Saturday...

Today we took it easy. I cleaned most of the day while Scott studied. The girls have been playing with Carley the last few hours. I have nothing exciting to say, we have been pretty boring today. Here are a couple of pictures...this first one is Angel on a pile of very warm clothes straight from the dryer. The second picture is the girls playing under Ella's loft bed. Ella prefers to call it the "home center." :)
Tonight when I went to go check on the girls, they were entertaining themselves by making water balloons out of latex gloves. Fun.

field trip, sushi, target, soccer practice

This morning we went to the "Bodies Revealed" exhibit at Union Station in downtown Kansas City. It was amazing...we all loved it and learned a lot. Then we went out for sushi and ended up shopping in Kansas City. We ended up at a nice Target, and I grabbed a couple of bean bags for the school room. Ella grabbed her favorite book and tried out the bean bags as soon as we got home. The girls then had soccer practice. Ella practiced with a team her age, but I don't know which team she will be on yet.

rambling...

So I was kind of hoping that I could skip the morning sickness all together with this pregnancy. Besides being extra tired, I had been feeling perfectly fine, until yesterday evening--the nausea hit me like a ton of bricks. Not only that, I was way too emotional over silly things. After a rough night, I feel fine now. The girls and I had a great morning doing school, and now they are happily playing in Kate's room. I've been trying to find a place that sells Ella's swissflex glasses, and I finally called the company to find a place. I will wait 3 months on the swissflex to see if her prescription stays the same. She LOVES those glasses, and when I bought them I knew they could be her glasses until she's 7 (maybe longer). They look great on her, and are so light on her face, they leave no marks. Infact, most of the time when she climbs in bed, she forgets she has them on. Yesterday I took her Vera Bradley glasses to the PX to get the new prescription in them, and I forgot to ask for the anti-reflective coating. So I called to try to add it, but it seems to be a big headache to change my order. Someone is susposed to be calling me back. I'm taking a deep breath, and trying not to sweat the small stuff today. The girls are in such happy moods, it would be a great day to go shopping. We'll see, maybe after lunch.

Quick update: I was able to add the AR to Ella's lenses. Wow, I was rambling earlier. Scott's home early, and it's a 4 day weekend. :) YAHOOOO!

Ella's eyes...

We had our first appointment with a new opthalmologist and I'm really surprised how much she's changing Ella's prescription. The GREAT news is that her vision has improved, I could even tell that by how well she was reading the charts, much better than before. Her vision is 20/25, YEA!! The Dr. wants to do away with the bifocals, make the distance part stronger in the glasses and NO patching. Wow, I really hope this works, but I'm trying not to be too optimistic. She also told me that Ella is very likely going to outgrow needing glasses all together, but it would probably be sometime in her teenage years. We go back in 3 months.

Here is a picture from today. The girls listened to their shuffles while waiting for Ella's eyes to dilate. Ella was LOUDLY singing and dancing to "Big Deal" by LeeAnn Rimes, and then "Walkin on Sunshine" by Aly and AJ.

exciting news...

I'm pregnant! I've known for a few weeks, and now I'm finally getting around to telling our friends and family. The girls have known for a little while too, so we sure couldn't keep it secret for long. The baby is due April 18th. This pregnancy test was taken so early, I was shocked I was able to get such a clear reading. Although, I had a very strong intuition that I was pregnant.
The morning that Scott and I told the girls, they had a MILLION questions and comments. I jotted a few of them down...

Ella's questions and comments...
"Is the baby a boy or a girl?"
"I REALLY want the baby to be a girl, but I think it's a boy because we don't have any of those yet."
"Does the baby come out in the morning or at night?"
"I'm gonna be a grown-up before the baby."
"I'm so happy that there's a baby in your tummy."
"How does the baby get a drink in your tummy?"
"Can 5 year olds have a baby in their tummy too?"
"How many more days until the baby comes out?"---she asks daily now, we'll make a chart for school. :)

Kate's questions and comments...
"Where will the baby sleep?"
"Are we adopting, or is the baby in your tummy?"
"How do you know you are pregnant?"
"Oh no, you can't ride rollercoasters at Six Flags, can you? Who will ride with me?"
"If you have a girl, we'll be like Marsha, Jan, and Cindy on the Brady Bunch."
"I think I'd rather have a dog."
"Can the baby be born on my birthday?"

I also remember a conversation in the car...Kate said, "Babies cost a lot of money." And Ella said, "Mama, if babies cost a lot of money, you can use some of my allowance." My sweet Ella can make my heart melt so fast. Kate and Ella will be wonderful big sisters.

Lucky for me, the clinic on base does not offer any OB care, so that means I can go anywhere that accepts my insurance. I did get my pregnancy confirmed at the clinic to start the referral process. One of my friends gave me the name of a great Dr. around here, and I was so happy to find out that she accepts our insurance...so everything has been working out very smoothly. :) What a blessing!!

picture with friends...

playdate and soccer

Yesterday we had our friends Shelley and Sienna over. The girls had fun entertaining Sienna, she's such a doll. (Click on Shelley's name to see more pictures, she's a picture taker also.) Scott met Shelley's husband Paul over in Iraq.

Then my girls had soccer practice. They both did very well, but there is no way Ella can stay on Kate's team...she's just too small, and I'm afraid that she'll get hurt. Kate is going to be a great little soccer player this season, we are excited for the games to start up.

Last night Kate stayed all night at Gabriella's, and Ella and I stayed up late eating popcorn and watching a barbie movie- The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Scott had class and got home around ten I think, I was pretty much asleep by then. We had very loud thunderstorms throughout the night. Ella didn't wake up at all, she slept in our bed last night. And Angel barked everytime it thundered. GRRRR....so I'm tired today. I walked over to Trish's this morning to run Kate over a couple of things, and she said the kids were all up over there when the storms went through. Kate wasn't scared and said, "the storms are much worse in Texas." She enjoys a good thunderstorm...like me. :)

Kate's yummy snacks...

just pictures...

Kate's question today...

She said "When somebody asks you to marry them, do you HAVE to say yes?" Funny, she couldn't imagine anyone saying no.

soccer dilemma...

I got a call from a coach yesterday that Kate and Ella are on the same team, and that practices start this Friday. I was told that Kate and Ella could not be on the same team before because they are grouped ages 4-5 and 6-7, and I didn't make any special requests. Now I don't know what to do. Ella WANTS to be on Kate's team, and doesn't mind being the only 5 year old, but there is a world of difference in ability between Kate and Ella. Kate is ready for some competition, and Ella doesn't understand the rules of soccer yet. I guess we will go to the Friday practice and see how Ella does.

keeping busy...

school stuff-

Several people have asked me recently what exactly I'm using for Kate and Ella; here is the quick breakdown:

Kate-age 7

Bible- Leading Little Ones to God, and I just ordered her the Awesome Book of Bible Facts, so I guess that's Sonlight 1, although I'm not using the guide.

Math- Horizons 2(AOP)and Abeka time test drills

Reading/Phonics- Horizons 1 and 2 (AOP)- Kate isn't quite ready for level 2 on this--it's advanced, so we started halfway though 1. I also have Sonlight LA2, but it starts off too easy, and I haven't figured out where to start her on that, but we might switch back and forth between Horizons and SL.... I like them both.

Explode the Code- 4, 5, and 6, right now she's almost done w/book 4 because we started this summer

Spelling/Vocabulary-Horizons 2(AOP)

Everything else is picked out of Sonlight Core C or 1+2, I jump around...right now we are rereading most of Core C.

Science-Sonlight 1 and Abeka-Enjoying God's World Science Reader

Computer-Typing Instructor for kids, Kate is usually hanging out on Webkinz in her free computer time

Of course we do a lot of art!


Ella-age 5

Bible-Leading Little Ones to God, Abeka-God's World-K

Math- Horizons K

Reading- 100 EZ Lessons, Bob books

Explode the Code 1,2 and 3, we just started book 1.

Handwriting- A Reason for Handwriting K

The rest of the time she's listening in on Sonlight C read-out louds

I have the Horizons preschool workbooks for Ella that I didn't use last year, but I'm adding bits of that in, especially the cutting and pasting activities.

I also have Abeka K Science and Social Studies that I will work in at some point.

Oh, and Computer time-starfall.com, I Spy games, or Jumpstart advanced 1st grade is her favorite.

Ella's art, outside with friends, sleep over

haircuts

We all REALLY needed haircuts, so we finally went yesterday. The girls wanted bangs because they are tired of me pinning back their hair every morning. So the plan is to keep up with the bangs, and we will let their hair grow longer for as long as I can stand dealing with the tangles.


Hmm, I guess I don't have a picture of Ella with the bangs yet, surprising...she's usually the camera hog. :)

working hard...

Just snapped a couple of pictures of the girls working hard today...

Homeschooling is making our days FLY. I only started with the basics this week, and if I add anything else, we will be schooling in the afternoon too. My original plan was to be done by noon. Ella is ready for Bob books. Kate is doing great, complains that what I'm making her do is harder than first grade...but hey, it's SECOND grade now. We've really just been reviewing. Kate's reading is improving, she no longer is reading like a robot. YEA! My patience on the robot reading was just about gone. :) We are reading the Box Car Children (again!), and I have a feeling I'll end up reading many more books from that series. "Just one more chapter, please!"...that's all I hear. There is something about those books. I'll break down what I'm using for all subjects in another post, I'm still trying to figure out what to use and how to simplify our days. Keeping it simple, yes--that's what I need to do.

more pictures...

Off to dinner at a friend's house, no time to write, but here are some pictures: *We started school today, and it was a fabulous day...infact it FLEW by, which surprised me.

soccer, friends...

Dinosaur restaurant

Today we went to a dinosaur restaurant with friends. Here are a few pics: