Monday, November 29, 2010

Published


Charlie wants to be published in the Lego Club magazine. He made this super cool mobile crane and we are going to send this photo off to Lego. He thinks it is super cool that Lego actually publishes kids pictures and their creations. I think his imagination and mad Lego building skills are even cooler.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Homeschool: Kindergarten & Preschool weeks 8 & 9 Letter I


We have done a little bit of school the last 2 weeks. We started back to our school lessons a week after Penny was born. I have had Charlie concentrating on the basics, Phonics and Math. I also had Charlie do more independent work on the computer for the Study Island portion of his curriculum. This is a testing portion that K12 offers to help practice different concepts that he is learning. He did really good and I think it is a great exercise for him to do on his own. It really is sharpening his ability to follow directions and computer skills.

I have given Tommy a break from his weekly curriculum but realized today that he needs more structure so I am starting to incorporate more of his work back into our daily routine.

Besides the basics we have tried to do a few fun things as well. We made pumpkin playdough from scratch. The boys really liked doing this and it was super easy to make. We then made turkeys out of the playdough. I think they turned out really cute. With the extra playdough and materials we had we made up 2 packages for our friends Luke and Elizabeth and sent them in the mail. We talked about Thanksgiving and how we are thankful for things and people in our lives. We got the idea from my friend Susana, who did this last year.

We also did our crafty ABC for the week, the letter I. We made Iguanas. Tommy is REALLY into writing the letter "I" lately and even though he knows how to write his name he is much more excited to write "I, I, I" over and over again :) Charlie got creative with his Iguana and added his name and his initials to it. If you look closely at the bottom right corner of his picture you will notice that his Iguana has "pooped"....so typical of my little fella :)

Charlie had a great time making a paper bag city. One of his magazines had a few sheets of store fronts, houses etc that he could cut out and then glue to paper bags and make a city. He loved this project and did it over 2 days.


Tommy had a fun week doing projects around the house, helping me do laundry and washing the dishes.


First 2 weeks back at school went slowly, as to be expected. But we had fun doing our studies and projects and starting to figure out a new routine.

Friday, November 26, 2010

3 weeks



Who needs turkey? When you have these cheeks to nibble on?

Monday, November 15, 2010

2 weeks




Look who is 2 weeks old

First Week Home


Welcome Home Penny sign and pictures that the boys and Nana made for Penny

Tommy reading to Penny in the kitchen

Pure sweetness

Proud, tired Mama

Delicious

Snuggles with Grandma Candace

Kisses and hugs with Nana and Tommy


Quiet time with tired Daddy and Charlie

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Halloween 2010


Charlie wanted to be a robot and Tommy wanted to be a "Scary Skeleton and I am going to eat you up" for Halloween this year.

Trent and Charlie made his costume together. It was AWESOME and Charlie LOVED it!! It had all kinds of wires and lights, gadgets galore. The had a lot of fun doing it together and Trent was so cool about allowing Charlie to place things where he wanted them.

Tommy wore his skeleton pajamas and a skeleton sweatshirt along with some glove we found at the dollar store. But his favorite part of his costume was his face paint. After I put it on him he looked at himself in the mirror and started running around the house like a crazy "scary skeleton". He was so funny!

We stopped by our friends house to take a picture with Miss Mags, the Monarch Butterfly.

Tommy and Daddy carving a scary face on the pumpkin.


Charlie took control of his pumpkin this year.

We went trick or treating on our favorite street in Mayfield and Grandma Candace came along too. The whole street decorates and participates in trick or treating. One house pulls their pick up truck up on the front yard and has the car and yard decked out in scary garb. They don't just hand out candy but actual Halloween toys that glow in the dark etc. They also have a "scary chain saw guy" who runs around and chases the older kids with his reeved up saw (with chain removed). The boys are fascinated, scared to death but LOVE it and ask to go to that house first.

It was a great Halloween. We had so much fun trick or treating and watching the boys. It is amazing how much they change from year to year. It was so fun to watch how involved they wanted to be in putting together their costumes together and how brave and excited they were to get their "treats". I just love spending these moments with our boys, together as a family.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

We Are In Love





Penelope Jane, named by her Daddy and after her Nie Nie, has stolen all our hearts.
Her birth was magical and wonderfully quick. Her sweet cheeks are pink and plump and perfect for kissing. She barely cries and when she does she hollers for food, nothing more, nothing less, just food. She makes sweet baby noises when she sleeps and her head is the softest thing I have ever felt. She loves to cuddle and easily settles back into sleep after nursing. She has big blue eyes that stare back at me in the middle of the night, content and filled with love.

Our little peanut, 8lbs 21 inches
Proud Daddy-I don't think I have ever seen him smile so big as he did when he saw his baby girl.


I was in love the moment I held her. I cried when she was born. For her birth was a miracle, a blessing and something we had waited for.

And these two, the smiles say it all. They love to hold her, talk to her, teach her new things. Tommy loves to tickle her and tells her how cute she is. Charlie teaches her new words, can't wait for when she is awake and he can hold her and look into her blue eyes and is so gentle and loving to her.


She is sweet, lovely, perfect in every way.
And we love her. Oh, how we love her.

Lake Farm Park

Our last family of 4 field trip was to Lake Farm Park, one of our favorite places to visit. We have a yearly membership there and never grow tired of all they have to offer. We decided to go the day before I was to be induced with Miss Penny.

Charlie and the big shovel, Tommy and the great tomato
We visited the green house, looked at all the plants and played a few games about bees and pollenation.

The ponies were out and the boys both wanted to go for a ride.

(Tom)
Tommy was a bit nervous but once he saw how much fun Charlie had on the ride, then he was eager to have his turn.

(Charlie)

(Trent showing Mommy pig who was boss)
We also stopped by the barn and saw the new born piggies. They were about 2 weeks old and so cute. The boys loved petting them. Their mommy piggy was being a little aggressive and was kind of charging the gate (which I happened to be kneeling down by to pet one of her babies).

Charlie petting baby pigs

It was great cool Fall afternoon with our boys. We had a great time just taking our time and being together.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Penelope Jane



November 1, 2010
11:04 AM
8lbs, 21 in