Small Rant

I was just watching House of Babies and this couple had a baby girl. She had just had her baby and said, "We will definitely be going for number 3 since we really want a boy". WTH? Does that mean they did not really want the girl they just had??? I recognize that it probably is not the way that it comes across...it really, really annoys me though.

Money

Finances are pretty tight right now. It is really, really frustrating to me. I recognize that I am being quite selfish. I know that there is a multitude of people who are in far worse positions than us. But, I digress...

I have gotten so many email offers lately with coupons and coupon codes to shop at some of my favorite stores. Just this morning, I have deleted Janie and Jack coupons, Gymboree. Gap, Joanns, and more. I long to use these coupons, but if you have no money, it does not matter how great the coupon is. Why does it hurt sooooo bad to delete these emails? It is taking every bit of willpower or what have you, to not attack my recently deleted emails, retrieve my beloved Janie and Jack email and hightail it to the Mall at Millenia and charge up my CC. Darn you SCPS budget cuts!!!

Encouraging Sign

I had to make a trip to the Seminole County Health Department yesterday and was encouraged by a sign that I saw hanging on the window. The sign read, "Please feel free to breastfeed your baby wherever you would like". The sign also stated that if you preferred to feed your baby in a private place, that place would be provided for you. As much as I hate spending any amount of time at the health department for reasons that I don't really want to delve into at the moment, I was glad to see a sign that actually encouraged breastfeeding in a public place.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

We had Chase's Indiana Jones party this past weekend. The kids had tons of fun!



I have never seen any of the movies, but I guess they eat some gross stuff in one of them. I found this really cute spider bread at Publix and had to order it!


We set up a pool with sand and stocked it with all kinds of goodies so the kids could go on an archaeology expedition.


Angela bought a toy whip that makes noise for Chase. Of course, all the kids wanted to play with it, including Ava!


We got an Indiana Jones "cupcake cake" from Walmart that was not only super cute, it was also super yummy!


The kids played so much, even Chase had to sit down for a break!


Happy Birthday Chase-a-roo! We love you!

Photo Shoot with Karen

I had Ava's pictures done about 2 weeks ago with Karen Q. She has her own business, Captured Hearts Photography
She is a self taught photographer and is sooooo awesome at what she does! I will definitely be using her again!!!

Probably Had to be There

"Abel is completely deaf now. Isn't that right Abel?"

"woof"

Chase's Top 5

I can't hardly believe it, but Chase turned 8 this past Sunday. Where has the time gone! He wanted to tell me some of his favorite things...

1.) white cheese pizza
(Norman's or Cici's- he is not too fond of the version I have tried to concoct ;)

2.) Cheeseburgers

(He loves about all of them! His preferred fast food version is Burger King and he really, really likes Cheeseburger in Paradise which we have been to NJ)

3.) Star Wars/Indiana Jones movies and action figures

(as well as the action figures from Halo)

4.) Snakes

(Chase really likes creatures in general)

5.) Sharks

10 Timely Facts!

"The time will be changing again. I think on Sunday but not sure. Anyhow this is our 10th Homeschool Memoirs so this week it’s going to be about 10 timely facts about you! Write 10 interesting, crazy, weird, fun facts about you! Include facts about you as a woman, a wife, a mommy, a homeschooler, a homekeeper, a taxi-driver, a cook, etc . I only put 10 facts because I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but you’re welcome to do more! I just posted 101 Facts about myself on my blog, which you can take a look at if you should like."

1.) I think I have become what would be referred to as a professional student. I have a BA from UCF and have tons more credits than I would ever need. I still don't know what to do with myself and just applied for the nursing program...but I don't really want to be a nurse...I just don't know what to do!!!!

2.) I have a strange penchant for reusable shopping bags, but rarely remember to actually bring them to the store with me.

3.) I am super indecisive most of the time...I think ;)

4.) I rarely ever order dessert, but I love to pick at Paul's desserts. He likes to buy cookies at the mall and I always steal the M&M's or chocolate chips out of them. He offers to buy me my own, but I don't want my own. He offers to buy me bags of M&M's or chocolate chips, but I don't really like chocolate too much...go figure;)

5.) I hate, hate, hate mayonnaise.

6.) I adore babies!

7.) I love cold weather and despise the heat. This has led to highly unhealthy relationship with the Weather Channel.

8.) I am a complete germophobe. I just bought the largest container of hand sanitizer I have ever seen in my life from Sam's and it made me irrationally happy to purchase it. My 21 month old can clearly say, "hand sanitizer".

9.) I only like funny/stupid or funny/romantic movies. Everything else is much too serious.

10.) I actually enjoy watching shows like the "Suite Life of Zack and Cody", "Hannah Montana" and "That's So Raven". The kids were not home a few weeks ago and I caught myself watching "That's So Raven" all by myself and laughing hysterically the whole time!

He's Cuban?

Ava just found some fruit picks in the pantry that look like little arrows and dumped them out on the floor to play with them. Chase sat on the floor to play too and put one in his mouth and said, "I'm Cuban!". I said, "you're from Cuba". I had no idea what he was talking about. He looked at me in shock that I did not know who "Cuban" was.

"You know Mom...the guy with arrows on Valentine's Day?!"

Homeschool Memoirs #3 Routines (Running Late!)

Hmmmm... My title probably shows that I am a bit lacking in routine....or maybe I have not allowed much margin in my life ( I have been thinking a lot about having margin in life this week since it was the subject du jour at church this past weekend).

We don't have too much of a schedule for school. I do try and make sure the kids are up around 8ish. This is not a problem for Chase at all and he is usually up long before 8. It is a problem for Gabriella! I would like for them to eat breakfast and then "get ready for school". If I allow them to dilly dally, it makes it that much harder for them to get on task for the day.

If Paul is home, we often start the school day off with prayer. Shamefully, we pretty much never start off that way when he is not home ;( Both of the kids almost always start out with math and then usually move on to spelling. Reading is always the last "regular" thing we do. Sometimes I let them have a break and they run around the backyard halfway through the morning, but that often backfires and it is hard to get them back to work. History is often saved for later in the day or sometimes nighttime. Again, waiting to do it often means we skip it and play catch up later on.

The main subjects are pretty much always done by lunch time. After lunch, I try to get Ava down for a nap while the kids play quietly. They are not allowed to watch TV, play games etc until after I leave for work on T, W, and TH. The other days, they are not allowed to until after 3ish.

The kids have Keepers/Contenders every other Friday in the afternoons. The other Friday afternoons they are supposed to be doing a science co-op at Rebekkah's house, but we have not actually started that yet. Most other "homeschool" stuff we do outside of the house occurs on Thursdays with SLC.

I do have a strong desire to be more organized and definitely desire to have more margin in life to actually spend quality time with the kids. I will most certainly be reading what everyone else has to say about their routines to try and glean something from it!

The Office

I am not much of a TV watcher. Back when I was taking A&P in college, I would come home at night and watch Maternity Ward and always looked forward to it. Then one day, it mysteriously disappeared from the schedule. Paul and I do watch Survivor (yes, I think we are about the last ones on the planet to still watch it). That has lost much of it's appeal for me since nearly everyone I like on the shows is voted off. Adding to it's lackluster appeal is that Gabriella and Chase now enjoy watching it too. I know that sounds horribly selfish, but it somehow becomes less enjoyable to watch when you have a 10 and 7 year old asking all kinds of questions about what you think is going to happen now, who is going to win, why did this one lie, and many other questions involving strategy. But, I digress....

There is a show that Paul introduced to me last spring that I absolutely love...The Office.


Paul bought seasons 2 and 3 last year and we watched those together pretty quickly. I started watching season 4 on Hulu (without telling Paul, shhh!) during the day, but they pulled those since the new season is starting and they just released Season 4 on DVD this past Tuesday.

I just saw the commercial for Season 5 this morning and laughed so hard. I called Paul to tell him about it and was hoping he would get the hint to buy me season 4 so I can start watching it before the new season starts. I have been trying to find a link for it online and can't. When I do, I will be sure to post it so I can laugh whenever I want ;)

Little Artist

In a moment of madness ;) I decided Labor Day would be a great occasion to introduce Ava to painting.



I read in a book that it is a great developmental activity to introduce at this age, so I thought, What the Heck!



She eventually tired of that boring thing we call paper and chose to paint her sister's leg instead ;)



All in all, it was not nearly as messy as you think it would be to let a 19 month old paint in the kitchen. There was stray paint here and there and she did paint her hands as you can see.




And here is a pic of my little artist's masterpiece. Magnificent!

Homeschool Agenda

This week's Homeschool Memoirs theme is Homeschool Agendas. I find it fascinating to learn about what other people are using to homeschool their children. Maybe it is just my curiositity, my father wrongly claims it is called being nosey, call it what you will, but I love finding out about curriculum!

Right now, I am using lots of different stuff for the kids;

• Sonlight 2-Intro to World History for Reading and History for both kids (advanced readers for G and regular for C)


• Wordly Wise 2nd Edition Book (book 5 for G and Book 2 for C)


• A Reason for Spelling (Level E for G and Level B for C)


• SOS math (Gabriella)


• Abeka arithmetic (Chase)


• Explode the Code (Chase)


• Handwriting without Tears (Chase)


• First Language Lessons (Chase)


• Grammar Ace and Schoolhouse Rock (supposed to be for G, but Chase, and Ava especially, love Schoolhouse Rock!)

My favorite item that we are using so far is a book that is used with Sonlight called Windows on the World.

Windows on the World is a beautiful book that contains information about featured countries and the people that live there. The neatest thing about Windows is that each 2 page layout of the specific area lists things that we can thank God for that are occurring in those places and it also lists what we can pray about. I can't stop looking at this book myself!

The Bible verse that keeps coming up to me through some tough times lately is Pslam 30:11

"You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, "

Tropical Storm Fay

Tropical Storm Fay brought us tons of rain last week. After being cooped up in the house, we decided to join Paul outside when he had to change one of the tires on the van in the pouring rain. I put on Ava's very cute raincoat and we headed outside. The expedition did not last long since Paul gave up on the tire change ;)

My Girl

I am so proud of my girl. We had a field trip to Bruster's today. There were quite a few children and many of them were closer to preschool age. Gabriella was such a help to the younger children. One little guy was new to the group and a little shy, so G helped him out and had him stay with her in line to assist in the ice cream making. At the end of the trip, another little guy was crying that he wanted more ice cream, but each child was only allowed one sample. Of her very own accord, she went over and offered him her only sample. The momma was quite impressed and came and told me about it. What a sweet and thoughtful girl!

Schoolhouse Rock

I never watched Schoolhouse Rock growing up...I think it preceeded my time ;) I bought the Schoolhouse RockDVD set off of Homeschool Classifieds for the kids since it goes along with Gabriella's grammar curriculum. I have been showing some of the clips to the kids on YouTube to help them learn some of the stuff until we get the set in the mail. The one who seems to really enjoy those wonderful classic clips is AVA! She wants me to continually play it for her, lol! Today, I taught Chase about nouns so I showed him the noun song and Ava could not get enough of it!

It Worked!

Did you see the last post? It worked, I made a signature! I was looking at someone else's blog and they posted some info on making a signature. I checked it out myself and messed around on the site and made one. As if I have nothing better to do, lol!

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

Teaching at Co-op

Chase belongs to a group called the Seminole Learning Community. It is a group of families who homeschool their children. They go on field trips and have co-op classes etc. I don't just want to be a user of the system and have been considering teaching a class. The problem is, I don't like to teach. I enjoy teaching my children and all, of course, but I really don't like having to talk in front of a room of people, even if they are little people ;) I was taking a gander around the Internet trying to find something that would be fun to teach. Since hurricane season is beginning to heat up, I thought the kids might enjoy learning about them. I don't want to get too technical as I will definitely lose the majority of the kids who are part of SLC as I am sure none of them are desiring to be hurricane experts at this time in their lives ;) I found this book and thought it might be fun to use.

I also found a little lesson plan on homeschoolshare.com that gives you different ideas to teach the material and some ideas for a lapbook. Now, I just have to work up the nerve to actually do this ;)

Sleeping Through the Night or Not...

As I had unfortunately suspected, blogging about Ava sleeping through the night was sadly premature. My 3 nights of bliss are but a mere memory now. Ava has returned to her habit of waking up frequently to nurse. Oh well, she will sleep through the night soon enough...or so I have been told ;)

Ava Can Count?!

Today, Ava brought me a slew of cap erasers- Gabriella wanted them when we are in Staples because they were scented. I started to count them with Ava and was putting them in a little row on the floor. I had gotten up to 2 when Ava picked up the next and said, "3" and then picked up another and said, "4". Paul was sitting at the computer and we both were shocked and laughed. I guess we distracted her as she started laughing and throwing the ersaers around :)

Finally, at 17 months...

Ava has never slept through the night...ever...until now!!! I am slightly reluctant to get too excited about this latest development, but am hopeful that it will continue! She slept Sunday night from 10:30 until about 7:45. Last night, she fell asleep at 9:30. I nursed her at 6:15 this morning since I had to leave early to be with my mom at the hospital. I hope this sleeping better trend continues. I have waited, as patiently as possible, for her to sleep through the night for 17 months! Woohoo!!!

Ava and Petsmart

We brought the kids and Madison to Petsmart this evening. They were having a special Pet Birthday celebration with pictures, games, contests......and dog treats (you may know where I am going with this already...). Gabriella saw a table where they were sampling a certain brand of dog treats and she picked one up for Madison and gave it to her. When Madison took it, it broke into pieces. Ava promptly took a piece and I told her not to eat because it was for Maddie. She turned and walked away all the while shoving the treat into her own mouth. I did not know whether I should laugh, cry or vomit, lol!

You Thought You Were Having a Bad Day, lol!

A New Baby!

Bill and his girlfriend, Automese, had their baby Friday night. She weighed 6lbs 14 oz (a whole 2lbs smaller than Ava when she was born!) and her name is Aryanna Elizabeth. I am always hoping that my sister will have a baby as I really want to be an aunt. Since Paul and Bill are brothers, that technically makes me an aunt now! Too bad they live in Mass and I don't really know Bill's girlfriend at all. I only have seen her 3 times or so and then they all moved out of Florida. At least I get to go do some baby shopping this week for Aryanna! We are hoping to go up to Mass this summer to meet Paul's new niece. He seemed pretty excited Friday night...I think my babylove may have rubbed off a teeny bit on him ;)

Here are some pics, too...we all think she looks just like her mom...my sister said she looks like a mini-me of Automese!

It's Called a Diaper!

Paul asked me yesterday if I thought Ava had a big bottom. I laughed and told him no, I did not think she did. Apparently, the day before, Ava had on some black pants on that made Paul feel that she had a lot of junk in her trunk, lol! I tried to patiently explain to Paul that Ava was wearing a cloth diaper and that they tend to be a bit cumbersome under clothes. I guess I should not be too concerned with his comments. Being that he has some sad crazy things in the past. Back before Gabriella was born, he asked me if it were possible for us to have an African American baby. For those that don't know us both, Paul and I are about as white as they come, lol!

Chase

I have been trying to get caught up on my pictures. I have been having a hard time actually uploading them to my computer so I have been taking my memory card to Sam's and having the pics put on a CD. Here is one I really like of Chase.

Saving Money

The GRE did not go as well as I had hoped, so we will move on for now to things that actually make me happy, lol!

I went to Albertson's yesterday to pick up some TP that was on sale as well as some hamburger buns. The TP was on sale for $1 for a 4 roll pack. AND, I had a $1.00 off coupon...actually 8 of them! So, I purchased 8-4 packs and a pack of hamburger buns for less than $2. WOOHOO!

Thought for the day...

I got this in one of my emails today:

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY................ Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders & says...'Oh no....she's awake!!

Chase-isms!

Yesterday, Chase, Ava my mom and I went to Target. They had a great sale on Nature Valley granola bars and, of course, I had some great coupons, lol! My mom is completely uninterested in my sales and coupons :) so she went over to the garden center to check out the plants. After I gathered all of my stuff, I headed over to check out. I started to feel so shaky and faint in line that I was certain I was going to pass out. I then realized I didn't even have my wallet on me...it was in my mom's purse. I asked the cashier to please suspend my transaction I would return in a few moments with my wallet.

As we headed back to the garden center I told Chase I was not feeling well and I was concerned that I might pass out. His response, "I hope I can get you into the cart!"

In case anyone is wondering, I never passed out, so Chase's assistance was not needed, lol!

The Dog Ate My Homework!

Really! We got a puppy dog on Saturday, March 1st. Jessica had gone to the Humane Society on Thursday late and called me quite excited. Turns out, a breeder could not sell one of her puppies and decided she could no longer care for her. SHe is a full bred standard poodle and is cream colored. She is 4 months old and is as sweet as can be, albeit a bit mischevious though! She was underweight and we suspect she may have been abused. Whenever we raised our hands around her at all, she would cower down and move away. It is terribly sad that she was mistreated and just dropped off at the Humane Society. It made me really said everytime I thought about it, but my heart kept reminding me that she was meant to be for us.

We named her Madison and we call her Maddie for short sometimes. I printed off a test for school and she actually tried to eat it! I never really thought I could actually use that excuse, lol!

It has been somewhat bittersweet as I really miss my Abbie girl. I am glad that we can give this new sweet girl a great family that really cares about her. She is currently sitting to me eating Chase's sneakers...I think we have our work cut out for us :)

I love you...

I meant to post this back on Valentine's Day, but kept forgetting. As some of you know, I don't like coffee, but I love Starbucks frapuccinos. They are quite pricey, not to mention they lack any real nutrition, so I do try to keep my fraps to a mininum! I don't know how this obsession came about, but I so look forward to the days when I do allow myself to purchase one. For Valentine's Day this year, Paul gave me a nice card and inside the card was the telltale little envelope of a Starbucks gift card...WOOHOO! It is a liitle trifold card and the Starbucks card sits inside of that. Anyhow, I opened up the trifold and inside it read, "I love you more than you love Starbucks". I thought that was just so sweet.

Mickey's Merry Christmas Party 12/20/07

Hannah Montana

After much hard work, begging, pleading, and searching, my sister was able to obtain much coveted tickets to the sold-out within minutes, Hannah Montana concert this past Tuesday night. Gabriella was ecstatic to say the very least!



The Jonas Brothers were originally scheduled as the opening act, but they changed that at the last minute. Supposedly the Jonas Brothers are getting ready to start a tour of their own. The group Everlife perfromed in their stead and Gabriella said she enjoyed their music. The big bonus; at least Everlife is a Christian band so no concerns over questionable lyrics!



Of course, my father had to voice his opinion on the matter of Gabriella attending a concert. He complained that Gabriella is only 9 and he did not attend his first concert until he was 16. Yes, now would be an appropriate time to break out your violins ;) As we all are well aware, my father is not happy unless he is able to find fault and complain about something;)

Finally A Crib for Ava!

Paul finally put up Ava's crib on Monday. It only took a year ;) I am actually very pround of him as several pieces of hardware were missing and he was able to make it work...and safely at that ;) I have been watching a bedding set at Target that I wanted for her. It was originally $89.99 and was on sale for $55 and change. That still seemed like a lot to spend so I just kept checking back. Today I went in and they had it down to $38 (WOOHOO!!). I was able to get the set, two extra blankets, an extra sheet and one of those little lovey blankies for $76.

CVS Shopping...

I have never really cared too much for CVS. Once in a while, I look through their weekly ad, but that is the extent of it. On Saturday, Ava fell asleep nursing in my lap and instead of waking her up, I stayed at the computer and looked at some money saving blogs. Apparently, CVS has some really great sales and you get money back in the form of certificates for buying certain items. I looked at their ad yesterday and they had soyjoy bars on sale for $1 each that are normally $1.29 each. For every 4 bars that are purchased, you receive $4 back on ECB to use on your next purchase. This deal can be repeated a total of 5 times. So, you purchase 20 soyjoy bars for $20 and you get a coupon for $20 on your next purchase. Well, to make the deal even better, I had a coupon for $3 off of $15 which brought my total down to $17. On top of that, I had 2 manufacturer's coupons for $3 off the purchase of 10 bars. So I got 20 soyjoy bars for $11 that would normally have cost me $26 AND I walked away with a $20 coupon for next time! This could get slightly addicting, lol!

12 Month Check Up!

Ava had her 12 month check up yesterday. She weighs 23.3lbs and is 31 inches long! Wow! Her head is in the 95%, her height is above the 95% and her weight is in the 75%. She was so good for her appointment! They did her PPD at the begining of the appointment and she watched the nurse do it, but did not cry. At the end of her appointment, she got the next dose of IPV and she made a pouty face but never cried for that one either! Such a brave little lady!
Ava has two more teeth begining to poke their way through up top. Her first two teeth were the bottom center which she got around 6 months and she got her top two around 9 months. She seems to be on an every 3 month schedule of getting new teeth :)

Out of the Mouth of Chase ;)

Chase says some of the funniest things. What makes these things even funnier is that he doesn't try to be funny and is usually being serious. He was picking his nose the other day (sorry, Chase!) and he told me he was digging for gold but was only finding green. We all had a good laugh out of that one.

Last week while we were in TN, 11 month old Ava was playing on the floor and Chase walked in and asked, "Ava, what are you doing?". Paul was in the room too and proceeded to aske Chase what Ava was doing. Chase responded, "Idon't know. That's why I asked her."