Month: February 2012

Normal Hum-drums.

A few fun pictures to share about our little world around here lately.

I’ve gotten a little creative in review techniques for homeschool.

Here Rachael, (who is not usually in her pajamas for homeschool, but we were having a lazy morning) is sorting capital and lower case letters into corresponding plates. I just used refrigerator magnets, Scrabble Jr. pieces, a few handwritten lower case letters, Word Whammer magnetic pieces, and Upwords (a stacking version of Scrabble) pieces. It did take her a handful of minutes to complete the task, but this allowed me time to spend some attention/love on Abi (after taking a picture or two, of course, so you all could witness this).

 Here Rachael’s using her Wax Paper Helper to distinguish b’s and d’s.

And we made Valentines day review cookies. If you look close you can see that I decorated with A, a, B, b, C, c, and D, d. Rachael and Abi are still enjoying eating their way through Rachael’s review. =)

 In other news, I attempted a pork stew (you can use any meat) to the success of the adult opinions in this household (since the sprouts have more picky moments when it comes to stews). My mom sent me the recipe and I had to get all of NOTHING from the store to make this. LOVE those kinds of practical recipes.

My mother’s recipe: [ “All you need is an oven pan with a lid (or oven okay bowl with foil on top). Cook meat (Chicken, cubed beef, turkey) in a fry pan to brown the outside, cut up potatoes, carrots, celery, onions. Put in oven pan. Add a couple of bay leaves, salt and pepper to your liking, a little steak sauce (A-1, Worcestershire, etc). Then add water about half way up the pot. Cover, bake at 350 degrees a few hours until the meat is done and the potatoes are fork tender. Longer for beef, shorter for chicken, turkey.”] 

I was running out of time before dinner so i cooked it on 375 for 1.5 hours. That worked quite as well, though I’m sure there would have been a thicker broth with the extra slow simmering time. 


Bravo Mom for the “pop it in the oven and forget about it” meal. 
Preparing at nap time is the way to go! 



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Because We Could

Beautiful weather lately has brought us outdoors before the “second” snow fell (a dusting). So don’t mind me as I soak in these pictures of outdoor life lately while I check the weather channel for future cold and snow news.

 Taking our babies for a walk.
This leader had no problem running the pack 
– I had to ask her to stop a few times to keep up with her.
 She may think she’s huge, but she is still our little one. 
 And this one? Well let’s put it this way… 
we did some waiting. Little legs can only go so fast.
 Then came shoeless in the sandbox!
 No ‘eww, dirt’s here.
 Dump and fill, dump and fill.

 So delightful to experience it all together.

That’s all I caught in pictures from our few days outside. I try to participate more than document because the participation will leave the lasting memories for these two small ones. But I did get a moment to snap a few pictures. Other days we “rode bikes” in the driveway, went on nature walks, did some sidewalk chalk, and then kicked a big ball in the yard.

(sigh) Alright.. on to dust the snow off the bikes and return them to the playhouse that I’m using as a small shed for the winter.

Enjoy the cool weather, everyone. Stay warm!

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Homeschool Loves

Love how:

  • Scrabble Jr letters, Upwords letters, Boggle Jr. dice, and refrigerator magnets make their way into letter quizzes, letter identifications and sorting piles. 
  • Any day can be a school day.
  • Any day can be a break day.
  • Her ecstatic giggle of accomplishment fuels her, “let’s do one more.”
  • “Last one!!!” always comes with such joy and pride of her previous work. 
  • “I’m gonna show this one to Daddy,” is a priority.
  • Science experiments involve smashing old pumpkins into a zillion pieces in the driveway.
  • Little sister is included in the “run and find” identification games.
  • “Will it float” education is added to bath time. (Two-for-one score!!!)
  • Rachael gives her little sister a hug and thanks her for allowing special time with mommy for learning. 
  • Preschool is just a part of our lives, identifying letters, shapes, colors, numbers and animals on the walls as we walk by during the day. 
  • Abi randomly repeats Rachael’s lessons while playing nearby.
  • Grabbing a nearby cat is included in animal anatomy and body-part identification. (They like the appreciation cat treat counting post-lesson).
  • She can’t wait to tell Daddy and show Daddy what she learned over lunch.
  • Nature walks are scheduled regularly. 
  • School is just normal, structured and yet flexible and gentle – catered to her pace, my pace, and Abi’s patience pace for the day.
  • She is soaking up so much and loving almost every moment of it (let’s be real, some things are a challenge until accomplished). 
  • Abi can count to ten as a byproduct of listening in. (Though I’m quite sure she’s just repeating it in progression at this point). 

Lovin’ me some family learning.
Lovin’ me some special bonding time and sharing in discovery.
Lovin’ me some homeschool.

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Wax Paper Helper

I got this great idea in the shower (any one else do that?). In an effort to go through the alphabet with Rachael and introduce her to capital and lowercase letters, I have come to the dreaded b vs. d roadblock. So in anticipation of this potential confusion, this idea popped into my head amid the steam and bubbles:

I grabbed a vellum sheet from our old wedding invitation stash (pathetic, right), but wax paper would do the trick as well. On it I wrote Dd and Bb on opposite sides. Then I used two symbols, a heart under the Bb side and a smiley face under the Dd side.

This see-through item can then be put onto any paper and is used as an aid to distinguish d and b. If the “bump” points to the smiley, it’s a Dd. If the “bump” points to the heart, it’s a Bb. Any symbol could be used, and as the child gets used to the concept of left/right (which I have used in representation of the symbols since Rachael has no concept of left/right yet) you slowly remove the wax paper helper from use.

I’m not sure if this would help anyone else or not, but I thought I’d share just in case it could.

Best wishes introducing/teaching the ever-confusing b and d. =)

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A Morning to Remember

Today was a wonderful morning filled with slow children’s museum moments – really it is possible. Not those moments of stress, wondering how long before your toddler loses it. But one of those mornings of taking things at a preschool pace, stopping and smelling all the flowers along the way. Don’t you love those kind of mornings? No agenda or schedule pressings. Just life. One. Step. At. A. Time.

Due to going to the Children’s Museum with Ellen and “the cousins”, Rachael had a play group, Abi had someone to carefully study, and I had a reliable source of eyes to leave Rachael with when 19 months was done waiting.

This is the only picture I captured while the crew 
(5 total, age 4yr down to 19months – Abi’s the youngest) 
checked out some meerkats in the animal exhibit.

Abi was in such a sweet mood this morning. Her mellow little nature of exploring and satisfaction with taking things slow were so sweet to watch. She was a little shy in some moments, finding reassurance in Mommy’s leg-holding. But that little one listened so well today and was so easy going. Such a breath of fresh air was she.

Rachael was her normal curious self, finding delight in trying to figure out how things worked and what happened if you tried this… or that. And Ms. Social Butterfly spent a good portion of the morning repeating others’ phrases. I think Bekah (Ellen’s oldest) enjoys having her own echo sometimes. =) And Rachael seemed to enjoy being the echo as well. It reminded me of how we must first learn to follow before we learn how to lead. And some good, clean preschool copy-cat is always amusing to watch. When Rachael is on her own her imagination has taken flight involving story lines in her play. Oh what a wonderful age of enjoyment of stories, characters, and role playing. On the way to the museum Rachael “found” a baby chick and carefully cared for her baby chick, whom she cupped and sheltered in her hands, while in the car. She was sure to reassure the “scared thing” and nurture that little imaginary friend.

Rachael and her “chick”.

Daddy had a meeting with Grandpa today at the house from 11a-1p. Since I was not sure of whether they would eat lunch at our house or not and if the distraction would be welcome, I thought it a great day to have a special lunch date with the girls.

I’m not one to promote the Golden Arches restaurant. But there are occasions in which we choose to partake in the grease. When you don’t eat out too frequently it surely is a joyful event in the life of little kids. We had such fellowship and joy over chicken nuggets, french fries, apple slices and chocolate milk. Oh and then sharing an ice cream brought such over-the-top dancing joys.

It was one of those “mark that down” pleasant mornings with no hiccups. I love those “every day” memories that turn into such great joys in the world of three years and nineteen months. We can be a busy crew indeed, but the overwhelming excitements of “typical” things and discoveries, even if I can’t catch them on film because we’re still very Mommy-dependent, sure leave pictures upon pictures that I hope I never forget.

– so thankful.

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