Friday, December 29, 2006

Graham loves dogs

We went over to my friend Cyndi's house tonight and the kids loved playing with her dogs. In the car on the way home Graham said, "Mommy, I just love all kinds of dogs. No matter what kind of dog it is, I just wanna have a little pet of it."

Thursday, December 28, 2006

House update

I'm not sure what I last updated on the house, but it sure has come along! Alif tore out two closets to make the living room way bigger, took out an entire wall to open up the kitchen, made the hall and kitchen entrances a little different with 45 angles on the upper corners, installed a soffit and recessed lighting in the living and dining rooms . . . hired a crew to do all the mudding and texturing. Then he took two days and prepped the bedrooms, hallway, living and dining for painting. Today he sprayed all of it! I haven't seen the living, dining or hallway done yet but he did the ceilings white, bedrooms off-white, and living, dining and hallway will all be taupe except the soffit will be a darker taupe. All of the trim is white. How great to have all of that done before we move in! He'll do some outside work (at someone else's house) for the next two days, and then it's on to the floors! Once the floors are done we can start moving things over, though he'll spend a couple of days putting up ceiling fans, base and crown moulding and finishing up details like switch plates etc. It's sure a lot of work but boy does this make me so thankful for my super-talented husband! Our goal is to be in by the 15th. Please baby boy, do not make an early appearance!! If ever there was a time to go a little overdue (a week would be perfect LOL) this is it!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Caris

Caris crawled into bed with me this morning and gave me a little arm rub. She said, "Mommy, your muscles are squishy. You need to drink more milk."

Later we cleaned her room and then I read some books to her. In the middle of the first book she said, "Can you pause it? I want to get one of my babies."

My new nephew!!




How darling is my new nephew, Christian James? He was born on December 17, 2006. Congratulations Megan and Jason!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Christian James

A New Baby!

I just got the news that Megan has given birth to Christian James at 7pm their time, 11 am our time! Praise the Lord! I can't wait to know more details and to see his precious little face!

Saturday, December 16, 2006

The 12 Days of Homeschooling

I'll skip all the precursors and just start with the 12th day. Also I'm adding notes of my own below. Sing to the 12 Days of Christmas

On the twelfth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, Can they
go to college, I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss
the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long
will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, What about P.E., do
you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool
legally?

On the thirteenth day of homeschool I thoughtfully replied: They can
go to college, yes you can do this, they can have graduation, we don't
like the prom, we do it cuz we like it, they are missing nothing, we'll
homeschool forever, WE ARE NOT STRANGE!, We give them P.E.,
and we give them tests, they are socialized, AND WE HOMESCHOOL
LEGALLY!

On the fourteenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, How
can I get started, why didn't you tell me, where do I buy curriculum,
when is the next conference, WILL PEOPLE THINK WE'RE
STRANGE? I think we can do this, if you will help us, we'll join a
sports team, and we'll homeschool legally.

Ok, back to me. I can't tell you how many times I've heard all of those questions and comments. LOL The only things I would change are that our homeschool organization throws an amazing prom and there's no need for tests (at least up to this point - my oldest is in 3rd grade this year) because I'm the one teaching them, and it's pretty clear whether they know the material and are ready to move on.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Warning: Snoozer

I warned you! We did not have a super exciting weekend, but because I'm too lazy to write in my journal, I'll just type about it here. On Saturday we got up and Alif went to work. I took Malachi and Caris over to Fred & Juanita's and Graham & I took Mom & Rod to the airport bus. I felt sentimental saying goodbye to them, even for just two weeks! I was excited for their Scotland trip though, and it does sound like they're having a fun time. I wish my whole family could be there right now. Megan is due today and I absolutely ache to be near her. I can't believe I won't get to hold her baby until he's well out of the infant stage. Sigh.

I went back and picked up the kids and I do not remember what happened after that. Ha! Sunday morning we pretty much just kicked around the house (love that, don't you Mom?). We took naps and then we were busy the rest of the day. Ellie had a make-up Birthday party at 3:30 (she was sick for her actual party last week, poor baby!), then we went to church at 6, then to Fred & Juanita's for pizza, welcoming Chamil home and for them to give Graham his Birthday present, a scooter that he's loving.

I was so happy when we got home, got the kids in bed, and then I really wanted to veg but have felt convicted not to watch Desperate Housewives - well, I turned on the TV and there was an extended version of Extreme Home Makeover on! Despite the lady saying, "Oh my GOOOOD!" 100x at least, it was a really cute episode. That ended and I went to bed and read Raising Great Kids for a bit. I should say I re-read it. LOL

This morning I woke up to my stupid, stupid iHome BLARING at 5:27 am. It did that yesterday too. Mental note: figure out why iHome is blasting off at 5:27 am. Started doing a little cleaning, talked to Mom & Megan on the phone for a while, and then did phonics & handwriting with the boys. Now doing some more cleaning and then will finish up our schoolwork for today - grammar, math and science.

I told you it was a snoozer, but hey, it's our life! :-D

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

New Look

http://www.myspace.com/hiskids37

Baby Talk

The kids and I were in line at Costco's food area today and I got into a conversation with a lady:
Lady: Are they twins? (the boys)
Me: They're 20 months apart, but they've been mistaken for twins from day one. :-)
Lady: Are you due January/February?
Me: Yep!
Lady: Another boy?
Me: Yes!

Funny, isn't that? She really called it!

Also, yesterday I asked Caris, "Why is Mommy's tummy so big?" and figured she would answer something like because there's a baby in there. She answered, "Because our baby boy is growing bigger and bigger!" Quite precisely, my dear! LOL

New House Developments

Alif is working hard on our new house! I keep forgetting to take my camera when I go over to see the work, and that's too bad because every time I go it really looks different. Today's new developments are: the soffit is almost finished being framed, the electrical is done, and he put in 45s on the hall doorway and the new entrance to the kitchen. A not-so-happy development is that he had someone tear out an uneven brick pathway from the upper patio to the lower patio. I loved that pathway! It needed to be re-laid, but we won't get to that for a while, and now there's just a dirt slope. Poo! We will not be in before Christmas, but he assures me we'll be in before Baby comes. I'd rather be in the house before Christmas, but I'd rather move after Christmas, so it works out well. :-)

Monday, December 04, 2006

Happy 7th Birthday, Graham!

How old are you today? Seven
How tall are you? I don't know.
How much do you weigh? I don't know.
What is your favorite TV show? Avatar
What's your favorite toy? Scooter
Do you have a scooter? No
What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't know.
do you have any ideas? No
Do you want to learn any foreign languages? Yeah.
Which ones? Scotland. And French.
What's your favorite music? French music.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Say it isn't SO!!

My Mom e-mailed me tonight to see if I knew where to get The Teddy Bear Calendar by the Bialoskys. She's gotten it for me every year since the first one 25 years ago! I checked the calendar to see if there was anything on there about it, and there IS. A note saying thank you to all of the owners who have entered and shared their bears over the years, and there will not be a teddy bear calendar contest next year. OH NO!! :*(

Friday, December 01, 2006

It's back :(

Caris' eczema cleared up after the appointment with the allergy specialist this summer, and she's had only minor breakouts since. Well, it is back full force. Poor baby! :-(