32 Weeks

And the due date keeps coming closer!  Let's go Baby Clemens 3.  It will be fine with me if you come any time after December 15th.  

Fun, fun, and more fun... I mean, school

I don't know about other homeschool parents, but we count our hours at Awana club toward our school time.  Someone besides me is just doing the teaching!  And the boys LOVE the time spent there.  In Max's Cubbies club they learn one verse each week, so we just work on that one verse with him all week.  Jackson is a Spark though and he can work through the book at his own pace, which has been like lightning speed.  And this is a good thing for him, because he kind of missed the first year of being a Spark.  Last year, I had him stay back as a Cubbie with all his friends and his brother because that was most comfortable for him (and for me; call me protective or something like that).  

Jackson finished with the first Sparks book last Sunday, which puts him on track to move on to the first grade book now and then he can start the second grade book at the beginning of next year.  I tell you, the kid has a memory like a vault (which is what we say about his Daddy too).  This is a photo of him at our last Awana meeting when he was called up on stage to be recognized for earning his next book.  He was super happy!!  

It seems like Jackson gets the crafting bug around the holidays each year, or at least, it happened last year too.  Every single day he wakes up and after getting dressed and breakfast his first statement is, "I want to do a craft today."  You would think after he said it the first time, I might have preplanned a few things out, but no, no.  Not me.  I just get him started with some other school work and then start surfing Pinterest, hoping to happen upon something we have the supplies for.  Painting is something I can almost always pull off, so when I saw this, it looked good.  It was supposed to be a tree and then you dot the leaves on in different fall colors using Q-tips.  Well, the boys started off that way and then decided to branch off into their own ideas.  Jackson told me, "Mom, I'm just gonna do my own idea."  Okay buddy, just as long as you like how it turns out and we have a pleasant time, lol!!

Another one of our favorite school things is board games.  I personally like the ones that teach for me best!!  This is one of those:  Very Silly Sentences.  Max did not used to like it all that much, but he has come into his own now that he is working on site words.  You roll a dice and put together sentences with cards of Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Articles and Prepositions.  But each sentence is all mixed up and comes out sounding pretty silly.  The boys love it, as it brings many giggles with it.  And it slowly teaches them new words as well, so that is a benefit!! 

My version of teaching the boys how to read has been a make-it-up-as-you-go-along approach.  It started with Jackson when my mom-in-law sent me a packet of post it notes with site words on them and we put them up all over the house and we just looked at them together and kept going over them.  We read simple books and sounded out the words they had in them and eventually he started picking up on it himself.  We played games wherever we went, making letter sounds, drawing words in the sand and sounding them out, playing Very Silly Sentences over and over and over, lol.  I think somewhere in there, he just eventually picked up how to read.  

Now, it is Max's turn.  Since Jackson has a more set school thing going on this year, it makes it easier to be more focused with Max.  But it turns out we are doing basically the same thing, keeping it really relaxed and just going at his pace.  The sticky notes on the door wall behind him are most of the words he knows at this point and he is proud of himself.  He has been less interested in reading than Jackson, but he seems to be picking up on reading just the same.  

Lately...

Lately Jackson has been calling Max "Bro" and it is so cute and funny.

The boys still call Chuck-E-Cheese "Chuck-E-Cheese-Its."

I am feeling like a huge, huge pregnant lady.  My belly sticks out SO far, lol.  I sincerely hope this little guy still comes out as small as his brothers did!  ps.  That was 6# 14 oz and then 6# 15 oz.

Jackson wants to play at least one game of Blokus and Yahtzee every single day.

Jackson has completely stopped sucking his thumb!!!

Jackson and I are reading through C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia."  Currently we are enjoying "The Horse and His Boy."

Max has become a candy fiend, asking every day either right before or right after breakfast what he can do to get candy.  I can't wait till the Halloween bucket is empty!!

I bet this does not apply to just lately, but Max never seems to stay quiet.  Some kind of noise is almost always coming from that boy.  I think part of the reason he entertains himself so well is because he never feels alone with all the noise he makes, lol.

Jackson always gets to be the main character in imaginary play; Max is always the side kick.  Jackson made a crown the other day and has decided to play that he is High King Peter, from "The Chronices of Narnia."

Mike is preparing for the Honolulu Marathon on December 8th.

Jackson completed his first Awana Sparks book.  He earned book 2, the WingRunner, when he finished the first.

I am trying to read more with Max.  He is working on site words and I can tell he feels pretty good about himself when he can read them from a book.

I am really in the mood to decorate for Christmas.  I love Thanksgiving, but this year, we are going to end up keeping it small, with me cooking for just the four of us.  I also love the fall weather that comes along with Thanksgiving and we sure do not have that in Hawaii.  I have not decorated for Christmas in a big way for the last two years, because our Christmas decor, including the tree, was in storage in the states while we were in the Azores.  It is going to be SO much fun to break into all that stuff.  And for only the second time, I will be able to set out the Willow Tree Nativity that Mike got me a few years ago.  Yay!!

Hearts and Wings

Just the other day Jackson, Max and I watched a video of our little friend Sidge riding his bike with no training wheels.  Mike and I have not been very good about the whole riding bikes thing since we arrived in Hawaii.  But Sidge inspired us and we decided to get out there this past weekend.  Max really needs a big boy bike.  He is still riding around on his tricycle.  

Too.

Darn.

Funny. 

For as little as he is, he is also really too big for this little trike.  We are thinking he might do better with a balance bike than a real bike though.  

Mike and I have talked a bunch about getting the boys outside and riding and attempting to get Jackson's training wheels off.  My larger-than-life belly prevents me from being too much help in this area, and I really tend to think learning how to ride the bike sans training wheels is one of those moments Mike really wanted for himself.  Fine with me.  He put me in charge of the camera/video camera.  Apparently pregnancy brain also affected my ability to use the video portion of the camera and our first day out I did not get very good video.  

Or maybe it was not so much the pregnancy brain, but all the thoughts about my boys growing up that made me malfunction.  They are getting so big.  I mean, no training wheels?  When we got Jackson that bike, I thought this day was still a long way off.  And there he goes now, riding around with my heart.  I gave him my heart the day I knew he was growing in my belly.  And now I have to give him wings as well, to take my heart and learn from it how to love and be kind and grow up and be independent and not need me.  And I watch him doing all those things and it is so bittersweet.  

I have an uncle who once told me that my biggest job would be to raise them up so they won't need me anymore.  I know you are right Uncle Jerry.  The whole process is just a bittersweet one.  

Max has my heart too.  And I notice him walking around with it more and more, but he still has those moments when he just wants Mama.  He wants to cuddle with me on the couch and he wants me to hold him.  Jackson has outgrown the need and desire for mom to be physically close to him.  He needs my love, guidance, and attention, but not in that little baby/toddler way.  

But, I know we must be doing something right, watching my guys this year, soar with their own wings in so many ways.  And they are enjoying the flying, so I am doing my best to step back and let them soar.  

Italian Cream Cake, for me and the boys who won't eat it.

Last week Mike was TDY (on a temporary duty assignment) for a week.  He left the day after Halloween, and event the boys returned from with full buckets of candy.  We all should have been happy as larks, putting our hands in the candy buckets for whatever we might desire.  However, the Clemens clan are just not that simple.  No, no.  Jackson and Max, they only really like Kit Kats, M&Ms, and sometimes, the occasional Milky Way.  And Daddy was leaving for the week.  And Mommy...  well, Mommy wanted Italian Cream Cake when there was a bucket of Halloween candy.  

So, I made one.  I used to have an amazing recipe for one, which was given to me by a patient's wife at the hospital.  It is the only recipe I have ever lost and I notice it's absence.  

But I thought I would give another recipe a whirl.  Pioneer Woman.  I think this recipe is in her second cookbook.  Max helped me mix all the ingredients together.  He had fun because he got to watch the egg whites be whipped until they formed peaks.  Basically, it is a vanilla cake and then you throw in some coconut.  Of course, Max wanted to lick the beater and when he did, he got some coconut on his tongue.  At first, I could tell he liked the flavor, but then that piece of coconut threw him off and he looked like he just wanted to spit.  

Anyway, I baked the cakes and made the frosting and put it all together.  I savored a piece that first night and then gave a huge hunk of cake to my friend Sonia and her family.  Of course, neither of the boys will eat this cake, given that it has both coconut and pecans in it. So, after giving some to Sonia, I still had half a cake left.  I ate just two more pieces and by then, the cake had been in the fridge for about 6 days.  Time to get rid of it...  Before Mike came home and complained about the lack of space in the fridge because of the big cake container.  

It was not as good as the other Italian Cream Cake, which is hard to believe considering it is a Pioneer Woman recipe.  I have not had something else of hers that I didn't like.  

Next up?  I am thinking about Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls.  I have not made them before, but a friend has and they were delish.  So, I figure, they are worth a try!

I'm not sorry...

Yesterday I had someone, for the umpteenth time, say something to the effect of "I'm sorry," when they were informed I am having another little Clemens boy...

I am NOT sorry.  Of course, there was a part of me that wanted a girl.  But more than that, I wanted another baby.  The laughter, the smiles and gurgles.  The little newness and innocence of that time and those little snuggles.  And for reasons I won't know until a long time from now, God decided we need another boy.  And I have learned how He knows what He is doing.

So, through this pregnancy, I have allowed my excitement to build up for the arrival of this boy.  I hope he has pitch black hair like I did when I was born and that he loves to be held, but he will let me set him down.  I cannot wait until Jackson and Max get to meet him and hold him.  I can't wait to nurse again and enjoy that sweet time of being with a baby that Mike and I helped make.  I look forward to seeing him grow and become his own little person.

I decided to write this post because there seem to be a lot of people out there who feel like we got gypped.  We didn't.  This little guy was chosen for our family, for this time, by a God who is bigger and has a better plan for us than we can imagine.  We waited for him for what felt like a long time.

Then, this morning I woke up to a message from a friend about wanting babies.  Waiting for babies.  And I look down at my round belly and I am just so thankful that God gave us this one.  He will bring joy and smiles and mess and silly craziness to our house.  And some people never get to even know what that is like.  And you think I got gypped?  I got blessed.  Again.

And I don't know why.  God could have kept us in that waiting.  He could have made Jackson and Max the only kids we had.  And we would have had a hard time with that, but we love them more than anything, so we would have gone through life feeling like we are blessed.  Because we have been so very blessed in Jackson and Max.  And since I have such blessings already, I know this little guy will be one as well.

So...  don't feel sorry for us.  Don't feel like we need pink in this house.  You can let it go, knowing that I feel blessed beyond what I have asked.  You can know that I rest in the fact that God knows what He is doing and this little one will be just the right touch for our family.

New Baby Art

I just wanted to show off where the boys are with their art work at ages four and six.  Jackson is very into labeling all his pictures with name and date.  The last two times we have gotten out the paints, he has also wanted to paint a picture of the new baby. 

 

 

Jackson's picture of Baby Clemens 3:) 

 

Max copied Jackson's idea and so this is his image of the new baby.  A little different from big brother's:)

At home space adventures!!

My mom just sent us this HUGE rocket ship to build and decorate, basically, a "build your own rocket ship out of cardboard" kind of thing.  It arrived and sat for a few days before we could get to it.  The boys wanted to work on it on a day Mike was not going to be home, so I hauled it out of the box and looked at the instructions.  They said, "Best assembled with two adults."  Great. 

 

I plunged ahead because I knew it would be very disappointing if we did not get this thing together and I thought, "How hard can it really be to get some cardboard pieces together?"  Well, it was a minor fight at some points, but for the most part it was not too bad. 

 

Max initially said he wanted to paint on the rocket ship.  Jackson wanted to use crayons, which he got out right away, while I was building.  Very proactive, that one. 

 

 

Max decided to join Jackson in coloring with crayons.  It was actually quite enjoyable working with them on this project, although they were little slave drivers, wanting it finished ASAP so they could play in it.  We are going to need to purchase a new box of crayons, as coloring this entire thing really dulled most of the box, lol. 

 

We put the rocket together downstairs on the rug in the school room, but it took up basically our whole free space down there so I knew we were going to have to find somewhere else to put it.  The play room was the logical option, but I was worried about how much space it would take up.  Good thing we gave the boys the big room as the play room!!  It actually worked out pretty well and I figure that when it eventually breaks down, we can just pitch it and rearrange things in there again.

 

3... 2... 1...  BLASTOFF!!!

"Trying to make it feel like fall" school days

In Hawaii, it does not feel like fall.  At all.  Every day it is still about 87 degrees.  But many of our stateside friends and family are on facebook, making posts about fall colors and fall weather.  I admittedly have moments of jealousy.  I am sure I will not be singing that tune when they are posting about snow and the long winter. 

This is one of the "fall" activities we started with.

In an effort to incorporate more science into our homeschool days, we decided to make a nature journal.  Our first project was just to head outside and collect some leaves to look at from all the different trees right in our own backyard.  We found 5 different ones in good enough condition to make leaf rubbings.  We decided to not only put them in our nature journal, but also, to use them on thank you cards for Jackson's birthday gifts.  We had fun making the cards, not so much the writing on the notes.  I think writing on six cards is daunting for the six-year-old:) 

 

The handsome guy writing on his thank you notes. 

 

 

We also used some leaved I had printed to use for whatever we like.  Jackson liked them for thank you notes:) 

 

Max would not smile for a picture.  He was working on letters after he finished his leaf rubbings. 

Hawaiian Halloween

There was actually, really, not all that much "Hawaiian" about Halloween, except for the difference in temperature.  And actually, that felt like a big difference to me.  It basically caused me to forget that Halloween was even coming close and therefore, two days before Halloween, we had no pumpkins.  Mike mentioned that I should look for them when I went to the commissary, but I had a bad feeling we would not have luck there.  And, we didn't.  No pumpkins found at the commissary.  So, we run the groceries home and put away the cold stuff.  I google to find where the pumpkin patch is around here and then, just in case, I decided to call there and find out if they still had pumpkins.  The lady on the phone told me that they had delivered them to a bunch of different supermarkets around.

Thank heaven we just bought a GPS.  I feel like a free woman!  I can go anywhere and not feel lost!  It is pretty wonderful.

Anyhow, I put in the supermarket and off we go, again.  Well, Hawaiian streets, shopping centers, and stores are not well-labeled.  It is very difficult to see stuff from the street, especially because everything here is in some kind of three level shopping center or building.  So, the GPS is warning me that the store is coming on my right and as I am driving by the entrance to the parking lot, for the life of me I cannot see a sign that says Times Supermarket, so I keep driving.  Well, I come to the second driveway into a parking lot and realize that the stupid store has got to be in there somewhere.  And now, I am on the top level of the parking structure and the store is not on that level.

Well, I am totally not above flagging someone down to ask them where the heck the supermarket is, so that is what I did from my parking spot.  Oh yeah, of course the market is on the bottom level of the building, just a quick walk down two flights of stairs and then down an escalator.  But hey, figuring out how to get back to the parking lot just seems like too much work, so out of the car come the boys and we head off down the stairs.

Praise the Lord, we see pumpkins right when we walk in the door of the market.  And nice, round, orange ones too.  We get them and I warn the boys that they are going to have to stay right with me and Max is going to have to be SO careful on the escalator, because Mommy has these two huge pumpkins and a pregnant belly to haul back up to the car.

We make it.

We decide to carve the pumpkins that night and just keep them in the house, as we had been warned that leaving them outside in the Hawaii heat is just asking for a rotten pumpkin before Halloween night.  Let me just say that when the boys realized I never got them pumpkins, nor did we visit the pumpkin patch, they acted very disappointed.  Hence, the hike to the market.

Well, we begin with the pumpkin carving, them in their cute aprons and all that jazz.  Mike cuts the tops off the pumpkins and he and I stick our hands in there to show the boys how it is done...  You would think at least one out of the two would like the gooey pumpkin guts, but no.  After all their desiring of a pumpkin neither one would even stick their hands in and get dirty.  Mike said next year, we are getting pumpkins only for the seeds...

 

Doesn't Max look like he is having just loads of fun?

 

Anyway, the pumpkins turned out fine, as you can see.  And there are the boys, taking all the credit.

We put the jack-o-lanterns on the porch Halloween night.  Superman and Thor joined them for a picture. The boys had fun trick-or-treating and I sat my pregnant belly down on a chair and let the neighborhood kids visit me for candy.  They came back with way-too-full buckets of candy and we do a little inventorying...  We put the chocolate stuff in a big bowl and put it in the fridge.  The other bucket sits out.  Max is doing really well not asking for more than he knows I will allow, lol.  He is the kid who has woken up from a night's sleep saying, "Mommy, last night, I dreamed of candy."  If only good-for-him food was something like candy, maybe we could get some meat on his bones.

I enjoyed seeing all the kids in their little costumes.  The little ones were the funniest.  I put candy in their buckets and they would just stare at my bowl, like, maybe if they waited I would go ahead and throw in some more.  The night ended when I ran out of candy, which was, conveniently, just about the same time as the boys arrived home with their loot.

And now, we can officially move on to the month of Thankfulness.  I better work on our Thanks tree!!