Winter Update

Merry Christmas Everyone!

For anyone wondering, we really haven't fallen off the face of the earth. We have had a heck of a fall and winter so far. We have survived the chicken pox, bronchitis, a minor "procedure" and pretty much one runny nose after another since September. I think we are getting back on our game though now.

So, short update...
We celebrated Kyria's first birthday last month as well as Alaric's 8th! I can't believe how fast they are growing up. The past year has flown by so quickly. Alaric is becoming such a little man and Kyria is quite the princess. She is walking and starting to talk. She still prefers me over anyone and has quite the case of separation anxiety. Once in a while I can get a workout at the gym that last longer than the normal 15 minutes before I am called to come and pick up my screaming baby from the child center. But, I am sure there will be a time when she will prefer others over me.

Thanksgiving was a BIG celebration this year. We hosted Maren's family. So, we had nine kids and four adults at our house for five days. It was such a blast. The kids got to catch up and had some much needed cousin time. We had dinner on Thursday with everyone. My father in law and his wife as well as our friends Rick and Lynn joined us for dinner. We had a TON of food...double batches of everything! The next day we took the kids to to Cosley Zoo. Allbeit freezing, we had a really fun time and even had a duck that put on a performance for Maren. In the evening we went to the tree lighting in Elk Grove and then on to roast marshmallows. This was all after Maren and I got up at 3:30 AM (actually Kyria had a rough night, so I didn't go to sleep) and decided to go shop some doorbuster sales. Although a teary good-bye, we created so many great memories. I hope this is a tradition in the making. (wink, wink Maren)

Alaric and Jaydon both finished up their first semester at Home School University and have loved every minute of it. Because of HSU, they are both now Spanish speaking, Karate orange belt, bird expert, mathmeticians. It has proven to be a great investment... as well as a much needed break for me.

Callan is still at the school district for preschool and is making tremendous progress in speech. It is amazing how far he has come in the past year. He is in a class of seven kids and the teacher says he is the kid in class that will at least try and answer anything. He wants every day to either be his birthday or Christmas...because you get presents for both (gifts child? I think so)

Zander is still our little wild card. We affectionately refer to him as our Burger King kid...He thinks that everything is "His way, right away" We are finding ways to help him realize it is mommy's way, right away though. He has such a soft spot for Kyria and it is really sweet to see the two of them starting to "play." He forgets often that he is more than double her weight and therefore should not sit on her. But, she seems to be able to run with the boys pretty well.

Well, signing off for now. Will try to update again soon! We hope you all have a very merry and safe Christmas and New Year!

Preschool Activity Swap ~ Take 2

This weekend was the culmination of weeks of planning, emailing and creating when the second Preschool Activity Swap took place. The activities are taken from a book that was recommended to me by a friend. For anyone interested in hosting your own swap, you can find them at www.activitybags.com. We used Book 2 for this swap, but I have organized from both books and they are both wonderful! 20 moms participated in the swap so we ended up with 20 fun activities for our pre-school age kids to play with and learn with. It was a beautiful day at the park, but I unfortunately did not take any pictures at the park...so unlike me, right? But, I did make up a bit by taking a picture of the culmination of all of our work!

Thanks Rick and Lynn for the great afternoon of friends and yummy food!

Summer Adventures

This summer was filled with many adventures. We went to probably every park in IL (or at least within 45 minutes of our house), revisited favorite places and found a couple new favorites for next summer. Most days we were out and about finding fun things to do. Probably the most fun and personally triumphant trip was our trip to Loyola Beach. I braved the beach (a sad day...the boys said, "Look mommy...the ocean...It was Lake Michigan...we really need to make a trip home so they can see what the ocean looks like. LOL) by myself and I am here writing, so we all survived. The water was really warm and shallow. They all had such a great time. I really had envisioned a much more chaotic trip and it turned out wonderfully.

Little squeeky voice..."I'm okay"

It never fails, every disaster in life happens when you are either making a meal or in the laundry room. It is something in the "Being a Child" handbook that states, "make sure you do things you know you aren't supposed to do while mom is busy."
On this particular day, I was preparing lunch. Callan had gotten home from school (he was in summer school for a month this summer) and he retreated to his room like he normally does to unwind after he gets home. Soon after, I heard a huge THUD!!! I went into the room...happy of course... and said, "What is going on in here! Um...why is the dresser knocked over? Haven't I told you guys not to climb on the dressers...etc...." Then, little wriggling fingers and a little voice from under the dresser squeaks, "I'm okay." Oh yes, minor detail that mom forgot to ask, "Is everyone okay." That was definitely a moment I had to laugh at myself and remind myself that boys will be boys and no matter how much you tell them not to do something, sometimes the lesson learned is much more effective than me harping on a subject...Callan has not climbed on top of the dresser since.

Summer has arrived...kind of

Well, summer is in full swing around our house these days. Among the highlights of summer was Alaric catching his first fish. Although small, he was thrilled nonetheless with his new found love of the sport!
We just ended our three week "vacation" from school and are about to start up a six week run and then we will finish out the summer with another three week break. We took an extended winter break and we're still catching up a bit. The boys each have about three weeks worth of math lessons to finish up. I am hoping to do our first lapbook over the summer. I really love the idea of unit studies and think it will be a wonderful way to cement what we have learned.
Speaking of school, I got the disappointing news that Alaric will not be able to enroll in HEART this year. HEART is a homeschool enrichment program. The program is full. While this news is kind of a downer, I do believe both of them will be able to attend Homeschool University which is much closer to our house. Almost all of their friends go to HEART, but it was about a 50 minute drive without traffic. So, this is probably for the best in the long run.
I was able to go to Dumas, TX (sounds big time right) to see my sister and her family. It was filled with a lot of laughter and memories. I miss seeing them so much! It was so great to spend some much needed QT with Maren and her family. I got to meet Taysia and Camron for the first time and they are truly wonderful! I didn't really realize how much I missed having my sister and Mahala around. Although Maren has expanded her family since she lived with us, I have a special bond with Mahala...that was evident by the waterworks when it was time for me to leave. Mahala was so very sad to see Kyria and I go, but hopefully we will get to see them the end of the summer when they come to visit us in the Chicagoland area! They are hoping for a mid-August road trip. There are many promises of visiting all of the local splash parks, so hopefully we can make it happen!



















Kyria has gotten so big and is just full of personality. She is starting to crawl...real crawling, not just scooting. Zander has decided that she is his rag doll and he should pick her up and haul her around the house. We try and disabuse him of this notion, but to no avail. He really does love his little sister. Most of the time, it is very sweet to observe.

















Callan is in summer school right now as well. He is continuing the summer program with speech and occupational therapy. He has only been in the afternoon program and this program is in the morning. It has definitely been an adjustment having to have him up, fed and on the bus by 7:30 in the morning. He has made so much progress this year. I couldn't be happier with the school and all they have helped him with this year.
Well, that is all for now. I have so much more to write, but think I will spare you for now. Hope the summer is treating everyone well!

Father's Day Pictures

Anyone that spends any amount of time with me, knows that I don't go many places without taking my camera. This came in very handy when trying to make an economical gift for Father's Day from the kids. We went to Noonie Time on Wednesday. Noonie Time is a free, one hour show in Schaumburg for kids. This week featured a magician. The kids had a good time and weren't ready to go home when it was over so we headed to the park adjacent to where the show was. It is a beautiful park with lots for the kids to do, but instead...like kids do...they wanted to climb in a tree instead. It is similar to the box at Christmas theory...give the kids new toys and they all fight over a box. So, to avoid any pushing of brothers out of trees, we decided to make a game out of who could pose the best in the tree. I got some of the best pictures of the kids. I didn't have a chance to get them framed, but had them printed and gave them to Patamint for Father's Day! Here they are...