Following Foundations 6/26/09 June 27, 2009

This has been a long, tiring week, and I’m glad it’s just about over. It’s vacation time again. We leave towards the end of next week and will be gone the following week. We’re heading up to Michigan to visit Grandma, and we’re taking some dear friends with us. On the way back we’re stopping by the Creation Museum. Yea!!! I’m so excited about this trip. I’m looking forward to the beach (Lake Michigan), some cooler weather, and the world’s largest musical fountain.  I’ll post the highlights of our trip in 2 or 3 weeks.

EG (5 yrs):
EG finished her first session of swimming lessons this week with a splash! She was very brave this week—slushy brave, as we call it. I’m sure Sonic appreciated our business twice this week. She’s skipping lessons in July and will resume in August. We’re hoping to get some pool time on our vacation so she can get some extra practice. We’re hoping maybe her brother picked up something from the sidelines as well. He says he’s ready to jump in.

We finished reading Uncle Wiggly this week and reread all the Peter Rabbit tales by Beatrix Potter. She completed “Goldilocks & the Three Bears” from Literature Pockets: Folk Tales and Fairy Tales. In reading, she’s still going through the Abeka readers. Her current book is Pinocchio. She only has a few pages left, so we’ll probably finish it tomorrow.

She completed memorizing question 65 of the Baptist Catechism which says “Which day of the seven has God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?”, and began working on question 66, which says “How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?” She completed memorizing Psalm 32:5 and is now working on James 5:16 which says “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

AZ (3 yrs):

Operation Potty Training: Sigh.

The Z-man completed a J page for his alphabet notebook. His two J words on his poster were Jupiter and jockey (pretty good, huh?!) He completed memorizing 1 Chronicles 16:34 which says “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” He spent the rest of the week peeing on the floor and on the couch–twice.

SA (14 months):

Little man woke up on the wrong side of the crib a couple days this week. He even cried through breakfast. Oh, he ate well….he’s all about some breakfast…..but he managed to cry at the same time. He likes to walk while holding a hand. It won’t be long now. He’s so ready to keep up with his siblings.

Me:

I cleaned this week. And then I cleaned some more…..and some more. I moved the couch. Ewww. I moved my big chair. Ewww some more. I vaccuumed–3 times. I would have steam cleaned, but I did that last week. Correction. The dog got sick on Tuesday. I did steam clean part of the living room. I dusted. I mopped. I bleached and then I bleached some more.  I cut loose with some baking powder on part of the kitchen floor. I spilled an entire cup of coffee on the bathroom floor during Operation Potty Training. I mopped the bathroom floor. I did a load of laundry every day. I cleaned out the laundry room (note: at some point, “dust” can rightly be called “dirt”–and this was the case in the laundry room.) I moved the dryer. Major ewww. I cleaned one cushion of the couch. Three hours later I cleaned another cushion of the couch (see AZ section above). I swished toilets, cleaned sinks and scrubbed the tub. I was up by 7 AM or earlier every morning and went to bed at midnight or later. I prayed….a lot. I went to the grocery store…with all three kids. Not such a good idea. I bought Sonic slushies–twice. I got my driver’s license renewed. My friend and I helped our kids make fireworks shirts for our upcoming trip. I fixed supper every night. I played the Uncle Wiggly Game and Sum Swamp with the kids. I lost every game…the Z-man won every game. I practiced the guitar–four times. That is not good, but I couldn’t manage to peel myself off the floor to do it anymore than that.I am exhausted and all I smell is bleach. It’s stuck in my nostrils.

Following Foundations 6/19/09 June 20, 2009

We started our week with a birthday party for EG and AZ at the NC Museum of Life and Science.  I don’t think the Z-man quite understood that the party was for him too until he started opening the gifts. We had it in the Lepidoptera Lab above the Butterfly House. However, there weren’t any lepidopterans in our party room,  but only some walking sticks, tadpoles and hissing cockroaches. One walking stick wanted to join the party and escaped from his cage. He was ordered back in his tank by museum staff before the festivities began. EG thought he just wanted some cake.

The cake was a big 12×18  box of crayons made by my friend Susan. It was so cute! The Z-man was so ready to blow his candles out. He was VERY serious about it! After gifts and cake, we all piled into the butterfly house. The butterflies were very active  that day. The star attraction was a beautiful birdwing butterfly (second butterfly picture below). It wouldn’t be still long enough for a good picture. We all had a great time and our guests were able to enjoy the museum.

EG (5 yrs old):

EG received many fun gifts at her party: Shrinky Dinks, Sum Swamp, dress for her and her baby doll, butterfly crafts & My Little Pony. It was Daddy’s idea to give her an old-fashioned nightgown. (She’s very prissy and she loves nightgowns.) I searched around online until I found exactly what I was looking for–a Little House on the Prairie nightgown and night cap with a matching outfit for her baby doll. I emailed the lady her measurements, and she hemmed it with a double hem so it will fit her now and later. It is so cute. She has slept in it every night. She even wears the night cap that came with it. It just cracks me up!

Her brother received a bug house and a butterfly net. They managed to catch a firefly one night this week. The firefly spent the night in the bug house on the night stand in their room. The next morning she prances into our room in her prairie nightgown and night cap, carrying the bug house. She then proceeds to climb in our bed and observe the prisoner. Sigh. “Do you really have to do that in MY bed?!”

Swimming lessons were a little better this week than last. She didn’t get a slushie until after her Thursday lesson. She wasn’t brave enough on Tuesday. The Z-man was sure to point that out to her: “You not get slushie. You not brave. You not jump. You said ‘No’. You not get slushie.” If they hadn’t been strapped in their car seats, she probably would have smacked him. Oh well, it almost served her right after what she said to him at breakfast that day. More about that in the AZ section.

She completed a pocket for “The Gingerbread Man” in her Literature Pockets: Folktales and Fairy Tales.  She worked on memorizing question 65 of the Baptist Catechism which says “Which day of the seven has God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?” She also worked on memorizing Psalm 32:5 which says “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

A friend loaned us the Uncle Wiggily Game to go along with the Uncle Wiggily book we are reading. We were able to play once this week, and the kids loved it. We were excited to finally see a picture of a skeezick and a pipsisewah on the game board! Those “bad chaps” are mentioned every once in a while in the stories, but the only thing we know about them is that they want to nibble Uncle Wiggily’s ears.

AZ (3 yrs old):

Happy Birthday to the Z-man this week! He thinks he can conquer the world now that he’s 3 years old. When I told him this week that he was still too little to open the van door, he said “I not little. I bigger! I three!” I thought some punches were going to be thrown at breakfast on his birthday. For some reason, his sister thought he was supposed to grow a foot overnight and sprout a new head or something. She told him in a very sassy, hands-on-the-hips tone “You can’t be three. You don’t look three. If you’re gonna be three, you better look three!” Oh, that fired him up! “You stop saying that!!! I are three!! Monny, (aka Mommy) she say I not three! WAAAAHHHH!!”

AZ also received some fun gifts at his party: tools, puzzles, a sticker book (his sister is upset that I won’t make him share his sticker book with her), a Playmobil racecar, a Tonka truck, and the already mentioned butterfly net and bug house. We gave him the Busy Bible activity book. Now that he’s three, he will be sitting with us through our church worship service. We started last Sunday. He didn’t do too bad, but he’s much more high maintenance than his sister was at that age.

There is still nothing new to report on Operation Potty Training. Absolutely nothing. Actually I’m thinking that I should be the one eating the M&M’s. Afterall, I’m the one who is solely responsible for getting him to the potty.

The picture below is curtesy of my friend Audrey. It’s nice, isn’t it?

SA (13 months):

Little man is starting to do some cruising. It won’t be much longer and he’ll be walking. I’m sorry to report that the only picture I took of Little Man all week was of him passed out in his car seat on the way home from the party. He was wore out. The other picture I had to swipe from my friend Tony’s facebook page. (Hope you don’t mind, Tony!)

Me:

Last friday I went to the Mom’s Coffee Connection at a nearby church. The topic was meal planning. Oh, how I needed this! I could probably stand a few sessions of meal planning instruction. Well, I did very well this week. The lady had made a suggestion that she found in a cookbook of using themes to plan a menu. The themes were Comfort Food, Italian, Mexican, Seafood/Meatless, Pizza Night, Grill Night and Family Traditions. I still have the last two themes left for this weekend. Also, my husband had just bought 10 pounds of ground beef from Sam’s Club. I made an extra meatloaf for the freezer. I prepared patties for 3 meals + leftovers of Salisbury steak and froze them. I made at least 3 meals worth + leftovers of spaghetti sauce. And I still have two pounds left in the freezer that I haven’t touched. I also cleaned out the pantry today and took stock of what I have.  Go me!

Following Foundations 6/12/09 June 13, 2009

Well, summer has arrived! A walk with the wagon….at noon….about did me in one day this week. What was I thinking?! And, of course, with the snazzy new canopy on the wagon, all three wanted to ride. You can’t much blame Little Man since he can’t walk, but his sister would have booted him to the curb for a chance to ride! In the end, she just booted the Z-man after she finally understood the fact that I couldn’t pull the wagon AND carry the baby at the same time. I had left my third arm back at the house.

EG (5 yrs old):

EG regressed somewhat at swimming lessons this week.  I think it was because last week when she jumped in, she went all the way under. It took a good bit of coaxing by the instructor to get her to jump again this week, and on Thursday, she actually broke down and cried. We had a good long talk afterward. I’m not sure how much good it will do, but I have a bribe of a Sonic slushie in place for next week as an incentive for being brave.

We’re still reading through Uncle Wiggily and other selections from our bookcase. She’s been reading through some Abeka readers and learning about silent letters in her reading lessons. She continued to work on Literature Pockets: Folktales and Fairy Tales. This week the story was “The Three Little Pigs”.

She memorized question 64 of the Baptist Catechism which asks “What is required in the fourth commandment?”, and she memorized Ephesians 4:32 which says “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you”. We’ve been working especially on the “tenderhearted” part. As in “Your brother just whacked his head on the wall….again….and he’s in the floor crying, and you’re on the other side of the room looking the other way and saying ‘I didn’t do it. I don’t know what happened’. Now, do you think you’re being tenderhearted in this situation?” Sigh.

AZ (2 yrs old):

I still have nothing new to report on Operation Potty Training. It’s kinda like the government stimulus. I keep dishing out the M&M’s, and yet there’s nothing to show for it. Well, I guess it is somewhat different. The M&M’s actually belong to me.

The Z-man completed an I page for his alphabet notebook. He worked on memorizing 1 Chronicles 16:34 which says “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever.”

This week he received his free soccer jersey for signing up for the soccer camp at the end of July. It will probably fit in about three years. Of course, he doesn’t care. He found his shin guards and got all dressed up. He’s concerned that he doesn’t have any “soccer” shoes. He doesn’t actually need cleats for the camp, but he has it in his head that he needs them.

Last Saturday was half-price day at our local Sonic. The Z-man got this bug holder/viewer thingy in his kid’s meal. We’ve had an ant, two earwigs and a firefly in that thing this week. Half-price kid’s meal with bug holder at Sonic: $1.50 Laughing hysterically when an ant pokes its antenna through the air hole: Priceless.

SA (13 months):

Little Man had his first haircut this week! It was desperately needed. He was getting the shaggy head. At first he was quite upset about the fishy cape they put on him.  Then a dum-dum entered the scene, and he managed to pull himself together. He really does look like a little man now! He also has a couple molars coming in this week. Anyone wanna babysit?

Me:

My biggest accomplishment this week was sorting through the kids’ clothes. You gotta love Space Saver bags!

We also signed up on Skype this week and did a free video call with Grandma. The kids didn’t seem to understand the whole experience, but they did enjoy making faces in the camera.

And finally, my husband introduced me to the geekiest website on the world wide web: Instructables.com Enjoy. Be sure to check out the throwies for those times when you have absolutely nothing else to do with your time.

Following Foundations 6/5/09 June 6, 2009

I’m going to start with our freaky friday….well, “freaky” is not quite the right word……it was…well…different….

I had two people ask for a glass of water at my front door today. The first was a college kid selling home security systems for APX Home Security. I do not like door-to-door salesmen. I especially don’t like it when they try to chat with me about me in the middle of giving their sales pitch. It’s almost like they just got out of their communication orientation seminar and I’m their first victim. However, this kid about cracked me up. He asked “So how many kids do you have? Do you know?” Uhhhhh… I couldn’t let this pass by, so I said “I do know how many children I have. I have three. I counted them today.” He tried to laugh at himself. Later he was asking about my husband (it was obvious he wasn’t going to sell a security system to me), and he asked “So does your husband live here with you?” Sigh. I said, “Yes, he lives here with me and our three children, and he also knows we have three children. (smile)” I guess all he could do after all of that was ask for a glass of water. I was nice. Really, I was. I”m sure our talk improved his sales pitch to the people across the street.

Ten minutes after the APX guy left, there was another knock at the door. This time it was a middle-aged black woman standing there. She said she had been walking for a while and asked if she could use my phone to call someone to pick her up. I told her I could call someone for her. So, that’s what  I did. She talked to whoever on the phone and apparently they refused to come get her. She started crying and asked me to call 911 so she could get some help. I couldn’t quite understand what was wrong, but one thing was that she had a fight with her roommate (which was her sister) and when she came home, all of her stuff was in the yard. She also said something about a mental health facility and a diabetic coma. She asked for a glass of water. I got her a chair to sit in on the porch, a glass of water, and a bag of goldfish crackers, and then I called the police. I was sure to mention the “mental health facility” part to the police so they wouldn’t tarry. They were there in just a couple of minutes and she left with them. I felt sorry for her. I’ve had people come to my door asking for money for this and that or a ride here or there. I don’t trust anybody like that. But this woman didn’t ask for money. When she asked me to call 911 after she couldn’t get someone to come pick her up, I knew she really was beside herself. Anyways, I’m not sure where the police took her, and I do hope she is able to get her life straightened out.

EG (5 yrs old):

Happy Birthday to my baby girl! She turned 5 this week! Lunch at McDonalds with some of her friends made her day. We will be officially celebrating on the 13th with her brother (who will be 3 this month) with a party at the science museum.

EG started swim lessons this week. She did great! On the first day she jumped into the pool without holding a hand, and on the second day she jumped in with “nothing but her swimsuit” (as she described it). She doesn’t get in a pool very often–maybe 4-5 times a year–so I wasn’t quite sure how she would do. But she was excited and fearless!

This week we continued to read Uncle Wiggily and we started rereading the Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature. She also read through one of the Abeka grade 2 readers and she did great! The phonics we’re doing in the Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading is a bit tricky at the moment. We’re doing words like thought, though, brought, bough, etc. She’s pushing through.

She finished memorizing question 63 of the Baptist Catechism which asks “Which is the fourth commandment?” She also finished 1 Peter 3:9, and has almost finished Proverbs 19:11, which says “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”

She started this week working on Literature Pockets: Folktales and Fairy Tales. Her first story was The Little Red Hen. I included a picture below. She enjoyed doing all the little projects and was proud of her “pocket”. Next week we’ll be on The Three Little Pigs.

I’ve also included a video of her singing “Jesus Came to Earth” by Sovereign Grace Music. This is what happens when I leave my music stand out. She’s inspired to sing!

AZ (2 yrs old):

Unfortunately, I have nothing new to report on our potty training endeavor. I take hope in the fact that I know he will not be in diapers when he goes to college.

The Z-man worked on an H page for his alphabet notebook this week. He painted this week with his sister and used his new Colorix crayons he got from Sonlight. Those things are really cool. They go on smooth like markers, but they don’t fade out like markers. Very nice!

I signed him up for a soccer camp at the end of July. He is totally pumped. He looked at his sister and said “I play soccer like YOU!!!” I just hope he understands that when someone else gets the ball he can’t fall apart.

He’s still working on his memory verses. For the last few weeks he’s been working on Proverbs 30:5 which says “Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”

SA (13 months):

The little man was somewhat cranky this week.  The pictures below don’t speak the whole truth. Wednesday night he had a fever of 101. Thursday the fever was close to 102, and this morning it was close to 103. By the time we made it to the doctor this morning, it was 104. Turns out he has some viral throat infection. His throat is all red with pustules on it. Doesn’t that just sound awful?! Poor baby. He’s on a super ibuprofen dose to help with the fever. We just have to let it run its course. Viruses are a pain.

Me:

I’m not completely over the crud, but I’m doing much better. Don’t you just hate those sinus headaches? Ughh. BTW, the picture at the left comes courtesy of the Z-man. Not bad! I was just happy he got my whole head in the picture!

Well, thursday was the day. At my guitar lesson, we recorded the “Rondo” duet. I did keep the train on the tracks; however, it was far from perfect. I just received the video tonight. I know that my friends will laugh when they read this, but…..I didn’t know I made so many facial expressions when I play guitar! I totally crack myself up! I’ve been told that I have a very expressive face at times. Most times I am completely unaware of it, and I definitely don’t ever see video of it! There’s no telling what expressions were on my face when I was talking to the APX salesman! Anyways, I’ve included the video below for your viewing pleasure. One thing is for sure, I refuse to play “Rondo” one more time. I refuse. I’m done. On to book 2.