water park take 2

Things were a little better at our 2nd attempt at the water park, but then again Daddy was with us. First off the girls and I went on a girl's date and picked out new swimsuits and accessories (seperate post coming on that story).
Another great perk of my new job is an outdoor water area with slide and splash pad. It is less than 5 minutes from the house and since the club is so new, it is not nearly as crowded as other water parks this time of year. This was R2's first time in a pool, he's hooked.

bit off more than I could chew

I was feeling it this week, so I thought I would venture out with all 3 kiddos to the sprinkler park for our first summer outing. The girls went with me to the gym and then we headed over to the park.

I have finally got into the swing of things by loading the car the night before. One set-back; we have not gotten our 2011 swimsuits yet, we are wearing one piece hand-me-downs which meant the girls could not be swim ready at the gym (potty reasoning). I also packed our lunches the night before, threw them into the insulated cooler and put in the spare fridge, once again experienced Mommy that I am kicking in here.
I taught cardio fit, which meant I worked up a pretty decent sweat, its ok, we are going to a water park, not a pageant right.
We get to the park and things are rocking. The girls are eating, R2 is checking out the scenery, yummy, healthy lunches and I realize the girls need to change. Panic starts to creep in, but I got this, wrap a towel around them and have them slip bathing suits on under dresses (think public water park bathrooms used by 250+ dripping wet preschoolers the Friday before Memorial Day). I am not about take R2 in the bathrooms and put him down even in his carseat while I assist one-piece bathing suit changes.
Girls are now dressed and lathered in sunblock. Good to go, Bella takes off and is having a blast. LE lasts oh 30 seconds and comes back saying she is getting splashed, yes dear it is a water park. "I really don't want to play." At 5 1/2 years she has out-grown the water park, fighting back tears, me not her. She played with R2 and I let her take pics with my camera and then thankfully she decided she wanted to get wet. After about an hour, my 50 ounces of water from cardio class and post-workout are now kicking in, but once again the thought of public park potties, 6 month old, and I will just hold it. After about hour and half, I bribe girls into slushes b/c they were having a blast, b/c panic is really beginning to set in as R2 is done sitting up, laying down, taking in the sights, and is ready to go, Mommy is ready to go (in more ways than 1), and now I gotta get all of this stuff back in the car, with 2 wet girls and crying 6 month old.  So, don't be looking for more sprinkler park pics this summer without Daddy in them.

homeschool co-op visit

LE is a tic-tac-toe whiz, but I was so proud of her for playing with a much younger child and allowing her to win. Bella is lacing up a loop for the game of graces and R2 had a great day of spoiling from the other moms.

craigslist find

I found this great bookshelf (vertical pic) for $20 on CL this week and she even delivered it to me. It matched my classroom desk perfectly. I had three large rubbermaid boxes of books in storage that I had from teaching kinder and first grade that we are now able to gain access to them. LE told Daddy we have our own library now. LE has discovered Amelia Bedelia and we are going to try Hank the Cow Dog next week. We have officially finished our first year and LE is working on first grade math, Bella has been working on kinder for a couple of weeks now. R2 is working on sitting up and rolling.

I am on the lookout for some heavy duty bean bags (for lounging on). I have looked at making them, but I think for sanity's sake they may get purchased, unless someone wants to help us with a sewing project.
Oh, and I reread my side of the world, it's posterity sake, but I will take prosperity too.

My side of the world

This post is for me, you really do not have to read, but since this is my journal I am writing for prosperity sake.
I am knee deep in curriculum, homeschool literature and research.   I am 117 pages (out of 764) into The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Brown.  They are known in the homeschool world for their expertise in classical education.  It is so funny I read this book before LE was born and had no interest in teaching a classical education, but after teaching them for a year I thought I would revisit it. 
They LOVE to read.  LE is reading up a storm, she opened her first chapter book this week and was finished with it in a day.  Bella is now reading cvc words like cat, dog; it is the whole anything you can do I can do better syndrome with her. 
We also joined a homeschool co-op for Charlotte Mason education.  Last week, was our first outting and we learned about the history of games.  The girls brought chalk for hopscotch, but we also learned to play the pioneer game of Game of Graces, they could sew a checkerboard, play mancala and there was a chess match.  I am not sure it was an exact fit for us, but we are going to try again next week.  The theme is natural dyes, any ideas of what to do are welcome here.
I am wrapping up physical therapy.  It has been an interesting experience.  I have had so many friends or workout buddies tell me of injuries similar to mine and I am so glad I have a therapist who is trying to kick me out of his office.  He has been teaching me and encouraging me to do strength training & stretches on my own.  One stretch I am supposed to do every hour.  Yeah, that has yet to happen.  I am on the verge of having a slipped disc, so I am trying to be obedient.
I wore a size 6 jeans today, was a total shock, so guess I am using inches, just not coming off the scales. 
My class at 24 rocks. I have consistently had 30+ people in class for 2 weeks now.  An average aqua class is around 12.  The club manager is looking to add more classes.   
That is what has been going on in our neck of the woods, what are you up to?

a boy and his PawPaw

wordless wednesday

Frank

My sweet friend is going in for his biopsy today at 11. Please lift him up in prayers. Him and I have had some good talks this past week and I know where he is going, but I don't think it is quite time yet.

Strawberry Fields Forever

We made our yearly trek to Sweet Berry Farms this past week to pick our year supply of strawberries for Mimi's strawberry jams. The girls were alot more help this year and Daddy even took the day off to join us. Be on the lookout for for some other strawberry recipes that we are going to try this summer.

rainy day fun

We have been learning the color words in Spanish, but the names were not sticking.  So, we went on a scavenger hunt around the house to find all of the verde things we could find.  During the process we also learned spacial awareness (a marker would not fit into our jar, but, yep Bella it is verde).  Last week when it rained, we played I spy and the girls practiced listing the items on their dry erase boards.

 We had so much fun we went on to make one for each color.  Which jar was the hardest to fill? Negro.

Gigi has been collecting us Truvia (sugar substitute jars), but an empty water bottle would have worked too.  We used our scallop punch from SU! to make labels in English/Spanish.

6 years later

Oh yeah, I am blonde again.

bella-isms

For a few weeks we have been talking about compound words and the girls get so excited when they think of one.  I have also been teaching the girls their color words in Spanish.  This week at dinner Bella declared with total Bella excitement, "Negro (black) is a compound word."  (She often thinks multiple syllable words are compound words.)  So, we explain ne is not a word.  She says "yes, it is.  You know when you ask me if I want something I say, Neee, I don't want that."

in the garden

When we owned our own home we had a fabulous herb garden. We actually won yard of the month once. Since we have been renting for a few years we have not spent a whole lot of time, energy or money on our yard. In our lessons, we were learning about vegetables, and how God provides all of our needs. We decided to do some container gardens. Bella wanted strawberries, LE said she would try tomatoes if she grew them and Mommy planted some herbs. We have two baby tomatoes growing and we have already used our basil, thyme and rosemary.

wild night

This morning I HAD TO wake my sweet boy up at 9 a.m.  When I walked in I found him on his tummy (put him asleep on his back) and his diaper off.   Oh, to have a boy in the house.

Mothers Day Outing

LE wanted to go on a picnic for Mother's Day, she planned it for weeks (but I had to pick the park). I told Ben on Sunday morning, I really wanted to go to the zoo again. It had been awhile and now that we are wrapping up all we had learned about the animals this year I wanted to go put our knowledge to use. It was surprisingly uncrowded, but very warm. The girls had outgrown their hats from last year, but thankfully we are Kratt brothers fans and the girls had no problem wearing camo hats to explore the zoo in. Read was a real trooper, he rode in his big boy stroller the entire day and napped for a little while until we went over a bumpy bridge. All 3 were wide awake the entire drive home, but Read was out by 6:30 and the girls were down by 8:15.

prayer request

I have a friend in need of prayer.  Mr. H will be 90 yrs old in August and his family is planning a huge party for him to celebrate.  Mr H. found out a month ago he has cancer.  Yesterday, he went for a follow up visit to discover the cancer levels have increased.  Today, I taught Mr. H and my typical morning banter and high-spirited man was not there, physically he was, but mentally he has given in.  He has been told he will not make it till his 90th birthday, not necessarily by his doctor, but by the actions of those around him.  Please remember my friend, Mr. H, he told me he is uncomfortable, but mostly he just wants to see his 90th birthday.  Can I just say cancer sucks.

Father, please clean F's blood.  You said on Earth as it is in Heaven, and I KNOW there is no sickness in Heaven.  Please touch his body and restore his soul.  Thank you for this amazing man and the wonderful 90 years you have given him.  Please Father, allow him these few months to celebrate with all those who have been touched by his life.  I claim it and I pray that he will be unable to hear the negative words that people may speak around him.  Thank you Father for allowing him to touch my life. 

for mommy

we have been shopping for a new lens and this weekeend we got a great deal on one, 50 mm prime lens (pic is unedited)

life lesson

Remember the bird nests the girls made for their homeschool project? For Christmas, they made each of the grandmothers and great-grandmother a birdhouse too. We have been learning about the quail for letter Q, but took it a little farther to include facts about other birds too. When we went home for Easter we got to see first hand a bird nest in our homemade birdhouses and watch the mama bird feed her young and even hear the babies chirping.

HaPPy MoThEr's DaY!

Easter traditions

Egg Hunts, oversized Easter bunnies, oversized plates, cascaranas and lots of family. Enjoyed a day of fun with my family at my aunt and uncles in my hometown, so thankful to have a family that is still so tight-knit.

ouch!

About a month ago, I bent over to nurse my foot that a wooden chair had been dropped on and when I came up I had a bad pain in my lower back.  The pain worsened and I used the excuse to get a deep tissue massage that helped some.  .  Originally, I stressed my iliopsoas, (group of muscles that stretch the length of my lower back through pelvic bone into the hip flexer). I learned some stretches, strength exercises and thought I was good to go, let's move on with life.

Now 5 weeks later, I am still struggling with the same issue, but it has moved into my piriformis (butt check, more specifically outer left hip) and the spasms have begun to pinch my sciatic nerve (think nerve dr. told you to not lay on your back for 6 months of pregnancy to avoid pinching, yep, no longer preggo and now I pinch it.)  I finally gave in Tuesday and called the sports doctor all of my instructor friends recommend.  He recommended therapy, so yesterday I began physical therapy.  My range of motion has GREATLY improved, but now I feel like I have been kicked in the butt literally.   I have to do stretches and deep tissue rolling 3x a day.  He seems to think as long as I continue with the therapy for a couple of weeks and then I continue to do the deep tissue exercises that he has taught me I will make a full recovery and have complete range of motion again. 

So, in high school I pondered sports medicine for about a year as a possible career.  I choose not to b/c of all of the science and I did not want to have to learn "all of the muscles of the body."  Glad to know I have come full circle and I am now having to learn all of the muscles of the body!
I am unable to sit for any period of time b/c of the pain, when I stand up my left leg gives way, thus the lack of computer time lately.