Family Pictures

Here are some family pictures we had taken.  There were so many good ones that it's going to be very hard to narrow down what I want printed.  I really did love them all.

Random Moments of Cuteness

Daddy's Little Helpers

Pippi LongDallas

 

 



Diggin in the dirt

 

 



He's trying to crawl

 

 



Happy Birthday Papaw!

 

 



What are these things that you put on me?

 

 



Forever Friends

 

 



The best moment of the day...quiet!

I love this laugh

Weekly Wrap Up

The big news of the week is that both Kristen and Lauren memorized their verse and were able to get their candle built.  I am so proud of them!

This week was a little bit chaotic.  I decided to switch the days I usually run my errands from Friday to Wednesday, so school got switched around.  Since errands got switched around so did the day we go to the library....well...it just ended up becoming so confusing.  Probably much more confusing than it needed to be, but next week should go a lot smoother.

Dallas was very fussy this week, but he is actually teething.  I am not just making that up as an excuse for his fussiness.  You can see two little white bottom teeth, they just haven't come through the gums yet.  He also has a cold, so he hasn't been napping good or eating good and all he wants to do is whine and be held.  Plus, the weather didn't really cooperate this week either, so I had to move some activities around to days that the sun was actually shining.  We are still on day one of creation and talking about light.  Monday we were specifically focusing on shadows.  Of course the one day that I needed the sun was the one day that it was overcast and a little drizzly, so all of the fun outdoor activities that were planned had to be postponed. We were still able to talk about shadows and do some things inside with a flashlight.

 Kristen painting her "mole" (which was actually a groundhog)

 

Lauren didn't care what she was painting, just as long as she was painting.

 

Here are the girls with their groundhog shadow crafts.

 

I also did shadow pictures of the girls and that was a lot harder to do than it seemed, especially when a four year old who has the attention span of a dog is holding the light.  She would forget what she was supposed to do and start jumping or shining the light on the ceiling or the floor, needless to say it is a miracle I even got Kristen's done or that either of them turned out to even resemble a profile.  When the weather did cooperate we went outside to measure the shadows of the trees to see how they changed over the day, they got to chase their shadows and we were able to feel the warmth that the sun gives us by going directly in the sun and then standing in the shadow. 

 



The girls trying to catch their shadows.  Kristen kept yelling, "Run Lauren, your shadow is going to get you." 

 

 

We also learned about how light reflects.  We also talked about all of the colors God made and how we are only able to see these colors because he made light.  If it was dark we wouldn't be able to see them. We looked in mirrors and went on a nature walk to see all the colors and beautiful things God created.

 Here is Lauren making her mirror craft.  This girl has already gone through 3 glue sticks.

 

 Here is Lauren's rainbow she painted.

 

 Kristen making her mirror craft

 

  Kristen's rainbow. We also mixed colors to see what they would make.

 



 

Kristen has been working on her numbers 1-10.  She can recognize them and write them from memory.  She sometimes writes them backwards, but we are working on that.  The hardest numbers for her to write are two and three.  She is also learning to add and is doing good. 

 

Here is the worksheet Kristen did all by herself and wrote the numbers from memory.

 

 

Lauren continues to learn shapes and colors.  She is doing good, but I just have to keep reminding her to listen and think about her answer.  She sometimes just says whatever comes to her mind without thinking about it.  This week I had cut out some squares and triangles and gave them to her with a blank sheet of construction paper.  While Kristen and I were working on adding Lauren was supposed to make a house out of the shapes and glue it to the paper.  She started off randomly glueing the shapes, but after explaining it to her again she finally got it. 

 

 

This was her house.  I was very impressed!

 

 

 

And, the favorite activity of the week was when I sprayed a ton of shaving cream on the table and let the girls practice their numbers and shapes.

 

 

 Kristen following directions

 

Lauren wouldn't be Lauren if she didn't rub it all over her arms.

 

 

I have also learned a lot since starting homeschooling.  I have learned to let my kids be kids and be creative in their own way.  Since I often expect perfection from myself (even though I rarely accomplish it since I am not perfect), it is very easy for me to expect a rainbow to be a perfect rainbow or a house to be a perfect house. I have enjoyed watching them learn and participate in activities with them.  When I look at our bulletin board at the end of the week I feel like I have accomplished so much.  I have taught them about a God who loves them, I have spent quality time with my girls and hopefully made learning fun. 

 

Oh, and the funniest quote of the week comes from Kristen.  Today we talked about Joseph and his coat of many colors.  I got The Veggie Tales Ballad of Lil Joe from the library and told the girls that the movie would go along with our lesson.  At the end Kristen said, "So, are we going to learn about fruits or vegetables."











Weekly Wrap Up

It is hard to believe that it has been three weeks since we started homeschooling.  Time is definitely going by extremely fast and we are all enjoying it, well except for me coming down with a little cold this week.  There are two things I learned this week.

1. My kids function so much better when we keep to the schedule.
2. I function so much better when we keep to the schedule.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I love the flexibility of homeschooling.  For example, Wednesday and Thursday I felt bad and therefore somehow in my sleep cut my alarm off.  I think both days before it ever went off and we all slept in until 8:00 am.  It was nice to get the extra sleep and I really needed it, but that just threw everything off for the rest of the day.  Plus, even though I had made it out of bed, my motivation never did and therefore I was really dragging throughout the day.  I came to this conclusion...I would have probably functioned better getting up at my usual 6:30 am and taking a nap when Dallas took his afternoon nap.  But...of course that is easier said than done.

Anyways, this week was a really good, fun and exciting week for learning.  The first two weeks were a review. During that time I have figured out how the girls learn best.  Now we have started the interesting and more challenging lessons.  This week our main theme was light.  This was the first week that the girls had a memory verse. 

"Then God Said, "Let there be light, and there was light'".  Genesis 1:3

We practiced the verse all week and both girls are doing really well with it.  In fact, now  that they have it memorized they get to make their candle.  They already have the candle holder on the bulletin board and if they can say it tomorrow and Sunday without any help they will get their candle stick and flame and have it memorized.  I am so proud of both girls and working really hard to learn it. 

On Monday we had the "best home school ever", at least that's what Kristen said.  We did our lesson about light in the closet since that was the darkest place in our house in the middle of the day.  We talked about the different sources of light (candle, flashlight and lamp). We started coloring the cover and day #1 of our creation book.  Lauren is practicing recognizing the number one and writing it.  Kristen is practicing writing all of her numbers from 1-10 and memorizing them. Here are a couple of pictures of the girls practicing their numbers.  They really loved playing with the cornmeal and rice.  Who knew something could actually be better than play doh.

 

This dog will eat anything.  I kept hearing crunching and he was eating the uncooked rice.

We also learned about sequencing.  Lauren, although she needed the one on one help, did grasp the concept.  Kristen had more complicated sequencing to follow, but did them on her own.  We also learned about opposites and Kristen loves to play the opposite game now.  Lauren knows some opposites.  Big and small and short and tall.  We were playing the opposite door game where I put up a picture and they would have to tell me what the opposite was and look behind the door to see if they were right. 

(Excuse my wonderful drawings)

Well, Lauren was very unfocused this day, but I gave her asleep and I pretended to be asleep.  I asked her what the opposite of asleep was and she proudly said "Cock a doodle doo, it's time to wake up now." Not sure she got it, but the game was still a fun one to play. We also made a sun, since on day one God created light.  My kids get so excited if they see paint in the school bin.

Kristen cut her hands about all by herself

 



Lauren made the face on her sun all by herself

 

 

 

We also learned about Helen Keller and I took the girls outside blindfolded.  We talked about how people who can't see use Braille to read.  I took a pin and poked holes in card stock and wrote their name in Braille so they could see how it felt.  They then name their name in Braille using play doh.

 

 Kristen's name

 

Lauren's name



They also drew pictures of what they were happy that they could see that God made.  Overall, another successful week.

And, no post would be complete without pictures of the little man.  Here are some random pictures of little Dallas taken throughout the week.

His new favorite spot

 

 



Trying to figure out what to do with play doh

4 Year Check Up

Today I took Lauren for her 4 year check up.  Going into this appointment I was determined not to worry about her weight gain.  Oh the woes of gaining weight!  If I only had that problem! 

I knew she had gotten bigger, I just wasn't sure she had gained weight.  At the beginning of the summer she was in a size 6 shoe and two months later we were having to pull out the size 7.  She has gotten a lot taller and is now in a size 3T...Wohooo!

Well, my determination not to worry over her weight gain only lasted until she stepped on the scale.  Literally, my heart started beating faster and I started having hot flashes.  It was then I realized I will always be conscious of her weight.  It is just a way of life...something I have spent the last 4 years trying so hard to succeed at.

So, drum roll please............she weighs 25 pounds!  (sigh...but not of relief)

I was so disappointed...bummed out...depressed!  I had prayed all week that she would continue to be in her 2% curve and then Doc L came in and showed me her marks on the growth chart.  On the height chart she had moved from the 5% to the 20% (little sigh of relief).  On the weight chart she had dropped and was still not on the normal child chart.  However, combined she sat perfectly in the 2% curve.  Praise God! (BIG sigh of relief)  Doc L wasn't concerned about her weight gain or lack there of.  She said it was normal for a child to grow in height and not gain that much in weight and as long as she stays in her 2% curve or better she was happy...and so am I. She ended up getting two shots and Kristen asked before the shots if she was going to cry because she was a baby and not big like her.  Lauren looked at her and said "No, I'm and adult!"  I feel bad for little Lauren because her leg is sore and she is walking like a penguin.  I gave her some Tylenol, so hopefully by tomorrow she will feel better.

While waiting to be called back I met a micro-preemie mom in the waiting room.  As soon as I started talking to her I knew God put me there for a reason.  You see, I had switched my appointment because it would cause me to miss the first airing of the new Katie Couric show.  I know...so ridiculous!  I even thought that while I was rescheduling, but I just couldn't miss Jessica Simpson's big reveal.  Well, I realized that what seemed like a ridiculous reason to me was a big reason to God.  I have to say this mother looked really good and refreshed and it wasn't until I was talking to her that I realized she needed a little encouragement.  Preemies are very overwhelming and I can't imagine a preemie being your first child.  She was really happy and somewhat relieved to see what life would be like when you fast forward 4 years. Well, minus two kids.  She said she couldn't wait until her baby was 4 so she would know he would be alright.  I fully understood that, especially with Lauren's brain hemorrhages.  I just wanted to know what the outcome would be and God taught me a big lesson in patience.  I hope in some way she is feeling a little better today and I will be praying for her as she begins her journey with a micro-preemie at home.  I am so thankful we have made it to 4!