Look who's ready for school!

And um.. that would be me... the teacher! :)

And Leah, the student who starts KINDERGARTEN this September!
We are both SOOOOOOO excited!

Here is my treasure trove of school supplies/curriculum.

My Living Room School Shelves..
all in order and full of readiness!


Our main curriculum..
Sonlight's Core P 4/5 .. reading based-learning, how great is this?
I plan to teach Bekah right alongside.. :)


Language Arts/Phonics:
Sing Spell Read & Write..
same on I used in Kindergarten! LOVE this!


Math:
Math-U-See's Primer Level.. looks fantastic!
I had to have a math curriculum that I a Math-hater could
understand & teach and I found it!


Handwriting/Extras:
Various Dry Erase boards/books for practice
My First Calendar for learning



Music:
My First Piano Adventure Books by Faber & Faber
Leah's learning to play Piano! :)


Animal Science:
Frog Habitat, Ant Farm & Bird Watching (in winter)
This will be fun!!!!



In short, I am so excited to be starting school, and hope to make a great year
with Leah & Bekah learning all kinds of fun & new things.

I am very blessed to be able to homeschool, taking my time with each subject and work individually with her plus be flexible enough to double-up on school days, or take a day off if I want to.


And off we go.... :)

More Summer Fun!

Abigail's silly smirk

Abigail is CRAWLING! (As of August 1st!!!)


Goin' on the 2nd annual Helweg Family Camping Trip!
(Don't worry, the car is parked!!)


LOTS of beach time!!!!!!


And even a surprise from Mom & Dad.. a giant Trampoline!

Random Summer Picture Update!

YES! We are still alive! Blogging has slowly gotten replaced with facebook, but I will try and and least update once in a while.. :)
Here are some very random pics since I last posted! What a busy and fun summer!

Family vacation to Nickelodeon Universe in the Cities

New Piano from Auntie Anna!
Leah starts lessons this fall and is so excited!


Our big girl's last year in Cubbies!


Our girls with their Africa dresses from Auntie Anna!


Abigail's church dedication


Our two big girls.. :)

Easter fun!

Here's some pics from our fun Easter.. :) Had a nice dinner with family, and the girls even got an egg hunt! :) We all had such fun!

My 3 beautiful Easter "lilies"


Abigail has fun with Leah's hat


Easter egg hunt!



Beautiful Abigail Susanne



6 months old.. and 15 1/2 lbs!!
Healthy and happy!
Hard to believe she is so old already! But what a bundle of joy she is!

My Sewing...

It is official! The girls are growing so fast I can hardly keep up! Much less keep tabs on their clothes! :) (Or shoes! Arrgggh!) But I do enjoy getting to sew a couple new things each year.. :) As long as I get the time.. which was a lot harder with 3 kids!!!! :)

Here's what I did this Spring.

Two new dresses for Leah


Matching Jumpers


Matching dresses

They are so cute and turned out really well! :)

Where have we been?

We have had such a busy March! The girls celebrated their birthdays and Abigail's dedication as well.. plus getting sick the last part of March was unplanned.. but it has been great fun and good to slow down for a while now! :)

We continue to await Spring's arrival.. and keep busy at home! Abigail is getting to be so much fun.. playing and giggling. I love this age! :)

Here are just a few pics... :)

My two dress-up girls! Now 5 and 3!


sweet Abigail.. 5 months old now!


Dedication Day.. March 20th


Sweet smiles! :)

Enjoying my Baby!

One of my friends passed this on to me, and I LOVE it!

I put it up on my fridge where I can see it daily. Such a great reminder.. but I have already noticed that the desire to spend more time enjoying them when they are small increases with each new baby! I know it did for me with my third!!!! Enjoy.

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, in 1958

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.




Enjoying my baby.... and still doing so as a 3 month old!

New Pictures!

And now some new pictures! :) More on the way..
Life is good.. just incredibly busy!

Leah & Bekah "read" stories together.. :)

Abigail.. 3 months old already!


And a real smile on camera finally! Goofy, but cute!


She is our chubby cheeked girl! 13 lbs!



And LOVES big sister Leah, who feels the same way about her!

Helweg Girls

New Years 2011

Leah - 4 1/2
Bekah - 2 1/2
Abigail - 2 months



I LOVE having girls! They are so fun!

Growing!

2 months old on Christmas Eve! What a big girl!

Last week she weighed in at 9 lbs even, and 20 5/8 " long!
She is definitely healthy and even gaining baby fat! So great!

She is starting to smile and really interact more now, but it still acting like a premie.. more like a 3 week old than a 8 week old.. but still good! Eating, sleeping, everything is going fantastic! Her personality is coming out as well.. so fun!

We got the OK to go out and about Dec. 5th, which was great! This mom feels waaaay more comfortable at home now....

5 weeks old already!

Hard to believe Abigail is 5 weeks old! Time has been flying by!

She is now up to 7 lbs 2 oz, and 20 " long! So excited she is finally gaining weight!

Having been on "House Arrest" for 6 weeks (due to bedrest & premie watch) is really starting to make me crazy! I hope to attend church and normal activities as soon as the Dr gives her OK for Abigail to be out & about. :) I am so ready!

Otherwise things are going great, lots of snow up here now! Enjoying getting our Cmas decorations out and the long holiday weekend!



Our 4 week old honey

Staying Home & News

Abigail is doing well and growing so fast!

At her 3 week apt. yesterday, she was up to 6 lbs 9 oz, which is only 6 oz above her birth weight. Good, but not good enough. We will start supplementing 2-3 feedings of breastmilk a day with Neosure.. a premie formula fortifier to help add extra calories. Hopefully that will start her gaining faster!

In other news, I was told by my Dr. that I am not eating enough! I am already down to pre-pregnancy weight, and was eating well, (I thought) but according to her, the reason Abigail is not gaining could be due to the fact that I am not eating enough, hence not making enough or nutritious enough milk. I had never heard of this problem before.. (has anyone?) and so I am eating meat & potatoes and all kinds of higher calorie foods like that to help maintain a good milk supply and healthy diet. But what a weird problem to have! :)

The girls are doing so well with Abigail.. no jealousy! They actually would smother her to death with love! It is so sweet! They love giving her kisses and enjoy getting to see her all the time!

Also, cabin fever is just starting to set in for me, especially. Having a premie means being on "Premie Watch" as I call it. Basically not leaving the house with the baby and going anywhere she could be exposed to anything. ie: House arrest! ;) haha
But it does help her immune system, as it is so undeveloped as a premie, she would catch anything if exposed. So it does make sense, it is just hard to be stuck at home sometimes! But she should be well enough to travel soon.. probably around the first part of December. :) We just have to make sure she is big enough and healthy enough. :)
So then we can go back to church, and I can actually do my own shopping for once!!!! Yay!

I'll leave you with a pic of my three beautiful girls! So enjoying all of them!


Leah, Rebekah & Abigail


Abigail sleeps so much, I often "rest" with her! Such a peaceful face!