Lost Tooth!!!

Daniel lost his first tooth today!!! 

I can’t believe my baby is growing up so fast!!!  I always find it sad when my kids start losing their teeth.  To me it seems that it is a turning point in their journey to growing up – they are leaving behind the “baby” things and starting to become kids.  But I also find it fun and exciting to see the kind of people they are turning out to be!  I know – I’m a confused mess!  But isn’t that part of parenting?  I love Daniel to death – he is funny and caring and ALWAYS tells me he loves me – no matter how grumpy I am!  He is my sweet boy and I am so blessed to be his mom!

Spring Fun!

For years Andy has dreamed of a backyard that could hold a small fire pit.  He has really missed cooking out on an open fire.  This past Black Friday I ventured out to Target and found this small fire pit. I figured it was a start and we could see if this was something that would work with a couple of small kids.

Sunday was the test firing!  Andy built a fire and we roasted hot dogs and toasted marshmallows!  It was a fun First Day of Spring thing to do!  Even though it was a bit nippy – we laughed and enjoyed the smoky smell of the wood!  It reminded us of being at PopPop and Grammy’s!  I’m looking forward to more family times like this this spring/ summer!

Matt isn’t hiding from the camera – just hiding from the smoke blowing into his face!!

Drew was there too – confined to a high chair!  He is too mobile and the fire pit isn’t too sturdy.  It was so much fun!  Loving life!!!

Learning to Read!

One of the greatest joys I get in homeschooling my kids is that I get to teach them to read!  I LOVE READING!  I would spend all my waking hours reading if I didn’t have anything else to do!  I would read instead of eat!  I have been know to stay up all night because I am engrossed in an incredible book that I just can’t put down! 

I love reading and have made it my goal to help my kids love to read as well.  Matt enjoys reading – not loves – but he does read an occasional book not related to school and has a couple of favorite series.  He likes being read to more than reading himself. 

Sarah is becoming an avid reader.  Something I thought would NEVER happen.  She couldn’t sit still long enough to learn how to read until she was in the second grade!  I panicked with that girl!  I thought for sure she was going to grow up illiterate!  But she came along and caught the reading bug.  She still prefers to “do” things rather than sit down and read for long stretches – but she does read at night and has amassed quite a list for her reading log.

Now it’s Daniel’s turn.  After teaching two kids to read I have learned to relax a bit and watch for the signs that he is ready to read.  Sometimes I feel so much pressure to have my kids “perform” at or above level – forgetting that they have their own timetable and that the wonderful thing about homeschooling is that you can cater to that time table!  So, I waited for Daniel to be ready.  He turned 5 last July and that little niggling in my head kept saying “TIME TO LEARN TO READ!” but my heart kept saying “BE PATIENT - IT WILL COME!”  Well, the past month – the light turned on!  He is a reading maniac!  He is looking everywhere for things to try and read.  He is also LOVING being read to – something he wasn’t incredibly fond of just a few months ago.  His favorite series to read now is Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant.  I love Henry and Mudge – such a great boy friendly series!  And Daniel is in love with them too!  He is really excited about using Fun Tales to help him strengthen his reading skills.  He loves reading them to Andy when he gets home from work! 

One thing I am extremely thankful for is my new laminator!  Andy got it for me for Christmas!  I am a bit of a perfectionist and really hated making word cards on index cards as they would soon be all crumpled up and a mess.  Now I can use my computer to create the word cards (because I also hate my handwriting!) and them laminate them to stay sturdy!  Daniel likes them, too!  He often pulls them out to practice reading his words!  I love this kid!!! 

Pray for all three kids as they start to wind up their school year – 11 weeks left!  We have testing next week – always a stressful time for mommy!  Pray they will do well and show what they truly know and what they need work on for the coming year!

Happy Fasnacht Day!!

Yesterday was Fasnacht Day!  I LOVE Fasnacht Day!  There is a bakery around here that makes the most amazing fasnachts for Fasnacht Day!  What’s a fasnacht?  It’s a donut – but in PA Dutch German tradition all the women would have to use up their lard and flour, etc the day before lent so it wouldn’t go bad – at least that’s the way it was explained to me as a kid.  I just remember loving the  donuts!

So yesterday was Drew’s first official experience of Fasnacht Day – and BOY did he ENJOY it!!!  Here are the pictures to prove it!

Here he is signing MORE!!  And he was doing it quite emphatically!  I think he really likes donuts!  He used to have an issue with icing – didn’t like the feel of it – I think he’s gotten over that !  It was a fun morning.  I like the little traditions we keep.

Getting Brave!!!

My baby is starting to get brave!  For the past three days he’s been testing the waters of standing on his own two feet!  And he is quite proud of himself!!!  The smile that he gets on his cute little face when he lets go and stands is just priceless!  I’ve tried to get a good picture but these were the best that I could do – he only stands for a few seconds – but I can tell the walking isn’t far behind!!!

We also have a bit of a drama king on our hands!  Whenever he is sad or unhappy about his current condition – this is what he does….

Andy calls him the incredible folding baby.  He sits and completely bends at the waist until his head is on the ground.  Very dramatic!!

We have a new “toy” that mommy loves – but baby doesn’t! 

Drew standing at the gate crying – he’s so sad!

Drew doesn’t care to be separated from mama and will stand or sit at the fence crying.  Poor baby.  I mostly got it because I am terrified that he will fall down the basement steps as the door hasn’t been completely fixed from the renovation.  Plus the cat needs to have access to the basement as that is where her food and litter box are located – so the door is often left open as the other kids just aren’t used to closing it regularly.  I also love it because I no longer have to chase Drew as he heads towards the kitchen – his favorite place to be.  It is a great gate and was a great price – much cheaper than I thought a gate this size would cost.  You can find it here.  I also love that it comes with a bag and folds up really small! 

For February I managed to get to the gym 25 out of 28 days!  Only 13 more visits until I can apply to get a reimbursement check from my health insurance!  Andy and I agreed that if we reached the goal of completing our health logs for our health insurance then we could keep the money that we get back – $150!  I am so excited!  I have no idea what I’m going to do with it – probably save it!  There is a homeschool conference in June that I am planning on attending and will probably save it for that!

The cooking for February – well…..we’ll not talk about that!  I made a lot of meals – only ate out (or take home) four times.  But several meals were those fast and easy – hotdogs or frozen chicken patties – but I did use the crock-pot a lot more and those meals were really good!  I’ll keep trying!

Visit with my sister

As many of you know, my little sister is dealing with breast cancer.  She was diagnosed last November and has been undergoing chemotherapy since late December at University of Pennsylvania Hospital.  She has been doing amazing!!!  This past Thursday was her tenth treatment and she wanted me and the kids to come and visit with her while she was getting her chemo.  The hospital ENCOURAGES visits by many different people and has no age restriction!  The kids thought this was great and were so excited to go see Aunt Lisa.  I think they were also a bit curious as to what exactly happens.  Daniel was a riot and has been super sensitive towards Aunt Lisa.  He really enjoyed getting to see what goes on – and playing with her iPhone!

The best news, however, was finding out that there is no longer any detectable mass!!  YAY!!!  The doctors are quite pleased with how well she has been responding to treatment.  She has two more treatments in this phase and then four more in the second phase.  She will then have surgery June 2nd and have the entire summer to recuperate (she is a P.E. teacher for a public school).  Please continue to pray for her, that she would continue to respond well to treatment, for strength as she is getting tired more easily at this point (to be expected) and that the surgery would go well.  More importantly continue to pray for her heart to be moved towards God and to rely upon him for strength.

January Recap

I had two major goals for the month of January – to cook more dinners at home and to get to the gym more often than not.  With the gym, I did GREAT!!!  Out of the 31 days I went 28 of them!  The three I missed were generally due to the weather.  I really enjoy going to the gym – even though I have to get up when it is still dark outside!!  But I love the quiet of the morning and getting my body and brain going.  I especially like the reading that I can do while I am on the elliptical! 

If you remember a couple of posts ago I posted my menu for the month of January.  I know you couldn’t read it – but I put it up to be held accountable.  I learned a lot about myself and cooking last month.  The biggest thing I learned is that when I plan and “know” what I am making – cooking goes a lot smoother.  Another thing I learned is I really HATE trying new recipes.  It takes me FOREVER to put a meal together when I am just learning – and with a one-year old crawling around and getting into everything – it’s hard for me to focus that long.  This month also happened to turn into a crazy month with a lot of unexpected events taking place.  In the end I managed to cook 26 out of 31 meals.  Some of those eat out meals were planned – but three of them weren’t – they were “I’m too stressed to cook with everything that is going on today – SAVE ME!” meals!  I still hate cooking but it’s getting easier to handle when I plan.

I also had a few little goals – like keep caught up with the laundry and try to de-clutter a specific area in the house.  This month I focused on my bedroom.  The one big thing that was cluttering our room was Drew!  He has been in our room since birth and it was time for him to MOVE OUT!  The problem was – where to put him.  Sarah has her own room and we thought about putting him in there – she really wanted him there!  But she’s an 11 year old girl and will be wanting her “space” before too long.  The boys room isn’t really big enough for three of them – but that’s where he ended up.  We just moved his pack-n-play into the room and it seems to be working out pretty well.  Matt was white hot mad when we first did it.  He REALLY wants his own room – but there is no other bedroom.  And we aren’t moving!!!  After all the work we have put into this house – and the knowledge that we have done our best to protect this house from further bedbug invasions – I can’t imagine moving.  Sometime in the future we may have to rearrange people – but right now things are okay.  What we are really praying for – and this is a HUGE DREAM on my part – is that the house next door to us would go up for sale and we’d be able to purchase it.  The people that live in it now aren’t staying in there because they can’t afford the heat – they have moved in with other family.  We kind of hinted we’d be interested in purchasing – if it came to them selling.  I’m praying and God knows what is best for us – but it sure would make life a little easier with that much more space!!!  As far as the rest of the de-cluttering of my bedroom – it’s a work in progress!  It’s getting there – and hopefully by the end of this month it will look decent.  The laundry is a never-ending source of contention with me – it just NEVER gets done!  But at least I’m getting into the mode of doing at least two loads everyday.  Winter clothes are the worst because they are so heavy and bulky.  Summer can’t come fast enough!

Well, that’s January.  It has taken me FOREVER to get this blog post up.  Life just doesn’t seem to be slowing down.  But my new goal for February is to start blogging more regularly again.  I know a few people have been missing it.  Thanks for the prayers!  I really need them!