Riley....

Meet the newest member of the Thompson household....

RILEY

She is 6 weeks old... she is a Golden Retriever and she is beautiful!  She is an early birthday present.
Truly "early birthday present" is just an excuse!  I still can't believe we got her!  and as she whined in her kennel  for 15 minutes I again thought WHAT DID I DO!!!!  But now she looks like this...

 

 

Kaitlin didn't know anything about it.. we just walked in with her and KAITLIN could not believe it.. she actually started to cry.  It is really her dream.... it will be a lot of work and puppies are, well they are PUPPIES, but Riley will be loved.

I of course have about a jillion more pics!

Sunday Sum Up: Week 2 2012-2013

{day 35-39}

 

 

This has for the most part been a pretty good week...

 

 

Now I still have tweaking to do of course and I DO not have our scheduled mastered or have this Sonlight business figured out yet... BUT school is getting done!

 

Emily and Mary Faith have KNOCKED out some school work let me tell you!

 

5 math lessons

5 timed tests

4 spelling lessons (and pre- test)

3 history lessons

3 science lessons

1 Latin lessons

3 days of logic

4 days of English

4 days handwriting

copy work/ narration

Each finished a reading book off their list

4 days of Bible- story and note booking pages,

memorized a verse
 

Next week, we add in All About Spelling again, Typing and IEW (writing).

 

 

 

Emily started her "new" timed tests a few weeks ago and it was a little rocky but, she went from it taking OVER 20 minutes (fussing) to under 12 minutes this week. 

Still not great, but BIG improvement! 

 

She is working on a note booking page for Bible-- I believe she is drawing the flaming

 sword at the gates of Eden...

 

 

 

 

 

Matt and Kaitlin FINALLY realized that I meant what I said that it would be more work!  I think they are in shock this week.. but we have had overall good attitudes!  I am a little worried that Matt is going to get frustrated with the reading schedule (he wants to just sit and read) -- but you have to stick with the schedule.... hard for him to grasp.  They have in the past been able to basically read all the wanted.. at the speed they wanted.  I feel almost as though I am holding them back.  I know it isn't true.. they have plenty of reading to do... it just isn't all SIT AND ENJOY THIS GREAT READ... READING!   Does anyone deal with this?

 

 

 

 

 It has been a great week.. and minus a few discussion questions we are NOT behind on ONE

single thing! I feel so good and accomplished!  I know it won't happen every week..

but for this week it feels amazing!

 

I'm a mom...

 

Do you ever just sorta realize in a dazed moment that YOU ARE A MOM. 

 

Do you wonder how you got to this place of....

 

 

 

 mini vans,

 Legos on the floor,

 chore charts,

 consequences,

 hugs that make you stop breathing,

 smiles,

 

 baby dolls,

 time management,

 meal planning,

pacifiers,

 choice- making,

 letting go,

 holding on,

 wanting time to stop,

 excitement at accomplishments,

 crayons to marker,

dress up clothes,

 make up,

all the firsts,

and some of the lasts,

light saber training,

 yelling,

 forgiving,

 asking forgiveness,

 Good Night Moon,

 hot wheels,

 art classes,

attitudes,

chubby hands under the bathroom door,

first bike ride,

Mommy,

birthday parties,

 gymnastics,

 karate,

 fear,

Barney, Little Bear and Land Before Time,

Christmas mornings,

 anxiety,

 ponytails,

messes,

tears,

wooden trains,

broken hearts,

friendships,

 scissors,

vacations,

pets burials,

 swimming lessons,

 teaching,

chicken pox,

 training,

cribs to twin beds,

 guarding hearts,

 prayer,

 more prayer,

 family traditions

 

 

I know I do.

 

 

Presidents... a play

Tuesday we went to Herman park to watch a theater company called Interactive Theater perform one of their plays for free... it was Presidents.  I have watched this particular performance (or so I thought) a few years ago and really, really enjoyed it!  However, today I must say the script has changed!  I was agag ( and H-Mama can attest to my discomfort to say the least!) at the mis- representations and pretty darn close to all out lies.  They made "us" (conservative, republican- minded folk) look like idiots and "the capitalist regime, NOT for the people, against anything good like bettering humanity, not into REAL science, and not actually doing their job as presidents" was at the butt of every joke!  They were pretty much downright disrespectful towards both Bush's- not to mention Reagan!   I squirmed and sighed and murmured AGHAST at the blatant LIBERAL mumbo jumbo that was being indoctrinated into every child's MINDS during this play!  

Okay now that I have that out....

here are some pretty, pretty pictures!  Well anyway there are pics.

H-mama's youngest got nominated and Voted president!  Proud mama!

Happy Birthday to me....

I had a really good birthday!  You know as an adult sometimes our "day" ends up just being another day and that is okay!  In the big scheme of things it doesn't matter.... but it is nice to have time with family, friends and to be thought kindly of. 

I got whispered "Happy Birthday" from hubbie in the early morning hours... as he was coming to bed. (He thought I didn't hear him, but I did.)

Becky made THREE stops on the way to bring Mary Faith to my house for school...

SONIC, CHICK-FIL-A and JAVA CAKES (for a yummy S'more Cheesecake dessert)

The kids and I got taken out to Starbucks by my mom! And got rockin new shades and a gift card for books...

and THEN Becky and Joel took Dave and I out for dinner at Texas Road House!

Plus I gotta say I LOVE Facebook birthdays!  They are awesome!

OH and I got a very sweet I am a special teacher card from little miss MF!

It was a great day!  Plus there will be more celebrating this weekend!  Yeah.. I love when my birthday last more than one day!

Pinterest Try----Bacon Pancakes....

Who can resist bacon with ANYTHING... so a pancake cooked with bacon sounded good to me.

here is the link to the Pin and here is a link to the original blog (but there is no recipe)...

 

I assumed from the picture that it needed to be a thinner pancake so I went in search of a thin pancake recipe...I didn't want a crepe, just a thin pancake... I settled on this

Swedish thin pancake..from Cooks.com

SWEDISH THIN PANCAKES

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,194,145170-253196,00.html Content Copyright © 2012 Cooks.com - All rights reserved. 3 eggs (well beaten) 1 c. flour 1 tsp. salt 2 tbsp. sugar 2 c. milk Sift flour, sugar and salt into a bowl. Add eggs and milk gradually. Stir until smooth. Let stand 1 hour and beat again. May be used immediately also. Warm griddle to 300 degrees. Pour on lightly greased skillet forming small thin cakes. Turn when underside is nicely browned

 I think they needed to be thinned out more (almost as thin as crepes) because they were TOO dense. Tasty but really too dense and they were also very sweet.. you could cut the sugar if you wanted, especially if you were adding syrup.

 

I of course cooked BACON..in the oven, its really the only way to go people!

 

 

Then you put them altogether and beautiful...

 

 

Yummo.

 

 

 

Anyway... Dave liked it a lot.  Emily liked it better separate and liked the pancakes enough to put the leftovers away herself and Matt did not like the pancakes, but of course ate bacon.

 

 

I love that he lets me take silly shots of him eating his pancake/ bacon because he knows I wanna write a post about it.. LOVE THIS MAN. 

 

 

This is to show HOW thin they are.. THAT is 25 pancakes. 

 

 

And this is just plain funny stuff about bacon... (and it is clean BTW.)

 

 

4H- Harris County Livestock Judging Event

Kaitlin and Emily joined the livestock judging team for Harris County 4H... Saturday was their first event.  We got up at the very dark hour of 5:45 and headed out to get to the Farm and Ranch Club across town where the fair was held.  The girls got their shirts...

 

 

We signed in and waited...

and then we waited some more.. there were so many kids there!  The girls were put in teams for the Harris County with 3/4 people per team.  There were 8 groups (a-h) that had at least 25 kids each maybe more... so there were at least 200 kids participating this fine morning!

 

I was asked to lead a group-- meaning I walked around group C- hence my sign below...

and led them from class (group of animals) to class. 

This amazing duty also included my keeping cows in line... really not my forte!  But I managed. 

 

There were 7 classes and one holding area.  We stayed at each class for 12 minutes with 3 minutes to get to the next class and in place.. So for 1 hour and 45 minutes I proudly held my sign.... :0).  

 The kids are NOT allowed to talk!

(So I KNOW Emily did not talk or bounce around for at least 1 hour and 45 minutes!) 

MIRACLE.

 

 

 

The kids get to the class and turn their backs on the animals.. the judge calls time and the kids can turn around and start observing the animals looks for different things: balance, muscle, cuttability (fat), hips, legs, stance, alignment or sway of back and other things...

 

For goats and lambs they were allowed to actually touch the animals... Emily's favorite part!

But with swine and steer it was eyes only.

 

After all the classes have been judged the group turned in their scan tron (yes, I had to teach the girls about filling in the circles!) and were released.  After a few minutes they called for qualifiers.. which is when they talk about how the official judge ruled... They give the judges number (which you compare to your own-- because you keep notes other than your scan tron) and cut (which is how you tally your score if you do not have the same numbers as the judge)... they also explain why they choose certain animals and made certain decisions...

 

 

 

The animals are lined up and you judge from left to right..

 

So it is 1,2,3 and 4

 

On your sheet you put them in order for instance if you think number 3 is best, 2 is second best, 1 is third and 4 is last your paper would look like this..

 

3  2  1  4

 

If a judge scored 3214 than you scored 50 and take no cuts..

If you switched two numbers like this

 

2314

 

than you have a switch and have to take a cut...

IF you switch too many numbers like 4213 it would be a bust..

worth hardly any points at all.. TOO many cuts.

 

I know lots of information and still makes my head spin!  :0)  But I am learning!

 

 

 

Kaitlin out of 350 scored 309 and took 41 cuts.. She did really well for her very first event!  Her team took 7th place in the Jr. division-- they can also win with individual scores also.  After the qualifier  you have the opportunity with your coach to go around (this is what they are doing in the picture above) to each class and learn where you went wrong-- see why the judge picked what etc.  So she learned a lot about the mistakes she made...

 

 

 

Emily mostly loved being around all the animals!  She did pretty well on her judging too...

 

On four classes she had scored between 50 (lambs she got right)-43, but she had three busts which took her score down under 250. We dont have a cut written down (because it is the one Kaitlin had all right with zero cuts) so we cannot tally her correct score.

 

All in all.. and I mean all 5 hours (plus two more hours driving back and forth) were great.  The girls had a good time and I learned a lot!  It is a long day but fun too.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Sum Up: Week One 2012-2013

{day 30-34}

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truthfully...there is not much to share!  I already showed you pics of our first day, here! 

 

 

 

 

 

We got math, English, our new Bible curriculum set up and first lesson done....

 

 

 

we started our READ THE BIBLE IN A YEAR...which i have determined to do as a priority even over math for instance!  It will get done!  I read it out loud on Wed. but sometimes the kids will do the reading on their own... depends on our day.  Since we have split Bible right now I get the kids together in the morning to start assignments and do anything we need to do together-- we can read then, but some days it just wont work out that way.

 

I showed the girls their new history and science curriculum...

 

 

 

Kate and Matt accomplished their regular work and on Monday will start their Sonlight Core G.

 

 

 

So easing into things is nice.. but I think I am going to wish for about three more weeks to EASE into things once we get started!  We already had an instance of ME feeling behind in a subject after two days. IS that even possible?  But truthfully it is about shifting the schedule and feeling out how things will work best.  I am sure it will get better after we get in a routine.  And I have left Friday's light on purpose to play catch up!

 

 

4h Leadership Camp

Kate had leadership camp for 4h a few weeks ago... it was an ALL DAY LONG event.  We arrived before 8:00 and left after 7:00 and it is an hour each way.  WAY LONG DAY.....

She had a great time.. mom (that's me!) sat back and just let her do her thing.  I visited with my friends, I listened to the parts that pertained to ME as a project leader and I watched Kaitlin...

I have been taking mental notes of all the things I need to work on her about that I sometimes forget to celebrate the things SHE has worked on.

She was very mature and serious.. or at least taking it very serious.  She took notes, she learned, she asked questions...she took care of business!  There are good moments that I keep missing... I need to stop and be happier in the moment!  I know that she can do what she is being asked to.  I know she will need to work on time management.  I know she will gain leadership doing this program and in turn gain confidence and public speaking skills. 

Forget the fair.. just have funnel cake!

My Facebook/ blog friend Aneisa showed funnel cake the other day on a Facebook post that her husband had made and it reminded me that I can make that!  So I did!  It turned out great!

 

 

My mom had bought a kit a while ago and I think the funnel pitcher that came with it makes a huge difference in how easy this is to make!

 

 

We found a mix at Kroger's, but there are a lot of recipe's online too.. which would be cheaper and make a lot more too.  I added a little vanilla and cinnamon to the mix.

 

 

 

We of course had powdered sugar!  What is funnel cake without powdered sugar?

 

 



First day of school 2012/2013

 

 

Yesterday was the first day of our new school year.  I am excited, but of course overwhelmed....

because it is a Wednesday we will not start all our new subjects until next

 Monday giving us a few days to ease into it....

 

 

 

Today we started with a breakfast.... eggs/ sausage/ cheese casserole and toast (it was supposed to be pancakes instead of toast but I could NOT find my mix and didn't have all the ingredients for scratch-- which I don't know how THAT happened!)  Anyway!

 

 

 

The kids each got a special treat (thank you Pinterest)...

 

(inside the pencil is a pack of rolo's and a hershey kiss at the top)

 

Then we had a MARSHMALLOW war!!!!  Fun was had by all!

 

 

 

Here are their first day of school pics! 

 

 

 

But really after lunch we got down to business and got some real schooling done!!!

Menchie's Field trip

Um. yum.  who could pass up a field trip to Menchie's?  learning AND frozen yogurt with toppings... WIN. WIN.

We got to tour the back where they MAKE the wonderful confection healthy treat.... saw the freezers and where they keep the supplies...

 

Next we learned that Menchie's was started by a Jewish couple from California-- Mench is a yiddish word that means a " a good person" in the male.. so the husband said she was a Menchie.. and the name stuck... All their yogurt is kosher and the store in Bellaire is entirely kosher! 

They do not however have Jewish franchise owners and are still open on holidays... 

 I just thought it was very interesting!

 

We got to try out the yogurt and of course pose with Menchie herself!

 

 

 

all in all it was a great and filling field trip!

The Mom I Want To Be

I read a post @ Raising Arrows the other day... it was titled The Mom I Want to Be...


I believe we need to definitely set before ourselves goals, ideals, aspirations of what we want!  So I decided to do this not only for myself but we are doing it with each of the kids... we had already decided to write a kind of spiritual affirmation for each child.  I think it not only says WHO they are but what they should be desiring to be!

For myself....

I have the power in my tongue to speak death or life into my children.  I choose life.  Prov 18:21

May I be merciful, as my Father is merciful. Luke 6:36

May I carry my own load. Gal 6:5

Let me be kind.  1 Thes 5:15

Let me be gentle and show true humility to everyone.  Titus 3:2

Let me serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people...  Eph 6:7

For the Children...

I am a child of God and I am redeemed from the hand of the enemy.  I am forgiven and saved by Grace.  I am living for a purpose and a time such as this and my steps are ordered by HIM.  I am a new creation.  I am strong in the Power of his MIGHT.  I am blessed coming and blessed going and I am healed by His stripes.  I am more than a conqueror and I walk by faith, not by sight.  I bless the Lord at all times and continually praise the Lord with my mouth.  I mount up with wings like eagles and I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.  I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.

Bayou Bend Museum of Fine Arts.....

We went to the Bayou Bend part of the Museum of Fine Arts today.. (((Sigh))) so beautiful....

BTW.. they had a small puzzle item of Frederic Remington (and Matt recognized both the painting and artist) and one of the ladies said they had the actual painting on display also.  So we were going to go see it because it is about to be sent off on loan... anyhoo... EMILY did remember studying him and recalled that he used bronze in his statues.. .YEAH. .I love those moments!

Okay back to our trip... We went because it was the last day to participate in their Detective Days--- kind of a scavenger hunt for clues around the garden and home... the kids did really well and learned a few things!  We did not do the garden scavenger hunt because it was TOO hot, but we spent a little time outside.. SO beautiful.. did I already say that?  Did I already sigh??? 

I managed to catch a shot of each of my kids in a shady area... and after that they were DONE!  :0)

 

 

We had a great time and it was a fabulous way to end our LAST day of "break"! 

Next Wednesday we start our new school year....

Monday is a holiday and Tuesday we have a field trip so Wednesday it is!