ShakeOlogy with ShakeOmama Crystal

Well a friend of mine had been asking me if I wanted to try shakeology and get a beachbody. LOL Who doesn't want a body to feel comfortable in at the beach?!   Well, I was expecting my fifth baby so did not want to try anything new.
After I had Tessa

Tessa, my little Valentine

Well, a few months after I had her I joined a WATER challenge. With the beachbody group. A challenge to drink one gallon of water a day!  I usually drink lots of water but had been slacking... Doing this fun Free challenge got me motivated to do more...

But, I was not yet ready to spend SO much money on a SHAKE!!!! I am not Cheap, I am frugal... I think!! :)

I had not had a battery in my scale, I priced one out and it was almost the same price as a new scale. Got a new one at walgreens for $9.00.... frugal? 

WOW! The baby weight that normally sheds itself was not nearly as gone as I thought it would have been!  Uhoh! So I did want to do something Different to lose weight. By different I mean, I actually needed to DO something... maybe in my age my metabolism is slowing down, or just because baby weight from 1,2,3, and 4 would not come off on its own with number 5.

I decided to just give the 5 Day shake Sampler pack a try.  For Monday I had the shake for lunch. That was my lunch.  Bad idea. Since I am used to eating LUNCH. So Tuesday I decided to replace my Breakfast with a shake! Since, I rarely eat breakfast... I had my coffee and then my shake. Then ate as usual. Except I WAS NOT CRAVING sweets!

My husband brought home a cheese cake on Wednesday! I was like 'why did you buy this' I am on This Shake thing!!!!  Anytime I see cheesecake, or cookies, or bake with the kids everything is GONE! Gone because I ate it all!  But, not this time.  The cheesecake actually sat in the fridge for a full day. Then I had one small slice, since my husband got it for me and I do enjoy cheese cake, it was good. I did not go back for seconds. I ate ONE slice and no more. 

This was very different for me as I usually devour sweets.  

Well after that 5 days of shakeology I lost 7 pounds. All I did was replace ONE meal with a shake.

NOW I have signed up as a Beachbody coach. FOR the discount.... but I am so excited about it I want to tell people about it and hope they will feel the same way I did!  Hope to 'track' my 21 day journey! 

This is my second day TODAY!  Now I am doing a 30 minute workout in the morning along with my shake and using the beachbody eating suggestions... I am not measuring to a T yet, but starting out slowly... I want this to be a Lifestyle change for me and not just some quick change that only lasts for a few days on a month.  ALSO, I am still nursing so that is calories gone as well, I feel safe drinking this shake and I know it is healthy!  I am doing the work outs at a MODIFIED, modified version since I am recovering from a back injury.

Cant wait to post more blogs about this!  If you are interested go to .....My Beachbody Site

Classical Conversations Cycle 3

We are on week 6 for Cycle 3. This is our first year doing Classical Conversations.  We have tried out two communities and really liked one in our area.  We may join a community next year.  Before making that big commitment I decided to give the curriculum a try for a year.  I am quite frugal, so I purchased a 3rd edition book (4th is what is currently used) I got it for half the price from Amazon. I did purchase the CD's for cycle 3.  Huge Help!  I really like them as I can play them in the mornings, for the Week review of all subjects and I bring them with us if we are driving on a school day.  I like to use the 'subject' CD to review the work on that specific subject day.
While we did not join a CC community, we did join a co-op in our area which gives the kids a chance to 'go' to school and have different 'fun' classes one day a week.
So far I really like CC, I am learning with my kids and so is hubby.  I bought large index cards and write out the subject reviews and put them up on the board. I made pockets by cutting document protectors in half.  I can take them out and hand them to my daughter while she copies the memory sentences.  If I want her to do them in cursive, I write them out again for her so she has a cursive example.
Monday is History Day and I try to incorporate a Five In A Row (FIAR) book that corresponds to the history portion.  Tuesday is Geography day plus Latin and English review.  Wednesday is Art. Thursday is Co-Op Day.  Friday is Science and Science Activity Day.  I try to do Presentations on Fridays as well.
We also do Reading and Math U See Daily.  Rosetta Stone Spanish once a week.  Bible Quiz twice a week and AWANA review weekly.
I find that it is Easier to keep a Routine than a Strict Schedule.
I think we are having fun so far! All of my kids are learning a lot and having fun doing it.

Trip to Clemson

Update on us..

Once in a blue moon... (feels like that is how long it has been since I have blogged; that is...)

Hannah is doing great. Done with Kindergarten, although we are schooling year round so doing a few more days and will take a break in August then to 1st grade. Hannah is amazing, so sweet, smart, and loves to sing. Asks amazing questions and contemplates things I would have never thought of like, "God, is not in space, because He created the space" wow, you are right, like the one time she corrected me when I said we live ON earth and she corrected me saying we live IN earth since the air was above us. hmmm....  My little girl lost her first tooth this month July 2013. She woke up to find a bunch of glitter and a $5.00 bill under her pillow.  Hannah is reading, doing great with math, she enjoys math more than reading, so we are opposites in that aspect...

Sarah, my little girl will be officially in Pre-School. She is doing well with counting and does her ABC's perfectly when she is distracted.... when she is giving her full attention she stumbles a bit.  She is so brilliant and a wonderful helper. Loves checking the mail, folding clothes, putting away dishes, cleaning and setting the table.  She looks so adorable in her new short hair cut, as does Hannah; both these girls love holding their baby sister!

Brian Jr.  I am so happy he is so full of life and energetic.  He loves to explore and is certainly persistent.  He has my smile, some days he loves to cuddle and asks me to hold him. I do.  I want to hold him because my kids are growing so fast. I need to appreciate those moments.  Brian loves 'cars' and now super heroes. Sometimes he is spider man but lately his favorite is Hulk! He is a great actor and can memorize a lot of stuff! Does a great rendition of the Geiko gecko.

Bella, just turned 9 months!  She crawls so fast, pulls herself up on everything. Loves to eat so many foods. Not sure she has a favorite yet.  She loves to sleep  with someone holding her... she is cradled in my lap right now as I type. :) She will get hair later, but her two little bottom teeth and blue eyes make up for that. She is so happy, such a happy baby!  She looked at her dad this morning as said, Dada! She had been making mama dada and bu bu sounds and finally is putting the words to the 'object' or person. What  a smart little girl, but all my kids are smart! :)

My hubby is doing great!  We moved to South Carolina for a job opportunity, I am so proud of him for being so diligent in his work, any company is blessed to have him as an employee.  Serious, he is a hard worker! So thankful that I have a husband who works hard for me and his kids.  I love being able to stay at home, thank you Brian Sr. I love you! :)

Well, we are here in South Carolina now and I do love it here.  It is nice being so close to family, it is different as we have never had that opportunity before, but we really love it!  In the best two years we moved from Colorado Springs to two suburbs of Denver and now to S.C.  I decided to jump right in and find friends, church, support, etc.... no use in waiting a few months to get settled in.  Essentially we are the same family with the same furniture in a different location, the saying ' home is where your heart' is truly is right, my family is my heart and no matter what physical location we happen to be in is just an after thought.

Brian and Crystal

Thank you God for many blessings.  Those prayers You answer before we ask, those silly little prayers that you answer, even though they are minuscule but nothing is too big, nor too small for you God.  Thank you for my family!

Our four little ones on Fathers Day 2013

A Pair of Red Clogs - FIAR (3rd week)

Travel to Japan!

1st Day ART.

Girls painted their GLOGS made out of cardboard and ribbon thongs.

 

Japanese writing is a form of 'art' too..  Japanese have two alphabet systems... Girls got to color their names in English and both Japanese Alphabets.....

 

2nd Day Social Studies

 Locate Japan; what is an island...

Flag, what do they wear, or what 'did' they wear?

colored different 'cultural' things, watched video clips.... 

 

3rd Day:  Math and Science!

 

For science we learned about weather.  We had a cool weather book... we played the Weather Clog game in the book, with the clog slippers the girls made... but we also touched on Japanese culture and made a 'wind sock carp' that is made for one of the many Festivals Japan has....

Made, painted and used the wind sock outside.... Weather! 

 

 

MATH... We read what shoes were at the store and colored them accordingly.... ALSO made a shopping list and went to the store, wrote the prices for their Sweet Sushi....  Girls also 'played' Store... picked items around the house and had pennies for money.

 

Friday!  Extra review day and FUN

We went shopping at Target for recipe items and took a trip to an Oriental Market, saw lots of items described in the story... different experience.

Came home to dress up and eat like Japanese do in the village!

 

Sweet Sushi, fruit roll ups, rice crispy treat, gummy fish.... :)  fun.

;sweet; treats... um, don't think so... Hannah said, "write that we tried it and it was gross" That pyramid is a 'rice cake' ... memories of Ping... eww... will stick to American Desserts....

Madeline - FIAR (2nd week)

Madeline was in Paris, France!

1st Day ART.

Architecture is ART, lets build the Eiffel Tower!

Yummy vanilla cookies with cherry frosting.

Monochromatic art, same as the Illustrator did. (One Color)

Brian did his tower as well!

Second Day Social Studies: 

Where is France, Flag, etc... video clips....

Worksheet about Madeline in the hospital, visiting hours, and the routine the girls had...

 

Hannah and Sarah both discussed how the girls treated Madeline while sick,

how we can help others when they are sick; social skills.....

Day 3, Science and Math!

Madeline had her appendix removed. We went over the digestive system

and located the Appendix. 

Math, each girl made the two lines the girls walked in.

I purposely gave Hannah 'extra' little girls to work on subtraction as well...

Count by 2's lots of math play on this little project. 

Madeline at a glance....

I hang all the work up on the walls. During the weekend I take it all down and staple

it together to file in the folder!  Clean slate for the next week.

FRIDAY, our extra day to Review, do fun things we did not get a chance to do...

YES!!!!!  French Crepes!!!! So yummy!!!!!!

 

After we do four weeks of FIAR, we will do a week of Review and touch more on

each subject per day, then the big Exam!!!!  So, we will get into the habit of 4 weeks of FIAR, then one week of full review and exam.  I will use our book 'what every Kindergartner needs to know' and 'what every 1st grader needs to know' during the 'review' week I will pull useful projects from each subject in order to review what we have learned.

 

 

Ping - FIAR (1st week)

We read the book: PING for our first week.  First day was ART!!!!

Brian with his _uck Duck....

Hannah using 'colored pencils' as did the book.... showing movement..... and reflection

Sarah adding 'ripples' to the water and boat 'movement'..... Traced the word DUCK.

SECOND Day Social Studies/ Geography/ ETC...

Kids made the Chinese flag, watched some video clips on China.  Located the Country on our Globe.

Ping lived on the Yangtze river! Found that on the map... girls painted the river, Hannah even added the 'Great Wall' on her water color!

Third Day Math and Science!!!

Counted the Pings large family and did a Science Experiment!

 

Some PING work at a Glance!

 

We had a lot of fun doing this study.  Was sad for it to end, but on to the next book!  Also enjoyed eating Chinese food, noodles... later we found some Chinese Rice Cakes, ones that lead Ping into a trap.  The rice cakes did not taste at all like 'cake' :)  could have done without those.  This is just a little of what we did, we had a blast!

 

FIAR - Five in a Row

We are using FIAR = Five in a Row Curriculum by Jane Claire Lambert. 

We are supposed to do it Five Days in a Row, hence the name, but for our schedule I chose to combine subjects and do 3 to 4 days a week.  

Monday: Literature/Language Arts and ART! (this day is also our Library Story time with crafts)

Tuesday: Social Studies; culture, history, geography.

Wednesday: Math and Science (we also do Math everyday from workbook and math u see)

Thursday: N/A   This is my day to do house chores, since Hannah goes to a homeschool Options program through the public school. 

Friday: We make up anything we have missed and Review!  Plus they do a page of each subject from their workbook.

 

Extra work that we do every day is our Morning/Learning Board, after FIAR we do math, reading lessons, journal sounds/writing... then either 'music' or 'spanish' depending on the day.

 

I like going to the Library on Monday, since I can pick up any of the necessary books that I need to go along with our reading.

 

FIAR has a selection of children's books and you read one book every day for the week!  I just started having 'Daddy' read the book of the week EVERY Sunday Night.  So, the kids get 'prepared' for the week AND, Daddy gets to know what they are going to be working on!

Chicka Chicka Boom BOOM

This is a very fun book.  At the Library we get it with the read along / sing along CD.  The kids made their own coconut tree, then drew the Alphabets climbing the tree.  Hannah did her letters on her own as a 5 year old, Sarah is 3 so she traced the letters that mommy did, and 20 mth old Brian scribbled a bit...  Same project at different levels!  fun!!!

Story Time at the Library

Well, Hannah and Sarah have been enjoying story time for quite a few months now!  They have completed their 3rd year of Summer Reading Programs!  I am so proud of them!  They really like looking at books and listening when the librarian or mommy and daddy read to them.  They go to the story time for 3 - 5 year olds.  They always do a fun craft after as well!

As for little Brian... that is another story.  For the past two months I have been taking him to the toddler time, but it has not worked out.  He just can't sit still and wants to run around and play. They just made it into the baby/toddler time!  We tried again, but still he just wants to run around the room and touch everything! I was getting embarrassed, frustrated and about to give up...  But, Today we tried again!  IT Went GREAT TODAY!   I am so proud of him!
Here is what I did.  I borrowed a stuffed toy from the library and brought in two board books.  I kept him strapped in his stroller!  He was fine sitting in his stroller, he sang along, listened to the book and loved shaking the little maracas provided by the librarian for singing time!  At the end I had the stuffed animal and let him out of the stroller to go get his participation sticker. Then all the kids can sit and read the provided board books. Brian passed a few books out to the mommies!  After he sat and read for a while I put him back in the stroller and gave him the two board books I brought in the room.  I was able to put back the stuffed animal w/out him noticing!   I was so happy I almost cried!  No kidding!  I was really upset at how the past tries had gone and was AMAZED at how well he did today!  Hope he keeps up the good work!  All from 16mths to 20mths.... try, try, try again! :)

Update on the Kiddos

Bellah (26 weeks in belly)  She is finally moving a lot more to where everyone can feel her. The girls love it... Brian Jr is adjusting.... we have all the baby clothes and such but will get a new infant car seat for her and some other things. 

Brian Jr (20 mths old) is just full of so much energy, it must be a boy thing.  He loves to imitate Puss from the movie Puss n Boots and says' you break me' or something like that, him and his Daddy do it back and forth it is really cute.  He is always on the go and talking so much. He enjoys running, climbing, low crawling and taking naps in the pool.

Sarah (3 yrs 7 mths) is doing very well and learning how to pronounce some letters that are a little difficult for her, but she is talking so much and has a great personality.  I did not realize she would be my little beauty queen, she is great w/ makeup and dress up.  She loves her brother and sister and loves to play with them and insists on getting them a treat whenever she is allowed to have one, so thoughtful. Sarah can count to 12 by herself and is doing well with her ABC's she sometimes struggles a bit with colors but she is very smart and may be a future gymnast! :)

Hannah (5 yrs 4 mths) full of questions that I always try and answer until I have reached my max for the day.  She loves to sing and makes up her very own songs and wonderful stories.  She is an amazing artist.  She is always playing and keeping an eye on her siblings. She likes to write as well, she is doing well at spelling some things on her own.  We hope to learn how to read before Kindergarten is over!

Has it really been so long....

Well, I once again am just posting an update.  We are expecting our baby girl in October around the time Brian Jr turns 2.  I am officially starting homeschool in September and will use Five In A Row. With other things...  I have my schedule and plan to do 'year round' which will make it flexible for me to meet the standards here in Colorado.  I am excited about it.  I have been doing little things here and there with the kids to 'warm' them up to the schedule.  I have decided the only 'extra' things we will do are 'field trips' weekly story time at the public library, but may switch to an english/spanish one... Then ofcourse AWANA on Wednesday nights and most importantly Church Services and Sunday School.  But, for the first semester we will not have the kids in any organized sports or dance. 

Westminster Parks

Squire Park http://www.ci.westminster.co.us/ParksRec/Parks/ParkLocations/SquiresPark.aspx

This park is great. Very large and different play structures for all ages.  A large grass area for running and soccer games.  One of my favorites was the slide to Enter the park, parents can take the stairs and kids can take the slide too cute!

Hampshire Park   a small nice park in a neighborhood. Nice play equpment but has some dangerous features, like the 2-3 ft drop off retaining wall... but, o.k.

Sensory Park   tons of fun!   http://www.ci.westminster.co.us/ParksRec/Parks/ParkLocations/SensoryPark.aspx
Especially for a child that is in a wheel chair or disabled.  Very nice park for all kids!  The only thing odd is that the 'parking' for this park is a parking lot for a business area, it is very hard to find on GPS. But, fun once you get there. Can not wait to go when there is no snow. Kids loved the sea-saw it seats 4 people!!!

Center Park (not to be confused with City park) is one of MY favorits.  Love the soft turf play area, the ship play gym and musical things for the small kids and climbing wall for the toddler/older kids.  Can not wait to have fun with the water features in the summer!

Me and my 3 kids

2011 in a nutshell

Getting Ready for Next Year

We have had a lot of changes recently. Moved due to hubby promotion, rented our home, adjusted from single family home to apartment living with kids.  We do love the new area and are trying to go to a different park each week.  But, now is for getting on a really good 'learning' schedule for next year!  I want to incorporate our learning time into our daily activities.  Like, maybe nutrition talk during snack time?  Learning body parts during exercise/wiggle time.  We will do a proverb a day according to the day of the week. I am so excited to get the learning/morning wall up for the new year!   Also, my hubby is leaning more toward FULL home school w/out supplemental schooling in the public school system.  I need to remember that anything is possible with Gods help!  Lord please give me the patience to raise up my children according to your Word.  I need patience, perseverance, kindness, slowness to anger, the ability to calm my tongue when I want to yell! :) :)  I feel this can be done if I do stick to a schedule and get organized!  There are so many options out there for curriculum that I am going to just use our school district or standard guidelines for what a pre-k and kinder should know and go from there.  We have a great library and I am teaching Hannah to read so that should be fun!  As far as the girls only being home-schooled, some may worry that they will not get 'outside' influence or be good 'socially'???  I am sure that will not happen, I do take them out in public.  Also, AWANA is a great club for learning and interacting, weekly story time at the Library w/ crafts, Sunday School, MOPS twice a month and outings.  Also, extra curricular activities; the girls will each have a dance class this coming semester, Hannah in Ballet, and Sarah in pre-dance.  Well, this kind of went off on a tangent.... I was just 'writting' since it had been a while! :)  Now to put all these plans into action!!!!

God's Promise

The view from our deck.  We have had so many Rainbows recently, or have I just been noticing them recently?  Well, it is sad to admit that when I look at this, the first thing that comes to my mind is, 'oh, look a rainbow, and a double one at that'... BUT, when Hannah my 4 1/2 year old sees this, the first thing she says is, "look mom, It's GOD's PROMISE! Mom, GOD's PROMISE!" Oh how wonderful! That is why we are told to have faith like a child... I am learning so much from my children as they learn the Word of God. May my first thoughts turn toward HIM, the great I AM!

Our day trip to Mueller State Park

What a wonderful day we had last Saturday.  The night before I packed a nice lunch, some ham and roast beef sandwiches, peeled oranges, nutter butter bars, fruit snacks, graham crackers, juice and water.  Then we drove up to Divide, Co and paid $7.00 for a day pass at Mueller State Park.  It was a nice little place.  We stopped at the visitor center and watched a 30 minute video on bears.  It was pretty cool, learned the history of the 'teddy bear' and saw several different types of bears, one that sucks up ants like an ant eater... lol... funny looking thing. The kids really enjoyed it. Then we got free little coloring book pamphlets, and we got to go around the little museum in the visitors center and fill in the 'tracks'.  We had chalk and got to make a 'print' of the tracks left behind by several animals, sheep, deer, rabbits, etc...   We had our picnic at one of the little areas, a lot of birds around and animal droppings but no bear...  thankfully. :)  After having our lunch, Brian Sr. took Hannah and Sarah on a little hike, but there was not much flat terrain for the girls to walk on.  Plus, we did not stop at the childrens little lake area, maybe our next trip out... as we did scope out the camp sites and played for over an hour on the brand new playground.  We had a reall lovely time!  Now, where to go on our next Saturday Summer outing....
http://www.parks.state.co.us/parks/mueller/Pages/MuellerHome.aspx

Cook Book Bday Gift

How could I forget the Cook Book! Yeah!!!! My first cook book ever! So, proud of myself.  I made a Beef Wellington, yum and I got carried away and made Ratatoullle for a side? Hmmm go figure.  After watching lots of Hells kitchen w/ Chef Ramsey, or was it Kitchen Nightmares/// well, I have been wanting to try beef wellington, at the store I asked the butcher for 4-5lbs of Beef Tenderloin, so thankful he showed me 1lb pieces, a good deal at $11.45 wow...... um, not in my ball park, so I quickly had him direct me to some similar meat with a drastic price difference, so I spent $7.00 on a 5lb steak loin or something..... the wellington was really good, but the meat was a tad tough, but you got to compromise when the pocket book matters.   As for the Rat U toooeeee or how ever you pronounce it... I had an eggplant! I really wanted to cook it. Knowing that my husband would kill me if I prepared a full meal with no meat and only a piece of eggplant and decided against eggplant parmasean.  I did the side ratatolleee... it was pretty good.  Now I can say I could egg plant and beef wellington. AND<> my hubby can say he made Bread From SCRATCH!!!!!  :)

My 31st Birthday

I woke up to a card that said Open Me.. too cute... very nice card from my hubby.  It directed me to turn on the coffee, yummy fressh coffee. Then to take out my lemon meringue pie to thaw (very special, because I am the only one who LOVES this) Then, take the fruit tray out for my breakfast.  If that wasn't enough, my big birthday cake for the evening! I can NEVER have enough sweets!  Oh, and the 'gift' my very own foot spa tub w/ salt rocks scented w/ lavender! Spa socks, and chocolates to enjoy while my feet soak and a foot scrub.... This was a very, very nice day!  My Mom and Mother (in law) each sent me nice birthday wishes.....!!!! So, now I can treat myself to a gift and hopefully soon... a date night w/ my hubby!  But who knows, I really can't remember the last time we had dinner out, with just the two of us. :) So, thats my Bday!