I'm not done yet with this Weekend.

Ok...So Sunday after church we let the kids play on the "big" playground and went out to lunch. We didn't even go home before we went to a Family Hay Day in Columbia. All the kids at church were invited to a church family's farm to go on a Hayride, pet some animals, make colored jack-o-lanterns, eat candy, sit on a pony...etc.

The kids had a great time (even though we showed up extremely late...we got lost). They loved the Hayride. Greg and I were both scared, because we were sliding everywhere and trying to hold onto the kids. But the kids enjoyed it.

Then we went straight to Small Group. Busy but fun day!

What A Fun Weekend!

I'm deviating from my "About the Kids" Blog this one time to tell about this weekend.


Well Greg's meeting went off with a HUGE success- so he was flying high this weekend. He got lots of compliments from the "higher ups". Yay Greg!

Saturday- we got a babysitter and went to a fantastic Halloween party. Greg dressed up as the Crocodile Hunter.

And I didn't have much energy to figure out what I was going to where...so Friday night I stuck on one of my kids toys and decided to where it as my costume...I am a firetruck...

I know it's pretty stupid, but I just didn't know what to do.

Wes and Michelle if you are reading this...I didn't even see the box of shame at the party.

If you have never been to a Driver Brother's Party...Well it is just too hard to explain. But it is one of the BEST parties you could ever go to. They make videos to show, one of them being a choose your own adventure type of video, and they make up games. (I had dreams of Zombies chasing me Saturday night BTW). Here is a picture of the girls and the guys picture will follow.

Costumes

Thursday- Ashley and Austin went to MDO in their costumes. I was so excited when Ashley said she wanted to be a princess. She got this outfit for her birthday and she didn't want to have anything to do with it.

And Austin my little Actor, who loves all costumes picked the Captain Hook costume.

And poor little Mason was out with Strep Throat. He would have been an astronaut. But he will have his chance tonight.

I said...it's nap time!

Mason went to sleep in my arms. He does not feel well today. But the other two monkeys- have been fooling around and will not go to sleep. I went in there to make them get in their beds. And Austin said, "I want God". I said, "Well you can talk and pray to God anytime." He took a minute to ponder this and said, "God said he doesn't want me to take a nap".

Big Lollypop

Mom had one of these HUGE lollypops. Great for pictures. Too bad she only had one, so we had to share. I had a hard time getting pictures. I'm hoping she got better ones than me. Although, I do like this cropped one of Ashley and Austin looking over her shoulder (with their heads together).

Ashley loves it! I still need to throw the rest of it away when she is not looking.

Butterfly House

Hello friends!

We've been sick here and my Mom has been here for a long weekend, so sorry I haven't posted in a while.

But before we got sick we went to a Butterfly house. This is a good place to visit for any of you local homeschoolers. It is $3 for adults and $2 for children. And it is located on Thompson Lane, fairly close to Krispy Kreme (another educational place to take your kids) LOL! [No really- you can see how doughnuts are made there] Well anyway, the boys just LOVED looking at the butterflies. But what surprised me was Ashley was terrified of them. She wanted to be held the whole time and wanted to leave. I was still able to get a few good pictures of the boys.

Ashley traced her hand

I'm so proud of her. And in the pictures you can see she is proud of herself. I asked her if I could have it or put it up on the wall and she said no- she wanted to cut it. So she let me take a picture of her holding it. I had to get a picture for the scrapbook. This is her first time drawing something recognizable.

Sunday

After church on Sunday we went to the Pumpkin Farm. The kids didn't want to leave, when they closed. They had a great time. They fed the goats. Ashley was scared, but she really wanted to do it. And they went in a children's maze. They got stuck and I had to go in after them. I think I might be allergic to hay. I think if I hadn't been on Allegra that maybe I would have had a severe reaction. I got lots of cute pictures, but I am having a really tough time loading them on Blogger today. I uploaded all my pictures to Snapfish. If you are interested in seeing them you can click on the address below.
http://www.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=30515144/t_=20502768

Saturday

Hip Hip Hooray for me anyway (Thanks Greg!) I got to go to an all day crop on Saturday and I had a blast. I felt like I was productive too. I got 3 layouts done that I am proud of. And I worked on a Halloween Garland- I need to get pictures so I can finish it.

On this one I need to replace the picture on the right with a close up of Aussie. I have it ordered. When I get it, I'll replace it.

She's Got Hattitude!

My friend, Angel was working on a Red Hat Album for her sister-in-law. So when I pulled this picture out to work on it. I said, "Hey look at my little red hat lady." So I thought Ok that's what I will do with this page.

3 ring circus

Good Grief!

I got the kids dressed up so cute today, hoping that we would go by some pumpkins or Fall display. But it didn't happen- I didn't even snap one picture.

Today I took the kids to Kroger. They are remodeling my Kroger. I have decided to not go back until they are finished and then I will have to go alone to relearn the store. I was so aggrivated. What should have taken an hour took 2 1/2 hours. I went back and forth in that store probably 10 times. It was past the kids nap time and they began to show it. I had 2 of those BIG car carts, pushing one and pulling the other. But near the end Ashley freaked out and wanted to be held. Yah right!? She was standing up in the cart and everything. Finally I put her on the floor to walk and she did much better.

THEN at naptime, Austin and Ashley did NOT take a nap. Instead they decided to empty all the drawers in their room. They had clothes piled up in their beds, all over the floor.
Well looking on the bright side....I really needed to get out the clothes that don't fit them anymore.

Tonight Ashley was a basketcase! She threw her food at dinner time. And she screamed and cried at everything. How do I get this child to take a nap? She is so hateful when she doesn't take one.

When Austin is really tired he gets even more HYPER. So I was laying on the bed with a big ol' headache and Austin came to tell me goodnight. It was like he was jumping on a trampoline, but on top of me. And he was saying very energetically, "I'm So tired!"

I'm very thankful, Greg was home to help me tonight! He was able to give them a bath while I cleaned up their room. And put them to bed while I laid on the bed, waiting for the Advil to kick in.

Now the only one who had a nap (Mason) is awake and is calling for me............ adios for now.

2 someones Got in BIG Trouble

And all of this is what I saw BEFORE I went into my bedroom.

I was able to get all this off, but I'm not able to get it off of my bedroom. It has flat paint. I've been wanting to paint it for a long time. So I guess this is a really good reason to do so.

They got a spanking, they had to help me wash the walls and the markers are in time-out! URG!

Fog

On our way to Monteagle over the weekend, it became VERY foggy. We tried to explain to the kids what fog was. "We are in a cloud" Anyway, the kids were scared! Austin said, "No, No I don't want to get burned". We had to explain that it wasn't smoke. I just found it interesting that he put smoke and getting burned together. They all were saying, "I don't like this special trip." "I want to go home." I felt so bad for them. It's a good thing we were not driving in the fog for too long. The weekend went well. And the kids got to play at McDonalds on Sunday as a special treat.

This is me when I was 3 years old. And this is Ashley at age 3. I'm sure there are better pictures that show the similarity, but I just couldn't find one right now.

We are going on a retreat this weekend and we were asked to get pictures of ourselves at different ages in our life. Mom sent this one to me. I really need to go pack and get off the computer. Check in with you on Sunday or Monday.

Air Force One

Well it looks like I have a lot to say tonight.

Just one more cute story:

A few days ago Ashley saw Air Force One on TV. She said to me, "When I get big I'm going to ride on THAT airplane."

I just smiled and said, "maybe you will Ashley, Maybe you will"

show off

Ok not really, but the timing was great. When we went to the library today, the kids played on the computers. Mason was playing a Teletubbies game. I was super impressed that he actually was figuring out how to use the mouse correctly. He was able to control it and put it where he wanted it. Austin was playing a United States game. Everytime I would pick up a piece, he would say the name of the state and where it went on the map. The librarian went by as he was saying Mississippi. She was impressed that a 3 year old could even say that word. ha ha ha...so I had to brag and say yes, he's pretty smart. He knows about 45 states and where they go on the map. Well that and the boys are reading 3 letter words. Ok so it was easy to brag to a complete stranger. It felt great. HA HA HA HA HA HA!

I love when I can see my teaching working!!!!
All three of them got it today! They all know what "SH" says. So tonight Austin was spelling words and sounding out words that I spelled. So I said to all of them, "Whoever can read this word will get to sit in my lap first tonight." So Austin looked at it and sounded it out sh i p... ship. YEAH I am so tickled with them!!!!

And in the last few days, EVERYWHERE we go, Mason points out all the double E's that he sees in words. And he tells me that say's EEEEEEEEEE!

I'm really pleased Ashley picked up on the SH. When I asked her what S and H said together, she put her finger to her mouth and said shhhhh! She is acting like she doesn't recognize the letters anymore. It's strange. I know she knows them. I think I just need to have more one on one time with her.

OH yes! I really think Ashley is a lefty. I've suspected for quite some time. But today at the library, she said to me, "Mommy I need the mouse on this side (left) so I can move it." It was at this point that I really realized it. I moved the mouse to the other side. But I had a hard time controlling it for her. She still wants to click with her pointer finger. So are there mouses made for left handers? And on the left handed subject...How does a right handed person teach a left handed person to write?

You know I'm now wondering if having an extra bone in her right thumb is hindering her or if she just truly is a lefty? The doctor's didn't think it would get in the way. But I guess it is just another thing to think about if she needs the surgery to remove it.

Hamsters

Today the kids learned a great word. We went to the LaVergne library and saw 2 hamsters that were sleeping. The kids learned what the word nocturnal means. We went to Daddy's office and told him the new word we had learned. On our way to church tonight we were going over the things we had learned today:

Chelle: ...And the hamsters were...what's that word...noc...?
Austin: Nocturnal
Chelle: That's right Austin they are nocturnal
Ashley: NO! They are not! They are, they are INternal.
Chelle: internal?
Ashley: They are not nocturnal they are internal.

They've learned my name

I tripped over something today. And Austin from the other room says, "Are you ok Shell?" I said, "yes, what did you say?" He said it again, "Are you ok Shell?" I said, "yes, I'm ok but you need to call me mommy." And he said, "But I'm big now and I can call you Shell." I said, "no, you need to call me Mommy." Then he said, "Well well when I get really big then I can call you Shell." And I said, "I don't think so."

Then Ashley did it. I was playing with her and she said, "Silly Chelle Greene" I said, "You need to call me Mommy" She said, "NO, I call you Chelle Greene" I said, "Yes, Chelle Greene is my name but you call me Mommy, that's my favorite name." So then she started saying "my name is Ashley Chelle Greene" Then she would smile so big! I'm ok with her calling herself by my name. She is a spitting image of me.

I'm not finished until the paint is gone

Well we did it. We painted today and it was messy! But it's tradition. The funniest thing said today was by Austin. I said, ok I think it is time to go clean up. And Austin said, "I'm not finished until the paint is gone." ROFLOL! Here are several pictures. Hope you enjoy.

scattered thoughts

Today was a good day. I figured out a new schedule for the 2 and 3 year old Bible class today. And it went well. The only thing I can't figure out is how to keep MY children off my lap when I read a story to the class. I think I would like carpet squares or possibly fabric squares to have them sit on. Anyone else have any ideas how to get 10-15 two and three year olds sitting in a circle? I've tried to do ring around the rosie, but when they all fall down they run all over the place and then fall down.

We were in the car today and Ashley said to Austin, "Can you say City?" And he said, "City" and then she said, "Good job". She proceeded to do this with me too. hmmmmm....I wonder where she got that from.

Where are my children from? All of a sudden Ashley and Austin have a VERY STRONG southern accent. It's so hysterical. In most one syllable words they at least put 2 syllables.

The other day, Greg said to Ashley, "Are you my little girl?" And Ashley said, "No, I'm your woman." LOL!

Today I said to Ashley, "Come here buddy" And she said, "I'm not a buddy" I said, "Ok, Are you my princess?" And she said, "no, I'm Daddy's princess" Then I said, "Well then are you my little girl?" And she said, "Yes, I'm your daughter."

Tomorrow is a special day here. 2 years ago they painted their 1st painting. I know it may seem silly, but I plan to have them paint on this day until they no longer want to. So tomorrow I get out the paints. I don't expect the paintings to be any different from the previous 2 years, but it will be neat to see the progress in the coming years.

Silly Silly Austin

I was writing on my calendar. And Austin said, "Mommy, what are you writing?" I said, "I'm writing Cooking Club" And he said, "You are supposed to be writing Toy Store." HA!!!! I think he is to smart for his own britches. (Oh I better not say that..)

I guess I should explain: Last year some time, I told Mason to hold his britches. And he said, "hold your bitches Mom". I laughed inside. He was too young to know what he was saying. But I said I would never use that word again around the kids.

I love these little stinkers!