She's too grown up.

Me to husband: What should we do when we get home?
Almost 11-year old daughter pipes in: I know, why don't you guys make a baby!

Oy vay!

Homeschool year 2010-2011

Today is our first day! I woke up early and made them a delicious breakfast, country potatoes, bacon, and eggs with juice.

We start off our day with devotional where they read scriptures (well you know those church books with pictures that summarize the scriptures for kids), write in a journal, and then we sing a church song that goes along with what they read.

Then we do an hour of math. Well today, we did 50 minutes of math becuase they got their whole lesson and problems done super fast! Now they are reading and practicing handwriting for a half an hour and then we will take a break.

After break we will do an hour of language arts: spelling, more reading, writing, etc. Then an hour of history. (We will do history one day, science the next, history, science. And on fridays we will do their music lesson and art. And that's it! We will be done with our whole day of school before 1:00!

Benjamin started homeschool today too. He woke up and was so excited. He got dressed and ran upstairs. He has his own little desk, and I have all sorts of little preschool activities for him to do throughout the day.

some cute comments from today:

Mom: You are being such a good boy at school, do you want a sticker?

Ben: I not at school, I at home!

Mom: You're right, but you're at homeschool!

and....

Mom: Make sure you listen to me because I'm your teacher!

Ben: You not my teacher! You mom!

and...

during our break Ben asked to take off his clothes. (He likes to run around the house in his underwear, the minute he gets home his clothes are off...)

Mom: Ben, you can't be naked at school!

Ben: PUHLEASE!! Yes be naked!

and now he's running around downstairs naked (okay, he's not technically naked he has on his underwear), screaming, laughing and playing with bubba and sissy for their break.

Preschool

Homeschool is about to start up again on September 7, you know after Labor day when everybody "used" to start school. Benjamin is another year older, and another year smarter. He also LOVES to do what his big brother and sister are doing. So this year when I was buying all of the big kids' school supplies I bought one of everything for Benjamin too (level appropriate of course). I'm really hoping that this will help our year run a lot more smoothly.

I also am getting ready a bunch of curriculum for Benjamin to do. I cut out huge ABC's and posted them along the border of his room. (It was after that project that I really really wish I could have a Cricut die cut machine) I made him flash cards, and I am making him file folder games. I am also printing out and laminating alphabet activities for tracing and matching, a letter a week is the goal. This really great website http://confessionofahomeschooler.blogspot.com has tons of printables for preschoolers. He is so excited to start school with his big brother and sister.

I can't believe he's almost 3! He's fully potty trained (except for at night-even his naps are all dry), he can say all of his ABC's, put on his own shoes, pick out an outfit and get dressed by himself, brush his own teeth, the list goes on! He's just growing up too fast!

Because I know you're anxiously waiting...

More potty training updates! No accidents in over a week!! Not even one! Not even at the stores, or while he's playing, or even at church! He even has gone 4 nights waking up completely dry, and all of his naps have been completely dry! Go Ben!!

Father and Sons Campout

Every year our church has a father and sons campout, usually my dad's campout is one week, and then our campout is another week so they can go to both if they want. But this year it was the same weekend, so my boys went with my dad for a grandpa, dad, and sons campout. They had a blast!

My boys really love their grandpa!

(I promise Joel was there, he just took all the pictures! So dad, if you took any of him and his sons send them on over!)

Alex's baptism!

Alex got baptized this year. It was such a great day, he was so happy and excited all day long. I made this cake for him. My friend Nikki told me about someone that did it and encouraged me to go for it. I have never made a cake that wasn't in a pan or in cupcakes. She even came with me to the store at 8:45 at night so we could get what I needed before Michael's closed. I was pretty pleased with my "first cake."

This is Alex's best friend Reese. Don't tell him I told you, but I really hope that they get married and we can frame this picture for display at their wedding reception. :)

We had family come from out of town, and we had so much visiting with them! From the left is Alex's grandma Lynda (Joel's mom), Brad (Joel's brother), Great Grandpa Mills, Alex and great grandma Loretta! Not standing here because he probably ducked out of the way is Uncle Ryan. Thanks for coming!

I took their picture as they were looking into the sun. Not a great idea.

Right before Alex got baptized by his daddy.

Good looking guys!

My boys before the baptism! What a great day! We're proud of you Alex and all of the great choices you are making in life. I am also so proud of how much you know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are such a great and amazing guy! We love you!!!!

Potty training update

I'll have you all know that Ben is recovering very quickly, it can still be sore when he touches it in the right place, but he's doing well.



I thought we were doomed and that his little accident would set us back months. Well, I'm afraid to say this out loud, but I think I was wrong! The very next day he said, "I need go pee pee in the potty!" So we ran in and he sat down (I think standing is definitely out of the question for a long while) and he did. He did a couple more times that day. Then we went out to the store and he got to pick out underwear. He played with play dough that I had bought and got distracted and peed in his underwear when we got home. But I think it helped him to learn.



Because the next day he went several times in the potty!



And then the next day when we were out to lunch with grandma he was wearing a diaper (because I didn't want to stress out about it) and he said he had to go. We ran to the toilet and sure enough diaper was dry and he went. Then at grandma and grandpas he went in their little kid potty a couple of times! (awesome grandparents! Who's parent's that don't have little kids anymore actually have a little kid potty in their house, and no it wasn't any of ours when we were growing up!)

So today I took him to the store and we bought Pull Ups for night time and naps, and he saw this toilet seat cover and wanted it. It is so awesome, I was just thinking the day before how someone should really invent a toilet seat for kids that can fold up and fit in a bag for when we're out at restaurants and stores. And there it was the very next day. Today he has gone pee pee several times without being asked, had no accidents, and even went poo poo in the toilet. I'm amazed at how quickly he seems to be getting this. PLEASE cross your fingers that he keeps up with it! This morning after our little trip to the store I took him to ride the train. He definitely deserved it. He's a little too sneaky though because he asks for a train ride every time he goes, maybe once a week. We'll see. And might I add, thank you for reading a whole blog post about body waste, you're awesome!