A good day.

That is what today will be. We're so glad to have daddy home today and we plan on spending it well. We're dressing down Black Friday a little and going thrift store shopping, if they are open. I have several things I'm looking for and Pottery Barn is just not cutting it ;) I awoke at 5:30 am this morning (with Jude) and continued doing a mundane amount of research on homeschooling. I think I have it figured out, at least for today. We're going to try the Charlotte Mason approach thanks to the info from Crunchy Peas and supplement for grammar. It is definately going to be the best approach for our family b/c it is no so structured and has a huge literary focus as well as arts. We will also be able to have daily bible studies which the kids love. I'm thrilled!

So, other than that we have been debating on the whole wood floors thing. I was finally able to get the walls finished in the hallway so when we start the floors, everything else will be finished.




I had an incredible revelation this morning when I realized that kids LOVE hard boiled eggs. I think I will be keeping them in stock for breakfast. I made some Ezekial bread toast and gave them a banana with it (Jude protested the banana) and they were set. We have a bad habit of having only cereal for breakfast!

We got our Little Travelers DVD in the mail Thursday and let me tell you, it makes we want to pack up and take our family to Bali.




I plan on buying the whole series. She also has some great items in their amazon store like this and this which I am definitely buying. My sisters grew up watching Totoro and it's a must have.

Thursday Alex (Bella's future husband came over) and they made a flag for their fort/clubhouse. Then they proceeded to drag ALL the musical instruments out of the house (with the exception of T's drums) and bang and toot on them loudly. I'm sure our neighbor with the new baby did not mind at all! Actually, Liza came out and visited with them so I knew it was OK. I am very sensitive to noise and new babies so I wouldn't have let them form their band without proper consent ;)



I noticed Bella was standing over by the fence.

Me: Bella, what are you doing?

Bella: (with harmonica in hand) I need to make some money.

I laughed and laughed about that one. Where do they learn these things?

Oh, if anyone in Tulsa spots this stuff, please let me know where I can buy it! Whole foods is not carrying it here.

I guess I will end this post with some photos from our little mini shoot downtown. Have a great weekend everyone!












Here are some of Mr. Vaught and I on our exscursion to Eureka:

Just for laughs...

\

AND



I could post ALL of his bits b/c he is hilarious, but just see for yourself. Go to you tube and search Jim Gaffigan! That's what we did tonight. We ate and laughed a little and laughed a lot!

Nature.

On Saturday morning Isabella and Aunt Celeste had some major bonding time. They sat on the deck up in the trees and sketched together. You should see what they came up with. Celeste never ceases to amaze me and I can sense that Bella is following in her footsteps. It amazes me that she can draw what she does at her age. Her talent has been noted by her art teacher, her classroom teacher and her aunt. I'm so proud of her!

Yo Gabba Gabba

So I've had this deep annoyance with Yo Gabba Gabba for sometime until today. While I was blogging the kiddos were watching it and I liked it. It's very interactive and had Bella thinking out loud what her talents are. I thought, how great, they're building kids self esteem. I sat there watching it with them and was hooked. I know it can be stupid at times, but better than than Spongebob Bob stupid pants!
Plus, this band totally rocks or as Jude would say "totely awtome!"

http://www.yogabbagabba.com/#/music-the-salteens

This is hilarious...Elijah Wood doing the Numa Numa!

In a van down by the river...

I am a huge fan of the "old" Saturday Night Live. You know, John Candy, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Dan Akroid and the newer "old" with Dana Carvey, and Chris Farley etc... I remember this one episode wih Chris Farley that every time I see or talk about a river I say in my mind "IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!" Chris Farley was hilarious!



Sooooo, point being...we went to the river last weekend with Rob and Celeste (Tristan's brother and Robbie's wife), our friends Eric, Jeremy and Lacy and 3 dogs. It was a blast! Saturday morning we got up bright and early due to our alarm clock a.k.a Jude. He's rooster like b/c as soon as the sun hits the horizon he's awake and making noise. That soon prompted the whole house to rise and want to eat. Celeste is an amazing cook so of course she had the honor of cooking. She made the kids some french toast with nuts and oh my it was heavenly. Then I chopped lots of veggies and scrambled some eggs and she made an egg scramble. Anyways...the river is so beautiful this time of year. The leaves were changing and the weather was perfect. We road the quad and went down to the river and let the dogs play in the water and Eric did some kayaking. That's HIS thing. The river was cold so I wasn't about to attempt it! Thanks dad for loaning us the house! I will be busy packing today and getting ready for Eureka. This will be our first weekend away from the kids...please pray for us! So now for picture overload! They're snapshots, not edited, but fun :)

















So when we got home Sunday night I was putting Bella to bed and she was saying her prayer.

Bella- "...thank you so much for us going to the river and all your beautiful creation and the beautiful leaves and the trees...please forgive us, I mean please forgive me when I'm cranky and stuff like that...in Jesus name, Amen." Let me tell you, she needed that prayer! She wasn't a happy camper when it came to wading in the water in FLIP FLOPS! I tried to tell her, but little miss cranky pants insisted on wearing flip flops. When we got down to the river she cried a river, wailing for her chucks. "I'm ready to wear them now!" But guess what? Being the meany mommy that I am I didn't bring them and she had to deal with the consequences at her ripe old age of almost 6. I think next time she might listen to me ;)