5 Dollars

My life as an at-home momma of 3 amazing kids...it's kind of like shoveling snow in a blizzard.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Ruby's monkey and some handwriting samples

Here is the monkey she drew a week or two ago.


Ruby has been writing her name since right before she turned three. Lately she is obsessed with learning to spell and write the names of everyone in our family. She does at least one page like this every day. Everything she makes has the letters "MDKKR" on it somewhere (Mommy, Daddy, Keithen, Kaylee & Ruby). She's also working on learning to spell and write Nanny & Pappy.



Kaylee's Creations

Here are just a few of Kaylee's recent artistic creations. (Click the pictures to see larger images.)

Red-eyed tree frogs (of course!).


Her hand is a tree and there are people hanging upside down in the tree pretending to be sloths. (Notice how all the hair is hanging since the people are upside down!) Using her hand to draw a tree has become a new theme in her artwork. She brought home 3 more pictures today with similar trees in them.



The happy opossum being let free at the park while Kaylee plays on the slide in the background. (I couldn't scan her other opossum picture because she cut it up and put a big cardboard frame around it. Maybe I can take a digital picture to add later.)



Her pig - this is one of my favorites! Isn't he cute?


Animal friends - rabbit, pig and cat. I think there is a tiny tree frog in one of those trees too. Notice how the bunny has one floppy ear? Well, she messed up and that was how she fixed it. I was very proud of her for problem solving instead of wadding the picture up and crying like she used to do! There is a green border all the way around the picture but I cut that out in the scan since she had me write our phone number on it for some reason!


Weekend pictures

Pictures from the birthday party at cousin Mitchell's house.









Kaylee with her new Dora backpack and Diego shoes.

THANK YOU Meijer for letting me get 3 brand new kid's backpacks this past month for a grand total of $4! They ran a special where buying $15 in Kelloggs products gets you $10 off a backpack. At the same time they ran a sale where children's backpacks were either 30% or 40% off the regular price. Keithen got a new Yu-Gi-Oh backpack which they paid ME $1 to take off their hands. (The sale didn't come up and they guy just took $10 off our total...even though his backpack only rang up $8.99.) Ruby got a new Cinderella backpack with a detachable lunch box for free. Kaylee got a new rolling Dora backpack for only $5. Our freezer and pantry are well stocked with enough Kelloggs products to last a few months!

The shoes are very small in the pictures, but you may notice the very boyish looking Diego tennis shoes? She HAD to have them since she loves Diego and didn't care that they weren't all girly and pink. I love that, when someone at school asked her if she was wearing her brother's shoes, she proudly announced..."NO! They're MINE and I LIKE them!"

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

I've been a bad blogger....long overdue update!

This was one of those weekends where we had to be several places at once. Ruby had soccer on Saturday morning. Keithen had a friend's birthday party to go to on Saturday afternoon. Somewhere between the two scheduled events I had to buy a birthday present for the friend and one for Sunday's party for cousin Mitchell.

When the girls and I got home from the store on Saturday, I walked over to the trash can at the top of our driveway to throw something away and almost had a heart attack! There was a full grown opossum "playing possum" in the bottom of our trash can! The kids all came out and got a good look at him. Matt put a lid on the trash can and put it into the van so that when he took Keithen to the party at the park, he could release the animal.

While they were gone, Kaylee the artist got to work! She drew two really great pictures of the opossum being released at the park. She picked up the details of what he looked like right away! This girl is just scarey good when it comes to her artwork. I really need to scan some of her recent stuff to share.

The opossum release went well, but apparently they couldn't find the party at any shelter in the park. On Monday at school Keithen found out that the mom canceled the party since she was afraid it would rain. I'm hoping they reschedule soon since I have two presents sitting beside me for the birthday boy!

On Sunday we were once again supposed to be two places at once. My friend Tara was having a naming ceremony for baby boy #3 and my brother-in-law was having a very belated birthday party for our nephew. We ended up missing Tara's party since the two events were basically at the same time. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and enjoyed a treasure hunt for pirate chests.

Keithen had an eye doctor appointment on Monday. We are going to start putting drops in his right eye to dilate it so that he'll have to use his left eye (the weaker one) more in hopes of improving his vision. He's getting to the age now where they are afraid we won't see much more improvement. He is also going to get new lenses for his glasses again. We're going to try to get the lenses today after school. I don't want to start the eye drops until the weekend though.

Kaylee had a bit of a sad day at school on Monday as it was the first time that they had a substitute teacher. The children were all very glad to see their teacher return on Tuesday. She also brought home her Kindergarten pictures yesterday, which were very cute.

I had an email conversation with Keithen's speech teacher yesterday afternoon. She is very pleased with Keithen's progress and is starting to hear some of what they have worked on carrying over into his every day speech. She gave him high praise, calling him a pleasure to work with, polite and saying that his "giggle is contagious!" We should be getting a progress report from her with his report card in a couple of weeks.

Last night was Keithen's second soccer practice. He did really well and so far I like his new coach. It sounds like they will allow the goalies in his division to use their hands. There was some discussion about this last week and I was a bit concerned about it. They were afraid of a kid taking a ball or a kick to the face. First off, he's used to using his hands and he's good at it! Goalies are supposed to use their hands! Second off, I'd personally be more concerned about him getting hurt if they told them not to use their hands. I'm glad it looks like they are going back to goalies being able to go after the ball with their hands. His coach just told the players to yell "I've got it!" if they are grabbing the ball so they don't get kicked.

Bedtime last night was a bear. I had to put everyone to bed by myself and they were all tired and acting like they were helpless. Kaylee said she had a tummy ache, which has happened a couple of times lately. (I think maye she's going through a growth spurt. She's been eating really well, has taken a couple of naps lately and has complained of a few aches and pains. Her half birthday is next week, so technically she's due for one.) Keithen was complaining of being tired and feeling sick. I think he ate too fast after practice. I practically had to drag him down the hall to bed. Ruby was upset because she wanted my attention as well. Consequently, after I got everyone in bed I fell asleep in the recliner.

I'm being called to watch the "big show" by Ruby who is dancing around in her ballet clothes. She can't wait for ballet class to start up again in a couple of weeks!

Friday, August 25, 2006

Yet another new hairstyle

Kaylee and I tried another new braid today. This one is cute too, but I think I like the double French braid better. I need to get some bobby pins so I can try to braid a crown for her.




Here she is being a sloth while she waits for the bus.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Doggy tricks

Check out this cute link and try getting the little dog to do some tricks. Keithen and I had a lot of fun playing with him this evening.

Body art.....Ruby style



Maybe I shouldn't have showed Ruby the pictures of our little friend Ella's body art. That's brown marker all over her...head to toe. I guess it's a 3 year old thing?

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine.....?????

I guess the elementary school science teachers will have to come up with a new mnemonic device for our kids to learn the planets, because there are now officially only EIGHT planets in our solar system. Pluto has been demoted from a full-fledged planet to a "dwarf planet" in a controversial redefinition of planethood by astronomers.

What's been up this week

Kaylee was up in the middle of the night on Sunday with bad dreams and puked about 2:30 on Monday morning. She stayed home from school with a fever that day.

On Tuesday night Keithen started soccer. He has a really experienced coach and knows at least one kid on his new team. They have changed the league rules this year though. The goalies are no longer allowed to use their hands. This is going to be HARD for him! He's been using his hands for about 2 years now when playing goalie. Poor kid.....we may have to tie them behind his back!


On Wednesday Matt forgot to take his cel phone to work so the girls and I went to deliver it after Kindergarten got out and we all went to Wendys for lunch. I am really loving the new options they have for kid's meals and sides. The girls both got yogurt instead of French fries! Kaylee also tried out a fancy new hair-do, a double French braid. I was very happy with how well it turned out!


Today is Thursday, which means it is the start of a very exciting weekend at our house. This weekend is the Indianapolis Air Show, which takes place at the Mt. Comfort Airport near our house each year. We usually have 4 days of very low fly-overs where we can occasionally even wave at the pilots because they are that low! Ruby has been outside watching the planes fly over all morning.




Kaylee filled her paw print at school today, which means she brought home a prize. She got a small blue telescope, which she immediately gave to Ruby when we picked her up. Kaylee already had a larger one, so now they both have one to play with. They're in the back yard right now hoping they can get a closer view of the airplanes, and of course pretending to be Diego and Alicia.


Kaylee's sunflowers are almost all blooming now. She has quite a little garden growing!

Monday, August 21, 2006

Soccer season is here again!





Ruby started fall soccer on Saturday and Keithen will start tomorrow. Ruby is still playing micro soccer, which means she is just working on skills and not really playing games yet. Keithen will be in Division 2 again this fall.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

8/17 Children's Museum - part II



The new Beatles fans enjoyed a voyage in the yellow submarine.


The dinosaur nest is always a hit! This was where we ran into Kaylee's classmate. They looked at each other and said, "You look familiar, do you go to Kindergarten? Hey.....you sit at my table!" LOL!

The nest Keithen made from clay.

Ruby spent a lot of time looking at the map. She was able to interpret a lot of the symbols without help. I can't wait for the map exhibit to open in a couple of months!


I'm so glad I finally got those pictures of them "floating" together!

8/17 Children's Museum - part I







Keithen and Kaylee had a day off school today so the teachers could have some meetings. We took the opportunity to visit the Children's Museum. Unfortunately, Kaylee's dinosaur is still not on display in the Garden of Glass. I really hope we don't miss it when it is put on display. (No sign of Graham's submarine yet either.)

I've been very surprised that the last few times we visited the Museum, the Bob the Builder exhibit has been a hit with all three kids. No one has shown any interest in Bob around here for ages! But they love the Bob exhibit, especially the big "water pump" with the blue balls that you feed into it.

I also finally got a picture of all three of them together floating in the ceiling of glass reflection.

Midterms already!?

Keithen and Kaylee brought home midterm reports this week. I can't believe the first quarter is half over already!

As expected, Keithen got all "M's" for "mastery" on his report. His teacher said that his work habits are improving and he's getting better at being a good sport. He has mentioned several classmates that he really likes, so it sounds like he's getting comfortable in his new school and making friends. His homework habits seem to be improving. Getting him a timer really seems to have helped a lot with that too.

Kaylee got mostly "M's" on her report. She needs to learn her phone number and birthday and figure out how to get from 11 to 20. She does great up to 12 and the teens just freak her out. Other than that, she had all "M's" on her report. Her teacher is a little concerned that she has latched onto one best friend and seems very attached to her. She's afraid that she could become dependent on her so she'd like to see her making some other friends. Hopefully I can help encourage that along. She seems to really be adjusting well and enjoying school. I have to scan some of the drawings she's brought home soon so I can share them.

Yes America, Benji CAN dance!


The kids didn't have school today, so they were excited to stay up late last night to watch the finale of So You Think You Can Dance. Keithen was rooting for Heidi, but I think he was happy to see Benji win. (He almost fell asleep and missed the ending!) Ruby and I were very excited to see our favorites (Benji, Travis and Heidi) make it all the way to the end. How cool for cousins Benji and Heidi to make it to the finals together. Last weekend Ruby was asking me, "Mom, can Benji come over to our house?" LOL!

Congratulations Benji!

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Kaylee's Sunflowers




Kaylee's sunflowers were starting to bloom this morning! She was very excited to go outside and check them out first thing this morning before leaving for school.