it's all fun and games: January 2014

life!

i was making my breaky the other morning and looked over to see this

sigh. nate moved his seat so he could sit closer to ellie. soon there will be 3 chairs!

my friend's, wonderfully and talented daughter made a u tube video. i was watching it and ellie came over, tapped my leg and said "hi! mom. ugh igh| which means up up!

i sat her on my lap and she sat like this for the whole 5 min video

little hands

ohhhhh intense

folded hands in concentration

i think ellie's gonna be musical

yesterday i was making nate math and found this note he left for me

i wrote him back
he is always leaving me little notes in his school work!

18 month appointment! i packed the kids up early this am, 8am!!!! lol i don't get out of bed most mornings till 8:30. i had to wake ellie up, she was not impressed
anyways, we got to the dr

ellie played

and voila! she is a healthy child

i was caught off guard by my normally supportive dr by a comment he made about nate and home school. he was concerned that nate didn't get enough socialization and that was important with school

i replied "oh, i thought school was about education and book work, not play and fun?" he looked at me funny and i said "it's 2014, its almost impossible to be unsociable in this day and age" then i reassured him that yes, nate gets to go out and play....

sigh

nate gems!

driving home this morning nate aked if we could visit aunty jess and i said no, they are not home. he wanted to know where they are. i told him they are all on vacation*. nate said " its so hard to be happy for them when they get to go to disney, busch gardens, go swimming AND go on a cruise" then he said "all we have money for is school books and food"

bawahhhhh

which lead into a huge conversation about being happy with what you have, where you are. i told him that yes, it's hard to watch family and friends have things that we won't but it's not the things that make you happy. its being happy when you dont have it. at the end he said "mom, im glad you stay home with me and ellie. and i am happy. but i could be happier if you got me a tim bit" bawahhhhh

on monday, i put on my new face cream, which i LOVE. my sister recommend it to me. i gave nate a hug at some point of the day to which he says "mom! you smell just like aunty!" hahaha

one last one. yesterday morning nate was not feeling well so he asked if i could snuggle on the couch with him and read some books to him. i said sure buddy, we went to the couch, got comfy. then ellie came over and laid on top of me. i was in heaven. all 3 of my kids laying on/beside me. ha

i started to read and nate goes "mom, i think its fair that i read to you, you read so much to me. so this time i will read to you"

and he did

awwwwww

happy friday everyone!

* my family, meaning all of them are on a 2 wk vacation. 1 wk florida and 1 wk cruise. its weird being with out contact with them! i hope/wish they are having a FABULOUS trip!! and we hope to be able to come 3 yrs from now...... 1 comments

Posted by mel at 10:43 AM

nate and ellie

another video for you vati. just being silly before bed 0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:08 AM

ellie being ellie

this for vati who asked chris if he could see ellie, he hasnt seen her since she was 6 wks old! this clip was taken last week, i think....enjoy vati! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:06 AM

cuteness!

little ellie in the van. nate and chris made sure she was nice and comfy for the 15 min ride. haha

nate and v's kids at the movies a few wks back. sigh. how fast did these kids grow???

nate was picked to ride the hot dog, their name not mine, he had a blast. nate loves my gym and the extra classes, i LOVE my gym for the mom chat. ha.

man i can not wait till summer! spring! and green grass. i am getting squirmy in the house. i am not meant to be inside! i want parks, play groups and summer days!

happy freezing thursday! (its -9. yes, that's cold!) 0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:09 AM

science!

we love mad science around here, but i really think we just love mrs. charlotte more! she's the teacher of this amazing class. mad science is a company that you can hire to come and teach science to your group, or class. we happened to have mrs. charlotte a few yrs back and our home school group has kept her as our science teacher. she is a retired home educator herself, of 8 kids! oya!! as she put it she home educated for over 24 yrs! now she teaches with mad science

this morning, the kids were learning about solids, weight, buoyancy and layers of different liquids
personally, i love taking nate to the classes, everything is provided, no mess for me to pick up.ha and he can visit with his friends

mixing away! this class wont be nates science lessons, we will be starting (if i can stop procrastinating) a series soon. its just a fill up class as i like to call it. educational and fun, encouraging his love of science and experiments

little miss ellie pants
she was trying to sneak her foot on the table. ha. she LOVES to put her foot on the table and chris is prompt to put it down, now when she sees him she will giggle and put her foot on the table. silly girl! we love you!

0 comments

Posted by mel at 9:22 AM

a little dance and a belly!

chris and ellie had a little dance this morning, before i headed out the door

im glad i caught it!

belly shot, 13 weeks. althou, i look like i ate a too much and not so pregnant....a few more week and i shall fill out a little more and look preggers not just bloated!

i think im gonna carry low this time. i have a prediction of the gender. shall i share it?haha

this morning i woke up and was able to blow my nose! amazing feeling. sigh, i am feeling better than yesterday, so i think im on the mend. thank goodness! i dish being sick and not being able to take anything just blows. and with that some how the weekend is over and a new week must start. oya!

happy sunday everyone! 2 comments

Posted by mel at 3:28 PM

cough, sniff, cough...

this is me. me, sick? not a lot changes around here, except i mark nate's work from the couch. ha

sigh. i wish i could say I am better. NOT. seriously, the worst thing about being sick is not being able to take ANYTHING, other than Tylenol and well that product works like a charm....said no sick person ever! sob sob sob

im pleased to say that everything got done this wk so far....i even cooked 2 meals from scratch, thinking it would help us all feel better. didn't work, so tonight im sending chris to a drive thru. nates got all his lessons done and ellie is alive and wearing clean clothes. i have set high standards for myself. haha

so, back to the couch i go to finish nates workbook marking

cheers to kleenex and water. the few things i can do to feel better. ha

3 comments

Posted by mel at 2:15 PM

library and sickness!

fri afternoon we hit up the library for the home school group meet up. ellie was SO busy! she would not stay in the room that was set up for the home school club. i ended up spending 2 hrs following her around everywhere. ha. she did some puzzles, played some trains

and played with the puppets

while nate stayed glued to the spot with his buddy caleb, they take science together. nate had a great time playing with his friends. then we hit up swiss chalet for supper with daddy

sunday! chris was sick last week, no one else got it. then sat i felt my throat get scratchy and icky. i woke up sun not feeling well at. all. ellie was also burning a fever and not her happy self. so the girls stayed home together and chris and nate went to church

us. sick. together

so later on that afternoon the boys came home. i was in tears when i saw nate come through the door with flowers for ellie

chris told me the story. while at superstore picking up groceries, nate asked chris if he could get some flowers for ellie because she was not feeling very well. chris said ok and off they went to the flower department. nate then looked all the flowers over and picked out a bouquet of pink carnations for his sister

he was so excited to give them to her. i bawled... how thoughtful. i later found out that he asked his class to pray for ellie to feel better. sob sob sob....and yes, chris bought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers too. in my fav colors!

my heart!

im starting to feel better now. i did nothing but rest on sunday, dad you would have been proud. then yesterday i was up and at er. i had a prenatal appointy with my obg that went AWESOME. the baby is great, listened to the heart beat. everything is great. ill meet with her again at 32 weeks to plan the delivery. which will happen the last week of july, via c/section. so exciting! 4 comments

Posted by mel at 1:35 PM

reptile show!

a few wks back, little rays traveling reptile show was in moncton. after a week of perfect colors/stickers on his chart i decided to break my *"no reward for school" rule and take nate to the show as a special surprise. we went sat morning first thing, to try to beat the crowds. which turned out to be a great idea....the place was packed!

they had a bunch of different animals on display, in cages, and even on the volunteers in the main building. we stopped at the snake cage

ewwww i just don't like snakes! so creepy

then we went on to look at the dinosaurs and other skeletons of other animals

then it was time for the live reptile show. we got there nice and early and got 2nd row seats which was awesome until....

this lady and her 4 friends sat down in the front row (she sent her 3 kids to stand) and blocked the view from all the kids and adults in the following rows. ok, normally this kind of stuff just rolls off my back but come on! its a KIDS show. why would you do that?????

so nate and i went to the front and sat on the ground to watch
the guy who did the show was super funny. he cracked jokes the whole time. very entertaining for the adults

a crocodile from florida joined too

he was quite upset, i would be too with all the kids and the-26 it was that morning

the placed him on the stage and tried to settle him

by having his trainer crouch down beside him and make these grunting noises to settle him. fun!

nate and i went and got a redic over priced snack and found 1 seat and shared it for the bird show

the birds were flying freely around the place and rested on top of the sandwich board in front
our view for the bird show until.....

2 boys decided to walk up front after their parents prompted them too and stand in the aisle and block the view from everyone.....seriously!

they were asked by a ticked off parent to sit down or leave!

this is how close the birds were to us

bird man

quick shot out the door. it got really busy!

it was worth the money and a great special treat for us. we ran into a lot of other home school families so it was nice to chat and catch up. i really enjoyed having 1 on 1 time with nate. i think he liked it too. so 2 thumbs up for the reptile show!

* my no rewards for school rule- i do not give rewards to nate for doing good in school. as i explained to him, school is his job to do. he doesn't get a reward for doing good. i expect him to do his best, with out getting something for it. i don't want to start rewarding him at a young age to get something for doing something. instead i want him to want to do something, just for personal satisfaction, with out the "gimmes" . its a touchy subject, i know and i think it's up to each family to do whats best for them. and no, we dont give allowances for him to make his bed, clear the table, pick up his toys, put his laundry away or empty the dishwasher etc... he does those things because i asked him and he lives here for free. ha. i will consider paying him for extra jobs as he gets older, like mow the lawn and while he's at it the neighbors lawn. ha

happy very cold tuesday everyone!!!! 2 comments

Posted by mel at 1:00 PM

pots and pan store and life!

the other morning, i was working away and i could hear ante and ellie playing together, a lot of noise, banging and opening cupboard doors was going on
i came into this

nate and ellie set up a kitchen store with my pots/pans and kitchen items
wouldn't you want to by a walked in pan? ha

nate ran the front end

ellie was on the sales floor
ha
yes, i wiped out and down each thing they had. it was cute to watch them playing together!

ellie's assessment. we had a busy week with appointments. wed morning ellie had her 18 month assessment. the province of n.b is no longer doing the 3.5 yr assessment but switched to the 18 months. i asked why,, and the nurse told me that by the time the kids were coming in at 3.5 they were too late, or too many kids were slipping through the system

the appointment was booked for an hour but we were done in 30 mins. they ran a batch of tests and she passed all of them. i sat and chatted with the nurse/case worker and she gave me more info regarding the class, basically they are seeing an alarming rate of kids coming in at 18 mth that are far below where they should be developmentally, eating habits and lack of a proper diet, inability to communicate/socialize, lack of attachment, decrease logic/problem solving/critical thinking. yes at 18 mths. e.g putting a cheerio in a test tube, having the child figure out how to get the tube (turn it over) most kids try and grab the cheerio, then throw it on the floor or at someone.

i found the whole meeting interesting. its not so much of an assessment but more of a checking to see if the child is being cared for. they also checked the mother's mental health and again, i asked why. they are seeing an increase of mothers with anxiety, depression etc

so yes. ellie passed her assessment and is ok'd to go see the dentist. yikes! my BABY is going to the dentist!!!

ellie had her hearing test by they audiologist at the dumont yesterday morning. due to my hearing loss, ellie is being watched to make sure she's ok. she did AWESOME! there was 3 dr's trying to preform the test. as soon as they tried to touch her she screamed. i asked if she could sit on my lap. once ellie was on my lap she finished the test in 20 mins. ha. the whole appointment was 30 mins. her hearing is fine, she passed all the tests but unfortunately, i failed....i forgot to wear my hearing aid. haha.

yesterday o received a package in the mail, it made me cry. i got a family calender from my parents

love it!

nate claimed the smaller one

and went over each picture remembering the days of past

what a thoughtful gift! what was even more thoughtful was the awesome maternity outfit they sent along with it! so nice to have something new and fresh that FITS! haha after i had ellie i gave away 3 huge bags of mat clothing, keeping a green bag size for me, not expecting that we would get preggers so fast. so i don't have a lot of clothes! so a new outfit meant so much!

thank you!!!

i should get off the lap top and stop ignoring my kids now. hahaha

happy friday everyone! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 9:36 AM

tuna!

it stated a few weeks back, and i cant seem to stop. craving. the stuff! seriously! all i want to eat is tuna, golden delish apples and toast!!! sure i can eat toast and apples as much as i want but tuna? no, that precious mercury loaded protein is maxed out at a can a week....or so my dr's tell me...but really, is it wrong to eat 2 week??? and is this not the most redic craving???? a can of tuna, mushed up with mustard and a scoop of mayo=heaven....

back to go to scraping my bowl clean. until next wednesday night, ill see