Saturday, October 30, 2010

Reminiscing and Birthdays

I've been spending a lot of time going through old pictures the last few days.  I should be organizing them.  But I'm not.  I'm just having fun reminiscing.

This one was taken in May.  Newbie was seven months old.

These are from April.  She was 6 months old.
 Hello first tooth!

*Gasp!*

Sweet little hands going for sweet little feet.

:)

Newbie doesn't have to wear her 'stickers' anymore.   No more clunky oxygen machine!

These are from April too, at Tank's 3rd birthday party.
Sunshine (looking over my shoulder): Who is that?
Me: It's you, silly!
Sunshine: Oh is that me when I was four?
Me: Yup!
(He does look young, doesn't he!)


Yay!  We blew out the candles!
Here's the awesome b-day cake.  Look!  Optimus is picking Tank's nose!

Here's one from Sunshine's 5th b-day in June.  He had a bunch of his buddies from preschool come and they played at the playground.
I got him a Spiderman Ice-cream cake.

For an outdoor party.
In the afternoon.
It was like, 90 degrees or something by the time the party started.
I'm smart.
It melted.

Since we're doing birthdays...  here's Newbie on her first birthday this month!


She got two cakes.  One was a round flower one that I didn't get a shot of.  The other was this one, made by her Auntie.
 Auntie also made Tank's transformer's cake.

Turning 1 is tough....

So that was fun, right?

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Sunshine in the Fall


Sunshine started kindergarten this year.  That's my excuse, by the way.  For my absence.
It's a valid excuse because I'm homeschooling.
And it's the hardest thing I've ever done.

Ever.

Giving birth is easier and less straining on my mind and body than homeschooling.

And I've even got a smart kid to work with.

Oh thank you, Lord.. for giving me smart children.

It's hard, but I'm positive this is the path God wants me to walk.  I'm stubborn enough, I don't think I'd learn persistence, patience, or discipline any other way.  God knew this about me and even though I fight it tooth and nail on a daily basis, He has given me the very clear calling to homeschool.

Frightening, isn't it?

All the hard work (all 8 weeks of it so far) comes with great reward.  Math hasn't been an issue.  It's fun and easy for Sunshine and it's just a matter of working through the curriculum.  But even though it's comparatively easy, it's still such a great feeling to hear him count to 200.. and then hear him count in 10's and 5's.. and then ask to learn to count in 2's.  I'm actually trying to give him enough to keep him busy and entertained in this subject.

Reading and writing on the other hand.. has been more of a challenge.  It's a whole lot of memorization and as I'm teaching Sunshine all the sounds that go with all the different letters and letter combinations, I've come to a decision.

English is stupid.
Why did we think it would be smart or useful or anything but completely ridiculous to give a single sound so many different spellings?! And a single letter combination so many different sounds?!?!

Dear History of the English language,
I want a rewrite.  I thank you in advance for your rush to fulfill my request.
Looking forward to your reply,
Concerned American Homeschooling Mom
I've got the whole history of English available to me.. and I get why we have all these different rules with exceptions and so on with how the language developed.  But it's still stupid and I think it would be a lot easier to homeschool if we were speaking German instead of English.  And maybe Americans wouldn't appear so dumb if English wasn't such a difficult language to master.

So there.

Rant over.


Meanwhile.. back at the farm.. 

Sunshine loves to read and has been begging me for a year to learn.  So we finally started this Fall and he's actually doing very very well!  He's so proud of himself when he can sit and read a book to himself.  He's sounding out all kinds of words and starting to point out words he knows when we're out and about now.

Writing is tedious, but he's doing a fantastic job.  I'm really amazed at how much growth I've seen in the last couple of months...

And.. speaking of growth...
Look at this kid!  He just got that shirt a few months ago for his 5th birthday and he's almost outgrown it.

The child eats more than I do.

And I'm not even exaggerating!
Last night, he ate a whole can of Spaghettio's and a package of fruit snacks.  He got up from the table and said, "Mom, I'm still hungry."

I'm afraid.  Very afraid.  I might actually have to start cooking huge meals for every meal, just to keep him satisfied.

The kid is 5!  What am I going to do when he's 15??

Eek!

Daredevil

August?!

Really?!?!

Can it really have been so long?

Sorry.

Sooo.... (awkward pause)
Newbie walks now.

And she totally loves it, as you can see by the huge smile on her face!



I love how her hands are up in the air like that..

I don't love this...
 Okay, so Sunshine wanted in.. and Newbie is sitting sweetly on her Choo-Choo train.  I don't mind that..

It's this.

 Climbing up on her train..

 Standing up and posing for a picture...

 And then shaking the train back and forth trying to get it to move...
I don't like it.

Newbie is turning into a monster baby...


 

I know... how can I call that beautiful face a monster baby?
 
 
SIT DOWN NEWBIE!!!

 At least the dog listens...
 And does her very best to protect my daredevil daughter...

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