Chalkboard Hearts

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Life with Boys




I am waking each morning at 5:45am to get up and walk with the dogs. We (the dogs & I) have decided that this is the only time we can actually get 30 minutes of uninterrupted walking in. The dogs love it, I am exhausted, but love it and now my 11 yr old son loves it. Here I was thinking I could have some alone time and he decides that he would like to walk off some of those extra pounds he is carrying (ha, ha)


I was surprised to find that I actually love having him with me, even though he is much slower than I would like. We talk, laugh at the dogs, and he tells me what is going on in his pre-teen life. I keep having to stop myself from reprimanding him or lecturing him and just LISTEN. This time together could be pretty short and I want to make it as special as I can.

So, for now I will enjoy some one on one time with my son and remember that God gave me 4 boys for a reason and this is just 1 of the many joys that I get from them.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Date Night

I have 4 boys, ages 11, 11, 8 & 4. They keep me busy, it is noisy, crazy and an Oh So Happy Place in my home most days. But this post it about my 8 yr old, he is making his 1st Holy Communion this Saturday. We have been looking for a Navy Blue Suit for him for a while. Well, I have kinda been looking, but not really putting much effort into it. Back in NY my Mother-in-Law always kept me on top of these things. Now being so far away from her I get side tracked and always think... Oh I have time. I mean it can't be that hard to find a Navy Suit in size 8 right??? Let me tell you... I went to 7 different stores... they have the pants/no jacket or they have jacket/no pants, so no suit anywhere!!!

Now... let me tell you about my 8 yr old, he is funny, silly, energetic, a lot moody, a little spoiled and a real character. He doesn't take to shopping (especially for a suit) so I was ready for a battle today when I told him we were going to shop for it today. He surprised me!!! He was a perfect gentleman, and we decided that it would be our "Date" night. We had an early supper at a Chili's in the mall, looked for and tried on many "not right for us" suits, got some ice cream and all in all had the best night together we have had in a REALLY long time.

It was so nice to enjoy him on his own, without his brothers or his Dad (who by the way walks on water according to 8 yr old son). We ended our evening with buying an absolutely super pair of sneakers for 8yr old son and 2 new shirts for Mom. We both were happy, we were both relaxed and most of all we had fun... Even if we didn't find the suit... Sorry Grandma, we'll look again tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted on when we find one... because I know we will. There is a little Navy Suit out there with our name on it!!!

Monday, April 27, 2009

This Week's Tot School



This week our Home Daycare Tot School enjoyed learning about The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We read the book, had fun putting up the felt pieces on the felt board, and made our own books to go with it... and an added bonus we found our very own caterpillar in the back yard that we caught and put in our bug catcher for the afternoon. To my surprise, when I went to let him go that evening it had wrapped itself in a cocoon!!!! Now, we are eagerly awaiting its arrival!!! I will hopefully be able to get some pictures of it when it makes its way out.







We also enjoyed our new Baby Washing Work. We had a fun time deciding who would go first and then deciding how to choose who would be next. We decided on making a list and each child could cross their name off after they had their turn.



We also got some great Tree Branch Blocks from one of our families... Thanks Andy!!! We loved the way they could be stacked even though they were different sizes and shapes.


Lastly, the weather finally became warm enough this week to get out in the dirt. We loved digging in the dirt pile and moving the dirt with our trucks and tractors. We did a great job sharing our shovels, since this is an area we work on daily. We lined up the trucks to find the one with the biggest load, and the one with the least (littlest, well... wittwest).
I am getting the hang of having my camera around when we do our Tot School, so hopefully next week I will have more to show. I also hope my little group of kids is OK to post on, since we range from 10 months to 48 months.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Garage Sale & Hunger

Today our neighborhood had a community garage sale. My 3 big boys were up at 6:30 this morning waiting to go and find their bargains... It was amazing to see how focused they were. To bad I can't get them that focused about homework :)
So, I had to get up too, to make sure they were safe of course, and found quiet a few bargains myself... my favorite... 2 medium size plants for $3 a piece (Yeah!!) I found some great knick-knacky things for our Montessori trays, now I just need to come up with some new work for the preschoolers to do.
Now, as I am walking around the neighborhood, there are dozens of kids selling baked goods, kool-aid, & candy. How can I resist those cute little faces asking me if I want to buy their goodies!!! How will I ever lose this weight?? I want to lose about 15 lbs by September... and baked goods and pizza are my down fall, and cheese, and I soooo love popcorn... I will just keep focused and not get discouraged if I do make a mistake.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Tot School

Starting to Blog is definitely a learning experience. I have been visiting the 1+1+1=1 Blog for a while now and Carisa's Tot School is really great!!! I need to learn how to add my pictures and create links back to the Tot School site, because it is one of the best sites!! That way I can maybe help other Daycare Providers with a daily routine or activities to keep everyone happy and sane. So I am going to try and figure out how I put my pics up on my blog and then I can link back to the Tot School site, but if anyone happens across my blog, I know unlikely right now :) but I think I got the site link on the side bar... Hopefully it works.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

A Beginning

Wow... This is my first Blog... I have been lurking on various Blog's lately and decided that I needed to start my own... What will it be?? I think it will be a little bit of everything. I have 4 great, bratty, perfect, obnoxious, & active boys so I should never run out of things to say. So I will go with whatever God has in store for me and run with it... Maybe Montessori, maybe baseball, maybe the fact that the kids NEVER put the seat down in the bathroom, or maybe the fact that I will be in my sister in-laws wedding in September and need to lose some (try 20 lbs) weight to get in the absolutely beautiful dress she picked out. So I hope anybody out there who may read this will give me some encouragement, or just read and let me know I am not alone in this Boy's Life... Thanks!!!