Truck Or Treat!!!

On Sunday we took the kids to our churches 2nd Annual Truck or Treat.

 

 

All lined up and ready to go!

 

 

 

Arrrr!!!

 

 

Such a handsome knight!

 

 

Pretty princess!

 

 

Cute as a bee!

 

 

Each truck was decorated differently and each of them were fun, but this one was our favorite. The teeth were connected to a string so when the kids reached in for their candy their hands would get munched on.

 

 

I thought this might freak Ella out, but she did great.  

 

 

Our friends/neighbors Rachael and Lance brought their two girls Kendra & Lilyann. It was really fun for the kids getting to walk around, play some games and get some candy. It only took an hour and the best part is the rain held off until the very end.  

Who Needs Frog Legs When You Can Have Frog Face!

 

Over the weekend Ga-Ga introduced Zeke to Froggy. Zeke has entered a serious chewing phase!

 

 

Mmm....yummy frog face!

 

 

I make these thighs look good!!!

 

 

What...haven't you seen a baby chew on a frogs head before?

 

 

Oh...let me chew your face some more!

 

 

Seriously...give a kid a break!!!

 

This Is What Happens...

When you are a family of 6 without a working dryer for 5 days.

 

 

You ended up spending half of Friday doing laundry, decide to spend the night so you can finish the laundry and in the process of trying to get finished with the never ending piles you overload the washer and end up making the seal come off the drum so the washer starts leaking water everywhere.

 

 

If you can't tell...it's been a fun week! Yeah that was sarcasm! We have been trying to figure out what is going on with our dryer without having to spend a fortune. The first thing I did was order a new heating element since it's not heating. Michael replaced that, but no such luck. Then I scheduled a repairman to come out, but I didn't want to spend the money without us checking if it was something else simple like a fuse. So I canceled the appointment. Then I went down to the Sears parts and repair store twice! Once to see if they had the parts I needed in stock..which they didn't, but then I took the fuse and thermostat in to see if they were working...which they are.

 

 

One of the workers suggested we check our breaker box to see if one was tripped. If we could have only been so lucky!!! Anyways now that we've checked everything that we could fix and it's not that I feel okay having the repairman come out. Also to get another dryer just like the one I have would cost over $600! Our dryer is stacked on top of our washer so I can't just go out and get any old dryer. Today the repairman comes and lets hope he can fix it!  

Update On Homeschool!

I finally remembered to take a picture of the school room at Miss Kim's. The school room takes up half of her basement family/play room. It works out really well since Josiah and Ella need to get up a go play every now and then.

 

 

The alphabet mat is the area where we do calendar time...there is a calendar hung on the wall as well as a number chart, the months of the year and the weather for today. The small desk on the left up in front is where Owen and I do his Phonics when the other kids are coloring their alphabet pages. We have learned 3 letters so far this year...'L', 'O' and 'G'. Owen can now sound out the word 'log'. This is a first I had no idea I would be so excited about. I think it's the fact that I'm the one that got to teach him and he is learning from me. It's the opening of such a wonderful door in his life. Before I know it he'll be reading full books by himself!!! So cool!

 

It's such a blessing to have this designated space for the school. When we do school at home on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we just use the dining room table. I am hoping that eventually we'll be able to remodel our basement (basically a glorified crawlspace that's 17 ft high) into a school room. One can dream! :)

 

 

 

 

My favorite thing we are doing at school right now is using the above cd's to teach the kids scripture verses. The Seeds Of Family Worship are songs that are taken straight from scripture and they are upbeat and catchy. We listen to the cd constantly in the van. The kids LOVE them and it's so wonderful to have God's Word echoing in my mind all day long. 

 

Overall I would say that this year I feel more comfortable with school even though I'm also feeling challenged and bit overwhelmed with the fact that my kids' education falls on my shoulders. But I know without a doubt that I'm the one that's supposed to be teaching my kids.

Pure Joy!!!

 

I love this little man!

Ella's Big Girl Bed!

A week ago my parents came over with Ella's mattress for her big girl bed. My SIL Stephanie had offered this bed to us for Ella to use a couple weeks before. It was just sitting in the garage waiting for the mattress. Ella was so excited to sleep on it the first night she actually wanted to sleep on it in the garage! Once I got the bed from Stephanie I went in search for bedding and found a cute set at Wal-Mart. I bought it, but then realized that the paint in her room wasn't going to match. I was going to paint, but Michael pretty much talked me out of it and really the bedding I found was a bit more teenagerish so I took it back. I decided to go online to Craigslist and I found her these cute covers, a sham and a jewelry hanger all for $20. The lady lived in Lacey though so I offered her $30 if she would meet me halfway. I absolutely love her covers...they are exactly what I had envisioned. The set didn't come with a valance though so I went to Joann's and picked up a coordinating fabric. I have it all cut out and now I just need to sew it together.

 

 

Since this bed is bigger than her toddler bed we had to move a few things around. The grey hutch was on the same wall as her bed, but it had to be moved to the adjacent wall. There is also a couple new additions to her room courtesy of the Mill Creek garage sales. The stool at the foot of her bed was only $5!

 

 

The cute little kitchen was also from my SIL Stephanie...her older niece Victoria had grown out of it. Since Ella had this cute kitchen in her room I thought it would be fun for her to have a table. I was determined to find one at the garage sales. I ended up getting the two purple chairs at one sale for $5 and then I found the table for FREE at a sale that was wrapping up and finally the other 2 pink chairs were $5! I love garage sales!!! Ella has been having so much fun playing in her room with her table. Jack even got in the fun and was "eating" with her.

 

 

And since furniture had to be moved so did pictures....here's her cute picture, cross stitch, dedication wall!

Sitting Up...Kind Of!

I thought it might be fun to break out the Boppy and see how well Zeke could "sit up".

 

 

He does really well if I just hold onto him with one hand. He's not really one of those kids that throws himself around.

 

 

Cute boy is really starting in on the teething phase...he's constantly chewing on his bottom lip.

 

 

Or my fingers!!!

 

 

Wait a second....Mommy isn't holding me anymore!

 

 

Oh....leaning over a bit!

 

 

Holy Cow I can fold in half!

 

 

Getting uncomfortable!

 

 

Hey Lady....move me!!!

 

 

All better!

Swords & Shields!

On Saturday I went to the semi-annual Mill Creek garage sales with my mom and some friends. I've gone to these for years now and have found so many awesome things. The kids even know that when garage sale day comes that I'm going to be coming home with some goodies. I don't give them all the finds right away...I save some for Christmas or birthdays, but I do make sure that they each have something new to them to play with that night.

 

For months Jack has been saying he wanted to be a knight for Halloween. A few weeks ago I saw a costume at Costco, but wasn't willing to pay $24 for it. I figured I could find something cheaper. The day of the garage sales Jack told Ga-Ga and I that we were going to come home with his costume.

 

 

He was right! We did not see very many costumes, but sure enough we found a knight....for $3!!!! It's the perfect size too! The only thing it didn't come with was a sword and a shield. So that night I got online and found these cool foam swords and shields at Toys R Us.

 

 

 

You got 2 swords and 2 shields and it only cost $5.98! Of course they are actually considered a summer item so they can't be found in stores so I had to order them online. Literally the shipping was going to cost me more that the swords! So I ended up doing a little Christmas shopping early and spent $50 total and got free shipping!

 

 

I went ahead and ordered 2 sets so we have 4 swords and 4 shields. I figured that one might get broke and seriously $5.98...why not! The boys and Daddy have had fun running around playing Bad Ninjas! Both the swords have broken, but not badly and Michael was able to fix them. I am keeping the other set sealed up until Halloween so Jack can have a brand new sword for that night.

Hello Han Solo!

The other day Jack brought over his big Han Solo doll...I mean character so Zeke could play with it.

 

 

Hello Zeke...I'm Han Solo!

 

 

Oh...you look interesting!

 

 

Am I'm making that same handsome, tough guy look?? No....darn!

 

 

Oh...your hair tastes good!

 

 

 

And in all seriousness....

 

 

Is he not just the cutest thing you've laid eyes on!!!! Melt my heart!

Look Mom...No Cavities!

Last Thursday I took the kids to the dentist for their check up...I remember when I was just taking Owen and Jack it was so stressful, but now I can take 4 kids and it's a breeze. I was wanting to take the kids to DQ afterwards and have a little mid-morning date with Daddy, but I forgot that they can't eat or drink for 30 minutes after they get fluoride on their teeth. I ended up having to nurse Zeke in the van right after the appointment and then by the time we got home it had been over a half an hour.

Thanks to some free McFlurry Monopoly pieces I got 2 McFlurry's for all of use to share. The Rolo one is AMAZING!!!

 

 

Jack did fabulously....he even let them take 3 xrays...they couldn't quite get the last one since he has such a good gag reflex. It was so neat seeing his permanent teeth on the xray...just knowing they are down there waiting to pop up.

 

 

Logan and her Mommy got to have a little mid-morning date while we were at the dentist...they went for a stroll at the beach!

 

 

Ella is still super nervous about anything medical so she would not sit in the dentist chair. They did have a cute pink little kid chair so she sat in that. The hygienist literally was swatting as low as she could so she could clean her teeth. Cute little particular girl!

 

 

Owen did great, but we found out that he hasn't been brushing his gums well enough...they were really inflamed and bleeding. So we have to help him to make sure he gets them well enough.

 

 

"Hey...where's my ice cream!"

Life!

Life...that crazy thing that just keeps spinning around me. I feel like I'm having to really cut down on some of the things I do and blogging has been one of them. Not only am I intentionally trying to not be on my computer very much, but my laptop is driving me crazy with it's slowness...I swear it's gonna die soon. Also I haven't been taking that many pictures and when I don't have pictures to go with a post I don't blog.

 

Right now our schedule is pretty full and I love it that way...getting out of the house is what keeps me sane. Monday morning it's school at Kim's house. Tuesday morning is MOPS, school in the afternoon at home and then Taekwondo in the evening. Wednesday morning is Bible Study and then school at home. Thursday is our stay home day, but since it's the only day of the week we don't have plans it usually ends up being the day for me to schedule things like doctor or WIC appointments. Friday morning is school at Kim's house.

 

And of course that mixed in with all the other stuff like cooking, cleaning, crafting and playing with the kids and it's a FULL schedule!



Camera Shy!!!

 

What was that horrible light?

 

 

Maybe my hands will protect me.

 

 

Oh...there is was again!

 

 

Why has it moved over there...I'm still not going to smile!

 

 

Whatever I'm ignoring it!