Sweetheart math

One of the advantages of homeschooling, is the flexibility to teach in whatever way your child learns best. Tyler is VERY hands-on, so... we made math more fun and tasty by using sweeethearts to comprehend mulitiplication. Tyler really enjoyed being able to eat his math when he finished and I enjoyed that he worked them so fast, so he could eat them of course.

Another advantage of homeschooling

...is the special time my boys get to spend together. Most of you know Tyler already and know that he is a VERY active boy. To get through his "class work" we take frequent breaks. The breaks consist of anything from manipulating theraputty to dancing around the house with Caiden! Yesterday, Angela sent us the boom, boom song and the boys LOVED it! They danced around and karate chopped the air. Everything Tyler did, Caiden did...go figure! I just wanted to share these "dancing photos." I hope you enjoy!

So far so good

Well, we have been homeschooling for 2 weeks now and everything seems to be going great! We have been learning about weather, nutrition, and of course math! Today is library day. I think we will start learning about the human body. We'll see what great books we find today!

This weekend was very busy even though my photo shoot was canceled. We spent Sat. being lazy around the house because of the nasty rain. However, Sun. we took advantage of the sun peeking out. We went out to the park and played for quite a bit. Caiden really enjoyed himself and I think Kyle found it funny watching me squeeze through all those child sized tunnels trying to keep up with him! Oh well, we all had fun and that is what matters!

Happy new year

We wanted to wish everyone a happy New Year from our family. This new year has brought about many changes in our household. For starters, Tyler is now being homeschooled. At first I was a little nervous to say the least, but after the first day, I'm sure we'll do great. I really enjoy the extra time with him; and, he and Caiden have more time together as well to enjoy the really important things in life.







For our first lesson, we decided to use the book "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" as our theme. We were able to incorporate weather, news reporting, nutrition, community service, and recycling all into that theme. He has thus far enjoyed homeschooling. We are both really looking forward to the culmination of this lesson though because I have bought the movie to celebrate!

As for Caiden, well, he has some news of his own. Caiden is officially potty training. He was so excited about his potty that he got for Chirstmas that he couldn't wait to start using it. We have been using it since Christmas. But the past couple of days, he has actually been telling me he needs to go. Not every time, but I try and take him in between his frequent requests. He has decided that diapers are for babies and he won't lay down to put them on. So I either had to physically hold him down to put it on, let him run around naked, or put him in pullups. Hmmm, tough choice, but we went with the pull ups. He loves being able to put them on by himself and they even had monster trucks on them, an added bonus for a truckloving boy. Hopefully he'll be trained rather quickly as potty training is my LEAST favorite part of caring for children.

Long time no blog...

So, I haven't been the best at keeping up with my blog, but I am going to try to do better. I love that family far away can keep up with us online.

So what's been happening lately? Well, for starters, we had a wonderful Christmas. Kyle's parents came in around the middle of the month. We had such a great visit with them.






The boys really enjoyed their early Chirstmas also. I thought once Caiden got into the gift opening, he wouldn't stop. But, to my surprise, he never touhed the gifts under the tree.






We got to celebrate Grandma's birthday with her this year. What a treat. The boys loved being able to be with her on her birthday and the cake was delicious too!





Then Tyler and grandma had some special time together making gingerbread cookies. Tyler really enjoyed rolling out the dough and cutting out the cookies. Caiden and Tylelr had fun decorating, but I really enjoyed eating them.





Christmas eve, we celebrated at my dad's house with my family. Once again, the boys had a blast and enjoyed seeing all of our relatives. Then of course we ended the night with the reading of Twas the night before Christmas, putting out cookies for Santa, and sprinkling our reideer food outside.



Caiden really enjoys playing with his Paw paw. Don't tell anyone, but I'm pretty sure his Paw paw enjoys it too!

Tyler is such a cutie. He was really excited about the visit from the big man!

My siblings and I haven't had a good picture in a long time. So we decided to "get it over with" tonight. The only problem is that the man behind the camera, my dad, should have jumped in this picture, but with everyone rushing to start the festivities, we didn't get around to it. Well, guys prepare to take another one in May when everyone is in town for Kim's graduation.

Christmas morning the boys were so funny. I think Santa really got it right this year! Tyler got a skateboard from Santa, and of course elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards, etc.... He is really enjoying learning how to use it.



Caiden got a "tractora" which he can't get enough of. Everytime we pull in the driveway, he starts calling for it! When we took our Christmas morning pictures, he wouldn't even get off of it, so we just posed him on his tractor right int he middle of us all!





Kyle and I really enjoyed seeing the boys so happy.









Tyler did a little shopping on his own. His school hosts a "Santa shop" where the kids can buy gifts for family or themselves. Kyle and I usuallly take Tyler shopping for each other, so we just gave Tyler a few dollars and told him to get something for himself. But he really got into the Christmas spirit and bought Kyle and I each keychains, and a beanbag lizard for his baby brother.

Caiden got his potty for Christmas. He was so excited about it, it makes cool truck and tractor sounds when you potty, that he wouldn't get off of it. He actually finished opening presents on his potty.