Weekend Happenings

The weather was kinda nice here over the weekend.  The girls actually played outside for a while on Friday after school.  Of course in the water, but still they were outside!

A friend called on Sat. and asked us to meet them at the pool so I took Abby and Kyndal to swim for a couple of hours while Craig stayed home with Anna Claire.  We all had a good time.  Then Craig went and played some golf with a friend while I cooked dinner.  After the girls and I ate, we met Craig at the tennis courts at Lakepoint.  We played some tennis for about an hour, which was lots of fun.  We use to play alot before we had Abby.  We started playing again before Anna Claire, but once I got pregnant with her, we have not played again until Sat. night.  As I've said before, I am out of shape, but that is some GOOD exercise and lots of fun.  I was sore yesterday.  I have been going to Curves at least 3 to 4 days a week and ride my bike some, but it's amazing how different things work out different muscle groups.  I love to be sore though because I feel like I've accomplished something (I know weird, right)?!?!

We had the usual Sunday of church, lunch, nap for AC, lesson plans for me, playing for A & K, and study for Craig.  Back to choir and church, dinner, bed for kids, and quiet time for mommy and daddy.  Always a good day!!!

I have to brag on Kyndal.  Teaching a kid to read really is not the easiest thing to do.  When we first started 4 weeks ago, it made me glad that Abby was taught at school.  I was even thinking at times, can I do this.  Knowing that she has to know how to read by the end of the school year weighs on my shoulders, felt like alot of pressure.  However, as mentioned above, 4 weeks into it, she is doing SOOOO good and I am SOOOO proud of her.  She really tries very hard and actually asks through the day to work on phonics more.  When she thinks it's too hard, I just push a little more and it excites her so much when she says the words right.  We are getting into the 4 letter words now.  She has done great with all the 3 letter words.  We work on phonics at least 45 minutes to an hour a day, at two different times though.

Saturday, I was in the classroom and all 3 girls were in their room playing.  I heard Anna Claire start crying and as I was getting up to go see what happened, Kyndal came running to me and said I was on the top bunk and AC just fell down.  My heart STOPPED beating.  I thought she meant AC was on the top bunk with her and fell (not enough time to think how would they get her up there or would they really even do that).  I ran faster than I think I ever have.  She was on the floor right there in front of those diapers and I said where did she fall from.  Kyndal said she was sitting on that box of diapers.  WOW, my heart started beating again!!!!  I was shaking for the next 30 minutes.  Kyndal was just making sure she was covering her behind on that she was no where near AC when she hurt herself (b/c she is usually the reason she hurts herself)  Kyndal is always pulling on her or trying to pick her up or something (there is probably only 10 lbs difference betweeen them).  Kyndal is getting better about leaving her alone.  AC did fall off the step Friday night too, so she bumped her head twice in the same place (OUCH)!

Abby and Daddy playing with the camera!

Abby said take my picture by myself, however Anna Claire wouldn't let go of her!

Playing on the top bunk last night before bed (with our supervision)

Love these girls!!!

So proud!

Getting Busy

We had our kick off meeting with our home school covering on Tuesday night.  Abby and Kyndal will be doing PE every Friday with the group.  They will also be starting gymnastics Tuesday afternoon, going once a week.  They are SUPER excited about this.  We have to go to Dothan for this, but I know they will love it.  Abby is taking a learning about countries class every Tuesday afternoon and Kyndal is taking a enjoying the seasons class every other Tuesday afternoon.  We have a field trip in GA on Friday and a choir gathering on Friday night.  We are having some friends over on Saturday for football games.  I love that the girls are going to be involved and learning and having fun, I think they will enjoy all of it, and momma is going to be extra tired I'm sure, but well worth it all.

She has mastered...

coming to the classroom with us!  Now that Anna Claire can get down the step and in the classroom with us, she wants nothing to do with playing with her toys in the living room right next to us.  She takes a nap at 9:30, but up until that point she is into everything, including bothering the girls, so it can get interesting to say the least.

She also has no fear of climbing on anything.  I don't remember Abby and Kyndal climbing so much.  Yesterday as I was at the computer, I turned around and she was happily sitting on top of Abby's desk.  I'm surprised she hasn't gotten a knot on her head yet!

Kyndal working on Phonics with the help of her 14 month old sister!  (Gotta love AC's hair do)

I wish I could have gotten a picture of AC on top of the desk, but I was in a hurry to get her down before she fell on this hard floor!  She did look cute though!

Trip to New Orleans

Craig had to go to NOBTS last Wednesday for orientation on Thursday and Friday.  So Tuesday evening he said why don't you and the girls go with me.  I said, well ok, we will!  We left Wednesday morning and had to have my car serviced and then we were well on our way to New Orleans.  It's about a 6 hour trip from here to there without stopping, but between doing my car, eating lunch, and at least 3 potty breaks (2 little girls who have to go too much), it took us 8 hours.  We had a good time being together though.  Anna Claire doesn't sleep well in the car, so between waking up that morning and going to bed that evening at about 9 pm (her bedtime is 8 pm), she had a 45 minute nap and not all at one time.  She did really well though, except for she started having a runny nose, and still does, and so do Abby and Kyndal!!!  We went to the French Quarter and had dinner and walked around a bit that evening. 

Thursday, Craig had to be at the school by 8 am, and I took the girls to a Children's Museum for the day and to lunch.  We then took naps (imagine that in a one room hotel with a baby).  So all 3 girls fell asleep and after about on hour the hotel keeper starts banging on the door to give more towels and wash cloths.  So needless to say, nap time was OVER.  We left, got a snack, and went to wait on daddy to be done.  We went back to the French Quarter for dinner again and some riding around the town.  It's a very neat historical place and we were able to teach the girls lots about the city, but it's VERY crowded and not very clean. 

Craig was suppose to have class again Friday from 8-12, but they let him finish everything on Thursday, because on the way to New Orleans on Wednesday, we got a call from a church member from Ruffner Valley (our first church to pastor) whose grandmother (who was also a member of RVBC) had passed away and they wanted Craig to do the funeral.  The viewing was Friday evening and the funeral was Sat. in B'ham.  So we got to leave at 8 Friday morning to head to B'ham.  We got to B'ham about 5 pm, because we stopped in Tuscaloosa and ate lunch and did a little shopping.  We had dinner at my moms and then we went to Yogurt Mountain with a few family members. 

Marley spent the night at moms too, which the girls loved.  Saturday morning, after breakfast they went for a ride in moms convertible (they always want to do that) and then played in the sprinkler in their PJs.  We then got ready for the funeral and after the funeral headed back home.

It was lots of fun to travel for the few days.  It was great fun being together as a family.  And it was all very exhausting, the driving, the not sleeping well in other beds, and just a busy trip in general.  It was good though and we made lots of good memories.

Dinner on Wednesday night

In front of a statue in the French Quarter

The Little Winn Dixie at the Museum.  It was really cool and the girls LOVED it.

The Cafe in the Museum, they had a BIG time in there too!

This was the lunch they served me!!  They must have thought I was super thirsty and hungry, huh?!?!

The eye doctors office in the Museum!

This was a room full of bubbles!

Dinner at Bubba Gumps

Weekend Visitors

Mom and GiGi came for the weekend and we really enjoyed their visit.  They got here late Friday afternoon and we just hung out that evening.  Kyndal sat by the window eagerly awaiting their arrival, and when they were 2 minutes past the time they said they would be here, she was ready to call them!!!

Saturday, the big girls had soccer clinic to see if they wanted to sign up to play.  Well, they don't!  It was at least 100 degrees at 8 in the morning and their poor heads were soaking wet.  I explained it wouldn't always be this hot, but they didn't want to play so we are not doing soccer.  However I did sign them up for gymnastics today.  They start 2 weeks from tomorrow and they are SUPER excited.  So after AC's nap, we went to lunch at Legends and then for ice cream at The Factory.  Of course we had to go swimming because it was soooo hot and there's not much else to do in Eufaula.  I cooked dinner and we just hung out and played the rest of the evening.

Sunday, we had lunch after church and then Abby and Kyndal had to go on one last ride in the convertible with Grandmother before they had to leave to go home.  We really loved having them here and look forward to the next family visit. 

Back to school today.  Day one of our third week is done!!!

Lunch at Legends

Ice cream at The Factory (Anna Claire was not thrilled about me walking away from the table)!!

Grandmother told her to bite a hole in the bottom of her cone and suck it out, so she did!

Is that good GiGi?????

Thanks for sharing GiGi, this is YUMMY stuff!

No chance of everyone looking at the camera all at once!

Not too much happening!

Well we have 2 weeks down in our home school record thus far!  It is still going well for us all.  Anna Claire has discovered how to get into the classroom, so today I had to pull out the pack-n-play, because she always climbs on their desk and messes with their work.  However even in the pack-n-play, she's not very content for too long.  We will work it all out some way or another. 

We rented Soul Surfer this week, which is such a good movie.  The girls wanted to watch it twice, so they did.

Abby and Kyndal always sleep with about 5 or 6 different pillows.  Their regular pillows and a bunch of pillow pets and even some stuffed animals.  Here is a pic of Kyndal with all of her "stuffies".

One day during school this week, Anna Claire sat at the step and played with something the girls had made at story time and picked off every little piece of paper and threw it in the floor.  Oh and this was the day after I deep cleaned the whole house!

Abby and Kyndal also love to go to the ICarly and Disney websites and play games, watch videos, and leave comments.  They are so funny about this, but they enjoy it!

Yesterday afternoon I went into their bedroom to get Anna Claire up from her nap and I knew she had used the bathroom.  When I walked over to her bed she had something brown in her hand and I said oh my goodness what have you done.  I turned on the light and walked back over to her bed and she was playing with 5 pennies.  I called A and K in the room and said which one of ya'll put these pennies in her bed.  They both looked at me like I was crazy and said, I didn't!!  I said so did they fall from the sky.  They said, I don't know but we didn't do it.  So I start really scoping out the situation and the closet door when opened meets up to AC's bed.  The door was open and Abby leaves a thing she made at church hanging on the door that she puts change in and takes back to Sunday School every Sunday.  Then it clicked, AC got the pennies out herself.  Oh my, I really hope she didn't decide to eat any of them.  She doesn't usually put things in her mouth so hopefully we are good.  By the way I did go back and apologize to A & K for assuming they put the pennies in her bed.

I went to Ladies Praise Night last night at Parkview with several of the ladies from our church and we had lots of fun.

My mom and GiGi are on their way to our house as I type, so we are looking forward to this weekend visit.  The girls are so excited, they have already called grandmother twice asking where she wants to sleep and letting her know they have all the arrangements figured out.  And of course they keep a close eye on the clock because mom said they would be here by 4!!!  A & K have soccer clinic in the morning and when they are done we will be going swimming.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hold your own sippy cup PLEASE!!

My precious, cute as a button, easy going, happy, loving, wonderful, 14 month old baby girl will NOT hold her own sippy cup while drinking.  What I mean by while drinking is, she will hold the cup, even put it into her mouth, but will not drink it.  Once I put my hands on it to hold in her mouth she lets go and plays with her head.  She has done this (play with her head or ears while I feed her) for as long as I can remember.  Is it bad that this drives me a little crazy????

She is doing pretty good eating.  She doesn't always like things on the first try, but does better on the second try.  She will not feed herself.  She doesn't put things in her mouth.  Kyndal didn't either until about 2 years old.  This doesn't bother me much, b/c it means she doesn't put nasty stuff off of the floor (not that my floors are nasty, although sometimes they may be) or toys in her mouth.  She also will only eat from her baby spoons.  Can we say picky baby???!!!???

Some may say well just don't hold the cup for her, eventually she will drink.  Tried this, the child will go hungry and that's the honest truth. 

We went to the Gospel Sing last Friday night, it was a benefit for a man who has cancer.  It was a nice time, the girls did really good for about an hour and a half.  They were tired, so we left.

Craig and the girls had a great time canoeing Saturday.  The girls came home and told me all about it.  They told me their daddy fell getting in the boat or something like that and they just thought it was hilarious.  I love sitting at the dinner table listening to stories and we can just laugh and have fun together.  Special times.  I however didn't do much of anything that day.  I did wash, dry, fold, and put away clothes and of course take care of AC, but not much of anything else.  And it was nice!!!

I finally got my teacher books in today.  YEAH!!!!  We are only into our second week and it's going well and I know we have a long way to go, but I really think this is great for our family and I'm truly thankful for the opportunity and ability to do it.  I'm sure there will be days I will want to put them in school, as I've heard all home school moms say, but you take the bad (or hard) with the good, right?  RIGHT!!!

There are times when I get frustrated or lose my patience with my kids and it usually makes me think about the families who are dealing with the loss of a child, or a very sick child, or one of the parents are dealing with illness and it makes me feel awful.  I know I will still get frustrated and lose my patience, but I want to take a deep breath before I let any of that show and think real hard before I speak.  I'm very thankful and blessed that the Lord has chosen me to be His daughter, a wife to Craig, and the mother of Abby, Kyndal, and Anna Claire.  I know I don't always show this, but I definitely want to be better at it. 

Please continue to remember Kristi and her family (last blog post) in your prayers.  The latest I've heard, she also broke a rib.  She had a PET scan yesterday and her first radiation treatment.  She was scheduled to have her first chemo treatment today.  I haven't heard an update today.  After her radiation treatments, she has to be away from her daughters for 24 hours.  I know this is sooo hard on all of the family, so please lift them up to the Lord.