Christmas 2009!

The boys made Christmas cookies for Santa, they were delicious! L had a great idea to add sprinkles before baking, tasty!


Christmas was great fun this year. J had duty on Christmas Eve (left 5am on the 24th and got home about 10am on the 25th) so the boys and I saw Alvin and The Chipmunks the Squequil Then had Taco Bell for lunch and got the house ready for Christmas and fell asleep watching 'The Santa Clause' while waiting for Santa.

Fun gifts this year were:

R's gifts: PJ's, Archery set, Cirque Du Freak books, 'The Name of This Book is Secret', DS games Pokemon and Drawn 2 Life, Bendaroo's, school accordion-file, legos, and clothes, movies Aliens in the Attic and Harry Potter 6.

L's gifts: PJ's, McD's credit card, DS game Drawn 2 Life, clothes, bendaroos, clay, legos, bacugon, BB gun, Wii game Raging Rabbits, 2 footballs.

Bonster's gifts:

Glee 2 CD, clothes, wireless printer, 'And Another Thing' by Eoin Colfer, lotion, travel scrabble.

JRod's gifts:

Memory quilt, smoked salmon, complete series of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Seahawks towel.

Everyone loved their presents and the boys got what they asked for from Santa, all the little fun gifts and candy in the stockings were a hit and were fun to play with while waiting for J to get home to open the rest of the gifts.

My favorite reaction was when R opened his archery set and says, "I'm literally speechless!" Then L opens his BB gun and says, "R I'm speechless too! Am I old enough for this thing?"

We had a great dinner with some great friends to end off the evening.

Date Night!

Our best friends watched the boys so J and I could go on a date before he headed out on his next deployment.
We headed to see Avatar in RealD at 6:30pm. We got in 20min early but the only seats left inside were the 1st two rows! So we traded our tickets for the next showing and got there early enough to get good seats. It was crazy out there, it was like Black Friday for going out!
Avatar was a good movie, it was a great night, and I can't wait for J to get back and go on more dates just like this one.

I Found it!

I've learned to check pockets when doing laundry.

The boys' pockets have been great hide-a-ways for tissue, markers, pens, gum, candy, wrappers, toys, rocks, homework...but this morning I found something completely unexpected.

L's rain jacket has been in the laundry room the past week and I finally got around to washing it this morning.
I'm not always diligent at checking pockets, but I'm glad I checked his this morning.

I found a chicken egg in his pocket!

Have no idea how long its been in there, so glad it hadn't broke, and that I didn't throw it in the wash, don't think it would have held up in the spin cycle!

It's Beginning to Taste...

A Lot Like Christmas!

I only make these for Christmas:

Mexican Wedding Cakes a.k.a. Russian Tea Cakes

2 C. Flour
1 C. Powder Sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 C. Butter
1 T. Vanilla
1 C. Finely Chopped almonds (optional)
Extra Powder Sugar

Heat oven 325. Mix together Flour, 1 C. powder sugar, and salt. Using a fork cut in butter until coarse crumbs. Add vanilla, and nuts (if using). Knead by hand til smooth dough. Roll into tsp. size balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes, Do Not Brown. Roll in powder sugar twice.

My kids could eat these til they pop! I remember my Mom and my Grandma making these for the holiday's, I love them...and the cookies :0)

Learning!

Here are the boys doing some homework, they look so cute studying together!

This weekend R wanted to learn how to make a PowerPoint presentation. So I showed him where it was on the computer and all the ideas came flooding out of him. His topic was Pokemon, it has 11 slides, and each slide has music! He made it for his best friend who is also into Pokemon. It is a Christmas surprise, he wrote his friend a Christmas card that says her gift is on her Mom's computer. We emailed the presentation to her Mom and she is saving it til Christmas for us. Way Cool!

When I was in 5th grade I had a super nice teacher who had fun ways to help us practice our spelling words. One of them was shaving cream. Spray some foam cream on the table and you can draw anything in it, lasts a nice long time and it wipes up clean. I let the boys try this out. L especially loved it! (He smells pretty good by the time he's done!)

What's on Your List?

R and L mailed their Santa letters yesterday.

Do you know the #1 item on a Christmas wish list is for a 6yr old?

Well....its a:


Big Mac!

So Funny!

When ever this comes on tv J and I just crack up!

A note...

I didn't actually mean to post this video. It's hard to watch...
I had to make a PowerPoint presentation on the similarities and differences of the Iraq war and the Vietnam war. I was trying to attach a video to one of my slides which was discussing the role of media on wars.
I could't get it to do it. I was trying to go around utube by putting it on here and then copying it to my computer to paste it in, but it didn't work. I had thought I deleted this, but I didn't. I do have to say that I'm thankful for those who serve our country.

Friday Favorites!

1. Sew! This week I have learned how to make quilt blocks. I've always wanted to sew them before, but was always intimidated by it. There is a family quilt being made and everyone had to contribute, so I made 6. I found 'Quilt Blocks' by JoAnn's. They had precut fabric and step by step instructions. J and I used the precut fabric as templates for our material and then I sewed them up. It worked! I was so surprised and pretty happy...maybe sewing isn't so bad.

2. Books on CD! I love children's books on cd. In the car we are listening to Geronimo Stilton books 1-3. L has been listening to Junie B. Jones books 1-8 at night in his room. Other favorites are the Laura Ingalls Wilder books on CD.

3. Dry Erase! We have a white board that L uses everyday. He draws pictures and writes notes all the time. He was having a bad day so I surprised him with a dry erase marker pack that had 8 different colors, he was so happy!

4. Quarters! The boys Love little quarter machines. I think I could get them to do anything with the promise of quarters for the quarter machine! Last night I took them to our local pizza place because they have video and toy machines. The car race was a hit and the favorite toy was 'Mystic Stones'. Its colored rocks with a paper showing where the rocks were found on the earth and a 'special' power each rock has.

5. Star Trek!
J bought our 1st Blue ray movie, it was the new Star Trek. We both liked it and thought it was a pretty good movie. Blue ray is pretty cool too!

A Day Late...But Still My Favorite!

Yesterday was a busy day with volunteering in R's class and running errands, followed by dinner and a movie with some great friends!

So here's my Friday Favorites:

1. Word Wall Window!I took L's High Frequency words and created a Word Wall Window for him. We created a game to play with it. You roll a dice and the number you roll is the number of words you read out loud.

2. Harvest Helpers!This year I grew black and pinto beans. I dried them in their pods to harvest them. I actually hung them in the computer room (which totally thrilled J), it'll be nice to have them in jars now. The boys are helping me shell all the beans, what great helpers!

3. 4.0!I received my official term grades, both 96%! That means I officially have a 4.0 for the term, hooray! I wish I had a 4.0 for everything but I don't, I have a cumulative GPA of 3.74 and 44 credits with Kaplan University.

4. Light!J put up a motion light where our new sidewalk is, love it!

5. V!I watched the pilot on ABC last week and like it. So I read the new paperback that's out and liked it. I found the Second Generation V book yesterday at the library, I'm hoping its just as entertaining.

Results!

I received my grades for my last 2 classes...A's!
I got a 96% in both classes!

In 1 week I start my next 2 classes, they are:

~Business Law
~Social Science (Studying the 1960's)

I'm curious to see how they are. I just got my Business Law text book last night and am waiting on the social one. I'm a bit over 1/2 way done. After these classes I'll have 8 more.

Bookworm!

We found out last week that R is reading at a high school level. Hooray for R!

This does pose a difficulty for us since he is just a 10yr old boy. We still want him to be challenged and find interesting books to read.
The reading level he is at has books that may contain inappropriate material for him. So we were asking ourselves how to keep him supplied with interesting books that he can read without making him grow up too fast?
Today I stopped in at our towns library and presented the librarian with my dilemma of R's age and level. She was So Helpful! We found a few books in the juvenile section and the adult section. We skipped the teen section since it is mainly stories of teenage angst and R doesn't need that!

She sent me home with:

My Side of the Mountain Trilogy by Jean Craighead George
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Magickers by Emily Drake
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
Exile's Honor by Mercedes Lackey

She said to come back with what he liked and didn't like and she'll help me find more books for him. He reads so fast and zips right through books, I'm hoping these books will be the interesting and fun for him.

Halloween!

Friday L got to dress up for his classroom. He was all lined up to be a skeleton for Halloween, however, he wanted to be a vampire/dracula for his class. He had a great time!Friday night was the church trunk-o-treat party. We painted R's face for his Werewolf costume. I was Bella...all night I was hanging with a werewolf and a vampire! :-)
Saturday L had a soccer game, he made a goal, played some great defense, and they won! His coach treated them with Halloween goodie bags and cupcakes!
J has been working on the front sidewalk, deck, and he spent the day finishing my front steps, I love them!Next on the list is our flowerbed.


We had a 'pumpkin' pizza before we headed out.
We met up with some friends and went trick-or-treating. R wore his mask to his Werewolf and L wore his bone suit.

We hit 2 different neighborhoods, the boys scored some great candy and we even got to walk through a block party. There was a screen put up with Micheal Jackson's Thriller playing and a group of 'zombies' group dancing to it! So fun!

Friday Favorites!

1. Elliptical! J got me this elliptical yesterday and this morning I had my 1st workout on it....Love it!

2. Snacks! My favorite snack this week is Granny Smith apples with Peanut butter. My boys love it too, Yum!

3. A to Z Learning! I registered with this website and every few months they send an email with a window of opportunity to print off free items from reading to vocabulary. You get to choose the subject and the level. I've been able to print from R and for L.

4. New School! In the past few days of L going to his new school he has just blossomed! I am astounded at the changed in him! He, overnight, has confidence in reading and he is enjoying schoolwork. It's all he talks about and all he wants to do. School has clicked for him and he is already reading at least 2 levels higher than he was last week! Go L!

5. Time Off! This week I finished my finals and I have a 2 week school break. I don't have my grades back yet, but I'm feeling positive. I'm loving my time off!

Boys!

Today was a first for both boys!

We decided to put L in a different elementary school. He is a great kid and loves to learn. However, we felt that he had better opportunities at this new school. He was very excited to start his new class this morning! We met with his new teacher and she seems very capable in giving L what we believe he deserves.


For R...he got his left arm put in a cast! He had his x-rays redone, the crack is doing OK, but it still needs to heal. So he has this cast for 4 weeks and if x-rays show its healed the cast comes off. Then in 6 months he'll have another x-ray to see if his growth plate is still growing like it should. He picked red and finds it much more comfortable than his splint.

My Name...

Last year R got me a bracelet with a 'M' charm on it for Christmas. It was 'M' for Mom. Yesterday R was looking at my bracelet and says, "Man, I should have gotten a 'B' bracelet for your name, it would have made more sense."Oh No!
Somewhere in the past year R grew up enough to think of me having a real name, I'm not only Mom....that stinks. Why do they have to grow up so fast?!

Friday Favorites!

Hello Friday!

1. Carving!


Last night J helped the boys carve their pumpkins, they had a gourd time!


2. Pot Rack!J put this up at the end of summer and I love it!

3. Muffins! This week I've been making those little muffins by Betty, you know, the ones you just add water or milk. They boys have enjoyed them before school every morning. Today its whole grain blueberry.

4. Accomplishments!L can now cook his own eggs! He is very proud of this and loves to do it!


5.Scholastic!Yesterday we got our scholastic book order in! We received 8 new books, happy reading here we come!

L's Field Trip!

Today L's class had a field trip to the farm. He was SO excited! At the farm he got to see chickens, some green houses and veggies, a few animals, go through a corn maze, and get a pumpkin.
It was pretty funny because I could tell he was looking around and thinking that we had a lot of this stuff at home and whats the big deal?! We had a big garden, corn, we have chickens and a ton of little pumpkins:-) But he had fun, and for lunch they ate at a park and got to play on the playground which he thought was just great!