Recycling crayons...

I have been wanting to do this for a long time and today we finally had the opportunity to do it. The kids received about 6 giant boxes of new crayons for Christmas. A lot of the ones we had already weren't being used because they were broken. Broken must mean defective for kids because they simply would not touch them anymore. Since several of us are trying to get better from coughs and colds, I thought it best to stay home today and take it easy. First though we headed to Michaels for some little muffin cups for our project. We decided on the silicone ones because we could put them directly into the oven. The other choices would have given us another step in the process and today it was all about getting it done. 

When we got home we peeled all the paper from the old crayons and put them into our new cups and put them on a cookie sheet. Set the oven for 350 degrees, put them in and waited until they looked all melted and liquid. When they were liquid, we set them out to cool and once cool enough they went into the fridge for a bit longer to really cool off. The kids could hardly wait for them to be done. While they were cooling, we got busy with the rest of the broken and defective crayons to make another batch. Voila, new crayons to color and draw with...and play with too.

They loved this project.

Our next project is to make paper :) They are equally excited about that.

Broken crayons into the muffin cups

Into the oven (about 15 minutes)

All melted

Cooled and done

Noah's

Ben's

Hannah's

Second batch

No TV...

This week we decided that we needed to be TV free for a while. The kids have been screaming at each other, yelling at us, slamming doors on us, hitting and pushing each other, arguing, not listening and just plain unpleasant to live with. I think that it all started when we upgraded our cable to accommodate our new DVR. The kids realized that they could watch kids TV shows all day long and lots of the shows were new to them. So they were glued to the couch. Since we noticed a change in their behaviors we took TV away for a week and if they had any hard days or more episodes we would take another day and add it to the week. 

So far we're up to 13 days of no TV, not good for them. It's an eternity.

But that's OK. Last night, I felt bad about our abrupt taking TV away, so I figured we would try a reward system with stickers on a chart. The idea was that they could earn a show or a movie and popcorn after a certain number of good days but that failed miserably after 12 hours, we just can't count all three children in the same reward. Some are good more than others and one is still learning. One is bound to blow it for the others and at this point, we don't need them to feel any resentment towards each other.

So we are getting even more involved and planning more activities for them to do starting in the morning and throughout the day. They are really excited about learning letters, drawing, doing puzzles, word games, playing games and reading. They are playing nicely together, they seem to be able to relate and play together. And I have noticed that we haven't had nearly as many horrible eruptions that we had been having. Thank goodness. I was getting worried that we were going down a scary path with the children right before another babe joins our family and that would be hard. On everyone.

They aren't ever excited about the cleaning up of it all. It has always ended in piles of activities all over the house. It takes forever. They miss TV and have even shed some tears about it. I may try the reward system again but it will definitely have to be something that is done in my head. So I'm thinking that we'll keep it a no TV house for now, it seems to be working. Crossing fingers.

Gas...

Ben: Mommy I had a dream about you last night!

Me: Oh yeah, what was it about?

Ben: I dreamt that you gassed and the baby came out!

Me: Huh, I hope it's that easy...

Ouch!!

Ben, Hannah and Noah were riding their bikes out in the front of our house (with Daddy) this morning when I heard a scream and then hysterical crying. Ben came in all beat up. His chin was already starting to turn blue and he has a cut on his chin. His hand is all scraped up and couldn't get his helmet off using it. He has a small bump on his forehead too but it isn't big and he didn't even know it was there until I pointed it out. This is the closest we have come to going to the hospital in a while. Thank goodness we didn't have to go. He just bought a new bike helmet on Saturday.

His face is quite puffy but he isn't complaining about it. I think he'll be fine. Such a tough kid!

Meet the baby...

In ultrasound!

Our midwife suggested that this time of the pregnancy would be a great time to get an ultrasound IF we wanted to get one. Corey and I discussed it and chose to get one done. Just to make sure that all the parts were in the right spots and that everything looked OK. We went to a private place to have it done and brought the kids. They were so excited to see pictures of the baby. So here he or she is :) The top picture (in 2D) is a side view that you can see the forehead, nose and chin. There is even part of the arm on the far left side. The second picture is a frontal view with a 4D. He only did the 4D for a minute or two to get a couple of pictures and it was fascinating. We opted to not have to whole thing in 4D because of the greater amount of ultrasound exposure but wow, it was cool to see his/her face and watch the movements. The baby slept through the whole thing, in the 4D you can see eyes closed. 

Now we can't wait to meet our little one! It should be just a few more weeks and we will!!

2D

4D

Beer...

I made beer-battered cod fillets tonight to put in our burritos. We love burritos. It is one of the meals that we can have and everyone will eat lots of. So I thought I'd make them with fish because we were out of chicken or anything else. I found a recipe for the beer-battered fish online and it sounded like something we'd get at Rubio's. Everyone loved it. They ate it all up. And even ate two burritos. In the middle of our meal,  Noah said "I like beer." Funny thing is, I can just see him guzzling beer when he's in the frat-house and saying the same thing!

Belly...

Here are the kids showing me their big bellies. They are in love with my baby belly so I wanted to see theirs! They are always kissing my belly, hugging it, talking to it, patting it and feeling it. I hope to post more on that again soon!

An offer...

We've had so many offers on our house but they have all come in very low. We can't move out of this house unless we have the money we need from selling it. But today we got an offer that we are hoping will become a sale. I'll keep you posted!!

Daisy girl...

After two weeks off, we got back into our routine today and went to girl scouts. Hannah loves her girl scout troop and meetings, they are a lot of fun. Tonight they made little fleece pillows. They were a little hard for some of the girls but they love their pillows. 

Happy New Year!!

We spent the morning at Tidelands park in Coronado. It was a beautiful day in San Diego. There were a lot of people out too. We walked along the bay for a while after the kids played on the playground. Mostly we were staying out of the house because someone was viewing it but it was really great to get out and enjoy ourselves.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you and yours a wonderful year!