Lowe’s Build and Grow

 

Dakota and I took Elijah to Lowe’s this morning for a Build and Grow workshop. Today’s project was a pull back race car.

 

Here is Elijah nailing the two halves of the car together.

Gosh, that boy has a lot of hair!

I was thankful Dakota went with us so he could help Elijah.

Cousin It almost finished with his car. 

It was a fun little project and didn’t take long at all.

 

The finished car! It really works, if you pull it back and let go the car takes off.

If you have a Lowe’s near you they do these wood workshops every other Saturday, I believe. Check with you Lowe’s to find out more. I think there might even be some information about it on their website.

Our Taco

We added a new baby to our house this week. His name is Taco and he is a chiweenie. He has the body and nose of a weenie, the legs and head of a Chihuahua and ears of Dumbo. Isn’t he so cute!

 

Pedro has surprisingly done well with Taco. He has growled a couple of time, but when I’ve said hush he has. They haven’t fought, but I don’t think Pedro loves him.

Taco and Pedro.

  A few minutes later Pedro and Taco.

 

Taco has taken a liking to Dakota over the rest of us. He follows Dakota all over the house.

 

Taco reminds me a lot of Jose who passed away this past year with kidney problems. They have almost the same markings, but Jose has tan where Taco has a darker brown.

Science Fair 2011

Our homeschool group had our science and social studies fair this past week. Elijah entered a science project, How are Rocks Made?   Elijah made his project into a little learning center.

The board was interactive, the cards in the pockets can be taken out and moved around.The big white flap opens up and had matchbooks on the inside. At the top it says Can you name these rocks and minerals? Each little flap opens and has the name written in the matchbook. 

Elijah’s board had a lot of information and little booklets about rocks. Even a magnifying glass to use to take a closer look at the rocks.

We only took a few rocks to the fair. We have a ton of rocks, but the load would have been so heavy to try to take them all so I told Elijah to just pick a few of his favorites.

Elijah won 2nd place with his project. He was very pleased and of course I reminded him that I would have still been proud of him even if he didn’t place. The great thing about our fair is that everyone gets something so even if a project didn’t place 1st, 2nd or 3rd that person still got a medal.

Here is Elijah with his project and his trophy.

The Brain!

Elijah and I are going to be learning about the different parts of our body. We will do a unit and project on our body in between other studies.

We will be using this Anatomy book by Jeannie Fulbright.

 

We started with the brain. I set up the learning center with brain information.

I bought this styfoam head at Hobby Lobby for Elijah to draw the brain on it and label it.

  Some information about the brain.  What boy wouldn’t love eating a marshmallow brain?

Elijah did have fun cutting up that brain and eating it. It was too funny!

I’ll post a picture of the head after Elijah has finished drawing the brain on it.

MNO Art Party

Last week I hosted our homeschool group’s mom’s night out and held it in Dakota’s studio and we had an art party.

We had such a good time. Dakota gave us step by step directions to paint a winter cardinal scene.

I love how everyone's painting turned out a little different from the others. All the paintings turned out awesome.

This is my painting.

I like how the snow turned out on Jamee’s painting.

Kristie did not add snow to her painting. I like her branch and her bird looks great too.

Everyone looks so serious and hard at work. Trust me there was a lot of laughing and talking going on.

Jessica’s bird turned out really cute.

I like how Konni added more to her branch at the ends.

Pam’s fat bird turned out cute too.

We had such a good time, it was a fun experience.

Dakota plans to offer ladies art nights and couple art date nights soon.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to my sweet Jody.

I am so lucky to have you for my husband.  You are my Sunshine and I’ll always be in love with you!

 

 

I used to think maybe you loved me, now baby I'm sure.
And I just can't wait till the day when you knock on my door
Now every time I go to the mailbox, gotta hold myself down
'Cause I just can't wait till you write me you're coming around
Now I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
And don't it feel good!
I used to think maybe you loved me, now I know that it's true
But I just can't spend my whole life just-a waiting for you
I don't want you back for the weekend, not back for a day
'Cause baby I just want you back and I want you to stay
Now I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
And don't it feel good!
Walking on sunshine
Walking on sunshine
I feel alive, I feel a love, I feel a love that's really real
I feel alive, I feel a love, I feel a love that's really real
I'm on sunshine baby, oh yeah!
I'm on sunshine baby
Now I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
And don't it feel good!

Elijah’s Formula

The new formula came today. I’m so happy it came, but I’ll admit I’m a little nervous about giving it to him. He has been on Neocate One + (plus) for 11 years. I pray he can tolerate this formula well.
The new formula is EleCare.
I don’t like that this formula has to be measured.
The Neocate came in packs like this and all I had to do was open and pour it in a container of 6.5 ounces of water.
 
Just as Neocate was, the EleCare formula is very expensive. 6 cans is $204.00 I’m not sure at this moment how long 6 cans will last. When Elijah was a baby his formula was $40 a can and he used a can a day.

Just to explain how Elijah gets his formula…
After the formula is mixed up, it is poured into a feeding bag like this.

At the end of the tube I add an extension tube like this.

That tube fits into a plug on Elijah’s stomach next to his belly button like this. The balloon part is inside his stomach. I have to change his button if the balloon burst or if the button gets dirty and also when he outgrows the button size.

Then the tubes are ran though this pump.

If we are going out we put the feeding bag and pump into a backpack like this. Elijah doesn’t like wearing his backpack. It’s heavy and hot on his back.

If we are staying home then the feeding pump stays on the IV pole and the feeding bag is hung from the top. Elijah pushes the pole around the house with him.


Just a little info on how tube feeding works. Elijah has been tube fed for 9 years, before that he drank his formula from a bottle.

I’ll update on how the new formula is going after he has been on it a while.