Bye Bye February

I'm glad to see this month go. From Addy's 2nd birthday to the ice storm-power outage to everyone getting sick last week, this month has been eventful. We got our monthly trip out the way and I have read 1 book on my yearly reading list and I started a 2nd book yesterday. It's going slowly, but I will get it done.

I am slowly getting to my 25,000 swagbucks goal and then when I hit that goal, I can redeem them for a 250 amazon gift card and I can get the much needed supplies for the upcoming school year. Samantha is looking forward to Kindergarten and I need to find a good photographer for her Kindergarten shoot and I need to get her 2 class shirts.

I have a feeling that March will be a good month for us all. I have two trips planned and some geocaching to do. The 3 locations that I want to complete in geocaching next month is Swansea, Pelion and North.

A few days ago, I found some Dino Easter Eggs with candy and I automatically decided that those would be in Sammy's birthday Easter egg hunt. Yesterday I found an Easter cake that I know she will love. She fell in LOVE with the picture and it's all she talks about. It will be decorated with Easter M&M's and different colored bunny peeps.

Lowe's Workshop: 2/22/14

Last Saturday, the girls had another workshop and I thought this would be a fun one for both of them because they always come home excited and immediately start playing with their new craft. Since everyone was sick last week, the only one who had fun was Samantha. Ariana didn't want to do her and she cried for me. It made Cayce feel awful because that's the only thing he gets to do with the girls when he is off work.

They got home and I put them down for their naps. I gave Ariana some medicine and cold water to break her fever and she went right to sleep. She got sick before she went to sleep and I called Cayce at work to let him know and that be ready for a phone call in case she was still feverish at the end of her nap. His boss gave him the rest of the day off and he came home and we basically kept a very close eye on her and her temp. She woke up right when he got home and they worked on her craft and she played with Sammy and basically is learning how to do claw machines.

here she is at the workshop. not fun for my miserable baby

Sammy hard at work on her claw machine.

 

I love the color of these patches

handing daddy one of the nails.

had an important phone call

Samantha with her finished claw machine.

 

The next workshop is next weekend and I hope that the girls will enjoy this one and not be sick

Prep. Curriculum: Week 16 (Ariana)

This week was butterfly week. Airy did a great job on all of her work. It was a little adjustment to get back into the swing of things after a crazy week of being off from school and not being in there comfort zone.

Monday:

she made the most gorgeous butterfly I have ever seen.

 

Tuesday:

 

Wednesday:

a pure black panda

Thursday:

she did this with flying colors

she did good on her counting book

Friday:
I didn't take pictures of her schoolwork because everyone was sick and I wanted to help her with her work and not take too long because she was moody and didn't want to do anything.



Menu 2/24- 3/2

This post is up a day earlier than usual. I will do Ariana's school post tomorrow. So, it's just a switcheroo day.

Monday: Crunchy French Toast
Tuesday: Chicken Helper
Wednesday: Lil Smokies and Rice
Thursday: Totino's pizza
Friday: Spaghetti
Saturday: Cheddar Cheese Melt
Sunday: BBQ Chicken

Valentine's Day

I had a great Valentine's day planned out for the kids. I was expecting some sort of power outage but not that long. The night before the outage, I printed off worksheets for the kids to do and I was going to find some crafts and do some baking with them.

Our Valentine's day was very dull. I brought some Valentines M&M's to kind of celebrate. Cayce bought me a rose and my dad had to listen to my mom complain about her not getting anything and then she ended up with 2 roses.

On Sunday, I let the girls do their worksheets, and that was our little makeup day. I have realized that I need back up emergency plans. I am going to make the next holiday much better and that will be St. Patrick's Day.

Samantha:

Ariana:

Letter Curriculum: Week 38

This was the last week of Samantha's curriculum and it was halted by the power outage. We reviewed the vowels and Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday's work was done on Sunday. It was stressful and not how I wanted it to go. She still knew her vowels and named them off like it was nothing.

Monday:

This was a cute little book

working more on patterns

Tuesday:

she flew through these letters

Wednesday: This was my personal day that I needed and the kids spent some time with Cayce and watched the ice storm outside.

Thursday: We had no power.

Friday: We had no power

Saturday: We got power back and I had to get the house back in order.

Sunday: We caught up on all 3 of our lessons, and I was going to post this on Sunday and then my phone decided to have no data. Everything was against me the past week. 

I am now in the process of getting Kindergarten Prep Work in order and deciding a start date for that, so she can have another little break before her August 11th start date. I am starting her a week early than our school district starts back so she can have a longer Christmas and spring break. 

Staycation @ Mom's!

Thursday night, we loaded up the car with everything we had in the master that we were using at the time, and headed to my parents. When we got there, we got the kids and blankets in the house and then I got the food in the refrigerator and freezer.

When we finally settles down, it was almost and an hour and a half later. I played candy crush for my mom, while the girls ate supper. I was already stressed to the max and didn't want to do anything else. We got the kids to sleep, and I didn't fall asleep until 3am, because my mind was going stir crazy and wondering if my power was back on yet.

Friday morning, Cayce went to the bank and did some running around before he had to go to work at 1pm. That morning, I was bored out of my mind and wanted to go home. I did watch some Ghost Adventures with the kids and got some laughs out of my mom and grandma. When Cayce got off work, we headed to the house to get some clean clothes because we were looking at Wednesday till the power got turned back on. Right when we walked into the door, I broke down crying. It was dark and cold, and I hated being there without the kids. The girls got much needed baths that night and they slept GREAT! After, Cayce and I took ours, Addy started crying and my dad was going to go ballistic if we left with her still crying, so she took a trip to Walmart with us. We did a little grocery shopping and we got 3 more candles.

Saturday morning, my dad told us about the earthquake that happened at 10:23. Cayce and I didn't feel it in Orangeburg, but it shook my parent's house and woke the girls up. Thank goodness it wasn't serious and didn't cause damage. Cayce had to do some work for his boss around his house and work, picking up fallen tree limbs and branches. He had to work at bi-rite. At 10am, my grandma called my mom and we HAD OUR POWER BACK ON! I was excited. My parents had to do some errands and while they were gone, I got all of our stuff ready to take home.

My parents helped get everything home and when I walked into the house, and flipped the living room switch and the light came on, I was giddy and jumping up and down. It was a great feeling to be back home. I got the girls situated and Addy was a good baby because she was starting to get sick.

I got some lunch made and the girls down for naps and I had a ghost adventures marathon to get too. Cayce worked till 10pm and he went to sonic and got us some food. After I ate and the new episode of ghost adventures, I went out like a light. I never want another day like Saturday.

3 and 1/2 days with no power, sleeping on parents couch, moving things back and forth between houses and Adalyn getting sick wore me out and big stress load.

Menu 2/17- 2/22

This week's menu will have what we were going to cook last week that we were unable to because of the power outage.

Monday: Cauliflower Soup
Tuesday: Chicken drumettes
Wednesday: Lil' smokies and rice
Thursday: Cheddar Cheese Melt
Friday: Tacos
Saturday: Crunchy French Toast

Power Outage 2/12- 2/15

On Wednesday night at 7pm, our power went out. It was very stressful because we were about to start cooking supper for the kids, and get them ready for bed. The power outage was the worst experience the girls have had in their lives besides Addy's premature birth. Cayce ended up going outside in the freezing cold to grill hotdogs. We called our electric power outage service number several times and hoped that the power would come back on during the night. We were prepared with water and food, but the cold was unbearable. That night, Addy had the warmest room in the house and Sammy and Ariana were in the coldest room. We went in there multiple times throughout the night to fix blankets and cover them back up.

On Thursday morning, branches and ice began to fall. It was scary. The power was still out, and it was 52 degrees in the house. Cayce and I took the girls blankets and pillows, and threw them into our room. We gathered plates, spoons, cups, food and beverages, and paper towels and every candle we owned, and closed ourselves up into the master bedroom. We ate so much junk food. All we did was take naps and be closed up. We had to put all our refrigerated and freezer food outside to keep it good.

we made them a palate on the floor, and that's where they stayed.

My ice cream didn't make it outside, so we poured the melted cream into cups and called it power outage milkshakes

Tired from all the stress and boredom.

Around 5pm, our candles that we had lit, were starting to melt fast. Cayce decided to trek to the store to by some more and to get us a good hot meal. The lady who adopted us for Christmas brought us some chili and crackers for supper. Then I got a phone call from my dad telling me that they got their power back on and to bring the girls over and that we would stay there until our lights came back on.
When Cayce got back, we threw so much stuff into the car and left for warmth and running water.

I'll post more later about the stay at my parents and when our power finally came back on.

ICE Storm

We are in another round of WINTER HELL! Yesterday it was freezing rain and wasn't too bad. Cayce didn't come home early from work and everything was peaceful. This morning when we woke up, no power and Cayce had the day off. The power came back on an hour after we woke up.

We went on about our day and I gave the kids the day off from school to enjoy the day with Cayce. I watched the Ghost Mine marathon and worked on some stuff that needed to be done.

eating lunch

My cute baby

look at those freakin icicles

Cayce ended up sleeping most of the day and when he wasn't sleeping, he was outside and I got pictures of both.

yea, only this man

couldn't contain my laughter!

he has been making this symbol for us since high school

Lowe's Workshop: 2-8-14

The first Lowe's workshop of the year was on Saturday, and my kids were excited about it. It was a Valentine's theme of course, so they made little love note holders. They are so cute, and since my mom's birthday is the day before, we decided to give her one to put on her desk at work. She is head cafeteria lady at an elementary school, and I know she will get little valentine's cards from the kids.

The girls had a busy morning before the workshop, so there are not that many pictures, but the end results were well worth the lack of picture taking by Cayce!

Ariana doing such a good job

 

Working hard on her box.

their cute little patches.

certificates

I don't know when I'll start letting Addy go. Cayce wants to wait another year, but I think summertime will be a good time to give it a trial run.