school!

 last week nate decided my pantry was not organized and he took it upon himself to organize it for me. he did a great job, and totally reminds me of chris! haha

he even left notes and a chart to show me where things go. hahaha

 ellie is loving her school, she enjoys work books and learning.  im still not pushing it on her, i let her come to me and ask. which she does almost every day.  some days shes just not into it, and i let her go and play, other days she cant get enough! 

 she read this whole sentence, minus the word "share" all by herself!

 i wish i knew of these popcicle stick sight words when nate was little. ellie loves them

 i had to take pics of her because i think she's amazing. and soon those perfect teeth will be falling out!  stop time! i cant keep up

 on sat i surprised the kids by going to the movies, and preplanned friends to meet us there.  ellie found 3 gold coins and brought them to me. she said "mom! i found 3 shiny gold coins, now i can pay for you, me and nate to go to the movies"  the gold coins came to .7 cents.  exactly enough to buy us our movie tickets. she kept the coins in her hand until we got to the theater, then passed them to me to pay.  adorable. the guy at the counter totally went along with it

 ellie with her gold coins

 it was stupid cold on sat.  this is with out the wind chill!

 ellie had her first date! haha

 nate too!

i was able to have a quick chat with aralee, and she took nate home for the rest of the day/evening.  awesome! 2 comments

Posted by mel at 11:13 AM

kids and antics!

 last week i was working with nate in the school room and i came out to check on miss ellie and found this...my door closed
and my bed full of stuffies

lights off but the fire place on
i asked her what was going on and ellie said "shhhh. its nap time. they are sleeping"  hahaha these silly times of play make me stop and smile

 nate took all his lego and remade most of them to match the box. i was impressed with his work

 last friday night was the big church family camp out, where families bring their tents and camp out in the church atrium.  i didnt go, i like my soft bed. ha but chris went with nate. they had a great time.  before the boys left i cleaned up the lower level, ran upstairs and came down to find my kitchen like this. the one i just cleaned.  i knew right away what ellie and joey did. they were playing camp out....with all the toys i just put away.  what can you do? i took a pic and had the girls clean it up. haha

 joey. joey. joey. happy. happy. happy!  this is what joey looks like 99% of the time

 chris was getting ready to head out with nate and joey ran up beside him.  perfect time for a family pic! ha

 daddy and his girls

 my men!

 ellie was allowed to sleep in my bed. i love cuddling with my ellie girl

 us!

 saturday i took the older 2 kids to play at the bouncy castle place. we arrived around 11, the place was PACKED at 12:30!  insanity!  i bought the kids a pop as a treat, weve been coming here for months and i REFUSED to pay 1.50 for a can of pop but on sat i was like "what the heck"  i bought them one. you would have thought i bought them the moon and stars
ellie was asking "can i have some nate?"

 love them!

 sunday morning i was fixing ellies hair while joey dressed herself. she was a pirate. haha

 they were singing

 my girls!  love them so much
SOOOOOO grateful we had them!  such life and laughter they bring to our family

 ellie was in jail. joey was the guard

and i cant believe its been another week! 

im kinda wanting a snow storm to come so i can take a day and stay home and get things done!  0 comments

Posted by mel at 9:37 AM

jumping and climbing!

 monday nate asked if he could wear his jammy bottoms to get air. i said why not! lets be the stereotype home schoolers who wear pj's all day. hahaha. he wore them and his friends thought he was "so cool" to be allowed to wear them. ha

it was out last session to jump.  i had a GREAT time, i made many new connections, caught up with friends and enjoyed getting out for adult talk.  the kids made new friends and joey even left my lap a few times to jump. haha

ellie was waiting for her best friend judah to come, they were running a bit late so ellie found harriet and they perched themselves on the block to wait for judah to come. ha.  ellie even wrote a letter and mailed it to judah this week. so cute

 joey wearing ellie's old hat. this hat is a keeper for the save collection.  my heart wants to yell STOP to time.  time just goes by too fast

 yesterday we hit up party place.  the original plan was to not go with the roads being not that great, but after i checked the weather for thurs and fri and saw the snow thats coming i quickly messaged some home schoolers to come out!  lol  i need adult conversation ESP with some snow days a coming

joey left my lap for almost the whole 2.5 hrs we were there!!!!  she stayed with ellie and harriet.  they helped joey climb the climbing wall!  harriet went to the top, ellie showed jpey how to do it and i snapped a few pics

 see! this is how you do it!

 and yes, i wash their feet before we leave. haha

 look at my BABY go!!!!!

 some more encouragement!

 and a final boost from big brother!

and a spontaneous, super fun afternoon was had! 2 comments

Posted by mel at 9:05 AM

science!

 joey loves this little play house, chris set her up with all her little toys and she spent most of the DAY playing with it!  joey is by far the best "player" shes forever off on her own to play...and play...cute to boot!

 mon we skipped joeys nap because of get air, tuesday morning at 10 after me waking her up at 8:30 joey opened the basement door, took her blanket and walked herself to her nap bed. she sat at the top of the stairs and said "mom? coming?"  i put her to bed, she napped for 3 hrs

 we had some extra time on tues so we did some science.  joey joined us and we all had a good time mixing colors and creating colored gel

 working together

 joey got hands on too

 tippy toes!

 they really had a good time, i did too

 joey watches nate and ellie and copies them

 joey made her own colored gel too

 ellie with her gel

 joey. this is typical joey. happy, happy, happy!

 nate.  my serious one.  he's a great big brother

 i was working on the computer last night and i turned around and saw this.  how did my BABY???? turn into this amazing almost 10 YR old?!?!  sob!

i cant believe its thursday.  we have had a busy week.  monday was get air, i was able to connect with some new people and step out into making new friends.

 tues was school filled. some how school took until 4. nothing was wrong, no fights, we just took a long time. ha.  i took nate to kid connect at the church tues night and joined my friend for a walk...she bought me toe warmers! lol and they actually work!

 wed was crazy!  i had my 9 month dentist check up, and guess what????!!!!  the first time in 8 YEARS!!!!  i dont need ANY work!  i actually got a GREAT check up! the dentist was amazed by how great my teeth look!  the hygienist showed me the wipe cloth, there was NO blood!  she said my gums were perfect ZERO gingivitis!  the only thing that they said would be beneficial would be braces to straighten out my crowded front teeth to prevent any issues...but the least it would cost is 6 GRAND so thats not happening.  i left the office crying, happy tears!  i made so many changes the last yr, cut out all sugars/candy/my most loved raisins/apricots/dates anything sticky!  brush religiously after every meal (ask my sis...she saw me leave the restaurant after dinner on the cruise to go to my room to brush and floss and meet up the group later ha!)  i am so happy!!!  i think my body regulated after the last pregnancy and im back to normal! 

wed afternoon was a play group/social time for me.  ive been able to connect with a home school mom who thinks a lot like me, i never thought we would be friends. and yet, we are. 

today was my "i am NOT leaving the house!" day!  i had to catch up on laundry, cooking/meal prep/school.  etc....

i spent some time with ellie today doing her school. she really likes learning.  guess what?  ellie read her first sentence.  i wrote it on her little chalk board and she read "mom loves you" and "i see you"  i was impressed

on a personal note.  the last few days i felt a tug n my heart to do 2 things.  1- to do another 28 day fast and 2- to stop watching a show i watch.  after a sleepless night, i came to terms that i am going to listen to the small voice in my heart and fast 28 days from....WINE!  sob sob.  not coffee but a second close!  and i will stop watching a show that i enjoy. im not sure why, but im going to listen

and if you are still following this long rambling blog post i would LOVE to have your prayers for my dad.  he's having some issues with his bladder.  i think god is trying to get me to trust him more in this area and not worry as much. ha

and with that im looking forward to wrapping up another week tomorrow, with the promise of a weekend! 


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Posted by mel at 4:32 PM