Thank You, Thank You, Thank You....

ALL the kids LOVE the new Leapster...it goes with us EVERYWHERE.
Thank You Papaw and Mimi Suzy!!!


Daddy Took his training wheels off and it wasnt 5 minutes and he was riding!!!


Thank You Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Our Sweet Birthday Boy.....

ABC Angel.....

What a blessing this little Angel is...A sweet little ABC Angel.

"Tricking Fish" at the Lighthouse Homeschool Day!!!

Well today we went to the Saint augustine Lighthouse for their 1st monthly Homeschool day.
It was called "Tricking Fish".

The kids had a great time before it started.
We went inside the museum and looked around, IT HAD A/C!!!!!!

There was lots of interesting things inside, the kids liked the stairs...Go Figure!!

There is a little nature walk all around the grounds. The kids LOVE to find all the old boats they had sitting around.

The first station we visited was "fish printing".
They LOVED IT!!!!!!

The next station was all about fish eyes and "ears".
They had goggles where the kids could see how a fish would see.

Sheba HAD to get in the action...Hearing what a fish must hear.

Needless today, besides the 150 degree heat and the HUGE DOUBLE STROLLER that kept us from actually climbing the Lighthouse, it was a sucessfull day of Homeschooling for the Vallone crew.
Well keep you posted in our upcomming adventures!!!

FROGS,FROGS,FROGS!!!!!!

Over the last couple of weeks it has rained EVERY DAY!!!
Needless to say, many frogs must have laid their eggs, because I am NOT KIDDING when I say we have 1000's of BABY frogs all over our property!


A couple of days ago, I went outside to see how our plants were taking "the flood",
and I looked down and my jaw dropped as I looked down at my feet and saw probably 50 frogs right under me!
Of course, I thought, TIME FOR SCHOOL!!!!!


So I called everyone out there and we set out on our lesson on frogs!
As the kids caught frogs for two hours, we talked about what frogs eat, where they live, and their life cycle.
Then we let the frogs go, as Zeek says "back to their natural habitat".(He is sooo smart!)



What a blessing it is to see brand new life all over our property.
And what a blessing it is to be able to just jump right into a lesson and have the kids so emmersed into something that I could have told them we were going to Disney and they wouldnt have cared!



(OK>>>>Maybe that last statement was a little BOLD...They PROBABLY would have chose Disney, but ONLY if they knew the frogs would be there when they got back! LOL)
Anyway...They love the frogs and have been out there for the last 3 days with them.
We will keep you updated and let you know what else we learn about FROGS, FROGS, FROGS!!!!!

A Little Poem for Little Princess...

Okay...so if you read this blog, youll remember that I wrote a little poem for Malachi on night.(if not- go down a few posts and youll find it)
Really- it just wrote itself while I was at the computer one night.
Well, Malachi loves it so much that our little "deal" is that EVERY TIME he says he loves me during the day, it is really "code" for ..."say my poem please!"
Soooo....as you can imagine, We have been repeating it alot!!!
Well Today, Shashamane came to me and said, "Mama, when are you going to write MY poem?"
It was soooo cute, all day she said, "Have you finished it yet?"
I finally had to tell het that It would be ready tommorow morning.
So tonight as I got our school stuff ready for tommorow--I came up with a little poem for a little princess.....Here goes.



Shashamane Irie...
What a special princess you are.

More and More everyday,
you shine like a sparkling star.

Always first to fall asleep at night,
after a long day of princess play.

And first to rise every morning-
you are ready to greet the day.

You shimmer like a flower,
fresh from the morning dew.

I could never really tell you how much that I TRULY LOVE YOU!

A RED ROOM.....

In the faith of rastafari -there are many different "kinds" of Rastas.
Some are more strict than others, some are more lenient, customs can be different in different places, or for different people....
Not very different from the "denominations" of Christianity.
In Jamaica, up in the hills, there is a group of Rastas called "BoBos" ..
They are VERY natural, VERY much on the outsides of society.
VERY SPIRITUAL....
Well one of their customs is that when a woman is on her "cycle", she must retire to a "red room"...
She is FORBIDDEN to cook for anyone, come out of the room, or even be around the men, for fear her negative "vibes" would taint anyone around her.

I WISH I HAD A RED ROOM!!!!!

I told Jason that I need one of these.
I need somewhere I can go and noone has to be around me.
I dont even want to be around myself at these times.
PMS can make me a Mommy that yells and dosent have patience.
PMS makes me a wife that dosent want to clean or cook ANYTHING!!!!
PMS makes me feel like I have electricity under my skin.
I NEED A RED ROOM!!!!

The trouble is ...I dont WANT to NEED a red room.
I want to be patient, kind and CLEAN, the WHOLE month long!!

So say a little prayer for me tonight...
Pray that tommorow when I wake up- I will not WANT a red room.
Pray that my kids get something besides Pop-tarts tommorow morning for breakfast.
Pray that tommorow at the Soccer Game ..I do not want to just run away screaming from the feild because I cant take one more minute and Jay has to leave for 2 MORE GIGS!!!!

Tonight this is my mantra...

I WILL BE PATIENT, I WILL BE KIND, I WILL NOT GROWL....

Pray for my speedy recovery, guys, PLEASE!!!! LOL

Sweet, Sweet Malachi....

Malachi, Malachi, you are so very sweet.
Like ice cream and candy, your kisses cant be beat!

10,20,even 30 times a day,
you walk right up to me ,
and super-sweetly say, "I Love you Mommy" ....
Then you pucker up those lips..

I NEVER have to wait at all for even 1 kiss.

It makes me want to stop time or at least SLOW it down..
But I know no matter matter what I do ..We are tommorow bound.

I LOVE YOU, MALACHI!!!!!

G'Day Mate!!!!

Okay...Jason has this amazing ability to imitate people with accents.
He ALWAYS does it.
Sometimes it is a Redneck, sometimes a Russian, and sometimes its the crocodile hunter...
Its USUALLY hillarious!!! Until it REALLY starts getting on my nerves..
Some of my best memories with him are him talking in a CRAZY accent while I proceed to pee my pants!!
Yesterday in school, the kids and I were looking at books with maps.
We were reviewing the Oceans and Continents...(So we can paint our paper mache' globe!!!!)
I was asking the kids if they remembered them from last year?
I asked them, " Where do Kangaroo's live?"
Right then, without hesitation, Ezekiel says in his cutest "Australian" voice...
" Kangaroo come from Australia, Mate!"
I thought that I just might wet my pants ...AGAIN!!!
It was HILLARIOUS!!!!
I give Thanks that I have this opportunity to teach my own children and hear these wonderful peices of their personality start to show....Even if I am spending lots of time changing my PANTS!!!

Free Falling.....

I just thought this pic was amazing....
Check out the Joy on Shebas Face!!!!