Mom of 2 Limited Editions

Reindeer Feet

2011-12-07T11:23:00.001-08:00

Today we tried to make some reindeer pictures with our hands and feet. We got the idea off pinterest where there was a link to this blog http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/12/book-advent-day-7-hand-footprint.html

Here is how ours turned out:

Wanna know how to make it? Here are instructions made by my 6 year old:

First Paper Plate Craft of the season

2011-08-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

It's not our first paper plate craft of the year but our firstof the season .... wait unless you count drawing food groups onto a paper plate. Anyway, I saw this craft here http://alittledelightful.blogspot.com/2011/07/craft-days.html and thought it looked super cute and decided we needed to try this at home. The girls loved it.

Preschool?

2011-07-05T13:30:00.001-07:00

I have a three year old (April 08) who has been begging to learn. She has been talking for a long time, in fact she loves to talk about her talking. She will tell you that she was a "talking baby". She has been able to write her name and draw pictures for some time now. She has that second born drive that leads her to attempt to be able to do everything her big sister does. I used to do school with Katie while she napped but she stopped napping at 2 years old. Now she wants to do it all. It is really hard to say no to a child who is demanding to learn. So we started "preschool" this morning. It started with a phonics and writing lesson (she did amazingly well). She did Math-U-See with us and worked on writing her numbers so she can meet that pre-requisite for the program. She listens to long stories with no pictures, she memorizes her Bible verses, she helped us sort pictures for grammar and colored her own map for geography.

The other day I turned on the evening news to see what was going on in the world. Joy sat down next to me and said "Mommy do you like this". I said I did so she sat down and started watching. They had a story on how much sugar is in chocolate milk and how plain milk is better for you. My girls regularly have chocolate milk (because her sister won't drink it otherwise and I'd rather her have chocolate than none at all). Joy demanded plain milk for dinner that night because the news told her it was better for her. She has since forgotten the news story and gone back to chocolate milk.

A few weeks ago we were at family camp. Joy being three years old should have been

in the nursery but I felt like it wouldn't be right to have her in there and asked if she could sit in on the 4-5 year old class. She sits through Sunday school at church and has been doing so since 2.5 and so I knew she could handle it. Well, she did great. One day after class she was sitting drawing on her magna doodle and I asked her who she was drawing. She told me Ananias. And then the next person she drew was Barnabas. She told me that Barnabas was Paul's friend and that Paul's other name was Saul but they are the same person. I was amazed.

Most of the time though she isn't drawing Bible characters or watching the evening news. Most of the time she is making a big mess with toys, cutting paper into teeny tiny pieces for me to clean up, taping things (not to each other but just placing tape on paper as a decoration --- plain invisible tape)..... I just asked her why she does this tape thing --- she said "Shhhh... I can't tell you" and walked away giggling with the tape dispenser. Earlier today I caught her writing her name on toys so they would be hers and not her sister's. She is always up to something.

First Day of School

2011-07-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

We have chosen to home school. We did Kindergarten last year and this year will be first grade. Kindergarten is basically preparation for school but first grade is big time. This is the real deal. I better not mess up this one. So, we decided to doyear-round schooling. We will take breaks and lots of them, but we will not be taking the huge summer break. I have several reasons for doing this:

1. So my children won't forget all they learned during the school year and spend the first several weeks in review.

2. I find it much easier to plan for shorter time periods and a nice little break here and there.

3. Kids get really bored with long vacations and actually seem happier when the vacations are 1-3 weeks long instead of several months long.

4. I actually went to a year-round school in elementary school and I liked it.

5. My husband (the principal) wants me to. It is great that we agree on this and it makes the decision so much easier.

So I marked on my calendar that July 5th would be the first day of school for us. I made my lesson plans about a month ago and then the date snuck up on me and was here. So we got ourselves up and dressed early, took pictures to mark the event, and dug right in.

I have also decided to be on the quarter system. My college roommate used to say to me "Inch by inch it will be a cinch, yard by yard it will be too hard". We always wanted to throw something at her when she would say that but it stuck with me and I believe it is true. So I took all the books I want to get through this year and cut them in quarters and started planning. Here are some of the things we will be learning this quarter:

Math U See - alpha

Shirley Grammar

Funnix (www.funnix.com) for phonics, spelling and writing

Beginning Geography by Evan-Moor

Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer

History Pocket - Ancient Civilizations

Draw Write Now

A-Z Bible Verses by Susan Hunt

A Science Nature reader and the first grade science book by Christian Liberty

a variety of literature and poems (we read Milly Molly Mandy today)

Other (as needed)

I'm excited about some subjects and dread others. From last year I know which ones I have to start with and which ones are fun and are good transitions to other subjects. This should be an interesting year.

Doorposts

2011-03-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

Doorposts is having more giveaways. Check out these charts. We have some of them and love them!

Sick toddler

2010-11-05T07:01:00.001-07:00

Now...

2010-09-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

It has been a year and several months since I have updated this blog. My little girls are growing up quickly.

Katie is now 5 years old. She is just about the sweetest and loving little girl in the whole world. She is also a perfectionist. We tried school last year when she turned 4 and got through Kindergarten math and some reading. This year we are doing full Kindergarten. So far we are diligently working our way through Saxon 1 for math, doing some reading, handwriting, music and art. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes she struggles. A few weeks ago she couldn't quite understand the concept of opposites and now she is a pro at that. This week's struggle is ordinal numbers (first, second, third, last). I can't tell you how many times I've lined up her toys and explained the concept. I'm sure she'll get it - I think God is teaching me patience. Katie's evening routine will kinda show a little of her character. Each night we read 1-3 books. She loves books. Her favorites are Madeline, Angelina Ballerina, and Little Red Riding Hood. Then she prays. Her night prayer goes like this "Dear Jesus, Thank you for my wonderful Mom

my, my wonderful Daddy, my wonderful little sister Joy, and my library books. I love my food. And help me not to cry in Sunday School. In Jesus Name, AAAAA-Men!". She is asking not to cry in Sunday School because she tends to cry when she makes any type of mistake and I have instructed her she shouldn't cry about her mistakes especially in Sunday School. So far God has been faithful to answer that prayer.

Joy is 2.33 years old. She is one smart little girl. She talks in paragraphs. Last week we gave up her pacifier "Fluffy". I was sad to see Fluffy go, but it was most certainly time. I had tried to wean her off of it by telling her to keep Fluffy in her crib but she wouldn't have that. She would obediently leave it in the crib but then sneak up there as soon as she could, get a stepstool, and get Fluffy back. So I had to start hiding Fluffy during the day. I told her Fluffy was for babies and Fluffy had to help babies during the day. That seemed like a noble cause to her and after about a week Fluffy took on a night job helping babies too and we haven't seen him since. She still has her blanket, and I have no intentions of taking that lovey from her. Joy begs to do school. She really wants to learn. She loves to draw and even wrote her name once. She draws the cutest pictures of people. They have no bodies. They are just big happy heads with crazy hair and arms and legs growing out of them. She has been doing that since about 18 months. Joy loves to play with blocks. She is very careful and can build really high towers on very little foundation. Sometimes she can even build a high tower on the carpet (much harder than the hard floor). She loves to play outside, and is always begging to go to the park. She is getting more loving and sweet everyday.

The girls really love each other. They say they are "best friends". The play make believe together all the time. Sometimes there will be purple or pink dragons (that are nice not scary), tickle monsters, fairies in distress, and robots who say "cheese". Katie will "read" books to Joy and sometimes they will play nicely together for hours. They love to play dress up and get dressed up as fairies and ballerinas. I'm so glad they enjoy each other so much.

Joy is 1

2009-04-14T08:15:00.001-07:00

Joy is now officially one year old. She has two teeth (no sign of any more yet), a messy head of blonde hair, the ability to crawl and coast and stand (but not brave enough to walk quite yet) and apparently the ability to feed herself with a fork and spoon (we found this out when we gave her birthday cake and she wanted to feed it to herself with a fork rather than with her hands. She is a happy baby. She loves playing patty-cake. She has amazing communication skills. This week she started saying two word sentences like "Hi Joy" and "Hi Katie". She also says mama, baba, dada and night night. She also loves to shake her head yes and no. She is a very busy little girl. She doesn't have much time to sit and cuddle with mommy and daddy she has things to do. We gave her a puzzle for her birthday with locks and latches on it because she always likes to play with the latch on my resonator bell case. She doesn't like to be confined. She will play in the exersaucer but only if she has a lot of gerber fruit puffs to eat. She loves music. She likes to sit at the piano and play. She can "sing" songs. The words aren't there but the notes sure are! She loves to put things in her mouth. It is getting a bit better but there were days when I was removing things that she shouldn't have from her mouth several times a day. She loves her big sister and wants to be with her. Katie loves her too. The other day Katie was pretending to talk on the phone (her toy one) to her friend from church and she pretended that the friend had asked her to come over but she said she couldn't because she was going to play with baby Joy all day. Joy loves the stairs. She would love to be climbing stairs all the time. It might just be because we have them gated off and the forbidden is fun but as soon as that gate opens she gets over to them within seconds and starts climbing. Joy loves to take a bath. She doesn't mind getting the water dumped on her head (there are others in the house who really hate that part) and she loves to splash in the water. Joy is very patient with her toys. She does not get frustrated easily. She has good motor skills and was able to put toy "coins" into her toy "piggy bank" the first day she had the new toy. She does not like diaper changes (she is fascinated by the potty so there is some big hope here that training might be easy for her). She has no interest in the television at all. The only time I've really seen her interesting in a screen was the computer screen when it was a video of Katie. She is my sweet little baby and I'm so glad to have her. :o)

Two Teeth!

2009-03-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

It's official. Joy now has two teeth. The new one just popped up this morning. It is hardly visible but can be confirmed if you dare but your finger in her mouth.
Think she'll have three by the time she turns one?

Sisters

2009-03-09T19:40:00.001-07:00

Joy at 11 months old

2009-03-09T19:39:00.001-07:00

Katie at 3.5

2009-03-09T19:38:00.001-07:00

Katie for Valentine's Day

2009-02-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

Joy at 10 months old

2009-02-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

Joy's milestones

2009-02-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

the last two weeks have been biggies for Joy. After she learned to crawl she quickly decided that she wanted to learn to walk. Before she learned to crawl she wouldn't put any weight on her legs. She refused to stand. When the doctor tried to get her to stand at her 9 month appointment she held her legs straight out and refused to put them down (which takes a lot of strength and determination). The day she started crawling she decided she would put weight on her legs. In fact, she has become determined to walk. In the last 5 days she has started pulling up on everything. This morning for the first time when I went in her room to get her up she was standing waiting for me. With much pulling up comes a lot of falling too. Each day she gets a little bit stronger.

Last monday she had her first ear infection. Hopefully her last. Her left ear. The amoxicillian seems to be working and she seems to be feeling much better now.

One more

2009-01-30T08:26:00.001-08:00

More of Katie at the park

2009-01-29T19:37:00.001-08:00

Sisters

2009-01-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

Joy can CRAWL!!!!!

2009-01-24T12:16:00.000-08:00

Katie in the park

2009-01-16T08:40:00.001-08:00

More pictures of Joy

2009-01-16T08:38:00.000-08:00

Joy up close

2009-01-09T21:03:00.001-08:00

Two little eyes to look around
Two little ears to hear each sound
One little nose to smell what's sweet
And one little mouth that likes to eat!

Joy at 9 months old

2009-01-08T15:34:00.000-08:00

Joy will be 9 months old tomorrow. I took some pictures today and will probably take a few more tomorrow.

Crawling Backwards

2009-01-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

I've now seen Joy crawl backwards several times. She into the crawling position from sitting and then tries to get something in front of her but instead takes a few crawls backward. This is quite upsetting to her but I see it as a sign that she will be moving forward very soon.

Welcome 2009

2009-01-01T07:03:00.000-08:00

Another year is here. 2008 was a rough year for our family and many others too, but it also brought many good things including Joy. I look forward to starting a new year without morning sickness, swelling, bedrest or major surgery. I hope that this year I will have the energy and ability to do many fun activities with the girls as well as get my house clean and organized.

It will be fun to see how much the girls change this year. Katie is 3 1/3. She is starting to communicate better now but still sometimes forgets to use her words. She loves Mickey Mouse and the Backyardagins. She loves to play with her toy food, have tea parties, play princess, be a mommy to her baby dolls (who are coincidentally named Katie and Joy). She knows her letters and all their sounds and can spell simple words. She is trying to learn to write but we haven't spent much time on that yet. She loves to dance. She loves to play with baby Joy and show her all her toys and tell Joy what the toys name is and have it dance (she also uses voices for the toys).

Joy is 8 months old (almost 9) and really wants to learn to crawl. She can go from sitting position into crawling position and will rock on all fours before falling to the laying on her belly position. She seems to be very verbal too. She loves to mimic sounds and I know most people won't believe this but many of us have witnessed her trying to sing little songs - especially "Jingle Bells". She has several consonants and often says "mama" and "baba" and "dada".