No longer morning sick

And what a wonderful thing that is!!! I have been really sick with my 4th pregnancy. I never thought food would look, taste, or even sound wonderful again. For about 14 weeks I ate whatever thing I could tolerate which amounted to bagels, yogurt, and baked potatoes! It was interesting...or actually really boring. Luckily my kids helped out taking care of Sam and they didn't complain(too much) about eating lots and lots of sandwiches and cereal(which they could make themselves).

Now, here I am at 15 weeks and feeling pretty good. Just showing a bit.

In case you were interested in whether we are having a girl or a boy, I have great news. I picked up one of those drug store tests(Intelligender) and found out that we are either having a boy, or a girl, or a boy. Now, you too have been enlightened! ;)

It's been a fun and busy month and it's not over yet!

We have been very lucky to spend lots of time with family this month. We went with Jon's family(and Ross) to Discovery kingdom together and had a blast! Todd and Kristy and their family came from Utah and were able to go on the trip with us. Sarah(my brave girl) went on rollar coasters with Grandpa Jim and even Rebekah went on the Cobra a number of times. We saw the awesome sea lion show and fed the lorikeets too. It was really a wonderful day.
We got a new toy! Really, this has been so much fun for us and Jon was able to get a great price at the hobby store during their Summer sale.

We said "Goodbye" to baby Italo and family as they move far away to Florida. We will miss having them somewhat nearby.

We got together with Jon's family again and this time we went to Aunt Krissy's house which is a smaller version of Discovery Kingdom, I think. Here is a picture of the kid's swimming with her ducklings. So cute!

And finally, just because it's so cute....

Our homeschool!

So our blog is about homeschooling but I haven't talked about what we do much as a homeschooling family. I wanted to explain a little about our homeschool stuff here for anyone who might be interested.

One thing I have been asked lately is if the kids have Summer vacation and we certainly do. We LOVE Summer! It's so nice to get a break and get refreshed for the new year. We try to do some fun activities like camping and other day trips. We belong to a charter school and they set our school calendar. Our charter school is South Sutter and we LOVE IT! I'm currently at a board meeting for the school as I write this(it's a phone thing and we are waiting for a quorum).

We are kind of eclectic but favor a classical education. I am very interested in learning more about Thomas Jefferson Education. I like a whole books approach as well. I really believe that charecter is more important than book learning if I had to choose one over another. I am striving to incorporate handwork into our learning

Next year we have some exciting classes lined up including gymnastics, outdoor adventures(which is an all day once a week nature class), rock wall climbing class, and once a week park day. We ditched speech therapy for my 9 year old so we could do more of these things. I really felt it was in her best interest and the opportunity presented itself to pull her out of Sp. Ed. withou answering questions. Ask me if you want to know about this.

The kids are doing well. This Summer they are using their reading skills at the library reading program. It is so fun to watch this kids grow and learn. I do get a great satisfaction when they progress. Sometimes I take a little too hard when we have to put something aside(because they are not ready) and try again later. I am trying not to do that.

Our homeschool is always evolving but that is pretty much what we do. Hope everyone is having a great Summer!

10th Anniversary!!!

It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years! It's been a fun 10 years and I am lucky to have someone as sweet and wonderful as Jon. To celebrate, we dropped the munchkins off with Grandma and Grandpa and took a trip to the coast!

When we dropped the kids off there was not one tear and apparently they could not wait for us to leave, so off we went!

On Thursday we stayed at a very nice B&B, the Amber house. They totally pamper you here. This is a picture of our bedtime snack. In the morning we had fresh fruit followed by eggs benedict.

After swinging by our house and trading the minivan for Jon's "little car" as the kids refer to it we headed to Mendocino and checked into our much smaller and less luxurious room at the Mendocino hotel. I was majorly car sick after the Hwy 20 experience but we pressed onward and ordered room service. We are such troopers!

On Saturday, Jon had arranged for us to go kayaking in the ocean which was really, really fun! I was a little nervous about it being hard or scary but it wasn't. Plus, I had Jon to do most of the work.

The last night we spent at home and that was weird with the kiddos. We even got to watch an episode of "The Commish" which was fun. Apparently Jon had never seen "The Commish" before I introduced it to him via Netflix. Weird!

Sunday, we went and picked up some kids who didn't want to come home(too much fun with the cousins) and now we are home. It was a good trip!

I've caught the coupon bug

and have gotten some really great deals. It's a hobby that pays for itself and what stay at home mom can resist that?! Today my best deal was at Target. I got 2 squeeze bottles of mayo, 2 bottles of Kraft salad dressing and 2 boxes of Ritz crackers for $3.04. My 6 year old daughter Bekah loves to see me use coupons and see how much I save!

So...I tried

Some people may know that my dad is from Venezuela. My kids never got a chance to meet him because he passed away before Jon and I were married. I try to tell them about him. Sam's middle name is Italo(which is my father's first name). Anyway, today I made black beans, rice, and arepas for dinner which is all stuff I grew up with and loved. It turns out, my family is not such big fans. I don't know if I waited too long or maybe it's an aquired taste. I sure had a feast tonight though.

Our Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. The Sunday before Easter we were able to spend with my brother Vinnie and his family as well as my Mom and my youngest brother Ross. The kids loved the chance to have an Easter egg hunt with their baby cousin Italo.


We also had a big hummus tasting event. My always health conscious mom wanted to see if hummus was a good snack or not so we had to give it a fair chance. We tasted 6 varieties of hummus that day! I had to chuckle to myself later that day when Vinnie posted on facebook that he was eating hummus. There was a LOT of hummus. Oh...by the way we decided hummus is a pretty good snack!


Then, we actually had Easter! What can I say, the kids loved their baskets and we had a nice visit from Nana(my mom). Easter dinner was chicken cordon bleu, mashed potatoes, squash, and a nice green salad. Mom brought a vegan meatloaf which was okay but Mom and I agreed it tasted a lot like stuffing and wasn't the best vegan dish we have tried.