sayin HI!

Sorry I've been MIA for quite a while, but here's a little update to say"hey out there!" ...Sweety girl is in kindergarten now (as in public school ...sigh.) We finally agreed it would be the best thing for her. I'm still all for homeschool, but I never counted on having such a social child. She can't get enough interaction & stimulation. And I think it's much better for her to enjoy it now while she's little (& it's fun) than always build it up in her head & resent that she didn't get to try it. So the plan is to send her for a couple years & go back to homeschooling when it seems like the right time for our family. ...Little man is just as crazy as ever, trying to talk a lot more lately & attempting to potty train again (the other little guy in the pictures is a friend's baby we're watching now a few days a week-he's a punkin!)...My baby brother is getting married sometime this spring. It's going to be a very simple, inexpensive affair, whatever they decide on, so we're all trying to pitch in & help them pull it off. And since I like any chance to play at crafty/weddingy things, I'm excited! ...Not much else at the moment so bye for now :)

sweety girl in ballet class

Finally posting these ...she's been taking ballet/tap/gymnastics class for about two months now & really enjoying it! I'm so glad because I wanted her to start while she was still young to help with coordination & confidence ...& it gives her something to look forward to every week, which really helps with homeschooling! (thankyou marmie & ali aunt!!!)

conversation with cutest boy :)

reading lesson

Word on the page: a-t.         ME: "ok let's sound out this word. what's your first sound?"          C: " aaaa."         ME: "good. what's your next sound?"          C: "tt!"           ME: "good! now let's put them together. sound it out."      C: "rrrrraad!"          ME: "honey, you're saying sounds that aren't even in the word. let's sound it out again."        C: "rrrrr..."            ME: "ok you're not even looking at the page. you need to look at your word to be able to read it."         C: "rrr..."             ME: "let's sound it out again. first sound?"       C: "aaaa."        ME: "good! next sound?"          C "tt."                ME: "good! now let's put them together."        C: "rrrrr ....curious??"    .....("aaaaaaaahh!" do you see why this is so frustrating? it's like a battle of wills every time we sit down to a reading lesson. but she is making progress. it's just hard to figure out sometimes when she's really not getting it or just being stubborn, um, spirited. thanks for listening. i feel better.)

at the park

someone's potty training!!

i've heard boys are notoriously tough to train, so i've been expecting the worse. but here he is, a month shy of two, and he's being easy peasy. we're just being very relaxed about it & keeping it fun. the baby sign for "potty" is a tremendous help, as he's not real big on the spoken word. in fact, this boy's been a little ahead on everything but talking. he says 3 words: mama!, bye bye & dad. oh well ...i heard a rumor once that einstien didn't talk til he was five. but don't quote me on that :)      

My Baby's Growing Up

My baby girl turned 5 today!! This is a hard one for me because it seems like 5 is the end of being considered a little kid. And if we weren't going to homeschool, she'd be starting kindergarten this year. Sigh ....  I know it's something parents just have to get used to; I just can already see her as a teenager in my mind & I'm freaking myself out! No really, I am working on being in the moment & taking it all in.  We don't celebrate birthdays (even though we do plenty of other fun things that make up for it!), but she had a great day because her bestest friend came over :)  

They played together so good all day. Little sweeties.

hello!

In case anyone's noticed, my last couple posts have not been so wordy... Baby Son thought our laptop was a George Foreman grill because after he pounded on the keys, he proceeded to smash his chicken into it & shut the top, for me to open & find later. He really did a number on it because the keyboard does not work at all -we can only use the mouse (I'm gettin real creative with copy & paste!) I'm using my brother's laptop right now & hopefully we'll have ours fixed soon...but in the meantime atleast I can still post pictures. ....Here's the prettiest thing I've made for dinner in a long while: Zucchini Gratin from this lovely yummy foodie blog my friend found. I've been so out of cooking mode for so long but there's a few more recipes on here I can't wait to try, so maybe it'll help pull me out of my slump...         

   ...made with zucchini, yellow squash, fennel & thyme from the garden :)

k

day trip

the kiddos & i went along with my dad on a little road trip to see a family friend on her wild little ranch                ...along the way we stopped at fredericksburg wildseed farm & the kids got a wagon ride...

then to our friend's place. c was so excited to see the horsey...     

                            ...we took the back way home & ran into some critters on the road ...   

         thankfully i grabbed a project to doodle at since i did not have to drive (yay!) been wanting to try some freehand embroidery ~quite addictive