Hello Again, Ohio

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Goodbye Fort Wayne house!

Well, our family of 5 has been in Ohio for about 2 months now. CJ moved and started his new job in January, and the rest of us followed in May. Living apart for 4 months was not so pretty at times. By mid-February, I had probably the worst attitude possible about our situation and wasn't a very pleasant person to talk to (especially if you were married to me, haha)  In order to keep myself from just totally losing it, I had to let go of the "what ifs" and think positive. Our house is still for sale, but so far we are getting by fine with having to pay for two houses. Hopefully there will be buyer soon! There are times when I surprisingly do miss Fort Wayne. We met some great people there-- probably the most kind and caring friends I've ever had.

Since we were completely looking forward to our big May 1st move, the kids did really well with saying goodbye to the old house. There were no tears, only pure excitement to start a new adventure. They've all made new friends and have been having a lot of fun. Samuel is having issues with the many changes that have occurred this year. He thrives on routine and is very strong willed, so it is going to take some time to adjust to a new house, a new church, and not seeing Dad nearly as much as he used to. Keeping him on track has been exhausting to say the least.

CJ is enjoying his job, which is good considering that's where he spends most of his life.The other day he told Samuel he gets to work with robots, so if you ask the 8 year-old, his dad has the coolest job ever. His back has been giving his trouble, but the newest round of injections have at least taken away the shooting pain down his legs.


Here are some highlights from the past 6 months. They include school, trips to Ohio, and a lot of fun & play...

Samuel was supposed to create some addition problems for Madelyn using the cubes. As you can see, he decided to build a gun instead. Life with boys!

This is a Mystery of History project. They had to come up with a name for a new animal just like God had Adam do.

Valentine shadow matching

Making out Valentines

A SWEET party with friends

Leprechaun traps for St. Patrick's Day

Jellybean graphing

 

picking strawberries

Samuel is 8

Pin It  Samuel turned 8 in February. We chose not to have a big party this year due to the drawn out, stressful process of relocating to Ohio. Instead, we invited a few family members over for cheesecake and opened some presents. Among the gifts were a few new costumes, Legos, and books.

Samuel still loves dressing up as different characters and getting his sisters to join in the act. Some recent favorites are Super Mario characters, Indiana Jones, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Star Wars. Their creativity continues to put a smile on my face.

 Samuel's 8th Birthday Interview

What is your favorite color? green
What is your favorite toy? Legos
What is your favorite fruit? apples
What is your favorite tv show? iCarly
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? turkey sandwich
What is your favorite outfit? jeans and Diary of a Wimpy Kid shirt
What is your favorite game? Star Wars for DS
What is your favorite snack? peanut butter crackers
What is your favorite animal? lion
What is your favorite part of school? reading
What is your favorite book? Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Who is your best friend? I like all my friends the same.
What is your favorite cereal? Multi-grain Cheerios
What is your favorite thing to do outside? play Frisbee with Marlie
What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my pillow pet
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? pancakes and eggs
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? chili
What do you want to be when you grow up? US Coast Guard (he changes his mind every month)

Dear Samuel,
 Oh my, you are such a strong willed, energetic boy with one exhausted mother! I hope that when you are faced with peer pressure, you will use this as a strength to stand firm and make good choices. 
You are great at completing your morning routine and chores quickly, and will often offer to do your sisters' chores for them in order to earn extra money. I love how, at the age of 8, you behave more responsibly than some adults we know! Keep up the hard work and determination and you will go far!
Your imagination impresses everyone you meet. You have always been full of interesting ideas. When you were 3, you would always walk around saying, "I have a great idea..." and the things you would come up with made me think you just might be a genius! :) I may be biased though! If there is ever a problem, you will come up will a million ways to solve it.
Samuel, you are loud and crazy at times, but there's a sweet side beneath all that boy-ness that still likes to snuggle with mommy :). 
Wherever you go in live, I will be there offering tons of love, support, and advice...whether you like it or not!

Love,
Mom 

Sarah is Six!

Pin It  Sarah turned six this month and we celebrated by spending a week visiting family and friends in Ohio, and had an art party before coming back home! Since she received plenty of new art supplies for Christmas, I gathered up what we already had at home so that we only had to buy food and paper plates for the party. 

Art table:

 Coloring caddy: markers, paint pens, crayons, felt and foam stickers, construction paper, coloring books

 Paint caddy: watercolors, finger paints, paint bowls, paint brushes, paint smocks, large white paper

Once the table was set up, the kids we able to paint and draw as they wished. One thing I forgot to do was take pictures of the finished masterpieces! Very creative minds were at work!

  

C.J. made two rainbow cakes with vanilla frosting and Sarah decorated them. :)

 

I found this birthday interview on a blog, and it's definitely something I want to continue doing with all three kids as they get older. You're supposed to ask the same 20 questions every year on their birthday, add a photo, and make it into a keepsake book. So, for Sarah's 6th birthday, we began this new tradition...

Sarah's 6th Birthday Interview:

What is your favorite color? pink and purple 
What is your favorite toy? Barbie Fashion sketch book
What is your favorite fruit? Clementines
What is your favorite tv show? Wild Kratts (PBS kids)
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? ham and cheese sandwich
What is your favorite outfit? My whole closet!
What is your favorite game? Crafting Mama
What is your favorite snack? peanut butter crackers
What is your favorite animal? peacocks  
What is your favorite part of school? doing Explode the Code
What is your favorite book? If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Who is your best friend? Kaylee
What is your favorite cereal? Rice Krispies
What is your favorite thing to do outside? play in the show
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my pillow pet
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? pancakes
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? chicken noodle soup
What do you want to be when you grow up? a mom and an artist


Dear Sarah,
Six years ago, you came into the world with what appeared to be a smile on your face. Daddy noticed right away, and the nurses joked that you were already wrapped around his finger. We named you Isabelle Hope, but as I kept looking at you, I realized you were not an Isabelle. Daddy agreed. So Sarah you became, and a princess you will always be.
Six years later, you continue to always offer a warm smile to those around you and make friends wherever you go. When you learn something new, you usually try to teach Madelyn whatever you learned, remaining calm and patient the whole time. You are so helpful and creative!
Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure...okay, that is totally from an Aerosmith song, but it's the truth! I love you through your good and bad moments...sometimes those bad moments don't seem so bad an hour, day, or week later. Last week, at dinner, I asked you what the best part of your day was. You responded with, "Seeing you, Mommy!" That made my heart full, especially since we are rarely ever apart. I'm glad you enjoy our time together and don't get sick of seeing me 24/7! You also usually ask me once a day why I look so happy. Well, one reason is because God made me your mother, and you my daughter! What a wonderful blessing it is having you in my life!


Happy 6th Birthday, Sweet Sarah!! I love you! 

A Snowy Day

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"Mom, why did you dress us like we're going to Antarctica?"- Samuel

3-Letter Words: Reading, Stamping, Building

Pin It Last night I went to print off Read! Build! Write! Mats only to discover our printer was low on ink. No printer ink and class the next morning?! I guess that’s what I get for waiting until the last minute to prepare materials.
Before the school year started, I had picked up a ton of paint color samples for different lessons I had in mind, so I got those out and made up a bunch of 3-letter words we’ve been working on.

Next, I cut 8.5X11 cardstock in half and wrote the words in marker at the top. They were color-coded according to the paint samples.

Instead of having Madelyn and Sarah write the words out, I got out our alphabet stamps for my little stamping addicts.

All materials fit on one of our magnet board/cookie sheets.

Madelyn sat and admired each of her finished cards.


 
Materials:
Cardstock
Markers
Alphabet stamps
Stamp pad
Paint color samples




 

 

Fall Sensory Bin and Crafts

Pin It This fall themed bin contains:
Red scoop and bowl (Dollar Tree)
Pumpkin and leaf table scatter (Target $1 spot, I think)
Leaves (Target $1 spot last year)
Pumpkin and leaf cookie cutter shapes (Dollar Tree, I think)
Mini gourds (Dollar Tree)

Making “fall soup” was something the kids came up with during one of our days using the bin. Basically, they’d scoop different contents into the bowl, stir it up, and ask if anyone would like a try.

They used the different colored leaves to make patterns.

Some days I added in a pumpkin tray, easy grip tweezers, and mini poms to keep this little guy busy while I worked with the older kids.

On Halloween, while everyone else was trick-or-treating, we stayed in and had some fun of our own.

We painted with corn, and mixed yellow and red paint together. Sarah informed me that they learned all about color mixing long ago on a Dora episode. Thanks Dora! We marble painted pumpkin shapes…minus the marbles lol. I used a golf ball instead. Even though they are a bit harder to control, they leave a really neat textured look.




Thumb and finger print spiders turned out to be much messier than I had anticipated. Maybe we’ll try it again when the youngest turns 13 ;).
Sarah and her friend made wonderful Christian pumpkins.

While our crafts were drying, we enjoyed some “creepy crawler” pudding (gummy worms, oreos, vanilla pudding) that CJ had made with the kids while I was at work.

Happy Fall!

Sneak Peek: A NEW New Room

Pin It Remember when we transformed Madelyn’s old bedroom into our school room back in February? Well, since the school year began in August, this space hasn’t had much use. The desks, as much as I love them, allow little room for me to sit with the kids and guide their learning process. By the end of the first week of school, the dining room table started serving as our main learning area. I liked being able to see what everyone was working on, and I could multi-task much easier by all of us being at the same table. I began brainstorming about how to make changes to the school room in order to make it work for us.

One day, a magical blog post at Confessions of a Homeschooler gave me a great visual of what I could do to our room. I became so obsessed with her school room, on top of having a great reason to go to Ikea, that I checked the pictures out several times a week for almost 2 months while making a list of items I liked and wanted for us. CJ agreed to an Ikea trip at the end of October/early November.  After waiting patiently for about a week, I began to drive him nuts with my begging and he agreed to go sooner. Lining up a babysitter beforehand worked in my favor.

BEFORE:

Saturday we drove to Cincinnati and back. I spent that evening helping my friend put together my furniture. By “helping” I mean I talked to her while she did most of the work. I did manage to put some furniture together by myself on Sunday because deep down I actually do enjoy this type of work…it’s a productive way to take out frustration. Here is where we are at so far:

SNEAK PEEK AFTER:

CJ still has to hang a white board, maps and posters. We also need blinds or curtains. The light is blinding in the morning!

Can’t wait until everything is finished! I’m happy to have my dining room textbook and worksheet free again!