Tuesday, September 13, 2011

My Alabama kids and one dog...

I love this picture! I'm not sure what the Boy is doing but it makes me laugh!
We are Alabama fans. Simple as that. I use to be an Auburn fan until I married my husband and he converted me. So, naturally, our kids are Alabama fans, for the moment anyway. If they want to be Auburn fans they can they just have to move out and change their names we won't hold it against them, we'll love them just the same! ;) Every year I try to take their pictures with their Alabama gear on so we can compare from years past. Notice the key word in that sentence is try. I think it's in their genes to never look at the camera at the same time. If they do look at the camera only one or two are smiling, the rest are half blinking and frowning. The Mr. even tried to hold Corndog (remember, that's our dog...he wasn't using an actually corn dog....this time)over my head so they would all be smiling and look at me. Yeah, it didn't work. Here are some pictures I was able to get before they ran off to play with Corn dog, the dog, not the food.
See, one child looks at the camera, the other two not!
I'm not sure what Sweet Pea is saying but Sweetie Pie's face is priceless!

A picture with Corndog. I can't even get the dog to look at the camera!


One of the few good pictures!
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Chattanooga Zoo Trip....

A few weeks ago we took a day trip to the Chattanooga Zoo. I found a great deal, via Groupon, for a year long membership to the zoo for super cheap. Included in the membership, is a list of zoo's all over the U.S. that you can either get in for free or get a deeply discounted price. So, I thought why not? Chattanooga is not terribly far away and the local zoo honors their membership and we should get in for free there. So we packed a small backpack(full of snacks, extra change of clothes, band-aids, you get the idea!) and headed out to Chattanooga. We had so much fun! It was a smaller zoo, but it was really nice! It was the middle of August, which concerned me, I was worried it would be too hot. Thankfully, though it was beautiful with a constant light breeze. We slathered the kids with sunscreen and headed into the kids second home the zoo. The good news is they didn't keep my collection of monkeys my kids. :) Here are some pics....Enjoy!
This guy was staring at us the whole time we were staring at his friends in the cage. It freaked me out when I realized he was staring at us. All I could think about was the lady who was mauled by a chimp. shudder. creepy.

They also rode the carousel while we were there. Notice Sweetie Pie holding on for dear life! She rode the whole way like this! There was NO WAY she was falling off!

This overgrown chicken(it's really a bird from Africa) would duck it's head down and pop back up right in front of the kids. Like it was playing peek-a-boo. Then it saw my husband, and stared him down.  This was followed by him(the bird not my husband!) pecking the cage trying to attack Micah! It was hilarious! The kids and I couldn't stop laughing. They are still talking about it!
They had random carvings and statue's throughout the zoo, and the kids were, for some reason,  more than willing to have their picture taken by every. single.one.  I love them!
I don't remember what they are staring at, but they look cute doing it! ;)
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Friday, September 9, 2011

Can we just do math instead?

It has been a great week. We've gotten some much needed rain, the Mr. was off an extra day, Summer is gone, the house is no longer a certified disaster area the house is clean, laundry is...well laundry. It's never really done. The first week of home school at the Fowler Academy is coming to an end. We have survived! It went amazingly well. Sweet Pea woke up before 7, no less, on Tuesday morning with her dress up jewelry on ready for school. We have learned the letters A, B,C,and D. She is learning to write them correctly.We've learned to count to 3.(She already knows most of the school work we've been doing, so we are reviewing. Making sure it's engraved in her noggin'.) She learned to write 1,2,and 3. (Those number 2's are a little tricky!) And lots of review on opposites, rhyming words, sight words, etc. She loves it! We did, however, have a few issues with writing. Sweet Pea told me," Do we have to do tablet work? I don't like it. Can we just do math instead?"
Me," Um, no. You have to learn to write correctly."
Sweet Pea," But, I like math better."
Is this my child? I liked most math, except geometry. I loath geometry. Is it necessary? Really? I think no. Just don't let my kids know that. You know, since they still have to learn it. ;)

Sweetie Pie and the Boy also did some school work. Sweetie Pie is also learning her letters and to write a little, by means of tracing on a worksheet with pictures to color. I also gave the Boy a letter picture to color. He made one mark on it and said, "Dis tolor don't wurk!" He then threw the crayon and crumbled the paper up and threw it in the floor. He decided cartoons are a better learning method. I mean, come on, what's there not to learn on Jake and the Neverland Pirates or Phineas and Ferb. Wait...maybe he shouldn't watch Phineas and Ferb since all they talk about is 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it.....

Um..Yeah. That explains a little....

This is my husband's child.

This explains a little more....

I love you, Micah.
 
:)

 They have also been stringing beads on pipe cleaners, making necklaces, bracelets, and one time a boat. They've also been building with small foam blocks I bought in the dollar bin at Target. It keeps them busy and semi-quiet. Well, until the Boy takes Sweetie Pie's blocks away. Then she squeals so loud a deaf man in China could hear her politely asks him to return her blocks. ahem. 

All in all, we have enjoyed it greatly. We start by 8:30 and are done by 10:30. It works out great. I just have to rework my schedule to figure out how to clean my house and do the laundry as well as school. Then again, I've been trying for almost 8 years to figure out how to keep my house clean and do the laundry all at the same time. We'll see how well that goes. :)

I think this is going to be a great school year. I'm excited for what the year holds. Except for maybe the squeal that can wake the dead. That...I could live without! Happy Friday! :)





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Friday, September 2, 2011

Wow! Wasn't it just September last year?

I can't believe it's September already! I am beyond ready for fall. I've missed the cooler weather. College Football is officially starting tomorrow! Woo-Hoo! We really are a football loving family. Even the kids will stop what they are doing and watch for a little while. (You know, all of 2 minutes!) I found myself ready for Friday on Monday and now I'm wondering, wow Friday is here already?! I've had sinus issues this week. And this morning it moved into my vocal chords and I can't talk. The kids keep asking, " Why are yew whisperin?" I keep telling them and they look at me like I'm crazy. Then they whisper back to me. There has been a whole lot of whispering going on today. My house hasn't been this quite in 5 years! I think I like it. I may have to whisper from now on! ;) I called the doctor yesterday morning at 8:30 to see if they would call me something in for this mess. Here it is 1:00 the next day and still nothing. I called twice yesterday afternoon and the receptionist was short and snippy. I think I will be finding a new doctor. Thankyouverymuch!


Soap Box: How hard is it to return calls or phone in a prescription in between seeing patients? I know I'm not a doctor. I use to work for a decent size doctors office(6 doctor's) and they all saw patients and returned calls. I know it can be done. Some days were busier than others but they still at least told the patients that much. Soap Box done.

I just finished reading The Help. It was a really great book. It makes you think. It seems like the south, in the book, was so long ago and yet it really wasn't that long ago. If you haven't read it, I think you should. It's really good. Now, I want to see the movie. :)

We start school on Tuesday. Yikes! I am excited and yet anxious. I keep wondering to myself, what the public schools are teaching at this moment. Will she be ahead or behind. Then, I think, it doesn't really matter what the public schools are teaching at this moment. We get to do thing's at our own pace, in our own time. As long as she learns what she needs to, who cares if we do it a little differently than the public schools. That's the whole point of home school. We get to teach her one on one. She will get to learn things that many don't get to learn because they are in public schools. Example: They may learn just what they have to learn to get to the next level in public schools. But if a particular subject really interests our kids then we can go deeper and learn more than what's just required. *I'm not down grading public schools. There are a lot of great teachers out there who do more than what's just required. I'm glad they give of their time to teach. This is just my opinion and what we think works best for our family.* Yes, I think I'm more excited than anxious.

Last weekend we went to the Chattanooga ZOO. It was fun. I was really concerned it may be too hot, but it wasn't. It was warm but there was a nice breeze blowing. The kids had a great time. And so did the Mr. and I. There was this one overgrown chicken with crazy hair Exotic African Bird of some sort, that stared the Mr. down and tried to peck him through the fence. It was a little scary but mostly funny. The kids and I got a good laugh out of it! I'll post pictures soon!

I guess that's it for now, since my kids are suppose to be brushing their teeth but they are playing in the water instead. I also have a mountain of laundry to fold. Literally. It looks like Mt. Everest has been moved to my couch.(It doesn't help that I haven't folded the laundry in a week, 5 days, 3, no 2, One day.Yes, One day. It really piles up!) I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!


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