Periodicals We Read...
Still can't believe we ever got behind on our beloved magazines last year, but we are almost finally caught up.
Things Jaden William did...
He used his Yonanas machine (pictured above), plus he made breakfast for us a few times (muffins, pancakes), and he even made and baked some chocolate chip cookies one day. Mmmm. It's so nice that I don't always have to be the one who prepares our food.
He wrote in his journal, worked in his Daily 6-Trait Writing (pictured below), and worked on his history and science, and we worked on Life of Fred math. He conducted a sediment experiment (pictured below, after 1 day and probably 3 days) and walked down the creek to collect rocks to record their types, luster, hardness, etc.
And he worked quite a bit in his "secret place" partway up the north side of our hill, raking, building, and who-knows-what.
Things Trusten Did...
He decided he was ready to have his hair clipped.
He's been busting up rocks with William's rock hammer and examining the contents.
He is still very diligent to get right to writing in his journal and getting all of his other written work out of the way early in the day. He also always comes to show me right after he finishes things. I so enjoy reading the journal entries and seeing the pictures. :-)
He's reading really well, and that's so exciting!
He sings pretty well, too, I think. He's been singing more and more.
And he lost a tooth!!! Yep, right after our study on teeth, he experienced his first natural tooth loss. But then he chipped a piece off of a very back molar, too. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him regarding his teeth...
Things Olivia Did...
I'm trying to be more diligent in sitting down with Liv to help her practice her writing, and I intend to teach her phonics in completion. I've been in the process of trying to rebalance everything. I was focusing a lot on Trusten for a good while, because he was still working on learning to read. But Olivia seems to be a very gifted child, so I know I should make every effort as Nathan said to work with her more, and that's what I've been trying to do.
She's working on Language Lessons (pictured below).
She's still working on counting higher numbers.
She tells her stories. She's very imaginative and is elaborate with her stories—both true and fiction, using high vocabulary.
What Elizabeth did...
Elizabeth loves books!!! It brings me such joy that she brings me books and will actually sit with me and let me read to her, and of course we talk about the pictures. Neither Trust nor Liv would have any of that. William and I spent so much time reading books and snuggling, and I find it very interesting that one of Elizabeth's favorites—The Little Red Hen—was long one of William's favorites, too. Of all the books we own now!
Pictured below is a picture of her pointing at birds in a book on animals (not a young children's book). I just looked to see what bird pictures that book had.
One day I gave each of the twins a sticker, and I got some stickers out for Elizabeth so she could choose one. It was no surprise to me that she looked them over for a few seconds and then pointed to the toucan bird. A few seconds later she indicated that she also was interested in the only other bird among the sticker options—a pink flamingo. She got the toucan.
Above she's pictured holding her toucan stuffed animal that was mine when I was little. It's one of her favorite, if not the favorite, toy she's got. (She's pointing up at me, because I'm taking pictures of her).
Her favorite app on my iPhone is one with real pictures of animals and the matching recorded animal sounds (two pictures and two sounds per animal). It includes farm animals and domesticated pets, a few different birds, wild carnivores, insects, bats, dolphins and whales, and more.
She loooves exploring outside. She's my girl! In the pictures below right she's doing her typical pointing at a bird or other creature, exhibiting her excitement, and then crossing her arms over her body while saying, "Awwwwe!"
She loves to collect bugs, feathers, rocks, flowers, leaves, and other finds to bring to me and celebrate. A good number of the bugs are smashed dead by the time she gets to me. She likes the ladybugs. I told her ladybugs were nice bugs, and she put it back down and pointed down at it and said, "Bug. Ice."
What we did together...
Pictured below is William's favorite tree in his secret place. I know he's loved to climb it, but it's made me nervous, and even moreso now that Trust and Liv like to climb it. It's a cedar, and they're so dangerous for climbing because of all the sharp limbs sticking out. So I snapped my pictures and then told them that's it, that they'll have to climb different trees from now on.
The kids like to spend a lot of time with me, and I love spending time with them! I took several group pictures last month. Below left, the three youngest are posing with me for a quick shot with the twins making funny faces. Below upper right, the kids are watching Olympics videos with me so that I can participate in my discussion board that week for my online sociology class. Below lower right, I'm lying down on my bed to read some out of my sociology book, and the kids are all doing various things just to be with me. Trusten was working on his Explode the Code, William is doing research on the Macbook, Olivia is getting to hold my koala bear (that I keep up in my closet and is not allowed to leave my room), and Elizabeth is just climbing around playing and snuggling.
William took the below picture, otherwise he'd be sitting on the other side of Olivia. I'm reading the bible, and the girls are looking at pictures in other books (Elizabeth is always allowed to do this, and I sometimes let Olivia), while the boys listen and are required to fill in blanks when we read the proverbs or select other scriptures.
All on a Winter's Day (or Two)...
First thing in the morning it was snowing. Above, Elizabeth is looking out our master bedroom window, and there is Atlas looking back in at us. He loves going out in the snow!
Below, I'm on our bed using my notes from my iPad that I took during Obama's address on the "state of our union" to write up what I observed in light of the the various sociological theories, for a quiz. It was nice to have the snowy backdrop.
On another snowy morning, again while Elizabeth was still in her nightclothes, she looked out the girls' bedroom window and pointed and talked about the birds she saw.
She then went to rock in her rocking horse (also a high chair and desk). I thought it was funny that her hair was down in her face, so I grabbed my iPhone to snap a picture, but she swept the hair off her face right before I took the picture! So I cheated and swept the hair back down into her face. LOL! I snapped my picture before she swept it back out of her way.
Paint Fun...
I had some credit in my Citrus Lane account, and I used it to buy eco finger paints. It's all natural, using ingredients like rice flour, carrots, beets, etc. You just mix the powder 1:1 with water.
I think I may have let Trusten finger paint as a toddler, but we haven't done finger paint since at least then, so neither of the girls ever have. Trust and Liv have played with water colors and have used other paint for rocks and such, but no finger painting, so this was new and fun. I bought it with mostly Elizabeth in mind.
She liked it! :-)
The girls made dots and smears, just enjoying the sensory and painting experience. Trusten formed a person.
Above, it was SO FUNNY! I'm so glad I got this pictured. If you look, you can see I'm holding my arm up with paint on it. Elizabeth had reached for me, and I said, "Leeeezabeth, you got paint on me." I was getting cracked up by her expressions as I kept saying stuff like, "Yuck" or "Ew." She looked at me as if she thought something was wrong with me, like I was strange.
When she was done, she tried to get the paint off her own hands by swiping them together, and then she looked at them, realizing she was still stuck with the paint on her hands. That sweet baby cracks me up. I love her so much!
Some Things We Ate...
Above from l to r: fried chicken with coleslaw, broccoli, mashed potatoes, and cucumber slices; tortillas, venison fajita (with onions, tri-colored bell peppers, tomatoes, and topped with cheese); roast venison and carrots over rice, sliced cucumbers; Chinese fried rice (with broccoli, carrots, and egg), chow mein; vegetarian lentil taco salad (lentils, tortilla chips, lettuce, jalapeno peppers, and cheese).
Above: cheesy lentil and rice casserole (YUM!); taco-seasoned lentil and rice mix; baked macaroni and cheese; roast beef with potatoes (smashed) and carrots, slicked cucumbers; my snack of sprouted almonds, salted peanuts, Belgian dark chocolate chips, and dried cranberries; fried eggs and toast and jelly; chicken spaghetti with black olives; fried venison steaks, rice, and asparagus cooked in garlic butter.
I'm sure you can tell by now I love cucumbers. I don't even end up getting much on my plate, because I've munched so much on them while I'm still preparing everything else! I eat cucumbers several times a week. I just love them. I don't think I'll ever tire of cucumbers and watermelons. They're so wonderful.
We ate off of paper plates probably twice a week for a few weeks, because I didn't feel like doing extra dishes.
We have not eaten very much meat. Reasons: we are now out of deer meat, we can't afford much meat, and William has been a vegetarian for about two months, so that's even more reason to fix a couple dinners a week without meat. A new favorite of ours is the cheesy rice and lentil casserole. That is SO good! Even Nathan loves it, and he does not care much for meatless dishes, nor legumes.
Nathan fixed the beef roast and the fried eggs. He fixed several meals one week. I miscarried, and I just rested and read some books during that time, and he took good care of me and everything else.
Above, my chocolate yum-a-lots; blackberry cobbler with Alden's vanilla bean ice cream; cherry cobbler; and chocolate mousse.
Coming soon is a post on "China and Pandas."
Until next time...
