School 2012-13: How it has all come to an end!

The school year has come to an end!

Last day of the school year in Tomorrow! 6/11/13!

(Currently 6/10/13 11 PM)

My Smart Little Dudes are about to finish their last day of their first year of home school! They did AMAZING! I have never before been so proud of them!

These 2 little geniuses are finishing off the year with a ton of new information that I feel they would not of had if they had been left on their own in the traditional Brick and Mortar schooling program. 

My eldest is ending his school year in the middle of a 4th grade class! He had a lot more work to get done than his younger brother this year so I am proud that he got as far as he did. His year end testing compared to his beginning of the year testing had a great rise in numbers. Most kids only get an increase of 145 points in both Math and Reading, my guy improved by 245 points in Reading and 345 points in Math! He is so smart! He also did pretty great on his state testing, he passed them both!

My guy who started his year off in 1st grade courses is finishing the school year off at 15-20% completion in all 2nd grade courses! He has gotten so good at his work that when it came to his scores for his testing from the beginning to the end of the year he had massive improvements! The one that I am most impressed with was he word recognition. (I am sure this is because he knows what letters make each sound and he knows how to put them all together!) He went from below Kindergarten level in word recognition to a 12th grade word recognition this school year! I know his teacher said to take the score on that with a grain of salt but I think he is an awesome kid for getting that score! LOL His other scores were all in the 2nd to 4th grade range for all the other categories. Which is great since he is in all 2nd grade courses.

I look forward to continuing to work with my children over the Summer and into the next school year. They are also excited to be starting their Summer Camp Classes next week as well! Even my little 5 year old is going to be joining the Summer Camp fun this year and learning to use the online classroom tools that his brothers learned over the summer last year.

That is all for now. I hope to post lots of new photos and information soon! Take care!

~TTFN!

In Recent News...

I know I have not been on here to post much lately and I apologize!

Pre-read warning..... CAUTION BREASTFEEDING PHOTO BELOW! (just for those who don't want to see breast)

This is a long one... Hope you have the time! LOTS of photos too though!

In recent days we have made a few LARGE changes our lives. And they are revolved around our most recent big purchase!

Here is that purchase.......

It is a 1999 Ford Taurus SE! And so far it has been a complete save! 

1. A huge save on gas! 

We were paying double the gas to drive into town (roughly a 45 minute drive one way) twice a day to get my husband to and from work and allow me to have the other car at home just in case something else happened at home. Now, only one trip for him to go to and from work. And then when I need to go into town for groceries or what have you. Also, it costs less to fill this little car up compared to our van.

2. We both get more sleep! 

We were both only getting around 3-5 hours a "night"(he sleeps during the day and works at night) and then leaving early to take him to work (he was getting there 2 hours or so early every day!) so that I could get back home at a decent time and get the kiddos fed and into bed! And then I could fall asleep once all the kids were asleep and be up around 4:30-5 o'clock in the morning to go pick him up and bring him home and then go about my day with the kids (often after a nap). 

So I have had a little more time to spend with the kiddos!

He decided that Grandma and Mommy's cucumber looked yummy!

He ended up eating most of what we had on our plates!

That is not a "yuck" face you see there!

That is his "oh look a camera is out" silly face! 

The above photo is of one of our new favorite meals before it was baked! Spinach Chicken loaf! and below is the baked product! It is oh so yummy! I have not been able to decide if I like it cold or hot better yet! However, On a zero carb flax bun cold with a little bit of mayonnaise on it, it is to die for! And super filling! 

Next.......

The flax bun I spoke of earlier! This was my lunch one day though. I had a bun with 2 fried eggs, a few cheese slices and some mayo and mustard! It curbed one of my cravings I have had for awhile to make and enjoy a fried egg sandwich! YUM!

Next is the forewarned Breast photo!

Nursing and Giggling! We stopped in a parking lot in town to have a good nursing when we bought the Taurus last week. After we bought the car we went to the insurance company followed by the DMV and then gas all for the Taurus. So little dude was ready to eat! And he could not stop laughing at Daddy! So I took that opportunity to snap a few photos! And this is one of the cutest with his big grin on his face!

That would be my oh so handsome Nephew Gabriel! Hard to believe it but, he turned 6 months old on Friday! Half a year old! (Picture was taken on Friday and posted by my sister and I stole it from here Facebook!) I know I haven't seen him much in his short 6 months as I should! This would partly be because they live 400+ miles away. But I love seeing the photos of him and hope that with time I will be able to visit him (and my Sister) more often. Specially with having two vehicles, travelling just got cheaper! We wouldn't have to get my hubby a hotel room in town so he could ride the bus or his bike to and from work (he has a car now!) And we wouldn't have to board the dog! Because my husband would be home with him! The only expenses would be the gas to get there and back and our hotel there! Sounds like we may need to work out how to get there some time this summer once school is out!

Speaking of school!

Both boys completed their Science class early and were able to advance in to the next grade level! Since they are Grades 1 & 3 the school put them into Grade 2 Science (as well as History and Art) together. We have already sent back the Science 2 supplies that they asked us to and received the Science 3 supplies! So we are set for the summer and next school year! (Yes, I am going to be "that mom" and make them continue some school work during the summer, not every day, but every week!)

My 1st Grader has also advanced to his 2nd grade courses in Language Arts! He advanced at 95% and has completed all of the "set" of classes! We are still waiting on his school supplies to arrive for that class and hopefully we can get started on those classes next week! Since now all he has left to work on is History and Art with his brother and Math by himself for this school year!

I am so proud of both of my school going guys right now! They have worked their booties off! Hopefully their little brother will work just as hard next year! He has been accepted and starts home school on September 4th, 2013!

He is so excited that he keeps asking when his school stuff will get here and when he can start school! I had to break it to him that it wouldn't be here until the end of Summer. I thought he was going to cry. Poor little guy. Wish I could sped up time for him sometimes! LOL

This is my oldest on his first ever day of school!

First day of Kindergarten!

He was so little! He was also scared!

But he did AMAZING!

My little genius!

This photo would be his 2 little brothers hanging out in the stroller while we waited for the bus to show up! They were little troopers and would sit there every morning and when we would get home they would eat breakfast and then play, play, play... It was a simple time! LOL

I wish I had more photos of my older kiddos to share. I need to connect my camera to my computer and get them off there. I have started taking more and more photos on my camera since the in Wal-mart PictureMe Portrait Studio closed down. I am going to have to either take photos on my own or pay a lot more to get them done. My other option is also to have my friend who lost her job when the portrait studio closed take the photos. I would love to give her the money rather than someone I don't know or to a big corporation. When I have to photos on my computer I will be able to post them! The studio closing also got me thinking about how I am going to do Christmas photos for family this year as well and I think I have come up with a pretty neat and fairly cheap idea! Another reason I have been taking photos like they are going out of style!

That is about all I have for now... Take care everyone!

~TTFN!

Help out my boys if you can....

2 Boys No Longer Bullied | What's Your K12 Story?

My boys need your help!!!

They are in a contest at school! They are the week 1 winners! But they need your votes, or likes, to be the winners of a Kindle Fire HD!!!

How it works:

After you click the link a page will open up!

On that page a window should open!

That window will have my boys' story on it!

Once you are there you can click on the purple "Like This" button!

Once you have clicked "Like This" you have brought us one vote close to a win!

The top 10 out of ALL the stories with the most votes will get a Kindle Fire HD!

At this time the most votes are in the 300's to the lower 80's for who has the most!

Please Please Please VOTE for my guys!

They really want to win!!!

2 Boys No Longer Bullied | What's Your K12 Story?: I decided to make the switch to K12 and ORVA starting this school year because my boys had been being bullied at their school. They were constantly being pointed at as the one who started it......... Read more by clicking the link!

A huge Thank You in advance to all! And please, spread the word, if you don't mind.

Sharing can be done by either sharing this blog post, or clicking any of the many share links on the link itself!

They have given you the ability to share on Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest and so many more places as well as email and Blogger!

Thanks again!

~TTFN!!!

Photo Monday 10

My Boys' Bean!

When we first started home school we were told that there was going to be outings with the other kids that go to the same school in our area!

The first outing was a meet and greet type thing. This is where my 1st grader met his teacher for the first time in person and the boys got to play with the kids their age and with the older kids.

They had different activities and one of those was to learn how to plant a bean! They had little pots and soil and beans. Each of my boys made one. They were forgotten and left outside when we got home and it wasn't until about a week or so later that I brought them in. I combined all the dirt with the one that had a sprout so that it then became every one's and not just one person's plant was growing. After a week of just sitting there it took off! And this is the result now several months later. I would also like to add that this part of the plant has creeped up the side of our avocado tree and is into the upper pane of the window. It is very tall! Plants are awesome! I hope I can get more to grow this year!

~TTFN!

Happy December!

Can you believe how fast November went by?! It was way too fast in my opinion! Then again, I was pretty busy... Birthday, Thanksgiving, Birthday again! December isn't going to be any better! But this time... It is MY birthday coming up! LOL! In just 10 days I get to be another year old....er! Or in the words of my kids, just old! And as you can tell from the photo, my aging makes me that much more ornery!

I do not have an issue with getting older. I do find it funny that a woman I have not seen in years asked me how old I was and I told her, then she gasped and shouted "That is almost 30!!!" Thanks! LOL! But this woman has known me since I was a very young child so this probably was a big shock! She was also surprised to here about my having 4 kids. And about my sister's new baby! But it was really good to see the woman who was always like a second Mother to me my entire childhood.

As the Holidays approach I probably wont be as chatty as I have been in the past months... I know that that was still rare, but I am getting better... I think! I still have a busy month. My kiddos have a lot of school to get done. However, they are ahead of the game by 2-3 weeks worth of percents now as well. I am pretty sure that the 1st grader is going to complete one entire course by the end of next week. This particular course only has 15 lessons to begin with so it is no real shock that he is already  over 50% done with it, with an estimated end date of January 30th! He has 2 lessons that need him to go to a grocery store or super market and we need to go get groceries tomorrow so I think he will be going with us just for that and we can have him fill out his paperwork for those while we are there!

So, as I said, My Birthday is coming up... And so is Christmas! This year we are going to have a pretty good Christmas for the kiddos as far as gifts go! They are all getting things they are going to just love! (with the exception of the oldest, who already has his gift! He needed his computer replaced before Christmas could get here so he got his gift early!) As for the other boys, I will not mention just yet what they are getting just in case my oldest decides he wants to read my blog (which he has done once or twice!) and then "blab" to his little brothers! As far as things for me from my kiddos go, I know what 2 of my gifts for my birthday are and that is only because they are from the 2 littlest boys and one was purchased by me after my 4 year old said he wanted to add to my Santa collection! It isn't exactly the right type of Santa thing, but it is super cute and I do love it! I will post photos after my birthday for all to see what I get!

I love this time of year and already have my tree up (tiny one this year since we are not going to enjoy it for all that long), my Santa collection out (running out of room and in desperate need of more space just for them!), and I am just about ready to send out my Christmas cards to both family and friends(my fellow Mamas of November 2011 Babies)! I have gotten photos taken throughout the year and stuffed them into some envelopes with cards and then I made a few little creations of my own recently that I printed out to send off as well. Along with other gifts that I am also not able to mention now, my Christmas crafting and card stuffing and licking is almost coming to a close! That is exciting for me! Now to get to the post office and mail a few packages and my cards and I am set! I also need to buy quilt batting to finish up a few last minute, in the process for a long time, gifts! I also have been being a crocheting fool the last few nights! LOL! There are just so many things I started or got the materials to do while my sister was pregnant that I wanted to get finished and didn't that I now have gifts for the next couple years I think! And that is just fine! I also have birthday gifts I can give in there too!

In my spare time on Thursday and Friday, since my boys did so awesome with school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and were finished up early on Thursday and Friday! I was able to create some neat photos of each of my kiddos! Here they are...

This is my oldest! I love all of these photos of him!
The youngest is from when he was about 1-2 weeks old!
The top left photo was shortly after he figured out how to do the peace sign!

My #2 boy!
Isn't he so super cute???
He has been posing for some time now!
Well, for home photos, never for studio photos! LOL!

The 4 year old!
Such a little ham this one!
My favorite here is him chomping on the watermelon!
All animals on this photo were chosen by little man himself!

 

This is the photo that started it all!
I found a program that allowed me to make this collage and
this is the result! And I love it!
These photos are basically one from each 12 months of his life!
Start at the top left and then go clockwise!
And of course pregnant in the middle photo!

I printed each of these photos out in 5 x 7 size and had them sitting around the base of my tree to dry. They are now awaiting frames! LOL!

I also made some Christmas ones that I will wait until closer to Christmas to post!

~TTFN!

Semi Successful Week 1

I had decided after the first 3 days of school and all that multiple classes in one day thing needed to go into "clumped" classes for my boys. Now THAT seemed to work great! Obviously they have some classes they like better than others. So those classes go slightly smoother. They are in 1st and 3rd grade but the school made it easier on me and gave them the 2nd grade History, Science and Art together. However, my 3rd grader keeps complaining about getting the "harder" Math and Language Arts stuff. I have to keep reminding him that he is older and that in 2 years his brother will be doing the exact same school work he is doing now. That seems to make it better for him. If he can put it into his own head that one day his little brother gets to do the same thing, then he is all good with doing it first. LOL

I plan to sit at the "school area" tomorrow(today because it is now 2:30am) and get their work all mapped out for them again this week. I think we may change up some of the order this week though. I think Monday will be their Language Arts, Tuesday is going to be Art (we need a short day, I have another dentist appointment), Wednesday - Math, Thursday can be Science and Friday can be History! Friday will end up being easier that way since they seem to love that class and cruise right through it! I think that may be how they have the History class being more interactive and not just a site and listen class. They get stories red to them and they do clapping word games that they love! Also, we go over most of the information just the 3 of us and then review around the rest of the family.

I wish I had more photos to get up here for everyone to see but my phone and it's connection cable to my computer have been having a disagreement this evening! Thus the almost 3 am blog post! I have been attempting to get the Nokia program to work with my phone and I have no idea why it isn't working. Yes, my phone is in fact a Nokia, that is not the issue. LOL Once I can get all my photos onto my computer, I will get them into a new post. I was able to get a few just before my phone and cable first disagreed. Here they are:

P.s. I warn you, they are older photos! For some reason my phone was not letting my computer have them until today!

Picnic in the Dollar Stores lawn! LOL
This was in June or July!
Me and ALL 4 boys, photo by my Mom!

Baby Wyatt
So tiny and cute! LOL

Funny face for a 4 year old!
I don't know that he ever has a straight face,
or that he smiles nice for photos LOL

Handsome 6 year old!
(Me helping the baby sit up in the background!)

And..... My oldest! Ignoring his picture happy
Grandma! LOL He was not wanting his photo taken!

And now I can show a couple more recent photos.....

All 4 of my boys relaxing with each other after dinner!
(the 4 year old was still munching on his Hot Dog bun! LOL)
The baby is obsessed with water/juice bottles!
He will chew on the lid non-stop!

Mr. Cheerio Face!
He had just taken a Cheerio from me and was munching on it!
At least he is polite enough to chew with his mouth closed! LOL

Well, since that is really all I can show for now I better be going! I have a slightly busy day planned tomorrow and I will most likely appreciate the sleep in the morning! Good Night all! (Or good morning!)

~TTFN!

Summer? Or Fall already?

So, Summer is supposed to be here. But, this is Central Oregon and anything goes! We have had some super warm days and some not so warm days that were filled with rain, like today! The "worst" or "best" storm we have had, depending on how you look at it, was a couple days ago. It was raining so hard that my 7 year old could not hear his teacher on the computer, so he sort of missed out on his class a little. We tried to tell her that we could not hear her and I guess she thought we meant our speakers were turned off. We started getting instructions on how to adjust the volume on the Elimunate system! LOL

Summer Camp Online has been great for my boys! The oldest had fun learning all about Camping and campfire songs and that sort of thing. However, they only offer the exact same class or club this week as well, same topic and everything, so he is not going again this week to the same thing. The 6 year old though is attending the Dinosaur Camp this week since he did the "Twisty Tales" class last week. The Twisty Tales class was interesting. He got to hear "The true story of Little Red Riding Hood as told by A. Wolf", "Cindy Ellen, a Cinderella Story" and a couple others that he had a ball with. One they had even read in his Kindergarten class last year at school, so he knew all about it! They gave out printable coloring pages and mazes and word searches and stuff like that every day. It was great for them all. After his class from 9-10 am, all 3 of the older boys would sit at the table and color for an hour or two. The Dinosaur class is turning out to be pretty neat as well. Other than the fact that they gave me some links to some websites that don't actually contain what they said they should. At least, I haven't been able to find the "items" on the sites yet. They did give us the recipe for "fossil molds" and we forgot to make them today, so tomorrow before his class we will have to get them done. Here it is for those who want it.

Fossil Mold Ingredients:

4 cups of Flour
1 cup of Salt
1 and a half cups of water
Mixing Bowl

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in your bowl until they come to the texture of a usable dough! Salt dough! Have fun making different types of "animal" molds.

This seems like something fun that wont take too much effort and I will post pictures once I have them to post! Another neat part of these "classes" is that if your child misses a class you can get the recording from the day before or the entire week if you don't make it in until Friday. The instructions to make a permineralized sponge so that it seems you have your own fossil! Pretty neat right? According to his teacher, it took her about 5 days to get it solid! I think we will get that going in the morning too! And of course, I will post pictures once I have them to post.

This is a pretty busy week including all the Summer Camp for the 6 year old. My Sister arrived in town today and the boys went crazy! I am so happy to see her pregnant! It has been a long time coming and she deserves this baby! I can not wait to meet the little guy/gal. My oldest is so lucky! He is going home with her Wednesday (this is Also my mother's Birthday) and staying with her until the baby shower on July 7th! But the part that makes him lucky is that he gets to go to her second ultrasound with her where hopefully they will find out if the baby is a boy or a girl! I want to know real bad! There are so many projects on hold for that baby until I know what he/she is!

That is all for tonight. I hope to be back tomorrow with photos of finished projects!

~TTFN!

Summer Time in Central Oregon! Woo hoo!

All 4 boys Chillin' on the couch, watchin' TV!

Summer is here and my boys are finally out of the Brick and Mortar School system! They "retired"(as I like to call it) from school at the same time as my Oldest Son's Teacher! She was an awesome Teacher, She was My First and Second Grade Teacher and now she also taught my oldest child Second Grade! I was so Happy that he was going to have her as a Teacher this last year. She did a great job Teaching me and I knew that he would have just as much fun with her, and he did! That boy is so much like me when it comes to some schooling things it is actually funny! We can both do Math like it was a Sixth Sense. It is sad to see her go, but at least she taught my son before leaving. And I got to see her again. I was/am very close to my Elementary School Teachers. It was very Hard for me to call her by her first name. When she would call to discuss my Son and would say her First Name instead of Mrs. ....... I had to take a minute and go, "Oh, Yeah, You!" to myself! LOL. On the other hand, it was perfect timing for her to retire at the same time that I decided to take my kids out of the "traditional" school system. However, it had me wondering at the same time, How many Teachers can my oldest son get to retire?! LOL. Granted, as far as I know, His Kindergarten Teacher is still working. But, his First Grade Teacher AND Second Grade Teacher BOTH retired after Teaching him! What does that say about my child? LOL I say, it says he had "old" Teachers! He he. Either way, she was a great Teacher for well over 20 years and now she can enjoy her retirement!

For our Summer fun we have a lot of different things planned. For one, My Sister's Baby Shower is July 7th, we will be going to Vancouver to stay in the same Hotel as my Sister and her other Half so that he can watch the 2 middle boys in the Hotel while we go to our Cousins house for the Shower. At the end of the last week of June my oldest Son will be going to stay with my sister in Spokane until the Shower when he will come home with us. He gets to attend my sister's second gender scan for her baby. The one last week was inconclusive. They caught a quick look at what the tech thought to be "boy parts"! I feel bad for that. I know, a baby is a baby and we are all thrilled for my Sister and her other half because they have wanted a baby for awhile now. But this would be boy 5 for our side and boy2 for her other half's side. Either way, Their little bundle will some day be in the outfit you see on my little guy! It is, what we are calling, the Lumber Jack (or Jill) outfit! The "onsie" is a long sleeved button up plaid shirt, much like what you can find for grown men! The pants are corduroy, and a funky olive green, but cute! And it is a full out onsie style shirt, size 6 months! We figured, put some sort of flowery something or pink in "her" hair and it could look girly! This coming from the Mother of 4 boys who insisted on wearing over-all's for the longest time after about 2 years old! LOL. I think that if I had had any girls, they'd end up tom boys! LOL But, we shall never know now! Any who, back to the "Summer Fun"...

I took on the Pool Cleaning this year and so far, I kinda want to scream! We seriously need to get a cover over that thing so that we (the me part of that) don't have to keep on scooping bugs (gnats) out of the pool, 15 times a day! But, hopefully with using the pool vacuum and a few other added "cleaning tools" I can keep the pool clean and warm and comfy all Summer long! And the kiddos all love to swim, so that will help with some of their being "occupied" this Summer. A few other things "in the works" are, a driving trip to visit some of the "local" dams. Also, we intend to go to Lake Billy Chinook or more importantly, The Cove Palisades (for more info on The Cove, follow the link)!!! My Mom used to take my Sister and I there all the time when I was a baby! I have only been back there a handful of times since I "grew up". That trip will be one of those, get the kids to bed super duper early and then be ready to leave the house at 6 AM to get there around 7:30-8 in the morning and spend all day, packing Breakfast and Lunch as well as snacks and then coming home for Dinner that night! I am extra excited about that one, if you can't tell by the details! LOL Another option in to "travel" the Cascade Lakes Highway again, do some Hiking, picnic by the lake, swim. All that fun stuff! Some of the Lake trips I hope my Hubby will be able to attend. It sorta feels like he will be missing out this Summer as far as "Adventures" with our boys go. We also talked about going to Smith Rock Park, that is a steep climb if I remember correctly. My Mother said she did it with me strapped to her back, so I guess I will be able to do it too, if we go! That is one of my least favorite trip ideas, I never really had a ton of fun there as a kid. One of my favorite places to go hiking is Benham Falls (the link actually takes you to a site for the Falls themselves, but you get the jest. LOL, you can hike to the falls too from Lava Lands Visitors Center at the base of Lava Butte) I took my 2 oldest there with my Hubby and a Friend and we hiked for awhile! I was pregnant with #3 and the other 2 were 2 and 3.5(almost 4) and they had a blast! Of course, we were hot and had some water with us and ended up getting a few scraps and cuts from tumbling over roots and such, but it was a fun experience with my boys! But those are just a few of our "Nature Adventures" I think we can look forward to this Summer. Otherwise, we will be home by the pool(s) (The big 48" tall pool and the tiny waiting pool for the kiddos that we got last year).

The only thing I said was: 

"Let me get a Picture of you 3." 

And do you see the looks I got? LOL

My kiddos continue to keep "hamming it up" any time they are out and about and know that I am wanting to snap some cute photos. For the most part, except for a few days here and there, we picked up the 2 oldest boys from school for the last few weeks of their "stay". One of those days we walked up the hill from the dentist's office to the school with the baby and he was enjoying us being early! His cute little "Tot Goggles" are what I think makes this photo extra neat! He looks so laid back and relaxed in his stylish shades, but then he is sticking his tongue out which makes it look like "Hey, get that thing out my face Mom!" or... "Yum, Phone, eat!" LOL I swear, each time he sees my phone, the tongue comes out and the hands fly up! I partially blame this on the guy at the Doctor's office who was talking to the other woman at the counter while I made another appointment and he handed over his phone while saying, "It's ok, I have kids and Grandkids, He can't hurt it any more than they do!" OH MY GOODNESS!!! This was no cheap phone either! This guy willingly handed over his expensive smart phone and basically said "Go for it! Break it! I don't care!" to a 6 month old! YIKES! Mr. Not Very Bright Award has been taken for the year! LOL. In any case, since I had to literally RIP the phone out of his hands to get him to give it back to Mr. Not Very Bright so that I could help Mr. Gimpy out to the car (LOL this was when my oldest was on crutches, he had gone to my appointment with me too), the baby almost attacks phones now. It is almost frightening how fast he lunges for a cell phone!

The boys are all excited to be on Summer Vacation now. I even have my ^ year old set up to do "Summer Camp" through his online school for next year. He was super excited when I told him he had the opportunity to do it. Starting Monday at 9 AM he will be on the computer, Monday through Friday, for 1 hour in his Summer Camp Class. He is starting with the Twisty Tales Camp! I think he will really enjoy it. The "camps" are split by grade level and allow the kids to sort of pick the "class" they want. He picked Twisty Tales, Dinosaurs and Science Explorers for his Summer Camp Classes! They are different each week and in the middle of it all he will be taking 2 weeks off from it, thankfully we have the baby shower in the middle of the 2 weeks off! LOL. The first Camp starts at 9 AM and another is at 10 AM, Depending on the Camp and the week, the time changes as well. My oldest has decided NOT to take part in the Summer Camp thing this year. Which is fine, he would have to skip one of the weeks anyways so that he could go to his Aunt's house and not have to worry too much about anything but helping out his Aunt and spending time with her and his Uncle for what may be the last time, for a while at least. I am not so sure she is going to want my rug-rats running around and having to take care of them as well as her own new little one. He may change his mind once his little brother does it a few times, we shall see. He has different camp choices and at different times for his grade though. He could do Water Safety, Dinosaurs or Boys Book Club. But he said he doesn't want to read this Summer, odd! He loves to read! Silly Kid! Only time will tell. He might see his brother having fun next week and decide that he too wants in on the experience. When they all start to get older I may look more into other actual Summer Camp options. But for now, online works awesome!

Showing off his top 2 teeth in a giggle!
(came in third and fourth)

Showing off his bottom 2 teeth!
(came in first and second)

If I haven't mentioned it before, the baby has been cutting teeth and drooling like a super leaky faucet! I do not remember my other boys "leaking" this much! His pillow he sleeps on his soaking by the time we get to his "middle of the night feeding" and during any day time naps. I almost feel like I need to wring the thing out! He is constantly drooling! It is insane! I am sure they did the drooling thing, maybe I just wasn't as observant! LOL. This IS the first time I have been home with my baby at this age and wasn't so tired from working that I just wanted to sleep. I have always had to go back to work and do the whole working full time thing to support my kiddos before now. Hubby has that end covered now. (The working thing)

At the park on 6/14/12

Maybe it is just me but I think he is growing up so fast! Granted, he is "small for his age" according to the doctor's office, but he is advancing and is always so alert, when awake of course. He has even started to sit up, instead of lean forward. See him showing off in the photo taken at the park? He was enjoying the grass. He soon after this decided he wanted to plunge forward and EAT the grass, which caused him to roll over to his belly. Either way, he was actually enjoying the grass, this was a first. He normally cringes away from the grass.

Now that I have basically filled your minds with my life and my boys' lives, I shall say Good Night! Or Good Morning, depending on when you are reading! I feel tomorrow will be another pool cleaning and outside day. After my 7 year old decided to vomit in the car today (thankfully most of it was caught by blankets and such on the floor of the back seat) I finally made it to the store to buy Sunscreen for the boys so that they will be able to play outside and not get sun burnt as the 7 year old did the other day when we played outside for the majority of the day so that Dad could sleep. Hopefully I can get more color on my legs! LOL We shall see! They may be underwater in the pool! I will update... Hopefully sooner, rather than later!

~TTFN!

A 5 months old's adventures in Photographs!

Today was one of those days that went pleasantly well. LOL. Started out by getting out of bed and showering... no set back there. Decided I would curl my hair so that maybe I could get into a photo or two with the baby... burned my thumb on first curling attempt. Second curling attempt... burnt forehead! Said eff it, unplugged curling iron, ran brush through hair, walked out of bathroom with sore thumb and forehead in tow (uh, Duh! LOL). The burns alone made me have one of those "This Day Is Gonna Suck!" kind of feelings. Well, I know you are wondering... How did this day go? Here it is!

Mr. Serious... He tries not to be photogenic! Ha ha!

After the curling iron flub up I got my boys to the bus stop, came back home, got the baby ready to go have professional pictures taken and then got going in time to make it to the appointment on time. We ended up with plenty of time to spare because we left early enough to get my Husband to his appointment and then drive back across town (the long route) and get my Starbucks, then we found an amazing parking spot! Woo hoo! I keep saying "we" because my cousin was with me for the picture taking process today. What a great thing to take family to do when you have them over for a visit right? (That part gets better, tomorrow she is taking me into the Social Security office so I can ask them some questions) We ended up having a bunch of fun with my little baby boy. Who, I can hardly believe is 5 months old already. Feels like yesterday when my sweet little man was born! We got some great poses in that I fell in love with. I am so thrilled that I only walked away from there with buying one of all but one pose. I also only spent $7.99! Go me go! I never spend that little on photos! Not professional ones at least! LOL. Because I am a member of their "club" I receive a free 8x10. Because Mother's day is coming up, I got to choose a free 16x20!!! And last but not least, for my 4 year old's birthday promotion and again for being part of their club, I am getting a collage that has 3 of the poses on it, for free! I am super excited about these photos! I can not wait to share some of them here with everyone! In the long run of the picture taking the baby started to get upset. Understandably so when you hear how many different pictures were snapped of him. How many times that bright light flashed in his face. And how many different times he had to be moved around! (suspense getting to you yet?) So, the amount of times my little guy had to deal with all that? 42. Yes, indeed. 42 times! 42 photos of little man! He was a trooper though. We got some great photos. Excellent memories. And not to mention, I held back and did not over spend! Again I say, Go Me Go! I went to that studio with $47 in my wallet and left with $39! Not bad! Not bad at all. It turned out to be a pretty great day after all!

Tomorrow after the Social Security office my Mom and cousin are heading to see my sister and spend the weekend and part of next week with her and then they are bringing my 4 year old home! Yippee! I have missed him terribly but I have also come to realize, he is "The Loud One". Every family has one, he is mine. However, I also notice it is easier to take care of one less child no matter which one of my wonderful boys goes to visit my sister for any length of time. My oldest is always the easiest to handle, electronic of any kind and he is all good. #2... Just let him run in circles and blow off steam and he is usually good to go. My third, Anything goes. You could give that child a cardboard box and a stick, he'd be happy as a clam! (Assuming all clams are happy!) And for the baby? Answer: a mom, a pillow and a shirt that reveals "lunch" rather quickly!

But as of late, he also needs something to chew on! He is getting ready to cut his top 2 teeth as well. He already has his 2 bottom teeth.Yes, He was trying to eat my phone. But it got us a great photo!
 He had those come in at 4 days before 4 months and then at 4 months and 2 or 3 days old. Now, at 5 months old he is working on 2 more! He is my last baby... He needs to pump his breaks and slow it down a bit on the growing up thing. Other than saying Mommy first, he he he... I really would like at least one of my babies to say Mommy before anything else. Just a thought. That is all.

During all the teeth "gaining" the baby is doing, the 7 year old lost another one! He was so excited about it the night it was "wiggly". Then it fell out and all that excitement stopped. Now it was wait for the money time. Which makes me want to ask a question of you lovely folks reading this. When you were growing up, when the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa were all still real to you (no, they do not exists, if you believe they do please Google the words "mental" and "help" together, thank you!), how much did the Tooth Fairy leave you? Maybe my Tooth Fairy was cheap, just means my boys' original Tooth Fairy is too! But I can only remember getting a nickle or dime... IF I was lucky enough. My husband informs me that he would get $0.50 to $1.00 per tooth! I am not complaining about my Tooth Fairy one bit. I love her! (Yes mom... That means you! LOL) I just want to get a little more insight into why someone would give a young child, kindergarten to 2nd grade ages, more than a nickle or dime for loosing a tooth. This type of thing seems to be a type of "right of passage" in my book. Why pay a kid a huge amount? I am sure that the older they get and as soon as they start to figure out that these "creatures" are not real they will also start to notice that they want to tell Dad (gives $0.25 per tooth) that they lost a tooth instead of Mom (gives $0.05 per tooth). And that all makes sense. Wouldn't you go for the bigger bucks as opposed to the "change"? I guess money has different importance to different people and that is what sets the tone for that type of "giving".

On another note! While I was out and about this last weekend my parsley plant decided it would be a good time to start growing! This got me excited! I started growing my parsley last spring from a starter kit where I had also attempted to grow tomato, bell pepper and a couple of other veggies. The other plants were moved outside and promptly died! The sprouts off of this plant kept coming up only 2 at a time and would grow, die and then grow new. It was sort of taxing on me by making me thing I had no resemblance of a "green thumb". My sister and several other family members can grow plants like they are weeds! But weeds stay clear of me for fear of death! I have only ever had one other type of plant thrive under my care and that is an aspen tree.I bought my Mother a set of Aspens for Mothers day one year, they were around 2 feet tall then. The trees now tower over my mothers single story home. I hope that the parsley will continue to grow and thrive and that I can maybe start another small garden and get some home grown veggies in our home.

That is it for tonight as my eyes are getting droopy and my back is screaming at me to go to bed! I hope everyone enjoyed my random rantings! Look forward to more from me on babies, crafts, plants, homeschooling, photos and much much more. Feel free to comment your little hearts out on any of the above (or below) topics and as usual...

~TTFN!