Dance Recital

Anna had her first dance recital last week! She was really nervous about it (anyone who knows Anna knows she likes to overthink everything!), but the weekend was a big success for her! Grandma Honey and Grandpa came to watch her recital- it was so great to have them here with us! We started the day on Saturday doing Anna's hair-it had to be up in a bun, so I decided to try some braiding along with that (I must say, I am pretty proud of how it turned out- hair is definitely not one of my talents!). Her class does ballet and lyrical dance, so she had two separate costumes. The costumes were a big hit for her- so fun to get all dressed up! There are about 12 kids in her class and everyone did a great job, but particularly Anna, of course :) After her first dance on the stage I had to head back to help her change into her second costume. When I saw her she ran over to me and said "I had no idea recitals were so much fun!! Why was I worried about this??" Funny girl... Grandma Honey and Grandpa got her a beautiful ballet slipper Christmas tree ornament and we all pitched in to get her some flowers. Sam kept giving her the flowers over and over again, it was pretty sweet. It was fun to see her up on the stage and see how much she has developed this year. She is so graceful in her dancing and we are just so proud of her!

Catch-up

I have been doing a really bad job keeping my blog updated! So, to my six readers, I apologize! Here is a pretty old picture from Henry's Birthday. This is the snake Anna made for him. I promise to try to do better in coming weeks! We're busy getting all set for Christmas around here this week!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week already! Time is flying by this year- it's almost time to start thinking about Christmas! We can't wait to see my parents, brothers Jeff, Andy and his lovely wife Mackenzie. Usually we have Geoff's family here for Thanksgiving, so this will be a little different this year! My parents have hosted Thanksgiving at their house since we moved to Wisconsin when I was a kid, so it's a big deal that they are not going to be home this year! I am hoping to get most of the Thanksgiving stuff ready ahead of time so my Mom can have an actual vacation and enjoy not having to put together a big feast for once! This weekend will be filled with prep work, cleaning and a fun girls only outing for me - a movie with a friend. I'm looking forward to getting away for a few hours.

Next week we are taking a big break from most of our regular school stuff and focusing on Thanksgiving. I have a whole bunch of fun activities planned out - many thanks to Geoff's Aunt Adele for supplying us with a whole bunch of supplies!! I also picked up some library books on Pilgrims and Thanksgiving to read next week. We have reached the math lesson where Anna is supposed to set up a store and practice buying and selling things to get the hang of two digit addition problems. I figured that would be a fun thing to do with our guests and she is really excited to play store while they are here. We have been saving empty boxes and cans all week and pricing items out- it's been pretty fun! I'm looking forward to a really fun week next week!

Anna's outside classes and her school have been going well. Her dance recital is coming up so the girls in her class have been practicing their dances really hard. I am so impressed watching her dancing- she has really come a long way this year! She is loving Girl Scouts, as well. It's her turn to bring a snack next time and she's already talking about how it has to be something "nourishing." She's going to be the most popular girlscout when she brings carrot sticks - most of the girls bring cookies or cupcakes... One project the girls had to do was to demonstrate helpfulness by doing some sort of cleaning project around the house and leaving a little paper daisy behind to show that "a daisy was here." This seemed like a pretty good idea when I first heard about it, but one day in to the project I asked Anna to help clean up the living room. She told me she could only do clean-up jobs that I don't ask her to do... Hmm

Sam and Henry are busy as always. Sam loves everything- he brings so much enthusiasm to all he does. He is currently enjoying play dough, art projects involving cutting and gluing, and attempting to write letters. He learned to count to 100 the other day, although he still needs a little guidance with it. Henry is having fun following the big kids around. He has learned to count to 20 just from listening to the other kids. He also told me the other day "Augusta in Maine, Mommy!" He's like a little parrot... Henry had his 2 year checkup the other day. He is still 90th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight- our string bean boy. He did everything the doctor asked him to do- she was surprised that he wasn't at all bashful with her. We had a surprise at the end of the checkup- flu vaccines for all three kids. I did not prepare Anna for this possibility ahead of time and she did not take it well. She and Sam got the nasal mist, which really shouldn't have been a big deal, but she really freaked out. Sam went first and laughed when they gave him his mist. It was a struggle to convince Anna to move her arms away from her face... We got it done in the end, though. Maybe the shot would have been easier... Henry got the shot in his leg and when the nurse gave it to him he said "Ouch!" really loudly, then he was done. So of all the three kids, the only one who cried was Anna, and she didn't even get a shot! Figures... :)

I am so thankful this year for my family- I am truly blessed in my three unique, sweet, funny kids and my wonderful husband. Here is how my Dad describes his only grandkids to other people- Anna is the smartest kid in the world, Sam is the coolest kid in the world, and Henry is the sweetest kid in the world. He might have to change this once he has more grandkids, but speaking as their mother, I completely agree!! I would be lost without them! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Daniel

I would like to tell you about Daniel. Today he was supposed to be born. He lived for five months, much too short. His Dad never got to feel him moving or hear his heartbeat, although I did. Geoff held my hand while I delivered him alone in our hospital room last summer. We could hear the sounds of a newborn baby crying in the hallway, which seemed like the ultimate injustice at the time. We could see just how Daniel would have looked if he had made it to term. He had features like all the kids- he had Sam’s nose, Anna’s mouth and Henry’s long fingers and feet. Daniel, we miss you every day and wish more than anything that things would have turned out differently. Please send out a prayer for our family this week

Sam and the Giant Gorilla and Henry's Birthday

I haven’t gotten around to posting an update recently, so I’m playing catchup! Last week was Halloween and we had a great time celebrating. Anna dressed up as a princess, Sam was a knight, and Henry ended up being a cowboy (I waited until the day of Halloween to determine his costume and it mainly depended on what he would tolerate. He loved the cowboy boots, though, so we had a winner!). We started off the night with a dress-up party at Anna’s dance studio. Her dance teacher put on a really sweet party for the kids- they played “duck, duck, goose,” “Simon Says,” and a bean bag toss. Then they had snacks and listened to a quick bible study. Whenever she asked the kids a question Sam was the first on to answer- even though he wasn’t paying much attention to what she asked. I think when she asked one question about the bible story she read he answered “I know, guys! Let’s tell each other what our costumes are!!” You’ve got to love his enthusiasm, though! After the party we met some friends at their house to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. Sam was our most enthusiastic trick-or-treater- he had to lead the way and be the first to ring the doorbells. Anna took a little while to get into it, but she pretty much followed Sam’s lead and had a lot of fun collecting candy. Henry didn’t seem to know what was going on- he just meandered behind the group looking around and about every third house or so made it to the front door and held out his candy bucket. He seemed to have fun, though! The funniest moment of the evening was when we came across an adult dressed in a full gorilla suit. Sam was pretty startled and didn’t take his eyes of the giant gorilla. He very slowly sidled next to Geoff and casually reached for his sword. He didn’t take his eyes of the gorilla for a second. Then he held his sword up in front of him and looked really hard at the gorilla and said “Happy Halloween.” After the gorilla responded in kind Sam felt it was safe to slowly back away, but he made sure to keep his sword raised and himself between the rest of us and the gorilla. How can you not love Sam?

We had a really fun Birthday party for Henry this weekend- not only did we get to spend it with Grandma Honey and Grandpa and Uncle Tom, but we also got to play at Chuck E Cheese and have cupcakes and presents. Everyone had a great time - but Henry was pretty tired out by the time we got home for cake... Anna and Sam had fun "helping" him open his presents and now they are having fun helping him play with them! Sam picked out a Spiderman keychain for his prize at Chuck E Cheese, then he gave it to Henry as a birthday present along with a few pieces of his Halloween candy. Anna worked really hard to make a stuffed animal snake for Henry- it really turned out great (it was originally going to be a scarf, but she realized that Henry might not appreciate that quite as much as a toy)! She chose the patterns and sewed all the patches together by hand- and by herself. I helped her sew the back on with the sewing machine. She is really proud of it and it really turned out to be really cute! Henry also got a few new books from Mom and Dad, clothes from Grammy and Grampy, and a farm playset from Grandma and Grandpa Honey that all the kids have already thoroughly enjoyed. It’s always so much fun to have visitors- but everybody sure is tired out!

I'll have to post pictures later- it's not working at the moment!

Lazy Sunday

It has been a wonderful, lazy Sunday here. It's the perfect fall day- blue skies, cool air. The boys are taking naps! Long naps! They both really need them, also... Don't get me wrong, I love to have them around, but sometimes it is just so nice to have a break from the mayhem! Anna read her book (this week she's working on "On the Shores of Silver Lake") for an hour, then we did some fun crafts are almost impossible to do with Henry and Sam underfoot. We made birds and fish out of cut up paper, glitter glue and feathers. Then we had time for our new favorite card game- we call it "Fish for 10s." Basically, you play "Go Fish" except instead of trying to get pairs, you try to get combinations of two cards that add up to 10. Anna almost always wins- but I won today! Best of all, we got to play with Geoff! Anna loves showing off for her Daddy! Now Anna is outside helping Geoff with the birds. It's nice for her to have some time alone with us once in a while.

Yesterday we brought Anna to the eye doctor and found out what we had been suspecting- she needs glasses! Her vision is actually pretty bad- the doctor said she will need to wear her glasses all the time. She is near sighted, so it hasn't been a problem for her school work since most of what we do is set on a table in front of us or on my lap while we sit together on the couch. We noticed in recent months that she wants to be really close to the TV when we watch movies, though. She is very very excited to get her glasses- she was disappointed when she found out that they had to be ordered and she couldn't bring them home right away. I feel a little bad that we didn't get her in sooner! At least we got it done, though, and now she'll be able to see much better. She had fun at the eye doctor's- all the office ladies were delighted with her- she's such a sweetheart!

So, we just finished up a busy week and we have another one on the way! Tomorrow we have my Mom's group meeting at our church in the morning, then Tuesday are Co-op classes and dance class in the evening. Luckily that's all on the calendar for now- we might try to organize a playdate for Friday. Anna continues to work really hard at school - she's an amazing pupil! We had a pretty rough day last week where she had zero attention span and she told me she wished she was Sam so she could just play all day (this was while Sam was whining about how he wants to do school "like Anna" and ride his bike "like Anna"), but we got through it. This week we are continuing to learn state capitals, studying amphibians, and our usual math/grammar/writing stuff. The weather is supposed to be nice all week, so we'll do plenty of outside play as well!

No More Training Wheels!

We are so proud of our big girl who can now bike all on her own! Next up - learn how to stop!

Sick Week

It’s been a really great past few weeks- the weather here has been so wonderful! We’re starting to see a lot of fall color as well. Fall is definitely my favorite season- I wish it lasted more than just a few months! Unfortunately, everyone at our house, starting with Anna, has gotten sick this week. Over the weekend I lost my voice, but luckily it's back again now. We decided to take the entire week off of our extracurricular activities and just try to get everybody healthy again. It’s been nice to have a quiet week at home. The kids are feeling pretty good, but they have awful coughing fits and runny noses that make me want to keep them away from other kids! So, we have still been busy with school, but also with biking! I don’t actually know the typical age kids start biking on only two wheels (both Geoff and I were super old when we learned), but Anna and Sam are almost biking on their own now! Both of them, but especially Anna, are very proud of themselves! I am amazed- I figured that if they were able to bike without training wheels by the time they turn 10 we’d be in good shape! We have an old, small bike that had one broken training wheel, so I took both training wheels away. I was thinking that the kids could use it mainly for balance practice, but they have both started biking on it! Anna gets nervous about things like that, so it was a big step for her to decide on her own to try it out. Sam will try anything- especially if it is something Anna is interested in… I think he can bike farther than she can since he can move his little legs so fast on the pedals. I think we will be able to take the training wheels off their regular bikes this weekend! Very exciting

Sam has been so interested in learning how to write his name that I decided I should start teaching him his letters more systematically- try to head off any bad habits before they are ingrained. So we are going to start Hand Writing Without Tears for preschoolers. This is a very gentle introduction to capital letters and numbers with lots of non-writing activities to get ready for writing. We are only going to work on it when he’s interested- I’m not planning anything formal for him yet. So far he is loving it- we started with “S” even though it is definitely not the first letter recommended. We “built” the letter out of some foam shapes I made, practiced the letter on a chalk board with wet sponges, chalk and fingertips before trying out some paper work. Sam did really well with it! He’s got his capital A down, so next up is the letter “M!” I’m not sure why I’m always surprised to see Sam so interested in writing/coloring etc- maybe it’s because he is such a crazy active boy most of the time! I am going to post a picture he drew on his own today- I was amazed by it! Not too bad for a kid who had no interest in touching a crayon until a few months ago!

Anna continues to do a great job with her school work. I’m learning a lot from her work also- did you know, for example, that when you have a single syllable word with an “o” or an “i” followed by two consonants that the vowels usually make their long sounds? This is called the “find gold rule,” in case you care. I have also reminded myself of the state capitals, what the definition of an adverb is, and more about fish than I ever wanted to know. It is funny to hear Sam singing the songs for the definitions of nouns and verbs and how to write a complete sentence! Henry even chimes in on some of the songs! In her free time, Marianna is still obsessed with dinosaurs and drawing in addition to biking and reading. Her pictures are amazing- I love to see all the details she will add to a scene. I’m not actually sure why I am doing an art curriculum at all, since she spends so much time each day drawing. She also continues to make good progress in her reading out loud- today she read me a chapter from Little House on the Prairie and did an excellent job.

Henry is talking up a storm- this morning he said: “Happy to see you” to me. Such a sweetie. He also sings constantly - that is, when he’s not being really quiet and sneaky and trying to escape from the house through the laundry room door. I installed some child proof knobs, but I have a feeling they won’t be Henry-proof… If Henry had his way he would be outside all day long!

Whirl-wind Weekend

The guys goofing around practicing handstands- even Henry!


Maybe Henry will just teach himself to read!


Thanks to the Brewers making it into the playoffs with home field advantage, we were able to make a trip to Wisconsin so Geoff, his parents and his brother Tom could go to the first game. We got in very very late on Friday night and everyone was up at about the usual time (which is still 6 for us). Geoff and I were kind of hoping that the kids would sleep in a little, but oh well. We had a fun filled morning playing and visiting with the cows. Henry especially loved the tractor toy- it kept him very occupied out in the yard! Then Jenna, Michael and cousin Simon arrived- it was so much fun to see how much Simon has grown in just a few short months! The kids all had a great time hanging out together. More Aunts and Uncles came and the kids and I had a really fun, relaxing day while Geoff had a great time watching the Brewers win- Marianna and Aunt Tricia even set up a tea party complete with cupcakes for all of us!

Sunday was another busy, fun day with lots and lots of great football food. After church we stopped at the grocery store and each person got to pick out what game day food they would like. That was really fun! Sam picked canteloupe, Anna picked icecream cones, and Henry came along for the ride. Besides watching the Packers game, the kids had naps (even Anna!), a ride behind a tractor to feed some very angry cows (technically, one bull and one steer), and a football game in the back yard. We didn't get back on the road for home until 7:30, so it made for a really late night, but it was worth it for such a great weekend! Every time we are back in Wisconsin we always wish we lived closer! At least her in Missouri we are only 6 hours away instead of the 12 hours away we lived in Pennsylvania! Thanks to Jim and Mary Jo for putting up with all of us and giving us such a great time! (I would have posted some pictures from this weekend- but I forgot my camera!)

I knew everyone would be tired on Monday, so I had planned out a pretty light day for school. The kids all slept in until 7am! That was a nice surprise! We got a good day of school in- we were able to do English, Grammar and Science outside while the boys played on the bikes and Geoff's tractor. There was still plenty of time before lunch for Anna to join the boys on her bike also! It was a perfect fall day- so nice that it makes you forget how hot and miserable it was here all summer!

Here's the plan for the rest of the week:

We are working on State Capitals for the Southern Border states, classifying short sentences and learning about pronouns, continuing to memorize addition facts and practice doubles addition, studying fish in science, doing writing and narration exercises from Charlotte's Web, reading worksheets on "Harry the Dirty Dog," and practicing memory work. Hopefully I can get to the grocery store sometime!!

Tuesday- School after breakfast, then off to Art, Drama and Music. Finish any school in the afternoon, then dance class in the evening.
Wednesday- School, then girlscouts meeting in the evening
Thursday- School and my (hopefully) final doctors appointment to do one final blood test
Friday- Catchup and art day for school, possible playdate as long as everyone is healthy!

I'm looking forward to a wonderful week and hope you have the same!

Oh Henry

We are very lucky at our house- about once a week this really cool show comes to our backyard! It keeps Henry entertained- and still!! - for about an hour at a time. All he has to do it sit by a window and wait for Daddy to drive by on the riding lawn mower. Talk about excitement! Sometimes he does have to move to a new window to see better...

"Where is Daddy?"

"Mommy , where IS Daddy?"

"Are you sure he's coming? Soon?"

"I guess I'll wait a little longer..."

"There he is!! Hi Daddy! Bye Daddy"

Henry actually says "Where is Daddy?", "Hi Daddy" and "Bye Daddy." The rest I added for him :) I'm sure he won't mind. I just love that little boy of mine...

The serious, furious dragon

I just wanted to share the start of a story that Marianna began last night. Her plan is that it will be 10 pages, with illustrations done by Sam. She asked me how to spell "serious," otherwise it was done on her own.

A transcript, in case it is hard to see:

Once upon a time a long
time ago, there was a dragon
who was very bad and
serious and fuarious (furious) who lived
in a cave. It was very dark and
was a good home to the
dragon. He was very neat and
clean, and had a good life
in his cave home.

Week 6 Complete!

Well, we have successfully completed our sixth week of school and we are still on track! It has been a good week here. We made home-made compasses, tracked caterpillar growth, drew pictures of spiders and ants, made maps of rooms, weighed mystery objects on the kitchen scale, memorized doubles math facts and another poem, successfully wrote "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and much more. Anna also finished "The Ordinary Princess," and is working on finished "Little House on the Prairie" and "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe." I am reading "The Silver Chair" to the kids at naptime, and the other day Anna did not want to have to wait for the next day and stayed up late reading ahead (I did not realize this until the next morning when I went to wake her up at 7 and found her reading yet again- I assume she slept part of the night at least).

Anna had the second week of her arts classes and was pretty excited to make two new friends there. The boys kept me very busy while she was in class- things are much simpler when we are at home... The church where the classes meet is really nice and has a nice big nursery, but for some reason, Henry especially is not interested in staying in one room but feels he must escape periodically. It's tough to have a conversation with someone when I constantly have to sprint down the hallway after him. I guess I'm getting my daily exercise in at least...

Sam is making great progress in his "studies" as well. He loves to write "A" and is working on the other two letters in his name. He does really well sometimes, but it's a process. He wants to learn to read, so we are doing some letter work together. He looks for letters he knows everywhere- it's fun to see him so excited. He is doing really well in his Sunday school class- his teacher told me that he helped her teach "Jesus Loves Me" to the class (this is one of his current favorite songs, so it means he sings it over and over and over and over again- hopefully his teacher was able to convince him to stop singing it at the end of the lesson). His other favorite song is "ABC," but I am having a really tough time convincing him that the letter "N" belongs in there... Sam is loving drawing and painting lately- he only wants to draw knights, unicorns and swords. A Mom at the Co-op really thinks Sam is hilarious and even brought him a gift of a knight/castle coloring book last week. That has been keeping him occupied! Sam gets frustrated when he can't draw something the way he wants- Anna keeps reminding him that she drew just like him when she was his age :)

Henry is talking up a storm these days. He is quite the mimic and will try to say anything you ask him to. He also has long conversations that are complete nonsense, but we all pretend we understand what he is saying. He sings also- in the car the other day he "sang" the entire way home. He is also getting very interested in using the potty- although he calls is the "pot," which for some reason I think is really cute. He has pooped on the pot twice now- after the first time, we were all cheering for him and Sam came over with his sword, tapped him on the shoulders and said, "I dub thee knight!" How's that for motivation!

Anna had her first dance class this past week- we are at the different place that only does dance, and not gymnastics also. This will be her first "real" ballet class where she will learn actual dances rather than playing dancing games. Also, there is a nice big window so parents can actually watch the class! Geoff and I were so impressed by how good she looked doing her bar exercises- she was so graceful. A group at our church is starting a Daisy Girl Scout troop, so next week we will have the first meeting. We are so lucky to have a great group of little girls all the same age in Anna's Sunday school class, and it will be fun to see them again for Girl Scouts. So, with her arts classes, Sunday school, dance class and Girl Scouts it is shaping up to be a busy year! I am thinking about putting Sam in a karate class starting next month- that seems like it will be right up his alley! I am also participating in a Mom's group that meets two Monday mornings each month. We had our first meeting this past week and I think it is going to be a great year with a bunch of really nice Moms.

We are enjoying the cool fall air here (finally!!). I hope everyone has a great weekend!