Car Conversations

Pierce asked, "Mom, do police even come get kids?" I answered, "If kids disobey they law, they have to be punished and that's the police's job." Pierce needed further clarification of this, "But if kids don't obey the law do they go to jail even if they're just kids?" I answered, "If kids are old enough to make bad choices (and gave several examples like stealing and breaking and entering) then they are old enough to pay the consequences." I told the kids what happens to most kids who disobey the law and said that's why it's so important that we choose wise friends and make wise decisions, etc. After a little thought Pierce said, "Well, I think my wise choice will be that I'll never run out in the street." Okay, good choice for a four-year-old. Then Alayna said, "I have a choice." Oh boy, what's your choice? "I will choose to eat cake." Really?? "Cake is yummy so that's a good choice." Makes perfect sense.

Whimsical Wednesday

It's been a lovely day of school, library, and learning games. I love Wednesdays at home with no where to go and everything to do.

The boys color while they wait for their pancakes.

Alayna and her new "projeck." Yes, she slept with a skirt over her jammies.

Oh the crazy adventure of bath time!

"AH - THIS IS SO FUN!!!" I'm sure that's what she saying :) She's never still during bath time. I have to wrangle her to get her washed and she screams and laughs the whole time.

Four cuties

My little tutu princesses :)

JUMP!!

Oh look! It's a book review! Our books and movies go back to library tomorrow. We got this book last week and LOVE IT!!!

All children and mommies will find this book entertaining and thought provoking. After all, if you were a frog in a bog and saw a bug on a jug, what would you do?

I'm really a willy-nilly book chooser at the library. Rarely do I order online and plan ahead so that goes with whatever we're studying. I did this week though, sort-of. Hudson requested books on hurricanes, starfish, crabs, and beetles. Pierce requested books on sharks, alligators, dogs and bugs. Alayna requested books about Dora, Cinderella, Beauty and Beast and elephants. I'll let you know if I find a good one out of the bunch.

Lots to do this fine afternoon. I'm making a menu for my personal training clients (I'm way behind this week), researching library books of course, preparing a fabulous meal of I don't know what yet, and training a couple more clients tonight. Think I help myself to some afternoon coffee on this terrific Tuesday. I'll get some pictures up sometime this week too.

Snow and School and a magnificent makeover

Don't you just love my snowy tree background??

Well, we're ready for a new week and here's a re-cap of the week that was...

This happy little cutie loves to play in our laundry/treadmill/girls play room. Earlier she climbed from the treadmill into that laundry basket and was standing on top of the laundry hiking her leg to get up on the tall chair behind the basket! Help!

It SNOWED. Oh the excitement of snow ice cream and snow men and snow angles and snow castles!

Hudson said, "This is just like the beach, only freezing!" And no ocean, and no, this is nothing like the beach. I just smile.

Alayna is all purple and pink and polkadots and Pierces old navy blue boots. Oh well. The snow princess loved the snow for the first time in her 2 1/2 years. "Oh, it's so wintery and beautiful," she said in her most high-pitched princess voice.

We still do school on snow days. Hudson has been writing a short paragraph about whatever story we read for reading. He was particularly proud of this paragraph. His teacher gave him and A. :)

I've been wanting to recover my dining room chairs almost since I bought them just before we got married. They're white, or I should say they were white. My dear sister, Amanda, got me new foam and fabric for Christmas and came over last week to show me how to recover these lovely chairs.

BEFORE ...

AFTER

I'm so proud of what a good job we did. Now I need to repaint the kitchen and dining room, sand down the kitchen cabinets and repaint them. And by the time that's done I'll be ready to move on to the rest of the house. Who knew one simple little project could snowball into an extreme home-makeover?! :)

To be terrific you gotta be specific

One of my 2011 goals is to keep up better with this blog. I have lots of blogger friends who do such a fantastic job posting links and pictures and updates and fun stories or recipes or whatever. I'm usually doing good to put a few pictures up for my far-away family members. This year is busier with more kids in school and a baby underfoot, however, I have high hopes of doing a little bit better. I have a friend who always posts Thankful Thursdays. She has eight children - if she can do it, I should be able to do it. Well, hey, there's a great idea! Maybe I should just have a day of the week that I ALWAYS post. Not that I wouldn't post something on other days too, if time allowed, but I would for sure plan that at least one post would go up on that specific day of the week. I evaluated what this blog is really about - my beautiful, wonderful children and our endeavors to raise them and keep the family and friends updated on what's going on with us - then I began to mull over appropriate titles for a weekly post. I was going for something original, but my thought process was interrupted when emergency mommy situations struck all four children at the same time requiring super glue, wipies, more wipies, some deep breathing and nose blowing.

But that was Monday, and this is Tuesday. Tuesday's are terrific. On Monday we do double schoolwork, I try to catch up on all necessary housework and bake a few batches of muffins or cookies or whatever for the rest of the week. I teach pilates on Monday night (that really is the best way to end a Monday). I come home and put the kids to bed and read for a little while until I can't possibly keep my eyes open another second. On Tuesdays, terrific Tuesday!!! I hustle the kids off for their day out and my day with just Adelle. I usually get a lot done and have a great nap before the kids come home in the afternoon. Seems like the best day to blog. All that to say, you may now look forward to Terrific Tuesday posts with links and pictures and recipes and funny stories. Doesn't that sound terrific?! :) And now for some pictures ...

The ninja-knight and the princess-cowgirl.

Alayna working with pattern blocks.

My girls love playing together.

Mommy and the princess.

Pierce counting and lining up the counting bears in A-B pattern formation.

Cheese stick mustache - lovely.

Bedtime stories and Tutus

My fortune cookie this afternoon said I was good with words and someday I should write a book. I'm really good at making up stories to tell the kids. One day maybe I'll write those down. The boys like "The Three Brothers." For a while these brothers went on real adventures of my childhood: camping, skiing, hiking, exploring Australia's Great Barrier Reef and riding motorcycles down the Great Ocean Road or taking a 4WD through a rain forest with a river full of crocs. True stories. Then they built a time machine and a rocket and the stories got more inventive. My imagination took another turn after watching Modern Family and croctopus found it's way into our story - a creature with the jaws of a crocodile and the tentacles of an octopus. Yes, my cool points went way up with that story.

In other news I bought the girls tutu skirts and they are SO CUTE. The practical side of me had been holding off from this unnecessary purchase. I'm not a frivolous shopper. My kids have plenty of clothes right now. Who really needs a tutu anyway? Well, I don't know. But I do know that they are just darling and I have no regrets from that purchase. I'll get a picture of them one of these days.

The Icing on the Cake

Love that little ruffle-bottom ;)

Adelle - 8 months

I poured myself yet another cup of coffee. Add a little cream. Stir it around. Walk back to the school table. "Spell 'sentence'." Hudson continued his spelling test. "Pierce, build an A-B pattern. Alayna, color all the triangles purple. Spell 'cent'." And so the morning continues while Adelle finishes off the cornbread crumbs under the table then heads back into Alayna's little playroom (also the treadmill room). In the picture above she was on top of the box clapping her hands when I walked in (I picked her up, ran to grab the camera and put her back). She's a climber. I have to keep the bathroom doors closed now because she likes to climb in the bathtub. She's only done it once and I was right there watching her, but now I know she can. I'm amazed at her dexterity and skill. None of the other three were as quick to learn to do these things as she has been. I'm thinking about tying some jingle bells on her ankles just so I can keep track of her. She's also a big fan of toilet paper. Aren't we all though?!

It's been a little crazy trying to keep up with everything around here. I started Pierce on reading lessons every day. He loves anything one-on-one and is doing great. He's doing a lot more math stuff this semester too - very hands on stuff like building color patterns with legos, building pictures with different shapes and working story problems with counting bears. Hudson is new territory for me, but Pierce is round 2 and I'm enjoying it even more!

Hudson is working through a lot of 1st and 2nd grade level stuff. I'm so glad to be homeschooling for that very reason. There are some things he excels in and is ready for more of a challenge. And there are other subjects he needs to spend a little more time on. It's great to be able to be flexible.

Alayna does a little preschool workbook every day that she loves. She thinks she's bigger than she is. Today she was running "the circle" around the house and as she came through the kitchen she said, "This is how fast I ran when I was a teenager." Mmmhmm.

It's January so, of course, the personal training has picked up quite a bit. I'm working a couple of hours every day training and at the Y. Between that and school and keeping up with my house and feeding everyone over here, I have very little extra time. I'm enjoying every minute though! For now, I'm going to take advantage of a quiet afternoon and rest with Alayna. Nothing sweeter than nap time on a busy day at the end of a busy week.