Our New Neighbors

Here are our new neighbors

They are kind of hard to see all nestled in there- this picture was taken when there was only three, now we are up to ten. Here's an outside shot of their new abode~

Yep, that's our grill. Our grill we won't be using at all this Spring due to our new neighbors. I watched them slowly move in, piece by piece not thinking much of it- then BOOM- eggs. The nest is pretty elaborate. Brett and I wouldn't dream of wrecking it- at least not until the baby birds have flown the nest :)

Here's are other addition to our backyard.

And that's Brett hiding an egg by the rim, not trying to take a cheap shot :) We have really enjoyed the hoop a lot already. It was great yesterday for our Easter get together- we played a fun game of three-on-three.

Sidenote: Don't EVER play basketball barefoot on concrete, my feet are still killing me!

Suffering Suffragettes

If you've ever seen Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" then you know that people can say/do the stupidest things in front of a camera. Here's a clip that supports this- (just fyi- this site has some inappropriate clips on it, but this clip is completely clean)

http://www.break.com/index/suffrage.html

I'm not one to brag on my kids a lot- but I watched this clip with Alyssa. After the first two girls, I paused it and Alyssa if she knew what suffrage was- She said, "I read that book about the suffragettes. They were the ones who got women to vote. " Then she burst out laughing at the remainder of clip- figuring how these girls were signing to give up their right to vote.

Those Pics I Promised

Here's the birthday girl~

Here's Gavin not so happy. Our food took quite awhile, and the atmosphere's neatness wore off

quickly. He said, "(insert mad voice) I'm hungry! Where's my food? (insert silly voice) What did I order again?" He has absolutely no patience. Brett and I joke that he's like that lady on the commercial who orders a latte and then and soon as the guy turns around to make it says, "Where's my latte?"

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All is better here after his belly was filled with pizza, pasta, chips and of course cookie cake.

Blogging a birthday

Yesterday was Lauri's 6th birthday. We started the morning with donuts (of course). She insisted that they have the day off of school, so our morning began cleaning out her closet. She was excited to go through old winter clothes and left over summer clothes, to make room for the tub of clothes we just got out of storage.

We finished that and had some free time before lunch, so I asked her what she wanted to do. She is not as into tv as the other kids, so I was surprised when she said she wanted to watch a movie. Okay, I say, which one?

Titanic.

She has become very interested in the Titanic recently after Alyssa had her own little burst of interest. She has been pouring over books that show pictures and drawings of the Titanic and its' sinking. So, I put it on, and we watched the first hour. I tried to explain how the story of the characters isn't real, but a lot of the stuff that happens is real. I think she got it- sort of.

After lunch, we went to the YMCA for a tumbling class and to swim. When we returned, we finished watching the movie (skipping over some less than appropriate scenes).

We had dinner last night at the Rainforest Cafe at Oak Park Mall- after going to make a chick at Build a Bear. Lots of fun :)

I'll post some pictures later-

For all my homeschooling friends....

Go and read the post titled "It all begins with me", about halfway down the page, on a blog I frequent- Mental Multivitamin.

Homesick

Last weekend, the middle kiddos went down to the Lake with Grammy. They've done this before, and they always have a great time. This time was no different except one thing. They called more times this weekend then ever before. Gavin has repeatedly told me, "I missed you when I was at the Lake, Mommy". He's said this before, but now he has a name for it. "I'm sick." he keeps telling me. "What's wrong?" I ask. "I'm homesick." I then remind him that he
can't be homesick when he's at home.

Last night was the kicker though.

Saturday night Grammy had 3 extra kiddos at the Lake house for a sleepover, including Gavin's best little buddy- his almost 3 year old cousin (A). He said last night, "I hope A's not sick." I said, "I don't think she is. Why?" "Because she spent the night at the Lake house with me, and I was homesick. I hope she isn't homesick too." I tried to explain to him that being homesick isn't contagious.

The mind of a 3 1/2 year old.

Just for DeeDee

Since I've been personally requested to update my blog, I guess I should get back on. No real reason for not posting in the past couple weeks except for busyness. We had a minor catastrophe last week when Gavin lost Beebee for a week. We searched the house up and down, in and out. Finally, Sat night, he came up to my work with Grammy and bought a new one. Of course, when cleaning up her room Tuesday Alyssa found it. Stuffed inside a tiny little doll backpack.

I thought for sure he would abandon the new beebee, but now he has "The Beebee Brothers". He carries them both around and sleeps with both of them. He constantly reminds me that they are both boys.

Eli has really started talking more. Anytime someone walks into a room, they get a double handed wave and "Hi hi hi hi hi". Same if someone leaves "Bye bye bye bye bye". It's pretty cute.

I went for a health assesment on Tuesday. They weighed me, took my body fat levels, tested my heart, flexibility. Let's just say I have a great heart :) Everything else needs some work. I knew that already, but this gave me some more motivation.

I'll try to post a picture of Gav with his Beebee Brothers later, and I still need to get our school and office pics up.

How do YOU celebrate???

And no, I'm not talking about Ash Wednesday. Yes, we do celebrate Ash Wednesday, complete with the Imposition of Ashes. Yes, it is a very special day marking the beginning of Lent- a season when we celebrate our Lord's triumph over death.

But- today is not only Ash Wednesday. It is also National Pig's Day. Every March 1st. When we discovered this last Fall, preparations were already being made. A list was drawn up, "What To Do On Pig's Day". While I don't think we'll get to all of it (I'm not real keen on the idea of a mud fight), we did start out with the appropriate Pig's Day Breakfast. That's a pig made out of a donut and donut holes.


During breakfast, we had a wonderful Latin lesson- Pig Latin, that is. We've got a stack of pig books to read and we may even make some pig crafts in a little bit. And of course, to finish off the night, Pig in a Blanket for dinner.


Sidenote: Fell asleep after folding laundry last night at 6:30. So, we did not finish the basement. Soon. Soon.

Basement Remodeling...

We are *almost* done with our basement. The walls are painted, the carpet is laid, the furniture is in. We just need to stock the bookshelves, hang the posters, and keep organizing the toys. I am very excited at the way it all turning out! Hopefully I'll have pictures to post by tomorrow!!!

A journey of 50 lbs begins with....

6!

We joined the YMCA 2 1/2 weeks ago. I was reluctant to get on the scale the first time because I wasn't quite sure where I was at. Then I figured out that I need to lose 50 pounds to be at a healthy weight. I got back on the scale on Wednesday, and I discovered that I've lost 6 pounds!!! I am very excited about this. I haven't been on any strict diet- I have paid a bit more attention to what I'm eating, but I know this is mainly due to getting off my butt and exercising.

For what we pay at the Y, we are definitely getting our money's worth. They have classes for the girls every day, and twice a week they have a tumbling class that Lauri and Gavin can attend. It's been great for everyone in the family- except Eli. He's still adjusting to the nursery. He doesn't cry a lot, he's just very clingy to whoever is in there. I'm hoping this will get better over time. That's my only complaint about the place (but I understand where they're coming from)- kids 3 and over are in a separate room from those 2 and under. So, poor Eli is all by himself.

I am so encouraged by my progress. I know that it will take some time for those other 44 pounds, but I truly believe they will be gone!

Not your usual trip to the Lake

When we visit the Lake, we usually go tubing, walking, etc. Fun in the sun.

This is what we got when we visited Beaver Lake this past weekend.

The kids had a blast sledding down the driveway, despite the fact that it was not even 30*.

Daddy was mainly catching them as they got to the bottom. Sometimes they would smack right into the house. They just about the Suburban more than a handful of times. We were lucky, though, they never once went past our grasp. Good thing too, since this is where they would of ended up.

And no trip to the lake would be complete without a visit from a random dog.

"Are you going to read this book?"

"Cause I'm going to tell you about it anyways"

This was Brett last night, wanting to share about the current book he's reading Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. I always tease him about ruining books for me. He likes to share interesting facts or quotes from whatever he's reading.

Truthfully though, I like when he points something out to me before I get to it. Then, when I get to that part in the book, I think of him :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Boys will be boys

We had our Campfire meeting at our house this afternoon. Luckily, we were blessed with wonderful weather, so when all activities were finished, the kids were able to go out and play. There was about 10 kids, but they were all playing nicely, so we were only checking up on them occasionally.

I went out to take my turn to peek at the kids, and I saw Gavin facing the fence. I couldn't tell if he was looking at someone else or if he was upset about something. I asked him what he was doing, and he answered, "I'm peeing!"

I got him to come inside right away, and I sent him to his room. I sat down to talk with him about why we don't urinate not only in front of others, but especially in our backyard. I said, "Do you want the other kids to see you pee?" and he promptly replied, "But they were laughing!" Yes, he definitely has the makings of a class clown.

Childish

"Lots of students can eat lunch in a childish."

This was the sentence Lauri composed in her current Explode the Code. The correct word was "dining hall" not "childish", and I was surprised at her answer. I had her read it aloud to me. Here's what she said, "Lots of students can eat lunch in a childish. You know, child-dish."

I just had to laugh.

Oh, by the way,

guess my Mommy instincts were wrong. Went to see the doctor on Friday and he said that "The second ear I looked in was redder than the first, so I guess it is an ear infection" Didn't really convince me, but we've been giving the antibiotics anyways. He does seem more himself today. He's actually eaten 2 yogurts. Hopefully he'll sleep better tonight.

Went on a date last night...

with myself. Brett had poker night at our house, one set of grandparents had the oldest three at the movies, and the other set kept the baby for a couple hours. I went and had a nice, quiet dinner at Panera Bread, then went over to Borders to browse. I ended up getting a sampling of Martin Luther's writings. Then, I headed across the street to Half-Price Books and found two books on Latin- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin and The Big Gold Book of Latin Verbs. I'm hoping these will help our Latin studies which have come to a sort of standstill for a while now.

This is NOT the look of my baby today

Instead, his eyes are glasy, his chheks red, and his demeanor almost pathetic.
He's been running a slight fever all daydue to teething (so my mommy instincts tell me). He's been in either my arms. Alyssa's arms or his bed all day. No floor time, no playtime. I'm praying that he'll be better tomorrow. It's so sad to see my usually into-everything toddler just flop his head down on my chest.

Another Picture

Trying out a new way of loading pictures-

This was taken at a family wedding last October. The girls were the flower girls and Gavin was the ring bearer.

Trip to the zoo

This was our most recent trip to the zoo. We decided to take off last Tuesday afternoon. The weather was about 60 degrees. We recieved zoo passes for Christmas (thanks mom and dad!), so we can go whenever we feel like it. Most of the zoo was closed for either renovations or due to the fact that it was January and it's not supposed to be 60 degrees, but we had a great time anyway. We took our time and ended up spending 2 hours there! It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but they had the crayons out where you could face paint with them. And yes, they are all wearing their matching JEDI t-shirts. I was actually wearing one too, but no one was there to take my picture :)


Poor kid didn't realize you had to put a quarter in to be able to see.




Eli loved his first trip to the zoo.





We had a great time. We packed our own snack of freshly popped popcorn (with a real popper- no microwave!), brought our own water bottles, and just took time to relax and play. It was a great reminder for me of why we chose this lifestyle- being able to learn outside the class, building relationships between our children, and just enjoying ourselves.