Christmas with the Wallmans

Our first celebration was at Uncle Elry and Aunt Carol's. The kids each got a gift. Anna and Jacob love theirs. At first Isaac wasn't so sure about his...but then...

Let It Snow!

Woo-hoo! I figured out how to email more than one picture at a time so we'll see if this works.

We're in Colorado for Christmas and its snowing!! I didn't pack all the snow gear for nothing! Grandma outlasted Mom and Dad in the cold. Anna and Jacob had a blast. Isaac couldn't keep his gloves on an one dip with bare hands into the snow sent him crying and back inside!

Sweet Child

The last few months have been very, very challenging with Anna. Something happened, her age, I don't know but her behavior has changed dramatically. We're still trying to figure it all out. It's been tough and I have gotten in a rut. There are literally very few things all day that she doesn't argue with me about. I never know what is going to trigger a massive meltdown. Everything is a battle-from getting dressed to doing school to sleeping and sometimes even eating. All the negative behaviors have made me forget to look for the good, forget that she is only 7, forget that she's probably just as confused as I am, forget that she is a gift straight from Heaven above!! Another thing that I've lost in all this is how deeply Anna feels everything. Jacob came down with some weird rash/disease? I can't remember the name of it but anyway, part of it is that he just hurts-achy pain. It's been mostly in his knees and feet so walking sometimes hurts. The pain should go away within a week and the rash could last a couple months. So obviously he has required and wanted more attention. He's constantly asking to cuddle (my first clue something was wrong!!). Tonight as I was talking to Anna before bed, she admitted that she didn't like how much attention Jacob has been getting and it makes her feel bad. It gave me a good opportunity to talk about sin nature and selfishness and, even more importantly these days, to remind her of the compassionate heart God has given her. She's going to make an amazing wife and mother (and the Lord knows what else!) one day because she has a sixth sense for other people's suffering that is astounding for a 7 year old. I read a blog post this morning about being a fun mom and just letting go and being fun-whether that's giggling over a funny story or playing tickle monster or letting Anna bake with me. I get caught up in just life-laundry, cleaning, cooking, teaching...not bad things, but it's hard not to let them get in the way of just *being* with my kids sometimes! Even though the kids got to bed really late tonight and it took Isaac forever to go to sleep, I knew Anna needed some time with me. Sadly, I'd forgotten how fun it can be to just talk to her!! No agenda, no teaching (well there was but not like school), no pressure, just simply laying there talking about whatever crossed our minds. Even though it was 11 pm before we were done, it was worth every single moment. And I don't do that enough!
I don't know if anything makes sense or even where exactly I was going with this post. I know this...I covet your prayers-for patience in abundance, for wisdom in figuring out what, if anything, has caused this change, to remember what a gift Anna is, even when she makes me want to pull every last strand of my hair out!

Baking = Math Lesson

Anna's least favorite subject is math (that sounds really familiar!). It doesn't come as easily to her as reading does and sometimes it's not as fun as science. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone today. I needed to bake some cookies and obviously I needed to teach Anna some math. So she learned how to add fractions. When I told her we were going to do some math, she gave me her normal reaction: pouting, mad, said she couldn't do it, etc etc. When she heard she would get to make cookies *all by herself* she quickly changed her tune! Here's how I got it to work...my recipe for chocolate chips cookies is only for 3 dozen and I needed 6 dozen. So she got a lesson on doubling fractions! We used some shapes blocks to show the fractions and she wrote down the new amounts. Then I helped her gather all the ingredients. She was so excited that she got to do it all completely by herself!! She did such a good job! The only thing I did for her was pour the milk because it was almost a full gallon. She's excited to take our cookies to Colorado and Aunt Cara's for everyone to eat! I'm excited to have done a math lesson with no arguments for once!

Baking time!

I got a really sweet Kitchen Aid mixer on Black Friday! Technically it was online Thursday. ;)
Anyway, the first thing I made with it was Grandma J's famous rolls! Anna and Jacob both helped me roll out the dough, cut it into triangles, and roll them up! They were great helpers! Anna learned about yeast and fractions, but don't tell her she was doing school after supper!! ;) And I must say, the rolls are delicious! I subbed in 2 cups of whole wheat flour and they still taste really good. Can't wait to do more baking!!

New shoes

I noticed yesterday that Jacob's shoes were quite worn at the toes. So I hit up some Black Friday sales to find both boys some new shoes. Isaac was barely squeezing into his (that he's worn over a year and were Jacob's). I was sure Isaac's were a size 4 and Aaron told me Jacob's were size 10. So I figure size 5 and size 11 would be perfect. I can't find any 11s so I went with a 12 hoping it wouldn't be too big. I get back and have the boys try them on. Aaron put Jacob's on and I did Isaac's. I notice his aren't much bigger. Come to find out, his old shoes were a 5! Great. I check out Jacob's and his toe is at the very end!! How on earth could he have been wearing 2 sizes smaller this whole time?! Maybe this is why...

The Things He Says

According to Jacob, this is how you make a lower case y...
Fust you make a line down, den you make a wittle wacky-do, den you go back up a wittle.

Any Help?

I tried to upload some pictures on here and it's telling me I'm out of storage space! Anyone else had this problem??

Homeschooling History

Studying WWII, so far we have been able to interview a WWII veteran and survivor of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl (my grandpa!) and have watched some great old movies like The Incredible Mr. Limpet and The Sound of Music! We're thinking of Grandma W as we watch her favorite movie. :)

Cousins

Homecoming fun with Jeremy's kids!

The Things He Says

After drawing for a bit...
"Mom I drew a picture of me having diarrhea!"
It's a good thing he's not a very talented artist just yet.......

Pictures, pictures everywhere!

 I kept getting an error message on my phone when I would try to take a video or upgrade an app, telling me I had run out of storage. Well, that could have been because I had over 800 pictures and videos on my phone! (not the 600 I told you, Dad) Whoops. I have it set up to sync to the computer every day, but I need to figure out how to set it up so it will delete them off my phone once they're synced! And since I realized I haven't posted any pictures for quite a while...here ya go! :)

 I did NOT put them up to this! :) I realized it was a little too quiet and found them both content, looking at books!

 Isaac still loves baby Rhys! 

 We celebrated Jacob's birthday at Aunt Cara and Uncle Terry's house this year. She made his cake (of course!) and I had just about everything I needed to decorate for a John Deere-themed birthday!! :)

 It was also the weekend we celebrated Mia & Kaedyn's birthdays and had the 2nd "annual" Stinemetz 5K! Busy times. But we got to use our camper!! We took it out to Jeremy's to give everyone a bit more space (and we thought there would be a lot more people). The kids absolutely loved it! I can't wait to use it "for real"!!

 Uncle Terry helped her come up with the hay field idea for his cake. He said his cake was his favorite part of his party!

 Papa's got his hands full!

 One night Aaron & Jamie found a newborn calf, tied up and abandoned, next to Jeremy's house! Poor guy still had his cord, so he wasn't very old. 

 He's having a lot of fun with school this year and is already reading 3-letter words!

 Sound asleep.

 We learned about fingerprints one day...

 I made some mini pizzas (with homemade sauce...YUM!) for our picnic supper when we went to the state fair. 

 Isaac's favorite part? The tractor "trolley" ride from the car to the gate! He got so upset when we got off and then when we went back out to eat supper, he would dissolve into tears every time it went by and we didn't get on!

 Ferris Wheel!

 (he dumped a cup of water on himself, I promise!)

 Avid reader. Except she said the Boxcar Children mysteries are too scary now, so I think we'll start her on the Little House on the Prairie series.

I made up a game today. The kids kept asking for a name, so I called it "Letter Hop". For Jacob, whatever letter his rock landed on, he had to tell me a word that started with that letter. For Anna, she had to spell the word. They had fun!