Breaking *News*

Okay, so the use of the terms NEWS may be slightly overblown.  But it's news to me!

Genevieve has informed me that her favorite colors are now blue and green.  No more pink and purple, although she tells me "they are nice colors too".  As proof of this new loyalty her newest dresses have been blues and greens... and her new swimsuit?  She has picked blue.

*Sigh*

I guess I should just be happy she's still wearing dresses!!  I need all the pink and purple around here I can though.  :)

A few of Evan's Favorite Things

1) Trying to wrestle hole covers off of the table.  We took off the lower ones (they hide a screw) and he realized there are ones at the top too - score for him!

2) Removing all of the end caps from the door stops around the house.  He tries to get them in his mouth before anyone catches him, but we are pretty clever and stop him!

3) Removing night lights from the walls.

4) Hanging onto dresses (trying to pull skirts off) whenever he passes by one.  He is a leg hugger, that's for sure!

5) And, of course, smiling and giggling.  He's a delightful age.  :)

Great-Grandma Is in Utah

We can hardly believe it, but great-grandma has left our home and gone on vacation! This is most unusual as she doesn't like to travel, but because she likes family she overcame her attitude and got on a plane. 

Of course, it really wasn't that simple. First Rachel had to beg and cajole and harass her grandma until she came around. And she had to make the stakes worth it: if you come to Utah you can meet my brand new son (due to arrive any day!). Ruth and her hubby Sean and their child Ada are flying in from Boston for a month in Utah, so that was an added incentive. Will and his new bride Jess who usually reside in Utah are gone for the summer to Southeast Alaska, so they are not there.

Great-grandma will feel right at home in Utah with my brother Jim and his wife Diane because Jim's oldest son Josh and his wife Andi and their three sons Asher, Isaac, and Aidan are currently living with Jim and Diane. With great-grandma there they will have a four generation household just like ours! Oops! I didn't mention Lorna and Emma, the two youngest daughters who still live at home as they are high schoolers. It will be a houseful--2+2+2+3+1=10! Exactly like at our house! No, with Ruth, Sean and Ada visiting, it will be 13.

Diane flew up from Utah and spent a week quilting with me before she flew back accompanying great-grandma. In a month my brother Jim will fly back up with great-grandma. Then my twin Jean and her daughter Sarah are coming to visit for week. Great-grandma is quite popular.

The Birthday Day

It was a laid back birthday!  Time for some rough housing with little bro:

and building with the periodic element blocks:

Posing with the 2 shaped birthday cake (love that cheesy grin):

Hanging out with best bud Great-Granny:

Pizza time:

Candle time:

Not a huge fan of chocolate cake, but liked the carrot cake cupcakes:

Baby bro wanted to know where his cupcake was:

Great little present opener!!!  Loved everything:

Beating on the new lollipop drum:

Don't worry, the siblings WERE there:

The end!

**It was a good day.  The BJV trio had stayed the night before at G&G's house up the hill, so Lincoln/Evan and I had a lazy morning--pancakes for breakfast, a favorite of Lincoln's!.  I made the big siblings spend some time outside with Lincoln in the afternoon as Lincoln lets us know every chance he gets that he would like to live out there 100% of the time.  We picked up a balloon, of course, because birthdays are better with balloons!  Grandpa Tim and Tyler joined us for cake and presents in the evening.  Lincoln was enthralled with it all - the cool Spider Man Potato Head, the Cat construction vehicle which he squealed "CAT!!!" about upon opening, the crayons and books and drums and cars, and the fuzzy PJs and talking T-Rex... a very lucky little boy!!**

The end, again.

A Tooth! He Finally Has A Tooth!

Evan has the distinction of being the slowest teether in the family.  It's all good though, we've enjoyed his toothless grins!

Yesterday, however, I noticed a tooth!  Just one, on the bottom, and not much of one.  But he finally has a tooth!   He has been very pleasant the last few nights (translation: he has been sleeping well), so I guess that means he didn't find the experience too traumatic.  Win for him, win for me!

I've been telling him about the exciting world of fruits (and meats) available to children that have teeth.  Watermelon is all fine and dandy, but there's a whole world of hard fruits out there!  I suppose I'll wait until he has a few MORE teeth, but still - 1 tooth down, 19 to go! 

Our TWO Year Old!

Lincoln is 2 years old!  I've been talking up his birthday to him for a few days, but I'm not sure that he really knows yet what it means to have a birthday!  All the same... this morning when Great-Grandma said "It's someone's birthday... right?!?!", Lincoln said: "Me, me!!!".  :)  And then he said "Two today"!

What a clever boy.  It's been a long time since we've had a two year old around (YEARS... !).  I find him to be quite delightful.  I'm pretty sure that I also found my first three 2 year olds to be delightful, but it's a bit of a distant blur.  Probably didn't help poor Bentley that we had 7 month old twins when he was 2, and as for the twins?  When they were 2 there were 2 of them (duh!) plus a 3 1/2 year old!  Anyway.  2 year olds are very entertaining.

Lincoln is very helpful.  He's animated, he's stubborn, he's full of glee and rowdy energy.  He knows what he likes and what he doesn't.  He stands up for himself when he needs to, but still likes cuddles.  He's charming!  He has the BEST smile around here and loves the camera.

I'm sure he will be a terrific two year old, I can't wait to hear more of the thoughts in his cute little head as he vocalizes better!  Some of his current favorite expressions:

no like me (His polite way of implying that some foods don't like him. It's nothing personal; it's not him; it's the OTHER person - the food!)
bad baby (Any time Evan takes a toy he shouldn't have!!!)
help me

daddy daddy mommy mommy (A refrain I always love to hear!!)

night night

hot dog
basketball (His FAVORITE outdoor activity.)
where's my waaa (He is always putting down his water somewhere odd and then can't find it!)
And, of course, his ALL favorite thing to say?!
ME TOO!!!!

We joke that we need a shirt that says "Me, too!"... Those darn older siblings are always doing cool things that Lincoln just isn't *quite* big enough to do.  We hear the plaintive (or demanding!) "Me, too!" refrain on a regular basis!

Oh, Lincoln... we sure do love you!  I can't imagine our house without you. You are a splendid addition to it and help make our family complete.

Party TIme!

One of the little girls in Viva's Girl Scout troop is turning 6 this week and wanted to invite her whole troop to the birthday party.  Genevieve was very excited about the invitation.  In fact, she was a bit worried that I would lose it.  So she spent some time copying all the information from the invite onto Post Its which she securely taped to the fridge for me. (The theme of the party was Phantom of the Opera, the birthday girl's favorite movie. Isn't that unusual for a 6 year old girl?)

She's a hoot!

Handsome Prince

The Princess's twin is good looking, too. Lately we've had a hard time catching him on camera with an attractive grin on his face. All too often he puts on a horrible grimace which is his honest attempt to smile for the camera. (He used to be our go-to guy for great photo smiles, so we are frustrated with this new stage.) Sometimes we still get lucky and snap a great photo of handsome boy Jake.

Pretty Princess

Kara and I really like that Viva likes to wear dresses. We encourage this habit by buying her dresses--more dresses than one little girl needs.

GRAMMY!

Lincoln gets into more trouble than his older siblings did at the same age. Why that is, I'm not sure. All the children are clever and obstinate at times, so the older trio certainly have the capacity for trouble making. Did we keep a closer eye on the trio when they were younger because we had a better adult: child ratio so that they lacked the opportunity to foment trouble? Are we adult caregivers just too exhausted to enforce the rules as strictly as we used to?

Whatever the reason, Lincoln is a handful some days. Last month he discovered that not only could he unlock the lower lock of the front door and turn the knob, but he could also reach and undo the dead bolt. He could leave the house whenever he wanted! How cool is that? 

Kara and I started discussing ways to keep that door shut. Add an alarm? Change the upper lock for a stiffer one--but that would lock great-grandma in, too. We could add a second higher up dead lock, but that would stop great-grandma as well. Then I came across (they were in a drawer in the garage) those little plastic globe shaped contraptions that you can put over knobs so adults can still turn the knob, but little hands can't. I placed them on Lincoln and Evan's bedroom door (so L couldn't visit E while E was napping), on the mudroom door (so L couldn’t get into the garage) and on the front door.

That worked for a couple of weeks and then Lincoln figured out that if you hammer on the globe it falls off. I put my thinking cap on and I decided to just tape the hinges after I put the contraption on the knob. It would be too difficult for Lincoln to get the tape off and therefore he couldn't take the globe off. I was so proud of my idea that I called Lincoln over and pointed to the mudroom door knob and told him that I had fixed it so he couldn't get the globe off any more. I asked him if he wanted to try to remove it. He turned his back on me and walked away. I wondered if he had understood what I was telling him.

The next day Lincoln tried to get out the front door where a taped globe was in place, another one that I had "fixed". He tried for a minute or two and then he said really loudly and with a great deal of frustration in his voice "GRAMMY!". 

WOW! I was so surprised. That boy never calls me by my name. We have a game we play where I try to get him to call me grandma and he laughs and calls me mommy. He has a special name for great-grandma, but not for me. So Lincoln finally uses my name...but more as a curse word than a term of affection. I'm not sure I scored a win with that, but at least the almost two year old is not able to leave the house unaccompanied.

Great-Grandpa Roy

Matt's Grandpa died this past week, Matt is down in South Dakota for the funeral right now.  We're glad that Matt and the boys were able to go and visit in May and make some memories together - it was a good trip for everyone!

Matt and his Grandpa, quite a few years back:

Grandpa Roy is Grandma Vicki's Father.  Grandma Vicki and her brother, Jeff, are his only children.  And Matt is the only grand child!  Quite different from the large families on our other family branches.  Although we haven't been able to spend much time with Grandpa Roy, the kids did enjoy periodic phone conversations with him - he will be remembered fondly.  

We are glad he is in a better place now - the last few months have been very hard for him due to end stages of cancer.

We love you, Grandpa Roy!  

Read!

Our young readers continue to keep their noses in books. Kara assigns them 30 minutes a day of reading, but usually they do more. The latest juvenile series to catch their attention is The Berenstain Bears Big Chapter books and The Bailey School Kids. They keep us busy going to the library and tracking down new books for them to read.

Lincoln & Evan

Here are the latest photos of best pals Lincoln and Evan:

I think we are in for some wild times ahead with these two.

Backyard Fun

Last month Kara posted about how she had the playhouse moved to the backyard. It looked great down there. The moose visited. The mosquitoes hung out, but not so much the children. On Saturday I went down to the playhouse to do some landscaping work. The playhouse slide ended near in a patch of alder bushes. The few times the children had used the slide they had to hang on tight to the sides so they controlled their descent and didn't face plant into the alders. I decided to solve that problem by removing the alder patch.

I came prepared with a hefty ax (I couldn't find the hatchet) and my trusty pruning shears. It was a lot of work because the ax handle was too long. Stepping on the alder bush helped to clear the way to hacking away at its base, but it also put me too close to the bush to be able to fully swing the ax. My pruning shears are small ones, so I couldn't do a good job on the base of the shrubs. Despite the handicaps I hacked away until I removed all the plants for six feet or more in front of the slide. I even pulled up a trio of young spruce trees.

Bentley showed up half way through my project and offered to help haul off the shrubs. He brought me the wheelbarrow. He tried out the slide and pronounced it much better. (It was!) As I finished the job Viva and Jake came down to checkout my work. They stayed and were joined by the girl next door with her friend. The five children played together for the next three or more hours. It was good to see the playhouse back in use.

My Fourth of July Photo

On the Fourth of July Viva wore her new stars and stripes skirt. Jake put on his flag t-shirt, but then added orange shorts and yellow and black socks. Viva added her stars and stripes flip-flops when they went out to the parade. Unfortunately it wasn't sandal weather, but she didn't care. It's the outfit that matters, not the comfort.

When they got back from the parade I asked to take their photo. They grabbed their flags and we tried ten or more shots, but the flags kept ending up in their faces. I took the flags away, but by then Lincoln had joined our photo shoot and he would not leave. You can't tell, but he has his camera in his hands. Why you need a camera to be in a photo shoot I don't know. I certainly couldn't coax him to join me in taking photos. Then Viva insisted on kissing Jake and I gave up trying for a decent photo. Once again I am forced to settle for comical.

Review: PreScripts from Classical Conversations

I was sent a review book from Classical Conversations newest product line which covers handwriting. More specifically, we were sent the PreScripts Cursive Sentences and Art Lessons workbook!  This book is intended for ages 7-12, and uses a combination of writing and drawing to cover history.

Classical Conversations is a Christian program founded by Leigh Bortins.  It is, as the name implies, a group that is centered around the philosophical tenants of classical education.  Classical education involves memorization of historical facts (among much more!) during the grammar years of education (or foundation age, as Classical Conversations calls it) - and their new handwriting program does a lovely job of combining historical information (this book centers on medieval to modern world history), scripture verses, basic drawing lessons, and gorgeous handwriting.  I love it!

I imagine that in future years books that correspond to the other three history cycles studied by Classical Conversations will be introduced - seems like a safe bet!  I plan to collect them all.  I own a number of products put out by Classical Conversations, even though the kids don't formally participate in the local group.  The materials they provide are excellent quality stand alone study aids.

Classical Conversations has a great set of sample pages, here, that give a really good idea as to the format and scope of the drawing lessons and show a nice sample of the font used.  The drawing lessons relate to the handwriting copy work, and generally provide a small helpful "hint" or technique note, and then space to practice it.  As for the handwriting, the sentences are long, and direct quotes from the memorization work used in the Classical Conversations program.  If you want shorter sentences you might be interested in their earlier levels.

It's been interesting reading, the past few years, about the different school districts across our country that are phasing out cursive as a requirement.  Some progressives even argue that handwriting in general is a useless skill as long as children can type.  I think this is crazy!  At the turn of the century children were actually taught cursive as their FIRST style of lettering.  It was considered good for brain development and it wasn't considered too hard for 6 year olds.  Times have changed, unfortunately.

The lettering style used by this program appears to be a Zaner-Bloser type of cursive.  It's a nice flowing lovely to read style, but the capitals are going to be a bit harder for kids to pick up as they look "fancier" than many other styles!

I think handwriting is a skill best practiced daily.  I like to incorporate it into another subject to keep it relevant and engaging, and so the historical and scriptural tie ins in this book make it an easy one to add into the schedule.  The drawing pages also provide a nice break/help keep the kids excited about coming back for more.

I like that Classical Conversation's copyright gives you permission to copy pages in the book for use in your own family, but as the book isn't very expensive you might want to just buy and use it for the sake of convenience.

In conclusion?  If you couldn't tell, I think this book is lovely.  Nice quality pages, great material, and easy to use!  I have been raving about it to my friends!

Check out the book, which is $12.99, and others in this new handwriting line at the Classical Conversations website.

If you'd like to check out reviews of the other books in the series head on over to The Old Schoolhouse's review crew.

Another Moose

Here's the photo Mark took of the moose tracking across our backyard this evening.

It's rare to see an adult moose in velvet. This is the first good photo that Mark has taken of a moose in velvet. (Velvet is a soft furry skin that covers the antlers while they are growing and then it falls off. This skin transports nutrients to support antler growth. It takes three to five months to grow the antlers making them one of the fastest growing animal organs. Huh? Antlers are organs? I didn't know that before I did a little research tonight.)

Greetings from One of Our Zoo Creatures

Daddy and Lincoln went out on a date to the zoo yesterday.  Lincoln is still awfully fond of his Father. I think it's the basketball time, the books they read, the balls they chase, the rides he gets... oh wait.  I guess it's everything!  :)

Cutest moose ever, I say!

If You Can't Beat 'em...

Being surrounded by small children, day in and day out, is enough to drive the sanest person crazy.  And I'm not sure if I was 100% sane to start with.  So if you can't beat the crazies... what to do?  Embrace them!

I'm a night owl.  If current sleep research is to be believed there's a good chance I've cursed my children with this same trait through heredity.  In deference to my lack of a morning side, we already start our day on the later side of normal.  But even with that allowance I don't often hit my stride until evening (and I'm pretty sure I have a kid or two with this same problem).  

But maybe we've found the solution?  A few weeks back Matt was out of town and headed back on the 1 am flight.  Or so I thought.  It was a Wednesday evening, which means that the kids had spent the day playing - we take Wednesday off from school "work" around here.  I wasn't looking forward to Thursday morning, and I figured the kids might want to stay up to see their Father arrive home.  Inspiration struck!

I asked them if they wanted to do Thursday's school work early (it was 10pm on Wednesday), then eat pancakes at midnight and watch cartoons.  Of course they said yes!  

And we lived happily every after.  Except Daddy's flight didn't come into until 4 something, I'd gotten the time wrong.  We were asleep by then.  We're not totally crazy!

I've had many requests for more midnight pancakes, but despite the appeal to go with it I'm holding strong against them.  I don't really want to get them on a totally confused shift worker type of sleep schedule.... right?!  :)

Off I go.  Back to reading my book on Healthy Sleep Habits.  Apparently most people are chronically sleep deprived.

Technology Fun

Isn't this how YOU have conversations at your house, when one set of individuals is upstairs and one is downstairs?!  :)

FaceTime sure beats yelling up and down the stairs at each other.  And yes, I am at least half serious here.

And look at all these smiling faces.  We could be in an Apple commercial, right?!  :)