Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving at my crazy house!

Another Thanksgiving come and gone! Well, not quite. We have several feasts due to the large size of out extended family. But the actual day of Thanksgiving feast at my house with all the parade watching, cleaning, cooking, and cleaning up again has come and gone.

This year we had a whole lot of fun! A whole day of eating and playing. It was perfect. Can't really describe the goings on though. Hmmm. Watched Animal Planet shows that were very odd. I watched the parade on and off between cooking and cleaning. The boys impressed their Uncle with stunts in the back yard. All the food was cooked on time and was actually good. If you look in the picture you will see my boys on each side of my brother, the favorite uncle. Let's just say there was no peace at THIS table.

And now I'm knitting! I'm going to take down my Thanksgiving Fall decorations and slowly put up my Christmas decorations while we celebrate the Advent. That should be fun. I love dragging all the Christmas stuff out. Next week I'm going shopping with my friends. THAT is my favorite night of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope yours was as blessed as mine!

The Great Toy Clean Up 2007

Every year my boys and I (ok, just me really) have a Great Toy Clean Up in November in anticipation for Christmas. It sounds terrible, I know. But it needs to be done. We go through all the toys in their rooms and around the house and throw out broken and unused toys. Our house is getting crowded and some of these toys that they never play with just have to go. The ones that used to be favorites get boxed up and put away. Who knows what kind of treasure they may become in the years ahead? The ones that are broken are thrown out. And the ones that some other child may want to love goes to the thrift store. This part really helps my five year old who gets very sad at the thought that no one loves that toy. I totally understand, because I feel the same way!

So...I'm a little bummed that I didn't think of it earlier and take a before shot, but here is the (almost) end result of the cleaning out of the boys room.

Ok, no the beds aren't made and yes they sleep with all those pillows and animals on the bed every night. I don't know where they fit in!

This is what happened downstairs while I was upstairs.

This is all the army stuff I told them to take downstairs. It is all part of my plan. As we clean up this mess, I throw away broken bits and pieces and consolidate the pile. Sometimes they have all this stuff spread all over the living room in a mock war. You can't even get through the room.

The weirdest thing is that, while standing in the bedroom or the living room, or any room in my house, I think "Man this place is cluttered and crowded!" but in the pictures it looks so spacious! Why?

A Little Of What We've Been Up To

First of all, last week was a pretty low week for us. It isn't a homeschooling issue and I don't want to go into it, but sometimes I just hate not getting my way! I have been trying to remind myself every day of something I tell the kids all the time. "Life is NOT fair!" But we are blessed in many ways and I should remember to be thankful for that. ANYWAY!

Here is a picture of the boys busted in act of being sweet!

Jake recently figured out how to read and now we can't stop him. He is seen here with his new favorite pastime. He reads pretty quickly and when he doesn't know a word he says "boing" like his reading computer games. Very cute!

Tom wanted to buy something with his birthday money while we were at Target and guess what he found? A "Soda Pop Kit"! It leads you through steps to make your own sodas. There is awesome stuff about chemical reactions, documenting recipes, and marketing. We had fun! But here are some pictures of the reactions to the taste!

Here is Jake taking a taste. You can see his brother in the background trying not to give it away that it tastes terrible!

And last but certainly not least! A great friend of mine (TIA!) suggested making a list when I was complaining about how much I had to do and my lack of organization. I thought, SURE! But it worked!

We have a new routine. I get up at 5am and sit and stare at the tv and drink my coffee. At 6am, I get my breakfast and sit with a piece of paper and a pen. I make a list of what I NEED to get done and what I WANT to get done. AND I make a short list of "to-do's" for the boys as well. At 6:30am, I wake up Nikki and Tom. Jake is always up at 6am all by himself. I get in the shower, get dressed, make my bed, and start a load of laundry. I make breakfast for the boys at around 7:15am and we sit down and talk about our agenda for the day. I call it our "Morning Meeting". They add things or clarify what needs to be done. Then I take off at 7:30am to take Nikki to school. While I am gone, the boys complete their list. It is short. Breakfast. Shower. Make Bed. Brush Teeth. And some other chore like dust the tv, put the laundry in the dryer, etc. And guess what!? It is working! I get home at 9am and they are up and ready for their day. Some things are already done for me and we can get started on our Bible Study right away. It is awesome!

So, that is what is going on around here. We are now waiting for Poppy (My Grandpa) to get here and we are going to California Adventure! Yay!

CHOC WALK at Disneyland!

We joined our homeschool team at the CHOC WALK this year and I had to tell you all how much fun we had!

First of all, when we signed up I didn't realize that we would have to be there at 6:30 in the MORNING! The boys were all excited to be getting up and out of the house before the dawn!

This is us walking from the parking structure over to the park in the darkness! It was a little bit cold, but we warmed up quickly.

This is the crowd on Main Street while we were waiting for the start. There were so many people there with signs and pictures of children helped by CHOC or families that had lost children to disease. It was a beautiful sight. So many caring people. At one point, we had to cross over this crowd to get to our team. I thought we were in for it. I've crossed crowds like this in the park when the fireworks were starting or the parade was ending. It is always a pretty mean bunch. This crowd just parted the way and tried to help keep of party together. It was very strange to me!

Here are the boys! They wanted to wear their Homeschool Day Tie Dye shirts instead of the CHOC shirts because they had a pink balloon on them. Crazy boys! They don't do pink! As you can see, the sun is starting to come up now.

Our cool team leader made us these awesome buttons! Thank you!

"And they’re off!"

This is the crowd making its way down Main Street. This was the beginning of the fun part! We walked all the way around Disneyland and California Adventure. All the way there were characters and cast members cheering us on. There was music and the boys danced along the walk route. It was a 5K walk and my husband did not believe that the boys would make the whole thing. I knew they would. There were no rides to go on and some people did not believe that the boys would be cool with that. Walk all the way around both parks and not ride anything?! But they understood the plan. They were awesome about it. And we went back later in the week to go on rides. It isn't like they never get to go!

Here is our team! Yay, for HOMESCHOOLERS WALK!

Next year I know we WILL have more walkers. This was the first year we did this. Next year I will be expecting more of you to join us! :) It is $25 to join the team and then you go around collecting donations and the more you raise, the more prizes you get. The boys got a t-shirt and a pin and they were happy. They enjoyed dancing along the route and talking with their friends. It was very enjoyable and it was a great way to help other kids. Please come next year!

What are YOU reading?

This will be one crazy entry! Are you ready? I'm reading three books right now.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, which I don't like so far. So sue me! I'm reading it for two reasons. I am taking the Face to Face with Greatness Seminar with George Wythe College and it is one of the books I need to read before the next seminar. AND we chose to read it with my new book group.

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto. I've been meaning to read this forever. Now I have it riding along in my book bag. When I have a moment to myself, I pull it out and a read a bit. It is awesome and bit disturbing. I've also been watching an interview with him online.

And (can I hear a drum roll please)

How Capitalism Saved America - The Untold History of our Country, From the Pilgrims to the Present by Thomas J. DiLorenzo. I've only gotten to page eight and I'm saying "Yes!" in my head over and over. Government control! Ahh! That IS related to home educating, let me tell you. How can you learn about Freedom, Democracy, and Independence while you are forced to sit still and listen to hours of disjointed lecture on everything but. This is nuts to sit and move when a bell rings and regurgitate facts that have no connection what so ever! This is what we need...REAL education. Where you pick up a book, read it, talk about it and relate it and its background to your life and your country. How can we keep a country running when we leave these public schools knowing more about the secret sex lives of famous people, than about our own economy?

So...my study time is over! I got to get all excited about the book I'm reading and share it with my sons. I know they are only 5 (AND A HALF) and 7. They don't understand what I'm talking about, but they do see how excited I am about what I'm learning. And that is what is most important in home education, inspiring the children in your home to learn for themselves.

Ok, I'm tired now. Wish I could get this fired up about physical exercise!

I Made This!

Ok, it isn't the hardest thing in the world to sew, but I did it! Yay!

My Mom has been trying to get me to sew things since I was little. My Aunt gave me a simple sewing machine and a box full of thread and stuff (they call these things "notions" don't ask me why). But sewing drives me crazy! Something about a pattern scares me. And that machine, simple as it may be, gives me heart palpitations. But I had this fleece, my Mom left the patterns with me, a year later...you have a poncho and a matching hat! Jake likes it. He says he will wear it in the morning to stay warm when he eats his breakfast! Ha! I told him it was mine! :))

Tom is 7!!

Today is my oldest baby’s birthday! Yay! I can't believe he is already 7 years old and such a little man. I know he is going to do great things in his life. Jake is really enjoying his brother’s birthday this year. They both finally grasp the fact that since they are so close in age and their birthdays are 6 months apart, they really get two birthdays each year. They wear the same things and play with the same toys!