Mom Remembers

Our Homeschool grew by one child this month.  Evelyn, a girl in our neighborhood, turned 3 just a few days after her mom had a new baby.  I offered to take her in my Kindergarten for the rest of the year so that her mom could have some quiet time with the baby in the mornings.  Although she is barely 3, Evelyn transitioned very smoothly into our little group and we really enjoy having her with us. In Kindergarten The Frog Princess  - For the first week and a half of November, the kids were at the Hutchins' house.  They finished their unit on "The Frog Princess".    Carl told me that he liked the story because Ivan had to have the help of all his friends to defeat Koschei.  As far as summaries go, that is probably the sweetest. The Elder Brother  - The story I chose to spend the majority of November on was called "The Elder Brother" .  The text is available at mainlesson.com in the anthology called For the Children's Hour .  (As a brief aside: I l

1. It seems that his eyes are always twinkling 2. and it's pretty easy to get him to smile. 3. I love his startlingly clear blue eyes. 4. I like the way he smells.  Like lavender baby oil. 5. I *adore* his soft, chubby cheeks.  Kissing them is one of the best feelings in the world. 6. It is wonderful when he sleeps.  He does it often, easily, and deeply (although he usually wakes up once in the night). 7. This is an exciting time in his development.  He is always on the go!  He is very persistent in getting to what he wants (and then getting it in his mouth)! 8. He does this funny thing where he blows raspberries on my arm. 9. I love to feed him solid food.  He eats pretty much anything with gusto, squawking for more and thumping the high chair in between every bite.  When he is finished, he turns his head away and refuses to make eye contact. 10. I enjoy giving him a bath and a massage every morning.  We give our full attention to each other and that connection feels g

CARL:  I am smarter than any other person who can ride a bike and wear a necklace at the same time. ME:  Oh. CARL:  I can keep my necklace still while I ride my bike. ME:  Oh. CARL:  That's why I am smarter than any other person who can ride a bike and wear a necklace at the same time.

1. On Saturday, Scott made cheddar cheese!  This is our second attempt and it was a huge success!  The first time, we tried to make it with non-fat milk and the curds didn't press together right.  But this time they came together like magic.  It is really neat to experiment with basic human skills.  Like cheese making.  Humans are so cool. 2. Also on Saturday, Scott made a big pot of chili for our ward's chili cook-off.  He put in five different kinds of peppers!  It definitely had a good kick to it.  He was very proud of his chili, which is endearing.  And he was right to be proud; he took home the Best Chili prize!  Our friend John took home the Spiciest Chili prize. 3. Sunday was our ward's primary program.  The boys did their parts and I was not embarrassed, not even a little bit.  In fact, I was very proud of Carl who stood right in the front row and sang beautifully. 4. Scott's family come to visit this week.  They are very relaxing house guests.  They like to

1. When I ask him to do something, he says, "Of course!" 2. He is (almost) always friendly to (almost) all the kids in the neighborhood.  He really is a friendly kid. 3. He loves to listen to the same stories over and over again then recites them from memory.  I love to watch him "read" to himself by reciting back whole books. 4. He also loves rhymes.  Whenever we read poetry, he points out "That rhymes!" with delight. 5. His favorite book right now is D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths .  He asks me to read it for every naptime and bedtime story.  We have read it forwards and backwards at least half a dozen times this fall and I love it! 6. He speaks very dramatically, often accompanying his statements with dramatic poses. 7. Sometimes he spontaneously says sweet or grateful things.  That means a lot to me. 8. For example, every night before bed, he tells me how much he liked dinner. 9. In this mom's totally unbiased opinion, he was th

SOREN:  Mom, I have a cow.  And when he was a calf, he would make milk and I would give it to people that were fond of milk.  But now he has been treated with rbST.

1. I read three books this week.  They were all YA scifi: suspenseful and very quick.  I'd like to get into something a little bit more grown up next but it was fun to speed through a few exciting stories. 2. We got a big bunch of cubanelle peppers in our Bountiful Basket on Saturday.  I was a little disappointed about that; I wasn't sure how we would use them and wished we had gotten something else.  Now, however, I'm really glad we got them.  I put one in a curry on Monday and another in taco soup on Wednesday.  I saved one for our ward's chili cook-off on Saturday.  But the best was when I made stuffed cubanelle peppers last night.  They were both sweeter and spicier than regular old green peppers and were a definite improvement in the dish.  I felt so proud of myself for incorporating an entirely unfamiliar vegetable to such great effect! 3. Church on Sunday was really good.  With the kids harrying me, I usually have a hard time feeling the Holy Spirit at church.

1. He really loves the scriptures.  He reads them to himself every afternoon during Rest Time. 2. He knows his own mind and he is not afraid to share it. 3. He talks to me about everything.  I am especially glad that he feels comfortable talking to me about his growing testimony. 4. He has gone through a big growth spurt in the past few months and now he is so tall! 5. He can stick to a job until it is done. 6. He is very good an entertaining himself.  He likes to do his own thing. 7. But he is also learning to get along with others.  It makes me happy when I see him playing with the other 5-year-olds in the neighborhood.  (Most often, they are having a race.) 8. He knows lots of random trivia and he shares it with enthusiasm.  I am glad he knows that knowing stuff is fun! 9. He wants  to wash the dishes.  His chore is usually to dry them after breakfast each morning but he often asks if he can wash them too. 10. A lot of the words he knows he encountered first in books.  I

The kids and I were discussing the story of Ragnarok, or the Viking version of the end of the world.  Carl thought it was a scary story and was wondering if it was real.  I assured him that it was not, which was a relief.  But then Carl began to worry that the Aesir (or Norse gods) might also  not be real, which was a little distressing.  Soren responded to Carl's attachment to the mythology with righteous indignation: SOREN:  The first commandment is that we will have no other gods beside Him!  Jesus said that. ME:  Yep.  And that's part of why we don't worship the Aesir like Odin and Thor. CARL:  But Thor is real!  He makes the thunder!