My favorite place to buy kids books

One quick post. I love shopping at Savers for kids books. One tip...no kids when you go! You find the best books when you have time to finger through each one....and there are tons. I have found some really great books that are $0.69 each in great condition. So anyway there is my tip. I got a bunch at a Savers by my mom's house last week while Darrell and I were on a date, and I plan on visiting the one near us before Christmas. We are going to wrap each one individually so it looks like they have tons of presents:) I was just going to put them all in a box as one gift but Darrell suggested wrapping each of them because they would have more fun:)

Oh how life changes...

For 4+ years I have been studying and preparing and planning to homeschool my kids. I have read book after book after book. Talked to people, read blogs etc. I was set on it, no ifs ands or buts about it. Then life happens and you start to reevaluate your plans. Baby Sarah came along 6 months ago and life threw me for a loop. I've had a hard time adjusting to a third child and although things are much better than they were a couple months ago, I have contemplated a lot about what is best for me and my family. Darrell was homeschooled off and on during his growing up years. I went to public school and for the most part loved school. I have dreamed of homeschooling my kids for several years for many reasons, but mostly I just wanted my kids close to me and not gone all day. I wanted them to have more time to explore their interests instead of being in a classroom all day. Well after much internal struggle and discussion with Darrell we have decided to put Derek in Kindergarten in the fall. Yes...I plan my life way ahead...maybe why I have anxiety issues sometimes. This does not erase homeschool off our list of options for the future...maybe when we move to Snowflake, but for now I think it will be best as much as I hate to admit it. Derek being the oldest thinks he rules the roost and we hope that putting him in school with 19+ other children in a classroom will help him learn he can't always be the center of attention. By keeping him home he would still be taking a lot of my attention because he would be the only school aged child for the next 2 years. Of course now we have to convince him that it will be GREAT!!! When he has talked about school in the past we have explained that everyone does school differently and that our family would do school at home. He was always pouting and wanting a backpack and such. Now when we tell him about starting Kindergarten he says NO! I don't like school! So I have to work for the next several months on changing that view...hopefully with success. Anyway this has been a long post just to relieve my brain and emotions I suppose. Now of course knowing me I will still go back and forth up until the day before school and then I still might keep him home:) Well probably not...Darrell really thinks it's for the best too...he'll just have to remind me of that every couple of weeks until school starts. I will probably have more separation anxiety than Derek when it comes down to it. Okay I'm really done for now.

Artwork

The amount of pictures that children draw and the amount of projects and creations they do boggles the mind and clutters the house. While on the Internet one day I found a great suggestion for helping with that clutter...take pictures of the artwork and after displaying in the home for a reasonable amount of time it can be recycled:) When Derek was really little I just tossed most of it, but now he notices...we now keep his creations in a folder and when it gets full we'll have to learn about decluttering and keeping only his favorites. Well a huge pile of artwork was growing on my counter so I took a few pictures and here are a few samples.

"The Thanksgiving Turkey" by Derek Brimhall. This turkey was created using materials donated by the Bashas' clubhouse. (I love the clubhouse...free babysitting while I shop!)

"The Blurry Thanksgiving Turkey" by Emily Brimhall. I noticed it was blurry after I loaded on the computer...and oops...I have already recycled the poor bird.

"The Rainbow Copycat" by Emily Brimhall. Emily has been obsessed about rainbows as of late and asks me to draw one almost every day. So I drew one for her and then when I came back later to clean up the table I found she had tried to make a rainbow herself on top of mine...isn't that just sooooo cute!

"Planets" by Derek Brimhall. These are some planets and the sun. There are also asteroids...don't ask me to identify which is which. He told me, but I can't remember now and don't want to find him right now to clarify.

Last but not least "Rendition of the First Vision" by Derek Brimhall. Derek has gotten very good at drawing lately and comes up with all sorts of pictures. This one put a smile on my face...he does pay attention in primary and in Family Home Evening!! The two people on top of course are Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The little brown figure is Joseph Smith and the brown blob next to him is a rock.

Well I hope you enjoyed these selections from the Brimhall Art Gallery.

Fun at the Library

The library we go to each week is located in a complex with other city buildings. There are 3 waterfalls the kids like to go see on occasion after we visit the library. Derek asked me to take the camera this week so we could take pictures.

Derek loves jumping from rock to rock. Emily likes putting leaves and sticks in the water. Derek mentioned that we forgot his tail. He has me hook a belt around a back belt loop and he goes from rock to rock growling ferociously being a dragon or dinosaur or lion.

It was a beautiful day as have most of the day been recently, and I'm so glad I was able to capture some beautiful faces on camera.

My Growing Baby

I always love when my babies reach about 6 months, up until then, although they are very cute and adorable I just have a hard time connecting and it feel like more work than fun to me. I know there are some who just absolutely LOVE the newborn stage, but not I. So I thought I would just share a few pictures of my growing baby who is now 6 months old.

She has figured out how to sit...although she still has a few tumbles. She has been evicted from using the Bumbo except under strict supervision, because she can get out. If she is on the carpet the landing is fine but anywhere else and it hurts. She leans to the side pushing up with one leg and eventually tips over the side landing on her stomach...sometimes bumping her face to the floor. So to you Bumbo using parents, beware...even the littlest ones can escape:) She loves to sit and reach for toys and she has started and loves baby food and other food. Darrell gave her an orange slice to suck on the other night and she just loved it. She pummeled several more slices and then cried and cried when Darrell got up to through all the juiced pulp and peel. So he graciously opened another for her and she again sucked the life out of a few more slices. The floor and her pajamas of course also got soaked:) She is definitely a dolly and I love seeing her so excited every morning when I get her out of bed.

Another thing to note is the pictures of her with a pacifier. We finally have a child that took one, and I'm so glad. On a side note...both Emily and Derek sucked their fingers as soon as they could. Derek only sucks when he has his blanket, so if that stays in bed, then the only time he sucks is at night. We have been trying to get him to quit since he will be 5 soon, but to no avail. Emily sucks her fingers too with her blanket, the funny thing is though I realized about a week or so ago that I hadn't seen her sucking her fingers recently. She stopped on her own!!! She rubs her blanket against her lips for comfort, but no more fingers. So now I only have to get one more out of the habit. The pacifier habit I hear is easy...just throw it out...listen to the baby cry for 3 days and your done...hopefully it is that easy:)

Little updates

I had a few random pictures on my camera so decided just to make one post. This is Emily with some dinosaurs. If you look Closely she placed all the baby dinosaurs on the backs of the mommy dinosaurs. I thought it was so cute I just had to have a picture.



Well, the baby swing has gone back into the attic and the walker has come down. Of course Sarah is too young to actually use it but when Emily was little, Derek loved pushing her around and it gave him a way to play with her and she was safe:) So, Darrell got it down from the attic. Little did I know it would bring together all three kids. With Sarah in the seat, Emily stands on the back while Derek pushes it around...they all love it and they don't fight. But, after a while Sarah does tire of it and starts to cry.



Yes...if you thought "are those Mr. Potato Head glasses?" then you are exactly right. Emily loves to wear them all the time, but this time Derek put them on Sarah...she looked just too cute. And then of course a picture of her in the Bumbo...the best baby invention on the planet!

The Logic of a 4yr old Brain

Derek has been watching a show on PBS called Dinosaur Train. He has learned lots of fancy words, and one morning was clarifying their definitions. He asked Darrell what a carnivore was. Darrell proceded to tell him that meant an animal who eats meat. Derek of course then knew that an herbivore eats plants. Well then his very logical brain made a conclusion and he asked, "So are babies milkivores?"...

MILKIVORE

Darrell and I got a good kick out of that one:)