Our Weekend in Pictures

I cut Woodstocks hair. He's back to the 'ol mohawk. He hasn't sported it in about a year.

We went to Dinosaur World with our friends and their little girl. They were soooooo excited when they saw the first Dinosaur. The look on Stinkerbell's face says it all.



Taking a power nap on Daddy's head.

What a good day!

Not My Child

Is it a reflection on parenting when your 2 year old's breakfast is three spoonfuls of crunchy peanut butter with chocolate milk to drink followed by a bowl of popcorn lunch? Well, good thing that's not my child.

What the Joaquin?

So, it's a little after midnight and I'm still awake. My head says I need to go to sleep but my heart hasn't gotten the message. This unfortunately happens to me a lot. Who knows when I'll get to sleep....but I know when I'll wake up. That's the problem. Anyway, I was in bed watching Letterman and Joaquin Phoenix was on. It had to be the most uncomfortable interview I have ever seen. And this includes the Farrah Fawcett interview in 1997. Anyone who saw that interview knows exactly what I'm talking about. I will never forget it. At least it was awkward and funny, Joaquin was just awkward. In case you don't know what I'm talking about click here (then scroll down to farrah fawcet. it won't let me link straight to it). I have read things online that have said something about Joaquin leaving acting and becoming a rapper. An article I read (i said article to make it sound better. i think i read it on tmz) said that it was actually all a joke and it was being documented by his brother-in-law. Something about it being a satire on the way our culture follows celebrities. All I know is after watching that interview, he has to be kidding OR he is on some major Brittney Spears kind of meds. You could tell Letterman was uncomfortable through the whole thing. He tried not to acknowledge how weird he was being until the end when he said something like, "I'm sorry Joaquin Phoenix couldn't be here". I don't remember it exactly but it was along those lines. All I kept thinking was how this was worse then the Fawcett interview. Letterman must of been thinking the same thing. After his comment of Joaquin not being there he said something in reference to Fawcett. It made me giggle that I wasn't the only one thinking it.

My Faves

There is no way I could have homeschooled before the internet. There is everything a person would ever need to know right at your fingertips and for free! I don't know if anyone is reading this that...well, I don't know if any is reading this. Assuming people are reading this. I don't know if anyone is reading that is homeschooling a young child. But, I thought I would pass along some of my favorite web sites.

ABC Jesus love me
Homeschool share
Little Blots
Letter of the Week
First School

The Greatest Show On Earth!

Last night we went to the circus. There was some false advertisements but all in all we had a great time. The commercials said that an hour before the circus there would be pony rides and elephant rides and Spiderman would be there and it would be free. The only thing that was free was seeing Spiderman. Everything else costs money. EVERYTHING else. They had four moon bounce things that costs $6 a child to jump in it. We let the kids look at all the stuff.....then we walked by. They did give out these extremely loud whistles to all of the kids. Woodstock thought they were great.

After the ringing stopped in our ears, we all decided it would be best if he kept it in his pocket for a while.

When we were standing in line to see Spiderman, Stinkerbell was very excited. Woodstock thought it was cool but he kept saying that it's just a guy in a Spiderman outfit. Stinkerbell was completely in awe.

After waiting in line for forever we got up there and my camera was dying. I did manage to get a couple of pics. They look terrified in the picture. There were so many people there all staring at them and they had to get up on the stage. It freaked them both out. Woodstock would have never of done it if Stinkerbell didn't go with him. I do love the picture where Stinkerbell is just looking at Spiderman. She has a crush.

While walking to our seats we ran into a clown and found this a good photo opportunity. Stinkerbell had already gotten into her cotton candy.

While we were waiting for everything to start, the family in front of us decides to buy there kids EVERYTHING there. They called over everyone that was walking by selling things. First it was the toys. That was difficult because mine kept asking for the toys. But I'm sorry $20 for these things?

No way. The family of four spent easily at least $200 on there circus trip. How do people have that kind of money. My kids were watching in envy but took it pretty well at first. Then the snowcone guy came by.

Three or four vendor guys later and my kids were just staring at them and dreaming.

Oh well, the circus started and then all where happy again. They seemed to really enjoy it. Stinkerbells loved an act with a bunch of sheep dogs. They also had fire rings that different animals jumped through. This really got her attention. She kept saying, "Uh oh! Hot!" She was scared the animals were going to get hurt. She has a big fear of hot things. She had a run in with hot water and now it really scares her. Which is good. A healthy fear. I'm glad she had such a great time because we went for her birthday. She turns 2 at the end of the month. Woodstock really enjoyed it too. They both were clapping and giggling the whole time. Personally my favorite was the elephants. I'm not sure how many times I have been to the circus in my life but it always amazes me. Elephants are huge and have such balance.....amazing. I loved the circus as a kid and it's just as much fun as an adult. The kids were having such a good time I was surprised that about an hour into to it Woodstock started asking when we were going home. I thought he might be tired but he said he was just really hungry. On the way to the circus we had all eaten except for him. I told him he was not going to eat again until after the circus but he didn't listen. As soon as we got in the car he downed his chicken he had from earlier. Maybe he'll listen to Mommy next time.

A for Alligator

We are doing a letter a week curriculum right now. In hopes that Stinkerbell will learn her letters and Woodstock will learn the sounds of the letters. It's been fun. Monday we learned all about alligators. Woodstock and I made our first lapbook. I had no idea what this was until I read about them online. Apparently all homeschoolers know about lapbooks....oops. They are pretty fun and cheap, which is always fun. We are going to make one for every letter. We are going with an animal theme. I think next week our lapbook will be about bears. Since this is our first it is very basic but they can get pretty complex and cool. Here's Woodstock with our alligator lapbook.

Tuesday we learned about Alabama and where it is on a map. We also learned about astronauts. Woodstock has decided his favorite astronaut is Buzz Lightyear. Wednesday we took the day off and today was about animals. Here's a couple of pics of the kids (flossy and DJ came over) with their animal puppets. Stinkerbell ran out of the first pic. She was very excited to be in the second pic. As you can tell by her super excited cheesy grin.

They Mock

Somehow time out has become a game. I think my children are mocking me. This morning the kids were playing. I heard Woodstock tell Stinkerbell to go to time out. He said this in a very stern voice. She put her head down and walked right over to the corner and put her nose in it. I told her that Woodstock was not allowed to punish her and she didn't have to go to time out. She just turned around and smiled at me. She said time out as if to tell me to stop talking to her she's in time out. I then realized they were just playing. She would turn her head around and look at us. Then Woodstock would quickly tell her to keep her nose in the corner or she would get a spanking. She would smile and giggle then put her nose back in the corner. This went on for a little while. My children mock me. One good thing about having more than two children is that they are rarely all together on something. Someone is always left out which means there can always be a rat (a tattler if you will). I have learned with two they are always in cahoots, partners in crime. They stick together a little tighter. One day that will be good but today is not that day.

Fireproof Scrubs

Have you seen Fireproof? It's a good movie. Not the kind of movie my husband and I would normally rent. It's a drama about a marriage falling apart. That doesn't scream good movie night to us. We either go for something that's going to make us laugh or something with a lot of shooting and blowing things up. But, we have been told by a few people that it's a really good movie. Our church is having a Valentine's dinner for married couples and they are going to show the movie. It would be too expensive for us by the time we paid and got child care. We just decided to rent the movie and put the kids to bed early. We both really enjoyed it. I recommend it. Two thumbs up. It's also pretty cool watching the movie and knowing that Kirk Cameron is the only professional actor in it.
Today is the hubby's first day back to work since last Monday. Since we were all home for a week and there was an ice storm, we watched a lot of movies. There are a lot of bad movies out right now. Fireproof was most definitely the best one we saw. Another exciting thing to me....Scrubs is back on the air! I love that show. It's one of the few shows that the hubby and I both like. We never like the same thing on t.v. The other show we both enjoy is Wipeout and it's back on too. Good t.v. days.

In my next ten years....

I had to get all of my things from my moms house a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't believe the stuff that was in her basement. Some things I had completely forgotten about. Some things I wish I could completely forget about. I did find some great things to keep and pass down to my kids. On one hand I love that because I love things that are passed down and are meaningful. On the other hand this doesn't go with my new thing of simplifying everything down. Oh well, just a couple more boxes to add to the pile. One cool thing I found was from something I had written when I was a senior in highschool. It was about where I saw myself in ten years. Ten years will be next year. I have accomplished everything I said I wanted to in the paper. Either that means I've done really well or I didn't have too much ambition. In the paper I said I wanted my career to be a mom, I wanted to have graduated from the college that I did graduate from, and I wanted to be married to my husband. My hubby and I had been dating about 6 months at the time I wrote this. The last thing was that I wanted to travel around the world. My hubby and I got married in New Zealand which is completely around the world. I guess I'm right where I thought I'd be. I need to write one for the next ten years. Hmmm.....

Obsessions

So, we're on a Winnie the Pooh and Scooby Doo kick right now. My kids like a lot of things. There obsession goes in phases. Stinkerbell was on a long Nemo obsession for a while and Woodstock has gone through many obsessions. His longest was Cars. We watched it everyday for about 6 months or so. I think it's good it's Pooh and Scooby Doo because they can both enjoy them. Stinkerbell is constantly singing the theme song to Pooh and to Scooby Doo. The funny thing to me is that we have Scooby Doo dvd's and they are all new cartoons. The original theme song is not even on it. I didn't realize that and everytime I turned it on I would sing the song from when I was little. You know the whole....Scooby dooby doo where are you? I need some help from you now.....I could go on. Stinkerbell sings the song but obviously got it from hearing me because I watched the new movies the other day and that song is no where on there anymore. Kind of sad they took it off. I'm not sure how long this obsession will last. Our ice is finally starting to melt. Hopefully we can get outside a little more. We are blessed to be some of the few to have power and water.

Stinkerbell enjoying the outside before the ice storm.

They All Grow Up

A few times this week I've been hit with the fact that my little girl is becoming a big girl. The other night I woke up hearing Stinkerbell saying mommy on the baby monitor. When I completely woke up I heard her saying, "Mommy where did my doppy (her name for pacifier...no idea where it came from) go". She just kept saying that. I walked in her room and found her pacifier under her covers. I gave it to her and she told me thank you and went back to sleep. It was kind of nice to wake up to a need being vocalized with words and not just crying or yelling mommy. What a big girl. Last night was another time. Woodstock was coming down the hall. Stinkerbell walked after him saying, "Woodstock come back". Woodstock turned around and looked at her then she motioned with her hand and said, "C'mon!". Then they ran off together to play. Sweet moment.....no yelling or screaming just giggling. At least for a little while.

Stinkerbell....up close and personal

I don't take many pictures during the winter. Mainly because I really dislike indoor pictures. Unless the photographer is MUCH better than me. Another reason is that their is usually snotty noses in the winter. You don't notice it until you get an adorable picture with glistening snot somewhere on the little ones face. Yesterday it warmed up a little and we actually got to play outside. I took a few good picture of Stinkerbell (no snot...woohoo). Which I always love because she is hard to photograph. This one is my favorite.

Wordless Wednesday

Cousins

Home Sweet Home

It's good to be home. We're finally back after a week and a half out of town visiting family. I'll post more later. I just wanted everyone to know I'm still alive!