Movie day

It is one of those days in OH. You know, the kind where it starts SNOWING...HARD...in MARCH (almost April). Yep, kinda yucky. Plus, we have been hauled up, stuck, stir crazy staying at home the past few days. So, we decided to go to a movie. I happened to have a few extra kids with me and so they came too. Rave cinemas was showing "Despicable Me" for free. We love the movie thearter, but we don't get to go very often. Even in the cheap seats 4-5 people gets expensive. FREE gets my attention. :)

I hadn't seen the movie yet, but my kiddos had. They love it and I think it is adorable. The only downfall I saw was that they say POOP a few times and my boys of course think this is hilarious to repeat. Other than that it was so much fun.

The one thing  I did think about was, "If only it were that easy to adopt!" Obviously this is a cartoon, but man. I wish my baby girl was ready for me to just go pick her up. :)

Rave also handed out some flyers announcing the summer film festival. I think we will be attending quite a few of these this year. My kiddos are finally old enough to sit through the movie happily. They don't have dates listed yet, but when they release the full schedule I will be sure to post it.

creation

We just finished the creation unit last week. I thought I'd share a few highlights. 

Each day we read from the Bible about what God created on each day. 

 Isaac had the job of cutting out our creation number and gluing it to a poster we made. Each boy colored a picture to represent what God created that day and we made a book out of the coloring sheets. 

On day five we made bird's nests with rice krispie treats and rice noodles. 

Each boy got a peep and some eggs. 

 They loved to eat their treats.

 Isaac has been working on cutting on the line. He is doing a very good job.

 Yes, I know his hair is out of control. He got it cut yesterday.

The boys were very excited to have the poster all finished. It is now hung up with our art work. :)

Getting organized...again

This week is the home school conference that I have been super excited about. I have been trying to prepare to make sure that I get the most out of my time there. Dan and I have been looking at which sessions we want to check out. We have our hotel room booked, and grandma is coming to watch the boys (woo hoo time with my man!) I am working on my final shopping list for the exhibit hall.

I am also working on getting my act together in our school area. If you have been reading for any amount of time you will know I organize, rearrange, and declutter our overflowing basement all the time. Now that we are officially going to be starting Kindergarten I feel like I really need to have the school side in serious shape.

We are using these side tables from IKEA as desks for the moment. We will hopefully be using some desks I had as a kid soon. For now it keeps them each happy and gives them their own work space.

These are our work bags. I am using the workboxes model, but we are going to start by using these hanging bags. For us this saves space since ours is so limited.

I have my Kindergarten My Father's World broken into weeks. Each week has a file folder that I can keep books, lap books and other activities in as I come across them.

Then I have a binder which holds all our worksheets. Each week is labeled and during my prep I will pull the week's sheets out and put them in each day's folders.

I am looking forward to getting all our curriculum figured out for this year, but it is fun trying to figure out what works best with what we have for now.

Tuesday School

Tonight was Tuesday school graduation day. Both Isaac and Asher went up with their classes and sang and put on a very nice show for all the mommies and daddies, and friends, and family. We love Tuesday school. It is a free program which is put on by Cross View Christian Church. They have a volunteer staff which helps put on a free preschool for the community. The boys have learned lots and have lots of fun. Each week they have music, recreation, art, and time in their assigned classes.

This is my big boy. He will be doing one more year of Tuesday school. Even though he will technically be in Kindergarten I still plan on sending him next year for a chance to experience a classroom setting and be instructed by other adults. He did so good tonight. He loved singing and dancing. He is so full of energy and joy. I love it.

My Bubba boy. He is growing up as well. He started learning his ABC's this year. He loved the puzzles and enjoyed it when it was his turn to be the line leader. He will be starting his second year next year.

If you live in the Dayton area and are interested in a free preschool for your kiddos. Tuesday school begins open registration on Tuesday March 29 from 9-11. If you can't make it then you can go to the church during business hours and fill out an application. They do run on a first come first serve basis so hurry as they fill up FAST!

Big time goals

Dan and I have been looking at some of the big stuff coming up in our lives and we have put in place a time line. We have always set some big goals for ourselves financially, but we have a few in place for the next few years.

1. Fund entire adoption before Dec 2011. God has been so good. We are more than 2/3 of the way there and that has been all GOD. We have been so blessed by the generosity of our family and friends. We have been putting away what we can, but our own is not nearly enough and God has blown us away time and again. We have never been short a payment and we know God has a plan for provision for the remaining portion.

2. Fund a three month emergency fund. We are slowly prodding along at this. We are close to a bare bones three month fund. Once we have that we will finish out a few other savings goals. We hope to at some point have 6 months to one year's worth of living expenses in the bank. For now, we have a few more goals to meet first.

3. Save a down payment for a house. We hope to have the first two goals finished up no later than December of this year. Then we will start to save for a new home. I have mentioned many times that we have some what grown out of our current home. With adding a new little one (hopefully sooner than later) we would love to be in a new home at some point. With the market like it is we know we may take a hit so we'd like to spend some time saving up a decent down payment for our next place. :)

Those are some of our big goals we have set for the next two years. We have a few small goals for the next few months as well. These are obviously not as huge, but with doing so much big savings we have to plan for some of these little things as well.

1. Isaac getting a bike. This is hopefully going to happen in the next two months.
2. Small Shed (or storage of some kind) to help with Garage clutter. Another goal I would love to see by early summer.  :)
3. Out side up keep. This may not seem like much and really it is more of a time investment, but all the little outside stuff adds up.
4. Home school curriculum. Yep, this is happening now. We are working to use as little money as possible, but wowsers, school costs money. :)

So, there you have it. These are a few of my family's financial goals. We can't do any of these with just us. We are totally dependent on God to provide, but we will work hard to be good stewards of that which he has provided. Even though we fail many times. Good thing we serve a God who loves us through all our imperfections. 

Any one else saving and working toward something big? I'd love to hear about it.

Freezer planning

It is that time again. My friend Tami and I will be doing another big freezer cook this weekend. Tonight we met at Starbucks (Oh, so yummy) and planned our menu. I thought I'd share some our plan. I will also plan on letting you know how it goes next weekend.

So far, here are the recipes we are planning.

Waffles
Corndog muffins
Chicken noodle soup
Turkey Meatloaf
Marinated Chicken breasts (x2)
Marinated Pork chops (x2)
Baked Ziti
Slow cooker tex mex chicken
Slow cooker sweet and sour chicken
Shepherd's pie
Chicken Ranchero over rice
Chicken Parmesan

I'm looking forward to a freezer full of meals again!

Peeing

Tonight I got home and Dan had put the boys to bed. I heard Asher whining a bit. I went up to check on him and asked if he wanted to go potty. I sent him in and slowly got up (Since I have a bum ankle at the moment). I heard him in the bathroom and it didn't sound right. I walk in to find him peeing on our bathroom vanity/cupboard! All over it and the floor and the kid's stool. UGH!

So try to stop and move him and he breaks into a delirious laughter. I know he is half asleep, and honestly it was a little funny. Dan came running up because he heard me yelling. He was about to get really mad at Asher until I told him he was basically still asleep. At that point we all started laughing and Asher went back into his bed. Ah, the joy of boys.