Wordless Wednesday

Chaos and Bunny Rabbit in the jungle.

Tuesday's Ten

When I started this post it was going to be Ten Things That Make Me Happy, but as I was listing them, I realized they were things I love, so this post is....

TEN THINGS THAT I LOVE!

1. My husband, Bond-He is awesome and amazing! I would be totally lost without him. He has put up with a lot over the years because of me, but he is always by my side.
2. My children-My 5 wonderful boys. I love them so much. They are each so very different. Obviously there are times when they don't make me happy, but they are far less than when they do. I love spending time with them and I am truly blessed that we homeschool, so I have more time with them. They grow up way too fast!
3. My Heavenly Father-He sent His only begotten Son to die for us that we might live.
4. Jesus Christ-He willingly gave up his life so that we might live.
5. My Scriptures-Life's little instruction books! They have answers to all my questions! I find so much peace when I read!
6. My computer-Absolutely love my computer! My MacBook Pro...awesome! It's so easy to use and gives me a wealth of information!
7. My piano-I don't get a lot of time to practice these days, but I could sit there for hours playing. As I was growing up, if I had a rough day I could come home and sit and play and relieve any stress.
8. Birkenstocks-Absolutely love these shoes! I bought them in 2001 in Hilton Head. They are still going strong. I wear them mostly in the summer, but I admit that I also wear them with socks and jeans sometimes. They are the most awesome shoes ever made, other than Sketchers, which are great too!
9. My bed-Our mattress is the most comfortable mattress! It is so hard to get up in the morning because of how comfortabel this mattress is. Even right now I am lying in my bed typing this and I don't want to get up!
10. Farmville-Laugh, laugh, laugh! I love Farmville! I am addicted to Farmville! One of these days I will kick this addiction, but right now I am satisfied that I have made the first step...admitting I am addicted.

Monday's About Me

I really should stop.....

Playing Farmville! I am so addicted to that silly game! I have recently resigned myself to play just the weekends. But, lately they came out with their Halloween stuff and I LOVE HALLOWEEN! So, that makes it harder! Then, just when I think I've accomplished everything, they come out with something new. After Halloween, you know they do something with Thanksgiving and Christmas. What's a girl to do?

Something New-Tuesdays Ten

My sister at http://threeblessingsacademy.blogspot.com/ started doing a journal theme each day for her munchkins. I have adopted that for my kids. I also noticed that she started to do it on her blog, so I've decided to adopt that as well!

So, here goes! For Tuesday, it's a list of ten things. Today, my sister happened to list the ten thinks that irk her. I'm guessing she had a hard time narrowing it down to ten. Am I right?

Since my favorite holiday (next to Christmas) is Halloween, I'm going to list my ten favorite Halloween or Halloweenish-type movies. These are in no particular order.

1. Abbott & Costello Meet Dracula
2. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
3. The Munsters Revenge
4. A Disney Halloween
5. The Nightmare Before Christmas
6. The Haunted Mansion
7. Casper (the movie)
8. Practical Magic
9. Halloweentown
10. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Treat

Summer Update

Well, it's been some crazy summer!!!

GRADUATION!!

To start...Wally graduated!!!! I can't believe that I am the Mother of a high school graduate!! Where has the time gone?

Here's a picture of him right before he sang "God Bless America." He did an amazing job!!!

Right now he is across the country at BYU. We miss him so much, but I have no doubt that he is doing well, even if he might be a little homesick.

SAN DIEGO!!

Bond and I had the opportunity to go to San Diego, CA this summer! We were invited to my cousin's wedding and decided it would be great to celebrate our anniversary as well! Bond served his mission in San Diego and loves it there!!

One of the beaches (I can't remember which one) had seals all over the rocks. It was so awesome to sit there and watch them.

We also went to Sea World. Haven't been there for a long time!!

We also went to check out where the Mormon Battalion site was. Bond got to dress up like a soldier.

And, of course, we had to visit the San Diego temple! Bond's favorite!! They just finished building it when he was on his mission, so he was able to go on the walkthrough. Lucky him!!

And here's us together at the rehearsal dinner.

This sign cracked us up! We were walking through one of the outdoor malls and saw this sign. Look closely at the operating hours:

Sunday, they are open at 12:00am! Now that's service!!

VACATION-CEDAR POINT

Before Wally left for college, we decided to try to get in one last vacation. So, we headed up to Kalahari Waterpark and Cedar Point.

Here's Rocket and Chaos driving around town!

Rocket and Chaos loved this ride!! It gradually goes up, then drops you, then goes up higher and drops you, and keeps doing that. We didn't think they'd like it, but they kept wanting to go on it!

Top Thrill Dragster...That is a ride!!! I didn't go on it this time, but when Bond and I went last year he made me go on it! I'm glad I did, because I probably won't ever go on it again! This is Wally and Pokemon King. Even though it looks like we know that crazy guy sitting behind them, we don't. He saw me taking the picture and decided to take advantage of the photo op!

Rocket, Chaos, Bond, and I squeezed into this child-sized train. It was so cramped in there, but the boys had fun!

VACATION-KALAHARI!!

Wally loves having his picture taken!

But, not as much as Pokemon King!

I don't think Rocket likes his picture being taken!

What can you say about Chaos!

Dinodude was excited because he got goggles with his new trunks! He was rarely seen without them!

Chillaxin!

Mommy & Rocket.

Bond and Chaos.

Chaos made a new friend!

Worn out!

It was a great vacation!!

So, now to what's going on now:

Sports! Sports! Sports!

Broken bones! Broken Bones! Broken Bones!

In a period of 2 days, Dinodude broke his thumb playing football and Pokemon King broke his wrist playing soccer.

Those are my crazy boys!!!

Pokemon King broke the same wrist about 5 years ago by jumping off of a swing. That time, he actually had to have surgery to put pins in. He had broken both wrist bones and every time they popped one bone into place the other would pop out! Fortunately, this one is not as intense.

Right before football season this year, Dinodude broke the pinky on his same hand! So, he went into football with a broken pinky and came out with a broken thumb!

So, now it's time for the holidays to begin. My house is all decorated and ready for Halloween. All that's missing is the candy!

Thanksgiving is around the corner and it'll be the first time Wally is not here to celebrate with us.

After that comes Christmas. What do I want this year? Other than Wally coming home, how about no broken bones? LOL!!

First Day of School

Well, we started school yesterday and it was a major flop!! I decided this year that I was going to crack down! We have been too lax and let things slip through the crack the last few years due to Chaos and moving. So, I decided we were going to buckle down and get back on track.

First day comes along and we go over our expectations for the year. Here's a copy of our expectations. Too harsh? Like I said, we have been pretty relaxed the past few years and I really want to get back on track. And we've had problems with the boys skipping their assignments even when they are clearly written on their assignment sheets.

2011-12 School Year Expectations

• All work must be written neatly and properly, otherwise it will be redone until it is deemed acceptable.
• No privileges until chores and schoolwork are done properly. If bad habit continues, loss of privileges until the end of term will result.
• Poems are to memorized by date due. If not, privileges will be revoked. Privileges will be reinstated AFTER that poem and the next poem are memorized.
• Math Problems: ALL work is to be shown. If not, entire assignment will be redone.
• Writing Assignments: Please take the time to do it right the first time. Sloppy work will be unacceptable and assignment will be redone until it is acceptable.
• Complaining will not be tolerated and will result in loss of privileges and/or more work.
• If Mom is working with someone and you need help, please wait your turn. Mom will give you the attention you need, but please remember, there are 4 students that all need Mom at some point.
• Please help with brothers while Mom is working with someone. That way she can focus on the child at hand without interruption. If you don’t want to be interrupted when Mom is working with you, don’t let her get interrupted when she is working with someone else.
• New expectations can and will be included later as necessary.

Privileges = video games, tv, movies, computer, friends, facebook, phone games, ipod touch

So, of course they weren't too happy with that!

Pokemon King didn't do well on his Math or English. So, we went over them together. I don't understand how he does fine when we go over the oral section together, but when he goes to do his assignment, he doesn't do well at all. Math he always seems to make the silly mistakes. He understands the concepts, which is good, but he still needs to be able to do well on the assignments. For English, I'm debating on switching programs. We've been using Rod & Staff. I know it's a little dry, but it's always seemed to get the job done. Now, it's almost like a foreign language. (even for me!) Any suggestions? I was looking at Abeka yesterday and considering that.

Dinodude did ok, but his work wasn't very neat, so he got upset when I told him it needed redone. (Mean Mom!!) The only one that did well was Rocket and he actually had more than his brothers! Go figure!

So, today is now messed up, because I said they could have a sleepover with some friends. Their friends aren't starting school until next week, so I thought it would be nice of me to let them have one last sleepover. Plus, it seemed like we all needed a break from yesterday's fiasco!

So, we shall see how tomorrow turns out! Wish us luck!!!

Babymoon's New Name

After much thought and consideration....Babymoon is now Chaos! We found that to be more fitting than Houdini. Even though he is very much a Houdini, Chaos seems to describe him a lot more!!!