Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Update and Giveaway-CLOSED


I haven't been blogging much.  You may have noticed.  Then again, you may not have noticed.  Either way I will explain myself.

Well, see, first I went to Singapore to pick out a house.  See that picture up there?  That's the outside entry way to our new house.  Just leave your shoes there.  I always want people to leave their shoes at the door because it keeps the house cleaner.  But it never really stuck.  (JEFF!)  However, in Singapore that is the culture.  You leave your shoes outside.  That thing above holds shoes.  It's hidden behind the doors.  (There are lots of hidden doors in our new house.)


Here is our koi pond which I'm sure Asa will eventually go swimming in.  (Ahem.)


Here is a shot of our school room. All the wonderful, beautiful, fantastic shelves WITH doors. Do you know what that means?  No more cleaning up what Asa and Millicent (and certain other older children whom I will not name in order to protect their privacy) get out.  Doors that lock even.  I'll keep the keys or we'll be calling a locksmith in a day.

So I was in Singapore, which I loved, but I was too exhausted to blog.



Then I came home and it took Jerusha a week to realize that she was suppose to be sleeping at 3:00 am.  For some reason she wanted to watch TV with me.

Then I was still tired even when she started sleeping again during the night because even though she wasn't up playing in the night she was nursing all night long.

So I was tired.

Then I just didn't feel like blogging because I was anticipating moving to Singapore.  It kept me up at night thinking of all the things we had to do.  I had insomnia for about a week.

The question I keep getting is when are you moving? When are you moving?

My answer has been October 1, but as of yesterday, we've pushed that a little further away.  We have some things we need to do and some people to see before we can leave. So I would say the week after that.  But who really knows.

I neglected to blog Kori's birthday in my sleep deprived state, so here you are:


Kori and her siblings


Kori on her 13th birthday.  Yes, now I have two teenagers.


Kori making a necklace for her birthday activity. It was super fun.

We've said goodbye to family and have more family to say goodbye to but we are ready to go!  Here is a picture of my family enjoying the hot tub, one final time, at Mimi's.  


I love the way Kori and Ashlea are looking at each other...and the sneaky look on Asa's face.


And here is a picture of Ashlea holding Audra...


and one of Audra.

That's that.

So on to my giveaway. CSN is one of my favorite companies.  They have offered to let me host several giveaways and have given me several things over the years.  They are great to work with.  

They have fabulous things like these dining tables.  Check them out.

Here is something that I absolutely love and am so glad I bought from them.



That's a mouthful. But it's also great fun for the kids.  I like to use it as an incentive to get Millicent to work hard when we are doing letter sounds (or lately actually reading words...YES, Millicent can read words now).  When she's done she can do some patterns.

I use it FOR school with Asa.  We'll do all colors or all shapes or categories.  

It comes with the cards. But you could easily use it to hold up letters or numbers or anything you want to teach.  I LOVE this board.  

This giveaway will run until next Wednesday or until I remember to draw a winner.  Please go to this page to enter the giveaway.

Winner selected.



8 comments:

Kelly said...

What motivates Grifyn to do his work is me screaming, Do your work right now!

It was easier when all I had to do with my baby during school time was nurse him. Now I just plop him in front of the tv for a few hours.

Must have school item, computer. That's what he does all of his work on.

I'm the first commenter :(

Nicole said...

With the kiddos, we get puzzle pieces. I buy cheap puzzles, trace the pieces on a board and in order (put the puzzle together and trace each piece when the puzzle is together). Then when they do something well, they get a puzzle piece. They get to put it on the board with velcro. Then, when they've gotten 24 pieces (or however many the puzzle is), they have a full picture. It's also great for critical thinking skills and matching, since they try to figure it out before the others and before they have all of the pieces. We also work towards outings with puffs (those little cotton ball-y things at craft stores). They have a jar and for good things they do (being on task, saying nice things, etc.), they get a puff to put in the jar. When it's full, we go and get a new (bigger, tehe) jar. Usually it's their choice on what we do. It's been 30 minutes of Nickelodeon (we do not watch TV otherwise), a trip to the park, sledding at the golf course, nothing material, no food. These really work for the kids that I work with (I do therapy with children with special needs). Honestly, our must have is a door. We spend so much time outside exploring, picking up bugs and frogs and snakes, swinging, playing with balls, etc. I cannot wait to get to homeschool my own children!!!!!

Nicky said...

I have art projects ready for those days i need to dangle a carrot. Callie loves art so all I need to do is mention a project and she is full steam ahead. In my stash I have simple kits, for when time left to do it in is an issue, up to more complicated things I can stretch out for a few days when I know she is going to need that motivation for a few days in a row to get through a hard subject or topic.

Yara said...

Like Kelly, I also end up resorting to screaming. I wish a nice quiet voice would work, but when it's me telling them, it just doesn't. And sometimes I want to cry.

I cry. I nurse (though I wish & pray he'd stop except for bedtime). I give him toys. I let him watch tv. I scream. I cry. I quit. I try to do things while he naps.

Or if you don't homeschool, what you do with them during the day...(Wish I could just drop them off somewhere and go get a cup of coffee and read a book, maybe get a manicure and pedicure, or a massage... oh that would be lovely...)

The charter is my must have item, because they now 'give' us over $3000 a year for supplies & activities. I can't afford that; at least my husband says we can't If I tried I'd probably be able to; but since he doesn't like to 'owe' money the idea of paying for classes out of pocket every month really bothers him. (He won't even let Lisa continue her Tae Kwon Do right now, which breaks my heart; but you didn't ask)
So I need the charter to pay for things & keep my husband from freaking out over money.
If I didn't use the charter there is so much we couldn't do- cooking classes cost over $500 for both girls for just 10 weeks! But they love it so the charter is worth it...

HShornet said...

Video games/media time is the dangling carrot for the older boys, no carrot needed for the youngers.

Heather said...

Emma loves to have a little "me" time online... she is almost 4 and we signed up for zoodles.com ... LOVE IT!

Moments and Impressions said...

Since our little one is only 8 months old... I don't have too many tricks yet - but I do tell her everything that I am doing as I am doing it and I also let her play with everything so long as it is safe for h er to have.

It keeps her involved and interested.

Nicole said...

I'm not huge on a competitive spirit, so no. We do it as a team and try to figure out what the whole picture will be before the puzzle is finished. We keep the puzzle for everyone to use. I started giving my niece gummy bears (GummyVites, lol) to my niece when she had a whole entire good day, but then she was only getting vitamins once a week or every other week. I might try to start something new with her, maybe a favorite story from the Bible after studying her chapter. Sometimes I pull out glitter, too. I hate glitter, so she really only gets to use it when I'm in a really really really good mood, so once a month or so. I'm such a mean teacher . . .