Jayden's 3rd birthday

We kept the night pretty simple. A couple of our friends came over and we served cake and ice cream.
I made this little IPod Touch cake for Jayden because he LOVES my IPod Touch!

I decided that I should be in the picture sometimes, so I handed Mark the camera. I love this picture- even if I don't have make-up on.

All-in-all, a pretty good day. Jayden actually attempted opening gifts- a task that he usually leaves up to us. He did a decent job at tearing the paper off once we got it started for him. He played with his new toy helicopter for a while before heading over to the computer- another favorite past-time of his.

Happy birthday, little guy! We sure do love you!

3 years ago today

We headed to the hospital to get things underway. No baby making his appearance today. We just got things started. My extremely swollen feet and body were so ready for this day!

Learning to Ride

Me: Pull down your helmet in front to protect your forehead.
Isaiah: I don't have four heads!

Some friends of ours passed down a few bikes to us a week ago, and Isaiah has been so excited to try out his "new" bike. Another friend found a helmet for him and gave it to him on Thursday- the wait was hard for him since I told him that he couldn't ride until we got a helmet.

He soon came to the realization that riding a bike wasn't easy, and I quickly came to realize that teaching him wasn't going to be easy, either. I didn't have to teach Kyrie how to ride, she just hopped on her friend's bike and started pedaling. I guess things can't always be so easy. Heaven help the kid when it comes time to teach him how to drive. ;)

Earth Day Part Deux

A few weeks ago some people celebrated Earth Hour. My friend does this with her family every year. And I usually end up being there when they are celebrating. For one hour, they turn out all the lights and unplug things and have fun in the dark for an hour. I've been wanting to do this with my kids for a while. So tonight, we decided to extend Earth Day for an extra hour.

We played hide and seek in the dark. The seeker wore all the glow stuff and the hider got to arrange the glow stuff however they wanted. Then they took turns finding each other in the dark. I even hid a couple of times.

Then we passed around the ball made from glow sticks. The only problem was that they kept popping out of the hubs. Next time I'm going to super glue those suckers in!

We told some progressive stories in which each person took a turn telling a part. I found out how obsessed my middle child in particular is with Wii. He made sure to incorporate it in whenever it was his turn.

For the last 15 minutes, the kids put on a dance recital while I videotaped part. I would share that, but it was mostly just chaos- not really worthy of sharing here. ;)

The kids were pretty hyped up during this time, and I was worried that they might not fall asleep very well(they got to take the glow stuff to bed), but they went out surprisingly well. It was a fabulous time. I think they're looking forward to our next celebration of Earth Hour.

The two kids together

Kyrie

Isaiah

And Jayden had fun, too, but he isn't really into holding still for pictures, so just imagine a blur of color here. ;)

Earth Day

I'm not as super green as some people I know, but I try to do my part by recycling, using the reusable shopping bags, unplugging things when I'm not using them, etc. But today I thought I would get the kids into the spirit of Earth Day. We decided that we would leave the t.v. off and unplugged today. I made a little sign and hung it on the t.v. to remind the kids not to turn it on when they woke up in the morning. Kyrie had the idea of everyone wearing green.

I didn't find it too difficult to change our usual habits a bit. We got started on Math right away and the kids had a little free time to play before we took off for Bible Study. Mark walked to the church to meet us in order for us to eat lunch at McDonalds since he was going to meet a buyer of one of his E-Bay sales there. We came home and started on school work again. Our science lessons today conveniently focused on the Earth and conservation and pollution. I reminded the kids why we have Earth Day and how we can make every day Earth Day. We went outside and planted a tree in the yard. I forget what kind of tree it is, but my friend informed me that it will help suck up some of the water that accumulates in our yard sometimes.

Late in the afternoon the kids and I went on a field trip with some other homeschoolers. We went to Ferdinand's for ice cream. We made it there right before it closed, so we didn't get to watch them make cheese or anything, but the ice cream was pretty good. We grabbed our cones and headed over to the Entomology Lab at the university. We got a quick lesson on some different bugs. Our instructor brought out the tarantula, and Isaiah was brave enough to touch it(he is usually TERRIFIED of spiders). I held a hissing cockroach(though it didn't do much hissing). It tickled my hand as it scurried across. I tried to get a good picture, but the one in the slide show is the best I got. The thing moved fast!

We did plug in the t.v. again when we got back. Mark had borrowed some movies from the library, and the kids wanted to watch one. We watched Aliens in the Attic. I guess that could count as an Earth Day activity, right? The Aliens wanted to take over our green earth. ;)

So Earth Day is officially over, but we will continue to incorporate the things that we've been practicing and continue to make everyday Earth Day.

In honor of Earth Day check out The Earth From Above:A selection of photos from the world's premier aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand There are some amazing photos!

Blessed

Today I received a phone call from a lady that attends our church. She told me that God had put it on her heart today to come over and watch my kids so that I could get some quiet devotion time in. Now, I usually get plenty of time to myself. My wonderful husband makes sure that I can spend time out of the house about 3 times a week. Being a stay-at-home mom, I usually use that time to fulfill my social needs with other grownups. When I'm home and the kids are in bed, I usually use the time to clean and veg. Needless to say, I haven't been spending much time reading the Bible or doing much in the way of devotions. Something I'm going to be working on.

Anyway, this fabulous friend showed up and took wonderful care of my 3 young uns while I took off for some needed freedom. At first, I wasn't sure where I was going to go, but I thought about Lawson Gardens. I've never actually been there on my own- but I found the gazebo to be empty, so I sat on the bench and pulled out my Bible. I read four chapters in the book of Acts since our pastor has been focusing on it in his messages lately. I watched the birds hop around and thought about the verses in the Beatitudes: Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

That's such a hard lesson for me to learn sometimes. I have a hard time not worrying about things. Right now I worry about how my almost 3 year old doesn't talk as well as his peers. It's probably silly to worry about that because he can spell and read his name, and a few other words like "pizza" and "shop."

Anyway, I walked around the garden for a bit and hummed a few worship songs. I left feeling very refreshed. On my way to the garden, I turned on the radio, and the first song I heard was "Kyrie Eleison." I took that as a sign to pray for my daughter specifically, so that was cool, too!

I'm so grateful for this wonderful lady who took time out of her day to open up her heart and search for a need to fill. I'm motivated now to pay it forward.

Easter 2010

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! Yesterday we dyed Easter eggs. Even Jayden got into the coloring of the eggs this year! I filled some buckets for the kids. They are hyped up on sugar currently as I type this. No egg hunts this year. Since Jayden was the only child young enough to do the one we usually do at the mini mall every year, I didn't want to bother. It's usually a madhouse at the mall anyway.

The weather was too cold for me to want to do any outdoor hunts. Our yard was all muddy from the rain and snow we had the other day. Yes, you heard that right. Snow. Funny that we have been having a lot of beautiful spring-like weather during the winter months. The seasons seemed to have reversed themselves. Of course, we get weird weather here- like when the snow came down in June I should come to expect these things.

Anyway, we went to church this morning and enjoyed the Easter production. Our church puts on really nice productions most years with original music and script. The kids sat and watched with us for the first time. After it was over, they served yummy doughnuts and the kids ran around outside. Kyrie and her friends had matching dresses, so I took pictures of them and any other photo opportunity I could find. I didn't get a good one of Jayden today- hence, the usual absence from these pictures. Maybe someday, right?

After church we went to Shari's and had Easter brunch with a big group of friends. I ordered the hot turkey sandwich- a little Thanksgiving on Easter. ;)

Now, I'm trying to veg while the kids are still hopped up on the sugar high. I hope they sleep well tonight. I remember fun times at Easter as a kid and all the sugar that went along with it. In fact, I remember eating so much candy with my cousins that we all ended up sick and throwing up Sunday night. ;)

Happy Easter everyone! If you want to see some of the pictures that I took this weekend, you can see the slideshow I made here-

Easter 2010