Brooke's Thr3e Kids

Elementary Parent Teacher Conference Report

2011-10-06T09:51:00.002-05:00

Elijah is an outspoken and prominent member of the first grade. He is extremely serious about his work, and now that we've introduced goal sheets and the guidelines have been laid out, he is much more comfortable and ready to set about addressing his agenda of productivity. He is very good at catching on to subtleties and has an excellent memory for details and procedures. He is quick to become perturbed and express his dismay with a situation, but accepts consequences when they are explained. Elijah is a strong personality and well-liked, though his attention seems to be directed much more toward his own work and ideas than to connecting with his classmates, whom he sometimes seems to accept as a part of the scenery.

Elijah is a strong reader, and should be encouraged as he extends his skills with books of the appropriate level. We are working on memorizing the addition tables, but he could always use extra practice at home, in the car, or anywhere you have a moment. We are in the process of going over the formation of letters and cementing good habits while we still have a chance. His pencil grip can be awkward, and we are trying to reinforce good habits at school. Elijah can practice this at home as well, perhaps in a journal or daily passage to copy.

***

Hannah continues to work hard and take full advantage of what's offered in the classroom. She is an excellent role model for the younger children, and she takes her responsibility seriously. In the past few years, she has shown increasing interest in activities which allow for artistic expression - both written and visual- but is equally engaged in purely academic pursuits. Hannah is interested in everything we put on her plate; the question always seems to be how she will have time to get everything she wants to (and is assigned to) work on. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and as easily beam with glee over the prospect on an interesting work as she can "shut down" when she feels overwhelmed. In the end, Hannah seems to fully enjoy school and always manages to play the role of responsible student when she needs to.

Hannah is a strong reader, and her always-lagging spelling is still making its slow progress. She has been interested in works about capitalization and punctuation, which has had a good effect on the mechanics of her own writing. We will be writing in cursive by the holidays, so allow her to practice at home. Help Hannah to build up her speed and accuracy with the multiplication facts; we'll use these in our upcoming work with double digit problems, after which we'll have plenty of time to explore division by year's end. Hannah has shown a great deal of talent and interest in both visual arts and written expression, and would always enjoy chances to do more at home

March 2011

2011-09-29T14:04:00.002-05:00

Hannah made slime out of cornstarch and water for a Brownie badge

Night School at Montessori - Hannah demonstrates how to figure out speed (distance/time)

Night School - Leah paints a shamrock

Night School - Elijah adds (remember, this is kindergarten!)

The girls enjoy their new hand-me-down water table

We headed to St. Louis during Spring Break

We saw the arch (a pretty great picture, if I do say so myself!)

We enjoyed the museum under the arch

We didn't enjoy being at the top of the arch as much as I expected... Well, Elijah liked it.

After starving them by not eating lunch until nearly 2pm, they thought this was the BEST TASTING lunch ever! We were at The Magic House, a children's museum in St Louis

We met Bob the Builder

and saw Bob's friends

pretended to be construction workers

stood in a bubble

scooped pretend ice cream

worked at a bank

went grocery shopping

and scooped sand. The Magic House is by far our favorite children's museum... even better than the one in Indy, in our opinion.

I don't recall the story behind this painting of Hannah's, but I like it!

January and February 2011

2011-09-29T13:53:00.001-05:00

So, it's been many moons since I posted anything... I blame Facebook.

I thought I'd upload some pictures and see what we were doing earlier in the year.

Trent allows Leah to pet him.

A new collection of Build-a-Bears

Elijah being stubborn and attempting to put his pajamas on over his bathrobe...

All dressed up for church

Ready for... kindergarten?

More snow

Sisterly love

Trent being Trent

FEBRUARY

Trent and Leah... again

Messenger bag I made for Hannah's piano books

Leah and Riley eating lunch

Pete brought this home and the kids named it TooDee.

GET THEE BEHIND ME, MR. PIBB!!

2011-09-19T11:00:00.001-05:00

When I first moved to Indiana, I ordered my usual Dr. Pepperat a restaurant. The waitress asked “IsMr. Pibb okay?” I was taken completelyby surprise by this horrifying question, but I muttered, “I guess so” anyway.

Let meexplain. Where I come from, theHeartland of America, the Buckle of the Bible Belt, where the Wind ComesSweeping Down the Plains, good ol’ O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Dr. Pepper IS whatwe drink. Sure, there are people like myparents, transplants from Yankee Kansas, who prefer Coke, but Dr. Pepper stillreigns supreme.

Allrestaurants in Oklahoma City and Stillwater, where I spent the first 31 yearsof my life, serve Dr. Pepper. Eventhough DP is distributed by Coca-Cola there, restaurants who serve Pepsi drinksalso serve Dr. Pepper. Why? Imagine this little scenario.

The Good Ol’ Boy family sits down at their local chainrestaurant, and their chipper waitress asks, “What would ya’ll like todrink?”

“Dr. Pepper all around, please!”

“Is Mr. Pibb okay?”

“Um… I’m sorry, butwe’ll have to eat somewhere else”. BillyBob Good Ol’ Boy whispers under his breath to his wife, “We’ve got to get outof here! We can’t expose Junior to theseinfidels!”

Yes, it’strue. If Pepsi serving restaurantsdidn’t serve Dr. Pepper, they would lose business, probably LOTS of business. My people are a God fearing people and thethought of Mr. Pibb passing their lips is akin to blasphemy. So, imagine my surprise and disdain when Iwas offered the unmentionable Mr. Pibb in my lovely new hometown ofPractically-Kentucky, Indiana.

In the past6 years since moving here, I’ve pretty much given up caffeinated softdrinks. I went in search of my belovedcaffeine-free Dr Pepper one day and was unable to find it. When we visited Oklahoma, it was nowhere tobe found. You must go to Texas, thebirthplace of my beloved DP, to find it (though I imagine it might be found inUtah as well…). So, when my husband wentto last year’s Alamo Bowl to see the Oklahoma State Cowboys (GO POKES!!) play,I gave him my wish list of 24 golden cans of caffeine-free Dr Pepper.

And allGod’s children say, “AMEN!”

Snow Day Dec 2010

2010-12-13T13:15:00.002-06:00

Yesterday it snowed all day long, and we ended up with about 3 inches. Then last night we had near blizzard conditions, and the temperature dropped significantly. Schools were, of course, closed because they seem to close if there is a heavy frost on the ground...

The roads were wet, but not icy this morning, so I was able to go out and get Hannah some snow boots. When I bought Elijah's last week, I convinced myself that Hannah's were probably still big enough. They weren't. I bought the last pair of pink snow boots that Walmart had. Thankfully, they were the right size!

It was 13 degrees with a windchill of -6 (or so) when the kids went out to play, so I set the timer for 20 minutes. They made it about 15 minutes before Leah peed her pants (I forgot the cardinal rule of going potty BEFORE putting on snow pants...) and the other two were too cold to stay out any longer.

After coming in, Elijah remembered that last year after playing in the snow I made them popcorn, so we needed some today too. I think they were happy to be inside! But at least they got a chance to play in the first real snowfall of winter (it snowed a bit last week, but it was completely melted before noon).

Santa Comes Early to our House

2010-12-13T12:59:00.002-06:00

Before I get to the Santa bit, I had to share this picture of Trent. He jumped into the basket as I was sorting laundry, and he was perfectly happy to have me pile dirty clothes on top of him... Oh, the life of a cat!

I knitted a hat, mittens, and scarf for Hannah's Build-a-Bear cheetah, Grace

Now on to Santa. Since we spend Christmas in OKC, it is helpful if Santa can come to our house a little early. This year I decided the last weekend before our trip would be the best time. So, I called up Ol' St. Nick and made arrangements (my mom used to do this all the time, so I knew it would fly with Santa AND the kids).

Santa left a Fisher-Price nativity set and the extended sets as well.

The Wise Men

The manger scene

The inn at Bethleham (which looks suprisingly EMPTY to me...)

The kids were hankering for a run for their Zhu-zhu pets (battery operated hamsters).

And of course Santa fill the kids' stockings (which I never figured out where to hang this year...).

Leah dancing to the musical ornament that Santa brought for me.

Hannah, Elijah, and Trent enjoy the Zhu-zhu pets (Treat REALLY enjoys them!)

Merry Christmas!

The 2nd Night of Hanukkah 2010

2010-12-13T12:54:00.002-06:00

These are the infamous Squinkies I posted about on Facebook. They are tiny rubber animals/babies/people/furniture that come in a plastic bubble and can be dispensed from a gumball machine.

Hannah shows a Squinky.

This is my non-traditional sufganiyot. They were YUMMY!

I failed to get any more pictures this year...

Hanukkah 2010 - The First Night

2010-12-01T22:30:00.004-06:00

It was a pretty crazy evening where Pete didn't get home until right at dinner time and then had to leave almost immediately after. So, I didn't get all the traditional pictures... However, the kids and I did make sufganiya for dessert (ours were made with refrigerated biscuit dough, so nothing fancy!). No pictures of those either, though I imagine they will make another appearance later in the week, especially since Leah wants a chocolate version...

I did manage to get a picture of the kids with the candles before they were totally burned out. Their gifts tonight were Pillow Pets. They have been going crazy for these things since this summer... I finally caved. They DO love them.

Hannah got a panda bear.

Elijah got a puppy.

Leah got a unicorn.

A while back I had the ol' "So, which Pillow Pet do you like the best?" conversation with the kids, so I knew which ones they wanted... Everyone ended up happy with their pet.

The kids' favorite Hanukkah thing is to play with the Little People Hanukkah set that my friend Barb got Hannah for her 1st birthday. I only get it out during Hanukkah, so they are always really excited to play with it.

A bit of November

2010-11-26T13:56:00.003-06:00

Trent finally decided that Hannah was calm enough to nap on... and Hannah was VERY happy about that. She's always wanted a lap cat.

I made Leah a couple of tulle skirts (which she now refuses to wear)

She certainly likes to ham it up for the camera!

I think this tutu turned out really cute... now if I could just convince her to wear it (it's itchy)

She loves all things girly, so I thought I was doing her a favor... but apparently, I was wrong.

We put the Christmas tree up today!

It is sparsely decorated with unbreakable decorations because Trent likes the tree just a little TOO much, even with cat repellant sprayed on it.

Elijah, of all people, posed for the camera.

... and again!

No surprise about this one posing though...

Miss Hannah with her stuffed leopard, Grace

My favorite Christmas tree ornament. My babysitter gave this to me in 1978 or so (vintage, you know)

Fall 2010 School Pictures

2010-11-11T16:37:00.002-06:00

Hannah

Hannah's Class

Elijah

Elijah's Class

Leah

Leah's class

Halloween 2010

2010-11-07T16:14:00.002-06:00

This year the girls were black cats and Elijah was Anakin Skywalker... I had him talked into being a ghost for a couple of days, but then he insisted on Star Wars.

He certainly made a cute Anakin.

Leah is learning to pose for pictures... what a ham.

Trent has discovered the gerbils, and would really like to let them out to play... or eat.

Hannah made a vampire mask this year at school with the vacu-forming machine, and I find it quite scary!

Hannah's Baptism

2010-11-07T15:58:00.002-06:00

In our church, children are not baptized until they are 8 years old. Hannah's baptism took place the day after her birthday.

Here we are with Hannah in her little white jumpsuit.

Our dear friend Michael Stanfill baptized Hannah (and thankfully got it done with just one dunk... which wasn't the case with another person baptized the same day)

Hannah got the traditional leather bound scriptures with her name embossed on it.

I found a cute necklace with an 8 and a girl in a white dress, and a pink CTR (choose the right) ring for her

The Primary presidency gave Hannah a CTR towel to help her remember her baptism... It's her favorite towel :)

September apparently equals soccer

2010-11-06T21:48:00.002-05:00

The only pictures I have from September are from Elijah's soccer game...

I think this picture sums up under 6 soccer...

August - Decorating and the Start of School

2010-11-06T21:40:00.002-05:00

Elijah's room was still painted lavender and baby blue with a flowery border just like when we moved here 4 years ago, so it was time to turn it into a BOY'S room.

The time had come for new artwork for my living room, so I put the kids to work

The girls started ballet, but it was short lived... too over scheduled.

The first day of school. Elijah started kindergarten, Leah started preschool, and Hannah's the big kid in 2nd grade.

I'd been meaning to get some fairies up on the walls of the girls' room, and Hannah asked that I paint the ceiling like the morning sky (Elijah's has glow in the dark constellations painted on the ceiling).

July = OKC + Disney Cruise

2010-11-06T21:23:00.002-05:00

July was a very busy and very FUN month for us... though it did involve a LOT of driving.

To start off the month, Leah ran into the corner of the chair rail and gave herself quite the owie.

Then on July 4th, we drove 12 hours to Oklahoma City

This guy did all the driving.

Leah turned 3, and got to celebrate a few times (OKC, Evansville, and on the Disney Cruise)

After we got back from OKC, we packed up and drove more than 19 hours to Port Canaveral (it took 2 days)

The kids had their pictures taken with princesses

friend's of Tinkerbell

They got dressed up for dinner (I had to show a picture of Leah, who was terrified of all characters...)

The kids had a great time in the Oceaneer's Club

and having snack time whenever they felt like it

the view was amazing

our wait staff was incredible

and Leah was spoiled completely rotten!

Fun with Water - Make up blog for June

2010-11-06T21:16:00.002-05:00

First, we got a Slip n' Slide

and it made the natives happy.

It makes for a great water fountain

but not too much sliding was happening with my fearful bunch.

Then we got a little pool

and the kids were even happier

Elijah turned 5 years old

and Leah tried to eat her siblings...

and her siblings thought it was hysterical.

Make up blog for May

2010-11-06T20:52:00.002-05:00

In May the kids and I went to beautiful Nauvoo, Illinois

Here's a good view of Hannah wearing her boot. Turns out she had torn a tendon in her foot. I think she wore it for about 6 weeks, and we were all quite glad when she was able to go without.

Nauvoo was QUITE cool when we were there (highs in the 60's), and we were unprepared... so I had to buy hoodies as soon as we arrived. The smallest sweatshirts I could find were youth mediums (size 10-12), so Elijah and especially Leah were drowning in their hoodies.

When we got back, Hannah continued to wear her prairie bonnet EVERYWHERE for the next couple of weeks.

Hannah had her first piano recital, and she REALLY enjoyed it. She's a shy kid, so it was surprising how much she likes to perform for an audience.

Brownies wrapped up for the school year, and Hannah added quite a few badges to her vest over the summer

The school year wrapped up as well. Here is Elijah with Ms Sarah

...and Hannah with Mr. R (note the prairie bonnet) . You can get a bit of a feel for how neat the elementary class room is. There are NO desks :)

Hannah's 8th Birthday Party

2010-10-09T15:34:00.003-05:00

Hannah's birthday isn't for 2 weeks, but we had her party today. She chose to paint ceramics at Fired Up with a few of her friends. It was a nice, quite, non-stressful party (yay!), and I think it was enjoyed by all.

Hannah requested a chocolate cake with pink 7 minute frosting, and she decorated it herself.

Hannah got sillied out of the silly picture...

Trent

2010-10-09T14:56:00.003-05:00

The kids had been wanting a kitty, but Pete didn't... Then I went to PetSmart to buy gerbil food, and I stopped and looked at the cats. I fell in love with one, but his tag said, "Almost Home", meaning his adoption was pending. I picked up the girls at half day (Hannah was deemed 'sick', but she was feeling better after I picked her up), and I decided to let them see this cute kitty. BUT he no longer had the "Almost Home" tag. The girls fell in love with him! When Pete got home they convinced him to come look at the kitty too. He finally gave the OK and we brought little Trent (he was pre-named) home on Sept 30th. We planned on re-naming him, but 'Trent' just stuck.

My poor neglected blog!!!

2010-10-09T14:52:00.001-05:00

I've been meaning to post. We did LOTS of fun things this summer... I've just not been blogging. I hope to do better!

Patriotic Kids

2010-06-26T09:31:00.000-05:00

Elijah's 5th Birthday Party

2010-06-12T19:18:00.002-05:00

Elijah had his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese (again)...

Hannah with the Rat himself

Leah hid her face for the entire 2+ hours. Ted held her for quite a while!

Walker

Pete "enjoying" some pinball

Ben

Mason

Calvin

Connor

Zack

Xander

Walker explains the finer points of Chuck E prizes to Hannah.

Hannah (push up those glasses!)

Elijah blows out his FIVE candles!

The ticket blaster. Elijah managed to catch enough to get him 927 tickets! Most of them were caught by his crown :)

The birthday boy... there aren't words to describe. He proclaimed "This is the BEST day of my life!" That's really something coming from the boy who has the "worst day ever" at least twice a week!

The Tooth Extraction Nightmare

2010-04-29T20:32:00.003-05:00

Hannah's two front teeth have been loose for about a year. They were pretty darn loose, but they had been pushed so far forward by the new teeth that the roots in front were wedged into the jawbone. Try as we might, we couldn't get those teeth out! So, we went to the dentist, and Hannah was VERY nervous about the whole thing.

Here you can see the snaggle teeth, but you can't see how far forward they've been pushed.

Yikes!! Teeth shouldn't stick out at that angle!

I had planned on taking a picture while we were at the dentist office, but I was too busy trying to pin Hannah down! She is one STRONG kid... I guess she gets that wirey strength from her dad. She was bribed and talked to and bribed some more, but Hannah was as uncooperative as I've EVER seen her. After her gums were numbed (no shots, just swabbed w/ benzocain) the dentist had the fabulous idea to have Hannah push on her own teeth. They cracked and make horrible noises... She wouldn't let the dentist use his "grabbers", so he ended up yanking them out by hand. It was pretty horrible, but the dentist and his assistant were very nice.

Here is the cupcake that Hannah was bribed with by the dental assistant... It's so pretty!

Here are the extracted teeth.

Here's Hannah's new smile :)

Leah Sings

2010-04-25T19:26:00.001-05:00

I'm sure her nursery teachers will be proud!

Here is Leah's rendition of "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam"

Montessori's latest trend

2010-04-21T11:39:00.003-05:00

There are 2 boys at Montessori wearing "boots" on their hurt feet these days... Apparently, Hannah wanted to join the fad...

Somehow, she managed to hurt her foot yesterday. At bedtime it hurt so bad that she couldn't sleep. After some Motrin and special Mommy time (reading in bed), Hannah was able to fall asleep. However, in the morning it was still hurting her, so we took her to the orthopedic urgent care for x-rays. The official diagnosis is "strained metatarsals" (glad I have some anatomy background!!), and she'll be wearing this cute 'shoe' for a few days.

Happy Birthday Zeus - School Play

2010-04-16T13:04:00.002-05:00

I took some video of last night's dress rehearsal.

This is Hannah's part as Boreus, the North Wind...

Here is Elijah's dance. He's really the only one dancing one this half of the stage.

The Fox Fiasco

2010-04-09T22:14:00.004-05:00

While we don't live in a heavily wooded area, and we DO live in an urban area, we seem to have quite a bit of wildlife around our house. We often have bunnies and saw a woodchuck/groundhog in our yard once. Last June I saw a fox in our backyard, and I had NEVER seen a fox before. I was so surprised!

Well, this year we'd heard some "cat-in-heat" noises outside that our neighbor informed us were fox-in-heat noises and that there was a fox den 2 blocks east of us. We started to see a fox in our yard occasionally and we thought she was really cute.

On Tuesday, I was preparing our backyard for playgroup when I noticed a dead duck by our back shed... Gross! I suspected the fox, of course. When the kids and I were headed out the door to take them to school, we saw the fox again. Then Hannah noticed fox BABIES with the big fox... I counted five babies, and they were piling out from under our shed!! They were SO cute, and we just couldn't believe it.

After more dead animals in the yard, and not feeling safe about letting our kids in the backyard, we decided we would have to get rid of them.

Pete called animal control, but they only deal with domesticated animals. He was given some other phone numbers to try but came up with nothing. Two people suggested he talk to someone at the local nature preserve, and that ended up being the most helpful. It's illegal to disturb a fox den, so we would have to discourage the foxes from hanging out in our backyard. After a little online research I decided to sprinkle cayenne pepper around the shed. I was coughing and hacking, but guess who it didn't seem to bother?

Yep, this I took this picture a few hours after peppering the yard...

Next on the list was to remove their shelter, so we decided to board and brick up the openings under the shed. Previously, we'd thought that there was a hole dug under the shed, but I was happy to find after further investigation that it was sitting on a concrete pad. We were very noisy and made sure the foxes weren't around, then Pete cleaned up two more dead ducks and a smaller bird (boy did they STINK!!). After that we started putting bricks around the shed to block the openings. We had four, 8 foot fence posts behind the shed and they were PERFECT for blocking three of the sides. We took the bricks from our landscaping, so we didn't have to buy anything except the cayenne pepper.

Pete also took the opportunity to clear out the area between the shed and fence (something that should have been done when we bought the house... probably BEFORE we bought the house, but we were stupid.)

So far, no more foxes! I'm sure we'll see the mama fox around, but hopefully she'll keep her babies somewhere else and FEED them anywhere but our yard!

Favorite T-shirt

2010-04-07T13:32:00.002-05:00

Elijah had a t-shirt that I LOVED to see him wear ...

but alas, he outgrew it. I couldn't bear to give it away with the other hand-me-downs. So, I made it into a PILLOW!

He is quite pleased with his t-shirt pillow :)

Easter

2010-04-04T14:01:00.003-05:00

Hannah woke up at 5:50 READY for the Easter egg hunt, and she woke up Elijah... I said they could find 10 eggs each, but then they'd have to leave the rest until Leah woke up.

Here they are starting out...

... and there OFF! I couldn't have planned this picture if I tried.

Elijah finds some eggs...

Hannah counts her eggs to see if she really has 10 already (yep!)

All the noise and commotion woke Leah up...

So, she found her eggs...

She looks more like a zombie here...

We "unsealed" the stove

...

...

so we could take our resurrection cookies out.

YUM! Well, actually, Elijah didn't like them (they have nuts in them), and Leah wouldn't try hers... They are basically merange, and hollow inside.

LOOT!!

All cute and matchy-matchy!!

Holy Saturday (Easter Eve!)

2010-04-03T20:52:00.002-05:00

We had a BUSY night!!!

First we dyed eggs...

Isn't Hannah's bunny egg the cutest?

Here's all of our dyed eggs

Next we made Resurrection Cookies. Here the kids are breaking the pecans to tiny pieces to represent Jesus being beaten by the Romans

Elijah is taking a sniff of vinegar, which is to remind us that when Jesus was on the cross he was given vinegar to drink.

Eggs represent Jesus's life (we got a twin yolk!)

The egg whites are super white and fluffy to remind us that Jesus was without sin

Happy Easter!!!

I forgot to get a picture of the cookies, but here is the oven sealed up with tape like Jesus's tomb was sealed... In the morning we'll open the oven (you turn off the oven after putting them in and they cook all night) and have hollow cookies.

... and the ever important Easter basket (the plastic eggs are hidden already!!)

Hannah's New Look

2010-03-29T20:11:00.002-05:00

This is what Hannah looked like when she went to school this morning...

Here's what she looks like with her new hair cut!

It's not the shortest she's had it

(This was the emergency hair cut she had to get after she gave herself a massive "trim" right before her 4th birthday)

She's very pleased with it! I guess she was tired of brushing out tangles :)

Canning Beans

2010-03-25T11:44:00.002-05:00

I pressure canned pinto beans this morning! It takes a while, and all directions should be followed exactly, but it wasn't hard at all!!

And now I have 12 pints of pinto beans that cost about 12 cents each... not bad.

I wanted to start with something really cheap just in case it got messed up. But I could hear the vacuum seals popping closed, so I think these will be perfect.

Sewing!

2010-03-12T22:15:00.002-06:00

I've done a couple of sewing projects that I thought I'd share.

I sewed 11 tiny togas for the upcoming school play "Happy Birthday to Zeus"

I turned a pair of patched-beyond-repair jeans into some extra-cute cut-offs for Hannah.

I hated to waste the rest of the jeans, so I made a cute little hippy purse for Leah. I'm sure that when I make more cut-offs I'll have to make a couple more purses :)

Yet Another Snow Day...

2010-02-15T14:50:00.002-06:00

When I realized that it was QUIET and everyone was entertaining themselves, I went to investigate with my camera in hand. This is what I found.

It looks like THIS outside...

This is what it looks like inside...

Elijah is typing a story on the kids' computer

Leah is creating a 'dinner party' by emptying out the drawer of plastic ware.

Hannah is playing with her Littlest Petshop animals.

Pete is grading tests (in his pajamas at 3pm...

Valentine Bags

2010-02-09T15:39:00.003-06:00

I made these cute little bags for the kids' Valentines present. They are filled with candy, of course. I also made some for my Sunday School class (all girls). I think they turned out really cute!! I know my kids love to have little bags to keep their treasures in, so I'm sure they'll be well received. Oh, and no, Elijah won't mind that his is pink and flowery, at least not yet. Having two sisters he's used to all things girly.

Latest and Greatest Montessori Pictures

2010-02-03T20:49:00.002-06:00

These go back to November... so there are quite a few pictures.

Elijah with the map of the world

Elijah and friend work on the squaring chains

slicing wooden vegetables

the one hundred board (one of his favorite works)

working on prepositions

Sleeping on the bus to or from a field trip (Miss Sarah always seems to get a picture like this of him... she must find it as amusing as I do!)

mixing colors (a gluing pattern work is also on the table)

gluing a pattern

the squaring chains

categorizing animals (I think)

map of the US (he knows an amazing number of states!)

making words with the moveable alphabet

another map of the US

I think this is called the 'snake game'

Elijah's close up

SNACK!!

The 45 layout (I believe this is the first time he completed it by himself)

cutting wooden sushi from the bento box

sewing (it's like a 3D sewing card)

nuts and bolts

he loves using that laser pointer for the 45 layout!

once again with the 45 layout... it's quite an impressive work for a 4 year old and he certain is proud of his accomplishment!

off to another field trip

waiting for Tales and Scales to start

the mystery number

putting the months in the correct order around the sun

putting together a puzzle of the solar system
***

Hannah's class has done some fun things, but there are fewer pictures

One of the dads taught archery

sitting during the archery lesson

watching another dad do a science experiment

demonstrating the letter H in sign language

SNOW!!

watching a classmate attempt to drill a hole, which is really hard for 1st graders!

getting off the bus for the very stinky field trip to the water treatment plant

Hannah's quilt square is A4, and is "don't let the cat out of the bag"

Seriously? I never blogged the Christmas card??

2010-01-30T21:50:00.004-06:00

Wow, I can NOT believe I missed that one...

And here's the Hanukkah version

Hmmm... looks like when I captured that screen shot I had my cursor in a bad spot... Oh well.

We Built a SNOWMAN!!!

2010-01-30T13:46:00.003-06:00

We don't get tons of snow here, and when we do it never seems to be good snowman making snow. The first winter we lived here we were able to make a snowman with the girls who lived in our apartment complex, but that was 3 years ago.

The weather man predicted we would get 1 to 2 inches of snow, and it seemed likely that it might be even less. However, when I went to bed last night we'd already gotten at least 2 inches and the grass was completely covered... When we woke up this morning, there was a good six inches of snow! Pete and I each shoveled half of our drive way, and it became QUITE apparent that this was good packing snow (not good for shoveling driveways though!!).

We bundled the kids up to build that ever elusive snowman!! Leah and Elijah weren't much help, but Hannah and I built one :)

Paranormal Activity at Our House

2010-01-24T21:05:00.001-06:00

I posted this on FB last night, but thought I'd share on the blog as well.

Still behind!

2010-01-22T13:22:00.001-06:00

My house is looking great, but I'm WAY behind on my getting my photos uploaded. Heck, I haven't even moved the Christmas pics from the laptop yet... Hopefully soon.

Happy 2010!

2010-01-02T14:04:00.003-06:00

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month! The holidays are crazy, for sure. We had a lovely Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, then went to Oklahoma (via Kansas for a quick 'hi' to the cousins) for Christmas. We celebrated New Year's London time (6pm here) and had a fun little party, and everyone was able to go to be at a decent hour! Pete is currently watching the Cotton Bowl, live and in person at the "Jerry Dome". He'll be back tomorrow and we'll head home. The kids will miss the first day back to school, but I don't think they'll mind too much :)

Then it's back to our regularly scheduled programming, school for the kids, teaching for Pete, and domestic chores for myself.

I'm not one to write real New Year's resolutions, but before we left I decided to get my house in order (clean!) and keep it that way. I spent the week before we left doing just that. I hope to keep with the system I started (it's supposed to take 21 days to create a habit), and spend less time goofing off on the computer :)

Happy New Year to all!! Oh, and just so you know all the cool kids are calling this year "twenty-ten" (as opposed to two thousand ten).

School Photos Fall 2009

2009-11-23T10:40:00.002-06:00

Here are the kids' school pictures. I think they turned out quite nicely!!

I believe Leah wins the award for cutest kid :)

Elijah looks like such a little man!!

This was taken a week before Hannah got her glasses. She looks a bit different with them, but beautiful regardless!!

Hannah's 7th Birthday Party (3 weeks delayed thanks to H1N1)

2009-11-15T20:25:00.002-06:00

We failed to get any pictures of the kids painting their sun catchers, but I did have Pete run around and take a few of the kids eating...

Elijah and Mason

Elijah

Mason (he tends to look like this after cake at birthday parties...)

Ben and Zack

Ben

Zack and Leah (who did amazingly well, since she was pretty much unsupervised during the eating part of the party)

Leah and Walker

Kristin and Daniela

Isabel and Hannah who is looking quite pleased :)

Madelyn and Isabel

Neha

Katherine and Madelyn

Madelyn

Mason

Elijah

Mason and Elijah

More of the same

We had 20 minutes to kill before swimming, so we played a rousing game of Duck Duck Goose.

Emily, who managed to miss being photographed while eating, Madelyn, and myself with a very interesting expression.

Wow, another bad look from me!

After this we went swimming for an hour and it was a LOT of fun!!

We Got a Piano!!!

2009-11-06T12:53:00.002-06:00

I've always wanted a piano, and now I finally have one!

I took a year of piano lessons in 5th grade, but we didn't have a piano at home. So, I got permission to use a piano at school and I practiced during lunch recess.

Hannah and Elijah have been asking to take piano lessons for a while now, and I was debating on what to buy. I could get a $200 keyboard at Target which would probably be fine, or maybe a nice digital piano... both would allow the kids to practice wearing headphones. But I finally decided I wanted a REAL piano.

On Wednesday, I went to a local music store (I wasn't even sure they'd have pianos) just to look. The rest is history, I guess!

The piano teacher has been called, and hopefully she can fit in both kids (she thinks it's iffy about Elijah starting lessons... so I may try and find a Suzuki method teacher for him)

I ordered a couple of John Thomson (red books) piano books that I used, and they should arrive today. I can't wait!

I decided to surprise the kids, so I didn't tell them about the piano. Leah really liked it, and played for a good 15 minutes. Elijah was very surprised, but only played for a few minutes. After he realized he couldn't play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, he decided to do something else. I can't wait to see how Hannah reacts. This morning she told me she couldn't wait until we got a piano, and we walked around the house deciding where we should put a piano. She decided the entry way was the "only" place we had. I think she'll be surprised to see it where the rocker used to be.

Random pictures to round out October

2009-11-01T20:56:00.002-06:00

Hannah's new glasses!

My first quilting project finally finished!!! Four, far from perfect, but cute placemats :)

Hannah's zebra mask that she made at school.

Hannah transferring a design onto her pumpkin.

Hannah's cat and Elijah's pirate pumpkins.

Pre Trick or Treat

Sweeties!!!!

Hannah's 7th Birthday

2009-10-25T20:12:00.003-05:00

Thankfully, we celebrated Hannah's birthday as a family a day early, because the morning of her birthday she came down with the FLU! Poor kid! We had such a fun filled, exciting weekend planned and it all had to be cancelled and her party postponed...

Here are some pictures from our family celebration

In three weeks I'll have pictures from her delayed party...

Ice Skating Lessons!

2009-10-16T19:54:00.003-05:00

Instead of traditional PE, the Montessori elementary kids take various kinds of lessons. Their first ice skating lesson was on Tuesday, and Hannah LOVED it!

The skating instructor explains some things to the first graders before trying out their skates. Hannah is at the top of the photo in the lavender jacket.

The 1st graders learn how to move around on their skates (and how to stand up when the fall down!) before moving to the ice.

Montessori pics of Elijah Sept/Oct

2009-10-16T18:43:00.002-05:00

sorting by color

word building

Career day luncheon

teen beads

Yoga

Word building

Tangrams

sewing

Color names

Map of the world

Field trip to pumpkin patch

hayride

Everyone picked out their pumpkins!

cornfield

hay bale maze

MUDDY!!!

Sleeping on the bus ride home...

Quackwurst!!!

2009-10-02T18:47:00.002-05:00

Evansville has a huge street fair every year called the Fall Festival. Every year Montessori has a booth that sells Icky Licky (cricket suckers), Scorpion Pops and Chocolate Crickets. The new item this year is Quackwurst (duck sausage). In previous years they have sold Gator Taters, Kangaritos, and who knows what else :)

This year Mr R asked Hannah and Elijah help out promoting the booth. He provided lederhosen and duck calls, and we'll be going to a radio station or two on Monday morning.

Guten Tag! Wir verkaufen Duckwurst!!

Sind wir Enten oder Kinder?

Now ist die Zeit, als wir tanzen!!

*My apologies for the probable lack correct German grammar... It's been a long time, and I'm relying on internet translations :)

Light a Candle for Peace - Hannah!

2009-09-22T12:47:00.002-05:00

In this video you can actually see Hannah! She's just to the left of the post in the middle of the room (wearing white pants).

Montessori Sings Peace Around the World

2009-09-21T20:02:00.004-05:00

Today is the UN's International Day of Peace, and many Montessori schools around the globe sang a special peace song today.

Elijah came home and sang it for me.

Here is the whole school singing. It's quite long, but let it load and then skip to minute 5. That's where the camera pans to Elijah, he lifts his shirt and rubs his belly... That's my boy! Hannah is standing right behind the post in the middle of the room, so you can't see her at all.

They were on the news tonight too, but I haven't seen any online clips of that.

Weekend Projects

2009-09-13T20:26:00.002-05:00

Hannah wanted to make slime out of cornstarch and water, so we did.

Elijah, who really doesn't like to get his hands dirty, was fairly unimpressed (I don't blame him!)

Hannah, on the other hand, had a great time with it!

Just look at that delight in her eyes :)

Since the leaves are starting to fall, I decided it was time to create my new garden for next year. I'm doing a combination square-foot and lasagne garden. The lasagne garden is just layering leaves and grass clippings right on the bed to create compost to plant in. We have SO MANY LEAVES in the fall, this shouldn't be too hard for us. I'm going to plant it like a sqare foot garden, because that just makes the most sense to me. My container garden just didn't produce like I had hoped it would... Gardening is definitely a learning experience! Oh, I almost forgot... the supplies to build my garden bed were free! The previous owners of our house left the wood and bricks... though I did go and buy some peat moss to get started.
Next year, I think I'll fill the bigger pots with flowers and let the kids take care of them.

Recent Videos

2009-09-13T08:06:00.002-05:00

Montessori Planet Walk

2009-09-12T21:52:00.003-05:00

Hannah's class took a Planet Walk, and I'm pretty sure Mr R got the idea from here. It's a to scale walk of our solar system where 20 inches = one million miles. The walk is 1.2 km which is about .8 miles. Parents were invited, so I jumped at the chance to see Mr R in action. I even opted for the bus ride down to the river with the kids.

"Setting the stage out by the Kuiper belt. K demonstrates that at our scale, he can easily step a million miles."

"Can you just make out our grain of salt? That's poor, forsaken, little dwarf planet, Pluto. Had we wanted to be completists, we would have had to walk more than twice the distance to include the slightly larger Eris, the troublemaking newcomer who started all of the controversy."

"The outer planets are separated by immense distances, averaging 300 meters or more."

I'm the tallest person in a ball cap in this picture, and a miserably hot and thirsty Hannah is next to me.

"A mushroom fit the bill nicely for Saturn (minus the rings)."

"With each stop, we'd group together, pull the appropriate object from the picnic basket, and share what we knew about the planet at hand."

"More walking... more measuring..."

"...and still more..."

Jupiter

"Almost there..."

"A kernel of allspice was just the right size for Earth. Yes, it's a stretch for a picnic supply, except in the sense that it's edible. Sort of..."

"A few more million miles, and we made it to the sun."

"A great day for a picnic... "

"...and some air conditioning for our paper plate suns."

- I borrowed the captions from the class blog

Hannah got a haircut too!

2009-09-10T09:28:00.003-05:00

Here Hannah is showing off her 'snaggle tooth'. We are both ready for that tooth to come OUT! You can see how long Hannah's hair was... After the 3 of us got our hair cut, and all of my comments on how tangle-free Leah's hair was now, Hannah decided to get hers cut as well.

She got about 8 1/2 inches cut off!!

This one shows her hair better, but the last one had a better smile :) We are donating her hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths (Locks of Love isn't as great as people think)

AND while Leah was at preschool, I was able to put together a bookcase (finally)!!!

Haircuts

2009-09-08T21:45:00.002-05:00

Elijah got tired of his curls and asked for a "no hair" cut...

Here's Mr Curly Locks in his PJ's last night...

Here he is after his haircut this afternoon!

I can't decide if it makes him look older or younger... But it certainly makes him look different!

Leah got her hair cut as well. I just had them cut it like mine :)

With her curls, it makes her hair look much thicker than it is! She looks really cute :)

Labor Day

2009-09-07T19:51:00.002-05:00

Pete's school is in session on Labor Day and he has to teach, so we can never make any real plans for Labor Day. However, the kids and I still ended up having a pretty full day! I didn't take pictures of everything though...

First we went grocery shopping. That's always interesting with all three kids! We went to the new Walmart that's a few extra miles down the road because the kids hadn't been there, and that Walmart has fish (the kind that are still swimming!) and ours doesn't. I love the brand new BIG carts that fit 3 kids... the older ones at our store can be difficult to push. Imagine that, pushing almost 100 lbs of kids can be difficult! Elijah and Leah were LOUD, but everyone was fairly well behaved.

After I got the groceries put away and everyone had a snack we headed back out and went to PetSmart. We are toying with the idea of getting a small pet like fish or gerbils/hamsters so we went to scope out our options. The kids loved looking at the animals (there were dog and cat adoptions going on outside as well... those puppies and kittens were SOOOO cute!!) and were especially taken with the birds. I don't think we are ready for birds yet... I think we've settled on a couple of gerbils, but I don't know if we'll get them at PetSmart. Elijah's teacher rescued some from the humane society... so I'll see if there are any that need us :)

Then we got lunch at Sonic... yummy :)

Then I decided we need some sun after the nasty thunderstorm we had last night, so we headed out to the zoo. Now, I usually try to go to our zoo during the week when no one is there, so it was much more crowded that I'm used to. But it was still a nice hour plus walk and we absorbed plenty of vitamin D!!

When we got home Pete said that there was a picnic at his school (their lame attempt to make it up to everyone for having school on a holiday, I suppose), so we packed everyone up and had a free dinner along with many, MANY college students. It was moved indoors because of the mud, so we had an air conditioned picnic which was nice after a humid afternoon at the zoo.

Then to top off our night, we had our weekly FAMILY NIGHT!!!

Thanks to my friend, Barb, I had the great idea to make cupcake cones for our treat. They look kind of wonky, but they turn out fine.

A rousing game of Hungry Hungry Hippos (I believe Hannah was the champ!)

We each frosted and sprinkled our cone.

Yum!

Some people just ate the cake with no frosting...

Leah had me add more sprinkles SEVERAL times!!

It was a fabulous day, especially considering we had no plans...

It's time for Montessori pictures!!

2009-09-03T22:16:00.003-05:00

Elijah is in his 2nd year of Montessori pre-primary. He REALLY wants to be in kindergarten, or even better, 1st grade with Hannah. He hates that she gets to do things before he does!

Elijah is counting spindles. He was not thrilled that he had to review all the old works from last year...

The school has a new nature trail, and Elijah's class took a nature walk.

Elijah is sewing an "M" sewing card.

Elijah practices writing his name. Not too many 2nd year students are interested in this, but Elijah is determined to get a writing journal like the kindergarteners!

Elijah snips tiny pieces of paper with scissors, and he brought home all those little pieces home to me... He really enjoys works that have a product.

Elijah is doing a 'land, water, air' activity. He's cutting the grass for his picture.

Elijah works with the ribbon calendar.

This was on a day where he told Hannah that he worked so long writing in his journal (YES! His teacher decided there was no reason a very interested 2nd year student couldn't have a journal... I'm pretty sure she's never had anyone interested in one. I'm not even sure all the kindergarteners WANT one.) Anyway, he spent "all morning" writing in his journal, and he hardly had any time to do any works... In this picture he's working on pin-punching, and on his right are the other works he's finished: weaving, one-drop, gluing w/ liquid glue, and gluing w/ glue stick. Hmm... so he brought home 5 works.

Now, we move on to Hannah's class...

The 1st graders are sitting inside the geodesic dome that the entire class constructed out of newspapers. Pretty cool!

Today was the elementary's first of many field trips. They went to a construction site to learn about shelter. The major focus of this year is the needs of man, and shelter is the first thing they are learning about.

Exercise in Randomness

2009-08-21T21:14:00.003-05:00

Facebook has taken over my life, or so it seems. It has taken away much of my motivation to blog... But, I like to think of my blog as a journal, something that will be around for many years. So, I'm going to try to keep updating at least a few times a month...

We've definitely had an interesting week and a half! School started on August 12, and Hannah is now in first grade and Elijah is in his 2nd year of Montessori preschool (pre-kindergarten year).

Here are the kids on the first day of school.

Hannah has quite possibly the coolest teacher EVER! So, here are a few pictures from her class blog.

The class on the new nature trail behind the school (Hannah is at the back in the blue skirt)

Mr. R explains something to the class

Hannah and her friends build a house for their shoes using gum drops and toothpicks.

Here is Elijah working on our traditional beginning of school bag decorating project. All the kids at Montessori have identical school bags, so decorating them is an easy way to know you have the right bag at the end of the school day.

Leah will be starting preschool (though not Montessori, since she won't be 3 for another year) after Labor Day, so she needed a school bag too.

Elijah and I made a Lego tower that reached the ceiling!

Not to be outdone, Hannah had to try her hand at it as well.

Last Saturday, when there was a 0% chance of rain, we had a nice little rain storm... and the kids splashed in the puddles and generally got soaking wet.

***

On Monday, my dryer broke in the middle of laundry day... so I had to buy a new dryer. It wouldn't be delivered for 2 days, so I got a clothes line as well.

Elijah and I made an 'airplane' from a diaper box

The beautiful NEW dryer... it's pretty amazing ;)

Leah and Elijah wanted to do some preschool stuff at home, so we

played with play-doh

painted at the easels

and poured beans.

***

Today, Hannah and I discovered MORE than THIRTY cicada shells on our crabapple tree. I guess we just had one of those 17 year cycles!

It's Official...

2009-08-11T21:44:00.002-05:00

Leah really is a 2 year old!

This is what 2, 3, and 4 year olds do... They crash after refusing to take their nap. This is the first time Leah has done this, so it's a real milestone for her!

Elijah is still doing it... I found him like this Friday at dinner time. Believe me, finding your pre-schooler like this at dinner time is a BAD thing. At least Leah had the decency to nap earlier in the afternoon.

Here's a few other pictures to share

A princess tea party

An angry jester

A stinky trip through Amazonia at the zoo (Elijah is holding his nose)

And the puzzles we put together for Family Night. Elijah "helped" Pete put together the 100 piece Hello Kitty, Hannah put together the 100 piece Littlest Petshop (all by herself, and she's proud for persevering), Pete put together a 60 piece John Deere, and I put together the 24 piece Little Einsteins, the 24 piece Cars, and the other 60 piece John Deere (with a little help from Leah).

Wesselman Woods

2009-08-06T22:14:00.002-05:00

I didn't even notice Heather taking these pictures! We had a mini-adventure yesterday :)

http://olivecraver.blogspot.com/2009/08/nature-preserve.html

Update's on the girls' room

2009-07-25T22:33:00.002-05:00

I've done a LOT of work since we got home (the painting was a lot of work right before we left!!)

This one shows the windows pretty well, but all the primary colored stuff got moved to Elijah's room today... and the storage boxes were emptied.

Here's the bunk beds.

Today, I got a cute rug and pastel toy bins, but I still need to get a white dresser and a white book case... then I'll post some final pictures.

Tractors Revisited

2009-07-25T22:24:00.002-05:00

For the second year, we went to the county fair and got to ride on our friends' antique tractors.

Shaun takes Hannah for a drive

Pete and Leah pose for a pic

Elijah tries out one while waiting his turn to really drive

And another one

Elijah rides with Shaun

Hannah poses on a pretty red tractor

Leah the ham

Elijah's was really steering, and he was NOT going straight.

Leah decided to lean back on the padded seat and take a little break

Leah loved the tractors SO much that she was willing to sit in Shaun's lap... amazing!

With Sunshine's Boys

2009-07-25T22:14:00.002-05:00

We love going to visit Sunshine and her boys, and we got some GREAT pictures this time around.

Cowgirl Hannah

Hannah and Ezekiel

Gideon

Gideon, Elijah, and Leah

Hannah and Ezekiel putting together Legos

The little boys at lunch

Sunshine and Brooke look at photo albums full of childhood pictures (yikes!!)

Dress up time!

Chatting

Princess Hannah

Cousins

2009-07-25T22:09:00.003-05:00

Momma wanted some pictures of all her grandkids together. So, here they are!

Leah's 2 year old pictures

2009-07-25T22:00:00.002-05:00

New blog with pics coming soon!!

2009-07-16T18:43:00.001-05:00

We just got back from 2 weeks of vacation, so the blog has been neglected... I will try to remedy that soon! Today is Leah's birthday!!!!! She is now two years old *sniff*. I have some great pictures to post...

A new project

2009-06-26T09:33:00.003-05:00

I promised Hannah some time ago that when Leah turned two years old, we'd turn the toy room into the girls' bedroom and they could share a room. Well, Leah will be 2 in just a few weeks, so the process has begun!

Of course, I decided the project MUST get started during the time that Pete is teaching his intensive 12 day summer course... he didn't even come home last night because he was busy grading papers. Therefore, all painting must happen after the kids go to sleep.

The kids and I trekked to Lowe's yesterday and bought painting supplies. That was a blast because Leah decided she needed a nap, and I had to carry her limp, sleeping body through the store while pushing the other two in the huge basket that holds three kids. Thankfully, the paint section was right up front!

We inherited a twin mattress which will be for the top bunk of the not-yet-bought-bunkbeds (full size on the bottom)

I failed to take any pictures before I took stuff off the walls, here's the 'before' picture of the north wall.

Many toys are already packed up in those gray boxes... 'before' pic of the west wall.

everything moved to the middle!

We had a church activity last night, so the kids got to bed late, and I didn't get started until even later. I didn't get to open the can of paint until 10pm, so I didn't get too much done...

but it's a start, and Hannah was VERY excited about it this morning!!

Wii Fit Hula Hoop... irl

2009-06-20T22:07:00.002-05:00

Hannah learned to hula hoop today, and she thought it would be funny if people tossed hula hoops at her like on Wii Fit. Unfortunately, the best one happend BEFORE I got the camera out.

What's Missing?

2009-06-15T16:25:00.003-05:00

Elijah got this card in the mail today. I smudged out the addresses since you never know what kind of wacko will come across your blog... Do you notice what's missing??? I didn't see it at first, but I was looking for a postmark (it took a week for a card to get from OK to IN, so I wanted to see how long it was from NJ)... No stamp!!

Elijah's 4th Birthday Party

2009-06-13T16:06:00.003-05:00

He wanted a Mickey Mouse party... so I put a few decorations on the cake (the Mickey candle broke when I took it out of the package)

Daniella

Leah was completely freaked out by the animatronic Chuck E Cheese... she was fine as long as we were away from the eating area.

Rodrigo & Elijah

Ben

Evan & Max

Connor

Kelly

Connor, Max, & Calvin

Rodrigo & Elijah

Zack, Ben, Ty, and Rodrigo

Kate, Kelly, Hannah, Daniella, & Connor

Hannah, Daniella, and Connor

Max & Calvin

Daniella and Hannah

I was lucky to get this picture... There was very little warning, and I was in the right place at the right time!

Mmmm, cake

A freaked out and exhausted Leah being held by Ted

The gifts...

Aack!! There's a TRANSFORMER in my house!!

Two Wheeler!!

2009-06-05T21:10:00.002-05:00

Tonight I took off Hannah's training wheels! Wow... what a big girl!!! Now she just needs to learn to take off without help, and umm.... use the brakes!

Catching up!!

2009-06-05T20:50:00.002-05:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged in about 3 weeks!! It's been pretty busy, so I'll catch everyone up with lots of pictures.

Hannah finished kindergarten!! Here she is with her teacher, Ms Beth.

Elijah refused to smile for his picture with Miss Sarah, so this is the best I got...

Hannah, however, was willing to smile and sit in Miss Sarah's lap!!

The grandparents came to visit and Grandpa took lots of great pictures of the kids.

Hannah was VERY happy with the fairy necklace Ms Beth gave her for kindergarten graduation.

The Double Paci...

Memorial Day picnic with Zack and Walker

This is what happens when you stand up on the moving merry-go-round when there's a GIANT mud puddle surrounding it... He was more upset about being dirty than falling off.

We saw these silos on the way home from the picnic and had to take pictures!

Walker's mom took a couple of pictures at the Chuck E Cheese field trip on the last day of school. Here are Hannah, Walker, Mason, and Elijah.

Hannah, Daniela, and Walker... We will certainly miss having them in class with Hannah next year!!!

Elijah counts... beyond infinity

2009-05-11T15:18:00.002-05:00

Elijah is obsessed with numbers right now, and he spends an awful lot of his time counting. One morning during the 2 minute drive to school he managed to get up to 250 or so. The other day he asked what the biggest number was and I told him infinity. I tried to explain the concept that there really isn't a biggest number because you can always add one more, but it didn't really fly with him. Later, when he was trying to tell a kindergartener in his class that infinity was the biggest number, he was told, "no 'and beyond' is the biggest number!" (someone has been watching too much Buzz Lightyear...). Elijah decided that he would count to the biggest numbers... so here it goes (transcript below)

"a google [a 1 with 100 zeros after it], triangle infinity, infinity 1, infinity 2, infinity 3, infinity 4, infinity 5, infinity 6, infinity 7, infinity 8, infinity 9, infinity 10, infinity 11, infinity 12, and beyond, mooseton, a thousand google one, a thousand google two, a thousand google three, a thousand google 4, a thousand google 5, a thousand google 6, a thousand google 7, a thousand 8, a thousand google 9, melmo-filloby!!

Elijah earned a dollar

2009-05-03T13:01:00.003-05:00

Elijah's class is having a behavior "contest"... Poor behavior earns you tally marks, and if you earn 8 tally marks, you are out of the contest. Elijah has no tally marks at school, but several of the boys are already out.

Because Elijah is obviously motivated by this system, I decided to give it a try. We have our poster board with Hannah's and Elijah's names, and if they are asked to do something (or stop doing something) they have until the count of 3 to start (or stop). If I get to 3, they get a tally mark. Elijah was doing so well, that I decided to throw in an extra incentive... if they went a week w/o getting any tally marks, they would earn a dollar. This is just free money for Hannah, but Elijah had to work a little harder.

the flash hurts his eyes...

Random Leah Pictures & Hannah's Solar System

2009-05-03T12:51:00.003-05:00

This started off as chocolate ice cream...

Shoe thief!

Hannah drew a solar system poster for our pretend classroom

Swimming Pool

2009-05-03T12:45:00.003-05:00

Last weekend it was quite hot, so the kids and I went to Walmart and bought a wading pool. It was a big hit!

Elijah wanted to earn a dollar, so he attempted to clean the toy room (a BIG job, and definitely worth a dollar!!). However, he'd been up late 2 nights in a row because of the school play AND he played in the wading pool for an hour... this is what happend instead :)

These flowers are blooming in my backyard, but I don't know what they are. We have several bushes of them though... Anyone up for a "name that flower" game??

I am SOOOO proud!!

2009-04-27T13:16:00.003-05:00

Elijah is reading, and he brought home his first reader from Montessori today!!! Strangely enough, Hannah just read me the last (#40!!) book in this series this morning...

How to use a rotary phone

2009-04-24T10:45:00.002-05:00

My parents had rotary phones until I went to college (1992!), which is way later than most people I grew up with... But my kids have never seen one.

I thought this video was pretty cool.

Earth Day Projects (Tackle it Wednesday!!)

2009-04-22T21:11:00.003-05:00

After the ice storm, we had our electric line run underground. They cut a 20 inch trench out of our patio... I'm not in the mood to pay for a new patio, so I decided I could fix it myself. I also wanted to get my container garden ready for the herbs and veggies I'm planting this year.

The dogwood is in bloom, so I have the requisit photo of that :)

It's hard to tell, but there is hardly ANY sand in the kids' sandbox... that will soon be remedied! However, I forgot the after photo, so just pretend that it's now brimming with sand :)

Leah and I trekked to Walmart at 8:40 this morning and bought 10 pavers, 10 bags of playsand (4 went straight into the sandbox), and 8 bags of organic potting soil.

Last years' containers were emptied into the trench along with 6 bags of sand. This is all a lot of fun with a toddler sitting on your supplies :)

Little Miss Can't-Keep-Her-Shoes-On

Elijah was very interested in the 'helicopter' seeds from all the maple trees (those things are like WEEDS!)

Typical of Leah...

Practically DONE! I still need 2 more pavers because I didn't bother to measure :) The containers are ready for planting! My plants will arrive in about a week (I buy the veggie plants from the kids' school fund raiser). I even bought 7 foot stakes for the spiral tomato cages I ordered (talk about exciting!!).

Hannah and I planted the herb seeds this afternoon. We planted basil, cilantro, and oregano (a perrenial!)

We transplanted a few daisies and mini-sunflowers we started inside. I imagine we'll have some more to transplant soon. We also started some BIG sunflowers that we will be planting along the fence line. Apparently honeybees really like sunflowers, and we want to do our part to save the honeybees!!

Family Night

2009-04-22T21:01:00.003-05:00

We've been having Family Night on Mondays for the past 4 weeks, and the kids think it is the BEST thing ever! We read some books, sing some songs, play a board game, and eat something sweet that is usually made special for that night. The kids rotate what they are in charge of. This week Hannah picked the book, Elijah picked the game (and helped me make the brownies), and I'm not sure we sang a song :)

Elijah picked Go Fish for the game...

Yay!

Yay!!!

Then the sun came out from behind the storm clouds, and there was a GORGEOUS rainbow.

Then the storm clouds gathered in the dining room... This is what typically happens during our Family Night, Elijah gets mad about something. He was mad that he didn't win (only he really DID win, but apparently he wanted to be grumpy about something!).

For Grandma and Grandpa

2009-04-19T16:16:00.002-05:00

Easter Cuties!!

2009-04-19T15:17:00.003-05:00

Today the kids got to wear their Easter clothes to church since I was sick last week. They looked SUPER cute!!!!!!

Unfortunately, the lighting isn't as good as I like to get... It was raining quite hard this morning, so opening the door wasn't the option it usually is. Leah and Elijah weren't terribly cooperative either, and I'm actually amazed that we got a good picture!!

Leah's Skirt

2009-04-18T22:29:00.003-05:00

I finished up Leah's skirt that matches Hannah's. I think it turned out really cute, and it has fewer mistakes than the first skirt did. It went super fast because it's SO tiny!!

I thought the nap picture was a classic, and couldn't resist taking it or posting it.

Leah's turning out to be quite the ham when I get out the camera!

If only she'd had her eyes open!!!

Food Chain costume pictures

2009-04-17T09:31:00.001-05:00

[note to grandparents: I will mail you a 5x7 of both kids]

Playdate with Jed

2009-04-16T20:58:00.002-05:00

First off, my azaleas are in bloom, and they are SOOOO pretty!! I love them!

Yesterday, the kids were playing Winnie-the-Pooh, and I happen to have Tigger and Piglet costumes... The Tigger is 18 months size, and Piglet is a 2T. Elijah wore the Tigger and HANNAH wore the Piglet w/ the legs unsnapped. The sleeves came to her elbows and the legs came to her waist. Anyway, when the big kids were done, Leah wanted to try on Piglet as well.

Today I watched Jed for 90 minutes while his Mommy had a doctors appointment.

Jed is about 6 months older than Leah, and as always, they had a good time. Lots of parallel play going on with these two!!

Leah was posing. She loves to see the pictures on the camera display.

They had a grand time looking through the mailbox at each other.

Jed couldn't resist the John Deere! Too bad it wasn't outside and it didn't have the battery in it. I'm not sure I trust a newly 2 year old's driving skills...

Songs for the school play

2009-04-12T15:41:00.000-05:00

Hannah's song for the school play, Food Chain, is The Panther Song.

Elijah shows what he remembers of his dance for the school play, Food Chain. Then he gets distracted and starts singing Hannah's song, The Panther Song.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T13:10:00.003-05:00

We didn't make it to church because I'm sick, so no pics of cute dress clothes... They'll wear them next week.

We colored and decorated eggs yesterday

The kids really enjoyed that

I'm not sure we can eat 18 hard boiled eggs this week though... We've eaten 3 so far :)

The Easter baskets. Elijah got a Wii Diego game, Hannah got a couple of Reader Rabbit games for the computer, and Leah got some Sandra Boynton board books... as well as candy and bunnies

The egg hunt starts

I had them go one at a time

and limited them to 10 eggs each turn

That way Elijah would actually get to FIND some of the eggs!

I love this action shot... he just spotted an egg!

Elijah did better than I expected... he's typically not a great finder

Leah woke up at this point

Chocolate for breakfast!!!

Here Leah, have some M&M's

Leah picked up on the egg finding pretty quickly

See the azaleas out the window?? Pretty!

empying the loot from the eggs

that's a lot of candy!!!

Winter Quarter Montessori Pics of Elijah

2009-04-08T10:40:00.004-05:00

spooning glass beads

Labeling the parts of a volcano

matching cards

J helps Elijah learn about the teen board

mixing colors (maybe he'll be a chemist like Grandpa!)

Map of the world

more teen board work

red and blue rods

even more work on the teen board (did I mention he can now count to 100!)

identifying initial sounds

word building !!!! He is SOO proud!

Amazing!!!

2009-04-01T10:07:00.003-05:00

During the January 28th ice storm our beautiful crabapple tree lost about 2/3 of it limbs. We considered having the entire tree removed, but I couldn't do it. Surely, it could survive! It's now in bloom!! The most amazing part is one of the limbs that fell (and we haven't gotten rid of yet, but we're working on it!), is ALSO blooming!

This last one is actually attached to a live branch (see the leaves?). There are no leaves on the "dead" branches.

I'm pretty sure there's a powerful metaphore in here somewhere!

The Skirt

2009-03-28T15:33:00.002-05:00

I used this tutorial to make Hannah's skirt, but I didn't follow it exactly :) It turned out pretty well, but with a few mistakes (of course!!). I learned a few things that I'll do differently for the next one. 1) I'll follow my Mom's directions for gathering the skirt instead of the tutorials (basting stitches at 1/4" and 1/2" w/ a seam allowance of 5/8") so the basting stitches don't show. 2) Add a few more inches on the top tier. I only added 3" from Hannah's waist measurement, and 5" would have been better. When I make mine, I'll have to measure my hips to see just how large I need it to be.

The Wedding Party

2009-03-27T13:30:00.002-05:00

Uncle Wayne is getting married in July, and the kids are all going to be in the wedding party. Their clothes arrived yesterday, so we tried them on and took some pics to share.

Elijah was mad that he was barefoot... He will be wearing a black bow tie, but I don't have it yet.

I'll have to have his pants hemmed, but I won't do it until July because he might grow!!

Hannah's hair

2009-03-27T13:21:00.003-05:00

The hair blog that I read inspired me to try the french twist braid. Mine is messier, but it still turned out really cute!!

Considering that I've never mastered a regular french braid, I'm rather proud of this one :)

Spring Break - Day 5

2009-03-27T13:11:00.002-05:00

CHUCK E CHEESE, CHUCK E CHEESE, CHUCK E CHEESE!!!!

We went, we had fun, we had our pictures made, we earned tickets, we got prizes.

The girl who redeemed our 360 tickets (most left over from Hannah's birthday party, and ALL the tokens were left over as well) was super nice and gave each of the kids cotton candy even though they were 200 tickets each. Hannah picked out a bracelet and Elijah got a little puzzle and a sucker.

We had a FANTASTIC spring break, and I hardly spent any money! A bought a tank of gas to get us to and from Metropolis and lunch at Sonic yesterday... not bad.

Spring Break - Day 4

2009-03-26T14:09:00.002-05:00

If only I could remember that darn camera!!

Today we went to Wesselman's park and walk one of the nature trails. It's the first time that ALL my kids were big enough to actually walk! No baby in a backpack makes for a nicer walk for mommy!! We went with Vanessa and Jed, and we had a great time. I was surprised at how NOT muddy it was considering the rain Tuesday night.

After our walk, we played on the playground for a few minutes, but the little ones were getting pretty tired so we headed home around noon. We stopped at Sonic and got lunch (yum!) as a treat.

Hannah is really wanting to learn how to sew, so we took a little trip to the Walmart in Boonville (about 20 min away) so we could get some inexpensive fabric for a skirt. We ended up getting several different prints that are all really pretty, and we'll be able to make several skirts.

Don't you love the little baby hands in the photo??

We had another FANTASTIC day of our spring break!! Tomorrow it's supposed to be rainy, and I suppose I should take the kids to Chuck E Cheese like I said... We still have a ton of tokens left over from Hannah's birthday party.

Spring Break - Day 3

2009-03-25T21:24:00.002-05:00

This wasn't taken today, but it's such a great picture I just had to post it! I took this picture because I have a picture of Hannah wearing the same shirt and hair clip...

Hannah looks like Hannah :)

***
Today was day three of spring break and we took a day trip to Metropolis, IL which is just across the Ohio River from Paducah, KY. My friend, Emily, from MN was visiting in Metropolis and we decided that was close enough to go see her and her kids. It took us 3 hours to get there, but it should have been shorter. One of the highways that I needed to take was not named on Google maps, and that caused us to take a US highway that meandered through several small towns... Our return trip was about 50 minutes shorter!

Elijah saw his first real live moving train! I'm not sure why or how, but he had managed to never see one before. He was pretty excited and amazed at how long it was, and it wasn't even that long of a train.

We crossed the Ohio River going from IN to KY, the Tennessee River, and the Ohio River going from KY to IL. We could have just hopped on a boat and gone west on the Ohio... if that were an option.

The kids were great at travelling, so I think we will be taking more day trips now!! That's pretty exciting because there is a lot of neat stuff around here.

Here are the kids: Helen, Hannah, Jane, Delia, Henry, Elijah, and Leah

And the mommies: Keila, Emily, and me.

We had a GREAT time!!

Spring Break - Day 2

2009-03-24T15:39:00.002-05:00

We spent the morning cleaning, cleaning, CLEANING. Hannah had invited her friend over for the afternoon, and our house was disgusting (typical). Hannah went to her house recently, and not only was it a HUGE, beautiful house, it was immaculate... So, we cleaned.

Daniela arrived at 1pm, and all 3 kids were terribly excited. Leah followed her around constantly saying, "Yewa" [for Daniela]. Elijah had a few 3 year old moments... but I supose those should be expected.

Tomorrow we are headed to a suburb of Paducah to visit an online friend of mine who lives in MN but who has headed south to see friends.

Spring Break - Day 1

2009-03-23T14:35:00.002-05:00

Elijah is sick. He has a fever and is sleeping a lot... and not eating.

I took all three kids grocery shopping this morning (before I was 100% sure E was sick) which is always interesting. Leah was the problem child, which is happening more and more frequently as she approaches her 2nd birthday. It was a short trip since I didn't need too much, and the kids all got kitty tatoos from the Walmart greeter.

As I was cleaning out the fridge so I could put new groceries in there, I found a little bit of whipping cream that was still in date (unexpected that it was still good!). I almost tossed it, but decided we could make some butter. Hannah and I (mostly I) shook and shook and shook that cream until it turned to whipped cream and finally to butter and buttermilk. We squeezed it in a paper towel to get out the buttermilk, and turned it into a ball of butter (it made more than I expected). During the shaking, I read aloud from Little House in the Big Woods about churning butter. Hannah and I each had a piece of bread with our fresh butter, and it was quite tasty.

Hannah has invited a friend over tomorrow afternoon (assuming everyone is well, of course) so she's been helping me clean the house a bit... I've been doing laundry as well.

Elijah finally woke up and Leah just went down for nap part 2, so now I'm wondering if she's sick too... That would explain the extra crabbiness!

Hannah and Elijah are currently playing Star Wars Lego on the Wii, and I expect Pete will be home from work soon.

If everyone is healthy, we are planning on driving to Metropolis, IL (aka Paducah, KY) on Wednesday to meet a long time online friend of mine. It could be a lot of fun!!

March pictures so far

2009-03-20T21:41:00.003-05:00

Good grief! March is 2/3 of the way over and I have hardly taken any pictures, and I hadn't uploaded ANY.

Elijah practices his t-ball skills with Pete during "spring training"

Leah discovers her shadow

Leah models the hand-me-down dress that my mom made for Hannah. Yay for hand-me-downs!! I sold all of Hannah's clothes that were smaller than 2T, so these are the first that I had saved.

I was in charge of the St Patrick's day party for Leah's playgroup. Hannah and Elijah opted to skip school that day and come to the party! They are decorating the green cupcakes the day before.

Night School at Montessori

2009-03-12T21:51:00.006-05:00

[once again I forgot my camera, and had to rely on the camera phone...]

Because pre-schoolers and even kindergarteners can't always explain what they did at school, once a year at Montessori they hold "night school" where the children can show their parents what they do every day. Elijah has been very excited about this for several days, but once he found out that Leah was getting a babysitter, he no longer wanted to go... However, if he didn't go to night school, I wouldn't have PAID for a babysitter. I think that logic was lost on him though. Hannah didn't think there would be anything worth showing me since everything is WAY TOO EASY for her these days.

I started off with Elijah, and he and his classmates showed off their knowledge of the map of South America. They know more countries than I do! Elijah picked Argentina and Peru to place on the map. When we were dismissed from circle time, Elijah demonstrated an odd/even number work.

At this point, the administrator came in to tell me that Hannah was ready for me to see her work before she put it away.

Hmmm... she's not even close to being done. Hannah and Daniela were simply guessing which number to put next... This is the 6 chain, and it's really ingenious. Each section has 6 beads, and the students put the correct number marker at the end of each section, to teach counting by 6's and multiplication. Then every 6th section (6 squared) the tag is a bit fatter and they place a 6x6 bead square there as well. At the end of the chain they've reached 6x6x6 and they put down a 6x6x6 bead cube. Of course, Miss-I'm-Ready-For-First-Grade-Because-Kindergarten-is-Boring-and-Easy, needed LOTS of help doing this. She's just not a number person and has a hard time counting above 30. With my help, she was able to complete it, and Daniela was impressed...

Back to poor Elijah who got left alone before his 1/2 of night school was done... He practically finished his work while I quickly visited Hannah (I helped her with the counting AFTER this).

Hannah and Walker (in pirate face paint, no less) show off how many books they've read this school year. Now THIS is where Hannah excels :) I think we'll be working on counting.

After it was over, Elijah didn't want to leave... He wanted to finish another work that he'd started. It was after 7:30 and the poor teachers hadn't even been home yet...

***
Walker's mom just sent the following pics to me, so I thought I'd add them because they are so cute!