The Burnham Family

Tristan's growing even more

2009-07-09T08:53:00.001-06:00

Not only has he lost a tooth, he's decided he can now ride a bike without training wheels! He wants to go to the skate park every day all day now so he can ride. Good thing for helmets and pads! Here's a little video of him doing his new trick riding in this little dip area at the skate park (and no he doesn't do the scary stuff... yet...) At the rate we're going he's going to be driving next month!

A toothless grin!

2009-06-26T12:06:00.003-06:00

Tristan lost his first tooth while we were camping! He was SO excited!! He even has a 2nd loose tooth right next to it. The tooth fairy just visited him last night (I told him she can't fly in the mountains cause there were too many trees). He was so excited to wake up to find a dollar under his pillow this morning!

A much needed vacation

2009-06-26T12:02:00.002-06:00

We went to Moon Lake up in the high Uintahs. Other than the rain storm on the way there it was perfect weather all week. The lake was SO high from the last time we were there. It was crazy how much overflow there was at the dam.

The view driving in, after the nasty hail storm. We saw a power line get hit by lightening and had ping pong ball sized hail.
A chipmunk in his home. There were like 4 in this tunnel and they were everywhere along with squirrels galore.

Brown Duck River. We walked to this around part of the lake.

Griffin fishing

Tristan fishing

View of the lake from the dam

Tristan on our hike. Once we got to the river we had to go up the side of the mountain farther just to check it out.

The otherside of the lake. If you can see the sandy beach on the other side of the lake that's where the campgrounds are and where we started. It's about 4 miles round trip (we walked it 2x)

Tristan at the top of the mountain sorta (with an owl feather in his hat that he found)

How Griffin spent most of our first hike.. carried by grandpa

Griffin after surviving the hike

The last night looking at a map with Grandpa about all the trails we took and could take. Me and Tristan started on one that would have taken us farther up the river we saw but far from the lake.

The boys around the campfire

The boys exploring by a little stream

A possible bear cave we found near the stream. Perfect size for hibernating

Tristan posing near the bear cave

Griffin was less than happy at this point cause we didn't go the way he wanted.

Tristan and a very grouchy Griffin

A very unhappy Griffin

All my boys

Tristan and dad

Playing by the stream, Tristan was teaching Griffin how to balance on the log.

Snail Love

2009-06-08T21:09:00.000-06:00

Griffin cracks me up! I love that kid. He has a "pet" snail. He carries it all over and has tried to sleep with it. He keeps it in a basket. I told him he should take it outside so he can find food/water etc. He said "No, my wuv him. My bufer (brother) gave him to me." with the biggest pouty face and puppy dog eyes you've ever seen. I'll have to get a pic of his pet before it dies lol

First Loose Tooth!

2009-06-05T09:54:00.001-06:00

My baby is growing up!!! Last night at dinner he said mom I think I hurt my tooth. I didn't think so since it was just grilled cheese sandwiches so I asked to look at it and sure enough he has his first loose tooth! It's on the bottom right. I almost cried right then and there! Loose teeth, Kindergarten and he's almost 6! Who said he could grow up???

In other news he had his Kindergarten Assesment the other day and he did great! He can write his name, knew 17 capital letters and 10 lower case letters, counted to 12, knew all his shapes and colors, some letter sounds and could show which pictures started with the sound given by the teacher. He just needs some practice on pencil holding, rhyming and phonics. But so far so good! I'm so proud of him!

They gave him a book before he left and I showed him how to read the first page (the horse is brown) and he "read" the entire book by himself. I think it was mostly picture reading but before that know one else had read that book to him! I can't get over that he'll be reading soon too!

In some Griffin news, he knows the letter T and the letter O. I had no idea lol! We were sitting waiting for tristan's testing to finish and they had magnetic letters out there to play with. he grabbed each t and brought it to me and said t mom. T. Then he found all the O's and said o, mom, o! So proud of him! His speech seems to be getting a tiny bit better too, but he has a long ways to go!

Her blog

2009-05-31T13:51:00.001-06:00

So I'm slow and forgot to post Nicole's blog. She's the one that took my boys pics. Check her out she's great!

http://photographybynicoleroberts.blogspot.com/

My handsome little men

2009-05-29T12:12:00.003-06:00

A friend of mine does photography (ok several of them do) but this one needed practice with older kids. So she practiced with my kids. They weren't totally cooperative but I think the pics really show their personalities lol Here's a few of the pics from the shoot.

8's meme

2009-05-29T11:57:00.002-06:00

Here be Da Rules:1. Mention the person who tagged you.2. Complete the list of 8's.3. Tag 8 other bloggers.4. Tell them they have been tagged.

I was tagged by Jen, Abby and Tonya

Eight Things I Look Forward To:

1- having more money now that I work FT
2- vacation at the end of june
3- Tristan starting kindergarten in the fall
4- Tina's baby coming today :D
5- some sleep would be nice
6- going camping this summer
7- a clean house .. that stays relatively clean.
8- just life in general

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do

1- go to sleep right now
2- stay home with my kids and afford it
3- live in a larger house
4- have dogs that behave
5- visit some of my internet buddies I've known for almost 6 yrs and have never met
6- get all my sewing projects caught up
7- get my scrapbooks all caught up
8- take a nap

Eight Shows I Watch
1- house
2- bones
3- ellen
4- Road Rules/Real World challenge (the Duel) yes I'm a nerd
5- AI
6- So you Think you can Dance
7- Ghost hunters
8- Doll House

Restaurants:
1- McDonalds
2-Wendy's
3- Subway
4- Ixtapa
5- Crown Burger
6-Denny's
7- Dairy Delight
8- American Burger

8 of my Quirks:
1- I need lots of sleep to function properly
2- am addicted to working out but don't get to go as often anymore :(
3- not nearly as shy as I used to be
4- I snore.. really loud.. pretty sure it's sleep apnea but it's really embarrassing to sleep around anyone
5- I love my mommies group a ton!
6- Before my mommies group almost all of my friends existed in my computer
7- I met dh online, and have met some of my online buddies IRL
8- I have been married before... yes people are always shocked

Eight Friends I Am Tagging:

Let's see... my mommy friends who need tagging.

Michelle
Camille
Marcie

anyone else who may or may not read my blog lol

Eight Things I Did Yesterday

1- went on a tour of a small fire station
2- took Tristan to his kindergarten check up
3- ate at wendy's
4- Skipped soccer practice
5- stayed up way too late with a feverish and sick 5 yr old and a wired 3 yr old who took a power nap at 9pm
6- had pizza for dinner
7- read my book (Nineteen Minutes)
8- took a shower

That was fast...

2009-05-21T20:59:00.002-06:00

As of next week I officially go Full time at the gas station. I was offered the position of 3rd assistant manager and I took it. We could really use the money and it's a good opportunity so I took it! I had no desire to go FT when I started but now it just makes sense since I work close enough to FT as it is. Might as well get paid more too LOL

End of a Journey

2009-05-02T12:32:00.002-06:00

For the last 5 1/2 yrs I have had my own little crafty business making children's items. It started out making baby blankets and slowly grew and grew into making over 10 different items for kids! I have gotten to a point I don't have time to sew as often anymore and I'm shutting it down :(. No more craft shows, no more online sales (aside from an occasional order for friends). 5 1/2 yrs isn't too bad though!

I am clearing out my inventory as I still have quite a bit so anyone is interested please let me know :) The lists are in my myspace blog at http://www.myspace.com/shannonscreations2006

I will be listing fabric on there soon too so I can clear out my many many drawers and totes of it and make some room in my craft room!

Thank you all for your support over the last 5+ yrs I couldn't have done it with out you all!!

Griffin's Spring School Picture

2009-04-15T17:45:00.002-06:00

I didn't even know they were taking pictures but he's super cute!

The first time in 5 1/2 yrs

2009-04-08T17:53:00.001-06:00

I have an actual job with a schedule and a pay check outside of my house. It's only part time at a local gas station but money is money and a job is a job! I enjoy it so far but am still adjusting to working again and taking the boys to the sitter and of course the joy of being on my feet for 4 or more hours at a time :| This should help us out a ton money wise though!

First Camping Trip of the Season

2009-03-31T15:04:00.003-06:00

Jason decided last minute to go camping with friends this weekend. We were just going to go visit but ended up camping instead. It was lots of fun and a beautiful day until about 1:30am when I thought for sure our trailer was going to take flight. Sunday morning we got up, hurried to eat and packed up and just barely left right as the snow started moving in!

Tristan with his new headlight

Setting up the camper

Griffin around the fire pit

Playing catch with Bruce's dogs

Griffin and his headlight

Griffin playing a bean bag toss type game. He was doing really well from this distance!

My Weight Loss Journey

2009-03-27T13:46:00.001-06:00

I started working on losing weight Jan 1st. Late January I bought me some cute shorts and a tshirt a size smaller than what I normally wear. I tried them on then. The shorts fit pretty well (yay) but the shirt was very snug and I felt stuffed in it. As I was doing laundry today hanging up clothes I came across it again and pulled it out to try it on just for the heck of it. It fits! The only really snug part is in the arm but it FITS! I'm seriously beyond excited!!!

I am down about 12lbs.. not a huge loss yet but baby steps!

Another Griffin update

2009-03-10T15:36:00.002-06:00

We had an ultrasound done on the lump on his leg today at Primary's Children hospital this morning. It's what is called a bakers cyst which is most likely from him getting hurt (doing what, I'm not sure) and caused the fluid to accumulate behind the knee. His reg pediatrician called and said that it should eventually heal on its own and that we can cancel our appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. I'm so relieved! I wish I knew what triggered it but at least we know now what it is!

Griffin's First day of Preschool

2009-03-09T17:57:00.001-06:00

went really well.

He's been SO excited since we got his back pack. He carried it everywhere and even slept with it last night.

This morning he couldn't decide WHAT to wear... I finally steered him away from buzz light year jammies to regular pants and shirt lol.

Tristan was good til it really dawned on him that we were dropping Griffin off with out him. He cried and cried that he'd miss him and refused to walk up to the door to drop Griffin off.

Gman did SO good going with his teacher. He just gave me one look to make sure it was ok he left and off he went! We went to the gym while he was in and tristan wanted to go pick him up right after but we had another hour to wait. PIcked him up and he was excited to see me but more excited to see Tristan. They had a note in his bag that said he did participate in the calendar time. He picked sand table and painting during centers. Played with his friend Ashlynn (never met her lol and she's the only girl in his class). And he had oranges for a snack and that he was happy today. so over all it went really well! I didn't cry either just got a little misty when he left.

Kindergarten

2009-02-27T15:13:00.003-07:00

Today was Kindergarten registration for the 09-10 School Year. I can't believe Tristan is going to be starting school in a short 6 mths. He'll be attending West Elem here in Tooele. I'm not sure I'm prepared for that just yet! He's very excited to go but a tiny bit nervous too. he will be one of the oldest in his class since he'll be nearly 6 by time school starts! I know he'll love it but he's my baby! Thankfully he has a few friends already that go to that school, just sucks they are at least 1 grade above him.

Is it spring yet?

2009-02-23T14:11:00.002-07:00

Sorry I haven't update for a few weeks the last couple weeks have been crazy! Me and Jason were both sick with sore throats for the first 2 weeks of Feb. As soon as we got better we joined the new Gold's Gym out here and were excited to get going. That evening we went to dinner with my parents for Valentine's day and Griffin spiked a fever. He had it on Monday too so no Gym. Tues I had a fitness evaluation so I dropped the kids in the day care and left. Not even 15 mins later they come to get me to tell me he had thrown up. lovely. Thankfully my friend Sarah could come and get him and watch him at my house until Jason got home from work. He didn't throw up for 24 hrs so we tried to go back to the gym Weds for Jason's fitness evaluation. Went to pick him up and he suddenly had pink eye *sigh*. I whip out the drops I had from last time and start treatment. The next day as he's walking past (naked of course my kids never wear clothes at home) I notice a lump on his leg that's not baby fat. No it looks like someone took a bouncy ball and stuck it under his skin. Immediate call in to the dr. She runs a CBC test and an LDH test to see if it's more than a cyst. I stress all night, all day friday when they finally call to say the CBC is perfectly normal but the LDH isn't back yet. The LDH is the scary it could be cancer test. So I stress all weekend, I got sick, threw up, Tristan has had a fever all weekend and Jason's been sick too. I got the call this morning that his LDH came back NORMAL. I am so relieved that my baby doesn't have something scary. Now we'll just wait for the order for an ultrasound to be done and then meet with a general surgeon at primary children's hospital to decide what's next for the mystery lump. Needless to say it's been a very long and stressful week and half. I'm so done with it all and wish it was spring so we can be done with being sick and I can get in the gym! My body is just craving the work out and it sucks not being able to go! Funny to think that *MY* body craves the gym. I did get in there Friday thought and decompressed from the anxiety I was feeling because of "the lump". Amazing what 90 mins in a gym will do for your mental state.

Small weight loss update

2009-02-09T09:46:00.003-07:00

I've been sick this last week and been a slacker on the work out dept because the one time I tried I ended up on the floor hacking LOL Anywho... aside from that I worked out over 22 HOURS in the month of January! This month I'm at a measly hour but all well. I stepped on the scale this morning and am down 10 lbs!!!!

Last night I got me a cute new summer outfit at walmart and bought a size smaller in pants and shirt than I would normally buy........... and they fit! Well the shirt is snug in the tummy but hey I at least was able to get it ON. And the pants fit perfectly!

Anywho just had to share cause I'm so excited!

Just for you!

2009-02-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

Something just for you! Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Good luck!

The results are in...

2009-01-26T13:51:00.002-07:00

Head start called me back today and said that Griffin qualifies for speech services. He passed his cognitive test perfectly fine and his vision test. Setting up his retest on hearing this week. But on articulation she said he scored at 3% (which I'm not sure is 100% accurate because he was SO shy) which means 97% of kids his age score higher than him. So he definitely qualifies. He'll be going to class 2x a week for 2 1/2 hrs each day. he can ride the bus (which makes me cry to think of my baby riding a bus all alone!) I just have mixed emotions over the whole thing. Anywho.. that's all I know so far. We'll have his IEP meeting in the next week or so before he starts.

I'm somewhat relieved that I know the process fairly well... seeing as that's my partial minor from college. So I know the IEP process and what not... just never thought I'd be going through it for my own child.

Vote for Tiffany

2009-01-24T20:23:00.001-07:00

I'm just passing this along for my friend. I know not many read my blog but for those that do... please vote!

Honestly I have never met Tiffany. I came across her blog through my friend Kim's blog. I have never cried so hard over a blog story my entire life! You can read it HERE (warning you will need a tissue!!!) It is the story of her pregnancy in which she learns that her daughter's chances are that she won't live beyond birth and her decision to carry her as close to full term as possible.

Anyway the voting part. Tiffany gave birth just over a week ago to her angel Emma. Emma died shortly into labor. Tiffany is a finalist for a makeover and I think that she so deserves it. You can vote HERE.

If nothing else do it for me!

Thanks!
Camille

Let's see how much I really read

2009-01-22T14:44:00.001-07:00

I love reading although the last few years it's been nearly non existant til recently. These are the top 200 novels... not sure how many i've actually read. Bold are ones I've read. Italics are ones I'd like to read.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence Life of Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews

Ummm apparently not enough. 10 of 200.. wow I better get reading!

The simple things

2009-01-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ahhh to be a child again and take joy in the simplest things in life. Yesterday was our big grocery shopping day. I went with out Jason this time and just went with the boys which is always an adventure. While looking for the right razors for Jason, Tristan comes RUNNING back so excited "MOM! Come look at the new toothbrushes in town!!!" LOL It was a astronaut one and a soccer toothbrush and he was SO excited! Too bad they were $6, but ya know they ARE the new toothbrushes in town hehe.

Later on we make it to the fruit snack aisle. We can't ever pass that up. Tristan runs to go pick out his box and immediately yells "MOM!!! They got new fruit snacks!!!!" He was SO excited that they now had Operation (the game) fruit snacks. So of course they each had to have a box. There was another lady in the aisle just laughing and laughing but she reminded me to enjoy the excitement of fruit snacks while it lasts because they grow up, then pointed to her teenage daughter who was trying really hard NOT to laugh.

Putting it out there to the world

2009-01-14T14:30:00.002-07:00

I figure if I post it to the world (or at the least the 5 people that read my blog) I will hold myself more accountable! I have always been the big girl since I was 13. I thought I was HUGE back then... I had no idea. I am to the point I have to do something so I can be around to see my grandkids. I'm not unhealthy. I have no immediate health concerns other than my weight! So I am putting it out there that I will lose weight and I will keep it off (unlike in the past).

I have been working for almost 2 weeks now doing exercise of some kind every.single.day. I lost a few lbs the first week but they have since come back but I will keep going. I have to. Tristan is so good about reminding me to work out and he will even do my obnoxious Denise Austin Cardio work out with me LOL I just wish I had his energy! After 30 mins he still wants to do more and more!

Now I'm not living like a rabbit. I love my food but I am watching what I eat and most importantly how much! That seems to be my biggest problem, not so much what I'm eating but I can't eat for 3 people. So if you happen to read this..help me stay accountable and on track. They say it takes 3 weeks to form a new habit. I'm about half way there. If I can make it a month I think I'll be good to go!

Griffin's 3 yr old Check up

2009-01-13T15:24:00.002-07:00

He is almost 36 lbs and 38 inches tall. He's thinning out a lot and is a little on the tall side for his age. His ears are now dewaxified. NASTY NASTY NASTY. But he was such a trooper for it all. His left ear is slightly irritated... not sure if it's from the wax or if it's slightly infected. She said to wait til later this week or early next week before doing the hearing test to see if it goes back to normal and if he fails on that ear to call her for antibiotics. Otherwise he's healthy as a horse, got 5 shots and only cried for the Measles and Chk pox shot. Walked out spoiled with a new bob the builder book, a sucker, a sticker and starbursts.

Now we just wait to see if this fixes the speech or not. *crossing fingers*

Got tagged again

2009-01-12T11:11:00.004-07:00

Similiar to the last one but not the same. Thanks Sarah :P

8 favorite TV shows
1~ Biggest Loser
2~ Bones
3~House
4~ American Idol
5~ Ellen
6~ What Not to Wear
7~ Drive Ins and Dives
8~ Jon and Kate plus 8

8 Favorite Restaurants

1~Red Robin
2~ Denny's (lame I know!)
3~ ummm Crown burger?
4~Ruby Tuesday
5~ Virgs
6~ Ixtapa (lame again but we don't have many places to eat around here!)
7~ Training Table
8~ Mimi's Cafe

8 things that happened yesterdy

1~ worked out
2~ deep cleaned my living room
3~ played Star Wars Monopoly
4~ ate LOL
5~ made jello
6~ watched tv
7~ laundry
8~ read more of my book (Angels & Demons)

8 things to look forward to

1~ Bonkos this weekend
2~ our refinance finishing up
3~ TooeleMommies bday party
4~ TooeleMommies bday party being OVER LOL
5~ Joining Gold's Gym
6~ working out more so I can be skinnier
7~ dinner tonight
8~ my electrical work being done in my house

8 things on my wishlist

1~ for my house to stay clean
2~ to lose weight
3~ for Jason to keep his job
4~ getting out of debt
5~ the economy to get better
6~ losing a bunch of weight
7~ keeping that bunch of weight OFF
8~ healthy family and friends

8 people I tag

I'm not sure 8 people read my blog... so again.. if you read, consider yourself tagged!

Griffin's Speech Evaluation

2009-01-09T11:50:00.001-07:00

Today was Griffin's speech evaluation because he's still not speaking very clearly. We won't have the results for 3-4 wks but after he warmed up he did ok. Didn't get the hearing test done because his ears are packed in wax.. have to fix that and take him back. Passed his vision, barely got him to talk for the articulation which was the most important. All of them get tested on cognitive just because. He aced that. He was doing things that 5 yrs old should do and did decent for a 3 yr old on the 6 and 7 yr old stuff. So it just reaffirmed he's brilliant and just doesn't talk... although the wax may be the culprit!

National Bankruptcy Day!

2009-01-05T19:52:00.002-07:00

I'm quoting my dear friend Melissa because she couldn't have said it any better. This Act will put my business out of business. It's really sad that it was even allowed to pass

Soon, a United States law will go into affect that will have a profound impact on small business, including many of my friends and loved ones. It is called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. It is a law that in essence, prohibits anyone from selling products to children under twelve without rigorous lead testing. This includes ANY products intended for use by a child. Small businesses, Etsy, E-bay, Craigslist, Freecycle, thrift stores, garage sales, even hand-me-downs are included in this measure.

I am disgusted. PLEASE write to your congressmen!

All items that haven't been tested for lead by February 10th will be required to be thrown into a landfill. I am disgusted that the country I live in, who boasts of its many freedoms, would do something as heinous as this.

What makes me even sicker is that OUR house passed it with no nays and only a few in the Senate. I have a pit in my stomach. I can only imagine who is in the back pockets of these lawmakers.

For living in a country that boasts being a democracy, it sure feels a lot like communism.

To see more about National Bankruptcy Day SEE HERE

An article to see how this will effect thrift stores SEE HERE

How it will effect small business like Etsy SEE HERE

For a Facebook group that helps you to see how you may be able to change the law SEE HERE

In addition you can also vote against it here: http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

Help the Mommies Network! We need a new server!

2009-01-02T16:25:00.002-07:00

As most of you know I am the Site Admin of TooeleMommies.com. We are just one site of over 100 sites that make up The Mommies Network. We need help raising money to get us a bigger and better server. You do NOT need to be a member of TooeleMommies or any other mommies site (but if you want to be you can check out www.themommiesnetwork.org to see if there is a site in your area). It is at no cost to you to help us raise this money just some of your time :)

[Cough] [cough] The system health is strained due to overwork and lack of sleep.
Write reviews and help TMN raise money for a new server so we won't have to see this message any more!

Save the Server!

The Mommies Network needs your help. We are raising money to pay for a new server. In order to continue growing, we need to add a new server to our system. At this point, we are unable to add any more sites to our network because we are maxed out (have you seen the "[Cough] [cough] The system health is strained due to overwork and lack of sleep." message at the bottom of the screen?). The basic server we need is at least $5,000. The more money we raise, the better quality server we can purchase. Our goal is to raise $10,000 during this fundraiser. The fundraiser runs from Sunday, January 4 through Sunday, January 25.

How can you help?
Join Insider Pages http://www.insiderpages.com/fundraisers/The-Mommies-Network-0901 and write reviews for businesses that you have patronized in the last 24 months. Invite your friends and families to write reviews as well - they do NOT need to live in your area, this is a national fundraiser ;) The more people who are writing reviews, the more successful this fundraiser will be! Our goal is to have all of our members write at least 10 reviews over the three weeks of the fundraiser. Each review can earn up to $1.50 for The Mommies Network! Every little bit helps!

You win too!
Your members have four chances to raise money for your site too!

* When TMN raises $1000, we will pick one participating site to receive $50 for a site party/event, and that site will receive a special theme color.

* When TMN raises $2500, we will pick one participating site to receive $100 for a site party/event, and that site will receive a special theme color.

* When TMN raises $5000, we will pick 1 participating site to receive $125 for a site party/event, and that site will receive a special theme color.

* When TMN raises $10,000, we will pick 1 participating site to receive $150 for a site party/event, and that site will receive a special theme color.

*A participating site is any site that has 10% or more of their members register, join their site team and write at least one review. Based on membership numbers as of December 2008.

Join Your Site's Team!
Want to get that prize for your local site!? Join their team in helping TMN SAVE THE SERVER!
Here are step by step instructions on how to get into your team and how you can participate!
Go To: http://www.insiderpages.com/fundraisers/The-Mommies-Network-0901
Click on the Join This Fundraiser.
Choose 'Select a Team' (located under Your Contribution on the right hand side)
Select your site's name from the drop down menu and join!

Keep up to date on our progress! Visit http://themommiesnetwork.blogspot.com to view updated progress on the fundraiser, participating sites, and more.

The fine print from Insider Pages:
* You must be at least 18 years old to participate.
* Your experience with the business or service reviewed must be a first-hand experience. No hearsay please.
* Your experience with the business or service provider must have occurred within the last 24 months.
* The reviewed company must still be in business.
* Reviews of restaurant chains (McDonalds, Outback Steakhouse, KFC, etc.), gas station chains, movie theater chains and national or regional chain stores (Target, Dollar Tree, Home Depot etc.) DO NOT qualify. You are welcome to write reviews for these businesses but they will not earn your organization money for the fundraiser. Most people are pretty familiar with these businesses and there tends to be little differentiation city to city and state to state. In other words, these are businesses that do not require a word-of-mouth referral so reviews of these businesses are of little value to people like you – and to our community of users.
* Copied reviews in whole or in part from any other sources do not qualify.
* Profanity, abusive or offensive language in reviews, reviews alleging illegal activity or malpractice, and reviews deemed inappropriate by Insider Pages editors do not qualify.
* Proper grammar, punctuation and spelling must be used. No "text speak" or ALL CAPS.
* Business owners and employees/associates are not allowed to review themselves. Instead, business owners should claim their business profile page and customize it by adding information, photos, special offers, their story, and more – all for FREE.
* If you are adding a new business to the Insider Pages database, please make sure to the best of your ability that the listing is not a duplicate and that the company's current contact information is provided. Information provided must be able to be verified by a third party source including another website, a business card, receipt, directory listing or other reliable source.
* Personal information or messages including email addresses, URLs, phone numbers and postal addresses (or both first and last name of an individual unless their name is also part of the business name) that are not already publicly available.
* Review submissions must be entered directly on the Insider Pages website.
* Reviews not meeting our terms and conditions or deemed inappropriate by Insider Pages editors do not qualify.

Thank you for supporting The Mommies Network!

Welcome Kai!

2008-12-27T12:42:00.002-07:00

We have a new nephew in the family. Jason's step sister and her hubby just adopted a little guy from Ethiopia and he's home now with his new family. His new name is Kai Nuredin (Nuredin is his birth name)

Welcome Kai!

8 Things tag

2008-12-18T13:23:00.002-07:00

I'm bored and Camille unofficially tagged me because I read her blog LOL So here it goes

TV Shows that I Watch

House
Bones
Biggest Loser
Jon and Kate Plus 8
Dancing with the Stars
American Idol
So you think you can Dance
Dog the Bounty Hunter

Books I Recommend

Twilight
Anything Mary Higgins Clark
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn
The Host
Pelican Brief (although the movie is better lol)
Series of Unfortunate Events series

Things that Happened Yesterday

Finished almost all my Xmas orders
Went to the dollar store
Went to the DI
Made my boys sad (I feel like crap for it too!)
Hung out with my sick son
Started reading a new book
Put gas in the truck
Nearly got stranded 2 ft from the gas pupm because the truck was on fumes

Things I Look Forward To

Christmas
Christmas being over LOL
TooeleMommies site bday party
Paying off bills
tax returns!
The next scrapbook expo
preschool next month with more kiddos!
Coffee break with the girls tonight!

Things on My Wish List

For my eletrical in my house to be upgraded
For my house to be warmer
a serger sewing machine.
A clean house that STAYS clean
Less bills (or more money either way)
Griffin to talk more clearly
To lose 50-100lbs (over time)
Get my scrapbooks caught up (hahahaha)

Things I Love about Winter

It ends.
My boys playing in the snow
warm cozy blankets
not sweating to death cause it's 90 degrees in my house
pretty untouched snow in the morning.
hot cocoa
Christmas is during it
Only 3 more months til spring (I hope!)

People I Tag

Ummm anyone that actually reads my blog? LOL

Cutting down the tree

2008-12-12T13:51:00.001-07:00

I believe!

2008-12-12T13:33:00.002-07:00

Weds was our Kids Christmas party for TooeleMommies. We had crafts, games and cookies and milk and Santa! He was THE Santa!! I believe!!!

Tristan is still scared of him so he wouldn't go near him but I finally got Griffin up there.

Happy Hanukkah!

2008-12-09T16:14:00.003-07:00

Yes.. I know I'm not Jewish but I decided that my preschoolers needed to learn about more than just Christmas so we did a week dedicated to Kwanzaa and Hanukkah! My friend the Fode is Jewish and suggested we have latkes (aka potato pancakes) for snack. So we did! The kids INHALED them. They even had them traditionally dipped in applesauce and jelly.. you can do ice cream too ;)

Here's our latkes frying and draining!

After snack we enjoyed playing with the driedle too! Happy Hannukah (later this month) to my Jewish friends!

In my completely unbiased opinion

2008-12-05T21:38:00.001-07:00

My son is beautiful!

Cause I'm bored

2008-12-03T16:42:00.004-07:00

Wrapping paper or gift bags? umm wrapping paper cause it's fun to open
Real tree or Artificial? prefer real but have a fake until I have dogs that won't pee on it *sigh*
When do you put up the tree? Whenever I get around to it.
When do you take the tree down? When I remember LOL
Do you like eggnog? super yummy!!
Favorite gift received as a child? Umm can't think of anything right now
Hardest person to buy for? My dad and Griffin
Easiest person to buy for? Tristan
Do you have a nativity scene? nope
Mail or email Christmas cards? ummm neither usually I am horrible at remembering!
Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Clothes that were 3 sizes too big :(
Favorite Christmas Movie? Umm polar express
When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually Dec 15th when jason gets his xmas bonus. Sad but true!
Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yes
Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mashed potatoes LOL
Lights on the tree? ummmm people don't put lights on their tree?
Favorite Christmas song? Umm must go find it but it's by Kurt Bestor I think it's called Prayers of the children such a sweet song.. not sure it's Christmas but I love it! Oh youtube you must all listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si4-gOqqlB8 and anything by Mannheim Steamroller!
Travel at Christmas or stay home? we just go to my mom's house
Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? possibly
Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
Most annoying thing about this time of the year? greedy people
Favorite ornament theme or color? uhhh blue and white is pretty. We have no theme ever.
What do you want for Christmas this year? a serger sewing machine and a cricut... or some bills paid off by someone other than me :D

We are thankful!!

2008-11-27T16:21:00.003-07:00

I know it's just that time of year but the last few weeks have made me more thankful than ever.

I am thankful that Jason has a job still and that it mostly allows me to stay home with my boys.

I am thankful for:
my children, even on the days they drive me nuts!
my husband, even when he drives me nuts too LOL
my husband's employer... they are awesome even if times suck right now
my parents
that we have a roof over our head and food in our kitchen
2 working vehicles that are paid in full
for my friends who are always there for me
for TooeleMommies that allowed me to make the wonderful friends I have
for The Mommies Network for creating an organization that brings amazing moms together and supports them!

I'm sure there are many more things I am thankful for but I can't name them all. I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday with or without your families. Eat lots of potatoes and turkey and pie... and be thankful it's there! Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been awhile

2008-11-24T16:14:00.002-07:00

We've been really busy lately with the holidays, preschool and family. Preschool is going great but I'm sad to lose Xander next month as he goes to a new school. I have lots of interest for the next session that starts in January so I hope to have a full "class room" by then!

The boys are getting big as ever and keep getting random colds thank to the lovely time of year. I still can't get over that I have a 5 and 3 yr old!

Jason had a nice scare at work last week. They laid off 8 people. Thankfully he still has a job... and hopefully he can ride this out and keep his job until the economy gets better again! If not... we'll make things work. Just means i may have to get a part time job at night to make up some money.

Had Thanksgiving dinner with Jason's family yesterday. Good food and the boys had fun! This week is Turkey day with my family, thanksgiving friday with my dad's family and then we're going to pick up the Christmas tree on Saturday. It's a busy busy weekend and I can't believe it's almost Dec!

I saw Twilight with my friends this weekend and totally loved it! The book was of course WAY better but I thought they did a great job on the movie and I can't wait until New Moon will be released... not soon enough!

TooeleMommies Halloween Party!

2008-10-29T21:05:00.002-06:00

Today was my mommies group Halloween party. Last year we had about 20 show up. This year.... nearly 100!! It was crazy but lots of fun!

Here's a slideshow of our pics.

Tristan's last soccer game

2008-10-29T18:20:00.002-06:00

His season has been over for almost 2 wks but I've been too busy to update. This is how Tristan spent his entire last game...

And here I thought he was over it. *sigh* Not even that lofthouse cookie bribe would get him to play or not cry. Hopefully spring goes better!

Griffin had a good time though LOL

Pumpkin Walk

2008-10-29T18:11:00.003-06:00

Every year I have a craft booth at the Pumpkin walk. The boys love it and there's lots of free things for them to do. Here's some pics from this year.

Griffin got his face painted

The cutest snake you'll ever see

Notice the legs? LOL

Another Birthday Party

2008-10-29T18:04:00.002-06:00

This past Sunday (yes I'm way behind) was Tristan's 5th Birthday Party. He decided on dinosaurs for the theme and the kids had a blast!

Autumn and Colby coloring dinos

Griffin and Jordan stamping dinos

Digging for dinos

Autumn found the purple one!

Singing

Blowing out the candles on his cookie cake

Things I've done

2008-10-14T12:30:00.001-06:00

Stole this from the lovely Marcie... to participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. Happy discoveries!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Apparently I need to get out more LOL

Griffin's 3rd birthday party

2008-10-05T19:03:00.002-06:00

That's right... my baby is turning 3! I can't believe it :( :) We had his party this weekend. It was a pirate theme. Here are a few pics.

Nearly 3 yr old pirate Griffin

Cupcakes

Pirate treasure boxes

Playing trains

Callista coloring pirate pages

Opening presents

Jason's family will be in california during Tristan's party so he got his gifts from them early and showed them off sitting on Kyle's lap

Playing with the new toys

Ring Slings

2008-10-05T19:02:00.003-06:00

I started making a new product since I get requests for them often and my friend jayme stopped making them.. ring slings!
Here's a picture of one

Soccer pics

2008-10-02T16:40:00.001-06:00

Tristan only has a few games left (one being tonight). These pics are from last Saturday. They lost by 1 pt 4-5. It was very confusing as both teams were blue... and only a few shades different! So much for stressing not stealing the ball from your team mate LOL They did great at that but were hardly playing in the process.

Preschool pics

2008-10-02T16:36:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to share some new pics from preschool. We're having a great time and the boys are doing so well! It amazes me all the time the things they pick up so quickly!

Working on writing their letters A-D (big and small)

Griffin coloring farm animals (Jordan is too above... they're not quite to letter writing)

Our learning wall

Coloring "BLUE" Books

Sharks, stingrays and Octopus' oh my!

2008-10-02T16:17:00.003-06:00

Last Friday my mom had off of work and took us to the Aquarium for the day. The boys had a blast! We didn't get many pics cause there's no flash photography but here's a few I did get of the animals.

The boys loved the octopus and the sting rays. Tristan refused to touch the rays but Griffin touched them a few times with his knuckles.Here's some of the boys hamming it up after we saw all the animals.

2 games in a week, 2 goals.....

2008-09-24T10:12:00.002-06:00

Made for the other team! LOL Last week Tristan had a Thurs night game and a Sat morning game. He made 2 goals on Thurs... too bad they were for the other team! They lost this game 7-2... Our team made 5 goals that night... sadly only 2 of them were actually OURS!
Tristan did get to kick off the game though

And he got to throw in for an out of bounds (which happens way too often!)

And look how happy he is now! No fights to get him to play any more and he has a blast!

And one shot of griffin who could care less about the game LOL Tristan was nice on Thurs and packed his soccer bag with toys for G to play with.

Saturday's game the other team didn't stand a chance! Our team creamed them 11-2. Gio had 5 goals, Jackson had 4, and 2 of the other boys scored too! It was quite the game and our boys were awesome!!!

The things kids come up with

2008-09-18T15:18:00.002-06:00

This week in preschool we've been learning about cats/kittens. Today in we made paper bag cat puppets. They got all their pieces glued on and then I said they could color and decorate them more. Tristan looks at me while drawing 2 big circles and says I'm going to put a chest on mine Yes.. he drew boobs on the cat... and X then copied! Then he drew a belly button too. I encouraged them to draw more spots and that helped but oy. Thankfully X's mom thought it was hilarious! Especially after her crocheting these cookies last week on accident!

Puppy Update

2008-09-15T17:35:00.002-06:00

The little puppy (formerly named Leia) is now in her new home! She left us Friday. Griffin was sad but more that he almost didn't get to say goodbye than that she was actually leaving us. One of my mommies took her home for her family! At least she's in a good place and somewhere we can visit her now and then to say hi.

3 and 0

2008-09-15T16:09:00.002-06:00

Tristan had his 3rd soccer game this weekend. He did GREAT. Not even a pout! Hopefully that means he's getting the hang of it all. It helped that it was our turn to bring a treat too. He was very excited to take juice boxes, rice krispy treats and apples (for half time). Their team won again (even though no one is supposed to keep score lol) We won 6-4 though ;) No new pics cause my camera batteries died.

This weekend we also went camping in our new tent trailer! It was very nice except working out all the kinks in a trailer we've never used before. All well... at least next time we'll be more prepared and remember everything LOL Good thing we were only 5 mins from town or we'd have starved to death!

Puppy 101

2008-09-08T17:06:00.002-06:00

That's what the boys are learning right now. Our neighbor decided to take a dog from some people giving them away at Walmart. Got it home and decided she can't take care of it cause it won't stop whining. Um.. that's cause it's 8wks old and you just took it from it's mom/siblings. So instead of letting her take the dog to the pound we are fostering her until I can find her a new home. She's really cute and hardly whined at all at our house! The boys have been doing a good job today taking care of her today. They've been feeding her, getting her water (which includes getting her wet *sigh*) playing with her and taking her outside to go potty. They just don't like to let her sleep cause they want to play with her.

Game #2

2008-09-07T11:31:00.001-06:00

We had Tristan's soccer game again Fri night. He again fell asleep on the way there so it sucked. I left him by the van (could still see him) pouting and crying until jason got there and bribed him over with a slurpee. About 5 mins before 1/2 time I took him over to the playground and let him play and then had him chase me with the soccer ball. He went and ate oranges with the team and then I went out on the field with him and he played almost the entire 2nd half! His team won again 7-3!!! Here's some pics :)

1st half (the kids in white were TINY)

Orange smiles at half time

Tristan playing

Me on the field with him

Cheesy shy smile

Throwing the ball in

Team cheer

huddle after the game

Flying Blue Goalies!

2008-09-02T16:29:00.002-06:00

That's the name of Tristan's soccer team! The first practice was hell. Pure hell. He spent the whole time screaming and/or crying. He refused to play no matter what. The coach tried talking to him before we left and you'd have thought the guy was dumping acid over his head he screamed so loud!

Game time was Saturday.... more hell. He spent the whole time on Grandpa's lap crying or trying not to cry.

His team did awesome though! 6-2 was the final score! We won!!! Tristan got his treat after the game and then decided his capri sun should be squirt all over my van instead! grrr

We didn't talk about it until the following Weds when he had his next practice. Me and him got there 20 mins early and played by ourselves and slowly added kids in til the coach came and he played the whole practice!!!

(Tristan, Giovanni, Keaton, Jackson, Logan and Grant)

Funny enough, through all those tantrums during the last practice and game he picked up stuff and was listening LOL Kids are funny! He has practice again tomorrow and HIS first game is on Friday! I hope he keeps up with the good spirit and that we're over the tantrums!

At least Griffin doesn't mind the practices

Our First day of Preschool

2008-09-02T16:21:00.002-06:00

With me as the teacher... and 3 other kids! THat's right I'm teaching in home preschool. I was so nervous for today cause I haven't taught in oh... almost 5 yrs! Things went pretty well for the first day I think!

Here's a few pics :)

Our Behavior Chart

Just a pic of the wall that has most of our stuff and will eventually have all the numbers and letters on it too, and a calendar and weather chart come tomorrow.

Tristan waiting for school to start

Teacher supply area

Griffin waiting

yay Jordan's here first!

Our letter A's and our cow pictures

I think it's going to be a fun year!

Another stolen from Marcie

2008-07-28T15:12:00.002-06:00

Where Were You?

20 years ago, 1988: Umm wow I don't remember too much from back then. I was 8 yrs old.. still living in Rose Park across the street from Erin. Not much going on but normal 8 yr old stuff lol

15 years ago, 1993: 13 now... was living in Holladay and in Jr High school. Let's see that would have been 7th grade? Yeah.. hell from elementary school just seemed to follow me. Life kinda sucked and I'm glad it's all over!

10 years ago, 1998: Graduated from Oly High. Was just getting ready to start my first semester at Southern Utah University. Wow did my life change after that!

5 years ago, 2003: In those short 5 yrs a whole lot changed! I got married, moved to Iowa, got my degree in Elem Ed., got divorced, got remarried and got pregnant with my first child! Who knew so much could happen so fast! At this point in time 5 yrs ago I was 7mths pregnant with Tristan living off popsicles so I didn't roast to death and 1 mth newly married to Jason and living in Clearfield!

1 year ago, 2007: Last year I was a mommy to 2 little monkeys and being a SAHM. Nothing too exciting to report other than my adorable kiddos! We now live in Tooele too.

So far this year: We are still in Tooele. Still just a mom to 2 boys.. just way bigger boys! Amazing how much they change in 1 yr! So far I've opened a local mommies site that I run www.TooeleMommies.com and have started a new job! Crazy busy!

Yesterday, 26th: I spent most of the day sleeping. Good thing because the last 1 1/2 hrs of the day was spent getting sand out of Tristan's eyes at our Family BBQ. He had a ton in there and was not cooperating in letting us flush them out!

Tomorrow, 28Th: Cleaning, laundry, and working for Alishia.

This year, to come: Ummm working, teaching preschool and still runing my mommies group and being a wife and mom! No other surprises that I know of LOL

Tag.. who ever reads this is it!

2008-07-15T12:59:00.001-06:00

Posting this cause I read Marcie's blog and so I was essentially tagged for reading it!

Let's see who reads my blog... and who's gutsy enough to comment!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! I guess good or bad, but be nice!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

(if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged!)

Fireworks on the 5th

2008-07-09T15:42:00.001-06:00

After recovering from the parade on the 4th we promised the boys we'd do sparklers (after seeing the neighbors grandkids playing with some) and watch the fireworks at the high school from the front yard.

The boys LOVED the sparklers and went through the 6 small boxes fast! I got some cool pics (I think) of the fireworks but they are all funky cause of the wind *shrug* they still look neat to me.

I put them in slideshow form cause there's too many pics! So enjoy!

Water Fun

2008-07-09T15:15:00.003-06:00

Today we had playgroup at Sarah's house and it was water mania! The moms hid out in the shade while the kids soaked each other!

Sarah sprayed away some of the kids after getting attacked for water balloons

Then she drenched them for getting her wet LOL

It doesn't have to be prepared or by the book!

2008-07-06T14:42:00.002-06:00

Read this on another site, she found it on www.homeschoolfreestuff.com

Home Schooling
A realization from the smartest, best mommy ever!

It hit me today.

We are in the beginning stages of homeschooling our two daughters ages 3 and almost 5. Since we decided about a month ago, for sure, to homeschool, I've been saying that we won't "really" start until next month. I've been telling others that we are currently just dabbling, dipping our toes to check the water. Then this happened.

Two days ago I made an offhand comment to my girls about the planets and how I had learned their names in order. My oldest had just learned from television that we live on the planet Earth. I told her that the way I remember them is by using this sentence: "My very early mother just served us noodle pizza". The first letter of each word is the same as the first letter of the names of the planets in order of how far they are from the sun. At my daughter's request I rattled off the names of the planets, knowing that she was too young to really learn them. She nodded and that was the end of the conversation.

Then today, TWO days later, she came rushing into my bedroom and said, "Mommy! You forgot the sun!" I looked at her blankly. "What about the sun?", I asked. She told me that I should have said, "Sometimes my very early mother just served us noodle pizza." Then it clicked. I realized that she had not only picked up what I had said in just one comment, but that she'd thought about it for two whole days, found a problem with it, and came up with a solution.

So I told her that she was very smart to think of that. Then I and the girls spent ten fun-filled minutes practicing saying the names of the planets until they had them memorized. When they left to go play it suddenly hit me. My 3 and 4 1/2 year old daughters had just learned the planets without any preparation and planning on my part. I didn't have to study like mad or prepare worksheets and unit studies, and I'm certainly not a certified teacher, but somehow I had taught!

So from here on out, I plan to relax, and remember that even if I don't do everything the way I think I should, my two wonderful little girls will still manage to learn, and will think that I'm the smartest, best mommy ever.

~Jessica Elliott ~

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-05T18:35:00.000-06:00

My mommies group was in our local parade yesterday. Here's some pics of us waiting for the parade to start.

Our last day before we headed home

2008-07-03T13:41:00.002-06:00

Saturday we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed to head to Seattle to the Pacific Science Center. The boys had a blast. Before we hit there we ventured through Seattle a little to find it. I so do NOT miss city traffic. I hated it!! Jena was nice enough to show us how not to drive in Seattle by accidentally taking us down a one way street.. which is like.. oh every street in Seattle! We did get a good shot of the Space Needle though.

Tristan liked the space area and loved putting the puzzles together:

Then we all had to weigh ourself on all the planets.

I think our favorite part of the museum was the butterfly space. We got to talk walk through and see all the butterflies and flowers up close.

They had a little cart set up with these puzzles so Tristan gave em a shot. He didn't do too bad on the whale one but the wood one was tricky!

We hit the kid zone for some water play

Then they had a tide pool where the boys got to hold hermit crabs and touch Sea Anemones

After the museum we had lunch and then hit the fountain. Very interesting and unlike any fountain here in Utah! Tristan chickened out and wouldn't go get wet but me and Griffin did. It felt good on a HOT 90 degree day!

After this we headed home. We made it to Baker City where we again spent the night and hit the Train restaurant for breakfast. Sunday we got up nice and early again and made it home just after 4pm where we pulled into a nice wind storm.

It's good to be home but we had a great trip!

Friday~ Meet the BabyCenter Mommas!

2008-07-03T13:15:00.003-06:00

Friday was our big day of meeting up with the mom's I've known online for the last 3 yrs on Babycenter.com. Before then it was another day full of therapy for Liam so we ran errands before we left the next day.

We hit the city park, the post office, the city library (which by the way ROCKS). Tristan and Jason put this puzzle together and got a sticker for it.
After getting gas and a car wash we were ready to head out!

We drove up north a bit to Redmond to Kim's house. It was beautiful and I'd have moved right in if she would have let me LOL
The boys and dads were instantly fascinated by the awesome game room in her basement.

Then they discovered the bouncy house outside!

We thought we were going to be late but we were first so we patiently waited for everyone else to arrive.

Kim was an awesome host, as was her husband. They fed us dinner and all. Griffin discovered the pink 4 wheeler and was not going to share. He rode it for quite awhile, complete with pink helmet!

If you've never tried.. it's VERY hard to get 9 kids in one picture and all looking.

Front: Tristan, Griffin Middle: Phoenix and Bailey Back: Lily, Liam, Scarlett, Evelyn and Charlotte.

Mommies and kids is a tiny bit easier:

Front: Kim and Bailey, Phoeniz, Liz and Scarlett Middle: Charlotte, Lisa, and Evelyn and Lily, Michelle and Liam. Back: Me and my monkeys

Moms only pic? WAY easier!!

Front: Lisa, Kim and Liz Back: Michelle and Me

Last but not least Kim chilled all the kids out before we left with a movie on the projector outside. The kids were hooked!

Thank you SO much for letting us visit your home Kim! We had a great time and can't wait to do it again. I only wish we lived closer to all of you!

More adventures in Puyallup

2008-07-03T12:51:00.003-06:00

Weds morning we woke up and headed to McD's in Puyallup (which I had found on my 3 trips around Puyallup the night before looking for Michelle's house). The boys FLIPPED when they saw Ronald McDonald sitting on a bench and HAD to have their picture with him.

Tristan hogged his lap refusing to let Griffin up in his lap too.

Griffin insisted on sharing his lap and not just standing next to him which resulted in him falling off :( Tristan finally got talked into moving over so they could both be on his lap.

Every day after that Tristan asked as we drove past there if that was where Ronald was and he was SO excited that it was. He even said bye to him the last time we passed it. Silly boys!

Michelle had therapy for Liam that day and Crystal had to work so we just hung out around town until she got off. We went to the park that Michelle came to rescue me by the night before. The boys played then spent time coloring, blowing bubbles and coloring with sidewalk chalk.

This guy came to the park passing out balloons, so you know the kids had to have one.

Tristan lost his as soon as we got back to the hotel from the 3rd floor :(

That night I ditched Jason and the boys and went for coffee/dessert with Crystal at Shari's. YUMMY lemon meringue pie and it was HUGE. I wish we could have seen her more but I'm glad I got to see her.
Look how cute and preggy she looks!

Here's us together real fast before Jason called again asking me to come back cause the boys were jumping on the bed

Thursday was all day Michelle fun. She took us to "her" mall. The SuperMall.. yes it's called that. We walked around,ate lunch, got some steals at Carter's (2 shirts for Tristan for $3) and then hit the indoor playground that the boys loved.

This slide was their favorite.

My kids of course had to climb the tree

After this we went and picked up Michelle's husband, Josh from work, and went back to their apt to do some laundry. The kids were getting restless again so we hit another park in Sumner that was awesome. Jena and Joe and their son joined us there too, they are very good friends of Michelle's, their son is Autistic as well.
Liam and Griffin took turns on the slide

But this spinny thing was the hit of the park.

Griffin was even nice enough to push Miss Lily around

Jason thought it was great of me to play too on this spinning thing.

We then had an impromptu picnic dinner with chicken and Jo Jos (or potato wedges for those NOT from Puyallup) from Fred Meyers. After this we all went "home" and crashed for a long time. We didn't wake up til almost 11am on Friday!

Heading North!

2008-07-02T13:57:00.004-06:00

Next stop was Washington. Not quite Seattle but still have to take a pic of the sign!

NOt that you can tell but this bridge we drove over the Columbia River was a draw bridge. Tristan was hoping he'd get to see it open but on such luck.

Goodbye Oregon

Hello Washington!

First stop was Spanaway WA (close to our next stop of Puyallup). We stopped there to see Crystal. She used to live close to us and we had playdates with her son and my boys often. They moved up to WA last year :(
Hi Talen!

Jason played some Rock Band. Tristan threw a fit that he didn't get to play but no one else was interested in playing guitar or singing. *Note: Jason should never take up playing music professionally ;) *

After that we went to Applebee's and then it was obviously bed time for everyone! We went to find our new hotel. Got lost a few times because nothing in Puyallup is normal! Finally found the street we were supposed to be on and found our hotel. I left after that to go find Michelle's apt. (one of my baby center friends). I figured it would be easy peasy. She lives on the same road as our hotel. Umm not so much. She lives on the NORTH side and we were on the South and her road most of the time is a one way street. That along with her apts being down by the river buried behind trees? I never would have found it. So I called her, instead of surprising her, to come rescue me from the Italian restaurant. Look how excited she was to come save me!

She took me on a mini tour of Puyallup and we went for coffee.. where I got lectured for hating coffee LOL Here we are being nerds while M hurried and borrowed my camera batteries cause she was unprepared with dead batteries

We got the "hey we're closing in 5 minutes" speech and hurried out. She showed me how to actually get to her place and then I headed back to the hotel before Jason hurt the boys for being monsters. On the way back a police officer apparently was bored and noticed that my license plate was in my back window and not attached (thanks Jason for breaking it!) and followed me for 5 blocks before pulling me over in the hotel parking lot. Well I went to put the van in park... causing more trouble. My van is not always compliant and sometimes won't go in to park. Therefore... looking like it's in reverse! Yeah.. not good when a cop has you pulled over. He started yelling at me not to back up. Um no kidding. So I pulled in more and into a spot where my van cooperated and went in park. Jason's up on the balcony laughing and laughing grr. Cop tells me why I'm pulled over yadda yadda. Takes my license and insurance to run it. By this time I notice not just one cop.. but back up. Yes back up for the harmless white girl from Utah! I was SO embarrassed! I got the you need to fix it lecture and was sent on my merry way to park in a real spot and go to bed *sigh* I called Michelle and she got a good laugh out of it. I never get pulled over. EVER. But I got to visit her and of course I get pulled over. She was so nice to take a picture of me reattaching my plate the next day to avoid anymore interactions with Puyallups finest.

More adventures in Puyallup later!

Oregon Zoo

2008-07-02T13:19:00.005-06:00

Next stop on the trip.. the Oregon Zoo!

The kids LOVED it! I'm sure they enjoyed seeing a new zoo that's different than the same old Hogle Zoo in Utah. Our zoo doesn't have cool sea life like this one did!

First thing in the zoo we spotted was a mini t-rex. They had a dinosaur area you could visit but it was EXPENSIVE!! So we settled for the little one LOL Griffin was the only one brave enough to go stand by him.

The other boys were terrified that it moved so Brian played protector and stood with them.

Then we visited the Mountain Goats.

Tristan loved the Tide Pools. I only wish they could have touched the animals. I loved doing that on our trips to OR when I was a kid. We made sure to get a picture of the Sea Anemone for Grandma because she had talked about them with Tristan before we left.

The sea cucumber was cool too

Austin thought the giant fish tank was pretty cool.

Tristan located the Sea Otters on his map as soon as he opened it. He knows they are Grandma's favorite. They were sleeping when we visited but they were right by the glass so we got a good view.

This guy opened his eyes just to say hi

The sea lions were pretty cool too. You'll never see them in Utah.

We walked through this open bird area too where you could feed the birds juice and watch them fly around.

The penguins were a huge hit!
Most just lounged around

But this little guy went for a swim!

Then the boys posed

Quick break for a snack after the penguins

Notice Griffin's not in that picture? No.. he was too busy stealing pretzels and throwing them to the ducks after being told not to. He cause a duck riot as they all flocked for them!

The boys were all fascinated by these HUGE fish that were as big as they were.

The Elephants were cool.. and one is pregnant.
Here's momma

and a baby

Jacob and Tristan try and figure out where to go next

On the way there they got scared by this rock. There was a speaker near it making noise and they both jumped and grabbed hands lol

We packed all the boys in the rock for a picture

Griffin had to collect pine cones at this point. You just can't leave one on the ground

Jacob's favorite animal was the Zebras

We stopped to pet the pygmy goats and sent poor Marcie in by herself with all 4 boys lol

This one was smelling our bag of food through the fence.

Then he kept trying to eat that girls shirt LOL Someone should have fed him.

Getting 4 boys to take a picture in a truck is NOT easy!

Let's try this side

Austin wanted a solo pic though

We left shortly after this..

All the animals were sleeping and the boys were exhausted! They all fell asleep on the way home and slept hard that night! We were sad to leave them the next morning. We'll have to visit them again soon!

The Barnhart visit

2008-07-02T13:05:00.002-06:00

We visited Jason's friends Brian and Marcie at their home in Salem, OR from Saturday afternoon and we left Tues morning. They have 2 little boys very close in age to ours. Jacob is 2 mths older than Tristan and Austin is a year younger than Griffin. They had a BLAST playing together! Every morning that we woke up it was instant chasing time and wrestling and giggling. *Note: 2 boys is MORE than enough for me!! 4 boys is quite insane!*

Brian started a new shift right before we came out so he spent half the time sleeping when he wasn't working. But we still got to see him. Saturday night we rested from the long drive, had pizza for dinner and just hung out at the house.

Sunday we had a nice relaxing time while Brian and his family attended church. We all got cleaned up and napped. The boys spent their time riding the quad for.ever!

They went crazy over this thing! Apparently we need to get the one we have up and running. They rode it a good part of Monday too until they ran right into Marcie's Japanese Maple Trunk. OOPS!

Sunday evening we went bowling where everyone but Austin had a blast! The kids had their own lane and the parents had their own.

Jason, Brian and Marcie used to play on a league team together.

Marcie kicked both their butts the first game lol Tristan won both times among the kids

Griffin HATED waiting his turn he was SO excited to roll the ball down the lane. very.slowly. Poor people that worked there had to retreive at least 10 balls because they didn't make it down there in time lol

Monday we spent the day chilling and playing while Marcie was at work then promptly headed up to Portland to go to the Oregon Zoo. Pics from that in the next post!

Vacation '08

2008-06-30T16:29:00.009-06:00

We've been gone on vacation for the last 9 days! This blog may be over a few posts because we had SO many things going on and well 9 days is a long time LOL

We headed up to Oregon and Washington to see some new and old friends. The boys did great over the course of the trip! I'm so proud of them!

On day one we left Jason's work at 2:30ish and headed off. (Thanks Patty and Cassie for taking care of our zoo while we were gone!) First stop: Boise!

We arrived in Boise later than we planned but we did get to visit with my friends Sara and Shari and their little (who is not so little anymore!) girl Olivia. Thanks for letting us crash for a break! Your home was beautiful and the boys had a great time playing in the pink sand!

After we left Sara's house we took a 2 hr drive to Baker City, OR and stopped for gas and some sleep. The boys were out cold by then and we were both exhausted from driving all day. Jason also randomly remembered that somewhere close by was a restaurant that had a train that drove around the restaurant. Anyone that knows my boys knows they LOVE trains. We just happened to stop to get gas right in front of the place. So we knew to stay the night there.

Jason woke us up at the crack of dawn at 5:30am *gasp* and we went to eat breakfast (the kids barely ate) at Sumpter Junction.

After breakfast we headed out for the last leg of our journey to Salem, OR to stay with Brian and Marcie. Jason used to live with them when he lived in OR and Brian was his BFF. They hadn't seen each other in almost 7 yrs!

Some of our sites on the way there:

The beautiful greenery that IS Oregon!

Tugboats... the boys LOVED seeing those! They were all over on the Columbia River.

We saw The Dalles dam

And the top of Mt. Hood. I can't believe it is still almost completely snow covered in late June!!

The last thing we saw before our last 30 min trip down to Salem was a stop at Multnomah Falls. Breathtaking!

We didn't hike up to the bridge because it was a bit of a hike and well I'm a chicken and terrified of heights.

They had some sort of festival or something going on cause there were tents set up all over and Smokey the Bear was there

A lady there took this family picture.. funny how we were all color coordinated too. Not planned at all!

And the obligatory sign pics

This bridge was really cool too, the Union Pacific uses it (or they used to anyways) and it had all the mileage to the major cities on it.

After this we finally hit Brian's house around 1pm just in time to chill and relax before he left for work.

I'll post more about our stay there in a new post cause there's a ton more pics!

Proud Mommy moment

2008-03-25T14:17:00.002-06:00

Last week Tristan was roaming through one of our storage areas and found a box of worksheets that my mom bought me as a child. I didn't ever really get into them and they had an overlay to make them reuseable. Tristan whipped one out and started tracing numbers on his own. Finished one sheet and pulled out another. He easily did 5 work sheets in a row on his own. Next he brought me one that involved counting and circling in the correct number. He flew through it and only struggled for a second on the number 5. As I changed the laundry I came back in time find that he had pulled out another and done it all by himself. It had 10 different sections and you had to count the items in each area and circle the number. He got them all right on his own except 1 (Again with the 5). They get progressively more difficult and I was like man.. he doesn't know adding yet or subtracting. I pulled out the card with the info about the worksheets. No wonder they were getting harder so fast.. the ones he was doing were KINDERGARTEN and First grade sheets!! OMG he's only 4 1/2 and was easily doing kindergarten work on his own. He doesn't fully grasp the adding/subtracting but could figure it out with manipulatives. I'm so proud of my little guy! Now if he'd just figure out how to use the over lay and not write on the actual papers ;) Baby steps! LOL

I'm back!

2007-12-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm sure no one even reads this anymore.. if they ever did LOL But I'm back. This year has been crazy and I haven't been doing any blogging and not any official homeschooling.. or at leat not as most would see it. We unschool all. the. time. I was just looking back and Tristan sure has grown the last year! I can't believe I have a 4 yr old! We're starting the curriculum over since we slacked off on it and I think Tristan has more patience for it now and will learn things quicker. Griffin will of course be playing along with us but I don't expect him to pick things up quite as quickly. Griffin still hardly talks but that's alright by me. He has some words and understands everything and will talk in time.

Well that's all for now.. but I'm back and we're schooling even more than ever!

Socialization troubles

2007-01-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

I've never met a homeschooler who hasn't been asked "Well how do you socialize them if they're stuck at home all day?!" Trust me.. I asked similar questions myself while doing my research. Although I knew that they didn't just stay home all.day.every.day.

This article sums it right up:

*This article was generously provided by The American Homeschool
Association*

The Truth about Homeschooling and Socialization
by Lucinda H Kennaley

It's time for homeschoolers to tell the truth about "socialization. " It is a problem! The phone never stops ringing, the teenager's email has crashed the computer, and the front yard is patches of dandelions and dirt because there are always kids out there socializing! It's not uncommon for a home school parent to put
thousands of miles on her van hauling kids to sporting events, study groups, parties and overnights. In home school, a child's circle of friends will divide, multiply, expand and grow such that the overflow of socialization can be a worry.

The experience of a homeschooled child doing lessons is not at all like the solitude of an otherwise-schooled child completing homework alone at night. In homeschool, there are co-ops for everything from science, math and environmental studies to physical education and art. There are baseball get togethers, chess clubs, field trips, study groups and reading clubs. Homeschoolers participate in dance, music, gymnastics, scouts and 4-H with school kids, as well as plays, horseback riding, reading groups, library programs, college classes, debates and more with otherwise-schooled kids and always- schooled others. Since most of these activities involve other people, parents are hard pressed to control the socializing that naturally occurs.

In a home school there is "talking with your neighbor." There is time to engage in independent exploration, investigation and invention. There are kitchen explosions, creatures to feed and lab materials to clean. Multi-age peer groups share knowledge that results in unplanned learning. Information gleaned from social interactions can force a home school teacher to scramble for challenging new books. This leads to the library where there are - more people!

Babies freely demonstrate biological facts of life and stimulate off-the-subject discussions; elderly neighbors disrupt class with true stories about the Depression; and 6 year olds need help harvesting sunflowers from the backyard garden in homeschool. There are distractions like fixing a backed up toilet and building a barn for next year's science project: activities that usually require interaction with plumbers, carpenters and volunteer friends and neighbors.

Homeschool "jocks" play sports year round; "prissy" girls giggle into the night; "loadies" conduct regular census of the refrigerator' s contents; and "intellectuals" disappear into books even when the schoolwork is done. Peer pressure in home school assures that kids read, complete reports and field work, memorize lines for the homeschool play and perfect that violin crescendo. Together, students will read ahead in history and finish that math book early, finishing this year's school term with next year's curriculum. Imagine!

The truth is that the abundance of socialization does present a challenge to homeschool families. However, since most parents think it's good for their children to have friends of all ages, shapes, interests and customs, socialization is a problem homeschoolers learn to cope with cheerfully.

It's ROUGH having a homeschooled highly social child! Darn playgroups, libraries, grocery stores, co-ops, neighbors, and PEOPLE in general! What were thinking?! Oh right.. that's called being human and leaving your house! We all are socialized in the places we go.. school or not ;)

Now I know my ABC's

2007-01-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

next time won't you sing with me?

Ok not quite but Tristan is starting to sing his ABC's with me and only skips the hard part and laughs during LMNOP. I don't blame him it's a mouthful LOL But he's getting the rest of it and will be singing it solo soon enough! He wants me to help him write his name, Griffin's name and mommy and daddy too. Time to really start working on letter recognition with him.

He's all about songs right now too. He loves I'm a little teapot and does the actions and he picked up the main verse of Twinkle Twinkle little star after mommy singing it just once. Not bad!

Griffin is doing great walking. I'm counting him as a walker even though he still crawls quite a bit but he does just as much (wobbly) walking too. My baby's growing up!

Bigger and Smaller

2006-12-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well we've kind of been on hold on any "Serious" schooling but we've been learning lots just living our daily lives! Tristan's new find today? That when you look in your mom's aunt's OLD funky glass lamp that you can a) see yourself b) if you get closer you get really big and look silly and c) if you move back away from it you get smaller in the lamp and look pretty normal.

Tristan spent about 5 minutes moving his nose close to the lamp and even touching it and then far away to see how small he got. It only took one time in and out to figure out that he got bigger and smaller I was pretty impressed.

It's so fascinating to see that little lightbulb click on in their head!

In Griffin news he's finally starting to learn to walk. He's far from doing it regularly but it shouldn't be too much longer. Tonight he took several steps on a few different occasions. Grandma is predicting he'll be walking by New Years... her first predicition for Christmas walking was wrong hehe.

When my children are older...

2006-12-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

I just read this on one of my homeschool boards and thought that it was great and really embraces how unschooling and homeschooling works and just being a parent in general.

Someday, when my children are older, I will tell them:I loved you enough to care about where you were going, with whom, and what time you'd be home and to help you get there, have fun, and come home.
I loved you enough to be silent when you needed me to be silent and to be there when you needed to talk, to give you the space to discover for yourself who your true friends were and to help you pick up the pieces when you were hurt.
I loved you enough to help you pay for the bubble gum you wanted and to make things right when they felt wrong.
I loved you enough to stand by you for a lifetime, to be by your side for two hours while we cleaned your room, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes, but the conversation was too precious to lose.
You learned that I wasn't perfect as we shared our lives together.
I loved you enough to let you make choices even when the stakes were high and to help bear your burden whenever I could.
But most of all, I loved you enough to always help you get what you needed, to put our relationship first and to walk in your shoes instead of engaging in battles.
I'm glad you came to me, because in the end, you've helped me grow and become a better person, so I won, too, in this relationship.
And someday, when your children are old enough to understand the principles that guide this legacy of parenting, I hope you tell them how they helped you grow and become a better person.

How do you learn?

2006-11-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

I took this little quiz today about Tristan's learning style. A lot of it I already knew.

The higher your child scores in one area, the more she prefers that
learning style. If she rates similarly across all three styles, that means she
uses all of them equally to grasp new information. A low score in any area means
your child hardly ever relies on that learning style. Here is what we can tell
about your child's learning style. (If you want to know about another child or a
child in another grade, you should complete
this assessment from the beginning again.)

Visual: 35%
Auditory:
28%
Tactile: 35%

Your child is a strong visual learner. Visual learners have an easier time
grasping concepts and understanding ideas when they're able to see information.
They work well with visual materials such as flash cards, videos, pictures, and
charts. Visual learners are usually great at reading and games of concentration.
For more on visual learners, click here.

Your child is also a strong tactile learner. Physical learners (also called
tactile-kinesthetic learners: "tactile" for touch, "kinesthetic" for movement)
are better able to understand ideas and retain information if they can "feel"
what you're trying to explain. This means that holding something in their hands
or participating physically in an activity helps them grasp a concept. Children
with strong tactile-kinesthetic skills are usually active and full of energy.
They do well with hands-on activities, such as shaping clay into a volcano, and
with games that require the use of their bodies, such as moving large block
letters around to form words. For more on physical learners, click here.

Compared to other learning styles, your child is not much of an auditory
learner. Auditory learners are best able to make sense of information when they
hear it. They are better able to comprehend concepts and ideas when you explain
them. They often like listening to music and stories and can easily repeat back
information they've heard. For more on auditory learners, click here.

Amazing how your views change

2006-11-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

when you start homeschooling. Before I really thought about it every single thing we do in life our little ones are learning something. Even if it's just doing daily chores or helping mom with something.. or being quiet while she's on the phone! They are learning responsibility, how to be charitable and helpful to others, and respectful as well. They are learning new sounds and how to count and read and all the wonderful things we need to know in life by just being in this world.

Now some people might disagree with me that you can only learn certain things in a school setting. But I don't think so. There are so many things in this world that once they find an interest you just go with it. Find anything and everything you can about that thing. Tie in math and science, the history of it, and reading and they will remember. If they love it.. they will learn it.

It's no wonder I don't remember certain things from school. I had no real interest in it and it was never presented in a way that I wanted to care about it. So I just learned it and passed the class and forgot all about it. I love when something sparks Tristan's memory and he can remember whole days about things and tell you what happened and who did what. I know he can do this because they are things he loves and really cares about and has a desire to know more about.

I spy with my little eye...

2006-11-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Tristan's latest new found love.... I spy type books. Anything that shows you what to look for and you find it in a large picture. He LOVES them and is really good at them! I thought they'd be too advanced for him.. not at all. So he'll definitely be getting a few for Christmas! He's also found a love for board games.. even if he doesn't play them right LOL He'll learn though. We just got Candyland so it will be easy for him to learn how to take turns and such playing it.. I hope!

He also just got a new alphabet toy from Vtech. He's in love already. This should definitely help him start with letter recogniction. Although he seems to be picking up some a little just based on shapes and such.. not actual letters yet. I just can't get over how fast he's growing and the things he learns each day.

Griffin is a learning fool too! He's learning how to get into mischeif just as fast as his brother LOL Keeps mom on her toes that's for sure! His latest fascination is putting small things into a bucket, bag, anything that will hold things and then dumping them out and picking them up again. Lots of fun! No walking yet but he is getting braver and braver about standing holding on to nothing. Steps shouldn't be too far off and running right behind it LOL I'm ok with him just crawling for now... They get into enough things with him not walking... I can only imagine the fun they will have when he is!

Need to remind myself of this often!

2006-11-09T18:37:00.001-07:00

The Art of Unconditionality
by Scott Noelle, posted on 2006-06-12

If it's raining, you're supposed to call it "bad weather" and complain.
Complaining makes you feel bad, but you've been led to believe that the source of your angst is the rain — the weather conditions. That's conditionality.

UNconditionality, means wanting so much to feel good that you stop using conditions to justify feeling bad.

One way to practice the Art of Unconditionality in the face of "bad" conditions is to ask yourself, "What's GOOD about that?"

What's GOOD about the rain? It vitalizes the soil and plants... It makes the air smell clean... It's fun to get drenched and then go take a hot bath!

What's GOOD about children "misbehaving"? It means they're trying to engage, explore, connect, create, etc... It means you get to practice loving and feeling good unconditionally, which is the key to your Authentic Power.

Eventually you'll realize it's neither good nor bad — it just IS. Welcome to Reality. :)

More ramblings from me

2006-11-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Wow 2 posts in a day LOL

Lately I've been feeling like a bit of a slacker about homeschooling. I know he's just 3 and doesn't need too much going on right now. But I'm feeling like a slacker. I really wanted to do that letter of the week stuff and we've just been SO busy we're hardly touching it and just reading the books on the topic of the week and sometimes coloring. I know he's learning things ALL the time from all the other stuff we do but I'm just feeling slackerish because I'm not being able to do the things I wanted to do with the program.

I feel a little bit better this morning. We read for about 20 mins this morning until Griffin went flying out of his high chair. (He's fine!) We read Chuckie goes to the Eye Dr. Tristan really enjoyed it and after Griffin was taken care of he got out his new doctor kit and played eye dr with Griffin. Griffin had no clue what he was doing but Tristan checked out his ears and eyes and can't wait to read the book again! If we hadn't already been to the eye dr this year I'd take him again.. maybe now he'd be more willing to cooperate LOL

I'm thrilled my little men are learning so many things so quickly! Griffin has mastered going DOWN stairs this week as well as falling :S He has given up a nap however and spends lots more time playing with his brother and being up to no good with him as well LOL I've sure got my hands full!!! But every day is a new day to learn things... even me!

Tristan's Birthday Party and Halloween

2006-11-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

Tristan's party was Saturday. We had a nice time other than some party pooper cousins who didn't want to play the games. But overall we had a blast. We had coloring pages, a bean bag toss into Muck (Bob the Builder), and a marshamallow hunt in baby cereal (gotta put it to use somehow hehe). Then we opened presents. Toys galore and a new college savings account from my parents. Then it was time for cake and ice cream. The kids got cups full of "dirt" and worms and the grown ups had dirt cake from the pan. It was all really yummy. Griffin passed out after he ate his frosting though LOL Here's some pics: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaM3DZs1YtmLh&notag=1

Halloween and Tristan's official birthday were a blast too. I can't believe my baby is 3 :( We were going to go around the neighborhood trick or treating but Griffin was tired before we even left and they made a haul in just going to the downtown stores. So we decided to eat dinner at Jim's instead where Griffin was told how adorable he was no less than every 15 mins LOL He could barely sit up enough to eat. It was a fun night even if it was super cold! Here's some pics of the boys in their costumes and our simple pumpkin carvings lol http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaM3DZs1YtmLw

Wow it's been awhile

2006-10-27T15:13:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything for awhile here. We've been really busy between me getting ready for the Pumpkin Walk (which I did quite well at) and now I'm sick and Tristan's birthday party is tomorrow... we haven't had too much time or energy to do lots of planned things.

However, we are still learning new things. When is anyone NOT learning?! Tristan is starting to be an even better helper with things like the dishes and laundry. He now knows where things goes and helps to put things away while making sure that *I* know where they go LOL.

We've been learning new things from Blue's Clues too.. yes he watches tv *gasp* His newest favorite is the show about machines. He LOVES it and is always asking for Blue and the broken airplane! He loves anything that moves and does stuff and as soon as he can start fixing things himself I'm sure we'll have lots of projects for him! He's also learned about things being heavy and light from Blue too. Good thing he's Blues Clues for Halloween! She sure has taught him a lot of things!

We've had a few playgroups this week. One was story time at the library. He wasn't too interested in sitting with the other kids but had a great time playing with them after. Griffin had fun too going up and down the steps! He was so proud of himself.

Last night we went to a family event at the library, although daddy couldn't come cause he had to work late :( It was a scavenger hunt and we just looked around the library for different halloween pictures and then Tristan got a coloring book after. He had fun playing with Felicity and Jaden when we were done too.

Back to the pumpkin walk.. Crystal, bless her heart, watched both boys so I could have some sanity and they were both so good! That was the first time he's been babysat since he's had his freak out episodes and he was so great, not one freak out at all!

Tomorrow is his birthday party so we'll see how he does with that but he's really excited!! Here's what his invitation looks like

busy busy busy

2006-10-17T15:26:00.000-06:00

Monday was a run around like crazy kind of day! We had a meeting to discuss refinancing the house and of course we lack babysitters so both kids tagged along and learned how to act.. or rather how NOT to act in a business place like that. After that we dropped daddy back off at work and headed to visit Grandma at the school library.

Tristan LOVES the library and went nuts picking out books to check out. Griffin also loves books.. but mostly just to knock them off the shelves lol. Tristan got to listen to one of mommies favorite stories, There's No Such Thing as Dragons.

After that we hit Hancocks for fabric and Roberts for more crafty stuff for the craft show this weekend. Both boys crashed after that and other than dinner they slept the rest of the evening. It was very peaceful and mommy got a lot of stuff made with ALL her boys sleeping, even daddy!

Today was playgroup day. It was lots of fun! We went to Carl's Jr first and ate lunch and played in the playland for awhile. Tristan had no freak outs so that was great and he's starting to really play WITH kids rather than just near them. Griffin also had fun going up and down one of the steps and watching the older kids run around like wild animals LOL. After that we had an appt to check out the Corn Maze in Erda. It was a bit chilly but luckily wasn't raining and it wasn't too muddy either. It took us 30 mins to find our way around and Tristan led the whole way! He did really good.. we only hit a dead end once and didn't do too many circles lol. He must have great navigating skills! Here's a few pictures when we first started and then my camera died :S

Later today after the boys wake up we're going to read some books about cats, as that is our theme of the week! Tristan LOVE cats and I look forward to lots of meowing this week :)

Fireman in training!

2006-10-15T11:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we were lucky enough to go check out the local Fire Station. Tristan LOVES firetrucks!! He was thrilled to be there!

October is Fire Safety Month so they were having an open house to educate people.

Tristan got to get in the fire trucks and pretend to drive to a fire. He thought it was the coolest thing ever.

We also got to see them spraying the hoses, but we got there too late to test it out ourselves.

Tristan was less than thrilled about Sparky the dog mascot but he wasn't scared of the firemen at all. He even got to stand on the front of an engine and have his picture taken with a fireman!!

Both boys came home with Jr Firefighter stickers, Smokey the Bear stickers and new fire hats. To see the rest of our pictures from the visit click here.

We also had Bonkos last night and after much deliberation on whether to go or not since last time BOTH boys were clingy and I didn't even get to play along with Tristan's social anxiety recently, we decided to give it a try and stocked up on Thomas tracks and trains and Grandma brought Monsters Inc to watch. He only had one break down but otherwise he was great!

We also took Griffin some cars to play with and Tristan is getting really good at counting. Usually he skips some or repeats some and counts them twice but last night he was counting all 9 cars no problem at all! He'll be playing Bonkos on his own in no time ;)

Catching up!

2006-10-14T17:58:00.000-06:00

We've been super busy this week and kind of veered from our theme of jungles.. but that's ok.. life happens!

Tuesday we colored pictures of jungle animals. Tristan had a great time naming them all making all their sounds! He LOVES animals!! We have several bigger kid books about the jungle and he just enjoys looking at the animals in them. We read the Great Kapok tree but he wasn't very interested in the story, just the amazing illustrations.

Here our our pictures we colored. I'm pretty sure it's obvious who did what LOL

In this picture Tristan drew a ghost :)

Tues we also focused on the color green. We found green cars and green trains (which we have a zillion of each!) and looked for green in books too.

Weds we had a playgroup that kind of fizzled out with only one family showing up. Tristan had another of his freak outs and ended up sleeping through the whole thing. I'm not really sure where this sudden social anxiety came from but it makes me sad to see him so upset! Griffin had a great time playing with Talen, however. Crystal and I made some super cute Halloween cards and just had fun hanging out.

Thursday I don't remember too much of what we did. I believe it was mostly playing and laundry LOL. I've had a migraine all week so it's a miracle I remember all this ;)

Friday was my last day at the Farmer's Market so we spent the day getting mommy's van packed up and finishing some last minute items to sell. We hung out at the park all evening and it was quite tiring. Griffin spent most of it getting into things and Tristan spent time organizing Grandma's table LOL I didn't sell much but it was nice to get out of the house!

I'll post about this weekend later when it's over ;)

Discovery Gateway

2006-10-10T12:45:00.000-06:00

I wish I had pictures from this but Griffin's milk spilled on the camera so it wouldn't work :( Today we went with the Homeschooling the littles group to the new Discovery Gateway (formerly the Children's Museum). It was really nice but not as big as I was expecting. BOTH boys had a really good time though. We hit the 'Garden' first. It was a giant beehive filled with different tubes and such that you could drop big plastic balls down and gadgets to turn them up to the ceiling and put in other tubes and ones that made sounds. Tristan LOVED this area, as did Griffin. Tristan loved figuring out the different machines and how they worked and also loved watching the balls go down the tubes and seeing where they come out at. Griffin even climbed up ALL the stairs so he could put balls in too.

Next we hit the Kid's Eye View which is a small town of stores and such that are kid size. Tristan's favorite part of that was the construction area where he could build with foam blocks and put them on the left and turn the crank to take them up the platform. He also enjoyed putting blocks down the chute too.

We briefly stopped in the little house and passed quickly past the grocery store to hit the water play area. Tristan could have stayed there all day. He LOVES water and with all the machines to do differnt things and the ping pong balls and rubber duckies. He was in heaven. Griffin had fun with it too just watching the other kids play. After this we played in a fake car for a few minutes, climbed through a beaver dam and Griffin rocked on a little dog rocking horse thing. We also picked some veggies and Tristan got to sit on a fake horse.

Next we headed up stairs but most of it was for older kids. We did a little coloring but the big hit was outside.. a real life flight helicopter! We didn't get to see too much of it because there were so many kids but Tristan put on his Life Flight Pilot vest and got to sit in the front and back of the helicopter for a few minutes.

After that we headed back downstairs to play in the Garden for a little longer before leaving. The boys were OUT cold before we even got out of the parking area LOL

That night we started our new theme of jungles. Tristan looked at a few books with jungle animals in it and knew most the animals already. He was mostly looking for monkies but was excited to find geckos, iguanas and frogs too! ~ribbit ribbit~

The Weekend (including Friday)

2006-10-10T12:35:00.000-06:00

Our weekend was spent cleaning the house up for Griffin's first birthday party! Tristan was TOTALLY excited for the party and was literally boucning off the walls for days. Saturday he was bouncing all over shouting about party cake and it being Griffin's birthday. By time the party came around he wore himself out and got overwhelmed with the sudden amount of people in our house. He had a break down and chilled in his room for a bit before returning to the party. After that he did great though. He enjoyed all the food and almost got chocolate slimed by his little brother LOL

Sunday we hung out with Jason's parents while they worked on the Scout and then we headed to Salt Lake to visit Al and Melinda who were in town from Florida. Tristan had another melt down after he saw all the people and clung to grandpa almost the whole time. Grandpa took him outside for a bit and brought him back in and then he was ok. This seems to be a new thing that I'm not quite sure what started it, other than Scott.

After that we went to Grandma's house to spend the night and Tristan had fun hanging out building roads and tunnels with his foam letter mat and playing with Grandpa.

Play day

2006-10-05T21:23:00.000-06:00

We had a very relaxed day today. Tristan seems to do much better with that than if I try and schedule in our time to learn.

Our wonderful friend Tammi sent us a fun package today full of goodies for the boys.

Tristan broke right into the playdough and we had fun making squares and triangles and funky hair. We also used the cookie cutters to cut out fish, cars and birds!

Tristan practiced his fine motor skills today too by stringing beads on a string. He thought it was TONS of fun!

We also played for a few minutes with one of his other gifst that was a chalk board and magnetic board in one. We sang the ABC song and counted to 10 with the magnets.

Tristan also helped a little around the house by unloading the dishwasher and trying to keep his little brother out of mommy's way.. he wasn't too successful LOL

Tristan's huge accomplishment today was *knocks on wood* having ZERO potty accidents today! He went bumless all day and pooped and peed on the potty all by himself!!! I hope this means an end to diapers for him in site! That would be wonderful!!!

Slow Wednesday

2006-10-04T21:48:00.000-06:00

We didn't do a whole lot today but we did learn some new things.

We got to watch the hail and listen to the wind as the storms moved in today.

We watched Dora and learned a little bit about the different seasons and what things belong in each season.

Tristan played trains, as always, and Griffin "helped" too.

We read Click, Clack, Moo, Cows that Type.. always a favorite! Then we colored a picture of a cow and drew some cow pictures!

Here is the cows momma drew.. thank goodness Tristan doesn't mind his mommy couldn't draw a cow to save her life ;) The purple cow got a rip in it, but Tristan figured out exactly how to fix it!

Here is Tristan's picture of a cow that he mostly colored himself.

While trying to color on white paper with a white crayon Tristan decided that momma was right and that it doesn't work on white paper. He thought the crayon needed new batteries LOL Then he changed his mind and just said it was broken.

We also read Counting with Dora and counted all the fruits on each page. Tristan is starting to get better at counting each item and not skipping or recounting ones that don't exist! He also can count all the way to 20 now!!

We didn't work on the letter A today but that's ok we can do it tomorrow!

Tuesday~ Milk day

2006-10-03T15:18:00.000-06:00

Well it's now day 2 into our homeschooling venture. Tristan is feeling TONS better and is fever free so he was thrilled to get to do more with cows! We read a book called Cow that went through the day in a life of a cow, right down to getting milked and shipping the milk off to the factories. Tristan thought that was really cool. We also counted the cows on each page, and other animals when they showed up. Tristan is VERY in to counting anything and everything right now, even if he doesn't get it right everytime.

He wasn't really interested in reading another cow book, he would rather jump on the trampoline instead.

Next we discovered squares. We found a square hot pad, a square Wheat Thin and a square flash card. We counted the sides on them. Tristan keeps trying to call them triangles but is slowly getting used to calling them squares. We then went outside to find more squares. Right out side the door we found tiles that were square so we carried one around to find more things that were the same shape as the tile. It was kind of hard to find things outside but we found squares on their points in the fence.. lots of those! We also found that the dog's water dish had 2 squares for the water to go into. Then we did some raking. Tristan has his own rake and the leaves are starting to fall so we raked a few of them out of the flower bed.

We came back inside and found more squares in our hallway because we have new tile in there. Tristan then counted the squares while driving his firetruck over them in circles.

We read a book next called Autumn Leaves. All the leaves here are changing so it was fun to see the different colors in the book. We went back outside to look at the leaves we just raked and picked out a green one, a yellow one, and a brown/dead one.

After lunch we placed the leaves under paper and colored over them with crayons to make fun leaf decorations.

After nap time we'll make some squares out of something and just hang out and play with his new trains that he got from my secret mommy!

Mooooooooonday

2006-10-03T14:50:00.000-06:00

This is a day late.. but Monday started our first day of "school". We are not doing a lot of structure because Tristan's only 3.. well almost 3 LOL He's a very active little boy and likes to switch activities often. Today did not start off as exciting as I imagined seeing as Tristan had a fever and spent most of the day sleeping/laying on the couch.

We did manage to read 2 Cow books today though, seeing as that is our theme of this week, while Tristan was in the tub getting his temperature down. One was called It's a Great Day to be a Cow and the other was just called Calfs (our vocabulary word this week) that showed a calf growing up. Tristan is not quite connecting that a calf IS a baby cow yet.. but hopefully later this week he will.

We sang 10 rounds or so of Old Macdonald too and Tristan had lots of fun making the animal sounds. Griffin thought we were insane though LOL. We didn't get to walk around like cows or make cow sounds but overall we had a great day!

We're homeschooling!

2006-10-03T14:46:00.000-06:00

That's right! We're officially starting homeschooling this week! This blog will track our learning and activities that we are doing. We are very excited to be venturing into this unknown area of our life and finding out what is in store for us. We are members of a homeschooling group based in Salt Lake that is providing us with lots of opportunities for field trips. We'll have pictures and art work displayed here because we want to share the things we learn with everyone.

Thanks for supporting us!!