Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Child Labor

We had a Sat project (which you know really means it takes up the whole weekend plus some) - redoing our kitchen floors. The girls alternated from being allowed to help to being banished from the kitchen.
















"Grout" was the word of the day, they said it as many times and as many ways as possible. Emma Lee was very encouraging: "Kerri, you're the only four year old I know who grouts." About half the time Kerri called it "grouch" as in "Look! I'm grouching!"








I'm so happy with it, I almost don't want to put our kitchen table back in there - almost (dinner time with four people around the coffee table is only fun for so long).

Thursday, August 26, 2010

YouTube Without You

Emma Lee and Kerri love to get on our computer. They like watching silly movies and playing online games. They are familiar enough now with the computer that they can do a lot without my help. It's a great way to occupy them when I need them to settle down a little bit (or stay out from under me while I'm trying to cook dinner). However, I can't just let them loose on youtube, who knows what they'd end up watching??

Well, Andy found this great program called Kido'z. You download it (it's free), and the kids can explore kid appropriate things within sites without being able to get to anything else. You, as the parent, still have ultimate control though, and if you don't like something they allow, you can block it and it won't show up again. The kids can also mark their favorites videos or games. You know, so they can come back to it again and again and again and again . . . Want to see what I hear every time they get on the computer? Go ahead . . . watch it . . . you know you want to  . . . and I promise you won't be singing it as you are trying to go to sleep tonight! ;)




Sorry, maybe that last part wasn't exactly the truth - but you know you laughed :)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Top Ten List

You know you're one of the coolest moms in the world because . . .


10. You let your kids touch something that looks like this






 


9. You rescue your little girl from a little girl eating praying mantis


8. You don't make fun of one little girl who was too scared to go inside a fake tree with fake bats














7. You don't discourage your kids from playing in the dirt and picking up worms and beetles












6. You let your kids sit and learn about the migratory habits of the monarch butterfly (and provide snacks!)








 



5. And you let your kids play with cool things








 


 4. You love your little girl even if she is a spider trying to "get you"



 


3. You think your children are the best, no matter how big their heads get












2. You let them ride the escalators way more than necessary 

And the number one reason that you know you're one of the coolest moms is that  

1. You decide that, every now and then, lunch can consist of chocolate milk and doughnuts with sprinkles

Monday, August 23, 2010

Overheard

Conversation overheard in the back seat (using their usual dramatic pretend voices)

 (sad/concerned voices)
Kerri: "Where is my father?"

Emma Lee: "I'm sorry, but he's dead."

Kerri: "Where? Show me."

Emma Lee: "I can't. He's buried. I can't un-bury him."

Kerri: "Why? Is it glued buried?" [quick pause] (happy/excited voice) "Do you want some pie?!"

Emma Lee: "Of course!!"

Kerri: "PRESTO! My dress is magic - it makes pie!"

I love to listen in on their pretend world, and it cracks me up how quickly they jump from one scenario to the next. 

Friday, August 20, 2010

Tough Love


So, after my big decision was made, the next problem was "How am I going to tell the girls?" Kerri, I wasn't too worried about. She tends to just go with the flow when things change. Emma Lee, on the other hand, does not take change well at all. After talking about it, Andy helped me come up with the plan to do a "practice day" of homeschool with them and to make it as fun and exciting as possible. After putting it off as long as possible, last Monday was deemed "the day."

The morning started off great. The girls were very excited, and we had a lot of fun doing things like an alphabet scavenger hunt, a caterpillar math game, working in the Spanish workbooks I got for them, doing fun finish/create a pattern type things, reading, and creating little story books. In fact, things were going so well, that I decided to go ahead and talk to them about it before we took our "recess" at the park. I don't even think that Kerri paused in her coloring. She just smiled, said something like "Yeah, great!" and kept right on going. Emma Lee on the other hand, cried, wailed, and sobbed for about 40 minutes straight! I knew she was going to take it hard, but I wasn't prepared for exactly how hard. I was secretly hoping that maybe she'd even be excited about it from the beginning (you know - because she gets to spend more time with her mommy!) I was at least hoping that she would see all the fun we could have and not feel like she would be missing out on anything. Let me tell you, it's impossible to reason with a hysterical 5 year old little girl!

It's important to me to allow the girls to be honest about their feelings and to express their opinions when they disagree with things as long as it is still done with honor and respect toward Andy and I. However, at one point her crying was so loud that I felt like she couldn't even hear me talking while she was cuddled up in my lap. I sent her up to her room to calm down and then come down and talk about it. While she was upstairs I called Andy to let him know what was going on, and I unexpectedly starting crying too. (Through all this, Kerri is still coloring away as happy as can be.) Andy ended up coming home for a little bit, and by that time Emma Lee was calming down and they were able to talk some too. I think she was so upset because all the things that I'd been talking up to her for months had just been taken away. She kept talking about how she had seen her room and met her teacher and how they would all be doing stuff without her. She listened as we explained our plans, and she became calmer and calmer.

A little while later, we had to make a library run. While we were checking out, the first thing she said to the guy behind the desk was, "Guess what?! I'm going to do homeschool!" with a smile and an excited voice. Ever since then she's been fine with the idea. Sometimes she says that she is still a little bit sad about it, but I'm still optimistic that once we get in a regular schedule, she will have a great time learning with mommy this year!

As much as it hurts my heart to have to make decisions that upset her, it gave us some good opportunities to talk about things like how you have to trust that your parents are making the best decisions for you even if you don't like it and about how important it is to obey what God wants you to do even if it means changing your plans. It was honestly one of the most emotionally draining days that I have ever had. It also leaves me wondering how many other times I'm going to have to go through similar situations with her! How will I get through them all?! My prayer is that each time on the other side of the "drama" it will only bring us closer and closer together. Or, you know, maybe she'll learn all these lessons while she's five and the rest of her life with us will be perfect and drama free . . . yeah.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Teamwork

This is so cute I thought it deserved a post all of its own. They figured out how to solve their problem all on their own!

Sleepover

Sleepovers are really inappropriately named. Whoever thought of that term clearly had never tried it out with three little 4 & 5 year old girls! Whatever you want to call it though, Emma Lee, Kerri, and their friend Ella Hambrick had a blast last night!

Peeking in on them
















Yeah, they're not going to go to sleep anytime soon! 















My secret plan for the day after a non-sleeping sleepover is to keep them so busy they don't have time to be cranky! Guess what?! It worked! (And we all had fun in the process)


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Chasing Me Down

I've had a few "Jonah moments" in my life - you know, the times when you are running from something God wants you to do. Well, He recently chased me down with the idea of homeschooling. I've always said that I will never homeschool (First mistake! When am I going to learn to never say never!). I've never even been remotely open to the idea of homeschooling. I had a lot of reasons, but what I realized is that my reasons for not wanting to homeschool were the wrong reasons to have. They were blinding me to the reasons of why I should consider homeschooling.

For us, given our situation and circumstances right now, homeschooling for the coming year is what Andy and I both believe is God's best for our family. I don't think that it is permanent, we have plans to send both girls to a private school next year, but I realize that God might again change my plans.

Right now, the important thing is that I can honestly say I'm very excited about spending an extra year of full days with my precious ones, and I'm looking forward to all the fun we are going to have learning a ton of stuff this year!
 
P.S. I'm getting pretty close to having my game plan down, but any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, tips, etc. are welcome!!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Blast from the Past


Theme: Got to Wear Shades






















Life doesn't get much better than this!

Friday, August 13, 2010

My Grown Up Girl

We let Emma Lee get her ears pierced while we were on vacation. She's been asking for quite a while to have them done, and our answer has been that she could get them done right before she started kindergarten. Well, it was close enough and she wanted to show them off to the whole family, so off we went! She was SO excited and SO big and brave about it. My little baby is growing up!

Choosing which earrings she wanted

 
Checking to make sure they're going to be even















Before





















After















Here's the video! She said that the tears at the end were her happy tears. Let's just say that she wasn't the only one crying.

Big Girl Emma Lee! from Michaella Johnson on Vimeo.

To add to her grown up look, she lost her fourth baby tooth yesterday! Check out this smile!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Family Vacation 2010

We decided to go with something different this year and headed up to the mountains of North Carolina instead of the coast. I took a ton of pictures but narrowed it down to about 135 or so (and that's missing out on a whole day of tubing down the river where I opted not to take my precious camera!).

Things We Liked About the Mountains:

The Scenery
















The Creatures (okay, so this one is really just for Kerri)





















 The Family Time















Blowing Rock















Tweetsie Railroad















Hiking

Just to name a few!

To see the rest of the pictures click here!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A Mini Me

My favorite way to spend the hours of a trip in a car is buried in a book. Andy and the girls laugh at me because I completely tune out everything that is going on around me. It normally takes a few attempts on their part before I realize when they are asking me something. I'm proud to report that Emma Lee is following in my footsteps! She spent much of the car ride during our vacation buried in a book of her own! Now, if we can just get Kerri reading we might actually have calm, quiet car rides. Hey, I can dream, can't I??!!

Monday, August 9, 2010

A Little Sample

We went on vacation with my whole family (minus Jeremy who's in Iraq - we missed you!!) to the mountains of NC in Banner Elk. We stayed in a big house at the top of a mountain, but it wasn't exactly what we were expecting.  Let's just say that it was that was probably really nice  . . . about 30 years ago! I think that the dishwasher was one of the first ones ever made and the couches were older than me, but we still managed to have a lot of fun! We spent the week hanging out, playing games, going shopping, hiking, tubing down the river, visiting Blowing Rock and Tweetsie Railroad, and doing lots and lots of eating! I have a ton of pictures that I have to sort through, but for now here is a little sample of a typical moment with all of us! Warning, it's pretty loud and chaotic . . . but that's pretty normal when we all get together! In addition to all of us "grown-ups," there were 7 little grandchildren all 5 and under! There's always someone crying, someone hyping up the kids, and someone just trying to sleep through all the noise.


Family Vacation 2010 from Michaella Johnson on Vimeo.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Finally!

Emma Lee is minus one more tooth! It "accidentally" came out at the dentist last week.
















She has one more super loose one. We'll see if it hangs on as long as the last one!