PB & J

Papa Bill and Joyce, better known as Papa and Grandma Fraser, came for a visit. They made a few a few stops around the state before arriving just in time for Ben's birthday. Papa found his way to the recliner and John settled in with him.

They were asleep in no time :) For dinner we went over to a restaurant on the ocean. After a very long wait we were seated and had a wonderful dinner.

We took a day to hang out and then checked out the hospital and had lunch with Eric. They only stayed a few days before heading to Jacksonville and then home. I can't say how much we enjoyed their visit. We were so glad that they made the long trip from Mississippi. The kids LOVED it. Jack thinks they should have stayed until his 5th birthday. John loved Papa. He wanted to go with them. I had to drag him put of the truck. It was a fun few days having them here. We love you Papa and Grandma. Thanks for coming. Here are a few more pictures from their visit ( i left hot the hot tub pics HA!)

Movie Night

A few weeks back we promised the kids we would have a family movie night. I was in charge of the pizza and the kids were in charge of setting up the theater. We watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Guess we were do for another one. Once again I was in charge of the pizza and the kids set up the theater. Eric brought home popcorn and candy. Tonight, Where the Wild Things Are.

Ella's exciting week

Ella has had a very busy and exciting week. Monday night we worked on a project for her to turn in for the Environmental Learning Center's Ecofest competition. Kindergarten had two choices, make a collage of things you find outside your home or in your neighborhood or cut out a hand print and decorate it like an animal you might find in your backyard. I confirmed that we could use multiple hand prints so we thought we might attempt a raccoon. Of course I waited until the night before and the raccoons weren't as cool looking as I thought so we flipped through a hand print craft book I bought in Boise and settle on an owl. We then researched the owls and narrowed it down to the Great Horned Owl. Why did I wait until the night before? Did I not learn my lesson from the vest episode?? Anyway, after dinner Eric and Ella went for a scavenger hunt. The boys finished dinner and went to help. I think they just played outside. They found all kinds of wonderful items. It didn't hurt that the area around our house is a conservation area full of trees and other goodies. We mixed paint, she hand printed, cut out, glued on wheat put it together. Used seashells and seeds for eyes, leaves for horns and pine cones for the feet and beak.

It was really cute and her daddy was proud too.

She turned it in Tuesday at school and when i was picking her up her teacher came to the car. I asked if the owl was okay and she said it was great. She also wanted to tell me she they had placed Ella in the Accelerated Reading Program at school. This program will allow Ella to (with the assistance of the librarian) pick a book from the library and bring it home she can keep it for a few days until she feels she knows the book. When she returns the book to school she will take a test and earn points to later spend in the Accelerated Reader Store. Not sure what cool stuff they have but Ella was just happy to bring home a book. :) She also had her first Level 3 gymnastics class. It was advanced. The other girls are much larger than Ella. They had been working on their beam routines. Did i mention Ella is scared of the high beam? She worked on the floor beam. :) She'll catch on. Wednesday she brought home her first book. She read it three times when she got home and said she was ready to return in on Thursday. I told her i thought she should give it another day but she said she was ready. She took her test. 4 out of 5. They lay out parts of the book and leave some words out and she has to fill in the blank. She put slick instead of sick. She get'em next time. There is only one other girl in her class in the program and her teacher said this was the first time she had ever had students that qualified for it. Yea Ella! She also brought her progress report home and got S's in everything. That was as high as you could get on the progress report. Finally, Friday. I get a call from the ELC and Ella's teacher.....Ella won First place in the Creature Cut Out! Out of all the schools in the county and homeschool students that chose to participate, they chose Ella's! I asked how many entries they had and the lady said "last time i counted there were one thousand..." i didn't hear anything after the thousand. Not sure if that was all for Ella's creature Cut Out or overall but we were super proud of her. Sunday we are going to the EcoFest for the presentation of awards. When we told Ella she said "YEAH YEAH YEAH (with arms "raising the roof") I KNEW MY GREAT HORNDED OWL WOULD WIN!" Nothing like a little confidence. :)

Jack the Jingle Singer

Ella loves infomercials and Jack loves jingles. You know, theme songs, commercials, etc. Anyway, he runs around the house singing, Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you? We got some work to do now. Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you? We need some help from you now. Maybe to much Scooby Doo? On the way to pick Ella up from school Jack turned around and asked John, "Do you know when Ryan Seacrest is coming on? Ryan Seacrest is coming on next"? Maybe to much Ryan Seacrest on the radio? Then i got asked "do you know where i am going" i said "where" Jack's response... " i am going to Honkey Town, i'm going to honkey towwnnnn." I think he means funky town. :) Last but not least, they have been watching me work out. Part of the reason I like the Turbo Jam is because the music is not lame like other DVDs I have tried. I guess that is also the same reason the kids like it. Last night as the kids were headed upstairs to bed I heard Jack an Ella in unison singing " the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...." . That is the only clip from that song played on my work out. Just hope he doesn't sing it in public. :) He also tries to convince us to eat at "Bugga King". At first is sounded like booger king. Now more like an establishment that sells bugs. HA! We tease him but he insists they do not sell boogers or bugs the sell sandwiches. We will eat there when he pronounces it correctly. HA!

Eric and I

I see this lady daily. I started this Turbo Jam program because i needed some exercise. I haven't worked out since Jack was a baby. I did really well until i got pregnant with John. Those 5 months i was dedicated. :) Now that i have had two more kids and we aren't having anymore i guess i should get in shape. Plus, being in this warm weather makes me want to be active. I love it here. Chalane is my new best friend. Blame her for my lack of blogging. Hopefully i will be able to keep up with the kids.

Eric is doing well. The are having the topping out ceremony today. they poured the foundation yesterday so things are moving along. He is still waiting to leave for Georgia. I hope the owners get the contracts in soon. He is ready. I have also forgotten to post that his biopsy on his back came back okay. Yea! I occasionally make him work out with me at night so he is staying busy too.

We are going to Disney next weekend when Melissa gets here. We are all very excited!

John the Tornado

I am pretty sure he is close to a F-5 most days. I don't know why or how he does most of the things he does around here. He is everywhere all the time. Stubborn and loving. Sneaky and cute. All around he is a recipe for disaster. Here are two of the latest occasions that made me want to send him to boarding school......in Switzerland!

Look it is Ella's oversized Pottery Barn chair. What could happen with a stuffed chair???

The boys were up playing in Ella's room while i was nursing Ben and putting him down for his nap. I hear the normal running and screaming. I hear them run into Ella's room and assume they are going to play on her gymnastics bar. The layout of her room is odd so if the boys are playing on the bar they are in the far coner of the house upstairs and it is difficult to hear them. I was not complaining about the lack of noise because i wanted to get Ben down. I hear Jack scream for me and debate about going up right then and risking Ben's soothing time before nap or just wait until he is down and then go up. Ben was so close to sleeping (those of you with kids know that when a baby is almost a sleep doing something that might wake them is OUT of the question). I decided if Jack called again i would go up but he never did. Minutes pass and i hear a muffled John cry. I continued to listen and he stopped. I put Ben down and then go to get some laundry started. I thought i better check on the boys since i had not heard them in a bit. I go up and it is so quiet. I knock on Ella's door, "knock, knock" I hear Jack "MOM, MOM, We are in here". Ella's chair was flipped over and i thought they were using it as a tent and were underneath it. The chair moved again, Jack said "MOM, MOM, we are stuck in here". As i approach the chair i realize the are INSIDE the chair. I unzip the chair and out come Jack and John. Jack visibly scared. John didn't seem to notice it had been a problem. They got a very stern talk and Jack, of course, replied with an "i understand" John replied with "just got stuck". As if to say next time i zip my brother and myself into a chair i just won't get stuck.

They took the bottom cushion out crawled in and John zipped it up. He is a picture of their hiding place. Why, how would they even think about that?????

Most recently we found John has a fascination with toilets. I guess it could be from potty training but the fascination is not with the water but with the tank. You know the think that sits on the back that NO ONE cares about. Yes, That is what he likes. As i was finishing dinner with the kids he ran off to tee tee before they all got their cake. As i was putting the cake into the bowls i heard a clank. I think, is that the toilet? Then another clank. I take off to the bathroom that is no more than 10 feet away and by the time i got in there John is standing on the toilet and the toilet lid is down in the tank and water is POURING out the bottom. Cut off water, get towels, KILL kid??? What to do first? I try to cut the water off and the knob is stuck. Run to the laundry room grab some pliers, run back, grab all the stuff on the floor and throw it out the door ( i would hate for all 3 thousand magazines to be ruined), turn off the water, spank kid and tell him to go up to bed and not come down (this was at 6:30), flush toilet so water will stop POURING out the bottom, grab duck tape to help stop water and prevent more cracks, towels everywhere. Finally the water stopped i cleaned up all the wet towels and dried the floor. I have calmed down and go to check on John. He was smart that night. He was asleep by the time i got upstairs. It was probably a good thing.

Now where to find a replacement tank? Still looking. I sure will be glad when we get it fixed because John doesn't seem to understand that he BROKE it. He still pees in it daily. I think he thinks it is funny. Me, not so much. :)

Note: I would NEVER hurt any of my children. However, John likes to see how far he can push me. HA!

Pen Pals

Ella and her old class are pan pals. It is a good way for them to work on their writing skills and sstill keep in touch. Ella sent off a letter and picture and she got this in return.

She was so excited! A giant letter that she wants to hang over her bed and pictures and writing from all of her classmates. The letter were so cute. They said things like "we miss you", "wen will you cum bak" "I love you Ella" and " Caleb's read " Dear Ella. I love you. You are my franto. i like your smiyel". Translation, you are my friend, i like your smile. :) our turn.