Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Ollie turns 6
Six years ago when this handsome fella was born, we chose to name him Oliver Michael. Oliver, because it means 'peaceful', and Michael (which means 'one who is like God') because that is Aaron's middle name. And it turned out to be very fitting because Ollie is Aaron's mini-me. Kind, patient, loyal, easy-going, eager to help out, stubborn when backed into a corner, detail-oriented, smart, mellow, and VERY snuggley.
And if his personality wasn't exactly what it is, I might not have been brave enough to have the rest of the hooligans. haha! Ollie is my angel baby six years running. A keeper for sure.
Happy Birthday kiddo! Love you to the moon.
We went swimming at the Rec Center to celebrate his big day. He was thrilled to get a new bike. And also that he got to have a friend birthday party this year. His friends came over, ate pizza, and watched The Lego Movie.
Friday, February 22, 2019
33
I turned 33. Aaron surprised me with a new mattress! And I mean really surprised. Somehow he bought it, drove it home, stored it in the garage, and got it into the living room on the morning of my birthday without me even knowing. And I loved it!! It is not very often that I get surprised. And it's not very often that I'm THRILLED with what the surprise is. So Aaron gets double points today..... Maybe he's just trying to make up for the fact the he and Lincoln, and Ivan left for a campout on the evening of my birthday. ha! Watching them get the mattress up the stairs though, that was equally as fun of a birthday present as the mattress itself. I'm was pretty grateful that I didn't have to lift a finger, and that we have two big-ish, and strong boys who were willing and able to help Aaron out.
My mom came up and helped me bake a birthday cheesecake in my instant pot. She gave me the instant pot for Christmas last year, and all the cool gadgets to go with it for my birthday this year.
And, here are some pictures of the boys' campout. Doesn't it look cold and miserable? I was pretty glad I got to be home in my warm new bed.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Records
Blogging has been a struggle for the last year or so. Not because I don't want to or can't find the time, but the actual technology is hampering me. I take all my pictures and videos on my iphone. But for whatever reason, Blogger does not let me blog directly from an iphone. So I was just downloading pictures directly onto my computer from my phone, just like I used to with my digital camera. This worked for a long time. But now, something has changed. And when I plug my phone into the port in the computer it does nothing. I cannot transfer files of any kind back and for from one to the other when I'm connecting through a cord. I can download my videos to Youtube and then upload the Youtube link into my blog post. But I do not get to the hard copies of the videos on my computer. For photos the only way I've found to go around it is to upload photos from my phone onto the Shutterfly website, and then download them again onto my computer. This is time consuming and definitely NOT ideal. But it does work. Why doesn't Blogger have an app that would allow me to blog directly from my phone? Why can't I download pictures directly off of my phone onto my computer? Sooooooo frustrating. So my blogging keeps getting further and further and further behind. *sigh*
But recently my kids have been asking for stories about themselves as babies. So I've been doing back through old blog posts and reading to them little pieces about their births and babyhoods. And I was noticing how well I used to document things. Ordinary things, that at the time I thought would be our routine for the rest of our lives. But we've grown up as a family, and our lives and routines have changed. And as I was reading through old posts, I was reminded of many things we used to do that I'd forgotten about. And I was so glad I wrote them down. And I thought, I really need to be better about writing again. Maybe that means I do it without pictures and videos, I don't know. But I don't want to lose things. I still have young kids, and I still want to record their lives. I want Cal and Ruby to have just as much to come back and read about when they were growing up as Lincoln and Ivan do. So here's my valiant effort to start again.
Today is Thursday, which means music lessons. Lincoln has piano at 10am and trombone at 10:45, both in Springville. Piano lessons has just recently started up again, Linc's teacher had a baby back in September and has taken time off until now. I used to have Ivan and Adelia in piano as well, but the budget is a bit tight right now, and neither of them were overly thrilled to start piano again. So, since Lincoln was the only one who said he's missed piano, I just put him in for now. And I'm hoping to get the other two back in when the new school year starts in August. Linc's trombone used to be in the afternoon, which meant two trips to Springville in one day. But, Linc's trombone teacher called me last week, and said she was really struggling because she's always teaching trombone lessons right after school, but it's also right when her kids get home from school, and since we are homeschooler was there anyway we could have a lesson during the school day? I pretty much jumped for joy! Explained to her how we were already coming down in the morning for piano, and how I would LOVE not to have to make a second trip back to Springville in the afternoons. So we set it up so that Linc could come to trombone right after piano.
After music we came home and had lunch. Then I put Cal down for a nap. He cries when I tell him it's nap time, so instead I tell him he needs to have his N.A.P. and he says, Oh, N.A.P. and runs upstairs to his room to pick out a story for me to read for him. I don't know why that works better than just saying 'nap', but I'll take it. His favorite book right now it Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
After getting Cal to bed, I made up a list for each kid of what I wanted them to do for school today. Since we spent the whole morning at music, and since the two older boys have to be at chess club at 4, we aren't doing as much school today as we would on, say, a Monday....but just to give you an idea, here are the lists for each kid.
Lincoln
- 4 pages out of his math workbook
-20 minutes of Rosetta Stone German
-Find and write down at least 3 facts for upcoming wax museum presentation (he's going to be Nicola Tesla)
- 20 minutes piano practice
-10 minutes guitar practice
- 20 minutes trombone practice
Ivan
-4 pages out of his math workbook
-20 minutes of Rosetta Stone German
-Find and write at least 3 facts for upcoming wax museum presentation (he's going to be Leif Erikson)
-1 page out of cursive workbook
-20 minutes ukelala practice
-10 minutes guitar practice
- Art (art is one of Ivan's electives this year, and usually he goes to lessons, but lessons don't start up again until April, so right now he's just doing some free range art, he can choose if he wants to sketch, paint, sculpt, or whatever, as long as he spends time each day doing something art related until his teacher starts lessons up again.)
Adelia
-4 pages out of her math workbook
-20 minutes of Rosetta Stone German
-Find and write at least 3 facts for upcoming wax museum presentation (she is going to be Laura Ingalls Wilder)
-1 page our of her handwriting workbook
-10 minutes guitar practice
-photography (photography is Adelia's Technology class this year. She doesn't have a specific assignment that she has to do each day, but she is going through a National Geographics Photography Basics video series, and then using her Polaroid and digital cameras to practice the techniques she learns from the videos, and then creating a portfolio for the year.)
Ollie
-2 pages out of his Handwriting Without Tears workbook
-2 pages out of his Explode the Code workbook
-4 pages out of his math workbook
-20 minutes Rosetta Stone German
- 1 reading lesson out of Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Some days, Ruby (4) insists that I make her a list also. So on hers I usually put things like play with the tangram blocks, write your ABCs, play a game of Sum Swamp with Ollie, stuff like that. IN reality, she's probably ready to start reading lessons, but I've got to get Ollie finished with that book before I start Ruby in it. He's on lesson 89 out of 100, so it won't be long. The book works really well, which is why I use it, but it's not the most exciting book on the planet, and I only have the patience and will power to listen to one very beginning reader per day. Once Ollie's all the way through lesson 100 he'll be on about the level to read Dr. Seuss books. I'll still have to listen to him read out loud every day, but it won't be as painful as when they are just learning to sound out every word at a snail's pace, so I should be good to go to start Ruby on that journey. She's already sounding out little words, and trying to spell words when she has paper out. That's how I know she's ready. I'm the only thing holding her back.
Like I said above, at 4pm Lincoln and Ivan will go to chess club with a whole bunch of other homeschoolers in our town. This is the first week, but I think they'll really enjoy it. We live in a small town, so I'm always surprised how many homeschoolers there are here. I love it though. And I love that chess club is close enough for them to walk to. Even better.
Ivan's basketball league just ended, so we won't have anything going on this evening. It'll just be a quiet night at home.
We're all anxiously awaiting spring. But it's been snowy and gloomy for weeks. I know we need the snow, so I can't quite wish it away. But man, I could really use some sunshine and a 50 degree day. This winter has been a doosy.
But tomorrow is my birthday. :) 33 wonderful years old. And my mom is coming to hang out with me, so at least we'll get out of the house a bit.
But recently my kids have been asking for stories about themselves as babies. So I've been doing back through old blog posts and reading to them little pieces about their births and babyhoods. And I was noticing how well I used to document things. Ordinary things, that at the time I thought would be our routine for the rest of our lives. But we've grown up as a family, and our lives and routines have changed. And as I was reading through old posts, I was reminded of many things we used to do that I'd forgotten about. And I was so glad I wrote them down. And I thought, I really need to be better about writing again. Maybe that means I do it without pictures and videos, I don't know. But I don't want to lose things. I still have young kids, and I still want to record their lives. I want Cal and Ruby to have just as much to come back and read about when they were growing up as Lincoln and Ivan do. So here's my valiant effort to start again.
Today is Thursday, which means music lessons. Lincoln has piano at 10am and trombone at 10:45, both in Springville. Piano lessons has just recently started up again, Linc's teacher had a baby back in September and has taken time off until now. I used to have Ivan and Adelia in piano as well, but the budget is a bit tight right now, and neither of them were overly thrilled to start piano again. So, since Lincoln was the only one who said he's missed piano, I just put him in for now. And I'm hoping to get the other two back in when the new school year starts in August. Linc's trombone used to be in the afternoon, which meant two trips to Springville in one day. But, Linc's trombone teacher called me last week, and said she was really struggling because she's always teaching trombone lessons right after school, but it's also right when her kids get home from school, and since we are homeschooler was there anyway we could have a lesson during the school day? I pretty much jumped for joy! Explained to her how we were already coming down in the morning for piano, and how I would LOVE not to have to make a second trip back to Springville in the afternoons. So we set it up so that Linc could come to trombone right after piano.
After music we came home and had lunch. Then I put Cal down for a nap. He cries when I tell him it's nap time, so instead I tell him he needs to have his N.A.P. and he says, Oh, N.A.P. and runs upstairs to his room to pick out a story for me to read for him. I don't know why that works better than just saying 'nap', but I'll take it. His favorite book right now it Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
After getting Cal to bed, I made up a list for each kid of what I wanted them to do for school today. Since we spent the whole morning at music, and since the two older boys have to be at chess club at 4, we aren't doing as much school today as we would on, say, a Monday....but just to give you an idea, here are the lists for each kid.
Lincoln
- 4 pages out of his math workbook
-20 minutes of Rosetta Stone German
-Find and write down at least 3 facts for upcoming wax museum presentation (he's going to be Nicola Tesla)
- 20 minutes piano practice
-10 minutes guitar practice
- 20 minutes trombone practice
Ivan
-4 pages out of his math workbook
-20 minutes of Rosetta Stone German
-Find and write at least 3 facts for upcoming wax museum presentation (he's going to be Leif Erikson)
-1 page out of cursive workbook
-20 minutes ukelala practice
-10 minutes guitar practice
- Art (art is one of Ivan's electives this year, and usually he goes to lessons, but lessons don't start up again until April, so right now he's just doing some free range art, he can choose if he wants to sketch, paint, sculpt, or whatever, as long as he spends time each day doing something art related until his teacher starts lessons up again.)
Adelia
-4 pages out of her math workbook
-20 minutes of Rosetta Stone German
-Find and write at least 3 facts for upcoming wax museum presentation (she is going to be Laura Ingalls Wilder)
-1 page our of her handwriting workbook
-10 minutes guitar practice
-photography (photography is Adelia's Technology class this year. She doesn't have a specific assignment that she has to do each day, but she is going through a National Geographics Photography Basics video series, and then using her Polaroid and digital cameras to practice the techniques she learns from the videos, and then creating a portfolio for the year.)
Ollie
-2 pages out of his Handwriting Without Tears workbook
-2 pages out of his Explode the Code workbook
-4 pages out of his math workbook
-20 minutes Rosetta Stone German
- 1 reading lesson out of Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Some days, Ruby (4) insists that I make her a list also. So on hers I usually put things like play with the tangram blocks, write your ABCs, play a game of Sum Swamp with Ollie, stuff like that. IN reality, she's probably ready to start reading lessons, but I've got to get Ollie finished with that book before I start Ruby in it. He's on lesson 89 out of 100, so it won't be long. The book works really well, which is why I use it, but it's not the most exciting book on the planet, and I only have the patience and will power to listen to one very beginning reader per day. Once Ollie's all the way through lesson 100 he'll be on about the level to read Dr. Seuss books. I'll still have to listen to him read out loud every day, but it won't be as painful as when they are just learning to sound out every word at a snail's pace, so I should be good to go to start Ruby on that journey. She's already sounding out little words, and trying to spell words when she has paper out. That's how I know she's ready. I'm the only thing holding her back.
Like I said above, at 4pm Lincoln and Ivan will go to chess club with a whole bunch of other homeschoolers in our town. This is the first week, but I think they'll really enjoy it. We live in a small town, so I'm always surprised how many homeschoolers there are here. I love it though. And I love that chess club is close enough for them to walk to. Even better.
Ivan's basketball league just ended, so we won't have anything going on this evening. It'll just be a quiet night at home.
We're all anxiously awaiting spring. But it's been snowy and gloomy for weeks. I know we need the snow, so I can't quite wish it away. But man, I could really use some sunshine and a 50 degree day. This winter has been a doosy.
But tomorrow is my birthday. :) 33 wonderful years old. And my mom is coming to hang out with me, so at least we'll get out of the house a bit.
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