Marvelous M Week

Letter M happens to be my favorite week. I bet it has something to do with the fact that it is for Micah, Michelle, and Mommy. :)  I love the activities that were suggested and we had fun adding on some of our own ideas for this week.  I was so excited the day we took eyeliner and drew make-up mustaches on our faces.  The kids couldn't stop laughing about this one and we had so much fun with this activity. I can't lie, I had quite a few laughs at this too. :)

The kids always love waving at our Mail Lady so we decided to do something special for her.  We tried hard to think what we could do and we decided on making "M shaped Marshmallows Munchy Treats for the Mail Lady.  She was so surprised and later even sent us a card thanking us for the treats.  I was so excited to see there faces as they gave her the treats.  They were so proud.  This activity gave us the opportunity to learn about mail and how it works and we sent some mail to our Cousin Mya.

Of course, we had to eat some ourselves too. 

Ava Made a pretty Candle Holder for her Grandma who's name is Margaret and she gave it to her for an Early Mother's Day Gift.  :)  This was a baby food jar with tissue paper pieces glued on like stain glass and then a candle in the jar.

We also went to a Music concert with the Bumbaugh Family and Christian got up and sang with them.  We learned alot about music this week too and played lots of musical instruments.  Ava even called her Nana and Pappy in Missouri and sang Music to them over the computer. :)

A few other activities we managed to pack into our schedules was the devotionals we learned and discussed such as the story of Moses and the story of Mary the Mother of Jesus.  Ava even dressed up like Mary the Mother of Jesus and acted out her own play.  Some of the stories we read were "Moon's Wish" and "Goodnight Moon", and "If you Give a Moose a Muffin."  We also discussed some things like our Muscles and how we all have them.  We talked about working our muscles and exercising.  We learned about the Months of the year and the nursery rhyme "Old Mother Hubbard." 

We went to the Municipal Memorial Park on Monday and the kids had a few hours of fun playing at the park.  Ava was able to climb the Monkey Bars all by herself this time and she was so proud. I told her it was because it was "M" week. :)

And here is a picture of Christian Monkeying around. 

Some of the foods we ate were Mac N' Cheese (or course everyday since it was M week) and marshmallow treats.  We painted some pictures of a Moon and a Mouse and then the kids cut out the pics of the moon, which they did good with.  We practiced writing our letter Ms and Pappy and Grandma took them to McDonalds for the end of the week.  We did lots more but these were the highlights.  Great times and good Memories. I think they got the Letter M down good. :)

Oh, yes and Ava came up with this one on her own, which I then told her she could do it all week long if she wanted.  She had me sit down and then got a towel and lotion and proceeded to Massage Mommy's Feet.  :) I love those kids.

Loving Life with Letter L Week

There is so much you can do with the Letter L, and we had so much fun.  My favorite thing we did was we made our own homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent and then we decorated our container up and called it Launder of Love and gave it to aunt Lori.  The kids enjoyed the rest of L week but this was my favorite. I was so impressed with this fun activity. :) 

We learned about "LOVING each other" and "why we shouldn't LIE" and "what does it mean to be LAZY".  We discussed the Bible story of Lazarus being raised from the dead and Daniel and the Lions Den.  We had a few discussions on why we should be happy with how we LOOK because that is the way God made us. :) 

For our science part we learned a lot about the Lungs in our body and what they do and why we need them.  This was so intriguing to Ava especially and she is still talking about them.  Another great activity we did, that was so fun and even Daddy joined in. . .we had a Laughing Session where we just sat together and all laughed as hard as we could at whatever came to our minds.  We all had tears in our eyes by the end of this laughing session. 

We drank Lemonade and ate L shaped PBJ sandwiches.  Lime Jello Jigglers was a hit, which we of course cut out as the letter L with L shaped cookie cutters.  Leftovers was also a meal one night, partially cause I needed an excuse not to cook. :)  We took a trip to the Library and we did an activity where we cut out Letter L to hang on our display door.  Of course we practiced writing letter L and learned our verse which was 1 Corinthians 13:4 and we colored a picture of a leaf. 

Ava and Christian's favorite part was taking a LOT of Lemon Lollipops to our friend Lilly.  We placed them in a small vase and took them along with a letter Ava wrote for Lilly.  Lilly's expression when she saw them was priceless.  She was squealing and jumping up and down for joy.  SOOOO cute.  :)  It is always fun to give to someone who is so very grateful and excited.  Then we stayed and played for the morning so the kids could get out some of their energy.

Last but not least, I always loved to play with colored water when I was little.  I decided to keep extra empty containers over time, rinse them out and fill them with some lightly colored LIQUIDS to play with .  They had fun and we talked about colors and mixing them together to make other colors.  :)  This entertained them for hours.

I really did Love L week.  The kids even started picking up on words that had the L sound in the word and not only at the beginning.  It is fun to see them Learning so much.

Our Little Lean Mean Exercise Machine

Christian and his muscles.  He seems to LOVE showing them off as he runs around in his HUHA. (his wife beater tank top.)  Here, he is imitating his daddy on the total gym, trying to help and build those muscles. :)  I had to share this because I love how proud he is of himself right now. :)

Jogging for injury?

Micah has been jogging quite a bit lately and the kids, especially Ava, are very intrigued by this.  She wants to do EVERYTHING her daddy does, so she keeps asking why he does it and this is followed by many  more questions.  If you know her very well, you know what I am talking about.  She has many many questions.

So, after asking her daddy if she could go jogging with him, she came to me pouting that she wasn't old enough to jog.  Now, I myself, am NOT a jogger and I HATE running and always have.  So, I decided that I would test her out.  We got ready and started out on a jog.  I figured she wouldn't make it very far. I'll have you know, that little girl and her short legs ran much further than I expected.  She ran from our house to the stop sign and back and only stopped for about 15 seconds.  Her pace was pretty good and I jogged along with her. 

Now, even as surprising as that was to me in itself, she then shocked me even more as she talked the ENTIRE jog.  She talked about how, "mommy, we jog so we can save injury for us to have injury to do other things, right?"  I knew she was talking about energy.  She she started in on all we should eat to stay healthy and how we need to take care of our bodies.  I was so impressed.

There is one part I can't leave out.  Now, I mentioned she watches her daddy and everything he does like a little hawk.  So, he usually has to spit a couple of times while running, and she must have picked up on this.  The funniest part was how while jogging and talking, she paused to try and spit and it just dribbled down her chin.  She had the most hilarious expression on her face, but she kept her composure and tried again.  The result was the same.  She didn't try anymore. :)  I had to really look away not to laugh out loud.  I have to say that was the MOST fun I have ever had in my entire life while running.  :)  Guess when in good company, it isn't so bad.

When we got back, little man was upset because he wanted to go for a jog.  I told him I would jog with him.  He went to get dressed and put on his flip flops and socks.  :)  We just literally ran around the little culdesac.  We were not even half way around and he stopped to wave and greet some boys playing on their bikes.  Then he looked at me and said he was tired. :)  hahha, Then he started to move his arms really fast as though he was jogging and yet his legs just kept walking. He kept saying how tired he was and how hard jogging was.  What a silly little guy.

Kindergarten Registration for Ava

We called and set up her date to get registered and though we thought she might be nervous, she was actually really excited.  With Micah's work schedule lately, he was able to make it and he was really excited to be there and see first hand, her excitement.  She decided she needed to take her book bag and her lunch box along. . .but we talked her out of it.
When we first got there, she was falling all over herself to get out of the vehicle, exclaiming, and I quote, "This is the BESTEST day in my whole life!!!"  They had balloons to meet us outside the door and of course we had to take a picture as she was telling Christian that these balloons were put there just for her.

As we entered the building, she was jumping up and down and Christian was talking a 100 miles a minute about going to school too. :)  They took us in and sat Ava down at a small desk that simulated the desk she will sitting at when at school.   Then they tested her on her letters, numbers and things along those lines.  They even brought a second chair over so Christian could be a part of the process.  Then we had to fill out some paperwork, of course.

 

Then we got to go and check out a big yellow bus. 

 

Hope this is not how she acts on the real bus, or she may get into some trouble.

Over all, the day went really well.  I am excited about this next adventure in our life. :)

Surprise Aunty One-L. . . Happy Birthday!!!

Michele was living in her place in Annapolis and we decided to take the weekend, her birthday weekend, and go surprise her.  I messaged her and asked for Andy's number.  She of course questioned and we told her Micah needed it because he had some questions about some camping equipment.  She was a little curious and skeptical, but she surrendered.  Then, Micah and Andy kept in touch with texting so we could figure out when and where to go and how to surprise her best. 

When we got there, we were waiting in the parking spot, and we got to watch her drive right past us as she parked and headed into her house.  Micah, myself, and the kids started in after her, and once she got in, we knocked on her door.  Needless to say, she was quite shocked. :)  She wasn't too sure what to think but she was surprised.  Andy took the early train home so we could all drive into the city to get some good eating. 

Here are a few pictures of us at the hibachi grill, which ended up being so much fun and the kids of course loved all the action. Then we headed out to walk around the town after dinner.  Once we got back to her house, we got out the birthday cake, and celebrated her birthday.

The next morning, we headed to a small diner down town Annapolis.  We stood and watched a fire truck finish putting out a fire and that was pretty cool for the kiddos to see.  Christian was in awe.  Then we just wondered down to the docks to see all the boats and the water.  It was a great weekend and we were very glad to have had the chance to surprise Aunty One-L.

The Kicks of K Week

I had to laugh most of the way through K week. The kids kept calling it J week and even though they would get the sound right, they would name it wrong. It made me frustrated at first but then I just decided to go with it.  What the heck, J or K, they are close in the alphabet anyway and hey, Spring is here, so who cares?

We had some pretty good discussions over K week about Kindness, and Kindergarten, Kangaroos, and Kings.  A few of the videos we looked up on YouTube had kangaroos in them and the kids loved viewing and learning about the process of the kangaroo in the mama's pouch while she would have another baby in her belly at the same time.  :) We also watched some letter K videos on you tube on things that start with K.  This always is a fun part of our week cause they love to watch short clips of videos on YouTube. :)  It is also amazing all you can find.

We talked about King David and how he went from a shepherd boy to a KING, and a favored follower of God.  We even made a King out of a toilet paper roll and a king cut out pattern. Ava later decided this looked so much like King Peter the magnificent from Narnia, and he became a prince to her barbies. hahah.

The door is our showcase door and we hang everything to do with that letter on that door for the week.  Our verse was Hebrews 13:1  Keep Loving each other as brothers.  As you can see, we also printed out, and then the kids cut out on their own. . . the letter "K".  I was so impressed with their cutting skills.  Then Ava colored and cut out the rest of the eyes, crowns, and mouths.  :)  They glued them together and walla.  :) 

Of course, we did some things with Kites because spring is a great time for kites to begin with.  They used paint and scissors and glue and made their own kites. :)  Then they painted some ceramic kittens and sent them to our cool college Kids - Nate and Danielley.  The kids said that one kitten was Nate and one was Danielle.  Too funny. 

Some of our reading we read the Lion King, and a book on kittens.  We also looked over Keys for Kids book that I had when I was little.  Of course for food, we had Hershey Kisses and milk which Ava pointed out both have Ks in them.  We had "K" shaped PBJ sandwiches and we ate some chicken too.  They are learning to find the "k" sound within the word and not just at the beginning. :)

We decorated a box of Kleenex's for cousin Kelsey and delivered them.  She might have though we were crazy but she just smiled as the kiddos gave it to her with such great excitement.

They decorated them with all sorts of stickers. :)  Look how proud they are.

Another activity, one that I really enjoyed, was the kids cleaning my kitchen floor.  They were so sweet about it and we sang the letter K song as we worked. :)  We also talked about how the wicked step sisters made Cinderella do this type of work and even wicked had a K in it.  (OK, so I am a little obsessive.:)

Our service was sending Crafty Kit to College Kids Nate and Danielle. 

Showing off some of their crafty expertise.

And last but most definitely not LEAST. . I worked this out on purpose folks.  The highlight of the Letter K Week was KINDERGARTEN registration!!! I will be doing a blog on this all on it's own but yes, just to let it be known, Ava is going to Hamilton Heights next year and very excited. :) 

We had a lot of fun with Letter K week!!!

Victory Day for Ava's Tonsils

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 was a HUGE day in Ava's life!!!  After, literally years, of trying to get this girls tonsils out. . . they were extracted.  They were removed!!! I think the Doctor actually thought we were strange parents for cheering when they told us the tonsils had to come out.  That is correct, we were, along with all the rest of our family, cheering.
The battle has been ongoing with fevers, sore throats, stomach aches, car sickness, and Chronic Sleeplessness.  We finally decided that if they couldn't take those enlarged tonsils out of our little sweetheart, we were going to throw a fit. I was prepared to get on my knees and beg.  We went to our first ENT appointment with our guns loaded, and the doctor was very nice and sat down to hear all my mom, my hubby, and myself had to say.  Then she kindly looked at us and said, "could I take a look at her tonsils now?"  she looked in and said, "wow, they are huge.  Like golf balls.  I can take them out for that alone."  THANK the GOOD LORD. 

So that brings us up to March 22, 20ll.  We had a very anxious little girl.  She was very concerned about her "three tonsils they have to pull out" of her throat. :)  She was concerned about the needle she would get in her hand and the gas that would make her sleep.  We give her melatonin every night so we explained to her that the sleeping medicine was kind of like that and helped her to sleep and she wouldn't feel anything.  She was Leary but brave.

We got up that morning and met at the Surgical Summit Health Area for our registration.  Grandma B., Nana, Pappy, Mommy, Daddy, Christian, and Ava were all there.  We had told her she could choose whomever she wanted to go back with her while they started.  She had a hard time deciding but she did finally decide on mommy.  Though Daddy almost won that one. :)

She was nervous as they took us back to prep, but she was a brave little soul.  The nurses and techs kept her talking and distracted so she wouldn't sit and think.  She had her Lucy and they even put a hospital band on Lucy just like they did for Ava.  The nurse explained to LUCY what they were going to do and Ava comforted Lucy.  Very sweet.  Then they put us in our funny suits and were were ready. 

At one point, before we were wheeled back to the OR, the nurse asked her what football team was her daddy's favorite.  She smiled and before she answered he said, "well, who does your daddy watch on T.V.?"  he was still expecting a football team's name, but she was confused by the question and tilted her head to say in a questioning but certain answer, "pastor Hagee".  We started laughing and Micah said he agreed with me, we may have been attending Bedside Baptist too often on Sunday Mornings.

Ava kept laughing at mommy's outfit.  Here she is showing Daddy how Brave and Strong she was being.  Look at that . . .No Fear!!!

I think this was my favorite picture.  She had no idea her little bum was hanging out as daddy was picking her up to put her on his lap.  She was so cute, tiny, and innocent.

Ava with her "Favorite Daddy" as she calls him, or "the Bestest Man in the whole World"

After our picture opt, she said good bye and then she was wheeled in the chair back to the OR.   I walked along side her and she was so anxious, but she was being tough. 

When we got back to the OR, they had her climb on the table and then asked her what flavor she wanted for her mask.  She said bubble gum and then the gassing started. She was laying there, helplessly holding my hand and tears silently streaming down her face.  I was so upset for her but kept smiling and whispering to her that mommy was right here and I loved her and everything was fine.  She fell into a deep sleep and started really snoring.  I got nervous and looked at the nurse and was questioning whether this was okay and normal.  She said absolutely and that the very fact of her snoring was proof at how she NEEDED those tonsils out.  I gave her one last kiss as they moved her little limp body around and then I started silently crying.  It was so scary and so strange and so not a fun time.  The nurse was great and we soon were in the waiting room waiting to hear the news.  

Activities in the waiting room kept us occupied.  The best moment was when Grandma showed Christian a picture of a corn on the cob in the farmers book and asked what it was. . he said, without even pausing, "Deer food!"  Made his daddy a very proud man and got us all laughing till tears.

The Nurse came out in a short time, which seemed to take hours. :)  She said she was asking for her mommy. When we walked back to see her, I couldn't get over the relief that flooded into my heart as I saw her laying there and knew she was okay.  She was sort of groggy and they told us she would be sleeping all the rest of the day.  Just a note, they didn't know our Bean, cause the rest of us fell asleep but she didn't sleep at all that day.  Too funny.

My first glimpse of my baby. . . Sooo blessed and grateful to have her in my life.  :)

Grandma calling Pappy to let him talk to Ava Too and they were happy to see she was okay

Pappy praying for Ava Bean to heal fast.

Christian loving on his sister.  He really was so worried about her.  He kept asking, "Ava alright now?"

Proud Daddy glad to see Lucy made it through okay too. ;) Oh, yeah, and glad to see his Bean was okay.

Nana, checking on Ava too and telling her to go back to sleep. 

She did lean over and tell me that "mommy, that melatonyn was a lot longer and stronger than most times.  I sleeped along time"  Funny girl

The rest of the day was good and we tried our hardest get liquids down her but it got sticky for a few days, wondering if she was dehydrating.  however, she is a trooper and GOD is good and got us through.  She is two weeks out tomorrow and doing great.  Praise God and believe this or not, this girl actually sleeps.  She even said to me, "mommy, I feel like a sleepy girl now"  hahah.  Love my life!!!

The Show Must Go On!!!!

This is a late entry but back in Feb. our kids were in a show at the Capital Theater in Chambersburg.  They had a few practices and then they were to show up to sing a song medley with some other kids and they had to dress like farmers.  The kids were super excited about this show and they wanted "EVERYONE" to come out and see them.  Ava was so excited until the night of and then when she saw the stage, she kind of freaked out a little. . . hence the term "stage fright."   Christian never lost his nerve, I believe he was born to perform on some sort of stage.  "stage fright" is not even a phrase in his vocabulary. :)

So, we had to show up and let the kids run through the rehearsal and then we were allowed to sit back in the audience to watch the show until it was our turn.  The kids were pretty patient over all, and it helped tremendously that Grandma and Pappy Bumbaugh came to watch them. 

When it was our turn, we said goodbye to daddy, Grandma and Pappy. We RAN back to the back stage area and waited for our turn to present on the stage. 

The name of the show was "Salute to Holidays &Special Occasions" and the show time was Feb. 5th, at 6:00 p.m.  The songs the kids tried to sing started with "Oh the Lord is Good to Me, followed by Oats, Peas, Beans & Barley Grow, and finished with We Wish You a Merry Christmas."  The kids were supposed to know the words but mostly they stood there and smiled and danced and looked around waving.

Ava and Christian both stood there and smiled and Christian even danced some.  Then, at the end, as we were supposed to be exiting the stage, Ava, the one that earlier had a case of stage fright, started dancing all over the stage in front of everyone.  Guess she got over that whole fear thing. 

It was fun and then Grandma, Pappy, and our family went to Kenny's for ice cream.  Great night and good memories. They want to be in another show now. :)

Pappy and Ava posing for a picture.  She was practicing her "part" singing to him.

I was so proud that they did so good performing. Ava was very excited about her farmer's outfit. Christian was rocking the overalls and the cowboy boots.