Just being cute

We have had two great days in a row. I moved the kids' normal morning chores to before breakfast, and what an improvement to our day! Yesterday was one of our best schooling days ever. Everything went better than I could have ever hoped. We got our religion, math, handwriting, reading, and read alouds done well before lunch. Anna & Jonah had silent reading during quiet time and then we read Ping and learned a little about China. To top off the day, we read poetry at tea time and Anna read a ton of books to Eli while I folded laundry. I need to make a note of this day just so I remember that days like this are possible.

Speaking of Milestones....

This is Anna's first attempt at running away from home. She packed her bags determined to leave me and return to Texas. I prudently suggested she wear a coat for the long trip, and she did take that advice. She made it all the way to the yard and around the house before stomping back in to her room. Phew! Check that milestone off the list, too.

4yo Boy + Scissors = Buzz Cut

Jonah's self-styling... Mark's styling...

Here's the sad story. Friday morning I walked into the kitchen and noticed a lot of tiny scratches on the floor. My heart stoped beating as I thought, What Did They Do??? I bent down to touch the scratches and realized that the scratches were really blond hairs on the floor. Puzzled, I wondered if Sarah was pulling out her hair earlier that day. I swept and dustbusted the mess and then went to find Anna & Jonah to see if they had noticed Sarah doing something weird with her hair. Out of the bathroom popped my beloved Jonah sporting a new do. Yet another childhood milestone met.

Resurrection Class

I think I've been replaced as our homeschool preschool teacher. Today Anna decided that she was going to teach Resurrection Class. When she said that, I thought she surely couldn't mean resurrection. She must be using the wrong word. Well, I eavesdropped on her class (that's what all the good moms do, ya know), and she did mean resurrection. She told the boys all about Jesus dying on the cross and rising again. Then.....drum roll....she even had them do crafts!!!!! She made them each a cross to color. She wrote their initials on their crosses and drew a picture of Jesus on their crosses. Isn't that just too funny? She hung up all their pictures from school during their recess. I don't know how she learned about recess??? You can see the crosses in the picture below. The other pictures are just free expression. They must have had extra art time in class.

Birthday Girl

The big day has come and gone. I think Anna had a wonder filled day. She opened her presents right away in the morning and was surprised to discover that Grandma Linda had given her two things from her list. Shocker!! She wore her birthday dress all day (and again today). In case you have to ask, her birthday dress is the dress that Ellen made for her. Mark took her on a lunch date, and he brought her a rose when he picked her up. Isn't that super sweet? Then, Anna & Jonah had a playdate with their (only) friends in our new town. The girls came after school and stayed for dinner and cake (or supper as the 4yo frequently corrected me). The kids only have one friend each, but their friends seem like great kids. They are 6yo & 4yo sisters, and luckily, the 4yo is a tomboy. They even have a 2yo brother, so Eli will be able to get in on the playdate action when he's older. We are very blessed to have met this family and even more blessed that they like us!!

Bookend girls, boy sandwich

So, the picture is blurry, but I thought it was still a cute shot. You can see our bookend girls and our boy sandwich. I'm too cute with words. :) Sarah was very excited to be on the couch like a big kid.

6 years, 364 days

Here she is showing off her new earings and the adorable matching outfits. Now we just need to schedule Felicity an appointment at the American Girl store to have her ears pierced too.

Tonight I said good night to my sweet 6yo baby girl. Tomorrow I will say good morning to a sweet 7yo. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday she was toddling around like Sarah is today. Both girls received lots of extra kisses today as I waited for my big girl to turn another year older.

Egg Nests

In honor of our Owl Moon literature unit study:

How can this really be fun?

Do you remember playing on the stairs when you were little? Back when you didn't have as much padding on your backside and for some unknown reason you ENJOYED bumping down the stairs on your butt? If you were wild and crazy you probably even slid down on your belly. I had successfully repressed those memories, but this week they came flashing back to me. Here' why.

This activity is serious stuff.

And here's Eli

Two boys sleeping. Cute. These two are becoming better buds every day. Tonight they spent nearly two hours playing together in the toy room. The played right through dinner. There are two kids sleeping in this room. Can you find them? Sarah didn't have a choice of where to sleep, but Eli did.

Here's our sweet 2 1/2 yo. He has finally, after a very long 18 months, become an absolute joy. He is spilling over with words and is so fun to talk with. He's in the stage where he says whatever comes to his mind in whatever order, and everything is viewed with wonder. He says things like, "Where my boy? Where my boy Jonah?" and "Da-ee love me. Say-ah love me. Him love me." and "Mom, fences! Mom, trees!!!" The saddest is when he says through tears, "Mom, go home. Get back in van. Go home. PLEASE!!!" How do you tell a 2yo that we can't go back to Texas?

Did I mention that he listens really well?!! Well, he listens well for a 2yo and really, really well for an Eli. He's the best picker-upper of the group, and he loves to help.

Inpromptu Science

After completing an owl report for our current unit study, Anna decided she wanted to do more reports. So, here she is obsessed with reading our animal book and completing reports. Mark asked her for a raccoon report today. An assignment from our principal!! Check out the little nuisance behind her. :) We learned about levers from Sid the Science Kid (awesome TV program), and here is Jonah making his own levers. I did have to stop him from catapulting batteries into our 100 year old windows. Other than that, though, he did a great job experimenting with his simple machine.

I'm not sure why he needed three forks to build his levers, but I'm sure it all makes sense to him.

What are they up to?

Can you tell she has older brothers? Sarah and Eli were pushing trucks together.

Jonah is turning into a little handyman. He has a toolbox and isn't afraid to use it. Jonah was helping Mark fix an outlet.

The kids are counting out pennies after counting their blessings. They put the pennies into our rice bowl which is really just a cardboard container. They don't get why I keep calling it a rice bowl.

Anna decided to sew a pocket onto her Little House in the Prairie apron. She did everything by herself!! All I did was thread the needle.

Granpda Time

I'm not sure Mark will be able to be a grandpa. He certainly wouldn't be able to keep up with Grandpa Gruenes. Wrestle time: Bug modeling time: I think Grandpa Gruenes is a little crazy!!!

The not-so-obvious

Do you ever have a feeling that you might have forgotten to mention something but you can't think of it because it's so obvious? I have. Sarah, Jonah, and I were sitting quietly together one morning before anyone should have been up. Here is our first conversation of the day.

Jonah: "Sarah Ellen Smith" (name changed to protect the innocent) Me: "Yes, that's her name. What made you think of that?" Jonah: "Well, I remembered that her first name was Sarah. Then I remember that Anna told me her second name was Ellen when we lived in Texas. And I just wanted her to be a Smith."

Isn't that boy sweet??

After lunch that day, he announced that he needed to use the restroom. I could tell it would be a longer visit. I was quite surprised, then, when he appeared before me completely dressed a few moments later. Here's how that conversation went.

Me: "Are you done already?" Jonah: "No. Mom, when I go poop, I only put one lid up. If I don't, my behind falls in the toilet and it gets wet. I don't like that."

And he was off to finish his business. Now if he would only put both lids up the rest of the time....

8 jellybeans, a pretty mighty stick

How upset would you be if you found your baby playing in the toilet? Not much, probably? Would you groan and chuckle to yourself because, well, all babies eventually get to the toilet once (and they survive). Would you be upset if you found her after she had dipped her cheese in the unflushed toilet and taken a bite? Well, I would be. I would upset at the child who had (1) not flushed, (2) left the toilet seat up, and (3) left the bathroom door open. NOTE: This child was older than 2yo. Can you believe that this child and his/her sibling would sit through my tirade AND then they would leave the bathroom door open two more times in the next half hour? Can you believe that the lesson didn't set in until I confiscated 8 of their sacrifice jelly beans? 8 jelly beans = keeping baby out of the urine toilet for the rest of the day. Small price to pay. I do need to post the obvious issue that baby wasn't under my eyes for every second of the day. Well, no she isn't. In fact, she runs for the bathroom and the stairs whenever either door is opened. All day long you can hear me yell: SHUT THE DOOR! SHUT THE DOOR!! SHUT THE DOOR!!!!

And the plot thickens

We attended our first 4-H meeting tonight. You read that right 4-H. It's pretty ironic given that neither Mark nor I enjoyed our childhood 4-H experience. We don't have a lot of activities to choose from in our little community, and 4-H seems like it should be a perfect fit for our family. Not only are the meetings for our entire family (so no running around to boy/girl activities and such), but the project work is a perfect compliment to our homeschooling lifestyle. As a bonus, we live in the county seat so the grand finale County Fair is easily accessible. So here's the story. We were invited to tonight's meeting via email. The leader said they had an hour meeting and then a light lunch. LUNCH????? Who in the world eats a lunch after 6pm???? Remember when I said that snack is a 24 hour event in our household? It seems as though in MN supper is dinner, dinner is lunch and lunch is snack. How's that for confusion?