My first time

This weekend I tried something for the very first time.... I know that when I reveal it to you MOST of you will be extremely shocked. Are you ready...... Drum roll please......











This weekend.............................










I had my very first..........................



































Drink of .................................

Yes, yes ..... I know you can't believe it. I never really liked the taste growing up, Which is strange considering my mom is a pepper-a-holic. Every morning she just doesn't wake up until she has poured herself a cold, bubbling mug of Diet Dr. Pepper. Living in Waco puts us with in minuets of the Dr. Pepper museum, at which she purchased an official Dr. Pepper Mug.

I decided that if I could grow to like spinach and shrimp, then maybe I could learn to love Dr. Pepper too. However I would love to shed a few extra pounds, so I didn't really try Dr. Pepper, I thought since I wouldn't know the difference I could start out with the diet and save myself some frustration in the long run.

I'm not sure I can say I am totally changed, I will have a hard time giving up my diet Cherry Cokes from Sonic..... but at least now I can have some variety!

Texas Traditions

In Texas, especially east Texas, almost every family has the tradition of snapping pictures of their darling little ones among the beautiful blankets of bluebonnets. We are no different. We have pictures of M when she was 18 months old sitting in a patch of wildflowers on Hwy 84 on our way to Fredricksburg.

Well the tradition continues.... I have been looking for a good patch of flowers for a while, but all the REALLY good ones are on the medians of major hwys and interstates. I love my children and I want to keep them for the NEXT set of Blue Bonnet pictures, so I decided to pass on busy thoroughfares. ;)

These pictures aren't in a big beautiful patch, but there were enough to get the idea, and they were conveniently taken right across the street from our house, where there is no threat of 18 wheelers, or any other number of wheels.

It was great!! I could focus on one smile at a time. M was in her PJ's while I was doing E. and They could run in and out of the house as needed, with out endangering their lives! ;) We still haven't mastered group pictures yet. So for now this is my way of putting them all on one picture.

HAPPY SPRING

SISTERS

Last week I went to get the girls up and this is what I found:
Now H always wants to sleep with someone.... especially when she is in one of her "needy" moods. But M on the other hand NEVER wants to sleep with anyone. However it was M that was in H's bed. I know that I have said it before, (You can read about it here)but I love having all girls!! I never had a sister, I had an AWESOME best friend, but weekend sleep overs just aren't the same as having a roommate.

We hear the girls talking every night..... and it makes me SOOOOOO happy that they are developing deep relationships. I want them to be close...... Two sets of peas in two little pods.

LORD, deepen their relationship. Unite their hearts together. May they always put each one another first. May their friend ship last their LIFETIME!!!

More South Africa Pics...

Yes, I know what you are thinking...... all your mission trip pictures are on the beach...... I know I have said it before, but just to reiterate........ we were encourage to NOT take our cameras into OV. So most of my pictures were taken on the weekends when we were at the beach and doing all the "tourist" stuff. OK I sat with the camera ready for the longest time waiting for a big wave to crash into that rock..... I love how the water is spraying up.... it looks so majestic.

Here is M walking on the beach...........

Miss PRiss, giving mommy her thumbs up. She picked up several habits from one unnamed "Uncle" while we were on the trip. The funniest one was his laugh.... for several days after we got home we would hear her doing this belly laugh that was deep and so non E like. It wasn't until he and his wife came over for dinner that we realized that the "Uncle" was the influencer.

The Family on the Beach, with Noredhoek (??) and Chapmans peak behind them.

This was out the window on the plane ride home, right before we landed on US soil...... breathtaking.

I have sosososooososoos many more pictures that are near and dear to my heart, but I won't bore you with all of them. If you are interested in seeing them, call and we'll get together.

Kent's in already planning to head back in 2010 for the World Cup. He is looking forward to seeing the looks on the faces of those that we ministered to when we come walking up to their door. I hope that it happens.

Miss Who??

Meet Miss. Piss...... I mean Miss. Priss. Actually this is two posts in one.....
I have heard S on several occasions talking to her sisters and playing princess or whatever and she will call them Miss. Piss. Once I quit rolling on the floor I will correct her, but she usually doesn't remember for very long, and soon I am correcting her again ...." No Sweet Pea, it's Miss PRRRiss." Speaking of Sweat Pea, S has this thing about being called anything but HER name. I finally convinced her that I liked to call her nicknames, so she decided that I could call her, Sweat Pea..... in the spring, and Sunshine in the summer and Pumpkin in the fall and Angel in the winter. And she pays attention too. If I ever call her pumpkin, she will correct me, "No momma, call me Sweat Pea."

OK so these pictures are not of S but of her sister E. M loves dressing up her baby sister and decking her out with all the accessories, including glitter. She is so darn cute I can't help but take pictures and share them with everyone.... I wish I had some digital pictures of M when she was this age and wore her Cinderella dress..... there is just something about that dresses and their eyes....... What Beauties!!

The Desert

I read somewhere, on a preschool site that I found off of a link on some one's web page (sorry I'd give credit if I knew where it went)...... that coffee and cornmeal mixed together make a good discovery center. (To read about our last center click HERE) SO we tried it.

I took one slightly sampled bag of coffee, Cinnamon flavor, and a bag of cornmeal an mixed it together and Wa-la a desert. Add a few lizards from the dollar store and you have school day entertainment. Easy.

The directions that I read somewhere said to use used coffee grounds, and I have some to add to it.... I just needed more cornmeal first. I wouldn't recommend using "good" coffee unless your like me and the only other option is to chunk it 'cause your hubby doesn't like it.

I would just take the grounds each morning and put them on a foil covered cookie sheet and let them dry. By the next day you could place them in a zippy bag and just keep adding to them as you can. Word of warning..... make sure they are really dry or else you will have mold growing as well....... :P.

I sweep the floor before hand so that what ever gets out of the box I can return to the box, with our to many foreign particles. ENJOY!!

Keeping the days straight...

Ok before I start this post..... I was wondering.... is there a "statute of limitations" type thing with posting blogs? I mean how recent do the pictures have to be?? In the rush of Christmas and S. A. I never posted Christmas pictures and I never wrote about M's birthday party....... any thoughts??

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This past fall Sarah need a way to keep the days straight because we were going someplace different almost everyday in order for Mommy and Daddy to go to class. Every morning she would wake up and have to ask what we were doing that day.... some days the answer was great and others it was devastating. So to help prepare for the harder days I came up with this:


This is our day's of the week calender. I made it using my stamps, paper, Modge Podge, ribbon. It is very whimsical, which is a look that can sometimes be a challenge for me to achieve. I covered it in Modge Podge first and then the squares are taped on so I can change them as needed.

The white squares had where she was going each morning : Ms Marie's, Nate and Jacob's, the fox class, home (we always love those days) well you get the idea. Now that we have returned to a more normal way of life we redid the squares to show who gets to play on the computer.

There is a clothes pin that is stamped "today" that we move everyday. It also has ribbon tied on it. Inspired by the idea I made on for the months as well. Each season has it's own color, so we can learn the seasons as well.

I am currently designing one for the days as well..... I kept imagining the LOOOOOOOONG thing, then I kept trying to double it..... now I'm thinking something flippy. That I can just flip each day so it doesn't take up as much space.... now if I can just find the time to make it....... hmmmmm.

Gettin' into the swing of things!

I was thinking about school the other day..... and I realized that it had been six months since I had done school with the girls all by myself. (Thank you Andrea, you were a life saver!!)

SIX months!! I couldn't believe it. I have missed having that time with my girls. We started back up again this week. It went very well, considering how out of practice I was.

I have come up with a new "schedule".... The girls take turns having "computer time"(Thank you Steels), during which they play educational games (Thank you Gram) that help improve their skills as well as keep them busy for 30-45 minutes. While everyone is distracted I get to spend some quality time with "non computer" person. It has worked well. really well. We are able to go over all their independent work for the day, learn a new concept if need be, if we have time left over we drill math facts or work on phonics. They also take their spelling test during that time as well.

This has helped eliminate interruptions and had kept me from feeling pulled in 4 different directions. During S's Computer time we do the subjects that are done together, like grammar.
When everyone has had a turn on the PC then the big girls work independently and Sarah and I get some time to work on letter sounds and blends. Nap time is when we try (key word here :try) to get science in.

We also have our Activity box out as well so that Emma (and whoever else wants to) can have an option "b" while we are having computer time. I will post about what was in that later.

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On a side note..... Emma has been doing really well this week potty training. It still isn't all the time, but the accidents are getting further and further apart. I even took her out in public today with panties on and she went the whole time out nice and dry. I have forgotten how many trips to the bathroom in a day, one must make when potty training a two year old!! I think we graced every bathroom, of every establishment at least twice. Some even more than that, and we had to make a few stops on the road as well. BUT if that is what it take to receive freedom from diapers then BRING IT ON!!