Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Update on PT
Seth woke up this morning and said, "Do I potty train?" with a dry diaper!!! Yay!!! Maybe we have turned a corner here. Let's hope so:)
Monday, July 11, 2011
Just a quickie...
Potty Training this week. Yes, it's the second time for this kid. And hopefully, the last:)
Summertime!
I know I need to post, really, I do. But, I don't have the motivation to get the pics off the camera and who wants to read a post with no pics??? So, I will give you an update of what we have been doing with our summer and post pics later:)
Our summer will be about 6 weeks long. We plan to start back to school on August 8th. Here are a few things we have had fun doing this summer, in no particular order:
Our summer will be about 6 weeks long. We plan to start back to school on August 8th. Here are a few things we have had fun doing this summer, in no particular order:
- Visiting with my brother and sister in law and their cutie kids last weekend. We always have so much fun getting together with them. My brother just makes me laugh and laugh!
- 4th of July! We had a packed day. Started with a church breakfast, then a neighborhood bike parade (complete with bounce house, pizza and a ride in the Hostage Recovery police tank thing), cotton candy with our good friends the Hansens (they made it!), on to canoeing in a near-by lake with Grandma and Grandpa Jones, home for dinner and then back out to the in-laws for root beer floats and a kickin' fireworks show. We may have overspent on fireworks this year, but, in my opinion, TOTALLY worth it! I love fireworks! We came home, put the kids to bed and went back out to light the rest of the big stuff. Awesome!
- Lego Club. This is our school year activity that we have continued and it has been great for the kids because the group is smaller than usual and nice for me, because I get to spend 2 hours chatting with my Lego mommy buddies! Love it!
- Parks. We have met homeschool and church friends at lots of different parks and splash parks. This has been so much fun to do and not have to worry about how we are going to get all of our school work done:)
- Went to the local public pool for the first time and the kids seemed to really enjoy that. Seth only had to pulled out of the deep end 2 times (he did have on a life jacket) so I consider that a success!
- Library trips. We have gone to a few summer programs they have put on and also have just enjoyed going and finding books. The kids are doing the summer reading program and have earned tickets to see the local minor league baseball team later in the summer. We love doing that as well!
- Planning a camping trip. We are going on Thursday and I hope it will be great. My family has camped since I was little, but we always went for 1-2 weeks way up north in Wisconsin. I don't even know what it's like to camp here, where it doesn't cool down at night and surprise thunderstorms in the summer aren't unusual. Plus, getting everything out for only 2 nights? I AM excited, I just hope it's worth it:)
- The kids have done lego camp, farm camp, and ballet lessons. Seth didn't get to go to a "camp", so the kids made a "train camp" for him one morning. They lined up all the chairs in the house to make a huge train. Then they all drew really cool train pictures that he got to hang up on the wall by his new big bed (he's on the bottom of bunk beds with Sam now). So cute!
- Hot Air Balloon competition. Friday, we went to see these hot air balloons in a city north of us. It was amazing! They stretched the balloons out all over this small airport and then filled them. They were probably 100 feet away from us. It was awesome! We met up with some friends who had saved us front row seats and it was seriously one of the most impressive things I have seen. I loved it! We didn't stay too long, but plan on going next year and staying for the whole evening.
- I helped bring a baby into the world. A miracle that I was so blessed to witness! I have to figure out how to become a professional doula, because honestly, this is my calling in life!!! I am so grateful my friend Abbey wanted me there!
- Girls nights. Movies, hanging out, eating, parties. Fun, fun, fun!!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
So, I say...
"Are you going to start my movie without me (Larkrise to Candleford...a BBC miniseries)?"
George: YOUR movie?
Haha! I love that he loves these movies:)
George: YOUR movie?
Haha! I love that he loves these movies:)
Monday, May 30, 2011
Dream Vacation
George and I had the chance of a lifetime! A few years ago, we decided we wanted to go on a trip to visit Taiwan. George had served his mission there and loved it. He hadn't kept in touch with anyone really, so we were just going to see everything we could. Well, this year, George's dad retired and made it sound like he would be happy to keep our kids for some amount of time:), so we decided to do it! My parents watched 2 kids, and George's parents watched 2 kids. Everyone was exhausted by the end...including us!
I am going to attempt to tell about our vacation through the pictures. Nothing will be in order because I can't figure out how to switch pics around on blogger, but you'll get the idea. And if you get tired of all the details, sorry! This is also my only journal entry:)
About halfway through our trip, we visited Taroko Gorge. This was an amazing adventure! It was also a 2 hour train trip to the eastern coast of the island of Taiwan. This was a view outside of our train window...a rice paddy full of scarecrows! And they were needed.
This was another view out of our train window. An island in the Pacific Ocean called Turtle Island. Can you see the turtle? Hard to tell which end was which:)
The food situation was a little bit depressing for me. I had done some research about good restaurants and had a big list of places in Taipei. There were a few problems. #1-We were too tired to "go" anywhere to eat. Once we were at our place to visit, we would go until we were starving and then have to find somewhere really quick. #2-Geo's chinese speaking skills are really good. Vocabulary and reading skills, slow and not as good. Which means, if we went to a restaurant with a sizeable menu (which all of them were), I would want George to read me the whole menu and this was just too hard. So, he could tell me what the main part was, usually pork or chicken, but not much else. #3-Nice sit down restaurants were expensive and we were trying to eat cheap. Anyway, the first night, we ate at a nicer Teppanyaki place, got food we didn't care for and it was even more expensive than we would have paid here in the US! Sad. So, I was a little disappointed, but I did find some things I loved, and that helped:)
The above picture was the "mission" reminiscent meal. We went to the local grocery and Geo picked up a curry package, rice noodles, and frozen dumplings and fresh pineapple. He cooked it all up and it was the only meal we ate in our apartment. Very good!
This was one thing I loved...a sweet bread filled with red beans. Sounds crazy, but oh! So GOOD!
I also had what looked like a huge cinnamon roll that was filled with red beans. Yum! George did not go for these, too weird, I guess. That was ok. More for me!
This picture is a little disgusting, but this was another one of our faves. It was called cong zhua bing. It was like an onion bread in a pancake shape. They fried an egg, put cooked lettuce on top, put that all on the pancake ad folded it like a taco. We liked it best with no egg or lettuce, just the pancake. We ate these 3 times:) Some of the other things we ate: Ba-lah (I loved this...a fruit like an unripe pear covered in a spice that I have no idea what it was...like cinnamon? I could have eaten this all day!) Beef Noodle Soup- we found this on some back road alley (really, it was like walking into somebody's back door into their really small kitchen). Bao-this was a steamed bun with stuff inside. Very tasty. Subway and McDonalds- we couldn't help this..we were starving for familiar food on day #1 so we found a Subway and we met up with George's brother at a McDonalds and were pretty hungry, so we ate there.
This was a picture of a "may-may", the Chinese word for little sister. George has these wonderful memories of little may-mays and how cute they were. This little girl was twirling in the rain, so I took her pic. Her mom gave us permission, but she was not thrilled. This was the reaction we got from most children in Taiwan. But when they smiled, oh, how adorable these children were!
These pictures were of a very touristy Taiwan temple called Longshan. It was interesting to see the worship of this totally foreign-to-me religion. People go here to pray to and worship their ancestors and also some other Gods and Goddesses. This was not a Buddist temple, though we did see some of those. The statues here were of Heavenly Mother and the goddess of the sea, I believe. People would bring food on special plates and put it out on long tables for their ancestors to eat the "spirit" of the food. After a specific amount of time, they could then take it back home and eat it. This was so strange to me. I saw plates of fresh fruit, cookies, and Doritos. I guess you would buy what you would want to eat in the end. They also all were burning incense. This represents prayers going up to the ancestors or gods. When you walked back to where there were many people worshipping, the smell was really intense!
This was a place you would stick your incense sticks in so they would stand upright and continue to smoke.
This is a symbol of good luck. We saw these everywhere...also at our local Chinese restaurant here!
We rode a glass bottomed gondola up and over a few mountains. This was amazing. It was so rainy (EVERYDAY!) and cloudy, but the mist was amazing. We just disappeared into clouds. Really cool!
When we got to the top of the gondola ride, we got out and walked for a very long time on a windy road. We were looking for a temple. Turns out, we were on a loop and had gone the wrong way...we could have gotten there eventually (you know, 8 miles later) but we settled for this Buddist temple pictured above. A man came out and spoke some English to us. He was surprised that we were not from Europe, for some reason.
These two pics are from the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial building. The marble lions are everywhere! They are to protect important buildings, temples, and bridges. We saw a lot of them. They were very cool. This was an interesting plaza. There was some manner of religious ceremony being led here...televised and being performed by many men and women following some guy in a blue suit. They were all in clear ponchos, except the man leading them. He had a guy holding an umbrella over his head. On either side of this very serious service were multiple groups of young teens practicing for a hip-hop dance competition happening on another building on this plaza. Modern meets ancient. It was fun to watch!
I am going to attempt to tell about our vacation through the pictures. Nothing will be in order because I can't figure out how to switch pics around on blogger, but you'll get the idea. And if you get tired of all the details, sorry! This is also my only journal entry:)
About halfway through our trip, we visited Taroko Gorge. This was an amazing adventure! It was also a 2 hour train trip to the eastern coast of the island of Taiwan. This was a view outside of our train window...a rice paddy full of scarecrows! And they were needed.
This was another view out of our train window. An island in the Pacific Ocean called Turtle Island. Can you see the turtle? Hard to tell which end was which:)
The food situation was a little bit depressing for me. I had done some research about good restaurants and had a big list of places in Taipei. There were a few problems. #1-We were too tired to "go" anywhere to eat. Once we were at our place to visit, we would go until we were starving and then have to find somewhere really quick. #2-Geo's chinese speaking skills are really good. Vocabulary and reading skills, slow and not as good. Which means, if we went to a restaurant with a sizeable menu (which all of them were), I would want George to read me the whole menu and this was just too hard. So, he could tell me what the main part was, usually pork or chicken, but not much else. #3-Nice sit down restaurants were expensive and we were trying to eat cheap. Anyway, the first night, we ate at a nicer Teppanyaki place, got food we didn't care for and it was even more expensive than we would have paid here in the US! Sad. So, I was a little disappointed, but I did find some things I loved, and that helped:)The above picture was the "mission" reminiscent meal. We went to the local grocery and Geo picked up a curry package, rice noodles, and frozen dumplings and fresh pineapple. He cooked it all up and it was the only meal we ate in our apartment. Very good!
This was one thing I loved...a sweet bread filled with red beans. Sounds crazy, but oh! So GOOD!I also had what looked like a huge cinnamon roll that was filled with red beans. Yum! George did not go for these, too weird, I guess. That was ok. More for me!
This picture is a little disgusting, but this was another one of our faves. It was called cong zhua bing. It was like an onion bread in a pancake shape. They fried an egg, put cooked lettuce on top, put that all on the pancake ad folded it like a taco. We liked it best with no egg or lettuce, just the pancake. We ate these 3 times:) Some of the other things we ate: Ba-lah (I loved this...a fruit like an unripe pear covered in a spice that I have no idea what it was...like cinnamon? I could have eaten this all day!) Beef Noodle Soup- we found this on some back road alley (really, it was like walking into somebody's back door into their really small kitchen). Bao-this was a steamed bun with stuff inside. Very tasty. Subway and McDonalds- we couldn't help this..we were starving for familiar food on day #1 so we found a Subway and we met up with George's brother at a McDonalds and were pretty hungry, so we ate there.
This was a picture of a "may-may", the Chinese word for little sister. George has these wonderful memories of little may-mays and how cute they were. This little girl was twirling in the rain, so I took her pic. Her mom gave us permission, but she was not thrilled. This was the reaction we got from most children in Taiwan. But when they smiled, oh, how adorable these children were!
These pictures were of a very touristy Taiwan temple called Longshan. It was interesting to see the worship of this totally foreign-to-me religion. People go here to pray to and worship their ancestors and also some other Gods and Goddesses. This was not a Buddist temple, though we did see some of those. The statues here were of Heavenly Mother and the goddess of the sea, I believe. People would bring food on special plates and put it out on long tables for their ancestors to eat the "spirit" of the food. After a specific amount of time, they could then take it back home and eat it. This was so strange to me. I saw plates of fresh fruit, cookies, and Doritos. I guess you would buy what you would want to eat in the end. They also all were burning incense. This represents prayers going up to the ancestors or gods. When you walked back to where there were many people worshipping, the smell was really intense!
This was a place you would stick your incense sticks in so they would stand upright and continue to smoke.
This is a symbol of good luck. We saw these everywhere...also at our local Chinese restaurant here!
We rode a glass bottomed gondola up and over a few mountains. This was amazing. It was so rainy (EVERYDAY!) and cloudy, but the mist was amazing. We just disappeared into clouds. Really cool!
When we got to the top of the gondola ride, we got out and walked for a very long time on a windy road. We were looking for a temple. Turns out, we were on a loop and had gone the wrong way...we could have gotten there eventually (you know, 8 miles later) but we settled for this Buddist temple pictured above. A man came out and spoke some English to us. He was surprised that we were not from Europe, for some reason.
These two pics are from the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial building. The marble lions are everywhere! They are to protect important buildings, temples, and bridges. We saw a lot of them. They were very cool. This was an interesting plaza. There was some manner of religious ceremony being led here...televised and being performed by many men and women following some guy in a blue suit. They were all in clear ponchos, except the man leading them. He had a guy holding an umbrella over his head. On either side of this very serious service were multiple groups of young teens practicing for a hip-hop dance competition happening on another building on this plaza. Modern meets ancient. It was fun to watch!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Cincinnati Homeschool Convention
This year, I had the chance to go to the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention. This convention was so GOOD! Last year, 3 of us went to the Chicago convention, and it was weird. This convention seemed to have a better balance of people. Plus, it was humongous!!!! There were SO MANY people there. Like so many that people had to wait in huge lines just to get on the escalator because too many people were on it at once. Woa.
When I came home, someone asked me what was the one thing that stuck out to me this year. My answer was that we need to have more children after a little break. Don't know how much of that was just emotion and how much was revelation, but that's how I felt! I heard so many stories of multi-level homeschooling with older kids working with/entertaining/teaching younger kids. Our kids are pretty close together...uh, 4 kids in 5 years, so I really think that this would benefit our children. We'll see!
I went to all of Amanda Bennett's classes. She talked about getting ready for college (I know, a bit early, right?) and just general tips for homeschooling. She talked about how to fit unit studies in through high school. The main thing I got there was how important it is to teach my children how to love learning and to seek out information for themselves. And that my kids can do unit studies and go to college, too!
I went to a lot of spelling/grammer classes as this seems to be a problem for us. I actually purchased a curriculum and am hoping to use it to improve spelling as well as teach Sammy how to read. It's called All About Spelling found here. First you teach all the phonograms using a flashcard system. Then, use them to read and learn the rules of spelling. At least, I think that's how it works. We haven't started it yet:) But I am excited...plus the author of the program, Maria Rippel is from Eagle River, WI, our favorite vacation spot of all time! It's such a small world:)
I enjoyed a class about time management, though it wasn't what I expected. I received some great advice, not necessarily from the speaker, though he said many good things as well.
I spent hours in the Expo Hall looking at all the vendors. I didn't spend nearly as much as I did during my very first Convention, but I spent plenty. It was so much fun to see all the things available to homeschoolers there. I also LOVED watching people. Homeschooling brings in the widest variety of people-it was amazing!
My friend and I spent 2 nights with my brother that lives close to Cincy. THAT was a blast! Whenever I am around my siblings, I just laugh and laugh. I love it...though it did make it hard to get to early classes when we all went to be around 2am!
I took pages and pages of notes and hope they will be helpful. But I think the main reason I like to go is to get excited, again! It's easy to get burned out...especially when the weather starts to get nice. I love that the convention helps me to stay on task, but also reassures me that ALL the time I spend with my kids will benefit them in years to come, not just the time where we are sitting down doing school work. It was a fabulous weekend!
This week was supposed to be our week off, but I decided to go ahead and school this week and take next week off. We are doing Easter and it is a sweet topic. I love watching my babies build and share their testimonies.
I switched the weeks of school because my sister and 2 brothers are coming into town next week and I plan to be down at my parents for all the action:) So, no school next week, some cleaning and clearing out, and then family from Thursday on. I CAN NOT WAIT!! :)
When I came home, someone asked me what was the one thing that stuck out to me this year. My answer was that we need to have more children after a little break. Don't know how much of that was just emotion and how much was revelation, but that's how I felt! I heard so many stories of multi-level homeschooling with older kids working with/entertaining/teaching younger kids. Our kids are pretty close together...uh, 4 kids in 5 years, so I really think that this would benefit our children. We'll see!
I went to all of Amanda Bennett's classes. She talked about getting ready for college (I know, a bit early, right?) and just general tips for homeschooling. She talked about how to fit unit studies in through high school. The main thing I got there was how important it is to teach my children how to love learning and to seek out information for themselves. And that my kids can do unit studies and go to college, too!
I went to a lot of spelling/grammer classes as this seems to be a problem for us. I actually purchased a curriculum and am hoping to use it to improve spelling as well as teach Sammy how to read. It's called All About Spelling found here. First you teach all the phonograms using a flashcard system. Then, use them to read and learn the rules of spelling. At least, I think that's how it works. We haven't started it yet:) But I am excited...plus the author of the program, Maria Rippel is from Eagle River, WI, our favorite vacation spot of all time! It's such a small world:)
I enjoyed a class about time management, though it wasn't what I expected. I received some great advice, not necessarily from the speaker, though he said many good things as well.
I spent hours in the Expo Hall looking at all the vendors. I didn't spend nearly as much as I did during my very first Convention, but I spent plenty. It was so much fun to see all the things available to homeschoolers there. I also LOVED watching people. Homeschooling brings in the widest variety of people-it was amazing!
My friend and I spent 2 nights with my brother that lives close to Cincy. THAT was a blast! Whenever I am around my siblings, I just laugh and laugh. I love it...though it did make it hard to get to early classes when we all went to be around 2am!
I took pages and pages of notes and hope they will be helpful. But I think the main reason I like to go is to get excited, again! It's easy to get burned out...especially when the weather starts to get nice. I love that the convention helps me to stay on task, but also reassures me that ALL the time I spend with my kids will benefit them in years to come, not just the time where we are sitting down doing school work. It was a fabulous weekend!
This week was supposed to be our week off, but I decided to go ahead and school this week and take next week off. We are doing Easter and it is a sweet topic. I love watching my babies build and share their testimonies.
I switched the weeks of school because my sister and 2 brothers are coming into town next week and I plan to be down at my parents for all the action:) So, no school next week, some cleaning and clearing out, and then family from Thursday on. I CAN NOT WAIT!! :)
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