Thursday, February 26, 2009

Pink eyes and 1 black eye

Pink eye has hit our home and so far, only 3 of the children have gotten it. But, I am armed w/ a prescription and 1 refill, if it does. Silas was the first victim, then Sophie and now Henry woke up w/ blood shot, goopy eyes. You can imagine what it is like to give each of them their eye drops. We are having a "sick day" today for school. Mostly, because the weather was just too gorgeous to keep them inside.

Then, there is Sadie. She got a black eye when Sammy accidentally dropped this:

and the corner of it hit the corner of her eye. Again, God was watching over my family, because it was pretty close to her eye ball.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Conversations w/ a 3 year old

I bought a huge bucket of bubble gum during Valentine's Day, for the kids to give away w/ their valentines to their friends. We are only half way through this bucket, now. Sophie loves bubble gum and will do whatever it takes to get a piece, or two. Here is a conversation I had w/ her today:

Me: Sophie, what are you doing in the pantry?
Sophie: I'm getting a piece of bubble gum.
Me: You already had a piece of bubble gum.
Sophie: I'm getting another one because this one is dirty (as she proceeds to take it out of her mouth and show me, which there is nothing on it.)
Me: Okay.

A few minutes later . . .

Me: Sophie, why are you in the pantry again?
Sophie: I'm getting another piece of bubble gum.
Me: Why?
Sophie: Because it keeps getting dirty.

A few minutes later . . .

Me: Sophie, Are you getting another piece of bubble gum?
Sophie: Yes.
Me: Why?
Sophie: Because I drinked some Kool-aid and it got dirty.

I guess I need to get rid of the bubble gum!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

That's What Big Brothers Are For

My girls think it is fun to sleep on the floor in the boys room every now and then. I guess it's like a big slumber party to them. But, Sophie gets a little scared and wants to sleep by her big brother. Whether they are on the floor or in the bed, Sammy always lets her sleep right up against him. I wish I had a big brother like Sammy when I was young!


Monday, February 23, 2009

Poor Baby!

This is what Silas looked like when his daddy got him out of bed this morning:

I took him to the doctor and he has an ear infection, sinus infection and pink eye. My poor little baby!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Dissecting owl pellets

I ordered two barn owl pellets off of the internet, so that the kids could really see what they look like, inside and out. If you are too squeamish to do a real one, there is a virtual dissecting web site that is really cool called www.kidwings.com. I found it off of another blog called www.howdoiteach.blogspot.com. So, I bought a box of latex gloves, spread out my newspaper and had disinfectant wipes on hand. What I wasn't prepared for was the SMELL. Ewwww! It wasn't so bad that my kids were gagging or anything, it was just an odd smell on top of cutting open something that an owl puked up, kinda made my stomach a little queasy. Anyway, here are some pictures of our dissection.

Before we started, I soaked the pellets in some warm water to make them easier to cut into. It was still a little hard to cut and the bones weren't like I thought they would be (in a little skeleton shape). So, we were cutting out different bones and trying to figure out what this owl had eaten. I think they were both shrews.


This is what they looked like before we soaked and cut into them.

Who knows, he maybe a surgeon when he grows up.
Sammy holding a shrew's claw (we think).

Sadie didn't do too much cutting. It kinda grossed her out.

I think this was a pelvis.


This is the chart we tried to go by to identify the bones and what animal.


Lizzy retrieved a claw or toe.

My little scientists.

Not a very clear picture, but these are our bones that we dug out.

I don't know what I'm going to do when we have to dissect other animals. Aaron may have to take over in this area :)

Happy Birthday, Sadie Mae

No, her real name isn't Sadie Mae, but maybe it should have been. I've been calling her that since she was born. Sadie was the easiest baby I've had. She hardly ever cried and was such a happy girl. I had to be induced w/ her, because she was due on the 9th. So, on the 14th, they broke my water and she was here in less than an hour! I'm so glad God brought you into our lives, Sadie! You are such a blessing to everyone!


Lizzy holding Sadie after bringing her home from the hospital. My beautiful girls!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Thank you God!

Yesterday, I was sitting down at the kitchen table to eat my breakfast. As I was sitting there, Sammy came into the kitchen and got a pair of kids scissors from the drawer. I have seen the girls do this too many times to count and the only thought that ever comes to mind is "great, I'm going to have another mess to clean up." This time was different. I felt I that needed to go and see what Sam was up to. Just as I entered his room, I saw him trying to get the plug cover off of the electrical outlet w/ the end of the scissors. I stopped him just before he jabbed the scissors into the outlet. I very calmly told him what could have just happened to him and asked him to please put the scissors back up and never to do that again! I am just so thankful for God and his still, small voice that speaks to our hearts. I'm thankful that I followed that voice and went to see what was up. Thank you God!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Cinderella Ballet

I took the girls to the ballet last Friday to see Cinderella. It was a matinee, so they only performed one act of the entire ballet. My mom and grandma went w/ us and just made it a girl's day out! After the performance, I asked the girls if it made them want to get back into ballet classes. They all told me "no." I guess I was just hoping I might have 1 ballerina in the bunch!


Saturday, February 7, 2009

Nature Center Field Trip

This school year, we have been studying animals and just taking our time learning about different ones. If the kids are really interested in certain animals, then we might do a little extra research for that particular animal. We have been reading about birds, or more specifically about raptors. So, I took the kids to the Nature Center at Western Hills where they have an eagle, an owl, and a hawk in captivity. They also have a bobcat (which Samuel absolutely loved), a coyote, a oppossum, a silver looking fox, and a few snakes that are indigenous to our area.
The eagle was my favorite. When he spread his wings, half of his right wing was gone, which was why they have him in a cage.
A hawkThe owl. Did you know that an owl does not fully digest its food? It spits it back up in pellets and if you open the pellets you can tell from the bones what animal the owl ate. Guess what? I ordered some owl pellets for the kids to cut open and see what bones are in them. I will have more pics of these later. I'm sure you can't wait to see them.
I thought my dad was going to come out of his skin when the guide brought this little girl out to us. Apparently, she raised her from a baby and is very used to being handled by humans.

The bobcat was Sammy's favorite. He kept pacing around his cage and I never could get a good shot of him.The foxThe coyote.

A trough full of animal bones. Probably from what they fed the bobcat. She said they were going to be feeding him a tasty dinner of turkey chicks that day.

The guide brought out some snakes for the kids to touch and my pictures were too blurry to post. I guess because I kept moving back away from them! She told the kids how to tell if a snake is poisonous or not. If a snake is poisonous, it's neck will be bigger than it's head. A non-poisonous snake's head and neck are the same size.

Silas' First Playdate

Faith and her mommy came over on Thursday to play w/ Silas. Instead of playing, they fought most of the time over toys. But, we did manage to get a few good shots of the two of them.



Monday, February 2, 2009

Silas, the big bully

My dog, Baby, is not very fond of small children. And, Silas knows this. But, that does not keep him from torturing my poor dog. He waits until Baby is nice and settled in a good spot and then sticks his hand in the dog's face, which results in the dog snipping at Silas. This is one of Silas' favorite games to play!






As you can tell by this last picture, this game is a blast! It's alot of fun to watch, too!

Valentines for Soldiers

Last Friday, I had 15 children, 2 babies, and 4 (including me) moms at the house to make valentines for our soldiers. The kids did a great job and were very creative! Our valentines are going to a hospital in Germany to be given to wounded soldiers. Each family also contributed some goodies, such as hot cocoa packets, pop tarts, kool aid singles, and CHOCOLATES. There is a small time frame when chocolate can be shipped w/out melting, so this is a special treat for them. I' ve included some pictures of the kids hard at work and our finished products at the end.