Date night, found a new church, and I broke our Wii U

Hi again!

So I'm sure that you read the title and I'm sure I know which subject you are most interested to hear about, but I'm going to start with date night, and you'll have to wait to hear about the Wii U.

Date night!

Jeremy and I went on  a date! Can you believe it? I actually should have put this in my last post since it happened the day before Thanksgiving, but I just forgot to mention it. A few weeks ago, we hired a babysitter (YAY). We found her on sitter city, and we did an interview before hiring her. She is also a navy wife, but they don't have any kids yet, just a puppy. She was really nice and seemed up to the job. So yes on the 21st she came and watched the kids. Jeremy took me out to dinner, and the to the movies to watch Breaking Dawn Part 2. I loved the movie, it was awesome. I think it was the best out of all of the Twilight movies. This was also my first time going to a movie since we moved here. We went to the downtown theater, and it was really nice. When we came home, Sarah (our babysitter), was doing the dishes, and she said the kids were really good, and that she had a lot of fun. I think she's a keeper :). Jeremy and I are going to try to go out like that once a month (which would be super awesome). I loved the break and I just loved how I was able to sit in a theater with my husband, and enjoy a movie. A few hours of freedom can do wonders.




Okay so about the Wii U...

....

This happened on friday, which was a very hard day for me. Jeremy has been working like crazy, and he hasn't been coming home until 8pm, and this is after starting his work day at 6am. Also on top of that he is on 3 section duty, which means every third day he has duty, and has to stay on the boat over night. On Friday the kids (the boys mostly), were really rambunctious. They were bad, and just not listening, so I sent them to bed early (the boys anyways), which is something I hardly never do, and lately I've been letting them stay up later, so they could spend more time with their dad. I did it anyways, then settled down with Olivia to watch a movie (because she was really good that day). So Jeremy gets home, and shortly after we put Olivia down. Jeremy mentions that he wants to play Zombie U, so we go down stairs to do so. After about 10 mins, he's bored with it, and I ask if we can play Nintendo land, because I had not played that yet. So we do, and we are having so much fun... until... Jeremy hands me the gamepad controller, and in the process of handing it over I dropped it and it hits the corner of the coffee table. Now I thought it was alright, so I just picked it up, and was ready to play...

...

but... yeah this is what I saw...

Yeah... I was shocked... Really shocked... My mouth fell open, and it stayed like that for a few minutes. Then the crying came. I just broke the Wii, something my kids love dearly, and play often, and I'm the one who broke it. I didn't have to play. I could have just watched Jeremy, that would have been fine. I felt so bad, about the wii and even about sending them to bed early. What they did seemed so little compared to what I just did. How could I? Why wasn't I more careful? By this time Jeremy is already on the Internet researching the matter. "They don't sell that gamepad separately, and they are not going to anytime soon." Is what he told me. This made me cry more. Why wouldn't Nintendo sell it separately? Don't they know that accidents happen? So long story short, we ended up getting a new one, but note to self and anyone else out there, the gamepad screen can break easily. 

New Church

So I've been trying out Churches here, still trying to find one I like and one were I fit it. I don't know about you guys, but I find it really hard to fit in. I think a lot of people just don't understand me, and they really don't want to try either, and that doesn't leave out good church going people apparently. But this past Sunday I really hit it out of the park. We tried Westside Baptist, and everyone there was super nice. The pastor can up and talked to me after the service, and told me that 80% of the families were homeschooling (just like us). He also introduced me to some of the other Homeschooling moms. Yay! I really need some local mom friends, I have really been struggling in that area since we moved here. So I think I'll be going back next week :)

Okay well that's all for now, thanks for reading :)

Thanks giving break, Wii U, and Christmas is coming!

Hey everyone, sorry about the long time no post thing. I was just really busy, and it was the last thing on my mind (as I type this, my daughter is bugging me for more milk in her cup).

So I'm going to first start off with the Wii U. I have noticed that a lot of people don't even know about it. The Wii U is nintendo's newest system. It came out a couple of weeks ago. Being a gamer and being in a house full of other gamers, we just had to get one. Our Wii broke on the move across country, so the fact that this system played the old Wii games as well was just a bonus for us. The graphics are great, and the games for it are fun. We currently have Mario Wii U, Zombie U, and Nintendo Land. The kids love Mario Wii U, and they really love Nintendo Land. Zombie U is more for older people (not for kids), it's a first person shooter with Zombies (okay yeah you know that much). Mario Wii U is a side scrolling action packed awesome game. One to five can play at a time, with four wii motes and one game pad (game pad comes with the system). The person with the game pad plays in boost mode, where you can set blocks to help the others out. Nintendo Land is a bunch of little mini game, all based after the nintendo franchises. The kids love that game! SO MUCH! They play it all of the time. It's one to four players, so they all can play, plus Jeremy or me (if we have time).

Our Thanks Giving was great! Jeremy invited his friend Lance, so it was us and Lance. We had all of our favorites, and we played Mario. That was fun! We ate dinner and watch the game ( :P ) , then we brought dressert downstairs to our family room, and played Mario (best part). Okay I'm sorry, but I'm not following foot ball this year (nope not going to do it). Have you guys seen facebook during a foot ball game? Yeah that's what I'm talking about, and you guys all know who you are. I'm not telling you to stop, but just to think. Is it really worth it? It's just a game. For me it's not really worth the stress. You watch the game and stress about all of the bad plays, and jump up and down over the good ones, and it's just not worth it (not to me anyways). I'd rather play Mario, a least I have control over that.

So Christmas is almost here! YAY! I'm so excited. It's my favorite day of the year, because Christmas day consist of staying home, and giving gifts to my favorite people. I love seeing my kids faces light up, and I love watching them play. I love eating good food, and snuggling with my kids. What could be better? Our Christmas break starts on the 17th (yay for a break). I need it just as much as that kids do. This will also give me a chance to catch up on grading papers and filing them (oh joy). We finished ordering the kids gifts, and now I need to get Jeremy something. Yeah it's a lot harder that it sounds. The things on Jeremy's wish list are things like a BMW and a puppy. No way we're getting any of those. :)

Okay I should go now, my daughter is now asking for water. Thanks for reading.

You Might be a homeschooler if...

I love these :)

Halloween and the day after.

Hey everyone. Did everyone have an awesome Halloween? Ours wasn't to bad.

Darien and Zachary were both the Hulk, and Nathaniel and Olivia were both pirates.

Since Halloween was on a Wednesday this year, the kids were able to go to their Off Campus classes in their costumes. That was great. They loved showing their costumes to their friends. When I picked them up that afternoon I got to see some great costumes. The big surprise was, most of them were not store bought. I guess us Homeschool moms are really resourceful. :)

We didn't end up going trick-or-treating though. It was pouring all day, and I know most Washingtonians would just go in the rain (because this time of year it rains everyday), but not us. So I just bought more candy, and dived it up between the kids. They were fine with that, and loved it.


So yesterday I put up the Christmas tree :)

I know, I know. It's to early, and I'm crazy, but I don't care. I love decorating for Christmas, and having my tree up makes me happy.

Olivia loves the tree. When Jeremy got home, she spent 30 mins showing him all of the ornaments and where they were. Which was noting compared to the 90 mins she spent walking around the tree over and over again, once it was up.

I have also started Christmas shopping :) . I love Christmas shopping! I really can't wait for Christmas, it's my favorite day of the year. Only 53 more days to go!



I also have some exciting news. We are planning a trip to Disney World for late February! We are not 100% sure if we will be able to go, because our leave could get canceled due to the schedule of the boat (the one my husband is stationed to). We will most likely get to go, but you never know. I'm so excited though, and I can't wait for us to finally have a vacation.

Okay well I'm going to go now. Thanks for reading.

Real conversation between Jeremy and me

Me: Honey I had a dream last night that you threw me a birthday party, and invited Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage.

Jeremy: Cool! Did they come?

Me: Yeah, and it was awesome. Any chance that would happen in real life?

Jeremy: Totally! *Wink*

Me: I look forward to it. *Wink*

About those pictures I promised...

Okay here they are. I'm going to have to say I'm sorry it took me so long. The truth is I forgot, and didn't remember until just now, when I was looking over my old blog post. Yeah I do that... okay so here you go :)

 Okay so these first 4 are of the outside of the house, and I know what you are thinking. "It's really small." Yes it's looks really small, but in this small looking house is 2200 square feet of livable space. It has a fully finished basement, which is what adds so much to the square footage.

 Living room and kitchen

 This is the basement family room (AKA the best room in the house).

This is one of the best parts. We were able to spare a bedroom and turn it into a school room. I love it!

Okay well that's all I'm going to post for now. Bye guys!

Moriah Peters - Well Done

Love this :)

Off Campus

Hey everyone, so remember when I told you guys that my kids, were in the Off Campus program for home schooled kids? Well I thought that today I would write about it, beings that today is their second time going to the off campus classes. I want to first start off by staying that it's awesome. They go every Wednesday, and they love it, and I get a break. I drop them off at 9:30am, and don't pick them up until 2:30pm. When they are there, they have a class for their grade, so my oldest who is in the 5th grade, has a 5th grade class. In that class they learn things for their grade level. Last week Darien said they did graphs. Then they have P.E. (awesome), and then break for lunch. My kids love that they get to bring a packed lunch, they go bananas over it (tee-hee). After that they break off into multi age classes. These classes are ones that the kids get to chose themselves, and they get to go to 2 of them. Darien choose "Smash, Crash, and Launch" it a class where they try out smashing crashing and launch things, and look at the science to it as well. For his second class he choose "Fabulous Fall Crafts" the name is self explanatory. Zachary choose "Fun with Card Games" they teach you a lot of different card games, and for his second class he choose "Fun and Games" where they teach all different kinds of games. Nathaniel choose "Fabulous Fall Crafts" for his first and "Fun and Games" for his second. Last week they talked for hours after I picked them up, and it was all about their first day and how much fun they had. As for me, well this break is nice. Sure I still have Olivia, but she takes a nap for half the time that they are gone :). I really thinks it's the best of both worlds. They are still Home schooled so I still get to give them that personalized education, and they still get to go to class and meet other kids. I get to spend a bunch of time with them, and I still get a break. :) Life is good!

Teacher's Pet

We have a new game in the Legates household. It's called Teacher's Pet. It's a game my husband Jeremy came up with in-order to help the kids with their school work. We made the game board out of foam board and the game cards out of colored card stock and note cards. The game pieces and dice was something we borrowed from another board game (we have a lot of board games).

 The game looks like this. You have grades pre k - 12, there are 4 spaces for each grade and everyone starts at pre k. At the beginning of your turn you pick up a blue card.

They look like that  --->

Then depending on what card you get, you are asked a question.

Nathaniel's cards look like this (above). We ask him to write the letter if he gets Spelling. He doesn't see the card and he has to write it from memory. If he gets Fill in the Blank, or in his case say the letter, then he has to tell us the letter or letter sound of the letter at the top of the card. If he gets Multiple Choice or in his case point to the letter, then we cover up the letter at the top, and he has to chose from the 4 in the boxes.

These are Zachary's cards...

And these are Darien's. 

If they get Spelling, then they have to spell the word at the top (Darien and Zachary never see their cards). If they get Multiple Choice than they are asked the question on the card, and are read the choices. If they get Fill in the Blank they are ask the question, but they aren't read the choices.

If they get the answer right they get to roll the dice, and move up however many spaces, but if they get it wrong, they move back a space.

At the end of 12th grade they move on the final exam where they must answer 3 Fill in the Blank questions in a row, and they must get them all right. First one to do that wins.

The questions come from the tests and quizzes that they are having during that particular week (yes I do have to change them out and make up new cards every week). A lot of work, but so worth it in the end. We have used this for 3 weeks now, and I have seen a great improvement in our test and quizzes. The kids also really like to play, and I guess that's why it works so well.

It was very easy to make, so if you were looking for a teaching tool in game form, this would be awesome. You could put math problems on the cards, or for really little ones, you could have colors and shapes.

Okay well I just wanted to share. If you wanted help or ideas for making your own, just leave a comment or send me an e-mail. randi.legates@yahoo.com

If you do end up making your own I would love to see pictures, and hear of different ideas of how to make the cards, and what different kinds of cards you used. Good luck :)

We have moved (AGAIN!)

Yes it has finally happened we finally bought that house. We signed the papers last Monday (the 10th), and have been busy moving ever since. Okay yes most of our stuff has been here, at the new house for a while, and it's been a slow going process for the non essentials. We've been so busy lately. This whole process has made me realize that I never want to move again, but I know I will have to eventually. The Navy will most likely move us again in a few years, and I also want to retire in San Diego, so... Yeah I'm going to have to move again, and most likely again after that. For the record, I hate moving, and I'm really worn out from this one, and I hope I never see another box again.

I love this house it's awesome. It really fits our needs. Okay now I know what your saying. "Randi didn't you say that about the last house? You know that one you only lived in for 3 months?" Okay you got me, yes I did. I have a very over positive personality (I'm not kidding). I did like the other house, and it did fit our needs mostly. What made us change our minds were the awesome housing prices around here, and the people living around us in navy housing. We were living in Jackson Park, and we discovered that it is the ghetto of Navy housing. Don't get me wrong the navy tries to keep it nice, but the people who move into these units just aren't good quality. They enjoy partying very loudly on Friday nights, and they let their kids wonder the neighborhood all day, and I'm not talking about 10 - teens, I'm talking about little kids, some as young as 5 (believe me, I wish I was joking). I just can't stand lazy parents, you sit around on your lazy butt all day, while your kid is raised by other things and other people, and you wonder why your kid doesn't respect you. Hummmm.....

We are almost all the why done with unpacking, and when we are I'll post pictures. I still have a lot of work to do today, so I have to go. Thanks for reading :)