While discussing deciduous trees with the kids, they were answering some questions. Evelyn was super excited to answer something so I thought I would help her out a bit.
"Evelyn, the leaves FALL off of trees in which season? Winter, Spring, Summer or FALL???" Quite certain she had the correct answer she quickly stated, "Spring." We all burst out laughing and she had no clue why! LOL
Have a blessed day!
~Tammy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Kids~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Showing posts with label stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stories. Show all posts
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Gearing up for some indoor shop class
It's been a busy couple of months. We moved amidst a huge amount of snow, thanks to some very dedicated friends. :) This old house we are temporarily living in is quite drafty and with record lows we have been wearing a LOT of layers.
We got our new school room up and running (Such a big room. I am loving the large, albeit drafty, windows.) and then Todd brought in something I never expected. A lathe! This is a current picture of our school table:
Why a lathe? Well, the kids are participating in their annual pinewood derby race for Awana and thought it would be fun to make the cars into shapes. My husband rocks!
Each of the kids chose a theme (okay Sadie didn't really choose hers.) and Todd helped them pencil the shape onto the wooden block. Then they each got to be helper while he worked on their car. ie., They ran the shop vac. ;-)
Here's a pic of the cars so far. Left to right we have:
They will get to sand on them and paint them up at Awana. I'll post finished pictures. Evelyn was so excited when I told her we had a googly eye that would be perfect for her one-eyed minion! Sadie has been carrying her bottle around all over the house. Avrie has already painted a bit on her boat and Ellie and Silas are ready to begin painting next Awana. I can't wait to see what each of them do to create their vision!
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
We got our new school room up and running (Such a big room. I am loving the large, albeit drafty, windows.) and then Todd brought in something I never expected. A lathe! This is a current picture of our school table:
Why a lathe? Well, the kids are participating in their annual pinewood derby race for Awana and thought it would be fun to make the cars into shapes. My husband rocks!
Each of the kids chose a theme (okay Sadie didn't really choose hers.) and Todd helped them pencil the shape onto the wooden block. Then they each got to be helper while he worked on their car. ie., They ran the shop vac. ;-)
Here's a pic of the cars so far. Left to right we have:
Ellie: Hello Kitty
Silas: Race car
Avrie: Boat
Evelyn: Minion
Sadie: Baby bottle
They will get to sand on them and paint them up at Awana. I'll post finished pictures. Evelyn was so excited when I told her we had a googly eye that would be perfect for her one-eyed minion! Sadie has been carrying her bottle around all over the house. Avrie has already painted a bit on her boat and Ellie and Silas are ready to begin painting next Awana. I can't wait to see what each of them do to create their vision!
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Friday, March 1, 2013
Operator error
Sadie is saying lots of new phrases here lately. The other day she was coloring. She scribbled with a green crayon, then a blue, then a red....smiling and so pleased with herself. :) Then she scribbled with a white crayon. Of course it didn't show up on the white paper. She then turned to me with a very serious face and said, "It's not working." :)
Today she announced that she had to go to the bathroom and walked out of the room. This is a new thing that she has not done before. By the time I got to her she had stripped to nothing. I took her in and had her sit on her brand new potty seat....
Me: Sadie? Did you go potty?
Sadie: (In her sweet little 2yo sing-songy voice.) Nooooo. It's not working.
Me: *giggle* Well you have to make it work. (I made a little ppssssssss sound)
Sadie: Ooooohhh! Okay. (With a great big smile.) pppsssssssssss
As if making that sound would make her pee! Fun times!
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Today she announced that she had to go to the bathroom and walked out of the room. This is a new thing that she has not done before. By the time I got to her she had stripped to nothing. I took her in and had her sit on her brand new potty seat....
Me: Sadie? Did you go potty?
Sadie: (In her sweet little 2yo sing-songy voice.) Nooooo. It's not working.
Me: *giggle* Well you have to make it work. (I made a little ppssssssss sound)
Sadie: Ooooohhh! Okay. (With a great big smile.) pppsssssssssss
As if making that sound would make her pee! Fun times!
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Crazy things we never thought we would hear...
The kids were all ready for bed and we were nudging them in that direction. We heard a very quiet 4 year old voice coming from the other room...
Evelyn: Ummmm I have pee running down my back.
Todd: How is pee running down your back?
Evelyn: Well, I peed in my goodnite......and I was upside down.
Really. She really did say that. I just tried my best not to laugh!
So Todd helped her clean up while explaining to her (again) that she can't pee in her goodnite on purpose. It's for accidents and is especially not for peeing upside down.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Evelyn: Ummmm I have pee running down my back.
Todd: How is pee running down your back?
Evelyn: Well, I peed in my goodnite......and I was upside down.
Really. She really did say that. I just tried my best not to laugh!
So Todd helped her clean up while explaining to her (again) that she can't pee in her goodnite on purpose. It's for accidents and is especially not for peeing upside down.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Hey Good Lookin' Watcha Got Cookin'?
I am not an animal type of person. They are cute and all but I'm not really into being drooled on, climbed on, covered in who-knows-what, smelling who-knows-what. I've got kids to worry about. Come to think of it, I get enough drool, climbing and smells from the kids. I don't need a pet. Of course the kids would love to have one. So we got fish! :)
We have had them a few months and the kids have enjoyed them quite a bit. They are often found peeking into the tank to see what their fish is doing. (They each got two.) I honestly don't know how they know which fish are theirs, but they do. Recently, we have had a few deaths. After testing the water and getting a new pump we had yet a third fish die. We took him in and the nice man said that we had a bully in our tank! One of the other fish was attacking them and that is why they had died. He described how to tell which fish is your bully and the kids knew immediately which one it was. I was fairly impressed with their knowledge of the scaly little friends.
So we went home and Todd took the accused out of the tank and put him in isolation. We were going to keep him out for a day and see if the mood got better in the neighborhood. Now as much as they are enjoying the fish the kids really want a dog. They have been told that if they can show responsibility with their current pets then maybe we can work up to a dog. Ellie was concerned about the bully fish staying warm all through the night since there was no heater in his small container so she took the initiative to check his water one last time before going to bed.
She checked the temperature and added some water. The fish jumped out! She grabbed him and put him back in.
Ellie: Mom, something's wrong with Finn McFishle.
Me: What's he doing?
Ellie: He jumped out of the water and when I put him back in he started acting funny. He looks like he is choking.
Me: Was the water hot?
Ellie: (Confidently) Yes. It's supposed to be above 80*. (looks at thermometer) It's between and 80* and 90* now.
Me: Todd!
Todd: Ellie the temp is supposed to be at or below 80*. (looks at thermometer which is steadily rising as we speak) It's at 100* right now. I think you cooked the fish.
Poor Ellie burst into tears. She had cooked Finn McFishle. She was devastated.
After she calmed down we talked about listening skills and checking with mom or dad before doing anything out of the ordinary for a pet. Ellie said she was thankful that we didn't get mad at her. It was at this time I told her that I had done the exact same thing to a goldfish I won at the carnival.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
We have had them a few months and the kids have enjoyed them quite a bit. They are often found peeking into the tank to see what their fish is doing. (They each got two.) I honestly don't know how they know which fish are theirs, but they do. Recently, we have had a few deaths. After testing the water and getting a new pump we had yet a third fish die. We took him in and the nice man said that we had a bully in our tank! One of the other fish was attacking them and that is why they had died. He described how to tell which fish is your bully and the kids knew immediately which one it was. I was fairly impressed with their knowledge of the scaly little friends.
So we went home and Todd took the accused out of the tank and put him in isolation. We were going to keep him out for a day and see if the mood got better in the neighborhood. Now as much as they are enjoying the fish the kids really want a dog. They have been told that if they can show responsibility with their current pets then maybe we can work up to a dog. Ellie was concerned about the bully fish staying warm all through the night since there was no heater in his small container so she took the initiative to check his water one last time before going to bed.
She checked the temperature and added some water. The fish jumped out! She grabbed him and put him back in.
Ellie: Mom, something's wrong with Finn McFishle.
Me: What's he doing?
Ellie: He jumped out of the water and when I put him back in he started acting funny. He looks like he is choking.
Me: Was the water hot?
Ellie: (Confidently) Yes. It's supposed to be above 80*. (looks at thermometer) It's between and 80* and 90* now.
Me: Todd!
Todd: Ellie the temp is supposed to be at or below 80*. (looks at thermometer which is steadily rising as we speak) It's at 100* right now. I think you cooked the fish.
Poor Ellie burst into tears. She had cooked Finn McFishle. She was devastated.
After she calmed down we talked about listening skills and checking with mom or dad before doing anything out of the ordinary for a pet. Ellie said she was thankful that we didn't get mad at her. It was at this time I told her that I had done the exact same thing to a goldfish I won at the carnival.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
The Butcher, The Baker and The Pancake Maker
Wow we have been busy! I have lots of posts in my head but none on here. woops! I figured I had better get at least one done before the end of June. LOL
We had VBS last week. The kids were super excited because we haven't participated in VBS for the last couple of years. We were getting ready for the second day. When Avrie learned that we were going back for a second day we had the following conversation:
Avrie: I hope when we go to VBS tonight that I don't have to sit by the pancake maker again.
*At this point I am trying to figure out who in the world sat by her that talked to her about pancakes. Poor thing. Being reminded of a food she loves so dearly while we are grain free.....I truly believe we need to be grain free right now but sometimes I just feel terrible about it.*
Me: Who is the pancake maker?
Avrie: You know. That little girl that kept sitting by me. She would sit by me in the pew and sit so close that she would squish me flat up against the side. Just like a pancake!
Thankfully I have learned to keep things simple when talking with the children. There are often times that they are not thinking along the same lines as we are. I am so glad I didn't tell her how sad I was that we weren't eating grains. ;-)
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
We had VBS last week. The kids were super excited because we haven't participated in VBS for the last couple of years. We were getting ready for the second day. When Avrie learned that we were going back for a second day we had the following conversation:
Avrie: I hope when we go to VBS tonight that I don't have to sit by the pancake maker again.
*At this point I am trying to figure out who in the world sat by her that talked to her about pancakes. Poor thing. Being reminded of a food she loves so dearly while we are grain free.....I truly believe we need to be grain free right now but sometimes I just feel terrible about it.*
Me: Who is the pancake maker?
Avrie: You know. That little girl that kept sitting by me. She would sit by me in the pew and sit so close that she would squish me flat up against the side. Just like a pancake!
Thankfully I have learned to keep things simple when talking with the children. There are often times that they are not thinking along the same lines as we are. I am so glad I didn't tell her how sad I was that we weren't eating grains. ;-)
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Gators and Monkies and Birds Oh My!
We went to a fun little place called Jungle Gardens. They had all sorts of animals for us to see. We tried to grab a quick family picture here. Not the best, but at least it's all of us.
I thought this huge giraffe statue would make a good picture. I've really got to work on my photography skills.
They had several different types of birds. Forgive me for not knowing what type. I think they are all some type of parakeet. ?? I was too busy making sure the kids stayed together to listen. They did let us hold a bird on our arm for free though.
Silas was first. Such a strong arm! The bird hopped right on.
Ellie chose a smaller bird. They put a bit of food in her hand to feed it.
Avrie chose this sweet little thing. It wouldn't turn around to smile for the camera though.
They gave her some food too and that got its attention!
Now we're ready to smile. :)
"Oooh! That's pinchy!" is what she was saying.
Evelyn was right there with the others and wanted to have a try. Interesting how animals just "know". The volunteer worker said that they won't always step onto the arm of a smaller child because they sense they are not strong enough. They helper asked me to hold Evelyn's hand so maybe the bird would commit but it wouldn't step onto Evelyn's arm. She got to see it up close and was happy with that.
Todd wanted Sadie to have a picture too. :)
Another attempt at a group shot. I tell ya what....group shots are hard.
You try to get five children to look at the camera, at the same time AND smile. I figured I would just put them all on here. Between the three pictures everyone looks decent at least one time ....... I think.
Ellie and Avrie thought it would be funny to pretend they were being eaten by the crocodile. Goofy girlies.
Young man Silas wearing his hat that matches Daddy's.
I spotted this plant and grabbed Avrie for this shot. The coloring matched her dress so well.
Then of course Ellie wanted a photo shoot for her. :)
This last one I had to grab. Avrie's flip flop broke. Not a big deal, but it was a bit ironic. On our last little family vacation to a theme park, she lost her flip flop while boarding a log ride. It fell into the water never to be seen again. So this has now become a tradition.....go on vacation and buy Avrie some new shoes!
This concludes Part 7 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
I thought this huge giraffe statue would make a good picture. I've really got to work on my photography skills.
They had several different types of birds. Forgive me for not knowing what type. I think they are all some type of parakeet. ?? I was too busy making sure the kids stayed together to listen. They did let us hold a bird on our arm for free though.
Silas was first. Such a strong arm! The bird hopped right on.
Ellie chose a smaller bird. They put a bit of food in her hand to feed it.
Avrie chose this sweet little thing. It wouldn't turn around to smile for the camera though.
They gave her some food too and that got its attention!
Now we're ready to smile. :)
"Oooh! That's pinchy!" is what she was saying.
Evelyn was right there with the others and wanted to have a try. Interesting how animals just "know". The volunteer worker said that they won't always step onto the arm of a smaller child because they sense they are not strong enough. They helper asked me to hold Evelyn's hand so maybe the bird would commit but it wouldn't step onto Evelyn's arm. She got to see it up close and was happy with that.
Todd wanted Sadie to have a picture too. :)
Another attempt at a group shot. I tell ya what....group shots are hard.
You try to get five children to look at the camera, at the same time AND smile. I figured I would just put them all on here. Between the three pictures everyone looks decent at least one time ....... I think.
Ellie and Avrie thought it would be funny to pretend they were being eaten by the crocodile. Goofy girlies.
Young man Silas wearing his hat that matches Daddy's.
I spotted this plant and grabbed Avrie for this shot. The coloring matched her dress so well.
Then of course Ellie wanted a photo shoot for her. :)
This last one I had to grab. Avrie's flip flop broke. Not a big deal, but it was a bit ironic. On our last little family vacation to a theme park, she lost her flip flop while boarding a log ride. It fell into the water never to be seen again. So this has now become a tradition.....go on vacation and buy Avrie some new shoes!
This concludes Part 7 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Quick, get the camera!
Why did we take a picture of Grandpa taking a picture? Funny you should ask!
Our little Sadie Bug was a bit messy after dinner. Grandma was super excited to give her a bath in the kitchen sink. Of course I was super excited to NOT have to give her a bath. LOL
Grandma wanted to document the event in a picture and had Grandpa run and get their camera. When Todd and I saw how cute it was that she wanted to capture this fun occasion, we wanted to document that very precious moment. That's all. :)
Here's a closer shot.
This concludes Part 6 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Friday, May 4, 2012
No Eating In The Shower
Yes, you read that right. No eating in the shower. I never thought I would have to make that rule. LOL
Ellie fell in the creek and had to take a shower. The rest of the kids were eating a snack of apples and....you guessed it....she took hers to the shower with her. Oh my. What will they think of next?
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Ellie fell in the creek and had to take a shower. The rest of the kids were eating a snack of apples and....you guessed it....she took hers to the shower with her. Oh my. What will they think of next?
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Quite disturbing.
Last night we were resting in bed before actual bedtime. Silas was in between me and Todd and we were talking. Here's part of the conversation:
Silas: Mom, I was gonna play a trick on you but I decided not to.
Me: Really? What was the trick?
Silas: Well, I found this dried up lizard.
Dried up lizard??!!
Me: Yes. And?
Silas: I took it and squeezed it with my pliars. It was so cool! I squeezed all its guts up to its head. Then they all squirted out.
Ewwww!
Me: Where did you do that?
Silas: In the bathroom.
At this point I recall cleaning some type of gooey substance off of the toilet lid. I thought it was a worm.
Me: Okay. Well, let's do stuff like that outside okay?
Silas: Okay mom. So I was gonna put the lizard on your pillow. I thought it would be funny, but then I decided it probably wasn't a good idea.
My pillow?
Me: Very good job! Great decision buddy. You are right, that would not have been a good thing to do.
Silas: What would have happened?
Me: Mommy would have screamed and then you would have been in trouble. It would not have been worth it. Believe me.
Silas: Oh. So I made a good choice then?
Me: Yes.
Oh my! I am so thankful he had second thoughts.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Silas: Mom, I was gonna play a trick on you but I decided not to.
Me: Really? What was the trick?
Silas: Well, I found this dried up lizard.
Dried up lizard??!!
Me: Yes. And?
Silas: I took it and squeezed it with my pliars. It was so cool! I squeezed all its guts up to its head. Then they all squirted out.
Ewwww!
Me: Where did you do that?
Silas: In the bathroom.
At this point I recall cleaning some type of gooey substance off of the toilet lid. I thought it was a worm.
Me: Okay. Well, let's do stuff like that outside okay?
Silas: Okay mom. So I was gonna put the lizard on your pillow. I thought it would be funny, but then I decided it probably wasn't a good idea.
My pillow?
Me: Very good job! Great decision buddy. You are right, that would not have been a good thing to do.
Silas: What would have happened?
Me: Mommy would have screamed and then you would have been in trouble. It would not have been worth it. Believe me.
Silas: Oh. So I made a good choice then?
Me: Yes.
Oh my! I am so thankful he had second thoughts.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Fun out of the Sun
Our first couple days in Florida were colder than we wanted for the beach. We took advantage of some other great places though.
On Sunday we went to the Floating Chapel. While it wasn't what we would call a real church service it was a fun novelty.
You can see that it was quite windy. So windy in fact that we didn't get to leave the dock! Oh well, it was still fun.
The inside was lovely.
We went for a quick walk at a local park before it closed. The kids got to mess a little in the water. Silas was so excited to collect shells. Once we had been on a few more outings he figured out that they were abundant down there and stopped hoarding them all.
This concludes Part 5 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
On Sunday we went to the Floating Chapel. While it wasn't what we would call a real church service it was a fun novelty.
You can see that it was quite windy. So windy in fact that we didn't get to leave the dock! Oh well, it was still fun.
The inside was lovely.
We went for a quick walk at a local park before it closed. The kids got to mess a little in the water. Silas was so excited to collect shells. Once we had been on a few more outings he figured out that they were abundant down there and stopped hoarding them all.
This concludes Part 5 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Groceries!
We needed to head to the grocery store before we could do much else. It's funny, we ended up going to the grocery (several groceries to be exact) at least once a day for the duration of our trip.
As a side note, none of the grocery stores in the area were open past 10:00 p.m. Crazy. I guess it's because most everyone around there is retired and they are all in bed. LOL
We somehow didn't take any pictures of those trips. We probably should have as much as we went!
Great grandma couldn't believe how much food we went through each meal. One day we came home with 28 bananas. We know because she had us count them. They were gone within a couple days. :) She also took pictures of some of our dinners. She could not believe that all that food was for one meal.
I'm hoping to have great pictures in the next post, don't worry.
That concludes part 4 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
As a side note, none of the grocery stores in the area were open past 10:00 p.m. Crazy. I guess it's because most everyone around there is retired and they are all in bed. LOL
We somehow didn't take any pictures of those trips. We probably should have as much as we went!
Great grandma couldn't believe how much food we went through each meal. One day we came home with 28 bananas. We know because she had us count them. They were gone within a couple days. :) She also took pictures of some of our dinners. She could not believe that all that food was for one meal.
I'm hoping to have great pictures in the next post, don't worry.
That concludes part 4 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Vacation at last!
One of the items that we shipped ahead of time was our queen air mattress. We put Silas, Avrie and Evelyn on the air mattress (They can all be sideways on it and still stretch out.) and Ellie got the twin bed right next to it.
Grandma had found a nice pack-n-play at a consignment shop for Sadie. It fit perfectly in a closet right next to the bed Todd and I slept in.
They had us all set up and ready for a good night's sleep and boy were we ready for one!
When I had packed the box to ship I wasn't as organized as I should have been. (Imagine that!) I somehow messed up the pajamas and Evelyn ended up in jammies that were a bit small for her. She didn't seem to mind though. See her little belly sticking out?
Sometime during the night I heard Evelyn crying. She came in and said her ear was hurting. She cried and cried for quite a while. I have used some natural remedies before when her ears have hurt, one of which is onion. She usually doesn't like me to do it, but she marched into Grandma's room, woke her up and asked if she had any onions for her ear. She didn't have onions but there was some garlic. I got a bit of juice from the garlic on a q-tip and lightly dabbed her ear. That seemed to help. Here is where Evelyn and I spent our first night on vacation.
At some point Evelyn felt better, so she left me sleeping here.
That concludes part 3 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Grandma had found a nice pack-n-play at a consignment shop for Sadie. It fit perfectly in a closet right next to the bed Todd and I slept in.
They had us all set up and ready for a good night's sleep and boy were we ready for one!
When I had packed the box to ship I wasn't as organized as I should have been. (Imagine that!) I somehow messed up the pajamas and Evelyn ended up in jammies that were a bit small for her. She didn't seem to mind though. See her little belly sticking out?
Sometime during the night I heard Evelyn crying. She came in and said her ear was hurting. She cried and cried for quite a while. I have used some natural remedies before when her ears have hurt, one of which is onion. She usually doesn't like me to do it, but she marched into Grandma's room, woke her up and asked if she had any onions for her ear. She didn't have onions but there was some garlic. I got a bit of juice from the garlic on a q-tip and lightly dabbed her ear. That seemed to help. Here is where Evelyn and I spent our first night on vacation.
At some point Evelyn felt better, so she left me sleeping here.
That concludes part 3 of our Florida trip.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
The flight.
So we left off after we had boarded the plane for the first time.
Even though Evelyn doesn't use a sippy cup anymore, I brought one for the plane. I thought it might help with take-off and landing. She had been a bit congested for a few days and I was concerned about her ears hurting her.
We were buckled and ready to go. Evelyn leaned over and fell asleep on with her head on my lap. Just as we were taking off she jumped up and screamed! Then she proceeded to cry quietly. She said her ear had popped and it was hurting. Poor thing. I tried to calm her down and rub it. She fell back asleep.
The rest of the light was uneventful except for the occasional trip to the bathroom. Evelyn was scared to death to use that toilet. I think she thought she would fall out of the plane. Then of course the flush was horribly loud, so that didn't help much.
At the end of the flight we waited until everyone had gotten off the plane before we attempted to leave. It was funny when we got to where all the gate checked items were the attendant couldn't figure out why all that stuff was still left when most everyone was gone. It was all ours! Todd again loaded up the car seat mobile and we were on our way.
We called the rental company and they picked us up and took us to our chariot (aka 12 passenger van).
We pulled into Grandpa and Grandma's driveway a little after 10:00 p.m.
Now it was time for the vacation to begin....right?
That concludes part 2 of our trip to Florida.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Even though Evelyn doesn't use a sippy cup anymore, I brought one for the plane. I thought it might help with take-off and landing. She had been a bit congested for a few days and I was concerned about her ears hurting her.
We were buckled and ready to go. Evelyn leaned over and fell asleep on with her head on my lap. Just as we were taking off she jumped up and screamed! Then she proceeded to cry quietly. She said her ear had popped and it was hurting. Poor thing. I tried to calm her down and rub it. She fell back asleep.
The rest of the light was uneventful except for the occasional trip to the bathroom. Evelyn was scared to death to use that toilet. I think she thought she would fall out of the plane. Then of course the flush was horribly loud, so that didn't help much.
At the end of the flight we waited until everyone had gotten off the plane before we attempted to leave. It was funny when we got to where all the gate checked items were the attendant couldn't figure out why all that stuff was still left when most everyone was gone. It was all ours! Todd again loaded up the car seat mobile and we were on our way.
We called the rental company and they picked us up and took us to our chariot (aka 12 passenger van).
We pulled into Grandpa and Grandma's driveway a little after 10:00 p.m.
Now it was time for the vacation to begin....right?
That concludes part 2 of our trip to Florida.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
What is it about scissors?
What is it about scissors that make children want to cut their hair? I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. I'm pretty sure Ellie and Silas both cut their hair at an earlier age. I was thinking maybe Avrie was learning from their mistakes. Apparently my soon-to-be six year old girlie would rather learn first-hand why it's not such a great idea.
Sweet Avrie found a small pair of scissors from a sewing kit and lopped off a 6 inch long hunk of her hair in the front. Of course not exactly in the front where we could incorporate some bangs. Nope. Sort of in the middle/side/ish part of her head. I admit it could have been worse. Like when Ellie cut her bangs down to about 1/2 inch long. I really should look those pictures up.
Here she is in all her glory.
Thankfully you can't really tell when it's down. Sadly I can't pull it back in the constantly-asked-for-all-up-pony-tail that she loves. Her bangs had just gotten long enough to make it work. Poor thing. As soon as she did it she knew it wasn't too smart.
Live and learn.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Sweet Avrie found a small pair of scissors from a sewing kit and lopped off a 6 inch long hunk of her hair in the front. Of course not exactly in the front where we could incorporate some bangs. Nope. Sort of in the middle/side/ish part of her head. I admit it could have been worse. Like when Ellie cut her bangs down to about 1/2 inch long. I really should look those pictures up.
Here she is in all her glory.
Thankfully you can't really tell when it's down. Sadly I can't pull it back in the constantly-asked-for-all-up-pony-tail that she loves. Her bangs had just gotten long enough to make it work. Poor thing. As soon as she did it she knew it wasn't too smart.
Live and learn.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Friday, March 9, 2012
Have children. Will travel.
Can you find the stroller in this picture?
Believe it or not, there is in fact a stroller there. It is buried under 2 car seats, 1 booster seat, diaper bag, insulated cooler bag, computer bag and duffle bag.
This, my friends, is how we made through the airport. Also pictured are 4 kid-size suitcases and a backpack.
We had also shipped a box of Summer season clothes a week or so before the trip. That helped a lot and cost about the same amount of money it would have cost for another checked bag on the plane.
Saturday 2/18/12
1:15 p.m.
Wepacked shoved everything and everyone into our minivan and headed for the airport.
2:00 p.m.
Potty break at a McDonald's near the airport.
2:30 p.m.
Arrived at the airport. Todd dropped me and the kids off with the stack of luggage you saw earlier. We checked our one very large suitcase and the rest were carry on bags.
3:15 p.m.
Todd had parked the van and took a shuttle back to find us. Here's a picture of the kids while we were waiting.
3:20 p.m.
We started on our trek to security and stopped for another potty break.
3:30 p.m.
Loaded back up and ready to go. Todd carried the large duffle bag. Silas had the backpack and a pull-behind suitcase. Ellie, Avrie and Evelyn each had a pull-behind suitcase. It was slow going but it worked out really well to keep them busy lugging their suitcases around. No one ever thought to run off. I stayed at the end of our little train to make sure they were all heading in the right direction.
3:40 p.m.
We made it to security. They saw us coming and actually opened up a separate area so we didn't hold up the line. (Why would they ever think it would take us longer to get through? LOL)
I had the children dress in easy on/easy off shoes but it turns out that anyone under 12yo doesn't have to remove their shoes. woot!
They let all of our food go through, but had to rub something on each baby food jar to check it for possible explosives. On the other side of security we had to re-assemble our makeshift car seat holder. (We used bungi cords to keep everything on the stroller.) Each child was responsible for their own suitcase, so again they were quite busy. They sat and waited for us to get situated.
3:50 p.m.
We made it to the gate! Everyone found a spot and watched planes take off and land. The kids were super excited! I had made up snacks so we had "dinner" here.
Our menu:
Turkey meatballs
clementines
cheese sticks
celery sticks
red bell pepper slices
bananas
grapes
We purchased a bottle of water to share.
4:15 p.m.
BEEP! My cell phone alarm rang to remind me of our last scheduled potty break before boarding the plane.
4:30 p.m.
Once first class boarded they let us go since we had small children. We traveled toward the plane in the same order we had been in. Todd stopped off to take the car seats and stroller apart to gate check them. So that meant that Evelyn ended up boarding the plane first. ummm Let me just say that it's probably not the best idea to have the three year old go first.
The first seat she came to, Evelyn jumped in and said, "We're going at Florida!".
We finally made to it our rows of seats. We took up 2 rows of 3 seats each. Todd got one row with Silas and Avrie. I got the next row with Evelyn and Ellie. We passed Sadie back and forth.
That concludes part 1 of our trip to Florida. The fun was just beginning.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Believe it or not, there is in fact a stroller there. It is buried under 2 car seats, 1 booster seat, diaper bag, insulated cooler bag, computer bag and duffle bag.
This, my friends, is how we made through the airport. Also pictured are 4 kid-size suitcases and a backpack.
We had also shipped a box of Summer season clothes a week or so before the trip. That helped a lot and cost about the same amount of money it would have cost for another checked bag on the plane.
Saturday 2/18/12
1:15 p.m.
We
2:00 p.m.
Potty break at a McDonald's near the airport.
2:30 p.m.
Arrived at the airport. Todd dropped me and the kids off with the stack of luggage you saw earlier. We checked our one very large suitcase and the rest were carry on bags.
3:15 p.m.
Todd had parked the van and took a shuttle back to find us. Here's a picture of the kids while we were waiting.
3:20 p.m.
We started on our trek to security and stopped for another potty break.
3:30 p.m.
Loaded back up and ready to go. Todd carried the large duffle bag. Silas had the backpack and a pull-behind suitcase. Ellie, Avrie and Evelyn each had a pull-behind suitcase. It was slow going but it worked out really well to keep them busy lugging their suitcases around. No one ever thought to run off. I stayed at the end of our little train to make sure they were all heading in the right direction.
3:40 p.m.
We made it to security. They saw us coming and actually opened up a separate area so we didn't hold up the line. (Why would they ever think it would take us longer to get through? LOL)
I had the children dress in easy on/easy off shoes but it turns out that anyone under 12yo doesn't have to remove their shoes. woot!
They let all of our food go through, but had to rub something on each baby food jar to check it for possible explosives. On the other side of security we had to re-assemble our makeshift car seat holder. (We used bungi cords to keep everything on the stroller.) Each child was responsible for their own suitcase, so again they were quite busy. They sat and waited for us to get situated.
3:50 p.m.
We made it to the gate! Everyone found a spot and watched planes take off and land. The kids were super excited! I had made up snacks so we had "dinner" here.
Our menu:
Turkey meatballs
clementines
cheese sticks
celery sticks
red bell pepper slices
bananas
grapes
We purchased a bottle of water to share.
4:15 p.m.
BEEP! My cell phone alarm rang to remind me of our last scheduled potty break before boarding the plane.
4:30 p.m.
Once first class boarded they let us go since we had small children. We traveled toward the plane in the same order we had been in. Todd stopped off to take the car seats and stroller apart to gate check them. So that meant that Evelyn ended up boarding the plane first. ummm Let me just say that it's probably not the best idea to have the three year old go first.
The first seat she came to, Evelyn jumped in and said, "We're going at Florida!".
We finally made to it our rows of seats. We took up 2 rows of 3 seats each. Todd got one row with Silas and Avrie. I got the next row with Evelyn and Ellie. We passed Sadie back and forth.
That concludes part 1 of our trip to Florida. The fun was just beginning.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
But I thought it would work!
But I thought it would work!
This is a phrase we hear often from Silas. He is a thinker. When he sees something, he wants to figure out its full potential.
The most recent item was Evelyn's dollar store flashlight. Silas had seen his Daddy use a flashlight under water, so of course he wanted to see if Evelyn's would do that too.
You know the old adage, "You get what you pay for"? Her flashlight did come from the Dollar store ya know.
Here's a quick pick of Todd explaining to Silas why it........ummmm.......didn't work so well.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Tape comes in handy
The kids had been outside with their daddy while he was working on some things around the house. Avrie came to us before bed and said her fingers hurt and that they were sparkly. She really wasn't too upset about being sparkly. (Sparkly seems to be a word that comes up more and more often here.)
Simply put:
Sparkles = Good Pain = Bad
We finally figured out that she had touched some fiberglass that Todd had been cutting and gotten small shards in her hands. Daddy to the rescue! Todd put tape on her hands and it pulled the shards right out.
Being the smart little girl that she is, Avrie was not at all upset that her hands were no longer sparkly.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Carob Cake
Our family has basically been grain free since September. We were invited to a birthday party for our nephew and I didn't want the kids to have to watch everyone eat birthday cake, so I decided to make my own! I got the recipe from a wonderful support group for the SBP diet we are following. This recipe had carob powder, mashed baked sweet potatoes, eggs and some other ingredients.
 |
| Lovely farm fresh eggs, separated. |
I beat the egg whites until stiff and then added the other ingredients.
Here is a picture of the batter. Notice the two little dollops of batter in the center? I have never smoothed my cake batter out before.
 | |||||
Baking with no flour has a learning curve. LOL Here is the cake when finished baking. The batter didn't settle. Woops!
Apparently Silas didn't mind that this was a flourless cake. ;-)
 |
| Licking the bowl clean. |
We did enjoy the cake but not at the party. After all that work, we went off a forgot the cake at home. Thankfully, the kids didn't seem to mind. It probably had something to do with the yummy homemade popsicles that we did remember.
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
Look Who's Walking!
Our little Sadie Bug is very content to just sit with her thumb in her mouth. When she has actually stood up someone usually jumps in and sweeps her off her little feet before she can do anything else.
At 15 months old I was beginning to wonder when she would ever walk. The other kids were all around 15 months old when they finally walked on their own, but they all stood on their own around 10 months, cruised around furniture by about 12 months and spent lots of time pushing their push toy around practicing.
We have learned something new with each child and Sadie is no exception! In just the last couple days she went from barely able to stand to pushing her little push toy all over the house.
Here she is on Friday evening. She had learned how to push all the way to the wall, but hadn't figured out how to turn around yet.
Fast forward a couple days and she is zooming all over the place.
Look - one handed walking!
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
At 15 months old I was beginning to wonder when she would ever walk. The other kids were all around 15 months old when they finally walked on their own, but they all stood on their own around 10 months, cruised around furniture by about 12 months and spent lots of time pushing their push toy around practicing.
We have learned something new with each child and Sadie is no exception! In just the last couple days she went from barely able to stand to pushing her little push toy all over the house.
Here she is on Friday evening. She had learned how to push all the way to the wall, but hadn't figured out how to turn around yet.
Fast forward a couple days and she is zooming all over the place.
Look - one handed walking!
Have a blessed day! ~Tammy
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