China

As part of our Expedition Earth studies, we spent 2 weeks studying China.  Reef and I had a great time and learned so much.
Our activities included: eating fortune cookies, practicing Chinese numbers, translating words into Chinese using Google Translate, tangrams, Chinese checkers (this is still a big favorite; I'm going to have to invest in a higher quality board though), making Chinese dragons, and building the Great Wall out of play doh.

Can't wait to see what we learn about South Korea next week!

On my own...

 Troy spent the majority of last week in Nebraska for his annual conference.  I braved it alone at home for 2 days and then headed off to Conroe for a couple of days to visit my sister and Grandma.  I wasn't looking forward to the long road trip on my own but felt like Troy being gone was a great excuse to go visit. 
The drive there was pretty uneventful.  I spent Thursday morning schooling, feeding, and packing the van to the max.  After picking up Jonas and Lachlan, feeding Poppy in the parking lot, and situating the DVD players, we were off.  We made it to Navasota before Poppy insisted on a snack.  Luckily, we were able to stop at a park so the boys could run around.  Poppy cried from Nav to Grandma's house but we pushed on.  They all slept well that night.
Friday morning, Grandma and I took them all to the park.  They had a great time running, sliding, climbing.
Reef desperately wants to master the monkey bars.  He made it to ring 5!

 Poppy hung out in the stroller and "chatted" with Grandma.

 This guy loved chasing his brothers and copying every word that comes out of their mouth.  He definitely thinks he's one of the big boys.

 Jonas is definitely in the great middle child phase where he enjoys playing with either brother, and they both want him to play "their" game.

 Friday evening, my dad came over for dinner.  It was his first time to meet Poppy.  The picture is bad, but I think she liked him!

 After dinner, all 4 boys headed outside for some more playtime.  It amazes me that they were entertained all weekend by some open space, a piece of rope, 4 hula hoops, and a traffic cone.

 Of course at bedtime, my dad was the chosen reader.

 And then they didn't want Grandma to be left out.

 Before we left Saturday, we attempted a picture of Grandma with all the great grands.  Jacob was in the bath during this one but we did get one with him too on Gma's camera.

The drive home was terrible!  The crying from Poppy started in only Brenham and continued pretty much until La Grange.  Lachlan also started crying about 30 minutes from La Grange too.  He threw up as we pulled into a parking spot at the park.  So, there I was...alone...one child hungry...one covered in vomit...and 2 angry that their movie went off.  So not fun!  I got L cleaned up and Poppy fed, and we were off again.  She cried a lot more since she was so tired of the car and Lachlan threw up again about 10 minutes from home!  Poor guy and his car sickness!  Thankfully, Troy was at home waiting with towels and napkins to clean up.  He had also gotten dinner ready and cleaned the whole house!

Even though the drive was terrible, I am really glad we made the trip.  It was good to see the family (sorry we missed you, Gigi), and be with them for the first time since Grandpa died.  It's also good for the kids to get away from our WAY TOO MUCH STUFF and enjoy some simpler times and toys.  I am thankful, though, that this is the last time I will make that trip with such a small baby.  And next time benadryl will be on board!

Another visitor or 2

The last 3 months have brought a lot of visitors into our house.  John Paul, Oma, Gigi.  Last weekend was no different when Troy's cousin Greg and his friend, Pat, came for a visit that was WAY too short. 

My boys love it when we have visitors and that person always has the honor of reading every library book in the house.   This time was obviously no different. 

Having family visit and seeing how much the kids love it always makes up wish we lived closer to them.  I guess it helps us appreciate each little moment when they are here, though!

Rain!!! Again!

Last week we FINALLY got some much needed rain.  Reef and Jonas woke up one morning and the rain was just starting.  Because I wasn't sure how long it would last (we ended up with rain 3 days in a row!), I let them check it out before breakfast.

They loved it and actually thought it was cold!

First Day of Preschool

The long awaited day has finally arrived...the start of preschool.  We are so blessed that our kids go to a school that is full of teachers from our church, people we know who love and care about them almost as much as we do.  The school is in a different building this year but that didn't phase my guys.

Here's Lachlan with Miss Colleen at Meet the Teacher.  Miss Colleen is new this year but I know Lachlan is going to love her.  In the week before meeting her, he would say his teacher was "colleen..liam".  Luckily, Liam (plus 5 other boys and 1 girl) is in his class.

 Jonas has our beloved Miss Theresa this year.  In typical Jonas style, he refused a picture.  He also asked me what I was still doing there during the Meet the Teacher meeting.
The first day was Thursday.  After a rough start to the morning, we finally made it outside to load up.  I attempted some first day of school pics...
Here's Lachlan with his homework.  Notice we decorated our man with a green shirt and "boots".  He lost interested before we could do pants.

 Here's Jonas with his homework.  He was annoyed that Miss Theresa didn't give him a man with a body.  We couldn't get too creative with just a head.  Did you notice that Jonas's man is black?  That's because he picked that colored face (Theresa mis-counted and ran out before I grabbed a white one, so she let Jonas pick.)  He says his favorite color right now is black...

 Here's the whole gang.  It is quite a job getting all 4 of them to school!

When I picked them up at 12:30, they both said the day was great.  Jonas is excited to be back with his best buddy Rylan and especially enjoyed shovelling rocks on the playground with his red bucket and shovel.  Lachlan didn't give too many details but has talked about sitting "criss cross applesauce".  I can't wait to see what they learn and know they're going to have so much fun!

Homeschool Week 2 and 3 Wrap Up

The last 2 weeks have raced by!  We have been able to do at least a small amount of school each week day, except Labor Day.  Getting back into the swing of things after 3 days off was tough for Reef, but the rest of this week went well.  We are looking forward to Lachlan and Jonas being in preschool twice a week because we were able to accomplish SO much on Thursday. 

Reef has made some great progress with reading and phonics in the last 2 weeks.  I can feel that we are just about to round a corner in his confidence; I just need to not push too hard.  During week 2, I focused on reading aloud to him (all of them really) and letting him play starfall.  We borrowed some Bob books, and he raced through those on his own.  I think that helped him realize that he CAN read.  He also picks out words he knows on the page when I'm reading to him (and on the signs at Sonic).  Other fun stuff we've done is make words with stamps and magnetic letters.

He still really likes math, especially when we do stuff that's not in the work book.  Reef also really likes the Bible story time.  This week, we added in the intro to geography.  I don't think it was quite as exciting as he thought, but I really think he will like it when we study each country.  We (well, me, since it was too messy for them) did do a paper mache globe and are going to paint it tomorrow.

Reef's most favorite activity from the last 2 weeks: Free art on the dry erase board.  I started with me drawing circles on the board and asking him what he could make with those.  He added his own circles and asks to do that activity daily.  Here are his masterpieces from the first day:

We are both really enjoying our homeschooling time.  I think I may like it more than he does, though.  I like that it gives me an "excuse" to ignore the household chores if necessary and focus on Reef (and Jonas too since he likes to participate).  I like that I get to spend a good chunk of my day reading to all 4 of them; that's something that I've really slacked on since adding Lachlan and Poppy to the bunch.  Can't wait to see what we learn next week!

Poppy 3 months

I've been meaning to get this post up all week.  We've just been busy, or maybe I'm in denial that she is growing SO fast.  There are days when I just can't handle it!  I love watching her new facial expressions and hearing her laugh but miss the teeny, tiny, cuddly phase too!

We didn't go to the doc this month, so I don't know how much she weighs this month.  I know she's grown, though, since our 0-3 month clothes are definitely snug and short.  I really need to get out the boxes and hunt down the 3-6 month stuff.  After this package of size 1 diapers, we will be sizing up to size 2s. 

I have continued to dairy free diet this month, and it seems to be working.  I tried to add peanuts back in, but she started acting funny, so I quickly gave that up again.  We are also continuing her prevacid but have been able to cut back to nighttime only.  I really want to do a milk challenge, but, at the same time, I am afraid to do anything that could cause her pain and major fussiness.

Troy and I think Poppy may get some teeth this month.  The drool is increased and so has her interest in her hands.  It's so funny to watch her try to get them to her mouth.  She holds her arms out straight in front of her, focuses, and slowly brings them in until she gets one to her mouth!

Poppy has really been sleeping well the last few weeks.  She will go 8-11 hours between her bedtime feeding and "middle of the night" feeding.  We are still struggling with bedtime.  If she goes down before 7:45, she thinks she is taking a nap and wants to be up until 9 or 10.  It is slowly improving, though.  She's been sleeping until 8 or later most mornings.

And now, what you all really want to see are the new pics from this month. 

She has taken a great interest in her toys this month.  She loves to laugh and squeal at them.  She also started to bat at them but doesn't usually get it.

We've tried the bebe pod chair several times.  She doesn't mind it but usually ends up like this.

She does smile in it though!

A rare picture during tummy time.  I'm just not good at putting her down on her tummy.  She really liked that giraffe that day, though.

And what do Dad and Poppy do when Mommy's hosting a baby shower?