I can't believe my little baby is already 3 years old! Boy does time fly when you are having fun! He has kept us on my toes, but is a super sweet little guy. He can find an adventure in just about anything.
We love you Weston!
Happy Birthday!!
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| My chunky, monkey 11lb eskimo:) |
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| 1st birthday! |
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| 2 years old! |
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| Celebrating 3!! |
Boy! Ok...5 years ago...we found out we were having our first boy. Sorry mom and others...no I am NOT pregnant. Pretty content with our little 4 kiddos. Contentment is ok...some disagree...but won't discuss that now. Anyways....when finding out what you are having, either at an ultrasound or when a baby has been delivered...many different emotions and thoughts rush through your head. Some may start thinking of decorating ideas....or picture everything blue or pink. My first thought when we found out we were having our first baby boy....YES!!! Sean has at least one future hunting buddy. Ok, yes the girls can and will go hunting...but it just isn't the same. A boy. Sean couldn't be more thrilled...as was I. A hunting buddy. How fun!
Well we have our little guy Easton who will turn 5 in March. He has gone out hunting for squirrels and other rodents, but this past weekend was the big day to go deer rifle hunting with dad. Easton was beyond excited...beyond. Sean took him a few miles from our house for this little adventure. It was FREEZING cold...33 degrees to be exact and pretty windy. It was all good because they were equipped with portable heaters in the deer blind.
They didn't kill anything on their first hunt, however they did see a few does and bucks.
Such good, good memories being created between the two of them!
Sometimes I throw out homeschooling lingo to non-homeschooling friends and family and then realize that they have no idea what I am talking about. Sorry about that! Please ask questions when I go on and on about the new and exciting things happening as we get settled into this new little city!
Co-op! I have told quiet a few people about the fun things that our kids have been doing in this fall's co-op! No one co-op is exactly the same, but I am going to tell you about the co-op we joined.
A homeschool co-op is a group of kiddos that come together and take classes on a variety of different subjects. Typically these classes are taught by the mothers, but some times the co-op may bring in an expert in the area like a piano or dance teacher. I have researched various co-ops in Nebraska and classes can range from just for fun classes like dance, ballet, choir, legos, and games to more educational classes like Spanish, Science Experiments, Marketing, and Geography.
We joined a smaller co-op about 40 minutes Southeast of here in a small town of Stockham, NE. This fall there were around 13 families participating. The kids were grouped by grade levels and each group had anywhere from 6-13 kids in a group.
In October the moms got together to decide what the schedule would look like. Each grade group would take different 2 classes. For the preschool group the classes were music (taught by me) and young explorers. The group was a fun little group of 6 very energetic kiddos...including my two litttle guys! We had a lot of fun and made 4 different instruments...a tambourine, bell shaker, egg shakers, and clackers. At the end of the co-op they preformed a song for the group. It was so cute! In their young explorers class they did different craft projects and learned about pumpkins.
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| A few of the preschool crafts! |
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| The musical instruments my kiddos made! |
For the K-3rd grade group (my two girls were in this one) they took a Science Experiment class that focused on science experiments involving the human body. Their favorite thing was disecting a cow eye. They also took a creative writing and speech class. They learned about 5 different National landmarks and worked on writing different things such as letters to friends. They also had to memorize a poem and recite it in front of the group.
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| K-3rd grade projects! |
The 4th-6th grade group worked on a puppet show about David and Goliath and took a games and more class. I helped out with the games and more class and it was a blast.
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| Our 4-6th grade group playing a game! |
The 7th-12th graders took an art class and a Marketing class. They developed a business plan and actually made products for their new business. We had the opportunity to buy these products as well. I really thought that was a neat class. If I wasn't in the process of a crazy move while the classes were being decided I would have liked to help with this group, since I used to teach the exact same thing to high schoolers in the public school system.
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| A sign business that a 7th grader started! |
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| A card, babysitting service, and bracelet shop were other businesses that were sprung! |
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| A bakery and taco seasoning were the other two businesses! |
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| 7-12th grade art projects! |
On the final day of our fall co-op we had a short program for presentations and enjoyed a turkey pot luck meal. Love this new group and blessed to have some new local friends!
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| Fall fun! |
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| A few of the girls' new friends! |
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| A few of the boys' new friends...gotta keep the occupied while we clean up! |
Sorry for my lack of blog posts. I know at least one dedicated reader (my mom) counts on me writing. Unfortunately I haven't been taking pictures like crazy and most of my pictures have been posted on facebook. We have been busy, but I guess my camera has been set aside lately. I will try to do better...mom.
Everytime I run into someone new in Grand Island their typical response is there is nothing to do here. Hmmm....yes the activities are pretty slim compared to bigger cities like Omaha and Lincoln....but I am kind of overwhelmed with how much there IS to do. I can't wait to start checking things off our list of things to do. If we wanted to be busy doing something every day....we could definitely do that. However, I have limited our activities to 3 days a week. We might add another activity in 2014...we will see.
In the last month I have met quiet a few new moms and the kids have made quiet a few new friends. I really didn't think we would click so fast with new people...so that has been kind of nice.
We have our house all geared up for our first get together with my dads side of the family. I am super excited to be cooking for everyone and hosting. Weston turns 3 on Thanksgiving Day so I am making a cake for this event. If you know me, I have been obsessing over it just a little bit for a few months. Sean is planning on adding his own personal...kind of mortifying touch to the cake...so stay tuned.
Here is a little picture recap of the past 2 weeks!
We attended the Space Explorers program at the Edgerton Science Center in Aurora. I would highly, highly recommend going to the museum if you have school age kids. Here Katelyn made a grabber...it actually worked.
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| Jocelyn playing the flight simulator |
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| The boys enjoyed the museum too! |
The kids enjoy playing outside. They have met a few neighbor kids. The boys miss the dirt at our old house. The other day Wes told me that he was going outside to find some dirt....here is a picture of him hunting for some.
The girls watched there co-op teacher dissect a cow eye. We were lucky enough to receive one to dissect at home. We got all prepared and then I realized I had none if the instruments to actually make this dissection happen. Darn. Jocelyn tried really hard to cut away with a sharp kitchen knife, but the smell was overwhelming. This activity lasted approximately 3 minutes.
We have gotten out our art supplies again....the kids were so excited because we have had them put away for some time now. I painted the kids feet and they made turkeys.
We discovered a Y about 30 minutes south of here. The girls had a ton of fun going down the slides. We can't wait to go back. This Y is full of fun activities to do with the kids like a huge play area and miniature golf.
I got my sewing machine fixed a few months ago and dusted it off the other day. So much fun to sew a few things with the girls. We sewed up a few decorative pillows for their room. It seems like we have a new pet as well. Every time we look out this window during the day he is there. Kind of fun!
And last, please keep in your prayers both of my grandma's. They are both in pretty bad health. More specifically my grandma B (my mom's mom) stopped eating and drinking this past weekend, however ate a bite on Sunday. She had a stroke back in 2001 and has had quiet a few set backs since then. I have a bit of peace because I truly believe she was saved. She was a bit weird...I won't go into details...before she had her stroke, however the last time my mom and I visited her she was attending a Bible church and reading the Bible. She was surrounded by other believers as well. Unfortunately that was the last time we visited before she had her stroke. Lots of years of sharing the gospel with her hopefully sunk in.
I haven't met a kid yet that doesn't like playing with legos. I am sure they are out there somewhere, but all four of my kiddos love seeing what they can build...even if it is just a tall tower. Have you ever checked out the price of legos though? Ouch! It is a pretty expensive little hobby.
If you have been following my blog for the last few months I introduced you to Pleygo! It is a netflix like business...except you don't get movies in the mail you get legos! There are three different tiers to choose from--fan, super fan, or mega fan. The higher the tier the more choices you get. Some sets have as little as 75 pieces and some have over 1000. Each set comes with an instruction manual with step by step instructions on how to design the set. There are hundreds of sets to choose from...girly sets like treehouses, cafes, houses...to boyish sets like fire trucks, space ships, to larger structures.
I was fortunate enough to be given a 3 month fan membership in return for an honest review. We are a bit over 1 month in now and have received 3 different sets so far. My kids LOVE this! I am considering extending our membership over the winter months because our kids love it so much...*hint, hint* to anyone looking for gift ideas for our kiddos. They need absolutely nothing...and this has been an activity they all enjoy.
Our kiddos love browsing through the website seeing all of the sets they have the opportunity of putting together. Once they narrow down their choices we put them in a queue and order of what we want to receive first. So if our first choice is not available the system knows what our second and third choice is.
Here is the first set the girls picked out!
Here is our second set:
And our third set:
Such a fun, fun service!
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