Welcome...

Welcome to our new site design!!!

I love it!

I have been gaining readers

(thank you!!!)

and 

heard that my previously 

chosen font was a little hard to read.

So...

WELCOME

to the
NEW

and

IMPROVED

"Are We Really Doing This???"

Hope you like it - 

I do!!  

As usual, 

we are always busy in this house.

First,

our first bean growing experiment was a

FLOP!

Well, let's just say - 

it STUNK!

Yes, 

pun intended there!

I wanted something without dirt

that would allow the boys 

to watch what was happening.

Being newbies, I decided we would follow

some directions on the web...

even though it was a bit contrary to what I thought...

they had success, 

so I figured we would try it.

Well

it didn't work for us.

I chose NOT to cover

our container to keep the moisture in.

(per directions, but against my better judgement)

So our paper towel would dry out.

Apparently I was making it 

TOO

wet when I re-moistened it.

So this is what we got...

I *wish* I would have thought to have snapped

a picture of the boys faces when I suggested 

they smell them.

HAHAHAH!! 

(Is that mean??)

Then of course we used that as an 

opportunity to briefly discuss

"rot".

So here is round 2.

I started on Saturday.

And as you can see,

this time chose to 

put plastic wrap over the top

to keep the moisture in.

And guess what...

This morning (Monday)

here is what we found!

WHOO HOO!!

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

That's the way we spell success.

(Did you do the cheer in your head with me?)

I have been starting to think about what curriculums to use next.

I like most of what we are using and will keep with it.

But am considering different options for math and language arts.

We will see what we come up with.

J is doing a GREAT job with his reading!  

Makes a momma proud!!

The K Abeka language books we are using is actually 

going too slow for him,

so I looked through it last night and we are going to

speed things up a little

and skip some pages.

We are supplementing with

ReadingEggs.com

and

Starfall.com

(the free trials/versions).

We dropped Time4Learning about a month ago.

Did I already say that? 

It was a great program and I highly recommend it,

BUT

I wanted more hands on stuff with my kids

and 

less computer time

and

it was $35 a month.

I would rather put that into more

books for them

instead of computer stuff.

R is doing great with math and language as well,

but they are still not moving quite quick enough for me

and 

I HATE to waste this stuff,

so poor thing is doing a LOT

of reviewing lately.

But I think we are going to start getting to some interesting

stuff in a few weeks (I hope).

Either that or I am just going to 

break down and let him take a bunch of the tests

and just see where he starts struggling

and start from there.

Cause we have GOT to

get to some challenging stuff

SOON!

I have been struggling to come up with some stuff for A to do.

She is slowly dropping naps.

(NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!)

So today,

we hit Michael's for some 

some ideas.

I bought some pom poms

and we had a pair of tweezers that came with 

a bath toy.

(Don't ask)

Then I had some silicone muffin cups.

And viola...

A worked on sorting

and colors

(with a little tutelage from J)

 today!

This girl sat at the table for

OVER an HOUR

today with us working

with these few items.

She actually pulled it back out while I was cooking dinner too.

I gotta come up with more more of these things!

(That don't require tons of supplies and prep work!)

This weekend was busy too.

I *think* we have found a home church!

It has only taken us 4 months.

I also think we have finally found a section of town we want to be in.

(Sort of)

While at church on Sunday,

the Cub Scouts were 

recruiting.

So we stopped and chatted.

R was in Scouts 

back home

and J always wanted to go.

Well, this new group is letting 

J join early!

So starting next week...

both boys (and daddy)

are headed to scouts!!

I am so excited.

And it seems like such a great group!

Can't wait to start posting pics of my 

scouts!

All 3 of them!!

Because of the delay in getting started back with Scouts

we didn't want R to miss anything

or be behind...

so he and Daddy started going through his

requirements for his

Wolf Cub badge.

He has done most of it, 

but there are a few things left to do.

So, we are going to work on those together.

One requirement left

 is "Health and Nutrition".

One thing you have to do is 

help plan and prepare a meal.

So daddy and R are worked together on 

dinner Sunday night.

He took the 

"Set it & Forget it"

motto literally.

And,

A has a candy stash!

HAHAH!

The kids got some candy in goodie bags

from last weekend's 

birthday party.

The boys put theirs on/in their desks.

A chose to put hers in 

one of her kitchen 

cupboards!

I thought that was 

all too fitting for a female...

already hiding her candy in her kitchen!

Love it!!