Mommy's Potpourri

What you are about to see is nothing fancy. It does not "measure-up" whatsoever to the pinterest-y crafty, elegant school lessons that you may see around the blogosphere, but it is real. This is basically what we try to do every day.  We have a memory verse we memorize and discuss for the week. This is this week's verse (and probably next week's as well). Both Anthony and Lukie do a great job memorizing verses. Crafts are not something we do every day, but today we used watercolors to paint leaves to go on our "thankful tree". My friend Jess showed me hers that she did last year, and it seemed like such a great idea to help promote attitudes of thankfulness. Paint the leaves, then think of things you are thankful for and write one on each leaf. Luke is thankful for Mickey Mouse, and Anthony is thankful for Mommy, and Sunday's "because of church and Sunday Night Football." Getting those creative juices flowing! As w

     In about a month, we are unofficially officially starting school. I say unofficially because I do not have to report to any school district yet, but we are definitely starting.      I don't remember if I documented it here, but I have been researching for months, to find the perfect curriculum. I don't want anything too rigid, or full of seatwork. This is kindergarten afterall. I know in a lot of circles people say not to even bother with a curriculum with a kindergartener, but honestly some structure would do us some good. I don't know if either one of us (me or Anthony) could take another year of me just flying by the seat of my pants. He craves a tight schedule-- which will never happen because I avoid a tight schedule like the plague. But I do want him to thrive, and him thriving means that I need to have a clear, predictable direction that I can articulate to him. I am truly a type B personality, teaching and mothering a type A. And it is HARD.      So, I neede

Happy Mother's Day! We had a wonderful day, just spending time together outside, and my sweet husband made me a really delicious steak dinner that I devoured. ooooh it was so good. Here are some pictures from today! Me and "Crazy Baby"... oh boy when will I be able to face the fact that he is not going to be a baby forever? (and he might not actually be a baby now) who knows!  Was so excited that Ian got a couple of good pictures of me with all 3 of them. Not many of those exist! Ethan loves pictures. Need some ham for that cheese? And it's not a complete day until  Luke gets himself in some sort of pickle. Today he climbed a tree and did not want to jump out of it. "hmmm... what am I supposed to do?" "Guess I'll just hang around here..." "...forever?" The 3 muskateers. I wouldn't be able to celebrate Mother's Day without these little dudes. So thankf

Today Anthony had his very first T-Ball game! It was so adorable, and hilarious. Kids are so cute. One kid actually hit the ball, then ran out into the field, grabbed it and threw it to first base. I felt like we were in a Disney movie. Here are some pictures of the fun! Anthony is so excited to be #1!!! He cracked everyone up. Right before he was getting ready to hit, he tells everyone "I'm about to BLAST this ball!" hahaha!!! Running to home plate! Don't ask me how, but Ian got roped in to coaching the team. hahaha! Should be fun!                                         Lukie was hilarious. One moment, he was playing on the big hill, the next minute he snuck in line and had a batting helmet on, trying to get a swing in.                                                     He was not happy when I explained to him that we couldn't play. Kayli came to watch!                                        &a

Hey there kiddo. You're cute. Can you do me a little favor though? Can you please stop getting stuck in your crib? Arms, legs, feet, knees, elbows... goodness gracious what are you doing in there?  You cannot escape by going through. Today after hearing that increasingly familiar wail of dispair, I ran in to find you really really stuck. I don't even know how you got your knee that far through the slats of your crib. Incredible. I could not get it free and we were both starting to panic. But then, I remembered something I had seen when I was a kid, and a lightbulb went off. I greased up your chubby knee with vegetable oil to get you free. Desperate times, indeed. To be completely honest, it was my last resort before calling the fire department. Yes. I would have called the fire department, because amputation is like one of my top 5 all-time-biggest fears (right up there with being locked in a car underwater, and million legged bugs.)You can thank me later, when you still

I know this is not the most interesting post, but I am writing it for my own reference more than anything else. Here are my curriculum ideas as of right now: Anthony needs/enjoys being challenged in math and reading. So, I want to make sure our curriculum has strong math and gives him lots of reading practice. Math U See  - after some research, I think this program will be perfect for my smart and wiggly worms. I really like how the guy on the video explains the concepts, and I know that Anthony will too. I also believe Luke will do well with this program as well, when his time comes :) Five In A Row  I also want to make sure that our curriculum can easily be adjusted to include my younger 2 children. This curriculum seems PERFECT for that purpose. Also, it has tons of reading (of GOOD children's literature) and seems easy on me as far as prep time/materials/ etc. goes. At the same time though, there seems to be a lot of room to create fun activities and be inspired by the

Researching curriculum for homeschooling my son come the fall, and I feel like my head is going to explode. Really. My head might explode. And Pinterest. Don't even get me started. I am all for crafty moms (and fully accept that I will never ever be one), but holy cow! Homeschooling crafty moms take things to a whole new level. One that I will never be on. Goodness gracious. Friday and Saturday I will be attending a homeschool convention, and I am hoping it is not too overwhelming. Because I feel pretty overwhelmed right now. Hopefully one day I will be a homeschooling veteran, and look back on this post and laugh. Hopefully I will whisper to myself...'Calm down. Deep breath. It's going to be alright.' Because honestly, as I see many bloggers and experienced homeschoolers telling me to relax, it is really difficult. *Breathe.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Lukie-bear! Our tough little cuddle-bug is 3 years old today! For birthdays, we always decorate the house with crepe paper, and a floor full of balloons. So simple, but they love it. On Saturday we are going to have a small family party, that I have not thought/planned out yet... oops! I cannot wait to give him is new bike later on today! He is going to love it! I made the mistake of telling Anthony to keep it a surprise. Let's just say he did not. At all. In fact, I was inspired to give him a middle name. Which he thinks is hilarious and is oddly proud of. Say hello to Anthony "Spoiler" Johnson (wearing one Mommy-sock and one Daddy-sock) HAHA! I think Luke will still be surprised and excited though.  I cannot believe he is already 3. Of course I keep thinking back to the afternoon I went into labor with him. My poor friend, Leeta, saw me yelling in pain before heading to the hospital. I was so embarrassed. I tried to h