to exchange our Christmas gifts:
After we had our paella that Todd made (which I forgot to photograph, but it looked great and tasted as good as it looked!), we moved to the family room for some fun and movies. Here's our chocolate dipped yummies:
I'm not brave enough to serve it fondue-style, so I do the dipping then serve it on trays ;) Kristen is missing from this photo for a reason...she was at her first New Year's Eve party! You're shocked that I would agree to this, I know, but the party was at the home of some good friends of ours from church which is only a few minutes from our house ;) (It's actually a huge party with many people from our church in attendance)

Mom came over New Year's Day for the traditional pork and sauerkraut and some fun games!
Nicky looks so tired! He almost made it to midnight the night before!

Finally, New Year's Eve feels right! These last two of my life have been my best ever!

A Plea

I usually enjoy being all snowed in; it's a very cozy thing! This year is a little different though because Kristen is driving. She was driving last winter too, but I had a bit more control over the when and where! If it was snowy the answer was "NO"! But now that she's in college we've lost that wonderful flexibility and control that we have as a result of homeschooling! She will more than likely be out in some very nasty conditions....like today. Yes, she slid. Luckily, there was no accident. Please keep her in your prayers as this winter goes on.

What to do on a Snowy Day...

You play in the snow! We did our school this morning but this afternoon, there was fun to be had!
The first picture (at the swing set), I had my camera on whatever the regular mode is; all the rest I switched it to "snow" mode. I think there's a little difference. What do you think?

Brandon building a snow bed?
Nicky wanted to literally be a snowman!
Megan wasn't sure what she wanted to do!
So she settled on making a snow angel :)
We had some fun out there that's for sure!

How Cute Are These???

I saw this cute project on Confessions of a Homeschooler and I can't wait to make some! Felt food! Love it! Of course, I have alot more cleaning and organizing to do around here before I will be taking on a sewing project (plus I'm already working on Nicky's sock monkey) but these are too cute to not make! She has a link to all sorts of different foods to make. I know what I'll be doing this summer!

A Fun Day Ahead?

Today is cleaning/organizing day! Seriously, you can hardly walk around in here. It's ridiculous! I'm still taking down Christmas stuff! UGH! I've been trying to squeeze in cleaning when I can but it just isn't getting done. It needs a dedicated day and today is that day!

I'm used to life slowing down in the winter. We spend a good deal of time after the holidays are over and the new year has begun, just settling in and getting school done along with the house stuff. Not this year though! We have activities galore and I'm just not used to this type of busyness! Boyscouts, basketball, cheerleading, dance....how do you people do all this?! Anyway, I woke up this morning and realized how behind on stuff I am so we have a busy day ahead of us ;)

Here's a few pics from yesterday. I can't believe the kids wanted to go outside. It was so cold!
They weren't out for long, just long enough to run around the house a few times, throw some snowballs, and get completely covered in snow! Then they needed some hot chocolate to warm up with ;)

A Day at the Park

That's right, we visited the park today! Yes I know it's snowing but I wanted to pick up some park programs and I know I can't go there and not let the kids hang out at the nature center for a while ;)

Blacklick has a cool nature center not too far from the parking lot and the whole back wall is windows with bird feeders and a pond right outside. Perfect for some nature-lovin' kiddos :) We really lucked out today as the minute we walked in we saw deer through the windows!!! At first, there were two which we were very excited to see so close; then they were joined by four more and got way closer than before! We had a blast watching them and the birds!
There was one that kept chasing some of the others away! Bully!
The birds where gorgeous. My pictures don't do them justice.

Fat, little squirrel with his tail curled up over his back...adorable!
It was a wonderful treat this afternoon. Our kids have had a little cold so they haven't had many opportunities to get out in the snow, but this was perfect!