32!

Today I am 32!  :)  In honor of ME, I'm sharing 32 fun facts about myself:

1 - Growing up, I always wanted "3 girls and a boy" and maybe more.  I love my family and am thrilled that I got my wish!

2 - After we were married, Ross and I lived in Northern Ireland for a year.

3 - My husband is a film producer.  I'm so proud of him!  He went back to school four years ago at age 29 with a young family at home.  He worked extremely hard and really enjoys the job that he has today.

4 - I always wanted to be a ballerina.  I took lessons off and on when I could and in college I even got to dance on pointe for a semester.

5 - I don't really have a bucket list, but one thing I've always wanted to do is to sew a quilt.  Maybe this winter?

6 - I'm addicted to Mommy Necklaces.  I have quite a few of them, they are my "fun" thing.  I don't buy shoes or purses or coffee... MNs are my indulgence of choice.  :)

7 - When I first got married, I had no idea how to cook.  I burned a pan trying to boil water and served mainly spaghetti and cream of chicken soup meals.

8 - I've since learned to cook, however I did set the kitchen on fire once a few years ago.  The smoke damage was so bad that we had to live with my in laws for a couple of weeks while the house was restored.

9 - I've been blogging regularly for three and a half years now.  Its hard to find time lately, but  its something I really enjoy and plan to continue.

10 - I enjoy browsing Amazon, reading reviews on items that I am interested in, and finding new things to add to my never ending wishlist.

11 - I have a big stack of books that I own and intend to read... someday.

Wow, 32 is a lot.  Maybe I'm not that interesting a person?  lol  Lets see...

12 - My birthday is sometimes on the first day of fall.  I LOVE the weather on my birthday.

13 - My favorite foods are strawberries and mashed potatoes, but not together.

14 - I don't like chocolate much.  Ok, chocolate on a cookie is delicious, but chocolate ice cream or fudge, blech!

15 - My favorite color is pink.

16 - I was homeschooled.  (and loved it!  I have so many fun memories of learning with my mom and brother.)

17 - Most days my hair is in a ponytail.

18 - I rarely wear make-up.  I put some on Lucy for her ballet recital this spring and she said "Mom!  I didn't even know you had make-up!"

19 - When I was growing up my mom let us have just about any pet we wanted.  If we got books from the library and learned how to take care of it, we could have it.  (ducks, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, lizards, snakes, crickets, parakeets, we had all kinds of things as pets)

20 - Yes, I once had a pet cricket that I kept in my room in his own little cage.

21 - I do not like swimming in lakes because you can't see the big fish under the water who might come up and chomp your toes.

22 - I like math.  I once proved the quadratic equation by myself, before anyone showed me how.  I can't remember it all now though!

23 - I speak a little bit of Spanish.  I wish I could speak it fluently!

24 - I know some sign language and am teaching it to my girls as part of their schoolwork.

Are you sick of random facts about me yet? Sheesh....

25 - I have had two of my children at home!  Its not something I ever really thought I would do.

26 - People sometimes mistake me as being Hispanic.  I'm not.  The nurse at the hospital when I was having Lucy had even written something on my chart about it before I told her I wasn't.  People will start speaking to me in Spanish... its kind of funny.

27 - My great-great-grandparents came over on a boat from Sweden.  Other than that, I'm a mix of English, French, Irish, etc.

28 - We have a chocolate lab, named Leia.

29 - Ross has already purchased Star Wars Legos for our six month old son.

30 - I grew up in TX, but always missed the snow.  (I was born in IL and have family there.)

Ahhh, umm.... hmm...

31- I love the seasons - apple picking in fall, cutting down a Christmas tree in the winter, seeing tulips come up in the spring - love it!

32 - I'm 5' 5 1/2" and my mom is 5' 6".  I'm 1/2" shorter than her, no matter how hard I try.

Phew, there you go!  All the random things you never always wanted to know about me.
Happy Birthday, me!

(#33 - I do not like having my picture taken and therefore could not find a good photo of myself to put with this post.  I'll have to fix that soon, my babies need photos with their mama!)

Esther's Alphabet Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

Safari Toobs Review and Giveaway

Our continent boxes are coming together nicely.  I'm so excited about the idea of making our learning about other cultures as hands on as possible.  I have a plastic shoebox for each continent and we are collecting money, postcards, and more from each continent.  These animals are a great addition to our boxes.

Safari Ltd actually sent us four Toobs to get started with!  The Land Down Under and Coral Reef, (for our Australia box), Penguins (Antarctica), and Wild (Africa).  The girls had a blast opening them up and looking through them all.  The mom and baby koala and kangaroo were favorites of course.  They are adorable:

The Land Down Under:

Penguins:

Coral Reef:

Wild:

Each Toob contains 10-12 different figures, each with their name printed on their underside.  In this photo, I think I am being attacked by an alligator:

We've already purchased several more sets to use when we study different continents.  I used 40% off coupons to get them at Michael's and Hobby Lobby.  I like that these are tested to strict European standards and are phthalate free.  I can see us collecting animals for the sandbox, to create a farm scene with, and more...

Would you like to win a Safari Ltd Toob?  Check out their website and leave a comment letting me know which Toob you like best.  I'll choose a winner sometime on Wednesday the 19th to receive the Toob they chose.  Be sure to include an email address so I can contact a winner.  If you follow or subscribe to my blog in some way, go ahead and leave a second comment for another entry.  :)

Thanks Safari Ltd!  *Closed, congrats Katy!*

September Stork Stack

Here is our Stork Stack for September:

Tickle Time by Sandra Boynton

Melissa and Doug linking monkey toy

Baberoo organic cotton socks

Baby Paper

Joe Jacket beverage wrap

Its always so much fun to open a Stork Stack and discover the contents!  This month Isaac's favorite is the Baby Paper.  I don't like him sucking on it because I'm not sure what is in it, but its sooo funny to watch him dive for it and crinkle it up.  The Joe Jacket is super cool and will be fun to put on my water bottle.  I think I'm going to save the Tickle Time book for when Esther needs a special treat some day.

We've enjoyed receiving Stork Stacks and think they would make a fun gift for yourself or someone else.  :)  Thanks Stork Stack!

September Update

Oh... hello there, blog!

We just finished up our third week of school.  All four children are fed, clothed, alive, and mostly happy.  The dishes are tamed to a small mountain.  And that my friends, is my big accomplishment in life right now.

School:
We are doing about 90% of the schoolwork so far.  We still need to add in a few things, but the routine is taking shape.  Rosetta Stone Spanish is not installed on my computer yet, I'm working on Lucy's reading curriculum, and there are a few other odds and ends we will add eventually.  (cursive, more art, etc)  Its been nice to start early enough that I feel like we can ease into things and take breaks later this fall when we need to.  The girls really enjoy the busy mornings.

Food:
Lucy and I are still mostly gluten and dairy free.  Actually I am soy free now too.  Once I had everything else cut out, it was very obvious that soy bothers Isaac.  We experimented with adding a bit of gluten to our diets, but are taking that slowly.  At times I get frustrated with our limited diet, but we've kept it up, which is more than I thought I would be able to do.  I have found a few great recipes that we enjoy.

Little Ones:
Isaac is almost six months old!  He's a happy little guy... as long as someone is holding him.  Lucy and Julia are great about sitting with him or singing songs to him when he gets crabby and I'm in the middle of cooking dinner, changing a diaper, etc.  Sometimes four kids seems overwhelming, but just as often I am amazed at how precious each one of them is.

.. and with that, I'm about out of time.  A precious little someone needs to be nursed back to sleep.  Goodnight!