A Quick Update

I can't believe that I have let so much time pass without an update! I wish I could offer some acceptable excuse, but the truth is I LOVE THE OLYMPICS! I always have. Although my gymnastic skills are about zilch, I have fond memories of pretending to be Mary Lou Retton as a child. (My sister was Bella firing away orders!) So, I have been glued to the television watching the Olympics. I thought I could just share a few pictures of the kids and some of the exciting things that have happened since we moved.  In stream of consciousness form:

• Matthew and Jonathan both became official toddler-waddlers!  I even bought them each a pair of shoes!
• I gave up caffeine, seriously!  No easing into it either, cold-turkey!
• We have bought produce (and the occasional pastry) from the local Farmer's Market every Saturday since we have been here.  An extra plus is that it is within walking distance from our house.  It can be kind of tricky maneuvering the double stroller through the crowds, but the food is so worth it!
• The moving company "lost" one of our bookshelves and the hutch to our desk.  Fortunately, UCI paid for insurance, so we will be compensated for the loss.
• Jonathan figured out how to open doors.  Not only the bathroom door, but the front door.  This is somewhat problematic, since our apartment is located on the second floor.
• Mary and Maggie have become fish!  They are really enjoying the pool.  Mary has turned the water wings over to Maggie who zooms around everywhere with a big smile on her face!  Mary is now perfecting the cannon ball!
• David walks to work every day and finally has office furniture.
• And, he will be interviewed tomorrow for a chemistry journal!
• Mary is officially enrolled with River Springs Charter School!  I will still be homeschooling, just under the umbrella of the school.  We will meet with an Education Specialist (a credentialed teacher) once every 20 days.  Our ES is also a Christian and seems to be tickled with Mary.  She is super-impressed with her reading abilities as well as with her performance on her math assessments.  But, I think Mary made the biggest impression when she did not want to agree to "keep trying, even when the subject is boring or difficult."  
• I went to the optometrist to get glasses.  Contacts just do not work for me in this season of life.  They should be in soon and I'll post a picture.  The girls had a lot of fun helping me choose frames and wanted me to try all the bright colors, even a pair with heart-shaped lenses.
• Matthew and Jonathan have taken to wrestling one another.
• Mary has learned to make brownies (from scratch) all by herself!
• We selected floors, counters and other things for our new house!  This was no small feat given that we are relatively budget-minded people and the first tile I found that I loved was $17 per square foot!  At our second appointment, we opted to start from scratch and change the counter, which opened up an abundance of tile choices for the budget-minded.
• I got a new vacuum because my old one broke!
• We bought our Orange County parks pass.
• I only reorganized the kitchen about three times!

  

  Jonathan

  

  Maggie

  
  

  

  Mary

  

  Matthew

Jonathan's New Trick

Jonathan picked up a new trick on our cross-country trip!

California, here we come!

At last we are en route to California! We got a much later start than we expected, but I see God's hand even in that. If we had left earlier, I probably would have missed the chance to say good-bye to some wonderful friends who stopped by this evening. I also got to spend more time with my friend Mrs. Sheryl, which was a great blessing for me and the kids! I was trying to post a picture of everything we packed into the van, but I can't figure out how to with the iPad, so I'll just have to try to post it later. I hope in the meantime a list of everything we are bringing will be entertaining(note: this list is by no means comprehensive!): Big suitcase with clothes for mom, dad, Matthew and Jonathan Small suitcase with clothes for Mary and Maggie Ice chest filled with milk, juice boxes and Arizona tea Breakfast box with Cheerios and kashi cinnamon harvest, bowls and spoons Lunch box with bread, three jars of peanut butter, plastic knives and napkins Treat box with granola bars, cereal bars, fruit snacks, raisins, animal crackers, peanut butter crackers Bibs for the boys and sippys for all Two space saving high chairs Activity box for each of the children Electronics box with, you guessed it, electronics--computer, DVD player, headphones, chargers, etc. Essentials box with miscellaneous things we will need when we reach the apartment (things like, hand soap, dish soap, tissues, towels, hammer screwdriver, toilet paper, knife, disinfectant, etc.) Pack n play for the boys to sleep in Bag with blankets for each of the kids and sheets for the pack n play Baby Grace, a blanket, and a stuffed bear Alice, a blanket, a kitty bookmark, a brush and a stuffed Dolly Three sleeping bags Imaginets Baby gate (our apartment will have a loft) Drill to install the baby gate upon arrival Box of valuables that we wanted to keep with us rather than send on the moving truck Box of diapers and wipes Backpack carrier and Bjorn Gifts for aunt Alicia and the cousins Sarah in her cat carrier Sarah's food Sarah's litter pan and scooper Diaper bag Jumper cables First aid kit DustBuster Laundry detergent that the packers would not pack Other small miscellaneous items the movers missed A going away gift from some dear friends, Charlie and Sheryl Ray Three sleeping children, one child mesmerized by the story of the world and two exhausted parents with Starbucks in hand!

40 Hours, 4 Kids, 1 Cat, 7 States

In less than 72 hours, Lord willing, we will begin our trek to Irvine, California!  Our estimated driving time is 40 hours.  That's a lot of time in the car for four kids.  Usually, my kids don't mind the car at all. But, then again, our average trip usually lasts about 20 minutes.  Expecting 40 + hours (we're taking a long-cut through Colorado to visit my sister and her family) in the car to be a bit more challenging, I put together a box of activities for each of the kids.

MARY'S BOX:

• Construction paper shapes, glue, and paper--We have a lot of fun making picture scenes out of various shapes!
• Black construction paper and chalk
• Horses of the World Coloring Book
• Color Wonder Sheets and Markers--No Mess!
• Colored paper and Fancy Nancy stickers
• 2 Finger Puppets (for entertaining fussy brothers)
• States Flash Cards--I thought this might be fun to learn about the states we are driving through.
• Presidents Flash Cards--Mary just really likes the presidents. 
• Name in Bubble Letters and Stickers--I made an outline of her full name in bold letters and thought it would be fun to decorate it with stickers.
• Decorate a Birthday Cake Sticker Book--My girls LOVE birthday parties!
• My Little Pony Coloring Book
• Bendaroos and Placemat--I thought this would be another fun, tactile, mess-free activity for the car
• Writing paper with pictures--I drew some simple pictures for Mary to write about.
• An old shoe for tying practice
• Pencil Box with colored pencils, erasers, and a pencil sharpener

MAGGIE'S BOX:

• Construction paper shapes, glue, and paper
• Black construction paper and chalk
• Color Wonder Sheets
• Colored Paper and Fancy Nancy Stickers
• Counting Books--I used foam stickers to make several different counting books.
• Sound Out Books--I used foam letter stickers to make as many words as I could think of for Maggie to practice her reading.
• 2 Finger Puppets (for entertaining fussy brothers)
• Animal Flash Cards
• Same/Different Flash Cards
• Name in Bubble Letters and Stickers
• Decorate a Birthday Cake Sticker Book
• Hello Kitty Coloring Book
• Bendaroos and Placemat
• Pencil Box with colored pencils, erasers and a pencil sharpener
• Second set of BOB Books

BOYS' BOX (Ordinarily, I don't really like to lump them together.  Although they have unique personalities, their toys fit in one box and I find it's best if they are playing with the same toy!):

• 2 O-Balls--OOO a brand new toy for the trip!  I found these O-balls that have another ball inside.  I think these are going to be a big hit!
• 2 Taggy Blankets--The boys love to play peek-a-boo with each other!
• 4 Plastic Shapes--I thought they would enjoy holding them and banging them together.  Hopefully, they do not become torpedoes!
• Trucks--We have two small trucks, one is a dump truck and one is a cement mixer.  The best $3 I ever spent!
• 2 Little People--Nana and Papa bought each of the boys a truck for their birthday with a little driver.  They love playing with the little people.  (They like the trucks, too, but they are just too bulky for the car!)
• 5 Chunky Trucks--I rescued these from the sand table for the boys to play with in the car.
• Stacking Cups
• 4 Infant Feeding Spoons--I thought these would be great for biting and wapping and even for sword-fighting!
• 2 Sets of Links
• 2 Buckles
• 2 Snaps
• 4 Holey Balls
• 4 Ping Pong Balls
• 2 Plastic Containers with Clothespins--They are in the put in, take out stage!
• 2 Plastic Containers with Holey Balls--ditto!
• 2 Finger Puppet Books
• Very Hungry Caterpillar Playset--These are colorform stickers which I think will be lots of fun, assuming they don't get eaten!

OTHER:

• The Story of the World Volume 2--We all love listening to these CDs!  Mary is especially eager to listen!
• Sing the Word CDs--A while back, I had bought several of these CDs on sale.  I love these CDs because they are Bible verses set to music.  
• The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos--I have read really great reviews of this Story Bible.  Hopefully, it will be better than the other ones we own already:)
• Imaginets--These are magnetic shapes that you can make into different designs.  They come with preprinted cards that you can try to reproduce.  I have a lot of fun playing with it, hopefully, the kids do, too!
• DVD player and movies--this is a last resort!
• Kindle with LOTS of free books!

SNACKS:

I think the snacks are the part of the trip the kids are most looking forward to!  I bought several snacks (that I NEVER buy).  Fruit(less) Snacks, Animal Crackers, Peanut Butter Crackers, Cereal Bars, Raisins (not for the boys), Chocolate Chip Granola Bars.  I wrapped each individual item in tissue paper, so it will be like getting a special surprise!  I also bought juice boxes!

And if that doesn't keep everyone happy, then I will insert my earplugs!

Happy Fourth of July!

When I flipped the calendar to July, I saw this on the fourth: "Sing the Star-Spangled Banner at 7:00 am!" Well, Mary was not up in time for the 7:00 show, but she gave a brilliant performance at 8:30!  She has learned that if she goes outside, she can sing as loud as she wants.  Fortunately, there is an empty lot next to us on one side, an abandoned house on the other side and two empty lots across the street!  She made a joyful noise!

Mary's judo instructor invited us over for a barbecue at his house, since David went to Walt Disney World without us.  Just joking, he is in Orlando at a Math conference (zzzzzz...)!  We wanted to bring a dessert to Mr. Larry's, but since we are moving across the country in six days, we are down to bare essentials.  I did realize, though, that we had everything we needed to make sugar cookies.  The girls eagerly set to work separating the red, blue and white sprinkles from the rest while I made the dough, rolled it out, and cut about three dozen star shapes.  The girls then frosted the cookies while I did the sprinkles.  Of course one or two cookies "broke" in the process and had to be consumed immediately!  I think quite a few sprinkles found their way into two little bellies also.

Mary and Maggie separating sprinkles!

Maggie frosting.

Mary frosting.

The finished product!

This is the mess on the table at the end of it all!

 

Mr. Larry has this BIG dog named Ninja.  He was kind enough to clean the mess the boys made in the stroller!

Shape Pictures

Sunday evening, after the boys went to bed, Mary, Maggie and I made designs with construction paper shapes.  We had a lot of fun making these...until it was time to quit. 

I made a dog face.

Maggie made a wagon.

This is Mary's self-portrait.

Mary also made a boy in a wagon.

Fun, First, Fall

I wanted to post a few pictures of some of this past week's happenings.

We had to get a new dryer because (1) our old one was gas and the apartment does not have a gas hook-up and (2) there will only be room for a stackable dryer in the apartment.  The kids had a lot of fun playing in the box!

Jonathan is my first appendage sucker!  He began to suck on his fingers on Thursday of this week.  The strange thing is, he doesn't do it when he is sleeping or sad really.  He does it in between food bites.

Matthew was the victim of some tough love from Mary.  She tried to pick him up (why, I don't know) and he tumbled and cut his upper lip in three places.  Lots of blood, but he's a toughy!