What We... (Belated New Moon: Thirteenth Month)

Happy New Month...belated by over a week!   What we've done over the past (twelfth) month...


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...

Little Friend has been playing U.S. geography games.  Since Disney clearly bought out Kidschool.com, we are using Sheppard Software now.  He's learning all the states, their locations, and their capitals.

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...

Archery, Cuttlefish, More Art, and Rock Examination

August 22, 2010, Roman calendar:  We left Jasper to come back home.  We went to Branson first, though, and Nathan bought Will a new bow.  

August 23:  Will did his writing, and he also drew a house and some trucks with a dry erase marker.

House with chimney smoke and trucks

August 24:  We went to get groceries.  Will drew more pictures on his dry erase board.  Here is another:

Truck driving by rocky cliffs

The white spot is from the camera flash.  I love all his pictures, regardless of whether they'd win any awards, and I know most of them would not.  Some are better than others.  I think he probably takes more after me as far as art ability.  I have never had a gift in drawing, but I do have artists in the family, so it may be that one of my children will have a gift in art.

Nathan instructed me that Will must understand his bow's owner manual before he could shoot it; he told me that I had to read the instructions, then Will had to read them to me.  So, I did just that.  I read each warning/instruction aloud to him, then I gave the book to him and had him read it to me, and then I also made him repeat each instruction in his own words so that I knew for sure he understood.   He then shot his bow. 

August 25:  Will did reading and math out of CC2.  We read our daily chapter in Proverbs, as usual.  I'm also reading to the boys from the gospel of John.

August 26: Will did his near-daily writing.  Most days he copies a paragraph or two from a book.  Some days he writes a letter to someone.  He still needs spelling help, so most of the time he wants to write a letter, he tells me what he wants to write, and I type it for him and print it.  He then just copies.

August 27:  We just cleaned the house then went for a walk.  We saw some animal tracks.  

What appears to be an opossum track

Deer track (toward center of photo)

We also saw cat tracks.  It was dry for so long that the road was very dusty.  Our sandaled feet were filthy by the time we got home.  After we got home, I let the boys watch some YT videos.  Will had asked about film developing a few days before, and he also asked about older-fashioned grain milling, so they watched videos on these things.

August 28:  The sabbath day!   Besides our bible reading, the boys and I read some of their Ranger Rick magazine.  We all went for a walk, including Nathan.  We tasted some wild plums.  

August 29:  We finished reading RR.  We learned about cuttlefish and their amazing camouflage abilities.  I showed the boys some Youtube videos about cuttlefish later, as well as a video on metamorphosis that discussed butterflies, frogs, and dragonflies, and a cute little cartoon duck video for preschool age children, which is good for Trusten.

We also read the July issue of Heaven's Family, and Will did some writing.

August 31:  I don't know what we did the day before, but this day we went to get groceries, and Will did his writing.  Of course, we read the bible, as usual.

September 1:  Will did writing, reading, and math.  He is now very interested in rocks.  His interest has been growing more and more.  I was very much into rocks at that age, too.  He likes busting them open to find crystals, dirt, or whatever else may be in rocks.  He enthusiastically shows me what he has found.  

September 2:  We went to town to run some errands.  

September 3:  I spent a great deal of the morning just talking to the boys.  We also prepared for the sabbath, and then we watched a good Star Trek (New Generation) movie.  It was Insurrection.  Will did some math from CC2.  He's been learning "regrouping"  (or what I know as "borrowing"), taking from the tens place and converting it to the ones place.  I used Cuisenaire rods to help him better understand.

September 4:  The sabbath day.  I had a nice day of relaxation.  Nathan finished working on an animal cage with Will, all except putting hinges and a lock on the door.

September 5: The children and I went grocery shopping.  On the way, we were sitting at a red light, and there was a red Corvette convertible sitting at the red light on the opposite side.  Now to give a bit of background information, a red '69 Corvette Stingray is my favorite car of all time.  So, I said, "Will, see that car over there?  That's a Corvette.  That's the car I like.  You'll see it when he takes off.  Just watch."  

The light then turned green, and off the guy went.  I figured he'd have quite a take-off, but he went faster than I assumed he would.  He took off and got down the road so quickly, his tires squalled a bit.  I said to Will, "Well, apparently the guy driving it really likes the car, too.  I think he likes it a bit too much, and he's wanting to show off in it and wants everyone to see him in it."

Will then replied, "Well, no one is going to see him in it.  He's driving too fast."  Hahahaha!  That child sure knows how to make me laugh.  He had a good point, though.  

After we got home and were about to eat lunch, I asked Will to dump some scraps we had outside.  He came back in and complained about Beaver, one of three cats we have.  Beaver, though, hates the other two cats, which are her kittens.  She hissed and was mean to them so much that now that Sylvester, the adult male, is bigger, he chases her off.  Beaver is bad to try to trip us up when we go out there.  Will did trip and fall this time.  He said, "Momma, Beaver is soft and easy to pick up, but I know all that is deceptive.  She's really bad."  I once again got a good laugh.  I've been trying very hard to get it across to him that outward appearances can be deceptive, and for him to say that the cat's soft hair made him deceptively like her was hilarious.  But, again, he had a good point.  He's always thinking.

September 6: We had errands to run in town.  We cleaned.  I don't think we did much else.  I explained to Will about Labor Day and why certain things were closed.  He asked why his daddy was working then, and I said it was because he had work to do and that we didn't always keep that holiday.  We were working, too.  Will did reading, writing, and math.

September 7:  Will did writing, reading, and math.  Will also started a book the day before this one, and he finished all but one page (not sure why he didn't want to read the last page until later) of it today.  It was his first chapter book that he read by himself.  He kept avoiding it, thinking he wouldn't like to do so, but he thanked me for making him start reading it.  He did something the day before to forfeit his play privileges, and so he did a lot of writing and reading.  The book is 61 pages long.  

Until next time...