Ahhh, sweet routine returns.

So, my 'theory' that I'd have more time to blog while we were "tracked out" was so far off base, I definitely need to rethink that hypothesis. Also, our track out was supposed to last 3 weeks, and instead lasted 6. Ooops. Life happened.

We were planning on starting back on the 2nd of January, that didn't happen, but I can't remember why. So, I thought "Ok, we'll start back on the 7th." Then, my sister was scheduled to be induced on the 7th with her fourth baby. Ok, maybe we could fit something in on the 8th? Well, her labor lasted an entire 30 hours (poor poor girl)...and Tristen Cole wasn't born until late the afternoon of the 8th. So scratch the 8th too. My MIL was coming in early on the 9th-to be here for the baby's birthday, and well it's just about impossible to get school done with grandma Betty here, because we only see her once (twice if we're really LUCKY) a year, and the girls are just over the moon to see her! And, she really likes to shop so we were out almost every day she was here. She left on the 15th, and well, I really still needed to plan, so I decided we'd start back today.

I don't know when I've been so relieved (maybe right after Tristen came into the world?, no that was when my SISTER was relieved)! I'm so ready to get back into the 'normal' routine of things in our house again. Since Wednesday I've been SUPER busy because being the insane woman that I am I decided to WRITE A CURRICULUM. I found a book at the library called "How to Write a Low Cost/No Cost Curriculum for your home school child" by Borg Hendrickson. And, since I had already been thinking I needed to make sure I was checking off my p's and q's (this is more important the older my kids get) and checking what I thought we should learn against the NC Standard Course of Study I figured...well, I sort of write my own curriculum already. I have a collection of books we use, and I make up our lesson plans as I go along, so really this is just a formal extension of what we were already doing. It will be good to have in the future, I suppose. I'm not all the way done, I need to add activities that go along with the objectives, but I have all the Goals and Objectives for the rest of the year in place (thanks largely to the NC Standard Course of Study website). Now I just need to add in some things that are running around in my head as ways to meet those goals.

Now, also during our track out time we discovered that my sweet baby boy has food allergies. Tree nuts and peanuts. Ugh. We already knew he had an allergy to strawberries and banana's, but those are much easier to avoid than tree nuts and peanuts! You wouldn't believe-once you start checking labels-how many things are processed in facilities where nuts are also present. It's a new challenge to have to find things for him to eat that aren't made with any products that have been processed in those places. UGH. Also, as an added bonus, I'm pretty sure he is either lactose intolerant, or has a dairy sensitivity. More fun! The introduction to whole milk has not gone well, and he has some other symptoms when he eats yogurt (which he LOVES...going to try some soy yogurt this week).

We have lots of extra-curricular this week too! Bowling league, a nature class, dance class, basketball game and practice, girl scouts, and hopefully we'll be exchanging a "Flat Traveler" with Heather's family. We'll also find some time to do this weeks Unplug Your Kids project.

Our school lessons will include units on Dr. Martin Luther King, and other civil rights leaders. I can't wait to share this project with you all, when they've finished it. Here is the project we'll be doing. They Had a Dream Too. We'll be using both the Internet and the library to collect our information, and then build our projects. We're also going to be talking about Water Conservation for our science unit, and learning about water density and buoyancy in our experiment. This is a fitting unit as we really need to conserve as much water as we possibly can, considering we are in the worst drought in recorded history.

I think that's all for now. I hope I'll share more later this week!

My Baby is ONE!

Baby B was born on January 11th, 2007 at 1:34 am. He weighed 9 lbs and 1 oz, and was 20 1/2 inches long. Now, at one he weighs almost 25 lbs, and is 28 inches. He also has 14 teeth (misery I tell you, misery!)

Watch him grow...a year in pictures.

Only a few hours old:








1 month:

2 months:

3 months:

4 months:

5 months:



6 months:




7 months:






8 months:








9 months:





10 months:









11 months:










And, a current one (right after his first haircut!):





Party pics coming this weekend!!

What a wonderful year it has been, I look forward to watching you continue to grow and learn, my sweet baby boy! Happy Birthday to you!

My big girls banged up face

Here she is....the pictures really don't do any justice to how bad she looked!



She scratched her face from hairline to mouth, busted her lip wide enough that it really should have had a stitch in it, and chipped both of her front permanent teeth. It looks a lot better today, and she doesn't seem to be in any pain-which is fantastic.

Whew! What a day!

Yesterday was blissful, and fun, and exhausting!

We have so much STUFF now....and trust me, we had enough STUFF before! LOL

The girls were over the moon over many of their gifts, which made my husband and I very happy (its nice to get them things they will really enjoy, and won't be tossed aside quickly). I handpicked every gift they got from my mom...so those were all big hits as well! :-) I know my kids.

The biggest hits...a ball popper for the baby. Man, he loves that thing. A new X-games bike for my 8 yr old and a shopping spree for my 9 yr old.

Here are a few pictures:

This is SO Awesome! (I love this shot)

Here is my 8 yr old with her stuffed Yoda doll that my 9 yr old made for her.

Here is my 9 yr old with a new tradition we started this year, Rice Krispie Treat Christmas Tree's...they were very fun, and the kids all loved it!

As for me, and my AMAZING husband. I got a LAPTOP! It's AWESOME, and will allow me to spend more time on the computer, as my desktop is in our bedroom...and not easily accessible when the kids are all up because, well I can't sit in the back of the house locked in my room. But, now, I will be able to do things even when they are all up because I can be in the same room with them (provided they are all happily involved in other activities that don't require my assistance) and still be on here. Like right now, the girls are happily watching High School Musical 2 (a present from one to the other) as I type-the baby is happily napping.

I started a new blog as well, specifically dedicated to baby/toddler activities. Waterfront Preschool, not much going on just yet. I plan on starting more there in the coming week. Hopefully, I also need to prepare for the big consignment sale next week though, AND for the upcoming weeks for the girls. So, we'll see! I have one week already planned for the little man, but I will need to post it.

My younger daughters birthday!

Here are just a few pictures from her party, which we had back on the 8th. Her actual birthday is this week, but waiting so close to Christmas usually means none of her friends are able to make it for her party. She had her party at the bowling alley where she bowls with her bowling league. It was a lot of fun!

Her Transformers cake!

Track out Week 2

Oh what a difference a week makes! While the weather last week was WARM and spring like, this week, this is what the kids have looked like outside:





Here are the pictures from Gingerbread House Day (last Wednesday):

And, this weeks Unplug your kids project, yarn!

These are yarn ornaments. We basically painted them with watered down glue, and let them sit to dry on the wax paper. My girls REALLY coated them with glue, and they still aren't dry. I'll post pics of the completed ornaments when I can peel them off the waxed paper! LOL

I've been feeling super busy lately, but I don't feel like I'm actually getting much done! With Winter Solstice approaching, I have lots I WANT to get done, but it seems like I'm barely treading water. We need to bake cookies for our Girl Scout meeting (we're doing a cookie exchange), and I need to gather things together to make a Yule wreath. We'll also be baking more cookies on Saturday (which happens to be my daughter's 8th birthday as well!!).

OH wait, before I forget! My daughter wants me to post that she did 1225 consecutive jumps on the pogo stick yesterday! She is quite proud of this accomplishment and asked if I could "put it on the page with the pictures on the internet" aka, our school blog! LOL So, there, I've put it on the page with the pictures on the internet.

Track Out Week 1!

We are "tracked out". Basically, we're done with school until the first of the year. We're following a year round schedule, and it's nice to have that all planned out by following the public school calendar. Of course, we don't follow it to the letter, but it's a nice guide.

Anyway, this week we decided to do the Unplug Your Kids challenge. The theme was "nature" and our NC weather couldn't have cooperated any better! Record high temperatures have made it feel like late spring in December! Here are a few pictures from Monday's nature time.

Who's tired???

His new favorite game....what can I see if I look THIS way?

What are THESE???

I took a bunch of pictures of the girls building a gingerbread house yesterday, being as it was Gingerbread House Day (thanks Kate!). But, I don't have time to upload those right now....never enough time! So, another day......