Why I don't like movies

I'm not one to enjoy going to the movie theater very much. Something about spending a few hours in a dark room with my mind zoned into another place...spending $4 on a popcorn or a water bottle...and not even getting to talk to my date...it's just not really my thing.

It's also rare for there to be a movie out that I'm really interested in. The last one we saw was Fireproof, and before that I know we saw Over the Hedge (the only time the girls ever went, and Mary Clare was 3!) and The Passion of the Christ. I also remember falling asleep in the last Star Wars movie. And that's been about it in the past 10 years or so.

We rent movies from the Red Box every so often, and watch free flicks on Hulu.com. But really I prefer sitcoms, documentaries, and reality shows; not as much a mental commitment I guess. We rented Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on Friday night for the girls, and boy was I disappointed! That storybook is one of our favorites, but the movie was so different and had several inappropriate scenes for the kids, in my opinion.

Steven has really been wanting to see Avatar. I'd been hearing rave reviews and thought the 3D part would be really cool. My in-laws agreed to watch the kids at the last minute, so we drove across town to meet Steven there after work on Saturday, and once he arrived, he whisked me away on our little date.

I will say that the initial 3D part and the scenery and storyline were pretty fascinating in the beginning. But nearly 3 hours later, it was just too long and too much, and I was too ready to go and get my children, especially my "baby"! We both agreed our date would have been much more enjoyable at a nice restaurant and walking around the Galleria or something.

But it was a good little getaway and we're grateful to have family nearby to allow us these little date nights. We'll definitely be doing something a little more fun and a little more cheap next time! When I awoke the next morning, I had just had a nightmare about trying to find a cheap snack before going into the theater. I went into Dunkin Donuts, who made me pay $4 for a doughnut. Glad that was a nightmare; we love doughnuts around here!

7 Quick Takes Friday

Starting with 7 quick shots of my little man...

1. Don't you hate that feeling when you're all ready to sneeze and then you don't? That's really disappointing!

2. I glued Ellie's head back together last night. Sort of. She was sitting backwards on the couch and fell back onto the coffee table, cutting her head in the back. Blood everywhere! Only about a half-inch cut so I cleaned the blood out of her blonde hair, dried her up, and glued her back together again. I'm just worried about doing the bun for ballet class, not sure how that's gonna work!

3. It is REALLY nice living close to family. My parents live about 20 minutes away. Today we spent most of the day there. I couldn't get Steven Joseph to nap, so I took him on a little drive. Put him in the stroller and rolled him back into their house. THEN...I got to shop at the kids resale store (yay for the dollar sale) and grocery store ALONE! I made it all the way to the check-out before the SOS call came in. Someone was having a fit, but promises of iced sugar cookies for good behavior calmed the unnamed child down.

4. I don't like the rain and I don't like the winter (except for Christmas). But right now it's slightly raining outside and it sure sounds relaxing. It will be especially cozy when I crawl into the warm bed in a few minutes, likely finding several children sprawled out in different spots. We've been doing well with the girls sleeping in their room, except when it's cold and everyone is in our room with the floor heater. And I don't usually mind; I love cuddling with my sleeping angels!

5. But what I do mind is the smell that has invaded a room in our house a few times over the past year. We're assuming it's a dead animal in the walls and the smell goes away after a few days. I'm ready for that smell to be gone!

6. My birthday is next week. 32 years young! I am totally excited about my present :-) But I probably won't get it for a few weeks yet. Steven was making fun of me tonight because he's never seen me excited about a material item like this (more his style). I can't remember if I've referenced it before, but can you guess what I'm getting (hopefully)?

7. Speaking of my handsome husband. He has been working up a storm. 12 hour days plus commute and long Saturdays too. We miss him so much! But what a hard working daddy! Thank you, Steven!

Check out more Quick Takes at Jen's Conversion Diary!

Along the Alphabet Path--Letter O

We started off O week with a trip to the...

ZOO

where we saw
Owls and Orangutans!


O books about Owls
and the Our Father


O is for Orchis Fairy


coloring Os with Oil Pastels


Tracing and coloring Os and Owls


Ed Emberly's Drawing Book of Animals--Owl



an owl poem


and I must add a sweet photo from last week...
"Oh my! Look how well they're working!"


Also here are the:
Serendipity Plans and Shower of Roses Ideas
for O week!

Along the Alphabet Path--Letters M, and N

I know I don't have to state it again, but my Alphabet Path inspiration is flailing. I don't have the energy to order all the books, plan the fun crafts, and everything I was doing at the beginning of the year. The month hasn't started but I'm already feeling that "February Funk" and ready for some changes in our homeschool routine.

I just purchased the Mother of Divine Grace 2nd Grade Syllabus and am very excited about adding some more subject areas, and having this framework to go by. Not sure when we'll start that, likely after the tax return is here, LOL!

But here are some more of my meager attempts to continue our alphabet plans. I'll have "O" up soon and this week we're taking a break so maybe I'll have some creativity for P week!

M is for....
Mary Clare! It was her birthday week,
so it was filled with making special plans for her big party.


Madeline

I checked out nearly every Madeline book our library system offered. We had so much fun reading them all! Mary Clare is very much wanting to learn French after all this Madeline and watching those videos of little Capucine.

We made crepes with our French theme (didn't turn out so good, very rubbery)


and a Madeline lapbook,

which included some coloring pages, World and European maps, the French flag, and a narration about one of the stories.

I'll also include our floor Map that I painted which got lots of use that week!


N is for...
Noah's Ark

I bought a Martha Stewart Noah's Ark craft kit at Walmart awhile back. It included pipe cleaner animals, which unfortunately were a bit hard for the kids to make. But we tried and had fun!

Notecards.

Mary Clare was very excited to start the thank-you cards for her birthday and did a handful the first day or two. BUT. I am horrible with written letters and have not helped her complete these or address any of them. I brought them to my parents' house over the weekend and forgot them there. She did a few without my supervision which need to be redone. I am worried this will be another set of thank-you cards that are started but never finished.

To all our friends who made her birthday so special, THANK YOU. I am sorry that I am so bad with mailed letters and hope you know how much she loved every single gift she received.

So...that's all I've got for the Alphabet Path for N. Not much.
O will be better though!

Baked Potato Soup

2 tbsp. butter
1/4 of a large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 large potatoes
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

1. Peel, slice, boil, and drain potatoes until falling apart (or bake, peel, and mash if you have time!), meanwhile fry bacon
2. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until soft, about 8 minutes.
3. Add flour into the vegetable mixture; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes).
4. Add potatoes, 1/2 cup cheese, salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
5. Stir in 1/4 cup green onions. Cook until thoroughly heated (do not boil)
6. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with cheese, green onions and bacon. Yum!

(modified from YumSugar, which modified from Cooking Light)

And last night was a modified Pioneer Woman's Monday Night Stir Fry (didn't have stuff like Ginger or Arrowroot or Peanut Oil and used the fresh veggies I had on hand). Hubby gave it a thumbs up!

Now...what for dinner tonight...I've got three chicken breasts defrosted and ready for something new! Maybe I'll update with my concoction later today!

My Little Guitar Hero

Our Goddaughter's Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday, precious Cecilia!

The girls (all sunburned from the park the day before)

Joey can sleep through anything!

But once he woke up and found out what he was missing, he was ready for some fun!

For this special birthday, I painted a cute little wooden house and church (found in the birdhouse area at Michael's) and made the K family in peg people. Aren't they cute?

Cecilia loved them and I'm sure the peg people will have fun playing with peg saints Cecilia and Elizabeth, which I made her for Christmas.

We are so blessed to be your godparents, Cecilia and hope that you will continue to grow in the love of God your whole life long!

Small Success Thursday

My three small successes for today...

1. I took all 3 kids to the pediatrician to check on Ellie's week-long earache. Sure enough it was a bad ear infection, poor thing! The past few times I've been to the doctor, I've had someone else watch the other kids to try and keep the germs away, but ventured out with everyone today! I kept Steven Joseph on my back in my new Beco carrier (got it for an amazing deal..those things are pricey!). He lasted for the entire appointment and the wait for the prescription next door, over an hour in the carrier. Love the Beco!


2. I survived a pizza buffet and grocery store outing with all 3 kids. I'm also pleased to say that I got the pizza place to let me use a buy one, get one coupon for Mary Clare's meal. I think it's ridiculous that some places (ie local salad buffet) will only let you use the free one on an adult meal. Couldn't you just order the child an adult meal and get it comped? Anyone understand the reasoning on this? Do they want less children there? Or do they think another adult will buy a more expensive drink or something? Anyway, the little ones were free, so that makes for a fairly cheap meal! Steven Joseph refused to eat, though, all he wanted to do was hold the "big gun"....


3. I honored my promise to Ellie after her doctor visit, to let her choose a park to go to this afternoon. Of course she chose the one in our suburb that is the farthest from our house! But the weather is gorgeous this week and it was so nice to be out in the sun! We did our reading lessons at the doctor office and math at the park! A great day!




Now to clean this messy house and tackle the mountains of dishes and laundry! Everyone is so much happier when we're out and about and having fun, except the poor house that gets neglected...

Today

Last night was a semi-late night. I'm shooting for an 11pm bedtime but many times get sucked into this internet until midnight. My little guy was hanging out with me, asleep on the floor in his cute rocket ship jammies. He is so scrumptious! I love how he's next to Steven's giant work boots. They're nearly as big as him!


Today brought a huge sigh of relief to my stresses about doctors. I am very picky about physicians. We live in a large city with excellent hospitals and medical availability, so I want to take advantage of that!

Those of you who know my birth stories know that I have had a rough go of it. 3 labors to 10 centimeters, ending in 3 c-sections, with 3 different doctors. I loved my first OBGYN and tried to switch back to him in the middle of my last pregnancy, but wasn't able to because of insurance issues. The last two obstetricians were not what I needed. They were too laid-back for my liking and did not do things the way I wanted them done. I didn't trust them like I did with Dr. M, who has sadly had a stroke and retired.

So I've been determined to find a good OBGYN in the area, in hopes that if we're blessed again with new life, that I will have someone ready to care for baby and me in a conservative and professional manner. It's hard to find what I'm looking for, because most of my friends have more natural, regular births. I need a good surgeon who is capable of handling a more high-risk case and who shows concern about my history of a couple early miscarriages. I also hope to use the hospital that is less than 5 minutes from my house.

So in comes Dr. R! A friend recommended him and I had a wonderful visit with him today and feel confident that he will care for me and any future children with the highest of standards. Cue *sigh of relief*!

After this nice doctor appointment (during which my kind friend Bev watched my little darlings, thanks!) I was blessed with the company of one of my oldest friends. Melissa's parents went to high school with my dad, and we ended up living a few streets apart during our childhood. She is such a talented lady, with a voice like the angels, hair like the blazing sun, and a heart bigger than Texas! We generally only see each other a couple times a year, in a last-minute outing. But I am always so blessed by her company!


And now she has a cute companion along with her. This little Micah-man is just adorable, isn't he? Such a happy little lad!


We have such fun memories of school days, dance class, slumber parties, and more. Melissa is a worship pastor at her church and does such beautiful things for the body of Christ! My girls adored her little Micah and were quite the mannered little ladies for the first hour, impressing Melissa with their calm and quiet demeanor and playing so sweetly with her little man.


After about an hour though, their true colors began to show as they argued and fought about the proper songs for the dances they were performing for us. Only with Ellie will an iPod volume issue bring about a fit including hitting and screaming! She is so passionate about her dancing! Steven Joseph started sobbing when I held the baby, and I think we somehow managed to keep his raisins out of Micah's mouth.

But all in all, a fun successful day.