Megan is about to start her 4th year of taking ballet and I have never bought her a brand new pair of ballet shoes. Today I did.
We had always bought them used or somebody had given us a pair.
Megan was dancing around the house in them tonight. She says her new ones feel a lot different than her others, that's because they were already broken in when she got them!
I moved her up to ballet II this year and her class is a half hour longer than last year, so she will definitely get her use out of them.
Off we go to another year of dance!
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Birthday Coming Up!
Courtney has begun the countdown to her birthday.
Along with a countdown, we also have a birthday party to plan.
Guess what she wants this year? Amelia Bedelia!!! YIKES!!!!
I am thinking about doing a friends party on her birthday with Amelia Bedelia story time and activities and then having another get-together with family. We made our list this afternoon of people and it is way too much for one party! We have made some new friends over the summer and we want to invite them too!
I need to continue to research this party theme, it is just one more thing for me to do!!!
Along with a countdown, we also have a birthday party to plan.
Guess what she wants this year? Amelia Bedelia!!! YIKES!!!!
I am thinking about doing a friends party on her birthday with Amelia Bedelia story time and activities and then having another get-together with family. We made our list this afternoon of people and it is way too much for one party! We have made some new friends over the summer and we want to invite them too!
I need to continue to research this party theme, it is just one more thing for me to do!!!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Animal Eyes
We are moving on with our study of animals tomorrow.
Tomorrow our topic is on animal seeing and hearing.
I found some websites with some incredible pictures of animal eyes. We are going to look at them and talk about them. Pretty simple!
http://www.animals-zone.com/cute-photos-of-animals-with-big-eyes
http://www.designswan.com/archives/beautiful-animal-eyes.html
Tomorrow our topic is on animal seeing and hearing.
I found some websites with some incredible pictures of animal eyes. We are going to look at them and talk about them. Pretty simple!
http://www.animals-zone.com/cute-photos-of-animals-with-big-eyes
http://www.designswan.com/archives/beautiful-animal-eyes.html
It continues...
My trouble continued this afternoon. While I was making lunch, I spilled pork n beans on my pants.
Courtney spilled an entire 8 oz cup of grape juice on the living room floor and then I killed a fly right in front of her- she was upset for a long time!
Things have been calm the last hour...
Courtney spilled an entire 8 oz cup of grape juice on the living room floor and then I killed a fly right in front of her- she was upset for a long time!
Things have been calm the last hour...
Monday!
I usually don't have trouble with Mondays, but today is not going so well!
1. We started with school for an hour, which went fine, then I had to get Megan to dance class by 10:30.
We were almost ready to get into the car when Megan says, "Where are my dance shoes?" (She some how lost her pretty dance bag, so her shoes are wherever now!) I told her they were in Christian's bag of toys that I take to dance and as I was saying that, I took them out of Christian's bag and put them on the counter ASSUMING she would come and get them.
Fast forward 15 minutes and we are pulling up in front of her dance studio and I open the door to let her out and she says, "Mom, where are my dance shoes?" I replied with, "Didn't you grab them?" Megan said, "No, you said they were in Christian's bag." I told her back, "I took them out of Christian's bag and I thought you picked them up." Neither one of us had grabbed them! Both of us were to blame! I had to turn around and go back home and get her dance shoes that were still on the kitchen counter! She was about 15 minutes late for class. Luckily we live pretty close to the studio.
2. After I dropped Megan off at dance class, I had some errands to run at Target and Courtney had a gift card she has been itching to spend. We got into Target and found out she had $2.90 left on her gift card, so I let her roam around the dollar section for awhile. After she had picked out three items, we went over to the school section and pretty soon I heard, "Mom, do you know where my gift card is?" I replied with, "Didn't you just have it?" "Yes, but it's not here anymore." I searched through the cart and my purse and no gift card, so we turned around and head back to the dollar section. The card was nowhere on the floor and Courtney insisted that she had "put it down somewhere" so I started searching through the shelves of stuff where she was looking. When I was about ready to tell Courtney to put all her stuff back, I found it on a shelf. She really did put it down somewhere, just not where is was supposed to be!
3. As we were checking out, I had brought along a $3 coupon off some more allergenic eye drops (some day I will get back into my contacts) and of course, I couldn't find it anywhere! Luckily, I had put it in something I was buying and the cashier already had it!
Maybe the rest of the day will go better!
1. We started with school for an hour, which went fine, then I had to get Megan to dance class by 10:30.
We were almost ready to get into the car when Megan says, "Where are my dance shoes?" (She some how lost her pretty dance bag, so her shoes are wherever now!) I told her they were in Christian's bag of toys that I take to dance and as I was saying that, I took them out of Christian's bag and put them on the counter ASSUMING she would come and get them.
Fast forward 15 minutes and we are pulling up in front of her dance studio and I open the door to let her out and she says, "Mom, where are my dance shoes?" I replied with, "Didn't you grab them?" Megan said, "No, you said they were in Christian's bag." I told her back, "I took them out of Christian's bag and I thought you picked them up." Neither one of us had grabbed them! Both of us were to blame! I had to turn around and go back home and get her dance shoes that were still on the kitchen counter! She was about 15 minutes late for class. Luckily we live pretty close to the studio.
2. After I dropped Megan off at dance class, I had some errands to run at Target and Courtney had a gift card she has been itching to spend. We got into Target and found out she had $2.90 left on her gift card, so I let her roam around the dollar section for awhile. After she had picked out three items, we went over to the school section and pretty soon I heard, "Mom, do you know where my gift card is?" I replied with, "Didn't you just have it?" "Yes, but it's not here anymore." I searched through the cart and my purse and no gift card, so we turned around and head back to the dollar section. The card was nowhere on the floor and Courtney insisted that she had "put it down somewhere" so I started searching through the shelves of stuff where she was looking. When I was about ready to tell Courtney to put all her stuff back, I found it on a shelf. She really did put it down somewhere, just not where is was supposed to be!
3. As we were checking out, I had brought along a $3 coupon off some more allergenic eye drops (some day I will get back into my contacts) and of course, I couldn't find it anywhere! Luckily, I had put it in something I was buying and the cashier already had it!
Maybe the rest of the day will go better!
Saturday, July 27, 2013
New Platelet Numbers and shocked again!
Since 2008, I have known I have had ITP or chronic low blood platelets. My midwife caught it at the time and sent me to an oncologist to get further testing done. After taking 17 viles of blood and doing all kinds of tests, the doctor determined I had a mild case of ITP or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. This is an auto-immune disorder where my own body is attacking it's own platelets. My spleen cannot make them fast enough to make up for the ones that were destroyed and therefore my platelets are always on the low side. This just means it takes my body a little bit longer for my blood to clot. If I ever have surgery or have a baby (like when I had Christian), I need to get them checked and make sure they are where they should be otherwise I could bleed too much and might need a blood transfusion. At the time, my oncologist said there was "nothing you could do" about it and sent me on my merry way.
So every year at my yearly exam with my midwife, I get them checked. Last September, I had them checked and they were at 102,000. They are supposed to be 150,000-400,000, so they were still low, but right around where they usually are for me. My midwife called when she got the results and told me to get them tested again in 3-4 months, just to keep an eye on them since they were so low.
Well, 3-4 months turned into almost 10! Yikes! I had been talking about getting them checked with my chiropractor that does all my other testing and we just got around to testing them this last week. My results: 101,000. They are even lower than before!
But after looking at all my blood results, she said we can actually do something about it!!! WHAT??? (Really, why am I shocked?)
As she was looking at the rest of my blood work, she noticed that my vitamin C, B, and iron were all low. She said, "No wonder you have low blood platelets, you lack vitamin C, B, and iron and you need all of those to build your platelets. This is such an easy fix, why didn't any medical doctors see this before??" (as she shakes her head in frustration!)
She said vitamin B and C are made in your stomach and with all my digestive issues, it didn't surprise her that my numbers were low.
She told me to eat foods with vitamin C, B, and meat high in iron, exercise, drink more water, and also to take a vitamin B complex supplement that she had. (It's funny because she wrote this on a prescription pad like you would get from a medical doctor. :) She said within a month or two, my platelets should be up to normal range!! She gave me a list of foods that contained vitamin C and B (mostly green and red fruits and veggies) and I eat most of them already. We eat most of the meat that she had on her list too. This included fish and flax seed. We have started grilling tilapia and I use flax seed in place of eggs in a lot of recipes. She also had tuna on the list. Courtney was allergic to tuna, so we just haven't had that in about a year, but I could start eating that again. (I just need something to do with it besides tuna salad- I can't have eggs yet, so no mayo.)
I agree with my doctor, easy fix! I am anxious to see what my platelets will be in a few months.
On another note, it was nice to see that my body was lacking vitamin B. She gave me some adrenal boosters awhile ago and they are filled with vitamin b. When I go off these, I have no energy at all and could sleep the day away. I am glad to know that I really am lacking vitamin B! I have always been low on iron, so that didn't surprise me any, but vitamin C, I eat a ton of fruit, so I'm not sure how that got to be so low besides to blame it on my stomach and bad digestion. :)
Anyway, just another piece of the puzzle to eventually help my body to heal!!
So every year at my yearly exam with my midwife, I get them checked. Last September, I had them checked and they were at 102,000. They are supposed to be 150,000-400,000, so they were still low, but right around where they usually are for me. My midwife called when she got the results and told me to get them tested again in 3-4 months, just to keep an eye on them since they were so low.
Well, 3-4 months turned into almost 10! Yikes! I had been talking about getting them checked with my chiropractor that does all my other testing and we just got around to testing them this last week. My results: 101,000. They are even lower than before!
But after looking at all my blood results, she said we can actually do something about it!!! WHAT??? (Really, why am I shocked?)
As she was looking at the rest of my blood work, she noticed that my vitamin C, B, and iron were all low. She said, "No wonder you have low blood platelets, you lack vitamin C, B, and iron and you need all of those to build your platelets. This is such an easy fix, why didn't any medical doctors see this before??" (as she shakes her head in frustration!)
She said vitamin B and C are made in your stomach and with all my digestive issues, it didn't surprise her that my numbers were low.
She told me to eat foods with vitamin C, B, and meat high in iron, exercise, drink more water, and also to take a vitamin B complex supplement that she had. (It's funny because she wrote this on a prescription pad like you would get from a medical doctor. :) She said within a month or two, my platelets should be up to normal range!! She gave me a list of foods that contained vitamin C and B (mostly green and red fruits and veggies) and I eat most of them already. We eat most of the meat that she had on her list too. This included fish and flax seed. We have started grilling tilapia and I use flax seed in place of eggs in a lot of recipes. She also had tuna on the list. Courtney was allergic to tuna, so we just haven't had that in about a year, but I could start eating that again. (I just need something to do with it besides tuna salad- I can't have eggs yet, so no mayo.)
I agree with my doctor, easy fix! I am anxious to see what my platelets will be in a few months.
On another note, it was nice to see that my body was lacking vitamin B. She gave me some adrenal boosters awhile ago and they are filled with vitamin b. When I go off these, I have no energy at all and could sleep the day away. I am glad to know that I really am lacking vitamin B! I have always been low on iron, so that didn't surprise me any, but vitamin C, I eat a ton of fruit, so I'm not sure how that got to be so low besides to blame it on my stomach and bad digestion. :)
Anyway, just another piece of the puzzle to eventually help my body to heal!!
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Little Research of our own
We have been talking in Bible class about how people in the Bible changed their names.
We are going to do a little research about our names tomorrow.
http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/
http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/germansurnames.html
We are going to learn what our own names mean.
http://www.babynames.com/index.php
http://www.meaning-of-baby-names.com/index.html
We are going to do a little research about our names tomorrow.
http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/
http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/germansurnames.html
We are going to learn what our own names mean.
http://www.babynames.com/index.php
http://www.meaning-of-baby-names.com/index.html
Family Heritage :)
I love it when my girls want to talk about family history.
Tonight the question was, "Mom, who is Christian named after? How far back does it go again?"
So instead of reading books tonight, we read about our family history and this is how it goes!
1. Johann Heinrich Christoff Ruwe was born in Germany on Oct. 28, 1828. He married Heinrietta Telbusher in 1859. She was born on October 6, 1841.
2. These two had eight kids and the seventh one was William who was born in 1878.
William married Fredricke Gosker.
3. These two had three kids and the third one was Christian E., born in 1908.
Chris married Helen Taylor Bradbury.
4. These two had three kids and the first one was William (or otherwise known to us as Grandpa Bill)
William married Delores Rasmussen.
5. These two had three kids and the first one was Chris.
Chris married LuAnn Kruger.
6. These two had five kids and the first son was Matthew William, born in 1977.
Matthew married me (Charla Hasemann)
7. We had three kids and the first son was Christian, born in 2010.
So to answer Megan's question, Christian is named after a whole bunch of people!! It looks like his name goes back to 1828!!! (and maybe even further)
4 generations of Ruwe men- William, Chris, Matthew William, Christian.
(I know we have taken more recent ones, but I don't remember when!)
It is funny that there is actually a Christian in the family tree, he was born 102 years before our Christian was born!
Side Note: When we were pregnant with Christian, Matt knew about this family heritage, but honestly, we both wanted to name him something different. One day at a family get-together, Grandpa Bill came up to him and said, "Now, you know you have to name him Chris, right?" Matt didn't quite know what to say, so he started talking to his grandpa about the tradition and how far back it went. Once Matt realized it went back over 150 years, he decided that it was very important that we name him with the family name.
After we talked about it for a little bit, I agreed to it, but I made one stipulation- I will name him a version of "Chris" but it has to be his own name, so we settled on Christian. I do like that name, and honestly, we weren't having any luck at finding a boys name anyway! :)
Tonight the question was, "Mom, who is Christian named after? How far back does it go again?"
So instead of reading books tonight, we read about our family history and this is how it goes!
1. Johann Heinrich Christoff Ruwe was born in Germany on Oct. 28, 1828. He married Heinrietta Telbusher in 1859. She was born on October 6, 1841.
2. These two had eight kids and the seventh one was William who was born in 1878.
William married Fredricke Gosker.
3. These two had three kids and the third one was Christian E., born in 1908.
Chris married Helen Taylor Bradbury.
4. These two had three kids and the first one was William (or otherwise known to us as Grandpa Bill)
William married Delores Rasmussen.
5. These two had three kids and the first one was Chris.
Chris married LuAnn Kruger.
6. These two had five kids and the first son was Matthew William, born in 1977.
Matthew married me (Charla Hasemann)
7. We had three kids and the first son was Christian, born in 2010.
So to answer Megan's question, Christian is named after a whole bunch of people!! It looks like his name goes back to 1828!!! (and maybe even further)
4 generations of Ruwe men- William, Chris, Matthew William, Christian.
(I know we have taken more recent ones, but I don't remember when!)
It is funny that there is actually a Christian in the family tree, he was born 102 years before our Christian was born!
Side Note: When we were pregnant with Christian, Matt knew about this family heritage, but honestly, we both wanted to name him something different. One day at a family get-together, Grandpa Bill came up to him and said, "Now, you know you have to name him Chris, right?" Matt didn't quite know what to say, so he started talking to his grandpa about the tradition and how far back it went. Once Matt realized it went back over 150 years, he decided that it was very important that we name him with the family name.
After we talked about it for a little bit, I agreed to it, but I made one stipulation- I will name him a version of "Chris" but it has to be his own name, so we settled on Christian. I do like that name, and honestly, we weren't having any luck at finding a boys name anyway! :)
Monday, July 22, 2013
That didn't take long!
All last week, Courtney was a little fort-builder around here. I don't mind at all, but she had the walkway between the couch and the steps used plus she had the entry way taken up by Christian's tent. We also had toys ALL OVER the living room and piano room floor. Obviously, things had gotten out of control at our house!
Sunday, we made her take ALL of her fort down and pick ALL the toys up! Along with Megan, it took at least an hour or so before we could see some floor in that part of the house again. It took much longer until it was all clean!
I told her I wanted it clean for at least one hour.
One hour later, she started up a new tent in the piano room.
Seriously, she used up almost the entire floor, every dining room chair, lots and lots of blankets, and her new fort was done by 7 pm last night.
You've got to be kidding me!!!
(Now, I really don't care that they build forts, I think it is great to use their creativity and she does use her creativity! But when they get in the way, then it is time to take them down. For instance, tomorrow I have piano lessons, so either we will take down some of the tent that is hanging off the piano or we will have to take it all down. I'm sure I know which option she will choose!)
Sunday, we made her take ALL of her fort down and pick ALL the toys up! Along with Megan, it took at least an hour or so before we could see some floor in that part of the house again. It took much longer until it was all clean!
I told her I wanted it clean for at least one hour.
One hour later, she started up a new tent in the piano room.
Seriously, she used up almost the entire floor, every dining room chair, lots and lots of blankets, and her new fort was done by 7 pm last night.
You've got to be kidding me!!!
(Now, I really don't care that they build forts, I think it is great to use their creativity and she does use her creativity! But when they get in the way, then it is time to take them down. For instance, tomorrow I have piano lessons, so either we will take down some of the tent that is hanging off the piano or we will have to take it all down. I'm sure I know which option she will choose!)
Friday, July 19, 2013
Up last night!
This must be the week of getting no sleep. :(
For some reason, I was wide awake at 2:45 this morning and could not get back to sleep. This has not happened in a very long time and I have slept a lot better since I got allergy tested and have stopped eating a lot of foods. Well, I have been trying to put some back in lately and may have eaten a few too many chocolate chips yesterday afternoon. :)S o I have a little sweet tooth going on right now! I even took relaxing pills like I do every night and I was still awake.
Matt got up about 3:15 and went downstairs for about an hour. About 4:40 (still awake!), he came back upstairs and in the meantime, I had seen Megan go into the bathroom for the 2nd time in about 10 minutes. I asked him if he could go check on her. Matt went over to her to give her a hug and she started crying! We asked her what was wrong (it's 4:45 am) and she wouldn't tell us at first and then she said that she had a bloody nose! And she did! She had blood on her arms, her nightgown, her lips, her cheeks! We brought her back into our room to calm her down and I went to her bedroom to check out her bed.
I went into her bedroom and flipped her light on and sure enough, there was blood on her pillow. As I was in there, Courtney woke up and was curious as to what is going on! Now there are 4 of us up at 5 am! We eventually get Megan back to her room, she changes her nightgown, and I get them back to bed. I said, "It is not time to get up, go back to sleep!"
We all went back to sleep thankfully! Christian was the only one that slept the whole night!
I wanted to wake the girls up at 7:30 so we could have school today, but Matt and I both think we should let them sleep. I tend to agree!
For some reason, I was wide awake at 2:45 this morning and could not get back to sleep. This has not happened in a very long time and I have slept a lot better since I got allergy tested and have stopped eating a lot of foods. Well, I have been trying to put some back in lately and may have eaten a few too many chocolate chips yesterday afternoon. :)S o I have a little sweet tooth going on right now! I even took relaxing pills like I do every night and I was still awake.
Matt got up about 3:15 and went downstairs for about an hour. About 4:40 (still awake!), he came back upstairs and in the meantime, I had seen Megan go into the bathroom for the 2nd time in about 10 minutes. I asked him if he could go check on her. Matt went over to her to give her a hug and she started crying! We asked her what was wrong (it's 4:45 am) and she wouldn't tell us at first and then she said that she had a bloody nose! And she did! She had blood on her arms, her nightgown, her lips, her cheeks! We brought her back into our room to calm her down and I went to her bedroom to check out her bed.
I went into her bedroom and flipped her light on and sure enough, there was blood on her pillow. As I was in there, Courtney woke up and was curious as to what is going on! Now there are 4 of us up at 5 am! We eventually get Megan back to her room, she changes her nightgown, and I get them back to bed. I said, "It is not time to get up, go back to sleep!"
We all went back to sleep thankfully! Christian was the only one that slept the whole night!
I wanted to wake the girls up at 7:30 so we could have school today, but Matt and I both think we should let them sleep. I tend to agree!
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Updates
1. Christian is doing much better. Like always, once he is very lethargic, looks terrible, and gets a fever, you know bronchitis is there. This happened yesterday morning- no wonder we were up half the night! Yesterday we kept giving him albuterol and by the end of the day, he was a lot better! He slept the entire night last night!! He usually gets over it pretty quickly. Now to keep it from coming back!
2. School is going good. We are taking our time and we have gotten through two days worth of work already.
We started science yesterday and I just had the girls pick an animal and research it a little bit. Megan picked an African lion and Courtney picked a ladybug. These are two fascinating animals! And Megan thought it was the best little project ever!
Side Note: When I was out doing some errands yesterday, I saw something that looked like a lady bug on my car, so I took a picture and showed it to Courtney when I got home. Here is what it was: (This is not the exact picture I took, but one off the Internet)
It was a milkweed beetle! (Did you know that ladybugs are really beetles? And there are about 5,000 different species of them! )
3. We started our new curriculum in math. We are using Rod and Staff math 2 for Courtney and Rod and Staff Math 4 for Megan. This math is a lot different than Horizons and I actually have a teacher's manual that is pretty easy to follow, but you can definitely tell it is made for a classroom setting and I need to improvise a little bit. This program concentrates heavily on basics, so we are learning simple addition with both girls. I know it's redundant, but I felt that this is what we were missing in Horizons. We will give this a try for a year and see how we like it. Both girls seem to be receptive to it, but again, we have only been through two lessons.
4. Along with school starting, I have also put myself in charge of the chore chart this year. Instead of doing chores at night (when they were not getting done), we are doing chores in the morning. I also gave the girls some new chores. For example, Courtney gets to unload the dishwasher and Megan gets to load it! You know how much of a habit doing dishes is for me, it is so odd to hand this over! They also need to clean up their bedroom and the bathroom in the morning. This is mostly for Courtney, I was tired of seeing dirty clothes in her bed. Again, they are doing good with them, but it is only the second day. I am sure they will start complaining eventually!
5. On a different note than school, I am finally wearing contacts again!!! I ordered some trial contacts that would not cause my GPC to come back and I have been wearing them and it has been great! I can only wear them an hour or so a day because I haven't worn contacts in over a month, so I have to ease back into them. Yesterday I had them in and Courtney said, "Mom, you don't even look like yourself. Why don't you have your glasses on?"
2. School is going good. We are taking our time and we have gotten through two days worth of work already.
We started science yesterday and I just had the girls pick an animal and research it a little bit. Megan picked an African lion and Courtney picked a ladybug. These are two fascinating animals! And Megan thought it was the best little project ever!
Side Note: When I was out doing some errands yesterday, I saw something that looked like a lady bug on my car, so I took a picture and showed it to Courtney when I got home. Here is what it was: (This is not the exact picture I took, but one off the Internet)
It was a milkweed beetle! (Did you know that ladybugs are really beetles? And there are about 5,000 different species of them! )
3. We started our new curriculum in math. We are using Rod and Staff math 2 for Courtney and Rod and Staff Math 4 for Megan. This math is a lot different than Horizons and I actually have a teacher's manual that is pretty easy to follow, but you can definitely tell it is made for a classroom setting and I need to improvise a little bit. This program concentrates heavily on basics, so we are learning simple addition with both girls. I know it's redundant, but I felt that this is what we were missing in Horizons. We will give this a try for a year and see how we like it. Both girls seem to be receptive to it, but again, we have only been through two lessons.
4. Along with school starting, I have also put myself in charge of the chore chart this year. Instead of doing chores at night (when they were not getting done), we are doing chores in the morning. I also gave the girls some new chores. For example, Courtney gets to unload the dishwasher and Megan gets to load it! You know how much of a habit doing dishes is for me, it is so odd to hand this over! They also need to clean up their bedroom and the bathroom in the morning. This is mostly for Courtney, I was tired of seeing dirty clothes in her bed. Again, they are doing good with them, but it is only the second day. I am sure they will start complaining eventually!
5. On a different note than school, I am finally wearing contacts again!!! I ordered some trial contacts that would not cause my GPC to come back and I have been wearing them and it has been great! I can only wear them an hour or so a day because I haven't worn contacts in over a month, so I have to ease back into them. Yesterday I had them in and Courtney said, "Mom, you don't even look like yourself. Why don't you have your glasses on?"
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Poor Christian :(
This poor boy has been sniffling the last couple of days and when this happens, Matt and I know it's going to turn into bronchitis. Guess who was up every three hours last night because he was so uncomfortable?? Christian!! I finally brought him into my room at 6 am and put him to sleep on my floor. He just kept coughing and coughing and coughing. Poor boy!
I can already hear him wheezing, so I started giving him albuterol last night, I then gave him some decongestant at 3 am. He is sound asleep right now, I am going to let him sleep as long as he wants to.
In the meantime, I need to get up and get the girls going. It is the 2nd day of school and I am exhausted. Maybe I will get a nap today....
I can already hear him wheezing, so I started giving him albuterol last night, I then gave him some decongestant at 3 am. He is sound asleep right now, I am going to let him sleep as long as he wants to.
In the meantime, I need to get up and get the girls going. It is the 2nd day of school and I am exhausted. Maybe I will get a nap today....
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Here we go...
School starts today for a certain 1st and 4th grader.
They were not happy campers when I woke them up this morning, let's say we had tears within the first 10 minutes of being up. Maybe tonight they won't be up until 10:30!
I need to do our annual first day of school pictures and then we are off to the kitchen table to start school for the 2013-2014 school year!!!
They were not happy campers when I woke them up this morning, let's say we had tears within the first 10 minutes of being up. Maybe tonight they won't be up until 10:30!
I need to do our annual first day of school pictures and then we are off to the kitchen table to start school for the 2013-2014 school year!!!
Monday, July 15, 2013
Starting School Tomorrow!
Due to a vacation we have planned for September, I am going to get school started tomorrow!!
This means that I will start posting activities that I have planned for science on my blog again.
We are going to be going through Sonlight Science 1 this year. We will spend the first 19 weeks on animals, we will be going through the book The Usborne World of Animals.
Then we will be spending 10 weeks on our body and the final weeks on astronomy. I am excited to be looking at these topics more in-depth this year.
Anyway, our 2nd science lesson is on animal classification, so I thought this game would be fun.
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/animalclassgame.htm
http://www.learninghaven.com/science/articles/classification_chart.htm
We are also going to make our own classification chart, so this will be our guideline.
http://www.kidport.com/RefLIB/Science/Animals/Animals.htm
This means that I will start posting activities that I have planned for science on my blog again.
We are going to be going through Sonlight Science 1 this year. We will spend the first 19 weeks on animals, we will be going through the book The Usborne World of Animals.
Then we will be spending 10 weeks on our body and the final weeks on astronomy. I am excited to be looking at these topics more in-depth this year.
Anyway, our 2nd science lesson is on animal classification, so I thought this game would be fun.
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/animalclassgame.htm
http://www.learninghaven.com/science/articles/classification_chart.htm
We are also going to make our own classification chart, so this will be our guideline.
http://www.kidport.com/RefLIB/Science/Animals/Animals.htm
Red and green tractors
Now he thinks the color red is "good" and the color green is really "bad." If you point to a red tractor and ask him what color is it, he will say "good", if you point to a green, he will say "bad." Even a blue or yellow tractor is "good."
But he has added his own little twist onto all this. If he points to anything that is red, it is "good" and anything that is green is "bad."
I think we should work on our colors a little bit more!
Saturday, July 13, 2013
"New" Items at the Grocery Store
In my never-ending quest to pay attention to all our different food intolerances around here, I am always on the lookout for something new. Apparently my girls have been picking up on this. While we were at the grocery store yesterday, they decided they wanted to try some new things. We brought home blackberries, a cucumber, a red pepper, and a sweet potato. I have never bought any of these before!
The funny thing is that anything they saw that was new, they wanted me to buy. I told them we will try these things first and then buy more "new" items next time.
We tried the blackberries at lunch, they were not a huge hit, but I later made "berry ice cream" with them. Now that was good! (I put milk, strawberries, blackberries, some vanilla, and Stevia in the blender, mixed it all together, then put it in my ice cream machine.)
We cut the cucumber up at supper tonight and I had to make Megan stop eating them- she loved it!
Maybe tomorrow I will make the sweet potato. The last time I bought sweet potatoes was when I made them into baby food. How long has that been??
We also have to eat that red pepper. Megan saw a friend of ours eating one about a week ago and she is anxious try it.
My children are almost more eager to try things than I am!!!
The funny thing is that anything they saw that was new, they wanted me to buy. I told them we will try these things first and then buy more "new" items next time.
We tried the blackberries at lunch, they were not a huge hit, but I later made "berry ice cream" with them. Now that was good! (I put milk, strawberries, blackberries, some vanilla, and Stevia in the blender, mixed it all together, then put it in my ice cream machine.)
We cut the cucumber up at supper tonight and I had to make Megan stop eating them- she loved it!
Maybe tomorrow I will make the sweet potato. The last time I bought sweet potatoes was when I made them into baby food. How long has that been??
We also have to eat that red pepper. Megan saw a friend of ours eating one about a week ago and she is anxious try it.
My children are almost more eager to try things than I am!!!
Friday, July 12, 2013
Interesting article about homeschooling
As I plan on starting school next Tuesday, I was intrigued by this article I saw on Facebook this morning. The title was, "Never Planned to Homeschool" and of course, I read it because I NEVER PLANNED TO HOMESCHOOL either!!
I was actually telling my story to a mom the other day at the park who was deliberating whether to homeschool or not and I remember telling her, "My husband actually brought up the subject of homeschooling before our oldest daughter went to kindergarten and I said no way, no how, never, ever, ever! But look at me now, I have turned completely around and we love it...plus I don't think we will get my kids back to public school!"
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/2013/07/never-planned-to-homeschool/
I coped a section of her article out because this is what I want to say to everybody! I love having friends that attend public and private school and I agree 100% that what works for one may not work for the other. It is the right thing to do for our family right now.
"When I am asked for advice, I tell my friends that they must seek the will of the Lord for their family. What works for one may not work for another. I have no problem with public, private, hybrid or any other educational model. Just because I homeschool {and use a cyber school} doesn’t mean I believe it is the only correct choice. It is right for our family. Praying and seeking as a family is deeply important."
I was actually telling my story to a mom the other day at the park who was deliberating whether to homeschool or not and I remember telling her, "My husband actually brought up the subject of homeschooling before our oldest daughter went to kindergarten and I said no way, no how, never, ever, ever! But look at me now, I have turned completely around and we love it...plus I don't think we will get my kids back to public school!"
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/2013/07/never-planned-to-homeschool/
I coped a section of her article out because this is what I want to say to everybody! I love having friends that attend public and private school and I agree 100% that what works for one may not work for the other. It is the right thing to do for our family right now.
"When I am asked for advice, I tell my friends that they must seek the will of the Lord for their family. What works for one may not work for another. I have no problem with public, private, hybrid or any other educational model. Just because I homeschool {and use a cyber school} doesn’t mean I believe it is the only correct choice. It is right for our family. Praying and seeking as a family is deeply important."
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
the ants are back...
Today I purposefully had the kids clean up the living room. I had been seeing specks of food laying on the floor and I had seen ants along the wall too, so I know this is not a good combination. If I didn't get rid of the food, we would have an ant explosion and one little girl in my house would love it! (Even though mom and dad would not!)
I had the kids clean up and started to vacuum, pretty soon Courtney is going in front of me trying to save the ants. She got one picked up and as she was taking him outside, I vacuumed the rest up. She came back and looked around and said with a very sad voice, "You vacuumed them all up already...oh wait, I see one more." She then ran that one outside. She was really bummed that I got rid of them. I think if I would have let her, she would have saved every single one of them!!
I had the kids clean up and started to vacuum, pretty soon Courtney is going in front of me trying to save the ants. She got one picked up and as she was taking him outside, I vacuumed the rest up. She came back and looked around and said with a very sad voice, "You vacuumed them all up already...oh wait, I see one more." She then ran that one outside. She was really bummed that I got rid of them. I think if I would have let her, she would have saved every single one of them!!
Monday, July 8, 2013
4th of July Weekend
We took another camping trip this last weekend. We went out to the Fremont State Recreation Area for 5 days and had a great time. We stayed in our camper and had both jetskis out. We swam in the lake and I think put about 10 layers of suntan lotion on!
Here are some other things we did:
1. Spent more money in one afternoon to fill the jetskis with gas than it cost us to stay at the state lakes for 4 nights! Yes, we went through a lot of gas! (We had the jetskis out two afternoons!)
2. We brought home two new pets. Courtney, my naturalist, was at it again. One of her uncles caught her a clam (who knew we had clams in Nebraska) and it actually comes out of its shell a little bit. Another friend caught her a baby catfish! So we brought these two home and she couldn't wait to figure out what catfish eat- she is determined to grow this fish until she has to get a bigger fish tank! She told me yesterday, "Ok, I am going to start saving my money, dad, can we split it 50/50?"
Courtney and her friends also caught this monster-sized mosquito, but it died already. She can definitely put it in her bug box!
When we were packing up, I was teasing her about her new "pets" and I said sarcastically, "Courtney, we should just go catch a bat and bring him home too!" She looked at me with big eyes," "Can we??" I said "no!!"
3. Saw lots of friends and family!!
4. Had the best weather for swimming in the lake and jetskiing!
5. Did not play at the park once! We were right across the street from it, but were so busy at the lake, we never got over there.
6. Suffered allergies! Poor Megan and Christian woke up every morning with great big black circles around their eyes! Megan also had bloodshot eyes the last couple days of the trip.
7. Nobody fell out of their beds this weekend! I think Megan is getting used to sleeping on her bunk bed.
8. The kids had some of their friends spend the night in the camper while the parents slept in their tent. These girls had been begging for a slumber party, so they finally got one!!
9. We really need to come up with another snack to make over the fire besides smores, kind of tired of them. :)
10. It is always so much work to go camping. It is a lot of work for both Matt and I to pack the camper and get out there and it is a lot of work to unload it when we get home, especially in the heat. But it is great family time and a time to sit back relax, well, kind of, you can't really relax too much when you have three kids to keep track of!
Now today we get life back to normal. Matt is already at work and Megan starts a dance class this morning. I am also determined to start school sometime soon, so I need to keep working on getting that ready.
Here are some other things we did:
1. Spent more money in one afternoon to fill the jetskis with gas than it cost us to stay at the state lakes for 4 nights! Yes, we went through a lot of gas! (We had the jetskis out two afternoons!)
2. We brought home two new pets. Courtney, my naturalist, was at it again. One of her uncles caught her a clam (who knew we had clams in Nebraska) and it actually comes out of its shell a little bit. Another friend caught her a baby catfish! So we brought these two home and she couldn't wait to figure out what catfish eat- she is determined to grow this fish until she has to get a bigger fish tank! She told me yesterday, "Ok, I am going to start saving my money, dad, can we split it 50/50?"
Courtney and her friends also caught this monster-sized mosquito, but it died already. She can definitely put it in her bug box!
When we were packing up, I was teasing her about her new "pets" and I said sarcastically, "Courtney, we should just go catch a bat and bring him home too!" She looked at me with big eyes," "Can we??" I said "no!!"
3. Saw lots of friends and family!!
4. Had the best weather for swimming in the lake and jetskiing!
5. Did not play at the park once! We were right across the street from it, but were so busy at the lake, we never got over there.
6. Suffered allergies! Poor Megan and Christian woke up every morning with great big black circles around their eyes! Megan also had bloodshot eyes the last couple days of the trip.
7. Nobody fell out of their beds this weekend! I think Megan is getting used to sleeping on her bunk bed.
8. The kids had some of their friends spend the night in the camper while the parents slept in their tent. These girls had been begging for a slumber party, so they finally got one!!
9. We really need to come up with another snack to make over the fire besides smores, kind of tired of them. :)
10. It is always so much work to go camping. It is a lot of work for both Matt and I to pack the camper and get out there and it is a lot of work to unload it when we get home, especially in the heat. But it is great family time and a time to sit back relax, well, kind of, you can't really relax too much when you have three kids to keep track of!
Now today we get life back to normal. Matt is already at work and Megan starts a dance class this morning. I am also determined to start school sometime soon, so I need to keep working on getting that ready.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Looking at the Calendar for school...
I vowed to myself that I would start school earlier this year. Last year, we ended the day before Megan's dance recital because I didn't plan very well. We didn't even finish some things because I just wanted to be done and was literally out of time (like we didn't read Megan's last read-aloud and I skipped a couple assignments in English and her last writing essay!)
Yesterday I got out the calendar and started counting weeks. I have 36 weeks of lesson plans and I want to be done before Memorial Day plus we are looking to do a month long trip in September.
I think this is how it is going to work out:
Starting date: July 9th or 16th, we need to start full days too. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of summer activities going on, so we are going to have to be VERY flexible. I also don't have Megan's math book yet and or one of Courtney's math books.
We will have school for 5-6 weeks.
We are going camping at Mahoney State Park on August 23rd-25th and then we are going to leave on our trip from there. I will definitely need some time that week to prepare for the trip, so I may need to take the week before off.
For our trip, we are going to take those inch thick curriculum books that I found at Sam's, but am not going to take any formal curriculum. We are going to be learning enough!
Return either September 21st or 28th. I will probably need a week or so to get the house back in order. That is about a six week break, which I think makes up for the fact that we are starting school in July.
Start school up again the following Monday (whichever date that is.)
Have school until Thanksgiving. I may or may not take the week of Thanksgiving off. I took it off last year because I hosted Thanksgiving at my house, but that will probably not be the case this year, so we may have school.
We will also take two weeks off at Christmas time and will start school up again in the new year. It will probably be the Monday after New Year's Eve.
From here on out, it looks like a 20 week stretch until the middle of May. I did not take a spring break last year and we will see if we take one this year or not. I have us ending either the 16th or the 23rd of May.
I think I need to just get started, I would much rather get done earlier than later, so I just need to have that attitude all year, especially here in the summer and fall when I have some "optional" dates. The girls told me yesterday that they are tired of summer already and want to get back to school!
Yesterday I got out the calendar and started counting weeks. I have 36 weeks of lesson plans and I want to be done before Memorial Day plus we are looking to do a month long trip in September.
I think this is how it is going to work out:
Starting date: July 9th or 16th, we need to start full days too. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of summer activities going on, so we are going to have to be VERY flexible. I also don't have Megan's math book yet and or one of Courtney's math books.
We will have school for 5-6 weeks.
We are going camping at Mahoney State Park on August 23rd-25th and then we are going to leave on our trip from there. I will definitely need some time that week to prepare for the trip, so I may need to take the week before off.
For our trip, we are going to take those inch thick curriculum books that I found at Sam's, but am not going to take any formal curriculum. We are going to be learning enough!
Return either September 21st or 28th. I will probably need a week or so to get the house back in order. That is about a six week break, which I think makes up for the fact that we are starting school in July.
Start school up again the following Monday (whichever date that is.)
Have school until Thanksgiving. I may or may not take the week of Thanksgiving off. I took it off last year because I hosted Thanksgiving at my house, but that will probably not be the case this year, so we may have school.
We will also take two weeks off at Christmas time and will start school up again in the new year. It will probably be the Monday after New Year's Eve.
From here on out, it looks like a 20 week stretch until the middle of May. I did not take a spring break last year and we will see if we take one this year or not. I have us ending either the 16th or the 23rd of May.
I think I need to just get started, I would much rather get done earlier than later, so I just need to have that attitude all year, especially here in the summer and fall when I have some "optional" dates. The girls told me yesterday that they are tired of summer already and want to get back to school!
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