Fireworks Mode

Daniel discovered that our camera has something called "fireworks mode" that slows down the shutter speed and takes much better pictures of the sparkly displays. This was the best of the bunch that included Daniel and the girls. If you're wondering where Kevin is, he fell asleep at 7:30 or so. Danya and Gloria both slept through their first 4th of July, too.

We had a great time although it got a little hairy with the girls not paying attention to where the lit punks were at. We also had some difficulty at first because it was a bit windy and we had matches instead of a lighter. Later, some teen boys showed up on their bikes to watch us. One of them had a lighter that they used to help the girls light sparklers and to set off one of our spinning fireworks that lost its fuse.

The sparklers were a hit with the girls. They ran around waving them, we spelled our names in the air, and they danced with them. Normally one of our favorite things is the flashers. They flash like strobe lights and we dance making crazy shadows on the outside of Grandma's house. This year our shadows were scattered across the trees and didn't look like anything. I'm glad we didn't buy alot of those. We only had a few fountains, but they were all very pretty. They didn't shoot high, but that was alright. At home we were able to look out our back glass doors and watch high ones that other people lit shooting over the rooftops of the city. Have I mentioned how much I love our view?

Twinkies

We say the girls look like "twinkies" when they match. Since we were taking pictures of Kevin we decided to do a photo shoot of the girls while we were at it. They put on matching outfits and asked me to fix their hair the same way. Then they hammed it up and I didn't get a single serious photo of them. Oh well. This was our first outdoor photo shoot.

One Room School House

We've got our little school room set up in the basement and looking pretty good. We scooted the bookshelves back so that the school area would be bigger and shrunk the t.v./play area a little. Do you see these fantastic new desks we got at a yard sale this weekend?! Each desk seats two kids with storage in between. The family we got them from says they got them from a church school that was replacing them. They are exactly what we've always wanted and we got them for $5 each!!! We now officially have seven little desks, so we could seat all of our students at once when our family has expanded.

These desks are especially great because they provide such a nice big work surface. Now we just need to save up for more chairs. In the third photo you can also see the new bookshelf we got for $2 at the same yard sale. (Can you tell the previous owners were homeschoolers, too? lol) I'm going to wash the bookshelf and paint it yellow to match the basement. It fits perfectly in front of my scrapbooking table to hide all my clutter under there. We really needed the extra shelving, too.

Kevin's First Sneakers

We bought Kevin his first official pair of sneakers today. No more soft flexible shoes for him. They are size 6 1/2 wide. We got them at Kmart for $10, mainly because they were the only pair that we could fit over his chubby feet.

He had picked a pair that had flashing lights, but unfortunately they just weren't able to encompass his fat little clodhoppers. (for those of you not native to the midwest, "clodhoppers" are what you wear on your feet when hopping over clods of dirt while walking through a fresh plowed field on a farm)

Kevin loves to walk around, holding onto someone's hands. I think he prefers it to crawling because it gives him better access to all the interesting items on low tables. I wonder if he'll be the first of our kids to walk before the age of one.

Retail Therapy

I think they call it "retail therapy" when women shop to deal with stress. In my case, I haven't been feeling well this weekend. This afternoon Daniel suggested we go out to eat for lunch at Applebee's. Let's just say it wasn't our best dining experience ever.

So after that frustrating event we decided to stop by Kmart to look for curtains and maybe a new shirt for me. Since I've lost weight, I got rid of all my oversized clothes and now have very little left to wear. I came home with:

one new shirt, two outfits for Kevin, a new fleece Tinkerbell blanket for Danya's room, a Cars pillowcase for Kevin, two new pillows, a pair of shoes for Kevin, the Cars movie on DVD for the kids...

and no curtains. We are having some difficulty choosing kitchen curtains. We also shopped for but didn't find a new wedding ring for Daniel. His ring snapped in half the other day. This "retail therapy" stuff is expensive. I think in the future I should stick to cleaning my house when I'm stressed, worried, or sick. That's a tried and true method and doesn't cost anything.

A Fascinating Man

The kids all decided to watch their dad while he was putting new string in the weed eater the other day. They were totally absorbed by him. They also watched for quite a while as he whacked down the forest of weeds that was taking over our back yard. Poor Daniel, he had to do the whole thing with the weed eater. He says once he clears out some of the rocks and things he'll be able to use the lawn mower for some parts of it, so it will go a little bit quicker. In the meantime, his shoulders really got a work out. He said the next day that he won't do that again on a Wednesday. That's the day of the week that he doesn't get to sleep except for a tiny nap, because he starts his work week that night. Poor guy. (but the yard looks good!)

Laugh It Up!

Kevin's so funny! He finds amusement in the smallest things like splashing water, messy icecream, and silly faces or noises. Yesterday he took a bath with Gloria sitting on the side of the tub. There was only a couple of inches of water in there, but he went to town splashing and laughing that hard gut laugh of his. Gloria would scoop water into a cup and splash it against the tub wall and Kevin would just explode laughing! He even whined if she took too long before doing it again.

Yup, he definitely rules the roost here. He has moments of quiet time playing by himself, facinated with a car while he makes "vroom vroom" noises. Mostly, though, he expects to be held, fed, or entertained at all times. He'll whine and scream if we aren't obeying him fast enough. We're trying to teach him not to scream for food. Instead we're teaching him to do the "more" sign with his hands. So far he's only done it a few times. I think he's confused because it seems similar to when we tell him to "clap, clap" his hands. I'm praying he figures it out soon.

A Little Too Far

Here's Daniel and Kevin starting our ill-considered walk the other night. Do you see that pinkish purple tree in the top corner of the photo? That's the tree in our front yard.

We headed out on our family walk around 6:20pm or so, thinking we could walk to Sam's Club about 2 miles away with three kids and make it home before bedtime at 8pm. HA! Clearly we were overly optimistic. Daniel turned back after we'd been walking for about 45 minutes and weren't even close yet. He went home and came back with the van. By the time he caught us, the kids and I had gone 1.7 miles and STILL couldn't see our destination.

He drove us to the store to get a pretzel, which was our reward/goal at the end and to see if they had any art supplies, which they didn't. They also didn't have any pretzels left at the snack counter. So we bought in bulk. Ah, the joy of Sam's Club. We bought 82 pretzels in one box for around $30, including salt and cinnamon/sugar packs. We've been eating 4 a night and they are still overflowing our freezer. It's a good thing Dan finally got the extra fridge/freezer cleaned and assembled or we'd have no room for anything else!

Bible Boy!

Kevin found our bible in the living room, pulled it down, and started thumbing through it. We can tell he has a real "hunger" for the Word of God because after he finished examining it he attempted to eat it.

We totally understand his interest in scripture. After all, Psalm 8:2 says "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise..." He's probably looking up some good verses to turn into his next sing-song monologue as he rides in the van. Maybe he'll be the lead vocalist in a Christian rock band when he's older! Rock on, Kev!

Matthew 4:4 "Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

Why Christians Should Homeschool

I've been reading this amazing book. For the first time I've read a comprehensive explanation of the biblical reasons for homeschooling, the actual mandate from God that tells us that we have the authority and responsibility to educate our children and protect them from anti-Christian environments and teachers. I've never felt more strongly that homeschooling is not just a preference, but a command from my Creator who has gifted me with children.

Some verses this book discusses:
Psalm 127:3-5 "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." (My children were given to me, they are arrows that I must make sure are made sharp and straight and strong. I cannot entrust their molding to craftsmen (teachers) who do not follow God's design plan!)

Did you know that the only time that God's children were educated by the government was when the children of Israel were dominated by a heathen nation? (for instance Joseph, Moses, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, & Daniel) Mark 12:17 "Then Jesus said to them, 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.'" (God never tells us to give our children to Caesar [the government]. They belong to God.)

Ezekiel 16:20-21 "Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?
21"You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire." (I will be judged severely if I don't meet God's standards for raising my children. I cannot and will not give them to a system [government school] that rejects God and teaches idolatry to a humanistic religion. I would be disobeying God if I forced them to "pass through that fire" as children.)

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (To obey God's command to teach my children His word constantly I cannot send them away for 6 or more hours a day. His word must be included in every aspect of their lives and in every subject they learn. We will be taking every subject and "taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" [2 Cor. 10:5])

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." Isaiah 54:13 "All your sons will be taught of the LORD; And the well-being of your sons will be great." Luke 6:40 "A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher." (Together I and the Lord should be my children's teachers. If they are trained by an anti-Christian school and teachers, they will be like those teachers.)

Jeremiah 10:2a "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen" (My children should not be "socialized" in an anti-Christian government school with children who are not Christian either.) 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals." (My children's primary friends that they spend most of their socialization time with should be other kids being taught God's values. In public school they will be more likely to be influenced negatively than to influence others positively.)

Psalm 119:99-100 "I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts." (the results of a God centered education.) 3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." (This is why I will homeschool)

Finally, for those times when Satan tells me that public school would be easier, or when someone tries to make me doubt what I know to be right: 1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Galations 6:9 "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." (I won't give up! My children's future, their eternity, is worth it!)

Most of the ideas in this post came as a direct result of reading The Heart of Homeschooling by Christopher Klicka. I recommend every Christian parent read this book!

Curriculum at a Glance

Last night I gathered up our main books for homeschooling so that I could plan out our work for the next week. This morning I stacked them up in the living room after we finished our homeschool work for the day. Now, this is by no means ALL the books we use, but it represents the most frequently used books. There are two new additions since yesterday we received the activity book that goes along with our history book "The Story of the World" and "The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia" which we'll be using mainly for it's awesome reference section at the back right now.

At the moment we are learning about:
History: Ancient Greece and Greek mythology. The girls can name all the major Greek Gods/Goddesses and tell you something about each one. We are also reading a longer version of the Odyssey.
Math: Danya is learning her 3 times tables. Gloria is working on place value.
Grammar: Abbreviations and initials, also penmanship
Bible: Romans 5:8 for Truth Quest at our church.
Civics: They've almost got the entire preamble to the Constitution memorized!
Science: Danya is studying storms for Earth science and Gloria is studying the human body.
Art: This semester we are learning about the Impressionists. This week is Manet.
Music: They are studying types of instruments and learning to play the trumpet.
Languages: Spanish and American Sign language. We're also going to start learning Greek.

There's always a few other little things, but that is our core curriculum at the moment!

Blooming

Spring is here and in full bloom! We've had mild weather for a few days now. My flowers have bloomed all over the front yard. My tree has burst into vibrant purple. I wake up to the sounds of birds singing outside my window every morning. The girls actually unpacked their shorts. The icecream truck comes by every afternoon. Yes, Spring has most definitely come to our neck of the woods!

Growing Wild!

Part of the girls' graduation gifts included packs of wildflower seeds and gardening tools. They each picked a sunny spot in the yard to plant their seeds and had a blast getting dirty. Thanks for the idea, Christina!

Our yard is growing a little wild lately, too. It's such an odd shape that it would be extremely difficult to mow it. Daniel needs to get out there with the weed eater, but we haven't remembered to buy string for it yet.

I was thinking today that homeschooling allows my children to grow somewhat wild and free also. For them almost every day involves the freedom to explore and play and do whatever interests them. School work gets to be a small part of the day finished by lunch time and then their day is theirs. It's like that feeling we used to get as kids on Saturday mornings or during summer break when we'd wake up knowing that the whole day is ahead of us just bursting with possibilities. My kids are so blessed!

It's All in Your Head

I took Kevin to the doctor for his 9 month check-up today. They gave him two shots and said he was very healthy. They measured him, too. He is 29 1/2 inches long, 25 lbs, and has a head circumference in the 97th percentile.

Yeah, he's got a big head. All our kids do. I tell them it's because they have such big brains. They get it from me. Most hats don't fit me or are tight on my giant noggin. Daniel, on the other hand, has a very petite melon.

We celebrated the girls' graduation finally today. They made cupcakes and we gave them some little gifts from the "dollar spot" at Target. The plastic sunglasses we gave them were too small for their heads. But they fit Daniel as you can see in this photo. Maybe I need to stop saying that big heads are due to big brains, because if the opposite is true too...

Got Fiber?

Why is this child eating the table?

1. He needs more fiber in his diet
2. Two cheese sticks, a bowl of cereal, two cups of water, and a stack of mini pancakes wasn't enough for breakfast
3. His new upper teeth are too sharp and he's filing them down like a hamster
4. He hopes to grow up to be a beaver someday
5. He's an Elliott...weirdness runs in the family

Vote for the best answer in the comments section!

10 Reasons NOT to give a baby a bunny

1. He'll end up wearing most of it.
2. Wipes won't be enough, you'll have to give him a bath.
3. He'll puke most of it onto his clean clothes after the bath.
4. Seeing that may make you revisit the bunny you ate, too.
5. He'll "share" by smearing his chocolatey hands all over you.
6. The chocolate will get smooshed down into the cracks of your new kitchen floor.
7. Everyone else will conveniently "not see" the mess and you'll end up on your knees scrubbing the floor with a wet sponge.
8. Your older kids will accidently step in it and track the chocolate throughout the house.
9. Everyone else will conveniently not see the mess and you'll have to clean that, too.
10. The baby will cry because you don't have any more chocolate bunny left.

Counting our Chickens...

Today we bought and assembled new bunk beds for the kids we hope to adopt! Maybe we are 'counting our chickens before they hatch', but we see it more as being prepared and hoping for the best. Daniel and I are looking forward all the time to having more little chickadees in our nest!

We keep talking and dreaming about what it will be like to have a larger family. We bought a membership to Sam's club and spent a day comparing prices to see what is worth purchasing in bulk. We are going to attempt to do our shopping once a month. We're going to put a big metal rack out in the garage next to the extra refrigerator. It will be an extra pantry, so that we can keep more of our frequently used items on hand. We figure we'll basically be doubling our grocery budget with that many extra kids!

The bunk beds look great and smell strongly of pine. We'll hopefully be able to purchase the mattresses next pay day. The girls lifted one side of the top bunk and set it on top of the bottom bunk! I wasn't there to help because I'd gone to get dinner. Daniel said he didn't think they could lift it, but they proved they are super strong girls! I wonder whether there will be girls or boys sleeping in these beds soon?

Graduation Gifts and a New School Year

Aunt Toni sent the girls graduation gifts that were also "house warming" gifts this week. Danya is finishing first grade this month and Glory has completed Kindergarten. We are going to do a review next week to assess where they're at academically. Toni sent Danya a new doll for her collection and Gloria got her very first, very own, dollhouse.

The girls were both super surprised. Gloria was quick to tell Danya not to worry, that she would let her play with the new house. They haven't decided yet if Danya's new doll or the one that came with Glory's house will be the doll that they call "Aunt Toni".

As for graduation, we may make a special dinner at home and have everyone dress up, maybe have a special dessert. I'm trying to think of something inexpensive to do at home that the girls will think is fun and unusual. In the past, for reviews, we've had scavenger hunts that require the girls to use alot of skills and information that they've learned. We had a spelling test this week with words taken from the books they've been reading. Danya actually laughed when she saw the list and said, "Mommy, 'poison' isn't a hard enough bonus word." It came from a science book about Snakes by Dorling Kindersley .

I still think it's strange to classify the girls as first grader and Kindergartner when they are both so clearly above and beyond that. Really, though, they are at various levels for each subject, like Gloria doing second grade math, Danya ready for third grade math, and both of them reading well above grade level. I'm not sure where I would place them in science, an we are finishing up Ancient Civlizations in history right now. We are currently reading about the Greeks. We read part of the Odyssey where Odysseus encounters the cyclops and they are making masks and writing a play about it to perform at our own version of the Olympics tomorrow. We'll have athletic contests like a long jump and races, but also poetry reading and an art show to go along with the play. We've been reading more about the ancient Greeks in our Children's Encyclopedia. As we enter this next year we will move on to learning about Medieval Times. We've got a great year ahead and it will be even more fun as we add more kids to our family!

A Giant Wind!

Danya's open house was great! You can see her in the blue dress and braids in this photo. Her homeschool charter school put on several plays. The 1st and 2nd grade class, Danya's group, performed a western called "A Giant Wind". At one point all the town folk are huddled together in hiding, when one by one they start noticing giant body parts...the giant's toe, his leg, his arm, his neck. Then Danya's big line comes. She stands up, points, and says, "I see a giant snout, and I hope I don't see what comes out!" The whole audience laughed!

She was great! All through the performance she was directing the other kids. Holding one back when he tried to jump up and speak his line too early, and pushing another kid forward when it was his turn and he forgot. During the dance at the end, she knew all the choreogaphy, so the other kids watched her to see what to do next. Later, her drama teacher told me that only Danya and one other girl knew all the dance moves! He said she has a gift for choreography. We were super proud of her!

After the performance we got to tour the classrooms and see Danya's art work, poetry, and other things displayed.

Denver Orchestra

I took Danya and Gloria to the Denver Performing Arts Center with Danya's homeschool charter school to hear the Denver Symphony perform. There was an overwhelming number of school kids there!

Danya knew alot of the music they played because she's been studying composers in her charter school. We play a game at home where I say a composer's middle name or last name, and she has to say the rest of the name. She really likes the game. I'm hoping to find some sort of a trivia game about composers. I bet there's one online.