Look familiar

 

 

Today at Target I discovered my ID was not in my wallet.  So in a hunt for my birth certificate tonight I came across a couple baby pictures.  It's no secret that Olivia gets her big cheeks from me.   Took me like 17 years to grow into those babies.  Looks like I had a Mohawk too!

And you are wondering if I found my birth certificate?  Big no! It appears I have every other possible thing a person might somehow still be hanging onto:  college ID, old Iowa ID, college report cards, blood donation certificates, SIPS VIP card, binders of bills, Keith's list of 21 shots on his 21st birthday, which included a signature after each, more great college pictures, all sorts of wedding planning stuff - so you know anything a person might hang on to, except a birth certificate.

Oh - you are thinking I should use my passport.  That too expired in April 2012.  Crap!  

Olivia loves Dadda

I've said she's a daddy's girl and this proves it!  Now she officially has her daddy wrapped around her little finger.  Good luck Keith!

Reading is so much fun

Carter and Dylan have always loved reading books, but now they are starting to show much more interest in words, sounds and writing.  I've always noticed my friend, Jessica's son was extremely advanced in his reading and writing - I say advanced because he's not even five and he's been able to do both for sometime now.  Claire is just 2 and keeping up with her big brother!  I asked if she could share some of her tips / secrets and she wrote this great post and I wanted to share since there are lots of other moms who read this blog too!  Jess also does tons of really cool crafts and activities with her kiddos!  THANKS FOR SHARING JESSICA!!!

HERE IS WHAT SHE SHARED!  We already did the word / envelope game tonight.

So, I had a request to do a blog post about the activities I do with the kids to get them reading.  Sam has been cruising along with his reading and Claire is trying to join him by recognizing short words.  She has mastered all of her letters (upper and lowercase) so I am trying to move her on to short word recognition.  Not really sight words, but more common words (mom, dad, cat, dog).  Here are some of my favorite activities:

1.  Each month I try to do a themed piece on our wall in the kitchen.  For example, in November I did a turkey with feathers. Each of the feathers had a word or letter.  I give the kids baskets and tell them to pluck the word (we did apples where they pick the word). Doing it every morning really helped with the recognition.

2. We play a game where I lay out sight words and they throw a bean bag and try to land on the word.  If they hit it they sound it out and get to take the card.

3.  Sight word go fish.  This is regular Go Fish, but with pairs of sight words so Sam will ask me "Mom, do you have the word come?"

4. Sight word stamp out.  I list a bunch of the same words on a paper and they stamp with paint stamps the words when I say them.

6.  Once they start recognizing words I have the kids go through our  little animal magazines and highlight them.  So I will say "Highlight in yellow the word and when you see it!"

5. I also taped words on their train track and as they drive over them with the train they say them. Or I would say "Drive over the word go."

6.  I do mail center so there are pieces of paper hidden all over the house with words on them.  I have envelopes with the words on them too. They have to find the word that matches the envelope by searching and sounding them out.

7.  I made a mat for Claire with all capital letters on it and then small pieces with the lowercase.  We worked on matching them everyday.  She loved it and I think you could do it for sight words too.

8. I made a Candyland-style board where Sam received a sticker everytime he read a book all the way through.  He finished it and loved going to Target to get something.  He has a new one going now.

9. I let them pick out as many books as they want at the library and I love the BOB books apps on my phone for learning to spell. 

10.  When Sam started to recognize enough sight words I created tiny 6 page books with sentences like. We go too. I like me. He loved flipping through the tiny book and reading it to me.  I saved one and he was 3.5 when he did it.  So cute.

11.Sometimes I just flip through the flash cards and tell Sam it's a race to see who can get them the fastest.  I also taught him that two vowels make the first vowel say it's name, e at the end makes the vowel say it's name, and the ch, sh and th sounds.  I also told him about ing making the sound and er making the sound.  That helped him so much with sounding out words.

12.  His latest favorite is reading at night after we put him to bed with his head lamp.  That was Susie's idea.

13. We are doing a new schedule at our house now that is:
30 mins Chores
30 mins Active
30 mins Free Play
30 mins Write
30 mins Read.

They get to pick the order each day, but we do them all and it really helps getting them to focus on writing practice and reading.

So, I hope this was helpful.  Enjoy,

Sunday and a bit more!

OH how I LOVE Fridays, Saturdays and SUNDAYS!!!  Too bad they go by far too fast.  Today we seemed to stay busy all day!  

• To my surprise, we got up and going fast enough to make it to the early service.  (Some days I think getting 3 kids fed, dressed and into carseats deserves a medal!)  
• The boys participated in the kids church today - it was our first time.  I think they had fun from what I could get out of them.  
• Afterwards we went to Des Moines. I wanted to go to Buy Buy Baby.  I have a love / hate relationship with this store.  I just LOVE it compared to Babies R Us- so nice, clean, new - all kinds of cool products I haven't seen.  HATE their pricing, everything seems to be a bit more than I think it should be.  I don't mind paying a bit more for the nicer atmosphere - but really!  The carseat I was looking at was $50 more.  So "looking" was not "buying".  
• We were going to eat at Legends (free kids meals on Sundays), then decided to eat at Whole Foods instead.  That wen't OK.  
• Next stop...  Homemakers!  I know, I don't know why I do it to myself.  Turns out, everyone who has lots of kids goes to Homemakers on Sundays too.  I've been looking for another chair for our living room for - well, about 2  years now.  And still looking:(
• Dairy Queen - slushies for the boys, blizzards for us.  YUM!  Dylan and Carter both had the blue kind - then wanted to try each others and YES - one did spill in all the transferring. Nothing new, nothing major!
• When we got home the boys played outside and Olivia and I were buys inside!
• Then the boys got cold and came in.  
• I spent some time going through old kids clothes
• Keith and the boys were busy in the basement  - making a new fort - one for Olivia.  We decided to block off some space for her. 
• Then the rest of the night fun - dinner, showers (the boys are into taking their own right now), playtime, bedtime, me eat cereal, bath and now doing this but should be in bed!

I was in Chicago this week for work and so happy to make it home on Thursday.  Big talk of this massive snowstorm, but only about 5" dropped.  The boys had really good weeks at school so I took them uptown for ice cream.  

She loves watching the bath water.

Keith was one of the most popular kids at the party!

nothing new here.

Going sledding 

story of my life - pulled this glove out of my pocket today.  Nice!

It's that kind of week

I feel like the last couple weeks have been so darn chaotic and little miss o continues to keep newborn hours. So that equals a grumpy Jessica and a grumpy Keith!!!! Plus we have been Installing the not so easy track system. It's been happening 3+ wks and we continue to hit roadblocks (I know really it is just a freakin closet) and I don't see it being completed any time soon.

Ill try to do a better post later.

She is all in their business

Happy Valentine's Day!

I think we have been working on Valentines things for about a week now!  Sunday we started our boxes, first time having to do these.  Finally they both told me what they wanted - then it was time to creative / ghetto with some felt!  They may not be super fancy, but they loved them!

Yikes!  Note to self, if your kids are going to write the cards, get really big ones!  They would be like three letters in of a friends name and out of room.  So they each did about five and I did the rest- and by rest, like 48!  And in true Bormann fashion, we had a bit of a miscount that we figured out on suckers. So some friends got raisins, fruit snacks for others and teddy grahams too.  Good thing I bough that pack of teddy grahams.

The boys had a blast with the ones they got from friends. Super impressed by the tattoos- Carter even put on the barbie and the princess.  Quickly realized that was a bad idea and told me Eva should have brought boy valentines and girl ones.  Not sure if that is even who it was from!

Here they are!!!  Dylan's a pizza, Carters is Venus.  Most people would probably guess Mars, but Carter insisted Venus is red.  And at 750 degrees, it might be.  They were quite funny talking about these tonight. Keith was asking Carter about all their friends and who's his favorite was. Well, his was his first favorite.  And your second favorite?  Dylan's!  And your third favorite, uh - I don't have a third favorite.

Then I ask him if his friends thought it was cool and he said no.  A couple of the teachers said it was.  Then he was like - well, Venus is white and yellow and brown and the red is the volcanoes so then asked me all the colors of felt we had, so I think we will be adding more felt to this baby:)  Whatever makes him happy!  I was sorta thinking it would be on its way to the trash - but why not add glitter, right!  Then it can stay with us forever.  

 

Their presents!  

 

 

 

A couple more 7 month updates

I forgot to mention this little lady finally got two teeth!  the bottom two and it was not pleasant.  I think she has a couple more working their way up as well!

She has also hit that stage of difficult to dress and change diapers!  The minute you take off a diaper, she wants to roll and take off.

Also- she is very aware of where we are and sometimes freaks out just a bit when she can't see one of us - especially dad!

 

Silly things

Did you know we have this huge couch and they ALWAYS sit within inches of each other - this picture is actually pretty far apart.  Fine with me until they fight.

Carter has been coming up with the funnies things lately - here are a few....

• Me:  Carter you did a really job climbing that ladder tonight.  Carter:  Mom, it was a rope.  You must have remembered that wrong.  Children aren't allowed to climb ladders.  
• Carter and Dylan now have a pet store and toy store.  Carter: Mom, you want me to get you a toy from my store.  Me:  I would love one!  Carter:  I'll find you a boring toy because girls like boring toys.  
• Dylan was working on a fresh order of dinosaur food for Keith and I asked if he sold birds - yeah, it's a pet store.  
• Mom, I have a mint for you, I didn't even put it in my mouth.  
• On Friday he said, mom can you have another baby so I can name it Olivia Island.  Me:  you want me to have another baby?  Yeah, a boy.  So I can name him Olivia Island, so on Sunday can you just go to the hospital and have the doctor cut your big cut and have a baby.  Grandma Susie will have to come since you will be at the hospital for a while.  Me:  well, don't you think I would have to have a baby in my tummy first.  Carter:  Oh - you can just go up to heaven, have a  God put a baby in your tummy and the angels will fly you back down.  Me: I'm not sure if we should have another baby.  I know somebody who is having a baby boy, how about Aunt Sarah's baby can be Olivia Island.  Oh OK, let's do that. Mom call Sarah.  

I swear - never a dull moment around here.  They come up with the most random crap, I can't even keep track of it anymore.

7 months!

A couple weeks late, but much to report on miss Olivia.  Look how big my baby is getting.  Here is a bit of what has been happening.

• She doesn't seem to be slowing down, I now by 12+ month clothes for her.  I have several summer items I bought on sale that I have a feeling may not fit come summer. 
• Last time we were at the doctor, she was almost 21 pounds - which means this lady is so ready to switch her out of her carrier car seat.  I can barely get this girl in and out of stores.  Keith wants to wait until no coat weather, but a couple more pounds and I am out.
• She loves her food!  When she really likes something she laughs in between bites.  She so desperately wants to eat what you eat, she watches every bite go into your mouth with her jaw dropped and these sad little eyes wondering where hers is!  You would think we don't feed her!
• She is crawling!  She started a few weeks ago - I thought for sure the turkey sandwich I was eating would get her going.  She doesn't crawl all over like crazy yet - but if she sees something she wants, she will go straight to it- a bit slow, but focused and steady. She's starting to pull herself up onto things now too.  
• On Sunday we officially moved her to her bed!  Since she was keeping newborn hours, we decided enough is enough and it was time!  Plus I think her bed really is much more comfortable than the pack and play.  The first night was a bit rough, but getting better.  
• Like I always say, she is still the sweetest little girl.  Tonight I wish i had my camera as she pulled her naked self up to the bathtub to watch it fill.  She was so impressed by it and kept smiling looking at it, then two different times she would put her arm around my shoulder to pull me in and look too.  It was so darn sweet.  
• Have I mentioned that at some point in the past couple weeks she turned into a Daddy's girl.  BIG TIME!!!!  She cries all the time when he isn't around, but it's pretty darn cute (except when it is mommy she is ditching for daddy).  Our friend Autumn was holding her, she started to fuss for Keith, he grabs her, then she gives Autumn this big, I'm with my dad smile.  It really is pretty cute.  
• Sometimes I swear she has a word or two, but nothing consistent.  Probably be hearing Daddy pretty soon. 
• She is pretty darn funny whenever we take her places.  If you are with her at the doctors, she will sit and stare at every person until they start to talk to her.  Then she will look away, then make her way back at them to get their attention.  
• She still loves her big brothers, I think they have been a bit less impressed by her mobility and her interrupting their story time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tried the Pinterest Bubble Pizza

I would recommend giving it a try.  It is fun to do with kids since they can easily through the dough into the pan.  Make sure your pan is greased really well.  I did spray ours, but the pizza sauce burnt onto the pan a bit.
Unfortunately, my kids didn't eat it.  But that's the way most foods go at our house! Yes, even pizza fails sometimes.

Here he goes again

Can you guess what Carter's valentine box for school is??? Venus!  Which I'm actually surprised he picked that one since he rarely talks about it. At least I didn't have to deal with adding rings.  However, I'm certain a few pipecleaners could have done the job.   Anyway, it is one impressive ball of red felt.  Pictures to come, we still have to glitz it up a bit.  It's pretty ridiculous to be honest, but he really likes it!  Now all we need to do is add duct tape and it would be super fabulous.  All the kids are probably going to have super awesome boxes and here we will be with our felt pizza and felt Venus.  At least they like them!

A couple blogs to check out

When we moved back two Iowa about two years ago, I worked at Innova Ideas and Services.  My favorite thing about working there was being surrounded by so many great people!  Many were fellow Iowa-staters and several had little ones as well!  Two have been blogging on very passionate topics - so I wanted to share.  

If you ever thought you couldn't find it within yourself to lose weight, check out Ben's blog for his amazing story.  He has lost well over 100 lbs since I first met him and he recently started writing about his journey!  

Click here for Ben's blog.

Another one is totally different from your typical mommy blog that you will find on my site.  Ivy is passionate about makeup and writes all kinds of tips, and even does picture tutorials.  I thought many of  you might enjoy one of her latest posts about drug store makeup vs. high-brand makeup.  Check it out!  

Click here for Ivy's blog.

And since I am sharing fun Innova people, thought I should share this video since we watched it weekly.  A bit ridiculous.  You won't get this song out of your mind all day....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4T9CQA0UM

Feel free to post any other cool blogs in the comments!  I'm always looking for a new one to read!