A blog about our homeschooling family

The McAllisters have been busy

2011-03-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

...and I sure you have been too over the 8 months or so. My little girl is now almost 11 months old. She's almost walking. She's still a joy even though she is teething. Sarah is such a great big sister. Rebekah is doing well although today she feels unloved and hates division problems. Sam is 5. Oh, we went to DisneyWorld which is a first for our family. We even got picked to open the Magic Kingdom. Here is a picture of that. It was a fun experience. The baby was with Nana in this picture. We especially enjoyed Epcot but were a little underwhelmed by their version of Pirates of the Caribbean and Small World.

We were quite pleased with ourselves for finding the $15 Large Pizzas at our hotel(Pop Century). The best food deal, I think. We had a lot of fun on the different rides. The girls and I loved Rockin' Rollercoaster. Test track(coming soon to California Adventure) was really fun too. We had one low point in our trip when we missed the boarding call for our SouthWest flight and I had to sit and listen to my 5 year old son crying "mommy, mommy" for a couple of hours as he sat with strangers in the seat in front of me. We were all sitting alone but you would think someone would have pity on a 5 year old and let one of his parents sit next to him. That was semi traumatic.

But we've been good and I'm going to try and update this thing more often. If I don't , blame facebook or maybe my 4 kids or 2 jobs, or maybe that homeschooling stuff I do. Who knows?!

SAM

2010-10-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Sam is my 4 year old son, my only son. I have 3 daughters and 1 son. I was told having a son would be different and it's true. Sam has SOOOO much energy. He is currently being a little bit rebellious and I am struggling to find time to spend with him to show just how special he is to me. But he can also be so, so very cute. Here he is sleeping in a laundry basket the girls designed as a carriage for Princess Rachel. Did I mention he adores Rachel? He does. I love that too!

10 Weeks Old!

2010-07-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow will actually be 10 weeks. 10 happy weeks with our sweet little girl. She already has her own personality and is adored by her 3 older siblings.

So far she has...

Baked cookies for Daddy.

Celebrated a one month birthday!

Compared size with beloved "Big Baby"(who has had that name for YEARS, who knew toy story would pick the same name as my 4 year old daughter?).

And Smiled every day!

Our new arrival

2010-05-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to announce the arrival of Rachel McAllister! She was born on April 24th, 2010(just 12 days "late") and weighted 7lbs 8 ounces and 21" long.

Rachel had a true knot in her cord. Thankfully(as we learned is usually the case) she was okay.

She was born in the water. A wonderful option!

Look at all of that vernix she had. My midwife mentioned that my babies tend to look about two weeks early(by exam).

After she was born I spent at least an hour holding and nursing our beautiful new addition. We began to notice that she had lighter hair than our 3 other children. Then it was time to weigh her. This is the way our midwives weigh babies.

Here is Rachel being examined. What a pretty baby!

Family started coming. Big brother Sam was sooo excited!

Happy Birthday Rachel! Welcome to our family!!

It must be time for a new post

2010-02-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

because my husband Jon told me so and that is saying alot...you know what I mean if you have seen his facebook page! Well, life is pretty good. I am 34 weeks now and in case you don't remember we are expecting a little girl. We got that information from an ultrasound, not any one of the 4 intelligender tests I have had in my possesion. Those only told us we were having a boy, or a girl, or maybe a boy. The ultrasound lady only said "girl" and showed us what seems like proof so we are going with her. The 4th intelligender was returned to Walgreens unopened.

I had a little bit of a scare when I didn't feel the baby move from one evening 'til about 10 or 11am the next morning. I was worried and went down to see my midwife. That did the trick and the baby started kicking just as I was getting off the freeway and a couple of minutes to my midwife! My wonderful midwife Tosi did a non stress test. I was a little embarrassed but just glad everything was okay.

Sam turned 4! When he woke up, and I told him it was his birthday, he very sweetly looked at me and asked when he would be big as Yayah Bekah(his sisters). We went down to John's Incredible Pizza Company to celebrate and had a minor fender bender on the way. No damage to our car except a bent license plate which is good because we only owe like $230 on it. Edited: We only one like $230 on the car, not the license plate!

Disneyland!

2009-12-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

We went to Disneyland the week before Thanksgiving. It was a great experience. Jon had a connection and we were able to stay at the Disneyland Hotel for the first time ever which is a big deal to a Disneyland loving family like the McAllisters! We had a great view of Downtown Disney, the fireworks and could even see part of Fantasmic from our room.
Goofy greeted us as we checked into the hotel!
Goofy also cooked breakfast for us the next morning at his restaurant, Goofy's Kitchen. It was delicious. For those of you who don't know this is a character dining restaurant and the best one at Disneyland that we have tried(which means Minnie & Friends, Ariel's Grotto, and Goofy's Kitchen).

The girls are getting so big and they had Daddy take them on Screamin' about a million times! This is a picture of Sarah on Screamin'. Sam is 40" tall and got to ride so many rides. He went on Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, and even Tower of Terror. After each ride he would say, "I like it!". So cute!
We ate lots of fresh, yummy(free) tortillas!
And of course, everyone had fun pushing the elevator buttons! This was one of the kids favorite things!

So, all in all we had a great trip. Oh, an amusing story about one not so great part of our trip...We were eating lunch at the Horseshoe review and sometime after Sarah finished eating I noticed she was covering her ears. She did this for most of the performance. I figured she was annoyed that we weren't going on some ride. Then she walked over to look at the player piano with her sister, still covering her ears. This seemed really strange. To make a long story short, Sarah had taken out her Mickey Mouse earrings(which Jon had gotten for her as a baby) and thrown them on the ground. She hates earrings. We found one.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-13T09:11:00.001-08:00

I wanted to post a few pictures of our Thanksgiving Day. We were very lucky to be able to have people from both Jon's family and my family attend our celebration. It was a lot of fun!
Poor Jacob, they do this to him every time! He looks pretty good as a blonde though!

It was cold, so I didn't go outside but it looks like the kids had fun!

We are having a...

2009-12-13T09:02:00.000-08:00

GIRL!

For those of you counting that will make 3 girls and 1 boy in our little family! Jon says he will be fine once he completely loses his mind! Just kidding. Well...he did say that but Jon loves cute little girls. He can leave them for me to figure out. Sam kept insisting the baby was a boy after the ultrasound but now that Uncle Vinnie and Aunt Natalie have had their twins his new idea is that we are having boy/girl twins. He's been thinking about this!

We are at 23 weeks now so I should post some new pictures. I really should. Everything is going along fine. I did make Jon drive to Thrifty's yesterday to get me some vanilla icecream for milkshakes. It's the only thing I feel like when I get an upset tummy.

We are naming her Rachel.

No longer morning sick

2009-10-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

And what a wonderful thing that is!!! I have been really sick with my 4th pregnancy. I never thought food would look, taste, or even sound wonderful again. For about 14 weeks I ate whatever thing I could tolerate which amounted to bagels, yogurt, and baked potatoes! It was interesting...or actually really boring. Luckily my kids helped out taking care of Sam and they didn't complain(too much) about eating lots and lots of sandwiches and cereal(which they could make themselves).

Now, here I am at 15 weeks and feeling pretty good. Just showing a bit.

In case you were interested in whether we are having a girl or a boy, I have great news. I picked up one of those drug store tests(Intelligender) and found out that we are either having a boy, or a girl, or a boy. Now, you too have been enlightened! ;)

It's been a fun and busy month and it's not over yet!

2009-07-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

We have been very lucky to spend lots of time with family this month. We went with Jon's family(and Ross) to Discovery kingdom together and had a blast! Todd and Kristy and their family came from Utah and were able to go on the trip with us. Sarah(my brave girl) went on rollar coasters with Grandpa Jim and even Rebekah went on the Cobra a number of times. We saw the awesome sea lion show and fed the lorikeets too. It was really a wonderful day.
We got a new toy! Really, this has been so much fun for us and Jon was able to get a great price at the hobby store during their Summer sale.

We said "Goodbye" to baby Italo and family as they move far away to Florida. We will miss having them somewhat nearby.

We got together with Jon's family again and this time we went to Aunt Krissy's house which is a smaller version of Discovery Kingdom, I think. Here is a picture of the kid's swimming with her ducklings. So cute!

And finally, just because it's so cute....

Our homeschool!

2009-06-24T16:23:00.001-07:00

So our blog is about homeschooling but I haven't talked about what we do much as a homeschooling family. I wanted to explain a little about our homeschool stuff here for anyone who might be interested.

One thing I have been asked lately is if the kids have Summer vacation and we certainly do. We LOVE Summer! It's so nice to get a break and get refreshed for the new year. We try to do some fun activities like camping and other day trips. We belong to a charter school and they set our school calendar. Our charter school is South Sutter and we LOVE IT! I'm currently at a board meeting for the school as I write this(it's a phone thing and we are waiting for a quorum).

We are kind of eclectic but favor a classical education. I am very interested in learning more about Thomas Jefferson Education. I like a whole books approach as well. I really believe that charecter is more important than book learning if I had to choose one over another. I am striving to incorporate handwork into our learning

Next year we have some exciting classes lined up including gymnastics, outdoor adventures(which is an all day once a week nature class), rock wall climbing class, and once a week park day. We ditched speech therapy for my 9 year old so we could do more of these things. I really felt it was in her best interest and the opportunity presented itself to pull her out of Sp. Ed. withou answering questions. Ask me if you want to know about this.

The kids are doing well. This Summer they are using their reading skills at the library reading program. It is so fun to watch this kids grow and learn. I do get a great satisfaction when they progress. Sometimes I take a little too hard when we have to put something aside(because they are not ready) and try again later. I am trying not to do that.

Our homeschool is always evolving but that is pretty much what we do. Hope everyone is having a great Summer!

10th Anniversary!!!

2009-05-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years! It's been a fun 10 years and I am lucky to have someone as sweet and wonderful as Jon. To celebrate, we dropped the munchkins off with Grandma and Grandpa and took a trip to the coast!

When we dropped the kids off there was not one tear and apparently they could not wait for us to leave, so off we went!

On Thursday we stayed at a very nice B&B, the Amber house. They totally pamper you here. This is a picture of our bedtime snack. In the morning we had fresh fruit followed by eggs benedict.

After swinging by our house and trading the minivan for Jon's "little car" as the kids refer to it we headed to Mendocino and checked into our much smaller and less luxurious room at the Mendocino hotel. I was majorly car sick after the Hwy 20 experience but we pressed onward and ordered room service. We are such troopers!

On Saturday, Jon had arranged for us to go kayaking in the ocean which was really, really fun! I was a little nervous about it being hard or scary but it wasn't. Plus, I had Jon to do most of the work.

The last night we spent at home and that was weird with the kiddos. We even got to watch an episode of "The Commish" which was fun. Apparently Jon had never seen "The Commish" before I introduced it to him via Netflix. Weird!

Sunday, we went and picked up some kids who didn't want to come home(too much fun with the cousins) and now we are home. It was a good trip!

I've caught the coupon bug

2009-05-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

and have gotten some really great deals. It's a hobby that pays for itself and what stay at home mom can resist that?! Today my best deal was at Target. I got 2 squeeze bottles of mayo, 2 bottles of Kraft salad dressing and 2 boxes of Ritz crackers for $3.04. My 6 year old daughter Bekah loves to see me use coupons and see how much I save!

So...I tried

2009-04-20T20:09:00.001-07:00

Some people may know that my dad is from Venezuela. My kids never got a chance to meet him because he passed away before Jon and I were married. I try to tell them about him. Sam's middle name is Italo(which is my father's first name). Anyway, today I made black beans, rice, and arepas for dinner which is all stuff I grew up with and loved. It turns out, my family is not such big fans. I don't know if I waited too long or maybe it's an aquired taste. I sure had a feast tonight though.

Our Easter

2009-04-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter. The Sunday before Easter we were able to spend with my brother Vinnie and his family as well as my Mom and my youngest brother Ross. The kids loved the chance to have an Easter egg hunt with their baby cousin Italo.

We also had a big hummus tasting event. My always health conscious mom wanted to see if hummus was a good snack or not so we had to give it a fair chance. We tasted 6 varieties of hummus that day! I had to chuckle to myself later that day when Vinnie posted on facebook that he was eating hummus. There was a LOT of hummus. Oh...by the way we decided hummus is a pretty good snack!

Then, we actually had Easter! What can I say, the kids loved their baskets and we had a nice visit from Nana(my mom). Easter dinner was chicken cordon bleu, mashed potatoes, squash, and a nice green salad. Mom brought a vegan meatloaf which was okay but Mom and I agreed it tasted a lot like stuffing and wasn't the best vegan dish we have tried.

One thing I love about living in a small town

2009-04-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

When something exciting happens, people usually come! Recently, Colusa had it's annual Western Days and children's fair. Bekah and I kept our tradition and went to the celebrity team penning held Friday night. The celebrities are local school teachers, teenagers, and other community members who really don't have a lot of experience penning cattle. It's always a fun show.

Saturday, I took Sam and Bekah to the children's fair. The highlights were the big inflatable slide sponsored by the Lions Club, a pony ride, the rice box(like a sand box), blowing bubbles, getting a free book, learning how to rope a pretend cow, and seeing a magician. Here they are with the hats they won when they roped the pretend cow. All of this was free of charge by the way. Now that really makes for a fun day!

What are your needs?

2009-03-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Copied from my sister in law Kristy
What you do is go to Google and type in "_____ (your name) needs", so for example I typed in "Vanessa needs"(couldn't find Venisa) and pushed enter. You post the first 5 things that show up. Here's what mine said:

1. Vanessa needs to watch this show.
2. Vanessa needs to get a LIFE.
3. Vanessa needs hugs.
4. Vanessa Needs To Step Up.
5. Vanessa needs our prayers .

he he and since I couldn't get enough using my name (well, sort of my name), I did Jon too.

1. Jon needs real women with real sound systems(cough, he can have a new sound system...)
2. Jon needs to stop sending drinks now.
3. Jon Needs Prayers. (for his soul? This Jon is not looking so good!)
4. Jon Needs to Touch his Roots.
5. Jon Needs Cash Quick.

Sarah got her haircut

2009-03-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

Sarah has been asking me for a long time to get her hair cut. She has very fine hair that tangles easily. This morning she asked me for the millionth time and I finally agreed. We called and they had an opening and I jumped on it, before either one of us could chicken out. She is very happy with her new bob style haircut. Hopefully this will make life easier for me too!

Here you can see the length.

And here you can see how cute Sarah is!

Building our backyard playset

2009-03-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

It took us a while to decide which playset to buy. Eventually we found this one on sale and with free shipping from BJ's wholesale, which is apparently like Costco on the East Coast.All the reviews were great but there were some comments about it being hard to put together. Obviously, it is not because here is a picture of 3 year old Sam doing just that!

Here we are holding up the posts so that Jon can make sure they are the appropriate distance apart(he didn't have a square and had to use a level) and then screw another crossboard on the top.

Of course, I do have a husband who has more than his fair share of cleverness. He made it look easy and even let patiently let the kids help. As a side note. I had to stand on a ladder and hold part of the 2nd story up while Jon drilled it in place. Most people probably know that just isn't my thing(heights, ladders) but it's all for the kids.

One last picture after Jon snuck out on Sunday and installed the swingset portion. You know, ox in the mire type stuff! We now have more of the playhouse on the 2nd floor part done. I'll post one last picture when we have a finished product!

2009-03-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

I had a great opportunity to visit my brother and his family in Hawaii, just me and my mom. My sweet husband Jon insisted I take it while he spent a week of his vacation time watching our little ones while I vacationed in Hawaii. We had a great time! Here are just a few select pictures of all the things we did!

Here I am swimming in the pond where Kate finds the case. This is the botanical garden where we actually saw them filming Lost later that day. Jack, Locke, Sayid, and Kate all waved or sayed "hi" to us during the afternooon. We were in 7th heaven. Then we got an even better treat! Just Mom and I were standing on a path near the road in and out. Suddenly, a little white SUV stops and a girl jumps out and runs down the path to where we are standing...It's Kate(Evageline Lilly)! She noticed us standing around all afternoon and wanted to stop by. She asked our names, shook our hands, and even asked us if we were having a good time. She was the sweetest! Then she thanked us for coming and ran up the path again(in clogs), slipping in a bit of mud and had to grab onto her car to keep from falling down. We could tell she is good natured because of the way she laughed when she slipped. We were a little star struck that day!

Here is my brother Roland at Matsumoto's. The shaved ice was really good there!

This is Mom and I looking for rescue planes at the Lost crash site!My sister-in-law Joi and I at Byodo-In Buddist temple featured in lost.

It was the trip of a lifetime. I never thought I'd be able to do something so awesome with just my mom and I . Of course one of the best parts was to be able to see my newest nephew Liam while he was still only 7 weeks old. He is a joy to be around. Thanks so much Roland and Joi for having us and especially for being such great tour guides!

Sweet little Sam

2009-03-16T06:38:00.000-07:00

My 3 year old son Sam loves his treats. He also loves sneaking into our bed in the middle of the night. We have a queen sized bed and he takes up a lot of room. Of course, only if you have had a kid sneak into your bed do you realize exactly how much room a small child takes up. Probably more than an adult I'd say. It's cute and sweet but it's been going on too long. So...my husband Jon came up with a deal. If Sam stays in bed he can have 3 mini marshmallows in the morning. Last night when Sam tried to sneak into our bed, I reminded him about the treat he would miss out on by sleeping in our bed. I guess he had his priorities in order because he left our room, got back in bed, and cried himself to sleep!

PS I'm hoping this combined with his staying in nursery yesterday and a few other things is a sign that he is getting over his "I'm a baby"and you need to baby me phase! That has been exhausting!

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-25T12:53:00.000-08:00

So, I guess I am turning into a holiday blogger. I dunno...just busy. I do have a sweet husband who loves to spoil us on Valentine's Day. Not only did I get out on a date(dinner and a movie) but I got candy and flowers too. Well, all of us girls did...and of course Sam. He likes candy and flowers too! Oh, and I am spending next week in Hawaii visiting my brother so there will probably be a blog about that. That sounds pretty blogworthy to me!

Sam's 3rd Birthday

2009-02-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

We all got together at Nana D's to Celebrate Sam's 3rd birthday. He was so excited and learned to show 3 fingers and say "three" when asked how old he is. The girl's woke Sam up on the day of his party by telling him that it was his birthday and Sam immediately jumped out of bed. I have never seen that boy move so fast! He got his dinosaur egg oatmeal for breakfast and then off to Nana's. Sam had a really cool Cars Cake with a real toy Lightning McQueen on top. He loved that. He also was totally obsessed by the pretend Camera Grandma and Grandpa Jim gave him and kept taking pictures of everything, especially his cake and presents. Another cool present was the enormous container of potato head stuff from us. We were happy to find such a great collection of pieces. Sam loves his "tato head"!

After the party, Mom told Vinnie, Alie, Jon, and I that we had to go out and leave her with the kids. After much time contemplating what to do we went to Scandia for some minature golfing and then to Fuddrucker's for some yummy food. It was really fun!

Misc. News

2009-01-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

We have found Sam's shoes! They were not at Grandma's(we visited the day they went missing) and they did not fall out of the car at one of our stops on the way home. We were all too tired after a day trip to remember exactly who took them off and where but apparently our little boy was not too tired to stick his shoes in the play kitchen! They were lost for a week. I even ordered a new pair from Kohls.com. Luckily, we can return those!

My back fence neighbor went a bit odd on us and put up this monstrosity. See the wolf heads and the wolf claws(just below). The dragons are the final bit. I would have been okay with just the dragons but the wolves are just plain odd in my opinion. Plus, the whole thing seems not well done. Notice the piece of wood he has nailed to the trim! It's not even cut straight.

My brother-in-law Peter is going on a mission to Hong Kong soon. He just got his call! Congrats Peter!

I wore this sweater and each of my 3 brothers did as well. That was after the neighbor boys wore it and passed it on to us. It's from Penny's and apparently very good quality!

My Son is a pirate. Here he is showing off his muscles and Christmas tree tattoo!

Bekah funny

2009-01-15T22:06:00.000-08:00

So we were driving home from my inlaw's house when the following conversation took place between myself and my 6 year old daughter, Bekah.

Bekah: Can you marry your cousin?
Me: No sweetie. Jacob is very nice but you can't marry him.
Bekah:(upset and pouting) BUT HE IS THE ONLY GOOD ONE I KNOW!!!

Our Holidays!

2009-01-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

So I guess the highlight of Christmas was our new DS! Jon surprised the family with this. The girls got mainly American Girl Stuff and Sam got mostly stuff from "Cars" the movie. Nana, Uncle Ross, Uncle Vinnie and his family all came to celebrate with us. We were so lucky they could come to our house because Jon was on call again! Thanks everyone! My nephew Italo was adorable.

Here is Baby Italo with his noise making hammer! Insert evil laugh here. Just Kidding. Actually, we searched high and low for this because our Sam loved his so much when he was younger.

Oh and I got my Ruffles and onion dip which is VERY important. There were lots of snacks. Especially See's candy. We actually had to make a 2nd trip to See's because we ate some of the first box! It was a fun day!

New Year's Eve we headed up to Granpa and Grandma Jim's house. We celebrated with Martenelli's just a wee bit early for the kids who ended up staying up past midnight anyone! They did have fun though and that is the most important thing, right? Sam didn't want the Martenelli's. He went with milk.

We headed home on New Year's Day sans Sarah who stayed with Jon's family(grandparents, Aunt, cousins). Sarah left the next day on a trip to Utah with them to see a cousin get baptized and a brand new baby get blessed at church. I think she had a lot of fun. She keeps talking about her cousin Taylar having her own puppy. I guess that left an impression.

Our Ride on the Polar Express

2008-12-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Thursday, Dec. 11th we went with our charter school on a field trip to the RR Museum and a ride on the Polar Express.

The morning started out very productive. Jon and I made it over to the DMV to renew our licenses, take our vision tests and pay our 28 bucks each. It went quickly and I was glad that Jon could come with me and that he didn't have to take time off for souch a dull errand. We got home before 9am and had two hours before we needed to be in Sac for the Polar Express but the kids wanted to leave right away so we killed some time at Sam's on the way.

The first part of the day was spent at the railroad museum. Sarah and Bekah spent their time looking for trains you could walk through. They were afraid of the train that feels like it is moving(the sleeper car). We got to see the really big Cab Forward which is one of my favorites and I also got to see the dining car with all that beautiful china!

Our next stop was Round Table for the buffet. It was pretty good but busy. The field trip we were on really increased the demand for plain cheese and pepporoni pizzas!

Finally, it was time to board the Polar Express. It was jam packed there. Our field trip coordinater had our tickets so we only had to wait in line to board. The trip was great. Our family took two of the bench seats that face each other and we had the sweetest lady seat us(on the North Pole side!).

We had our tickets punched and then it was time for the Hot Chocolate which was just the right temperature for little children. YAY! Next came the cookies and a reading of the Polar Express.

Sometime in here the hobo came through our car and asked if we believed in Santa. It was very cute and he had a lot of personality. In fact, everyone on the train was GREAT and really cared about the kids.

We arrived at the "North Pole" and I had to admit to Bekah that we were at a pretend North Pole. She is six now and guessed the real North Pole is nowhere near the Sacramento Zoo! Santa came onboard and gave everyone a bell from his sleigh just like in the story.

The hobo came throught again to ask Santa why his bell didn't work and demanded a present. Santa gave him a bag of coal! The kids loved that!

By that time we had made it back to the station and we headed back to the train museum to finish up our day playing with Thomas trains and catching a few last exhibits.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-30T22:56:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving at our house. Jon was on call so we had to stay home. Luckily my Mom, Vinnie and his family, and Ross were able to come up to our place. We had a delicious dinner all together and lots of snacky things. We even had potato chips and onion dip. I love that! Mom made her awesome corn and bean salsa and I love that too. After dinner we went on a walk and then back for some Safeway Fruit Tart which I highly recommend! I am so grateful for my wonderful family and friends.

Our Halloween

2008-11-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

We are having a great Fall, lots of learning going on at our fabulous home school. This Halloween the kids carved a couple of pumpkins with their dad(while I worked from home). Here are their creations

For Halloween night, we went to our church for Trunk or Treat. The kids dressed up as Dorothy(Wizard of Oz), a snow princess, and a pirate. I was a pirate too because we ended up with an extra pirate hat. Some people said I was Capt. Hook because of my coat. My snow princess was afraid her hoop skirt would keep her out of the donut eating contest but in the end I proved to her that it would not and so she agreed to wear the costume. Thank Goodness! A good time was had by all and the kiddies didn't eat all that much candy(just a couple of pieces and a sugar cookie really).

Our trip to Safari West

2008-11-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

I have been having trouble uploading pictures so I had to go with this small one. Jon and I took the kids on a field trip to Safari West in Santa Rosa. We had a great time. It's really like being on a safari and I highly recommend it. You can even spend the night there.

cute things

2008-10-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

This morning Bekah was very distraught and insisting she needed to return her Halloween costume. Why? Because it has a hoop skirt and she thought it would get in the way during the donut eating contest!

For the last couple of days, whenever my two year old Sam wants attention, he brings me some sight word readers and announces, "I can read". He then points to a word and says "what this word"? After I tell him he starts reading. Each sentence has a picture and when he gets to it he stares at the picture and then with great pride announces what it is. I guess you just have to see it. Adorable!

And not to forget Sarah, my 8 year old. Today she asked me whether Santa Claus's birthday is on Halloween or Easter. That's a little random. Cute though, just like my Sarah.

unsettling week

2008-10-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

So I had been thinking about how lucky I was to have such a great street, full of generally nice people. The house that was foreclosed on down the street had been purchased and the new neighbors on the other side of our house seemed nice too. Things were going well. THEN...I found out a guy across the street and a few doors down is on the Megan's Law Page and that was creepy. So I went to tell my favorite neighbor, the one who lives next door to me and(this is the really short version) found out they had lost their home to foreclosure. She was too embarrassed to tell me. They had gotten a bad loan about 8 months ago and the bank wouldn't work with them to get a new loand(it went up 3%). I mean, this is a family where the husband has a good job and they are super nice. Bummer for me, the neighborhood, and our wonderful neighbors. The kids and I will miss their cats and holiday decorations.

Bekah turned 6

2008-09-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

and since then she's been zipping around on her birthday skates. Really, it was a great birthday. First, she wanted me to make her a stack of pancakes with a lollipop on top and frosting. We started this tradition when I saw the IHOP version on TV. Much cheaper and easy to make right at home

As I was saying, Bekah got the skates she was dreaming of and the new Barbie Movie(The Diamond Castle). She also got the Barbie dolls from the new movie. I think she really wanted the movie. She only mentioned it at every store we stopped at! Nana gave Bekah the Cinderella dress from Build-A-Bear for "Magic" the Bunny and Ross gave her the glass slippers. Bekah then pointed out that she suspected they were not really glass! Silly girl.

Jon took the day off and we spent her birthday(which was on a Friday) at John's Incredible Pizza Company. It's the 2nd time we've been there and I highly recommend it. Very fun and not too expensive if you do it right. Sarah and I rode the little rollar coaster together! Jon is very good at the games and helped score us a ton of tickets so everybody got a prize that they liked. Sam got a little alligator head on a stick and he's enjoyed chasing his sisters around ever since!

Oh, and more good news. I got a new work at home project with the company I contract with. I haven't started yet but hopefully this will be a good fit for our family. I am very grateful for the opportunity and excited to get started!

I forgot to add, I tag Alie and Louise

2008-09-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

and give Megan a little reminder nudge that Kristy tagged her too!

Tagged

2008-09-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

So Kristy, I finally got to this. Here goes...

Name?

Venisa. I was named after Venice and Venezuela(where my dad is from).

Favorite food?

1st job?

Nickname?
Befisa
This is what my dad called me growing up and how I said my name when I was learning to talk.

Born?

Bad habit?

College Degree?

Liberal Arts A.A.

Where I want to go?

Vancouver Island, BC

Favorite Place?

Camping.

Favorite Color?

Favorite Animal?

Past Love?

I wanted a wolf dog.

Doing now?

Where I live?

Favorite object?

Grandmother's name?

Age?

Sarah is baptized

2008-09-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our oldest daughter Sarah was baptized and became a member of our Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Sarah and her cousin Jessica both were baptized on the samed day. We were lucky enough to have lots of cousins and Aunts and Uncles come for the baptism. Some from very far away. Sarah looked so beautiful. The baptism went very well. Sarah was a bit worried about being "dunked"but she came through like a champ. Her dad confirmed her and gave her a beautiful blessing. Sarah is such a sweetheart and I am so glad she has such a great Daddy to help me guide her as she learns about the gospel. Sarah loved her new scriptures from Mom and Dad and got quite a few presents from relatives who came.

Sarah also learned to ride a bike on the day of her baptism. She started off pushing herself around with her feet and balancing. She was off and riding in no time. Yay, Sarah!

Especially for Lisa, here is a picture of what my daughter wore on our morning walk yesterday

2008-08-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I love her little imagination. Bekah loves to come up with creative things. This is an example of a creative outfit. She also frequently renames herself and her dolls with VERY creative names. By the way, we already know the name of her first daughter but it is a secret between Bekah and I, so I can't tell you. Sorry. On the flipside Bekah does have quite the temper and we have several fits everyday. It's mostly because Bekah's life is pretty unfair ;) Anyway, Lisa I saw the picture of your little girl after she got ready for the day and I thought you would get a kick out of this. Enjoy!

Sam has awesome fashion too! Both of these pictures are of the same morning, LOL!

We went camping, started school(homeschool) and now we are sick

2008-08-16T06:00:00.001-07:00

So the camping was very fun. There were lots of cousins there. Jon got to stay for 2 days and 1 night and then had to go back to work and I stayed for 2 additional days and nights with the the kids. We had a blast with the rafts and picking blackberries. Sarah and Rebekah learned to play a card game called Scum. Sam made friends with the camp dogs and was dressed up like Snow White(one of his favorite princesses). All the kids enjoyed hanging out with Grandpa Jim, that girl(Grandma), and Auntie Karen.

Thursday was the first day of school and it went well. Friday was our first "Friday fun day". We had a picture scavenger hunt to find things that tell time which everyone seemed to enjoy and even Sam got to take a picture. Then it was time to start our copy work. I had a fun poem called "My Daddy is Extremely Tall". Sarah got right into it but Bekah started complaining she was sick, Bekah complains a lot so I told her she could do her work or go to bed. She thought about it and chose going to bed. I still wasn't she if she was really sick...until she threw up and then I threw up and finally Sarah threw up. We spent the rest of the day miserable and waiting for Daddy to come home and save us. Sam told us he was Daddy and for the rest of the day whenever I would call him he would quickly appear and say "Here I am, Mommy". So cute! The kids stayed up late with Jon. Isn't he wonderful? I went to bed early, even foregoing the end of one of my favorite television shows, "Psych", because I felt so bad. I feel tons better now though. Hopefully the kids are on the mend too.

What people don't know

2008-08-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

When they call me at my hotel reservation job is that I, along with all of my coworkers, have been dropped. We are contract workers so we are not really "laid off" Bummer, right? I guess it's the downturn in the economy combined with sending call center jobs overseas. It's too bad, I'll bet the company we contracted with will miss us. Our customers hate not speaking to someone they can understand or being ont he phone and having none of the friendly chit chat. Anyway, I am working and being professional.

Growing up

2008-07-24T06:43:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I dropped Sarah off for her 2nd Activity Girls meeting and she told me that I could drop her off at the door and she would find her way to the meeting. Yikes. When she was 18 months old and I thought she was so big I was frustrated that she wouldn't go to nursery like the other kids. I was also worried because she was a late walker and talker. She hated being dropped off and we would have to battle it out many times. I just wanted her to be like the other kids and be happy, and maybe I needed a little break too. I remember dropping her off at preschool at age 3 and thinking being frustrated in the same way. Eventually, she did adjust to preschool and yesterday was Aactivity girls. She is 8 now and she really is growing up. I didn't think that would happen. To quote her exactly she said, "Mommy, you can just drop me". It was cute and I am glad she is feeling confidant with this group but I'm not ready to "drop her"(that's just the way she talks). I guess now I know, she is growing up.

Our trip to Discovery Kingdom

2008-07-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

We participated again in the Read to Succeed program through our homeschool group and earned free tickests to Discovery Kingdom. We had a blast. We even were able to meet up with one of our homeschool friends later in the day. It was just a coincidence that we were there on the same day but it was great for the kids. Sam LOVED all the animals. We saw lots of shows and Sarah went on the Boomerang. She is our rollar coaster girl! Poor Jon had to take her even though the Boomerang makes him really dizzy. Bekah takes more after me and enjoyed the animals and tamer rides.

My favorite part of the day was feeding the Lorikeets. We went to the earlier feeding and they were all over us. Last time we went to the 4:30 feeding and all the birds would do is sit on the fence and maybe drink from your cup. We also rode an elephant and that was great. Although I have to say, an elephant is not the most comfortable way to ride(unless you have one of those seats) and Jon and I were both very sore the next day. It was worth it though.

Oh, and Sam had a few bug bites that gradually appeared during the day. I don't know if he was bitten at the park or at home. He had one little bite I could see when we left home. By the end of the day his eye and ear were very swollen. We took him to first aid and the paramedic gave him some bite medicine which relieved the itchiness it seems.

As we were leaving, Jon and Sarah decided to go on Monsoon Falls and got soaked! It was a fun day.

Oh, and we left our(11 month old) puppy in the backyard and he didn't escape. That was good too! We have had trouble with her digging under the fence when we had another puppy living next door.

our mini family reunion

2008-07-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

My mom, two of my cousins and their kids, my brother Ross, and my kids and I all got together for a bar-b-que and fun times. It was a blast! My kids loved my cousins' kids who are teenagers and totally spoiled them with attention. It is so sad we don't live closer but we definately could see them more often! Sam really liked the cat, Snickers, too! Snickers sort of liked Sam. It's hard for any cat to really love a two year old though. The kids captured Angelica and got her to swim in the pool with them for what seemed like HOURS. She was great! I can see why she is a good kids swim teacher. We had great hamburgers and tons of fruit and then we had some berries and cream over pound cake for dessert. Yummy! I chased my Sammy around because he was just generally loving all the new sights and trying to get into a little trouble. My cousin Tina showed Sam how to pick lavender and smell it. He loved that! My kids loved all the beautiful plants and the secret little spot with the bench that are at my cousin's house. We even stopped at Pezzini farms to get our favorite, artichokes. It was a good day.

Horse camp

2008-07-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

The girls had a great week at horse camp. They loved being around all the animals, the counselors were all so great, the crafts were fun and of course they loved riding horses. Jon and I even got them boots. They have been taking lessons for a while and we figured it was time. They didn't get to ride on Thursday because there was just too much smoke in the air from all the fires. We were lucky that wasn't the case on the other days.

Off to camp

2008-07-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

The girls are gone. They went to camp about an hour ago. I was so nervous, I ended up driving back to make sure they were able to get their water bottles if they needed them(somebody put them in the lunch fridge). When I got there, I saw that they had them and luckily I don't think the girls saw me. I just get so nervous. Will they remember to wash their hands before they eat? Will they wear their own helmets? Will their new boots hurt their feet? What if something happens and I wrote down my emergency contact phone number wrong? What if something happens and they are hurt? Man, I never thought I was a nervous mother before but maybe I am. Sam is even down for a nap so I hardly know what to do with myself! I sure do hope the girls have fun.

Sam, always on the go

2008-07-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Isn't he cute? He had Daddy's keys, my sunglasses, Sarah's baby, and Bekah's boots on. Guess he's all set! Wonder where he is going?

My Bekah's made herself up

2008-07-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well, our Bekah is a bit of a drama queen. She is the type of child to ban you from her birthday party, promise to never visit you when she grows up, or tell you she doesn't love you anymore(lovely, huh?) at the drop of a hat. She is also the type of girl who wears princess outfits or at least dresses almost every day and who loves makeup. She dosen't have make up of her own besides lip gloss so sometimes she uses mine. She isn't supposed to though. This time she decided to use a red marker and colored her eyelids RED. The whole eyelid! It was lovely, especially as it soon faded to a dark peach color and made it look like I put my daughter in heavy eye makeup to take her to Walmart! Couldn't get a picture, sorry.

Sarah is 8

2008-07-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how time has flown by! She has turned into such a wonderful young lady. She's learning to read and she helps take care of her brother(she loves babies). She's a cutie too! She got a red wagon for her birthday that she just adores! She also got Pippi Longstocking on DVD and hasn't stopped watching it since. I love that movie too. Let me see if I can find one or two pictures.

The recital

2008-07-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

The girls(Sarah and Rebekah) had a recital on June 27th, the day before Sarah's 8th bday. They did great and looked very cute! At one point I wondered why they had changed the demonstraters(older girls) solo part to include some of the younger girls and left my girls on the sidelines until I realized that it wasn't planned and the others girls were doing the wrong thing. Actually, my girls told me which is one of the great pluses of having talking children!

Tea for Two

2008-06-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the girls at dance class picture day. Jon took these, hopefully the "real" ones will turn out just as good!

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

I love you and miss you Dad. I will post a picture if I can.

My little cowgirls

2008-06-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

Sarah and Bekah are getting pretty good at riding horses. They can navigate around obstacles, like cones, and over some, like bridges and small logs. They can also get the horse to stop and go and love to play red light green light on horseback. It is so amazing to watch them. Bekah is a pretty good at trotting too. Today, I was watching Sarah and I was so happy. She was so confidant and had such a nice posture on her horse. Her horse was the one that was a little more difficult to control but she did great. Here are some pictures of the girls today.

The girls did great at their goat show!

2008-06-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here they are showing their goats and then getting their ribbons and tshirts. This is the Colusa County Fair Primary Member Walk-on show. The girls did so great. Luckily, they had smaller goats this year. These goats are not ours, we are lucky to know a breeder who lets the kids use her goats. Sarah's goat was a little feisty but she handled him like a pro. There were lots of questions from judges and the kids had to wait with their goats for a long time. They sure earned their awards!

Tuesday was our 9th anniversary and I almost ruined it

2008-06-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I am pretty sure I am the one who got it into Jon's head that our anniversary was Monday. He arranged to have the neighbor girl babysit that night and everything and then I realized it was actually Tuesday! The plans weren't much but it was super exciting to me. It was the first time the kids had a non-relative babysitter. They LOVED it. Even Sam was fine. Jon and I went out to Chili's. I was supposed to order the ribs. Why was I supposed to order them? Because last time we went to Chili's we went there to get the all you can eat ribs and fries(I love french fries) and then I got sidetracked by a tempting salad which was excellent. So I've been wanting to go back and try the ribs which is on reason we went to Chili's where I, once again, got sidetracked and ordered...fajitas. I've never had fajitas, they were good too. Luckily Jon being a great husband ordered ribs so I could try them.

It's been a great 9 years. We have 3 kids, a house, and a dog. We are all healthy and not completely broke all the time. YAY us!

PS I let Jon make a fajita.
PPS He says the shrimp I make is much better!

Time for weekend projects!

2008-05-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Last week was Memorial Day weekend. Jon and I finally got around to painting over the thinned- down, flat paint they use on new homes. We painted the dining room, living room and hallway and it make a big difference! We even have an accent wall. Now, I did copy the colors from my friend Andrea who copied the colors from our other friend Kelly BUT like someone else said we don't all live next door to each other, so it is okay. Right?

This weekend I went through some old clothes in the garage and got rid of the ones we will never need again. YAY!

Jon's fun day of Work

2008-05-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

So Thursday Jon came home all sun burned from golfing, yes that was what he did for work! Every year his hospital has a golf day fundraiser and every year Jon volunteers. It's a fun day and there is free food and even a free shirt involved. This year Jon's boss needed one more guy for his group and Jon's other boss happened to have paid for a spot(with no intention of golfing) so Jon was in. He had a fun time and may actually sign up next year. I am glad he had a fun day! YAY! I'll try and post a picture.

I don't need to be THIS special

2008-05-21T15:44:00.001-07:00

So I got a bill last Friday for six hundred and some odd dollars for the DENTIST. It seems we have exceeded our 24 month max. The billing person says she has never seen such an unusual policy. Lucky me.

Actually, I know it will all work out. It just seems to be one thing after another right now.

Roland and Joi came!

2008-05-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great time eating dinner together and playing Mario Kart. We had Ravioli, salad, garlic bread, and broccoli. Mom brought a whole bunch of Trader Joe's salad dressings for us to try. That was fun and they were all really healthy too! She did forget the ravioli at home(and she was prepared, she bought 3 bags!). Luckilly, Jon and I had some in the freezer. For dessert, we had a no-bake jello cheesecake which the guys(Roland and Jon) prefer. Joi and I are all about the real cheesecake though. It was so great to have them visit before they move to Hawaii! I wish they could live closer, of course, but they want us to come visit them which sounds pretty cool too. Rebekah, Joi, and mom were outside and Rebekah reports they made the world's longest hopscotch. Not bad for one day!

We have a little pool

2008-05-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

We bought it on Thursday evening and set it up on Friday. It's just a little 8 foot swimming pool but it sure takes a ton of water. I know because I started filling it twice and then decided to move it to a better spot both times! ;) Oh well, guess the third spot is the charm. The kids got a little burnt in the sun yesterday, well Sarah did(Bekah just got darker and Sam didn't stay out as long).

In other news, Sam has a fungal infection on his foot. I thought it was dry skin and was treating it by keeping it smothered in deep moisturizers and covered in socks. This did not help.

McAllister Look-alike Meter

2008-05-15T09:06:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

McAllister Look-alike Meter

2008-05-15T09:03:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

McAllister Look-alike Meter

2008-05-15T08:03:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Drawing a family tree - Geneology

Ready for summer!

2008-05-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday we went to the sprinkler park and the kids ran around and had a blast. Sarah's poor shoulders got a little bit red. Sam was afraid of the sprinklers but thought a lot about getting in the water and joining the girls. He did have fun on the boat pretending to be a pirate though.

Speaking of Sam, I had a picture of him(which I should post) holding a rolie polie. Rebekah loves them and names them(very interesting names) and so now Sam loves them too. Sam adores Rebekah. He thinks she is just the very coolest person ever. So today I noticed he is holding the rolie polies more than smashing them which is certainly a step in the right direction!

Tonight, as we gathered for family prayer he showed me a Nemo swim diaper like he had worn at the park. He kept chatting on and on about it. Then he went away and came back with four more and announced, "I have more Nemo!" It was so cute and so advanced for his age(he just turned 2 in February).

Rebekah's Wedding

2008-05-12T08:48:00.001-07:00

So Rebekah tells me she is going to make pizza, fruit punch, and serve watermelon for her wedding. She's very romantic. Isn't this a cute picture of her? This is back in 2005 when she was just two years old.

cousins camp

2008-05-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

I saw an article in some parenting magazine about creating a cousin's camp. It was a like a sleep away camp but just for the family. They had tshirts and everything. It was so cute. I think we will have to do this sometime. It would be awesome.

Summer is coming

2008-05-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

The weather is so warm already. The kids are outside eating their Otter Pops. The otter pops are leftovers from Grandma Jim's bday present to Sarah last June! I guess they have a long shelf life though and the kids sure enjoy them. As for school, there are only 12 days left! Woohoo! That will be a nice break for all of us. Sarah does have a little bit of catching up to do to be ready for 2nd grade next year but it will be easy peasy because she is such an eager learner(usually).

Sam is sure getting big and talking lots. He loves to say "mine" and repeat just about everything that is said, even our family and meal time prayers. He loves "Bepah" and "rah rah" because they are so cool and loves to help Daddy. Sometimes the kids go to work with Jon when he is on call and has to fix something. This past weekend Jon took them up to his parent's house so he could help with their DSL. They had a great time and came home with a bunch of socks that didn't fit Jessica. Bekah loves the colorful ones.

somedays are sortof like that

2008-04-28T20:41:00.001-07:00

We were going to go to the park and maybe even watch a movie today, but those priveledges were lost because nobody could muster the strength to help without being under continuous threat. It would have been fun. We may have even taken the dog and gone to the river. It was not to be, I guess. We did however make it to the fairgrounds to sign up our mini gardens display at the fair. Poor Sarah thought she was going to show her goat and get a ribbon. She put her little 4H scarf on and everything. THAT was cute. It was also very cute when Rebekah wanted me not to go back to work after family prayers but to stay and tickle her and rock her like a baby some more.

I can't resist

2008-04-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sam, is a ham. Here is is "doing the funny eyes"

so, I'm going to blog

2008-04-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went down to Sac and picked up my ring. For the 2nd time! I originally sent it in to have three prongs replaced but then the diamond was crooked. The whole setting needed to be replaced in the end. While we were there, we couldn't resist stopping in at build a bear. We had promised the girls the chance to make their own stuffed animals because of all the work they did selling girl scout cookies. Sarah made a cat, Bekah made a bunny, and Sam made a bear. It was a great time. The girls both slept with their animals, Sarah slept with her box too!