Technical Difficulties

Just to let you all know, our computer at home seems to have a virus. It's moving at a snail's pace. Daniel is trying his best to fix it, but in the meantime I won't be posting to my blog. Thankfully, my friend Christina let me use her PC tonight to update my blog. I'll be collecting photos in the meantime so that when it's fixed, you can expect to see a huge flurry of posts. Until then, God bless!

Texas Road Trip

We're in Texas! I'm posting this from the home of our good friends, the Haleys. They are the girls godparents, meaning they will take our kids should anything happen to us. Christina and Danya are in this picture with my friend, Glenda's new baby girl, Liliana. She is about 2 months old now!

We've been friends with the Haleys and Glenda for the longest time...since high school! So we love each other's kids and make time to get together a few times a year. Today we exchanged gifts and went out to eat at The Olive Garden. That has to be the worst food I've eaten in quite some time. And for that priviledge they charged us each a mandatory 18% gratuity!

The kids had a great time playing together and exchanging Christmas presents. We are staying the night here at the Haleys along with Daniel's mom, Nancy, who has come along with us on this trip. Tomorrow we head to Del Rio, Texas to visit Daniel's little brother Ben and his family. We'll come back this way on Wednesday and be home by Thursday. Adios!

Pretty Pretty Princesses

Emma came to play at our house after morning Kindergarten on Friday. I took them all to McDonald's for lunch where we met our neighbors, the Holady's, and my friend, Michelle and her kids. We stayed for just over two hours while the kids played in the playland and the mom's sat and talked.

It's really nice to just have some mom time discussing grownup things!

At home the girls played "Pretty Pretty Princess" and Emma won. This photo is of them in all their beautiful jewelry with the Princess wearing her crown in the middle.

New Year, New Homeschool Lessons

We went to this park in Tulsa after church on New Years day. It struck me, watching the girls, that so often schools teach kids about subjects in a vacuum. I remember learning about pulleys and levers and fulcrums sometimes near the end of elementary school. They showed us pictures and explained the ideas, but we never actually got to see an actual pulley, lever, or fulcrum in class.

Yet here were my girls, playing with these very tools at a park, figuring out how they worked and what they were good for. They worked as a team to get the sand scooped into the buckets, and then pull them up to the top. Then they poured the sand into tubes and watched it come out the other end and slide down a ramp and back to the ground. And later when we all got onto the giant teeter-totter together, they didn't hear the word "fulcrum" but they understood how it worked and enjoyed it.

So the first homeschool lesson of this year was actually learned by me, the mom, the teacher. I'm going to make my New Year's resolution be to keep my eyes open more for learning opportunities in the world around us, and to remember that learning can happen in play and in life, unplanned. Just because I haven't sat down with worksheets, a prepared craft activity, and a library book covering a certain topic, doesn't mean my girls aren't learning.

Happy New Year!

Kites in the Wind

On Saturday, New Year's Eve, the weather was in the 60's so we decided to go outside and enjoy it. Once again, Aunt Jennie's Christmas gift to the girls came in handy. (Thanks, Jen!) We made plans to meet our friends, the Millers, at the park. Unfortunately, Daniel couldn't stay. He walked home from the park to go get some shut-eye since it was a work day for him.

The Millers brought their beautiful kites! One was a butterfly, and the other was a Macaw. The girls were so excited to help fly them. They were maybe a little over-enthusiastic about helping launch the kites into the air, but they enjoyed every minute of it. Gloria's idea of "helping" launch a kite was to run up to it, grab it by one wing, and chuck it over her shoulder! I started out with the dubious "priviledge" of running back and forth between the two kites, re-launching them each time they crashed. The next day my shoulder muscles were complaining about it.

The girls got tired before the adults did, and went off to swing, play Duck, Duck, Goose and make sand castles at the park. It was pretty cute watching Gloria and Danya push Megan and Courtney on the swings. Danya was being a little "mother hen" the whole time we were at the park, holding little Megan's hand and making sure she didn't get left behind. The top left picture is of Danya flying a kite. The bottom right picture is of Megan flying one. I layed down on the ground behind them to catch the kite in the pictures.

Mailbox Vandalism?

What exactly happened to our mailbox over this New Year's weekend? How did the metal bracket snap off the wood? How did our large green mailbox end up several feet away in our driveway? We may never know.

It was fairly windy this weekend. By Sunday there were wind gusts up to 27 miles per hour. But it wasn't quite as strong on Friday night. Daniel thinks it may have been teenaged vandals playing mailbox baseball from a moving vehicle. If so, they have lousy aim, because the mailbox itself wasn't dented. Also, we didn't see any other nearby mailboxes with any signs of damage.

There's no reward being offered, but if you have any information leading to the...oh, never mind. Daniel was looking for a good excuse to use the new tools he got for Christmas anyway.

Voyager

This is the log of the Elliott ship "Voyager" and it's continuing mission to...wait, wrong show. So we bought a new used van less than a week after Christmas. Our old one was having serious mechanical trouble. Sometimes it wouldn't start. Mostly, it would start, but only creep forward in "drive". We had to shift it into the "2" position to make it actually get up and go.

We think God had it all planned out. We were meaning to buy a new van in February since Daniel's company was supposed to be giving him a "thanks for sticking it out through the merger" bonus of a few thousand dollars. Instead, the money showed up in our bank account 3 days after Christmas...exactly when our van was in it's worst death throes. We priced vans online and then went out to look around. Most of the 1999-2000 year vans were in the $7,000 range according to Kelly Blue Book and other online sites, and we simply didn't have that much money. But, thanks be to God, the first dealership we checked, around the corner from our house, had just gotten a 1999 Plymouth Voyager and they were willing to sell it to us for just under $5,000 with our trade-ins.

Seriously, I love this vehicle. It's not only beautiful, and newer than our last van, but it's got all kinds of fun extra features and the mileage was less than 100,000 miles which is rare for a 6 year old van. We were able to pay all but a few hundred dollars of it in cash, which is very important to us since we are working hard to become debt free. (Thank you, Dave Ramsey! http://www.daveramsey.com/) Now we also have a much safer vehicle to travel to Texas with next week to see Daniel's brother, Ben. Can you say, "relief"?

What a RACQUET!

The girls and I gave Daniel a new racquetball racquet and balls for Christmas, so he just had to try them out with his dad while we were visiting! We went to the Cushing Youth Center after saying goodbye to the Moffetts and the Maxwells in Stillwater.

We watched Daniel and Grandpa Wayne play for a while, and I even took a turn for a few minutes! Poor Wayne kept falling down and once even slammed his head into the glass wall! Then Daniel hit his dad in the back with a ball...OUCH! But despite Daniel's wild dives and Wayne's crashes, they both were having a blast! Once Daniel leapt backwards and the ball flew so close in front of his belly that if he hadn't just lost 30 lbs he definitely would have been hit! After they were done playing we went out to eat at a new deli in Cushing called Neipheh's.

Daniel, with his new gear, is set now for upcoming games with the two Mike's from our church. Hopefully he'll get lots of chances to play since it's such a great aerobic sport for him. He's set a goal to be at his target weight before his next birthday. I think he'll be there waaay before then!

Joe and Arlene Moffett

On Tuesday after lunch we went to visit Daniel's grandparents. They were a little overwhelmed with 9 great grandkids decending on their little room. They gave each of the kids a stuffed animal for Christmas.

We all went outside to give the kids a little room to run around. Then the kids sang songs for their great grandparents that they had practiced including a couple that Danya had just taught her cousins. They were incredibly cute and caught the attention of several people passing by.

Great-grandma Arlene's hair has grown very long lately and she was wearing a new headband that Jennie had sent her. She had a wild time trying to hold each of the babies, Jadon and Jordan, since they were being very wiggly! It was fun to think that next year Joe and Arlene will have 10 great grandkids visiting at Christmas time! (and 11 all together if Shalom were there) Well, fun for me to imagine, but maybe a little overwhelming for them. I think all the other residents were amazed at the number of children pouring out of the Moffetts' room!

Granny Jo and Family at Christmas

This year I got a wonderful gift. My family came over to Daniel's parents house while we were there on the day after Christmas. My Dad, Mom, Aunt Kathy, and cousin Melissa all showed up with gifts and hugs. I even managed to get a picture of each of them! I'm posting some of them here for my little sister Toni, who says I never post pictures of our family on my blog.

Everything went really well! They all arrived just as we were opening gifts with the Maxwells and Daniel's parents. It couldn't have been better timing! Dad spent time talking with Wayne about work stuff...oil rigs, depth measuring tools for concrete and asphalt, you know, guy stuff. The funniest part was when one of the little twins, Jordan I think, crawled over to "Grandpa Clint" and demanded to be picked up. My dad looked a little shocked, but he obeyed the little prince, lol.

Aunt Kathy and my mom really enjoyed getting to see each other. I was surprised Kathy was even home, since I thought she was visiting her son, Shane, in Enid. She brought a huge box of clothing for Robin and her girls, and cute little Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears dinnerware sets for Danya and Gloria. Here's a picture, left to right, of my Aunt Kathy, my mom "Granny Jo", me, and Danya.

Christmas in the "Hood"

Here are the 5 oldest Maxwells (with Gloria and Danya on either end of the girls) in their new Christmas hoodies from Aunt Jennie!

These came in extraordinarily handy the very next day when we went to visit their great grandparents and spent a little time outside. It was pretty windy and everyone ran for jackets.

Speaking of extremely cute and fashionable clothing, the Maxwell twins were looking pretty adorable in their matching OU Sooner outfits! All the Maxwell boys seemed to be wearing Sooner fan gear, but I never did learn whether they were new Christmas presents or not. I have to post this photo of the twins in their OU outfits. And I issue anyone reading this post a challenge: if you think you have a picture of a baby from Christmas this year that is cuter than this one of my nephews, please tell me about it in the comments and post a link so that I can see it and scoff...I mean admire it. Because, seriously, these are the most attractive babies ever!

Madam Fifi's Gift

This year there was a special surprise gift from Madam Fifi. The girls were surprised to see her name appear on one of the gifts under the tree a couple of weeks ago. They know that Madam Fifi is the name of the nice lady who looks just like mommy but talks with a (bad) British accent while playing beauty shop with them, but why would she give them a Christmas present?

On Christmas morning it was one of the first to be opened. Inside they found all sorts of beauty supplies like glitter lip gloss, fancy nail files, purple nail clippers, lotion and more! It was all inside a brand new pink and blue denim makeup kit.

I was glad that they finally got their looong toe nails clipped when Madam Fifi made an appearance later that afternoon. The girls enjoyed getting the whole "spa" treatment including lotion rubbed on their FEET which was a novel experience! The girls received even more beauty products from Granny Jo the next day, so they are definitely set for the new year.

On the right is a picture of Danya trying out the new fluffy blush brush on Gloria. They had broken their old one and were in need of a new one.

Santa Wuz Here

Yes, Santa delivered on schedule this year. We knew the presents were from him because they were the only two wrapped in Santa Claus wrapping paper. The girls were ecstatic to see the two mystery gifts that appeared on Christmas morning and couldn't wait to open them! He gave Gloria a new keyboard with microphone and Danya got a blue Doodlebear just like she asked him for. Unfortunately, Gloria's requested trampoline didn't make an appearance.

Danya informed me upon waking that she was very disappointed that she didn't hear sleigh bells outside her bedroom window this year like she did last year. I guess the "elves" made a mistake this year and forgot to pick some up for the sleigh. We'll ask Santa to remedy that next year.

'Twas the Night before Christmas

This year on Christmas eve we let the girls open their stockings and one gift from under the tree. Gloria figured out the truth quickly and realized that if she just kept an eye on what Danya was opening, she would soon be getting the exact same thing, just in a different color. Smart kid.

So they both got hairbrushes, bows, fancy hair bands, lip gloss, mini flashlights, packs of cards, candy, and various other little items. You can also see their annual gift of new pajamas in this photo. This year they received "Hello Kitty" P.J.'s which they absolutely loved.

Happy Christmas Eve!

For Christmas Eve today we took silly Santa hat photos. The girls thought it was hilarious! I told them if they'd let me take one nice smiling photo of them each in the hat, then we'd take silly photos.

Daniel helped me wrap some little presents for their stockings and finish stuffing them this morning so that tonight, when he wakes up, we can open them. The girls are attempting to be on their best behaviour so that they can open their stockings, get their new pajamas, and each open one gift from under the tree tonight. Danya got to help stuff the stockings a little the other night. In her Awanas program they've been earning points all semester, which she got to use to buy Christmas presents at church. She came home with lots of little things like candy, coloring books, and toys to put into her families stockings. I told her to put a few in her own stocking, too. She had so much fun putting gifts in that she had earned and paid for all by herself!

Elliott's Amazing!

Daniel and I went to a movie, just the two of us, the other day in Tulsa. We saw "The Family Stone", which was pretty darn funny. Afterwards we stopped into a Barnes and Noble for a snack and to pick up a new workbook for Danya. At the snack counter we found these bottles of juice called "Elliott's Amazing" all natural juices. I managed to spill most of mine all across the table, but thankfully didn't get my Rice Krispy treats wet. We took a picture of the bottles because it's fun to find something with our last name on it!

We had to really search to find a comprehensive workbook for Danya. She has mastered all the Kindergarten and first grade work, so we got her a 2nd grade book. She's really enjoying it! I imagine she'll have it completed before the end of this school year. I told Daniel at this rate we'll have her graduating by the time she's 10! I don't want to hold her back, but this seems a little ridiculous! I think it did make him feel better to look through the Kindergarten and first grade work and realize that she already knows all of it. He seems worried sometimes that we're not doing enough, but the truth is that schoolwork/learning is accomplished so much faster in homeschool than in public school.

Yesterday, since Daniel and I weren't expecting them to do much school work two days before Christmas, the girls took matters into their own hands! Danya wrote and illustrated a beauty magazine, with articles about nail polish, hair color, lipstick, and more! It was awesome! Then they put on a play of the Christmas story complete with baby Jesus coming out from under Gloria's shirt. (Have I mentioned what a good little actress Danya is becoming?) We finished reading C. S. Lewis' "Prince Caspian" this week, too. Then Gloria read "I Can Do It, Myself" to Danya completely from memory. Oh, and they developed their own exercise program in the living room this week. It wears me out just watching them! Kids are amazing!

Aunt Jennie - We Love You!

It was so much fun getting a surprise package from Daniel's sister, Jennie! The girls were shocked and I was excited to see that I actually got the most presents!! She included some "baby gifts" which turned out to be maternity clothes for me. I've been wearing the purple Old Navy shirt everywhere, by the way, Jen! And the pants came just in time because I'm already expanding.

Daniel's shirt is too big because he shrunk lately, but he plans to get a duplicate in a medium after Christmas. His exact words when he saw the shirt were, "Jennie always hooks me up!" (referring to clothing) I about fell over laughing to hear him use a phrase like that!

Aunt Jennie truly is the best in the family at getting great gifts and remembering everyone's birthdays and anniversaries and such. Unfortunately for Jennie, her big brother Daniel is one of the worst. He admitted to me this morning that although he THOUGHT he'd mailed out all the Christmas cards like I asked him to, somehow he found the card for Jennie & Matt in our van today. So, Jennie, we're sorry, but yours will be a little late this year. Feel free to kick Daniel.

Friends at the Holidays!

It's a good feeling, watching our girls get older and developing friendships. I wonder, looking at them with their friends from church and our neighborhood, whether they will still all be friends as teenagers, having sleepovers and talking about boys more than dolls. I also wonder how much their friendships are based upon whether their parents are friends or not.

The other day Gloria went to a friend's birthday party all by herself. We dropped her off before the party and picked her up afterwards. Daniel arranged it all. He thought later that I was upset with him for making plans without checking with me...but that wasn't it at all. What had me on the brink of tears was that my baby was growing up! I'm not ready for her to be so independent! I'm not ready for their friends' opinions to matter more than their mom's. I'm not ready for their own fashion in clothing to be more important than Barbie's. I am sooo not ready for the Christmas that their wish list consists entirely of clothing and electronics, or the first birthday where they ask me to just give them cash.

Gloria asks me why I still call her "baby" sometimes. I've told her that she's stuck with it. She and Danya will be my babies for life. Although my grip will loosen, I'll never completely let go.

Reading Power!

After my doctor's visit we took the girls to the downtown Tulsa Central Library. We picked up some new books for this week in homeschool. We've chosen to learn about the ocean and it's creatures. While we were there at the library we read a book about whales.

Danya and Gloria also each picked out some regular reading books. Danya was excited to find an entire bookshelf full of beginning reader books that she can read! I recently re-read the Oklahoma Dept. of Education's list of skills a Kindergartner should have mastered by the end of the school year. It was pretty exciting to see how she was blowing their list out of the water!

As a matter of fact, Gloria has actually mastered almost all of the Kindergarten level skills! She's still working on alphabet letter recognition, so we'll continue to focus on that for the remainder of the school year. She can already read and write several small words like: love, daddy, mommy, go, I, and her own and her sister's names, but that's more memorization than actual phonics awareness.

Currently, her favorite thing is lists. She asks me to write a list of things for her to do and then she makes a box with a checkmark in it next to each task as she completes it. If I can't think of any jobs she gives me suggestions! Last night Daniel and the girls helped me get the whole house clean (amidst much grumping and tears), so today she was disappointed that I didn't have anything new to put on a list for her. So she suggested she clean her room a little more. You can bet I wasn't about to argue, lol!

Oh, Baby!

Here's a picture of me outside my doctor's office holding the first ultrasound photos of our little Elliott-in-progress. This appointment went much better than our last 5 hour ordeal. I got some more samples of those chewable prenatal vitamins. Mostly we were just relieved to see the baby alive and well.

The day before my appointment I had woken up with some light bleeding which, as you can imagine, scared me somewhat. Dr. Christy assured us everything looks good and we even got to hear the little heartbeat. Our next visit is scheduled for January 10th. Our doctor is nice enough to do an ultrasound at every visit usually, so we might be able to see by then whether we're having a girl or a boy. Either way, at least now we know it's only one baby. Dr. Christy said that I'm just showing sooner because this is my third child. So it's on to maternity pants for me!