Because 2600 s.f. isn't enough?

January seems to be a time of reflection, & this year was no different. I have been feeling a little frustrated, mostly with myself, feeling like I spend so much time focusing on keeping the house in order (which you can't even tell, so I don't know why I worry about it) & just give my kids "free time" to play during the couple hours we're home in the morning. We've always had a schedule, even since they were infants, but the schedule was pretty vague in some areas. So I decided to do a little revamping of the schedule in hopes that certain parts of our day would become not only a little bit easier but also a little bit more intentional on my part. I had a little bit of inspiration: my friend Jodi started a blog on January 1st called Meaningful Mama (http://www.meaningfulmama.blogspot.com/). Her goal is to help parents be more intentional (aha!) in their parenting, but she also has tips & character training ideas. I only started implementing my own new schedule less than 2 weeks ago, so I haven't had a chance (um...organization is still in process) to try some of her ideas, but I fully intend to. The other piece of inspiration came from my other friend Jody, who a couple of months ago suggested to me that we turn our garage into a playroom. (Apparently the Jodys have it figured out, lol). Anyway, at the time I was trying to visualize how that would look & how I would convince Erik that he didn't really need a garage...so as I was putting my plan together, I decided it would be easier to convince him by showing him rather than telling him.:) So I got to work. The first thing I did was figure out the basics of our schedule & write it out. If it's something we do a majority of days, it goes on the schedule. If it's something we do less often (such as a play date or field trip) it is on green paper to attach temporarily into a certain spot on the schedule (I don't think I have a picture of this, I'll have to add it). I laminated all of these so that I can use dry-erase markers to write who/where we are going that is special. I also put velcro tabs on the schedule next to each part, had the kids decorate an oval with their name on it, & now they move their names along the schedule as we go. This not only provides a visual of our whole day, but it helps them keep track of where we are in the day. I put a few visuals on the schedule, but mostly it is written. To set up the garage, the first thing I did was to move an art table (we have 2, after our neighbor gave us one!) out there. I still have some finishing touches to do on the space, but overall I am pleased with what I have turned it into.:) Eventually I might move more out there, we'll see. What we DO out there now is all of our MESSY art! Yes! And I have a spot set up for our sensory boxes (beans, water, shaving cream, etc.) & also the easel. I found in the past that these activites required too much set up & clean up & I just didn't do them as often as I should have. NOW -- there is a different project waiting for them in the garage every day, & they are SO excited about it!! I frequently hear them saying, "This is so fun!" I also bought a little storage drawer set to hold all the supplies - paint, shaving cream, etc. Then it is accessible & ready to go & it requires less work on my part to get it set up for them. So here are a few pictures to show how it works:

Kellen is playing with one of the 'choices' activities. We have a 'choices' board on the wall for this time (usually in the morning, on the days Annika doesn't go to school) & they stick their name by the activity that they choose (there's a picture of it later on). They are certainly not limited to the 6 activities that I put out, but they generally choose those activities first.:) This also allows me to rotate through toys that otherwise might get overlooked on the closet shelf.

Kaarin is playing in the bean box.:)

Art time -- today's activity was stamps & stamp pads. These were brand new, so they were pretty exciting!:) For now, I have some bamboo mats set up under the table but I plan to get some kind of carpet or carpet squares to make it a little warmer. I do have a heater on the opposite side of the table that I turn on as we are eating breakfast so that it is 'warm' by the time it's choices time. So far, no one has complained about being cold.:)

Here is the choices board: they put their name by the activity that they choose to play with. There are certain activities that only 1 or 2 may play with at a time. I cut pictures out of my Lakeshore catalog to show what the activity choice is, & then laminated them & stuck velcro on the back so that it is really easy to change them out before I go to bed. I need to do a few more with photographs of toys that were not in the catalog but I also have one that is generic for an activity that doesn't have a tag yet.

Look at how nicely they are playing!!:) (They are supposed to have completed their morning 'chores' - getting dressed, brushing their teeth, etc., before making choices, but sometimes they are just too excited & I let it slide a little).:)

Here's our schedule: it's probably a little bit tough to read, but you get the idea. And let me say this: we still don't follow it exactly. For instance, 8:00 Good morning is a stretch most mornings, other than when we have to head out to school, so we typically don't move to choices time until later than what the schedule says. (As you can see on this day, only 2 of the kids were actually up - one was still at 'good night') So we don't usually have a morning snack or do a morning art project (other than what's set out for their choices art) because I just don't need to break up the time as much as it appears. However, it gives me the flexibility if I do need to.:) And our outside/movement time could be a music CD (Hap Palmer & Greg & Steve have some excellent 'indoor' motion songs that are super helpful during these long winter months when it is cold & raining - though we do still go out in that weather!). I am aiming at being more intentional about moving our bodies, as I had let this slide a bit.

Shaving cream.:)

I also hung a rope across the garage as a way to hang up art to dry. It works great! Kellen & Kaarin were actually riding their bikes in the garage.:)

School...

Well, the time has come to leave our cozy little comfortable pre-school at Little Church on the Prairie...at least for one kid. We have just started our research for schools for next year (kindergarten) for Kellen. And I have to say, at this point, my findings are farily disappointing.:( Granted, we have only been to 2 open houses at private schools, & I haven't called the public schools that I need to call, but most of the information out there is not fitting our boy. Some of these might sound like 'excuses' or 'lame reasons' to not choose a school, but I have acknowledged that, at least for now, these are our reality. And our kids are still young, so I am not going to make the time miserable by choosing something that just really doesn't fit us right now. For instance, all of the private schools so far that we have attended open houses for (Life Christian & Charles Wright) are full day K programs. And so is Heritage Christian. I really feel like Kellen will do better with another year in half day, for a variety of reasons that I won't go in to here. Cascade Christian has a half day program, but that's #2: most of the programs we have looked at start at 8:00 - 8:30 in the morning. (This is where the excuses & lame reasons really come in, but again, our reality...) Pretty much every day, my earliest riser is UP between 8-8:30, & my latest riser is up between 9-10. I have tried to change their patterns, & it is not pretty. They already go to bed between 7-8 most every night, so I can't really put them to bed earlier. The other night Kaarin went to bed at 7:00 p.m. & I had to wake her up at 8:30 a.m. Reality: 8:00 start time is too early for us. #3: All of the public school half day K programs through Clover Park SD start at 8:00. Some of them do offer p.m. programs, & I haven't called about this to be sure, but from what I have heard they don't offer the p.m. class until the a.m. class is over-full. Which means I may not have a choice for p.m. until mid-year (Idlewild elem. just added the 1/2 day p.m. K class Jan. 2 - before that, a.m. was the only option). #4: The public school classrooms are WAY too huge. Idlewild started at 18 kids at the beginning of the year & then grew to 29 by October. It wasn't until they hit 32 that they split the class. Way. too big. I won't do it.

So, there are some other "creative" options, such as one friend from Kellen's class this year is going to send her son to Life Christian K for just part day most days, & then will add some full days in as the year goes on. The biggest 2 problems with that for Kellen is that he doesn't like to leave before the rest of the class (he doesn't like to be different - ha) & they do art & choices time in the p.m. part of the day, so he would miss his 2 favorite things every day. There is a school in Tacoma that is designed to be part day school with home school supplementation (which I was REALLY excited about) but it starts at 8:00 a.m. :(

I have a feeling that whatever we decide for next year for K will be a 1-yr. plan & it will change when we move on to 1st grade. And I am perfectly o.k. with that.:) We just have to figure out next year's plan first!

More Funnies

Kellen: "When daddy was little did he not want to get married either?"

(I may have posted this one before, but it's still funny): Kellen: "'Oh, Mama! We have got to get you one of those!' (movie line from Tangled). He wants to get one for his mom."

When Kaarin goes to bed, she always wants to find her "baby." This is whatever lovey she is attached to at the time, whether it's Woody, Panda Bear, doggy, etc. One night she was in bed & asking for her "baby." I asked if she wanted Woody, & she said: "No, Woody will talk in my bed & wake me up."

:)

Karrin, Kaarin & Kaarin...

Yesterday Annika, Kaarin & I went to Costco while Kellen was at school. (I gave him the option to go with us & he chose for us to go while he was at school). So while we were checking out, the checker's assistant says to me, "What's your little one's name?" I said Kaarin, & she said, "I thought I heard you call her that - that's my name too!" She spelled hers Karrin. As we were finishing up, the woman behind me was commenting on how nice it was to see little girls in dresses, & that her granddaughters always wear sweats. (Little does she know that I would love to see my one girl in pants every so often...!) Then she commented on the checker-helper's name & asked her how she pronounces it, & said that she has a daughter named Kaarin (spelled like mine). The checker-helper pointed to Kaarin & told the woman that it was HER name too! The woman says, "Really??! I made that name up! Well, my daughter is your age now..." What are the odds that there would be 3 people in the same place with Kaarin as a common name?? It is very uncommon.

First funnies of 2012!

One of the kids' jobs is to put away the silverware. It is fairly simple, & Kellen does a great job of just putting it away without complaining. Annika does pretty well, Kaarin I usually have to ask several times...yesterday it was her turn to do it, so she asked me to put her on the counter (usually they stand on a chair) so that she could see the drawer. I said, "O.K., Kaarin -- do the silverware." She says, "You do it!" I said, "No, Mommy doesn't put the silverware away, the kids do." She says, "Ok mommy. I the mommy & you the kid." A little more time & coversation passes, & I say again, "Kaarin, do the silverware." She says, "But I the Mommy - you the kid." Ha. Nice try!

The kids love to make a train out of the chairs in the dining room, including the art table chairs, so there is usually enough room for lots of riders.:) Last night the girls made a train, so I was the passenger (the boys were playing football). They said it was the polar express & we were heading for the north pole. Annika said that we were going to have hot chocolate soon, & so she & Kaarin brought some around. Annika took an 'extra' one & said, "I'm going to put this one down here (under the chair) to keep it safe for the boy in the back that I like, because he didn't get any."

While our power was out (the first night) we went out to dinner at El Toro. Before we left I had put on a blue fleece, then my coat. When we got to the restaurant, I took my coat off. Kaarin says, "It is like a sweater. You wearing Muss-more's (Bestemor) shirt?" :) She remembered that Bestemor has a blue fleece too.:)

Kellen was playing some game where he was 'getting' Annika. Kaarin says, "Let go of my sister!"

Noses & hair...

We had to take Annika to the Dr. on Friday (in the midst of the power outage & nasty weather) for her NOSE. We thought she may have broken it. Last Tuesday she had fallen off of her (Stokke Tripp Trapp) chair at dinner & landed full impact on her nose (her feet had hooked under the chair & the momentum just took her straight down to the floor -- kind of hard to describe, but you get the idea). Anyway, it bled just a little bit, she cried for awhile, but then calmed down, & then she only complained if someone bumped it on accident. So I didn't worry too much about it. Until Friday morning (barely - she got up at 10:30!!) she came out & had this nice bruise across her nose & under her eyes!! So, I called the Dr. to see if I needed to do anything about that & they said that since it had 'spread' to her eye area that she needed to be seen. So Erik took her in, but it is not broken, just swollen! She really looks like she got beat up. It's probably a good thing we haven't really gone anywhere this weekend!

And on a funnier note, Kaarin seems to have developed this 'curl-hawk,' kind of a curl mohawk! It naturally does this when she wakes up every morning, & I have to fight it down, & then it comes back when she takes a nap or plays with her hair (which she does when she's tired)! It cracks me up, so I had to document it.:)

Winter is here!

The first snow we had, mostly just a dusting.:) Annika & Kellen were making an ice tower or something (I can't remember...). Annika is wearing a dress with no tights...her choice.

After the big snow (8 inches!) -- our street is so pretty!

Kellen & Daddy making a snowman.:)

The finished guy:

You probably can't tell from the picture, but this branch came crashing out of the tree & it is HUGE! It goes from the front of the playground all the way to the back - it hit the slide on the way down!

Out getting icicles: note the shoes - haha (& Annika's pjs...)

Notice in this picture how LOW the cherry tree branches are! They were touching the ground!!

S'mores time!

It's much more cozy looking without the flash.:) And, I have to say, I was quite impressed with my fire!!! Yay!

We finally got some snow! The kids had been asking when it was going to snow, & it REALLY came through! Not only did we get snow, we got ice, then freezing rain, & a whole lot of mess to go with it. Then came the power outage...ours lasted 51.5 hrs. The kids actually handled it pretty well, they thought most of it was fun! :) We got to do some things we have never done before: a fire in our fireplace (I know! 10 yrs. in our house & we'd never used it!!), s'mores over said fire, spending the night at our cousins' house ( we have a book from the library called "Henry & Mudge & the Sleepover" so they were so excited to get to have a sleepover!!)...in addition we got to have meals out, lunch by candlelight, our buddy Aaron came to play in the dark, & the kids made up a flashlight game! Aside from being a little cold, we did pretty well. But we were blessed with being able to spend one night with our cousins (did I mention that when we told the kids that our power was back on, they were thoroughly disappointed???). Kellen slept (in the same bed) with his cousin Kendall (who turned 5 today!), Annika slept with cousin Kenzie (7), & Kaarin slept on the floor with them all in her sleeping bag.:) (The first time she has ever slept out of the crib!). They were all really cute.:)

A couple of funnies from the storm:

* At the cousins' house, as we were getting the kids ready for bed, I hear Kellen & Kendall have this conversation:

Kellen: "...see, smell my doggy!"

Kendall: "Well, smell MY doggy!"

*As we were huddled around the fire (at our house) keeping warm, Annika sticks her index finger in front of Kellen & says: "Here. You like boogies. Eat it."

HAHAHAHA!

The last funnies of 2011...

One night we had sparkling cider for dinner. Kellen says, "Those bottles look just like the wine like in 'Ratatouille.' What happens if you drink too much wine?"

Kaarin: "That happens sometimes. It o.k." She says this in a very sympathetic voice.:)

At bedtime, before we pray, I always ask the kids what their favorite & least favorite parts of the day were. Then I ask them who they would like to pray for. Lately Kaarin has been reversing the roles & wants to be the one to read, pray, etc. So she will ask me, "What your favorite? What your favorite not favorite?" :) Then, when she prays, she always prays for those things...one night I said that my least favorite part of the day was that it rained, so as she prayed, she said, "Thank you the rain." Way to put a positive twist on it, girl!;)

We were listening to a Princess Christmas album (sung by Cinderella, Snow White, etc.) & the last song is a special song by Wayne Brady (?). It came on & Annika said, "Is this a princess??" :)

Kaarin has been doing a lot of pretend play lately. She always wants to be the mom & I am the kid.:) She usually says, "You go to Dr. You hurt your shoulder." Ha.

Kaarin climbs into our laps & says, "I want to snuggle you." :)

(This one is for Abby): I was going to the bathroom one day & Kaarin came in & said, "You have pretty underwear!" (Abby always laughs about the bathroom posts) :)

Christmas 2011

The girl cousins.: The 'Weedon' Family

Annika got a new Cinderella dress!! Exactly what she wanted!!

Kaarin just kept adding layers as she opened gifts.:)

The 'Anderson' Family

Christmas morning -- Kaarin is opening her new princess clock! It's really wonderful! If you push a button, the prince & Cinderella light up & dance around.:) The castle also lights up to be a nightlight! I want one....;) (P.S. Note that Kaarin is wearing Cinderella over her pjs)

Sleeping Beauty is opening her new princesses!!!!!

A new light saber for Kellen-- it's really cool! (And it's Luke Skywalker's...)

The Christmas mess...

At Grandma & Grandpa's house

Helping Grandpa with his exciting gift!

Kellen got a new dinosaur drawing book, & he spent lots of time working on them!!

Matching pjs for 2011 (with their favorite gifts from us)

We had a fun, busy (as usual!) Christmas this year! Nothing necessarily to write about, I'll let the pictures share!

Food?

Ah, yes. My food journey. I haven't blogged about it for awhile, which many of you may be glad for that...I feel in a bit of a quandry. I know a lot more now than I used to about 'food' & things we call food.:) Some things I wish I didn't know. Some things I'm glad I do know. Change is hard, & especially when it requires a whole new mindset plus needed resources. I'll do a little summary here of some of the books/movies that have influenced me, & then where I'm at right now.

Food, Inc. This was the first film that I watched, & it was revolting. In a good way. If there is such a thing. The basic summary of this film is that we are all at risk from feed-lot beef/chicken/meat because it is a huge $$ maker that has manipulated the USDA & other regulatory agencies, so now they basically make their own rules & get to sell us super cheap meat that is highly contaminated, but we shouldn't worry about it because they soak it in ammonia to kill the e.coli. Yum.

King Corn. This film was done by 2 college students who set out to grow an acre of corn in Iowa. All they want to do is follow their corn, which they learn that the can't do, because there is such an OVERABUNDANCE of this crop (which, by the way, is not edible until processed) that they have to assume that it goes either to feed the animals at feedlots, or is turned into high fructose corn syrup. They also find out that were the corn crop not government-subsidized, they would have lost $$ on their crop. This film is excellent & I highly recommend it. I got it from the library.

Fast Food Nation. If you have never eaten fast food in your life, you need to read this book. If you eat fast food, you need to read this book. It details the influence of fast food restaurants on the meat industry, how it's changed over the last 60+ years, etc. It documents the beginning of fast food (McD's & Carl's Jr.) & how these franchises influence so many things (potato farms, etc.) today. One interesting thing I learned: to make 'strawberry' flavor (found in yogurt, pop-tarts, almost anything with strawberry flavor in it) it takes over 350 chemical components. Dum dum, anyone? Read this book.

Forks Over Knives. This film shook up my world a little bit, since most of the other films/books talked about mostly knowing where your meat is coming from, not about becoming vegan...yet that is the message of this film. The film is the result of a study showing that heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity (among other ailments) are the direct result of eating ANIMAL products. ALL animal products. Milk. Fish. Chicken. Eggs. Aack! Pass the salad, please.... I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one yet, other than watch it again.:) I recommend it.

In Defense of Food. This book is kind of a 'food rules' book. Michael Pollan, the author, is in both Food, Inc. & King Corn. He documents the history of processed foods & their dominance in the stores today. His rules are basic: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. He recommends grass-fed beef, whole foods, foods with fewer than 5 ingredients, no foods that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize, no foods with words that you don't know what they are (maltodextrin, anyone?)...a very good read. He also has a short book out there, called "Food Rules" which is kind of a brief summary of the rules he outlines in the other book. He also has one called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" which I haven't read yet.

Nourishing Traditions. This is basically a cook book, similar rules as In Defense of Food, but really going back 100 years & eating the way people did then: whole foods, foods that aren't processed, foods that are in-season, locally grown, raw (including milk)... I like most of the things about this book, especially the recipes. I keep having to take it back to the library, though, so I haven't done a lot of things yet. :)

12 Steps to Raw Food/Going Raw. Victoria Boutenko wrote the 12 steps book, Judita Wignall the 2nd one. VB was a Russian immigrant who moved here with here family & a whole lot of health problems (thyroid, diabetes, asthma, etc.). The family ended up going raw to avoid some medications, & have been healed of all their ailments! It's a good, quick read with recipes. The Going Raw book I got for Christmas, & I think the recipes in it look fantastic!!! I have tried one, & it was pretty good -- the biggest problem with it was my homemade pesto was too strong. Oops. Too much garlic, I think. Many of the recipes in this book require a dehydrator, so that is on my list of things to get so that I can really try them out!!

Eat to Live. This is the book I am currently reading, but it is due at the library today, so I will have to finish it when I get it back.:) It follows a lot of the Forks over Knives movie, pretty much vegan. I know one person who has followed this book & she lost 20 lbs! Whoa. I have to finish reading it before I know.:)

Wheat Belly. This one I haven't read yet, still waiting for it from the library. I do know that it talks a lot about grains & wheat & cutting those out. We have a friend who is doing the 'paleo' way of eating, which is kind of eating like our ancestors, I think. Chime in if you know about this.

Superfoods. David Wolfe was one of the first people I ever heard speak on raw food, & he is brilliant. This book is fascinating. Let's just say this: broccoli is not a superfood. Most of the things in this book you won't even recognize. Read it.

So where does all this leave me??? Well, first of all, let me say that I am not perfect. Ha. Like there was any question. I still buy some processed foods (crackers). I still bake cookies. I don't drink smoothies every day. Exercise is still my enemy (well, really it's time, but you know...) So what I am doing is this:

*Trying to eat as many whole foods as we can. This includes many fruits/veggies, whole milk, whole sour cream, etc. If you look at the ingredients for the whole foods vs. the 'light', there are MANY more ingredients on the 'light' packages. Remember Michael Pollan's rule: no more than 5 ingredients (& no ingredients you can't pronounce!), go whole.

*Trying to make as many of our own things from scratch at home (note: his 5 ingredient rule does not apply to homemade things!). I make my own ice cream. I make my own bread (actually, lately we have been eating sprouted bread). Fresh foods. Look at the ingredient list for fresh tortillas vs. Mission. Oh. my....Lots of fruits/veggies. Organic.

*Organic produce, & no GMO (genetically modified) products as much as that is possible. It is not required for food manufacturers to put on their product if they use GMOs or not. Many label that they DO NOT use GMOs, so I look for those. Corn is a HUGE GMO crop, it is modified to be suited to grow closer together than it usually likes (higher yield per acre) & also to resist pesticides (everything else will die, not the corn). Soy is another. (Soy is just bad for you, don't eat it!!) Eat organic. I know it's expensive. Food should be expensive. (We'd eat less). The only reason it's cheap is because it's NOT FOOD. See Food, Inc. & In Defense of Food.

*Grass-fed beef. This is available at Trader Joe's, Marlene's, Tacoma Boys,& through other private farms. You can actually find it that is not too much more than regular beef. You may have to buy more in bulk, but I'm sure you can either freeze it or share it with a friend.:) Right now when I buy meat at the grocery store I look for humanely treated animals, all vegetarian diet, no added hormones or antibiotics. Vegetarian doesn't mean they were grass fed, but it usually includes grass. I have found bison & lamb at Fred Meyer & Safeway to be suitable. Foster Farm chickens is on my good list, too.:) Also, with eggs (if I don't get them from the local farm) I look for free-range (cage free), vegetarian diet.

*Milk man. I am still leaning toward going to raw milk (I can tell you more on that later...) but for now (& actually the last 6+ years!) I use Smith Brothers Farms. The milk is WAY fresher (I saw on their website that from cow to home is less than 48 hours, whereas grocery store milk can be a couple of MONTHS old). Want to know why milk is ultra-pasteurized? Because it keeps longer. Everything in it is dead (so why do we drink it?). If you buy your milk at the store, look for milk that is not ultra-pasteurized. Or switch to the milk man (mention me if you do & we both get a credit!). And again, yes, the milk is a little more expensive than grocery store milk. So we drink less. And if we run out of milk, we drink water.

*Fermented foods. Yes, this is a strange one, especially for anyone who has seen my kombucha brewing! Ha! I recently added kefir to our diets, which is basically fermented milk. It's full of probiotics & very good for your gut. I made my own, we add it to smoothies, & no one knows it's there!:) Similar to yogurt but with more bacteria. Kombucha is fermented tea, also good for the gut. Did you know that there is research out there that points to autoimmune diseases being rooted in the gut? Interesting.

*Greens. The easiest way (& the tastiest!) to get our greens is through smoothies. It's also healthier, because the greens are broken down better by blending than by chewing, so your body is able to use more of them. I, for one, want to get the most out of my spinach! Ha. I can easily add green stuff to certain smoothies & they stay purple, so the kids don't notice. Though they will drink green ones. I also add bee pollen (see Superfoods), flax seeds (great for omega 3s), coconut oil, kefir, etc. to my smoothies. They are chock-full. Get a Vitamix or Blend-Tec for best results (yes, they are spendy, but worth every penny!!).


Phew. I knew this was going to be a long post. I had kind of put off writing it-ha.:) But I really want my family to be healthier. And I want my kids to learn healthy habits young, so they don't have to relearn them later. I think my biggest hurdle right now is finding recipes that taste good & look appealing. I have tried some raw recipes that have NOT been good. Until I get a bigger repertoire of recipes & go-tos, it is easier just to fall back on my standard recipes. So I am experimenting, substituting where I can, learning as I go. The library has been a great resource as they carry many of the books I have been looking for. They also have a ton of cook books, so it's more just a matter of trying recipes & finding ones that work for our family. What about you? What are you doing this year to be healthier? I'd love to hear feedback & comments!

Christmas musical

It's here! The video post of our church's Christmas musical! This was written by one of our church members, songs (most) included! It is so unlike anything you would ever expect to see at church (unconventional) & I thought it was hilarious!!!!! And very well done! Take note, it is about 40 minutes long, so make sure you have time to watch it. If you watch in the choir parts, I am in the very back row, left, in the red shirt.:) It's actually kind of hard to hear the choir on most of the songs, but we are there! So sit back & enjoy!!:)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTaifuyVl2E&feature=youtu.be

Reading

This week we started reading chapter books with Kellen & Annika (I was originally going to just start with Kellen, but Kellen & Annika are usually together.:) ). I chose to start with "The Boxcar Children," books that I LOVED when I was a kid. I thought Kellen would like them, since they are about kids who live in a train boxcar.:) It went really well! We finished the book in about 5 days (I think we missed a day or 2 in between). After finishing that one, we started "Fantastic Mr. Fox" & we finished it in 2 days! It was a book I had not read before, but we also had the movie so I thought it would be fun to read it & then watch it. (The book was better than the movie, though the movie was cute -- maybe a little too old for them). And NOW we have started "Winnie the Pooh," the actual novel. :) I have a couple more books on request at the library. I am glad the kids are enjoying it!

And Kaarin continues to want to 'read' to us each night.:) It is so cute. She reads "Panda Bear" & "Tractor" with ease, & tonight she also read me "5 Little Monkeys" & "Little Quack Counts." It is so fun to see the kids enjoy books, because I love them so much! My secret hope is that when the kids all learn to read that we can have "silent reading" time every day & I will get to read more!!:)