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.