Necklace making

Mena made a necklace out of noodles and cut up straws.  I did put some masking tape on the end of her ribbon to make it easier to string.  YOu could string so many other things but this is what I through together in 2 minutes for her to do!  It did manage to hold her attention for a few minutes and she couldn't wait to show her daddy.

We love Dramatic Play

How do you keep a preschooler entertained when you are drained and your hubby got invited to the Tigers game last minute?           You build a fort!!!

Playing in our "Fort" and feeding all our animals their meals.  Wouldn't you just love a carb filled meal consisting of a bagel sandwich!  That's what our dino loved to eat!

Apple paper plate craft

Here is an apple craft that Mena made.  I cut red paper into strips and let her tear them into pieces.  She can't use scissors yet so this allowed her to do every step of the craft.  She applied glue and then stuck the pieces on a paper plate.  She was so happy with her paper plate apple.  We hung it on the wall in her art area in our classroom! 

Prayers needed...

I am asking for prayers for my little cousin David.  He has a confirmed case of the Swine Flu.  He has asthma and the swine flu can make this worse and so he needs to be watched very carefully. 
He and his mom and siblings just moved to Florida in August.  His father, my uncle Kevin, died a year and a half ago.  Please pray that he recovers soon and that the rest of the family stays healthy.  Thanks.

Random thoughts...

Dom is home on a sick day today.  Poor thing.  He has a chest cold.  I am hoping he can get some much needed rest and good meals and then we can have a great weekend.  Maybe even start having fun this afternoon.  Mena has been sick with a cold for a week now.  Hopefully she is at the tail end of it.  She rarely gets sick but starting Atrium and being around other children more means more germs to ward off.  I geuss we didn't do a good job this time around! 

I really want to check out the YMCA and the closest one to us is about 15-20 minutes away.  Not too bad.  I heard they give lots of financial assistance for yearly memborship and the classes are free or resonably priced.  I would absolutly love to get Mena is swimming lessons and they offer those and so much more.  I might even like to take some art classes there as well.  I am hoping to check it out today or next week.

Mena has been off her nap schedule lately.  No naps for three days in a row.  I am loving her night time schedule though.  She is out by 7-7:30pm and is waking up at around 7am!  Awesome.  It almost makes the no nap worth it.  We'll see how this progresses. 

Well, I am on day four of Femara today.  Femara is a hormone to help with fertility.  I have been feeling very sore and extremely tired.  I have not been to moody which is great!  I have been exeriencing a few hot flashes but nothing I can't handle.  We have been trying for 27 months.  We are very hopeful that this new Dr. we are seeing has a plan which will hopefully result in a little baby Michalik in 9 months.  There are lots of tests and pills in the next few weeks.  I have a Sonohysteogram on Thursday which is an internal ultrasound where they put in a catheder and infuse saline into my uterine cavity.  They are looking to see if there are any abnormalities and if my fallopian tube is blocked or not.  This should give us some answers right away.  Then I have another ultrasound on Saturday to check for ovulation.  I may need another a few days later.  I have many blood draws coming up.  Hopefully all this poking and probing will result in a beautiful baby.  According to Philomena, a boy and a girl!  She is so ready to be a big sister! 

Hope you all in enjoy your weekend!  I am hoping for a little relaxation. 

Spell Check??????

Is there spell check anywhere on this new blog post thing?  Just curious!  Let me know in the comments if you find it somewhere.  Thanks a ton!

Fall is here!

Can you believe Fall is here?  I love Fall.  I am looking forward to fires in the backyard, sleeping in our tent, sweatshirts, leaf piles, homemade applesauce, cider mill day trips, and of course birthdays!  All three of us have Fall birthdays.  Mena kicks it off Oct. 26, mine is Nov. 7, and Dom's is Nov. 20!  Super fun times!  Also included in this great season is Mena's Cia Cia Grace's wedding in which she will be the flower girl.  We are all so excited for Grace and we absolutly love her fiance. 
We have such a busy October.  I know it will fly by this year.  For one thing we are going to be super busy with my fertility tests these next couple of weeks.  Other than that, we are going to have a kickoff for Lighthouse Catholic Media in a nearby parish one weekend, we are going to Illinois for a conference, we have the wedding, and then Mena's birthday and Halloween!  No time to breath but it should be great!
Next week we are going to see Disney on Ice at the Palace!  I am so excited!  (Thanks so much Sharon!!!!!!!)  We have four tickets so we are bringing Mena's Godmother with us.  She is thrilled!  I can't wait to take lots of pictures and see the expressions on my Mena's face.  I'm sure she will light up!
What do you love about Fall?  Do you have any exciting plans? 

New Montessori Works

Here are some new Montessori activities we have out right now.  Mena is starting to like picking things out to do but still want's me around her.  I try to step back to observe and I am sure the day will come when she will be comfortable with that. 

 I found these leaves at Micheals for less than a dollar.  I made number cards and had Mena line them up accordingy.  We are starting with 1-5 and will add more later.  We used the three part lesson to learn the numbers.  She can not yet identify them so we are going to practice this even more.

Here is a silly picture of Mena practicing her nuts and bolts set from Melissa and Doug toys.  She was really enjoying turning it and seeing that if you turn it one way it goes on and the other way makes it come off! 

These are the Montessori Red Rods.  I am so excited about my purchase as I got them used and at a resonable price.  I tried showing Mena how to use them but she was only interested in building with them.  I kindly directed her toward her building blocks and again stated that that is not what these are for.  I decided today to take away half of the rods as this may have been a little to difficult to introduce all of them at once.  My thinking is that they may have overwhelmed her.  We will see how it goes with half and then I will add more later.  You can also do the same thing with the pink tower.

Wordless Wednesday!

Here are some shots of Mena using our new camera.  I still have a ton to figure out but I do love it!

Day and Night Routine

Here are our new day and night routines.  I found them on another blog.  I can't remember where at the moment, but will attatch the link soon so you can make them too if you want.  I changed the pictures and added or removed some steps to customize it.  Mena loves following these charts and they are also helping me out as I am a very unscheduled person! 

First Day of School Photo Shoot

Here are some pictures of Mena before her first day of Atrium at Christ the King, in Ann Arbor.  She was so excited!  So excited in fact that she couldn't eat much for breakfast and she barely slept last night.  Poor thing.  Anyway,  I was anxious to see how the drop off would be since she has never been without me for something like this.  No daycare in her past or classes that I wasn't right in the room for.  Well, there were tears.  She was not to enthused about me leaving her at the door with strangers, although I knew most of the familys.  I finally convinced her that she would be okay and handed her over to the room mom to take her into the class.  There was screaming for a minute or so and then all was quiet.  They say she did wonderful!  I wish I could have seen her and been a fly on the wall to watch my little girl be all independant.  I can't believe it happening.  She is growing up.  My how time flies.  Sorry about the tangent, I was the nursery mom so I was just next door which made it a whole lot easier on me.  Most of the activities they did today were Montessori and stuff that we do already in our homeschool setting.  I think this made her a little more comfortable.  Soon they will get into more catechesis.  I love these pictures of her...sorry, another tangent!  After school we went to see her Aunt that works nearby and invited her to lunch.  She couldn't make it today so we went by our selves to McDonalds.  Just as we started eating, Mena spotted one of her classmates so they joined us for lunch.  So much fun for the kiddos and the mommies!  Although, my little kiddo was ready for nap.  She konked out as soon as we hit the road.  We are totally ready for next week.  Hopefully it will bring a smoother drop off because I don't know how many more of those I can handle!!!   

Atrium

My big girl starts school tomorrow.  We homeschool but she is attending a Catholic Montessori program at our church called Catechesis of the Good Shephard (Atrium).  I am so excited for her as I know she will love it.  I have been talking to her about it for the past couple of days, doing my best to prepare her for her time without me.  We shall see how that goes.  I hope she is in good spirits and my darling happy little girl that I enjoy being around so much, because I want the teacher and other parents to see what I see in her.  I will let you know tomorrow how it all goes!  For now, I have to concentrate on getting my princess to sleep so she can get her beauty rest!! 
 

Wordless Wednesday!

Here are some photos from our summer family reunion.  These shots are from the indoor amusement park.  It was the first time for Mena and her cousins to go on the kiddie rides.  They loved them!

My Sunflower!

Here is Mena's sunflower now that she grew from seed.   The bee's just love it!  I can't get over how much water this thing needs.  Mena loves to climb on the rocking chair inside just to look at it and say, "Oh!  My sunflower is so big!"  How wonderful to be able to teach her about God's beauty and power in a way that she can understand!   

Sweet Corn for a Sweetie!

This is Mena's first time eating sweet corn and she just loved it!  She loves corn so I was hoping she would give this a try.  I didn't think to give it to her at first but her Babcia bought some over for her and she ate it up!  She definitly takes after her Grandma (my mom) who eats sweet corn like there's no tomorrow!!!

Family pictures

Here are two family pictures that were taken last Sunday.  It was Maria's birthday party and farewell party.  She entered the postulancy for the Sisters of Mercy in Alma, Mi.  It is very exciting! 

Wordless Wednesday!

Sorry this is late! 

There is nothing like a daughter doing her daddy's hair!  She combed it first and then took a sticky note and smoothed it all out.  Precious.  By the way, Dad is watching football while this is happening!

My Apron

Don't you just love her apron?

Wordless Wednesday!

I went out to water Mena's plant and look who I found...

Mena thought he was so cool. She knows it's a Grasshopper but she insisted on calling it a "Momma bug" Anything medium size is a Momma, big is a Daddy, and little is a baby. There is no way around this. At least not yet. Mena has a wild imagination!