We are here!

I am so glad we are here! Having so much fun as a family. I have to get the camera out...

Happy New Year!

Jackie

Breaking News.....Breaking News.....

We interrupt our regular schedule here on the home front to bring you this breaking news. As many of you know The King Fish has been away on "location". Okay, okay, it's really just a construction job, but "location" sounds so much more exciting. Well he found out yesterday that he will have to work New Year's weekend. Bummer. Oh you can't imagine the tears from me. I don't know how single mom's do it... I really don't. It is hard to parent and do everything all by yourself, all the time.

Having said that, he was going to come home for a day. 24 hours, and then leave again for the weekend and week. Ugh! He is so not thrilled, and is tired, and feels awful and helpless, because he can't control what the situation dictates. We were going to go up on Saturday until Sunday to visit with him, but we needed to be back Sunday night for the boys co-op on Monday. So to make a long story short we are heading on a mini-vacation with him. We will be away for New Year's, not my ideal, but that's okay..... we will be together. He has to work during this time too, but we will at least see him a lot more, and we will all have evenings together. Yay!

I am once again procrastinating on this blog instead of packing. Does that surprise you? I'm sure it doesn't surprise my sister. :-) She probably already knows without me telling her that I have laundry to do before I can pack anything. She also knows that when I say I am leaving at 10:00am, it typically means 1:00 or 2:00pm. It's just who I am... okay?

I may not be around much while away, but I'll be taking lots of photos! (Camera is about the only thing that is packed... and the Wii)
Hope everyone has a very Happy New Year!

With Blessings,
Jackie

Tot School- Christmas Break

Small Fry is 38 months old.

I have been soaking up Carisa's website over at 1+1+1=1. Such a great resource for those who have a toddler ages 1-3ish. I have found that while I school my older boys my youngest little guy is keeping himself busy... but, he is ready for so much more! We've been doing some fun activities that work on his hand eye coordination, fine motor skills, color recognition, etc. He loves to play with these types of things and he is so proud to accomplish them!

Here are a few things that we worked on this past week. Lots of fine motor skills projects. I have to say it's been easy to fit this into our day because I am not back into full-time homeschooling the two older boys. So this has been a fun treat for me too! Now, I just have to figure out how to fit it all into the master schedule.... hmmmmmm.

Stringing fruit loop type cereal on a pipe cleaner.

So proud of himself!!

Using tongs to grab a cottonball and put it in the Christmas tree ice tray.


Putting them back in the pitcher was a little easier for him.

Learning to cut paper with his new toddler scissors. He really had to concentrate to figure out how to do this... lots of help from Mommy!

He glued the scraps that he cut to a black piece of construction paper.
He loved this project!


First exposure to the letter A (well other than Sesame Street)


He loves using his dot-a-dot paints.

His first lacing card... with a little help from Mom. :-)


Just a fun shot of gross motor skills. Jabber Jaw and Small Fry.... :-)

If you want to check out more great Tot School ideas for your toddler, you definitely need to visit Carisa's website... here.

This, That and The Other Thing....

We had a lovely Christmas that went way to fast! Typically The King Fish likes to take off the week between Christmas and New Year's but was not able to this year, thanks to that difficult construction job. It's okay though we made the most of the 4 days off we did have! Plus we are looking forward to this weekend together before all our outside activities start back up. I took my Christmas music off of my blog.... I guess that means it's time to start cleaning up. I wish the rest of the house, would clean itself up so easily! Decorations down, ornaments away, trees down, lights down... just click "Remove". (Oh how I wish!)

I've been fighting a sinus infection since before Christmas. It started out as a normal cold, but it's been over 2 weeks and I am still fighting it. I am too stubborn to head to the doctor's though, so I keep trying to treat it with a sinus rinse and Tylenol sinus. It is helping only a little, so I may have to head to the doctor's next week. Grr....I hate to have to do that....

In other news, The King Fish is again out of town, and I am holding down the fort here at home. We are having a service here to take care of all our critter issues, and they are sealing up the house good. They also had to fog the attic, and that led to my boys and I spending the night at a hotel in town. Thankfully we had a free night. It was actually pretty fun and relaxing for all of us. We popped popcorn and stayed up until 10:15 pm watching ESPN sports. (One of the channels we don't get at home). Pictures?? I have none. I thought (too late of course) that it would be nice to have posted pictures of the Jr. Suite they gave us at the hotel. It was beautiful!! I loved it and would love to go back!

This morning everyone woke up and after getting showered and packed up, we headed down for a free breakfast buffet. Man o' man can my boys eat! They are breakfast people for sure, especially my Jabber Jaw! Even Small Fry ate well, and loved the apple juice. We headed back home afterward, as the men continue to work on our house. Hopefully it will be done today.

I am working on both mentally and physically re-organizing our school closets. I have bought quite a few things to work on with Small Fry, and I need a place to put it all. (I have a Tot School post coming up soon of all we have done this week on Christmas break.) I'm also trying to mentally get my head back in the game for our regular homeschool for the older boys. I have had a nice break, and it's hard to start back up. One thing I know for sure, we will be working toward more independent work for them... especially now that they are older.

I guess that's all in this post. Hopefully I will be feeling better soon, and my posts will have more of a directional theme to them. (Not all scattered as I seem to have posted here!) :-)

With blessings,
Jackie

Merry Christmas From Our House To Yours!

Happy Gotcha Day!

One year ago today our family was in Moscow, Russia finalizing the adoption of our youngest son. It was what many in the adoptive community call "Gotcha Day". He was so scared and tearful that day, and so sad for the first month or so home, but what a difference a year in a familiy can make!

Our boys and I have been talking about God's heart for adoption, and one of the verses I love is Psalm 68:6 "God sets the lonely in families". My Jabber Jaw said to me, "Mom there is a verse in my Awana book from last year that reminds me of this." He quoted Luke 19:10, "For the son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Then he said to me, "Mom, that was Small Fry, he was all alone, without a mom or a dad. But God knew that and put him in our family."

I love how he is learning about the Lord, and God's heart for adoption.

We had a little Gotcha celebration for Small Fry this evening. We got him this cake... which he didn't even want to taste. (But he loved the Penguin design. lol! )

Here are some photos of Small Fry when we picked him up at the orphanage, and now a year later.

First breakfast with us.

Touchdown on US soil.

Playing on a blanket during football practice. Silly smile!

Raking the yard at Thanksgiving.

Turkey Trot 2009.
I love how content he looks in this photo with his daddy.

Happy Gotcha Day Small Fry!!

An Early Christmas Gift

The King Fish had been away an awful lot lately. Unfortunately a job that he is currently managing is not going as well as he would like, so it is pulling him out of town more. I won't lie and say it's been a piece of cake with him away. It's been hard, and by the end of his time away I am worn out... just from the little things. The King Fish hates being away so much too, there is nothing he likes more than spending time at home with his family. The boys have been missing him as well, and we hoped to travel with him Christmas week, but we just found out that won't be able to happen. We were all bummed, and quite frankly many tears were shed by all of us at home.

So this Christmas present came at such a good time for my older two boys. The King Fish was given tickets to the Titans vs Dolphins game today. He and Jabber Jaw are huge Dolphins fans, and Tiger Shark is an Eagles fan. It will be the boys first NFL game ever! We surprised the boys by having them get ready for church as usual. (Small Fry and I always drive separately, since we stay for only one service). Anyway, we packed all their warm clothing in a duffel bag, and had it in the truck. They left for church and when they passed the road they usually turn on, the boys were telling The King Fish, "Dad you missed the turn." He turned to them, showed them the tickets and said, "Hey guys we're going to the Titans/Dolphins game!!!" The King Fish, says they were so surprised, their jaws dropped and they were silent for a moment. (A real rarity in our household). Then when they realized what he had just said, they hooted and hollered and yelled with all kinds of excitement. I got a call so I could hear all of it! It was awesome!!

I'm so glad for them to be able to spend some time with their Dad. What a wonderful memory this will be! Now, if only the Dolphins would win it.... so far they aren't looking so good. They need to pull it together for the second half!

Oh My Word!!!

I am freaking out right about now. This morning at 7:30 I was awakened to my oldest son coming into my room saying "Oh my word, we have a mouse in the house!" What???? I looked at him to see if he was kidding and he looked dead serious. He said, "Mom it just crawled out of my closet, and went back in."

Oh no.

I go into the boys room and sit on the bed. Small Fry is with me and Jabber Jaw is on his bed. We are all staring intently at the closet door. Waiting. I look away to talk to Jabber Jaw for a minute, and Tiger Shark yells.... there it is!! There it is!!! It's going out the door!" I look and out of the corner of my eye I see a big fat thing shuffle out the boys bedroom door. (I am now officially freaked out!) I jump on the bed and tell anyone (except Small Fry) to see if it's in the hallway. No one wants to check. So, I get up and tiptoe to the hall. It went in the direction of the playroom. (So not thrilled about that!)

No mouse. So, I call the King Fish, who you will remember is out of town and has been almost all week. Wahhh!!! He tells me to call an exterminator immediately. So I call a pest and wildlife control service. They were here with in 15 minutes! 15 minutes!!! Thank you Lord!! They happened to be at Lowes picking up supplies for a job when the secretary called them and they could come over. Have I said Thank you Lord?? Thank you!

The owner and 2 young men who work for him came in around 8:10am and I led them to the area that I saw the "thing". They did a search of our attic and found an open socket in the boys closet where the critter could get in. Oh my word!!! Can you hear me freakin' out???

They checked the crawl space under the house too. Here is what we found out. Squirrels are in our attic. And in I think something else too... as the "critter" Tiger Shark saw had a naked tail. Just saying that and picturing that makes me all icked out.... "naked tail". We also have a raccoon under the house. Oh my word!! Please make it stop..... The cost to get rid of all critters and do a whole house seal is expensive, but I don't care... it is happening!

So, they sealed up the two open spaces to the interior with steel wool, until the King Fish comes home and he can seal them with covers. They told me if we see the steel wool popped out that is for sure the way they are getting in. Uh.... I am so not checking that!! Do you hear me pest guys? Not happening.

I called my sister this morning because I knew she would just be a shoulder to lean on, and empathize. Thank you Lisa! I told her about the older gentleman who owned the company and how he was definitely from the south. He had a camouflage hat on and on the front it had the words. "Git er done" My sister cracked up and said, "well the one time you want a guy to have Git er done on a hat is now!" LOL!! She's right you know....

So, here I sit at 9:30am. No one is going upstairs for anything. I'm thankful that I am behind on my laundry once again, so I can just stay downstairs and wash everything, and everyone will have clean clothes without going upstairs.

Be blessed!
Jackie

Christmas Break Coming Up!

I am excited that after today's co-op we all will be starting a much needed Christmas break in our family. Naturally we won't be completely stopping our schooling. We are a tad behind in our history and our Read-Aloud Classic Literature, so we will be continuing just that everyday of the break. But that is easy. The rest of the time will be filled with cookie making, and maybe some gingerbread houses or gingerbread men, and perhaps a little decorating too.


I WISH I could get a Christmas photo of the boys...but it has been so hard! We went to a local art museum that had a ton of Christmas trees, and I couldn't get one good photo. Hmmf. One child was always looking away or blinking or something. I wanted to try this weekend, but it rained all Sunday. So maybe this week I will get the motivation to try this again. I'm thinking New Year's cards are going to go out.... :-)

We have 6 trees up so far, but not all decorated. Yes, I know it's a little late, but I'm keeping everything up until well after the New Year. That way I can enjoy it! Oh and as to the 6 trees, well almost everyone has been given to us. Typically someone was throwing a tree away or giving an old tree away. They are not too pretty to look at... but I like that! I like transforming the discarded junk into something new and beautiful! I'll be taking photos of everything and posting it little by little.

He's heading home!

Just have to post quickly that the King Fish is finally on the road home! I will be so thankul to have him home..... we have all missed him terribly! Today's plan is to finally get a Christmas tree! Yay!

No Title

I could write... frustrating day, or "what a day" or "Ugh". Today has just been one tough day. Nothing immensely bad went wrong, it's just the little things that wear you down. As a stay at home mom, who also homeschools my children....and has a husband out of town for most of the week.... this has been a day of the little things wearing me down.

Kim commented, "How DO I find the time?" I groaned when I read that tonight, because really I have no idea. And if anyone could have seen the day I had today... good grief. It started out with rain, not typically a bad thing, as we had a lot to accomplish inside today. Breakfast came and we used up all the breakfast food we had. We began our school with Creative Writing. Some days my children take to this easily and I am amazed that what I have been working so diligently with them throughout the first semester, is finally paying off. Today was NOT one of those days. We had historical fiction to write, and the ideas were just not coming. Nor were the words. I had to pull and prod and twist and turn, much like pulling teeth. Jabber Jaw had to write a Christmas story and thankfully he took to that fairly easily. His main thing is complaining about cleaning up and re-working a rough draft. Good grief if he would stop complaining and "just do it", he would get done a whole lot faster and save his breath in the process.

In the middle of all this Creative Writing Small Fry was just a mess. He was not happy today, and I suspect he was quite bored while I diligently worked with the older two boys. I needed to be better about breaking and doing specific activities with me. Really he just wanted my attention. So his whines became louder and the older boys struggled to write and I groaned to hear it all. Lunch came and went in the midst of all the "fun". The meal of the day PBJs and yogurt with some Ritz Crackers. Have I mentioned I need to go to the grocery store?

The King Fish is out of town in his own stressful work environment, and when I called to get some empathy, he was otherwise occupied. Totally understandable, yet still frustrating for me. While Small Fry took a MUCH needed nap, the older two finished writing their first drafts. Thankfully, I had a lasagna in the freezer, so I cooked that for dinner. After dinner around 7:30, the final drafts of the writing papers were being written, while Small Fry played upstairs and I grabbed a shower. Then around 8pm I bathed Small Fry and as I am drying him off Tiger Shark comes up to tell me that our neighbor and coach from Lego Robotics is coming over to pick up the bike helmet we used in our presentation. People! Small Fry is in his diaper and I am in my pajamas, hair wet, and without a stitch of makeup! I'm "In" for the night.

The Biggest Loser is on, and I promised the boys they could watch the whole thing as it was the finale. They are totally engrossed that they could care less that I am stressing because someone is coming to the house and I look like this. Our neighbor arrives (he lives less than a minute away) and Tiger Shark is trying to call The King Fish, because he doesn't know where the helmet was put when it was unpacked from the car. What he doesn't know is that dh turned off his cell phone and went to sleep because he has to get up at 2am for a concrete pour. I come downstairs in my PJ's and a sweatshirt, holding Small Fry dressed in just a diaper, to help our neighbor find what he needs. Our neighbor is also on a work conference call, so he is just as "preoccupied". The phone rings and it's The King Fish sounding all groggy, and I tell him to go back to bed, I have it under control. Ha! The bag needed is still in the van, and so I send our neighbor out through the garage to retrieve it. But to get there he needs to come through my kitchen. The dishes are piled everywhere and the clothes! Oh my word the clothes!! The laundry is located in the kitchen and I must have 7 loads to do, it's piled so very high! This is really why I am in my PJ's and Small Fry is in a diaper... there are hardly any clean clothes upstairs. And if they are they are at the bottom of 3 laundry baskets on the floor of my bedroom waiting to be put away! But today was pretty much Creative Writing and put out fires all day long. Referee that's what I was... and I guess writing coach as well.

Mortified as I was... we found the bag and made our way back to the front foyer. We chatted awhile longer about Lego Robotics and the team while Small Fry rode his "yellow car" all around the house in a diaper, and my other two oblivious to everything going on (including their manners) watched the Biggest Loser! Finally he said goodnight and headed out, and I promised myself once again, that my house would never look like that for unexpected company. No, my house was going to be ready the next time for that spontaneous visitor. But I knew inside that wouldn't be the case. The house is a distant priority, falling well behind schooling, mothering etc.

So, I took our Small Fry upstairs, put him in some footie pajamas and rocked him singing his favorite songs for the next half hour. Then I headed back downstairs to spend some time with Tiger Shark and Jabber jaw... watching the last part of the show they were engrossed in. And here I still sit... exhausted from a day in which I never really accomplished a whole lot. Yet, exhausting it was! My dishes still sit and I have yet to wash one load of those clothes. So, in answer to my friend Kim, How DO I do it? I guess I don't. Sure we do a lot with our kids... and schooling is a huge part of that as well as extracurricular activities.... But this post will show that I struggle mightily with the day to day stuff, especially keeping up with my home.

So, I wrote on my Facebook page that my verse today has been "His mercies are new every morning." I don't even want a "do-over"... I would like a whole new fresh day! And I'm glad I get it! I'm praying tomorrow is a whole lot better.

Lego Photos

Here are a few photos of the FLL State Competition.

Our awesome presentation board of the kids flyer and power point slides.

The competition floor before the event began.

Our robot.

Our first run we didn't do very well.....

Our third and final run was much better....

Tiger Shark and Jabber Jaw receive their medals.

3rd Place Presentation!

Just a quick post.... our neighborhood Lego Robotics team took home 3rd place in the presentation portion of the competition! This was the FLL (First Lego League) State Competition, so we placed third in presentation over teams from across the whole state! We are all so proud of our kids! Pictures coming soon!

Lego Update!

I was going to post about Jabber Jaws birthday that happened a few weeks back. Or the football super bowl his team played in... but lost. Unfortunately those posts and pictures will have to wait until Lego Day passes. Actually it's not called Lego Day, it's Lego Robotics and my two oldest boys are involved. They have been working with 4 other members of their team, and parent coaches so much this week! Here is an idea of what they have accomplished over the last several months and through this week.

• They have almost completed the programming of a Lego Mindstorm robot. It has to do 4 mission completing a variety of tasks to earn points. Some tasks involve picking up loops, knocking over pylons etc etc. Our team will be competing with about 63 other teams from around our state. How is that for crazy???



• This year's First Lego League theme is called Smart Moves, and is all about the ways in which we move through life. Transportation, like walking boating, driving, flying, biking, etc etc. The kids had to pick a mode of transportation and identify a problem with it. They had to define the area they would focus on.... global, regional local or whatever, and then research problems and work on a solution.



• The kids also had to come up with a presentation based on their research. They did a power point presentation, all by themselves! These are 9-12 yr olds here! I saw a flyer they created, and some of the power point and I was impressed.



• They had to come up with a team name and design a logo.



• They came up with a giveaway that had to do with their team and project. The team voted on trail mix, and so yours truly just made over 200 snack size ziploc bags of trail mix. Plus labeled it all with our logo using Word and Avery labels. (I was impressed with myself and my outstanding computer skills that only took me 3 hours to figure out.... yes that long! Then I saw the power point presentation, and my self esteem plummeted further!) LOL!

The competition is this Saturday. We're not quite ready... and it's almost our entire teams first time doing this...... but everyone is set to have fun no matter what happens, so it should be a good experience!

A Quick Health Update

For my family and friends checking in: Here's a quick health update for me... not for Small Fry. My blood pressure is totally fine. Yay! I must have white coat syndrome where it is elevated at the Drs office. Here at home it averages completely normal every time. I'm so thankful!

My cholesterol is up, but not significantly. But the Dr wants me to start a low fat diet to help lower the cholesterol levels. (I mentioned that a few weeks back). I spoke to a good friend and she managed to lower hers through diet as well. She said it's the little changes that can make a big difference. So, I'm adding flax seed to lots of things, and using whole grain pasta, rice and tortillas. My sister also baked a month worth of oat bran muffins and individually wrapped them for the freezer. I am sooo thankful for her, because it helps me tremendously in the mornings. All I have to do is grab a muffin from the fridge. Thank you Lisa!! My favorite oat bran recipe is below... they are really good, and my understanding is the oat bran helps soak up that bad cholesterol. I actually have another favorite flax and apple.... but I will have to post that one later.

In other health news: I went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday, and was informed that I have "bruising of the bone on the 2nd metatarsals." Woohoo! I hate to say this, but this Dr. is such a conceited, arrogant pita.... but he's good and I respect his medical diagnosis. He annoys me to no end though, as he hardly lets a patient speak. I look at him and think.... what are you going through some type of mid-life crisis or something? I feel for his older patients.... Anyway, when he pressed on my very tender foot, I yelped so loud there was no doubt where the bruising was! I have to get special shoe inserts to help take the pressure off that metatarsal, and hopefully it will heal in about 2 months. Meanwhile my low fat diet might help take off some weight, which might help take off some pressure on my feet as well. (See how my brain thinks??)

Here is the recipe:

Blueberry Nut Oat Bran Muffins

1 1/2 cups oat bran
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups applesauce
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 TBSP canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 ounce chopped pecans
1/2 cup low fat granola

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper muffin liners and spray liners with cooking spray.

2. In large bowl mix the oat bran, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl blend the applesauce, egg substitute, canola oil and vanilla extract. Thoroughly mix the applesauce mixture into the flour mixture. Fold in the blueberries and pecans. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle batter with granola, and press lightly to make it stick.

3. Bake 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional Info:

Serving size: 1 muffin
Calories: 191
Total Fat: 4.4 g
Cholesterol: < 1 mg
Sodium: 397 mg
Total Carbs: 37.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.4 g
Protein: 5.5 g