Adventures at Kmart

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go to our nearest Kmart so the kids could spend a gift card they had received at Christmas. We don't normally shop at Kmart (I could write a whole post on our evil San Jose Kmart) so the kids were excited to see a new store. We headed into Oconomowoc and piled out for a junior-sized spending spree.

I told the kids that I wanted them to buy a clothing item that they need first. They don't have too many needs thankfully, so they didn't complain about giving up some of their money for that purpose. Matthew needed a new pair of khaki dress pants, Ben needed underwear, and Anna...well, Anna didn't really need any clothing so I thought we'd look for dresses for next year. Matthew found pants pretty quickly while I took Anna to the little girls section. Kmart apparently does not believe in dresses, because I could not find any in her size. We did discover that Kmart is the place to shop for Kai-Lan apparel! Anna found pjs, a jacket, and a shirt. We turned down a pants outfit that just looked goofy and footie pjs. I got her larger sizes so she can still wear them next year. After that, I rescued Rob, who was having a hard time sizing underwear for Ben. Mom quickly got him set and we were off to electronics and toys.

Anna found a Wow Wow Wubbzy DVD for $5 but the boys didn't see anything they wanted. So we trooped over to toys. For the next HOUR we looked over everything the toy deparment had to offer. Twice. Matthew had originally wanted a Lego set, which would have easily finished off his gift card. We found one left and then looked for Ben. Kmart had ONE Riddler car that went with their Batman sets, so of course BOTH boys wanted it! I left Rob to handle that situation and looked at girl toys with Anna. We found a pair of plastic high heels that she HAD to have and that was it. Her money was pretty much spent at that point and she really didn't want anything else anyway. I went back to the boys and we looked over EVERYTHING before going back to the Lego set. After much deliberation, Ben gave up the Riddler car to Matthew and got himself some Buzz Lightyear gear and Hamm from Toy Story. Matthew couldn't find a second toy he wanted that met with Mom and Dad's approval, so we went back to the movies. He found a DVD he's been wanting and we ended with that.

We were pretty surprised when the total came up and it was $30 less than we thought! Turned out Matthew's DVD was on sale and Anna's clothes were all half off. Rob still has to spend a Sears gift card and since the kids' cards are also good at Sears, we'll wait for that trip to spend the rest of their money. I was pretty tired afterwards, so Rob let me use my gift card to Culver's for my supper :)

And I think the funniest thing I saw yesterday was Anna trying to walk in her high heels while wearing pajama pants that are WAY too long. I think that might be another ER trip waiting to happen....

Christmas 2010

Friday morning we rolled out of bed and hit the road by 7:30am. And then stopped at Wal-Mart on the edge of town to get some Dramamine for Matthew. I think they hid it on me, because I spent a very long time tracking the stuff down, only to find it tucked away in a tiny corner of the pharmacy. I purchased it and hurried to the car, handing Matthew a pill to take. A full adult dosage. Needless to say, Matthew spent most of Friday in a stupor and was unusually quiet :) Poor kid....we remembered to give him half a dose for the return trip!

Our trip down was pretty crazy, as we had snow the entire way. Rob and I were pretty awake the entire time and only hit a few icy patches. The worst ice was on the street turning into my parent's alley...slid right past the drive! When we arrived, we were greeted by my mom and my adorable niece, Makenzie. We had a nice lunch and then kicked around for most of the day eating yummy treats and enjoying being together. We opened gifts in the afternoon: Matthew received Lego Batman for the Wii, Ben got a spiffy rescue helicopter, and Anna got two Kai-Lan playsets. We also received many other small gifts and lots of yummy candy :)

My poor daddy woke up with the stomach virus that is going around (we didn't give it to him, thankfully!). We did have a nice breakfast with Mom, then we packed up the car to head in to Normal for the Litwiller Christmas. Family members trickled in throughout the early afternoon and then we settled down in the living room to open gifts. Rob and I were in charge this year and it went a little better, but I think the age of the children will prevent smooth present opening for a few more years yet. The kids all received lots of clothes, handmade pillows and towels, and one big gift each. Ben completed our Toy Story trio by getting Woody, Matthew got a new Star Wars Lego set, and Anna now has lots of new dress-up clothes to play with! There were all kinds of other gifts as well and a good time was had by all.

After supper, Rob and I, along with Ben, went over to visit his grandfather, who wasn't feeling well that day. We had a nice visit, then returned to put the kids to bed. They fell asleep pretty quickly, giving Rob and I some time to work on a weight-loss plan for myself. It's pretty elaborate, but I think it will work.

We attended church with Rob's parents the following morning. I decided to keep Anna with us in the service. She did okay for a while, then got fairly antsy. We walked for a bit then tried to rejoin the service, but she got bit pretty hard by that wiggle worm. I was VERY thankful when the service ended and I could dump her in Rob's arms, who had been interpreting for his dad during the service.

We ate lunch then packed up the car to leave. The kids all fell asleep within 30 minutes of leaving and slept until we were about 40 minutes from home. We let them get McDonald's for supper, using some gift certificates they had received for Christmas from our neighbors. They had a great time rediscovering all of the things they got for Christmas and kept themselves pretty busy until bedtime.

Today we had intended to rearrange the study and straighten it some, but Rob finally came down with a harder version of the stomach bug. I went grocery shopping instead and ran a few errands, then worked on some other things. The kids have had a grand time today playing with new toys and we even got Anna to take a nap this afternoon. Hopefully we'll be feeling better and more able to tackle the study tomorrow!

Christmas at Home

This morning, we opened up gifts with our own little family. We plan to travel to Illinois tomorrow for the Fulkerson side Christmas, followed the next day by the Litwiller side Christmas, followed the next day by a trip home with tired-but-happy children. At least that's the plan :) Maybe we'll leave the kids....

We have all spent the week recooperating from the stomach bug that ran through the whole family. Matthew and I were down and out on Monday and Rob got a milder version of it somewhere in there. The Christmas goodies have been safe from all since none of us could stomach sweets until yesterday! Rob took today off and we had a great time with our little family.

The kids woke up a little earlier than usual this morning and we did our traditional walk down the stairs, grabbing our stockings on the way. The children bought the stocking stuffers and did a great job picking out candy for each other. They stocked up Mommy with Reese's cups and Daddy with chips and Coke. :) Then we sat down to open our gifts. We had two family presents this year: a Veggie Tale CD and a Bible Trivia game. Then we started with Anna and went around opening gifts. Anna received the Barbie from Toy Story 3 and Jessie. She has NOT put Jessie down all day long! Ben received the Batcave and The Penguin. His gift was the biggest for sure and he's had loads of fun playing Batman today. Matthew received a star watching set, the Joker's Funhouse, and several other Batman bad guys. He too has had a blast all day long! Rob bought me a gift card to Culver's to curb my insatiable appetite for cheeseburgers and I made him four scrapbook pages to put on his bulletin board at work.

The kids played all day long while Rob and I finished up some chores and I finished making a few more Christmas presents. Anna and I both took naps this afternoon. She isn't taking regular naps anymore, but she has been awfully cranky recently, so I thought a nap was in order. My stomach kept me up some last night, so I needed a nap as well.

Tonight after supper, we will drive around looking at Christmas lights, then return home to pack for our trip to Illinois. It looks like we'll be driving down in some snow tomorrow, so we're going to leave early in the morning. Should be fun!

The Good, the Bad, and the Disappointing

We had a pretty full evening schedule this week and were looking forward to having some fun with friends. The week started off pretty well and ended up being disappointing. And icky.

Tuesday night we babysat for a couple of friends of ours. Maranatha was having their faculty Christmas party so we were asked to watch five extra kids. Anna was the youngest to be in our home, so it went pretty smoothly. I find older children MUCH easier to watch than the little ones! We had two third-grade boys, two first-grade girls (plus our own 1st grader), two four year-old boys (one being Ben), and Anna. Anna trailed after the older girls in a hero-worship trance for most of the evening, copying everything they did. The three older boys played with Legos and Ben and his friend just fit into the cracks. For having eight kids in the house, it was pretty quiet!

Wednesday night was our last night of Truth Trackers for the year. Ben came home with a blue candy cane (and a blue mouth) and Matthew had loads of papers and stuff from the "store." He also had an impromtu Christmas program practice since church had been cancelled on Sunday. He wasn't too happy about that, but at least they got in an extra rehearsal. Ben also came home with a stomach bug that manifested itself early Friday morning. We'll get to that in a bit.

On Thursday, one of the families we babysat for returned the favor and sent us on a date. We have actually watched their kids a few times this fall, so not only did they babysit, they bought us a gift card to a mystery restaurant. THAT was fun! We got dressed up, dropped off the kids, THEN found out our destination! We ended up at Hi-Way Harry's in Johnson Creek. Sounds like a greasy spoon, but it's actually a rather nice steakhouse. We had a secluded booth and a very nice dinner. We did some brief shopping at the outlet mall then went back to get the kids. Anna cried piteously about leaving--she's never seen so many big girl toys!

At about 2:30am Friday, we woke up to the sounds of Ben getting sick in the bathroom. I'm SO thankful he was able to make it there! We got him resettled into bed and didn't hear anything more for the rest of the night. He woke up feeling fine, but got sick again. He spent the rest of the day on the couch and conked out for the night at 6pm. We had to skip our Sunday school class party that night, but that was the one event we looked forward to the least, mainly b/c it was a family party and we'd have to corral kids AND pay attention to the adult events. Instead, Rob and I finished up dipping buckeyes and oreo balls to prepare for Saturday.

Everyone seemed fine Saturday morning, so we plated up candy and drove around town to deliever 12 plates of goodies to Sunday school teachers, Truth Tracker workers, and my upline. 9 of the 12 were home, so we considered that to be pretty successful. The kids had a great time getting out at their own teacher's house to deliver goodies. All three of them delivered to one of Anna's teachers because they all love her so much. We got to go inside and see her husband's huge train collection, which the kids all enjoyed. Rob too! In the afternoon, I ran Matthew to Christmas program practice and stayed there for 2 hours. He would not go unless he knew I was in the building, so I took some stamp stuff and worked on my remaining Christmas cards. After that, we picked up the rest of the family and went to a friend's house for dinner.

We have been trying for months to get together with them and finally had a time where everyone was healthy and the weather was cooperating (they live in a town 40 mintues away.) Or so we thought. As we sat down to dinner, Anna looked a little uncomfortable, so I ushered her into the bathroom. She threw up right as we reached the door, then finished in the toilet. Rob and I cleaned up the mess and our hostess got her a change of clothes. Thankfully, they have a daughter Anna's age. She seemed fine and I attributed it to drinking juice too quickly...until she got sick again. We helped clean up that mess and quickly ushered our family out the door. Anna made use of her new bucket on the way home and collapsed on the couch when we arrived. Ben was sick again in the night, so I knew I'd be keeping two children home today.

Ugh. Both Anna and Ben were to have sung in the Christmas program today. The 2s and 3s haven't sung in a program since Matthew was 2 and I was so looking forward to seeing my cute little girl in her Christmas dress up on the stage. I had some cute red bows for her hair and was planning pig tails. Ben's group hasn't sung in a long time either so he missed out. Rob took Matthew and video taped the whole thing. He did a great job singing and behaved very well during the dramatic portions of the program. And he looked VERY handsome in his little suit, complete with a gap in his teeth where he lost a tooth yesterday! My plans had included our family celebrating after church at the Chinese buffet, but those plans are obviously out.

We have nothing going on this week prior to Thursday other than taking candy plates to our neighbors. Hopefully we're all healthy enough to do that!

Anna at the Cantata

Our services were cancelled Sunday morning, but by early afternoon the weather had cleared and the cantata was still on for Sunday night. We decided to bring Anna into the service with us, thinking she'd be quiet enough. She will be joining us on Sunday nights normally when she turns 3 in a few months anyway, so this is a good time to start her transition. I informed her that she could come with us and she looked at me with her big, blue eyes and asked, "I'm a big girl to go to the service?" I told her yes, but that she had to stay quiet.

By the time we arrived for the cantata, most of the seats toward the back were taken up by college students. They are supposed to be reserved for families with small children, but either the ushers didn't put up the signs or the students moved them (which is frequently the case.) And since MBBC would not let students travel out of town for services that day, most of them ended up at our church. Yipee. We found our way toward the front of the auditorium, about four or five pews from the front. I was a little nervous, but thought Anna could handle it.

We rose for the first song and Anna sang mightily....until she realized she didn't know the song and looked up at me for encouragment. I smiled back at her and she continued singing. What, I don't know, but she sang with all her might! She slipped her little hand into mine part way through the song. She was fairly quiet at first, but could NOT sit still. There was a whole row of college guys behind us that were fairly amused with her behavior. She turned to look at them at one point and then said to me, "It's not funny to laugh at me!" I guess they were chuckling at her! One did approach us afterwards and told us how cute she was :)

When the choir began singing, Anna stood up and urged me to do the same. I guess she figured we HAD to stand whenever there was singing. I tried to explain it to her, but no deal. She stood at each new song and sat during the readings. And wiggled. A lot. I brought a quiet board for her, but she didn't want to do it. She did, however, want lip balm and mints from my purse. I finally got tired of the wiggling and traded children with Rob. Ben was on his lap to see better and sitting MUCH more quietly. Anna did okay with Rob until he tried to get her to look at Pastor Morris, who was playing the main character. She thought Rob wanted her to GO to Pastor Morris and kept trying to clarfiy the instructions. Very loudly. It was at this point that Rob took her for a little walk and put her in the nursery. She wasn't too happy about it, but at least we enjoyed the rest of the cantata in peace and quiet.

After we left church that night, I asked Anna why she went to the nursery. She told me that she was too loud. At least she understands and we're hoping to have her fully transitioned into the service before she turns three. It's such a blessing that both boys behave perfectly in the service now (even if they are not always the most cheerful about it!) She was so happy to be included with us and I think that desire will help her train a little quicker. Or at least I HOPE it does. :)

Glitter and Sprinkles

The kids and I had a great time on Tuesday at a homeschool craft day. The library in Johnson Creek hosted their second annual Christmas craft day and had oodles of craft ideas and supplies for the kids. I was a little hesitant to take Anna because I knew I would have my hands full with Ben and Matthew. She did take a bit of watching at first, especially since all she wanted to do was add glitter to her projects! After making sure Matthew was okay and Ben was settled, I did let her do some glitter. And then she had to have glitter on EVERYTHING! I think next time (around Valentine's Day) I'll take my Stampin Up trays with me to help contain the mess. We did find her an easy project toward the end: a stocking with foam stickers. She made four of them and had a grand time picking out her own stickers. She was the tiniest one there, but pushed right in with the big kids to get her supplies!

The boys had a great time as well. Ben enjoyed himself, but Matthew was really in his element. He just loved making as many crafts as he could, and some of them turned out quite nice. He decorated his bed with them when we got home. I had to laugh because there was a ten-year-old at the table that kept copying Matthew's work. He's hosting a "Mommy and Me" stamp party in January and I know he'll be in his element.

We all made it to church on Wednesday night (yay!) and since the cantata was going on and I wasn't in it b/c my voice isn't quite back yet, I floated around and helped in a couple of different ministries. It was so nice to have all of us attend together! The second cantata performance is supposed to happen tomorrow night, but since we're in the middle of a blizzard that won't end until late tomorrow I'm sure it will be canceled. And that's okay...we'll just sing to ourselves :)

This morning I had a demo Christmas party to attend. We did a shoebox swap, where each demonstrator designed a card, cut the pieces for it, and then we all went around and made each other's cards. It was a fun time and we enjoyed a potluck lunch in the middle of all that stamping.

This afternoon, the kids and I went to a cookie decorating party. Last year, only Ben and I went b/c it was limited to just the children in his SS class, but the mom hosting the event opened it to siblings. Matthew and Anna were very excited to be included. Anna was ready to go about two hours prior to the event! Since we couldn't bring cookies due to the broken oven, I made a double batch of frosting and brought sprinkles. We had a great time with the decorating, although Anna was about as liberal with the sprinkles as she was with glitter! The weather was just starting to turn ugly as we were leaving, so it was good timing. We were supposed to have supper at the home of a friend 35 minutes away, but we cancelled. Hopefully we can reschedule soon!

We're going to have a kid-filled week coming up. We will have 8 children running around here Tuesday night as we babysit for some faculty kids during the MBBC Christmas party. Then on Thursday, one of those families is returning the favor as Rob and I go out on a date. Fun!! Friday is our Sunday School Christmas party, which included the kids. So lots of stuff going on, but it's all fun stuff :)

In the Christmas Spirit

Snow is falling outside and I just feel like I'm getting into the Christmas mood! We have the tree up and decorated and the rest of my decorations are up as well. We don't have a lot of surface area for many of my knick knacks, so I just put up the few I wanted to enjoy this year. We also are doing a sort-of advent calendar. It's a countdown calendar from Stampin Up. We sat down as a family last night and put the kit together, then hung it up on our wall. The kids are excited about opening up each box to find the goodies inside. Some days it's candy, other days fun family activities. Rob and I even wrapped presents last night!

Anna had her stitches out yesterday. Rob took her back to Urgent Care to have them removed. We didn't want her to associate her regular pediatrican with the pain of suture removal, hence the reason we took her back to the hospital. They had a bit of a wait, then the torture began. Rob said she sat a little better this time, but by the second stitch she was crying pretty hard. Her great-grandmother had sent her a card and a dollar, so when they were done Rob and Anna hit the vending machine for some M & M's.

We are continuing to work on the rearrangement of some furniture around here. The boys and I have switched dressers. They are finally to the point where they need more drawer space. I cleaned out some clothes I no longer need and found I don't need much space at all! So they have the bigger dresser and Anna and I are sharing the smaller one. Anna previously just had a soft box to store her clothing, so she's pretty excited to have a real dresser. Rob moved our bed so that the offending part of the frame faces the wall. Our room looks much bigger with the switch! The last thing we will do is move a bookshelf from our living room to the upstairs. We took it from some friends who needed to get rid of it, but we haven't had a real purpose for it until now.

The boys continue to do well in school. Ben is on lesson 73 of his reading book and we've decided to stop at lesson 90. There isn't much new information to learn after lesson 90 and I remember Matthew being so bored with the rest of the lesson book. I checked out some level 1 readers for Ben and he's excited to read "real" books. We have even filled out an application for his own library card. Matthew took a unit test on Friday over his first 10 math lessons and was a little intimidated at first, but he received a perfect score, so it wasn't quite so bad after all.

Time to finish my last little bit of decorating, then I'm planning to stamp away the rest of this beautiful snowy day!

Anna's Big Owie

Miss Anna has finally had her first visit to the ER. She posed for this picture, taken shortly after returning home this morning. Her lip was still a little swollen at the time, but has since returned to it's normal shape.

So here's the story--This morning, we were running around getting ready for church. I was pushing the boys through breakfast and having them get socks and shoes on while setting out Bibles, coats, etc. Rob and Anna were upstairs getting dressed. Amidst all the chaos, one of the boys ran to me and told me Daddy needed me. I ran up the stairs to find Rob cradling Anna on the ground with her whimpering. Rob looked up and said, "Anna cut her lip falling on the bed frame. I think she needs stitches." I didn't really want a closer look, so I got a wet washcloth and then we shifted gears for an ER trip. I had to call a fellow nursery committee member to cover us for the day, then we were off.

We got the kids out the door slower than I expected due to the fact that the boys were both hysterical. They were so upset that Anna was hurt, thought she would be in the hospital for days, or even that she was going to die. We assured them that she'd be just fine and it wouldn't take too long. Anna and I sat in a chair while the boys got ready. She clutched her blanky and whimpered quite a bit, but she handled it all better than expected. She had been calling herself "Tommy" all morning and I asked her, "Did Tommy get hurt or did Anna get hurt?" She replied in a sad voice, "Anna."

After a seat switch, we were off. We thought it best that one of us sit in the back with Anna. We put Matthew in the front with me, which he found pretty cool, especially since HE could open the door and DADDY couldn't. We arrived to find the ER parking lot pretty empty and got the troops inside. Anna and Daddy checked in while I got the boys settled, then the two of them headed back for treatment. The boys and I did pretty well together in the waiting room. We read books, watched The Three Stooges, took a walk to the gift shop (which was closed) and found a vending machine. I had oodles of change, so I treated them to a candy bar. By the time we returned from our walk, they were ready for us to go back and see Anna. She was picking out a toy from the toy box and looking like she got decked in the mouth. She was pretty swollen from the stitches and still sobbing lightly.

Anna held up pretty well while both the nurse and the doctor checked her mouth. Turned out she had cut her face above her lip and the cut went pretty deep. Thankfully, it didn't go through to her mouth and her teeth were perfectly fine. Her nurse is a friend of ours from church and works in Anna's nursery, so that helped her feel a little more comfortable. They tried to "glue" her ouchie shut two or three times, but it didn't work, so they had to do stitches. Rob and two nurses were needed to hold her down, and I guess she's a pretty strong little girl, because they were all exhausted by the end. She got three shots right in the sore area, then four stitches. By the third stitch, she was arching her back and popping her legs up in anger and frustration. Rob was able to hold her once it was all done and they were cleaning up. She'll go back on Saturday to have the stitches removed.

Anna whimpered quite a bit all the way to the store to get the ointment for her mouth. We let her pick out a special snack (Princess fruit snacks) and got her a movie with several different Nick Jr cartoons (one of which is Kai-Lan.) She's been pretty okay ever since and is back to her normal activity level. She did take a three hour nap this afternoon, which was desparately needed. We have to keep the wound clean and dry until the stitches are removed, so I think we'll be eating as non-messy as possible. Should be interesting, especially since the oven died again today! But that's another story.

Thanksgiving 2010

We just got back from our whirlwind trip to visit the relatives for this Thanksgiving. I'm rather tired as I write and I'd have to say I might not remember everything that happened since I spent much of my time in a tired stupor. I haven't slept well for over a week now and sleeping in "foreign" beds doesn't help much. But we did manage to have a good time in spite of my sleepiness.

Our first stop was at the Fulkerson household. Rob got off work a little earlier on Wednesday so we could begin our journey before the bad weather hit. Our trip was pretty good and uneventful. We didn't even hit much traffic. I had purchased five Patch the Pirate CD's for an early Christmas present, so the kids had a good time listening to them. (On sale at Majesty Music right now--one of the CD's was $5 and one was free!) Mom was at home to greet us.

My brother Joel, sister Mandy and their families joined us on Thursday. We had a great spread of food. My mom was raised southern, so there is always more food than can feed a small army at family gatherings. Fine by me...lots of little tastes of all my favorites! We had a marshmallow fight in the afternoon and both of my boys agreed it was the highlight of the whole trip.

Thursday night we took off for Normal to visit Rob's family. I poured over the Black Friday ads that night and found one store that had what I wanted for Anna's Christmas present cheaper than anywhere I had found it. So, Rob and I took off at 5am to do a little shopping the next day. It was the easiest Black Friday shopping I've ever done! In and out of the store in about 20 minutes, then home to finish our shopping on-line. I took a nap afterwards, of course :)

We had a wonderful dinner with Rob's family. We all visited for a bit afterwards, then headed to his brother's house for our nephew's first birthday party. We had a fun time seeing him smear icing everywhere and get lots of great presents. Then we took the kids to Hobby Lobby to just kick around for a bit, then back to Grandpa and Grandma's. The kids and I all went to bed early that night and my sweet husband even slept on the couch in an effort to see if I could get some sleep. I woke up several times, but at least I went back to sleep easily. Anna woke up crying at one point b/c she had become uncovered, but nothing major.

We had a nice breakfast this morning then we left for home. We made a few stops here and there and got home with plenty of time to spare before the Parade of Lights. It's our favorite parade of the year! They turn the lights off downtown and all of the floats are decorated with lights. Anna was given a teddy bear and a glow necklace, they all got tons of candy, but Ben made out like a bandit. He was given a stuffed dragon, a teddy bear, a Hot Wheels car, and a glow necklace! He graciously gave his teddy bear to Matthew. Ben has gotten at least two if not three big items at each parade we go to! He's just a magnet for free stuff, I guess.

Our tree is now up, but not yet decorated. I'm too tired to direct the children yet, so we'll save that task for tomorrow afternoon. Right now Rob is bathing them and putting them to bed in preparation for a busy Sunday :)

Girls Morning Out

Today Anna and I had a little time out just for ourselves. There was a craft fair in nearby Ixonia and I decided we'd get a little "girl time" in. She's no longer in a stroller and at just the right age to understand that she's having some special time with Mommy. We took off just before nine and after missing the turn, found the little elementary school that was hosting the craft fair. The room wasn't very big, but it was jam-packed with lots of craft vendors. Anna did pretty well holding my hand as we looked at each booth. I had already decided to buy her something special and she knew it, so she looked very carefully. It is my habit to walk once around a fair/market/etc before deciding to purchase anything, so it was hard for Anna to understand that! She didn't fuss when she was told "no," thankfully.

About half-way through the fair, she needed a potty break, and then we headed back in. One thing that caught her eye was a pair of M & M earrings. We passed on that one b/c she doesn't have pierced ears yet and I personally don't care for clip-ons. We saw several vendors with doll clothes, but she wanted the "not-for-sale" dollies. Then we happened upon a booth selling bead bracelets. The girl who made them was raising money for a field trip. I had Anna look at the cheapest ones and boy, did she look. She took her time and carefully looked over each bracelet, trying on several before rejecting them. I asked her which one she liked and she said, "They're all broken!" I had to explain to Anna that they are wrap around bracelets, then she chose a pink one. And then half-way around the room she decided she didn't want it anymore! I think her cousin might enjoy it, so she has a little Christmas gift to give :) We did find some cute Care Bears in homemade bags and she picked out one she liked. Well, she actually picked out TWO but I had her settle on ONE.

Then we went to a little kids' shop where everything was priced very low. She chose a nutcracker for each of her brothers and I found a cute sign for displaying school papers. We had a really fun morning together, which she didn't want to end because she asked if we could go to another store! I had to get home and prep for a workshop, so that didn't happen, but it was a very fun time.

While we were gone, the boys worked on making bird houses in the workshop. They loved their nutcrackers from little sister. Matthew is carrying his around everywhere!

Health Update

It feels like absolutely forever since I've been to church due to sickness and injuries around here! Rob caught a cold back in October that has a lingering cough that he still hasn't gotten rid of. I think Matthew had the same thing back in August and he's over the cough now. Ben came down with it a week after our trip to Illinois, so he and I stayed home the first Sunday of the month so he wouldn't spread his germs. Since all he has left is the cough, he's been cleared to go since.

The day before he came down sick, I worked all day at a craft fair with my upline at her craft/SU booths. It was alot of fun, but I was rather the sore the following day. Since Ben was sick, I took the opportunity to stay home with him. That evening, he and I worked on getting the final summer clothes out of their drawers and the last of the winter clothes into the drawers. I then kicked/shoved the huge tub of clothes into the hallway and pulled a muscle in my leg. It wasn't until three days later that I figured out what my problem was! I thought I was still sore from the craft fair, but it was that tub that did it.

Then the day after I finally felt all healed from the injury, I came down with the head/chest cold thing. I think I'm finally over the worst of it and am just left with the cough. Anna has as of yet to show any signs of coming down with it, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

There is a silver lining to this cloud: A bunch of kids around here are coming down with a stomach bug. By keeping Ben home when I have, he's missed contact with the siblings of these children. I'm hoping our household is spared of that illness!

The Day I Got Lost

This week in language arts, Matthew had to choose from three titles and write a story. He wanted me to let all of you know that this is a made-up story. :)

The Day I Got Lost

I was walking down the street with Mom and Dad and there was a bookshop and there was a book I really, really wanted and I looked at it and looked at it and found the book I really wanted. By that time, Mom and Dad had already gone to a market to get some food and when I said, "Hey, Mom and Dad, look at the book I wanted," they weren't there. And so then I ran to try and find Mom and Dad. Then at last I found them in the market. And after we were done, I asked if we could get that book and they said yes.

When Mom and Dad found I wasn't there, they started looking through the market and saw me coming in the door, scared to death.

The End

Birthday Weekend at the Fulkersons

This is a picture of my birthday cake, made by my favorite sister, Mandy. I gave her free reign on the cake idea...all I wanted was the phrase "Cake is Awesome" somewhere on the cake. And I still have most of the head left if anyone's hungry...

Saturday night we all met up at my parent's house and had a nice dinner together. The kids played and then went to bed without a whole lot of fuss. Sunday morning we were up and ready to go to church after a yummy big breakfast. My poor dad came down with something and didn't feel too good while we were there, but we enjoyed what company we got from him :)

All three of the kids went easily and happily into their respective Sunday school classes, which is rare. Anna usually cries and Matthew usually wants to stay with us, but they did great this time. I'm glad they did go because the sermon topic was "What Would Jesus say to a Wiccan?" Very interesting and well-done sermon, but I think it might have scared Matthew a little bit. If you're interested in hearing the sermon, send me an email and I'll send you a link to the church's website.

Afterwards, we went back home and had meatloaf. I never understood when kids said they hated meatloaf when I was growing up. Obviously they have never had my mom's! It has a cheese layer in the middle and is super-yummy. My sister and her family joined us for lunch and then we spent the afternoon eating cake, playing, and visiting. The kids had a snack around 4pm, then we got them ready for trick-or-treating. Anna wore an authentic Chinese dress and we dressed her up as a Chinese princess. Ben was a fireman and poor Matthew was King Boo, a.k.a. a plain ghost. I didn't do a very good job on the costume and the poor kid kept tripping everywhere. We renamed our venture "Trip or treat" because all five the kids tripped! The four older ones tripped while going house to house and my little nephew Zach tripped coming into Grandma's afterwards. Poor guy had a big bump on his head to prove it!

The kids came home with buckets full of candy and we had a yummy pizza supper. Rob and my brother-in-law Chris made pizzas with the intent of seeing who's was best, but it was hard to decide. Mandy's family took off not too long afterwards and we put three tired kids to bed.

Ben woke up in the middle of the night having gotten sick on his bed. We think he just overate on Sunday. Poor Matthew, who was sharing his bed, jumped into mine. He was brave enough to go back to bed with Ben once everything was cleaned up and the sheets were changed. Ben woke up feeling perfectly fine the next day.

We took off Monday morning and had a decent ride home. Rob and I were so full from eating so much that we barely ate a thing before lunch. We got home and hit the ground running, doing some unpacking and grocery shopping. Little Anna was all grandma-ed out and fell asleep at 6pm that night. We had a great visit all around!

Birthday Weekend with the Litwillers

This past weekend, we went down to Illinois where I celebrated my birthday with family. We did so much that I think I'm going to separate the story into two separate posts. The above picture is of the kids at Rader's farm. The cutie in the back in pink is my niece Makenzie, beside Ben's head is nephew and new walker Zach, and my sister is carrying the next one. So, six cousins in one shot isn't too bad!

We left on Thursday morning to head down to Normal. The kids were rather well-behaved on the trip, which is good b/c I had a terrible tension headache that day. Anna cracked me up...she was so excited to go to Grandma's that she had her shoes on as soon as she woke up. Rob packed her into her carseat holding all kinds of stuff as a joke, but she didn't care. She was headed to Grandma's! The kids all had their own lunches to eat as they got hungry and Anna said she wouldn't eat hers until she arrived. She did eat some on the road, but did indeed finish the rest after arrival.

The next day, we headed out to Rader's farm. The weather was predicted to be cool, but there was no wind and lots of sun, so it was perfectly fine. The kids had a ball running around the place and exploring all of the neat things to do. Matthew's favorite was a giant jumping...thing. Can't really describe it, but it was very large and he could bounce and flip all over the place. My niece was pretty brave up there and held her own quite well. Anna would only go up if Daddy was with her. We went inside for a snack, played some more, and then headed to a hibachi grill for lunch.

The kids just loved watching the "show" at the hibachi grill. None of us had ever been to one, so it was a real treat. Anna didn't care for the fire shooting up from the grill before the cooking commenced, but I think she found it interesting otherwise. My mother-in-law got a little sneaky and told them it was my birthday, so before too long, I had a headband on complete with chopsticks. Then a few staff members came out and sang a song in Japanese while banging on a drum. They wanted me to dance with them, so I made Anna get up and dance too. She loved it and on the way home said, "I got to dance with Mommy and nobody else did!"

We had a big family party that night so that all of us could meet Davis, the newest addition to the family. He's a cute little guy and we sure enjoyed playing with him. We had a great time visiting and playing around with all of the cousins. Rob's cousin took a bunch of crazy pictures, along with some nice full-family shots.

The next morning was more low-key and I even found a few minutes to steal out and spend a gift check I had. Then we went out for my birthday lunch at Avanti's. I hadn't been there in years and I always enjoy their sandwiches. Afterwards I did my best to help Rob pack, then he dropped me off at my sister's for a cardmaking class. There were four ladies in attendance and we had a great time making some cards. Rob and the kids had already left for Pontiac so I rode to town with my mom.

I'm trying to get pictures onto Facebook, but it keeps kicking me off the internet, so hopefully they will get loaded soon. Next up, Birthday weekend with the Fulkersons.

Nine weeks down

This week marks our ninth week of the school year, and things are going pretty well. I thought I'd give a little school update on each of the children.

Matthew is doing very well and just soaks up any info I give him. He's loving his history lessons (that's my boy!) and has enjoyed all of the read-alouds we've done so far. He likes poetry about as much as I do, so it's been fun making fun of some of our poems together. Spelling is usually no problem for him, although he did have his first bad spelling test today. I pointed out to him that he didn't look over his words before taking the test and he agreed that he should probably do that in the future. Some of the language arts info is a little over his head, but we work through it together. Writing assignments are always fun with him since he has such an active imagination. He's enjoying reading chapter books and has found they are not as scary as he originally thought. And he is enjoying his math, although we did hit the first challenging lesson this week. I explained to him that I don't care about him getting the answers right so much as understanding the material. He felt better after my little pep talk. Poor guy, bad spelling test and a bad math test in the same day. Good thing I made cookies :) Overall though, he's doing a splendid job.

Ben has gone from a school hater to a school lover. I really enjoy Core 4/5 and think it's my favorite one so far. I've heard from other parents that they hate the choppiness of the program, but I enjoy reading different stories every day. Ben loves it as well. His handwriting is progressing well. I've decided to take an unschooling approach to handwriting with the boys. I know it may not be as neat as other children their age, especially Matthew, but they enjoy improving on it on their own. So I'm not worried. Ben has picked it up rather quickly. He's also doing extremely well with his reading. We are on lesson 45 of the 100 lessons reading book and he is doing a phonics series called Get Ready for the Code, a primer to the Explode the Code books that Matthew is working through. The combination of the two has been an excellent choice for Ben, as he is reading better and faster than Matthew. We are on track to finish the 100 lesson book by Christmas, which is Ben's goal. He actually WANTS to do a whole lesson every day! He is also in the Primer math book of Math-U-See and finally hit something that has been challenging for him. He's doing well, considering his age, and I just love hearing, "Can I do more math, Mom?" at the end of each school hour.

Schooling them separately has not been easy on me schedule-wise, but it's been the best choice. I'm really learn Ben and his learning style and I love spending individual time with the boys. I think they love it as well! We do occasionally double up on the lessons, especially on Tuesdays when I have Bible study. I do Ben's regular school time and have Matthew work on his phonics and math at the same time.

As for Miss Anna, she is picking up things right and left. She knows all of her colors and most of her shapes, which is pretty surprising since I haven't really worked on them with her at all. She's just picked it up from the family. She even knows a few letters and their sounds. I haven't made up her skill chart for the year yet b/c I'm still trying to figure out what she needs to learn that she hasn't yet! She loves reading books and soaks up any time I can be with her and just read to her.

So we're really enjoying our school year. I look forward to working with the kids each day...far more than I do the housework. I just love the quote: "If the house is a mess at the end of the day, you had a good day homeschooling. If your house is spotless, you had a bad day homeschooling." Let's say we usually have a good day homeschooling!

A Shattering Incident

I can't believe I haven't posted this story yet! About two weeks ago, Matthew and Ben were running in the living room and Matthew ran into the middle window of our bay window. He leaned over the radiator to stop himself on the window and it shattered. Rob and I were getting supper on the table when we heard the loud crash, followed by shreiking and screaming. We ran in to see broken glass, a fractured window, and a rather upset six-year-old. Rob went to survey the damaged window while I did a head-to-toe on the son. Amazingly, he was fine! I expected to see blood, followed by a trip to the ER, but he was completely unscathed. Freaking out, but otherwise fine. We did notice on the following day that he had bruised his elbow and leg from the impact. We're both so thankful for God's goodness in allowing Matthew to be unharmed from the incident.

Most of the glass flew outside, thankfully, so there wasn't much to clean up inside. Rob handled the clean-up and then taped a board to the empty spot. This would have to happen on the coldest night of fall so far! But, I'll take a cold room over an injured son anyday. Funny though, the board kept the room warmer than the window ever did!

Our landlord came over to check it out and just yesterday was able to fit a new window to the spot. The whole deal only cost us $40. We were expecting the damage to be alot higher. And Matthew has hopefully learned his lesson about running in the house.

Sweetest Day

Well, today is Sweetest Day and while we don't EVER celebrate it we did by coincidence go out on a date today. And again, it was a coupon date! Since my birthday is at the end of the month I've been getting birthday things from various places. I had a birthday card from Hat Creek Candle for a 1/2 off item and a free votive and a free lunch from Berres Brothers. (Both of which have been featured on the Food Network recently). We picked out a butter pecan candle and then went for lunch. I had never eat lunch at BB, but it was quite good!

We hadn't really planned much for the date, so we just had fun inventing places to go. We tried to go to the Octogan House for a tour, but found out that it actually costs something to get in. Rob whipped out his debit card...and they don't take cards. Since we only had enough cash on us for one of us to get in, we just looked around the gift shop and then left. We hit two garage sales looking for Halloween costumes and found nothing, but did remember that we have costumes in all of the kids' sizes. We also ran over to the thrift store to looking for dining room chairs. Ours have broken one by one and we're down to just one that matches the table (and it's on the way out) and four folding chairs, one of which is also ready to go. We did find a lovely table and chairs, but they were out of our price range.

We came home to relieve the sitters and decided to go to the park. There is a park here in town we refer to as the secret park. It's by the river but to get to the park, you drive down a dead end street. The entrance is kind of hidden by some bushes. There's hardly ever anyone there, so it's loads of fun. The boys had a grand time throwing rocks into the river and tromping around on the river bank. We had to make both of them toss their shoes and socks into a box in the trunk b/c of mud. Anna threw a few rocks into the river, but mostly stayed near Daddy.

We ended our evening tonight by watching some home movies, starting with Matthew, age 17mos. and ending with some taken last fall. It was alot of fun, although there were a few surprises. One was the video taken in the hospital when Ben was born and the other was a video of Matthew with Ana Abanes, our friend who died of breast cancer and for whom Anna is named. The kids really enjoyed watching themselves and they were so cute!

And now, for some Wii with the hubs!

A Story about Abbie

In language arts, Matthew has been learning how to organize his thoughts to write stories. Today's story was about using describing details, so yesterday we filled out a grid with details about Abbie, his grandparents dog. He had to think of things specific to Abbie, not just "she barks, has fur, eats food." Here's what he came up with:

Abbie is Grandma and Grandpa Litwiller's dog. She is not very fast. At least, she is not as fast as Charlie, Uncle Dan and Aunt Kim's dog. She is a little older than Charlie. She lives with my grandparents and doesn't play as much. She has a funny way of eating. She leaves a mess on the ground because she takes her food out of her dish. It's nasty. She is a friendly dog. She is curious about everyone. She sometimes hides if she has had enough. She's mad when Grandma and Grandpa put her in her cage. She's really nice, I like to play wiht her, and I love her.

From Matthew

Conversations with the Kids

Talking to your kids is always a fun experience, especially when they come up with such interesting ideas. Here are three conversations I've had this week.

While giving Anna a bath....

Me: How are you doing?
Anna: I'm fine. I have a backpack. But it's not up here. It's downstairs taking a nap.

Ben at lunch....

Me: Here's your milk.
Ben: I wish none of the stores sold alcohol. Or milk. Because I REALLY hate milk. There should only be one store that sells milk and it should be a store in Africa.

Matthew at the end of schooltime....

Me: Well, looks like we're doing adding by two's next week. So, what's 200 plus 200?
Matthew: Hmm...well, 2 plus 2 is four, so 200 plus 200 must be 400.
Me: Wow! That's pretty good! You're a smart guy.
Matthew: Thank you, but I'm smart because that's the way God made me.
Me: (tearing up a little) Yes, God did make you smart.
Matthew: He made me pretty strong, too!

Trip to the Firehouse

Today the kids and I joined a homeschool group based in Johnson Creek for a trip to the JC firehouse. I guess the librarian there is very homeschool-friendly and plans all kinds of activites and trips for homeschoolers in the area. We were thrilled to find out about this group...especially the visit to the firehouse!

Last week, our library had a visit from the firemen during story time and we did get to see the trucks...right as they sped off on a call. But this week, the kids were invited to explore every single inch of the firehouse. We started off all in a room (about 25 or so kids with parents) and watched a little video on fire safety. Then the fire chief proceeded to drone on for a lenghty period of time, speaking mainly to the adults and older children about specific things that could have been covered in a nice handout. To their credit, the vast majority of the children politely sat there and listened. Two toddlers got fussy (mine was one of them) but overall the kids did well. THEN we got to go EXPLORING!!

The fire chief told the kids they couldn't possibly hurt anything, so feel free to look over the whole place, open any door you want on the trucks, climb into anything, and have fun! We went outside first and the kids got into a truck and looked all around it. Then we went back into the garage and looked over another truck and a rescue vehicle. We got to see all of the gear hung up and waiting for the firemen as well. I reminded the boys about a Curious George story where he mixes up the firemen's gear and what happened. They had a ball opening every door they could and seeing all of the different things that firemen use.

They also had the child safety house set up and the boys went inside to get a little lecture on what to do in case of a fire in the home. Each session ends with "smoke" entering the little trailer and the kids crawling to safety. My boys were a little chicken, so they exited right before the smoke.

I think the most valuable thing we learned, though, is that there is a great homeschool group nearby. I have so wanted to find SOMEWHERE for us to plug in, and the only thing in town right now is a playgroup that meets on Wednesdays. Not a good day for us, because Anna needs her nap that day if she's going to make it through church that night. But this group is run by a librarian who loves homeschoolers and plans many activities just for them. I'm so excited to find such a fun group! There are two families from our church that attend, so the kids knew a few people when they arrived.

I have posted a couple more pictures on Facebook of our trip, along with our visit to see the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile when it came to town last Friday. And I will GLADLY send your children a weinie whistle if you so desire :)

Ends and Odds

Since my last post, Anna has been doing pretty good with the potty training. She's had a couple of accidents, but she doesn't like having accidents, so the frequency of them has gone down. It's pretty hilarious to take her potty b/c she giggles whenever she pees. Rob wanted to know if that was a "girl thing" but I told him it's just an "Anna thing."

I had to share this little story: A couple of days ago, Anna decided she didn't want milk for lunch, so she dumped it into the sink. The boys' eyes grew huge, because they know that's a pretty big offense around here. Anna was told she had to have water for lunch. She proceeded to throw a huge fit. The boys kept trying to leave the lunch table, but I told them to patiently wait it out...she'd quit soon. When she did stop crying, she sat down only to find that she had the "ouchie" chair, as she calls our backless chair. Both boys immediately got up and offered her their chairs. Aren't they just the sweetest little gentlemen??

Our missions conference has been going on this week, so we've been going to church each night this week. I can tell it is wearing on the kids, because they are getting tireder and crankier each day. They are enjoying the DVD presentations (remember projectors??) and the kids sessions.

I think that's about all the update I can handle right now...I'm a little tired myself!

YYYYEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!

Here's Miss Anna with her Kai-Lan dolly!! She has been accident-free for 24 hours and we're so proud of her. On Sunday, she and I talked about her wearing underwear and she was excited to try it again. She had several accidents over the next two days, but we also talked about how yucky it feels to be wet or dirty. By last night she had gotten the hang of it and today has being doing great. She couldn't wait to get her dolly, which also came with a necklace that reads "happy" in Chinese.

So the Litwillers are now a diaper-free household. Wow. Feels kind of strange to stay that, but it's a great feeling. Next hurdle to climb is pairing down the amount of toys in this house. Mommy is on a rampage to get rid of stuff. RAR!!

**can't title....still laughing...**

Rob and I were discussing some restaurants we had been to in the past and our uncanny ability to choose places with great appetizers and desserts but lousy entrees. In part of the conversation, Rob said, "How do you butcher a baked potato?" Retorical question, right?? Not if you're a six-year-old know-it-all. Matthew patiently explained, "Dad, you cook and then you cut it up!"

Garage Sales!!!

We went out garage saling this morning. After doing a full assessment on the childrens' winter wardrobe, I needed nothing for Ben, winter boots for Matthew, and quite a bit for Anna. I had them try on snowpants yesterday and it looks like we're fine there. Watertown is having it's first all-city fall garage sales, so perfect timing for me!

As usual, they sent out a list of the sales as well as a great map of the city. I picked out the most promising sales, including one selling G.I. Joes for Matthew. He still has money leftover from selling some things at a garage sale earlier this summer and just LOVED watching the cartoon last week.

Thankfully, most of the stuff was priced to sell. I just hate it when people try to make back almost what they spent on clothing. I won't pay over a dollar for shirts or pants and rarely over $3 for a coat or boots. There are so many sales that I know better than to snap up stuff at one...I prefer to wait patiently for that "perfect" sale. There were plenty of them today! I did find Anna's coat for $1.50 at one, a few shirts here and there, and then the last sale I hit was the best. I got a whole bagfull of shirts and sweatshirts for Anna for $3.20. She doesn't need pj's, but I couldn't pass up one pair with Boo from Monster's Inc. on them.

Matthew was a little disappointed at first b/c the G.I. Joes were the big ones and he wanted little action figures. The guy went down on the price and Matthew got one for $2. He's loving it right now, especially since it still has all of the parts and pieces. I can't imagine what it might go for on ebay! Ben was upset b/c he didn't have enough money for one, so I traded him the 50 cents I gave him for $2 and he went back and bought one as well. And of course, I couldn't pass up getting a Strawberry Shortcake doll for Anna that matches a blanket she was recently given. :)

And we were done by 9:30! Not too bad of a day!

The New MEW-seum

Today we took a field trip to visit the new children's museum in Madison (or MEW-seum, as Anna pronounces it). They had closed their doors to their previous location back in January and reopened in the middle of August, so this was our first visit to the new location. We took off after 8am to get there in time for it to open at 9am. Well. The website needs to be updated, because they didn't open until 9:30. It did mean we got a good parking space in their lot and were first in line to enter, but the kids weren't all that happy that they had to wait. :)

When we did finally enter, we were met with a bright, cheery environment that far surpassed the old location. Rob and I were particularly impressed with the use of recycled materials. Flooring made from old gym floors, benches made from old beauty parlor chairs and pianos and fire hoses, curtains from plastic bags, and even a curtain made from old Twister boards! We were able to speak with one of the employees, who also told us that the toddler walkway was made from pieces of the old Kohls building in town! Everywhere we looked were recycled materials.

It was very open and spacious with multiple classroom areas for their various events. There was a large art room and the kids loved painting on the glass paint wall. On the rooftop they had created a garden, and they did an excellent job! The had chickens, turtles, fish, and a few homing pigeons. Apparently, they also grow fruits and veggies up there. We got some great pictures of the kids looking at the street below--very thankful for large glass fences!

The under 5 area was the best one I've ever seen. It was large and had lots of activities for the little ones. Anna found some babies right away, but then quickly set off to discover the water play area. Ben found a drum and would probably still be there if I hadn't pulled him away. While we explored that area, Rob and Matthew went to the second floor to play on the gerbil wheel. I guess it was harder than it looked, because Matthew couldn't get it going. Rob did, but then couldn't get it to stop!

Anna found a large dollhouse, but it was encased in glass. She kept asking me to open it so she could play with the dollies. All three of them met up to make pizza and pies in the cooking area, which is usually one of their favorites at any museum. Rob and Ben messed around with an old pin ball machine--okay, so it was pretty much Rob :)

Oh, we just had a wonderful time! The new museum has a cafe, so we decided to eat there instead of our original idea. Wish we would have left, because the food was expensive. We opted for a heavy snack instead of full meals and then got another snack when we got home. What we had was good, but not worth the price! I think next time we'll just eat at a hot dog vendor from around the capitol square. (The museum is right near the capitol building.)

All in all, a very good day. Since Rob may continue to have Fridays off for awhile, we're going to try to do a field trip every other week. Fun, fun!

School, Week 3

We are in the midst of our third week of school and things are going well. The kids have settled nicely into their morning routine and Anna now understands that she is to occupy herself. I have resorted to television a few times, but am thankful for the days when I don't need the crutch. Anna also knows she's welcome on my lap most anytime as I teach the boys. I think this next week we'll get into our afternoon routine more. It kind of tapers off after science class and somehow I'm losing my hour and a half of stamp time, so we need to be a little more strict in the afternoon.

Matthew is really enjoying Core 1. I think everything has been a hit so far and he's even whining less about copywork. He absolutely loves Math-U-See and says math is his favorite. I do science with the boys together in the afternoon and they are having a ball. Thursday is the favorite day b/c it's experiment day.

Ben is also loving his schoolwork. I'm so glad I split them up and did separate schooltimes instead of combining cores. Ben in particular needs my undivided attention and is thriving. He's gone from hating his reading lessons to almost overconfidence in them. He is catching on to reading faster than Matthew did, mainly b/c Ben is approaching our phonics-based program from a whole-word mind. That means he's learning how to sound out the words, but does best when he knows the word and remembers how to say it. Kind of strange, but it works. He's doing well with handwriting, especially after I showed him samples of Matthew's handwriting in Core 4/5 and he realized how poorly Matthew used to write :) He also loves his Math-U-See. I have him in Primer and almost wonder if he couldn't do Alpha with Matthew, but I'd hate to push him so early.

Anna is doing much better with our schedule. The boys play with her, especially Ben, and she's loving the attention. We've put potty training on hold right now and we're going to leave more of it up to her. We got so excited when she seemed ready and now I think she's taking a break to access things in her mind. So we'll wait. In the meantime, she has developed a skin irritation to diapers, so we're using pull-ups. Matthew did the same thing, as I recall. I think we'll try to find some training pants so she can wear them over her underwear b/c those pull-ups are expensive!!

Rob is plugging away at the Custom Shoppe and they have been warned that they could have four-day weeks until Thanksgiving. I am just loving being an assistant to my upline (who was featured in this month's SU magazine, for those who get that....i.e. Beverly...) and am enjoying helping with her events. I have a few events on my own calendar and am just enjoying the opportunites that come my way.

Friday is field trip day and we're going to explore the new Children's Museum in Madison. Can't wait!!

Joke telling

Today, the kids have been on a joke-telling kick. We'll call this first one "Delivery is everything."

Anna: Knock-knock
Rob: Who's there?
Anna: Interrupting pig.
Rob: Interrupting pig who?
Anna: (long pause) Oink!

(If you don't get it, then you've probably never heard the whole line of interrupting knock-knocks. The point is to deliver the last line while the other person is still saying interrupting whatever. And now that I explained it, it's not funny anymore, is it?)

This one is the combination of two classics.

Ben: Knock-knock
Me: Who's there?
Ben: Dwayne
Me: Dwayne who?
Ben: Why are you crying??

(And again, to ruin the joke, the answer should have been, "Dwayne the bathtub, I'm dwouning!" The answer given is to "Boo" being who is there.)

Ben did get me good with that one, though. His innocent, four-year-old way of delivering what he thought was a hilarious joke was pricless!!

Made of Money?

Today, Matthew put in his request for his next birthday. (????---didn't he just turn six???) He wants the Lego Star Wars Endor set, price tag around $100. Rob told him that is was too expensive and that he might change his mind between now and July. Matthew told Rob that he won't change his mind and he'll bug Rob EVERY DAY about getting the set. Rob still told him no. Matthew then said, "But Dad, you have that card that works everywhere! Why don't you just use that?" Perhaps it's time to take our lessons on money to the next level: explaining the debit and credit cards :)

Promotion Sunday

Today was the designated day for the kids to move up classes in Sunday school and junior church. Matthew, our child that fears change, was NOT happy about it. At. all. I have completely given up on trying to build up excitement for him, because no matter how "cool" I make something sound, he still fears it. Now I just say, "Well, try it once, and if you don't like it we'll figure something out." He was told he had no choice on Sunday school b/c I'm NOT bringing him into an adult class with me, but I have no problem sitting him in the morning service with us. He agreed to try junior church, and of course, he loved it. It helped that the teenagers (and youth pastor) are running it this month, so he knew a few of the teens in there. He was hesitant about moving from Tiny Trackers to Scripture Spies on Wednesday night until we found out who he teacher was. I think for him, as long as he knows the adult in charge, he's okay. Oh, and he loves his new Sunday school class as well.

Ben did not move up classes b/c he already moved up to the four-year-old class back in March. Several of his friends, who have started K-5, moved out this morning, so the class thinned out a bit. All of the preschool and kindergarteners are together for their junior church, so as Ben put it, "The same old people came back into my class later." And we were told his behavior was perfect. We were wondering if having his brother in there was causing a few behavior problems, and were were right.

Miss Anna is still in her two-year-old class, which is also the three-year-old class, so no moving up for her. But she did get a little adventure this morning. Every year when the college students come back, they take a Sunday school class to go over the various ministries the students can get involved in. When the nursery ministry takes it's turn, we take in a few little "helpers" to show off. Anna was one of those. I had told her that she would go with Mommy to the college class. She was very serious about going with me, so serious that when I shot off to take the boys to their classes, she cried and told Daddy she HAD to go with Mommy! I came back to a pouty little girl sitting on Daddy's knee. She got her little sign (all of the kids had cute signs that read "Come play with me" and "Aren't I cute?") and we went off with the other wee ones. And then we waited. Usually, the nursery goes first, but they did us third, so the kids were pretty wiggly by the time they went up front. But they were cute, and that's all that matters.

Rob and I then tried to go to our class, but there were no seats, so we went back to the college class and listened to the remaining ministry presentations. We did find out there is a martial arts class and it sounds like both boys can take it, so we'll check it out. Maybe they can use any skills they acquire to roundhouse-kick some bushes down in the backyard. :)

One week down, 35 to go....

We had kind of a rocky start to our first week of school. Matthew was uncooperative, Ben's reading lessons were frustrating, and the kids took turns being distracted during their sibling's lessons. Oh, and Anna is completely rejecting using the potty. Mommy wasn't feeling well (probably mental and connected to the above events) and very discouraged. So what do we do?

Well, we're regrouping. We have an "if-then" chart for corrections and we plan to reevaluate it and consistently enforce it. Ben and I have decided to break down his reading lessons and do half each day instead of a whole one. I am coming up with better strategies to keep the non-schooled children occupied during the other one's schooltime. I'm going to tweak the schedule (again) to move Anna's reading time with Mommy to the morning to see if she just needs some attention. In other words, we're going to keep working on these issues until we get it right. I will admit I was ready to enroll them in school by the end of the week, but Rob was very encouraging and helped me see the benefits of homeschooling (and seeing the lack of funds for school in the checkbook didn't hurt either, lol!!)

I'm not really ready to give up. I really do want to homeschool the kids...it was just a rough start. I'm hoping that as we continue to work on our schedule, we'll just fall into a good routine.

Rob had Friday off this week, so we did school more condensed and then did some shopping. The boys only needed belts and Ben a winter coat, but it turned out that Anna has MANY needs for the winter. Her most pressing need was pants, as she was down to only one pair of stretch pants. We had some clothing set aside for her, but some if it must have seen one too many kids, because it still smelled like old clothes after washing them. I had to pitch some of them, but that's okay. She has enough for right now. We got her a couple more pair of pants at Kohls and I'm planning to hit the all-city garage sales in two weeks to hopefully finish her list.

Rob took the boys to a Maranatha football game this afternoon. They were pretty excited to go, but it didn't go so well. They couldn't see the whole field and Matthew whined for snacks non-stop. They did like it some, but I don't know if they'll go back anytime soon. I think they enjoyed the Daddy-time more than anything else. Anna and I took a nap while they were gone.

It looks like Rob is going to have four-day weeks until Thanksgiving. We're praying that the orders pick up so he works full weeks or that my stamping takes off. So far I haven't had any large workshops, but I do have two more this month. We'll see what happens.

Right now, I have a toddler in cuddly jammies next to me on the couch playing with her little people. She's so cute :) I think I'll go snuggle with her now.

First Day of School

Today was our first day of school. The boys were rather mixed as to whether or not they really wanted to start. Well, actually, Ben wasn't sure, Matthew knew for a fact he didn't want to do school stuff! We had still been loosely working on our MOTH schedule I had set up back in May, just minus the school stuff. I tweaked it over the past few weeks to eliminate a few things and add a few others in an effort to curtail much of the TV/Wii time that had crept into our day. Last night, I went over their studies for the week and felt pretty ready to go.

According to the newly revised schedule, I was to get up at 5:30 am for my time with the Lord. At one point in time, I used to be a morning person--that ended after I had kids. Rob was good about making sure I got up and had a cup of coffee waiting for me. Then I had my own chore time before it was time to make breakfast. Kind of odd for me, but my personal chore time only fit in early in the morning. I had made cards for the kids while at my mom's, so they had a nice little surprise waiting for them when they awoke. We had a yummy breakfast then it was time for Ben's preschool hour.

Ben and I had a wonderful time together going through his preschool work. He is doing Core 4/5 from Sonlight with kindergarten-level language arts, the Primer book from Math-U-See, and working through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He really enjoyed doing his work and did a great job. He has been working on writing letters on his own, but it was neat to see how well he can write his name for his age. I was impressed with how carefully he printed and how close he came to the proper size for his letters. He also finally breeched the wall we had hit in his reading lesson book. The picture of Ben above is after his school time. The green thing on the wall behind him is this year's skill list, which is supposed to be jail bars. They have to "free" their trip to Toys R Us. Ben just completed his first one this evening--vacuuming!

We took a short break, then it was time for first grade with Matthew. It felt a little like same-old same-old as we started, but there are a few changes this year in Core 1. For one thing, we have a scripture reading each day. We took turns reading the verses and it was a nice start to our time. Our first read-aloud is Charlotte's Web, which is one of Matthew's favorite movies (the Julia Roberts version) so he was hooked from the beginning. I've decided to continue with the Explode the Code series for phonics instead of the suggested books b/c it's hard to switch Matthew mid-stream. We're doing language arts 2-intermediate and it seems to be just right for him. He enjoyed his first reader, which he polished off in no time last night. I'm making him write properly this year, so for copywork we worked on the lowercase letters. Turns out he CAN write them properly, just chooses not to :) Then we finished with the Alpha book from Math-U-See and he did well.

So what was Anna doing at that time? Here's the list: lurking around during Ben's school with Matthew, pulling things out of the boys school boxes, pulling pages from Ben's school binder, helping herself to three packages of fruit snacks (leaving Ben with none), climbing up in the shelves in the pantry, climbing up onto the kitchen counter and breaking my ice cream dish (and cutting herself), jumping on my bed, and for a fraction of time, playing nicely in the living room. Supposedly, the boys are taking turns playing with her, but Matthew kept saying he was bored and wanted to watch TV. We have established a "no TV when someone has schooltime" rule but I broke it at about 10:15 in a desparate attempt to keep Anna occupied. We'll have to have a different strategy tomorrow.

After lunch, we had playtime with Mommy. Today we explored an art wheel that Grandma Litwiller found on clearance somewhere. The paints were dried up (you were right, Grandma!) but the rest of it was pretty neat. The kids and I had a great time making pictures. I had fun coloring with chalks, something I don't think I've done on paper before. Then Anna dumped Matthew's paint water all over Ben's creation and the crayons and I decided we were done.

Anna went down for a nap and the boys and I had science. They are both doing Science K from Sonlight, which we had originally bought for Matthew but never finished....or got past week 4. Planning science into the day should work much better than trying to randomly fit it in :)

We did not finish the schedule for the rest of the day, as it was too hot to send the boys outside to play. They are now having fun with some friends of theirs we're babysitting tonight. All in all, not a bad day, but there is loads of room for improvement :)

Weekend Trip

This past weekend, we trekked down to Illinois for our last trip of the summer. It was filled with quite a few highs and lows, so to speak.

Rob took Friday off, so we travelled down in the morning. I must admit that I much prefer the morning trips as opposed to the afternoon ones! We had lunch with my parents, then Dad went back to work. Mom and I played with the kids while Rob took a nap and prepped himself for what was to come, which was he and the kids leaving me! My mom hosted an SU workshop that night and I had planned to stay overnight with her for some extra stamp time and rest.

And rest I did! I think I stayed put on the couch for about two hours, resting and reading (and eating supper!) Mom had two other people attend her workshop, one being my sister, but a good amount of outside orders. We had a ball stamping together. The next day, Mom and I pulled out the stamp stuff and had some fun making cards and teaching/learning some new techniques. I made cards for the kids for their first day of school. I'll post pics on Facebook once I take them :)

Mom treated me to Dairy Queen for lunch, finalized her order, then we took off for Normal. Rob was pretty happy to see me, but the kids seemed fairly indifferent. I'm sure being distracted at Grandpa and Grandma's made the difference. Mom took off for home and Rob and I got ready for another funeral and to take the kids to my sister's house.

I've been pretty silent about this on FB and the blog, but Rob's cousin's husband was killed in a motorcycle accident last Saturday evening. I guess I've just been processing alot and haven't known what to say. We had just met him at Grandma's funeral four weeks ago so we didn't know him too well, but we do know Holly. He was only 29 years old. It's hard to know what to say at a time like this, but the song that kept popping into my head was, "God never moves without purpose or plan....give thanks to the Lord for the testing seems long, in darkness he giveth a song. Oh rejoice in the Lord/ He makes no mistakes/He knoweth the end of each path that I take/For when I am tried and purified/I shall come forth as gold."

It was pretty tough week for Rob's family and the healing process will be long, but God is here and He hasn't abandoned anyone.

After the funeral, we ate out with Rob's parents, Great-grandma Litwiller (GG), and Grandpa Keen. Anna hadn't napped that day, so she was pretty grumpy at supper. As we were leaving, Ben had to use the bathroom. He took a wrong turn and went back into the restaurant. Rob went to check on him in the bathroom and here he came with a waitress, crying his eyes out! Poor guy!

We went to church with Rob's parents the next day, had lunch, and then left for home. We made good time and had a pretty good trip. Today was our first day of school, which gets it's own blog later...pictures included!

How to Catch a Bug

I took the kids outside to play this morning and Miss Anna wanted to ride Ben's old tricycle. Her feet are just not long enough to pedal efficiently, so she gave up and scoured the front porch for something to play with. She found Ben's bug catcher and I asked her if she wanted to catch some buggies. She said yes, took it off the porch, opened the hatch and yelled, "Hey, buggies! Get in here!" Then she looked inside and said, "They're not in here!" Guess yelling doens't work on bugs :)

Tuesday Morning

Anna and I had an intersting conversation this morning. I was brushing her hair and started asking her questions.

Me: So, do you have any plans for today?
Anna: I'm going to Yoda's house.
Me: Oh, that's interesting. What do you plan to do there?
Anna: I'm going to play with the people there.
Me: Who's going to be there?
Anna: Jamie, Julian, and Kenzie. (Her cousins)
Me: What else do you plan to do?
Anna: I'm going to use the guns.
Me: Are there bad guys at Yoda's house?
Anna: No....

The boys were playing Star Wars this morning, so I think that's where she got her creative inspiration from. Thankfully, we have NO guns in the house (save colorful waterguns and Lego guns) so I'm not too worried.

Tuesdays we've decided to make our outing days. Rob has been getting a ride to work and we take off for the Farmer's Market/park. We didn't have any money this morning, so Matthew got some change from his piggy bank and treated his siblings to a honey stick. We took a nice stack of bread to feed the ducks, who were more than happy to have a nice treat. Anna still won't get too close, but Matthew had them eating right out of his hand...or at least snatching from his hand. We did see one duck with a bent bill, and Matthew prayed that the duck would be okay.

We'll be starting school on Monday. I want to keep our school year close to our church's school calendar so the boys' friends are off school same time as them. I'm fully ready to go (I think) and we're just going to have a bit of a vacation week for the rest of the week.

Friday we take off for Illinois. I'm doing a workshop for my mom and am spending some time with her on Saturday...alone!! I'll have my new stamping tote with me (Greenhouse Gala...for those who care) and I'm going to fill it up with fun goodies to play with. Can't wait!

Couponing it through Our Date

Rob and I went on our anniversary date today, one week late. I was too sick last week to enjoy some time out, so we rescheduled our sitter for today. After reflecting on the date, I realized how funny it was that we used a coupon at nearly every place we went.

After doing one event for my upline (I am now her assistant) I realized I needed a better pair of shoes. So we went to our local shoe store for some good, quality shoes that will hopefully keep my heels from hurting. And I had a $15 off coupon for them. We then went for lunch at Perkins (we have the #1 Perkins in the nation here...even the Dali Lama visited once!) and I had a coupon. Then we headed for Lane Bryant where I found a nice shirt....and used another coupon! Not bad! I've been wanting to start wearing jewelry again since I no longer have little ones that will rip things out of my ears or off my neck, so we headed to the Claire's outlet. No coupon there, but I did catch a sale :)

So it was a pretty nice lunch date and the kids behaved for their sitter. She had recently gone on a missions trip to Uganda, so she brought her laptop and showed them her pictures. They were very impressed! And they behaved well....always a good thing to hear.

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And in the above story, I mentioned being my upline's assistant. Don't think I mentioned that in the blog before, but I was teasing her one day that she needed an assistant to keep her organized. She agreed and I was hired! I help at her major stamp events, craft fairs, and with prep stuff behind the scenes. I also make her deliveries, which I love doing in the new car. And I'm gleaning knowledge that I can use in my own stamp business. I love it!

Fun times with Anna

Anna has been cracking me up lately just being herself. She's such a silly little toddler and so much fun! I don't know if it's because I get to enjoy her toddlerhood without having to care for a baby as well, or if it's just a girl thing, but she's too much fun. She giggles and jumps around and just enjoys life.

Today I was prepping for this next school year and she sat down with me at the table. She then said, "Daddy is at work. Daddy is super happy! He's a good boy." Her new phrase is "I'm super happy!" which she picked up from Ni-Hao Kai-Lan, of course. It does fit her, though, because she's usually super-happy!

This morning, the boys were fighting over who got to play with Anna. It all started when Ben refused to play with Matthew, so he chose Anna instead. Then Ben wanted to play with Anna and it just snowballed from there. Anna didn't care, because she was getting loads of attention from her big brothers!

After her nap today, I got down my two jewelry boxes and gave her one of them. It had been a gift from my grandmother when I was a girl, so I wanted to pass it on to her. She loves jewelry and does pretty well wearing it. I pulled out a few necklaces, rings, and a bunch of dead watches. She had a great time going through it all and chose a fun Pooh Bear necklace to wear for the rest of the day. I love having a girl!

In other news, I decided to give Matthew and I a small summer break from school. We've only being doing history, read-alouds, and phonics anyway, so I'm just going to finish the phonics in first grade and we'll read the other books as time permits. Rob and I each chose a read-aloud to read to Matthew in the afternoon/evenings. He has a few readers of his own to finish that he reads at night. I think we just needed to take a breather before plunging into a new core. Good thing too, because I didn't realize how much prep I had to get ready for the next school year! Much of it is due to over-organization, I'm sure, but we'll get it done. I do have our schedule finished as well and I think it's going to work out well.

Ben is not too excited to be starting K-4. He does not want to learn to read. I think it may be from trying to teach him earlier this summer out of the same book I used for Matthew. We may just change tactics on the reading and let it come a little slower and more naturally for him. I want him to love learning, not dread school time. I know he loves math and he's eager to get into his math work. We're trying Math-U-See this year for both boys.

My Creative Little People

Due to a lack of interest in cleaning up after themselves, the boys have had most of their toys locked up in the toyroom. Ben got to keep a few for at least assisting Rob in cleaning up his room, but Matthew has lost all of his toys for the week. That leaves them with Anna's toys, which consist of a large collection of baby dolls and accessories, a pink Little People house, and purses. So I guess it shouldn't have been too surprising to find them playing "Newborn" this morning.

Rob and I were attemtping to ignore the fact that it was time to get up when the kids came into our bedroom with a baby doll wrapped in a blanket. Matthew explained to us that Anna just had a baby and they were taking care of it. Anna was supposed to be laying on her bed because she was sore. Dr. Matthew and Nurse Ben informed us that they cut the baby out of Anna's tummy and she's too sore to get up (but assured us they didn't use a real knife). The "new" mommy then came into the room and the medical staff scolded her about being out of bed. She then informed them that she didn't want to play anymore, so Ben offered to be the mommy instead. Matthew said he wasn't a girl, so he couldn't be the mommy, and I think at that point Anna agreed to play again.

After they left the room, Rob and I looked at each other. Rob said, "Oooookay....what do we do with this one?" "Easy," I replied, "we blog about it!"

(Just so you don't think my kids are knife-weilding maniacs, they know I had c-sections and just saw a friend of ours with her new baby in the hospital, and she had a c-section as well. That's all they know about how babies are born and I think we'll keep it that way for awhile!)

What I Did to Survive the Heat

This week has just been gross, weather-wise, as I'm sure my mid-western friends are more than aware. We have one air conditioner in the downstairs (for which we are thankful) and that's it. In heat like this, it cools down the study and living room, makes the dining room and kitchen bearable, and makes the upstairs feel like a furnace after all that wonderful coolness. I spent the first two yucky days with a fever, so I was actually fine going upstairs. Rob stared wide-eyed at me as I covered myself up to go to bed Tuesday night, but when your temp is 102.5, a hot room is chilly!!

There was no way I was letting the kids outside to play and it was too hot for Rob to hook up the hose and stand out there for a slip-n-slide. So we got creative. They did go to church on Wednesday, so that helped, but Thursday was a tough one. We decided to give them each their own long, cool bath. Ben and Anna enjoyed theirs, but not Matthew. He prefers a sibling to splash. We also kept them up later so they weren't suffering upstairs. Anna didn't nap yesterday either, since it would have been impossible for her to fall asleep.

They were all up and going stir-crazy this morning, so we changed tactics. In an effort to get Anna to sleep at naptime and keep us cooler, I hunted on-line for the nearest Dairy Queen. I found one in Hartford, about 20 miles away, so we headed out for a nice country drive after lunch. We only had to make one turn, which was also nice, so Rob and I enjoyed a stress-free drive with both Anna and Matthew conked out for naps. Ben enjoyed some peace and quiet in the backseat as well. We had some ice cream treats, then headed back home.

Since then, we've had a board game/toddler game marathon going on all over the house. Matthew and I are in a Labryinth competition right now. It's a neat Discovery Toys game and it would take another post to describe it, but he has come close to beating me. There's alot of smack talking between us, which is just as much fun as the game. I was behind him by a considerable amount tonight, caught up, and then won the game with a big "EAT IT, LITTLE MAN!" coming out of my mouth at the end. He laughed so hard that he fell off his seat, but he said he'll get me tomorrow :)

So I think we'll make it through one more day of heat. It's storming right now, so there's hope that even tomorrow won't be too hot. Which would be nice, since Rob and I will be celebrating our 11th anniversary :)

Ni-Hao, Diaper Free-World!!

Potty-training the daughter has gone into overdrive. She has finally shown a real interest in it and even took herself potty yesterday with great success. Anna has a Ni-Hao Kai-Lan (Knee-how Kie-lan) shirt that she knows she gets to wear if she goes potty, but loses if she wets herself. She's had it on and off today, so we're struggling a bit, but she's getting it!

So here's the haul when this little girl is finally diaper-free: permanent use of the shirt, a Kai-Lan doll on the first completely dry/clean day, and a family trip to Chuck E. Cheese when she has proven to be completely potty-trained (okay, so I'm still trying to convince Rob on that last one). The boys also get 50 cents toward a stamp set they want (Make-A-Monster) each time they take her potty.

Overkill? Not a bit. Shoot, I'd add a trip to Disneyworld to celebrate a diaper-free life if I could afford it!!!!

(FYI--Ni-Hao is Mandarin for "hello" and Kai-Lan is a Chinese version of Dora that is far less annoying and more interesting. And cuter.)

A Long Update

I haven't written for awhile on here, but for very good reason. A day after my last post, Rob's grandmother passed away. She was a sweet lady and while we were sorry to lose her, we're glad that she's pain-free and in heaven now. She will be greatly missed.

Rob got two days off for the funeral, so we headed down to Illinois on the following Tuesday. The kids stayed with my parents while we went to the visitation and the funeral. They had a great time making puppets, cards, running through a sprinkler, going to the park, and other fun things. Grandma even played substitute teacher with Matthew and helped keep his schoolwork on track.

While the events of the two days were sad, we did have a nice time seeing relations we'd hadn't seen in years. After the visitation, Rob and I took his baby brother out for supper. Dan and his wife just had a baby a few days before the funeral, so his wife wasn't with him. We had a great time catching up with him.

The funeral service was beautiful, although I must say that I have never been in or seen a family procession at a funeral service. We all filed in after the casket and left after it as well. Rob's mother and aunt did a great job euglogizing and the message was good as well. The graveside service was interesting, as it was in a masoleum. I absolutely love to walk around cemeteries and study gravesites, so I got a bit too distracted looking around at the walls of the building, I'm afraid. But the short service there was nice as well.

After the luncheon, we headed back to pick up the kids and come home. It was an exhausting trip for sure, but made better by knowing the kids behaved themselves for my mom. :)

Since then, I have been busy with my stamping business. No huge workshops yet, but it's steady. I'm starting a class in September, so hopefully that will help things along. I am also my upline's assistant now and am excited to learn lots from her.

Matthew is finishing up his kindergarten material, quick style. I wasn't going to push things, but I decided to have him finish and start first grade at the same time his friends head off to first grade. He's aware of these things now, so I didn't want him to feel awkward around his friends. Ben will start K-4 at the same time Matthew starts first grade. He's not too thrilled about it yet, but hopefully it goes well :)

I am getting over a weird cold/fever thing, so I think I'll have to end this post. I had a temp of 102 for most of yesterday, so my body is rather weak today. And I'm noticing WAY more typos than usual, so time to go :)

Will You Do Push Ups With Me???

Yesterday, the boys and I somehow got on the topic of diamonds. Matthew said he had never seen one, so I told him I had one on my engagement ring and some earrings. I then explained what engagement was and tried to demonstrate to the boys how to propose to a girl. I told them to get down on one knee. Neither one of the boys would try it, being a little shy around Mom, I guess. Finally, Ben decided to do it. He got into a push up position and lifted one leg off the ground. I suppose that might work :)