Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend is one of my most favourite times of the year. First of all, I met my darling Mr. Level-Headed twenty-three Thanksgivings ago. We were young and foolish, and we fell madly in love like only two teenagers can, but I am so happy that we did. We have made a wonderful life together, and we have shared some pretty amazing, hilarious, and downright crazy adventures together. Not to mention, we have made four of the most interesting and adorable people the world has even seen together. Yes, you should all thank us for that one! But, seriously, he has seen me at my lowest, my weakest and my ugliest, and he still sticks around. He loves me unconditionally, and he always manages to put a smile on my face. He's my Mr. Level-Headed and of all the things I have to be thankful for in my life, he is definitely number one. Happy Anniversary, Mr. Level-Headed!

The second reason why I love Thanksgiving weekend is that it ushers in the return of comfort food like mash potatoes, cranberries, turkey, stuffing, and pies . . . mmmmmm! Need I say more?

And last but not least, I love Thanksgiving weekend because the wee Websters and I take an afternoon off and go to our local apple orchard to pick apples. Sure, I love fresh apples, but the real reason I love apple picking is for the pictures . . . er, I mean the memories . . . tee hee! This was Leif's first year of apple picking, which made this year extra special.

I can't get enough of this time of year!

Where Art Thou, Bob?

My attempt at using the blog as Leif's baby book is failing miserably, and so excuse me for a moment while I list a few of his milestones:

• you are our earliest walker! That's right you started taking steps at nine months. The most we have counted you taking in one stretch is seven . . . so far.
•  in the month of August you had your fist hornet sting and you went to your first drive-in movie theatre, which was kind of neat because it was a first for both of your brothers too AND your sister still has not gone.
• you love to climb stairs.
• Grampy Skov-Nielsen taught you how to use  your hand as a gun, and let's just say, you picked up on that skill very quickly. You now spend your days shooting everything you pass, complete with sound effects. You are such a boy!
• you try to bark like the dog when we are outside
• you love to eat sand, and pretty much anything else we will feed you - pizza (no cheese), hummus, brocolli, hamburgers, pancakes, ham sandwiches, rice, peas, apples, etc. No baby food for you.
• at your doctor's appointment in August, you weighed a whomping 17lbs. 4oz, and you were 28" long. (Sorry, baby, but you are Webster through and through - small, but mighty!)
• your newest word is baaaa for ball, which is really not a big surprise because you love balls, and your favourite game is rolling a ball back and forth with somebody.
• I also swear you say the word book, but that could have something to do with your current fascination with the "B" sound,

which is great lead in to today's post. . . . .

Lately your favourite word is Bob. You call out for Bob as soon as your eyes open, when we are playing in the backyard, when we are driving in the car, and when you are standing at, or in, the dishwasher. We have no idea who Bob is, but you are frantically searching for him.We don't even know if you know who Bob is, but we are all eagerly awaiting for that day you finally find him because we are quite curious to find out what you need to tell him.

Recently, we visited Halifax because Zoe had an appointment at the IWK, and you were even calling out for Bob in a local park there. Unfortunately, Bob is not in Halifax either, but you did capture the attention of many people passing by, and you very much enjoyed entertaining them.

Bob!

Where is Bob?

Bob!

This is so very disappointing.

I have to say, Leif, you sure make my days much more interesting. I love you, baby.

Oh, and if you know Bob, could you please tell him that Leif Webster has an urgent message to pass along.

. . .  tee hee!

Morning Mayhem

*please note that this post goes through periods of where there are no capital letters used due to the fact that I had a nursing infant attached to me and could only use one hand . . . carry on.

i woke up late this morning, and that pretty much guarantees that our morning will be crumby. i woke up avery and he hopped into the shower. then i went downstairs and harassed elliot until he dragged his lifeless body out of bed. 

come on, bud. you can do this! we are late and you need to start moving.

I rushed into the storage room to grab two cans of Alpha-getti for the boys' lunch (nothing but the best for my munchkins) and then I bolted back upstairs to get breakfast made, lunches packed and two boys dressed and ready for the day. like every other morning this week, though, i had to wade through the previous night's supper dishes in order to even find a space big enough to spread their lunch boxes out. At this point, I decided to scrap the pancakes I had intended to make, according to the lovely menu plan I had so painstakingly created on the weekend, and declared breakfast to be cereal . . . again. BUT, then I remembered that Avery's goat's milk was all gone, and since he gets terrible pains from cow's milk and he does not like rice milk on his cereal, pancakes were back on the menu. ugh!

come on boys! you are going to be late!

So, as the Alpha-getti was cooking and I was throwing in crackers, apples, clementines,and brownies into their lunch boxes, I was also scrambling to wash out the mixing bowl and gather the pancake ingredients.

do you boys have your soccer stuff packed for practice today? Elliot, get your socks and sneakers on.

mom, the baby pooped.

i will change him after.

mom, where are my cleats?

at the back door.

mom, I have no clean socks.

check the laundry pile in the living room.

mom, did you sign my homework folder?

yes.

mom. the baby is in the dishwasher.

just remove the knives.

Text: are you guys ready for prayer

(we've been saying our daily morning prayer via speaker phone with Derrick just before he goes into work)

give me two minutes. 

At 7:35 (five minutes before the boys leave for the bus) i placed pancakes in front of them and we all gathered around to say the world's quickest prayer.then i dashed outside in my jammies to grab their soccer socks that had been left on the clothes line. i finished packing their lunches, closed up their book bags and sent the boys running up the driveway to catch the bus that was seconds away from our house. 

i love you!

we know!

Glowing with pride over my ultimate, super mama skills for getting the boys out the door washed, fed, and watered just in time to catch the bus yet again, I felt pretty invincible.

Take that Thursday morning! You are no match for me. Now, I am off to tackle a dirty diaper and feed my baby. Leif!

And there he was elbow deep in the bin of flour I had left opened on the floor . . .

ugh! foiled again.

Every super hero has one villain that brings them to their knees daily, and mine happens to be an 18lbs, blonde, blue-eyed baby with a penchant for stirring up shenanigans.

At least he keeps me humble.

Thing 1, 2 and 3

Lately, the teenagers of Shenanigans Inc.have been driving me crazy! Derrick's grandmother always said that the Lord makes teenagers so that you don't miss them when they move out . . . tee hee! For the record, I think she is the smartest woman I have ever met. 

Seriously, though, I know it doesn't help that I have zero patience right now because I am nursing a sick baby with his first ever ear infection,who all of a sudden insists upon being up at all hours of the night, BUT . . . come on, kids. Be kind to your mama! Like this morning. I dragged my exhausted butt of bed and decided to make everyone a breakfast sandwich to start their day. Well, you would have sworn I had given them some day -old, dirty diapers to chow down on because they were irate!

What? I don't want a breakfast sandwich!

Where's my Fruit Loops!

Ugh! Why did you make me breakfast.

Thankfully, Avery, who has not yet entered into that oh-so-adorable teenage condition, gobbled his breakfast right up and then thanked his mama for making breakfast. With ooey, gooey, cranky Leif on my hip all day and two teenagers who do nothing but groan and grumble, it is pretty safe to say that Avery is definitely my favourite child. (Let's pretend I didn't just write that)

Anyhoo . . .

So, I yelled, and I may have threatened to make waffles for Avery on Friday and not offer them any, and I may have slammed a drawer, and I may have texted Derrick that heads were going to roll today, and . . . .

I was definitely not wearing my Mother of the Year pendant this morning. Ugh!

But, for now they are safe because at the moment, I want to grab all three of my big kids and squeeze them tight. I want to smother them in kisses and never let them go.

Why the change of heart, you ask. Well, last night Zoe found an old camera of ours that had been stashed away in Mr. Level-Headed's desk at his Realty Executives office. He brought the camera home a few months ago when he emptied out his office, and for some reason Zoe found it on a shelf in the hallway. Immediately, she checked to see what pictures were on it and was surprised when she found these:

According to the camera, these were taken in 2007, and judging from the pictures, this would have been Elliot's sixth birthday party . . . . awwwwwww! Zoe would have been 9 and Avery would have only been 3. They were so cute! And I bet they would have happily eaten their breakfast sandwiches too without any eye rolling or sassing their mama. I miss these babies.

After we all oohed and ahhed over these photos and reminisced about the good-ol-days on Downsview Dr, we all had a good chuckle when we saw the next photo on the camera:

Leif!

hahahahaha! I guess he was feeling left out.

So, to Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3, and Thing 4, know this. Your mama loves you with all her heart; no matter how saucy you are, no matter how many times you roll your eyes at me, no matter how ooey gooey you are or how many nights you keep me from sleeping, you are four of the most precious people to me and you will forever be in my heart.

Trouble with a Capital "T"

Leif, Leif, Leif . . .

Let's just say that last week was exhausting! It seems that God really does make the bad ones cute because as you proved this week, your off-the-charts cuteness is matched only to your off-the-charts love for all things mischievous. Don't believe me? Well, I've got proof, and lots of it . . .

So, I went back to bathing you in the sink. I thought this would be an ideal set up because you have been trying to climb out of your baby tub and the sink is deeper. For some reason, I thought this would make it harder for you to stand up, and like so many other times in my life, I was wrong.

Not only were you able to stand up, but you were also able to throw plastic cups from the counter onto your poor, unsuspecting Scouty . . . I kid you not!

Just look at this face! I should have known you were on the brink of stirring up some shenanigans.

 At least when you are in the sink you are at somewhat confined (even though at times it is like wrestling a greased piglet). Now that you are mobile, and moving much faster I must add, there is no end to the trouble you can stir up. You continue to throw the books off the bookshelves and to play in the dog's dish, but new to this week was climbing into the dishwasher . . . I kid you not! and pulling out the dishes, clean or dirty. 

And getting into the clean laundry, which wasn't so clean after you scrubbed our fur-covered floor with it.

I blame the black diaper . . .

Then to top it all off, you have started to bite your siblings! Nooooooooooooo! Please don't be a biter, baby. Please. Avery was, and your mama found that very stressful. Thankfully, though, in spite of the little hell-raiser that was spawned this week, you are so incredibly scrumptious that I often forget all about your mischievous antics during moments like this:

When you fell asleep on my lap at Grammie's

When we shared a peach for supper on the soccer field:

And when you tasted one of the plums from our very own plum tree for the first time. I should also mention that this is the first time since we moved into our house six years ago that this tree has produced fruit. I figure it was just for you!

So, I think it is safe to say I plan on keeping ya . . . for now . . . tee hee!

For My Boys

Today was really hard. Leif was sick all weekend, which meant I had the pleasure of tending to a clingy, whiny baby who was only able to sleep for half hour stretches before he would wake up screaming. I love my boy, but man, it was rough! Luckily, he woke up this morning without a fever, but for some reason, and perhaps it was simply due to the fact that he was so excited to be feeling better, he refused to nap. Every time I would put him down to sleep, he would wake up fifteen minutes later. Then, because he is no longer content to just sit or be held, he was on the move and his mama needed to keep an eye on him:

Look at me, mom! I'm walking around the furniture!

Look at me, mom! I'm playing in the dog's dish!

Look at me, mom! I'm playing in the cornstarch that I just dumped out all over the floor!

Look at me, mom! I'm pooping on the floor!

Look at me, mom! I'm eating pieces of peaches that I threw on the floor last night!

Look at me, mom! I'm eating your pink stick-it notes!

He was just oozing with mischievousness today!

I think you get the picture. Needless to say, I was done. Oh, and to top it all off, our basement bathroom backed up. Yep, that was my day in a nutshell. Fun!

But, it was also tough because two weeks ago, Derrick and I decided that this fall we will be sending our bigger boys back to school, and today was the day I posted all of our homeschool curriculum up for sale. Don't get me wrong, I know with all my heart that this is the right decision for everyone, but seeing our beloved books, the ones we have pored over together, being sold made it very real to me. Our homeschooling days are over. But, like I said I know this is the best decision. Avery has been missing his friends, and he is keen to learn languages, so he is going to start the half year french program and eventually go onto french immersion (hello! Wasn't this the very program I removed Elliot from school to avoid? Yep. And all I can say is they are different kids with different needs and different strengths) Elliot, who always intended to go back for high school, wanted to ease back into public school amongst friends and in a smaller school community. And my other boy, the one who demands constant supervision to ensure not only his own safety but Scout's as well, is no longer homeschooling friendly. I know many amazing moms out there who have homeschooled and are currently homeschooling with infants and my hat goes off to each and every one of them. They have my deepest respect, and I really hoped I could be like them, but I'm not. We all need to know our limitations and homeschooling the boys with Leif was definitely pushing my limits. And so, this fall, I will be sending my boys back on the big, yellow bus. I am sure there will be a tear shed, but I also think there will be some singing and dancing going on as well:

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Let's be honest; I will be dancing all week long! Seriously, though, I have loved teaching my boys for the past three years. We had a lot of laughs, we made some wonderful friends, we learned a ton, and we created a lot of memories, but I am ready to close the book on this chapter of our relationship. I am eager to see how they do in school and see what directions they take. I know they are both ready! But, I guess the real question is . . . is MCS ready?! . . . tee hee!

Yep, it was a rough one here at Shenanigans Inc., but it doesn't change the fact that I love what I do and I love the boys I do it for.

awwwwww . . . I've got some pretty handsome boys.

Oh, and don't fret, Baby Girl is staying home again next year, so I won't be completely bored. 

Used Homeschool Curriculum Sale

Shenanigans Inc. is excited to announce their first used homeschool curriculum sale. Woohoo! Check out the list of books and supplies I have for sale, and email me at krista_skov@hotmail.com  to tell me what you want. I will email you back to confirm your order. Then meet me at the Quispamsis Superstore on Saturday, Aug. 16 from 10 - 11 am to pick up your goodies. Easy Cheesy! If you are one of my Charlotte County homeschool friends, I will arrange to meet you at Anita or Kelly's house once I have set up a time to visit. Happy Shopping!

Saxon Math

• K-3 Manipulative Kit - $30 Sold
• Textbooks and teacher manuals - $40 each - K, 2 (sold), 3, 5/4, 6/5, 7/6 (sold)

Cuisneairre Rods + manual - $5 sold

French

Nallenart

• L'Art de Dire - $25 (all the flashcards are laminated and coloured)
• L'Art de Lire 1 - $20
• L'Art de Lire 2 - $20 (two lessons are done in pencil BUT all the flashcards are laminated and coloured)

Science

Science Word Search Books (only ever photocopied) - 3 for $5 sold

Apologia 

• Exploring Creation with General Science (MP3, CD Rom, textbook) - $50 sold

Real Science 4 Kids (the following all come with the textbook, the lab book, and the teacher manual) **pre-level 1 is good for the K-4 range, level 1 works well for 4-7

• Biology pre-level 1 - $25
• Biology level 1 - $25 sold
• Chemistry pre-level 1 - $25
• Chemistry level 1 - $25 sold
• Physics pre-level 1 - $20 (a couple labs are marked on)\
• Physics level 1 - $20 (a couple labs are marked on) sold
• Astronomy level 1 - $25 sold

Real Science 4 Kids Physics level 1 textbook - $10

Basher Science

• Rocks and Minerals - $5
• Physics - $5

History

Laminated History Timeline - $2 sold

Ancient Egyptians and Neighbours - $10 sold

Ancient Civilizations Game - $2 sold

Usborne Encyclopedia of World History - $10 sold

Canada: My Country - $10

Ancient Rome Study - $10 sold

Courage & Conquest - $10 sold

Ancient China - 12 week unit study *awesome! - $10 sold

Story of the Word & Activity Book - $25 sold

5 Dover Colouring Books to accompany Story of the World - $10 (only one page coloured)

Language Arts

Lucy Calkins - Writing Workshop Guide and Launching the Writer's Workshop - $25

Favourite Poems - $10

Learning Language Through Literature

• The Red Book (teacher's manual + readers) - $20
• The Grey Book (teacher's manual, workbook - only first four lessons done, and 4 novels) - $30

Write Away - Writing Guide for Young Writers - $5 sold

19 Beginning Readers - $5 sold

 Spelling Power - age 8 to adult - $5 sold

Easy Grammar 5&6 - workbook and teacher's manual - $10 sold

Rodd and Staff

• grade 3 Beginning Wisely - teacher's manual and textbook - $15
• grade 6 Progressing with Courage - teacher's manual and textbook - $15

English for the Thoughtful Child - $10

Draw.Write.Now - $5

Progeny Press Novel Studies

• Minstrel in the Tower + Novel - $15
• Sword in the Tree + Novel - $15
• Mr. Popper's Penguins - $10\
• Indian in the Cupboard - $10
• The Sign of the Beaver - $10

Miscellaneous

What Your First Grader Needs to Know by ED Hirsch - $10

Top 100 Picks for Homeschool Curriculum - $10

Feed My Sheep Art Curriculum - I have 2, the first 65 lessons are completed but there are 260 lessons - $5 sold

Complete Canadian Grade 4 Curriculum workbook -some lessons done - $5

Kids' Study Bible - $5

Grade 7 Test Prep - $5

Now that my bookshelf is empty, it is time for me to make my wishlist. Thanks, everyone!