A new toy and some naked baby booty

Gracie's new toy (thanks Klacki!!!). She loves it. (She actually didn't love it too much right here- but it's only because I turned her in the direction of me to take the picture- she wanted to play with those hanging thingies.)

And a shot of some naked baby booty. She will actually roll to get things!!! Here is where she rolled to Jack's pj shorts.

Socialization a problem? Not in our house......

Ok, the number one argument I get against homeschooling after the 'How can you spend that much time with your kids?' one is 'How will your kids ever be socialized?' I know my kids won't have a problem (I mean- are they not socializing when we're at homeschool outings, playing with friends, at Girl Scouts, at Piano Lessons, at the library, etc?!) They're actually able to socialize with a greater variety of people from more backgrounds and age groups than most kids who are in school all day. So really, I know they're doing ok, but once in a while it's nice to have reassurance- a mom on a local homeschool e-mail group posted this article from Dr. Laura (and as my disclaimer- I've never read anything from Dr. Laura before)

Research examining home-schooled students’ academic achievements have
consistently found that they score higher than the national norms on standard
achievement tests. So the only grenade left to throw at home-schooling
parents is that they are hurting their children socially and emotionally.

The rest of the article can be found at Dr.Laura's blog.

Apparently cats don't have nine lives......

I'm not making light of this.......really I'm not. BUT Josh ran over one of the kitties on Saturday. So now we only have one left. :( I don't know what else to say other than I cried a lot. They were in the garage and apparently one (Grilled Cheese to be exact) didn't get out of the way. Due to where he hit him I'm quite sure it was a quick death. How sad.....now just one kitty left- any takers?

Oh yeah- Fiona has her cat hysterectomy tommorow.

Spring Book Basket

Every season/holiday/special event our book basket gets filled up with related topics and is placed on the bottom shelf of our hallway table. Our spring basket has been filled for a while- but just now getting around to blogging it. Here are some of our favorite books our basket contains:

*Magazines (Ranger Rick, My Big Backyard and Wild Animal Baby- yes we subscribe to all three)

*A Good Day (the little girl in this book reminds me of a certain 3 year old!)

*A Tree is Nice

*Skunk's Spring Surprise

*Spring Things

*Wiggling Worms at Work

*Splish, Splash, Spring

*Make Way for Ducklings

plus many more, including numerous bug books (for identification).......

And we've been LOVING this one- storing away ideas for use when we get our land:

* Roots Shoots Buckets and Boots

and our favorite 'seasons' books that are in almost every basket:

*The Year at Maple Hill Farm

*Circle of Seasons

Ok, and one of my sweet little princess who now plays with toys!!! (the skwish is one of her favs)

and oh yeah- she rolled over this morning- TWICE! :)

Haircut pic

Got my hair cut today (I cut it about a year ago myself and then before that the last time was when Jack was 3 months old!!!) Here's a picture for my readers who don't see me regularly (Meggie!)

T-ball

Apparently wearing your big(ger) sister's pj top with Buzz Lightyear on it makes you hit the ball farther.

Lesson learned: If you hit the tee the ball still goes. :)

Lonestar and Mother's Day

Ok, so that concert that 104.1 was having for us was this past Friday. Morgan, Gracie and I went (and my brother and two aunts also went!). They fed us Sagebrush Steakhouse for lunch. After lunch we went down to this room with a small stage (about a foot off the ground) and three small rows of chairs. There were 20 people there (not including the band and the radio station personnel.) Lonestar came running out- it was amazing. I wasn't any further than 10 feet from the stage. They sang quite a few songs- including their new 'Let me Love You' - it was great- you should check it out on itunes. They were very chatty and fun! After the concert they autographed pictures of themselves and we had the opportunity to take pictures with them. Unfortunately I forgot my camera or I could've taken a picture with their really cute new lead singer. Morgan was in awe and acted very shy- she wouldn't even talk to them. My sling was quite the conversation piece when I was getting my picture signed.

Ok- Mother's Day. Wow! I feel so spoiled this year. Morgan made me a cute magnet at Daisy Girl Scouts and ordered me a cute flower bouquet. Josh gave me an iPod!!!!! (I'm finally catching up with the rest of the world!!) Oh yeah- gotta give a shout out to my sister Taylor who actually (kinda) helped me figure out how to work it. I got some other wonderful presents from some special mothers (who I should've been showering with gifts) too! I feel so grateful to have such great family and friends. I am eternally blessed with such great mothers in my life. I have so many wonderful examples to follow. My mom is awsome- always trying to make my day a great one. My mother in law - I am in awe of how a mother could shape such a great guy (my sweet husband). She'd have to be a great one. :) All the grandmothers in our lives- we love them- the peaceful and loving way they care for us gives me something to aspire to. I just feel blessed for all the friends and family that set examples for our family and especially for me as a mother. I love you all. Happy Mother's Day.