I Think I Might Be In Love....

with this guy.....



What? You don't see his appeal? I do..check THIS out!

Time for my annual "I HATE COTTONWOODS" post...

Have I mentioned I hate cottonwoods? I HATE cottonwoods! It's 4 am and I'm wide awake because my head is filled with fluff and stuff, my nose is swollen to twice it's size, my eyes are red and itchy and I'm just miserable. To top it off, the weather is awesome so we're spending a lot of time outside..especially with Memorial Day coming up!

So......Benadryl is my new best friend. Thank you Oh Wise and Wonderful Makers of Benadryl. You have no idea how much I want to kiss each and every one of you.

On a side note..remind me never to live in Kansas. The state tree is the Cottonwood tree. I'd probably be arrested for taking a chain saw to one.


Kind of innocuous looking isn't it? IT ISN'T!!!


Yes, I took this from istock. I just don't care at the moment. But it has their name plastered on it. Free advertising? Anyway, this is what the air looks like around my home. It's like snow. I wish it were snow!! Argh!!!!

A Funny For All of You!

I received this in an email today and knew I had to share it!!

Political Science 101


A Short Spelling Lesson
The last four letters in American........I Can
The last four letters in Republican......I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.....Rats
End of Lesson
Test to follow in November

Golf According to Reagan....

Reagan to her Grandma: I can golf with Daddy. All you have to do is whack the ball!

Yep, pretty much!

For the record....

As I was cutting Reagan's hair yesterday, some of her hair fell onto her baby, Ming-Ming. She looked down at him, back at me and said "OH YUCK!" And then she looked down at him and said "For the record, I don't think any of this is your fault!"

Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum!

Yah! After MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH hard work, soul searching, praying and researching, I have finally completed Reagan's Kindergarten curriculum for home school for the 2010-2011 school year. She'll be a few months away from 4 when she starts Kindergarten but that works just fine for us because we plan to take it very slow and do a two year Kindergarten course with her. We also plan to school year round. She wants to learn, we just have to focus on the discipline of learning--the hard part you know!

So, without further ado, here are our choices!

Art-Come Look With Me Animals in Art and Draw Write Now Bible-Positive Action Bible Curriculum; supplement with The Big Book of Questions and Answers-Sinclair Ferguson, Read Aloud Bible Stories OT
Math-Horizon’s K
Phonics/Reading-Starfall and Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week Program; Literature Pockets: Nursery Rhymes
Science-Real books, Backyard Scientist Exploring Earthworms With Me, Astronomy book, note booking and labs
Music-Use coloring pages (see website) while she listens to music from a classical composer and then read a story (all gathered from the local library) http://www.makingmusicfun.net/htm/mmf_great_composer_worksheets_index.htm Activities and listening resources at this site:
http://www.dsokids.com/default.aspx
Etiquette-The Etiquette Factory
Physical Education-enroll Reagan in beginning dance class
History/Geography-A Mystery of History Volume 1, History Through the Ages Timeline CD (Creation-Present), Record of Time empty binder and placement guide, Biblical and Historical Atlas
Latin-Song School Music Latin CD

If you have questions about why I selected a program, please let me know, as I have researched these options extensively and can give additional information if you require any.

Signs your child has eaten at McDonald's one too many times...

Putting Reagan down for her nap the other day, she was pretending to see the stars on her ceiling. "Mommy, look, I can see the stars! I can even see the apple dipper!"
LOL! The funny thing is she knows the Big and Little Dipper constellations!

On a side note, we haven't had fast food since May 2nd! We're trying to give it up for good!

Cheap Easy Kid's Decor

The Dollar Store has tons of kids puzzles. Not only are these great for hand-eye coordination, logic and just plain fun, but they're great to decorate with. And it doesn't cost anything more than the puzzle itself and a material most of you have at home!

Simply put together the puzzle (with your child's help of course!) Carefully lift and flip it over, pressing any pieces back together that slipped. Use masking tape to in strips across all of the seams, horizontally and vertically. Carefully lift it up and check to see if any pieces are slipping. If they are, secure with more masking tape.

Make masking tape loops to secure and press onto the wall. (I like to use masking tape to hang very light weight items because it doesn't leave holes all over your walls and it doesn't tear through paint and drywall.)

Cost for a cute decor item for your child's room? $1! Of course, you could always frame it or add embellishments, but really..you can't beat $1 for children's decor!

Reaganisms!

As we were leaving to go on a weekend trip the other day, Reagan KEPT whining and KEPT whining. Josh and I had had it! I said "Reagan if you don't stop whining this instant, we'll leave you here with the cats and Daddy and I will head out on vacation!" She immediately sobered up and her lip started wavering..."But MOMMY!!! The cat's won't feed me!!!"
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Half-asleep, half-awake in the middle of the night one night, Reagan smiled at me and said "I was dreaming about mowing over poisonous mushrooms. Huh! Funny!" LOL!
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How I Woke Up

..a few mornings ago.

Reagan: Mommy, I'm wet.
Mommy: (deep sigh) Ok, let's get up and get panties on.
Reagan: No, I'm still sleeping.
Mommy: Fine (we'd been up quite a bit the night before and I was in her bed with her)
Reagan: (after several minutes, asleep at this point)...571.......572.......573.............................long pause........577.

Huh?????

Tonight...

Reagan falling asleep in her bedroom tonight, singing: "Seven walls...seven walls. I want seven walls in my bedroooooooooooooooom. Seven walls, seven walls. I want seven walls in my bedroooom."

Strange, strange child.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Here's a little laugh for you!

This morning I threw a napkin over Reagan's head and she clamped it down over her ears and said "Look, Mommy! I have ear muffins on! I'm ready to go outside!"

:)

Have a good laugh courtesy of

my IRL friend Jana.

HILARIOUS!!!!!
(NOTE: You may want to pop this out and watch on YouTube so my site doesn't cut off half the screen and you'll also want to turn my music player off...scroll down to the bottom of the page)

Another week gone by..

I've been so bad about blogging this past month. Normally I love it and try to blog every day, but we've been ultra-busy. As I'm sure everyone has!

Mother's Day is this weekend and we're looking forward to planting flowers and digging up and planting a vegetable garden. I can't wait til I can run outside and grab a few juicy tomatoes and some lettuce to make a salad for dinner....ahem, excuse me. So REAGAN can make a salad for dinner. She's decided that she will now be the designated salad maker in our house..because, as she says, she makes the BEST salads.

And speaking of growing things, Josh was outside mowing the grass the other evening and Reagan asked "Is Daddy cutting the grass with scissors?" LOL! No idea where this came from, other than she was nearly dead on her feet with exhaustion...this child says such funny things when she's tired. (Once she told me that her hiccups had stopped and she needed to go catch them!)

Homeschooling has been at a standstill this week. Every single day we've been out and about. Monday involved a program at the library (so much fun and Reagan had a blast!), Tuesday was a zoo day and then a trip to a used bookstore (which had an awesome play area), Wednesday was playgroup and then a play date with a new friend and this morning we were out early to watch a couple of Reagan's friends while their mommy went to a dental appointment...then home and then back out to a couple of garage sales (can you say YAH! I'm so happy garage sales are back in full swing!)

And what did I get you ask? (At least, I'm going to pretend you did!)

*A great smaller domed cheese serving dish that I'm going to spray paint and use as a cloche (FOR $1!!!!)
*A teddy bear for Reagan (officially the new (tiny) teddy bear is Pooh's baby) .50
*Pale pink snowsuit (perfect since I wanted one just to keep at grandma's house) $2.00
*Santa Claus 2 DVD $3.00 (I've been looking for this everywhere! We love the Santa Claus movies in our house..normally I wouldn't pay over $1 for a used DVD!)
*A cute long sleeve cotton tee for Reagan when she's older .50
*A GIANT (I'm talking over 2 feet) space exploration book .50 (and it doesn't mention the Big Bang theory..score!)
*3 great puzzles that I can use for manipulatives in school--one transportation, one for spatial concepts and one for the seven wonders of the world .50 each
*Hardcover book: Guns, Crime and Freedom by Wayne LaPierre $1.00 I think Josh and I will both enjoy this one!
*Several children's books ranging in cost from .25-.50, including the Story of Ping, which I ABSOLUTELY adored as a child



Can you tell I'm happy about my scouting?!

Gift Lists and Gift Cards

Back in the day (in other words, pre-Reagan) I was NOT a huge fan of gift lists or gift cards. But lately, I have changed my tune.

First, I think everyone needs to make a gift list. For yourselves...and for your children if you have them.

And I think you need to post the gift list somewhere where your significant other and children can see them.

AND I think you need to make the list available to others when they ask. No more "Oh, you don't need to get me anything." Simply say "That's very sweet. While you don't have to give me anything, I really appreciate the thought. I do have a few things on my list I would really love to have such as....."

Why such a breech of etiquette?

Because as a mom, I have to tell you, my brain cells are fried. Listen. I KNOW I don't have to get you a gift..but I WANT to..otherwise I wouldn't have asked and I would have simply sent you a card. And since I'm asking, I really do want some ideas of what you'd like. And frankly, if my birthday is the one coming up, I really don't need another whatever-it-is that I have too many of lying around the house. There are things I genuinely need and want. So I'm going to tell you.

I love that my mother in law embraced this idea. Her birthday is on Mother's Day and this year she put up a list of several things that she wanted. Love it. I'm going to select two and then give her the receipts so that if someone else gets the same thing, she can always exchange it for something else on the list.

Brilliant!

So what's on my list? Well, I'm glad you asked!

An offset spatula for frosting cakes
The entire Golden Girls DVD set (LOVE THAT SHOW!)
A gift certificate for more printer ink and/or a better printer (LOTS OF HOMESCHOOLING PRINTING GOING ON HERE!)
Some really great foot cream and pumice stones
Vacuum sealer
Wheat Grinder
Pressure Cooker

What's on your list?