Chaycisms

Chayce, are you having hard time sleeping?

Yes, daddy, I'm nervous.

What do you think is making you nervous?

Payge's snoring!

A 2010 Year In Review

Time for a recap!!  I cannot believe that 2010 is over and that we are heading into another year.  A year where my children's ages will be 8, 6 and 3.  That's how I gauge my life now, by the age of my children.  It's the easiest way to keep track of how much time has passed, and the number always surprises me.

So, back to the recap!
January was a month full of snow and learning.  I posted about how much we love the snow (which is funny, considering we moved to a place that rarely gets any, and then got a huge snow storm here.  ha!).
We had our family photos done for the first time in forever, and I discovered that Zac is quite the capitalist.

In February we celebrated Valentines Day hard core!  We made felt heart-shaped cookies, real cookies, chocolates, wrote on our windows, and told each other how awesome we all are.  We also had both of the guys in our house come down with strep, and Chayce had an infected fingernail that we had to have cut open at the doctor's office to let the pressure out (poor little girl).

March is the month we had our home on 1018 Portage insulated.  I'm glad that is over! Payge turned 2, we spend copious amounts of time at the park, and I won our neighborhood chili cookoff!  Yee-haw!  I'm still loving on the wavy-cutting knife that I won.

April was a month of devouring popcorn.  I was really on a kick.  And it's over, especially now that I've had to have so much dental work done due to my tooth having cracked on an unpopped kernel.  However, that doesn't mean I won't eat more of it in the future.  The kids' dance class came to an end, and I had a bit of creative juices left after the insulation stuff was done.  Which reminds me, they haven't played with that dinosaur set in awhile...perhaps I'll bring it to co-op with me for the littles.

We visited North Carolina for the first time in May.  Found a place to live, and started working on cleaning out our pantry.  There was only one cute post. The others were quite informative...well, there is this one of the awesome "Stephen Rocks For Getting a Job Cake".

In June, we discovered we are officially stalking O. S. Card--completely unwittingly.  I wrote an ode to my our awesome home in Indiana, which no one has purchased yet.  Oh, and we were burglarized.  It was horrible, but now it seems like it was years ago.  I just try not to think about it.

July was full of adventure.  We visited family in Idaho and Utah, and then made the drive to North Carolina.  Once here, we spent time touring beautiful places (there are so many!), my favorite so far being UNC campus.  In the spring, I fully intend on touring Duke as well. We also experienced our first southern-style downpour--and loved it.

Chayce turned 5 in August.  All of our plans to explore more went down the tubes because all of the children got tonsillitis. We had our first annual "Shaving Cream Games" which we might do more of today just because.  It doesn't have to be done again in August, per-say, does it?

September found us at the pool quite a bit.  As homeschoolers, we enjoy September because many of the hot weather attractions are still open, but the public and private schooled children are back in school.  It makes for quiet afternoons.  We also started on our Halloween crafts, because one can never have too much Halloween...am I right?  One of the children's favorite events was the RTI end of summer bash held at Frankie's fun park.  They felt so spoiled (because they were).

In October, our homeschool co-op went to the aquarium and the beach.  It was a pleasant family day (of 78 degrees), with empty beaches and quiet parks.  Zac carved his first pumpkin (by himself, I mean), using the pumpkin we got at our farm tour earlier in the week.  Of course, there was the usual trick-or-treating (and boy, did we get a lot of chocolate!!), but I didn't get very good photos, as my focus on the camera is broken, and getting children who are all hyped up on Halloween to sit still is...well...difficult.

We discovered another park (which we are in love with) in November. Then, we traveled to Idaho & Utah to spend some quality time with family for the Thanksgiving holiday. 

December...well, that's where we're at now, isn't it?  We've had snow (on Christmas, but it's supposed to go back to 60 this weekend, thank heaven!).  We've enjoyed Christmas day, and Christmas Eve, and all of the festivities that go with it.  Chayce and I attended the Nutcracker, and now we're on our way into January.

Happy New Year!!

Sledding on your bum: Zachary and Payge

Sledding on your bum: Payge

There is very steep hill into which our apartment is built, and we could sled without sleds.

Snow in NC

Road conditions canceled everything today, so we played in the snow. Videos will be posted later.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!  May you have a wonderful day with your family, pondering the significance of this day. 

When Christmas Comes Early

My wonderful friend (who blogs with her sisters here) sent me this beautiful nativity that she crocheted herself! I was so surprised/excited when I opened the box that I cried. The detail shows that the time and effort this took must have been enormous. My children adore them as well. This is something that will definitely have a place beneath our tree, probably in a cute little basket, every single year. THANK YOU!

The Three Wise Men & Their Gifts.

Mary, Joseph & baby Jesus.

The donkey, Shepherd, sheep, and Angel.

Another shot of baby Jesus, and his wonderful straw lined manger.

Art Show

Zac & Chayce have been taking a wonderful art class each week. It's fun to drop them off and spend a little time with just Payge, and to know that when I come back they will have had a great experience to tell me about. I'm posting photos below of their most recent creations, since so many of you can't come look at my fridge. ;)

But mom, think of the cavities

This was said upon finding Chayce in the bathroom after having put her to bed in response to our demand that she cease and desist and return to the aforementioned bed.

Nutcracker!

As a way to spend some quality time with my oldest daughter, I got her tickets to the Nutcracker as part of her Christmas. We had so much fun! Sadly, my real camera is still not really working, and cell phones don't take very good pictures when it's dark.

Healthy, (Wealthy?), & Wise

My cookie-making helper decided that she really enjoys whole-wheat flour. To her, freshly ground whole-wheat flour is better than one of those Fun-Dip candies.

Anyhow, we decided to make use of our new cookie cutter today, and I put a family favorite to the test with some tweaks. Yum!

Oatmeal Jim-Jams (or Date Sandwich Cookies)

1 C butter, room temp.
1 C brown sugar, or sucanat, or turbinado. I used turbinado today.
2 C whole-wheat flour (contact me if you need to purchase a grinder).
2 C oatmeal, ground in blender
1/2 C flax seed, ground in blender
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C water
3/4 C dates & 3/4 C water soaking in a saucepan, set aside.
nuts, optional (we opted out today)

In your mixer or a big bowl, mix all but the last three ingredients.
You should have a stiff dough to roll out. Often, we split this in half and smoosh half into a 13x9, pour on the date mixture (see below) and then roll out and lay the other 1/2 over the top, making one big bar cookie. Today, we got creative.

Simmer that dates on the stove until soft. Puree in blender. Let cool. Should be pretty thick.

When cutting out cookies, make them uniform in size. They don't really rise, so you can place many on one pan, side by side, actually. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.
See our owls? Aren't they cute?!? They make me want to have a party!!!

Make into sandwich cookies with the date puree as the filling.

Ta-da!!

Learning toddlerese

Poor little Payge. For about three weeks she's been using the phrase "I'm so happy" at the strangest times. She'd usually be doing something hard and look a little perplexed when saying this. We'd tell her how good it was that she found happiness in difficult things and leave her to being happy with her challenge.

Last night, she finally said it clearly enough to understand what she was really saying: "please help me." I feel like such a bad dad.Thanks, Payge, for your patience.

Supercallafragalisticexpyalladocious...

Childhood. Rocks.

Especially my children...during their childhood. Even when they are on the brink of sending me over the edge...

Today, while I was enjoying my shower, I hear, "Hey Mom!! Are these for us?!?"
As I peer around my curtain, I see future Christmas surprises. So, I replied, "Yes, those are your Christmas presents. I hope that you are happy that you now know what you are getting ahead of time, considering you found out by being disobedient, I think the fact that you will be out the surprise is quite a good punishment."

**Sad faces**

"Are you happy that you know what you are getting for Christmas? Are the other children in the family happy with you that you found these and told them all about them?"

"No." **More sad faces**

"Merry Christmas. Now, put them back and you can have them on Christmas morning."

Later in the day, I asked Chayce what she was up to. Her reply? "I'm trying to forget what I'm getting for Christmas." So sad. What she doesn't know, is she found a very small gift, not the one I'm super excited to give her, but I think the experience taught her a lesson...at least for a few days.

Making Bratzelis

These are all out of order, because I'm hurrying. But that's OK...maybe someday I'll edit...or not. Either way, we had a great time keeping the tradition of making Bratzelis for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving.
Cooking the bratzelis. Careful! It's hot!!!

Dough thief...


What's in your mouth?!?

I'll show you!!! Nah!

Above (and below), the little girls are rolling the dough into little balls so we can put them on the bratzeli iron.

Oh, a smiley shot got uploaded! Ahh, we'll leave it, they're both cute.

Grandma Tueller with her first grandson! But now she's got three!! 2010 was a fun baby year for the Tuellers! Two of Stephen's sisters had little boys this year. Fun, fun. So, now we need someone to have a little girl so there is three and three. It'd be perfect...any takers?

Chayce mixed the dough for the cookies (prior to rolling it...see, I told you they were out of order). Grandma helped her read through the recipe.

From before the blog (BB)

I found these 2006 photos digging through my email for something totally unrelated (I was looking for emails about a paper on a method for determining halibut gender).

First, my cute wife, shortly after moving to South Bend

And our older two children, shortly before moving to South Bend. I found these in the oldest of my gmail emails, which means this is how old they were when it started getting just less than impossible to get an invitation to gmail.

Little Chayce: 2007 Revisited

Found these in an email from before the blog started

Magnet Lesson

OK, for all of my other blog readers, I apologize, but this was the easiest way to get my lesson plan to our co-op since I couldn't make it. If you want to teach your kids about magnets as well, feel free to copy.

Coloring sheet

Art that shows magnetic fields because I never could find a place in town that sold lead shavings. Though, if you have them, it would be so fun to show them in person.

Magnetic field of the earth (we have talked about the poles of the earth being like the poles on the ends of the magnet, but this was a good visual I hadn't used yet).

Questions to read over--we've read some books on magnets and done a few experiments already, so although this might not be exactly review (it's been two weeks for these 5 year olds, since they've seen the material), it'd be good to talk about. I was planning on completeing this orally, as a discussion, not an assignment.

Then, I have been letting them just have at it with my magnet set at the end of each lesson, to play with the forces and pull and such. I'm sorry I didn't make it accessible for this. Perhaps some refrigerator magnets would be just as fun?

Playing at the lake.

More Chaycisms

Jillian (to me) "you're a pain in the butt"
Chayce "daddy, you need a new butt"

Linking Verbs

Just a post to prove that sometimes our projects actually teach something. Actually, they always teach something...just not always what I planned on them teaching, which I suppose is the case with a lot of things. You've just got to roll with the punches.

We have been studying the parts of speech for about a year now (yes, even in the summer, because short lessons year-round are better for us than marathon length ones for nine months out of the year), and have decided to move into more complex parts. So, rather than just verbs, we've been discussing state of being verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs. These photos are from our exploration of how linking verbs can fit nouns and pronouns with adjectives. It helps that the subjects (of the photos) were extremely cute. Case in point:

There's a "the" on there before "bird", you just can't see it.
Sometimes, as I said above, lessons get a little out of hand. Our links became handcuffs for our stuffed animals. I'm not quite sure what they did wrong, but this one looks especially guilty.

Children, Eternally

Stephen and I had the opportunity to go on a date the other night. We made an appointment to visit the LDS temple together. There was a need for couples to attend the sealing session, and since I have no preference of how we go, or what we do when we get there, we went into the sealing room to perform sealings by-proxy. *
I have to admit, after living hours from a temple for about 5 years, being able to drive only 30 minutes was so wonderful! It used to be a day trip with our children, but now we can find a sitter, attend for an hour, and come home to our children, all without fighting Chicago traffic. Amazing!
Stephen and I first sat in as proxies for a few weddings, and that was wonderful. It is nice to recite your own wedding vows over and over again, without the butterflies of wondering if you're marrying the right guy, looking into his eyes and knowing the past (almost!) ten years have proven that you made the right choice, even if you are stating that you are there for and in behalf of _____ each time you say them. It's still special.
The thing that touched me the MOST, though, in fact, the reason I'm writing this post, was the second half of our visit. This was the part where we took turns being either the parents who were to be sealed to their children, or as the child waiting to be sealed to the parents. It didn't matter which end I was on--that of the child, or the parent--it was all I could do not to burst into tears, as I imagined these families, who had been waiting to be together for many (some hundreds of) years. I suppose I put myself more into the mother's shoes, as I thought of her embracing and holding each of her children once more. I thought of my own children, and the intense love that I have for them, the longing I have for them when I am merely at the grocery store having my own "time out". I felt grateful for the day that I sat across the alter from my own husband, not yet knowing who our children would be, making that decision with such innocence and hope. I was told I was silly to commit to an eternal marriage at such a young age (19), but as I look at my children I cannot imagine a life without them. They have changed me for the better, and I hope and pray that I will continue to learn as much from them as they do from me.
God is great. He loves us, and even if the world tells us we are foolish, if we truly feel inside we are doing his will, our lives will be all the better for it. No one can ever take that part away.

*If you want to know more about sealings by-proxy, feel free to comment or email me. I'm totally open to discussion. Basically, we believe that the wedding vow needs to say for "time and all eternity" not just "til death do us part" or else, well...death is when you part. We also believe the sealing has to be done by the proper priesthood authority, or one who has been given the sealing keys on the earth at this time (of course, there is more than one person on the Earth at a time with those sealing keys, or else that guy would be pretty busy!). We also believe that even if a family has passed on beyond this life, that if we know they were married here, we can recite their vows by-proxy when in the temple, and they have the choice whether or not to accept on the other side. Part of sealings is that not only are the husband and wife sealed together for time and all eternity, but the children as well.

Home Spun Juggling: Home Spun reprints #158-9: Math Misadventures

Home Spun Juggling: Home Spun reprints #158-9: Math Misadventures

It's how I felt today, and yesterday, and the day before. Some weeks are better than others. It's a good thing that in general, we're doing great!

Espanol

Today at church I found a regional leader bringing Chayce down the hall. "Guess where I found her?" I had lots of guesses, but feared they weren't even right. The he told me she was attending worship with a Spanish speaking congregation that also meets in our building*. I'm glad she wasn't into any of the trouble I had imagined. Chayce was excited to be back with her 5 year old Sunday school class, but didn't seem to think her experience was too strange.

*We had a 4th congregation temporarily move into our building, and room assignments had just changed, and Chayce forgot her new room, but had run off as if she new where she was going.

Happy Halloween!

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