Simple Women's Day Book June 30th

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FOR TODAY

Outside my Window.... Very hazy, prehaps in for another humid, hot day!

I am thinking... How much longer is this nasty weather going to last??

I am thankful for...Smiles

From the kitchen...Lots of chatter from the kids.

I am creating.... Hopefully, sweet, well mannered children!

I am going... To get some housework done, and clean the office. :)

I am wearing... PJ's still, and my hair is a mess!

I am reading... A Nora Roberts Book, I picked up from the library sale this weekend. Along with a dinosaur book with Hunter....

I am hoping... Our week will be filled with lots of smiles, laughter, and fun!

Around the house... Is a mess that needs to get cleaned up!

One of my favorite things...... Lily's, aren't they beautiful!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Visit with friends, housework, take the kids to a playground, enjoy the holiday weekend...... Take lots of pictures!

My picture to share with you.... Is of our dog Lily, when we first got her... my she has grown alot in the last few months. :) She loved the snow.

Its a bird, its a plane, no its a ?????

One clear evening, the kids were outside playing...Sage came running in as always to tell me that there was a plane in the sky. For some reason she likes to tell me when we have planes going over. Hunter and Rachel told us that it looked more like a hot air balloon, so we decided to go take a peak. Sure enough, it was this interesting vehicle... Not sure the name of it, so anyone who knows, feel free to tell us. It was kinda neat, it looked like a motorized bike with a parachute over it. Here are the few photo's we could get before it disappeared on us.

Our first Lapbooks.......

As most of you know we are homeschooling this year. Well, as part of our homeschooling, we are trying this new thing called Lapbooking. You take a file folder, fold it, and make activites and info to go on it. Kinda a review of what you have learned about. Since we have had a ton of Thunderstorms lately, Hunter did his first one on Weather.... He loved it. His exact words actually were... "Mom, I love homeschooling its so much fun!" I guess, I got a positive out of that. He was very excited to do this lapbook. We are doing some weeks here and there, so we have extra time to take off when we want. Plus, as most of you also know with Rachel we have to have a pretty constant schedule, to keep things peaceful. As soon as I have some photo's to post, I will have them up. :)

Hunter was not the only one hard at work with his..... The girls, who are also doing school work. Hunter being in 1st grade, Rachel in kindergarten, and Sage is doing Pre-k...... Seems they wanted to be involed with something too.... I decided to do a Lapbook on the letter "A" . Deciding that we are going to do one for each of the letters of the alphabet, and hoping that might make them stick with them alittle better. They have done a great job too.
This new site I have been really enjoying, refered to me by a friend... she has some really cool ideas, and also does this new tot book thing were she cuts a file folder in half to do one for the toddlers.... I might give it a shot with Rachel and Sage.. They are really cute, as she does like a nemo, cars, princess, and so on...but they are better in color, and I don't have a color ink in my printer. So, when my little budget can afford some. I might give one a shot. :) I think they would be fun! http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/ Here is her blog site to check out if you want. :) We are taking this week off for the holiday, but will let you know what we finish next. Hunter wants to do one on Dinosaurs.... (my favorite part about these, are that they include all subjects) The girls will be doing the letter "B".....

Another First!

My little boy is growing up so fast! He is having all kinds of first. Today Hunter went to his first real Baseball Game... Andy and him went to see the SeaDogs, in Portland. The Embden Rec bought tickets for all the coaches, and kids who played this year that wanted to go... as a good job for the end of the season! I got a ticket as I was the coach for the little kids, but I didn't go, since I knew the girls wouldn't sit thru a game. So, I gave andy my ticket and sent him with Hunter. Good dad and son bonding! Unfortunetly, the weather here in our area has been nothing but rain for days! We have had so many thunderstorms lately! Apprently, there was alot of balls flying into the stands. Hunter was sad he did not catch one, but had a great time anyway. He and daddy were even nice enough to bring home a special present for the girls. They got them bat pens. :) Very cute. I've been informed that our camera acted up, so we didn't get the pictures of Hunter with Slugger, Trash man, and Ronald McDonald. Bummer! However, the Yankee's won, and the Red Sox's lost. The weather held out, and they had a great time though! Mark another first in the books. My little guy is growing up!

Here is good old Ronald McDonald too.. Every kids friend! Hope you had a great time HUNTER!

Something for fun!

51 As a 1930s wife, I am Average Take the test!

Not bad!

The Last Game of the Season!

Hunter had his last game of the season tonight. Wow, such a relief in many ways... It was a long season, good but long. The kids have done so good... Its amazing to see how much they have improved from the first game to now. At the begining we had a couple of kids that could hit the ball good, now the whole team can hit the ball. Gotta love the faces when they strike that ball further than they thought they could! Beaming with Joy!! Eyes sprakling with excitement! I love it! Hunter had a bad spell the last few games, but tonight...even with his heart not fully in it... (having a ruff night, think he is ready to be done) He hit everytime he was up to bat. Some really good hits too! He made it to base twice, the third time the first basemen got him out. He was a little bummed, but had fun just the same. Oh, and I have to mention that the last two games we have been to, it has rained, even poured a few times. The kids found this very fun to play in!!! To end our season, we won our last game 11-6... GO MUD DOGS!!!!

And with summer comes a new haircut!

Nothing like a new haircut when summer comes rolling in right?? Rachel got brave, and decided she was ready for a change. Her hair had alot of dead ends and so we decided to give it a trim. It's now up to her shoulders. She loved her long hair...as we were finally able to braid, french braid, and put in pretty pony's. But in the words of Rachel "it will grow again mommy"..... She likes her new haircut, and loves how easy it was to maintain. Every morning she says look mommy my hair doesn't have any tangles. We used to have to struggle with tangles every morning, now it is so easy to brush and go. She loves it! I hope you all like it to, as I think it is very cute. I do miss the longer hair, but like she said it will grow back out. :)

The Simple woman's day June 23

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FOR TODAY

Outside my Window.... It is very hazy... prehaps going to be muggy.

I am thinking... What do I need to get done for today.

I am thankful for...Nature

From the kitchen...Is the smell of Waffles.

I am creating.... Hunter's spelling words for this week.

I am going... To maybe attempt another batch of bread today.

I am wearing... PJ's right now.

I am reading...Nothing at the moment, but just ordered some to be sent from the library last night.

I am hoping... This week goes as smooth as the weekend did.

Around the house... Is the sound of children playing.

One of my favorite things...... Homemade Pizza.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Get some stuff caught up today, go to work tues, wed...Hunter has his last game, the girls have their last tee-ball practice, send sometime with my niece and nephew, Hunter and Andy are going to a SeaDogs Game this weekend, and have a good week.

My picture to share with you.... My bestest friends daughter.... I just think this is so adorable, you notice she is trying to ride a little pony! To cute! It brings a smile to my face, so I hope it does yours. ;)

Random One Word

Not as easy as you might think. Now copy or forward, change the answers to suit you and pass it on.

1. Where is your cell phone? ..........Counter

2. Your significant other?................augusta

3. Your hair............................ messy

4. Your mother? ........Working

5. Your father?........................... Appleton

6. Your favorite thing?...................Family

7. Your dream last night?................... Nothing

8. Your favorite drink? ................... Water

9. Your dream/goal?........................... Money

10. The room you're in?...................... LivingRoom

11. Your ex?.............................Unkown

12. Your fear?...........................Snakes

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?................ Happy

14. Where were you last night?............. Shopping

15. What you're not?....................... Skinny

16. Muffins?.............................. Blackberry

17. One of your wish list items?.............. SUV

18. Where you grew up?........................Maine

19. The last thing you did?....................... Talk

20. What are you wearing?...................... PJ's

21. Your TV?............................OFF

22. Your pets?............................ Lily

23. Your computer? ...................Laptop

24. Your life?............................. Challenging

25. Your mood?............................Peaceful

26. Missing someone?...................Always

27. Your car/truck?..................... Outside

28. Something you're not wearing?...............Shoes

29. Favorite Store?..........................Target

30. Your summer?................................ Begining

31. Like someone?....................Always

32. Your favorite color?...................... Purple

33. Last time you laughed?....................... Today

34. Last time you cried?...................... Unsure

35. Who will re-post this?............Nobody

Deals of the day!

Besides our fun trip to the Children's Discovery Museum....we went to a few stores in augusta. As you all know with the cost of gas, its best to do everything you need to do in one day. So we decided to make it a nice long day in augusta. (Sadly, I do have to go back in a couple weeks, cause I need to go to Sam's Club to stock up on some stuff) Our first stop after leaving the musuem... was The Christmas Tree Shop. One of my most favorite stores to go too... While wandering around and looking at stuff I found this CLEARANCE rack.... I couldn't resist as I love clearance, and hate to pay full price for anything! It was a rack of curtains that had been on display. Of course this means their was not more than one or two sets of any particular set of curtains. There really wasn't a huge selection, but enough to make me happy! I found this one set of Apple curtains. (cause my kitchen is Gingerbread and apples) I have some already but they don't pop out at me as the right curtains for my kitchen. So, being on clearance if it was the right price I decided to try this set. The price was 1.97... Can you really beat that anywhere else??? Not likely... so I decided to get them. I would just have to find another fabric, maybe a solid to go with them for my other window. I was so excited.... Or atleast I thought I was... until we got the register to pay. I put them up there and she rings them through... Can you guess what they came up as????? Most of you are probably thinking a regular price, as that is what usually happens to us all. Well, in my case, I got them for cheaper, way cheaper! I couldn't believe my eyes, the reciept said..... .19 cents, YES! You are reading that right. Can you believe that??? I was so excited I could have jumped up and down! So there you have it my deal of the day!! We proceeded on to Petco... the kids wanted to look at the animals. Then we went to Target, cause it is nice to go anywhere other than Wal-mart every once and awhile. We found lots of cool stuff we would have loved to have, but it was not what we could afford. However, we did find a Slip'n Slide for the kids, for only 8 bucks... and in their really cool dollar isles, I found me and the kids 4th of July socks.. Yes, I am silly and try to get them some holiday socks whenever I can. :) They like to have them too. I just think it is something fun for them to have and enjoy on the holiday! I think that is all we got there... and by then it was 5:30ish, so we headed home. Deciding to stop off and finishing off our really nice day with a really good sandwich from Big G's!!! The kids got their favorite, peanut butter, honey, banana sandwich! Andy try a new one, the HoJo, which was clam strips, lettuce, tomato, american cheese with tatar sauce.... (he got his on a wrap) and because I am so picky...yes I admit it. I always make my sandwich, a ham, bacon, american cheese, lettuce, tomato...on wheat! We all love there sandwich's as the bread is so soft and good, and the food is wonderful! Prefect end to a prefect day!

~Family Fun 2~

I didn't have enough space on the other one, to finish in a couple last photo's of the kids, that I thought were so cute! They thought they wanted to be construction workers!

Aren't they so adorable! LOL....

Here they are hiding in the bird nest off the stair case! If you look hard you can see Sage's head in their somewhere. ;)

Andy is hanging off the tree below the nest.

The last of my photo's are our last stop out of the building... which I bet you can't guess where that was??? The resturaunt again... They just absolutely loved that place. Hunter and Rachel wanted to show you one of their creations.

Hunter made a Pizza! Doesn't it look good?? He was so proud of it. I love to watch his imagination at work! They made me things like wraps, salads, soups, sandwichs, and pizza! I'm not sure if she liked what she made or not... The face isn't all that convinencing!
Well that is the last of our adorable photo's... Hope you enjoyed them!

~Family Fun~

Ok, grab a cup of tea, coffee, or something..... This might be one of my longest blogs, although, probably mostly pictures! Today after a long week or more in the house, due to rain and more rain. A few thunderstorms added in! We all needed a much needed get away from the house. So, we set out calling around to find out where we could go Strawberry picking, cause I really wanted to get some to stock the frezzer, but aparently everyone had that idea yesterday and wiped out every place around here. Sadly we put on our thinking caps? We searched the internet, and almost towards the giving up point... (not wanting to spend to much money) Plus not wanting to drive that far, cause the cost of gas would kill us! lol.... Anywho, we found the place we were heading to. After careful diliberation we went with the Children's Discovery Museum in Augusta. I must say it was a cute little place. For only 23 dollars, for all five of us to get in... (which I didn't find to bad, considering we stumbled across much worse) Sorry.... I wander easily! We packed our lunch, and the kids gathered a few items to play with for the ride, and we headed out the door. Along the way we did get alittle delayed stopping at a few lawn sales... Nope didn't find anything to grand, although we did buy a camp chair for sage, as she was the only one without one... and it was after all only a dollar! Ok, again wandering.... The first place we decided to play was this cool play resturuant... it was very cool. Hunter loved the cash register! Rachel on the other hand, loved making the food!

It amazes me how well their imaginations work... I can't even tell you how they just went right in there, and started to pretend they were running a resturaunt! So cute!

This place was just amazing! The food was made out of cloth as well. Which makes it very easy to wash them .... as a mom you have to think sanitary! They even had very cute swivel chairs at the counter.

Sage's new smile while working! After we played in there we moved next door, which can you believe was a Supermarket! The girls of course loved that as well.

Here you see her at the supermarket! She loved ringing everyone up. She even went shopping for the resturaunt a few times! LOL.... Rachel liked playing in there to, but not as much as sage. Hunter just again liked the register!!! I think he is going to work with money or something... that is what seemed to draw him in.
Next on our journey was the Bank... yes, I said a bank. Hunter and Rachel were first attracted to the computers they had set up for them to use... Sage went over to the counter and peek around to see what she could find! Andy found one of the tubes, that send your stuff to the bank.. They had one set up in the building, once Hunter found it.... Him and Rachel were sending each other notes back and forth! It was kinda cute. Sage loved to play with the money as well.

She atleast smiled correctly this time! :)

Moving on from the bank, we discovered a puppet theatre! Hunter and Daddy put on a short little puppet show for me. I thought they were very cute. I think that hunter likes some of the theatre stuff, as he really enjoyed being in the play at school. I think one of our homeschool things might be to make a puppet theatre and put a short show together. Unfortuntely the picture is a bit dark.. Sorry! There she goes with that crazy smile again!

They thought that climbing under this open castle opening was really cool.

Next along the line was our South American corner! All the kids loved playing the musical instruments. Of course I'm not sure why this surprises me since my girls love to sing anyway... ALL THE TIME! Rachel seems to like the panio alot, but shhhh... don't tell my mom. She always wanted me or one of my kids to learn it. :) I don't have the money for lessons though. In this one you notice Hunter found the drums! They actually played very well together... and it sounded nice. In the room beside the musical equipment was the Lobsterman's dream. They had a lobster trap out for the kids to explore, and a simulated light house... Which the kids could climb, and as we all know this is what catches there interest! My kids tryed on the life jackets, and climbed their way to the top. Except for sage, who almost made it but scared, so daddy had to rescue her! We didn't see any boats out on the ocean though! :)

After that it was time to head off to the camping section of the floor. They had a tent all set up and of course the kids had to climb in and check it out. While they were playing with the six or so flashlights in the tent, I read them this cute camping story about a guy named Magee, and his dog Dee... I can't remember the name of the book though. It was kinda cute and funny however! From there we went upstairs to the second floor and the kids couldn't believe there eyes... I don't think I could either it was amazing. At the top of the stairs right in front of me was a mini bucket loader(for those of you who have no idea what equipment names are) I would have called it a skid steer... Just a bit bigger than my dads. The kids were totally fascinated with that. As you can see from their photo's, although by the looks Sage and Hunter's came out a bit dark... :(

Across the room from that was a slide, which also caught their attention, along with some lego's.... Which truth be told, I think made daddy more excited... he built a plane before we left. They were all content with this stuff until they saw....... A school bus... yes I said a school bus, or should I say top front of one, and they had a little control box to turn on and off the flashing lights. They thought that was the coolest thing.
From there we went in the craft room and had lunch... The kids thought at this time they needed their picture taken in the special birthday chair.

This chair was pretty cool though, don't you agree!

There you have it our family fun day in a nut shell! I must say the kids were very well behave, and had a great time. I think it is safe to say we will be visiting it again soon. Hope you all had a great saturday as well! :) We challenge you to let your imgination run wild! Take care!

Almost Officially Summer

Time sure does fly...so I was sitting here thinking, where does the time go??? It is almost summertime. Officially! Among my thoughts, I realized it was time for strawberry picking! YIPPEE! That means I am going to drag my family out this weekend, to pick strawberries! Lol... That will be our first summer act...:) My garden is growing, but not as good as I would like. My tomato plants are stunted, if that is possible! My cucumber plants, died... but my carrots, green beans (that is hunter's specialty), zucchini, pumpkins, summer squash, and buttercup squash are growing good. Wish me luck!


Finally today, I got my charts done for the kids. I finished their chore charts, and their school charts. So, we now have a schedule for the day, all laid out for them with pictures even. :) Cause as most of you know Rachel has to have her day planned or she goes crazy. Plus we did our school charts, which lays out their subjects by day for them, so they know what day we are doing what subject. We are going to try it out tomorrow. I'll update you on how it goes! The kids are eager to start our homeschooling, so we are going to start it next week. Then we will have time that we can take off when we need to, or want too. :)

The kids and I also decided to make another batch of cookies. We found this new recipe that we found... and they come out really good. Although, we still have to try out Tara's recipe she gave me. I am hoping to do that soon. The kids and I have had some really good times cooking them lately, and trying some bread recipes. I need to tweak those to come out right. I use to make it great all the time, and lately I can't seem to make it for the life of me. Its driving me nuts..... so... I will also keep you posted on that as well.

Hunter's Final Assembly

Well Hunter made it past his first year of school. Andy and I were able to make it to his final assembly, and I just wanted to share a few photo's of that with you. Hunter got one award for Improved Reading.... :) He has done really well this year, I am very proud of him. He is in the red stripped shirt walking back to his seat. :) He was so cute, grinning from ear to ear. Despite some set backs this year, he did very well! Good Job HUNTER!

Simple Women's Day Book June 16th

Posted in The Simple Woman's Daybook

Join along at http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

FOR TODAY

Outside my Window.... It is gloomy and dull...a few sprinkles here and there..

I am thinking... I wonder if Hunter will get any awards this morning

I am thankful for...My family... and friends

From the kitchen...is the smell of fresh made bread!

I am creating.... The kids school cirruculum

I am going...to hunter's final assembly and to clean the office... hopefully to get my hair cut as well. :)

I am wearing... My Blue jeans, gray irsh shirt, and purple crocs... my hair is down.

I am reading...How to Homeschool for free

I am hoping... The girls will stop fighting today and get along.

Around the house... Is the smell of my hawaiin Candle

One of my favorite things... Whoppie Pies

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Celebrate Hunter finishing Kindergarten, go to a couple Baseball games, t-ball practice, and spending time with friends and family! Work in my garden, and enjoy the weather.

My picture to share with you.... Is a pretty view from Reid State Park, our family loves the ocean......

~Ashely's 18th Birthday~

Ok, like 16 years ago.... I was playing near the fence of my house.... and I met this little girl.... and then from there I met some of her family. Which turned into a babysitting job for me, for more than one of them. Then I became really good friends with her mother... and we were more like sisters. I moved with them to Florida and continued to watch her and her brother. This girl I watched for the last 16 yrs, and spent alot of time with, was Ashley! I can't believe that she is 18 yrs old! Time flies when you are old... :) I'm very proud of her, as she as turned into a fine young women. Stubborn, but good! Now, she is tortured with watching my three kids for me! I must say though, she is really good with them.... and for that I am very appreciative........ Happy Birthday Sweetie! I hope it was a good one. Love ya!

Jacob's 1st Birthday!

One Year ago, little Jacob was born. At home in his house, cause he decided to come way to fast, and his mommy couldn't get to the hospital in time. He was born 9 weeks early, and was sent to Portland to the NICU... So we had to go visit him their for a few months, but he got strong quickly! He came home in August, just as his Grammie came home from Texas to visit. He had good timing! So, today we celebrated his first birthday, although techinically he is still a week off from it, but he is flying to texas this coming friday! What a big boy! His daddy (Paul) made his cakes, aren't they cool!

Jacob loved his Mickey Ear... the part of the cake he got to try! Mommy shoved the frosting up his nose though! :)

The kids had a water ballon fight, which they loved since it cooled them off!

Rachel's Preschool Graduation

Can you believe it.... we made it through another year of school. Rachel finished her last day of preschool on thrusday! She was very happy to be done, but rather sad as well. She liked going to see her friends everyday, and getting out of the house. On Friday we had a field trip to the Skowhegan Rec's playground. They got to play on the playground, and play with the friends from afternoon, and morning! Then we got to watch them get their diploma's! It was so cute to watch them walk up their and get them from the teacher. They also got a bucket filled with things to do for the summer. And of course no bucket of fun is complete without the BUBBLES!

This is Rachel's Friend Daisy coming back with her diploma! :)

To the right is Rachel with her teacher's Sarah and Debbie... She loves them! This is Rachel and Daisy posing for their last picture of the year.... boy will they miss each other greatly!

She did awesome this year, I'm very proud of how much she has learned in the last 7 months! Way to go RACHEL!