What did we do on Sunday?

Well, here are a few of the MANY things that we did this Sunday:

We built a courthouse out of Legos. Please notice the two floors and the gold dome.

We enjoyed the company of Mema and Pepa who are on their way driving to Georgia from Oregon.

Of course we played with and cooed over Margaret all day. How can anyone resist this adorable baby!

Even the neighbor girls are in love with Margaret. Here they have made her a crown with her name on it.

My sweet Isaac

A common conversation with Isaac goes like this:

"Mama, have you ever wondered why a four looks like a four?"

"Well, someone decided that a four needed to look like that I guess."

"Oh. Was it the same person who made airplanes loud and said we always have to have fruit or vegetable with lunch?"

Or something like this:

"Mama! Mama!"

"What is it?"

"Did you know that if you just sit on top of the seat and you don't hold on then you will just go ZOOM and ZOOM and back and up?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, and you will spill you soda and beer. So you better be careful."

He's right. I better be careful.

Not exactly...

Driving home from Step-Up today Margaret was chatting away to Henry in the car. I asked Henry what Margaret was talking about. "Jesus" was the answer I received.

"Jesus? Margaret is talking about Jesus?"

"Yeah. And Mary. The Holy Fabaly."

"The Holy Family?"

"Yup. Jesus, Mary, and Mama."

If you lived in 1400 AD, who would you be?

Take this quiz to find out who you would be. I scored high on both the Monk and the Lady:

You are a moral person and are also highly intellectual. You like your solitude but are also kind and helpful to those around you. Guided by a belief in the goodness of mankind you will likely be christened a saint after your life is over.
You scored high as both the Lady and the Monk. You can try again to get a more precise description of either the Monk or the lady, or you can be happy that you're an individual.

Drawing WIth Children

My attempts at making the sideways pictures straight didn't work. Sorry.

This year we are using Mona Brooks book, Drawing with Children. The boys love it. Isaac doesn't quite have the fine motor control thing down, but he is still doing an awesome job and loving it. James also sees improvement in his drawing, which is really great. As many of you know, James sems to be advanced in many school subjects. Drawing was NOT one of them. He would grow frustrated that he could not draw as accurately as children a few years younger. This book is really helping to boost his confidence level.

I like this book because 1. It was cheap, 2. It is non-consumable 3. It is SUPER easy to follow and teach, and 4. You can teach several different levels at the same time. This was very important since James was a fluent writer and Isaac just leanred to hold a pencil.

Here are James' interpretations of the Level 2 warm-up exercise using the 5 basic elements of shape. James uses several kinds of Sharpie markers.

Here are Isaac's interpretations of the Level 1 warm-up exercises. Isaac uses WASHABLE markers since by the end of drawing there are usually marker marks on his shirt, shorts, desk, hands, face, and even on some socks that he was not wearing during the lesson.

IJames wanted to continue the lesson and so he drew some common objects in the book by focusing on finding and drawing the basic elements of shape that the objects contained. For those of you familiar with James' usual drawings, you will surely see the difference in these he did for his lesson.

What has Isaac been up to?

Well, Isaac has really enjoyed preschool so far this year. His favorite things to do are math and painting. After he completes a narration, he usually likes to paint a picture to go with it. His narrations have really improved over the last month. Here is his latest painting, and I copied the narration under it. He tells me the narration and I write it down for his notebook.{Three Stories from Winnie the Pooh, story 1}. "There was a bear that got stuck. The bear's name was Winnie the Pooh. He went into a hoel and when he went to get out he got stuck. He was too big for the hole. They needed to pull him out. He popped out. Then he walked away."

In the painting you can clearly see the hole that Winnie the Pooh got stuck in. It is the white part near the bottom of the picture.

Isaac is also mastering identifying and saying the sounds of the alphabet. It is a little more difficult for him because we are learning all the sounds for each letter, instead of the most common sound. For example, for the letter "a" he learns to say "ahh, a, uh" He enjoys phonics, especially when he gets to learn a new letter.

We are learning to draw using "Drawing with Children." I will write more about that later. Here is Isaac's interpretation of the Level 1 warm-up exercise using the five basic elements of shape.

Here is Isaac just being cute and enjoying one of the few sunny and warm days we have left this year.

It's happened...

A childhood milestone has been reached!

My Babies

That "spensive" stuff

Henry and Isaac were looking at some pictures on the computer and they came across this one from February 2007. Henry said, "Wow, look at that big toliet paper!" Isaac replied, "That's not toliet paper. That's the stuff that you pop and mama says 'Stop that! It's 'spensive.'"

Trouble overheard

While walking by the boys room observed Henry with a Star Wars toy and Isaac crying out: "Hit me with it! Hit me with it!"

A minute later Isaac comes running over to me. "Henry hit me with the light saver."

"Weren't you just telling him to hit you with it?"

"Oh. Bye-Bye!" His plan spolied, Isaac runs off.

Time to Admit Defeat

After several weeks the potty chart remains empty. We have read, bribed, pleaded, and begged. Not one drop of liquid (or other) has reached the inside of the porclein bowl. I think it may be safe to say that he is just not ready.

As far as the Catechist of the Good Shephard Program, there's always next year.

Margaret HAD a tuft of hair!

I say "had" because as soon as it was noticeable it fell victim to a two year old and his weapon of destruction (pictured here). Why, oh why, would he think it was okay to cut his little sister's hair?

The Answer:

"Because babies aren't subpossed to hab hair."

Isaac

Isaac even spelled his name in his necklace. He loves it so much that he sleeps with it on his bedrail.

Henry

Mema got the boys a necklace making kit while she was here. Henry is really proud of the necklace that he made.

A wonderful visit

We had a wonderful visit with Mema and Aunt Neel.

Thank you for everything! We will see you again soon!

A sweet little find

This little porch swing was worth every penny of the $10 price

Kitchen Before and After

Sorry this took so long to get posted. Mike is in England and I have Carol and Neel here visiting and helping me out. Here are the before and after photos of our kitchen:

MAY 2008

NOW REMEMBER THAT THE KITCHEN IS FAR FROM FINISHED.
BRICK CHIMNEY IS EXPOSED
DROP CEILING IS GONE

CUPBOARDS AND WALLS ARE (MOSTLY) PAINTED
RECESSED LIGHTS ARE A BIG IMPROVEMENT.

Backyard Before and After

I thought I would share some before and after photos of our backyard area. I think we are done with home improvements for a while since the weather is beginning to turn and Mike has returned to teaching.

These photos were taken in April 2008

Notice the stump and the concrete path down the center of the yard.
Notice the chain-link fence.

After:

Here is our new view from our back porch.
The stump is gone, but the grass is slow to grow there. Michael built a stone pathway that follows the stone wall and goes around the clubhouse.
No more chain-link fence. Instead, there's a little stong path to the neighbors yard.
Raised beds are overflowing with veggies right now!
View from the garage. Notice the pretty stone path.

Downtime Photos

As the workcrew improved our kitchen and dining room, the kids and I were exiled from the house. We spent four hours running errands until tired voices and hungry bellies pleaded to return home. Once there we invaded the neighbor's house for food and a video. Since we forgot to buy lightbulbs for the new kitchen lights, I will have to remember to take photos in the daylight before I can post pics of the improvements.