Mommy, don't BLOG the Grass!!

"Mommy don't blog the grass!!" These were Anna words to me this early afternoon as I took a step back to see what the backyard looked like with the pine needles raked up:) I guess she thinks if I take a picture of it , I'll be blogging it:)

But I was glad to see grass again!! The yard went from looking orange to having a shade of winter green.... I liked it!!

Here is the HUGE pile of pine needles...see the kiddie bucket behind it?? It was the largest of THREE piles i raked up!!



Although the yard was mostly pine needles, I was able to rake a pile of leaves (from our front tree and neighbor's trees) for the kids to play in:)


And play they did:)

Last year I also took some pictures of the kids playing in the yard leaves:) Anyway, I found the link to the post.... it's always amazing to see how much they've grown:)

Lord God, help me to treasure each moment with the kids. Thank you for this morning, even in the chilly wind, when we were able to work and play together. Help me to be a better, kinder, sweeter Mommy that reflects Your love to them every day!!

Shop Victoriously!

Hahhaaa.... everytime I read that I just smile.... those of us who are bargain hunters usually just droool over the starting bids for the items that we are hunting for on Ebay. But I always get bummed when the ending prices is equal or more expensive than the item if you just picked it up in the store.

I've been "drooling" over a set of books for Anna this Christmas..... Anna is the one who would be the most EXCITED but in reality we'll be reading them as a family, which we all LOVE to do:) Anyway, the set was $45 on CBD and $44 on Deep Discounts. Ebay had plenty to choose from but they were selling for $38ish then add shipping!!! Oh, I could have bought one for $10-shipping but a book was missing, one had loose pages and they just looked ROUGH on the photo:)

Ive found that I do better on Ebay when I "But it Now"..... so I went to the "Buy it now" listings!! And sure enough someone had listed a brand new set, still wrapped, for $25 + shipping!! I saw a similiar set go for $40 the other day.... which is just as expensive when you add shipping. So this new listing +shipping was $15-20 cheaper than buying new somewhere else!

I was sitting next to Brian so we did had a quick diliberation session!! Then I did the check out and since our Paypal account is in his name, his computer started "dinging" with the notifications and reciepts filling his email account:) Hahhaa

I really need to start looking into book swapping online. We have soo many books!! And I know as the kids school at home, we'll need even more.... book swapping just sounds like a good idea!! And probably cheaper, too!!!

Sick Night turned into Game Night

All three kids have had cough/cold symptoms today. Lydia finally had to sleep with us last night because we weren't getting ANY sleep standing over her bed:) So when we talked about attending church this evening, we decided to keep the kids home... I'd hate to get any of the older people in our church sick!!

So we stayed home and tore into the new games Chris got from Aunt Jac and Uncle Carson!! First we tried was CandyLand... they did well, although I had to remind Chris many times to keep his little gingerbread man ON the gameboard and to only take the TOP card off of the pile!! But we "survived" one game:) Here are some of our CandyLand pics....

We also played HiHo Cheerio (another game from Aunt Jac)!! The kids really liked that one. It was a little easier for Chris to handle and the game went more quickly, better for a little guy with a SHORT attention span!!

I had fun with the kids!! Since I already had the kitchen tidy, I was able to just sit and PLAY with them:) It was a nice change of pace than me trying to get stuff done around them or rushing them around to complete chores.... maybe this is a good time to instill a GAME NIGHT!!??? Well see.... sounds like FUN to me:)

And if you are interested??? This is how Lydia entertained herself while we played. First she "chewed" on the extra playing piece. Then she rode/dragged the wooden horse around the house (no pic). Finally she decided to dress herself at 8pm!!

She fussed when I tried to remove her shoes at bedtime... I picked my battled and decided that THIS wasn't a big deal and I'd sneak in later to removed them:) But Daddy found the shoes first... LOL... I wonder what went through his mind as he took off his little girls shoes (put on the wrong feet) as she was sleeping???

The end in Sight & Just Miserable!!!

It started off like a normal morning, minus Christopher's coughing and ruinny nose. The family had our quick advent devotion and got to work on chores and "school work". Anna and I had a wonderful revelation that if she did 4 lessons a week (about normal right now), we'll be DONE her "reading book" by Christmas!! So awesome... the end is in sight!! But now I'll have to chat with the seasoned homeschoolers about what is next?? hah haa

About 11:15, Christopher started to say he was cold. He grabbed his "night-night" and climbed on the couch under the BIG, soft green blanket!! He barely touched his lunch and then slept for 3+ hours!!!

He woke from his nap and sat back on the couch watching a video! After a couple moments he asked, "MOmmy, I'm not feeling well. Can you gte my night-night please?" I started walking to his room and he called after me, "And my pillow? And my bear?"



Poor little guy is soo miserable. He's got a nasty cough. Runny nose. No energy or desire to use energy. Congestion that's making him breathe out of his mouth. A tummy ache (at least that is what he is telling me). And every few moments he rolls over and fusses:(

Between the throwing up last week and this cold thing... he's had a rough first week of being Three!!

Writing his name

A couple of months ago I blogged about how we were a little worried about Christopher writing a good amount of his letters backwards... especially the letters in his name!!! Anyway, I did casually ask my pediatrician and he basically said the same thing that I had read and that people commented:) I was concerned a little TOO Early:)

Since then during writing practice I have been gently correcting him, letting him trace letters and having him play with letters (frig magnets)!! And for a little while we noticed he'd write and recognize the letters BOTH backwards and forwards!!

Then today I had him write his name on a little matching worksheet that Grandma gathered from a kindergarten subbing job:) I thought it might be good for him to start writing his name on some od his work to practice!! And to easily sort from Anna's work:)

To my surprise he wrote his name!! All of the letters correctly and I thought I was helping him with the spelling until I looked down and realized he was letters ahead of me!! He's going to be a very interesting and fun kid to homeschool... if he'll sit still long enough:)