Going out

All ready for church, wearing a knit sweater and bonnet MY grandma made! 

Vacation

The girls and I took a little vacation back east to visit my family and meet the newest member of the family - my sister's beautiful new daughter, K, born October 28.

 

Watching my sister in her new role as a mother was so fun! My sister, who I never believed would even HAVE a child, has shunned going back to work (doesn't want to miss.a.thing with her!) completely embraced nursing (she has a closet FULL of formula, because she was not going to be a cow!) and is already plotting with her husband on which mini van to buy (they want more kids!).  I told her she would love being a mom, and she absolutely does! 

My dad also got to meet Maggie for the first time on this visit. 

We had such a busy schedule while there - old friends to visit, family to see and catch up with, places to see, stores to shop, restaurants to eat at, and Christmas to celebrate!  It's really no wonder they just had to take a time out and catch up on their zs. 

My brother also had a very stressful week of studying for his final exams.  He's a senior this year (when did that happen!?!) and gearing up for a new job he landed in an accounting firm.  He's not actually sleeping in this photo...but the more I look at it the more disturbed I am by it.  

That's better.  Sort of.  K is such a good little dolly, sleeping wherever!  I have a feeling those days will be coming to a close rather soon, though. 

 

 I do declare! I love little girlie tights!

My mom took me (and Maggie) to a Getty concert one night which was so great!  (Until the end, when we left the building and completely forgot where we parked.  After 20 minutes of wandering around in the pitch dark we eventually found the van.)

  

Thank you all so much for such a wonderful vacation! 

I was so excited to get back home to my boys!  William was very happy to be reunited with Abby, although he had a wonderful time with John working in the lawn and around the house.

Thankful

Hello there!

I haven't updated in a bit....

but the last few weeks have been a whirl wind of activity.  Lots of school activities, park days, shopping, grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, you name it. 

The weather has cooled down some, so our days are 60-75 degrees, with cold nights.  Of course we are taking advantage of it and going to the park as much as possible.  Maggie enjoyed going down her first slide!

 With colder day time temps comes hauling out the baby snowsuits! 

We were at the mall the day before Thanksgiving.  When we walked in the kids noticed Santa's chair and the Christmas trees all set up...but no Santa.  I told them that Santa would not come until after Thanksgiving.  We walked on, but after a bit heard a rather loud boom.  Thinking it was a sonic boom or something, I paid no attention to it.  William was convinced it was Santa and talked me into walking over to his chair again.  Sure enough.  There was the chubby man in red, waiting for his first children to sit on his lap!  Santa asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas, and William leaned in and whispered, "A crock pot."  Puzzled, Santa looked at me and I, too, said that he wanted a crock pot.  "Okay", said Santa, "I'll see what I can do."  He turned to Abby and asked the same question.  She responded, saying she wanted a torch.  I about died laughing...a crock pot and a torch!  (I should clarify...Abby got a pink pumpkin "torch" from her Aunt Gina for Halloween and now she wants a Christmas one.  It's really the only thing on her list.)

 On Thanksgiving day the Abby helped me in the kitchen, peeling hard boiled eggs.  William was outside helping John with "the birdie".

 We had the pleasure of having some of our family over for a wonderful meal! 

Fall is in the air!

Finally.

I only had the time to carve one pumpkin so I was grateful that Abby really wanted to paint hers. 

 I took the kids down the road to small farm where they had baby goats and potbellied piglets.

Some time ago we went with some friends to a pumpkin patch for a picnic!  The kids also had a blast jumping in the jumpie.

Happy fall, y'all!

5 Months

My babe is 5 months old (tomorrow, to be exact).  I've been bombed with cuteness of my new niece, Kierra, so I thought I'd break out the tutu and take some pictures of my little princess.  The tutu was made by my sister in law, and the blanket was hand-crocheted by my friend.  (If flipped around it has all the ABCs!)

I imagine taking tutu pictures would have been much easier at a younger age...everything these days goes straight into her mouth, and the skirt was no exception. 

She would. not. smile. for the camera.  The other kids were in the room and she was very distracted by them.  It's hard to tell by the pictures but she has the bluest eyes!  My first blue-eyed baby!  John says they're so blue "they sparkle"...and I have to agree.

What we've been up to...

Since Maggie has joined our family I've been a little off my game.  I had all these great plans for kindergarten - cool science projects and experiments lined up, music lessons, art plans, you name it - but this third child has been a game changer for me.  This last month has been so much better than the previous months, as Maggie cries way less now and is happy to be in her swing a bit more.  Needless to say, I've had to reevaluate my school plans and simplify a bit.  William is doing great with his phonics and reading skills, I've switched our math curriculum to Singapore math (which I love!), and we are taking Story of the World  (history) waaay slower than I had originally planned.  We are doing these fun unit studies for science and currently we are learning about weather.

The kids are just sponges when it comes to memorizing!  They memorize large chunks of scripture in a matter of a few days.  I have to admit that memorizing doesn't come easy to me, but I figure if they can do it so can I. 

Here is Abby reciting our 2012 homeschool theme verses.  Keep in mind she's barely three years old!

And here is William reciting another excellent verse kids everyone should know. 

Well, that will have to do for now. 

You're welcome, Jared. 

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World!

I started this post several weeks ago but never finished it.  Life keeps getting in the way of my blogging.  I've determined that something has to give because I can't do it all...and my poor blog is the thing that is giving.  Maggie has not been an easy baby.  She is very fussy unless she is held and typing with one hand just isn't my thing.  The last week or so she has gotten much better - sleeping by herself for at least an hour or so, being content in her swing for a few minutes, and overall just being a more happy baby.  She still nurses every 3-4 hours, but being able to say that sometimes she can go 4 hours makes me happy.

We officially started kindergarten, although we are homeschoolers that school year round.  We have way too much company during the year and we like visit family out of state for extended periods of time, so going year round just works for now.

Our second Five In A Row book for this weeks was How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman.  It was such a fun book!  The girl wants to make an apple pie, but when she goes to the market to pick up her ingredients the market is closed.  So, logically, she travels all over the world to pick up her needed supplies.

We did a few activities with the book, including learning about the flags of the countries she visits, learning some new vocabulary words, and doing a salt water evaporation experiment.

For history we are on chapter 2 of Story of the World.  We are learning about the ancient Egyptians!  William colored a map, did cave paintings with some friends who are also doing the same history curriculum, made paddle dolls (see crooked picture below), and watched a video on the Egyptians.

I have to be honest.  I do NOT like the math program I picked out.  I thought I would love it but sadly I do not.  It's very visual/hands on, so maybe in the future I'll love it, but right now I don't.  William doesn't seem to get it, and I have to spend way too much time gathering supplies and actually reading how the heck to teach the material.  Gimme a break.  It's kindergarten math.  I'm fairly confident in my math skills and having to spend so much time figuring out how to teach this wonderful curriculum is sapping the life out of me.  Mom gave me Math-It to use and we LOVE it.  So for now we will use that and supplement as needed.  I'll rethink the math for 1st grade.

Frustration levels are lifting in the reading/writing department.  He can read simple CVC words with the short and .  We are working through a simple phonics book by Modern Curriculum Press as well.

Our Latin is progressing nicely as well.  The kids love the Latin songs so they are learning the vocabulary quickly.

With every new Latin word they get a coloring sheet.  They just love these sheets!  When they are finished with them we put them on the wall in the school room and review them during calendar time.

 A few random shots of cuteness...

The Legos William got for his birthday

Taken Sept. 20

The Story About Ping

We've been rowing The Story About Ping.  It's such a cute story about a duck, Ping, who lives on a boat on the Yangtze River in China.

The kids made "the wise-eyed boat" and then added a few duck puppets in for effect.  We used the puppets with our poem "Five Little Ducks". 

We did a science experiment on sinking or floating.  They had to make a prediction on whether certain items would sink or float, and record their findings on their charts. 

 They colored a map of China.

William really enjoys dot-to-dot activities so I found a duck for him.


Something that I'm planning on doing with William this kindergarten year is narrations - he tells me the story in his own words and I type it out.  Here's his first narration.  Pretty good if you ask me!

The Story About Ping, as told by William, age 4.5

He lived with his 42 uncles.  They all marched over the little bridge one by one.  They all catched snails and little fishes and other things to eat.  They all marched over the little bridge, one by one.  Ping did not want to be the last.  So he was being very careful because the last duck on the bridge always got a spank on the back.  He did not see his uncles marching because he was catching a little fish to eat.  When he was upside right he saw his 42 cousins he did not want to be last because the last always got a spank on the back.  So he hid behind the grasses and slowly watched the wise-eyed boat go carefully down the river.  He put his head underneath his wing and he no aunts and uncles and no sisters or brothers to go fishing with Ping.  In the meantime he found little boats – houseboats, rafts boats and big boats but he didn’t know which boat was his.  Closer and closer the fishing boats came.  He could see shiny rings and down he ducked.  He swished under the water to catch a little fish.  When he was front up he saw little crumbs he saw little crumbs.  Closer and closer he came near the houseboat.  Splash!  There was a little boy in the water with a barrel in the water and he snapped at the rice cake.  Closer and closer the boy and ping made a splash at the mother and father came running.  And the mother said I’ll cook him tonight.  So they pulled him up by his back and up came Ping on the houseboat.  A little basket with holes came down and he cannot hear the sound of his boat.  He carefully lifted the basket off and carefully slipped Ping into the water.  And when he was back he floated and floated.  He was late AGAIN!  So he came up and SPANK on the back.  At last he was back with his uncles and 42 cousins.  The end.

I think they're related...

William - 40 weeks

Abby - 32 weeks

Maggie - 34 weeks

I'm sensing a trend here, with the gavage tubes...

                                  Abby                                            Maggie

4 Weeks

Since I'm doing this one-handed, it's going to be quick - our little gal is 4 weeks today (and I'm still 2+ weeks from my official due date).  Hard to believe that she's been around for so long already.  Things at home have literally been a blur.  Days and nights all meld into one big blob that I'm never really sure what day it is until I check the calendar on my phone.  Anyway, I leave you with some 4 week cuteness. 

Snoozing in Abby's doll cradle...but just for the photo shoot.