Christmas!

I'm a little late getting these up, but I wanted to share!  I've been saying for a while that I really wanted to cut back on Christmas.  The thought of buying a gift just because it is Christmas makes no sense to me.  To me, it should still be a thought out gift, so that is what I aimed for when buying gifts for the boys.  This resulted in fewer gifts, which resulted in fewer things to have to find a home for after the gifts were opened!  :)

I love this picture. They really are becoming friends. They tell jokes that only the two of them think are funny and they stay up late talking.

Getting the gift opening under way!

Lucas loves the 3 Little Pigs, so I knew he'd love this book: The 3 little wolves and the big bad pig!

He was so excited to see his new "park in the poop shirt" from Yellowstone!

Logan was happy to have a new Yellowstone shirt that fits, too



The company I ordered the shirts from sent the Santa hat for free! They also sent a free Yellowstone Christmas ornament. I thought that was super nice of them!

A new book from Gran and Papa, In the Night Kitchen.  Shaine loved this book when he was a little boy!

This picture cracks me up. Lucas was done! We had to bribe him to continue. This was the last gift we managed to get him to open! 

Logan had to help him open this one.



Building blocks from PaBob and Meme

I got a box!!



Lucas was done unwrapping, but he was still interested to see what was in that box!!

More building blocks from PaBob and Meme!  The boys have been wanting some, so I knew they would be happy!
Lucas asked for a bell from Santa, so he got them each one.

Reading the letter from Santa!

Lucas was so upset about going to sleep on Christmas Eve. We chose some cookies for Santa from the sugar cookies we made and Lucas really wanted to stay up and share cookies with Santa. Santa was super nice and saved a bite for him. As you can see, he was super excited about it. 

Lucas's line up. He already had Mario, but got the others for Christmas.

Stocking time!

Brunch....YUM!
The sugar cookies we made a few days before Christmas.  I'm a bad momma and didn't even get a picture of the boys decorating them.  I was icing them and they were decorating them faster than I could  go.     

A first for me....

We took the boys back to the rink and today I joined them on the ice. I must say, I was afraid of falling. I stuck close to the edge, but finally ventured to the middle. Lucas seemed to be pretty happy that his momma was ice skating and Logan was super excited when he saw I wasn't holding the edge. :-)

A natural.....

Yesterday we took the boys ice skating. Logan has been on the ice before, but Lucas never had been. At first, just Logan was out on the ice. We asked Lucas if he wanted to try and he said, "I'm not sure yet". After a few more minutes, he decided he did want to try and he loved it so very much!! He was on the ice less than 2 hours and on his own learned how to skate all by himself! So proud of my sweet Lucas! :)

Mario and Wario riding horses!

The boys had another chance to ride the horses at the fall festival at the church. They both enjoyed it, but Lucas especially. The guy leading Logan's horse was joking that the "city slicker" answered the question of the day correctly. It was, why are stirrups made so that your whole foot doesn't go through them. So that your foot doesn't get stuck. :) He was rather proud of himself!

Here is a video of Lucas on his horse.  Love these sweet boys!

Fall 2012

It wasn't quite peak colors yet, but I was afraid if we waited until after Sandy all the leaves would be on the ground. There are a lot down, but not all. However, I am pleased with the pictures we did get. We were in a hurry because we had soccer that morning, then cleaned up the yard to prep for the storm, then did the pictures, then went to the Air and Scare at the Air and Space Museum.

Air and Scare!

With Sandy due to hit our area, I wasn't so sure going to the fall festival at church on Wednesday was going to happen. I knew the boys were really excited to wear their costumes, so we took them to the Air and Scare at the Air and Space Museum last night. They had lots of fun!

Time4Learning Review

Update on March 21, 2013: If you would like to give Time4Learning a try free for 14 days, I have an access code for you. It really is going well for us!

Go to www.Time4Learning.com to register for a free trial. Apply the coupon code "X14FRTL" instead of a credit card number in Step 2 of the signup process. (Don't forget to agree to the Terms of Service before proceeding!) Register children in Steps 3 and 4. The last step of the registration process (Step 5) will ask trial participants to tell us how they heard about us. Select "Referred by a Time4Learning member" (the first option) and type in the first and last name of the member who referred you (Candi Carson).*** *** In order for members to get their free gift, this step is REQUIRED Enjoy full access to Time4Learning for 14 days


Just over a month ago, I signed up for a free month of Time4Learning in exchange for a review of it. I had been using the same curriculum for 4 years and was searching for something new. Last year, my special needs son was added into the homeschool mix and what I had been doing just wasn't working out for us. A friend had told me about Time4Learning and when I discovered we could try it for free, I decided we should go for it. Right away it helped us get into a routine. I can get Logan set up with it and help him as needed. This allows me to be more hands on with Lucas, which is what he needs. Logan is doing really well and is enjoying the curriculum. Lucas is moving right along with his and enjoys all the games that are incorporated in.

I love that I am able to set up a weekly plan for Logan and print it out. I put an asterisk next to what I want him to get done each day. I can log in on the parent page to check his progress or look on his log in under his portfolio.

A few days ago, our free trial was up and without hesitation, I signed us up for more! We have just finished up week 5 of school and it is going great! One of the other things I love is that you have access to the grade above and below what your child is in. Logan has always struggled in math, so we are able to work on 3rd grade level math while still doing 4th grade in everything else. Just in the few weeks we've been doing it, I've noticed a big improvement in his math skills. I'm hoping we can work through 3rd grade and move on to the 4th grade math.

They offer two levels of Pre-K, too. Lucas is almost done with the second level and then we will move on to the Kindergarten curriculum. Technically, Lucas is in 1st grade, but we are doing things at his pace.

All in all, we're loving Time4Learning. It has made schooling so much easier!!

Cookies!!

Yesterday, the cookie paddles that I ordered for our mixer arrived. Needless to say, we were anxious to try them out!! They were very tasty. So tasty, that I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished product!!

Dad....

Happy birthday, Dad. Love and miss you lots!

3 Little Pigs

Lucas is completely obsessed with the 3 little pigs!  Tonight I was at Target and saw a 3 little pigs shirt that I just HAD to get for him.  I wish I would have had the camera out when I showed it to him.  He was soooo excited.  It's so fun watching him be excited.  :-)  Here is a video of him reciting his favorite part of the book.