Daybook

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

Outside my window…it’s sunny and beautiful.  It may be extremely hot here in Texas but it’s almost always sunny and beautiful.

I am thinking…Daxson and I have almost been married 7 years (come this Sunday) but that’s nothing compared to the 38 years my parents have been married.  Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad…here’s to many more!

I am thankful for…the sacrament of marriage.  Feeling disillusioned about marriage?   Read Holly Pierlot’s article on Happily Ever After.  (In fact, if you haven’t already, read Holly Pierlot’s book A Mother’s Rule of Life…perhaps, like me, you’ll find it a welcome compass in a chaotic world.)

From the learning rooms…just finished Blueberries for Sal…amazing how many things we can think of to drop into a bucket so we can hear Kurplank! Kurplink! Kurplunk!

From the kitchen…this afternoon, when Joseph wakes up from his nap, we’re planning to make homemade applesauce…some things in life just aren’t the same when you buy them.

I am wearing…jean shorts and a coral colored t-shirt.

I am creating…a list of books to look for next time I go to Half Price Books. 

I am praying…for Cathy and the healing she needs. 

I am remembering…how last night when I crawled into bed with Joseph and William, I heard Joseph mumbling in his sleep.  I looked over at him and he was signing in his sleep.  Isn’t that extraordinary? 

I am hoping…that I am setting a good example for my children.  Actions truly do speak louder than words and I know I have so much room to grow. 

I am hearing…the beef sizzle on the stovetop.  Mom’s making The Barefoot Contessa’s homemade beef stew and it smells delicious!

One of my favorite things…staying up late with Mom to watch shows like Clean House or What Not to Wear.

A few plans for the rest of the week:  I think we’re going to try to visit the Wildflower Gardens tomorrow…wildflowers in Texas this time of year?  Remarkable. 

Here is picture I thought worth sharing…

38 years of love!

Don’t forget to visit Peggy’s blog for more daybooks!

Circle Time

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

Joseph, William, and I have a special routine for the beginning of our “school” days.  No matter how much or how little we school each day, we always, always start out the same way.  When I first decided to blog about this time, I wasn’t sure what to title my blog.  Then the term “circle time” popped into my head.  Lingo from my days as a school teacher. 

At first, I thought to myself, I don’t think I can really call the beginning of our day circle time…after all, there’s just me, Joseph, and William.  We hardly form a circle unless we’re sitting knee to knee and that would require William to actually sit still for more than 15 seconds and even then, that would be a tiny circle.  But in essence that’s what the beginning of our day is…circle time…the time of our day when we all gather round to enjoy various activities together such as calendar, reading, praying, sharing, singing, laughing, dancing…or, as it is formally defined by wikipedia, a “time that a group of people are sitting together for an activity involving everyone”. 

So here’s a little peek into our morning circle time…

  • Calendar:  We use the Carson Dellosa calendar/weather pocket chart.  I chose this one because it is bilingual…the reverse side of every card has the word in Spanish, which makes for easy review and practice.  So each day, we identify what today is, what tomorrow will be, what yesterday was.  We mark the weather, identify the season, clap the days of the week and months of the year and practice spelling them, practice counting patterns, etc.  We practice common questions and answers that preschoolers need to know (but are sometimes so obvious to us as parents that we forget to teach them!)…his name, his parents’ names, his address and phone number, his birthday.  We practice some of the basics of his catechesis…what is he, who created him,  who is Jesus, why did Jesus die, etc.
  • Prayer:  After we’ve finished with the calendar, we easily transition into prayer time because we use the prayers from Give Me Grace by Cynthia Rylant…I typed them up and added my own illustration to each one, laminated them and hung them on a hook (if you don’t have a copy of this book, get one!  It has a prayer for each day of the week…so simple, yet so heartfelt for children).  Joseph pulls off the prayer for whatever day it is and we pray that first.  Then we pray the Angel of God prayer and a Hail Mary.  Finally we add other prayers and words of thanksgiving depending on what’s in our hearts each day. 
  • Songs:  Next we sing our Month song.  I used the month songs from Chicken Soup with Rice (can you believe it…that is how I learned the months of the year…when I was in Kindergarten, my teacher used a huge chart reproduction of the book and each morning during “circle time” we sang the entire song/book), blew up each page, laminated them and hung them on a hook under our days of the week prayers.  Joseph leads us in the Pledge of Allegience and the Star Spangled Banner.  We sing whatever else is on our minds including a variation of The More We Get Together that I got from the Little Saints Preschool program.
  • Fingerplays/Felt:  Depending on what we’re studying in “school” that week, I usually try to do a few fingerplays or some felt board fun during circle time.  I love the book The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays and Chants by Jackie Silberg and of course, we adore Wee Sing Fingerplays.  I also use Little Saints as a reference because it’s organized by theme so it’s easy to find a fingerplay to go along with whatever we’re learning.  As for felt, we have lots of different felt sets that we use ranging from the basics like colors and shapes to more elaborte storytelling sets. 
  • Poetry:  I typically find a poem that goes along with what we’re learning about that week, usually using Little Saints as a guide, but you could just as easily pick up The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist or Favorite Poems Old and New edited by Helen Ferris and choose a poem.  Read it every day that week and your child will have it memorized in no time! 
  • Posters:  We have a pile of posters that we choose from each day…the kind of posters you buy at the education store (and of course, get laminated for extra long use!).  Our posters range in topic from instruments to cloud types to short vowel sounds and everything in between!  Little kids are like sponges, so it’s great to offer them all kinds of information that they just soak up. 
  • Bible or Saint Story

Tracy at Pinewood Castle has some beautiful, detailed circle time plans if you’re looking for something a little more in depth (and very impressively organized!)

A Birthday Month

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

We’re taking our time celebrating William’s 1st birthday.  April has become his month. 

First, we celebrated his birthday together as a family on the 10th…just the four of us with birthday muffins for breakfast (baked by Joseph!) and a few small gifts.  Grandma Nury came by to play for a little while and then we spent the day doing all the things that William loves…we played outside, we played inside, he chose the Signing Time movie to watch during lunch.  He nursed, he napped, he snuggled.  I think if he were able to talk, he’d say it was a perfect day. 

Then mid-month, Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Gary came, bearing gifts, to celebrate his birthday.  So we celebrated again.  This time Grandpa Gary put together his new toys, the boys played and played and played, William chased the dogs, and again, he nursed, he napped, he snuggled.  Perfect day #2. 

Exploring his new beach quilt made just for him by Grandma Cindy

Ew!

Then toward the end of the month, Auntie Leslie, Uncle Dustin, and Alex came for a visit.  This time they played and played and played.  We visited the aquarium, ate cupcakes, chased balls, shared toys, and even did a little nursing and napping (not much time for snuggling).  Perfect day #3.

Reading with Aunt Leslie

A cupcake for me?

This is very interesting.

It's even in my ear!

At the aquarium

So all that worry I allowed myself to feel over not throwing an official party for William’s 1st birthday?  Pointless.  He could care less about a party.  But to be in the spotlight for a month?  That was pure joy.  You just saw the pictures that prove it.

Daybook

/ Stacie / 3 Comments

Outside my window…it’s breezy and sunny…a perfect day for a picnic, which is exactly what we did with our friend Marjorie…nothing beats the simplicity of pb & j sandwiches, chips, and fresh, sweet strawberries (thanks Marjorie!). 

I am thinking…childhood is so sweet. 

I am thankful for…running water.  It’s always the simple things we take for granted.

From the learning rooms…Started using the Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading, which Joseph loves…he looks forward to each new one-liner to add to our sound poems; picked up Saxon Math again; and this week is Katy No Pocket for Before Five in a Row, which of course is leading us down many rabbit trails. 

From the kitchen…planning to bake brownies with Joseph this week.

I am wearing…jean shorts and an indigo tank top.

I am creating…a healthy home.  We’re now including exercises into our morning routine (made exercise cards on cardstock and laminated them; Joseph chooses from the pile and we all hop, skip and reach to the sky amongst other things; plus made cards with each Itsy Bitsy Yoga exercise and Joseph randomly chooses 5 of those each morning); I’ve been sneaking all kinds of delicious goodies into our meals like flax seed, lentils and sweet potatoes; the house is spotless courtesy of Shaklee’s Get Clean line. 

I am going…crazy trying to choose a curriculum for Joseph for next year.  There are so many choices…I am completely overwhelmed!  How do you choose?

I am reading…The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society by Beth Pattillo just for fun and Final Harvest by Wayne Weible…another book about the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje…incredible.

I am hoping…that Daxson takes some time off after this April 30th deadline is over…he deserves it!

I am hearing…Joseph tell William not to stand on the chair and not to bang his head.  I am getting a little tired of saying it so it’s nice to hear someone else say it! 

Around the house…still organizing toys.  It’s taking awhile…here’s why:

One of my favorite things…cute little cousins all dressed alike (courtesy of Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Gary). 

A few plans for the rest of the week:  My week is almost over since I’m late posting this, so we’ll just school and read and play for the rest of the week. 

Here is picture I thought worth sharing…

Reading together before bed

Don’t forget to visit Peggy’s site for more daybooks!

Chasing birds

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

Last Sunday was a perfect day…perfect temperature, perfect weather…lots of sunshine, not much humidity, so we packed a picnic and headed to the University.  After lunch, we fed our scraps to the birds.  Joseph exclaimed, “I want to catch one!” and set off to try to do just that.  Of course, William took off after Joseph (although I’m not so sure he was bird-catching, perhaps just Joseph-catching).

The boys played a game of peek-a-boo as we were packing up to leave.

Family Time

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

One thing I’ve noticed as our families have been growing…it’s getting harder and harder to coordinate everyone’s schedules so we’re all in the same place at the same time.  But a few weeks ago, I guess the stars were aligned just right because we were all able to meet for dinner…we were all there at the same time, in the same place.  Joseph had a great time playing with his cousins and William had a great time just playing and of course, I enjoyed having a night off from cooking!

Not sure what they're all ducking from...

Dirt, dirt, dirt

/ Stacie / Leave a comment

Boys will be boys.  And William is 100% boy.  We went to dinner at Grandma Nury’s and Grandpa Larry’s a few weeks ago and William discovered Grandpa’s garden.  Oh, what joy!  What bliss!  What an utter mess! 

Joseph helped Grandpa pick radishes from the garden.

What are you looking at?

Grandma Nury was very hesitant to take that dirty little paw in her hand!

This is so fun!

Daxson's reaction to seeing William...Joseph's reaction was pretty similar...like Daddy, like Son.

Caps for Sale

/ Stacie / 2 Comments

I know, I know, I’ve been slacking off on blogging.  But, wait, I have a good excuse.  Joseph loves the book Caps for Sale.  Just loves it.  Walks around calling out, “Caps!  Caps for sale!  50 cents a cap!”  He’s been known to stack Daddy’s caps on his head in imitation of the peddler.  He loves to pretend to yell at the monkeys.  So inspired by his love for the peddler and all of his many caps, I’ve been skipping my blog so I could spend my time creating felt characters for Caps for Sale.  Yes, it’s taken me awhile and really I could have bought a set for $7 on e-bay, but not one single set on e-bay has all 16 monkeys, not one single set has tulip flowers to decorate the ground with, not one single set has a peddler with brads in his shoulders so that his arms move…oh, and not one single set was made especially for Joseph and William by Mommy.  I’d say that’s well worth the week I’ve skipped of blogging. 

Strange but true

/ Stacie / 2 Comments

Don’t ask me why, but when Joseph reads Dr. Seuss’s ABC book, he always exclaims, “Wait!  I need my glasses!”  That’s the only book he does that with.  It’s strange, but true.

Daybook

/ Stacie / 1 Comment

Outside my window…it’s cloudy, but not raining as was predicted.

I am hoping…after I finish this blog, to have a little time to read before the kids wake up from their naps.

I am thankful for…Daxson offering to run to the grocery store for some fruit and milk.

From the learning rooms…The Little Red Hen.

From the kitchen…anything that William can eat…I’m tired of cooking multiple meals!

I am wearing…khackis and a brown t-shirt.

I am creating…all kinds of new educational manipulatives, from lacing cards to sequence cards and tracing cards to felt stories.

I am going…to have to get Joseph some more map puzzles.

I am overwhelmed…by the realization that Joseph is only limited by me…he is just a big sponge and the more I offer, the more he learns.

I am praying…along with Wayne Weible in his Medjugorje Prayer Book.

I am hearing…the hum of the computer and the sound of lullaby music from the bedroom.

Around the house…trying to rotate toys, so I’ve been cleaning, organizing and sorting.

One of my favorite things…Lucky Charms…yep, it’s true…I love those little multicolored marshmallows and cereal.  Yum.

A few plans for the rest of the week:  Organize, sort, rearrange.  Color, laminate, cut manipulatives.  Clean.  Play.  School.  Not in that order.

Here is picture I thought worth sharing…

Lisa and baby Kate stopped by to visit last week!