I have often wondered exactly what the laws were concerning carseats in Idaho. Here it is just in case you were wondering as well:
Idaho’s New Child Restraint Law
Idaho Code 49-672
Most important points:
Kids 4 to 6 years old need to be in belt positioning booster seats once they’ve outgrown their child safety seats. New law is effective on July 1, 2005. Primary law, $60.00 fine.
As a general rule of thumb, never place a child in under 13 years of age in front of an air bag. The following are a list of guidelines to be used when selecting an appropriate child safety restraint:
Children under 1 year of age MUST be in a rear facing infant seat with/without removable bases.
Children 1 year old to 4 years (typically 20 to 40 pounds) a forward facing child safety seat is recommended with harness straps positioned on the child’s shoulders, complete with a harness chest clip positioned at the armpit level, and in the upright position (not reclined), and always in the rear seat of the vehicle.
Children ages 4 to 6 MUST be in an approved booster seat, using both lap and shoulder belts, NEVER with lap belt only. The seat should be located in the rear vehicle seat, facing forward while the lap belt is positioned across the top of child’s thigh and the shoulder belt should be centered across the shoulder and chest.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Bowl picture
In my bathroom I have a picture of each of my children in a bowl/tub when they are about 7 months old. Here is Hallie's...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Blessings
A very happy baby! Also, received an "overpayment" check from my OB from Hallie's birth 7 MONTHS AGO!
The flexibility of homeschooling!
Children that enjoy playing together!
Happy hour at Sonic...and cute little ones to share with!
A wonderful husband that cooks dinner for us...now that his schedule allows him to be home earlier!
An amazing God who is faithful and is teaching me to be who He wants me to be!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
I found it!
The best homeschooling curriculum for my family! After much research and prayer I finally decided to try Sonlight, a literature based Christian homeschooling curriculum. It is known most for its high cost, but with great searching and a little saving, I found a used set for a great deal! We returned from vacation last Sunday early in the morning (drove all night) and rested all day. The next day, without much thought I decided to jump right into our routine and try out this new program. I loved it...and am still loving it! We accomplished our first week of school with many "can we do more"...it was great! Here is a run down of our day/week.
*I will go through most of our day just because it is fun to look back and remember my routine at different stages of life.
Morning:
My children wake up and do their chore packs - make beds, put away laundry from individual buckets, and empty dishwasher.
Breakfast - we eat oatmeal most mornings because my children love it and it is filling and easy!
They usually go play outside for a little bit because it gets too hot later on in the day. I usually do laundry and clean up from breakfast at this time. Hallie naps in the morning. On Mondays, I clean house in the mornings intermittent with school.
When I finish up the children come in and I start school with Katelyn. Makenna and Brenden play together inside or outside, or Brenden likes to play Starfall on the computer (excellent reading website).
School:
We start with Bible (Sonlight). For Bible we are reading a book called "Leading Little Ones to God", reading through Mark (we are actually listening to it on CD just to add variety), and working on memorizing Psalms 1.
Next we do phonics/language. This year we are using Abeka for this part because I already had the workbooks. Next year I will probably use Sonlight. For phonics/language I give her the lesson, and then she independently works on her seatwork, practices cursive, and reads.
After phonics we move to history and read alouds from Sonlight. We are reading: a book about people and cultures around the world, a missionary book with various short stories, and a book about the Bibleless countries around the world (we then pray for the country we read about). Each day we only read a short amount and some books we only read once a week. For read alouds we are reading a poem book and Charlotte's Web. During this book I have all of the children sit and listen and I hand out a Skittle each time I turn the page to those sitting quietly...it works great with Makenna! We usually read this book after lunch.
In the afternoons, Makenna, Hallie, and usually Brenden all nap. During this time Katelyn and I work on math and science.
For math we are using Abeka. I give her the lesson and then she works on her seatwork independently.
For science (Sonlight) we have been reading through a Magic School Bus book called Water Works. Brenden and Katelyn really enjoyed this book. There is also a student sheet that goes with the lessons...more or less a worksheet (fun one) that we only did part of each day. On Friday we watched a video on how to do our experiments and then we did some experiments with water. Katelyn, Brenden, and Makenna all enjoyed this. We started late this day and so everyone was awake from naps.
I love the way this curriculum is set up. It is so easy to follow and easy to put into action. We are able to take lots of little breaks throughout the day. Katelyn loves to look at all the books and all of my kids love when I read aloud to them. I feel that we can be very flexible and creative with our reading. Sometimes I read the read alouds during lunch or at bedtime. If we have a busy day we can read a little extra the next day. There is no prep work for me and so more time to enjoy the lessons...and get stuff done around the house!
***Funny story:
Several years ago I purchased another curriculum. It sounded so great and wonderful and I was excited about it. Well, I would spend a bunch of time planning and prepping and then when the day would come for us to start a unit I would realize that I was missing several needed items. I am not kidding...it never failed, I always forgot something. So, I would get frustrated because I didn't have everything and then I would get unmotivated and throw out the unit. Yep, started several units...never finished them...okay, so I hardly started them. Well, a few months ago this happened. This program was so great and I was so determined to be that great homeschooling mom and make learning FUN! We were going to start a unit on trapping (and other things). Well, the first week we were supposed to make a coons hat...well, what do you know, I forgot to go out and kill my raccoon for my coon's hat (or run to Michael's and grab some fake fur and sew one together!) AHH! Why can I not be super-homeschooling mom??? So, I admitted that I was done and I needed to find another program that fit my families needs. So, I came upon Sonlight and ordered their catalog. In their catalog had a section of 27 reasons to and NOT to use Sonlight. Reason # 2 of Not to buy Sonlight...(quoted from catalog) "We don't schedule time-consuming activities like making raccoon-skin caps..." The moment I read that, I first laughed and then decided this must be the program for me...and it is! God knew what I needed...I just had to be patient to find it! Just to add, that other curriculum that I still have is a great program and those that are successful with it are truly supermoms. I will just strive to be supermom with a program that fits my needs...and strengths!
*I will go through most of our day just because it is fun to look back and remember my routine at different stages of life.
Morning:
My children wake up and do their chore packs - make beds, put away laundry from individual buckets, and empty dishwasher.
Breakfast - we eat oatmeal most mornings because my children love it and it is filling and easy!
They usually go play outside for a little bit because it gets too hot later on in the day. I usually do laundry and clean up from breakfast at this time. Hallie naps in the morning. On Mondays, I clean house in the mornings intermittent with school.
When I finish up the children come in and I start school with Katelyn. Makenna and Brenden play together inside or outside, or Brenden likes to play Starfall on the computer (excellent reading website).
School:
We start with Bible (Sonlight). For Bible we are reading a book called "Leading Little Ones to God", reading through Mark (we are actually listening to it on CD just to add variety), and working on memorizing Psalms 1.
Next we do phonics/language. This year we are using Abeka for this part because I already had the workbooks. Next year I will probably use Sonlight. For phonics/language I give her the lesson, and then she independently works on her seatwork, practices cursive, and reads.
After phonics we move to history and read alouds from Sonlight. We are reading: a book about people and cultures around the world, a missionary book with various short stories, and a book about the Bibleless countries around the world (we then pray for the country we read about). Each day we only read a short amount and some books we only read once a week. For read alouds we are reading a poem book and Charlotte's Web. During this book I have all of the children sit and listen and I hand out a Skittle each time I turn the page to those sitting quietly...it works great with Makenna! We usually read this book after lunch.
In the afternoons, Makenna, Hallie, and usually Brenden all nap. During this time Katelyn and I work on math and science.
For math we are using Abeka. I give her the lesson and then she works on her seatwork independently.
For science (Sonlight) we have been reading through a Magic School Bus book called Water Works. Brenden and Katelyn really enjoyed this book. There is also a student sheet that goes with the lessons...more or less a worksheet (fun one) that we only did part of each day. On Friday we watched a video on how to do our experiments and then we did some experiments with water. Katelyn, Brenden, and Makenna all enjoyed this. We started late this day and so everyone was awake from naps.
I love the way this curriculum is set up. It is so easy to follow and easy to put into action. We are able to take lots of little breaks throughout the day. Katelyn loves to look at all the books and all of my kids love when I read aloud to them. I feel that we can be very flexible and creative with our reading. Sometimes I read the read alouds during lunch or at bedtime. If we have a busy day we can read a little extra the next day. There is no prep work for me and so more time to enjoy the lessons...and get stuff done around the house!
***Funny story:
Several years ago I purchased another curriculum. It sounded so great and wonderful and I was excited about it. Well, I would spend a bunch of time planning and prepping and then when the day would come for us to start a unit I would realize that I was missing several needed items. I am not kidding...it never failed, I always forgot something. So, I would get frustrated because I didn't have everything and then I would get unmotivated and throw out the unit. Yep, started several units...never finished them...okay, so I hardly started them. Well, a few months ago this happened. This program was so great and I was so determined to be that great homeschooling mom and make learning FUN! We were going to start a unit on trapping (and other things). Well, the first week we were supposed to make a coons hat...well, what do you know, I forgot to go out and kill my raccoon for my coon's hat (or run to Michael's and grab some fake fur and sew one together!) AHH! Why can I not be super-homeschooling mom??? So, I admitted that I was done and I needed to find another program that fit my families needs. So, I came upon Sonlight and ordered their catalog. In their catalog had a section of 27 reasons to and NOT to use Sonlight. Reason # 2 of Not to buy Sonlight...(quoted from catalog) "We don't schedule time-consuming activities like making raccoon-skin caps..." The moment I read that, I first laughed and then decided this must be the program for me...and it is! God knew what I needed...I just had to be patient to find it! Just to add, that other curriculum that I still have is a great program and those that are successful with it are truly supermoms. I will just strive to be supermom with a program that fits my needs...and strengths!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Our trip to Arizona
At the end of June, our family had the wonderful privilege to visit our families in Arizona. Our main reason was to celebrate my grandparent's 60th anniversary. While there, though, we were also able to see a lot of Josh's family as well.
These pictures are in backwards order of our trip, but that is okay. At the end of our trip we went to Flagstaff to visit Josh's grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins. The kids enjoyed seeing their bird and going to the park. Josh's grandpa thought Hallie was as cute as can be! I agree! We got together with all the cousins and such, but I did not get a picture...sorry. One afternoon Katelyn went to the "hair parlor" with Grandma Potter. She wore dress up clothes, a wig, and an old fashioned hat. The ladies at the parlor thought she was just adorable. Katelyn was not so fond of all of the attention though after they went to several stores. She looked like a little old fashioned girl. She took it all off, though, before I could get a picture.
My family with my grandparents. I am so honored to call these people my grandparents. They are amazing people...two of my favorites. It was so wonderful to share this time with them. The anniversary celebration was fantastic. My aunt and cousin did most everything. We made homemade lasagna, salad, and breadsticks for about 100 people. We made scrapbook pages to use as centerpieces. The best part was the presentation. There were a few specials and then we put together a video slideshow. It was so great. There were tons of pictures of my grandparents growing up and then our parents, and then of us cousins. At the end during pictures of each of us grandkids, we did an audio tribute to our grandparents. It was so cool...a real tear jerker!
We visited an aquarium and ate at the Rainforest Cafe.
My grandma made me this dress when I was about 8 or 9. It was one of my favorites. I kept it for my own daughters. Katelyn wanted to wear it to the celebration!
We had a big BBQ and swim party while all the family was in town. Family members ranged from 6 months to in their 80's. It was fun.
One of my cousins...we spent most of the time together! This is one of her boys, David. He is a doll! My cousin and her husband are praying that we move to Phoenix someday.
Also while we were in Phoenix, Josh's sister was also down visiting their grandparents. We stopped in to see Jami, her girls, and Josh's grandma (on his mom's side).
We stayed with my aunt and uncle during our visit. My cousin and her family were also staying there...as well as my two brothers. It was a full house, but we had fun. My other cousin worked during the day, but her children came over to play each day. These are all of the young children that ran around together all week. My cousins also have several other children that are 9, 10, 10, and 13. One was at camp for most of the trip and the other three were busy during the day. We had hoped to get a great grandchildren picture (minus Chris' kids) and a whole group shot...but, if you can believe it, it never was able to happen. You see, the flu bug visited our trip. Over the two weeks that we were gone, 9 of the 14 staying with us got the flu, and 4 other family members staying elsewhere. It was crazy. I was one of the lucky ones who did not get sick, as well as Makenna. All of my other family members had it at one time. Katelyn got it on the way down and Brenden had it on the way back...but they were troopers. Besides that the trip was fabulous! We stayed indoors most of the time so the heat was not too bad. Plus, coming from cold weather here, it felt nice!
Our trip was very wonderful. We ate at many favorite restaurants and even had Tiner tacos thanks to Chris! It was a great joy to see all of my family again and I am so proud of my grandparents for celebrating their 60th anniversary! While growing up my grandma would line us up on her piano bench and take our picture. At the end of the slide show it showed the different pictures of us grandkids lined up...this was the last one!
These pictures are in backwards order of our trip, but that is okay. At the end of our trip we went to Flagstaff to visit Josh's grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins. The kids enjoyed seeing their bird and going to the park. Josh's grandpa thought Hallie was as cute as can be! I agree! We got together with all the cousins and such, but I did not get a picture...sorry. One afternoon Katelyn went to the "hair parlor" with Grandma Potter. She wore dress up clothes, a wig, and an old fashioned hat. The ladies at the parlor thought she was just adorable. Katelyn was not so fond of all of the attention though after they went to several stores. She looked like a little old fashioned girl. She took it all off, though, before I could get a picture.
My family with my grandparents. I am so honored to call these people my grandparents. They are amazing people...two of my favorites. It was so wonderful to share this time with them. The anniversary celebration was fantastic. My aunt and cousin did most everything. We made homemade lasagna, salad, and breadsticks for about 100 people. We made scrapbook pages to use as centerpieces. The best part was the presentation. There were a few specials and then we put together a video slideshow. It was so great. There were tons of pictures of my grandparents growing up and then our parents, and then of us cousins. At the end during pictures of each of us grandkids, we did an audio tribute to our grandparents. It was so cool...a real tear jerker!
We visited an aquarium and ate at the Rainforest Cafe.
My grandma made me this dress when I was about 8 or 9. It was one of my favorites. I kept it for my own daughters. Katelyn wanted to wear it to the celebration!
We had a big BBQ and swim party while all the family was in town. Family members ranged from 6 months to in their 80's. It was fun.
One of my cousins...we spent most of the time together! This is one of her boys, David. He is a doll! My cousin and her husband are praying that we move to Phoenix someday.
Also while we were in Phoenix, Josh's sister was also down visiting their grandparents. We stopped in to see Jami, her girls, and Josh's grandma (on his mom's side).
We stayed with my aunt and uncle during our visit. My cousin and her family were also staying there...as well as my two brothers. It was a full house, but we had fun. My other cousin worked during the day, but her children came over to play each day. These are all of the young children that ran around together all week. My cousins also have several other children that are 9, 10, 10, and 13. One was at camp for most of the trip and the other three were busy during the day. We had hoped to get a great grandchildren picture (minus Chris' kids) and a whole group shot...but, if you can believe it, it never was able to happen. You see, the flu bug visited our trip. Over the two weeks that we were gone, 9 of the 14 staying with us got the flu, and 4 other family members staying elsewhere. It was crazy. I was one of the lucky ones who did not get sick, as well as Makenna. All of my other family members had it at one time. Katelyn got it on the way down and Brenden had it on the way back...but they were troopers. Besides that the trip was fabulous! We stayed indoors most of the time so the heat was not too bad. Plus, coming from cold weather here, it felt nice!
Our trip was very wonderful. We ate at many favorite restaurants and even had Tiner tacos thanks to Chris! It was a great joy to see all of my family again and I am so proud of my grandparents for celebrating their 60th anniversary! While growing up my grandma would line us up on her piano bench and take our picture. At the end of the slide show it showed the different pictures of us grandkids lined up...this was the last one!
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