Computer problems solved

For the past few months I have been battling computer problems. It was slow, but I thought that was because it was old. It started shutting down in the middle of the games the kids were playing. I was ready to replace the thing. It is about five years old, which is really old in computer years. While trying to solve the mysterious shutting down problem, I came across a possible solution that I thought was crazy = clean out the computer. Well, after trying and trying all kinds of other ideas I finally unplugged every wire in the back of the tower and took it to the kitchen table. I didn’t really want to do this, but what could I loose? While the kids were napping (I didn’t need little fingers touching it) I opened it up and was surprised at how much dust was inside my computer. After picking out handfuls of dust, I used up a can of compressed air to blow out the rest of the dust. When my mom reads this all she will think of is her allergies to dust. She would have died from all the dust, but thankfully I am not allergic to dust and I had no reaction to the mess. Wonder of wonders, after putting everything together, it runs great! No more shutting down, no more being kicked off the internet, it downloads sermons faster, and programs in general run smoother and faster. Why didn’t I do this sooner? I will now add cleaning the computer to my occasional things to do list. If you are experiencing computer problems, you too may want to try blowing out the dust (don’t vacuum – it might suck up more than the dust).

The TV is going....going....almost gone :)

I am very happy about this. My husband thinks I have been praying about this, but really I haven’t. I grew up without TV. I do not miss it, but my husband enjoys watching sports and the news. Recently he has talked about getting rid of it. I did get rid of all the movies except a few Baby Einstein DVDs and “Baby Loves Trains”. These I use when a child is sick. It helps to calm them and keep them resting on the sofa. My husband canceled the Direct TV a month ago, so now we are down to four or five channels. He still can watch his news in the evening.

Some things we have done since reducing the TV time:
- plant the garden
- play a board game
- read to the kids
- go to bed early and get extra rest
- wrestle with dad on the floor
- laugh at the kids as they run around the sofa to the music from the keyboard (Jingle Bells is their favorite song to run to)
- organize closets
- read a book
- read and answer email
- study Spanish at this site
- listen to sermons
- read/study the Bible more
- bake something with the kids
- shoot basketball with Rueben and dad
- and the list goes on

There is so much that you can get done when you do not let the TV distract you.

Home Schooling Update

I love to teach. It is in my blood. My dad was a teacher and that is what I always wanted to be, too. I taught school several years before I got married and had twins. I think God gave me twins so I wouldn't go back to teaching. Other teachers at our church's school would teach with their young ones in class with them, but that did not seem possible with twins.
Naturally I am continuing to have school with the twins. We do about three days a week for about one and a half hours. They enjoy it and I love it. Josiah loves to join in with them. He even seems upset when I do not have a paper for him to do like the twins. Abby is really doing well with her reading and Robert is right behind her. We are starting to talk about sounds that two letters together make such as “sh” and “ch”. We talked about how “bossy” R is and they loved all the sound effects I used. I have also introduced the magic “e” that makes the vowel say its name. Abby is getting it, but it will take Robert a little longer. That is fine and I try not to push him.

Last month when my aunt was here Abby read several little books to her that my aunt had just given them. Robert even read a book for her. He is not as willing to show off as Abby is. I love getting new books and learning things from my aunt. She enjoys spoiling the kids, too! On our recent trip to Phoenix Abby read an entire Dr Seuss book several times and has increased her reading vocabulary. I was surprised she read the book. I had planned on reading it to her. When she got stuck on a work she would ask me for help. It is defiantly time to go further with the phonics rules. Robert read part of the book, but gave up after a few pages. Now when I give her a book to look at she asks, “How do you read it?” We are daily amazed at what she can read to us without any help.

In math we are still going over the calendar daily. We use a pattern to mark off the days. This month our pattern is balloon, kite, cake, balloon, kite, cake… We then count the days until the next special event such as birthdays or upcoming trips. We review the months of the year and the days of the week. Then we count on our counting chart. One day we count by ones to 100. The next day we count by 10’s to 100, and then the next day we count by 5’s. We just started counting by fives. Some days we do a paper for writing their numbers, other days we practice adding one to a number, and some days we go over the clock and telling time. We have also started talking about money.

Josiah is learning the names of his shapes. We do this two ways. First he points to a shape on the chart on the wall and then I say the name of that shape. The other thing we do is name a shape and he points to the shape we called out. Abby and Robert join in with this game and clap for him when he gets it right (which is most of the time).Their handwriting is improving. Abby loves to sit and write everyone’s name in the family and some names of her friends at church. She is a people person!! Last week I started getting them to spell words on their paper. We were using blocks with letters on to “build” words. The only problem was that Josiah wanted to run off with the blocks to build his own tower. :)

This is just the learning we are doing during our "school time". Tons of learning happens throughout the day. We read signs, count items, and play learning games. I have the Phonics Game that I got for $20 at a yard sale. I love this game. It teaches the phonics rules in a fun, easy to understand way. I have used it for many years with students that needed help in reading. Rueben was one of the first students that I helped using the phonics game.
Rueben is continuing his home schooling. He is close to half way through his 11 grade work. It is going better this year since we are not struggling with algebra.=) He is determined to finish school for which I am glad. He is doing business math this year and he says it is easy. English is the subject he doesn’t like - too much thinking to write sentences and reports. :(

Birthday Parties

We had three birthday parties for the kids.The first one was when Aunt Barbara and Uncle Ed came to visit on March 12th. She brought the kids a cake, ice cream, balloons, new bikes and a tricycle, and lots of books. We love books! The kids had more fun with the balloons than anything else. Abby impressed Aunt Barbara by reading several of the small board books to her. Robert even read one to her. Last time he was too shy to say much around them.
The next party was on Sunday (Josiah's birthday) at Faithful Word Baptist Church. When we told them that it was Josiah’s birthday, the pastor’s wife went that afternoon and bought him a cake, and that evening after the service they had a small party for him and the twins. Josiah slept through the whole thing and didn’t get any cake until the next day. :)

Then after our trip to Phoenix we had a party for the kids here with family. I did not get to do as much as I had planned, but the kids enjoyed their time with family and the gifts that they got. I made Abby a “princess dress”, and I bought knight costumes for the boys. They are to "protect" the princess from "monsters". Here is the Princess and her sister.

Princess with all her jewelry on :)

I did not have my camera for the first two parties, so all the photos in this post are from the last party that we had at home. I rarely have my camera at the right time, or completely forget about it until it is all over :(

Phoenix trip

We took our second trip to Phoenix. The kids did great riding in the car for six hours. We did stop and let them stretch occasionally. On the way to Phoenix Abby surprised me by reading a Dr. Seuss book by herself with very little help from me. Robert decided he wanted to look like a tiger so he used an erasable marker to make whiskers on his face. Thankfully it washed of easily with a wet wipe.
We had a great time Sunday at church listening to Bible preaching and fellowshipping with other believers and soul winners. We got to go soul winning with Faithful Word Baptist Church. Between my husband and I, we had three people saved while in Phoenix.

On Monday we went to the zoo. The kids had a great time looking at all the animals. Around two they started saying they were tired of walking so after seeing the lions and tiger we headed for the car. Josiah slept in the stroller through the last part and missed the lions and tiger. We did not go far in the van before all the kids were asleep! Then when we got back to the motel they woke up and my husband and I did not get any rest.

On Tuesday we did some shopping. Gabe enjoys survey shops so we went to two different ones in Phoenix. We also went to a thrift store. Abby needed dresses and skirts. She wanted every dress or skirt that was a “dancing” one. To her a “dancing” dress is one with a full skirt that flairs out when you spin. She also wants “princess” dresses. A “princess” dress is one that covers your shoes and flairs out when spinning. Gabe found several long sleeve shirts to use for working out in the sun.

On Wednesday we got up, packed and headed home. Abby was very sad to leave Phoenix, but she did not cry this time (she did cry last year as we left). She loves the church there and wants to stay. I would love to stay as well. I really enjoy the preaching and the fellowship at Faithful Word Baptist Church. There is a link under "Favorite Sites" to the preaching of FWBC. Check it out sometime.

I would write more now but the kids are all up from their naps. I want to share a little about their birthday parties and more photos soon.

Sweet little Elisabeth

Here are photos of our sweet baby girl. I am posting this with grandparents and family in mind that are unable to visit and hold Elisabeth.

Josiah has fallen in love with his little sister. We play a little game. While holding Elisabeth I say, "Mommy's baby." Josiah replies, "No, me Beebee," and gives her a hug. I say again, "Mommy's baby," and he answers with "No, Dada Beebee". On and on the game goes. We usually list everyone in the family before we are done.

Abby loves to see her all dressed up in "dancing dresses". She was very happy to take her picture while I held her.

The yellow dress that Elisabeth is wearing was crocheted by my grandma, and worn by me many years ago.

Another pretty dress on our beautiful girl. Gabe said that he thinks it will be hard to tell Elisabeth "No". She is going to be Daddy's girl even more than Abby is.
She enjoys watching the activity in the home.

The kids wearing matching pj's

We even got Rueben's picture, but Josiah didn't want to be in this photo, so he sat beside me while I took the picture.

I am doing something with Elisabeth that I didn't do with the others. I have made a wrap and a ring sling from fabric that I had on hand and that needed to be used :) I carry her with me around the house while I do chores, teach, cook, and whatever. The wrap holds her better that the sling, but both are great from holding the baby and having your hands free. I take the sling with me whenever we leave the house. I have learned to nurse her using the sling to cover me. Rueben took this photo of her sleeping in the sling. She will sleep for hours while I go about my day.

Birthday month

All are feeling better here except Josiah. He is still dealing with teething symptoms. One day he is fine then the next day he is cranky and running a fever. I will be glad when this is over!!

Both Josiah and the twins have birthdays this month. Josiah will be two on the 15th and Abby and Robert will be four on the 19th. For a few days after Josiah’s birth I had three children under the age of two! Right now I have four kids under four - not as scary as three under two.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do for them. I would like to have just one party like we did last year. Abby told me she wants a princess on the cake and Robert said he wants a tiger on the cake. Josiah doesn’t care, yet.

I'm not much of a party planner. I haven't had much experience with party planning, so any ideas would be appreciated.