What is a blog without pictures?

The travel trailer and a future bmx'er


Nathan takes a break from training to check out Sherando lake. Hunter and Nathan try to save the minnows whose water is quickly drying up.


A blog that doesn't get read, thats what!

Officially schooling

Well we've been doing it for awhile now but I haven't blogged about it yet. Hunter and I are doing Saxon Phonics K. I originally started him with "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" but I wasn't crazy about it. It was pretty boring to me and I didn't think it was a very inclusive phonics program, it did just what it says-- teaches your child to read.

So we're 3 weeks into Phonics K and I really like it. I love how it includes different aspects of well, phonics I guess into the lessons. Every day we discuss vowels and consenants (why can't I spell that word?) and work on distinguishing whether words rhyme, two parts of compound words, number of words in a sentence, etc.. Its really been great.

And the best part? Hunter loves it! He is soaking up the information like a sponge. I am amazed and impressed at how easy he is to teach... I'm afraid of how difficult the others will be, I know they'll not all be this easy! He has really grasped the letters and their sounds and he will be learning to read 'log' tomorrow so I'm really excited about that.

He has a much harder time with numbers though, we can't get past 2 on number recognition and I'm not really pushing it although I do go over it every day. He can count accurately to 10 though-- not just saying the numbers but counting items so I know he understands the concepts behind using numbers. He will also set the table for dinner and get out the right number of utensils according to the number of people that will be at the table so I know he GETS it he just can't seem to grasp number recognition yet.

But it is fun, we're ALL learning right now. I'm learning how to do this.. it is more work than I thought!

Its criminal... or it should be..

In my quest to eat healthier and to feed my kids healthier there is an aisle in the grocery store which completely disgusts me. The entire aisle is full of colorful boxes touting "whole grains!" "lowers cholesterol" "9 essential vitamins!" I bet you guess which aisle I'm getting at.

YES the cereal aisle! Full of cartoon characters pimping themselves on boxes of sugar, sugar and more sugar. Aimed at what audience? Children! MY children, OUR children. Its disgusting. Some of these cereals contain up to 30% sugar! And have you seen the recent cereals that came out with the big slogan on the box saying "25% less sugar!" Yaay. Good for you. 25% of 30 is still 22.5% sugar!!!!!! Its criminal, it truly is. And the worst part? Well meaning parents see these slogans "whole grains!" "25% less sugar!" and think they are doing well by their children! Oh my, oh my. Its no wonder that childhood obesity is at an all time high in our country. Look at what we're feeding our children! The sugar addiction begins in toddlerhood with these sugar laced "cereals". Over half the children in America before 9 a.m. have already had a mega dose of sugar. No wonder so many children are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. They are all hyped up on sugar!

And don't even EVEN get me started on pop tarts, another "easy" breakfast for busy parents, located for purchase on the same aisle......

A long day out

This morning Hunter insisted that he did NOT want to play soccer, so I was taking it slow and planning to go watch his team play even though Hunter wasn't playing. Then, 5 minutes before the game was supposed to start he suddenly declares that he is playing soccer. So I throw it into high gear (only half the kids are dressed and I'm running around in a tshirt and underwear) dress the kids, get shin guards and cleats on Hunter, and run out the door. We made it while they were still warming up and of course Hunter refused to warm up. He only wanted to play "take the ball away from the blue team" (a direct quote) So the game started and he ran out onto the field. He had a huge grin on his face the whole time as he participated in "herd ball" as Jason calls it, a bunch of 4 year olds running up and down the field chasing a soccer ball. Its pretty amusing.

After the game I didn't feel like going home. I've been feeling depressed today. I ate some sugar yesterday (candy corn to be specific) and I really wonder if thats what triggered the depression. So anyway, we went shopping, er-- I guess it was window shopping, on account of my empty wallet-- Hunter decided that it is fun to go into EVERY store in a strip mall so thats what we did. It killed about 4 hours out of our day. We even went into KB Toys and *gasp* nobody threw a fit! Well, except Jeremy. I showed him this really stupid pizza guy elmo who sings some pizza song and his pizza sings too and he freaked out when I tried to take it away. It was actually pretty cute BUT also a big waste of money. I'm proud to say that I have *never* bought one of those stupid singing dancing elmo dolls they come out with every year in spite of the fact that all three of my kids have gone through an Elmo phase. Jeremy is in one now and will go to bed quite happily with Elmo in his arms. Its adorable, really.

You're probably wondering how I managed all this store hopping with three kids. Well its genius really. Since before Jeremy was born Hunter has been in training to become a stroller pusher. He has formally taken over his duties and everywhere we go he is the official stroller pusher of Jeremy. Umbrella strollers are a mothers best friend. I actually have TWO umbrella strollers (long story involving a male dog marking MY stroller as his territory.....) so I put Nathan in one, Jeremy in the other and off Hunter and I went for a day of window shopping. Everywhere we go we inevitably run into an old lady (or three, or four, or five, or six... eh, you get the picture) who comments on how CUTE it is that I have such a good little helper. And then of course there are the "you have your hands full!" comments which I absolutely cannot leave the house without hearing.

So anyway, we finally made it home. We did go to Ukrops for butter but we came out with a new reusable shopping bag ($1) an 8 pack of juicy juice ($1.79) a 12 oz tub of rainbow cookies ($3.79 bad I know, but theyr'e so irresistably delicious!) and finally 2 lbs of butter ($5) I realized on my way home that I went to Ukrops because they have (relatively) cheap butter, but what did I really save when I bought all the extra crap? Hmmmmmmmmmm.....

We're online

Yaay we got high speed internet today, via a gargantuan satellite dish on the roof of our house. But at least you should be able to reach us on our home phone now.