Finally.......Dakota is walking!

Well, it has been a long wait but Dakota is finally walking! Yeah!!!! She is pretty much doing it as the exact same time as Renae did! One week shy of 15months. In the week that she has started she has gotten quicker and crawling less and less. So it won't be long before we will be running after her!

She is too cute! Renae of course wanted to help but little miss independent had to make it clear that she can do it herself....hehehe. Wait till you see this!

Casting Crowns - I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day Live

What do you look forward to every year with Christmas? For me....the list is long. But one of my great loves is music. And so when I come across a new song that becomes one of my favorites, I just have to share it with the world. Last year I came across this song on one of the blogs that I follow at-the-helm.blogspot.com and I instantly fell in love with it! I couldn't wait for Christmas to come around again so that I could pass this find on to you.

So, hear you are....my new favorite Christmas song.
Let me know what you think!

Moments To Remember

Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember. The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end these are the moments that keep us going, the ones we need to remember.

This last week was hectic. Got the tree up with all of the decorations, plus school, plus the regular house stuff, plus finishing all of the shopping for Christmas gifts to send home.

There were many times this week that I could have pulled my hair out. Renae had also been rather moody and would constantly be at her sister.

But, all of those memories fall away the moment I look at this picture.

All I see is the giggles and pure joy the girls are sharing when Renae was playing one of our musical snowmen that we have around the house right now.

I am so very glad to be participating in The Moments to Remember, because it really does get me to focus on what matters.

A little Project

There have been a ton of little projects in my head that I want to bring to fruition, but I just seem to put off.

 

 

One of those projects was a family portrait wall. My mom had one in the house that I grew up in and I have always wanted to do something along the same idea. I few weeks back Norm had mentioned a particular wall in our house would be perfect for it. I couldn't had agreed more.

 

 

And then the natural procrastinator reared it's evil head. I had my reasons for not putting this project into action.

 

 

However, if I am being truthful most of my reasons are more like excuses.

 

 

I have to do (fill in the blank).....so I don't have time.

 

 

It will take more time then I have available.

 

 

It will cost too much money.

 

 

What if it doesn't turn out how I imagined it would

 

 

Ect, ect, ect.

 

 

But as anyone who knows me well, can attest to the fact that once I set my mind to do something I will dedicate the time necessary to get it done and I won't stop till it is completed. I think this can be a great thing (can set and complete a given goal), but can also be a hindrance (because I know that I am like this, I will put it off in fear that too much time will be needed).

 

 

My mom jokes about it but sadly it is true that when I was a kid I would let my room get out-of-control-messy, until my parents couldn't take it anymore and demand that I needed to clean my room. Which I would, but it would take 3 days for me to do it because I didn't just clean up.....noooooo, that would be too easy. Instead, I would go through my closet and every drawer until every paper and item was neat and organized! Hmmm......the psyche known as Amanda......

 

 

Anyway.....I digress.....

 

 

So, back to the project. First I went and brought down the box of pictures that were in the attic. I decided that I wanted to represent our parents, grandparents, siblings, niece's and nephews....and of course......us. So after picking out the best of the best in the box, I also went and picked out the best pictures of our family that were stashed throughout our home that I have wanted to hang, but never had.

 

 

Then I took an inventory of what frames we needed. Some I re-purposed that we had already, some we bought.

 

 

Once that was done, I laid out the pictures on the floor and just kept arranging and rearranging them until it suddenly "came together". I don't know how else to describe it. It just clicked, and I thought......perfect.

From there, I took a couple of quick pics so that I wouldn't forget the layout. And then hubs went to work. He is so good at that sort of thing. I wish I had taken so pictures of him in action but he got those pictures up faster then I could have imagined.

In all honesty, other then having to go out and by the frames. The entire project was done in just a few hours (keeping in mind that we had to entertain little ones at the same time).

Now that it is done I am ecstatic on how well it turned out! I am so glad that I finally put aside all of the excuses and just dug in!

In all honesty it really didn't take nearly as much time as I had imagined. It didn't cost a great deal of money since I was either able to re-purposed frames that we had or I was able to pick some really inexpensive frames up at walmart.

 

 

I will let you be the judge but I think it turned out even better then what I had in my head. All that is left is to find some vinyl lettering to go along the top!

Now I am so energized by the success of this project that I can't wait to tackle the next one.

So......what do you think? What projects are you putting off or tackling?

Halloween 2011

Well it finally came!  Halloween!

For Renae the wait felt like an eternity.  It was near torture to have to wait to wear her Rapunzel costume with the long blonde wig.  I honestly thought that it wasn't going to stay on for more then 5 minutes.

I was wrong.  She totally fell into character and wore that wig the whole time!  She was sooooo cute!  The part that had me laughing was whenever she would see another princess trick or treating....she would say "Hello Cinderella, or Belle, or Ariel" (you get the picture) and then do a princess wave to them.  I must say, she did pretty good in the candy haul department too.

Dakota was in awe....she didn't know what to think. She was such a cute bumble bee. We toted her around in the wagon and when we finally made it to a house that was giving away little bag of pretzels, which meant she could have some......well she was over the moon! 

I even got into the spirit and dressed up as Athena ( I know what your thinking, I already am a Goddess, I am supposed to dress up as something else) Ahem.....anyway, Renae loved all the build up to the big day. 

We went to our annual pumpkin patch spot, and met up with a dear friend of mine and her family.  It was a great time.  They had a tractor ride, duck races, petting zoo, pump up slide and obstacle course and lots, and lots of pumpkins of course! The kids had a great time and the day was beautiful!

A few days later we did our 3 pumpkins that Renae helped pick out.  One she painted, one we used our Mr. Potato Head kit (princess style of course) and the last one was done the traditional way!  It was great fun!  Renae also enjoyed roasting (and eating) the pumpkin seeds. 

So, it was fun filled and action packed and a huge success. 

Which leaves me wondering.....what do you do for Halloween?  Would love to hear what some of your traditions are.

We've been a little bad.....

OK, so I am going to admit to something that might make some locals upset at me.......

Shhhh........We had a fire in our fire pit.......I believe there is still a fire ban out so we shouldn't have.....

It's just that, it is such perfect weather for it, it finally got a little cooler around here.....

Wow, now that that is out in the open, I feel so much better! 

Now for the pictures!

Renae remembered doing s'mores when we were in Canada, so we definitely had to recreate that experience again.

This is Renae goofing around before hand......yes, she was super excited! 

  We all had such a nice time. I love great family bonding times like these.

Can you tell the difference?

This is a post that I have been wanting to do for a while and then kinda forgot about it.  Anyway,  I have always found it uncanny how much Renae and Dakota look alike. 


And so, I thought I would put up a little side by side and see if you can pick out who is who!

The Prize?  .....Bragging rights!

                                                At One Week......

At 5 - 6 Months.......

At One Year.....

Good luck!

Dakota's Birthday Party!

Well I know some grandparents are eager to see some pictures of our big 1 year old!  (and maybe some others are too :) 

So here they are!  We decided to celebrate at home with some of our closest friends which are like family to us!  We kept the party simple and fun and hoped that our guests were able to enjoy themselves and not feel over stimulated and exhausted as you sometimes feel after kids birthday parties.

We didn't go with any "theme" just simple streamers, balloons and pinwheels.  I got the idea from Erin (thank you Erin) and from what I hear/read.....she throws some awesome kid parties!

A Sample of Renae and Melody's Work!

I didn't invite a whole lot of kids because I wanted to be able to focus on the birthday girl.  But Renae was thrilled as punch that her friend Melody came.  I set them up with some canvas' and paints and they seemed to have LOVED this.  And I thought that it would be a great "party favor" to take home! This idea also came from Erin's Blog (which you can look at here.  Thank you again Erin!) We also had little jars of jelly beans, yogurt raisins, animal crackers and gummy bears that the guests could fill a goodie bag with to take home!  (Thanks Mom for that idea!)

Renae Lovin' the Camera

Auntie Jean and the Birthday Girl!

She is such a delight!  Even when she was getting tuckered out at the end of the party, she was still full of smiles! 

It was a beautiful day! 
.....Still hot......but beautiful!
The girls found ways to enjoy the sunshine! With a little dip in the kiddie pool! 


And then of course I couldn't resist.....the action sequence of Dakota digging into her very own cupcake!  (that Renae decorated for her!)

Yep......she loved it!

Thank you again to everyone that celebrated with our little girl!  Your gifts were all so lovely and thoughtful!  You all made her first birthday so very special.

Wow.....a year already!?!

Well I have to say that I have been nostalgic over the last week prior to her birthday approaching.  I just can't believe that our little baby is a year old already!
I have always been told that time goes so fast and since Dakota is our second I already knew this to be true from Renae. 

So I did, I payed attention.

 I soaked it all in.  ......and yet, it still went too fast. 

Already she is crawling at lightening speed.  And as a result doesn't want to be cuddled nearly as much as she used too.  She travels along the furniture and babbles non-stop.  .....everything except Mama of course....lol.  Her dexterity has improved dramatically and can pick up the tiniest speck off the carpet if you let her. 

She is as cute as can be and an absolute joy to be around.  Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled of all that will lay ahead and watching her grow but I just needed some time to reflect back and remember all of the "baby steps" that she has already passed.

I know that from listening to mothers before me that this is only the first of many many stages that our family will go through. I guess I am feeling the passing of time a little more strongly then before because I know that this is it for babies for us.  Even the nursing part......part of me is looking forward to the freedom.....and yet, I will miss the closeness that we have shared for this last year. 

So even though I am ready for all that is to come I'm still a little sad as I leave this part behind.  I am so grateful that I have been blessed, two times over, with motherhood.  It is the greatest joy that I never expected!

Happy Birthday Dakota!  We Love You.

What we did for our first two weeks of homeschool.

Well, to say that I think the first two weeks were a hit for home school would be an understatement!  Every day, Renae wakes up and wants to know what we will be doing for the day!  She has even asked for me to leave her "school work" to do when she is home with Daddy and I have to work!

When I was doing my research I saw mentioned on homeschoolcreations.com and 1+1+1=1 an organization system that they were using that was simply called the Workbox system.  So I looked into it and bought the book written by Sue Patrick, which you can check out here. 

It is such a simple system to use and since I know no other way, I am sure that there is more than one way to skin a cat.  But I have to say.....this system is really working for us.  The night before I fill Renae's workbox with the activities for the day and then I place little cards on her "work sheet" for the day. 

When she gets through the sheet, she knows that all of her lessons are done. When you purchase the book you also get a code that you can then use on Susan's website for free printables to use with her system. If you like the little picture cards that I have shown you can print them for free here.

We bought the "workbox" station at Sam's club for $29.99 and I believe that you can buy similar ones at places like Michael's and such for about the same amount.  (maybe less with coupon's and sales).
Everyday, Renae wakes up and runs out to "check out" what we will be doing for the day.  She is so excited about it, that it no longer is a chore to get her to have breakfast, get dressed and brush her hair and teeth!  Speaking of which, I plan on introducing her to the world of chores.....I will let you know how that goes.

After she is ready to get going, we do our circle time with our daily sing songs. Calendar and Pledge of Allegiance. 

Then we go into Bible study with The Beginner's Bible and then we do music to Songs for Saplings (which help us remember our weekly bible verse) and Hide 'em in your heart CD's where we sing and dance.

The Girls Dancin' it up!

Matching up the correct number of stickers to the number on the page.

Matching the written word to the number on the page.

Placing the correct number of pom poms to the number and picture.

Matching the clothes pin with a number written on it to the number of dots on the circle.  Which has the added benefit of practicing small muscle control.

After all of this Dakota is usually ready for her morning nap.  So I will put her down and then Renae and I will get started on her "lessons".

Towards the end of week one we did an arts and craft for A is for Alligator.  I got the idea off of 1+1+1=1.

 Oh and remember the Palm tree in the previous post.  Well, we have been reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  If you are not familiar with the book, all the letters climb up the coconut tree.  So we are making our own Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree and as Renae finishes learning about the letter of the week.  She does a little play doe mat and then we cut out the letter and put it on our tree!

We usually do 3 or 4 of them and then take a break for snack and then we go out in the backyard to play until Dakota wakes again.  Then we usually go out.  Be it to the park, or the library or sometimes we make a quick run to the store if I need to get something.

Then it's back for lunch and the girls go down for a nap.  When they get back up again, Renae usually does the rest of her lessons and then we play a bit more until Daddy gets home.
And that is our day!  It has been a lot of fun so far and I look forward to continuing on and keeping you posted along the way.