Em turns 4!

I still cannot believe our middle child is 4!

Em is one of the sweetest, funniest and adventurous kids you'd ever want to meet!

She was such an "easy" baby to deliver {3 pushes and she was OUT}, but she really keeps me on my toes {and on my knees in prayer} at times! She is just FULL of personality and has the best attitude. If something doesn't go her way, she says, "that's OK, maybe tomorrow I can do/have/eat that." She really is a blessing to my soul and I learn how to have FUN with her!

I also love and appreciate how Em is her own individual. She really enjoys playing and creating things on her own and she definitely has her own sense of style. I believe she has a very strong self-esteem and I love that about her. I will tell her, "Em, your outfit sure is colorful/creative today" and she will say, "I know, thanks!" Ha, ha!!!!!!!

One thing that is absolutely true about this girl is {just like her Mommy} she LOVES to EAT!! 

It's a good thing I feed her healthy foods and no fast food, or else she would weigh 300 pounds!

She eats non-stop! 

For her birthday, Em requested Daddy's special stuffed french toast for breakfast, smoothies and popcorn for lunch and broccoli with cheese sauce and asian chicken for dinner. 

I made carrot-zucchini muffins with cream cheese frosting as her bday cupcakes-everyone LOVED them and they were much healthier than store-bought cupcakes!

We surprised the girls with a trip to the zoo for Em's birthday. My brother gifted Morgan a trip to the zoo--thank you Uncle Teddy!  

I got up at the crack of dawn and packed up the minivan with everything we needed, included all of our food, water and snacks for the day. The girls had NO idea what was going on. We told them we needed to go to the store and when we ended up at the Zoo, they were overjoyed!!!!!!

We all had an amazing time at the Zoo!

What time of birthday traditions do you all have??

I would love to hear about them!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Happy B-day Dr. Seuss!!

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, 

we had some fun with our food:)!

We read some of our favorite Dr. Seuss books and.......of course, 

made Green Eggs and Turkey ham!

 To replicate the hat in "The Cat in the Hat" book, we made these fun fruit kabobs.

Oh, those eyes melt my heart every time! 

How did you celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday?

Blessings,

Aria

Weekly Wrap-Up! {The one about Madeline with Lapbook}

Whew, to say we are exhausted is an understatement for this week!

First off, our baby girl, CeCe turns 1 tomorrow, so we had her birthday party this weekend! It was such a sweet little party for such a sweet little girl. I still cannot believe how FAST this first year has flown by!! I now understand when people say having multiple children causes the years to pass exponentially---it is true!

 This is a little bit of the banner I made for her birthday. I even have the "proof" that she has been here for 12 months, but I still cannot believe it, ha, ha!!

Here is our sweet little Ce Ce with her proud parents at the party!

OK, so we also had a productive week of homeschool. Our girls LOVE the Madeline Books, so we decided to really focus on that and make a lapbook as well. 

 "And the smallest one was Madeline."

 The girls had fun learning about France. Geography, landmarks, language and food (of course). We built an Eiffel tower out of pretzels and cheese and also made some crepes (sorry, no pics). Next time, we will have to make fondue again---yummy!

 Elle did an amazing job on this Rhyme Time book. She put the whole thing together herself and wrote out words that rhymed with words from the Madeline book!

 If for nothing else, Em LOVED the fact that Madeline starts with the letter M!! It inspired her to keep writing M's over.and.over.and.over again--hey, it worked:) She was so proud of her work!

 I actually found a little Madeline doll and book on Ebay for an insanely cheap price. It is so cute--it even has a "scar" on her belly! The girls love talking about this. I have a really ugly keloided scar where I had to have a tumor removed 6 years ago. The girls always ask me about it and this was fun to see a doll have a "scar like Mommy!"

 In the original Madeline story, she has to have her appendix taken out and stays in the hospital. The girls from her school (orphanage) come to visit her and bring her flowers. 

The girls had an amazing time making tissue paper flower and arranging them in vases. We also decided to decorate CeCe's birthday party with the flowers Elle and Em made-they were so proud!!

Em had so much fun arranging the pipe cleaners. She slid buttons on them and made all kinds of abstract floral arrangements--too creative and cute!

Elle continues to improve in her spelling and language arts. This is a WONDERFUL book we found for 29 cents!! It each spiral flips through the alphabet (a-z) so you can form 4-letter words. There are photos at the bottom that suggest words to spell. Elle loves doing this book!

 I just couldn't resist posting this pic--the girls LOVE reading together;-)

 I have tried to be creative in getting Elle to write more. She really does a great job, but find it tedious if I give her a workbook to continue to write it if it involves tracing. My girl does not want to trace, just write, lol. So, I got her a little notebook. She loves to go around the house and write down things she sees. She will write words, phrases, pictures, lots of things. Here she has written from 1-50 on her own--I did not help her at all. She even self-corrected her 9 on the top line and started over (she's a perfectionist like her Mom:)

 And, speaking of flowers. My younger brother is getting married this year! He is so sweet! He came over to officially ask the girls to be his flower girls in the wedding. He brought them roses and a card---they are so excited!!!!!

It reads "Will you be my flower girl?" He is so romantic--he will make a great husband!

 Of course, we spent some time at the library!

 And, our local Children's Science Museum.

This table was perfect practice for our upcoming week--full of lessons on Manners!

Have a wonderful week!!

Blessings,

Aria:)

My "UN-Regets List" {What I Won't Say}!

Our oldest daughter is turning 5 tomorrow! Really?? FIVE.YEARS.OLD!

Where have I been? It seems like I was JUST holding her as a small baby....

The baby who never napped longer than 29 minutes and 30 seconds exactly. You could set your clock by it. Never.  Not once, any longer.

The baby who nursed for 2 years and never took a bottle. The baby who would only let Mommy or Daddy hold her. The same baby who slept in my arms every night but walked right into Church Sunday School and didn't even have time to kiss me good-bye. 

The same baby who made me a Mommy.  Yes, the same baby who was there when both of her younger sisters were born, feeding me ice chips and cheering me on.  The same baby who refused baby food and really didn't care to "touch" table food either:) The same "baby" who melts my heart every single day. 

Yes, the same girl who is so much like me, it is scary.

The same girl who now insists she dresses herself, and asks to run the vacuum cleaner {I sure hope her cleaning streak lasts well into the teen years}.

The same girl that gave me a "Pep Talk" just this morning so that I wouldn't cry at her birthday party today. 

Yes, it's an emotional time for me. I suspect the next few months will produce lots and lots of bittersweet and tearful moments as our girls all have milestone birthdays coming this spring and summer. I am praying for the strength of the Lord in this time. I sure don't "feel" like we have been on this parenting journey for 5 years already, but the calendar is saying something totally different! LOL. 

As I ponder and reflect on our parenting journey thus far, I can not even put into words how very GRATEFUL I am. If I had 10,000 tongues, I could not thank God enough for my children and my husband!! I am so blessed and so very grateful!

In honor of our 5 year mark as parents, I have compiled my "Un-Regrets" List. It is a list of things I will NOT say at the end of my life on earth. These are strictly mine. They are just for me. If they would not be on your list, that's OK! I would love to read your list, too:)

At the end of my life, I will NOT say...

1. I really wish I would have held my babies LESS.
2. I wish I would have been more SELFISH.
3. I wish I would've made my babies cry it out. After all, crying is good for the lungs, right? {Yeah, like bleeding is good for the veins, lol}.
4. I wish I would've made my kids more independent and less connected to me.
5. I wish I would've been more harsh, less understanding and more demanding.
6. I wish I would've spent less TIME with my children and husband.
7. I wish I would've put everything and everyone else before my family.
8. I sure wish I would've shamed my children, broken their little spirits and made them afraid of me.
9. I sure wish I would've spent less time shaping my children's souls and hearts for Christ.
10. I really could've been someone successful had I not "just" been a Wife, Mommy and Wedding Planner from home. 
11. I wish I would've spanked/hit/beat my kids.
12. I wish I would not have kissed my kids so much. 
13. I wish I wouldn't have taught our girls to be modest young ladies.
14. I wish I would have argued with my husband more.
15. I sure wish I would've fed my kids more junk foods. 
16. I wish I would've turned on the TV more.
17. I wish we would've had less FUN. 
18. I wish I would've focused on being more worldly and popular and less God-like, humble and meek.
19. I wish I would have held more grudges and forgiven less.
20. I wish I would have worried more and prayed less.

Whew, now that I know what I don't want to say, I had better get to living like the Lord intends for me so I truly can say I don't have ANY regrets!!

Blessings,
Aria:)

FREE Easter Lapbook Download! {and some of my faves}

Well, we are still enjoying our special Lent Mini-Break from weekly blogging updates! I have also chosen to take a break from Facebook-and has that been eye-opening for me!  Since my screen time is now more limited, we are achieving a bit more balance. We are having so much fun-taking walks when the spring weather finally shows, playing games, reading TONS of books and making cake pops! Have you all seen these yet? Our almost 5 year old (Mommy shedding tears here:') requested them for her birthday, so we made a couple of batches to see how it works first. They are YUMMY!

I also wanted to share a few of my favorite links I have discovered lately~~~ENJOY!!

Please let me know if you were blessed by any of them;)

Here is a GREAT lapbook download for all of us with Pre-school aged kiddos celebrating Easter!

Easter Lapbook

This was JUST what I needed to confirm my need to "unplug" and just "BE" with my husband and kids (instead of trying to capture every moment and make it "perfect". I sure am enjoying making memories instead of making blog posts, lol:)

My Antecdote to Overwhelm.

Help for Moody Mama:)

Some of the BEST writing on parenting I have EVER READ!

First Time Obedience-Really?

This is something I am going to have to re-visit often and meditate on. I have to constantly remember that I am the Weather.

These are some of my recent faves. I hope you all will enjoy them!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Weekly Wrap Up {Letter D is for...}

We had a great and blessed week of homeschool this week!

My husband celebrated his birthday and had the day off from work in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so it worked out as a double-blessing for us!

D is for Daddy!!!

Happy birthday to the most self-less, loving and generous man of God, husband, father and friend on the planet!!! We are so blessed to have you:)

This week, our learning chart included the letter D, color yellow and animal ducks.

Our bible memory verse(above).  Our character trait was "orderly." When introducing our bible verse and character trait, we always memorize our bible verse at the beginning of the week and continue to rehearse it throughout the week. We have a sticker reward system for the character trait. When we talk about the trait, what God's word says about it, how to apply it to our lives etc, we then observe the girls demonstrating the character trait and reward them with a star sticker! It is a nice way to introduce some positive character traits we are hoping to instill over the years.

For Daddy's birthday, the girls had a ball making this very special yarn bowl.

 As you can see, Em is our playful girl--she keeps us laughing:)

 It was a bit messy, but very fun! All we had to do was make a glue and water solution, dip the yarn and wrap lay it over an inverted bowl covered in plastic wrap. It took a couple of days to dry, so we started it in plenty of time for Daddy's birthday!!

It turned out so great--it is so cheery and personal:)

 The girls had a lot of fun playing "Don't Break the Ice" with Daddy:)

In honor of Dr. King's holiday, we read and learned about him and did some fun crafts!

Our Dr. MLK Day materials--I ordered a FREE kit online this year for our class!

This week, our Science Spotlight was "D is for Drop." We learned about things that are waterproof through this fun and easy experiment.

 Here are our Letter D items from our Alphabet Box.

 Dice, dinosaur, dog, ducks, doctor, dragon, dragonfly, etc.

 Em enjoyed making her D is for Doctor Doggy craft from DLTK.

Em also stamped some dogs onto her D page.

 D is for Dinosaur.

 Em helped put together the dinosaur nest with little dinosaur eggs we found at a local thrift store. She loves anything animal related!

 

 Elle updating our class room calendar.

 Circle time song "5 Little Ducks."

 Yellow Sensory Tub.

 Elle had a fabulous time working on her Domino Math! 

She is doing addition and subtraction at a first grade level at just 4 yrs old.

 D is for doggies---here are 2 of our 3 dogs with Elle.

 Em shaking her discovery bottle. This one simulates ocean waves.

Em (29 mos) putting her numbers in order.

Working with flashcards.

 Em sorting out all of the yellow bears.

Em loves working in this workbook! She goes and gets it out and does it all by herself now:)

 D is for duck.

 Elle working some more math problems. The girl LOVES math!

 Elle and Ce Ce designing with the wedgits. 

 Elle working on her handwriting and spelling skills.

More spelling.

The girls always pull out the scale and love to guess which items will weigh 

more or less. Too cute!

 The girls LOVE being little fashion designers with their wooden dolls.

 Working on beginning letter sounds for the animals on our A-Z folder game we made.

 Just a little bit of screen time this week. I wanted to try out an educational website that has a monthly membership fee. The girls were not super-impressed, lol.

 Play Dough fun!

Library Story Time!!

 D is for DANCE!! Our girls have always loved to dance!

They especially love "Whip your Hair" by little Willow Smith lately:)

She is the very talented 10 year old daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Well, that has been our week!

As always, we are glad that you are here. Will you please take a moment and leave a comment so I know you were here? Is there anything you have read that has inspired you?

Please let us know!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Linking this up to No Time for Flashcards and