of seasons, school, kids and such.
I can tell Summer is over {not by the weather} but by my lack of posts on here. September rolled in, fall activities began and life got busy.
Its such a good busy though. Except the stomach flu that graced by body over the weekend. That's the kind of busy I could live without.
Today was the first day of fall {or so they say} and even though it was hot and not fall-like at all, I'm excited we're officially leaving summer and entering my most favorite time of year. Well, for me its a toss-up between fall and winter. Please don't make me chose, because I can't. October and December are my favorite months out of all twelve.
School is going great. I never imagined I'd love it more, teaching 2 kids. For some reason I envisioned it getting a lot harder and yet its had the opposite affect. I love the things the kids are learning this year, but I especially love that I get to learn and re-learn with them! I might be a bit of an elementary genius by the time we're done ;-)
I love the extra time we have too, which again, surprised me. I once heard someone say they chose not to home school because they didn't want to give up family time and have their entire lives spent with school. I'm fine with that being her opinion, but for our family, it couldn't be MORE the opposite. I can't get over how much extra time we have to do things like serve others, get to know our new neighborhood/neighbors, be in our community, going on field trips several times a week, in cities other than the one we live in, and with different groups of people {some of which we've never met} every time we go.
At this point, I don't belong to a Home School group. It was a personal choice for me and one that I might change in the future, but for now, its working quite well. I don't want to get our family so deeply integrated into the Home School community, that it becomes the only people with hang with or associate with and I know for me, it would be an easy trap to fall into. We have home schooled friends and several home schooled families at church that we connect with here and there, but I'm not in a group for home schoolers, if that makes sense.
I am increasingly thankful for the women who've gone before me and are still in the trenches of teaching at home, but are years ahead of me. Its so helpful! You ladies who blog about your ideas and curriculum and share some of your goals and achievements have been SO encouraging and helpful to me. Just like any area in life, its nice to know I'm not the first and only person to be going though some of the trials and even joys that I go through.
One thing Ethan has been working through lately is money. Learning its value, learning why we save and what we save for, and learning how to use money in public. When we're out and about during the day, he often will pay for our food we buy, or help me with my debit card at the grocery store, etc...
its been so funny to hear the things he says: "Wow, you and Daddy have to pay for everything! I always thought your money just kept filling your wallets and that God would send it from Heaven or something." He's appreciating Jason's hard hours of work each day, understanding that that is how God provides for us.
Its cute to watch him walk up to the counter, with his money in hand and order his item and then get all nervous when he's paying. I've been working with him on making good eye contact, smiling, saying "please" and "thank-you" and also striking conversation with the cashier. "When they ask you 'how are you today?' you need to be sure to tell them how you're doing and then ask them how they're doing - because we care about others and we love others and that's a good way to show you truly care."
It was hard for him at first, but I've noticed its becoming second nature now and its pretty sweet to watch.
I can't tell you the amount of pride that swells up in me when my son runs to open a door for some ladies he's never met. Or when he sees a Mom struggling and upon dropping her sunglasses, he runs over to grab them up for her. It brings back those moments that caused me to fall in love with his Daddy so many years ago :)
And none of this is to say Ethan is a perfect child. I hate even having to clarify, but I feel like I have to for readers who might not know me personally. We have our struggles.
Rachel cut her hair {as you'll see in my previous post} and she likes it. I'm actually surprised how much she likes it. Every morning its a joy for her not to have to have the many tangles brushed and the style done and the work put into it. I'm enjoying it too :)
I was glad for one thing... I didn't realize she was equating her long hair with beauty. After her hair was cut, she went to the mirror and saw herself and said "oh! I'm still Rachel. I'm still pretty and I look like me." I asked her what she thought short hair was going to do and she said "I thought it would make me not look pretty and not look like the nice girl I am." That actually made me sad. Glad we took care of that issue now ;-)
Rachel loves school. She loves it. We had a Dr's appointment today and I told her we had to do school later in the day and she cried. She is very eager to learn, which is really convenient for me.
Kara turns 3 next week. THREE! Someone pinch me. I'm not ready for this, and yet, its happening.
She's in the midst of planning her party and she knows what color streamers she'd like and has requested an ice cream cake from her favorite place on earth - Cold Stone.
She's very excited to be turning 3. She told me yesterday "I've been waiting years for this." which made me laugh, since she's only been alive 3 years :)
Kara has the tendency to use phrases that make us laugh because they sound very mature. It makes sense though, since she likes to copy everything people do. This can be both good and bad.
She's loving preschool and astonished me this week with how quickly she learned her numbers and their value. Kara likes to memorize and learn things based on association. So she knows Ethan is 6 and Rachel is 5. So when she sees anything in sixes of fives, she connects it with Ethan and Rachel.
The other day I told them Baskin Robbins is also called 31 Flavors and she got so excited and then said "Mommy! Thirty-one, just like you!" So now whenever we pass by Baskin Robbins, she says "there's the ice cream place that matches Mommy!" :)
I'm guessing it means she's going to be a visual learner, but what do I know.
AWANA started up and Ethan and Rachel are both in Sparks. They memorized John 3:16 this week {well, they already knew it, but practiced it this week} and are excited about getting their books next week. I'm really pleased with their teachers and the groups they're in. Both their teachers call mid-week to check in and see how they're doing and to ask for any mid-week prayer requests :)
Its with a church near our house and they're meeting all new kids there, which I was really happy about. I think I have a natural distaste for kid's getting too familiar in their surroundings. I just don't want them learning how to form cliques so early on, so I get excited when I know they're in situations where they're around all new people.
We started seeing pumpkins popping up in the stores this week! Rachel has asked if we can paint on the pumpkins this year instead of carving them and I think that's a grand idea. Especially since the carving always turns into something only Jason can do, due to the sharpness of the tools.
I found a recipe for a stuffed pumpkin casserole the other day and decided that's definitely what I'm doing with some of our pumpkins. YUM!
I noticed tonight we actually have some hard core rain in the week's forecast! Its been a while... even for Washington. And, my parents arrive next Friday, so I guess its just about to turn into a great week.
Hope you all have a good weekend!
Its such a good busy though. Except the stomach flu that graced by body over the weekend. That's the kind of busy I could live without.
Today was the first day of fall {or so they say} and even though it was hot and not fall-like at all, I'm excited we're officially leaving summer and entering my most favorite time of year. Well, for me its a toss-up between fall and winter. Please don't make me chose, because I can't. October and December are my favorite months out of all twelve.
School is going great. I never imagined I'd love it more, teaching 2 kids. For some reason I envisioned it getting a lot harder and yet its had the opposite affect. I love the things the kids are learning this year, but I especially love that I get to learn and re-learn with them! I might be a bit of an elementary genius by the time we're done ;-)
I love the extra time we have too, which again, surprised me. I once heard someone say they chose not to home school because they didn't want to give up family time and have their entire lives spent with school. I'm fine with that being her opinion, but for our family, it couldn't be MORE the opposite. I can't get over how much extra time we have to do things like serve others, get to know our new neighborhood/neighbors, be in our community, going on field trips several times a week, in cities other than the one we live in, and with different groups of people {some of which we've never met} every time we go.
At this point, I don't belong to a Home School group. It was a personal choice for me and one that I might change in the future, but for now, its working quite well. I don't want to get our family so deeply integrated into the Home School community, that it becomes the only people with hang with or associate with and I know for me, it would be an easy trap to fall into. We have home schooled friends and several home schooled families at church that we connect with here and there, but I'm not in a group for home schoolers, if that makes sense.
I am increasingly thankful for the women who've gone before me and are still in the trenches of teaching at home, but are years ahead of me. Its so helpful! You ladies who blog about your ideas and curriculum and share some of your goals and achievements have been SO encouraging and helpful to me. Just like any area in life, its nice to know I'm not the first and only person to be going though some of the trials and even joys that I go through.
One thing Ethan has been working through lately is money. Learning its value, learning why we save and what we save for, and learning how to use money in public. When we're out and about during the day, he often will pay for our food we buy, or help me with my debit card at the grocery store, etc...
its been so funny to hear the things he says: "Wow, you and Daddy have to pay for everything! I always thought your money just kept filling your wallets and that God would send it from Heaven or something." He's appreciating Jason's hard hours of work each day, understanding that that is how God provides for us.
Its cute to watch him walk up to the counter, with his money in hand and order his item and then get all nervous when he's paying. I've been working with him on making good eye contact, smiling, saying "please" and "thank-you" and also striking conversation with the cashier. "When they ask you 'how are you today?' you need to be sure to tell them how you're doing and then ask them how they're doing - because we care about others and we love others and that's a good way to show you truly care."
It was hard for him at first, but I've noticed its becoming second nature now and its pretty sweet to watch.
I can't tell you the amount of pride that swells up in me when my son runs to open a door for some ladies he's never met. Or when he sees a Mom struggling and upon dropping her sunglasses, he runs over to grab them up for her. It brings back those moments that caused me to fall in love with his Daddy so many years ago :)
And none of this is to say Ethan is a perfect child. I hate even having to clarify, but I feel like I have to for readers who might not know me personally. We have our struggles.
Rachel cut her hair {as you'll see in my previous post} and she likes it. I'm actually surprised how much she likes it. Every morning its a joy for her not to have to have the many tangles brushed and the style done and the work put into it. I'm enjoying it too :)
I was glad for one thing... I didn't realize she was equating her long hair with beauty. After her hair was cut, she went to the mirror and saw herself and said "oh! I'm still Rachel. I'm still pretty and I look like me." I asked her what she thought short hair was going to do and she said "I thought it would make me not look pretty and not look like the nice girl I am." That actually made me sad. Glad we took care of that issue now ;-)
Rachel loves school. She loves it. We had a Dr's appointment today and I told her we had to do school later in the day and she cried. She is very eager to learn, which is really convenient for me.
Kara turns 3 next week. THREE! Someone pinch me. I'm not ready for this, and yet, its happening.
She's in the midst of planning her party and she knows what color streamers she'd like and has requested an ice cream cake from her favorite place on earth - Cold Stone.
She's very excited to be turning 3. She told me yesterday "I've been waiting years for this." which made me laugh, since she's only been alive 3 years :)
Kara has the tendency to use phrases that make us laugh because they sound very mature. It makes sense though, since she likes to copy everything people do. This can be both good and bad.
She's loving preschool and astonished me this week with how quickly she learned her numbers and their value. Kara likes to memorize and learn things based on association. So she knows Ethan is 6 and Rachel is 5. So when she sees anything in sixes of fives, she connects it with Ethan and Rachel.
The other day I told them Baskin Robbins is also called 31 Flavors and she got so excited and then said "Mommy! Thirty-one, just like you!" So now whenever we pass by Baskin Robbins, she says "there's the ice cream place that matches Mommy!" :)
I'm guessing it means she's going to be a visual learner, but what do I know.
AWANA started up and Ethan and Rachel are both in Sparks. They memorized John 3:16 this week {well, they already knew it, but practiced it this week} and are excited about getting their books next week. I'm really pleased with their teachers and the groups they're in. Both their teachers call mid-week to check in and see how they're doing and to ask for any mid-week prayer requests :)
Its with a church near our house and they're meeting all new kids there, which I was really happy about. I think I have a natural distaste for kid's getting too familiar in their surroundings. I just don't want them learning how to form cliques so early on, so I get excited when I know they're in situations where they're around all new people.
We started seeing pumpkins popping up in the stores this week! Rachel has asked if we can paint on the pumpkins this year instead of carving them and I think that's a grand idea. Especially since the carving always turns into something only Jason can do, due to the sharpness of the tools.
I found a recipe for a stuffed pumpkin casserole the other day and decided that's definitely what I'm doing with some of our pumpkins. YUM!
I noticed tonight we actually have some hard core rain in the week's forecast! Its been a while... even for Washington. And, my parents arrive next Friday, so I guess its just about to turn into a great week.
Hope you all have a good weekend!
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