Summer School

A few notes about summer learning around here:

• Bobo started Saxon 5/4 last week, which I'm loving because it becomes self-teaching at this point. She reads her lesson, learns the new concepts, and then works through the practice problems. It's still all review, so I'm not ready to comment on how this will be for the long haul.
• Toddzilla is enjoying our current history read-a-loud, Johnny Tremain. I think he likes staying up as late as the girls more than anything - but hey, he's listening. Elbow is now reading The Courage of Sarah Noble; Bobo is on The Skippack School.
• We started making a book of presidents today. I'm printing out a head shot of each president, then the girls are copying the lyrics of this song onto the president's page. We did five presidents today because they got excited about it and Crockett was taking an extra long nap.

• Crockett "reads" Bob books in his spare time.

• The girls dressed up in their finery and sang the presidents song for Hubby upon his arrival home from work.

Child of God, Inheritor of Eternal Life

Jonathan Thomas was brought into the family of God this morning. The promised pictures - all but these - will have to wait. I forgot that my own camera would go largely untouched during the service, considering I had plenty of other things (and little ones) to attend to. 

It was a perfect day and all went well. My poor younger daughter is covered in poison ivy - face included. She handled it like a champ though, standing up in front of all the church despite her discomfort.  

His little suit has been worn by my brother, my parent's god son, my nephew, and all three of my boys. (Do I have that right, Nana?) The bib is a special form of Norwegian embroidery called hardunger. It was made by a sweet older woman in our internship parish.  

Praising God for the saving waters of baptism...

 

Saturday Morning Sermon Prep

ICT and other fun stuff of summer

Around here, the ice cream truck is only referred to in code (ICT) so as to avoid severe spasmodic screaming and door banging (by the current 2 year old). Not that the thing doesn't make it's presence known all by itself, but still. I have a love-hate relationship with our daily ICT. Yes, it's daily. Most days, I cringe when I hear her coming because it's always right when we sit down to dinner or right when we're bringing everyone in for bed. Yes, it's twice daily.

But on days like today, when we've been sitting in the orthodontist's office (all younger children in tow) and then in a hot car delivering meals, I welcome the ICT with a smile and a shout of "ice cream for dinner!" That's always a huge hit. (Note: I'm on the receiving end of the bringing a meal tradition far more than on the giving side. I write it here only to assuage my guilt remind myself, some day down the road, that I actually did cook for other people once in a very long while).

We're plugging happily along with our summer math lessons and history readers. I'm loving all this early American stuff because I managed to pass the Higher Level International Baccalaureate history exam in high school (and it was my best score) and major in History at an Ivy League college without studying the overall history of the US. At least not in depth. The IB curriculum focused on "the Americas" and we read books by Howard Zinn and Carl Degler. I wouldn't call that a "fair and balanced" approach. In college, for some reason I focused on British history. So I'm learning a lot of this for the first time myself. We just finished The Witch of Blackbird Pond tonight - next up is Johnny Tremain. Bobo's reading The Skippack School and Elbow is poised to finish Squanto.

The Patriot is being baptized this Sunday by his dear, old dad. Pictures will be forthcoming I'm sure...

You Know It's Bad When...

... you need a ladder to wash your car. 

On the other hand, we were able to take three neighborhood children to VBS this week, plus two of the moms.  It was great week (with a few minor skirmishes and issues. Assigned seats are a MUST when transporting large quantities of children.)

We were up late every night and now we're tired. But happy.

Early American History

We're loving the Sonlight books for our summer reading in American history. So far we've lived in the Maine woods with Matt and Attean in Sign of the Beaver, and the girls have both encountered Captain John Smith in their independent reading of Pocahontas and the Strangers and Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims.  Elbow is still working on Squanto; Bobo has moved on to The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh.  For our read-a-loud we're now in Puritan Connecticut with Kit and Hannah Tupper in the Witch of Blackbird Pond. 

As a family field trip, we hit the replica of the Santa Maria today in Columbus. It was amazing! To think 39 people lived on that little ship for seven months. My home doesn't quiet seem so crowded anymore...

Check out the little stove area that provided food for all those people:

Gratuitous sleeping baby in daddy's arms picture...

Tears. Lots of Them.

A few Sundays ago, as my little brood and I prepared to leave church, the rain came down hard and fast. I asked a sweet acquaintance if she would mind standing in the entry way with my children while I ran and got the bus van. It's a huge church and I often have to park a good distance away from the door. She graciously agreed and has since come up every Sunday to see if I need any help. 

Last Sunday, as I gathered my group, things got a little dicey. Toddzilla found a noodle (one of those six feet long styrofoam contraptions used for swimming - not generally found in places of worship - those ones). He was swinging it around in the presence of elderly parishioners and other such distinguished church-goers. Crockett had been dropped by above mentioned brother a few minutes earlier and was crying. (In Toddzilla's defense, he dropped the poor child because he ran up to give him a bear hug and they both inadvertently toppled over.) My baby was tired and fussy and I was trying to get him in the car seat. The girls were chit chatting with their friends, oblivious to the world around them. We were not getting anywhere fast. Or ever, for that matter.

Enter dear acquaintance mentioned above. She took one look at the scene and said, "Bless your heart, you do this all with a smile. Don't you ever cry? I remember crying all the time - and I only have two!"

Hubby would have laughed out loud if he heard that. (Hello, I've basically been either pregnant, post partum, or nursing for the last eight years - nothing even has to go wrong for the tears to flow on some days!) I cry tons, believe me. Just not much in public. 

Now you know.

Scenes From A Summer Day

It rained off and on yesterday, giving the children plenty of time for quiet pursuits. Toddzilla is all about the Legos these days, and he was busy building one tank/airplane/monster truck after another. (Shirtless is the only way he flies in the summer).

The girls got to work on their beady, plastic things. I don't even know what they're called. I just know I have to bust out my iron when they're finished. My iron exists only to meld these plastic contraptions together. I'm not sure when the last time it was used for clothing. Seriously.

It cleared up after dinner, just in time for raiding the dress-up closet with the neighbor kids. The alien boy (below) does not belong to me. Peter Pan had to go eat dinner; tears were involved.

All in a summer day.  

Finished...

with piano and violin for the summer. (They'll each have to play a few times a week to keep up with their Suzuki songs. When you finish a Suzuki book, you give a performance for friends and family that covers the entire book and they're both about 3/4 through).

with Harry Potter. It took us six months of reading about an hour every night to get through the thousands of pages. Lots of vocabulary building in these books with a little censorship required. We particularly liked the names of the spells - considering most of them are Latin based.

with cable TV. We've talked about getting rid of cable for some time. The only thing we ever watch is some Fox News after the children are in bed. When I'm pregnant, however, I tend to collapse on the couch the minute the children are down and remain there for a good long time. I got somewhat addicted to Jon and Kate during the last pregnancy and now with all the media frenzy surrounding them  - it just doesn't feel right. So we pulled the plug entirely. (Papa, consider yourself forewarned. You may not want to visit us during a big golf event).

I Got Nothin'

Not much to write about it seems. It's pretty quiet around here these days; school is ending for many of the neighbor kids and everyone's enjoying the great outdoors. 

The only big development is our shrinking bank account thanks to an initial visit to the orthodontist with my oldest. I can't believe I'm at that stage of parenting. She's getting a palatal expander and some braces on her top, front teeth. With four following close behind, I have a feeling we'll have "orthodontia" as a budget item for a long time.