tip....

I have not done a works for me wednesday in FOREVER...but I was intrigued to see that Shannon at Rocks in my dryer has a christmas toy edition! Be sure to check it out!

Here is my choices:

My most favorite is actually not a toy but I always ask the grandparents for a family membership to a place like a museum, aquarium, zoo etc. The last two years we have received a membership to the local science center and I absolutely love it! The reason is there is always at least one or two new exhibits, plus the regular stuff so the kids are always interested, we go several times a year, and it does not take up space in my house! :)

Aside from that I would highly recommend if you have room for one a giant trampoline with a safety net! Now I know when we first received ours my husband and I were totally freaked out due to hearing all the scary stories about people breaking limbs on them etc. Plus the people I was hearing that from were overly paranoid weirdos anyway lol. aquaintences with opinions you know. Anyway let me tell you...my kids all learned their balance on that thing, and adults can get on it too. We love it, plus when the kids are really rowdy then we just send them to the trampoline and they jump their energy out etc. One of my boys is quite the little gymnast and he has been jumping on our trampoline since he was a year old.
Recently the kids finally wore it out and it only took a measly 5.5 years of jumping daily for literally 60 minutes at a time to do it. Poor things were devastated that it wore out. So we are looking for a new one.

I love art supplies too.

Till next time,
The cheerio queen

This is for GINA....

So I keep getting in trouble with my friends because I am not updating my blog enough so since it has been a month or so i decided to update finally. lol!! Just kidding Gina. :) I saw your tag on facebook that said you were tired of people not updating their blogs so this post is for you. :)

Seriously it has been a busy month as always. We started out the month by getting a video EEG done for Joey. He is thankfully doing very well. He has not had a seizure other then two tiny staring seizures since June. Please keep him in your prayers because the closer he gets to two years seizure free the better chance he has of growing out of them. Besides after talking more in depth with his neurologist he explained to me that the kinds he was having before for the length of time he had them was having them...4 to 5 minutes each, is like taking a sledgehammer to his brain EACH one. It takes weeks and even months to recover from that which explains some of the developmental delays he was having, however the doc also said it is amazing that he did not suffer permanent brain damage from them. So someone upstairs is watching out for us thankfully! He is learning by leaps and bounds this year and his speech is so much better and so is his communication. His ears are also completely healed so no more tubes either. YAY! This poor boy has had a rough couple years but he is starting to get back to the happy boy I once had and is healing well. He wants to join a cubscout pack so I will be looking for that next.

Hunter is awesome, he is really excited that he is learning to read now. He is a super whiz at math. He did not get that from me, he must have gotten it from his Dad. I cannot do anything without a calculator. He recently started wrestling. Anyone who knows Hunter is probably right now shaking their head saying "wow...what a perfect sport for him" and it is and he is good at it! He has always been very athletically gifted. He was so excited to start and even more excited when he took down 7 kids before he got beat. You must remember how little Hunter is. He is short and stalky. In fact my Grandma calls him "sherman" for sherman tank. He is a tank that boy. But he is still my cuddly little man. I love how he is rough and tough, wise and smart and very grown up one minute, but the next minute he is enlightening me with wise tales such as " Mom! Krista hit me hard....oh and if her says I pulled her hair and accidentally knocked over her bookshelf first....then her is lying" :)

Krista is 3 weeks ahead on her schoolwork, still working on her bronze award for girlscouts, and just joined leadership at church. She has really grown up this year. She is also pushing to be a teenager or to be allowed to act like a teenager with an attitude. lol She cannot figure out why Mom and Dad do not find that charming. lol She also cannot understand why we will not be getting her a cell phone at the ripe old age of 9 either. But aside from those few things she is doing great. She is into reading classics this year which thrills me to no end. If I hear one more junie b jones book I am going to scream. She is such a good big sister to her little brothers though and they adore her. She is looking forward to turning the big 10 in April (if you hear wailing around tax day that is me wondering how my baby girl turned that age so quickly) and is already planning her bday party and is really excited to get her own library card. A right of passage in our family.

Otherwise things are great. Halloween was really fun this year. As you can tell by the picture the older my boys get the more gross and scary their costumes get. Gone are the days of the cute costumes and cute decorations for the house, now it is a skeleton hanging by a noose kind of decor around here. yuck. At least I have Krista on my side. One of the houses had a dad who has a mini haunted house to go up and get candy from. This year he wore a scary clown mask and came out wielding a live chainsaw. The boys thought it was awesome, I am still peeling Krista off the ceiling however. She was not alone....none of the girls in our cul de sac made it to that house, and the guy with the chainsaw's own daughter refused to come out and go trick or treating she was too scared lol. poor girl.
We celebrated with some good friends of ours who live on acerage and have no place to trick or treat so they came over and we all went out together among the 65 other kids who were out with their parents. Luckily the rain stopped just as we were trick or treating..gotta love Washington on Halloween. Then we came back and fed the kids pizza, put them to bed and sorted out the goods. Boy we have some generous neighbors. lol The candy is now hidden properly until one of the kids has a bday and I can use it to fill a pinata or treat bag and get it out of the house. :)

Ok till next time!
The Cheerio Queen

HAPPY FALL!!

I know when asked most people will tell you their favorite season is Christmas and winter for the snow etc. However, not me. I LOVE Fall. It is so pretty and cozy. I cannot wait to get my first cup of carmel apple cider from Starbucks for the season.
This week will be a busy one or rather the next couple of days. Today is back to the week routine, school with the kids, then lunch, then take one of the two daycare kids to school, after that I have a meeting with our local district homeschool dept to sign up lucky charms, and Honey Nut for an extra class there. LC is taking a beginner art class where the description of the class included words such as: learn to "spin, blow, paint, squish, sculpt, create" I wanted to take that class it sounded so much fun but it is only for 1-3 graders...guess they have not seen me when I figured out that someone in the house ate the last of my chocolate lol. Honey Nut is going to be taking a science class and she is looking forward tot hat. Then tonight is girlscouts with Honey Nut. The girls are trying to earn their bronze award this year! To do that one of the things they have to do is earn their leadership pin. We leaders thought it would be helpful to them to let them each pick a patch they want to earn and then lead the meeting (with help and guidance from the leaders of course) so the girls drew numbers and Honey Nut drew number one so she gets to lead tonight and she is so excited! I will write more later on the patch she chose to earn and lead.
Because I have such a busy week I am going to do a fall meme...consider yourself tagged if your reading this. :)



A Fall Meme

When does fall begin for you? For me it starts when the kids start schoolwork again. Although I waited until we had done schoolwork for a week and then I could not resist and put up the fall decorations.

What is your favorite aspect of fall? Boy I don't have just one aspect. I love fall so here are some of the things I love most about it: The colors of the changing leaves, the clean crisp smell of the air, the cooler weathe, the shorter days, the scenet of pumpkin pie potpurri, the coziness of my house when I decorate it, Starbucks carmel apple cider, routine of the school year, planning Thanksgiving my favorite holiday, helping the kids search for the perfect Halloween costume, slowly starting to look for christmas gifts, putting the perfect comfy favorite sweater on with jeans, and the crafts that I do in the fall with the kids...the handmde "hand turkeys" etc.

What is your favorite fall memory? Taking the kids to the pumpkin patch.:)

What do you like to drink in the fall? nothing better then apple cider.

What's your favorite fall food? I love homemade pumpkin pie, apple crisp, pear or peach cobbler, a big pot of homemade stew, a big pot of vegetable beef or chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes....the list could go on for awhile.

What is fall weather like where you live? Well the first few weeks is usually crisp and cool in the morning and then warmer in the afternoons, and then in October it changes to colder and wet. However that being said, I love the cozy rainy Northwest days. It is much easier to homeschool then it is when it is 80 degrees and sunny lol.

What color is fall? beautiful shades of orange, dark and pale greens, and a touch of brown. It is like the perfect mixed boquet.

What does fall smell like? pumpkin, apple spice, wood smoke from the newly lit fireplaces around the neighborhood, and crisp and clean.

Holiday shopping in fall: yes or no? Yes, but it is usually online stuff, or if I am able to get away for a Saturday I might do some then. However I REFUSE to decorate for the Christmas season until after Thanksgiving. I get so annoyed that the stores put out Halloween stuff before summer is over, and they completely skip over Thanksgiving, unless they are a craft store or grocery store.

If you could go anywhere in the fall, where would you go? Although I love the Northwest fall because it is what I grew up with and feel comfy and familiar with...I have always wanted to go travel through New England for fall...I hear their fall splendor is the most beautiful in the world. :)

What is your favorite fall sport? I am not much of a sport fan, except for baseball but that is spring. However hubby who grew up in Texas has watching football in his blood. :) He is now a Seahawks fan.

Do you have a favorite fall chore? I love organizing the new school supplies, going through and putting away the summer clothes and putting away the new fall clothes, getting new pajamas for the kids, and putting flannel sheets on the bed and switching to my heaver comforter. Sort of like "battening down the hatches" for a cozy winter. :)

What is your least favorite thing about fall? Well I said earlier I like the cozy rainy days, however when they become endless and I have to get out in it that stinks. lol

What is your favorite fall holiday? Thanksgiving! That is my favorite holiday of all anyway becasue it is about being together and celebrating family and friends and not so much about the commercialness of Christmas. (I like Christmas but not all the stress that goes along with it)

What's your favorite kind of pie? Pumpkin with whipped cream.

What was your favorite Halloween costume? Ironically it was not a costume I wore, in fact it was two costumes I saw other people wear lol, as for one I wore, I loved being minny mouse when I was little i remember wearing the mouse ears hat I had gotten that summer when my family adn I went to Disneyland, and I thought the white gloves were so cool. Plus i had on a black leotard, black tights, and a red polka dotted skirt and the whole costume was completely homemade.
The ones I saw on other people I will mention because they were so cool. One was a playground attended in my old gradeschool and she dressed up as a Qtip..she had a long powder blue slender gown on paired with white fuzzy boots, and a tall white fuzzy hat. very creative. The other was a couple at a party once...she was a wall socket, and he was another wall socket with a plug coming out of the front and it plugged into her socket and they had a light above their heads somehow that twirled when they danced. awesome couple costume.

What was your favorite Halloween candy? candy corn

What was your least favorite Halloween candy? babe ruth

Which do you prefer, the Farm or the Fair? both

Do you have a favorite fall book? One Little Mouse by Dori Chaconas all about "settling down" for winter. :) very cozy.

How about a favorite fall poem? not really

Well, I hope you enjoyed this meme, and if you do it at your blog, pease leave me a comment so I can start a list of links! :)

Happy Fall!

The Cheerio Queen

a fun meme

I have been busy getting the kids back into the swing of things with homeschooling but I am happy to report they are doing well! Trix is liking going to school part time and still getting homeschooled the rest of the time. Personally I think he just likes riding the bus and the fact that he gets to take Daisy with him. It is amazing how fast the kids want to become friends with the kid who brings a dog to school. lol
Lucky Charms is coming along in his handwriting, he is a whiz at math and is starting to read. Where did my sweet little baby go? He also loves that we currently watch a little boy who is the same age as him who also happens to share his real name! That is pretty funny in the house when I have to call out to my son and both boys look at me and say what?
Honey Nut is really getting into writing this year and I am totally thrilled with that. She is really gifted in that area, she is still working on her spelling though although I must admit I love the cute way she misspells things. I know as a homeschooling mom I should correct it right away but it is hard...you see this is a reminder that she is still my little girl. :)
Honey Nut will be taking a science course through the homeschooling program at our school district starting next week and lucky charms will be taking a beginner art class where he will get to learn "spinning, throwing, sculpting, painting and more" How cool is that?
As for me my website to my coaching business is finally up and running! Here is teh shameless link: www.solutionsforhope.com check it out when you can.
In the mean time here is a fun meme I pulled off another homeschooling site but I think it can apply to everyone! be sure and leave me a comment if you decide to do it. :)


FAVORITES:
Magazines/Carnivals - in print or online "mine would be family fun and parenting"
Freebie sites - "freecycle"
Homeschool news/informative : "any of the homeschool blogs"
Forums/book clubs : "don't spend a lot of time on these"
Networking, Blog “About” (sites that offer tech-support or tutorials for computer/internet) & Quick Links : "don't have one"
Mom site - a sites just for moms : "ivillage"
Inspirational/encouraging/motivational: "by sun and candelight blog"
Youth/kid - sites geared towards youth/kids or owned by them : "yahoo kids"
Memes : "wherever I find them"
Organizing/crafts - "the organizing junkie" www.orgjunkie.com
Homemaking/Homesteading : "by sun and candlelight" and "simple woman" both are blogs
Bible-focused - "my friend jessica's site...she posts about a lot of things but when she posts regarding the bible it is so cool"
Homeschool Method - Charlotte mason, and the "hodgepodge" style lol
Family blog - The Duggar Family blog
Businesses, particularly homebased : I don't know.

Another new post...

So it was awhile but not as long as the last time I went without posting lol. :) Things here are busy and school is starting again for the kids..homeschool that is. We are just waiting for our books to arrive. But we have started back into the routine again which I must say feels really good! I am enjoying the cooler weather mainly because fall is my favorite season of the year. I think I might just put up the fall decor today! Bring on the Starbucks Carmel apple cider woohoo! Otherwise nothing huge is new here. Trix lost another tooth, and he has two more that are very loose, he has two already missing...two more and he will be ready to join a hockey team. Lucky Charms is getting older but is still short. lol He just turned 6 on me. He thinks he is about 25 and invinsible. He already has an eye for girls...or should I say ladies. He actually asked me the other day if I would put gel in his hair and make it look handsome "for the ladies" those were his actual words. I am hoping the doc will just prescribe me percocet over the phone. Honey Nut is getting very tall and making dear old mom feel old. She is 9 now and thinks she is a teenager and has lately been testing out the "talking back gene" to which she has been met with dead ends. lol She is strikingly beautiful and the neighborhood boys are starting to notice, and she is noticing boys as well...at the rate she is going I bet she will be married by 10. Hmmm maybe I should call the doc and ask for something a bit stronger then percocet a sledgehammer to knock me out maybe? Either way she is a very lovely young lady who is just sweet. Love that girl and her persitance. :)

Outside My Window ... The sun is coming out and I am seeing steam off the roofs of the houses in my neighborhood.
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I am thinking ... about the meetings I have today.
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I am thankful ... for routine again
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From the kitchen ... porkchops are in the crockpot for dinner.
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I am wearing ... dark pinks sweatpants, and a light pink hoodie that says Seaside on it. :)
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I am creating ... picture schedules for Trix, and chore charts for all the kids.
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I am reading ... Curing the 4A's epidemic, ADHD, Allergies, Autism, and Asthma
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I am hoping ... the meeting this afternoon will go well.
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I am hearing ... The neighborhood kids walking up to the bus stop and secretly being happy that my own little ones stay home with me all day to homeschool. :)
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Around the house ... I'm doing some laundry, and starting to put up some fall decorations for the season.
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One of my favorite things ... chocolate.
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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: ... Trix starts new more intense therapy at his therapy center, finish up the first official week of school, and hubby has his company picnic on Saturday.
***
Here is a picture thought I am sharing....

I make it a point to NOT get political on my blog, however I will say this little gal certainly got my attention when she appealed to soccer moms and moms with special needs kids. :) That is all I will say about that.
***
I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Ten Things Tuesday....

Here is a new meme I ran across that talks about ten things your thankful for and I love that idea. :) Oh and on a side note before I start the meme check out this article I was in! http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/08/11/stay.at.home.moms.economy.ap/index.html?iref=24hours


Anyway...Here goes:

1. I am thankful for the chance to be in an article about stay at home moms to show that it is possible in this declining economy to still stay at home and be happy.

2. I am thankful for my husband and wonderful children

3. I am thankful for friends and family who are always supportive

4. I am thankful that God blessed me with a child with special needs which has led me to a new career from home, and also with the chance to remember what is really important in life.

5. I am thankful for chocolate

6. I am thankful for my son's service dog who now allows hubby and I to be able to have some peace of mind and sleep. ;)

7. I am thankful for the great weather we have been having

8. I am thankful for these hard economic times to remind us what is really important in life

9. I am thankful for mindless entertainment like reality tv lol. ok you know you watch it too.

10.I am thankful that my family and I are all healthy.

ok well that is it for my first ten things tuesday..how did I do?

the cheerio queen

Happy Birthday Lucky charms!

Ok so this is a bit late as LC's actual birthday was a week ago but I was waiting till his party to post about it so I could post pictures. :)

Lucky Charm's is my "baby" it is easy to think of him that way despite the fact that he turned 6 on me. You see his is short, he has alwasy been our "little man" but I have always said that what he lacks in height he more then makes up for in personality! This sweet little man is tough, but very sensitive. He loves his mommy and daddy cuddles still and for that I am grateful. :) He is incredibly smart, funny, charming,and a joy to be around. You have to remember this is the same boy who made his own business at age 4 selling golfballs back to the golfers on our golf course. Last year he made a total of 176.00 in one summer. This summer he has made well over 200. I have always admired his persistance, and focus, and drive. When he wants something he does not give up until he gets it or at least exhausts all possiblilites of getting it, hence the 1969 chevelle he has been pushing for. Hey the kid has taste. :) Being that his Grandpa owns one I am not surprised.

We have always been a bit worried though...you see he is an amazing little flirt and can charm just about anyone. The other day I was fighting the urge to want to smack this little girl who was all of about 6 or 7 herself as i noticed she took a shine to Lucky charms at the park and followed him everywhere! Someone should really tell her mom that she needs to practice the art of playing hard to get with her daughter instead of chasing a boy. seriously. lol I am sure he will have lots of girlfriends. He usually prefers older girls however. He has a crush on a 16 year old at our church it is so cute he is just sure he is going to marry her. Hey the girl is beautiful so at least he has taste. His father and I about died the other day when he asked me to "make his hair handsome" so that "the ladies would like it" yes he actually used the term "the ladies" at six.

oh well the joy of raising him is totally worth it. We are never bored. He is the most amazing little guy a mom could want. Both hubby and I have had a lot of fun with him! We look forward to many more years of joey.
Happy Birthday Little Man!