New Kitchen Floor!

The kitchen before the two Brians got to work...

And

(Drum roll, please.)




After!

(The fridge isn't back in place yet.) They did this all by themselves. It is a new kind of tile that is ceramic on top and vinyl on the bottom. It is grouted and everything just like tile and it has the feel of tile with out all the expense and difficulties of installing the tile because they can be cut more easily. This was his thanksgiving project.

I originally wanted a darker color, but was out voted by just about everyone that came into our house and gave us their opinion. So I gave in and decided with this bright floor, I will have to paint the walls a darker color in the kitchen. So I am thinking a brown rust kind of color. There's not much wall really so I don't think it will be too much. Don't know when I will get around to it though. Things are crazy here right now with advent sneaking up on me and everything.

Hello Kitty!

The party was smashing! Thirty-three people, about half of them kids, in our little house was a sight. Here's the rundown. Get ready for a Hello Kitty overload!

The food
Pizza, Hello Kitty popcorn, and chips with dips. I made pink Hello Kitty Punch with cranberry ginger ale and raspberry sherbert. Plus, the cheese balls were a HUGE hit.

The cake
Need I even say it was a Hello Kitty cake with cupcakes to match. The inside was chocolate with butter cream icing and decorated with sparkly gel icing. (The bow is purple, but in the pictures it looks black.)

Some of the cupcakes had Hello Kitty rings in them.

Crafts
I set out Hello Kitty stamps, stickers, handmade stencils, glitter, foam flowers, glue, and scissors. They made Hello Kitty scenes on a white piece of poster board. There were also coloring sheets of Hello Kitty and Kerropi (for the boys.) It was a big hit, surprisingly enough, even with the boys! Sorry. I wasn't as good about taking pictures during the party this time, and I missed craft time.

We had Isaac's train track set up in the corner of this room to entertain the boys when they got tired of coloring and crafting. Worked like a charm! And bonus, it kept Isaac 100% ocupado during the party!

The favors and invitation
The girls got Hello Kitty boxes with Hello Kitty candies, silly band rings, nail polish, and scented erasers. And the boys got Kerropi boxes with silly band rings and candy. The boxes were plain and I decorated them. The invitation is to the left of the boxes. I made them with stamps and scrapbook stuff.

Decorations

The birthday girl and her cake
My precious baby girl isn't so much of a baby any more. She is getting so big and I am just so proud of her.

Singing Happy Birthday to her
This is only part of the group. Most of them are behind me!

Make a wish!

The gifts
The gift opening was videotaped, but not photographed. She got mostly craft stuff, since if you know Hannah, that's a sure winner in her book. Plus, her aunt and uncle gave her a pop-up soccer goal which is super cool. This way we can practice all year long for next season.

Games
They had a cotton ball race where they blow the cotton balls across a finish line. Hannah had this at her Pajama party a few years back and wanted to do it again. It was a lot of fun. Especially for her friend who has a brain tumor and is semi wheel chair bound. He was able to crawl and blow his all the way to the finish line!

Our end game
When everyone left, we all pitched in to clean up and was done in record time. Even Isaac helped, saying, "Mom, aren't you so happy that I am cleaning up?" Genna said, "Mom, I've got to tell you. I really don't want to do this, but I am going to do it anyway because you told me to." Of course, Hannah, the birthday girl, doesn't complain even one iota since she secretly likes to clean and is just getting so responsible. I love my family so very much! We had a great time celebrating Hannah and her six years!

Happy birthday to my big girl!

My big girl is getting even bigger. Hannah is six today. Sniff sniff.
We had quite the eventful day. When she woke up she came down to find her new bike that is actually big enough for her. Now, we just have to get those training wheels off.

After breakfast, we opened presents that have been coming in the mail for a few weeks now. She is talking to Mimi and Poppa Boat while opening her gifts from them.

Then the guys finished tiling the kitchen floor and grouting it. (More pictures to come on that!) The kids played with Hannah's new toys, ate lunch, and had rest time which I think Hannah was even more excited about today since she could play with her new toys alone.
Then since we couldn't go into the kitchen we went out to eat for dinner. I overheard Hannah telling Genna that she was going to get a balloon and cake at the restaurant and so I figured we'd better go to Red Robin since I knew those were a sue thing there.

She is reading her to her daddy while we wait on a table.

She is playing tic tac toe with her godfather.

Isaac is devouring a lemon.

She finally got her ice cream sundae! Happy girl!

And she willingly shared it with her sister and brother.

I love her so much! The big party's tomorrow! Lots to do since our house has been torn up all week! I'll be back with the scoop on the party tomorrow IF I am not too tired after everyone is gone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a lovely relaxing Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's house.

What is my husband thankful for? Belgian beer and roaring fires. :) And, I am sure, the Aggies winning the game!

What are these three thankful for?

Isaac: for chocolate ice cream
Genevieve: for making pies with Mommy
Hannah: for the food we eat everyday

I think it is odd that they all said something to do with food. :)

Isaac loved their new puppy that he could hug!

My husband cutting the fried turkey while Isaac watches...

What am I thankful for? So much! But I'll go with the food and beverage theme and say, "My three little ones enjoying those pies!"

Isaac chose apple pie.

Hannah ate her fluted edged chocolate pecan pie.

And this turkey ate her forked edged chocolate pecan pie.

Thankful, thankful, thankful!

My favorite Thanksgiving activity!

I love to make pie crust for Thanksgiving. It is one of those things that reminds me of my mother. She taught me how to make pie crust at Thanksgiving. The girls needed some help rolling and stuff, but what they were the most proud of was making it look pretty. I guess I failed in that I didn't take a picture of their masterpieces. Hannah mastered the fluted edge and Genna mastered the forked edge. I made chocolate pecan pie with some bourbon in it and a pumpkin pie.

More leaves and cuties

Fun pictures I took after we got home from Sunday Mass. The real fun is at the bottom, so scroll down!

At Mass while kneeling, Isaac whispers to me, "Mom, I'm making a tunnel." He had his elbows resting on the pew in front of us and had prayerful hands which apparently made a tunnel. What a mess!

How we spent last Saturday...

Well, that tree that I was bragging about before is still beautiful, but it is creating a lot of work now too. Saturday, I sneaked off to do my super secret Christmas and birthday shopping ALL DAY. Brian worked outside ALL DAY, and the kids played outside ALL DAY, except nap/rest time. When I got home it was dark at 5pm and the kids were still playing outside. Hannah did more than just play. Daddy said she was a huge help raking the leaves and took these pictures of her in action. This doesn't surprise me one bit since she is such a great helper and is really maturing into a responsible little girl. She happily makes her bed, organizes toys, and loads and unloads the dishwasher anytime I ask and sometimes when I don't. She informed me when I got home that she watched Isaac while Daddy worked and kept him safe. Also doesn't surprise me! She has her moments when she pesters her siblings, but mostly she is a mother hen.

I am getting all kinds of love from this girl lately. She is not usually a touchy huggy child, but lately she has been. I love it! She is growing up. Sniff sniff. One day she may not want to hug me so often, so I'll treasure these moments while I can.

Jellyfish and Jump Ropes

We learned about jellyfish this week. Genna is now very afraid of them since learning that they paralyze their prey with their tentacles. I thought knowledge was supposed to reduce fear, not create it. I tried to explain that regular sized jellyfish they don't paralyze and eat people because we are too big, but then we read that the biggest jellyfish has 200 foot long tentacles. Well, at least we won't be running into them on a regular basis, right?

Here are their handmade jellyfish. We used tissue paper, applesauce cups, glitter, and yarn. I had to help Isaac with most of it because threading it turned out to be a bit of a challenge.


Hannah, my little perfectionist, was upset because I cracked hers a little when nailing a hole and that it, and I quote, "didn't look enough like a real jellyfish." Apparently, it looked too much like a bell.

Then we read jump rope rhymes and practiced jumping rope, but I think we lack the coordination for true jump roping. So we abandoned that and did jumping jacks and follow the leader jumping all over our driveway.

In other school news, Genna is almost half way through her 100 Easy Lessons reading book and just sailing right along. Hannah is really improving on her reading and reads about three beginning readers to me every school day. Hannah is almost finished with her whole year of kindergarten Singapore math book and so I am going to switch curricula with a friend who was doing Saxon math and finished early. That way I can make a final decision about which track to get her started on. She is really doing well with the Singapore, but I keep hearing everyone raving about Saxon, so I just want to see if she is just as capable of doing Saxon math and whether or not I prefer it over Singapore. I am also waiting on a book for next semester to help Hannah with some phonetical problems. It is called The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.

Sorry I have been a little scarce around here lately. Time just got away from me. I've got lots to post, just need the time to do it. We are taking the week off to do kitchen renovations and have Thanksgiving and Hannah's birthday party. We'll be busy as usual, just not with routine stuff.

Isaac's Career Path

Tonight after I finished reading Bambi to Isaac, he says, "Mom, when I grow up I am going to get bigger and bigger and be a stegosaurus with huge horns on my head and big stegosaurus feet. And you can be a stegosaurus mommy when you grow up." Good plan Isaac!

We are still not 100%. Lots of coughing and nose blowing going on around here. Isaac's throat is hurting him now and he has been quite sensitive of late. After reading to the girls, I told him it was his turn to read and go to bed. He burst into tears and ran into his room. (He is usually pretty willing to go read stories and go to bed.) He starts crying that his throat hurts. Genna runs into his room saying, "Isaac buddy, offer it up to Jesus!" She pat him on the back and ran back to bed.

I just really love my children!

I am adding this picture because I know I have been slacking on the pictures lately and many of my friends and family require frequent pictures. :) This is a random one that I took because I have silhouette plans for a special someone's Christmas gift this year.

A Room with a View

While I was sick all week, I was in bed and didn't even notice that our tree finally caught up with the rest of the world and turned. Here's our view from inside looking out...

Here's a view from outside looking back at our house...

A Little Genna Funny

Although not as funny as the previous booger story, it is pretty cute...

Last week before we all got sick, Genna scraped up her knees pretty good after Mass running around outside. I carried her to the car to pacify her. When we got home, just as I turned off the car she says in a voice like honey, "Mom, I dare not walk." Gotta love that girl!

Blog Housekeeping

I have added two pages to my blog. For those of you not familiar with this feature of bogspot, you may want to pay close attention. At the top of this blog, immediately beneath the title picture of my kids on the pew, are three page options. You are now on the "home" page and can click over to view the "Home-school Curriculum" page or the "Grandparent's Corner." The home-school page is to keep a log of all my curriculum as we progress through home-schooling. (Yes, this means I will be home-schooling next year as well.) This page is for those of you who follow this blog for the home-schooling aspect or are interested to see what curriculum I am using each year, grade level, etc. This is still somewhat in progress. I have left out a few things that I need to go look up the books down stairs. Confession...I'm too lazy and sick to walk down there right now! I am currently compiling my first grade list of books to order in the summer. Once I get those organized, I will add them to the page as well.

The "Grandparent's Corner" is for family and friends who need to know what size the kids are currently wearing and/or what their wish lists are for birthdays and Christmas.

Unremarkable

That was our I week...unremarkable. I just couldn't find much for I that interested me. Insects were out because I think we have studied bugs enough already. I probably could have found something on igloos, Indians, or iguanas, but I just didn't feel quite motivated enough for that last week. So we read several books on Ice cream and how it was made and how the cone was invented. And, of course, we ate ice cream. The kids made ice cream collages too.

Hannah's ice cream collage...She's into trying to make her name look fancy, but here she ran out of room.

Genna's ice cream collage...

Genna's kind of melted, I guess. Or maybe she just couldn't cut a circle out. With her you never know if she means to do something or not since she always claims to have done it on purpose.

Since it was a light week, we had a play date on Friday morning with another home-schooled kindergartner. The three girls hit it off. It was a nice break.

This week we ran into a brick wall, it seems. We all got majorly ill, every last one of us. All of the kids have fevers over 104 whenever the Motrin wears off. I have to pull out all the cool washcloths and popcycles to get the temps down. It is no small feat to keep track of four people's pain medication schedules either. I have been sick since Monday night and I drug the kids to the doctor on Wednesday. The whole thing has been a nightmare and I am so ready to be feeling better and get my house cleaned up. Needless to say, J week has been postponed until we are all well again.

Warning! Not for the faint of heart!

So if boogers gross you out then this is not the post for you. Skip down to the next post to enjoy my sweet boy's cute prayer. Consider yourself warned. Proceed at your own risk.


So, to give background, my Genevieve is a habitual booger eater. This morning in Mass I glance at the girls only to see Hannah's face all twisted up staring at Genna's arm. I look more closely at Genna's arm and see her picking off pieces of a bloody booger and eating it off her sleeve. (Oh, I am even getting disgusted writing about this! And it gets worse. Just wait.) Obviously, I told her to stop. She says, "It's not mine. Hannah wiped her booger on me, Mom!" Oh, gross! I cleaned her sleeve up and told them (so that the whole church did not figure out what was going on in the front pew) that we would talk about this in the car.

Fast forward to the car conversation. I said, "Genna, you have got to stop eating boogers, especially other people's! It is so gross! Do you know what boogers are? They are dirt and germs that get caught in your nose hairs and mix with snot." Genna replies, "Oh, I didn't know that, Mom. Nobody ever told me." I then asked, "Well, what did you think they were?" And she seriously said, "I just thought they were tasty treats that came from my nose and that only I liked." Seriously! She has since decided that she will no longer partake of boogers. Let's hope it sticks! Ha ha.

By the way, Hannah claims it was not her booger. Genna still claims that it was, so it shall remain a mystery. Probably forever.

Isaac's Our Father

Isaac: Our Fader, Who art in heaven,
Hawowed be Dy Name.
Dy Kingdom come.
Dy Will be done. What's done, Mom?

Me: Done means finished. (continue the prayer)

Isaac: on earf as it is in Heaben. Give us dis day. What's day, Mom?

Me: All the time we are awake. (continue the prayer)

Isaac: our daily bwead. What's bwead, Mom?

Me: (sigh) Isaac, you know what bread is. We eat it. (continue the prayer)

Isaac: And forgive us our tespasses. What's tesspasses, Mom?

Me: Sin, Isaac (continue the prayer)

Isaac: as we forgive dose who tespass against us.
And lead us not. What is not, Mom?

Me: (Ignore and continue on with prayer)

Isaac: into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. What's evil, Mom?

Me: Evil is the devil. Amen.

Isaac: Ahhhmen.

That was one exhausting prayer! I know my answers weren't the best, but I think he was just doing it to distract us from our prayer since he was asking what bread is. It was amusing to say the least.

So long soccer. Until next year.

Hannah had her last soccer game of the year today and got her trophy. She has improved a lot this season and has really started enjoying it too. So that makes me one happy mom! She was so excited after her practice this week because she scored a couple of times and stole the ball from someone. She did pretty well today too. They put her in as goalie the last quarter, and Brian and I both turned to each other and said, "Oh, no" because she is not one to sacrifice her body to stop the ball. She stopped the first ball, but then one got by her when she tried to go and get it and then chickened out when the other team's player ran at her and the ball. I told her later that if she is going to commit by leaving the goal to get the ball, she better throw herself on top of that ball come what may. Brian stood behind the goal and helped coach her since this was the first time she ever played goalie. She was super hyper after the game and so pumped about her trophy.

Next up, my personal favorite, basketball! I volunteered to coach. I have until January to get her ready for the season.