You know it is the day after Christmas 2007 when.....

1. you have a baby that poops and pees
2. Oops 2 babies that poop and pee
3. diapers (for the above dolls) that are double the price of Huggies newborn diapers
4. a robot dog that needs to be pet, fed, talked to, tickled or it whines or gets sick
5. Oops 2 dogs that needs all that time and attention
6. a parrot that talks, farts and sings
7. R2D2 that mishaves....
8. the new Playstation 3 Rockband and it is for your HUBBY!
9. 8 new baby dolls
10. Dora ponys, boots, tico, Dora pony trailor, Dora that dances, dora twins and 10 sets of Dora furniture
11. 10+ new Barbies
12. several piles of clothes
13. 12 cans of trash
14. 4 returns to make
15. a fridge full of leftovers
AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE!!!!!!!

Our Halloween Celebration

We have had a fun two days..getting ready for our Halloween party. It has become a fun tradition to have our extended family over to T or T with us. I make dinner and the g-parents and aunts and uncles come over to see the little ones dressed up! This year we spent two days painting and making decorations. We made Halloween Jell-o Jigglers, a Jell-o eyeball, cookies and brownies. It was so much fun!
We walked through the neighborhood with a gang of kids...we have a TON of neighbor kids. One neighbor had games, prizes and hot chocolate. It was a great night with TOO much candy!
We are now glued to the tv watching Ghost Hunters Live...it is filming live from the Waverly Hills Sanitarium in Louisville. I love this becuase I do believe in paranormal activity, but also because my mom grew up on land connected to it. It was a TB hospital and over 63,000 people died there. I have friends who have worked there and have seen ghosts and have had strange things happen.
Oh and pictures are on the way very soon, I promise!!!

Bethany

Just another day...but a great one!

Today has been such an absolute joy! We began our day with a clean sweep of the house and finally made our way to the basement school room. We worked on our Evan Moor Literature Pockets, the nursery rhymes set. These sets are great for multiple ages. We worked on Little Bo Peep (which Madelyn thought was "AWESOME", since that is her Halloween costume). I was so shocked today when Madelyn cut out her own shapes!! She is left handed and we have tried every type of scissor and she has never mastered it...then today she did it!! We made homemade pizzas for lunch! Yummy! We also kept an eye on the fires in California and the space shuttle launch.
At lunch Maddee was saying the prayer and she said..."God is great, God ganks you for our food and our family and everybody in the world we don't know....and help make more water so we can put out the fires...Amen..oh and more wood to make them new houses"
Meanwhile Annie has potty in the potty all day with only one accident!!! YEAH!!

Okay...blessings huh?!?!

*Three HEALTHY beautiful children
*One HEALTHY hubby (and life insurance too...hehe!)
*A beautiful (but oh so messy) home
*Oppurtunity to homeschool my children
*Friends (even if they do make me blog!)
*my own laptop
*TiVO
*2 months until Christmas
*Finished scrapbooks
*Scrapbook retreats !!
*Canon Rebel (even if I am too dumb to work it!)
*6 Years cancer free
*No pets!
*Summer in October!
*Our new church home/family!

.....This list could go on and on!!!!

I need to start off by saying thank you to everyone who has sent beautiful messages of prayers, love and thoughts over the past couple weeks. It means so much for friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers to take the time to send a message of sorrow and thoughts ...even when not knowing what to say. It has meant so much to me!

We are doing good. Children are great like that....this week, birthdays and the baby are mere memories and thoughts have moved on to halloween costumes!! Although Carson was tickled while we were at our homeschool co-op on MOnday, we talked about our baby up in heaven playing with his friends baby (they lost their baby a few weeks before us)!

I scrapbooked this weekend from Friday until Saturday evening. I was able to complete 41 pages! I completed Annastyns 1 year album and our 2006 family album! It feels so good to mark things off the list!!

Oh yeah, Halloween costumes! This week has about killed me....all for the search of three simple costumes! Let me give you a brief history on this topic in my family...it is ALL about the pictures!!!! So yes every year I dress the children in a theme...that ^gasp^ I pick out!!!hehe I can on and on to defend myself...but who cares..right hehe!!!
So this year my 7 year old decides he does not want to be the tin man. * mom sobbing*...meaning no Wizard of Oz gang.:( So I allow him to choose what he wants to be...he picks Optimus Prime a transformer. Madelyn agrees to be "Little Girl Peep" (as she calls it!) and Annie is her sheep (she loves that she is in charge, as a middle child she rarely gets this!) So the search begins!! I travel to about 4 stores before realizing Little Bo Peep will have to be ordered online....4 hours later I choose one from ebay. Still no sheep or Optimus?? Several stores later and I find a transformer and guess what...MISSING PIECES!!! Two more stores (now keep in mind I am traveling in and out with 3 little ones!) and still only a very $$$ sheep is to be found. I stop by one last Halloween shop and guess what they have the $$$ sheep on clearance, YEAH!!! So tonight after boy scouts we hit one more Target and guess what still no transformer...so after stating that "he will jsut stay home and hand out candy if he cannot be Optimus Prime"...he spots the "Human Torch" costume and is in love.
So finally, 11 stores later, 36 grey hairs, 2 meltdowns, and $84 in gas we have our costumes...well as soon as the one off ebay comes we will!!

Oh in case you care..here is a run-down of what my children have dressed up as for halloween.
Zarek -(foster son)1st halloween -Pumpkin
Zarek - 2nd year Blues Clues
Zarek - 3rd year Cowboy/ Carson was a teddy bear (he was only 3weeks old!)
Carson's 2nd year-Piglet
Carson's 3rd year-Peter Pan (Mommy was tink and daddy was Capt. Hook)
Carson's 4th year and Madelyns 1st year - Raggedy Ann and Andy
Carsons 5th year and Madelyns 2nd year - Pirates
Carsons 6th year and Madelyns 3rd year, Annies 2nd year - We were The Incredibles! Mr Incredible, I was Elasti Girl, Carson was Dash, Maddee was Violet and Annie was Jack-Jack!
I will try to get pics uploaded!

Quincey

Throughout the first few weeks of this pregnancy, I had no symptoms, (I usually VERY sick with my pregnancies!). I knew that something was wrong and that I did not "feel" pregnant. I also spotted for two days around my fifth week. I was lucky enough to get in for my first ob appointment at only 6 weeks and 4 days. I explained my concerns to my doctor and she immediately suggested an ultrasound. The u/s showed a perfect 4 week pregnancy...and I was sent home. A follow up u/s was scheduled for 2 weeks later.
I was upset and confused and was trying to make sense of the different dates etc. Hubby is in Vegas for work conference and I am alone! Hubbys boss was nice enough to allow him to fly home about 6 hours early...which was nice. It also fell on Carson's birthday. My family and I took Carson to the Extreme Skate Park downtown and then to Tumbleweed for lunch. Hubby walks in to the restaurant and surprises the birthday boy!
So we are to Thursday and the waiting is killing me!! I call the ob and ask them if I can get my Hcg levels checked. My hcg on Thursday is 688 and according to the lab it should be over 1000. Saturday I had my blood drawn again. Saturday I begin to spot and then it is heavy red blood...so I am officially miscarrying the baby. Today is Monday and I still have not heard from the doctor, so I am not sure what my HcG levels were on Saturday and I am not sure if I will have a D&C this week or not.

Telling the children...I told Carson on Tuesday because he kept asking what happened at the doctor...and was it a boy or a girl. He is very mature for his age and I truly think that he was sensing something was wrong. At that time I told him that the baby might not live. He was quiet for awhile and then he grabbed my hand and asked if I would die if the baby died? So that discussion led to what will happen to the baby? So many hard questions from a not yet 7 year old!

So the days have followed with a question or so every day. At one point Carson said "That he was not going to pray for another baby, becuase he had already prayed so long for this one". He asked granny to hold his hand and told her that the baby might live or die. He has asked over and over again why the doctor can't fix the baby, and that if he was a doctor he would fix every baby.

This brings us to last night. We were watching Extreme Home Makeover and the little girl had cancer and was receiving chemo. He asks if the doctor can give chemo to our baby to make it better. (Remember,I had just begun heavy bleeding)I asked Paul to come upstairs and told him that it was time to tell Carson that the baby had died. Paul struggled for awhile and then explains to Carson that our baby will not ever live on earth with us....that it is going to live with Jesus instead. Carson had tons of questions..as you can imagine! So we answer tons of questions and we then offered the idea to the children to name the baby. After reeling off name after name of all their friends. Soon Madelyn suggested Cinderella...so considering the baby was given to us in Disney I tell them to go with the theme and try to agree on a Disney name. We go through Ariel, Cinderella, Troy, Gabriella (HSM), then we get to The Little Einsteins...Leo, Annie, Jude and Quincey. So it is, our baby is Quincey!

Yes I am alive!!!

I know, I know everyone thought we were stranded in Disney limbo!! Well a lot has happened in the last month. We were home from Disney for three days when we traveled to St.Louis to watch hubbies hometown team the CUBBIES!!!! We stayed in the same hotel and rubbed elbows with the team all weekend!! It was a blast!
We returned home and started our school year. Then that next weekend it was off for a 3 day scrapbooking retreat!!YEAH!!! I nearly completed my cruise album (56+ pages), wow!!!
On top of this we squeezed in our Monday co-op classes, Annastyns 2nd birthday party and Carson's 7th birthday party!! Don't forget the usual of gymnastics and soccer for MAdelyn...AWANA and choir for all three children...wheewwh!!

So would it be possible to squeeze ANYthing else??? How about a pregnancy?? Yeap I found out that we had returned from Disney with a souvenier!!!

We found great, cool, fun ways to tell everyone in the family and we were all ready for our new addition due May 23, 2008!

Day 7 Animal Kingdom

THis is mine and Pauls favorite park. We arrived early to watch the characters "open" the park. We rode every ride, saw every show...very light crowds! A castmember at the water park told us the lines we were waiting in that were minutes long were 2 hours long the week before!!
TOnight we went to 'Ohana for dinner, a polynesion all you can eat dinner with coconut races, limbo, etc for the kids!
Gotta sleep...check in as soon as I can!

Day 6 -Blizzard Beach/Epcot

Paul was so tickled to get to a water park...which is much more up his alley! WE had a great time! There are many family rides and even the pre-teen section is set up so that Annie can ride and the baby section allows mommies and daddies to slide!!The entire park is set up with teh idea that a blizzard hit Florida and then it began to melt. The entire park is covered in "snow", icicles melting from the buildings even a ski lift that takes you to the top of the hill. We stayed until close!
From there we headed to EPCOT for the fireworks and a few rides.

Day 5 Annie Turns 2!!!!!

Happy Birthday to Annie!!!
The big thing this week has been for daddy to say "Who wants to ride rides?", "Who wants to go swimming?" "Who wants to see Mickey Mouse?" etc. etc. When the older two raise their hands and say "MEEEEE!!!" then little mimic Annie does it. So then daddy has begun saying ( in a happy sing-song voice)"Who wants a spanking?" or "Who wants go live with another family?".. and Annie would say "MEEEE!", but as smart as she is..she ahs quickly realized it is a trick and is careful to what she says "meeee"! for!!
That being said this morning daddy says" Who's birthday is it?" and she KNEW!! SHe was waving both hands and saying "MEEE"..."MEEEE!"

We started off at Hollywood and Vine with a character breakfast. We met, sang and danced with JoJO, Goliath, Jude (who by the way Paul still swears was Dora!!hehe) and Leo! Paul was ecstatic when half way through brekafast they changed the buffet to lunch! We spent the rest of the afternnoon at MGM...met Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, Lightening McQueen and TowMater, Evil Queen,Frozone, Ratatouille and many more!
We left MGM and went to Mickey's Backyard BBQ. This was by far my favorite event yet. All you can eat buffet...ribs, burgers, mac n cheese, beans, salad, corn on the cob, cornbread, watermelon and of course Mickey ice creams, popsicles, strawberry bars etc for dessert!
The show is set up with a western theme, country line dancing instruction, trick ropes, country band singing, chicken dance etc all with DISNEY CHARACTERS!!! We offically declared Annastyn as a character HOG!! She worked her way to the front of each group...and they DID hold her hand...she was in her element! Dancing with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale on her BIRTHDAY...how cool!

Year of a Million Dreams

For those of you familiar with Disney you know about this. If don't...well read on!! Disney has decided to grant 1 million dreams in a year. There are dream squad members walking aorund and they will grant you "dreams". Many guests are given Dream Fastpasses which means no waiting in lines for any rides, some are Grand Marshalls of the parade..etc. One lucky family every day at Magic Kingdom is invited to stay in Cinderellas castle suite for the night!!

I was happy with our upgrade and expected no more than that!! Although we have been surprised here and there with a few "dreams".

1.) While the boys rode Tower of Terror, Madelyn was asked by a castmember if she wanted to dress up in a uniform and "work". Madelyn however could hear the screams from inside and said NO WAY!!! (This wasn't really a dream maker)

2.) We ordered a Mickey ice cream in EPCOT and the lady said it was FREE!! Then as soon as Annastyn saw what Madelyn had she turned to the lady and put her hand out...when we told her no..she dropped to the ground. The worker pulled out another one for her!!! Again not a dream maker!

3.)While walking in MK a woman walked up to the children and asked if they would like to be cotton candy tasters. They quickly obliged and "tasted" they were each given a Dream Certificate and the rest of the cotton candy!! (not sure if she was a dream maker or not)

4.)A worker handed Annie a two trading pins. One to keep and one to give.

Nothing huge but little bits of pixie dust here and there!!!!

Day 4 Magic Kingdom

Today we slept in and ate doughnuts in the room. Upon entering MK we head to adventureland and frontierland...we hang out here most of the day. Splash Mountain has a 5 minute wait for hours...AWESOME!!! We eat lunch at Pecos Bill Tale Tell Inn at parade time accidently which works out wonderfully...we have front row seats to the parade. The kids hung on the fence and nearly every character came right to them...they were ecstatic!!
Madelyn had her face painted like a Mermaid!! She was so excited! Carson had his face painted last year and she has never forgotten it!! She was walking on air..she was so delighted!!!
WE had dinner at Tony's (the restaurant from LAdy and the Tramp) and the food was delicious, but fellow travelers beware if you are seated in the glass porch area TAKE A SWEATER!! We were shaking we were so cold...then all of the sudden a waiter comes over and wraps me in a tablecloth (head and all!) and said the security cameras saw that I was cold. I felt silly but warmer so I kept in on....within a few minutes every other lady around us had a tablecloth around her too!! The children could not even eat their meals it was so cold!

After dinner we headed to Futureland and ran in to our sons Cub Master! What a small world..no pun intended!! We headed home and they are sleeping and I am typing!!!

Annastyn is now officially 2 years old!!!! We have some special things planned for her tomorrow...I will post again. Pictures may come.........or may not!!!

DAY 3 EPCOT

Today is an early day. We have breakfast reservations in Norway for the princess breakfast. Madelyn dresses in her Aurora gown (yes it is long sleeves and ever so itchy)therefore little Annastyn wants to be Tinker Bell for th day and yes...she can now say "Tinker Bell"!!! AHHH!
While waiting to be seated we spot Mary Poppins posing for pictures. I ask Madelyn if she wants to go meet Mary Poppins and she says yes (very excitedly!) halfway there she asks.."Where is Very Gobblins?"...it took me a minute to realize what she meant!!
At breakfast we meet Belle, Mulan, Jasmine (yes Paul wanted a pic with her!!, Snow White and Auroura! Carson hides under the table EVERY time a princess comes by! The food here is tricky. The buffet consists of fruits and pastries. You are brought a platter of all you can eat scrambled eggs, potato casserole, bacon and sausage to the table. Well Carson is bummed that they do not have french toast,waffles or pancakes. So he eats about 6 servings of eggs. The girls and I of course eat most all of it....and then there is daddy, with no hot sauce all he musters down is about 5 spoons of eggs and some bacon (keep in mind this is a $30 per person meal). Thank goodness for the dining plan!!! AGAIN!

We continue touring EPCOT all day, again Madelyn riders some big girl rides. Annie is pretty bored all day. This is not the toddler friendliest park!

We have reservations for THe Neverland Club. This is a kids only dinner club (aka babysitting). The check-in station is designed to look like Wendys bedroom from Peter Pan...the children "fly through" the window to enter the playroom. (I should begin this with the information that my son is not an easy sell...he still clings to my leg at church until 3 or 4 of us pry him off! He hates VBS and things of this nature.)Well we had previewed it the day before and the entire day at EPCOT he was asking when we could leave and take him to the babysitter!!! Inside there are about 8 arcade games (no quarters needed!), playstations,princess dress-up stations, dolls, tv, kitchen, ect. They also do arts and crafts and are served dinner. We drop the older two off and decide to try the Kona Cafe which is at the same resort at the Neveralnd Club. The meal begins with a huge loaf of Hawaiian bread, then we get appetizers...chicken wings for me, ceaser salad for Paul..we both choose Filet Mignon for our entree. For dessert I get a Kona Kone...a huge waffle cone, dipped in chocolate that is "stuck" to the plate in chocolate, filled with ice cream, sprinkled with Mickey confetti and surrounded on the plate by cotton candy...Paul gets a scoop of vanilla ice cream (have you noticed he is kinda pickY!??!)

We pick up the older two and come back the hotel to swim!!

Day 2 Pirate and Princess Party

...and Wal-mart!! Yeap along with the camera battery I forgot Madelyn's panties!!!...oh and Spray and Wash....so while we are there we decide, well okay Paul decides that the kids should spend their $20 souvenier $$ at Wal-mart rather than at the parks (so they can get more for their money). Madelyn chooses a beautiful Princess Aurora gown, Annie chooses a Little Tykes MP3 player and Carson chooses $3 goggles...he wants the "real Disney stuff!"

We stop by Walgreens to get Carsons meds..oops forgot to mention Carson has POISON IVY...BAD!!! This is his first case of it and his legs are covered. Poor thing has a thing for picking and itching anyway..so I feel so bad for him.

We get back to the hotel and take a nap. We are awoken by a castmember delivering Annastyn a birthday card signed by Cinderella!!! We get ready and head out for dinner. Our reservations at at BOMA this is a restaurant that is kinda $$$$ and has great reviews. The only reason we book it is because, again we have the Disney dining plan. I am so excited for Paul because this was the MAN MEAL of the trip....lots of meats with African flavors etc. Well my man ends up eating off the kids bar!!!! Yeap chicken tenders, mac n cheese and spaghetti!!! The rotissori style chicken was good but the other several meats were "out there" for us! I had no idea what any of the salads, veggies or sides were...so I stuck to the fruits and..umm kida buffet too!! They bring Annie a huge birthday dessert. It is a wooden board with three cupcakes, Happy Birthday written on the board in chocolate, gummie bears sprinkled all around...it was too cute!!
***Mental note-we don't "DO" fantshy smanshty" food!!!!

We head to the Pirate and Princess Party. This is a specially ticketed event. The park is closed to the public. We planned on wearing our Incredibles costumes but it was just too hot. Most everyone in the park was dressed as either a pirate or a princess....well I did not bring those costumes with us...so we were bummed that the kids were not dressed up :( Throughout the park were treasure stations..the children were given chocolate or necklaces. There were characters out dressed in pirate/princess costumes. The ride lines were supposed to be shorter, although I can truly tell you that they were the longest that we have expierenced (it was Labor Day...so I guess that is what did it!?!).

There were several little dance stations located throughout the park...which is SO up my kids alley!!! They were dancing and hula hooping! Carson did some breakdancing and head stands, he then captured an audience when he did the High School Musical songs and dance. And boy can that kid HULA HOOP!!!! Annie loved this as well...often ending up dead center with the characters!!!

There was a special firework show for this event. We accidently ended up on the bridge to futureland and the view was great and Tinkerbell flys right over your head! Again we leave the park and head to swim!

MGM

Excuse this from being too much of a boring trip report but I know some other Disney goers are looking for all the info!! Upon entering MGM we head to Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney..both are great! Oh then the High School Musical Pep Rally..yes I am the dorky mom who is singing her heart out..I LOVE that movie!! We have dinner reservations for Sci-Fi Drive Thru...you are seated by hostesses on roller skates to a huge dark "parking lot" of old cars watching the huge drive-in movie screen with old reels. The kids are quiet...yes quiet...oh they are watching tv!!! Well whatever works!! We are the Disney dining plan so we eat like pigs..I get ribs, Paul gets steak...the food is excellent although it is VERY dark...so dark we all at about 1/3 of our meals. Try eating ribs in the dark with a toddler in your lap!!! Dessert is great I get a Cookies and Cream shake, Paul gets cheesecake and the girls get sundaes! When we leave it is getting dark so we hit Star Tours...this is when we realize that Madelyn had a growth spurt and is now over 40" , therefore can ride SO MANY more rides than last year!!! YEAH!! She is on cloud nine!!!!

We come back to the hotel check out the pools. My kids have wanted to go to the "piano pool" for over a year now (darn Disney website!!) but we decide to try the "guitar pool" yes there is a guitar shaped pool. We swim for a bit and I keep smelling...ummm....ughh...POOP!!! Not sure who...not sure where....but POOP and quite a bit of it..I am sure! I notice that the water looks a bit murky...we clear the pool as quickly as possible all the while trying to get the kids to quit swallowing, gurgling and spitting the water...ICKKK!!! So we head over to the "piano pool"...Carson is swimming like crazy. He can stay underwater for an eternity!!! Carson swims, Madleyn and Annastyn jump!!

BEDTIME!!!! YEAH!!!!

Checking in from Disney!!!!

Hello..I know it took me a bit to post from WDW but if you know my hubby it took ALOT to get him to pay $10 a day for internet!!! Sooo Day 1 we leave from Louisville we get about 45 minutes down the road and get stuck at a dead stop for a bit over an hour....fun! From there we hit road construction and downpours of rain.....finally at 11 pm we decide to stop for a hotel room (since we have traveled for about 11 hours and have made it about 8 hours worth!!)Well surprise , surprise we begin looking for a hotel room in Valdosta and 4 exits and 1 hour later...we find one! Who knew that a Clint Black concert, VSU game, VSU open house and Labor Day weekend wiped out every hotel room in the city!

We get to Orlando and are within in moments of our hotel!!! YEah!!! We look up into the sky and see an airplane writing messages in the sky...JESUS LOVES U..I need to take a picture!!! I get out the camera and guess what??? The battery and the battery charger are in "My Old Kentucky Home"...yeap plugged into the wall!!! hehe ...so thank goodness for Betty (our GPS) she gets us to the nearest Circuit City! So $100 later I have this 10lb battery that actually screws into the camera...which by the way will now not fit into the camera case...to take a picture of the next words in the sky....GOD + YOU = (we miss the last word as we are now pulling into the hotel!!) We are here at the All-Star Music Resort!!! YEAH!!!

Upon check in there is a slight glitch..the preferred room that we paid extra for is not avaliable...she says with a smile!! I ask what this means considering we paid a nominal fee per night to have a preferred room. It means that we are about 1/2 mile further back in the resort than we should have been...well it doesn't seem too bad but guess what...we played that game last year and at the end of the night...with 4 whiny, tired kids (yes DH counts too!)you want as close as you can get! So I explain that I booked this months ago and blah, blah , blah ... about 15 minutes later we are building 1 and get this UPGRADED which is great for more than 1 reason. First things first...I am planning on scrapbooking this trip in an ABC style....well hello!!! I have a U!!!! Secondly, as a family of five...we need the space!! A suite has a bedroom, living room with pullout, table and chairs, two baths, two tvs and a KITCHENETTE!!!! So we are so blessed and of course too spolied to probably ever deal with a standard 2 double bed hotel room!! So we are off to MGM!!

Annastyn Ruby

Our baby girl!!

My Chocolate Blond!!

This pic was taken back in winter of Madelyn drinking her hot chocolate. This girl could eat chocolate and a side of chocolate for every meal!!

Future Graduate of 2019

Ahhh...my baby boy!!!

Our Party of Five

Here is a picture of our family. It was taken at Carsons Kindergarten graduation. It is not the best picture of any of us, I try to find a better one!

Madelyn

This is my Maddee!!! This was taken in Mexico at the Mayan Ruins of Tulume. The Ruins overlook the ocean and there is this little nook of a beach. It was amazing to think how it must have looked hundreds of years ago!!!

Watch out Cade!!

Tonight Madelyn started Cubbies (the 4 year old program for Awana at church) and her "boyfriend" Michael went with her. As they walk in the teacher asks if they are brother and sister (they are mistaken for twins often!) ...they say "No" and she asks if they are friends and they say "No"...then Michael says (while holding Madelyn's hand ...ahhhh) and says "No, but we are getting married when we get bigger!" Madelyn chimes in with a goofy grin and says "Yeah"!

..a new baby for us????

Yesterday Carson tells daddy that he has wished up a falling star a hundred billion, million times for a little baby brother.

Less than an hour before Madelyn says to me, "Mommy are you taking care of my baby brother that is in your belly?"

Do they know something that I do not know??

our curriculum choices

I know many homeschool friends who will begin reading...soooooooooooooooo!

Carson/6 years/1st grade
Shurley Grammar
Explode the Code
Saxon Math & Math-u-see
Mystery of History
Notebooking for Science
How Great Thou Art (art)
Handwriting Without Tears

He also takes 4 classes at co-op (co-op is when groups of homeschoolers get
together and the parents pool their talents and teach various classes).
He takes Musical Cities, Math Games, Water, Water Everywhere and World
Continents.
He is also in Boy Scouts and plays/played Soccer, Basketball and Baseball. Oh Awana & choir as well. He now wants to take "Karake" as he calls it.

Madelyn will be (at her pace of course) doing:
Handwriting without Tears
MOH
Saxon k
Her ABC Journal
How to Teach your Child to REad in 100 easy lessons
saxon Phonics

Her co-op classes include Handwriting, art, PE and Circle time and Ballet. She is also in soccer, Awana and childrens choir.

Pretty boring but that is all I've got!!

more of those funny kid moments!

....so we are outside and Carson comes up to daddy and I and says, "Mommy that poor little ant couldn't find anything to fit into his little hole. I helped him, I put a little bity piece of dirt into his hole for him." Of course I am touched by his kindness and compassion for the little ant.....and then giggle to my self as I picture the little ants trapped in their hole because the "giant" blocked off the entrance!!!hehe

Oh and the best one!! I am in Wal-mart the other day with all 3 children, it is late and we are all tired and YES I am "grocery, grocery shopping" coupons and all. We were in Wal-mart for over 3 hours! So we are in the health and beauty section and I am pouring through my coupons for 'ahem' feminine products. I am in deep thought as I try to find the brand, size, shape and serial number of the items on my coupon! I hear Madelyn yell (yes YELL!!) oh look at these big band-aids...I turn to see she is pointing to some pads....(she laughs...LOUDLY!!). I ignore this. Carson (always ready to prove sis wrong) YELLS back ..."no they are not band-aids, Madelyn...they are diapers!!" they both laugh...LOUDLY!!! I respond this time...with " Carson she is right they are band-aids". Carson says "oh".
About 2 seconds go by and he begins to read all the packages one by one..brand name and tag line plus any info on the package. It goes like this.."staayyfreee", "staayfreee", followed by tag line, extra long...Alwaayss...Carefree....etc etc for about 40 packages.
**Oh and of course every man in Wal-mart happened to be within an ear shot of this entire conversation!!!!!!!

Bethany

Say What

Okay we all have the funny kid stories, the things our children say and do every day that tickles our hearts or completely mortifies us. Lets begin with Madelyn...every school year I change our schoolroom around and hang new posters, sort buckets and try to make the room fun and exciting for the new school year. As I am working, Madelyn asks me what I am doing. I tell her that I am organizing, she says "Oh, organizing means putting things where they belong, and making places for things that do not have a place". I was so shocked because unfortunately Madelyn has been dubbed the "blond". Don't get me wrong we have always known she was smart, lets just say uninterested in learning for the most part!!!! I am noticing such a maturity change and confidence boost since she turned four (last month). This is so important to me because I am a huge believer in birth order/personality and since she is the middle child I always worry about her!
I told how how smart she was and asked where did she learn about a big word like that. She reminded me that she learned it from me, that "remember mommy you are my teacher and everything I learn, I learn from you!" Of course as a homeschooling mom....my heart was melting and eyes had tears in it. With all the work we put into everyday it is those little moments that make it all worth it.

Carson gave us a laugh this weekend at the lake. He woke my aunt & uncle up and said "You know that you would get s deeper level of sleep, if you had a sleepnumber
bed!"

Carson was very upset because at Sunday school the other children were making fun of a "fat girl". We discussed it for a long time and talked about all the different shapes and sizes people are. We discussed feeling etc. I was so proud that he was so worried about her. We talked about those in our family who are a bit chunky etc, he then says "But Uncle Bubby is not fat, he just ate too much food!). Very comical in a serious conversation (uncle Bubby is a big 'ole boy!!!!!


...more to come

30 things in 30 days

I know I need to make a list of 30 things to do before I turn 31...but I have more immediate issues to deal with so here is my list of 30 things to do in 30 days!!! (I tend to buck authority!!)

1.) Create Blog (wheeew I can cross of one!!) -done-

2.) Organize school room -Done-

3.) Find a school table

4.) Plan a birthday party for Annastyn.

5.) Find the carpet in my bedroom.

6.) Organize my scrapbook room. (this alone could take 30 days!)

7.) Order the last bit of curriculum for this year.

8.) Create lesson plans for at least 9 weeks.

9.) Finish lesson plans for 3 co-op classes. -done-

10.) Double check plans for Disney.

11.) Pack for Disney

12.) Rub it in Teaques face that we are going to Disney! -done-

13.) Order Disney cake for Annie's b-day while in Disney.

14.) Figure out what type of Disney autograph album I am taking.

15.) Get to the first day of co-op EARLY! -DONE.. WOW!!!-

16.) Figure out the Rebel so I can get good pics of the Disney fireworks and the night parade.

17.) Upload the Chicago pics to develop.

18.) Go to the lake (this one is for hubby!) -done-

19.) Sell lakehouse.

20.) Learn how to post pictures on here...

21.) Scrapbook

22.) .............my brain is dead so this will be continued!

Here Goes.......

This is my first official post ever! First let me explain Carmadann...you take the first three letters of each of my childrens names.........Carson, Madelyn and Annastyn!! Waalaah!!, it's our "family name"!!
I also need to thank Teaque for tempting me with the idea for my own blog!! I guess she thinks I have alot to say and will now not have to be on the phone with her for an eternity!!!!I got the hint!!!