HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY MAGGIE GRACE!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

We LOVE you!!!!

Quiet boxes...

I was sent this idea from my sister. She got this idea from here. They are bins that they use for quiet time. Max has not taken a nap for quite some time. When Molly was a baby and still taking a nap herself, Max would go in his room for quiet time. Then we moved & away went Molly's nap & Max's quiet time. Maggie came and with them all sharing one room and it being right next to ours her nap time took priority over everything. So the kids ended up staying downstairs and playing. Good-bye to quiet time.
Now I really want quiet time back. I think I am going to put the older two in our room for some quiet time with their new daily boxes.

Each one has crayons, paper, books, puzzles, and then a special activity to do.
Such as:
stamps/stamp pads
foam sticker pieces with foam bookmarks, visors, doorknob hangers, etc.
doll that you dress (shown above...has different clothing for her....all magnetic...love it!)
dominos
lacing pieces (ours are farm animals)
beads & pipe cleaners (making bracelets & necklaces....swords, for Max)
Noahs Ark game
small coloring pads
colored clothespins (for sorting, pattern making, counting)

Got most of this stuff at the Dollar Store of course.
Oh...and I put our puzzles in zip loc bags. I cut the picture of the puzzle and then dump it all in a baggie. It helps with fitting the puzzle in the bin, but I started doing it several years agao after Max would destroy the box in which the puzzle came.

Have fun!
If you think of anything else fun & exciting to put in the boxes please let me know.

Fantastic info & some updated kiddo info....

...or at least I think so.
Have come across some FABULOUS sites, info, ideas, etc. over the past several days. Now that I am finally getting around to posting some of it, well, blogger is about to shut down. We'll see how much I get done before that happens. Ok...here goes....in no particular order of fabulousness:

• www.shiningdawnbooks.com They have nature themed books. I bought two of them at a homeschool fair yesterday. I purchased Hard as a Rock & Animal Signs. Go to their site to learn all about it.
• www.ourlifestyleoflearning.com An on-line forum for homeschooling moms.

(Yes, I'm sure you're noticing a theme & yes, Aaron and I have discussed homeschooling the kids. And, yes, I believe that we are going to do it. Very excited, scared, mostly psyched!!! )

• http://thecurriculumchoice.com/ Haven't had enough time to really explore the site, but I am looking forward to the few minutes I may have tonight/this a.m. to check it out.
• www.keeperofthehome.org This one I got from my sister. Again, haven't had too much time to get to far into it, but my dear sis did send this post to me. The kids and I ventured out to the Dollar Store tonight and got the bins and a few things to put inside of them. Looking forward to them working!

I know that there is more, but I can't find my list at the moment. I'm sure I'll think of it as soon as I shut the computer down.

Maggie is growing so big! Where did the past 51 weeks go? Only 6 more days until she is a big one year old! We recently started rolling the ball back and forth where she was getting the concept. She will smile so big and try so hard to roll that ball back only to have her little baby arms bring it right back to her. Tonight we were doing a little rolling and the kids and I would clap for her. Oh her smile was so big. Around the 4th time or so the kids and I didn't clap fast enough. She looked at us, smiled big & then clapped for herself. Then when she rolled it back I said, "Momma caught the ball. What do you do?" Maggie immediately started clapping. Oh, my heart. I love how little ones clap too. The take their arms all the way back, bring their arms forward & then barely connect their hands. LOVE IT!

I can't wait to celebrate her 1st birthday this weekend!

And it begins....

My baby girl is 12....almost 11....short days away from her 1st birthday.
Today her first biting victim was her sister.
Let me tell you that Molly was NOT happy.
Maggie LOVES Dora, Blues Clues, her Praise Baby videos & Veggie Tales.
Whenever one of these comes on the television her little body moves so fast to that t.v. that no one can catch her.
Now when she does this the other 2 kids feel threatened that she is going to change the channel, turn off the tv or dvd player, etc. etc. Well, Molly let her know that she did not like her racing up to the tv like that. This has been common in our house for some time so I didn't think much of it. Plus, Aaron was right there so I turned back into the kitchen to continue working on dinner.
Next thing I hear is crying. The crying is coming from Molly while Maggie's little body is right up to the tv looking happy as could be. She wasn't concerned with her sister at all.
I hear Molly bawling.
She says, cries rather, through her tears, "She bit me".
She is holding her arms and I didn't think I heard her correctly so I asked Aaron what she said.
Sure enough Molly's upper arm had 2 little almost 1 year old teeth marks on it.
I couldn't help but smile a little bit.
They have been picking on Maggie since the day she was born.
I guess she's had enough.
It begins...

Growing....

1st day of tball 5-24-08

1st day of tball.....5-16-09


1st day of school...8-20-08

Last day of school...5-21-09

May came and May went...

What a great month!!! We had company, headed north, visited with family, headed home, t-ball began, went to Florida and visited with my grandma.

Max's t-ball season kicked off on May 16th. He is really having a great time this year. The season seems to be shortened at bit, but that's ok with me. The t-ball games get a little long...I think for the kids and the parents :)

Max also finished up his first year of preschool. I know that according to the schools he is old enough to begin kindergarten in the fall, but I am so glad that we made the decision not to start him until he is 6. I can't imagine sending him off to kindergarten in a few short months. I can't believe that Molly will be going to preschool with him next year!

Florida was fantastic.

We hadn't seen my grandma since Molly's first birthday. It was so strange to visit with her and not have my grandpa there. In my whole life I never saw the 2 of them apart. They always did everything together.

Despite the sadness I felt when I gave myself a moment to think about it, the kids loved hanging out with their great-grandma. We went to the water park and the beach. I am convinced that if we lived near the beach the kids would live there all summer long.

Now June is here and we are struggling with looking at the empty calendar. Nothing to take our mind off of what might be, what we want to be. So we spend a lot of our time talking about what we'll do when we get back. Not so much time spent on what we'll do if we don't get back.

Trip North, Graduation, Mother's Day & More Rain...

Despite the rain that has been coming for 3 straight weeks, we've had a good couple of weeks. May has certainly been busy.

Last weekend we headed north for my brother-in-law's graduation from college. It was the longest we've gone being away from Michigan. It didn't possible that January to May could fly by that quickly...it did.

We spent Friday hanging out with cousins and having mom's homemade pizza. That alone is worth the long car journey back to MI.

Then we enjoyed some chocolate popsicles.

Some enjoyed them more than others.

Saturday we left for our alma mater early. I wanted to see the new buildings that had gone up around campus and allow myself extra moments to go back in time. I formed my best friendships on that campus and met my husband there. I loved walking through the building that my beloved says he first saw and met me. It brings a smile to my face everytime I think about the story.

I was a bit nervous about the kids being well-behaved. I couldn't have asked for better behaved children. My mother-in-law got us the best seats....the bottom part of the bleachers. We sat on the bottom bench and the kids played on the floor. It was perfect for them.

Sunday, Mother's Day, we headed back home. I really wanted to leave Saturday night so that we didn't have to spend mommy's day in the car. I also wanted to be at the baby dedication ceremony at church on Sunday a.m. (I've recently been reminded that complaining is a selfish trait...I've been trying hard to refrain.) Aaron got us home in less than 6 hours though. Again, I couldn't have asked for a better car ride. I've never napped that much on one trip. My beloved knew how much I didn't want to be in the car on that particular day and got us home safe, sound & quickly. We arrived home in enough time to get the car unloaded and freshened up for church.

We had a nice evening at church and then headed to Applebees for a Mother's Day treat....a variety of appetizers and some ice cream shooters. After we ordered our treats, the kids were so excited to present me with my gifts that they had picked out. Aaron got me a beautiful cross and a fun blender type thing. After I finish this post, I am off to use it for the first time and make myself an ice cream shake. The kids were arguing over whose gift I would open first. I told Max I would open his first b/c he was my firstborn. It was a blue candle. Molly was next. I had an idea of what the gift was. She told me what she got me the night that Aaron took the kids out. She got me a blue, yellow & purple candle. The were little tea light candles in the shape of flowers. They were extremely proud of their gifts and I will treasure them forever.

Max also presented this to me after school on the Thursday before Mother's Day. I can't believe that I didn't get a picture of it with my boy.

One of my favorite moments in motherhood came just a few weeks ago. I wrote about it here.

Now Max wants to give all of his toys away to his buddies at school. I told him that most of his buddies probably have plenty of toys just like him. So we decided that we would give them to someone who didn't have any. He seemed to think that his mom was onto something good and agreed with me wholeheartedly.