Partied Too Hard

Ethan talked me into having a sleep over with his best friends on Monday night. Yes, you heard that right, Monday night! Really I didn't mind a bit. I had a meeting Monday night, Bill had a meeting Monday night, and Tuesday would be pretty consumed by a Girl Scout Valentine Party. Not much school would be going on so really I was totally fine with it. Plus I was told, "we'll watch a movie around 11 and go to bed afterwards". Um, yea.
I went to bed about 1 and things were still pretty active and I don't think a movie had been started. I probably could have demanded that they get to sleep but really, they were behaving and being respectful of the sleeping people in the house.
Around 7am Ethan came into my room to get a band aid. Hmm? Kind of an odd thing to get first thing upon waking! But not such an odd thing to need if you haven't been to bed. At all. They pulled an all nighter!
By 9:30 Ethan was done. He fell sound asleep in the living room chair amidst cleaning and chaos. He woke about an hour later to relocate to his room. He didn't even close his bedroom door and slept through an entire Girl Scout party!
Around 3:30 he wandered down for waffles for "breakfast". He was ready for bed by 9 which for Ethan is a miracle!
Bill summed it up best in his response text he sent me when I sent him this picture, we are so glad that he is having fun. We want him to have the best childhood ever and always remember these good times. Its so cool to home school and give him this experience. Truly, if any of our kids deserve a fun and crazy night its Ethan, enough said.

Her Imagination...

is actually about a boys imagination! Erin worked hard on these pictures and told me the story that went with them.
The girl in the top picture "Emily" is the way the girl looked when he (the mysterious, unidentified boy) "imagined her and what she looked like". The picture below is what "Emily" really looked like when the boy met her.
"Did he like her?" I asked her.
"Oh yes, she was very smart! and the other one was kind of (insert your silly face with eye rolling here!)."

Oh my! Where does she get this stuff?! Sounds like a Disney princess story of some sort. I love cute, adorable pictures with even cuter stories.

Tween Night Celebration

 What a great night for a party! It has been cold, icy, snowy, and everyone has been cooped up. Sounded like a great night to get all the teens together for a night of Wii fun and tons of snacks. Throw in a birthday and it knocked the evening up a notch!
Tween/teen nights are always a blast, what a great group of kids. We had almost 30 tonight and they all are pleasant, funny, and low drama (which is such a plus!). The xbox ran Call of Duty all night and the Wii had Just Dance. They got some serious energy out, Just Dance will do that to you. They went through an entire case of water and almost all the juice and soda.
Chas celebrated his 14th birthday with everyone tonight so we also had ice cream cake. Good choice since everyone was hot from dancing around! We had a quick round of "Happy Birthday" and everyone even cooperated for some group pictures. I try not to be too pushy with the camera during their events but I was able to coax since we were already gathered for the cake. Plus they will love having some pics of their fun nights together.

Tubing Fun

We surprised the kids at the beginning of the week with a snow tubing outing. We had tried to go a couple of weeks ago but something came up at work and it didn't work out. So when Bill said he didn't have much on his calendar we loaded up and headed up!
One of the best things was that it was practically empty, its awesome to have places to yourself.
Everyone had a blast, Erin kept up with everyone! That girl is unbelievable, does everything on her own and is completely fearless. There is something kind of weird about loading your 32 pound little peanut into an intertube and then pushing her down an enormous ice covered hill and telling her goodbye. Even better, not being able to see her face because she is so bundled up and hearing her tiny voice yell "bye "as she goes flying down.  Pictures from our fun...

 Little bit of wind burn!

 Daddy Love

All About Erin

 Seems all my pictures lately are all about Erin. She's a sweetheart and always willing to smile, just lights up everyone around her. Especially her mommy! (Hair style compliments of Lindy)

Academy of Science

This is the time of year that we get tons of school done. I prefer to hibernate all winter but we have fun in the process. Last year at the Homeschool Convention (which is a fabulous event!) Bill and I found these awesome science kits. Each one covers a different science topic in depth. The kits come with all the supplies to do the experiments and they are better than any science kit I have ever had. And we have had many different kinds of science curriculums! Since this company is devoted only to science they know how to make it fun.
The other great thing is that everyone can participate. For Ethan and the girls this has been great since they really like doing things all together. Even Erin has been keeping a science folder with her "results".
We brought home the Matter and Polymers Kits last spring and I am trying to figure out what I want to get this year. So many choices!
When they complete the unit they receive a certificate from the Academy of Science for Kids. So cool!
Here's a peek of what we've been doing:

This was an awesome lesson on atoms and making different elements. Great visualization!

Multitasking

This is what kids today look like. They can do so much at once! Of course they learn it from all of us who are always doing multiple things at one time. Erin's new thing is to pretend to talk on her "cell phone" while working on her laptop. And yes she does this all while eating lunch!

When I Go to College

The other night as I was putting Erin to bed we were in the bathroom brushing her teeth. I cannot stop kissing on her ALL the time, but she is incredibly snuggly and lovey. We were looking into the mirror with our cheeks smashed together when Erin said, "We have to get a picture of this, so I will always remember it when I go to college". Huh? Not sure why she was thinking about that other than having watched the big Hannah  Montana where Miley goes away to college.
Of course I complied and got her picture taken. So cute! She is growing up so fast...

Ethan's New Room

 This has been a LONG time coming. We have been trying to get this redo done for the last 2 years. We have had many false starts, with a boy who struggles with making decisions. But we finally turned a corner and over the last couple of months he successfully picked some things out.
We started with bedding that Ethan liked. Then over Christmas he found the paint color he liked and a new bed. For Christmas Santa brought him a bean bag chair, a new floor lamp he wanted, and his Grommy got him a new desk. Things were really shaping up. The big thing was the new bed we found over New Years along with the matching night stand.
So this weekend while the boys were all gone on a Father/Son Camp in for Boy Scouts the girls and I had a HUGE project in Ethan's Room Redo!
The girls were so very excited about doing this. Ethan knew we were repainting his room but that was all he thought we were doing. Being girls who all love watching HGTV we had more in mind, like accessories!
We painted everything, walls, bookshelves, and wall shelves. We hung pictures, put up a new map, organized books, added new picture frames and lamps, and added a crafty touch. They even decorated the door with a sign. Its always a big deal when the kids get to redo their room but for Ethan we all celebrated in his new space.
So we went from the picture above to this.....

 Amazing! Girl Power!

 Desk area, map compliments of Grommy along with the new desk and lamp from Christmas.

 E for Erin and also Ethan!

 My little contribution was the wall E which he loved.

 His newly painted wall shelves. There is still one more to hang at the top.

 Newly painted bookshelf along with new light and art work Ethan did in Art class. All organized and arranged by the girls.

 I love the new lamp and night stand with the family pictures.

 New desk accessories from the girls complete with his favorite candy and new picture. We even got his little piece of Disney ownership hung up.

 Girls hard at work on their door sign and getting ready for the reveal.

 The reveal!!!

 And he LOVES it! And we loved doing it for him!

We worked hard and very happily I might add. The girls were so excited they were willing to do anything including clean and the not fun parts of the project. We are tired and need to have a relaxing day but we would do anything for the best big brother in the world! We love you Ethan!