Sweet Big Brother

I over heard Alex talking to Sabrina while he was on the Legos website and she was standing beside him. “Sabrina, you can’t have Legos.” Then he reached over and gently patted her and continued, “I’m sorry.”

Marie-Anne

A Great Day to Move

We are moving to a gated community a few miles from where we live now. Packing and packing! We have moved so much that on command our couch jumps onto the moving truck! We consider ourselves blessed also because the desert summer temperatures have seemed to relent for our moving day. Celebrate with us! It is forecasted to be only 105 degrees!

First steps

This morning Sabrina took her first steps toward her Papa! Then she took some more towards the play kitchen we got for the kids.

Marie-Anne

Another trip to the Children’s Museum

On Wednesday we went with Josie and her kids to use their tickets to the Children’s Museum. This is the second year the kids got free tickets for participating in the library’s Summer Reading Program. The kids all enjoyed it. I made sure Sabrina got to spend time in the baby section for a long time. Then whenever we found something she could play with throughout the museum I got her out of the stroller. The older kids were everywhere I didn’t even try to keep up with Josie’s kids. I had enough trouble keeping up with Alex! Everyone had fun.

Marie-Anne

Today's Savings

Today I stopped at Wal-Mart right after dropping Frank off and I got $23.27 worth of meat for only $16.31. Later I stopped at Smiths and got $4.94 worth of meat for $3.22. A savings of $8.68

Marie-Anne

Sleep needed

Help! Sabrina hasn’t been sleeping through the night for about 2 weeks now. She wakes up a couple of times screaming. Sometimes she’ll take a bottle and sometimes she won’t. I just realized that’s why I’ve been taking naps lately. Last night was the worst, but apparently her tummy was hurting. I need sleep!

Marie-Anne

Reading is Magic by Tony Daniels

Wednesday I took the kids along with Josie and her kids to the library for Reading is Magic by Tony Daniels. It was an amazing show! He is very funny and his tricks leave you wondering how in the world did he do that. If you ever get a chance to see it I recommend it.

http://www.themagicoftonydaniels.com/

Marie-Anne

I hit the Jackpot at Wal-Mart!

This morning I went to Wal-Mart right after dropping Frank off at work instead of waiting until after the library. I must have got there right after they put the marked down meat out. I got $77.71 worth of meat for $54.39, a savings of $23.32! I’m glad now that I didn’t go get formula last night when we ran out!

Marie-Anne

Play Dates

Today I invited Stacey and Stephie over for lunch and for a play date. I enjoyed Stacey’s company, but Alex didn’t want to share his toys and kept shutting Stephie out of his room and Sabrina’s room.

I want to have more play dates, but I think I’ll have more structure. I have several friends with children that are close to Alex’s age. I thought of starting a playgroup with them, but I’m not sure how well that would work. I’m thinking of inviting one family a week and having crafts or games for the kids. Maybe once a month I could invite all of them to go on a field trip, we’ll see.

Marie-Anne

Lots of field trips coming up.

For the next few weeks we’ll be doing things with Serina and London since they are out of school. The kids participated in the library’s Summer Reading Program and one of the prizes was a pass to the Children’s Museum. There are also some parks around here that have sprinklers. Anderson Dairy has a free tour that includes a puppet show. We have a year’s pass to Lake Mead so I’m planning on taking the kids to the visitors’ center…

Marie-Anne

Happy Independence Day!

To celebrate Independence Day we met our friends A.J., Stacey, and Stephie and went to Lake Mead for a picnic. Frank grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. The kids were on an expedition with magnifying glasses. Sabrina enjoyed herself in the playpen and being held and adored. We all enjoyed each other’s company. It was a great time and good food.

Later we met at Shadow Rock Park to watch the beautiful fireworks. Stephie and Sabrina were thrilled with the bright lights and loud noise, but Alex mostly played on the playground.

Marie-Anne

Sweet Tea

Water
1 cup sugar
5 tea bags

In a small pot boil water with 5 tea bags. Pour 1 cup sugar in pitcher. Scoop out tea bags and add boiling tea to sugar. Fill container with cold water and stir.

Marie-Anne

Ground Beef and Mushroom gravy

1-2 lbs ground beef
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup
can of mushrooms

Brown the beef adding whatever seasoning you like; I use onion powder and Tony’s. Drain the beef then add the mushroom soup and mushroom and cook on medium-high. While that is cooking cook instant rice to go with it. Put the Ground Beef and Mushroom gravy over the rice and serve.

Marie-Anne

Play Kitchen

Today Frank and Alex worked on building a play kitchen for the kids. They are using an old dresser that didn’t survive four years with Alex as the frame. I think it was a very good experience for Alex to work alongside Frank in building it. It is going to be similar to one I saw for almost $200. It will have a fridge, an oven, a microwave, and a sink.

I have been making a lot of felt food to go with it. So far I made donuts, pancakes, cookies, banana slices, pop tarts, and kiwi slices, (the kiwi doesn’t look quite right, oh well). I have plans of making a lot more. I think the next thing I’ll try is Popsicles. I just looked at pictures on the Internet and made them.

Marie-Anne

One decision

This morning on the way home from dropping Frank off at work a guy on a motorcycle was driving crazy weaving through all three lanes. As I thought, “that guy’s dangerous!” I saw him and the motorcycle flipping over and over in the intersection ahead of me. I just stared in shock. Then he got up and somebody helped him move the motorcycle out of the road. Even though he seemed to be fine it shook me up seeing him bouncing across the road like that.

One stupid decision could have ended in tragedy. Thank God for His mercy.

Marie-Anne

June's Reading List

June = 92 books for Alex & 54 books for Sabrina

Alex’s List:

Picture books:

Alice In Bibleland:
The Story Of Joshua
Bible Stories:
Daniel and His Very Good Friend
Do You Know My Friend?
Jesus and the Very Best Birthday
Jesus Heals The Blind Man
Jonah and the Very Big Fish
Joseph and the Very Colorful Coat
Let Me Down
Moses and the Very Special Basket
My Favorite Bible Storybook for Toddlers
Noah and the Very First Rainbow
The Good Samaritan
The Very First Christmas
Three Cheers
Why Did Jesus Say That?
Why Not?
Bobbsey Twins:
Freddie and Flossie
Freddie and Flossie and Snap
Freddie and Flossie and the Easter Egg Hunt
Freddie and Flossie and the Leaf Monster
Freddie and Flossie and the Little Seed
Bob the Builder:
Bob’s Boots
Pilchard Goes Fishing
Spud the Dragon
Children’s Book About:
Lying
Corner Kids:
A Flag For All
Everybody’s Best Friend
Money Trouble
School Rules
The Big, Beautiful Brown Box
The Big Tee Ball Game
The Cool Coats
The Messy Lot
The Pet Show
The Promise
The Sparkle Thing
Trash Trouble
Dr. Seuss:
Are You My Mother?
Fancy Nancy:
The Dazzling Book Report
Five Little Monkeys:
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
If You Give…
If You Take a Mouse to School
The Best Mouse Cookie
Insects (NF):
Know-It-All Butterflies
Kipper:
Kipper’s Sunny Day
Little Critter:
That’s Not Fair!
Magic School Bus:
And the Missing Tooth
Answers Questions
Flies With the Dinosaurs
Gets Cold Feet
Going Batty
Makes A Rainbow
Meets the Rot Squad
On the Ocean Floor
Sees Stars
Takes A Moonwalk
Weathers the Storm
Natural Disasters:
Braving Volcanoes: Volcanologists
Earthquakes
Hill of Fire
Learning About the Earth- Volcanoes
Storms- Tornadoes
Volcanoes
Pound Puppies:
Pet Project
Problem Puppies
Sesame Street:
Don’t Forget the Oatmeal
Grover’s Guide to Good Manners
Look What I Found!
Red or Blue, I Like You!
Sesame Street Museum
The Case of the Missing Duckie
VeggieTales:
Larry Learns to Listen
Pa Grape’s Shapes
Peas and Thank You!
Time For Tom
Winnie the Pooh:
Why Don’t Things Fall Up?
Other:
Fievel’s Friends
Helping Hands
Learning Love
Learning to Say Please
Manners Matter
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
The Secret of the Lost Kingdom
The Spotted Dotted Puppy

CHAPTER BOOKS:

Annie and Snowball:
And the Dress-up Birthday
Henry and Mudge:
And the Big Sleepover
Get the Cold Shivers
Take the Big Test
Magic School Bus:
16. Butterfly Battle
Magic Tree House:
# 1 Dinosaurs Before Dark
#2 The Knight at Dawn
# 4 Pirates Past Noon
Magic Tree House Research Guide:
Pirates


Sabrina’s List

Board books and simple picture books:

Bible:
Away in a Manger
Bedtime Prayers
Classic Prayers
Daniel and His Very Good Friend
God Made Them All
Jesus and the Very Best Birthday
Jonah and the Very Big Fish
Joseph and the Very Colorful Coat
Love, Joy, and Peace
Moses and the Very Special Basket
My Favorite Bible Storybook for Toddlers
Noah and the Very First Rainbow
Let Me Down
The Good Samaritan
Three Cheers
Too Much Food
Why Not?
Biscuit:
Biscuit Finds a Friend
Biscuit Wants to Play
Biscuit Wins a Prize
Blue’s Clues:
Blue’s Friends
Bobbsey Twins:
Freddie and Flossie
Freddie and Flossie and Snap
Freddie and Flossie and the Easter Egg Hunt
Freddie and Flossie and the Leaf Monster
Freddie and Flossie and the Little Seed
Bob the Builder:
Meet Scoop
Disney Babies:
Good Night, Baby Donald
Play Ball, Baby Minnie
Where is Baby Mickey’s Red Ball?
Disney Bunnies:
Thumper’s Book of Opposites
Thumper’s Guess Who?
Fancy Nancy:
At the Museum
Poison Ivy Expert
Fancy Nancy Sees Stars
The Dazzling Book Report
Jay Jay the Jet Plane:
Snuffy’s Opposites
Little People:
Match Shapes With Me
My Little Pony:
Hide-and-Seek
Sandra Boynton:
MOO, BAA, LA La La!
Opposites
Sesame Street:
Sesame Street Museum
Strawberry Shortcake:
Bath Time for Baby Strawberry
Strawberry Shortcake’s Show-and-Tell Surprise
The Berry Big Storm
Thomas:
Shapes With Thomas
Veggie Tales:
Peas and Thank You!
Wild Animal Baby (magazine):
March 2004
Nov. 2004
June 2007
Other:
Helping Hands
Learning Love
Manners Matter
The Story of Valentine’s Day


Marie-Anne

Magic Tree House

I kept seeing the Magic Tree House books at Savers and a few weeks ago I bought one just to see what it is. The series is about a brother and sister who find a magic tree house and are whisked away to another time in history. It was a pretty cute book and very fast paced so I decided to get some for Alex. I found out that there are non-fiction research guides to go along with the books and I got pretty excited about getting this series for Alex.

I found two of the research guides at the Salvation Army when I was looking for bookshelves. I read the entire pirate one to Alex today; it’s over 100 pages! Then tonight I went to Savers to see if they still had any and got Alex the first four books. (The fourth book is the one that goes with the Pirate research guide.) Alex had me read the entire first book to him tonight! He wanted me to start the next one, but it was his bedtime. Alex is even more excited about these books than he is about The Magic School Bus.

Marie-Anne

Sabrina the big kid

We were invited to our friend’s house. They have a girl who’s 3 and a boy who is 2. Alex had a blast with his new friends. And Sabrina kept taking off to join them in the kids’ room. I don’t know how many times I had to chase her down and bring her back to the living room. She wants so bad to be a big kid. I wouldn’t have minded her being in there, but they were very excited and running and jumping and they had some small toys out. Sabrina loved it when they came out and played with her, but when they went back into the playroom she took off after them again. We all had a lot of fun.

Marie-Anne

Father's Day

We celebrated Father’s Day on Monday because we were busy Sunday. We got Frank several short sleeve shirts and I let Alex wear them to give them to Frank, (of course I took pictures). They came past Alex’s knees- so cute!

When Frank got off Monday I had pretty much everything ready for us to go to Lake Mead to BBQ. At first we went to where the coyotes are, but one came right up to the car with no fear at all and the poor thing looked very hungry it was so skinny. We decided hunger might make it dangerous so we went to another part of the park.

We unloaded the car and then realized I remembered everything, but matches! Oh, no! Frank tried using Alex’s magnifying glass to start a fire, but all it did was smoke and he tried using the car’s cigarette lighter, but it didn’t work either. I felt so bad.

We decided to make the best of it and went on a nature hike. We saw quail and tried to get close enough for a picture, but couldn’t. Alex got to take pictures with one camera while I had another. Then we went to the water and let Alex throw rocks while I set Sabrina in the sand for a few pictures. She discovered she doesn’t like the taste of sand.

Even though we weren’t able to BBQ it was a great Family day.

Marie-Anne

May's Reading

For the month of May we read 87 books for Alex & 44 books for Sabrina. These included Franklin, Fancy Nancy, Magic School Bus, nonfiction on insects, The Littles (the shorter versions), Henry and Mudge, and Strawberry Shortcake among others. It was also the first time I read a longer chapter book to Alex the first Jigsaw Jones Mystery.

Alex
Picture Books:
Adventures in Odyssey:
The Start of Something Big!
Amelia Bedelia:
Teach us, Amelia Bedelia
Arthur:
Arthur Lost and Found
2. Manners Matter
3. Queen for a Day
4. Try It, You’ll Like It!
6. Sir Arthur to the Rescue
7. Volunteer of the Year
8. Buried Treasure
Bible Stories:
The Miracles of Jesus
Biscuit:
Biscuit Finds a Friend
Biscuit Wants to Play
Biscuit Wins a Prize
Bob the Builder:
Scoop Saves the Day
Clifford:
A Special Friend
Curious George:
The Movie
Dr. Seuss:
The Cat in the Hat
Fancy Nancy:
At the Museum
Bonjour, Butterfly
Boy From Paris
Poison Ivy Expert
Sees Stars
Franklin:
Franklin is Bossy
Franklin Rides a Bike
Franklin’s Baby Sister
Franklin’s Bad Day
Franklin’s Christmas Gift
Franklin’s Valentines
Froggy:
Froggy Plays Soccer
Insects (NF):
Ants
Ants and Other Insects
Beautiful Butterflies
Beetles
Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes
Bumblebees
Dazzling Dragonflies
Dragonflies
Fireflies
Grasshoppers
Honeybees
Hungry Cockroaches
Smelly Stink Bugs
Walkingsticks
(The) Littles:
And the Big Blizzard
Do Their Homework
Go on a Hike
Little Einsteins:
Music of the Meadow
The Magic School Bus:
Gets All Dried Up
Gets Baked in a Cake
Goes Upstream
Has a Heart
Hops Home
Inside a Beehive
Puppy Mudge:
Puppy Mudge Has a Snack
Puppy Mudge Wants to Play
The Puzzle Club:
Easter Adventure
Rainbow Fish:
Lost At Sea
Spiders (NF):
Deadly Black Widows
Goliath Bird-Eating Tarantula
Hairy Tarantulas
Jumping Spiders
Spooky Wolf Spiders
Tricky Trapdoor Spiders
Thomas the Tank Engine:
Thomas’ Christmas Delivery
Turtles (NF):
A Turtle Hatchling Grows Up
VeggieTales:
The Good, the Bad, and the Silly
Hats off to Lyle
Other:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Bug Safari
Dinosaur Roar!
Goody, a Mother Cat Story
Little Quack’s Hide and Seek
Make Way for Ducklings
Mommy Do You Love Me?
One Tricky Monkey up on Top
The Lion and the Mouse
The Napping House
The Story of the Pilgrims
The Wide Mouth Frog
Chapter books:
Annie and Snowball:
And the Cozy Nest
And the Teacup Club
Henry and Mudge:
And Annie’s Good Move
And the Best Day of All
And the Careful Cousin
And the Happy Cat
And the Wild Wind
In the Sparkle Days
Jigsaw Jones Mystery:
1. The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster

Sabrina:
Board Books/Simple Picture books
Bible:
Moses in the Bulrushes
The Christmas Story
Blue’s Clues:
Blue Says
Calico:
Hello, Calico!
Care Bears:
Colors
Seasons
Disney Babies:
Where is Baby Donald’s Kitten?
Disney Bunnies:
Goodnight Thumper
Thumper Counts to Ten
Thumper’s Summer Day
Fancy Nancy:
Fancy Nancy
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy
Freckleface Strawberry:
Freckleface Strawberry
Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully
Sesame Street:
Elmo’s Animal Adventures
It’s Naptime, Little One
Skippyjon Jones:
1-2-3
Shape Up
Up and Down
Spot:
Spot Loves His Grandma
Spot’s First Walk
Where’s Spot?
Strawberry Shortcake:
Five Sweet Strawberries
Princess
Wild Animal Baby (magazine):
July 2003
July 2005
May 2007
July 2007
June 2008
Dec/Jan 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
Other:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Classic Prayers
Diggers and Dumpers
Five Little Ducks
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
I Love My Mommy
Learning to Say Please
My First Little House Books; Laura’s Garden
Night-night Baby!
The Mitten
What Does Baby Do?

Marie-Anne