Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Second Thanksgiving

It sure feels that way in any case! I've been cooking all day, and we're going to send to a yummy turkey dinner after Matt gets home from work. These colder days just make me want to cook, bake....and eat. I better make sure I get some exercise in there as well. The kids and I did get out for a long time this afternoon. It's kind of a pain, because they all need coats, gloves, and mittens now. And only one of them can put all those things on themselves. I was really glad I said "yes" to outside time today though. It was not as cold as I had expected and the kids just had so much fun. Little Katy was cracking me up too. I was wearing her in the carrier, and every time we popped in to check on the cooking she started to cry. She wanted so badly to stay out with her siblings - she knows where the action is! Beth and Matt spent their afternoon making a huge rock wall. Seriously.....they lifted and hauled rocks for at least an hour. I only wish I had their energy.

Yesterday the kids had their very last gymnastic and swim sessions. It feels strange that we will not be back for the spring sessions this year. We have been taking classes through the Rec Dept since Beth was two, and the kids have loved all of them. I promised the kids I would look into classes for them in Mississippi. I've looked a little online, but we still don't know exactly where we are going to be living. I'm also hoping to find a church where they can continue in AWANA's.

As for this week, I am really trying to stay on track and get school done with the kids all five days. We already took last week off for Thanksgiving, and I'm sure most of December and January are going to be very hectic. We started off with a bang yesterday, but then today I couldn't find our current FIAR book. I think it got packed away for the move. Seriously...that is just my luck. It was pretty funny really. I had all the kids scrambling around helping me search for it, and then at the exact same time Beth, Matt, and I looked at the big stack of boxes. And then we knew. I'm trying to decide how badly I want it back. I may very well move onto the next book, and pick that one back up later.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a fantastic day! I was thinking about my family back in North Carolina. I miss them on holidays, even though it has been several years since we have been home for one. We had a very nice Thanksgiving here in Connecticut in any case. I made monkey bread for breakfast (had to start that terrible eating early in the day!) and we laid around in our pajamas watching the Macy's parade all morning. Then it was time to start cooking and getting ready for the big feast! We ate with some friends....there were 33 of us in total. I will miss our CT friends for sure after we move. We have spent so many holidays together now that it will be weird not being together next year. I think that it is only in the military that you can meet someone, and then just a short while later feel like they are a part of your family. Thank goodness the Internet makes it so easy to keep in touch these days. And who knows....maybe we will meet some of our old friends at duty stations again in the future.


Anyway, here are the little turkeys Beth, Matt, and Carrie made this year. Aren't they cute? I call those three my little turkeys all year around, so this project seemed very fitting. I love hearing the things they were thankful for. Some didn't surprise me at all - like Beth naming her kitties, lol. Some I was impressed it - like family, church, and God's world. Some just made me laugh - like a certain child who is thankful for dinosaurs.
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And here is my tiny Katy Ann....all tuckered out. I dipped her binks in some candied yams this afternoon. She sucked it sooo hard, and just would not spit it out. I don't think she is quite ready to eat off a spoon though. Maybe next month!
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Friday, November 19, 2010

One more month!

We are down to just one more month here in Connecticut. After almost five years here, it is crazy to think about packing up and leaving it all behind. We arrived here with just Baby Beth, and are leaving with Beth, Matt, Carrie, and Baby Katy. Wow, not bad for one tour! Matt got his final orders today, and it all seems very official now. He has three more weeks of work, and then will be helping me tie up loose ends around the house before we head out. I'm kind of sad, but as the weather continues to get colder, wintering in Mississippi is sounding better and better.

In the meantime we are continuing on with school, swim lessons, gymnastics, playdates with friends, and all our usual activities. Beth is just about halfway through her kindergarten math and reading programs now. Matt is just starting his kindergarten year. Yes, I randomly started him in November. He was super jealous of Beth's work, and is really holding his own at the kindergarten level. He is just learning to write, so he can't do the written work that his sister can, but he is turning out to be quite the math and computer whiz. A stereotypical boy I guess!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Beth's book

Her Cover
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"het" is the
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Table of Contents
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Monday, November 8, 2010

Catching up

Things have been busy busy around here!

We have finished one FIAR book, and started another since I last updated. The first one was:
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We LOVED this book. It was a great way to learn about geography. I even went out and bought that globe I had been considering for a while. We of course also had to make an apple pie, and it was just the right time of year for us to be able to go pick our own. I think the kids' favorite related activity was painting these apple trees. I saw these online, and the only thing we did differently was using a footprint to make the tree trunk. The leaves were handprints and the apples were fingerprints...it was messy but fun!
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Our next book, which we are still working on, is:
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The cool thing about this book is it takes place here in Connecticut. In fact the restaurant on the book is on the street where I went to college! It apparently was a real place which closed back in the 70's, but the waterfront in the illustrations still looks very familiar to me. I only wish we had done this book sooner, before the weather got so cold. It would have been a good excuse for a field trip to the beach. We woke up to snow today though.....I think our beach trips are done for the season! This seems early to me, even for Connecticut.

In other news, my kids had their big Gran Prix race last night! They were so excited. This was our first year, and as you can see I had the kids make their own cars. Sadly, they didn't stand a chance against the cars made 100% by parents. I also did not know that you could add weight to the cars. Live and learn, right? Next year I will help them more.

The little yellow one is Carrie's. She was so jealous when they started painting, and then I remembered that I had some plain wooden cars I had picked up some time ago. Next year she will be old enough to be a Cubbie herself.
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My Beth girl :)
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Finally, I just had to share this picture of my little Katy Ann. Look how she loves her siblings! She is still not sleeping in her bed (at all!) but she has improved in letting me put her down during her awake periods. She especially loves her exersaucer.
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