Wednesday, September 29, 2010

birthdays and disney!

Our baby girl is now 3 and I can't believe it! Seriously weird to know that she is growing up so fast. We celebrated at Disney the weekend before her birthday with my parents at Fort Wilderness Campground. We stayed in a cabin that was a one bedroom that had bunk beds and a full size bed in the bedroom and then in the living room had a murphy bed. It was really fun and because it is the off season it was much cheaper. It really is a blessing she was born in September! It is just after the blackout dates for the season passes, the lines at the parks are super short (the longest wait was 15 min the rest was all 5 or less), the parks aren't really busy AND they are decorated so pretty!!!

Caden is now tall enough to ride Tower of Terror, Splash Mt., Big Thunder Mt., Fast Track AND Soarin'  :) He LOVED them. My mom stayed with Casey Bug and took her to see the Country Bears and shopping while we did those rides except for Soarin' she loves that ride and Joe isn't really a fan of it that much because of the heights so he took the Bug to get her picture with ALL the characters. Never was there a happy little girl and we got some really cute pics now of her with Minnie Mouse and a super cute one of her and Joe with Pluto. During the Tower of Terror Casey got the company of both Joe and my mom because only my dad and I like that ride LOL Joe and Mom aren't really a fan of the falling feeling over and over again. Caden did great he loved it but that was the only one he didn't want to do again right away :)

We enjoyed the Hoopty-Dee-Doo Review one night which the kids seriously enjoyed and then the next night we played on the beach of the lake watching the sunset. It was really a great weekend and an amazing family time.

Monday we were home thankfully because Caden had a very bad case of the stomach flu which praise God didn't spread to the rest of us. Then after that I got a cold by Friday Casey had a fever and runny nose which postponed the plans I was going to make with the family that didn't go to Disney. Casey's birthday fell on Tuesday and we celebrated by going to McDonald's for breakfast and then watching the new Tinkerbell movie and having the Bug's favorite snack food POPCORN!!!!  Mac'n Cheese for lunch and then Pancakes for dinner :) She had a great day.

Monday, September 13, 2010

MadGab

This week we are on the Letter D in our Letter of the Week. So I decided to show Caden that he could make some words with the letters we have learned do far like dad, cab, and bad. Well he thought that was pretty cool once he realized that the sounds really did something. So then because he pretty much knows all the letter sounds we moved on to more words like CAT, BAT, MOM all those fun things. I discovered teaching a 4 year old to read is like watching him play MadGab. It is hilarious he says the sounds separate. Then says them together. Then says them faster. Then thinks about it maybe says it a little slower again then tries it faster again till it clicked. It was hilarious and very cute. I was very proud of him for trying so hard and he was proud of himself too.

We are learning about David and Goliath for our Bible story and Casey is learning what a dozen is and working on her counting.  Our composer is Debussy and our animals are dolphins and doves (we pretty much stick with water animals and birds if we can help it because Caden just loves them). Our big field trip is DISNEY!!! I know I really couldn't have planned that better if I had meant to. The trip has absolutely nothing to do with our schooling and everything to do with Casey's birthday but it just so happens that it falls perfectly in with our Letter D week and we are Driving there hehehe maybe we should get Donuts too!

The kids are super excited. Casey has been talking about turning 3 for weeks now and Caden can't wait to go down Splash Mountain for the first time ever! He is now 41 inches tall without shoes so he is officially tall enough : ) Casey is really not very happy she isn't tall enough yet but she IS excited she is going to go shopping in the Winnie the Pooh shop with Grandma while Grandpa, Daddy and I go with Caden on his first big kid ride. Right now Caden says he is riding with Grandpa on it but I will be curious to see who actually rides with him. If he is at all scared of the ride he will end up asking to ride with me that is just usually how he does. There is a chance I might be even more excited about him going on his first big kid ride than he is but I am trying not to show it just in case he gets scared and doesn't want to do it at the last minute or something.

Caden did surprise me this weekend by going down a 20 foot water slide all by himself with no prompting from me or Joe at all. My dad's work had a company picnic and so my dad asked us to come too. It was really fun and Caden just climbed right up that big old blowup slide and went down with no problem at all and went down it like 50 times. I was pretty impressed since usually he needs to be talked into those types of things. He tends to be on the cautious side but lately not so much LOL My little man is growing up :) Casey wouldn't even consider going down it though. She said the water was cold and it was too high.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

4 years!

We have been in our house for 4 years now as of Labor Day weekend! And what better way to celebrate that than on Sunday morning after we all had gotten ready for church and I had pulled the last kid from the bath and was drying them we hear our toilets and all the sinks in our house start to bubble....

That's right for all of you who don't have city water you know this means our septic tank was backing up into the house LOVELY!!! Thankfully it was just bubbling and not actually coming into the house so we immediately stopped using all water in the house. A call the septic people told us that because it was a holiday weekend that would cost us at least 100 dollars more than if we waited till Tuesday so my parents said we could just use their house till then. I LOVE living so close to them <3 

In order to keep Caden and Casey from using the bathroom I had to lock the door and they found it a lot of fun to run over to Grandma and Grandpa's side to go potty all day long. Also we were gone for most of Sunday which was good because I would not have liked to be in a house that I can't use the water in the dishes drive me nuts I ended up taking them over to moms so I could wash them. Sunday though we went to church and then to Jeni and Jarrad's for some food, pool time, fun and of course we had to talk about the baby shower which we now have the invites ordered and a whole lotta ideas for. Monday was Labor Day so we had the Fish Fry at church which was very fun and yummy. My mom had us over for breakfast so I didn't have to worry about dishes or anything for that :)

Really it wasn't that bad except we had to cancel going to a friends house for a play date that we were really looking forward to today because of waiting for the septic people to get here but even that ended up being alright because Caden woke up this morning with a very stuffy nose and a fever so I was able to have already given our friends a heads up that we weren't gonna be there instead of cancelling at the last minute.

The kids really enjoyed watching the whole ordeal this morning by the way the whole pumping of the tank and all that gross stuff through the bedroom window and the men that did it enjoyed having the kids watch they talked to them the whole time it was very cute. Casey waved and yelled "Thank you!!! Now our potty's don't bubble anymore!" when they were leaving LOL

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The fun stuff of the day

Today was Casey's first Ballet lesson (which fit in perfectly with our Letter of the Week by the way since we are on B) She has been looking forward to this for some months now and today was a day of excitement since she knew all day long that it was today. Her poor day didn't start out so hot for her because she told me last night at the dinner table that she didn't want the food I had fixed for dinner and she would rather go to bed than eat it...so we put her to bed and she had it for breakfast this morning instead. I know that might sound mean but frankly she has this control issue thing about food and I refuse to cook something different just because my 2 (almost 3) year old says she doesn't like it. She actually loves the food I cooked she usually eats it quickly and asks for seconds but last night she pushed it across the table and said "I not gonna eat it" Taking the advice that our parents and Dr. have given us (not to mention just some plain common sense) we stuck to our guns and to bed she went. So anyway she ate it this morning after a little pouting and me not allowing her up from the table till she finished it because I knew she had to be hungry. I would also like to point out that once she put some in her mouth she ate it and told me "This is yummy mommy!" No kidding! I told you that last night when I put some in your mouth to get you to eat some remember?? LOL So after she was happily eating the food she wouldn't touch the night before we moved on to school. The kids love the letter B and are having a great time with it.

Caden has enjoyed learning a lot and he really likes the animal part of it. This week we were going to learn about Buffalo but our library was out of their books on them so we moved to beavers. There is a lot to know about those little guys! Our Bible story is John the Baptist and Caden I think loves the fact that he at locusts more than anything while Casey is impressed that he knew Jesus. Beethoven is the composer of the week and I found some tid bits about him but he was a little depressing in all honesty. I am having trouble finding the music to go with the composers I don't own any of the classical music ( I know bad of me) so if anyone has some with composers that have music done but composers with names starting in C - G that would wouldn't mind letting me borrow please let me know? .

On to Casey's class...we walk in and there is another little girl there at the same time getting her slippers on and Casey walks up to her and says "You will be my friend!" and the little girl says "Yes! I am your friend!" so there you go best friends made instantly. Casey did much later find out that her friends name is Kate and they hugged and held hands the whole time they waited for class to start. They were also joined by another little girl who asked if she could be there friend and her name is Dylan and they welcomed her instantly too. You gotta love kids they really are amazing they don't care at all about being shy most of the time you just have to be nice to them and they will be you friend right away. Casey loved her class and can't wait to go back next week. She did inform me that she was the only one there without a tutu on her leo but I have no idea where the moms got leos with attached tutus because separate tutus aren't allowed and I am not paying more than the 10.00 I paid for her leo I got from Target. the amount the class cost and the shoes cost just about sent Joe into a stroke so again if anyone knows of discount sites let me know :) It has been a very fun day and it isn't even over yet!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Baby Shower Bug

So today was an awesome day! I had a fabulous morning with the kids. We just had a laid back morning playing and cleaning. I was waiting on a phone call from a friend telling me that they now knew that it was a bouncing boy or a sweet baby girl in her ever growing tummy. The kids were very excited about this phone call to but more than find out about the baby they were just excited because it meant they got to go out with one of their favorite people after the phone call. So she called (well texted cause she was at the doctors office and she had to let a lot of people know!) and so off we went to Target.

We got there early so we killed time on the toy aisle which is always fun and with the Bug's birthday next month I enjoyed watching which toys she was enjoying the most. It really amazes me how many toys from when I was little have come back now but with a "new" look. Rainbow Bright has even come back and of course my all time favorite My Little Pony! Bug is a big fan of all of them honestly I don't think she has a favorite. Caden LOVES the dinosaurs and cars that they now have and OH MY GOODNESS they have come out with dinosaur cars! He was about to have a heart attack. It was so funny LOL Anyway they were really good and only asked if they could have things a couple times and didn't even pout when I told them no. : ) My favorite part was when Casey found the display of Twlight figures and picked up the Edward doll and goes "Mommy! It's Daddy!!" I laughed so hard.

My friend found us playing on the toy aisle and then we went in search of boy baby things which was a whole lotta fun! I am so excited about this baby it isn't even funny. The kids absolutely had a great time and were thrilled they got to go out to Burger King with her too. 

So now I am planning a baby shower for a little boy (with her mom and my mom's help) and I am thinking of going with the nautical theme because that is what the baby's room is gonna be done in and my friend loves the beach and the dad loves to sale so I figure that should be perfect and I have now found so many great ideas that I might be a little addicted to the internet baby shower search sites : /   I called Heidi and she think on it too and see if she can come up with any ideas and I have a pretty good idea for invitations already that I can make...

If anyone has any ideas for surf/beach/sailboat theme baby shower stuff please pass them my way I have 2 months to put it together so really 1 month before invites need to go out YIKES

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Just one of those days

Today was just one of those days...

I should have known right way that something was gonna be off when my adorably sunny little Bug that usually gets out of bed every morning with a huge smile and a "Good morning Mommy!! Where is Daddy??" the instant she sees me, greeted me this morning with no smile and just a "is it morning yet?" When Joe said "Good morning Casey!" she just looked at him. Yep that was the mood we had today. Caden was in a good mood he just plain didn't want to listen. He was in his "I am 4 and I can correct my sister and do big kid things without asking first" mood. Gotta love that. My grandparents came over for a bit and Caden pretended to be a cat and then Casey decided it would be fun to sit on him or squish him the whole time so that was great fun. My papa and honey are great though so they don't mind at all they thought they were funny. Oh and then later while I cleaned the litter box the kids decided they would take the trash out and truly did take it out! ALL THE WAY OUT!!! Locked themselves outside Thankfully I was listening to them talking in the other room so when it went quiet I knew to go instantly so I got to the garage right as Caden shut the door but still what if I hadn't been??

We have started the Letter of The Week with Caden and of course Casey because even though she is still only 2 she is in the house and wants to be included in the schooling process. I knew Caden was going to love it but I really though Casey wasn't. She usually fights me on all the learning things I do with her but AMAZINGLY she is actually loving everything as much as Caden and doing super with it. We of course are only on the letter A and only on day 3 so it's still new and they love new things but I am enjoying it too.

Part of the school day is a bible story that has the letter of the week in it. This week is Adam and Eve. We read the story on Monday. Tuesday they re-read the story while they colored a picture of Adam and Eve in the garden. Today though was super fun. We acted out the whole thing! Caden got to be Adam, Casey was Eve and I got to be God, the snake and the angel with the fire sword that is placed at the gate. The kids loved it!!!! Casey only had one minor problem...she flat out REFUSED to "eat" the "bad fruit" when it came to that part. It was actually hilarious. Her eyes got all big and I said "Casey this is when Eve ate the fruit remember" and she started to back away from the block (which is what we were pretending was the fruit) and shaking her head. I kept asking her to take it, actually probably much like the serpant from the garden, and she kept getting more and more insistant that she couldn't do it. Finally I just asked "Casey Bug why won't you just pretend to eat the fruit?" and she says "Mommy! God says not too!!!" LOL I ended up putting the block in her hand and telling her we would just pretend she ate it and then moved on to Caden's part because he was getting rather impatient at this point and he ate the "fruit" with no problem.

So in all at the end of day 3 of our first year of homeschooling Caden now can now tell you that an antelope can be found in Africa, Asia  and North America and what it eats, what and Albotross is, recognize the word apple, alligator, and animal (pretty much he surprised me with that by the way we were reading and he pointed those out to me in the book! we had been doing site word flash cards earlier so I guess they work) and what sound an A says.

Casey...knows that and A says aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and what and A looks like LOL she also can give you the facts on the animals we studied too if she feels like it but she probably won't feel like it so I wouldn't bother asking her if I were you. Oh and she knows Eve ate the "bad fruit" but that God still loved her anyway

It was a long day I am tired pray for me with the schooling that it keeps going good. I am doing it this year for preschool just more for fun than for anything else. Next year is when we will actually start for real and I will have to register with the state and everything and make sure everything gets documented. I am documenting everything now for fun because I am weird like that and because I want to make sure when I do need to do it for real I won't panic at all because I will already know how to do it.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

sibling love

I just had to take the time to blog real quick because my kids have been just a real blessing lately. I mean they are alway a blessing but now more than other times I am really noticing. For example at this moment they are in Casey's room playing very nicely with eachother.  We have Veggie Tales Greatest Hits playing for music in the background so every once in a while Casey will come out and do a little dance around the living room then go back in. This morning they got up and we had breakfast with Joe at 6:30 before he had to leave for work. They love having breakfast with him and actually Casey picks out Joe's cereal (it alway has to be whatever she is having) the night before when she goes to bed. After Joe left for work we did some chores. The kids have chore charts with all the things they need to do on them so they set to work. Caden fed the cats and Casey fed the fish they made their beds and got dressed, brushed their teeth and then wanted to go see their grandma so we did. Of course that meant we had to go out to the chickens so out we went where my kids showed what skilled chicken catchers they are and Casey planted a big kiss on one unsuspecting chicken. It is really hot though outside so I made them come inside even though by now it was only 8:15 and we made cupcakes with Grandma then out we went again and they drove the Gator around the yard for a long time prentending to be Mommy and Daddy and I am assuming pretending to find all sorts of snakes and monsters out there because there was a lot of pointing and running back to the gator and screaming with laughter. When we came back inside we had a little cupcake party then back to our house so I could get some stuff done and like I said at the beginning they have been playing nicely sense.

They have been such good helpers and playing so well lately it is amazing. Don't get me wrong they fight like cats and dogs too. Just last night I had to inform them that if they fought at the dinner table they were being excused with out finishing and going to bed  but for the most part the fights don't last because they work it out by themselves and want to get back to playing again. I don't have to get involved in their disagreements usually and I have become less and less needed to keep them entertained. They of course still ask for me to play with them and I love it when they do but I love watching them play so well together it brings back so many memories of Heidi and I growing up. We were eachothers best friends and I want that for my kids too <3