First Day of School!

School is in session!

The kids were excited to start, which I found surprising but refreshing.  The week has been going pretty smoothly.  I give thanks to the fact that I've taught some of the material before and familiar with the curriculum.  I also give thanks that the first few lessons are super easy and just easing into things.

Day 2 of math with Eli had me laughing.  He said, "Is that it?" when we finished the lesson, so I pulled out some flashcards.  He's never done flashcards, but a BIG smile came over his face.  He read 9+9=...and said, "Okay, so 20-2 is 18."  I just sat there staring at him...my dad said that's how my grandpa thinks about numbers and he's a brilliant man, but I have no idea how to teach that way!

Life with little boys...plus more

We go through a lot of paper these days...especially with this little one.

He's constantly at his desk drawing and is so diligent in his work.  Even tonight, the rest of us were watching a movie and Colin was in the schoolroom drawing.  

Eli checked out a Lego book from the library and built robots based off the pictures.

 

After the monsters invaded the bathroom, it turned into a bomb shelter.

They are quick to destroy a room.  So, yesterday we spent some time cleaning up the house and I told them that after that, if I had to pick up something after them, it would go in a bin and they would have to do an extra chore to earn it back.  By the time we left for church this morning, it was already full (and now my floor is mopped and the boys' room is spotless).  While getting ready for church, Colin followed me around with my red heels.  "Wear these momma" he insisted.  I wore them just for him and he was so sweet.  "You're so pretty momma."  AND that makes all the destruction worth it!

 We made quiche lorraine this morning for breakfast. 

 We stopped by the store today and Alison asked if she could make us dessert tonight. 

Banana creations are back!

Today's Story

Alison and I picked out a new cookbook to cook through while Ben is gone.  We went through the Vitamix cookbook last year and it was something she still remembers and taught her some cook "cooking" skills.  We upgraded to real food this time, but a kid-friendly version.  It's making meal planning easy, which is a huge bonus.  This morning we made 'potato coins with a fried egg'...it was a huge win in this house.  I accidentally bought purple potatoes, so that helped the fun.

Alison started working on a project she's had on her list for a long time.  Maya's favorite thing to do is sneak stuffed animals out of the kids' rooms and "play" with them, which has equaled several animals missing eyes or having torn seams.  So Alison opened up an animal hospital this morning and stitched back together all of the injured patients. 

Clearly the boys played legos while she worked.

 

Poor pinky's eyes fell off, so I taught Alison how to sew on a button for new eyes.  

Nana, Alison is very excited to show you! 

After lunch I asked Eli if he thought we could finish the puzzle today.  He sat right down and helped me finish the whole center in about 10 minutes.  He's pretty stinkin' amazing.

 

It sprinkled and we ran outside to feel the raindrops.

Colin still frequently has his shoes on the wrong feet

Now for the real story.  We got out the sewing box for the animal hospital and while we were busy in surgery, Maya found my grandmothers pincushion and had some fun playing with it.  What puppy thinks playing with needles is fun???  How did we find out about this disaster?  Colin started crying that he stepped on a needle and Alison told him that he was just making it up because she was holding the needle and he kept going on and on about how bad his foot hurt and she kept telling him to stop being a cry baby...and then I walked into the schoolroom and found needles all over the floor! It was crazy.  I had to go inch my inch on my hands and knees searching for needles and looked over to find this:

It cracks me up!

Colin added a hand and foot to his body and wrote his name on the belly.

While I was cleaning up the needles, the boys asked if they could play monsters in the bathroom.  I admit, I didn't really think about what they were asking and said yes.  Never say yes to monsters in your bathroom...lesson learned.  This is what my shower currently looks like:

 

Apparently, monsters need a walkie talkie, a marine hat, an otter, a broom, a guitar, a gun, a sword and trail mix.  Just in case you ever need to be a monster, now you know what to have on hand.

Safe and sound

I realized our parents might want to know that Ben is safe on the base now.  The chaplain he is replacing let him use his cell phone to call me and let me know he got there okay.  I think I spent the whole conversations saying, "Please tell him thank you!".  He was also able to send me a couple of texts late one night while he was at breakfast (the place had wi-fi).  I haven't heard anything for a couple of days while we wait for him to set up his personal wi-fi there, but he's safe on base and that is giving me huge peace of mind.

The kids have not talked to him yet and are already missing him.  Eli was the only one up for awhile yesterday and requested sending daddy lots of pictures of him and Maya.  I think I have 50 pictures of Eli and Maya now...

She always has to give each kid a good-morning kiss when they first get up

Even Maya notices that Ben is gone.  Every evening, Ben watches a show on the TV and I watch something on the iPad in our room.  That probably sounds really lame, but it's just what we do.  Maya always comes and lays in her spot in our room and waits for Ben to come give her a good petting before she gets in her crate for the night.  Well, since Ben's gone, I've taken over the TV and Maya doesn't know what do to with herself.  Last night she drug out this blanket and formed it into a little bed for herself and was clearly not happy that we were still downstairs.  Then it took me about 10 minutes to get her in the crate because apparently my pet-downs are not as good as Ben's.

We went to Hastings yesterday; they're going out of business this week and everything is dirt cheap.  I may have gotten carried away, but I found some great school books that we'll use for many years.

Colin was one big goof yesterday.  He wore this apron all day pretending to be a maker (baker) and an artist.  Then he turned into a photographer and was telling me to do these crazy poses, like this one:

 

Having 3 kids and a puppy certainly keeps my days entertained, which I am so thankful for right now.

And so it begins...

So many things to say...

Ben met the kids and I at the park on Friday.  The kids were doing their first homeschool PE class and he showed up with coffee and scones for us to have a little date while we watched them play.  It was awesome...until Eli ran over to us crying, saying he didn't feel well and proceeded to throw up.  I actually wasn't surprised because when it rains, it pours and knew many more things were to come.

On the bright side, it is finally "cool" enough for us to go outside!!!  97° feels wonderful now and the kids have been outside a ton.  Maya also loves being outside and really loves the kids company. We no longer have to worry about her having accidents in the house, but her new favorite naughty behavior is digging holes in the yard and digging up our sprinkler system hoses. 

The favorite climbing tree:

 

Thankfully Eli didn't throw up again and was fine after some rest.  So strange, but I'll take it.  

Saturday morning, Ben requested burritos and donuts from Arizona Donuts and then we spent too much time in Target getting him a new toothbrush....strange things happen in deployment and his trusty toothbrush became obsessed and was randomly going on and off.

That afternoon, we gave Ben a going away present.  We made him a calendar and pillowcase to take with him.

We grilled dinner and played at the park and put the kids to bed and then it was time to say "see you later".  All I could think was, "and so it begins..."

Legos with Eli

Eli decided to play with his big legos this week because they're easier to clean up. It cracked me up; either it's really lazy or really genius. He spent an entire afternoon playing "ships" on our bed and seeing all of his different creations was so fun.