Coming Soon!!

We just got back from a 3 day trip to Chicago. Complete post and pictures coming soon. (my plan is tomorrow).

From my mouth to his ears!

A few nights ago I was rocking Maverick before bed and we were talking about the day and what we would be doing the next day. I told him that he and Aiden were helping daddy and pappy work in the woods. He said "What are you going to do?" I said "well, I need to clean the bathrooms and I will be putting away laundry." His head popped up and his little eyebrows went up and he said "Pudding?" How sweet is that?!?!

Homeschool Links!

OK, these links are some resources taht were listed by another mom on the homeschool board at babycenter.com. Some of them I have been to...others I need to check out. Basically I needed an easy place to list these so I can filter through and put the ones I like in my bookmarks. That's all folks!

http://www.teacherprintables.net/index.html
http://www.readingrockets.org/
http://www.billybear4kids.com/worksheets/start-math.html
http://www.janbrett.com/
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/
http://www.mathsnet.net/geometry/solid/houses.html
http://www.mrsalphabet.com/
http://www.spellwell.net/
http://www.literacycenter.net/lessonview_en.htm
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/
http://www.mcruffy.com/KSc.htm#KScienceKit
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
http://www.familycorner.com/
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/index.html
http://www.legoeducation.com/store/Default.aspx?bhcp=1
http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/
http://www.classicsforkids.com/
http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm
http://handwritingworksheets.com/print-k/make-pk-all.htm
http://themathworksheetsite.com/
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/
http://www.weeklyreader.com/index.asp
http://www.getreadyforschool.com/
http://www.theschoolbell.com/http://www.learningtreasures.com/
http://www.gwnews.com/
http://www.everythinghomeschooling.com/
http://www.thekidzpage.com/
http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/
http://pbskids.org/
http://www.nick.com/games/
http://www.kinderart.com/
http://kidshealth.org/parent/
http://www.kidsgames.org/
http://funschool.kaboose.com/?section=g5
http://www.funbrain.com/kidscenter.html
http://www.faraandfriends.com/
http://www.edu4kids.com/
http://www.schoolexpress.com/compsoft/software.php
http://disney.go.com/index
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/cgsite/gamesandfun.shtml
http://colortheanimals.com/
http://www.coloring.ws/
http://www.123child.com/
http://www.mii.org/
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/7689/main.html
http://www.freeworksheets.com/
http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10002&langId=-1
http://www.rainforestmaths.com/
http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php?sid=1173276548-1463290
http://www.preschoolprintables.com/
http://www.newtonsapple.tv/
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/math/money/
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/math/money/
http://www.massmaple.org/
http://www.fireworkspop.com/liberty.htm
http://www.kidzupstore.com/catalog/index.php
http://www.easyfunschool.com/page1056.html
http://www.chartjungle.com/schoolhome.html
http://highland.hitcho.com.au/index.htm
http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/reviews/curriculum/showall.aspx
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/
http://www.homeschoolingadventures.com/
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/schedulingforms/Homeschool_Scheduling_Forms.htmhttp://donnayoung.org/index.htmhttp://www.hslda.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1
http://www.heartofdakota.com/
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/
http://www.first-school.ws/
http://www.labelsforeducation.com/default.aspx
http://www.mrsperkins.com/testing.htm
http://www.crayola.com/
http://www.crayola.com/certificatemaker/index.cfm?flash=6
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/writingfun/writingfun.html
http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/
http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/
http://www.teachers-pet.org/
http://members.aol.com/ggallag958/default.html/worksheet.html
http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/
http://sitesforparents.com/index.html
http://www.silkysteps.com/
http://www.sfreading.com/resources/ghbgrd1.html
http://www.school-clip-art.com/
http://www.test4free.com/assessfam.asp
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.preschoollearners.com/
http://www.pammshouse.com/resourceroom.html
http://www.preschooleducation.com/
http://www.poetry.com/
http://www.picture.com/main.asp
http://oldfashionededucation.com/index.html
http://www.lyrics.astraweb.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lapbooking/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kindergarten_at_Home/
http://www.sabine.k12.la.us/zes/kindergarden%20math%20games/default.htm
http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/index.htm
http://resources.kaboose.com/parents/links/printable-worksheets/printable-worksheets.html
http://www.tghomesoft.com/
http://www.geocities.com/free4homeschoolers/webpage.html
http://www.earthsciweek.org/
http://www.dltk-cards.com/chart/
http://www.primarygames.com/print_zone/coloring/coloring_pages.htm
http://www.connectionsacademy.com/
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/
http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/index.htm
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/
http://www.abcteach.com/
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/indexpage.htm
http://www.littlegiraffes.com/handprintcalendar.html
http://applesaucekids.com/LinkPage/PlayDoug.html
http://www.organizedchristmas.com/
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
http://www.students.gov/STUGOVWebApp/Public
http://www.verseit.com/

Erosion Experiment!

We did the erosion experiment and I took pictures to post...but they just look like a pan full of mud. Technically that is what it was I guess...but it is not worth posting.

The boys had a good time. We eroded regular dirt and then tested their sand pile to see how much faster it eroded away. They were slightly impressed with the experiment and thrilled with playing in the mud.

I guess I'll call it a success!

INSPIRED!!

Thank you Amy for my totally cool birthday gift! I love all the pictures. For those of you who aren't Amy and are wondering...she made a picture collage of black and white photos of Paris. Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Palais Royal, among others. I just LOVE it!!!! And I have been wanting to work over our master bedroom for a while and have had some ideas...but no inspiration...UNTIL NOW!!! I am pulling that black and white and some elements from the photos (like vertical stripes) and going crazy. I also have a white candle with "believe" in black on it (Uppercase Living door prize...thanks) and some other things. My hope chest and window are now the main focus for inspiration in the rest of the room.

Now, our comforter is still is great condition and really pretty. I still like it...but I think it is going to look like I almost redecorated the room and punked out and didn't get a comforter to match. So I've been doing some online shopping. I was thinking about a black and white toile (kinda like little flowers) but I found a really neat reversible black and white damask comforter at Walmart.com. I think I like it...and I like that it is reversible. It is bold but not too modern. Floral...but not too girlie. I am hoping to make a fabric headboard for the bed and throw in some splashes of red...not blood red or hooker red...but a nice red..around the room! I am SO excited!!!

Then to finish it off...at my Uppercase Living party in July (I'll post details later) my goal is to be able to get "I love you!" custom made in several different languages to put around the room. I've translated from English (which will be up there too) to Italian, French, Spanish, German (not very pretty looking), and I think that is all. I think they will just be "randomly" put around the room...we'll see. And no I don't speak all those languages...I just found a handy-dandy translator online. I hope it is right!

OK, now that you are likely bored to tears...I'm done. I know not everyone gets so excited about this kind of thing and Shane would accuse me of using made up "girl words" (toile and damask) but I can't help it! I just LOVE this idea!

Thanks Amy...for the great birthday gift!!!

Flood of June 2008

We had a TON of rain over my birthday weekend this year. I was out of town on a trip (see post below). This is some of what I came home to...this is the road that we use most to get home...I had to take an alternate route....and am still having trouble remembering not to turn to get home this way. This is not a washed out bridge. There was a culvert but it is completely washed down stream. This is probably 12-15 feet deep and 20 feet across or so...CRAZY!!!

Aiden had a hard time believing water could do something like this so we are going to do a science experiment on erosion today or tomorrow...probably tomorrow. He is very interested in the "crack in the road" and that it was caused by water erosion. So we are going to make some "cracks" in dirt ourselves...on a much smaller scale!!!

Wedding Weekend!

I have been MIA for a while...it has been crazy around here...but I am hoping to do several posts back to back either today or in the next few days...so, here is the first.

My best friend, Cherish, invited Griffin and I to go to to wedding In Bloomington, IN last weekend that here little girl Starr was a flower girl in. I thought about it for about 2 minutes and said "Of course!!!!!" So last Friday we hopped in Shane's car (it gets the best gas mileage of all the cars between the 2 of us) and took off for Bloomington. I did notice as we were leaving that there was mouse poop on the floor of the car. So we stopped and vacuumed it up. Icky! Then as we were in the drive up at her bank we kicked the air off and heard...well...scurrying in the dash. But what could we do...so we just said a little prayer and then went on our way. A few minutes later the fan started thumping. We could run it on low or medium but we could NOT turnit up to high. It sounded something like rapid gun fire when we did that.

So when we got to Terre Haute we stopped to shop at Kohl's for a while. I found a new swimming suit and we got some other little things. When we went out to the car...it stunk like you can't even believe. So in order to "fix" the problem we bought an air freshener. It didn't help a whole lot but we just kept using it and hoping for the best.

So we make it to the hotel and get ready to head to the rehearsal. We had to follow someone because we didn't know where we were going. There were 3 cars...the red car was leading, then a tan car, then us. I hate being in back when following someone who is following someone...and this is why!!! The lead car would go through a light...then it would turn yellow. The tan car would pause and think about it...then go. That left me stuck in a red...so I ran THREE red lights! They had just turned so I wasn't putting us in danger....I just hope there wasn't a camera on the lights.

The rehearsal went well and we went back to the hotel to get the kids in bed at a decent hour. But then the storms started coming. I don't remember what time but I would guess about 9-ish the tornado sirens started. We called the hotel desk to see what we were supposed to do and the girl just wasn't sure. If SHE deemed it necessary she would notify all the rooms...or maybe there was a PA system...or BLAH BLAH BLAH. Basically, she didn't have a clue and she thought she had a better idea than the emergency personel sounding the tornado sirens. Cherish finally just hung up on her and we went to the basement and hung out in a meeting room with several other families till 11. So much for an early night...but wait...it gets better.

At 12:30 in the morning, Cherish's cell phone rings and it is someone from campus (she works at Oblong Children's Christian Home) telling her that the water is coming into Lamark's truck and it could possibly be able to wash it away. Cherish reminds her that we are in Indiana and to call Lamark. But wait...there's more....

At 2:30 some *************************** idiot (you fill in your choice of bad words) decides it would be funny to pull the fire alarm at the hotel. If you have never heard a hotel fire alarm it is AWFUL! It could be used to torture people. It woke us from a sound sleep and I was SO confused. I looked out the window for a tornado...but nothing...Cherish says...ITS A FIRE!! So we grab the children, the kids "blankys", a blanket to cover the kids heads with, our cell phones and I grab a room key. And we run down four flights of stairs to get outside...into the POURING DOWN RAIN!!!! We wait for a few minutes...probably 5 but it seems like forever when the employee comes out and says it is a false alarm. The alarm in the lobby is off. So we head back up to our rooms...what she didn't mention is that the alarms in the rooms are still sounding. So we go back downstairs. We waited a while longer and then went back up and to bed. It took till after 4 to get Starr asleep again. As we were laying there trying to go back to sleep it occured to us that when you leave a hotel in a fire it would be good to have some ID, money, credit cards and your car keys. Had the hotel actually been on fire we had none of those things and the room key would not have been much good!

We decided to have a "low key" kind of day on Saturday. The wedding was outside (and it was muddy) so we had to go buy some shoes without heels. Teh stench in the car is getting really bad by now but I don't know how to fix it. Other than that we just went to the wedding. It was so hot that we didn't even stay for the reception. The kids were wilting and I was so hot. Cherish is 6 or 7 months pregnant and was way overheated. We went to Steak n Shake and then hit the pool in the hotel....until some hooligans (we think the same ones who set the fire alarm) came in and ruined the fun splashing and carrying on and scaring the kids.

On Sunday we got up and decided to get the heck out of there before more rain hit or the water traveled too far south. We already knew we had to take a MUCH longer route home. Cherish took her stuff down to the car...only to find 2 dead baby mice on the floor boards. She came and up and told me. So I went down to assess the situation and decide how to get rid of them...they were NOT dead. So I caught them with a party favor from the wedding and got them out. It was SOOOOO gross and I screamed. Some guy in the parking lot just stared. Thanks buddy for the help.

We did get the car loaded and head for home through Vincennes. The stench of dead mouse is nearly unbearable now. Cherish looks at the air freshener we bought on Friday and realizes....we need to take the lid off. Yes, the lid was still on. Yes, we are not always the sharpest knife in the drawer. Yes, you can laugh WITH us! It took us twice as long to get home...but we made it and boy do we have a story.

If you've read this far...these are the lessons I learned.

1. Mice stink in a car air conditioner fan.

2. Take the lid off an air freshener for best results.

3. Know where your purse is when you go to sleep at a hotel...if the fire alarm sounds you will need it to grab on your way out the door.

4. I am not a good luck charm when traveling.

5. Cherish is a great friend...we survived without arguing...and she got in the car with me to come home when there were baby mice in it!!!

6. Take my car...I know there aren't mice in it!!!

If you want to read Cherish's version of the weekend...check out her blog. The link is on the left hand side of the page...she won't be able to post till the end of this week though.