Why I should work out BEFORE the kids get up

Kyler found the jellybeans was was eating them one fist full after another. How he got up there -I don't know.

 I had been watching the kids during most of the workout. In fact, Jack had worked out with me for a lot of it. Until, he could only lay on the floor and tell me how tired he was. I wanted to lay down beside him and say the same thing. Kyler also "helped" with the workout by hanging on me. I guess I was happy when they were out from under my feet and so quietly waiting for me to get done. I should have known better.

Out with the Old

Kaden loves Legos and as most of you know lego loves to sell their little plastic pieces to kids. They have made them so much cooler then they used to be. Gone are the days of getting a set of basic pieces and then maybe getting some extra wheels or min figs to go with your set. Now there are Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Atlantis, Power Miners, and City sets and the list goes on and on. And they are pretty pricey. They are (I will admit) pretty cool. Anyway, Kaden has been trying to come up with ways to earn extra money so he can buy more lego sets. He has done extra jobs around the house and he recently had the idea of selling some of his stuff. So, he made a little stand to sell his stuffed animals. Now, most of you know where we live - there isn't a whole lot of people to sell too but we encouraged him anyway and he did make a few sales (grandparents).  

I loved his stand. He did it all himself. Even wrote all the animals names and their prices. 

Everything that was for sale.

Making the sale.

Our sweet little man

Helping with clean up.

(BTW: Jack was with us and helped but somehow avoided the pictures.)

Random Thoughts Thursday

Several of my friends do RTT. I don't know where it started but I love theirs and so I thought I would try it.

First of all I have gotten lots of comments about homeschooling. I just mentioned it once. Gosh, it is sometimes treated like a swear word - I used to think of it as a terrible thing too! Anyway, Kaden will be going to a outstanding public school next year and he is soooo excited. If either of those things weren't the case I would without a doubt homeschool. Here are the positives I see with homeschooling.  1) There is so much curriculum out there now and lots of support. 2) Imagine the hands- on educational opportunities.  I have a friend who home schools who will take their children to every state and visit every state park in addition to some possible trips abroad before they graduate. How amazing is that! You just can't get that same experience in a classroom - although technology does provide some great experiences.  3) Not having a standardized test dictate the teaching. I understand the point of these tests and I understand why teachers have to teach so that the kids pass them. But, I think a lot of good "educational stuff" is being lost.  4)Being able to travel without being held to the school calender. We have really gotten to experience this and to be honest it is so nice to go when places aren't crowded and are usually cheaper.  5) There is lots of evidence that homeschooling creates closer families. Oh, and you might ask what Tim thinks - he would be all for it  and is the one who brought it up! If we are ever in a situation where it makes more sense to homeschool (or feel God is leading us in that direction) we will. 

That was kinda a long thought.

This is the reason I don't make spaghetti very often.

Oh, and he did this all by himself. No prompting from the big brothers.

I have been drinking tea...alot of tea. So, since I have limited my diet Coke to "occasional" is drinking tea okay or have I now substituted something equally bad? It is unsweetened.

I have been having so much fun planning my spring flower planting. It just needs to be a little warmer! 

Kaden's preschool starts evaluating them tomorrow and he is so nervous. We have been practicing stuff all day. At Kindergarten round -up he was so nervous he couldn't sing the ABC's! Poor Kid. He knows everything he needs to know and I am not putting pressure on him. He is just a nervous performer. One time he told me: "I got this from you." He is right.

Today, I signed Jack and Kaden up for T-Ball and swimming lessons. I also signed up for 4 classes to renew my teaching license. It is going to be a busy summer!

Well, nap time is over. Time to go outside.

The coupon game

So, I have been fascinated by Couponing ever since I saw the coupon mom on Oprah a couple of years ago. I have tried it off and on and it just seems like a lot of work to save a couple dollars. My friends have from time to time posted all the amazing deals they put together and I just don't get how they do it. I get overwhelmed juggling my coupons, my kids, and trying to concentrate in the store. So, after reading this post from my friend Kristy I was motivated to try it again. So, this was my attempt last night:

I bought all of this for $36.53. And saved $44.77 (57%). Okay, so it isn't the most amazing story of savings but it is the best I have ever done and being that I saved more then I spent, I will take it. 

Here is how it worked:

11 cans of Tomatoes at .40 a can (store promotion)

5 Lunchables at 1.00 ea. plus I had a 1.00 off coupon so those ended up .80 ea.

Kellogg's Mini Wheats were on sale for $2.27 plus I had a 2 coupons for $1.00 off 2 boxes. So I bought 4 boxes at 1.77 a box.

2 bags of frozen vegetables at 1.68 ea. (I could have done better here)

2 pork tenderloins normally 9.00 a piece. The store had buy one get one free. I also had a $1 off  coupon. So they were $4 ea.

2 pkg. hot dogs. on sale for $1.50ea. plus there was a promotion going on that got me another .50 off each one. So they were $1. ea.

2 apples - free - coupon for $1 off fresh fruit when you buy Kelloggs cereal

Milk - $1.99 because I had a coupon for $1 off milk when you buy Kellogg's cereal. 

(This is from memory so I hope I remembered everything right - or close)

 

At least I saved enough to buy: 

Like I said before - this was a good start for me. I hope to have more amazing savings in the future. 

 

Sorry the pics are horrible. Taken with my iphone - pretty bad quality even for it.

My Students

After my post the other day I thought I should document more about what my kids are working on from time to time. Here is a peek inside my classroom today. I forgot how much I love teaching!

Kaden reading "Crab Trap". He read it easily and all by himself. I am so glad we are kinda taking a break from the pace of the other book. We are still using it just half lessons - which is so much easier. I think he was getting too worn out by the time we got to the story at the end. 

Jack learning his numbers while parking his cars. He also learned the letter sound "a" and reviewed "m" and "s". 

Kyler worked on his new skill.

And then we went out to the garden to play - probably the most productive learning of the day!

A few blogs to share

You know I am always on the look out for a new encouraging blog. In fact, if I ever have some extra time and have already caught up with all my friend's blogs one of my favorite things to do is look for new blogs on different subjects (couponing, frugal living, raising kids, family life, crafting, etc.). I just don't know what I would do without this source of inspiration and ideas. Well I came across a couple I want to share.

The first is: How does she? It has ideas for almost every area of life and I am constantly motivated by the different ideas. One of the things on my to do list is to make a chore chart out of 2x4's. You have to check it out!

The second is probably my new favorite. Women Living Well. Courtney shares about all things about being a Christian woman, wife, and mother. I LOVE her! If you really want to be inspired to be a better Christian Women read her Proverbs 31 segment - she has been doing a verse weekly for awhile. But, the reason I decided to share her blog today is the recipe for Easter Story cookies she posted today. What a fantastic idea! I definitely plan to do this with my kids. Maybe it will get them excited to think  about something on Easter morning other then the Easter bunny at least for a minute or two. Oh and by the way, she loves the Duggars as much as I do! 

Well, that is all I have time for. I just had to retrieve Kyler from the top bunk. I love 1 year olds and their ability to climb without fear.

Adventures in Reading

I have been teaching Kaden how to read. Let's just say it has been the best of times and the worst of times but overall he is doing GREAT! I have mostly been using this book. 

It does work and is pretty easy to use but it is time consuming and we have worked really hard. It claims you can teach your child in 15 minutes a day. Well, when we started it took about 5 min. and then I realized it was taking like 45 - 60 min. Which is too long for both Kaden and me. So tomorrow, I am going to start doing half a lesson a day and also add in some other things. I have some leveled readers that I think will help him build fluency and I also want to work on sight words with him so reading can become easier. This book doesn't really focus on either of those things. I had hoped we would be done by the end of the school year but now since I am dragging it out I just hope we are done before school starts. 

Here are a few tidbits from today. 

Today's lesson introduced the chunk ar. So I was showing him words and having him practice. I wrote far. He read it then said if we put a "t" on the end it will be fart. Of course, he laughed and laughed. I had to laugh too. Part of me can't believe that "fart" was part of our reading lesson today and part of me was sooo happy because I can tell he is really getting it. 

He also read the label on his car seat "Britax". He sounded it right out.

He now responds by spelling no and yes. 

We have had so much fun with school time. Jack is now getting in on the action. He will do Lesson 3 tomorrow. We are taking it really slow with him. Of course, we are also working on other subjects as well. So, now I have a new excuse for my house not to be clean... Homeschooling moms amaze me. And no, I am not considering homeschooling - although the thought has crossed my mind...