I'm a homeschooling mother of 5. I've been married to my husband, Sean, for 10 years. I would like to share our little "cupcakes" with our family and friends. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:30:00 -0600 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:30:00 -0600 ....what this means for us August 2nd????? That's right!!!! We are expecting baby #6!!!!!! (baby boy #4 for us) Boys are awesome! (atleast we think so!)  We are almost halfway there. We thought it would be fun to see how long we could last until people started saying things OR waiting to find out what we were having until the announcement, whatever came first! Here is his coming home from the hospital outfit. We are thinking about the name Christian, but have a few more months to think about it. One of these days, I will be daring and take a picture of ME and how much I am showing now. (FINALLY I can start wearing maternity instead of hiding it with sweaters!)  For more Show and Tells, visit Mary at CANADAGIRL.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/484515/ Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:30:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/484515/ Show and Tell Friday with CANADAGIRL! Click graphic to see more. What's that statement? "A picture is worth a thousand words".  Here is what our days have been filled with. Sean and baby girl catching up on some rest! Daughter #1 putting curlers on her unwilling sister...  Trying to get some piano playing in! Helping out with the chores! Playing with the learning laptop. Playing with army guys.... Getting a rare day of snow play....  more snow fun...  Tea time when the older boys are at AWANA... Tea time for the doll too... And FINALLY but the least fun...laundry piles that never EVER end....     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/471861/ Fri, 1 Feb 2008 13:25:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/471861/ Click on the graphic to go to more Show and Tells. I just thought I would post a couple of cute pictures today! One hint: when you have pictures taken, never plan to wear red! You  have no idea what a headache it was to get the reds the right "red"! There are SOOOO many reds in this world! We had to re-arrange outfits and buy new ones for the girls so the reds wouldn't clash!!! AND another thing. I had this crazy idea to have the boys wear white ties. Do you know where you can find them? No where except online! (and maybe bridal shops???) Why do I always do this stuff to myself??? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/457756/ Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/457756/ Click to go to Mary's Show and Tell. Here's a glimpse at our very busy year. January: We started our cross-country move back home from NC back to WA state. Is there any room for the kids? (Our stuff went over in a cargo crate later on). View from a hotel in Dallas--two days out. February: Welcome baby #5--our second sweet little girl. She looks just like me. February/March/April: Birthdays, birthdays! May: On the go with the girls and our babies June: The inevitable IOWA year-end homeschool testing. July/August: Vacation at the Pacific Ocean September: School starts! October: Breadmaking day for school Harvesting and cracking hazelnuts (filberts) November: Touring the USS Turner Joy at the naval base December: Cutting our Christmas tree Son #3's birthday: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/455107/ Fri, 4 Jan 2008 22:10:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/455107/ Today started at 1am. Last night at 10:30 I took my oldest son to the Emergency room because through tears and pain, he could barely breathe. I just felt at this stage (he had had a sore throat all day) that it was time to be proactive. Unlike other symptoms, not being able to breathe is scary! So into the car we went. We were admitted and saw the Dr. within 45 minutes (A SHOCK at our hospital I assure you!) He was checked and by this time he was breathing better. He was still running a fever of 100 even though he was on Motrin. The Dr. did a strep swab and said it would be really fast for results. By this time, I was thinking "GREAT, this is a QUICK visit, how wonderful!". They must have read my thoughts and decided to stay with the "Extended Waiting Time, No Extra Charge" policy. Just kidding!(I must note  though, that the Labor and Delivery is a WONDERFUL department and  the Emergency room should really take notes from them)The Dr. took 30 minutes JUST to come back from the lab and say, "they told me that it was the wrong q-tip". SO out came a longer swab and back into the throat he dug. Well, dear son knew what was coming this time, so the Dr. didn't really get a good sample. Back to the lab the Dr. escaped. And he must have circulated the entire hospital and the entire town before he came back again. During that time we waited and waited and had to listen to party next  door over. (they were laughing up a storm and sounded like they were on vacation and THRILLED to be there) Dr came back. He said that the swab was negative for strep but he is going to give him amox. anyway because of the lack of a good sample. (son's throat was REALLY red, could not talk, and so tired all day long plus had the fever) So after discharge we went home and tried to get some sleep. I don't know how many times I woke up. You see, my youngest daughter has the flu. She had to be given electrolytes all night and was getting so hungry, considering she hadn't been eating much that day except for nursing and the eletrolytes. 7am came too fast for me. I woke up so tired and groggy. I also have been battling a sore throat just at night from a minor cold that son #3 had. So that, in nutshell is how our day started. Is it summertime yet where sickness is few and far between???? Counting down... Pictures from our day: Second son helping sister make a sandwich My poor sick baby boy! Naptime!!!! This last one is of son #3. He is extremely detail-oriented. He makes his bed with perfection. All his fuzzy friends get all lined up around his bed and his covers are smooth. Every family needs a child like him! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/428450/ Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:09:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/428450/ Show and Tell Friday is brought to you by CANADAGIRL. I have five children, as you know. In truth, during every pregnancy I have longed for a dark-haired baby. When I was pregnant with my third son, (after having two pretty bald babies-son #1 and son #2) I even went so far as to buy a pure white outfit to put him in, just knowing that this son was going to have massive black hair and I thought that he would look striking in white with all that hair! Son #3 was born. He had a lot of hair, but blond! So much for that. (I fell in love with my blond baby just the same!)Then when I was pregnant with my first daughter, I thought "THIS baby is going to be my dark haired one!" Another blondie and a cutie at that. Okay. That didn't make any sense I thought! BOTH my husband and I are dark haired and dark eyed. WHERE are those  genes for dark, massively thick hair that I inherited as a baby? Well, along came #5. I think at this point I had given up with the idea of a dark haired twin of myself. (rather vain I know) :) Well, daughter #2 was born and the second we saw her, my mother cries, "She has LOTS of dark hair!!!" Wow, a surprise! So what do you think, after five children, people say she looks just like me when I was baby.  So what do y'all think? Is their any likeness?  (Yes, mother, I am digging in the archives for that picture!) I guess everything goes to show, you just NEVER know what you are going to get! my daughter Me as a baby http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/428384/ Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:24:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/428384/ We LOVE going to the ocean as a family. Here are some pictures of our trip. It was gorgeous weather and only started raining as we were leaving to come home!     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/422940/ Thu, 8 Nov 2007 18:15:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/422940/ History and Math time!!!   My youngest son was in tears this morning because he couldn't get "out"!!! He was VERY stuck and after I got him out, he figured out how to pop in and out of this "tight" space.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/422933/ Wed, 7 Nov 2007 18:01:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/422933/ I found my battery charger! I am BACK!!! Woooohoo... I know it has been ages since I have posted but now I have LOTS of new pictures to post! So I will spread these out in the matter of a few days. Today I decided to post some pictures of our "Home, Sweet Home". Some of our relatives haven't been able to see it yet and we just moved in this last spring. We are renting this house and we LOVE it! After buying and selling houses way too much  in the last year, (that comes from moving across the country and back) we are thrilled with this place and hope to continue living here for a while. It is large and has plenty of space for the kids to run around. It has a HUGE yard and an industrial play set in the back. Our home owners are GREAT and we can't complain. Plus we are getting a whopper of a deal on the monthly rent. Sooooo here she is! Entry way... Living room Kitchen School room/playroom Master bedroom Girls' room (two cribs actually fit pretty nicely in here!) Boys' room (two older boys have the bunks, youngest has his toddler bed) Garage we turned into a huge playroom...my  wonderful father-in-law gave us tons of new carpet and padding from his hotel and the chairs! (he is a manager at a large hotel here) Extra bedroom that will be a guest room soon..right now it is toy storage! Playset outside... We also have another bedroom on the third floor. We told our oldest that he could have it when he is 10, considering you have to climb up a steep ladder to get to it and we don't want any late night falls!!! Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is our "Home, Sweet Home!"     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/422926/ Wed, 7 Nov 2007 17:18:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/422926/ I really, really, have not run off forever! I have been sooooo busy with school with the kids! AND my digital camera batteries are DEAD. So that means that I either leave a boring blog post like this one or wait to get new batteries. :)   It seems that I also have to be a lot more selective about how I spend my "free time" or I don't get anything done. (Well, I have to re-state that, because truly, as my mother can witness to, my laundry is NEVER done. EVER.) A soon as I get REALLY excited that all the laundry is put away, there is another load waiting for its turn in the washing machine because it is the end of the day by that time. :( Very sad, I know. I often say that I wish there were disposable clothes. Laundry stinks. That sums it all up. Not a whole lot going on lately to talk about. Here is our schedule for our school days. Sometimes it is interesting to see other people's routines-here is mine. (general but not exact) 7am hubby leaves for work and I rest as many minutes as I can in my warm cozy bed,before I get up. :) 7:30am -kids get up and go downstairs. I take baby into bathroom with me to do hair, makeup (as little as possible) 8am- I boil oatmeal for breakfast. Yep, oatmeal almost every day.The kids LOVE it and would have it for breakfast, lunch AND dinner if they could. 9am dishes and clean up-Son #1 starts self work for school. (English, Spelling, Social Studies, Reading) 9:30-start school-(sometimes we start with opening,character quality stories and prayer) depends on the day. Geography with all three boys. 10am- baby goes to bed for nap. Blues Clues and computer school time for three younger kids and time for me  to do MATH and HISTORY with son #1. 11am-baby wakes up and plays. 11:30 am time to fix lunch. (yep, you guessed it. Pea. butter/jelly almost every day) I can do it in my sleep. 12:30-naptime for daughter #1 1pm-baby heads to bed for another nap( ie:BOTH babies are in bed at this point!) Boys have their computer time downstairs-30min each. I go upstairs for 65 minutes of treadmill for four miles. I love this time. I get to watch whatever I WANT! Imagine that. An hour of downtime on my treadmill. :) around 2:30- remind son about finishing school if not done yet. Work with younger boys with their school work. 4:30 start thinking about fixing dinner. (I do LOTS of crockpot meals-sure saves hours of cooking!) 5:30 Dinner/dishes and hubby spends time with kids. Family game time or activities sometimes. 7:30 kids start heading to bed. Later to bed. Repeat next day. I also have the thousands of things I do in the middle of these times. Like  breaking up disputes, changing diapers, cleaning up toys, nursing baby, dishes, laundry, fixing broken items, taking daughter to the bathroom, and the never-ever-ending list of ongoing chores that consume my hours. It truly seems like I can't seem to ever sit down for more than 5minutes without needing to hop up for something. However, I keep pondering a thought in the midst of this chaos. Even though some days I get so drained, I ask myself this question. "WHAT ELSE is there?" For our family, nothing eternally more important. What would I be doing without hubby or the kids? I have no clue.  This is the life that I have wanted since I was 15 and it is incredibly fulfilling. For me, I can't think of a better calling than to raise three boys into godly gentlemen and two daughters into women of virtue. Of course my darling children are not perfect either. Far from. On Saturday we went to Costco as a family. (Yep, even with only five kids we get the stares...you should see the looks and comments I get when I am hubby-less...hah!!!) Anyway, daughter number one is still in "training to be polite in public" stage. She was taking her socks and shoes off and throwing them across the aisles. She then proceeded to pull up her long dress into a mini-skirt as far as it would go while she sat in her cart-seat. The baby, sitting next to her, had more self control than her!!There is something about 2 1/2 year olds that drives me CRAAAAZY!!! One might think that I never have any time to myself...but actually I do. I sneak in time here and there to get on the computer, read a book , do whatever. I just claim the time when I can. :) Without downtime, I think I would really be a crazy person. :) Well, it looks like this blog has become VERY long. Too long. So I am headed to bed on my carrousel now. The one that goes round and round and never ends. The one that has  wild rides, exciting sights, endless adventures, and always keeps me on my toes. Pretty soon in a blink of an eye, I will get off this carrousel when the kids are grown, and wish I was on it for just one more time.... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/403079/ Thu, 4 Oct 2007 22:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristelandfamily/403079/