Homeschooling

Check out a great giveaway at The Tie That Binds Us

Just A Peek

Meet Reginold.  The camel. April got this for him way back in 2007 from Israel.  Suddenly, he is obsessed with it.  Reginold is the new bff.

Here is Solomon stealing his sisters purse.

And stealing a hug.

Little Buddy had some issues so we had to send him back to his creator for some repairing.  :(  Hurry back little buddy...we miss you!!!

Solomon has a camel...and I have a Koala.  I wear her non-stop.  She likes to get down and play for a while but then, she likes me to put the sling on and wear her while I do pretty much everything, including pee.

Will and I FINALLY got new uggs.  We now live somewhere that actually requires warm boots unlike in Southern California where we just wore them because we were cool.  Now they are cool, and funtional (but lets all be honest...we just got them because we're cool haha)

Jillian and Solomon in their obnixious hummers at toys'r'us.  Can't they have these things in a Pruis????

Don't let him fool you!  He is trouble!

Laughing and Learning

Candice gave Shiloh this kitchen for Christmas and she is obsessed with it.  It is the best gift ever.  She sits there forever and plays with it.  It is so so sweet! 

The Piano is something we had from when Solomon was teeny.  She loves this too.  I'd say she is a Laugh and Learn baby.  I wonder what other free Laugh and Learn things we can get her?!?!

Toe Update

Day after nail surgery

Healing up nicely.

A Daddy and His Babies...

I was laying in bed two nights ago,next to Will (duh!) and I said this, "You know, when I tell you I wish I wasn't married to you, I mean it!! (hahaha)  In those crazy heated moments.  BUT the truth is, I am so happy that I found my best friend.  We get to be married for as long as God gives us...its going to be fun, the rest of our lives..."  He is such a great dad.  I love watching my children love their dad so very much. 

My slender husband was going to take Solomon out in the 3 feet of snow at his parents house.  They live in many acres of land and it's up a hill so they get more snow than we do.  Will bundled up in the biggest baggiest, most ridiculous snow clothes I have ever seen.  It was hilarious.  I could not stop laughing...oh...but it gets better...

This one is my favorite.  Will's dad was hunting for deer to murder :( in the woods and to prevent Will from getting mistake for the poor helpless deer (although they were no where near the hunting grounds), he wore this awesome orange tree branch vest.  Definately the key piece to this outfit.

Love

Giveaway...

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Zoo Zoo Zoo

Solomon has been asking to go to the zoo lately. The weather has been so awful that we haven't been able to. (Plus it was closed). So finally last weekend. We got some sunshine and some none-freezing temperature so we headed. Our photos tell the story...

(Note: We spent 99% of the trip inside the aquarium.  If you cannot tell by the awe struck look on Solomons face, he is IN LOVE with sharks and divers.  When that diver waved to him, I thought he was going to apss out!!!  he was soooo excited!!!And all the phtos were taken with my cell phone so sorry if some are blurry.)

My Growing Baby Boy

Solomon has been up to A LOT lately.  And I mean, A LOT.  More has changed with him than anyone else in the family.  He loves his sister, and by loves, I mean, he loves to knock/poke/bonk her on the head, non stop.  He does it for no reason.  It started as a defense tactic when she would get to close to his gagets.  Now he just does it.  He has this shark with sharp fins and he was jamming her in the head with it the other day, I was on the phone, and out of my mouth came words that you just never think you will say, "QUIT poking your sister in the head with that shark!!!" haha.  She rarely ever cries when he executes his madness, but it makes me upset.  Its just so unkind. He does truly love her though.  He still asks to hold her, even though, its practically impossible these days.  When she gets upset, he also gets up set and says funny things like "I do NOT like my baby anymore!!!!"  Below is them loving eachother...a rare and lovely moment.

I finally cut Solomon's would-be mullet!!!  It was getting out of control.  I cut the bottom half of it and he then he put his hand down on the towel he was sitting on that was covered in hair, and quickly rubbed his face which of course, que meldown because of hair-fest, stopped the cut abruptly.  But it doesn't look bad, and I, of course have yet to finish it.  He is so handsome, I can hardly stand it.

Solomon has found some of THE greatest friends.  He LOVES them.  I think sometimes they are a little freaked out at his intensity, BUT, they are the kindest, (literally these boys are practically perfect, I don't think their mom -who is also a wonderful friend to me, Jeana- has ever had to even look at them funny in our presence...and I can't say the same for Solomon haha) most wodnerful little friends for Solomon.  When they come over, they play this funny game, Campout, where they go in Solomon's closet with flashlights, pillows and a toy shaving kit...not too sure whats done in there, but it is HOURS of fun!!!  Below is the box that provided hours of fun for our kids as well...who'da though??

This face (below) petty much sums up my child. haha.  He is just the nuttiest, most quirky, dramatic, amazing little boy around.  His little attitude is still off the charts.  The newest thing is, when he gets really fired up, he spouts off a line of toddler swear words, that make no sense at all, but apparently just make him feel better????  "AHHHHHH, STUPID, SHUT UP, IDIOT, KILL!!!!" hahaha.  Don't get it, and it makes it really hard to correct when it is so funny.  Now, also, when he has to go to timeout, he has been sitting there, head down and shaking slowly back and forth, saying "I am so foolish!"  Thanks Jonah Veggietales.

I might add, this police outfit, he didn't take it off for two weeks.  I changed the clothes underneath, but he wore it everyday, all day, even to school and to bed, for a VERY long time.  Im SO sad to say that the poice hat, which was the key feature, has disappeared.  Its been hard, but we are coping.

We got to share a specail Solomon date, with just Will, Solomon and myself.  We took him to see Sesame Street Live and it was REALLY boring a lot of fun. ;)  It was at 7pm so that kinda sucked, since Solomon is usually in bed at 7.  He really enjoyed the show, but the second it was over, freakout time.  He was SO tired he could hardly take it.  The good thing?  He is still talking about it, and he really got the show.  I was impressed (with him).  It was super nice to have some alone time with him where he was the star.  I miss that.  Sweet Candice, the only one who Shiloh doesn't scream non stop with right now, came over and did a champs job of putting her to sleep.  It was a miracle that she performed, I must say.  She is the ONLY one that we have here that can do that, because at the sight of everyone else, Shiloh freaks out.

(Last police hat sighting) :(

We made this calendar for the laundry room door because well, long story, but Solomon's last day of preschool is tomorrow. We have been debating the decision for some time now. The home schooling thing has been weighing on us. Wills new works schedule that has him rarely seeing Solomon has been weighing on us (Will works 12 hours mon-wed-fri and is home tue-thur morning, when Sol is at school, so if he were home, that would give him and Will more time together). It takes 20 minutes one way to take/pick him up. And it would be nice to save a little money each month too. Then, we had a situation with his teacher that made the decision on the spot for me. I was waiting outside of Solomon class for my friend Amie to come and drop off her little boy. I'm standing there and I hear his teacher (who did not know I was outside) say, "You know what Solomon, you've been here what? FIVE MINUES?!?! I do not like the way you are playing. Two year old dump things on the floor, three year olds DON'T!! PICK IT UP!!!!" Solomon says in the most timid voice "Ok, thank you for giving me a job to do." And the other, kind teacher (who knew I was standing right out side) said "AW that was a sweet thing to say Solomon." Then bitchy teacher says, "What did he say???" and when kind teacher told her she said "I've got tons of jobs you can do!" Ok. Now, when Solomon walked in, he ran over and knocked over someone’s tower that they were building (um MEAN!) and then I guess its a rule that your don't dump toys out on the floor, so he broke the rules. He needed correction. He is my child, I KNOW he needs correction, often! But the humiliating sarcasm??? Not only does most of that (thankfully) go over his head, but does she want him to talk to her like that??? I think not. So I come home, after sobbing the story to Will, who is even more upset than I am, and leave a message with kind teacher (bitchy teacher is the "assistant" so I thought I should talk to kind teacher and see what she told me to do.) I started off saying we are taking him out of school for numerous reasons. Then I told her I had an issue that I wanted to talk to her about. She says, "I think I know what you're talking about, but go ahead." So I tell her and she said, "Yes, that was a little harsh. I remember that happening. In our defense, I think sometimes we get a little too comfortable with the kids and speak to them like we would talk to our own kids." I wasn't so satisfied with our conversation. Clearly, she knew it was handled poorly, but because bitchy teacher is her friend, I guess that was that. So the next school day, I take Solomon and bitchy teacher hands me a letter. I think, oh ok, an apology. NOPE!!! She basically handed me a spanking on paper. It said things like "Some children need correction and discipline" and "We try to teach families how to raise their children" and "I pride myself on all the compliments I get from all the parents." HUH???? Discipline him!! Correct him!!! Put him in timeout if he needs it!!! Just DO NOT speak to him that way. So I call HER up and leave her a message and when we talk, she seriously tells me one hundred times how discipline is necessary...and I said I KNOW!!! but the TONE you took and the words you said were WRONG!!! It took like ten minutes for her to FINALLY say "Well I’m sorry if my tone sounded harsh. I didn't mean for it to." Uh thanks? I came away feeling SO good about taking him out of there. I think she didn't even remember what she said, and if she did, that is just how she talks (because I have heard her say mean things to other kids, just never my child). So I am happy that he will be home with us. For now, we are going to continue schooling him at home, and then see where we are at for next year.

Finally to close, we all know how hard I have been trying for almost a year now to kick the binkie habit (if you're judging me...I don't wanna hear it.  I know he's three ok?!)  Has has been sleeping with that thing all of his life and back in May when we tried kicking the habit and nap time started to fade out when I had a brand new baby, I couldn't do it.  So, I am proud (and still a little sad) to annouce, the binkie has left the building. He did really well.  Day 1 and 2 were so hard, but he is doing great now.  I am so proud of how brave he was.  He was so attached to them.  I cannot even tell you how attached because you would think i was exaggerating.  He was concerned if "they were ever coming back to him" and wondered if THEY would miss HIM.  He told Will yesterday, "Even though I am still very sad about my binkies and still miss them a lot, now I can still feel happy."  Very mature.

He is growing so fast.  I am really still trying to work on being present and not put so many things, dishes, vaccuming, this damn computer, in fron tof spending time with him.  He is such a pleasure to mother and I am so thankful that God gave him to me.