First Library Cards!

I took all three kids to get their first library cards (well Alyssa's second...) The kids were so excited, but Schaumburg Library is so big, it was more hectic than relaxing! The kids weren't allowed to be out of my sight or there was a librarian right on top of them. I am looking forward to going during the day when maybe it isn't so crowded.
Of course Maizie lost her card while we were there. I'm hoping they find it. I looked for quite awhile, even went back without the kids. The picture is priceless, since she is throwing a temper tantrum in the picture! (Like I've said before she's recently decided that she doesn't like to have her picture taken!)
Here are some pictures for fun!

Alyssa getting her picture taken!

Casten getting his picture taken

Maizie getting her picture taken!

Just to prove she's cute sometimes! LOL!

Everyone showing off their cards and certificates!

Alyssa's certificate!

hi ho hi ho it's off to work we go!

Yesterday we had a good day of workbooks. The kids sat and worked quickly through it all! I am trying to decide what to do with Casten and his math. He can easily do addition and subtraction (almost as well as Lyssi!) but he doesn't recognize numbers higher than 10! He can count to 50, he just doesn't know what the numbers LOOK like! LOL! He gets bored with learning numbers, but he really likes connect the dots so I think I'll continue to give him some of those and try a number a day until he gets to 20. He loves to do work with his sister and he learns so quickly!

Maizie is starting to get into doing table time! So now I'm going to have to make sure I have things for her to do. She especially loves sitting on my lap looking at books!

My big sleepy heads are still in bed. We should start our school day in about 2 hours!

What a weekend!

We had a garage sale on Friday and Saturday. We did pretty well, I was impressed! The kids had a blast and were pretty well behaved for the most part! Saturday night I let them go pick out one new toy with their money since they were so good at getting rid of toys!
Yesterday we went to the Schaumburg Flyers Basball game. It was pretty fun! We went with a pretty big group, which made it quite fun! Uncle Bill bought the kids all ice cream and after the game they got to run around the bases! The big kids were too fast for me to get pictures of, but Maizie stayed right by me so we got some of her!

Brianna, Casten, Trenton and Alyssa

Me, walking all the kids inside!

Casten and Brianna

Casten, Alyssa and Trenton

A VERY messy Maizie

My Billian (AKA Lilly)

Maizie running the bases!

All of the kids on the field! Lilly, Lyssi, Maizie, Trenton, Casten and Brianna

We are getting back into the swing of things this week. Everyone is healthy and we are ready to get back on track! We'll be focusing more on basics this week. We'll also learn about desert habitats, learn a bit more about Illinois and Schaumburg and be studying Noah for Bible study!

Our toothless wonder!

Alyssa lost her other front tooth tonight! I let her stay up and wait for Jay to get back from his final so he could pull it out. She looks so funny because there is no other tooth there to fill in the space! All her other teeth were almost in before she lost the baby one! (of course my SharkGirl actually has her tooth coming in already, it's just not really noticable yet! This by far was our easiest tooth to get out!

Maizie is feeling much better today. The swelling has gone down and the redness hasn't spread too much. She also is fever free! Thankfully it all worked out!

Life is never boring with Maizie!

Maizie woke up from her nap feeling a little warm. Lyssi has been a little sick lately with a very low fever we didn't think anything of it, until she complained about her foot. We looked and her left foot was twice the size of her right foot!
We ended up going to the ER. When we got there her fever was 102.1! We were there FOREVER and of course she screamed and fought whenever ANYONE came into the room. They took blood and we had to fight to get her to take some oral antibiotics (despite the fact I asked for her to get a shot or IV. As traumatic as it would be, it would be faster and easier than getting her to take them orally. We'd also know she actually got the whole dose in her!) Turns out she has Cellutitis, a skin infection. It's from her scratching a misquito bite.

They let us go home conditionally. He felt that she could go home tonight since she had her first dose of antibiotic there. We have to take her to see her doctor tomorrow (today actually...since it's after midnight) to see what they think of the swelling/redness. If it gets much worse they will have to admitt her and give her IV antibiotics.

Prayers for her healing are appreciated!!!!!!

Letterboxing

This morning we went out with our homeschool group and went on a Letterboxing adventure. The kids had a great time. It fit in well with our science because we are learning about animal habitats. I didn't know exactly where in the forest we were going, but was pleasantly surprised when we went right by the elk they have there. It was great to see them so close!

Letterboxing was pretty neat. Lyssi is really excited to do it! We were with such a large group and we weren't sure what we were doing so we just kind of followed the crowd, but I feel ready to start doing it on our own! You can find more info at http://www.atlasquest.com/

All together our group found 4 stamps. We only got 3 of them on our book, but it was fun!

We ended up having to go home shortly after finding the last stamp. Lyssi isn't feeling 100%. Hopefully a little rest will help her out! We'll be attempting workbooks this afternoon!

Just for fun so Maizie doesn't feel left out! She had a bunch of fun, she made some new friends, and sat very well in her stroller. She has recently decided she doesn't like having her picture taken...

Nehemiah

Currently at church Pastor Tim (PT)  is preaching from Nehemiah. Yesterday was our first day back at church after taking 2 1/2 months off (I was greeted by 22 two year olds in my 9 AM class!) I was glad I ended up going. This week's sermon was on integrity. I will admit the first half of the sermon didn't hold my attention. Not sure why, but I just couldn't focus. It wasn't until PT started reading Nehemiah 6:3..."so I sent messengers to them with this reply: 'I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?' " This was Nehemiah's response to his enemies when they asked to meet on nuetral ground, on the plain of Ono. He knew they were schemening to harm him.
This really stuck out in my mind. Sometimes you have to say no, I'm working on a great project. PT's sermon went on to make me realize the great project God has given me. There is no doubt in my mind that God is leading us to homeschool. I know that this is what he wants for our family. Why or what he has in store, I can't even venture to guess. My great project is my family. My amazing children that He has entrusted me to raise and help them become what he has planned for them!
This is where integrity comes in. We need to say "Oh no to Ono!" LOL! (PT said that was what everyone would remember from the sermon) We need to stay with the vision for our family. We need to stay strong and stick with the course we've planned despite people that may not agree with what we are doing or our doubts on our ability to follow His plan. We need  know when to say no to outside activities and distractions. We also need to focus on the strength of our marriage the stronger Jay and I stand together the stronger our family will be. The five of us is what we need to focus on. Make sure we are following God's plan for us!
We appreciate the support most of you are giving us. I'd also like to ask for you to continue to pray for our family as we are working to realize this vision!

Now we are off to meet with our homeschool group! LOL!

Privacy

Due to some unwanted visitors in the last few days I've set my blog to be private temporarily. Sorry for any confusion!

Yesterday we met with our new homeschool group. The kids had a blast. We went to the water playground. I was very pleased when Casten made friends with one of the little boys in the group! Alyssa was playing a bit with the girls in the group, then her friend Jenny from school showed up, and that was the end of that!   I was excited to see her though! Lyssi has been pretending to talk to her on the phone the last week or so!

Today we are taking Jay to work, we need the car. We are going to visit with Grandma, go to my work, and the library. Later tonight I'm meeting with some moms from our group! Should be a fun day!

Things we need

I'm looking at a lot of different activities and lessons and really could use some old magazines. We don't read any so logically we don't have any to use! If you could save some of yours to share with us, we'd really appreciate it!

Also, our new homeschool co-op is collecting box tops, Capri Sun and Honest Kids juice pouches and nested yogurt cups (ones that will stack into each other, not yoplait like ones!) This will help fund our activities, and bring down the cost for tuition!

Thank you so much for your support!!!

Painting!

So this afternoon we did our painting, but little else. Casten and I are on our way to do our reading before I make dinner. We gave the kids a prolonged quiet time it just seemed needed!
I realized this afternoon that many people might think I'm blogging quite a bit, and I am. I just find it nice to sit down at lunch time and recap what we did in the morning and brainstorm on what needs to be done that afternoon. It's helpful to me, and I hope you all enjoy it! Plus I feel it gives a bit of accountability. I don't want to come on here and type I was too lazy today to do anything with the kids. Hopefully we catch up tomorrow! LOL!
So the painting this afternoon went well. We made the plants on the ground, the sun and birds in the sky and fish in the sea!
Here are some pictures of Alyssa's painting

This is her tree with a nest and a blue bird balancing her eggs on her head!

This is her Buluga whale (her favorite animal...tied with a zebra!) and a dolphin. The little creatures are sea horses!

Casten's painting

A flower and a tree

This is a picture of his HUGE sea creature

The brown is a fancy sea horse with lots of eggs :)

His Birds