I just wanted to post the video with the changes coming in 2009 to Math-U-See... We, both the children and their parents!!, love this curriculum. Their dad went through school with lots of math, not only in high school, but also in college. He is a mechanical engineer :-)
So here it is, the coming changes :-) If you haven't used Math-U-See in the past and you are looking for a great, easy to use, yet challenging Math curriculum... you just might want to check into Math-U-See!!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Home Depot Gift Card Giveaway!!!
Hey ya'll... Check out this site and enter to win a $100 Home Depot Gift Card! It is quick and easy to enter and who couldn't spend $100 this time of year at a great store like Home Depot?!
Check it out... http://www.mommieswithcents.com/2008/12/giveaway-in-honor-of-our-1000th-post.html
If the link does not work, just go to www. mommieswithcents.com
Good Luck!!
Check it out... http://www.mommieswithcents.com/2008/12/giveaway-in-honor-of-our-1000th-post.html
If the link does not work, just go to www. mommieswithcents.com
Good Luck!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Football Update...
Well Sean and Corben are both big Dallas Cowboy fans and Logan is a big time Minnesota Vikings fan... Just thought you would all like to know that both teams played yesterday and beat the teams they were playing!!! (Sorry about your Cardinals Steve :-)
We keep teasing it would be interesting to see the Vikings and Cowboys at the Super Bowl... not sure if that is possible, but it would make for an interesting day in our home!!!
We keep teasing it would be interesting to see the Vikings and Cowboys at the Super Bowl... not sure if that is possible, but it would make for an interesting day in our home!!!
Sean participating with the Civil Air Patrol...
This past weekend, Sean along with his Civil Air Patrol squadron participated in the laying of the wreaths ceremony through a program called Wreaths Across America at a cemetary in Keokuk, IA. What a great way to remember those soldiers that so bravely fought for our country throughout years gone by.
Check it out here at www.keokukradio.com
Check it out here at www.keokukradio.com
Thursday, December 11, 2008
HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!!
As our children turn 10 years old it has become our tradition to do something BIG for them. We felt that when our oldest turned 10 it was a big deal... no more single digets! So our oldest, Sean was turning 10 about the same time that Cyndi's parents were renewing their vows with a second wedding ceremony. It was decided that Sean would be the ring bearer since he was the oldest grandson. Originally it was going to be just Cyndi and her sister traveling to Maryland to be a part of the ceremony, however we decided that could be Sean's 10th birthday gift. So he got to ride on a commercial airplane and spend 1 full week with just mom and his grandparents. He was the only child around, so he was spoiled rotten! He was also taken to the Baltimore Aquarium with his Uncle Brian and family.
Corben turned 10 in 2007. He wanted to go on a motorcycle ride with daddy for his birthday. So everything was set up and away Corben went with daddy to some good friends of ours, The Smays! Corben rode many, many miles on the cycle in one weekend. He was able to check out the back of a couple different bikes as he rode behind daddy's Suzuki and a couple full dress Harley's. Daddy was even able to find Corben a black leather coat and black boots at a local Goodwill!!
This year Logan turned 10! We were undecided on what to do and Logan had no idea what he wanted to do for his birthday. He said he wanted both mom and dad to go and do whatever it was we would do to celebrate his birthday. Some good friends of ours suggested a Minnesota Vikings football game. That would be perfect as Logan is a huge fan... THANKS LANE :-) So Ed checked into tickets. We knew we would not be able to spend much, but thanks to e-bay... we got great deals for tickets. We set things up with friends to keep the other kiddo's and the dogs. We went to church as normal secretly telling the other four children what would be happening as Ed and I would be taking Logan and leaving and the others would be leaving with friends. We loaded up in the vehicle and off we drove... Logan did figure things out knowing that the big game between the Chicago Bears and the Vikings was that evening and we had him wear one of his Viking Jersey's! We had a great time together, it was a neat experience seeing an NFL football game in the dome!! We were quite thankful for the dome considering the temperatures were like in the 20's at the highest!!
Here are some pictures of the trip and Logan's big day. He actually turned 10 yesterday and so the first couple of pictures are of his cake that we enjoyed here at home last night. The other children decided it would be fun to make a purple and yellow cake... so Sean mixed up a white cake mix, we split the mix in two and colored 1/2 purple and the other 1/2 yellow. Then we baked the multi colored cake. Sean frosted it with lemon frosting (yellow of course) and then I taught him how to make homemade frosting that we colored purple and Sean wrote on the top :-) Memories!!!
Corben turned 10 in 2007. He wanted to go on a motorcycle ride with daddy for his birthday. So everything was set up and away Corben went with daddy to some good friends of ours, The Smays! Corben rode many, many miles on the cycle in one weekend. He was able to check out the back of a couple different bikes as he rode behind daddy's Suzuki and a couple full dress Harley's. Daddy was even able to find Corben a black leather coat and black boots at a local Goodwill!!
This year Logan turned 10! We were undecided on what to do and Logan had no idea what he wanted to do for his birthday. He said he wanted both mom and dad to go and do whatever it was we would do to celebrate his birthday. Some good friends of ours suggested a Minnesota Vikings football game. That would be perfect as Logan is a huge fan... THANKS LANE :-) So Ed checked into tickets. We knew we would not be able to spend much, but thanks to e-bay... we got great deals for tickets. We set things up with friends to keep the other kiddo's and the dogs. We went to church as normal secretly telling the other four children what would be happening as Ed and I would be taking Logan and leaving and the others would be leaving with friends. We loaded up in the vehicle and off we drove... Logan did figure things out knowing that the big game between the Chicago Bears and the Vikings was that evening and we had him wear one of his Viking Jersey's! We had a great time together, it was a neat experience seeing an NFL football game in the dome!! We were quite thankful for the dome considering the temperatures were like in the 20's at the highest!!
Here are some pictures of the trip and Logan's big day. He actually turned 10 yesterday and so the first couple of pictures are of his cake that we enjoyed here at home last night. The other children decided it would be fun to make a purple and yellow cake... so Sean mixed up a white cake mix, we split the mix in two and colored 1/2 purple and the other 1/2 yellow. Then we baked the multi colored cake. Sean frosted it with lemon frosting (yellow of course) and then I taught him how to make homemade frosting that we colored purple and Sean wrote on the top :-) Memories!!!
Christmas Time is Coming...
We are a bit late in getting up our decorations, but gosh we have just been so busy lately! We put up the tree (an artificial one) with a few problems! We got all the tubs down from the top of the garage.
Upon going through all them we were unable to find the base to the tree. We tried a couple different things and nothing seemed to work. So our tree is now up... in the corner rather than in front of the large window where we typically place it. It is in the corner where is is resting among the two walls! We decorated it and it looks good there, however we are sure to have a disasterous fall before Christmas actually arrives!!
Here are a few pics of the decorating process :0) It is so peaceful to sit of an evening in the living room with the lights lite up as we strung a set in the kitchen around the large window and around the front door and then on the tree. We also had a few other light up decorations that were placed in the living room area. It is a lot like sitting in candlelight of an evening :-)
Upon going through all them we were unable to find the base to the tree. We tried a couple different things and nothing seemed to work. So our tree is now up... in the corner rather than in front of the large window where we typically place it. It is in the corner where is is resting among the two walls! We decorated it and it looks good there, however we are sure to have a disasterous fall before Christmas actually arrives!!
Here are a few pics of the decorating process :0) It is so peaceful to sit of an evening in the living room with the lights lite up as we strung a set in the kitchen around the large window and around the front door and then on the tree. We also had a few other light up decorations that were placed in the living room area. It is a lot like sitting in candlelight of an evening :-)
Dink goes to a new home...
We are a family with dogs... We originally had an Australian Shepherd Blue Merle named Emily. She was a great house dog. She hearded the children a bit if they ran in the house, but would never mess in the house and was just SO polite. She was not a playful dog with toys or balls, but was just what I consider a "perfect" dog. Well, we lost her a few years ago due to cancer. It was the hardest loss our family has ever dealt with.
Soon after losing Emily, we decided we would again get a Blue Merle Aussie. After searching the rescue sites, we found Gumbo. The two oldest boys joined 4-H and so it was our goal to get a dog that would be the boys' dog. Gumbo became Sean's dog, our oldest son. The two of them are inseparable! Sean is a great dog owner, he does excellent at taking care of Gumbo!! Gumbo is very keyed into Sean. They have brought home a 1st place award the past two years from showing in 4-H.
We decided Corben could have a dog as he too was wanting to show in 4-H. So again, we went searching the rescue sites. Dink was the choice.. he was close as he was located in a shelter near our home. So off we went to get Dink. We took Gumbo along so they could meet each other. They did just great at the shelter, so we adopted Dink. He was a good boy. He never messed in the home and he was just SO ball/frisbee crazy he made us laugh each time we entered the backyard. Dink, however, decided he needed to protect Corben anytime they were in public... especially around other dogs. Dink would lunge and attack other dogs whenever Corben had him out and about. It was very stressful for everyone. They made it through 4-H the first year without any major upsets, but there were a lot of tears and hard times. We put Dink and Corben through an obedience class where it was determined Dink should not be a 4-H dog with Corben. Dink did well with Ed at the end of the leash, he was a lot more calm. So we decided for Dink to have a happy, healthy life we would find a new home for him. Another difficult decision, but one that we felt would be better for Dink and his future. We camp each year and Dink would just want to attack any and all dogs that came into our sight. We also travel with all our dogs and it was very difficult since our grandparents, siblings, and such all have dogs also.
We also have Blaze, who is Logan's dog. We got Blaze knowing we were getting rid of Dink... however we have had all three dogs together for a year before finding a good home for Dink. Logan and Blaze are also very keyed into one another. Logan takes pride in training Blaze! This spring/summer will be Logan and Blaze's first appearance together in 4-H. Blaze did go last year with Corben showing him and he did well, they took home 1st place in one of the competitions. It will be interesting seeing Blaze and Logan together as they are partners! Corben has decided to do dogless dog for his 4-H project this coming year. He has not decided what to do yet, but I wouldn't doubt if it would be something to do with his experience with Dink!
Dink went to his new home this past weekend. We were very sad to loose him as a member of our family, but we are very grateful to the family that Dink has joined! Adam and Dink hit is off from the start! Adam is an adult male and that is exactly what Dink seem's to need. Adam seemed very determined and "in-charge" from the start! God was very good at pairing the two of them up together!! We now look forward to the updates from Adam and Jamie as Dink goes into his future.
Here are a few pictures of the kiddo's playing with Dink in the backyard the day before we took him to his new family. Dink is SO ball crazy... the kids sat on the sled, held onto Dink's leash and threw the ball... away Dink went in the snow. Dink would just beg and beg for more, he is such a playful dog!! The last one is of Adam his new owner.
Soon after losing Emily, we decided we would again get a Blue Merle Aussie. After searching the rescue sites, we found Gumbo. The two oldest boys joined 4-H and so it was our goal to get a dog that would be the boys' dog. Gumbo became Sean's dog, our oldest son. The two of them are inseparable! Sean is a great dog owner, he does excellent at taking care of Gumbo!! Gumbo is very keyed into Sean. They have brought home a 1st place award the past two years from showing in 4-H.
We decided Corben could have a dog as he too was wanting to show in 4-H. So again, we went searching the rescue sites. Dink was the choice.. he was close as he was located in a shelter near our home. So off we went to get Dink. We took Gumbo along so they could meet each other. They did just great at the shelter, so we adopted Dink. He was a good boy. He never messed in the home and he was just SO ball/frisbee crazy he made us laugh each time we entered the backyard. Dink, however, decided he needed to protect Corben anytime they were in public... especially around other dogs. Dink would lunge and attack other dogs whenever Corben had him out and about. It was very stressful for everyone. They made it through 4-H the first year without any major upsets, but there were a lot of tears and hard times. We put Dink and Corben through an obedience class where it was determined Dink should not be a 4-H dog with Corben. Dink did well with Ed at the end of the leash, he was a lot more calm. So we decided for Dink to have a happy, healthy life we would find a new home for him. Another difficult decision, but one that we felt would be better for Dink and his future. We camp each year and Dink would just want to attack any and all dogs that came into our sight. We also travel with all our dogs and it was very difficult since our grandparents, siblings, and such all have dogs also.
We also have Blaze, who is Logan's dog. We got Blaze knowing we were getting rid of Dink... however we have had all three dogs together for a year before finding a good home for Dink. Logan and Blaze are also very keyed into one another. Logan takes pride in training Blaze! This spring/summer will be Logan and Blaze's first appearance together in 4-H. Blaze did go last year with Corben showing him and he did well, they took home 1st place in one of the competitions. It will be interesting seeing Blaze and Logan together as they are partners! Corben has decided to do dogless dog for his 4-H project this coming year. He has not decided what to do yet, but I wouldn't doubt if it would be something to do with his experience with Dink!
Dink went to his new home this past weekend. We were very sad to loose him as a member of our family, but we are very grateful to the family that Dink has joined! Adam and Dink hit is off from the start! Adam is an adult male and that is exactly what Dink seem's to need. Adam seemed very determined and "in-charge" from the start! God was very good at pairing the two of them up together!! We now look forward to the updates from Adam and Jamie as Dink goes into his future.
Here are a few pictures of the kiddo's playing with Dink in the backyard the day before we took him to his new family. Dink is SO ball crazy... the kids sat on the sled, held onto Dink's leash and threw the ball... away Dink went in the snow. Dink would just beg and beg for more, he is such a playful dog!! The last one is of Adam his new owner.
Eye Doctor...
The past couple of weeks we had appointments for all five of the children to have their eyes checked. Sean and Corben both had glasses for reading, television, computer and other such close things. We were pleased that none of the 5 children NEED glasses at this time! They all had the joy of getting their eyes dialated so the doctor could check them further. The reactions were so different! Those drops sting or burn a bit... there were tears from some, pain sounds from others, and no reaction for another :-) The doctor was GREAT with each and every one of the children!!
Here is Logan, Brekyn, and Griffin stylin' in thier "sunglasses" that were given to block the sunlight and the glares from the snow since they had their eyes dialated!
Here is Logan, Brekyn, and Griffin stylin' in thier "sunglasses" that were given to block the sunlight and the glares from the snow since they had their eyes dialated!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Our First Wrestling Tournament of 2008
This year we have all four of our boys in wrestling.
The first tournament can be a tough one as the boys are anxious as they begin the year. Daddy and Mommy both get anxious for them, not knowing who they will be paired with and how they will react throughout the day. Grandpa and Grandma were both able to make the trip from Branson up to watch the boys wrestle. It was a long day as usual, but everyone made it through :-)
Griffin did well. This was a day where he seemed to take things seriously :-) Ya never know if Grif will go out there and wrestle hard or just enjoy the day and his time on the mat :-) He took 2nd place... he was pinned by his first guy, but then he came back strong and pinned his next two guys... WAY TO GO GRIFFIN!!
Logan knew once the pairings were finished that he had one tough guy from his past. He was not sure of the other two as he had not wrestled them before. He had the "tough guy" first. He went out there and gave it his all!! He had been pinned in a past match against this guy, but this day he was able to hold him all three rounds. He lost to this one guy and then came back to pin his next two guys, putting one in a cradle :-) Logan took home 2nd place. GREAT WRESTLING LOGAN!!
Corben is a fighter/lover :-) He has a soft heart, but he is learning to get into the game. Each match he gets tougher, smarter, stronger... Corben was paired up with some very tough guys this past weekend. He gave everything on the mat, but it just wasn't enough to take home a win, he took 4th. He did learn a lot during each match and plans to take what was learned into the next tournament. CORBEN WAY TO WRESTLE HARD!!
Sean did not show an interest in wrestling for the first year, last year he talked a bit about joining and took part in one tournament towards the end of the year to see if it was something he would want to do. This year he decided to do the weekend tournaments with the youth league that goes from Pre-K through 8th grade. He has lots of learning and catching up to do, but he is getting lots of exercise and seems to be enjoying it at this time. Sean had to wrestle a girl this past weekend, something some guys dread, and other think of as a challenge. Sean dreaded it knowing he has not done well in the tournaments. Unfortunately, he was not able to take home a win, but he is learning and that is what counts!!! Sean brought home 4th place. WAY TO STICK WITH IT SEAN!!
The first tournament can be a tough one as the boys are anxious as they begin the year. Daddy and Mommy both get anxious for them, not knowing who they will be paired with and how they will react throughout the day. Grandpa and Grandma were both able to make the trip from Branson up to watch the boys wrestle. It was a long day as usual, but everyone made it through :-)
Griffin did well. This was a day where he seemed to take things seriously :-) Ya never know if Grif will go out there and wrestle hard or just enjoy the day and his time on the mat :-) He took 2nd place... he was pinned by his first guy, but then he came back strong and pinned his next two guys... WAY TO GO GRIFFIN!!
Logan knew once the pairings were finished that he had one tough guy from his past. He was not sure of the other two as he had not wrestled them before. He had the "tough guy" first. He went out there and gave it his all!! He had been pinned in a past match against this guy, but this day he was able to hold him all three rounds. He lost to this one guy and then came back to pin his next two guys, putting one in a cradle :-) Logan took home 2nd place. GREAT WRESTLING LOGAN!!
Corben is a fighter/lover :-) He has a soft heart, but he is learning to get into the game. Each match he gets tougher, smarter, stronger... Corben was paired up with some very tough guys this past weekend. He gave everything on the mat, but it just wasn't enough to take home a win, he took 4th. He did learn a lot during each match and plans to take what was learned into the next tournament. CORBEN WAY TO WRESTLE HARD!!
Sean did not show an interest in wrestling for the first year, last year he talked a bit about joining and took part in one tournament towards the end of the year to see if it was something he would want to do. This year he decided to do the weekend tournaments with the youth league that goes from Pre-K through 8th grade. He has lots of learning and catching up to do, but he is getting lots of exercise and seems to be enjoying it at this time. Sean had to wrestle a girl this past weekend, something some guys dread, and other think of as a challenge. Sean dreaded it knowing he has not done well in the tournaments. Unfortunately, he was not able to take home a win, but he is learning and that is what counts!!! Sean brought home 4th place. WAY TO STICK WITH IT SEAN!!
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