Breakfast

Well, she woke up very happy and hungry and said she wanted to eat all our food. Evidently that equals 1 cup of milk and 1 whole english muffin with peanut butter! =)

Drama Queen

Our oldest can tend to be a little.... dramatic. Well tonight she told her sister she "HATED that picture". Now many of you may let your kids say that, but in our house you do not talk that way to each other. She only said she hated the picture because she was mad at her little sister. I told her to apologize and she did... kinda. I reminded her that we do not say the word "hate" and that we do not speak to each other that way and reminded her of what would happen if she did. I asked if she understood. Rather than hear, "Yes Mommy." I hear silence. I asked again. Silence. She gets a spanking and goes running to her room. My husband tells her she needs to come apologize to Mommy and little sister and reminded her that we are eating dinner in 5 minutes and that it is lasagna and garlic bread WITH sprinkly parmesan cheese. She came out once and murmured "sry". My husband explained to her that was not good enough. She ran back to her room screaming again and he went to tell her that when dinner was over, it was over and she really needed to come tell mommy sorry. Well, we took about 30 minutes to eat and around minute 27 she came and apologized and was then horrified when she only drank her milk and ate her garlic bread and I told her it was story time. Here is what ensued. "I will starve! There is nothing in my belly! I will be making trips to the bathroom ALL night for water and then we will run out (insert LOUD wailing) and I will be SO hungry! I am never full! I am so hungry! In the morning I will need English muffins, 4 peices of toast, peanut butter and mini wheats and I will not be full (more wailing). I am so hungry!!!" My husband said, "Wow. I am so sorry. I wish you had come out sooner so you could have eaten with us." She said, "Well, I did eat. Just only milk and breeeeaaaaaddddd waHHHHHHHHH". I felt slightly bad for her but mostly it was just very comical! She is SO dramatic and very argumentative! Maybe it will serve her well when she is older!

Get your kleenex

This article was in a North Carolina paper recently. He was my husband's friend. Though I never met the man, my heart and prayers go out to him and his family. Personally, this hits a little too close to home. Please remember them in your prayers.

Faking it

After church on Sunday, we came home and loaded up our van and took the girls camping. Well, sorta. We kinda faked it. We rented a very small cabin, but barely spent any time there. My poor husband just did not want another night sleeping on the ground. I was happy to oblige! We had a complete BLAST! We took a family bike ride, hiked around a lake, let the girls dig in a huge dirt pile and of course, made dinner over a camp fire. We bought this little sandwich maker and had grilled cheeses and baked beans... followed up by smores. I wish I had photos but our camera was not working. However, try and picture this with me. We were getting the food ready and my husband was gathering fire wood. He had rolled over some stumps and logs (leftovers from our huge ice storm). I saw that they were perfect sizes for kids. So, we turned over a HUGE stump and it became the table. We got two small logs and they were the chairs. The girls ate there and called it their "stump party"! They were filthy by this point and we took them to the outdoor water pump thingy. I am not sure what you call but my husband said it is what farmers use. The youngest took a huge gulp of water and promptly spit it all over her sister. That started it. Those girls chased each other all around the site spitting water and laughing. They were soaked and 100% thrilled at the end of the night.
Another highlight was when we saw a snake. We think maybe it was a black rat snake but are not really sure. It rattled and struck at my husband (who was trying to pick it up). It was real exciting!
My husband made a butterfly net for the girls too. They love bug catching. He rented them a dvd about bugs and they liked the pinned bugs (the bugs people pin to boards etc...) He brought cotton balls, alchohol and an empty jar. He let the girls help him catch a giant bee, a wasp and a dragonfly. They took turns putting the bugs into the "kill jar" (Cute name huh?) Now he has to get the board and help them start their collection.
Tonight he kept the youngest home for special time and I took the oldest on a date and to her soccer practice. It was great!

Fashionable at 5 and feeling the pressure

Today was a GREAT day! Beautiful weather, a date with my husband and of course the first soccer games of the season! It was also a day that completely reinforced the importance of home-schooling... especially if you have little girls. We were sitting at our oldests game and my husband commented, "Hey look. We have the only kid without soccer cleats on." I looked and sure enough, there were a total of 16 kids and 15/16 had on soccer cleats (that are actually NOT a requirement for 5 year olds playing Upwards soccer). I did not think too much about it though. Then I started noticing that ALL the kids are wearing special soccer shorts too. 15/16 in cleats AND special soccer shorts. I am starting to feel a little odd but not too much. The game ends and our oldest was THRILLED! We were too. She did so good and tried so hard the whole time. She had a few saves and few assists and just did her best. We take a break at Target and then head back for the 4 year olds game. That is when I actually started feeling guilty!!!! I looked around and again... 15/16 in soccer cleats and 14/16 in special soccer shorts. Not just ANY soccer shorts either... represented in this motley groupsof four year olds was Gap, Nike, Umbro, Upwards brand and Adidas. The cleats were almost exclusively Nike and I think Adidas. I was starting to feel like a parental outcast and it hit me. WHY? What on earth difference does it make? At four and five our sweet girls are perfectly content in their garage sale, end of season clearance rack clothes and they did not even notice the differences in their outfits. It is really shocking to see this stuff on kids so young. Do I think dressing in name brands is wrong? Absolutely not! But the fact is, it is likely impossible that those parents ALL got those clothes on sale or hand me downs. So, if at ages 4 and 5 they are getting these uber brands for their kids, what do you think those kids will expect at 7 and 13 and... You get my point.

Another incident from the day that made me smile and made me so happy that we home-school... We were on our way home from soccer when my husband spotted some semi-fresh looking roadkill ( the possum kind) and he pulled over and got the girls out. He got some guy stuff out of the van and gave the girls a lesson on death, dying and the life cycle of flies. They were absolutely intrigued and loved it! They were so full of questions and excitement and very little squeamishness. I must admit to staying in the vehicle! ;)

The last thing to say is that our 5 year old chased after and caught a frog today! I was so proud! She named him Pushy, played with him and then released him at a safe location. Happy jumping Pushy!

Awesomeness

Not even if sure if that is a real word, but today was awesome! My husband did have to go in for morning PT but it was not the norm. They got to play with logs and tires and stuff. Afterwards we hit a local school. They had invited home-schoolers to come and see their Career Day. They had cars from all different companies and the kids got to hear about them and get in some. The girls liked it. Then we hit the riding lesson. You wanna talk cute? Our four year old rode the pony ALONE today! The teacher walked about 2 feet away and our daughter was in complete control of Sunshine the pony. She LOVES it! Let's see.... after that I took the girls to a playland while my husband took care of somethings. We all went to a park and held some worms and threw rocks and sticks. We went to see the movie "Earth". It was very good! The girls were quite intrigued by it! Did you know that elephants can swim? During the movie they show a cheetah stalking some gazelles. The youngest leaned over and said, "I think the deer thingy is trying to look sad so the cheetah will not want to eat it." Ha! If you go, make sure you stay for the out-takes! AMAZING! Finally we ended with soccer practice and came home for quick showers! Tomorrow is more of the same. AWESOMENESS!

4 day weekend

Starting tomorrow morning we are getting a 4 day weekend! I am way excited and we have so many plans! Tomorrow morning we have a riding lesson, followed by career day, followed by volunteering at the food pantry and finishing with soccer practice and maybe some coffee!