Pumpkin Pickin'

This morning, we headed off to the same pumpkin farm we went to last year with Grampa. This year, Daddy, Gramma and some friends joined us.

 

11 months ago, Ruth was too little to do much at the farm, but enjoy Grampa's lap. Today, Ruth had a good time walking around, and feeing animals - until they mistook her finger for a kernel...

 

 

All the kids searched for corn kernel pieces on the ground and had fun throwing them over the wall to the cows. 

And Daddy helped Ruth learn to feed the goats. 

Faith needed no help. She was a magnet to the goats!

Feeding animals has always been one of her favorite things to do since she was Ruth's age. 

Even Nathan got his hands a little dirty ;) 

And Gramma joined the fun, too! 

Checking out the bees with Daddy. 

A great group of friends!

We even spotted a few silly animals on the farm!

We took a hay ride to the pumpkin fields to pick out some pumpkins

I found a few cute little pumpkins ;)

And they found some little sweet sugar pumpkins themselves!

We had a great time in the cool weather with Gramma & friends!

Later we'll let the kids decorate their pumpkins and

maybe help Gramma try to make a real pumpkin pie??

Homeschool Week 4

Last week, we learned about the letter L. The kids did activities around it's sound, practiced writing Ls and also practiced writing the number 3. We also introduced the topic of patterns.

The kids' favorite library book this week was called "Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina (that's a mouthful). We read it a bunch and acted it out one day.

We rounded up all the hats we could find and tried to stack them on Nathan's head.

Then the monkeys stole them!

Another day we took a nature walk, in search for leaves.

It drizzled a bit, and was super humid... even more than normal for our area...

But we still had fun hunting for leaves. And the big kids love any excuse to use their umbrellas!

Later that afternoon, we painted with leaves, attempting to make leaf silhouettes.

The kids also enjoyed doing some leaf rubbings.

Even Ruthie got involved - she knows when she's missing out and feels the need to do everything big brother and sister can do. 

Nathan's also been working through two BOB books this week (super basic beginner reader books). He read one to Daddy Friday night before bed. 

He is very smart and knows his letters & sounds. He even tells me everyday, "let's do school today, I want to work hard". But when it comes time to actually work hard, he loses interest and concentration fast. Learning to concentrate on reading & writing has been the biggest obstacle. But we're making slow progress.

And it's paying off! Here's a video of Nathan reading his first BOB book, all by himself! Way to go, Nathan!

Facebookisms: June-September 2013

* Faith tonight turns me and says, "Mommy, your my best friend...." then her eyebrows furrow and she gets a slightly evil smile as she continues, "...but I'm still going to win you!" Ok, it was funnier in person :)           

 

* "Broccoli no make me strong, it make me mad" ~ Nathan    

 

* Daddy's girl <3   

  

 

*Your package arrived, Uncle Dave and Aunt Kristen. And the kids love their capes!! They have no idea how creepy they are ;)

 

 

*The kids are enjoying "cussing at" corn. Ha!    

 

 

* Dentist said kids have no cavities! Yippee! BUT Nathan has a few loose teeth!!!! Noo!! I'm sooo not ready for that!    

 

* Taking the kids to our first 3D movie. It's either going to be awesome or nightmarish. I'm hoping for awesome. (I'll have to share about this in another post....)

 

*See these kiddos? They have one of the greatest Daddy's ever! And I'm so thankful to my father for being an example of a patient, loving, sacrificial, kind, strong, Godly man. And for showing me how a man should treat his wife and children. Because of my father, I married a man very much like him. And my kids reap the benefit of my father's legacy! Happy father's day to all the dads out there who are *almost* as great as my father & the father of my kids :)           

 

 

* Who says a Baptist can't speak in tongues? Our 18 month old is petty good at it! She has started taking her turn to pray before dinner and at bedtime - I haven't a clue what she prays for, but it's precious!    

 

* Nathan: "go black team!" Me: "Nathan, say 'Go Spurs!'" Nathan: "Go spurs!" Jacob: "no, say 'go white team'" Nathan: "Go white team!" Me: "ok, no more Mac and cheese, ever" Nathan: "Go Spurs!!!" Truth be known.... I could care less about basketball. But we are San Antonians and so I like to tease my anti-spurs hubby ;)    

 

* I apologize that you cannot hear your coworkers, phone conversations or TV... That excruciating noise you hear emanating from San Antonio is my 3 year old, Faith. She's upset that her shoes are touching the floor........... It's going to be one of those days........ Horray.    

 

* Jacob shared that tonight Faith told him, "when I grow up, I'm going to be a monster and destroy our house" I wonder how that will differ from her 3-year old, non-monster self...?    

 

* Nathan just mentioned his friends Anthony & Jessie. Faith said, "Oh! I love Jessie! Can we play with her?" Then in the same breath, adds, "Who is Jessie?" HA! I told her, and she exclaims, "Oh! Jessie is my best friend!"           

 

* Faith was awake for 30min when she runs to the bathroom. I asked her if she had to go pee-pee and she says "no, I don't like chicken" what?!? It's not a random as you're thinking.... See, we had chicken enchiladas for dinner last night, 12 hours ago. And she hoards food in her mouth when she doesn't like it. Seriously??!?!? All night?!?!?! Gross! I know a mommy who will be doing chipmunk cheek checks every night from now on...    

 

* Nathan: "I want a baby budder. He can wear shoes no fit me anymore"

Me: "what would you name a baby brother?"

Nathan: "Dionysius" (it sounded more like "dietus")

Apparently he really liked the teachers at VBS! :)    

 

* FYI, if you're thinking of visiting, come on over. But stay off the lawn. There's a crocodile living in our grass. Or so Faith is convinced of. She's told me this everyday for the past week now. So thankful no ones been bit :)           

 

* In the middle of an intense dinner time discussion between Nathan and Jacob about what would happen if it started raining salsa, faith blurts out: "I have a castle somewhere but you can't see it in Texas. Sometimes I'm a real princess and sometimes I'm a pretend princess"    

 

* oops... mommy read the clock wrong... Started baths 45 min early, then got kids ready for and in bed early. And no one noticed. I won't tell them if you don't :)           

 

* Ruth's newest talent?? Pretending to be a dog. I've been lick a thousand times today... on the plus side, its great to see her having an imagination this early. Or maybe she's just copying her sister, who is a dog for at least an hour a day, every day. Though, Puppy Faith never licks me.           

 

* My kids have a really hard time understanding that we all get older. Nathan is convinced (and probably hopeful) that one day he'll be the parent and I'll be his child... And faith is looking forward to the day she gets "littler" and gets to smash her cake on her first birthday again. I keep trying to explain it doesn't work that way, and one day I will be a grandmother. Faith says on that day I will have to move to MD (where her gramma lives) and Nathan started to cry because he doesn't want me to replace his Gramma. Some form of this conversation has been going on for over a year. One day they'll understand, right? Haha    

 

* On the way to church, the kids are talking about tornados (they've been fascinated by them for months now). The kids all if the sudden get super excited because they just realized something new. The following conversation takes place:

Faith: "Mommy!! Mommy!! Mommy!!! Tornadoes made out of 'matos!!!" (tomatos)

Me: "why?"

Faith: "because God made them that way!"    

 

* Nathan's singing in the bathroom. I hear "my is great, mommy is great..." I smile and tell Jacob I'm going to file that sound in the back of my head so in 10 years when he's singing the opposite, I can remember when he was 5. Jacob asks why....says he hears Nathan singing "mommy is crazy, mommy is crazy, etc" Nathan comes out and I ask what he was singing. He confirms Jacob has better ears than me..... But in still going to remember what I thought I heard ;)    

 

* Embracing our walmartian side    

 

 

* Faith tells me there's an elephant in our car. The crocodile that lives in our front yard has escaped to the backyard. Only in a 3 year olds imagination would the crocodile be scared of an elephant trapped in a car    

 

* Apparently God really wants me empathizing with you today, Rhonda... 

(her son got into sharpies twice in one week, too...)

 

 

 

* Ruth just said her first sentence. Well... she's been saying simple ones on occasion for a few weeks, but this is the first one clear enough that I think a non-parent would understand it, too. She walked up to me, tapped my arm, looked me in the eye and said, "Momma, I want Dadda" Aww!! Sorry, honey, Daddy will be home in 6 days But yay for your first "real" sentence!           

 

* I think she's related to her Aunt Mary! Forget licking ketchup off fries, she discovered a shortcut...    

 

 

* Filing this under things I never thought I'd say: "nobody's pooping on anyone's pillow"    

 

* My house may not be clean, but it sure is sparkly now. Thanks, Ruth. The thousand teeny tiny jewels sure are prettier allll over the house instead of neatly organized and locked up in a box...    

 

 

* Lunch time conversation:

Me: (whispers to Nathan) "daddy is crazy!"

Nathan: (almost shouting) "that's no secret!"

I knew we had a smart little boy :D    

 

* My kids are deprived.... I asked Nathan if he wanted to go somewhere fun today and he said ,"yea! Lowes!" I asked if he could think of something even more fun than Lowes. And the only thing he came up with was Bass Pro Shop...... Poor kid just may hate where were really going on daddy's day off: Flying L ranch and waterpark. But I have a feeling he'll come around ;)    

 

* Game night with Daddy. They don't even notice Mommy isn't at the table. I'm not complaining. No ones climbing on me, calling out to me or begging me for anything :)    

 

 

* Ruth was whining without a reason, so we had a little talk:

Me: "No more whining right? you're a big girl"

Ruth: shakes her head and mouths "no"

Me: "so are you a baby?"

Ruth: shakes her head and mouths "no"

Me: "Well, if you're not a big girl or a baby, what are you?"

Ruth: she sticks out her tongue, pants and then barks at me

Me: "Ahhh... you're a doggie. Well, doggies don't whine either."

Ruth walked away, smiled and barked again. No more whining. She seems to have understood.           

 

* Nathan was so discouraged when I shared that he cannot marry his sister. After talking about it through, he asked who he could marry. I told him one day, when he's older, God will bring someone special into his life, he'll fall in love and want to get married. He thought for a moment then replied, "Graham? I can marry Graham? I love him!" Oh no.... Honey, that's a whole other conversation.....    

 

* So I'm baking tonight, kids all standing on chairs by the island to "help". Faith sees me pull out a giant bag of chocolate chips an says, "Wow, Mommy! You're so smart!" I repeated her to clarify. And she replies, "You have lots of chocolate, that means you're smart!" I like how that child thinks ;)    

 

* My kids have the strangest conversations with each other.... just now:

Faith: "I tooted. I tooted in our house! haha I can toot in another house. I could toot at Uncle Junior's house!"

Nathan: "Orrrr... You could toot at Gramma's house <loud evil laugh>"

Faith: "Yeah! I will toot at Gramma's house!"

 

* I just had very troubling conversation with Nathan.... I found what looked like blood smeared on a wall. Concerned, I called Nathan over and asked him what happened.

Nathan: "It's poop"

Me: (horrified) "Who's poop?"

Nathan: "Someone else's"

Me: (not buying it) "who's?!?"

Nathan: "Faith's"

Me: "Why is Faith's poop on the wall?"

Nathan: "I don't know"

Me: "Who put Faith's poop on the wall??"

Nathan: "Ruth"

Me: "Why would Ruth put Faith's poop on the wall?!?"

Nathan: "I don't know"

Me: "Are you telling me the truth?"

Nathan: "No"

Me: "So what really happened?"

Nathan: "It's my poop"

Me: "Why on earth would you put your poop on the wall?"

Nathan: "Because I no get potty fast enough"

Me: "Where's the rest of it?!?"

Nathan: "In potty"

Ahhhhhh!!!! I thought we were over this poop painting phase a year ago!?!?!           

 

* Random out of context quote from Faith: "Gramma doesn't look like a penguin sometimes" ROFL! So sometimes she does????? Hmmm...    

 

* Overheard from the backseat of the car: "I had a head start, I came out of Mommy's belly first." ~Nathan           

 

* We're in for a doozy of a day... so far Faith has thrown tantrums over:

- the bath was wet

 - she wants long sleeves, not short

 - her banana was yellow           

 

* Best. Husband. Ever! He woke up with the kids (after getting home from a week in CA at 1am) and kidnapped the kids. Took them out to breakfast, by himself. Came home with happy kids, Panera for me, then cleaned the inside of the car and is still going! Feeling super spoiled :D           

 

* Nathan sold some toys today (that he never plays with), so when he got excited about the garlic bread coming from the oven the following conversation happened:

Me - "Now that you have money, garlic bread isn't free. It's $5 a slice!"

Nathan - (silly voice) "Noooo"

Jacob - "No, it's $10 a slice!"

Nathan - "No, it's $11 a slice!"

Faith - "No, it's $18 a slice!"

Nathan - "No, it's $64 a slice!"

He has a lot to learn about negotiating...

Homeschool: Week 3

Last week, we talked about the letter M and did a little study on the moon.

We had oreos one day as a snack, with the moon phases.

Another day we made "moon cake". i found the recipe on a blog about MFW curriculum. (get the recipe here). It's weird... you put the dry ingredients in a pan, then make craters and add eggs, vanilla, milk, baking soda, etc, in the craters. 

Then you dump in vinegar and watch the reaction. 

The kids loved that part.

After I mixed it up, the kids added "moon rocks" (aka raisins)

And then we baked it and enjoyed. It had a strange flavor - not bad, just weird. 

But the kids had fun making it! And no, we don't have 4 kids now. We just had a friend over that day, watching him for his mother.

We read books about the moon and then made a space ship.

We attempted space hats... but that just ended up looking silly ;)

Once on the moon, we "floated" around the room and then enjoyed a snack of astronaut ice cream.

Then it was back to earth, bye bye moon! 

Music starts with M, too. In case you didn't know ;)

So we made a toy guitar together one day.

Everyone had fun with that, and they were good sharers!

We played with some musical instruments as we sang songs, too.

Not everyone shared well that day.... but some days go better than others ;)

Here's a little video of the kids and their cereal box guitar. Faith loves making up her own songs and when it was apparent that's what she was up to, the video camera came out ;) Enjoy!