Bliss...

Oh yes, this is what bliss looks like...

PS for more pictures and info on everything else, see my other blog... and we'll be back to more regular homeschooling stuff next week... or sometime soon after that. ;)

Elliott Boyz all PLACE at Section Wrestling

Wow talk about ending the season on a HIGH! The boyz all had an amazing finish to the season. Tabor placed 6Th (only wrestling 30 matches his entire career). Tanner finished 5Th having the most pins for the weekend and season. Dalton finished 6Th as an 8Th grader in section 4a. So we have some more hardware for the fireplace! Now the race is on to see who can gain the most weight by the wrestling banquet. The boys have made plans to go to eat at the "OLD COUNTY BUFFET" and clean them out. Well only a couple weeks off then its on to the next sport. Tanner starts track on the 14Th. ( yes he wants to run) Tabor and Dalton will then start baseball on the 21st. The first indoor track meet is on March 22nd and the first baseball game is April 7th.

18 year old!

Wow this past Monday Tabor turned 18. Yikes that means Mom & Dad are getting OLD! Tabor is getting ready to leave the nest and be done with High School.

We all know Bubba's passion is football but late in the season he is having some big success with wrestling. This senior is in his first full year of wrestling and is seeded at #4 in the section. Tonight the Raiders travel to St. James for a two day brawl to see who is going to state. Both younger brothers are both seeded @ 6Th. Check out knuj.net for wrestling updates tonight.

"Getting ready for baby" reading basket

Lately there has been a lot of prep for the new baby. And most of that has come in the form of talking with Logan about it. Here is a story that I wrote for the other blog that really touched my heart: Taking care of my now littlest before my future littlest gets here

In the reading basket right now is a whole bunch of books about bringing home a new baby. I wanted to list them for anyone else who has a toddler and is getting ready for a new babe. :)

Sam's New Baby from Abingdon Press

A Christan view on a older child (school age) that is getting a new baby sister. Very cute story and beautiful watercolor drawings. It talks a lot about how each child is different and special.

Biscuit and the Baby by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

A cute 'I Can Read' story about Biscuit the puppy and how he wants to meet the new baby in the house. This book features a big sister who is 'helping' Biscuit to wait until the baby wakes up before he gets to meet and smell him.

Froggy's Baby Sister by Jonathan London

Logan's favorite for the last week, this story is about how Froggy gets a new sister but she doesn't have legs yet and so he isn't able to really help. When she finally grows legs he teaches her the basics of being a frog (ie: eating flies). Logan really loved the idea of baby frogs getting 'fly mush' in a bottle. lol!

A Baby Sister for Frances by Russell Hoban

Frances has a new baby sister and she is not sure about all the changes. No one pays much attention to her... at least that is the way it seems to Frances. So she decides to run away to under the kitchen table and her parents have purposeful dialog about how everyone in the house needs Frances... even the baby. (At first the 'running away' portion bothered me, but Logan really related to the story.)

The Barenstain Bears: New Baby

This one really touched just on what we have been dealing with. Brother Bear grew out of his baby bed just in time for his new baby sister! Considering it was only two weeks ago that we got Logan his twin sized bed, Logan not only loved this book but was able to have some great conversations about growing up and getting bigger. A very cute and highly recommended book!

And my two favorites:

There's Going to be a Baby by John Burningham & Helen Oxenbury

An adorable book about a brother who is getting a new sibling. The brother is probably just about 4 years old. The drawings are incredible watercolors and there is a beautiful back and forth dialog between the mama and the little boy about what the baby may be when he grows up. There are also questions lingering like "Do we have to have a baby?" that come in during the time she is pregnant and they are very open ended, so may be very wonderful points of conversation for children who are thinking the same things, but may not know how to ask.

What Baby Needs by Dr Sears

My personal favorite so far. This book is perfectly suited to my family due to it's natural take on birth (which it doesn't go into detail), breastfeeding, co sleeping, baby wearing etc. It explains beautifully about how the baby needs to be next to the mama "just like you were" for a long time and it may seem like you never get alone time with mama anymore, but soon enough, the baby will be big enough to play with you and your mama will be able to take time to be with just you too. Wonderfully done with nice illustrations, this book may just be my standard baby shower gift for anyone with a older sibling. :)

A lot of catching up to do...

Hey guys... this blog has been put on the back burner for the last two months.

Just in case someone stumbles upon this and doesn't know, I consistently write on my other blog Collecting the Moments... one by one, and that one has been updated more frequently than this.

We are still doing school in a very basic sense. Currently I am a day overdue with our latest babe and feeling very overdone. It is hard to be enthusiastic about homeschooling when you can hardly change the laundry. The kids are weathering it well, even if many of their lessons come from Brain Pop and worksheets found online. :P

History class has started up again without me... My dear friends have been nice enough to allow Cyan to continue even though I am not participating. They say they consider it Maternity Leave. And thank goodness... because I doubt I would actually finish anything I start at the moment.

Preparations for the baby are in the works and Logan and the baby's room has taken on a beautiful turn. I have been waiting for a few finishing touches to take pictures and post them... but I am pretty thrilled with the outcome. It is quite the change! It's amazing what wood floors and curtains can do.

I will try to keep this more updated... as I realized the last post I had was for advent. lol! It will be much easier once I have this baby and things start ticking along as normal again.

Valentine's Day Wishes

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

A couple more matches left for the season. The Boyz are at the U enjoying the Gophers vs Penn State. Close dual ended in a tie 18 each.

Boys will be BOYZ!

We can't just have a quiet day at home. No let's put the neighbor boy on Dad's ski's and launch him off the snow bank. Well at least Pete got in a good run in the snow today. Glad to report no injuries! I guess their sides hurt from laughing.

Valley Conference Tourney

Our wrestling season is coming to a end. Yesterday the Raiders traveled to Sherburn ( almost in Iowa) for the Valley Conference Wrestling Tourney. All the Raider boyz had a good showing.

Tanner was back on the mat for the first time in over two weeks. Unfortunately( for the other guy) he faced the same wrestler from Maple River that hurt his elbow. That poor sole won the match but left with a smashed nose, missing two front teeth from the last time they meet and now will have to wrestle with a mask. On the bright side Tanner's elbow feels good so he's back full time.

It is truly so much fun to watch Tabor wrestle! He has only been wrestling for a year and wow has he improved. But he makes us all laugh when he knows he's going to win he smiles and waves to the camera! He's having fun too but can't weight( he's lost 35 lbs from the end of fb) to start getting ready for football. He signed his letter of intent with Ridgewater and is now an official "Warrior".

Then we have Dalton, those of you who haven't seen him in a while will be surprised to see how TALL this kid has gotten! I hope he grows into those LONG arms. As an 8Th grader he pull out some big wins and too 3rd place in the conference with only one loss. He came home with some nice hardware to hang on the fireplace along with a black eye.

The Raiders travel to LCWM on Thursday for our last team dual for sections and then its individuals on the 25Th in St.James for a chance to head to STATE. I sure hope this warm weather continues. Darin is off to Texas next week for work.

Whew! what a wild week and then the weather?

Okay you would think with all the snow days we have had lately we would have found time to update the blog. UMMM NOPE

This week the boyz have missed two day of school due to another storm. Let's just stay away from that subject cuz it makes everyone crabby!

Tabor had the honor of being elected to the snow court. As you can see in the photo's he's trilled(not so much plus he had to attend the dance)

Everyone is doing really well in wrestling! Tanner had some bad luck and hurt his elbow so he is out of a couple of weeks until he gets healed up. (another subject that makes everyone upset) For those of you who know wrestling Dalton has mastered the spellable. I hope to get a video of it tonight when we travel to St.Clair for a wrestling dual.

We are so looking forward to having a free weekend with nothing planned. Okay the only plan is for the boyz to blow more snow and haul more firewood. How many days till SPRING?