Olympic Hopefuls

Okay, so the title may be a bit misleading.

If you were Googling "Olympic Hopefuls" our faces were likely not the ones you were anticipating.

And while we're no Michael Phelps, Jordyn Weiber, or the newest fast girl on the track (surprisingly Mommy does not know who that is) we are the newest fans of the Olympics and we're hopeful.

And, after watching some Olympic trials, I have decided it's time I start practicing. Gymnastics appears the best fit for me. I'm not so sure about Kate, but she has no choice in the matter. If her leotard tells you anything, I think this will be a short lived dream for her. There's no sheer sleeves in REAL gymnastics. But we won't break that news to her just yet.  

As for me, I've got eight years to train. Eight years to bulk up my string bean like legs and noodley arms while establishing a firm six pack.

As for Kate, well, if she chooses to pursue an Olympic future I believe her best option is in ice skating thanks to the leotard. If that's the case, she's got a solid 14 years to get the triple sow cow and other weird sounding jumps to perfect. I just hope she doesn't slice open her sheer sleeves. That'd be a shame.

In the meantime, we'll be cheering on the current Olympians to some gold medals and world records while at the same time creating a plan to win some of our own and smash those records.

Or we can just pretend while we make some fierce forward rolls and jumps off of the couch.

Jump! Jump!

It's been awhile since we've updated you on our puddle jumping.

As expected, I'm doing great.

Big splashes.

Lots of air.

Perfect poise.

(a bit of a small raincoat though)

As for Grant, well, last we talked he was in puddle jumping training.

He's coming along quite well.

He's got real boots, laden with bugs.

And a real raincoat.

Camoflouge of course.

As for air, well, he's catching some.

I'm measuring in inches.

A good two more inches and he'll be up to par.

As for Kate, well, she's a novice.

Quite confused if we're completely honest.

Let's be real.

She can't get both feet off of the ground  yet.

But she's working the boots.

And the snot.

But it won't be long til she's rocking it

like this.

Dirty South Third Child Style

You're a third child if...

 you look like you've run the streets alone for the past week while surviving solely on red popsicles.

you're allowed to eat chocolate pudding in your church dress BY YOURSELF.

you were allowed enough time alone to grab a purple marker and color all over yourself AFTER you also managed to create a beautiful purple masterpiece on paper while also downing a glass of water? juice? that was mostly enjoyed by your shirt.

You've fallen asleep mid biscuit bite at the dinner table because you missed your afternoon nap trying to keep up with your older siblings.

your best friend is a boy because he doesn't seem too bothered by stinky, messy clothes and hair.

This goes out to all you mothers out there who feel like you're doing a bad job. When you're feeling down, remember me.

An Update

Check out my signature Harman "thumbs up" toe, compliments of Daddy

It's me.

Kate.

What's been going on with me, you ask?

Lots.

I'm still swinging. Bravely. I yell, "ush!" if I see that the speed of the swing has decreased to such a level where my hair no longer flaps in the air. And, I'll urgently let you know if I'm not flying high enough. It seems Mommy does not yet understand that I have HIGH expectations.

Hannah, on the other hand, gets it very well.

In other swingset news, I have now mastered going down the slide head first.

It's awesome.

My next endeavor, head first on my back.

While we're on the topic of slides, I'm also enjoying training for the bobsled competition with my siblings. You see, Strong Woman Hannah takes the slide off of the set, turns it over, and we all ride on it down the hill.

I like to call us, The Locust Grovian Bobsled Team. We've got real potential. Hannah has the speed and agility, Grant will, one day, have the brut strength that often accompanies the stocky build, and I, well, I have the good looks to distract the other competitors. However, that may be hard to do when helmets come into play. I'll be working on that. Once I've got it figured out we'll make a post solely dedicated to our bobsled progress. It's sure to be a hit.

Moving from the swingset to the pool, I've got more news.

I love it!

I've plunged under water three times. I didn't shed a tear. In fact, I smiled. If Mommy wouldn't cramp my style I'd be out in the water with Hannah and Grant...you know...in the deep end...where all the fun happens. It's a little embarassing to watch from the shallow end with your mom insisting to hold your hand. I want to say, "I've got this, Mom," if only my vocabulary was more developed verbally. Maybe she'll read the blog.

In non-active news, I'm also drinking from a non-sippy cup. I've got mad skills. I've only made a few messes. I pleasantly surprised Mommy and Hannah when I showed them that I could handle the task..AT HAND.

Where are all the pictures to document these amazing accomplishments? Waiting to be takien with the camera that sits in the kitchen. It seems that while I can handle all of these awesome new discoveries, Mommy cannot, at least not while also managing to capture them on the camera.

So, be patient, she'll get there, and in the meantime, I'll be getting elsewhere, whether by slide, pool, or swing.

Homeschool Diaries: Random Thoughts

Homeschool continues to move along.

Our main focus this summer is reading. Hannah is doing a terrific job. I am really a big fan of The Writing Road to Reading (ask me that again when I start with Grant).

Along with growing in her reading and recognizing the phonograms, Hannah is also developing good penmanship. She's learning how to space accurately, begin at the proper place on wide ruled paper and stop at the appropriate place. She is self correcting so much more these days. That makes me happy.

What I love about The Writing Road to Reading is its simplicity. It's cheap but it gets the job done. All it requires is a pencil and paper along with the book (that I got used for maybe $7).

I'm realizing with three little ones, I need simple. I need curriculum that is cheap but will get the job done without having to buy a million other things to go along with it. I don't have a lot of time to make cute things and hang a lot of things on the wall. It just isn't going to happen. And I'm finally okay with that. Is Hannah reading, yes. Is she writing, yes. And beginning in the fall  we'll start her on Saxon math.

Seeing the benefit of copy work, I am also going to start her on copying sentences. To most, this seems ridiculous, I know. But as I've read about copy work I've become a strong believer. It works on penmanship, tracking skills as they move their eyes from the board to the paper, spelling, sentence structure, spacing, punctuation and grammar. AND, why not have her copy Scripture? So, add in Scripture memory as well. I'm really excited about it. We've begun a bit as we work one on one during her reading time and she really enjoys it. She loves to see that she wrote a sentence.

As we're coming up on a year of homeschooling I think the biggest lesson I've learned is to calm down. Educating at home looks a lot differently than educating in a school. It takes A LOT less time to tackle learning. It's actually great. I can accomplish with Hannah in an hour and a half what it took me several hours to accomplish in my classroom of 23 when I taught.

And, she's reading. Hooray! It's exciting to see her progress over the year. I'm looking forward to seeing her grow more over the summer as we continue with The Writing Road to Reading. Then, we'll delve into the wonderful world of math come August. Thankfully, Saxon is scripted. I need scripted when it comes to math!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of our homeschool time.

Grant's main goal this summer is to get the pencil grip down. I was proud of him here. He gets easily discouraged on ANYTHING so the fact he did his whole coloring sheet holding it this way was a huge success. He was also pumped to have his own workbook. Later in the day he came upstairs to me and said, "Thank you Mommy." And I said, "for what?" He said, "for my workbook." He was proud all around.
And, by the way, he is wearing a Speedo swimsuit fully equipped with a flotation device in the stomach. If I let him leave the house in this, he would. Too bad he isn't wearing the over protective hat as well. Then you'd really be laughing.

Math over the past several months has been focused on the one hundred chart and skip counting. Thanks to Pinterest, I found these awesome one hundred chart activities. For the top activity I just cut up a hundred chart and glued magnet pieces to the back of them. Now they can build their own one hundred chart.

And, what says fun like finger painting? I have to include Kate in some of our activities. This was right down her alley.

Five Minute Friday: See

I'm delving back into Five Minute Friday over at The Gypsy Mama. Today's prompt: See

Go:


Lately I see a great need for less of myself.

I need to see more of Him.

His greatness, His worthiness, His strength, His majesty, His crowned head.

His brokeness, His sacrifice, His compassion, His mercy, His grace, His scarred hands.

As I see more of Him, I see less of me. And this is good.

Because as I see me, I get lost. I become forgetful. I am selfish. Consumed with trivial things that produce no fruit.

Lord, let me see You. Let me behold you. Give me courage to see You. Give me boldness to share what I see. For I know to truly see You is to be ruined. Seeing you comes with a cost.

By your grace, let me see You so I may become like You.

Praise be to You, my Creator, my Redeemer, My King.

Out of Training

I'm officially out of training...

training wheels that is.

A few weeks ago I told Mommy I was ready.

And within two minutes, literally, I was riding by myself without training wheels.

PURE JOY.

What can I say? I'm a natural. Perhaps I'll be participating in the Tour De France. Who knows.

All I know is that ever since taking those wheels off, I haven't looked back. And I've yet to have a wreck. Probably because I wasn't looking back. It's always a good idea to keep your eyes looking ahead. Unless your mom is taking a picture of you, then give a quick smile and revert your eyes back to the road.

So watch out biking world and get used to seeing this view of me. I just don't think you'll be able to catch up with me.

Catch ya on the roads.

Watch Out!

Birthdays, well, they're just awesome. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't about the presents. Because, at four years old, it's about the presents.

I officially own my first gun. Well, two for that matter. My awesome neighbors got me a Nerf gun. And then, lo and behold, on my birthday morn I was surprised with another gun, a marshmallow gun at that! Mommy and Daddy got me that along with my Care Bear.

A gun that shoots marshmallows, what is there NOT to like about that?!

Those of you who know me also know I'm passionate about Angry Birds. So, when Grandmama got me an ANGRY BIRDS SHIRT along with the game, Angry Birds...well, I was THRILLED. You will notice my Angry Birds shirt in the first picture. It says, "This is what awesome looks like." I put it on at my party and didn't take it off until Sunday afternoon the next day.

Yes, I wore it to church.

As for the game, Mommy and I have some techniques to perfect but I already know it's a winner.

Man, I love birthdays.

Mario Party

I'm four now. That's right. You know what that means.

I'm taller.

I'm almost as tall as Mommy. Or so I keep telling her. When you turn four you get a Mario Paw-ty. And it's awesome.

I picked out this cake. Mommy made it.

And, like any big event, there's a pregame show. For me, that meant lots of pictures in front of the fireplace. At least I was in good company. Mommy had to draw Bowser (you'll see him later) but I told her that wasn't enough. We needed Mario, Toad, Yoshi, Luigi, King Boo, and the Princess (per Hannah's request). When you're the birthday boy it's pretty awesome because, well, you get what you want.

I'm more of a Luigi fan at heart but having a "Luigi Party" didn't sound quite right. Sorry Luigi.

Then, the real party began because, my friends came.

It was time for us to warp into Mario world.
All those eggs Mommy blew out and stuffed with confetti piece by piece over the past few weeks were hidden for us to find, you know, to throw at Bowser in order to free the princess.

And, like any Mario game, we had to punch bricks to get coins and fireballs. A note to Mommy here, we may need to perfect this part next time. 

This next part was not for the faint of heart. King Boo's ghosts were everywhere. Our mission: kill them. I gave a few a mean pop.

And, ping, a coin appeared. Can you see it?

After playing Shy Guy says on our way to Bowser's castle (those pictures were boring), we finally arrived. So, with my eggs in hand I began the demolition of Bowser.

Check out my arm. I think I'm ready to take my skills to the basketball court.

Na-fan (as I like to call him) shattered his egg. Mommy thought we must show this picture so that we can better enjoy the confetti she painstakingly placed piece by piece into these eggs that were destroyed in a matter of minutes. Sorry, she made me write that.

We did it. We defeated Bowser. And we rescued the Princess (not pictured but she was there).

After the party we delved into the cake. And of course I opened all my awesome presents.

And, like all good things, it had to come to an end. But a tasty end. My friends went home with these tasty chocolate Wii remotes along with a character from Mario.

All in all, I had a blast. And I'm already thinking ahead to next year's party.

It's a toss up between Angry Birds and Spider Man.

Mommy's Moment: 4 Years Old

Today we celebrate four years of life with our Grant.

Before I had kids, I had a pretty clear picture of what I wanted our son to be like. Years ago when I worked at the Child Development Center at college there was this sweetheart of a boy, Brooks. He captured my heart. And I thought, "I hope I have a boy like this one day."

Years later, there was a sweet little boy who used to go to our church and the same thought crossed my mind, "I hope, if we ever have a boy, he's like him."

A couple of years later, we had a boy. And over these four years I've had the priviledge to see him develop. And I can confidently say that the Lord created the most perfect boy for me. I could not have picked or drawn up or conjoured up a better boy.

Is he perfect? haha. NO WAY. In fact, Grant has challenged me beyond belief. His entry into the world was a good foreshadowing of the rough days ahead. I like to say, he's a passionate sort of fellow.

And part of that is that he's tender hearted.

Oh is he so tender hearted.

He's all boy but he still loves to come and snuggle. He gently pats Kate's back when she's around. And he tells us ALL, SEVERAL TIMES, he loves us.

He's challenged me the most in the field of discipline. And when he whines, well, now-a-days I hear my own voice in him at that age (thanks to video recording).

He loves his blankey. He loves television and any video game but especially Super Mario Brothers. His best friend is Hannah (as stated in our new birthday questionaire tradition). He loves to be held, still.

I remember when I was pregnant with Kate Hannah told Grant, "You know when Mommy has the baby she won't be able to hold you anymore."

That broke my heart a little. Because, she was right in a small way. With a baby came a bit of growing up on Grant's part. And yes, the carrying around of Grant did slow down. But it hasn't stopped. Mainly because well, he's so darn nagging that I can't help but NOT carry him up the stairs. And I'm glad I do.

He loves fruit snacks, well, any snack. The birthday questionaire also asked, what is something your mom always says?

He answered, "you can't have a snack."

Yes, he asks ALL. THE. TIME. Right after breakfast. While I'm making lunch. Righ after lunch. So on and Son.

I hate to see what the grocery bill will look like in the coming years. And I feel for you mothers of multiple boys.

Those are just a few thoughts on my wonderful Grant. And I'll leave you with a few more with these pictures.

When some random man who came in the delivery room for "Operation Hurry Up and Suck that Baby Out," he guessed Grant weighed, oh, about 7 lbs. upon putting him on the scale. Sorry, add 2 more pounds and twelve ounces to that. The whole delivery was a bit maddening from having the nurse doze off while I was pushing. Yes, I caught her. Eyes closed and she WAS NOT praying. To the nurse who told me to quit screaming and push after having pushed for two hours only to keep hearing "We can't get him over that bone." I guess my pelvic bone. For good reason. And in a fit of desperation I remember thinking, "I'm going to die here, on this table. This is it." I was being dramatic. I'll confess. But I had no clue how the good Lord was going to get him out of me. He did. With a vaccum. Thank the Lord for vaccums. And thank the Lord for epidurals. I know many people go al natural..but I am thankful that the juice was flowing. I'll stop there. Happy FIRST birthday little one. You were worth the
drama.

And this picture. Hannah is Kate's age now in this picture. Such a baby. But I thought she was such a big girl then. I remember the nurse at the pediatrician asked me how old Hannah was when we went to Grant's first appointment. "20 months," I said. "Wow, she's just a baby herself," she replied. I didn't think so. My, how my perspective has now changed. Not quite 20 months and already a big sister. But she's owned that role so nicely too. She's a great big sister. I love that girl.

That big cheesy grin was there even at age one when we introduced him to his own Wheely Bug. Though excited, it wasn't as big of a hit with him as it was with Hannah at that age. At least it makes a good picture. I remember at his 1  year check up I asked the pediatrician, "Is it normal for a one year old to throw major fits, rolling all over the floor and screaming for minutes on end?" He said yes. And that began the discipline season which, of course, continues today. I'm happy to say the floor fits are few and far between this, three years later. Happy One year birthday baby boy.

At least his early start with the fit throwing didn't make me dread the terrible twos. In fact, I embraced them thinking the two's couldn't be as bad as the one's. And they must not have been because it doesn't stand out. But that blonde hair sure did. Moving away from that baby look, my little two year old was looking more like a boy. A cutie pie. Happy second birthday baby boy.



When he turned three, Grant grew a mustache. John is kind of hairy so it made sense to us. Or, oh yeah, maybe that was for his Pirate Party. This marked the beginning of, "Oh yeah, I love birthday parties, when do I get to have another one?" Happy 3rd Birthday Grant.

And now, here we are, four years old. And yes, that's a Care Bear. Our buddy Grant has wanted a Care Bear since he was able to walk. Seriously. So, I gave in. I found this guy on Ebay and snagged him. Obviously, Grant is happy he is able to finally care for his very own Care Bear. The Care Bear looks pretty happy too. We'll share more pictures from his big celebration. But this one is my favorite. Pure joy. Happy fourth birthday buddy! You're a pretty awesome guy and I am so thankful I get to share in your life. WE LOVE YOU.