Weekend Fun...

This weekend was busy!  Daddy worked outside for awhile on Saturday morning until it got too hot!!  We have a clock inside the house (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa H.) that displays the outside temp on it.  It said it was 96 degrees!!  Thank goodness for central air!  After lunch I went second hand shopping!!  Ooooh, did I hit the jackpot!!  I got a ton of books for the kids (including some classics) for .25 a piece!!  I also got a ton of other stuff for our homelearning.  I stopped at the Goodwill, Dollar Store and lastly the Salvation Army.  The Salvation Army was quite expensive!!  I don't know if I'll go there again or not.  I got many things at the goodwill for .10 (the lowest price I saw)  the cheapest thing I saw at the Salvation Army was .80.  But I did find some things I needed for some planned montessori activities!  So it worked out well.  Sissy worked on Saturday then had some open houses to go to.  Bubby hung out with friends!!  Sunday we attempted to go to a baseball game with the H. family.  It stormed!!  We saw the black clouds, packed up and went to the suburban.  We got into the suburban, Daddy started it up and boom the rain came crashing down.  Talk about perfect timing!!  If we had waited any longer...yuck!!  So we came home.  On our way home we went through 2 more storms.  Winds in excess of 70 mph, hail, heavy, heavy downpour of rain - no fun at all!  Up until that point we were having fun!!  Unfortunately for us (we were already home) the game started up again at 5:30 p.m.!!  Bummer (it's 1 1/2 hours away), maybe next time!  I snapped 2 pictures before all of the rain!!

Bubby had the cord in his room!!  Talk to ya soon...

Lost...

Good morning!!  Did you wonder if I got lost during our camping trip?  Well I didn't!  I just can't seem to find my USB cord to upload our pictures!  So until I find that you'll just have to read about everything!  Yuck, right?  Oh well!!  Our camping trip was great.  It was really cold most of the time but still alot of fun!  I don't believe anyone wore their shorts that they took!  It was only in the mid 50's to low 60's while we were there!  But it was still a great time!  We did alot of walking and saw alot wild life.  Sister K went for a couple of REALLY long walks with Daddy, Grandpa and Grandma!  Wore her right out!  When we got home she weighed herself and said she had lost 5 lbs!!  Good for her.  She felt really good about that!  She saw alot of wild life on those long walks...porcupine and deer (one was standing on his hind legs eating leaves off of a tree).  On one of our walks we saw a brand new fawn!  Daddy guessed it was probably about a week old.  It had lots of spots.  We watched Mama clean it for awhile.  That was pretty cool.  All in all the trip was great and we are looking forward to going camping again next year!  We loved our new camper.  Still learning things about it, but it's perfect for our family.  Well it's time I start getting ready to leave.  I have to take Sister K to school this AM.  Then it's the same routine for the day.  I shouldn't say the same because no day is ever the same! :)  Talk to ya soon...

Good Morning!!...

Uugh...

What do you do when your sister is not allowed over to your house (and hasn't been able to for months) and she's not allowed to do things with your daughter who is standing as a bridesmaid in her wedding?  If you are like me you open your big mouth and ask WHY???. 

Then, what do you do when your stepmother tells you "My problem with K spending time with A is that A is a 16 year old high school kid who goes to prom and K is a 20 year old woman getting married.  What do they have in common?  K needs to be talking to married women now since she will be one soon.  They are in 2 totally different worlds now.  I really don't understand why K wants to hang out with younger girls like that." 

Again, if you are like me you open your trap and say "So, now that she is getting married she has to give up all friends and family younger than her?  Are you kidding me?"

Stepmother: "No!  She needs to be getting advice from married women, not 16 year olds who go to prom."

So then what happens?  You let it all out (if your me)!  You let her know exactly what you think of her, her judgemental attitude, her hypocritical attitude, her controlling 'unless it's how I would feel, think, behave, talk or parent my kids, it's wrong' attitude.  You let her know that you don't appreciate being laughed at for how you feel, being told you are parenting your children wrong, or the continuous negative attitude and talk about your dad and your brothers and sister.  When she makes a statement that the dynamics of you and your dad's relationship has changed you very clearly tell her how very much you love your dad but unfortunately the only way to get to him is to go through her first, something that for months you have not been willing to do.  Doing so means talking with her.  You tell her that you don't appreciate your family being shunned, offended and hurt.  And by the way...what the he__ does prom have to do with any of this?  Then you politely...thank her for the phone call, say good-bye and hang up!

Then, what happens after you hang up?  You feel better!  Then you worry that what you did was wrong!

But none the less, you still feel better!

When your hubby gets home you vent...waiting to see that look of disappointment for what you have done, or to hear words of disappointment.  When you realize that your hubby (whose opinion you truly respect) is not at all disappointed, you feel AMAZING and relieved like a ton of bricks has been removed from your shoulders.

The boundaries for any future relationship (if there is one) have been set.

Sissy's response to all of this?  Why was I OK to hang out with on a daily basis 6 months ago?

Hmmmmm?

Busy week...

This week has been a great week!  We decided to work with a theme this week for the boys learning fun.  I chose butterflies (a little girly I know!)  We didn't get everything done that I wanted to so we will continue it into next week.  One of the activities they did (and really enjoyed) was a butterfly match.  I thought this would be a little tougher for them than it was.  It took each one a little bit to catch on but once they did you could just see their brains ticking :)

They are sitting on little "rugs".  Individual rugs are used in Montessori to define the child's work space.  Before they begin an activity, they pick up a rug, unroll it, and then obtain their tray with the activity of their choice.  They take the activity over to their rug and it is done on the rug.  This space on the rug is theirs, it's personal.  It's a place where they can focus on a task and not worry about being interrupted or having their hard work destroyed.  We are learning that when someone is on their rug we walk "around" the rug, or sit "beside" the rug to quietly watch.  They are doing great with it!  Brother J actually pulled his out, after our learning fun, in order to be able to play with his tractors without being disturbed :)!!  This past Saturday Sissy went to prom.  She looked so pretty!  All of the girls did.  I didn't know her date (he was just a friend), but he seemed like a nice guy.  The prom was on a river boat.  She said she had alot of fun.  So much that she wasn't ready to come home at about 1 a.m. :)  She did though.

This is the group of kids she went with.  She is second from the left in the orange/silver strip type dress.

 

This was her date for the night.

This is us.

Sissy and Sister E.  After pictures they all loaded onto a party bus and they were off.  They had a blast!!  There is so much more to our week, but this post is getting long, so I'll fill you in on more later!!  Talk to ya soon...

Sharing...

Well I meant to post this yesterday for wordless wednesday but never got around to it.  With little ones in the house sharing is a concept that is not readily accepted by all!!  It is something we work on, on a daily basis.  At this particular moment I believe Brother S finally grasped the concept!  Maybe a little too well! 

Talk to ya soon...

Another visit to the Dr....

On Friday we took our Little Peanut went to the gastroenterologist.  We've had such a pickle of a time with her belly issues that the pediatrician wanted us to see a specialist.  In case you didn't know, our Little Peanut is allergic to soy and dairy.  She has been using a dairy free and soy free formula for awhile now.  It is quite pricey (over $40.00 per can) and we go through about 8 cans per month.  Anywhoo, the gastroenterologist didn't have a whole lot of encouraging news for us.  He said that probably about the time she is 18 - 24 months old we can try soy again, but not dairy until she is about 4 or 5 years old.  Ugh!!  He said some children don't grow out of it (which we had been told this already).  He gave us a new formula that is suppose to be almost exactly what she is using now, other than a couple of micronutrients are different.  It didn't go well.  For the three days we were attempting it (slowly, mixed with her other formula) she was miserable!!  Fussy, crying, spitting up, etc...  So we stopped giving it to her.  We noticed that it contains soy oil and MSG.  When I spoke with the nurse she said that the company that makes this new formula doesn't guarantee that it is made in a dairy free and soy free factory. :(  She said Neocate does, so to stick with it.  So that is what we will do.  It's amazing, one full day without the new formula and she is a totally different child.  She is back to being our hilarious, sweet peanut again.  I am also questioning the MSG.  Alot of people can't handle that.  We have been taking baby food slowly also because of her sensitivities, and I make them from scratch to avoid any added anything.  We have noticed in our older children that diet, additives, chemicals and preservatives make a HUGE difference in their behaviors.  That is another post. :) 

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo day.  The twins had fun with a magnet activity in celebration of the day!!  Take a look...

Talk to ya soon...