I Love Lapbooks!

Lapbooks.

Where have they been all my life?!
I just discovered them about a year ago.

It took me awhile to really understand what they are all about.

And it took me even longer to realize that I really didn't need to be a perfectionist with them. In fact, my "perfectionistic" ways hindered my kids. It's a little distracting when Mom is constantly sticking her hands in the lapbook to fix it.

What took the most time for me to realize is that there are really no rules.
What?! No rules?!
Then how am I supposed to make one of these?!

I finally found the answer.
Let the kids take the lead...





Joshua is so totally into space right now. He loves talking about the planets and the stars and all.



I have to say that the motivation to do a lapbook came from Jamin. I did a Google search on Bible lessons for kids, or something like that, and I found Jamin's homeschool blog. She has made lots of lapbooks with her kids.

Josh and I tried a Transportation Lapbook first. He was so proud of that lapbook that I knew we needed to make more. So, the Space Lapbook is our second attempt at a lapbook.



We did have to have a little lesson on gluing.

"Just a Little Bit of Glue"
(Sung to the tune of "London Bridge")
Just a little bit of glue
Bit of glue
Bit of glue
Just a little bit of glue
Is all we have to use!

Look at that concentration!



I even happened upon some lapbooking lesson on youtube.com.

Amazing.

What can't you find on youtube?

I'll tell you.
The Blue's Clues Planet Song!
Oh--it's on there, but most of the versions are not-so-nice doctored versions of the original. So, I'm going to post it on here myself.

Why bother?
Because I LOVE this song!
This is how Carrie, William and I learned the planets. This is also how Joshua learned the planets--and why he became so interested in them. You should hear him sing this song!

Here it is...
(Check out the reflection in the TV. William is really enjoying the song!)



So, I asked Joshua if he would like to sing it for my blog.
He was all for it until the actual taping began.

Then he got silly...



He really can sing this song.
Really.

It's true. Kids do make liars out of you.

Basket Case

While I'm on the subject...

of Matthew, not of being a basket case...

although I could speak at length on the subject of being a basket case...

Thursday morning, I heard Matthew fussing in his bed. By the time I got into the bedroom, he was fussing pretty loudly. It was still dark, so I reached in to get him, expecting to feel his little back (yes, I put him down on his stomach to sleep) but instead I felt his tummy! Then I moved my hand up and felt his face!

He was fussing because he was mad! He doesn't really like being on his back at all. I think he feels "small and powerless." (Name that movie, Nicky!--I hope I got the quote right...)

He had rolled himself over in bed! His first roll-over!

When I told Paul about it that evening, he said, "You know, it will probably be a week or two before he does that again."

He's right.

He's much better at remembering from baby to baby what happens next.

I feel like a brand-new mom each time I have a baby in the house!
Thank goodness for blogging and pictures! They'll have to be my memory.

Speaking of memories...
Do you remember things from the past in "video form" or in "snapshot form"?

William loves for people to tell him stories from the past. I have a hard time remembering things from my past. GG (Paul's Grandma) tells wonderful stories from her past. She's 87--I'm 39.

I thought there was really something wrong with me until I realized that I remember things more as a snapshot of things that happened--not in video form. I have to take my snapshot and recreate the story. People who remember in video form just push the "Play" button and tell what they're seeing.

So, I'm wondering, how do you process your memories?

GNO

If you're not familiar with Miley Cyrus songs, GNO stands for "Girls' Night Out"--something that we've needed to do for some time now.

Paul and I sit around and talk quite a bit about the things that we would like to do and the things that we should do. Then it seems like another week has gone by and we're still sitting around talking about the same things.

It seems really hard to make things happen sometimes.

Well, over the weekend, we decided that we want to spend some one-on-one time with our kids--and the only way to make it happen is to make it happen. Now that Matthew is eating some baby food, I'm able to be away from him for a couple of hours at a time. So, we agreed that Thursday evenings are best. We would start with Carrie and me. Next Thursday...William and Paul. The next Thursday...Josh and me. And on and on. (Sorry, Matty. You're turn will come one day soon!)

So, after much anticipation, last night was our first GNO!
What was the plan?
Food and shopping, of course!

Our first stop...Cold Stone Creamery.
We've never been there! It was really good.

Carrie got a "Founder's Special" and I got a "That's the Way I Roll" or something like that. I got it because it reminded me of the Jonas Brothers. See how hip I am? Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers all in one blog post! :)

Warning...the cinnamon that they sprinkle into the ice cream might make your mouth sore. It did mine.



What a pretty girl!



Carrie talked me into the "Love It" size ice cream instead of the "Like It" size because of all the walking and shopping that we were going to be doing.

All right...if I have to!



What's taken us so long to do this? I asked Carrie as we were walking when the last time the two of us had been out together alone. She said, "Maybe 10 years ago?"
So sad!



Here's my favorite shop!
Yes! Even more favorite than Cold Stone Creamery!
Aaaahhh! I agree, Laurie! Pumpkin Spice is the best!
I think Heaven will smell like Pumpkin Spice Yankee candles!



And how does a very special evening end?
With a bean burrito from Taco Bell, of course, Silly!



Next on the calendar...
A monthly date for the mom and dad!

Truly Content

"True contentment is not having everything you want,
but learning to appreciate everything you have."

--Nancy Twigg

I Shouldn't Be on Here!

That's right.

I sat down to check my emails.

Finding no new emails, I headed on over to my blog.

Very innocently, I headed on over to my sidebar to see who might have written a new post.

After checking out Stickers and signing in as one of her Peeps, I started feeling guilty for not blogging for several days--a wonderful feature of blogspot.com that I really do appreciate. I love to be able to see in a moment who has a new post and who doesn't--but it's not so great when I visit another blog and see that I haven't posted in 4 days.

So here's the quick version of the last 4 days...

*Matthew has his first ear infection.
*Using Uncle Brian's carpet cleaner on my carpets.
*Josh accidentally kicked Carrie in the nose. Ow! Sore nose for several days.
*We went to the apple orchard. I'll blog on that later.
*I went grocery shopping--a mini trip--yuck!
*Started taking down wallpaper border in the family room. Also a blog for another time.
*Provided breakfast for our Sunday School class.
*William had a stomach flu all day Sunday--you know what that means.
*I had a mini-meltdown. O.K. Maybe not so mini.
*School, more border off the walls, going crazy in my messed up family room.
*Compensated for messy family room by cleaning the boys' room.
*Started reading a book on living a simple life--go figure.
*Paul stayed home from work--sinus infection stuff.
*Another grocery trip--bigger one this time--with William and Josh--during naptime. Josh fell asleep on a roll of paper towels.
*Once again trying to follow Weight Watchers and exercise.

You get the idea.
Life.

Now I just feel guilty for sitting here blogging when I have to get four kids out the door for piano lessons in 20 minutes.

I shouldn't be on here!

You Make Me Laugh!

Don't you just love the funny things that kids say?

The other morning, before anyone else got up, Josh and I were sitting in the family room watching TV together. He was eating a snack of Baked Cheetos and water (mmmmm yummy!).

Check out the picture.

He had his bag of Cheetos in his right hand, his water on the bench beside his right hand, his washcloth for wiping his hands on the bench beside his left hand, and the left hand free to dig into the Cheetos bag.

After several times of eating with his left hand, wiping his left hand, then reaching across his body to pick up his cup with his left hand, he looked at me--a little exasperated--and said, "Mommy, I wish that this hand (shaking his left hand) was on this arm (shaking his right arm) and this hand (shaking his right hand) was on this arm (shaking his left arm)."

I asked him why, and he said, "So I can reach my water better."

I laughed and said, "You're cute."

He said, "Aw shucks."

Where does that come from?!



Yesterday we went to the doctor because Matthew woke up with a cough.

While we were in the examining room, waiting for the doctor to come in, Josh pulled out a quarter that he had tucked in his pocket before we left home.

"This is my Batman money!" he said.

"Your Batman money? What do you mean?" I asked.

"See!" he said as he showed me the eagle on the back of the quarter.



Aaahhhh yes. Now I see.

It takes Mom awhile sometimes.



I think it must be so funny because it's all so innocent. He has no idea he's being funny. There's no sarcasm intended.

Well, William is a different story.

He's hilarious--in a dry sort of way. When he started saying funny things on purpose--you know, really using his sense of humor--it took me awhile to get the joke. It even took me awhile to understand that it was a joke.

Last night, we were sitting around visiting after Paul got home from work. We were waiting on Matthew to wake up from a nap so that we could go to the apple orchard.

I had just told Paul about the Batman money. He asked Josh if he could show him a trick with his coins. Josh gave him several quarters and a couple pennies--maybe 6 coins in all.

I said, "Ah! I know what Daddy is going to do! This is how he won me over. It's so impressive!"

Paul put the coins on his elbow, stood very still in great concentration, and then flipped them and caught them.





The kids laughed and yelled their approval.

William wondered how he did it. I said, "Lots of practice when he was in college."

William, quick as a wink, and just as serious as can be, said, "So...is that why you're not a doctor?"

Do you get it? You know, instead of studying all those hours to be a doctor, he was flipping coins.

Sorry, I felt like I had to explain that one because it took me a little while to get it.

Paul asked, "Did he just ask if that's why I'm not a doctor?!"
We laughed and laughed about that one.

It's too bad that I'm not such a quick thinker.

Maybe then I could keep up with them all.

"Rice Cereal....at Last" and Other Bits and Pieces

The day has finally come!

After fielding the many questions about when Matthew gets to eat his first bite of cereal, I finally decided that he was ready.

It's funny. I started feeding the other kids cereal at 4 months. I couldn't wait to see them take their first bites of a solid food!

This time has been different, though. Maybe it's because I'm a bit more relaxed. Maybe it's because he's chubby, as Joshua calls him, and I know that he is getting enough nutrition for right now. Maybe it's because I'm almost 40 and may not get to go this way again. Whatever it is, I'm just not in a hurry.

So, why did I decide to give him cereal last night? Was it because of the pressure from Carrie, William and Josh to feed him something.

No.

It's because of that look that he's been giving us when we eat!

Let me tell you, he is more than ready to try out the eating thing.



He was a pretty happy camper during this practice run. He only got a few bites, but they were much enjoyed bites. No crying or flailing of arms!

Now some bits and pieces from the last several days...

Family pictures went fine. They were taken outside, so it was a bit hot and muggy. Matthew didn't smile and Joshua almost had a pretty good melt-down. But all in all, I think it ran pretty smoothly. I guess we'll see when we go look at the proofs next week.

And a Murphy's Law kind of thing... When I went to get Matthew out of bed that morning, he had three scratches on his forehead. I couldn't believe it! I had just trimmed his nails earlier in the week! And he never scratches himself!

Oh well.



And here's a funny.
Last night we went to Uncle Brian's house to pick up his carpet cleaner (I think you can hear Paul using it in the cereal video above ). On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. As I was getting ready to run in, Carrie said, "Would you get me some spearmint gum?"



Well, I guess that Carrie's new Apologia science has been making an impact on more than just Carrie (she really likes it, by the way).

Joshua asked if Carrie was going to use her gum to do more "science spearmints." He loves the days when she does her experiments...she includes him and lets him help if he can.

And in case you wonder, I am typing to the beautiful cricket sounds of Jacky.
Paul asked me this morning how long a cricket lives.

For now, Jacky is alive and well.

New Collage

Just for Fun...

We're getting family pictures taken this morning...Great-Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma, uncles... All of us!

I'm excited about getting them done--just not so excited about getting ready for them. I guess the hard work is all done. We have clothes ironed and ready to wear. The little boys are bathed. I've had my shower. Now we just have to get there and smile.

I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Until then, here are some pictures from the past...

Nine-Eleven

I've been wanting to sit down and write a little about 9-11--especially after reading Sticker's post yesterday (dated September 9, 2008). My problem is that I get so emotional about 9-11. I didn't lose anyone personally, and I don't know anyone who lost someone. In reality, my life hasn't seemed to change a whole lot compared to all the lives that have been radically changed. But I do agree with a news reporter who said yesterday that every story is important. And I want Carrie and William to be able to remember that day--to never forget--and for Joshua and Matthew to know what we remember.

I find myself dreading the day and looking forward to its passing. I get so caught up in it. I want to just sit and watch the news programs report on all that is happening related to that day. It's an odd kind of thing--a horrific fascination--wanting to know more but being so horrified and saddened by the events that took place.

Yesterday morning, I sat with the kids, watched Fox & friends and relived that morning. Like every year, I started quietly sobbing.

William was so drawn to the news coverage. He was only 3 1/2 on September 11, 2001. He says that he remembers seeing the plane on the news over and over again. As I write this, he is watching the news that I recorded from yesterday.

Carrie remembers a little more--but not much. She was in kindergarten that year. She, too, remembers all the news coverage. As we watched the news yesterday and saw the replay of President Bush finding out in an elementary classroom, Carrie said, "Wow. He was just beginning his presidency. Poor President Bush." His presidency was shaped by that day.

Then I look at Joshua and Matthew. They will never have personal memories of the day. Only the retelling.

My personal story...
Our house was on the market that year. Carrie was in kindergarten. That Tuesday morning, Carrie, William and I were getting ready to go to a MOPS meeting at our church. It was only our second year of MOPS and I was the coordinator, so we had to leave early. On a usual morning, I would have had the news on and would have seen it all from the beginning--but that morning, I kept the TV off and just got us ready and out the door.

When we got to church, a little after nine, the secretary met us at the door and told us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. That was all she knew. None of the moms who attended that morning really knew much about it. Our meeting went on as planned with little discussion of what might have happened.

It wasn't until after the meeting, when I got in the car and turned on the radio, that I found out more of what was going on. We had planned on going over to the mall to pick up a couple of things. I didn't know whether to go on over, but I decided to try. The store that we were going to go to was closed. Nervously, I drove us home. I got us all inside and locked the house doors. I remember feeling so vulnerable.

I got the kids' lunch and put on a movie for them in the family room. I spent the rest of the day in the kitchen, watching news coverage.

In the days that followed, I remember being drawn to the news coverage. I also remember helping the kids write letters and draw pictures that would be sent to New York for the firefighters. We hung a new flag and attended a special evening church service.

Seven years later, we relive that day with everyone else in America. Seven years later, we have Joshua and Matthew. Seven years later, we are still in the same house but have added on.

And today, life goes on.

Wordless Wednesday

Special Guest Appearance

That's right!
We had a special guest appearance at our yard sale last weekend...


Vice President Dick Cheney!
It looks like he might be working on his vice presidential autobiography.


Josh was really taken by him.
Matthew really could have cared less.




And yes, he did sit on my lap. You didn't know he was that short did you?


This isn't the first time we've met Vice President Cheney. Last Halloween he made and appearance at our church's harvest festival. That evening he was dressed in his hunting apparel.


Judy even got to give him a kiss!



Don't be surprised if ole Dick shows up at your door!

Ice Cubes

I vividly remember the first refrigerator/freezer we got that had an automatic ice maker. Wow! No more filling those ice cube trays! It was a dream come true.

If you remember having an "old-fashioned" refrigerator/freezer, you probably also remember making ice cubes. I'm sure that either you--or someone in the family--would do anything you could just so you wouldn't have to fill the ice cube trays.

That's how it was in our house. And in Paul's house. We both have memories of either ourselves or someone in the family taking all but one cube and leaving it in the freezer so that someone else would have to fill the tray.

It was a regular cause for yelling in our house when I was a kid.
You would hear that freezer door open, and someone would yell.

Those are pretty funny memories now.

But here's what's even funnier.
Last weekend, during our garage sale, William found some ice cube trays.
He just had to keep those trays and could hardly wait to go in and fill them up. All week, he's been faithful to fill those trays and empty them--only to fill them again.



How long could it last?

Joshua's New Pet

Tuesday evening, while we were watching the Republican National Convention, the cricket started... What do they do? Crick? Sing? Not croak.

Well, you know. It sounded like it was right there in the room with us.
Turns out, it was.

Meet Jacky.



You see, the cricket appeared right in the middle of our family room. All of a sudden. William's quick response had the cricket under a little blue cup in no time. Then he put a plastic storage container over the blue cup...just to be safe.

There the cricket stayed until the next morning. Joshua, who had been asleep when the capture took place, wondered what was under all of that plastic stuff. William artfully lifted the big plastic container and removed the blue cup--all without letting the cricket escape (it was moving a little slowly anyway--what with being under plastic in complete darkness all night...no food, air, water...).

As soon as Joshua saw that bug, he said, "Aaaahhhh. It's my pet. It's name is Jacky."

Hhmmmm.



Now, I've never been one to adopt pets from the wild. Or from the pet store. I think that aversion began when I bought two little goldfish--one for Carrie and one for William. We brought Rebecca and Goldie home with us. I didn't know the first thing about "raising" goldfish, so I looked online. The first site I found was called "Goldfish Sanctuary." (Check out the quote on the top of their page.) That site totally had me a worried mess! Are they suffocating? Do I have enough square inches per fish? It was no fun to have goldfish, and I was honestly relieved when we found them doing the backfloat in their bowl.

Then came Carrie's frog. She caught it out in our yard and fell in love with it. We even borrowed GG's big fish tank for it so that it would have plenty of space. I cleaned out that fish tank really well with bleach and a scrubber. We added rocks and a little pool of water. Then I looked online to see what else frogs need.

Hold on. Did that say that I shouldn't clean out its home with bleach? It might asphyxiate it?

Great.

Then the frog got loose one evening...I'm not sure how. And I started screaming, and William started screaming. Carrie entered the room, had no idea why we were screaming, but she started screaming too. Then she realized what the problem was and calmly caught the frog and put it back in the tank.

The next day we released the frog back into the wild.

But...how hard can a cricket be? Once again, we looked online. Carrie read that they'll eat almost anything. Even each other. So, already I feel that we are being humane--it doesn't have to worry about getting eaten by its own kind.

Jacky loves popcorn.
He/She actually wrestles with it while eating it.



And kiwi. Yum!



All Joshy can talk about right now is his Jacky. He even reprimanded me for calling it a cricket.

"It's not a cricket now. It's Jaaaaacccckkkkkyyyyyy. I love Jacky."

He does love Jacky--just not its CHIRPING--that's the word I was looking for! Just not its chirping. He walks by the box with his hands over his ears.

I asked Josh what he thought Jacky was singing, and he said, "I think it's singing to God."

Wow. Don't you just think that must be true?



So far, so good. I woke up to Jacky's chirping today. It seems to be healthy...still.

Carrie told me that if taking care of a cricket became too overwhelming for me, we could always give it to Calla to give to her lizard.

Poor Jacky.

Wordless Wednesday..."A Little Help Here!"

I Thought It Was a Pine Cone!

We have this Bald Cypress tree out in the front yard that Paul and the kids gave me for Mother's Day a few years ago. I love it! It's such a neat, different kind of tree. I'll officially introduce him to you in a later post. That's right. He has a name.

Anyway, this tree has always had these little pine cone looking things hanging on its limbs. Not knowing much about a Bald Cypress tree, I just figured that it must be something like a pine cone. And of course, I would forget to look it up when I got on the Internet. That's what I do when I get my turn on the computer. I just sit there and stare at the screen and have no idea what to do with it except blog and email. I could have all kinds of things that I want to look up when I'm not on the computer, then put me in the chair and I go blank. And then my turn is over.

Well, yesterday I found out what those neat little pine cones are.

They are Bagworms!

What?!

Yesterday, William said, come look at this weird bug.

There, in the yard, was one of those pine cones with a head sticking out of it eating grass. When I poked it with a stick, the head would go back in, but it stayed firmly attached to that grass. It wouldn't let it go.

Thankfully, Judy was there to tell me that she thought it was a bagworm. Ron seconded that. It was confirmed by the website What's That Bug? I also found some great pictures of the bagworm on a website called "Bug Guide." You ought to check out the ones from South Africa and India. Pretty amazing.

Warning: The aforementioned websites are not for the squeamish.






I know nothing more about them yet--except that they kind of creep me out--and at the same time they intrigue me.

And that the female is the one that is wingless and flightless while the male escapes from the pine cone thing with wings and the ability to fly, looking for females. Oh, and the female dies after she lays eggs in the pine cone thing.

Wow.

Labor Day at Our House

Let's have a one-day garage sale on Labor Day!



That's what we're doing today. Garage sales always sound good when first mentioned. But I forget how much work is involved in preparing for a garage sale. Everytime we have one, I say, "Never again!" Then, before you know it, we've accumulated things for a garage sale.

The kids love sale day. It is fun, once everything is out and priced (Oh! The pricing!). Donuts for breakfast, sitting around visiting with Grandma and Grandpa (Thanks, Ron and Judy, for all your help!), interesting people to watch...



I can't really complain. Paul and the big kids did most of the set up work. I helped price a little, but mostly I kept Matthew happy. Today, I'm getting school things organized. I really didn't take the time to do that before we began school a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, back to the sale.

If you remember, back in the early part of the year, we gutted the kids' rooms. The promise was that if they cleaned out their rooms, we would have a garage sale, and they could make some money.

I think I also mentioned that I'm kind of sentimental--that's why Paul took charge of the "gutting of the rooms" project.

So, here I am last night, going through all the things that have been put in boxes for the garage sale. Some of those things were mine when I was a little girl. Through the years, I have given them to Carrie. Why did I give them to Carrie? So I wouldn't have to part with them.

Well, the day for goodbye has come.

Goodbye Raggedy Ann that my grandma gave me and made the dress for and had my Great Great Aunt Polly replace the hair on two times.



Goodbye, Tigger, who I cried for (very loudly, I might add) in the middle of a Sears aisle and my mom told me, "No" dragging me from the store and the same Tigger that ended up under my Christmas tree that year.



Goodbye handmade by a lady from my hometown Cabbage Patch doll that was from my mom and was supposed to be the last doll I ever got but my grandma had the same idea that Christmas and gave me "my last doll" when we went to their house in the afternoon.



Pictures seem to help me let go. I'm able to take a picture and know that it will be something that I will remember forever--even if I don't have it anymore. It's the same with the kids' school projects. We hang on to them for awhile and then take pictures of them before parting with them.

Here's an example...Carrie's shoebox pioneer home dioramma:



And what is Josh doing today?




He's having a ball! He's trying on dress-up clothes, playing with for-sale items, and putting claim on things that he just has to keep. Things that will one day make it back out to the driveway for another sale.

Unless Matty gets ahold of them.