I have so many little matters to tell you of, that I cannot wait any longer before I begin to put them down.
May 18th, 2016 by ECM
Since we’re switching charter schools this summer, we have to give back all the books that Golden Valley bought for us. I’d hidden away the 4th grade Beast Academy guides so that the kids would have something to look forward to for next year, but I figured we might as well get a bit of use out of them before giving them back. Breakfast and lunch are now eaten while browsing our favorite “living” math books!
May 17th, 2016 by ECM
When Bug dawdles at breakfast and ends up surrounded by siblings doing schoolwork, her meal takes on academic overtones…
May 16th, 2016 by ECM
May 15th, 2016 by ECM
We’ve been taking advantage of free Saturdays (and my mostly-healed foot) and trying to get the kids out to hike in some of the canyons around here. Yesterday, we did Solstice Canyon! The kids were fascinated by all the hollow trees along the trail. Tommy decided he is going to go back and live in this one…
May 13th, 2016 by ECM
Our little Lizzie isn’t that little anymore. She woke up sunny and cheerful on her 7th birthday, as she does 99% of the time. She has become quite the little babysitter-in-training this past year, dressing Janie, changing her diapers (wet AND dirty, though the latter was against my inclinations), and cleaning and organizing their room. It is so fun to see how her reading has taken off. We’ve been plugging away at phonics for a year and a half now, and she broke through with blends this fall, grew in confidence over the winter, and started reading any picture book in sight to her little sisters this spring. This semester, she has really liked listening to an audiobook and reading along in her own copy of the book. Just in the past month, she has started reading in her head. Short books with lots of pictures are building her confidence, and she’s been very into the American Girl stories since getting Elizabeth (Felicity’s friend) for Christmas. We got the first Felicity book at the library summer reading program last year, so I thought it would be a good time to give her all the ones for this birthday. She was thrilled! She also found a stash of old Highlights magazines from our old babysitter and has those strewn around the house for reading at any down moment. How timely that Grandma and Grandpa Willett got her a new Highlights subscription for her birthday! We were pretty sure she’d have to be a reader, growing up in this family, but it’s a relief and a joy to see that she loves reading as much as Mommy and Daddy and Tommy do.
Elizabeth’s other main loves are her friends, fashion, and ballet. She love, love, loves spending time with friends, and fortunately, there are a lot of quality girls in the 5-7 range in our homeschool circles. I appreciate that she isn’t cliquey. While she has her best, best, best friends, she loves any girl who wants to play house or Betsy-Tacy or princess. She loves her clothes. Fortunately, we get a ton of adorable hand-me-downs from Peyton and London, so she has plenty to choose from. This girl is way better dressed than her mom! At first, we signed her up for ballet because we thought she would like being with other little girls, but she has an innate talent for it. I love to watch her dance. Her ballet instructor wants us to put her in at least two classes a week in the fall. I don’t know what we’re going to do about that, but I know she would thrive if we did.
She also loves riding her bike with no training wheels, holding her own against the mob of little boys out on the pad, coloring in coloring books, and watching Shirley Temple movies. Her favorite subject in school is history. She is a merry little soul and such a blessing to have in our home!
May 10th, 2016 by ECM
The neighbor kids are big fans of getting into their parents’ garages and setting up campsites with cones, beach towels, umbrellas, and toys. It’s 6:45, and the kids are still out, camping.
May 6th, 2016 by ECM
“Guess what! We planted some things in a garden near our house. And a tomato from our early girl and a pepper from our red pepper is growing. Woo hoo!” –Elizabeth
“We have great growing plants. And they’re growing so good, especially our Early Girl tomato. And we know that our Early Girl grows early. We like our plants!” –Susie
“This isn’t really our first home-grown plant. I planted some spinach in Pennsylvania.” –Tommy
May 4th, 2016 by emilym
After coming across a recipe for potato pie in their history book, Elizabeth and Q decided that they wanted to make dinner tonight. Q is washing the potatoes while E peels them. I admit that I am still hands-on enough to cut them up for them, though!
And all four kids ate up their dinner without a complaint. Maybe I should just let the girls do the cooking more often…
May 3rd, 2016 by emilym
Haven’t had many pictures of Tommy on the blog of late. He’s gotten his summer buzz cut (at his request), and I think it makes him look younger again.
