Feels Like 10

This is how we know it is really winter. As soon as it gets cold out Jaz searches the house for the spot where the sun comes in the window. Then she lays there all day. The good thing is that if you are cold and looking for some place warm all you have to do is look for the dog and you know you will be in the warmest room.

Seth and I checked the temperature today so we could record it on our chart and at 9:30 it was 23 degrees. Oh, but it feels like 10 degrees. I won't even go into that.

Kristen

Deathly Hallows

I am pretty excited. I have just about finished the seventh Harry Potter book. I have about 150 pages to go. Little sad to come to the end though. I have really enjoyed them. They aren't my usual reading choice but I am glad I took the time to read them. Faith is pretty mad at me because I told her I had to read the last book first. Every time I gasp or laugh she about has a fit. I wanted to be surprised by the ending and knew that wouldn't happen if she read it first.

I have two new historical fiction books waiting to be read as soon as I am done with Harry, so I will let you all know how they go.

Kristen

Through the Eyes of Faith

Faith is blogging again!! She is too funny!! She loves to read but hates to write. I had her start this blog a while back thinking she would write more and it would improve her typing skills. She did write on it for a while through the summer but kind of took a break over the last few months. She decided a couple of days ago that she would like to start blogging again.

I am so happy!!! Check her blog out and encourage her!!

Thanks!

Kristen

Geo-Dog-ography

This is a picture of the kids doing our geography lesson. Jasmine apparently felt neglected and decided to lay right in the middle of the map. Luckily we are studying India so she was okay laying on the Americas.

Kristen

Black Friday

Had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Mike and I started a tradition with the kids last year. Since we are away from family we make a little thanksgiving dinner than go to a first run movie. That is a big deal for our kids because we usually wait till they are at the dollar theater.

This year we had the added pleasure of having our Thanksgiving meal with our great friends the Mitchells. Mike and I took the kids to Enchanted and then went to the Mitchell's and Paula and I whipped up an incredible dinner, followed by Paula and my annual tradition of preparing for our Friday shopping. This is our third year together getting up and conquering the crowds on the biggest shopping day of the year.

We schemed and planned and then parted agreeing to meet the next morning at 3:45 a.m. to go to Kohls. We usually hit Walmart first but Kohls was opening an hour earlier so we thought we would give them a try.

So after not even an hour of sleep I got up and Paula picked me up for our shopping fun.

It was a blast! We got some great deals but more than anything else just enjoyed the rush of being in the middle of all the excitement and hanging out together. Our Kohls first plan, didn't work out well. They were not prepared for the quantity of people opening an hour earlier would bring and we ended up leaving and coming back later. Macy's surprisingly brought the best deals with jackets the kids need for winter. I got London Fog jackets for Faith and Seth for 11.50 each!! Of coarse Faith's will probably have to go back because it was a little snug.

After seven hours of non stop shopping we wrapped it up and came home. Man I am so tired!! I crashed on the couch for a while but it will definitely be early to bed for me tonight!!

Kristen

Too Funny

Just saw this and had to share!!!

http://info.org.il/irrelevant/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf

Enjoy!!

Kristen

Tagged

My friend Joni tagged me to list 7 odd things about myself. So, I don't know how odd these things are but here it goes:

1. I can burp on command and taught all of my children to do it also. (no pop needed, cheaters!)
2. I don't like any kind of fruit in my ice cream.
3. I hate tomatoes but I grow them every year
4. I can time a meal and have it on the table exactly when I planned it.
5. Along with the meal thing, I like to have Mike's dinner plate of food on the table for him, hot, when he walks in the door from work.
6. I am obsessively not late to anything. Ever. I literally get ill if I am.
7. I once won a Bull winkle shirt from Taco Bell for eating 50 tacos with my best friend. She ate 25 I ate 25. Actually we ate more than that because after so many they gave you a free taco so we had to eat those too. Mike won one on his own :)

Kristen

Directionally Challenged

This weekend was the start of the basketball season in our house. It started a little traumatic but only because I am so directionally challenged.

Mike had Fuel so it was up to me to get the boys to their games on my own. Wow that sounds pretty lame of me. I just have such a hard time getting to new places. I can't explain it. It doesn't matter how organized I am it just seems that the first time I have to be some place new I get lost.

So I got the directions for both of the schools and felt pretty prepared. Made it to Joshi's game at 8:30 with no problem.

Maybe I got over confident.

Decided to do some shopping in between games, see if I could get a great deal on a winter jacket for Faith. I didn't. Left Kohls with an hour before the game. Followed the directions and ended up miserably lost. I called Mike but he didn't answer his phone. Tried Paula, she didn't answer her phone. Called Jen, she answered!!! She got me turned around and I was in the right neighborhood. Didn't realize there were two streets with the same name and I took the wrong one. Ended up lost again. Called Jen, she didn't pick up. Paula, still no use, Mike nope. Then I thought, "Hey! What if there are two streets with the same name?"

Drove down the road and sure enough there it was.

We got there right as the game was starting.

I decided to take the directions I had backwards home to see where I messed up. Okay, here it is. The directions said to turn on Frontage Road. Which I did. It neglected to mention that there were two "Frontage Roads" on this same road and I turned on the first. The one I was supposed to turn on was the second one.

So I don't feel totally responsible for this mistake. Google maps needs to take some responsibility here.

Kristen

Sick House

Life has been crazy the last couple of weeks. Faith got this weird virus going around which in turn I caught and have been trying to get rid of for two weeks. Kylee got it which was weird because she just doesn't get sick often.

She got it and started running 104 fevers that I couldn't bring down. That was a high fever for any nine year old, let alone a one who doesn't get sick often. So after two days of battling the fever I took her to the doctor. She told me her throat didn't hurt that bad. But I was worried about UTI. She has had a history of them since she was three, but hasn't had one in a year.

When the doctor asked her all the questions she just kept saying she didn't feel bad, her throat hurt a little. So when the doctor looked in her throat and about fainted from the horribleness ( is that a word?) of it she did a strep test, and a urine culture to satisfy me. She came back with the good news that she didn't have strep, but bad news that she did have a horrible UTI. She just could not fathom that she wasn't complaining. I tried to explain to her that she never complains that is why these infections have been so tricky. She says it doesn't hurt. But she also said her throat didn't hurt. Go figure she has a high pain tolerance, she must get that from Mike.

Anyways, we had dentist appt. for the kids I couldn't cancel so I went straight there right after the doctor. Always fun!

Everyone is feeling a ton better. Kylee is back on the cranberry pills which I had taken her off of (oops!!), my cold is starting to wrap itself up after two long weeks, the boys and Mike some how managed not to acquire it, and I am ready for a week off of school!

Kristen

Pharaoh Update

Well, we left Pharaoh alone for a couple of weeks thinking he was not loosing as much fluid and hoping that just staying in the salt would help him. I don't know if it was a good choice.

He definitely has parts that are very very very dry. Feels like plastic. But then there are a few areas that are still really pliable. So I don't think he is done. We cleaned him off and weighed him.

3 lbs. 2 oz.

We re-salted him and I put him back in his box. But it is so cold now I have moved him inside. I put him on the dryer in the laundry room. That is a pretty dry place. Maybe that will help speed him along.

He really should be done now but I think the combination of my neglect in changing his salt, our not so humid climate, and the colder temperatures have slowed his progress. To be honest I am not sure if he will ever truly dry out in this climate. And what happens when he is done? Will he moisten back up in our humid conditions?

Don't know but it has been fun trying.

Kristen

Reading Goals

We just completed our first nine weeks of school. I just had to post about their reading goals because they are doing so great!!

Both girls have earned their first date and Faith has earned her second with Kylee only a couple hours away.

Seth earned his first date (which we had on Monday night, he is a great date!) and Joshi just reached the first date goal yesterday!

Here are their hours as of today

Faith- 45 hours 45 minutes
Kylee- 43 hours 15 minutes
Seth - 27 hours 30 minutes
Joshi- 22 hours 30 minutes

That is a lot of recreational reading for nine weeks! I am really proud of them.

Kristen

Sukkot

This week we are finishing our unit on the patriarchs and also the three week mini-unit on Jewish holidays.



Today we talked about the holiday Sukkot. We learned a lot about this cool Thanksgiving type holiday. The kids made harvest cupcakes which we haven't tasted yet, because they just came out of the oven, but they smell out of this world!!


And they also made these miniture models of Sukkahs. Sukkahs are built at the synagogue and at private homes during Sukkot. They are simple tent like structures made of wood with open roofs. The kids did a great job on their Sukkahs.

The Sukkah represents eternal thanks to God and our need for God's shelter. Pretty cool!

Kristen

Halloween Costumes

Well here they are!! I made them again this year. Faith was Cleopatra, Kylee was a baby, Seth was King Tut Mummy, and Joshi was a bat. Some of the pics were a little blurry, sorry our camera is on it's way out.