Saturday Chores & Free Printable

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More printables here!

I needed a good Saturday chore list so I went ahead and made one.  I told the kids a super special surprise would be taped on their door in the morning and they went to sleep all excited about the possibilities.  

I'm really lucky my kids have a good sense of humor because otherwise I would have been in serious trouble.  But they were good about it and it didn't hurt that we promised swimming at grandma's after they were done. 

Here you go, have fun putting those kids to work!

Saturday Chores Card

You'll shoot your eye out.

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Who said they could give my kid a gun?!  Oh, wait, that was me.  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!  I'll call you  to take him to the emergency room when he shoots his eye out, mkay?

Ethan's 9th birthday was awesome!  Thanks to everybody for coming out and making his 'family party' fun.  (the kid wanted a friend party but we hate doing those and we don't like any of his friends anyway)  

just kidding

It just wasn't his year for one.  Picture overload!

I love how everybody gives my kids JUNK FOOD.  That was sarcastic, by the way.

I have to explain this one because it's HIL-AR-IOUS.  When Ethan opened Sean & Becky's present he thought he got a box of Cheerios, but inside were two pringles cans.  We had fun laughing that night at how perfectly awesome it would have been if they took out the pringles and put cheerios in the cans.  Haha.  

BeyBlades OUT, Ninjago IN.  It's just how we roll around here.

Thanks Gramscilla for getting him THE coolest ninjago jet.  He brought it to school and was the most popular kid for a day.

He also got his WOLF!  And in honor of graduating to a BEAR, he got to eat gummy worms in pudding.  Not quite sure why, but HEY, it's cubscouts.  Anything goes.

This kid is seriously THE BEST.  He is so sweet and loves to hug me, even in public and I'm gonna make that last as long as I can!  He's a great helper and funny as heck.

Gearing up for the Summer

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The kids are out of school and I have OFFICIALLY decided to homeschool. 

 *YAY* (gulp)  

All kidding aside, it really does feel like the right choice for our family right now.  But before we delve into the homeschool arena, we are gonna enjoy our summer!  A couple years ago, I started the tradition of making a summer calendar.  This year I made it a little cuter by putting vinyl on it using the font Rebekah's Birthday  (no Becky it wasn't named after you) and sticking some googly eyes on it.  We have so much fun filling in all the activities and vacations & most importantly, it keeps the kids from asking all sorts of crazy questions about what we're doing and where we're going.  Sheesh.  It worked really well last year and the year before.  And it's SUPER fun to look at it at the end of the summer and remember all the fun things we did.  I almost don't wanna throw it away, but my crazy Type-A, organizing personality takes care of that.   

Here's a close up view of our schedule (pronounced SHED-ULE of course).  I've learned from experience to leave it simple.  We'll see how good we are at sticking with it this year.   Don't laugh at the 6am wake-up call, because Kevin did.  We'll show him, won't we kids!

If your more ambitious and you want some ideas on how to plan out the summer, visit my friend, Leah's blog post.  She's a preschool teacher and is great at planning activities for those little stinkers.

Happy Summer Everyone!

Our 2nd fostercare experience AKA breaking my heart.

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Well, I am back and feel like I can talk about our second experience.  Here goes.

In preparing ourselves for the likelihood of raising a drug-exposed child, we have read a great book called, The Mystery of Risk, by Ira Chasnoff and also talked to parents who have raised children with drug or alcohol exposure.  It's a tough thing because raising a child with any exposure of this kind is really like a toss of the dice.  You really won't know until they're older how much it will have an affect on their development.

We have had many calls, but last Monday we got a call about a newborn girl, exposed to drugs, in the hospital ready to go home.  We decided to say yes, but only if we could first go to the hospital and see her before we made a final decision. (Our agency caseworker told us about this little tip)  CPS was in a hurry (like always) and  gave us about 30 min.  We rushed down there and just from talking to the nurse we started to have reservations.  We just didn't feel right about it.  I can't go into all the details about her case, but it left us feeling uneasy.  We held her & fed her but in the end we felt we had to walk away.  We kept thinking about it all night if we did the right thing or not.

The next day we got a similar call about a newborn girl, in the hospital ready to go home, but this time it was different.  She was HEALTHY.  I can't say why she was removed, but she was not drug-exposed, and rights were very likely to be severed and that combination is rare in the fostercare system.

We were SO excited!  We said yes immediately to our agency and hoped CPS would call us because we knew a lot of families would say yes to this one.  They brought her to our home a couple hours later and oh my dear she was adorable!  Instantly I fell in love.  She was such a tiny, sweet little baby.  She was a good eater, a good burper and a great sleeper.  After 2 days, the Rapid Response assessment, and a visit from our agency, we were feeling really good about this!  It just felt right to have her in our home.  Initially, I was worried about a newborn because I haven't done that in years and I wasn't sure how I could cope with the constant care and sleepless nights.  But she was so easy and sweet and I felt so relaxed and calm about it.  It's like riding a bike, I guess, taking care of a newborn.

Then we got a call from CPS at 5pm.  They said a relative stepped forward and wanted her.  They said they'll be by at 9am to pick her up. WHAT?!  We asked CPS if there's anyway we could keep her.  We called our agency and they said the same thing. There wasn't.  Family takes priority.  So, with a heavy heart, we let her go.  It's so sad.  We really were thinking of her as ours, which now we realize we should never do unless they are.   One good thing is that CPS said if they take her away again, she'll come to us first.  I sure hope so.

This experience, although hard, really gives us hope & confidence. Hope in the system and possibility of a child waiting for us.  Confidence in my ability to provide and care for another child.

Our child is out there, we just haven't met her/him yet!

Homeschooling Decision Update

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Boy, have I been researching this homeschooling thing and I gotta say, although it sounds totally awesome and feels right, sometimes I have to check myself before I wreck myself.  Especially with the whole foster/adopt thing that may or may not happen this summer, I have to make sure I don't pile everything on my plate at the same time.  Balance, DaNelle, balance.

I made sure to leave a lot of options open so I can use the summer to make my final decision for this next year.

Here's what I'm a-thinkin'

• Homeschooling. When I read my first homeschooling book, Thomas Jefferson Education, it blew my mind!  Amazing.  I just can't explain how awesome the book is.  It makes you look at your kids education in a totally different way.  Basically, you sit your kid down, ask what they want to learn about and go for it with the help of hundreds of classics and mentors.   And don't forget that "public school for homeschooled kids"  I already signed them up and they are so excited for their classes.  Drama, Lego Robots, Oceanography, heck I want to go to that school!
• The Kimber Academy.  Oh, my goodness, this is an awesome, awesome LDS-based private school.  Only meeting 3 days a week from 8-12, this is a serious consideration in my mind.  They have academies all over the country and are starting one THIS SEPTEMBER in Arizona.  The drawback?  It's costly.  Like $300/month per child costly. They DO have discounts for multiple children and pre-paying for the whole year, but still.  Whoa.  Nevertheless, it is quite amazing and they incorporate Thomas Jefferson Education into their curriculum.  Here's a copy of their curriculum.  It's like BYU for kids.

• Edu-prize. (Quite possibly the hardest name to pronounce EVER! btw.  I had to ask the receptionist like 20 times how to say it) When I announced my intent to possibly homeschool, I had a few people rave about this charter school, especially their TOPS program.  Basically, you can choose to go either 7:30-12:30 or 11:00 to 4:00.  They condense it a little and that REALLY appealed to me.  I went to a tour of the school and I have to say, it's really top-notch.  There are however, some drawbacks.  It's still school, still basically the same curriculum, and the time is only 1.5 hours shorter than where my kids are now.  I went ahead and applied because there was a mob fest of parents signing their kids up and I got stressed.  I still haven't heard anything, but I'm not too heartbroken.  
• Other Charter Schools.  This is really my last option in case nothing else works out and I decide to wait another year before jumping into the homeschooling world.  There are some good ones, but again the curriculum and time are the cons.

Mostly, I'm just grateful I have SO many options!  It's great to feel like I'm taking responsibility for not only my children's education, but also the shaping of their little personalities.  

So, we'll shall see how the summer plays out.  We'll see if we really want to consider The Kimber Academy this year, or if we want to take a year and homeschool (also known as de-schooling).  Either way, I'm sure it'll all work out.   

Celeb Crushes

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I really don't know how or when Kevin & I's celebrity crushes started, but you'd better believe it's serious business in our house!  We each have a list of celebs(under constant scrutiny & subject to change at any moment) we think are adorable, but we spend the majority of our time trying to convince the other of the ugliness of the chosen crushes.  Let me just say we honestly are not critical of normal people.  Just celebrities.  For some reason we feel justified nitpicking every last detail.  Oh it's getting serious here.

 Let's go over Kevin's

Scarlett Johanssen

Seriously Kevin?! Ugh.  I've sent Kevin countless ugly pics of SJ, but he won't budge.  He thinks she's cute and she looks good in "The Island", but personally, I think he could do better.  She's looks like a horse, Kevin.  A horse.


Amanda Seyfried



What is it with blondes Kevin?  Are you trying to tell me something?  Ok, so I DO like her because I mean, after Mean Girls and Mama Mia who wouldn't, but she also has these buggy eyes.  BUGGY EYES, Kevin.  It's really all I have on her, I can't seem to find another reason but it's a pretty good argument.  Buggity eyes, Kevin.


Anne Hathaway



I am SO literally proud of myself because after 5 years, I have totally convinced Kevin to remove her from the list!  YAY!  Bye bye Anne Hathaway and your nasally voice...  But just when I felt victory I heard him mention Lindsey Lohan, and inside I was all, NOOOOOOOOO, and now I'm trying to convince him that little Anne is actually pretty cute if you look at her sideways from a distance with a TON of makeup on.  Is everybody forgetting Princess Diaries?




And now you will totally see that my choices are THE BEST of all.


Eion Bailey



You've probably never heard of this actor, but ever since he was on ER I have loved him!  Then he was on Covert Affairs. (that one show that nobody watched but me) And now he's on Once Upon a Time.  He grows this massive beard and it's just awesome.  Which is weird because I don't like when Kevin grows out a beard.  Which is the main point that Kevin always makes when I mention this guy.


Michael Fassbender



When I first saw this guy on the big screen in X-Men First Class, I spent the whole first half of the movie trying to figure out who he looked like.  Then I figured it out!  HA!  He was like a young Christopher Plummer.
YOU GUYS.  Not OLD Christopher Plummer.
   
YOUNG CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER



As in, HOT MR. Captain Von Trapp of Sound of Music!  Yes!  SO, basically Kevin CANNOT even fight this one because he is the dopelganger of THE original celebrity crush of like everyone and their mother and probably their grandma.




Last, but not least.


OLD Robert Duvall.



That's right folks.  I'm not talkin' about young Boo Radley.  I'm talkin' about OLD as MOLD Mr. Robert Duvall.
Think I'm crazy?  GO watch Lonesome Dove and after you stop crying and you can come back to me and plead for forgiveness for ever doubting Mr. Duvall thankyouverymuch.  For that role alone, this oldie will be on my list forever, no matter what Kevin says.  'Cause you don't wanna know what Kevin has to say about grandpa here.  Let's just say he's super mean about it.  But I still think he's a hottie.

Lazy Sundays

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Sundays are the best.  Especially when the weather is perfect and a train rolls by just slow enough to beat in a race.  We got to hear funny stories from our neighbor & previous owner about Penny the chicken. How she would run to greet him in the morning and lay an egg on a chair next to him.  And how she would jump in the pool when he went swimming.  Hilarious!  We are used to meanie chickens over here, no wonder she's been following me around I think she just wants be friends.