I have so many little matters to tell you of, that I cannot wait any longer before I begin to put them down.
Apr 15th, 2011 by ECM
Yesterday was warm and sunny–hurray! We met friends for an Easter egg hunt this morning, ran around until lunch, and decided to have a picnic in the back yard. Then I let the kids open their eggs…joy, wonder, delight! Can’t wait to do it again on Easter morning!
I haven’t shown any pictures of Elizabeth’s mouthful of teeth lately, but this is a pretty good shot of her full set–just waiting on molars now!
Apr 13th, 2011 by ECM
Elizabeth is 23 months old today! Big developments in this past month have included MUCH more talking. She rarely pauses to draw breath. We can’t usually tell what she’s saying, but she says it very emphatically, often gesturing with her hands. At a fairly high volume. She’s also throwing herself down to the floor dramatically when she doesn’t get her way. In the past week, she’s re-discovered headbands, and that has given us a bit of a break from the BOW.
And yep, today’s my duedate. Yesterday at my check-up, I was 2 cm dilated, and the OB was very encouraging about the chances that I’ll go this week. After the exam, I had a ton of cramping, Braxton-Hicks contractions, and some real contractions, and the baby definitely dropped. But after 12 hours of discomfort, things kindof faded away overnight. Today I’m feeling normal and making plans for the rest of the week, after all. Pretty disappointed, but the ladies reminded me at Bible study this morning that the baby will come on his or her birthday, and not before!
Apr 13th, 2011 by ECM
This week Tommy used his rudimentary phonics skills to write this:
That’s “Buzz Aldrin,” Tommy’s favorite astronaut hero, in case your phonics aren’t quite the same as my son’s. And this is a picture of Buzz Aldrin and the Saturn 5 Rocket, which Tommy delights in telling us is “the most powerful rocket ever!” See the 5?
Funny kid. I’m thinking I need to worry less about phonics this early stunting his imagination.=)
Apr 12th, 2011 by ECM
Several weeks ago, Derek participated in a fundraiser and auctioned off a multi-course, from-scratch Italian meal for six to students at the law school. We had it Sunday night, figuring that maybe it would send me into labor. It obviously didn’t, but we had a lot of good food!
Derek started making the pizzelles and cannoli shells a couple nights before…
We liked the addition of grated dark chocolate in the cannoli filling…
Yum.
So many shells…
My makeshift piping bag.
Finished cannoli
Making pasta.
Myhour-by-hour list of things to do.
Messy kitchen.
Tommy just sat and stared at the bruschetta before the guys came.
Salad, spaghetti, lasagna, chicken parmesan, foccacia, roasted sausages and peppers.
Berries and whipped cream.
Desserts–wish I had gotten a more close-up picture of the tiramisu.
I like cooking with my husband. A lot. And I enjoyed not cooking for the next few meals while we ate the leftovers!
Apr 11th, 2011 by ECM
The kids love dressing up for church, and yesterday morning they decided to do a little dance routine after getting dressed!
Apr 9th, 2011 by ECM
I’m done blogging about children’s literature for now. (I know that there are some side issues that came up that I’ll get to eventually, but I’m pretty burned out on research right now and probably need to concentrate on new baby stuff for a while!)
Anyway, mostly for my own desire for organization, here’s an outline of everything I blogged about our philosophy of children’s literature.
Our Philosophy
Part One, in which I define morally excellent literature and how we’re seeking to ground our kids from a young age in literature that reflects truth
Part Two, in which I talk about how we’ll introduce books with divergent worldviews at an intellectually appropriate age in order to train our children in discernment
Part Three, on why literary excellence matters to us because it reflects the beauty of God’s creation
Part Four, on why literary excellence matters to us because there are absolute standards of good writing just like there are absolute standards of morality
Part Five, on why literary excellence matters even in children’s books because it trains our literary palate
Part Six, on why we feel that morally and aesthetically excellent literature is the best way of shaping the moral imagination of our children
Application
Thoughts on Books for Young Children and how we apply our standards to what our preschoolers are reading
Thoughts on some popular YA fantasy series
100 of Our Favorite Picture Books that meet our standards of moral and artistic excellence
51 of Our Favorite Chapter Books that exemplify our standards of moral and literary excellence
Detailed Evaluations
Apr 9th, 2011 by ECM
I’ve finally finished reading Anne of Green Gables with Derek, so I have to go-ahead to post my thoughts on this series in response to my girlfriends’ questions. I want to clarify that I’m addressing the books, not the movies (the second of which is particularly inaccurate to the series). I feel like it’s necessary to talk a bit about each book, so this one is long…click below to read on, or come back Monday for pictures of the kids! Continue Reading »
Apr 8th, 2011 by ECM
That’s okay…you can always do the layered look…
(I’m not even going to try to explain the baguette…)
Apr 7th, 2011 by ECM
This morning with a nesting impulse geared towards cooking and baking, so I made the kids “breakfast cookies” (really more like muffins), whipped up some apple bread, and prepped some loaves of French bread I’d started last night. Perhaps I should be focusing more on cleaning, but this is tastier.=)
