Our Christmas Show 2008

I decided that this year we would do a Christmas show. We worked from Thanksgiving to December 21st on 5 different songs. We sang Christmas Time is Here (from Charlie Brown Christmas), we sang Jingle Bells and jingled bells with it, we sang Away in a Manger and did American Sign Language with it, we sang Silent Night and also did American Sign Language with it and we also sang We Wish you a Merry Christmas at the end as we handed out little gifts to our audience (my parents, Steve's mom, my brother and his son Riley, Steve's sister and her two children Aaron and Julie). For the first two songs, the kids were dressed as carolers with sweaters, mittens and scarves on, then we went and changed into homemade Mary and Joseph costumes while Daddy read Luke 2 to the audience. Then we finished the show in those costumes. I also made a movie of still pictures from last Christmas to the song O Holy Night and we watched that on the t.v. I was really proud of my babies and how much effort they put into the show and how much they really tried to do a good job!! I loved it and I think our family did as well!! It's definitely a memorable event in our homeschooling journey!!



Here they are dressed as Mary and Joseph ( I used a combo of sheets, pillowcases and towels to accomplish these looks!!), they also had a baby Jesus in a "manger" at their feet but it's not in the picture.

And here they are dressed as carolers with their hats, scarves, mittens and sweaters. I also gave them red folders so they looked more like a real caroler!! I thought it turned out pretty cute!!

We also shared a delicious lasagna dinner complete with homemade peach cobbler. I was very pleased with how the dinner and the show turned out!! I'm not sure if this will happen every year, but I'm glad we did it this time!!

Impending Storm = Impending Fun!!!

I was looking through my pictures tonight and found this one. I just thought it looked really cool with the big dark clouds and the ocean. And Abby (and Noah's behind) of course!!! Anyway, just thought I'd share!!

Our Disney Trip in Review (September 2008)

Here's a few pics (I took over 1200) from our Disney Trip in September.


Noah and Abby brought Donald and Daisy shirts, so we made sure to find them while they were wearing them!!

This is from Teppan Edo the Japanese restaurant in EPCOT. I had never been to a Japanese restaurant before and didn't know what to expect. This is the kind where they cook the food right in front of you. It was so much fun and the food was outstanding!! I loved it and the kids did too!! We're definitely going back next time!!

This giraffe sneaked up on us during our Kilimanjaro Safari at the Animal Kingdom. We turned a corner and it was right there beside our truck!! We did three different safari's during our trip and all of them were amazing. It's one of my very favorite rides at all of Walt Disney World. We were so close to the rhinos, you could count their nose hairs!! Well maybe not that close, but it seemed like it!!

This is from the Sci-Fi Drive in Theater Restaurant at Disney Studios. This was also our first time eating there and it was lots of fun. The kids loved being in the front of the car for dinner while me and Daddy "rode" in the back!! The food was just ok, but I would definitely do it again for how cool it was. We watched old clips of movies on a big screen just like a drive in. It was a hoot!!

This happened during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Pluto was dancing and Abby and Noah danced with him. They were dressed as Lilo and Stitch. I made Abby's dress, I think it turned out pretty well!!

This was also during the Halloween party, but at our dinner. We ate at the Liberty Tree Tavern and all the staff was made up for Halloween. I loved how spooky our server looked and asked her for a picture with the kids. I'm not sure she gets that request very often because she seemed a little surprised!! I think the picture turned out kind of cool though!!

This was on Abby's Birthday. I decided to take her to the My Disney Girl Tea Party at the Grand Floridian Resort. She and I dined on little finger foods and sandwiches, tea (she had apple juice) and the most delicious cake I've ever had. We had stories told from Rose Petal (a lady who used to be a rose in the King's garden) and Princess Aurora (Abby's favorite princess) arrived and visited with all the girls. She took home a My Disney Girl doll dressed as Princess Aurora, a little bracelet, a tiara and a beautiful pink rose. It was a magical way to spend her birthday and I think she was very surprised!!

And this was the kiddies riding Aladdin's Magic Carpets at the Magic Kingdom. Don't they look cute in their glasses!!

Trunk N Treat

This was at our church's Trunk N Treat yesterday. Abby is a dalmation and Noah is a Captain Rex (from Star Wars). Abby's costume needed a little feminin-ing up, so I added pink bows to the ears, a pink collar and big fancy eyelashes so it was no mistaking that she was a girl dog!! Aren't they cute!!!

I love this time of year.

We made our annual trip out to Berger Farm in Newtown. This is the 4th year we've done it now and I just love going out there! We waited until the weather "felt" like fall and I'm so glad we did. It was just perfect!

Abby is 6!

My baby is six!! Her party was on a day we'll never forget. Not just because it was her Birthday party, but also because it was the day that Hurricane Ike hit Ohio!! Only about half of our guests could make it and we had her party without power or air conditioning!! Luckily we were able to still grill dinner (that's after the wind tossed our grill off the deck!!) and even Abby said it was the best party ever. You know, it is kind of nice to just sit down with a few of your favorite people, in the quiet of no electricity and just talk and laugh and have fun. I do feel like it was one of our best parties and we didn't play any kiddie games or anything like that. We just enjoyed each other's company. There's something to be said for that.



Happy Birthday Beater Monkey, we love you!!!

A Year of a Million Dreams

We got lucky enough to receive the special Mickey ears while riding Star Tours at the Disney Studios. Everyone on our ride received them. Everyone cheered and was very excited!! Now during this celebration we have received the Dream Fastpasses (Disneyland), the Ears (Disney Studios) and the Dream Lanyards and Pins (Animal Kingdom). Thanks Disney!!!

Atlantic Ocean

This is Noah and Abby in the Atlantic Ocean. Now, within 7 months they have played in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I love sharing this country with them. They seem to love it too.

My boy

This picture just melts my heart.  I love that dear boy!

Chick Fil-A

We went to Chik Fil-A today for the big event where you dress up like a cow and get free food.  It was so much fun.  The three of us dressed up and I was really surprised to see so many people who actually did it too!!  We got free kids meals and a combo meal, free balloons and they took our picture and gave us a copy.  I'm glad we did it.  It was lots of fun!

Us

Well, just in case anyone still checks this blog, I thought I'd give a quick update.  We're having a very busy, but fun summer.  Noah's team won the championship this year.  That was pretty exciting.  We went to Gatlinburg for the 4th of July weekend.  We rode horses (that's where the picture was taken), stayed up for the 12:01am 4th of July parade, fished for trout, caught crawdads, drove through the mountains and visited with about 20 other family members.  It was an awesome weekend.  My mom's 50th Birthday is coming up this month.  We have some things planned for that.  But just in case she reads this, I"m not divulging the details!  We have VBS not next week, but the week after.  We have tickets for a Reds game in early August.  My nephew Riley turns 2 next month.  He now calls me "mimi"!  I love it!!  He's such a joy in our lives!!  We have about 70 days until our Disney trip.  We decided to extend it a few days and now will be there 11 days.  We're very excited and looking forward to it.  We're also planning a stop on our way down to a local beach so that within one year our kids will have been to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans!  We're still working on our costume ideas for the Halloween party in Disney.  Who knows what we'll come up with.  I'm working hard to get the planning done for the next school year.  We've decided to go more year round than just the traditional summer off approach.  We enjoy the weather and activities much more in the fall and spring, so we decided we'd have at least a month off in each of those seasons.  We haven't finalized the calendar yet, but I'm excited about that.  I mean, who says learning can only happen between August and May??  My goal is to have all the plans done, all the activities planned and all the crafts and worksheets ready to go, and organized so that it will make my day run a lot smoother.  Hopefully I can get it all ready.  Well that's about it.  Have a great July!

Noah playing baseball

Noah's still playing baseball.  His team has one game left this weekend.  They have lost only 1 game so far.  Next week is the tournament and then it will be over.  He loves it.  

Abby's Dance Recital 2008

Abby had her dance recital on June 8th.  She did very well.  She was very excited about it.  She said she was a little nervous before she went out.  Everyone was so proud of her and gave her flowers again this year.  Her song was All I Do is Dream of You from Singing in the Rain.  It was very cute!

Abby's first tooth

Abby lost her first and second teeth in May.  She cried like she had lost an arm instead of a tooth. As you can see in the picture, she is still a little distraught.  She has how ever gotten better at whistling now.

Reds Game

We went to the Reds game May 31st.  We went with my parents and my brothers family.  We all had a wonderful time.  It was beach towel day, so we all got beach towels.  Jay Bruce hit his first home run that day.  Ken Griffey Jr. hit homerun number 599.  The Reds won.  It was an awesome game.  We bought tickets to come back in August.  That should be lots of fun.

Sharing a thoughtful post

Well I have tons to blog about, but it takes me forever and a day to post pictures on here and only half of the time I try to post pictures does it actually work, so I'm not crazy about trying it right now. We have a lot going on and I'm just "not in the mood" to post about our daily life stuff. So anyway, I thought I'd post this post I saw from one of my favorite bloggers. She has two blogs. One here and one here. This is from the second blog. I know it'll definitely fire some of you up, but as the second commenter brings up, why does it anger so many so much?? I'm going to moderate the comments on this one, because I do not want a repeat of what happened before. Enjoy:

THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2008

Should Christians Send Their Kids to Public School?
Since we've been talking about which issues in a Christian's life are "sin" issues, and which ones are left open to interpretation, I am curious about your thoughts on Christians sending their children to public school.

Anyone who has read my other blog very long knows how I feel about this one. And even though I know Christians who send their children to ps, I can't get past, what to me, is a heap of biblical evidence--inference, if I may--that Christians should not be sending their children into such a place for the better part of the day.

Of course there isn't a verse that forbids it, since there was nothing of the sort during biblical times; and comparing the Jewish schools of the day--well it's no comparison.

So we're left with what the Bible does say about a parent's responsibility, and about receiving counsel from the ungodly.

Education philosophers, themselves, have admitted to ushering in the "religion" of secular humanism. So, can Christians, who have been given the command to teach their children the things of God, transfer the education of these children into the hands of a system that hates Him?

Most parents would argue that their school isn't "bad"...or, they know their child's teacher...or they're really involved in everything that goes on.

Even if they felt confident there was nothing inherently "bad" being taught to their children, wouldn't the principle still be strong enough to warrant heed?

More to come...but I would be particularly interested in your defense of this idea.
POSTED BY WORD WARRIOR AT 7:44 PM
3 COMMENTS:

Kim M. said...
I am boiling over this one. My sister who is a business major at a secular community college sent me this "discussion question" from her COMPUTER SCIENCE class in college. Computer science???? I think they teach these teachers to bring this stuff up in every class... Brainwashing!!!! The feminist agenda is sickening!

What do you think?

Here it is:

This is my third discussion question from my COMPUTER SCIENCE class!!

A third area of moral psychology focuses on whether there is a distinctly female approach to ethics that is grounded in the psychological differences between men and women. Discussions of this issue focus on two claims: (1) traditional morality is male-centered, and (2) there is a unique female perspective of the world which can be shaped into a value theory. According to many feminist philosophers, traditional morality is male-centered since it is modeled after practices that have been traditionally male-dominated, such as acquiring property, engaging in business contracts, and governing societies. The rigid systems of rules required for trade and government were then taken as models for the creation of equally rigid systems of moral rules, such as lists of rights and duties. Women, by contrast, have traditionally had a nurturing role by raising children and overseeing domestic life. These tasks require less rule following, and more spontaneous and creative action. Using the woman's experience as a model for moral theory, then, the basis of morality would be spontaneously caring for others as would be appropriate in each unique circumstance. On this model, the agent becomes part of the situation and acts caringly within that context. This stands in contrast with male-modeled morality where the agent is a mechanical actor who performs his required duty, but can remain distanced from and unaffected by the situation. A care-based approach to morality, as it is sometimes called, is offered by feminist ethicists as either a replacement for or a supplement to traditional male-modeled moral systems.

JUNE 12, 2008 11:26 PM
Erin said...
I am a big fan of Voddie Baucham so you can guess where my vote falls. ;-)

Something that strikes me as interesting is how offended other Christians can get when its stated that an "extra-Biblical" idea might actually have some grounding in God's Word afterall. People get very angry, or make accusations of legalism, judgement, etc. Where does this anger stem from? When someone challenges my convictions from a Biblical standpoint, I do not get angry - I search out the Word to see if there is any truth to what's been shared with me. If there is, then it gives me something to pray about and discuss with my husband. If there isn't, I just move on with my life. Why so much offense? Could it be that there is insecurity, a hint of doubt, a nudge of the Holy Spirit? Something I've been pondering alot lately.

JUNE 13, 2008 3:44 AM
Kathy, Jeff's Wife said...
If in Deuteronomy we are commanded to teach our children as we walk, sit and stand along side them, how in the world can we do that if they are rarely with us? By the time they finish the day at school, attend sports, music, clubs, etc... how much time is left for the parent's responsibility to teach?

In the public school system a child must conform to what the government text books say; it does not matter if it is right or wrong, just fill in the blank with 'their' answer and you pass.

Wonder why the literacy rates have dropped as much as they have since we started mandatory attendance of school?

One thing I often ask people is, "Do you trust the government to do the right thing with your tax dollars?" Which the answer usually is, "No". "So why trust your children to them?"

JUNE 13, 2008 6:36 AM

The rest of the story

Our weekend turned out really nice.  After our wonderful Saturday, Sunday we got up and went to church and then went out to Krazy City in the Tri-County Mall.  We went in and bought our points and then went to Skyline for lunch.  We went back and played games and rode rides for a few hours.  The kids loved it.  I haven't laughed as hard as when the kids rode the dropping style ride.  Oh their faces were hilarious!!  They loved it and rode it a second time.  The also loved the Tornado!!  We played mini golf and bowled and we won lots of tickets in the games.  It was lots of fun.  After that we went home and Steve downloaded Enchanted on his Xbox and we watched that in our theater.  I didn't enjoy that movie very much.  Some of the themes were just not what we encourage in our home.  But it was something "Abby wanted to see, so we watched it.  Then we had our usual Sunday dinner of spaghetti.  

Monday we stayed home until lunch time.  Then we ate a quick lunch and went to Ikea so I could get some storage tubs, they have the best price on tubs for kids rooms.  Then we went to see Prince Caspian in the theater.  We finished the book Monday morning.  I have to say, that this movie was a whole lot different than the book.  The first movie had a few differences here and there, but this movie was very different.  In fact, if you have seen the movie or plan to, I would suggest reading the book, because so much is left out in the movie.  I don't know how people can follow the movie without knowing all the things that happen in the book.  I was a little disappointed with that.  Especially since they added a whole other battle scene to the movie that was not in the book, instead of maybe adding more of the actual story.  The movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes long, but I didn't feel it at all.  I did enjoy the movie, but I liked the book much better!

I think we're going to take a break from Narnia for a little while and I think we're going to read Treasure Island next.  We do want to finish the Narnia series though, there's 7 books total and we have 3 more to go.  I just want to change it up a bit now.  

So anyway, after the movie, we came home and Steve took the kids down to the theater and they watched a Star Wars movie and I went to CVS and Kroger and then came home and we had dinner.  It was a very nice weekend, I'm sad it's already over!!  I can't wait for the 4th of July weekend, we're going to Gatlinburg for Steve's family's get together!!  Very exciting!  

Our Saturday

Today we started our holiday weekend with a day at the park. We visited a park about 20 minutes away. The park is kind of small and they were doing some sort of frisbee golf tournament in one part of the park, but there was this huge field surrounded by trees, with a playground at one end, that was virtually empty. We laid out a blanket on one side in the shade, had a yummy lunch, played a little baseball, the kids played on the playground, and Daddy read to us from our Prince Caspian book. It was so quiet and peaceful and just wonderful. The weather was so great too. Just when the sun started to get too warm, a nice cool breeze would come by and cool you off. We really had a great time there. Then we drove about 5 minutes away from there to Ft. Ancient Indian Memorial Park. We walked a couple of the trails, one that was very steep down and back up. That was a tough hike!! We saw beautiful views and the Little Miami River. That park was nearly empty too. It was kind of nice to have these wonderful places to ourselves!! After that we came home and grilled hamburgers for dinner, then everyone took a bath and now the kiddies are sound asleep. It was a wonderful day. Hopefully tomorrow and Monday will be just as nice!!

This is the view from one of the trails at Ft. Ancient.  In the way back you can kind of see a bridge.  That's I-71.  It was a beautiful view!

The kids climbed up a big ladder and I took their picture!!

Daddy reading to us!!

Abby practicing with the big red bat!!

I love this picture because at the same time, Noah is catching the ball Daddy threw him and Abby hit the wiffle ball with the big red bat and it flew across my field of vision!!

Noah's turn with the big red bat!!

Our picnic lunch!

T

An update

Well the new blog is coming along nicely.  I just hope I'm able to put up enough deals to keep people happy!!  This week I gave too many away here on this blog and I'm having a hard time finding new ones to put up!!  Oh well, from now on, I'll know better!!  

I'm also trying to finish up my garage sale items.  I have about 75% priced and ready to go.  Just a few more to go.  I hope I can bring in at least $100.  That's my goal and considering, I'm counting the $40 I sold a stroller to Sonya for, I'm almost half way there!!!  

Poor Noah, he's had 2 games already cancelled for rain, and it looks like tonights will be too.  Now he has a game on Saturday and then a make up game on Sunday and who knows when this one will be made up.  His team is still undefeated though!  They had a really close game this past Saturday.  It was only 5-4 and the other team was ahead most of the game.  But they pulled it out in the end.  

Mother's Day was very nice.  Well on Saturday, we had our parents over for dinner.  I ended up getting them both a nice flower (a rose bush for my mom, and a potted plant for Steve's mom), and I made them photo books at CVS with pictures of their kids and grandkids, with words written by us.  They loved those.  I also gave them goody bags filled with my coupon finds.  I only gave them those as a little extra, not actually the gift.  It was a very nice dinner and everyone was very pleased with their gifts.  On Sunday, I woke up to my babies shouting Happy Mothers Day and then presenting me with their homemade cards.  Wow, their cards  blew me away.  Abby's had a picture of me and her on two seperate boats and we were both sad and then on the other side, we were in one boat together and very happy.  She thought of that on her own, I thought it was so creative!!  Noah's had me and him, wearing shirts in our favorite colors, standing together with a big heart between us, and he put "To the best mom in the whole world" on the front.  He dotted the i's with hearts.  I just thought they were both so creative and cute!!  When Daddy took them shopping, a miracle occured, they agreed on the gift!!  So one of them suggested a big soft pillow and the other said, yes a big fluffy purple pillow, so that's what I got!!  Purple is my favorite color, so they always look for purple stuff!!  I've been using it in bed ever since.  It's the best pillow ever!!  I also got to choose our lunch and since we're trying to save money for different things, I chose to just have Long John Silvers.  I love that place and the rest of the family doesn't like it so much.  They all seemed to enjoy it while we were there though!!  Plus the closest one to our house is about 20 minutes away, and that's pretty far to go just for some Long John's!!!

So that's about it for now.  I hope everyone has a great week!!!

Abby's dance photo

We got Abby's dance pictures back today. She looks so cute!!

Alright!!

Ok, I started another website for deals, here it is:  http://thriftyinthecincy.blogspot.com

We'll see how well it goes.  Hopefully I can keep up enough content to keep people checking it.  We'll see.  

If you find any deals please either email them to me or post it there for us to share.  Thanks!!

Some deals of note...

Check comments section for more deals and deal ideas!!!


Meijer has a great deal on Ortega Taco products. Right now they are on sale for half price. That makes the salsa 1.18, taco seasoning .34, and taco shells (12 pack) .84. They have other products as well, these are the ones I purchased. We also have coupons for .75 off 2 products which is doubled to a dollar. So last night I bought (in 3 transactions so all coupons would double), 4 salsas, 4 seasoning mixes and 4 boxes of taco shells and paid a total of 3.44. That's an awesome deal!! Just be careful not to put 4 of the seasonings in one order alone because you probably won't get the full amount of the coupons because Meijer's system doesn't allow overage. I always put 2 seasonings and 2 shells in an order (I did that twice) and then the 4 salsas in another order, so I got the full $1.00 off for every 2 products.

Other good deals;
Nesquick chocolate or strawberry syrup for milk or toppings is .70 after sale and coupon

Meijer veggies are .39 after coupon from http://mealbox.meijer.com/index.jsp (click on specials and you'll see coupons you can print)

Meijer frozen fries, hashbrowns, etc.. are 1.00 after coupon from mealbox

Family size bags of Meijer potato chips or tortilla chips (you'll need those for that cheap salsa!!) are 1.00 after coupon

If you buy 3 6-packs of Jello pudding, use three .50 off 1 coupons (two will double to 1.00, one just .50) equals 2.50 off, you'll get a free aerosol can of Cool-Whip (new aerosol can), plus you'll get a coupon for 2.00 off your next order that prints out at checkout. So you pay out 5.00 for three 6-packs of pudding and a can of whip cream and then get back 2.00. Decent deal.

Barilla plus pasta is on sale for 1.50

Kellogs cereal is half off. There may be some printable coupons for this. I had one for raisin bran, so I got a big box of it for .74.

I'm still checking Kroger deals. I know that Quaker Rice Quakes will be .50 each after coupon and the Post Cereal deal seems good, I don't have any regular coupons for that, but I'm checking for printable ones.

The Nesquick chocolate milks are free after coupon (yummy!!!)

I'll let you know if I find more there.

At CVS, Colgate toothpaste is free after coupon and ECB. They are 2.99 (the 4.0 oz Advanced Clean, Whitening or Fresh), we have coupons for 1.00 off and then they give back 2.00 in ECB's and it's limit 5.

I found a good filler to reach a $15 total is Rolaids. They have some packs that are 2.49 and then give back 2.00 in ECB's so you only have to pay .49.

The Schick intuition razors are also free after the 4.00 coupon we have and the 6.00 ECB you get, limit 1

Remember to try and seperate your toothpastes in a few different orders, so you won't get one big ECB, but several smaller ones. That's all for now, have a great week!!

Error

The new Barilla coupon is apparently .50 off 2, not 1 like I originally thought. Sorry. It'll make the pasta .75, not .25. My bad!!!

Aren't They Cute!!!

I found these pictures today as I was looking for pictures for a Mothers Day project. I thought they were so cute!! It's from Gymboree.

I also wanted to tell a good deal real quick. At Kroger (they extended it Sonya) Barilla Whole Grain pasta is on sale for 1.25 and we got coupons this past weekend to get $1 off, so they are a quarter. Also Barilla has a new style of pasta called piccolinni or something like that, that is also on sale 1.25 and this coming weekend we'll get coupons for it to make it .25. We also have coupons for hungry jack potatoes that are doubled to .70 0ff and the small one serving packs are marked down to 1.03, so they'll be .33. They also have the small lunchables (not with a drink) and the 2pack lunchable jr's on sale for .99 and we have coupons for $1 off 3, so they'll be like .66 each. That's a great deal for the jr's because you get two for that price and they'd be great to take on a day trip or to the zoo or whatever for the kids to munch on ( I ate one yesterday myself!!). That's all I know for now. Have a great day!!

Dental Musings

Why does it seem like the Spanish Inquisition when you take your children to the dentist?  Do they brush 2 times a day???  Well, uh, no not always two, but definitely once before bed time.  Do you help them brush???  No, not usually, they seem to do it pretty well by themselves.  Do they floss???  No, not really.  Do they eat lots of fruit snacks or fruit roll up???  No, I wouldn't say a lot, but every now and then.

Geesh, they can turn the most confident parent into a weeping mess!!!   I knew I was in trouble when they pulled out the floss and Abby said "what's that??"

But hey, no cavities (none yet for either child) and I keep bringing them in every 6 months like I'm supposed to, so they haven't won yet!!!

Noah's a purple belt!

These are some pictures from Noah's karate test. He passed!! They even tested him with the teen/adult test and he got a B with that!! We're so proud of him. He's now an adult (or teen) purple belt.

The testing.

The belt ceremony.

The new belt on and ready to go!!

So anyway, I wish I could get rid of this dang cold!! I'm so tired of coughing and blowing my nose!!

Where my parents live they are doing a huge city wide garage sale (they do it every year) and I"ll be setting up at their house for that,. I don't have a ton of stuff to get rid of, but it will definitely help with my decluttering!! I'm hoping to make a little money to add to our Disney spending fund!! So I'm washing clothes, labeling things and making sure everything looks it's best so I can definitely sell it!!

We pulled out every single stuffed animal we own and put them all in a big pile in the living room. As you can see, we need to do something about this. Unfortunately as we went through them, either Abby was attached to one, or Noah, or me, or even Daddy!! We only ended up getting rid of 2 trash bag fulls and still have tons!! I've decided we're going to allow them to keep a certain number upstairs to play with (Noah 25, Abby 40) and since we really have a large storage room in the basement, I'm going to keep the rest of the animals down there and they are welcome to go down and trade one in for another one at any time. So that way I don't have as many all over my house like before. Hopefully that will help. Noah never takes his out of his room, but they are Abby's absolute favorite toy, so she takes them everywhere and they wind up in every room, so hopefully this will help with the amount she can leave around the house!!



So that's about it for us this week, finishing school and working on the garage sale! Hope everyone has a great week!!

Catching up and Catching cold

Well here's some of the happenings that's been going on around here. I'm currently working on 1. catching up laundry and 2. organizing our unfinished space in the basement. We bought a new freezer Saturday for the unfinished space. It's an upright kind, that looks like a refrigerator. We've read numerous places that it's a good idea to stockpile food now (as of we weren't already!!), because the prices are expected to rise in the near future, and since the small freezer we have upstairs is already maxed out, we figured we'd just get another one to help out. We're also installing shelves all along a big wall down there to store extra food, and also to organize the things that are already down there (holiday decorations, kids clothes, collectibles, etc..). My Dad is coming tomorrow to help us put in a new outlet with it's own devoted breaker for the freezer.

Abby and I have a horrible cold. I know it's not allergies because first of all, we've never had them before and secondly because it's very much a chest cold, with lots of stuff in the chest and lots of coughing. I think Noah gave it to us, that stinker!! Of course he didn't have it very much at all, that boy truly has the best immune system I've seen, but I always end up with it the worst. OH well, at least I can still function with a cold!!

Today is Abbys picture day at dance class. I'm excited to see her all made up in the costume.

Well here's some things that have happened lately. First we went on a homeschool field trip at the Cincinnati Nature Center. Noah went with a group of other 2nd graders and with a member of the Center and another parent as chaperone, they went exploring the ponds and forests on one of the trails. They had all kinds of cool tools to use and saw lots of things the naked eye can't see. He loved it!! While he was doing that, I took Abby (she wasn't old enough for the groups yet), on one of the other trails and we had a great time too. It was very quiet and peaceful, except at the end it started to rain. We saw a waterfall and lots of pretty trees and flowers. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Noah's group, but I did get some of Abby. The field trip was only $4 and ABby and I got in free because we came with him, so it was a really great deal. WE're definitely doing that again!!



Noah also had his opening day parade for baseball. "They moved it out of South Lebanon and to Maineville. As usual is was awesome!! Abby and I made a sign again for him this year, I think we're the only ones who do it!! It was very cold and windy that day though, which kind of stunk, but it was worth it!!



And he's also played three games now and won all three. Tonight is the next game and it looks to be with the toughest team. Hopefully it will go well!! Here he is running to first!



Abby had observation day at dance class. They are really working on their recital dance. It looks really cute! I"m excited for the family to see it!



So that's about it for now. Hope everyone has a great day!!

The Zoo in Bloom

These are some pictures from the zoo today. We went with Sonya on Monday and I forgot my camera, so when I saw that all the tulips were in full bloom, and probably wouldn't be for much longer, I decided to come back today to get some pictures. I LOVE it when the tulips are so pretty like that. It makes the best pictures.