Back Patio

We have taken the plunge (literally! read on!) to get a patio cover put on. I love that patio and we all spend a lot of time on it, since it's a walkout, right off the kitchen. John has spent countless hours researching various types of covers, designing the perfect cover, working on getting permits, and hiring out for the help. Work on it started yesterday.


Here's a quick "before". Please ignore the lack of landscaping. That will take place in the spring.


We are first extending the patio about 18 inches and putting flagstone down. This picture was the result of a lot of hard work from Robert (the guy we hired).

We woke up to this. POURING rain. Work came to a grinding halt. Grrrr....

I can't remember the last time we got rain, (except maybe the last time I hand-washed the car?) so the ground doesn't soak up the wetness very well. We ended up with a very nice stream flowing around our patio. Lovely.

Here's to a drier and more productive day tomorrow!

Oh Baby, Baby!

I received another box of wonderful infantino goodies the other day.

I seriously couldn't believe all the fun stuff that was in this box! William quickly pulled a chair up to the counter and started opening everything!

The Annabel Karmel food making assessories were designed to help moms make their own baby food, save money, and add variety to their little one's diet. Abby isn't really eating baby food anymore, so a few of these products (like the mash and serve bowl) are going to need to wait until we have our next baby. I was able to immediately make the popsicles, and a few hours later the kids enjoyed them! This was Abby's first time having a popsicle and she was a bit unsure of it.


I like the freeze trays, as they are more stylish than my plain 0l' ice cube trays that I used to freeze purees in the past.


I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products for my participation.

This Week's Learnin'

It was E's turn to shine this week. (Ya know, The Letter E.)

He attempted his first color-by-number of Ellie Elephant.

I strive for excellence in my home teaching, so that elephant was NOT going to cut it for me. I found this one online. We eversobriefly talked about the two different kinds of elephants (Asian and African) and what the differences are.

We continued with our 100s chart. Actually, to be perfectly honest, we started our 100s chart this week sooooo....can't quite say that we continued with it. We will, though, continue with it this upcoming week! (Hey, it took me awhile to make the numbers!)


I'm quite proud of the calendar in the background of this picture! I found it on sale for $4 at Michaels (TONS of pieces came with it!) and just finished laminating it. So now, every morning, we have our calendar time. William is slowly learning the days of the week, and loves jumping up on the window ledge to see what the weather is. (This constant heat is making it difficult to learn anything new other than "Warm". "Sunny". "Hot". I probably will never use the "Snow" or the "Rain" pieces so I'm not sure why I bothered laminating those.) But regardless, we check the weather every morning!

Abby has plenty of learning going on, too. I've already instilled in her the importance of Baby Wearing! Baby doesn't fit well in the back carrier, due to her super short legs, but this Baby fits quite well.

Dentist

William had his first dentist appointment this week. I think I was more nervous about it than he was.

We spent part of the week talking about our teeth, how to care for them properly, healthy foods, etc. We also made a book on teeth. Obviously to top it off he went to the dentist!


Here he is making his teeth book. I don't have a picture of the final product, which is sad, because it turned out pretty neat - it has a pop-up picture of a tooth and all! Abby naps some days and other days not. On the "not days" she refuses to be left out and wants to color right along with William.

He's holding chap stick. Never been to a dentist where they give chap stick out!

He was very brave sitting in the chair, albeit a tad stiff. I tried and tried to get a good picture, but he was unsure of himself and how much he could actually move in the chair that once he was in the chair he didn't move a muscle. The dentist and his hygienist were awesome! I couldn't have asked for a better experience. There were flat paneled TVs in each room so he got to watch cartoons during the cleaning. Funny - the hygienist asked if he liked Sponge Bob and William didn't answer her (a little shy and completely bewildered as to what Sponge Bob was). I told her we don't have a TV so he's not familiar with any cartoons so Sponge Bob would be fine. (Honestly though - could there be a dumber show out there? I think not.) So now, every time he sees a magazine with cartoons in them he always points them out!

Anyway, he got a clean bill of health and a rather nice dinosaur for a prize. (Obviously this dentist does NOT shop at the dollar store!)

Yes, I'm getting desperate. Send help.

Maybe I have too much time on my hands to have come across this.

Maybe I'm simply getting desperate.

Maybe it's time to start with Abby? Oh, the thought of that is headache inducing.

Saturday Fun!

Yesterday was a FUN day! We went to the go-kart races that were here in town and after a quick nap for the kids went to the pumpkin patch. HERE are the pictures!


(Obviously I need to edit this picture to cut me out...)

D

This week was about the letter D. Yes, I know it's Thursday, but we usually don't do anything on Friday other than our Bible lesson, because, well....he's only 3 and I have to vacuum and clean sometime.


The Zoo Phonics set that was on Ebay for cheap-cheap went sky high at the last minute and I wasn't able to snag it. Shoot bummer. (I'm starting to sound like my 3 year old!) So, we are just doing the motions for Zoo Phonics and continuing with Confessions' Letter of the Week curriculum. (I bought the whole thing for $10 and am enjoying the activities. I have no intention of reinventing ANY wheel!)

We finished up our Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed lapbook, and you can see the final project - a monkey puppet - hanging on the closet door. I love how he's really understanding how to correctly hold a writing tool, although it's hard to see it in either of these photos.

Here is his final David and Goliath picture. (Obviously I helped him out a little bit.) Every picture he colors has to get cut out so he can paste it on construction paper. (I found this picture on some random preschool coloring page.) In our Bible book we just finished up David and Goliath and of course, as we all know, Goliath ends up dead. William for some reason, is still stuck on Moses. (I think it's because we spent a great deal of time on Moses.) Anyway, I've told him numerous times that "Moses is dead. Gone. We are done with Moses." So, when we got to the part where David kills Goliath William pipes up, "So, now Goliath is dead? Just like Moses? So now we're done with Goliath?" Yes Son, we're done with Goliath. And since we're "done with Goliath" he really doesn't want to sing the "Only A Boy Named David" song because why? "We're done with him!"

This picture has everything to do with the letter D. Disastrous! I know some people think that I am wound up a little too tightly and don't like messes, but here's proof I'm settling down...a bit. I'm not sure William's face ever had food on it, because I kept him quite clean. But with #2...I'm starting to let go a little and let her be a little messy. Let's just say, though, that immediately after she finished her sandwich she was cleaned up! What can I say? I'm anal. I'm a first-born.