Here are a few pictures from our cookie baking day with our friends, Dawn, Brandon and Brianna.

And here's a few pictures of my Princess and her boys. She got her first pair of jeans on Christmas (they have since been exchanged for a cute skirt, LOL, as she only wears dresses).

We enjoyed our wonderfully peaceful holiday, just spending time here at the house together. Today the kids were surprised with another box of presents from my sister, Aimee. We had kind of forgotten that it it had been sent because she had already sent a box of clothes and toy cars last week. Underneath CD player, walkie-talkies, chess set, and more "stuff" was the best Christmas present (at least, to a homeschooling mom, LOL)....

TONS of BOOKS (almost 60!)

Ella grabbed one and ran to her little couch and said, "I gonna read a buuuuk." Deuce is at the dining room table devouring a book, and COdy brought one into the living room to read. That's what I like to see! Man, there is nothing like a box full of brand-new books (as any "Sonlighter" knows, LOL)

Now. how do I find room on our already packed bookshelves for all lof these new treasures???

Very random, just took some pics of the kids tonight... Please ignore the off coloring in some.. I am still trying to get used to the new camera....

Cody and Deuce were explaining Santa to Ella and this is what I heard Cody say to Ella, "And then Santa breaks into your house. But, don't be alarmed- he is not gonna steal anything. He'll leave you presents."

Deuce spoke up, imitating Santa, "Turn off your alarm, ho ho ho. I'm just a jolly fat man spreading joy."

Silly kids. Ella is now saying "Santa" very clearly, LOL.

We went to the Christmas Eve service at church and then came home and sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" and had cake for a mini-birthday party for Jesus. The kids have now headed up to bed and Shawn and I will finish wrapping and putting out gifts. Tomorrow will be a quiet day around here. Gifts when we wake up and then Shawn's dad and uncle will come over at about 2 for dinner. I think this is the most relaxing, nonstressful Christmas I have ever had, lol. No crazy family functions to deal with, just my husband and kids here at our home. Nice.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a fantastic holiday!

We have a family membership to the children's science museum in Dayton, but it had been a few months since we had been there, so I decided to take the kids yesterday. All 3 have always had a blast there, so we were all looking forward to it, but when we arrived Ella completely shut down. Now, anybocy that is around Ella for a bit of time always comments on how outgoing and social she is, so this was very strange. It wasn't even crowded there, initially. Look at how pitiful she was...

She finally warmed up after about 20 minutes. We went upstairs to a pretend grocery store and, ugh, they have a real (dead) deer head mounted on the wall. Ella saw it and then I had 15 minutes of this: (and yes, she is wrapped tightly around my legs)

So, by this point I am thinking that I will never get her to play with anything and have fun. *sigh* But then the heavens part and light shines down right on one of her favorite activities:

Yeah! She loves to write (she even carries a journal and a pen around with her most of the day, LOL).

And to top it off, she even found a quiet place to read (her other favorite activity):

After that, the day went pretty well (as long as we ignore the rowdy group of school kids that were on a field trip- TRASHING everything in sight. Made me feel so much better about being a homeschool mom). The kids found an activity that they all loved and could all do together:

The boys also loved going into the tree house and doing a little bird watching (partially because, at the time, it was the only way to escape the loud school kids- then they came into the treehouse and ran us off.....)

Cody loved the "Science in Toyland" exhibit:

We had a great time, but I wish my boys would have stayed still long enough for me to get a few more pictures of them. More than half of the pics of them shows just a blur where a boy once was, LOL.

Ella is such a girly-girl! She plays dress up all of the time. Here are a few pics from last night.

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, eh? Trick or treating is Ella's new favorite activity, LOL. She can even say, "Trick or treat," quite well. You should have seen the wonderful look of surprise when I told her to say that at church and a sucker was dropped into her little bucket. Too cute!

Cody got to meet some firemen and they put him up on their truck to get a quick picture. When he got down he told us, "I'm done trick or treating now." LOL, that just made his night.

Deuce was finally allowed a somewhat scary costume. Funny thing was, he didn't want to scare Ella, so he went around barking and wagging his backside like a puppy. Ugliest dog I have ever seen, haha.  I'm considering a rabies shot for him (of course, I don't believe in vaccines, LOL, so maybe not).

Here's some pics of my kiddos.  Aren't they adorable???

I am sitting here watching Ella play and thought I'd take a minute to update my blog.  I just never seem to find the time anymore.  I have the marketing class that I am in right now keeping me busy.  Plus, I have the modules that I write for The Old Schoolhouse.  Add in on top of that my newest job with The Old Schoolhouse (Travel & Conventions Assistant to the Publisher- what a mouthful!) and I am busy!  Oh, but I love it.  I am the type that LOVES LOVES LOVES having a million and one things to do and this is just great. 

Ella is being strange right now.  She is wearing her pj's, a purple ballet tutu,  a red glove (on her foot!)  and a blue glove on her hand.  I have lost my camera (and, do not tell me to look in the diaper bag, LMBO!  I already looked there.) and would love a picture of her.  I was about to get her dressed for the day but she keeps telling me that she is "pitty" (pretty), so I'll let her be.  :-)  I do have to wonder, though, why does she get all dolled up and then stand on the train table and dance?  Is she planning on being an actress on Broadway?  Doing musicals?  (You should've seen her dancing to "Cool Rider" the other night, LOL.  Yes, I am a geek that loves Grease and Grease 2).

8:25 in the morning and my boys are already cleaning their room.  Yeah!  It's gonna be a good day.  I get to sit here and play on the net (I have honestly not "played" on the net in a LONG time, so I don't feel guilty) while the boys clean their room and Shawn cleans the bathroom and kitchen.  (Oh, Ella just added a pink Disney Princesses backpack to her outfit, LOL),  I think I traumatized poor Cody.  The other day I accidently locked him in the basement.  I didn't realize he was taking his dirty laundry downstairs, and saw the basement door unlocked, which is a HUGE no-no with a toddler in the house.  He freaked out (I was right by the door when he came back up and unlocked it right away!).  Now, everytime he goes downstairs, he says nice and LOUD, "Make sure no one LOCKS ME IN THE BASEMENT."  Ugh, I hope he never tells people about that in public.  I can just see the knock on the door, from DCFS, now.  yikes!  A homeschool mom locking her child in the basment?  So stereotypical, LOL.

Well, I had better get going.  I am supposed to go to Dawn's house to work on our marketing class project together. 

Just a few pics of the kids being themselves, LOL....

Oh man!  The busy just gets busier, LOL.  Tonight I feel as though my head is spinning and I finally found a minute to blog.  I should be in bed because Deuce has his first Bible Quiz of the year tomorrow and we have to drive all the way to Cincy for it, but I really felt the need to update tonight.

I promise, tomorrow I will post pictures of the kids.  I just got a new laptop and have not yet installed my camera software into this one.  Well, that and the batteries in my camera seems to have vanished.  I am betting Cody swiped them for his flashlight, but I can't prove it, LOL.  I'll just pick up some more tomorrow.

I have been busy with work lately.  Besides writing the monthly modules for The Schoolhouse Planner, I doing a little marketing work with TOS.  It is so much fun to do and I am thankful for the opportunity to learn all that I am learning.  One of the things that I have been doing is taking a marketing class that TOS opened up to 30 people.  It is so eye opening to learn what goes into a good ad, you know.  Dawn and I got to try our hand on a project together, and (if I do say so myself, LOL) I don't think it turned out horribly, considering that we have never even come close to doing anything like this before.  I am looking forward to more practice as time goes on. 

Well, I should get back to work.  I have another project with TOS that I need to go work on.  :-) 

First of all, I have to tell everyone that the October module will be in the Schoolhouse Store soon and you really should check it out!  I might be a little biased, LOL, but it's a great module!

Now, onto my day.  It started off nicely.  I had told a friend that she could drop her kids off while she went out to lunch with her hubby (it's their anniversary).  I thought I'd make lunch really easy on myself and just give everyone their choice of sandwich and side items.  I looked at all four kids (my older two and her two) and said, "P-butter & jelly, grilled cheese, boloney, and ham are your choices."  Simple, right?  Deuce says he wants grilled cheese, while running out the back door, Cody, following Deuce out, says p-nut butt & jelly, Brianna says grilled boloney and cheese and then there was Brandon....  ummmm....... yeah.....

Brandon looks right at me and says, "Peanut butter and ham."  No problem.  The boy wanted two sanwiches and that was fine.  I asked, "Do you want jelly on your peanut butter sandwich?  And how about cheese on the ham sandwich?"

He looks at me as if I have lost my mind.  I said, "You do want *2* sandwiches, right?"

"No, I want a peanutbutter *and* ham sandwich.  One sandwich."

Yikes.  Ummmmm, EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!  Dawn, there is something wrong with your kid, LOL....  I checked with him 3 times before making such a disgusting combination, and even consulted with another friend on the phone.  You wanna know the worst part of it all?  HE ATE IT!  yuck.  Next time his mom can pack his lunch!  (LOL, just messin' with you, Dawn... he's good for blog topics!)

Cody was in the living room with Ella today, playing with the chalkboard.  I think he was writing the names of everyone in the family.  Next thing I know, she comes to me at the computer and climbs up onto my lap and says, very clearly, E-L-L-A.  Deuce was at his computer at the same time and turned to me with an open mouth.  We could not believe that she can spell her name.  Too funny!

I had a great multi-tasking moment tonight.  I wanted to get a quick shower and hopped in while Deuce was working on his English lesson.  First, let me say that Deuce is a box-checker.  He has a hard time moving onto something else if he cannot check the last thing off of his list.  SO, he brings the essay he was writing into the bathroom, attached to a clipboard, with a pen and asks me to grade it!  That was the first time I have ever graded a paper in the shower.  In the end, he ended up with a very soggy B-, but he was happy to check it off of his list, LOL.

Well, that was my day.  I hope you all have as many crazy things going on in your life;  they keep life fun!  :-)

Apparently I have just gone off of the deep end, as shown here with my new blue hairdo!  LOL

Okay, actually that was crazy hair night at AWANA, heehee.  Nothing like going to the hardware store to get the necessary beauty supplies that you need for your hair (wire to make the braids *stand out*)

Deuce put colored polka dots in his hair and Cody put 10 or more pigtails in, colored those alternating colors and added some cocktail umbrellas for a really *special* look, LOL.

We have been busy, as usual (will this ever change???  doubt it!)  Here are some [ics from a recent hiking trip we took,

My sister (Amy)has been in to visit from Missouri a couple of times in the last month.  Here is a picture of her and our neice, Taylor....

I am hoping ya'll will pray for this sweet toddler.  She is 2 months older than my Ella, and needs stability in her life.  Amy is hoping to adopt her, but there is another couple also wanting to adopt her (Taylors great-aunt and great-uncle on her mom's side of the family).  Amy loves her dearly and wants to be able to always take care of her, and protect her from a life of chaos, so any prayers would be deeply appreciated.

School has been running very smoothly so far this year.  The boys are both doing relatively well (as long as I don't think about the spelling test Deuce took today, LOL....  ) with all of their lessons.  Both are also plugging away at their AWANA's books, and Deuce is also on the quiz team again this year.  It's a lot of work, but both boys seem to be enjoying their schedules right now.

Our co-op is running soooooo smoothly this year!  We have a great group of families meeting every Monday for science, history, gym and a missions study.  The kids have a blast with their friends and they LOVE the classes that are being offered this quarter.  They also have a great time going on field trips (we have another one scheduled for Friday) with the co-op.

Ella is truly an advanced child-  she has entered her terrible 2's at the tender age of 15 months, LOL.  Seriously, though, she is turning into such a funny child.  She can be very reserved in new situations, but when she warms up she is a total goof!  She loves to be silly and in the middle of all that she can get in the middle of.  She has decided that she wants to be a daredevil when she grows up, jumping off of the arms of our recliner.  I thought girls weren't supposed to be as rough and tumble as the boys???  What's up with her?  Maybe she'll be a tomboy like her mommy?

Well, I need to get back to working on the November module for TOS.  All kinds of fun math games!  I am enjoying writing this module so much, but I am, afterall, a math geek.  :-)

Ah, yes...  that would've been me today, LOL.....  And it took me a minute to realize it. 

I got dressed this morning and, with Ella on my lap, put my socks on.  Then I sat on the floor, with her on my lap, to pull her hair up into pigtails and Shawn started cracking up, pointing at my foot.  This is what I found when I caught on-

Yes, that is a happy face on my sock in permanent marker.   Apparently Deuce thought he was using an old sock to make a puppet, and then slipped it back in my dresser afterwards.  *sigh*  Wanna know the sad thing?  I didn't feel like running back upstairs to get a new sock, so I left it on all day.  I was then told, after showing a friend, that I had to blog about it.  So there you go- the story of my 'happy feet' ...  or, should I say, 'happy foot'?  LOL

Little Miss Abriella likes to sit in my chair, at my desk, wear my glasses and bang on, I mean, *use* my computer, LOL.... 

She likes this game WAY too much!  LOL.... 

Yikes, I am tired!  I moved 90% of the furniture in our school room today to try to squeeze in another desk so that each kid will have his own computer and work-space for the year.  I think I am running out of space quickly...  one of the kids may need to move into the backyard, LOL. 

What all have you done to prepare for the new school year?   Have you been hitting the great school supply sales?  Ahhhhhhh, I LOVE new school supplies!  This is my FAVORITE time of the year!!!   Of course, I say that about every season, except winter, LOL.....  My kids don't get *quite* as excited about the school supplies as I do...  how sad is that?  Actually, they love new school supplies, but would rather use them to play office with instead of doing school work.  Hrmph.....  they are so *not* normal, LOL....  :-)

Well, Ella is begging to be put to sleep....  better take care of that while she's in the mood.....

LOL!  Okay, so in reality, I do not have fans, but I do have 1 person that *requested* an update on my blog (the person that least needs an update, LOL), so here is that update...

We finished camp without any major fiasco, after getting through the first day.  The kids had a blast and want to go back next year, so it must have been good.  I did get a glimpse, this week, of what life would be like if we had the boys in school rather than homeschooled.  We woke up every morning before the sun came out, packed lunches, dropped them off for 7 hours, picked them up, ate dinner early (because they were STARVED by the time they got home) and sent them to bed early (because the schedule was exhausting).  It was a weird week, because I am not used to feeling so left outof my own kids lives, ya know?  And Shawn literally only saw them in passing every day (with his work schedule, he was asleep when we left in the morning and leaving for work as we got back each day).  I'll be glad to have my kids back all day tomorrow!

I did manage some fun this week for myself.  Shawn and I went to lunch a couple of times with just Ella, and we went out once with friends.  We hit some yard sales and got the schoolroom cleaned quite well (yes, to me this is fun, LOL...  I'm sad, ain't I?  LOL).  I also got caught up on some things I needed to get done for McCheo and Community Co-op, which is a relief! 

Well, it is 9:15 and I am exhausted.  I am taking the kids to a waterpark tomorrow (to make up for not letting them go on the field trip to an even more crowded water park in a bigger, scarier city), so I'd best get to bed.

and Cody has been snoozing since 7:30.  What, you may ask, has caused the ***(insert our last name here)*** boys to be so exhausted?  Day camp, LOL.  We had to be up by 6:15 am and out the door by 7:30 am.  We picked up our good friends, Dawn (*Sunniebreezes* on my blogroll), Brandon, and Brianna.  The kids had camp from 8:30 until 3:30, so a VERY full day.  The two little kids had 'Just Add Water' and 'Chemistry Kids', while the older boys had 'Just Add Water' and 'Spy Science', and they LOVED it! 

We have only had 2 problems-  Deuce is stressed about going back tomorrow.  Even though he loved the classes, he is very frustrated by the misbehavior in some of the other boys in the class.  He said that class had to be interrupted quite a bit to deal with the discipline issues (he's never been in an all day class like this, and has never faced this type of issue before...). Hopefully it goes better tomorrow. 

Our other problem (a biggie) was that Cody and Brianna accidently got shuffled around and ended up in the preschool class for the first half of the day (they should have been in the 1st grade class).  How did no one notice?  Didn't the teachers take attendance?  Wouldn't 1 teacher notice 2 kids missing, and another teacher notice she has 2 extra kids???  We have to get this straightened out first thing in the morning, because we (all the parents involved) are not thrilled by this, as you can imagine.  What we think happened is that another friend noticed our kids and just assumed that they were supposed to be in the same class as her son.  When she took them to the class her son was in and put them in that class, I guess the teacher thought they belonged to her????  I don't know.  It just bothers me that it wasn't noticed that they were missing from their class, ya know?

Anyway, I need to go get lunches packed for tomorrow.  Hopefully I handle this better, LOL, as I was joking with Dawn that we should stay and follow the kids around all day.  They are having fun, though, and will benefit from the great science lessons they are getting all week.  I did decide, though, not to allow them to go on the field trip to a majorly crowded waterpark on Friday.  If my 6 yr old got shuffled staying AT the museum, what mght happen in such a crowded place???  I mean, I'm all for giving my kids a little independence, but I refuse to be stupid about it, LOL.  Please pray that we don't have anymore issues for the rest of the week!

And that is why I have not been posting much, sorry.  :-)  We have been taking the kids to the waterpark a couple of times a week, having cookouts with friends, and doing just a little school, LOL.  Here's some pics of Ella falling asleep in our friend's pool, LOL.  (Sorry, they aren't great shots...  I forgot my real camera and ha to get these with my phone)....

I couldn't figure out a good way to keep her asleep while removing her from the innertube, so I put hr on a boogie board to sleep, LOL......  the inner tube worked well as a pillow....

Now I am beginning to think about the next school year.  I need some more organization in my house, and thought that our school supplies would be a good place to start.  We have BIG schoolboxes full of schol supplies (one for crayons, one for adhesives, one for pencils, etc....)  Whenever the boys are working with those, they make sucj=h a mess because it's too many big boxes, so I made a couple of 'seat sacks' yesterday for them.  Each sack will hold their daily work, a box of crayons, a pair of scissors, pencils, colored pencils, and anything else they may need everyday.  Hopefully this will cut own on the big jumbled mess from the other supplies.  They both love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (heehee, so do I), so I made Cody a Michaelangelo, and Deuce a Leonardo seatsack.  What do you think?

Okay, well now I need to run to the store.  The boys have day camp all next week at the science museum, so I need to buy some things to pack in their lunches.  :-)

and it turned out great!  I *think* we had 19 (?) kids at the party (it's hard to keep track of them all, LOL).  We had a Lego themed cake, and I made 2(!) pinatas- one for the 6 & under kids, and one for everyone else.  Here are some pics from a very fun day....

Here's the cake...  YUM!  My favorite part of the party!

Ella loved the cake too!  And she somehow managed to not get *any* blue icing on her dress!  (I forgot the bib, but she is a very neat eater normally)....

Here are some pinata pics-

Can you tell that Deuce really gets into his pinata swing???  Maybe that's from playing baseball, lol?

We went to the waterpark after the party (us and 25 of the guests from the party, LOL), but I don't have any pics from there....  The boys say that this party was even better than the Chuck E Cheese parties they have had, so I guess it went well, LOL.

Okay, first off, don't forget to enter my contest to win a copy of The Schoolhouse Planner.  Every homeschooling mom should have a copy of this, and you might just be able to get a free one through this contest!  Check out my blog entry from June 28th for all of the rules.

Now, I need some help.  My boys are having a combined birthday party July 5th and they want it Lego themed.  I have always had pinatas for the parties, but could not find any at the local party supply stores, so I have to make them (2, to be exact).  Now, be honest, and be brutal-  does this, in any way, resemble a real Lego?  I still need to paint it, and I have 1 more to do, but I am hoping these will work well.  I am not a creative person at all and have been terrified to start this project.  What do you think???

And, don't even get me started on how *icky* paper mache is to work with.  I hate mess and goo, and, well, eewwww.  Deuce and Cody are going to do the next one, so hopefully I won't have to touch the sticky stuff again, LOL.

This is one of my favorite weeks every single year!  I am on a VBS high right now, LOL.  I have always loved working with kids, but especially for Vacation Bible School.  I have a great group of third graders (we had 44 3rd graders today).  I have a whiney toddler, so I can't write much, but here's some pics that Deuce and I took today.

Ella was not happy about the thought of going to nursery today.

She was happier when she saw Miss Dawn, her favorite person in the whole world, lol.

She tried pretending to be 5 years old, so that she could stay in Miss Dawn's class, LOL.

This is part of the stage decorations.

This is the Lollipop Tree.  Kids that bring a visitor, and the visitors themselves, get to pick a lollipop off of the tree.

The kids earn tokens for being well behaved, or going the extra mile in being nice.  The tokens are then worth $5 in the 'store'.  You can practically see the dollar signs in Deuce's eyes, LOL.

The kids earn more money (Bug Bucks) by memorizing Bible verses.  This is what gets Deuce very excited-  he was born to memorize Bible verses, LOL.

This is a bit blurry, because we were bouncing and dancing.  Deuce was chosen to go up on stage and help demonstrate the hand movements to a song.

We had a 'bucket brigade' game today.  Ummmm, I think this is where my clumsy son dropped the bucket, LOL.  He gets his coordination (or lack thereof, LOL) from his mom.  :-)

Cody loves the arts and crafts.

Since I am the 3rd grade line leader, I had to sneak away for a moment to get a pic of Cody, and all I caught him doing was sitting in the hall waiting for his turn in the store.

Then Deuce snapped this of Cody while he was in the sanctuary. 

We are having such a blast!  I can't wait to go back tomorrow!  Are the aults *supposed* to be having as much fun as the kids?  Oh well, LOL....