Read Week (Day 2)

The theme for Day 2 of our Read Across America Week was "My Favorite". The kids are a part of "Book It" program that Pizza Hut puts out. The older kids are the only ones of age to participate right now. Each month they receive a reward for meeting a reading goal for the month. Their reward is a personal pan pizza! We all love Pizza Hut and this is usually our treat as a family. Yesterday we did lunch at Pizza Hut. It was very declicious!
Then after our lunch we headed to the library. My kids get so excited about going to the library. The little boys love to play on the computers while the big kids look for books. Going to the library is one of our favorites!

The boys playing on the computer together....well Timothy is watching Elijah.

Isaac and Sarah stop for a picture while looking for books.

Timothy playing the computer on his own.

Our only trouble was when it was time to leave Elijah did not want to quit playing on the computer. He has recntly been into playing games on the computer.

Sarah loves checking out books. She even picked one up for the little boys yesterday, such a thoughtful sister.

Isaac knew what he wanted before we got there....a book about Roy Rogers. He has always been into cowboys, even the old black and white movies.

Bryan took his lunch and went with us to Pizza Hut and the library! What a treat!! We LOVE it when Daddy gets to tag along with us. He was a huge help with Joanna at the library, I actually got to look at and check out books for the little ones.

Some of the books we read today were: Authur's Reading Race, Full Strength (A Tonka Truck reader), If you Take a Mouse To School, and Old McDonald Had a Farm. Isaac and Sarah finished reading their books yesterday (the books they got Monday in the mail). We are off to a very fun week. Can't wait to post about today's reading!

Read Week (Day 1)

Yesterday started our Read Across America Week. Actually Friday is Read Across America Day, Dr. Seuss' birthday but we decided to make a week out of it. Our day consisted of some Language and Math for the two older kids, our Bible time and alot of reading time. I wanted a theme for each day so we called Day 1 "Dog Day". Which meant that a big part of our reading would be books about dogs and then we ate hot dogs for lunch. :) We read the story of Zacheus during Bible time and I read some of George Muller to the older kids. The books we read aloud were Sleepy Dog, Go-Dog-Go, The Digging-est Dog, Arthur's New puppy and Amelia Bedilia Goes Camping. Isaac and Sarah also read a book aloud to us and Elijah read one of his K4 readers to us titled Tip. Isaac and Sarah had times through out the day that they could read books of their choice. They have checked out some books at our church library and they were reading them. For Valentine's Day the kids got a little money so Isaac and Sarah used theirs to buy a book. So they have being waiting for their books to come in and wouldn't you know it, they came in yesterday! Both kids were so excited.
Sarah had been waiting all day for the mail to arrive. While we were playing outside she even wrote in the road with sidewalk chalk, "Mail Girl- Don't be late. Today is Read Across America week." So when the mail finally arrived at 3:30ish her and Isaac ran to check the mail.

This is their packages! I have been ordering some of their books from http://www.abebooks.com/ . Please be careful when you go on their website because they have ALL kinds of books. We just type in what we are looking for and I look them up with the kids. They do have some really great prices and some of their books are free shipping. I also love to shop at Goodwill for books.

Isaac with his book. When we went to bed last night he was already on Chapter 7.

Sarah with her book. She was so excited because she got her book and her American Girl magazine. She really likes American Girl but I just can't see paying that much for a doll (she doesn't have one but she likes to look). I included a picture of her magazine too (below).

We topped the night off with homemade cookies! These are so good. Devil Food cookies with mini m&m's and chopped pecans (recipe found under the recipes). So delicious!

This little guy is way better! He has been fever free for almost 24 hours!!

Timothy has played so much yesterday. All of us had a really great day! Bryan had to stay late at church last night so it was just me and the kiddos all day, but so much fun and so many memories! I love that God has called me to be at home with my kids. I wouldn't miss days like this for anything in the world! I love reading to the kids and my prayer is that it will make a lasting impact on them!

Help! I am stuck!

This boy cracks me up!! Yesterday morning I heard him real calmly call for me. When I looked this is what I found. He had gotten stuck in the railing of the stairs and couldn't get out. Once I figured out what was going on I realized that he had went through with his body and was trying to get his head through.

I told him I would help him but I wanted to take his picture. He was not upset or panicking. If it had been Elijah I believe he would have ripped the rails off! Timothy is our tiny child....can you tell? I did get him out and all is well. Just had to share a funny moment at our house. Never a dull moment around here!

Spring Consignment Bargins

This is a book I bought for the kids at a consignment sale I went to yesterday. The older children have been learning about Aferican Americans in February and last week we learned about Presidents Day. They have blogged their learning (will post the President Day soon) at http://www.campfamilykids.blogspot.com/ and this next week we will celebrate Read Across America. Each day we will do ALOT of reading (which my kids are supper excited about). We will try and blog about books we read and other fun things we do next week! I am excited too!! I bought these plates for the little boys at the consignment sale. They loved them! Sarah had a birthday party to go to yesterday. I took her and while she partied I went to this consignment sale and thought I would share my purchases. Thought this was a great way for my mom to see what I got too. :) My Sarah is growing so fast! She was the only one I purchased clothes for yesterday. This next week there is another sale and Friday and Saturday they both have 50% off days. If I am able I would love to go and see if I can find any more bargins. Yesterday I found a really cute dress but didn't want to pay what it was priced but would be tickled if I could get it half off!!

Another sick child :(

This boy is feeling much better! Not sure that he is 100% better. He has not run a fever at all today and has been acting like his ole self! So happy to have him feeling better and on the way to complete recovery! That was a rough one, he had a fever for almost 10 days....WOW!

Now this little guy is got a fever and not feeling well at all! When Elijah lays around and is all calm you know something is not right. Thursday night he began to say he didn't feel good and then when he woke up Friday morning he was crying, saying his throat hurt. He started to run a fever and so we took him to the dr. Strep test was negative but definately something is going on so he got some medicine. Really think he has whatever it was that Timothy had.

The other day the weather was beautiful and so the kids got to go out for a while. They wanted to do sidewalk chalk, I love it! Elijah drew our house and church (see picture of him above). This is a picture of one of his drawings. They actually are using regular chalk so I went today and bought them a box of sidewalk chalk. Can't wait to all are feeling better and we can go out and draw more pictures!!

Joanna was assisting Sarah in her drawing! At first Joanna wanted to eat the chalk but with big sisters help that didn't happen. Sarah is such a great sister! She does so well with the little kids!

This is Sarah's drawing. She is an artist through and through!

The big boys played a little one on one! Bryan has moved our basketball goal to the cul-de-sac and it has been a great place for them to play. This day it was windy and the goal had gotten blown over, so they had to set it back up. I love it when the weather is nice and we can get some fresh air!

One better and another one sick

Joanna is so much better today! I love when I go to get her out of her baby bed in the mornings and she is smiling at me! Still has a little stuffy nose but oh so much better!! Now Timothy is my sick one. He actually started running a fever last Wednesday night, but it broke during the night and on Thursday morning he was fine. Friday he was not feeling so good and then by Saturday morning he was running fever and would be ok as long as there was no fever (his same silly self). On Sunday night his fever got up to 103.9 and on Monday morning I took him in and we thought it was viral. Then Monday night his fever was up again and he has really gotten sicker ever since. Yesterday Bryan took him to the Dr. (I actually had an appointment myself so we had to divide and conquer) and strep test was negative but his white blood cell count was up, so something is going on. They gave him a shot and some medicine. His fever last night and this morning was still 103.5. Praying real hard that he is better in the morning!

I will have to admit it is soooo hard to keep the little ones apart. Timothy and Joanna don't understand about staying away from the other children and not spreading germs. When Timothy is not running a fever he "feels" like he is fine and he wants to play and not miss a beat. I am trying real hard to love on Timothy and Joanna with out spreading sickness. It is hard but being a mommy I just can't say no when they look at you with those sad eyes and say "Mommy, hold me." I am praying that next week we all be back to feeling great!

So thankful!

This past weekend Bryan was gone on a Youth Trip so my parents and Bryan's mom loaded up and came for a visit. It was perfect timing and I am so thankful they came. They arrived on Friday night and then Bryan left first thing on Saturday morning. I had taken Joanna on Friday evening for a second shot to try and clear up this bad ear infection, etc. and I knew that I would have to take her back Saturday morning for a third and final shot. Having extra hands there on Saturday morning was really nice. We all got ready Saturday morning and headed to Murfreesboro. After Joanna's shot, which she was NOT crazy about (who would be?), we picked up a few things at Wal-Mart and then we went to eat at Red Robin. The food was very delicious. None of us had ever eaten there before and we would definately be going back! Joanna was so pitiful. She was in so much pain that she would just scream and not know what she wanted. Before we left on Saturday morning we noticed that Timothy was running a fever and after lunch Sarah was not feeling well. Argh!! What was going on! Gigi bought the kids a movie so we watched that on Saturday night. Since we had sick ones we didn't get to make it to church Sunday. We instead took care of sick little ones and just enjoyed our time together. My parents and Joan (Bryan's mom) were the BIGGEST help! I am so thankful that they came and were here to help me out. They left after lunch on Sunday and Sarah was much better when we got up Sunday morning. Timothy has still run a fever and it has even gotten up to 103.9! Took him to see Dr yesterday and it looks like its viral. So we are hanging in there and praying that Joanna gets 100% better, Timothy gets 100% better and the rest of the crew stays well. Bryan arrived safely back home last night and he is not feeling well himself. I thought I would include a few pictures of our weekend.

This is a picture of my Dad, Isaac and Elijah in the "woods" behind our house.

Gigi loving on Timothy. She was playing cards with Sarah and Timothy crawled up in her lap.

Timothy is a "read to me" boy! My mom and Gigi love reading to their grandkids.

All the boys love my dad! The little boys wanted my dad to watch a movie with them.

Gigi was a big blessing! She helped do whatever needed to be done. She unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, prepared meals, held babies, she even bought the kids cute t-shirts... you name it, she did it with lots of LOVE! Thanks a bunch Gigi!!!!!

Joanna struggles to sleep with her nose so stuffy. My mom rocked her for one nap so she might could sleep a little better. My mom was an awesome help, she helped give baths, clean the kitchen, fold clothes, etc....you name it, she did it or has done it for me countless times! Thank you very much Mom!!

Everyone of my kids are crazy about their grandparents. My dad is so great about just being an extra hand and he does it so well! When we were in Wal-Mart on Saturday he volunteered to sit up front and hold Joanna while we grabbed a few things. She fell asleep on him and got to take a little nap. My dad is good about grandkids sleeping on him! :) Thank you so much Dad for your willing heart!!!!

Here is a picture of everyone. Joanna is about had enough and so ready to feel better!

I am so thankful that I have family who loves us and is willing to come and be with us! I know with God's help I would have made it through the weekend without Bryan but when God sent Joan and my parents to help it made it so much easier!! SOOOOO VERY THANKFUL!

Joanna update!

Our girl is not any better and may be a little worse. I ended having to take her to the Dr late yesterday afternoon. She can not breathe, has fever, doesn't want to eat and is very clingy! He checked her out and confirmed that her ear is very infected, she has upper respitory yuck and a bit of bronchitis. :( He gave her a shot last night and said she should have been better this morning but if she wasn't we would have to do two more shots. When she woke up this morning she wasn't better. So I took her back in to the Dr this evening and she got her second shot. We will go back in the morning for shot #3 and then that should be the end! I am really praying that when I go into her room to get her in the morning that she is smiling and happy. Please pray with me for my little baby and pray that no one else gets this mess! As for me, my eye looks lots better and feels much better.

Still not feeling well and our Valentine Pie

Our little Joanna is still not feeling good. Praying tomorrow she will start to feel better. She has been very clingy, no appetite, not wanting to take her meds (it has been so hard to get them in her), still running fever. I took this picture of her and Timothy after the tylenol kicked in and she was feeling a little bit good. Since tomorrow is day 2 for both of us I am looking for us to feel some better. Also praying that the rest of the crew don't get sick! It is so hard to take care of sick kids when you aren't feeling well yourself. I thought this was a real sweet picture of these two. They love each other so much and that makes me a very happy mom. :)

I forgot to include our Valentine Pie in my post yesterday. I had wanted to make red jello for Valentine's day but I remembered this delicious pie that my cousin had made. I decided that I would make this and it was pink so that was perfect for Valentine's Day. So easy and so good!! Thanks Dodey for the recipe! :)

Easy Pie

Strawberry jello (not made)

cool whip (the small container)

Strawberry yogart

1 graham cracker crust pie shell

Mix the jello and yogart together well. Then fold in the cool whip. When mixed together well pour in pie crust and refrigerate til ready to eat. It is really delicious. You can use any flavor. Just be sure to use the same flavor of jello and yogart. Also you could top with frest fruit.

Valentine's Day 2012

We had our Valentine Party today and had so much fun! Our first treat was that Bryan took off today!!! He has a REAL busy week and weekend so he took today to spend with us and it was PERFECT! I came up with some games for the kids and other things for us to do today. I wanted to post about our day and share the things we did. Get ready though there are a TON of pictures!! How Many M&M's? With Daddy's help Timothy got the closest! :)
I made these to go in the kids Valentine's bags. I thought it was sweet. (Got the idea from my dear cousin Dodey) Timothy decorating his V-Day bag!
Elijah making his bag. He put smiley faces on his bag. Really impressed at how well he drew those smiley faces!
Joanna trying to color on her bag. She is a sick little girl. She started running a fever and I took her to the Dr. this afternoon. She has a severe ear infection!! She doesn't feel good! :(
This was just what Sarah could do every day! She had so much fun decorating her bag! She also helped the little boys with their bags. Such a good sister. :)
Isaac very serious about his bag. He did a great job and got the job done.

After the kid's bags were ready we had our Bible time. We read and talked about 1Corinthians 13 and John 3:16. How God's love is true love! We also read Matthew 22:37-39 and sang a song together "Love the Lord Your God". Next the kids acted out the Good Samaritan story. We finished our Bible time with prayer.
The kids watched this movie. It is a very cute short movie. I got this game together for the kids to play. They had to match the "couples". It was real cute. When Sarah saw her name (that is suppose to go with Abraham) she said that Daddy (which is suppose to go with Mommy) was the match to her name. :)
I had seen this idea and wanted to do it, but thought it might take more time and items than I had. Then I saw my cousin had done one and that encouraged me to just do it. I printed out on a pick sheet of paper "I love you because..." and then framed it in a real nice frame that I already had but was not using. Then with a dry erase marker you can leave a message on the glass. I LOVED how it turned out! This was my gift to Bryan. All day I have left Bryan different reasons why I love him! The kids have enjoyed it too. They have even been writing on it. So fun!!!! This is the mini rose bush that Bryan picked out for Sarah. She LOVED it! He also picked out favorites for the other kids. Isaac got Jalapenjo cheetos, Elijah- chocolate milk (a whole gallon) and little debbies for Timothy and Joanna. So sweet of him to do this for the kids, special! Then we let the kids open their valentine's bags. Each bag contained cards from each sibling, a card from Gigi, candy from dad and mom and the boys got new bicycle helmets while the big kids got movies. Paw and Maw also sent us a card that we opened!

Timothy and Elijah were so excited about their helmets!! Can't wait to ride those bikes now!

I made this and hung it up for the Isaac and Sarah to make words from these letters. After lunch Bryan joined in and came up with some words too. The three of them had a good time challenging each other with who could come up with the most words!

The words they came up with!

Bryan was so good to me today! Since he was off he wanted to make lunch and supper for me. He knows that I struggle sometimes coming up with meals and him doing this would bless me. He made me roast beef and dip sandwiches for lunch (yummy good!!) and then for supper he made stir fry and apple cobbler for dessert! He and the kids also gave me the sweetest cards. Just spending the day together as family was the best!!

The apple cobbler!

After lunch I realized that my eye was looking a little red. So when I took Joanna I got the Dr to look at my eye, I have pink eye. It doesn't feel good at all! So Joanna and I are not feeling 100% but thanking God for His love and the love of family!!