The girls and their friends

Last week, we enjoyed a morning at a friend's house.  My friend Jessica, who I played ball with growing up, became good friends with in high school, and visited in college has children about the same age as mine. Ashlynd was born a week after Nicole, Aleya is about 3 months younger than Hannah, and Cord is about 8 months younger than Nathan.  It's fun to have girl friends who also have children that mine can play with. 

Well, we spent a morning with them and enjoyed every minute of it.  The "big" girls played Guess Who, Wac-a-mole, and Lincoln Logs.  The "little" girls just put lots of play jewelry on and giggled a lot.  Nicole and Ashlynd are certainly friends...but I think they are trying to find a groove with each other.  The Lincoln Logs was a big hit!

Hannah and Aleya however, act like the best of friends in the whole wide world.  Those two would just sit and giggle with each other. Their personalities are very similar.  They are both just silly, laid back little girls.  Seriously, I think they laughed the whole time with each other...it was very cute.

Learning from each other

Some days, I think God gave my children to me so I could learn from them.  Today is one of those days.

All morning I couldn't help but watch Nicole and learn from her.

I was frustrated this morning, she was patient.
I was hurt...she exhibited forgiveness. 
I wanted to be known...she was humble.
I wanted her to be first!  She was content being last. 

O Christmas Tree - O Christmas Tree

Wait, is Christmas over?  I suppose it is.  Well, the Christmas season isn't officially over until the annual burning of the tree(s) ceremony.  This year, our good friends, Dan and Shanine, hosted it at their house.  We had  5 Christmas trees to burn and later toast marshmallows over.  With about ten other people, we watched out beautiful (but dried out) trees go up in huge/hot flames.  Seriously, after watching how quickly a Christmas tree goes up in flames, you wonder why you are stupid enough to actually put them in your home. Yet, we still do....each and every year. 

The "pre-tree" fire.  

Of the little flames around the outsided, Nicole said, "wow...they look like little candles in the grass"

Nicole and Hannah enjoyed hanging out with the "big kids" spending lots of time talking and sitting with Shanine and Monica.

They also love "crazy" Dan who was helping them roast marshmallows.  *side note* Dan was sitting between Nicole and Hannah and had to get up for a minute.  When he got up, he looked at Hannah and said, "Save my seat, don't let anyone sit here".  Jeremy walked over and sat down in "Dan's " seat.  Hannah quickly remembered her job and told her daddy that he had to get up because it was Dan't chair.  Haha.

I don't have any Christmas Tree burning pictures...apparently we only took video. The trees burned really brightly.  Nicole said it was too bright for her and her doggie's eyes.  But, here is the post christmas tree smoldering.  It's kind of pretty.

The last one is my favorite.

AND...just in case you were wondering where Nathan was...he was all snugged up tight in our beloved Moby Wrap.  Yep...even at nearly 14 months and over 25lbs, I can still carry him around and he'll fast asleep in that thing.  It's a wonder!

Siblings who play together....

....Stay together...right?

These three Love to play together.  Sometimes that means some fighting, whining, or boo-boos, but mostly that means lots of laughing, imagination and good times. 

Nathan has really been having fun hanging out in the playhouse outside. 

Hannah just looked so adorable that day.

A few more random pics

What are the four states of matter?

That is Nicole's science question this week.  As we were practicing the answer today, I came up with a way to demonstrate at least three of states (I'm still not sure what the fourth state, Plasma, really is....that's next on my "to do" list)

After practicing the answer "The four states of matter are solid, liquid, gas and plasma" we spent a few minutes in the kitchen.

I plopped the girls up on the counter and gave them each some ice cubes to hold (I forgot to take a pictures of this).  We described the ice cube, cold, hard....a solid!

Then we put the ice cubes (along with a few more) into a pot on the stove.  I turned the stove on and asked Nicole what would happen to ice cubes if I heat them up on the stove.  She thought for a minute and explained that they would melt and not be cold anymore.  We spent a lot of time asking and answering questions about the ice turning from a solid into a liquid.  While the ice melted, I let them touch the water to experience that it wasn't instantly hot. We talked a little about the freezing point of water. 

While we were waiting for the ice to fully melt and start to boil, I asked her how I could make the liquid water into ice again.  We filled up an ice tray and I started to stick it in the oven. She laughed and told me that was wrong.  So, I tried to put it in the fridge because it was cold in there.  But, she told me that it needed to be in the freezer, because it's really cold in there.  so...we talked some more about the freezing point of ice.

By this time, the ice had melted in the pot and it was starting to boil. So, we watched the steam rise from the pot and we were able to talk about how the liquid water was turning into gas.  We carefully ran our hands through the steam.  Now, we started talking about the boiling point of water.

Then we used a small plastic cup and placed it over the steam.  The girls were surprised to find that the cup because wet when we took it out from the steam.  Because the cub is cooler than the boiling water, the gas turned back into a liquid. 

Finally, we let the water boil all the way down...and by the end of our little experiment, Nicole understood that the liquid water that was in the pot didn't just disappear, but that it became a gas and has now evaporated into the air. 

I'm sure there are many better ways to show these changes...but this was what I came up with as I winged it...and it seemed to work.:-)

Back to School

Yesterday, Nicole Classical Conversations group started again.  We missed it.  Over the past couple of weeks, she had been asking me when she could go to school again.  It is a whirlwind of  3 hours. There is so much information, so many games, art, science experiments and other things that are done in such a short period of time.  We love it though.  I'm excited to go through a whole semester of CC with her. 

Yesterday, Nicole did her presentation on her shoe box she made with Operation Christmas Child.  We packed a shoe box full of items like crayons, toothbrush, plate, bowl, utensils, ball, toys, dresses, etc. for a little girl Nicole's age.  We found out that her box went to Madagascar.  So, Nicole took her globe into class and showed the other kids where Madagascar is.  I forgot our camera, so I don't have a good video to share.  Next though:-)

This week we need to memorize info such as the area of a rectangle, What the four states of matter are, countries in Northern Europe and our history sentence.  And, she loves every bit of it!

For science, we did to "experiments".  The first, we tied a string around a spoon, then wound the spoon around our fingers (like dental floss).  Then we stuck our fingers in our ears and let the spoon hit against a table.  It sounded like a loud church bell...it was pretty neat.  Then, her teacher, Mr. Jackson, showed the kids how to make sound on a glass with water in it.  Nicole didn't like that one, it was to high pitched and hurt her ears, hahaha.

A few weeks ago, I found a great math workbook at a garage sale.  Nicole and I have been working through a few pages a day.  We are almost ready to start basic addition and subtraction (which we have talk about when we can...especially while eating M&Ms.)  Reading still has not "clicked" with her.  She can sound out words, but the idea that letters blend together to make a sound and looking at a word and remembering it is still not there for her.  We have been using Hooked on Phonics, and we are almost through the kindergarten level.  I think when we finish it, I'll need to find another phonics based program to do with her.  Any suggestions?

Her handwriting is getting better.  We have been working on that a lot too.  I'm really proud of her.  She likes to do to school work, so I need to take advantage of that while I can:-)

The Show

Lately, the girls have been putting on various "shows".  Often times I just hear them playing and prentending throughout the day. Sometimes, they try to get me in on their show. 

Last night, Jeremy had a meeting and earlier in the day, I had promised a girl's night with the girls.  Well...it just so happened that someone finally bought our entertainment center and TV (YAY!) and so we couldn't watch a movie because we didn't have anything to watch it on. 

So, Nicole, my little thinking box came up with a plan.  She spent about 15 minutes "setting the stage up".  She set some pillows on the floor for me to sit on.  And, a musical xylophone type toy in front.  She set a pillow on the floor for Hannah, as well as a pillow against the couch for Hannah to lean back on.  Hannah got the piano in front of her.  Then, Nicole had a cloth belt, which she used to direct us as she sang. 

I was instructed to help Nathan "keep the beat" on the toy we had.  And, Nicole would look at Hannah, point to her and say "Hit it!" and Hannah would start playing the piano while Nicole sang! hahaha.  It was so funny!

After a while, they switch positions and Nicole played the piano while Hannah sang. 

These little girls are so silly.  I love to listen and watch them play together. 

Oh, the funniest song Nicole sang was "The wheels on the bus didn't go 'round, didn't go 'round, didn't go 'round.  The wheels on the bus, didn't go 'round...because it needed new tires." ahahahah.

Today

This is what we are doing today

Something is wrong with Hannah's ankle.  I took her to the Dr. yesterday and she said she thinks she was bitten by something.  Her little ankle was red, hot and swollen.  Today the swelling has gone down, it's not as red....I actually think it looks bruised now.  I know that I went to the Dr. and every one agrees with her that it's a bite....but I'm still afraid she broke something.  She can walk and play and dance...I guess it's just the tenderness when I touch it, and the bruising that makes me think that.  But....the Dr. said it was a bite, and the antibiotics (for infections ) and steroid (to decrease swelling) seem to work.  I guess that's why I'm not a Dr. :-)

So, after going to the gym this morning, I let the girls lay and watch Cinderella while Hannah iced her foot.  Of course, Nicole is enjoying this too.

I feel like I've been on a "blogging low" lately. I don't feel like I have anything to share, and I don't think anyone reads it anymore anyway...so I'm not inspired to think of things. Maybe I'll get more motivated again soon. 

My little Nate

Nathan is growing so fast!  He is changing and being more "boy" and getting stronger and sillier and funnier and...he's just really cool!  I want to document a few of the things that have been happening lately.

Nate is a climber.  He climbs and stands on anything he possible can.  He climbs onto children's chairs, on top of toys, over bodies...anything that can be climbed....he climbs.  I really have to watch him and make sure he doesn't get hurt....or make it on top of the counter tops.  That would be bad.

Nathan likes baseball!!!!  yay!!!!  For his birthday, he got a little tiny playschool T-ball set.  It a little T with a bat and a ball.  A few weeks ago, I was watching Nathan play.  He looked around the room and found the baseball.  He crawled over to it and placed it on top of the T. Genius!  Then, he looked around again and found the bat.  He crawled over to it, got it, and brought it back by the T (with the ball on top).  Then, he gripped the bat and swung...and he slapped the ball off the T.  Again, he chased the ball down and brought it to the T and did it again.  Over and over he does this.  I think it's amazing.  He's not only smart...he's athletic too!

Today while feeding him lunch, I had out applesauce and cottage cheese.  He was being choosey as to what he would eat and when.  I would feed him a few spoonfuls of applesauce, and then he would shake his head at the next bite. So, I would knock the applesauce off and scoop up some cottage cheese...which he would then eat a few bites of and then shake his head.  No more cottage cheese, back to the applesauce.  This went on throughout lunch.  He would alternate his food every few bites.  The girls never did that....I think it's kind of funny.

Nathan has seemed really happy lately.  Today, we were driving and I turned around at a stop light to look at him.  He was just sitting in his car seat - smiling.  Then, he laughed when he noticed I was looking at him.  He's so stinkin cute!

Nathan is a pleasure to be around.  He is pretty loud at times, grunting and yelling...but he's also really sweet and cute.  He loves to play and laugh and tease me and his sisters.  And, he likes balls!  Woohoo!!!!  I love that little boy, he's my little Nate.

Our Home

Over the years, Jeremy and I have had numerous conversations about where we want to live, what we want to do, where we see our family in the future, etc.  Some ideas still rumbling through our heads, others fizzled out and died...and I know there are many more to even been thought of. 

However, today is a day that we are acting on one thing we have talked about for many years. Today, our house is going up for sale.  Our sweet little 2br/2 bath house that we came home to after our honeymoon, fixed up and changed, pulled trees out of the ground with our jeep, brought three babies home to, entertained friends and opened up to ministry is now on the market to sell. 

Now, we are realistic and know that the market is not good to sell right now.  We are praying that the Lord would allow our home to sell, and even praying that the new owners would use it for Him.  But, we also know that He may not allow our house to sell...so, now we wait.  We have taken one step, the rest really is out of our control.  Will you pray with us that we can sell our house?

We want to buy another house with at least 3 bedrooms on a couple of acres a bit further out in the "country" (I probably should say swamp...although we don't really want swampland, however, when you live in S. Florida...it's pretty much all swamp).  At one time, we were hoping to move away, into a real country atmosphere, in another state, simplify and slow down a little.  Although neither one of us have ever had an animal besides a dog or a fish...we wanted to raise some chickens and maybe even a few cows and pigs.  Maybe one day that will happen, but not now...not for a while.

So, if our house sells, we will be staying in the same area because Jeremy's job is here, but maybe we can have enough land to begin raising chickens to eat and sell to friends.  Maybe we'll hate it, maybe we'll love it.  We are a "try it and see" kind of family.  We certainly can't do it here in our neighborhood though...and soon our daughters will be wanting a bit of privacy from their brother, so a 3 bedroom house is becoming a must in the next few years. 

Today, our realtor comes to take outside picture, and to list our home on the big real estate system.  Today, I begin listening for the phone to ring in hopes of a viewing at our home. 
Today, I must keep my house clean at all times...and tomorrow, and the next day...until it sells
The girls know what we are trying to do, and they have very specific jobs to help.  I think this will help us all become more disciplined about completing our daily chores and tasks.
Today, we embark on a new adventure.  We've never sold a home before.
Today, I ask for you to pray that our house will sell, and to pray for my own emotions because I know it will become easy for me to get excited and then discouraged and become weary by the ups and downs.

We are excited and are looking forward to what the future may bring.