I have been reading lots of blogs while getting ready to embark on the whole "home school the children" task that I am taking on. I have really enjoyed the Mamma Jenn blog. She had a great challenge on her blog to link up for a "Mission of the Month". I find it so helpful to write my goals down, and to have that accountability!

So what is my mission of the month? Routine baby! As we get into September it's a great time of year to get the routine in place and CONSISTENT!! (When I say routine, this also includes calendar/meal plans in place, etc) So the plan is to get the daily routine in place, and to stick with it. This also means actually getting to the gym in the morning!! Haha! I also need to get Preschool/Kindergarten home school organized and find a schedule that works for everyone. I know this will be a month of great learning for all of us!

So there we go! It sounds like a simple goal, right? Hopefully I will be able to check this off as a successful mission accomplished at the end of the month! :) Wish me luck!

A New Direction! A New Adventure!

So for the last month, I have been SEARCHING and SEARCHING for a preschool for Sam. After all my searching, I have found nothing under $200 a month. Right now we are not in a situation financially that we can pull off an extra $200 a month for Sam to go to preschool only 2 days a week!!

So, I have taken matters into my own hands, and have decided that this year I will HOME SCHOOL! Faith will still attend Kindergarten at the public school. (She is only in for half the day) I will save my school time with Sam to include her and work with her on her weaker areas or just have her participate in whatever Sam and I are working on.

So thanks to my dear friend Christy, and some wonderful Momma blogs online, I am on my way! I am gathering curriculum, finding great learning games, and learning how to be best organized to have a successful school experience with my kids. We are currently testing out a 3 day sample of home school materials that I ordered online and the feedback from the kids is great! They love the lessons, crafts, and games. I love that I am teaching my kids! Even little Nate will sit all cross legged and raise his hand when we are doing our lessons. haha!

So pray for me friends! I had never EVER even CONSIDERED home schooling. And some may say, oh it's just preschool, and a little Kindergarten..and yes, not that hard of material, I agree. The hard part is keeping little minds focused and interested...and keeping a very busy 19 month old (happy 19 months today Nate!) from destroying what I'm working on with the big kids!

But I'm excited. I have the bug! I spend my spare time (what spare time there is!) looking at sites, getting ideas, how can I make this fun for EVERYONE? What can I download? When can I get back to Target to the $1 section? (They have GREAT STUFF, by the way!) Oh, and WHERE in my little 2 bedroom apartment, can I get a "school area" set up that will be somewhat out of the way?

So much to do, so much fun to be had, and so great to embark on a new adventure! xo

Fire Station tour with the Mom's Club!

The Mom's club I joined last month hosted a fire station tour the other day. The kids were so excited to see an actual fire station!

Our tour started with a story being read to the kids all about fire safety, followed by a lesson about 911 and when to use it, and when NOT to use it! Now the kids keep telling me to be careful so I don't fall and hit my head. They don't want to call 911! haha

We then went for a tour of the station. This included the fire pole, the kitchen, where the fire fighters sleep, etch.

Sam was very interested in the fire pole....had to drag him away from it...I think he wanted to try to climb it :)


After we saw the station we went to see where they keep the truck. Unfortunately there is only one fire truck at this station, and it was out on a call. We saw them pull out lights and sirens when we arrived. So that was a bit of a bummer, but the kids got to check out a huge Semi truck they send out to big disasters like Katrina.

The tour ended with the kids getting little fire hats, badges and coloring books. Making up for the no fire truck in their minds! We took a pic of all the kids in front of one of the other fire vehicles. Notice Nate is not in either one of these shots. hehe. He had to stay held in Momma's arms the entire tour or he would have been into EVERYTHING! He was not all that thrilled about that! But it all worked out and we all had a great time, and met some more Mommies! :)



The "Make a funny face" shot.

What a wonderful boy he is!

I have spent some time reading through the older posts on my blog. I spent a lot of time looking over the posts I wrote when Nate was born. I was brought to tears as I looked at the photos of his tiny little body in the incubator with all the tubes and wires hooked up to him.

They were not sad tears...they were grateful tears. To look at Nate today, you would not know he had a rough start.


Today I have a very busy 18 month old toddler! We call him the "little mountaineer" because of his love of climbing. He has a fearless nature that I both love and hate. He will climb anything he can get his hands on, and then turn around and jump off it!


He also has a great love of the water and loves to hang in the pool. Again, his fearless nature takes over and he just jumps right in, weather you are ready to catch him or not. You can not take your eyes off this child!

If I was not holding his sweater in this shot, he would be in the water!


He is restless and does not like to be tied down in a carseat, high chair, shopping cart or stroller. He wants to be out exploring. Running outside or down the isles of a store. He always wants to be on the move! You can imagine how "fun" this makes any shopping trip, or even the attempt at a family dinner out! Take out is a much better option!

Jake and I often talk about what we think our children will do when they are all grown up. It is fun to dream of their futures. And when we get to Nate, we always say he is the one that will be climbing mountains, or cliff jumping. We never really talk about what we think his career will be...we just see him as the adventure seeker of the bunch!

I love my boy so much! Even though he has me on pins and needles daily with his fearless nature, I know God has an amazing plan for this child. I can not wait to see what He does with my childs life. I am so thankful for my precious son, and am glad we decided to go for number 3! I could not imagine life without him!

Nate enjoying one of his favorite places!

What a fun weekend!

Even though we usually pack our weekends with tons of fun family activities, this weekend I found myself thinking often, "What a fun weekend. This weekend is so great!" Here's what we did!

Saturday:
Morning started with a trip to the Irvine Farmer's Market...Jake got the wrong address off the internet and we ended up at Sprouts Farmer's Market (the grocery store) Now this usually would have annoyed the heck out of me. But I have been trying to make a point of not stressing so much, not getting annoyed, and just rolling with it. I had given him the correct cross streets and then he did a search online and got the wrong address...I simply asked, "Did you not wonder when your address did not match the streets I had given you??" We asked some people where the proper market was, and then we were on our way...with the market only going on until noon, and we were asking directions at 11:15...yikes! But we were not all that far away, and we had plenty of time to walk the market, try some yummy fruits, and I walked out of there with some awesome hummus, fresh pita bread and some tomatoes.

So after the market, we walked to a near by shopping area and found a nice patch of grass and decided to have a picnic. We had packed lunch ahead of time. After our lunch we headed to Irvine Spectrum. They have a great little water park area so we let the kids get wet and play in there for a while. Followed by a nice little walk through the Spectrum. Now it was time to get the kids home for some much needed quiet time. While Nate had his napped Jake took Faith and Sam out on their bikes. Then we all hit the pool for a nice cool down! Faith and Sam are now just using their "arm floaties" in the pool. Getting closer to having swimmers!

Dinner consisted of some BBQ burgers and dogs, compliments of Jake the BBQ master! :) We then got our very tired kids into bed and watched some Office. A nice relaxing way to end a full fun day!

Sunday:
Or course, Sunday starts with a trip to Saddleback Church! Kids love their classes and the teaching was really great.

After lunch, we went to the Bowers Museum. Every first Sunday of the month is free! Today they were having a Native American festival. There were crafts for the kids and entertainment. The best part though is the kids museum. So much to do. They played instruments, dressed up, did puzzles, there were puppets, oh I could go on and on! I would encourage you to check it out one Sunday if you are in the area. Your kids get to play, and learn all about other cultures.

After that we headed home. Jake needed to pick up some overtime hours. After getting Nate down for a nap, the rest of us enjoyed a game of Candyland. How Faith wins pretty much every time, I have no idea! But every time I play her, she beats me! Oh well. It doesn't matter who wins, it's the fun you have playing!

I just found myself so many times this weekend being really thankful for my family. I get to do life with 4 amazing people every day. They are all such treasures in their own special ways. I am so thankful that I have a family that loves to do things together, to have fun and make memories. I just hope the kids still like to hang out with us when they are teenagers.... :) But that is A LONG WAY down the road!

Some pictures of my treasures: