White Elephant 2010

My family has an annual White Elephant party. We have so much fun. I think I start having dreams about the party about 2 to 3 months before the party. Because I am pregnant and have lost many brain cells, like the remembering brain cells. I had a dream that we got to the party and we forgot to bring the gift. Now, I was a little distraught to have such a dream because I had the gifts ready and practically packed back in January. There was no way I would forget the gifts. I told Pa about this dream and he just laughed and laughed. He thought it was so funny that I would have such a dream because he knows how important this is to me.

This is most of my family, we are missing my brother Ben and his family and my brother Danny's wife. They were greatly missed. I hope they can make it out next year.

And yep, that is my kid with all that personality!

Love him!

This year we were able to do some skits.

In this photo we were singing the skunks song.

Oh, I stuck my head in a little skunks hole and the little skunks said,

well bless my soul,

take it out, take it out, take it out, take it out

remoooooove it!

Well, I didn't take it out and the little skunk said,

if you don't take it out you will wish you were dead

take it out, take it out, take it out, take it out

remoooooove it,

Spppppppp, I removed it too late.

I love this song because when I was little I would sing it to my grandfather and he would

look at me with a sense of pride.

He passed away when I was in my teenage years.

My kids love this song too.

David was a chin head in this one he was singing, Boom boom it's great to be crazy.

Couldn't hear him very well and I wish I would have remembered to cover his body up with a blanket. Oh, well! I am proud of him for getting up and performing on his own.

This is my brother David, and his wife Jaime and my brother Danny.

They came from out of town. Sooooo glad they were able to make it.

We sure do miss them!

Danny again.

The yummy food!

Little blurry, but isn't he just so cute!!!

And he sure it getting big!

This may be a little silly but, I like this picture. I don't feel like I am big and pregnant yet, actually I feel smaller than my other pregnancies. So, I think this picture is cute of me.

Is that vain? Oh, well if it is.

Excuse the pajamas in my arm, I just finished getting ready for the day.

We had a great weekend!! Can't wait for next years!! And thanks to Pa for taking all of the pictures! I am so glad that he was there and that he took photo's so we can remember this.

I Have Learned

Today I have learned, I don't have to do it all by myself. I have children and they are very capable and very happy to help out around the house.

This morning I woke up and thought today I am going to help my kids know how to clean, and not just clean but to clean up after themselves.

I have already learned maybe 2 months ago that when you ask a child do to something you don't say, "hey honey, I need you to do the dishes." No, they will look into the kitchen and want to run, I can't say that I blame them because that is what I want to do every time I think about needing to clean the kitchen. Instead you say, "Hey kids, the dishes need to be washed, who wants to wash the... plates? cups? bowls? silverware? That way they see that there really is an end, and they get used to doing dishes without feeling like it is a horrible job. I am amazed at how they get so excited about picking what they want to wash. Emma usually picks the silverware, David likes the cups and Abby, she likes to do all of the dishes.

When it comes to the bathroom I ask, "What part of the bathroom do you want to clean? There's the toilet, bathtub, sink and mirror. They all get so excited to clean the bathroom. I remember the first time I asked them what they wanted to clean Emma quickly said, "the bathtub!!" David said, "the toilet!" Abby said, "the mirror!" And Jacob after he saw what was going on he helped everyone, and he did the sink. I was very excited to get them working on the bathroom the next week.

So today I have learned that the kids really like having check lists. I cut up some card stock this morning to make cards for each kid. Then I wrote what I wanted them to do before they could watch a movie.

Emma:

1. Make bed
2. Put chickens away (for some reason she thinks she needs to let them out?)
3. Clean room
4. Put lotion away and clean the spills (I asked her to do this 4 times yesterday, never got done!)
5. Put school bag away and anything else that is yours that is out
6. Brush hair

David:

1. Make bed
2. Rinse breakfast bowl
3. Clean room and desk
4. Practice spelling words/write 2 times (he couldn't find his spelling words so he did a math sheet instead. Poor kid really had a hard time with this.)

Abby:

1. Make bed
2. Clean room
3. Brush hair
4. Help fold towels

Jacob:

1. Get dressed
2. Clean room
3. Help mom make a smoothie

It was so funny, Emma kept coming up to me saying, "Mom, you better give me more things to do! I love this!!" David was frustrated with this. Abby was excited until she bumped her head on her bed and didn't want to continue. And Jacob kept saying, "I can't" but he continued to do what was asked of him.

Then came afternoon...

Emma:

1. Read, write down books that were read
2. dishes, silverware, 1/2 plates
3. bathroom, bathtub
4. clean bedroom
5. fold towels
6. collect chicken eggs

David:

1. Read
2. dishes, bowls, 1/2 plates
3. bathroom, toilet
4. clean bedroom
5. fold towels

Abby:

1. read
2. dishes, cups (she just couldn't help herself, she did more than 1/2 the plates)
3. bathroom, sink
4. fold towels

Jacob:

1. read
2. clean bedroom
3. fold towels
4. bathroom, mirror

I have found that doing this with them I am more happy with them. I am sad to say that lately I have been feeling so irritated with them, like they are just in the way. They are in the way because they have nothing to do and they really need instruction and limits. So, I am trying to be better, like I have said before, "If I am going to homeschool there are lots of things that need to change in my home before we can keep the kids home." I need to change my way of thinking. And we all need to help out as a family, so the ship can run smoothly. We will get there, we will.

Oh, and one more thing, I have an idea for a chore chart, I am hoping that when I see my stepfather next week that he will want to make it for me. Then I will post picture of what is made. Probably in the next month or two.

Abigail and Jacob's Birthdays

My two youngest, as of right now have the same "birth" day just two years apart. So, their special day was in August. On their birthday we made cupcakes and just enjoyed being a family. Jacob was so excited that it was his birthday after watching cousins have birthday recently. He kept asking if it was his cousins' Alice birthday, I would tell him, "no, it is Jacob's birthday." He would jump up and down and say, "it's dadups (Jacob's) birfday?" This went on and on and on... Abby was so excited too. She got a little more attention than Jacob because she was able to go out with Grandma and Grandpa Hardy to Toys R Us to pick out her very own present. She picked out a battery operated dog that sleeps and has his own sleeping bag. She really likes it and loved the attention.

So, back to the cupcakes. We put one candle in a cupcake for Jacob and one candle it Abby's cupcake. After we sang and they blew out their candles, Jacob said, "More!" So we lit the candle again and again and again and again and again and again, you get the picture. Well, Jacob and Abby were successful in using the entire candle, all that was left of it was the piece that was inside the cupcake. Jacob had so much fun, he was laughing so hard, David wanted to 'help' blow out the candle so he would try and Jacob would blow it out first and he just thought it was so funny that he (Jacob) was in control. Abby loved the attention too, however she didn't get as excited about it.

Then we had another party that only a little bit of family was able to come to. This time I was able to make some fun cakes. Abby the princess castle, it was super easy to make and only took one cake to make it. I just really need to get some nice cake decorator stuff, frosting tips, etc. I used the kind of frosting that comes in a can and tried to make flowers on her cake and well, it didn't work like I would have liked it to.

Jacob's cake was an air plane and this only took one cake too. He has been loving air planes lately. Every time he sees one in the sky he asks if he can go in. I always tell him one day Jacob, one day.

Abby is getting so big, she picked out what she wanted to wear for her party probably 2 weeks before the party and she remembered and wore it. I was very impressed.

So here's to my children that are getting so big. Abby is 5 and Jacob is 3. WOW!