Molly's Paw Pad

Why is it that expenses can not just come in a steady drip instead of a massive flood.

I dont dare complain about these expenses as they are all directly associated with some major blessings but man... it can be draining!

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***If you have a weak stomach, you may just want to forego this post.






The newest expense is Molly and thankfully didnt cost that much.  

Wednesday evening, while watching Big Brother (DONT JUDGE ME), Chad and noticed Molly incessantly licking/ lapping her paw.  I didnt check on it thinking she probably just had something stuck in it and would get it out.  I didnt notice her licking on it Thursday.  Friday, while sleeping, she woke me up twice with her loud licking.  I looked at her paw closely Saturday  morning and saw this

Deep wound- Goes down to about the first crease of my pinky finger

I called the vet, but they couldnt work her on Saturday morning.  I did my best make shift dog first aid and did my best to keep her from licking it all weekend.

Cut up band-aid with Neosporin wrapped with paper towel with duct tape.  It took her awhile to get it off.

Took her this morning and the vet said that even though it was nasty wound that it was actually very clean- no infection.  She has to wear the dog cone of shame when we are not actively watching her, take an antibiotic, and pain meds for the next 7 days.  But the vet said that in 2 weeks, we shouldnt even be able to tell that she hurt it.

She is hilarious in this thing.  She runs into everything.

Thankfully she doenst seem overly bothered by her paw, the cone is more of a concern to her.  

Homeschoollng Unit 2

Another unit down and it went really well.

We are still waiting on the other Bible to get here to make the reading portion just a tad easier.  I have to admit that he is doing a bit better with the harder Bible- I do still want the other one though for a smoother transition.

Math-  working on the 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 addition family (this is still a huge review for him).  We have been making number sentences by using drawing pictures and then using counters for the picture.  For example, I drew two trees and had 8 pieces of dry cereal that we moved to make the number sentences.  You can see our number sentences for 10 in picture #1.

Poetry- The poem this week was Father, We Thank Thee.  We didnt spend much time trying to memorize but Hunter really enjoyed illustrating this poem.  The poem is puzzled together in picture 1 and then  picture 2 is where he illustrated it.

Language Arts-  Another 100 on the Spelling test.  Again, on list 2 instead of list 1.  His words are in  picture 1.  I love how his daily reading has almost every spelling word incorporated.    We also briefly introduced run-ons and the importance of periods.  He directed me where to punctuate run on sentences and told me that Mrs. Dockins (K5 teacher) told them that they forgot to use a period too often.

History-  Love the History selection.  This week we focused on the English settlers coming to Jamestown, VA.   We read a selection out the book that has fictional characters in a real life setting.  I didnt totally love the History Activity this week as it seemed sub par to the rest of the unit.  Basically, we did a timeline of birthdays in our family.  I think it did help him see the way a timeline works though as we will do a continual time line of all important history dates throughout the year.

Science-  No cute Science activity this week.  We read and discussed about different large mammals and rodents.  Hunter loved it because he was able to pull out some Wild Kratts knowledge.

Art- The craft was from the story of Ruth which was the History/ Bible lesson for Day 5.  In picture two below (black fan looking thing) is a field of grain where Ruth was able to pick up the small pieces that fell.  Honestly, dont think they turned out too cute (nothing like the shields from Unit 1).

Bible-  The verse in this unit was Galations 6:9-  "Let us not become tired of doing good.  At the right time we will gather up a crop if we don't give up."  The verse was perfect for our History pioneer lessons and the story on Ruth.  Love hearing him memorize these verses!

Picture #1

Picture 2

There it is - a quick summary of Unit 2.  He did make me chuckle this week.  Over the summer, I have Bible Study on Tuesday  mornings so I told him that on Tuesdays thru the summer we would not do school.  Well, Jodi (my Bible study leader) was out of town this past Tuesday and I told Hunter we would probably do school on Tuesday.  He held me to my original plan of no school Tuesday.  Needless to say, I caved and we played hookie!  :)  Just another benefit to homeschooling!

Samantha

My sis-in-law asked me to come take some newborn shots of my new niece.  Sami is almost 4 weeks old and is just the best, sweetest little baby.

I think we got a couple really cute shots.  I really have not done newborn pics before so this was kind of a new thing for me.

Just precious! 

A Whirlwind Weekend

Friends of ours from NC made the trip to visit for the weekend.  We managed to squeeze 9 people into our 1400 square foot house.... makes me wonder how we have managed to do the 1000 square foot beach house last year. 

We learned that with 5 boys, 6 and under that you must seize opportunities to get out of the house. 

Friday before dinner, Chad took us to see the new high school.  It really is amazing!  The fields are gorgeous.  The soccer field is turf and if I had a ball, I would have been taken back to the glory days.  Hunter and Ashton managed to run an entire lap around the track. 

Saturday, Liv and I took the boys to the zoo.  I didnt take a ton of pics but here are the ones I took. 

Breakfast Saturday morning.

From the back!

Oops, forgot my flash.  All 5 boys lined up

This sweet stranger was pushing all of these kids on this spinning thing.

Saturday night-  Chad and I decided a few weeks ago to do a coach's family cookout in his family's neck of the woods.  It was a huge success.  His athletic director made Low Country Boil which was delish.  Yum.  The smaller kids loved the pool and the older kids and adults without small kids stayed on the pond and fished.  It was so nice to get together with the coaches and their families.  Football officially started the day after the cookout.  I brought my camera, but I was too busy loving on my new niece to get it from the car.  Thankfully, Olivia snapped a couple shots.  I wish I would have just walked to the car to get my camera though.  Oh well.

Luke, Shep, Charlee, and Hunter enjoying the water.

Shepherd playing on his own

A little corn hole action with Noah, Ashton, and Shepherd

Totally random... but this was/ is the prettiest spider.  Look at his cool web.

Sunday we got up and got our group shot and then went to church and out to eat.  Matt, Olivia, and the boys took off after that.

Group shot.  Shep's eyes are still pretty sensitive to the light since his virus a few weeks ago.

It was a packed weekend, full of memories.

Matt, Olivia, and boys- glad you guys had fun.  Hopefully we will be able to meet up again at CFA over Thanksgiving! 

Homeschooling Unit 1

Though we split the first unit over a week and a half, it has gone by so quickly.

I am beyond pleased (no pun intended) with our choice to use Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory.

Here are some of the goods and the bads of the week.

Let's start with the bads....

1- This breaks my heart but reading was tough this week.  Through BLHFHG, two kids Bibles coordinate with the curriculum (you can use any Bible you want, but they have page numbers and questions mapped out for these two Bibles- The Beginners Bible and The Early Readers Bible. I already had The Beginners Bible, which is a step harder than The Early Readers Bible, so we didnt need to buy it.  Well, it is too hard for Hunter... at least for now. It led to both of us getting frustrated which is the last thing in the world I want him to get--- frustrated over reading. So, I ordered The Early Readers Bible and will add some phonics work to it.  Once we complete the phonics book, we will hopefully pick back in the Beginners Bible.
2- I am going to have been disciplined with the poetry section.  I am just not big into poetry thankfully the copywork each day is linked to the poetry so I know I will not be tempted to skip it.

A close up of the poem that we pieced together.  The poem was The Storm.

Look at how much better his writing was in just a week.  This copywork was over 4 days time- 10 minutes a day.  You can almost see when he starts again each day.

3- Though he loves it, Math was pretty basic in the first unit.  I know it picks up steam (even the last lesson in this unit was a bit harder) and it is good to review, but Ashton could easily have done most of the activities.

The math page.

The goods.

1- Hunter loved the Science and Geography sections. 

Science lesson was on "blubber".  We coated one finger in vegetable shortening and the left the other without.  Put both fingers in the water and felt which finger got colder after 2 minutes.

A fun geography lesson of labeling the continents and the oceans.  Hunter then wanted to take it a step further and draw all the planets.  *** No judgement on the scale- just going for the general idea.

2- BLHFHG offers two spelling lists each unit, Hunter was easily able to go to the second list.  He made a 100 on his first spelling test.  Also, like the introduction to Language Arts.  This unit was a fragment vs a sentence.

First spelling test--- some of his "a" look like "e"

Hunter's shield, the lesson on fragments and sentences, and the unit poem pieced together with pictures.

 3- Love the Storytime and so does Hunter.  The first genre of books is biography.  I am reading Squanto to him and it fits perfectly with our History lessons about the first pioneers.  Though, the curriculum just calls for one genre in each unit, I think we will have enough time to do two. 

The Bible that is a bit too hard for Hunt is on the left and the biography I am reading to him/ them.

Questions Hunter would ask Squanto

4- And the best part, hearing all three of the boys recite the Bible verse for Unit 1- Psalms 4:8.  "I go to bed and sleep in peace, because Lord, only You keep me safe."  Even Shepherd will say it when he doesnt know anyone is paying attention.  Makes me happy!

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And lastly, here are Ashton and Shepherd's activities from their first unit of Little Hands to Heaven.  The letter was "A" and the number "1."  The shields are actually from Hunter's unit as we talked about God being our shield. 

Shep's on the left, Ash on the right... if it wasnt obvious ;)

So, there it is... Unit 1 complete and we are loving it!

A Date with Doctor Hannah

A few months ago, I noticed this skin piece on the edge of Hunter's nose.  After some google research, I diagnosed him with a skin tag.  I called and scheduled a dermatologist appt.  However, after some additional google research, I decided I could remove the skin tag myself... with finger nail clippers... marvelous!  I did so and cancelled appt.

Fast forward to about 5 weeks ago in which time I had since removed the skin tag 3 times already... it continued to grow back.  I called back and rescheduled the appt and promised myself to leave the poor kid's nose alone.

Can you imagine a worse spot for a child or adult to have a growth sprout?  Everyone thought he had a booger in his nose

Fast forward to today, Hunter's appt was at 1:40, so Chad got home at 11:30 and Hunter and I went out on a "date".  Hunter loves to have a one on one date (Bachelor terminology) with me.  I mean, they normally only have group dates with me so I do cherish the individual time.

We ate at Fatz and then ran to Toys R Us to get a  pre-good job at the doctor's appt toy.

Hunter and me on our date- sorry only had my cheapo flip phone camera.

We get to the derm's office and Hunter is nervous.  He immediately stinks up the entire hallway where the bathroom is located right beside the front desk and the exam rooms. Great start. : /

The doctor comes in and I admit to him that I have self treated this skin tag to which he informs me that it is NOT a skin tag but a wart.   Wow!  Oops!  So sorry Hunter!  I clipped his wart, not once, but three times.

Anyway, Hunter was great.  The nurse was soooo apprehensive to give him this numbing shot on the tip of his nose, but he did really good, slight fuss, but no tears.  I was actually nervous when the nurse came in becasue another nurse poked her head in the door and they gave eachother this look of "should we really be doing this to him?"
The doctor then came in and shaved it off then gave it a couple hits with the burning wand and he was done.

And how it looks now.  Just a little red spot. 

Perhaps, I am not Doctor Hannah after well, but I do make pretty good date ;-)

Just Eat More Chicken

I almost forgot about Cow Appreciation Day!!!

I would have been so sad.

I was with Jodi and her kids when I remembered.  We went back to my house and quickly found my old shirts that have been used for 3 years now and then made some new shirts for Jodi's kids.  I found my "Mama Cow" shirt and Jodi cut out black dots and taped them to her dress and we were ready to roll.

Connor, Shepherd, Ashton, Karson, and Hunter ready to get some chicken.  I hope the black nose dots come off easily. 

Got our $24 meal for zero!  Even had leftovers for dinner.

Gotta love Cow Appreciation Day!

Homeschool Room

The beginning of this year, all 3 boys started sharing a room. Click here for a refresher.  The hope was that the 3rd bedroom would become a playroom and save our family room from a multitude of toys every day.  Then, the Lord laid homeschooling on my heart... see post here for that one.  And now the playroom had to morph into the school room.  Through these past posts and through future posts, you will see that this room is going to be quite the multi-purpose room.  :)

We actually started our first day of homeschooling on Monday.  We are going to do a 3 day a week schedule in July.  There are a couple reasons we are starting early.  1)  I want to make sure that this is going to work.  I still have time to run the other way if need be (though the first 2 days have gone amazingly well!)  2)  There are probably going to be a few weeks in the winter that we are going to want to take time off.  A nice winter break is in the works.

So, it hit me that I haven't unveiled the homeschool/ playroom.  I am happy with the way it turned out.  For a family with a  t-i-g-h-t budget, it is perfect.

View from hallway- Loveseat stole from my parent's basement.  TV was boy's Christmas gift from Chad's parents.  Bookshelf came from Target.  One thing I havent' done is put some type of curtain over the door/ window.  Here is the rough idea for what I have planned- I actually forgot that I hadn't done this yet.  haha

Love these... Hunter and Ashton's were made when Hunter was 3 and Ashton was 1.  Our photographer friend in NC did took the pictures and then designed the boards.  I knew that I needed one for Shepherd so I took some pictures when he was 2 but had no clue how to do the board.  Enter one of my best friends, Olivia.

Olivia designed this amazing board for Shepherd.  The verse on his is "my heart leaps for joy and with my song I praise him. Ps 28:7b.  I wanted to use Psalms for each child's board (Hunts is Ps 150:6 and Ashs is Ps 139:14), ironically they all have the word "praise" in them.  The theme that God has placed on me for the last 18 months. Love the way He works!

I got this idea from pinterest.  I tweeked it a bit to make it cheaper and easier to do.  I will do a quicky how-to very soon. I have to find where I stored all the pictures I took from this project.  Expect it in the next few days.

The strip on the other side.  Each kid has their own cork board for their work, pictures, etc.

The desk... also got a coat of chalkboard paint. (desk came from parents basements. Chairs got on clearence years ago from Pier One kids)

The white board-  Our Bible verse for the first five days is in red.  His spelling list is in the middle.  And the yellow paper is the poetry section for the first unit.  He will add pictures to it tomorrow.

The resource closet.  I must take a moment to thank Chad's awesome aunt for giving so much of her teaching material.  She just retired this year from teaching 2nd grade for 35 years!!!  Half of the stuff in this closet was given by her... so, thank you Joan!!!  You are such a great resource for me.

And a closer look at the baskets- the actual homeschooling material.  DVD's in top left.  Top middle was all given by Joan- they are workborks and supplemental material from K5- 3r grade.  Top right is my actual curriculum (the stuff I purchased to make my life easier).  Bottom left are Highlights magazines (Again from Joan).  Middle bottom are k5 readers.  Right bottom are 2nd grade (or higher) readers.  And not pictured but directly below the 2nd grader readers are 1st grade readers.  :)  I would guess that 75% of these readers cam from Joan as well.

So, there it is.  A quick look.  I have found that we move around a good bit; we dont just camp out in this room but it is nice to have a place that has all our resources.  I plan (notice, PLAN, not promise) to do a summary after each unit... A unit is 5 days worth of work.  So, during the actual school year, it should be one post a week about Hunter's activities (may add some of the younger twos activities as well).  This will be mainly for my sake of keeping it organized, but also want to share my experience of homeschooling because I have learned that homeschooling seems to be in the back of MANY women's minds!

Karson's Party plus a Shep update

Let's start with Sheppy.  Finally, this morning, I hear laughing and cutting up in the boy's room before they come running down the hall... this is a big deal because the last 5 days or so he has woken up crying because his eyes hurt.  I think it is safe to say that he is good to go!

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Our buddy Karson had her 6th birthday party on Saturday.  Hunter, Ashton, and I went (Shep was still sick).  The boys had a great time celebrating with Karson and playing with their friends.

Hunter and the birthday girl... Love Hunt's face in this one... "mom, please put the camera away."

 

Blowing out the candles

Licking the icing off of her crown.  The only thing surprising about this is that she wanted a crown on her cake!

Hunter and his awkward swimming

Beautiful Madi (Karson's cousin)

Smashton taking a break from the water gun fight.

Mr. Connor "talking" to his Granna

Hunter going on ride from Scott (the most kid-friendly/ patient man in the world).

Edit- Jodi sent me a picture of Karson in her birthday present from us.  As I told her, I love shopping for an athletic little girl! :) An Under Armour shirt (and Nike shirt), soccer shorts, sleeve holders, and soccer socks!!!!!  Love it!

Thanks Karson for invited us... we had a great time!  And Happy Birthday!