You'll never guess what I did yesterday....

The boys and I went rollerskating!! I haven't been on good ol' fashion roller skates since Jr. High I think and that was let's just say at least 15 years ago plus..:) A roller rink by my house has homeschool skate on Thursday afternoons for $2.00 per person. That includes free coffee for the adults and pie for anyone so cheap and so fun! I haven't had this much fun with my boys in ages we laughed so hard the entire two hours. We were all sweaty and tired when we got done it was a great workout. I of course had the old fashion skates on and my boys had on roller blades they couldn't even skate in the old roller skates. Roman wore the kind that go over your shoes and skated along with everyone else on the rink. He was the smallest one out there but nobody cared all the kids were so kind to him helping him if he fell and really watching out so they didn't hit him. He was having a ball and just kept going around and around it was so cute. Anyway if you have a chance go skating with your kids my hubby said he might even join us sometime it was a very fun blast from the past. We'll be going again I told the boys as long as school work is does we can go again.
Roman in his new skates he thought he was joe cool.

See Roman in the middle amongst all the blurry kids I thought he was quite brave being so little with everyone zooming around him.

Kaleb's story

Here is a story that Kaleb wrote the other day I thought it was so cute. In his school work he often has to write a paragraph or short story but on a topic already given. I thought I'd have him write one story a week and we'll keep it in a little journal type book. After talking with a few experienced homeschool moms I've decided that I was expecting to much from him. The materials he's reading and not comprehending are 5th and 6th grade reading books. He is comprehending his second grade work just fine which is what he is in second grade. I still have a few concerns that I'm talking to a reading teacher about tomorrow so we'll go from there. All in all I think he's fine and is doing really good. Anyway this story is just so cute I had to share it.

Reading some more:)

Here is my latest read I got it from the library yesterday after just seeing it sitting on a cart. Not all of the book I agree with but she has some very good information it. It was very insightful to learn how she became a child actress and how she had to stand up for her beliefs even when it meant getting fired from her job. What an example to young girls in Hollywood if only more young socialites were like this today. In a scene from "Facts of Life" the producers wanted Lisa's character Blair to lose her virginity to keep up with the times and also please the network. Lisa told them that she wouldn't do it because it went against her beliefs about having premarital sex. Although the producers and writers weren't happy they changed with script and it never took place. That's just one example from the book. She is now a homeschooling mom to her three kids and has a strong foundation in the Lord. I started reading it last night in bed at 10 and couldn't put it down I fell asleep with only two chapters left to read. Well I hear chaos happening upstairs so I better go referee in the war zone.:)

Reading..

I enjoy reading a lot doesn't matter what it is I'll read just about anything. I love the fact that you can learn so much by just reading a book. My favorites to read are the Bible, mystery novels, books on quilting, gardening, natural/healthy living, running, biking, raising kids etc. the list goes on and on. It is this love of reading I hope to instill in my boys. I "make" them read for an hour a day I put that in quotations because I don't have to really make them read. They just know after lunch they have to read for an hour everyday. However, they both really enjoy reading and don't look at it as a chore.

Reading when it comes to learning from a young age can be difficult. My boys picked up reading quickly and before I knew it they were reading chapter books and novels. With reading comes reading comprehension, of course I always knew this but never really had to focus on it. Lucas comprehended what he read from day one. I know reading comprehension is vital in academic success.

Which brings me to my point that Kaleb I've found doesn't comprehend what he is reading. When reading a short kids book he can tell me what it was about. If he reads a chapter book he can tell me the character's names and few small details like that. When it comes to the plot he looks at me with a big blank look. When reading the Bible together he has a hard time comprehending that also we've been going verse by verse so this is getting better. When reading aloud he'll skip words like is, the, a, and, on, in or just switch up the words. Like maybe read "on" instead of "in" which mean two different things. I've been really focusing this year on reading with him and having him read out loud to me every day. He's getting better but I'm still quite concerned as to what to do. I've got a call into a reading tutor to talk with her but I'm starting to freak out a little bit. When I tested him from a few websites in reading he tested at a 5th grade reading level. I'm not putting much faith in that when he's not comprehending what he's reading. Maybe he's reading books that are to hard for him to comprehend I'm not sure. He can read many large words and reads fast to so maybe going back to easier books would be helpful. Any suggestions on what has worked for anyone would be great..thanx for listening to a homeschooling mom's rambling:)

Happy Turkey Day

I know it's a day late...sorry but I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Day. We had a really good time visiting family and seeing cousins we haven't seen for awhile. The boys enjoyed playing my cousins guitar, mandolin,violin and any other string instrument he has. My cousin and his two sons have their own band and play jazz, the blues, some country so he has all kinds of instruments. We had a very relaxing day it was so nice being able to visit and eat lots of yummy food. So much I had to go workout today and get rid of some before we start in on the leftovers:) We have so much to be Thankful for our God is so good!

Purse Party..

Last night I had a purse party I'm not a huge purse person but I really wanted a necklace I had been eyeing for awhile from another party. So I signed up to have a purse party to get my necklace. I ended up receiving a purse that looks close to this one the tiffany necklace I wanted and a coach wristlet for ....drumroll...FREE!! I also got to buy another purse half off that I gave to my cousin. It was fun looking through all the purses and picking out ones I liked. The purses are suppose to be fake but mine came with a coach card in it to register it online so I'm not sure now if it's real or fake. But whatever the case it looks real and I really like it...a lot!! I could be turning into a purse person good thing I'm to cheap to spend a lot of money on one!

Quilting

The past two days I've been busy making these baby quilts. I'm doing a craft sale tomorrow and needed more to sell. I've got four total now not as many as I like to have to display but I've either sold or given away almost all of my small inventory. I haven't made a quilt for so long and I realized how much I missed doing it. I have a list of projects now that I want to get done. Roman kept thinking the blue quilt was for him I told him these were for babies and he's a big boy but he didn't really get why he couldn't have "that blue baby quilt". I am going to make him a quilt and Kaleb those are the next projects. My goal is to use fabric I already have which I have a ton of I'll post them on once they're done. I also baked a bunch of whole wheat bread to sell tomorrow and Lucas made some necklaces to sell. We've been busy "crafting" over here..heehee. I'm such a procrastinator and wait until the week of the craft fair to get my crafts together. Maybe I'll do better this year and make quilts as the year goes on..then again..probably not:)

Mice..

Ugh, just the name gives me the heevy jeevies! I've had this one mouse in our house I've been trying to catch for weeks. I've basically been feeding the thing he's been eating the peanut butter out of the trap without and I repeat without getting killed. Last night VICTORY! I heard the trap go and prayed a little mousy would be in there and it was. Now I don't normally enjoy hurting animals but anyone that knows me knows I detest mice. I was once known to stand on a chair screaming for my brother in law who was 11 at the time to catch a mouse running around in my kitchen...that was a different house however than we have now. Anyway point is I'm terrified of them and I'm still not sure what there purpose here on earth is. I mean God created snakes to eat mice and bats to eat mosquito's etc. What do mice eat except peanut butter I feed them:) Anyway I've won the battle and let's hope there's no more! Poor Kaleb was the first one up this morning that had to take care of the mouse for his mama. I've decided this is the reason God gave me three boys..hahahah..just kidding. But he is my animal lover and was saying "awww, poor mouse" as he took it out to the trash for me! I agree I must have a serious talk with that boy about mice..heehee:)

Erasing millions of years off Noah's flood

Last night the boys and I went to a seminar by Terry Mortenson. It was so interesting and informative he works at the Creation museum and his topic was "erasing millions of years off Noah's flood". He had some good books he recommended reading one was "Grand Canyon A different View". The other one "Life in the Great Ice Age" is a children's book you can read with them. Answers in Genesis which has it's own website has some great information and books you can get to read.

Field Trip Time...

Today we went on a field trip to Aeromed it was the best field trip we've been on so far. I was very impressed with everything. We got a tour of the entire facility, got to meet the pilot, doctor and nurse that fly on the helicopter. We also got to see the helicopter and look inside it the kids got to sit in the pilot seat which they thought was awesome. The instrument panel itself was a sight to see it was pretty incredible. It was a very good learning experience for my kids the boys said it was also their favorite field trip that we've ever been on. Here are a few pictures from today.
This is the helicopter itself it's a very large piece of aircraft. Roman is standing by the tire under the aeromed sign. It gives you an idea of how large the helicopter is.

Think you can fly this?:) Yeah me neither! It's quite a site though isn't it!

Kaleb getting some instruction from the pilot.

Roman in the drivers seat watch out!

Kaleb in the back of the helicopter he wants to be a doctor someday so he especially enjoyed this field trip.

A few interesting facts:

1. The new helicopter just coming in cost 10 million..yikes!
2. The helicopter can fly 175 mph
3. They fly with a pilot, doctor and nurse on board.

Romans many hats...

Roman is a major hat kid he loves to wear baseball caps and will make a hat out of almost anything. These are just a few of his "hats" the past few weeks. The balloon "hat" was really an animal somebody made out of balloons and gave to him at a carnival last week. He's always surprising me in some way!



This is just his winter hat but I think he looked so cute in this picture to bad it turned out so dark.

waves..

This morning I had to return some shoes for Lucas. The store is close to the big lake by us which was forecasted to have 14-16 foot waves. I thought it would be cool to see the waves and boy was it ever. There were about 10 cars at the beach and people kept coming and going. I thought we'd be the only nutty people not so I guess. I got out of the car to try and take some pic's but I got blown away and couldn't even face the water because of all the sand flying around. But I got some cool ones with the window rolled down. The boys were really amazed at how big the waves were the pictures don't really even come close to how it looked. It was beautiful I could've stayed and watched the lake for a long time. We boat on this lake all summer long and we've seen 6-8 foot waves but these were just incredible. I told the boys we'll come out in the winter and look at the lake that really is a beautiful sight.

Happy Birthday Lucas!!!

Today my oldest turns 11 and in a way it saddens me so to think he's this old already. We had his party on Tuesday night since he has basketball practice tonight. Which is why I've already got pic's of him with his "cake". He wanted pie this year instead of cake which he does most years. I always give the kids the choice of pies or cake for dessert and then they get to pick what we have for dinner that night. I also only had seven candles for him to blow out he didn't mind at all though. He's having a sleepover tomorrow night with four friends which he's very excited about. He got his presents on Tues. he got a professional art kit from my parents which he's been working with the past two days. Sometime I'll post some of his artwork he's quite good. He also got an mp3 player from his other grandparents, some coins to add to his collection and a Bible and transformer from us. We intend to buy him a new bike as his big gift but have yet to find a good deal on one. He's fine with waiting for the good deal..what a great kid!! I'm so proud of him and the little boy er little man he's become!!
Waiting to blow out his candle's.
This is the Bible we got him it took me a long time to find the one he wanted. He wanted his Bible to have certain things it that took me awhile to find all of them in one Bible. Can you tell by the look on his face that he was just estactic with it. He said it was his favorite gift he's been reading it and using it a lot the past two days. It's something he can take with him when he leaves home someday and bring into his own home. He's owned plenty of his own Bibles don't get me wrong but this was a special Bible he's been asking for. Now I'm going to list 11 things you might not know about Lucas.

1. He loves the Lord and strives to serve him everyday
2. His favorite sports are basketball and golf.
3. He likes school and does quite well at it.
4. He's a very kind hearted child.
5. He's one of the most generous people I know.
6. He's always laughing or giggling about something.
7. He loves to entertain people.
8. He's a dare devil yet with a slightly cautious side he'll at least think about the possibility of getting hurt before he just does something.
9. He's got a creative mind most people would wish for.
10. He's very good at art.
11. He's a mama's boy..shhh don't ever tell I posted that online.:)

Happy Birthday Lucas we love you!!