Happy Birthday, Eva's Baby!

Eva has been having babies like crazy lately.  It seems like I'm gaining a new grandbaby every other day.  She goes through the whole bit every time:

Eva waddles up to me, patting her swollen belly, and joyfully announces her pregnancy.  Of course, I exclaim, "Oh!  How wonderful!  When are you going to have it?"

Very soon after that - her pregnancies are always much shorter than mine - she plunks herself on the couch.  She grunts and moans and pushes and POP!

"Mama!  Look!  I have a new baby" and she proudly presents me a swaddled baby doll. 

And, as most  babies do, they grow up too fast.  Barely an hour after Eva's Baby (that's her real name) was born, we celebrated her first birthday. 

Eva taped posters to the wall to make sure everyone knew about the party.

I made lemonade and Fake S'mores

We all took turns holding the baby.

We followed Eva's instructions and made cards.

We wrapped some gifts.

We also danced the "Cha Cha Slide".  Sadly, I don't have any pictures of that.  Sorry.

How great is it that we can celebrate our children's births, even the plastic ones?  How great is it to watch your daughter love and care for her dollies and know that somehow, that love she is showing is really your love,  given to her, and re-distributed to her own loved ones?  Even better - the very same love that she gives really first started through my own mother, and her mother, and hers.

It's amazing. 

Look, Mom!

He's every bit the boy, that one!  Rubber boots, muddy hands, black eye and handling toads.

I asked him what he was going to name his toad, and he said, "Toad."   Very good.  It's an obvious, no-nonsense moniker.

Shortly after, Toad wriggled out of Graedy's grasp and squeezed himself through a crack in the deck, never to be seen again.

No problemo!  The kids raced back to the toad spot and Maddie caught herself another one.  When I asked her what this one would be named, she said, "Toad.  Toadda.  Todd.  ROBIN!!"   So Robin it is.  The first thing Robin did in her home/tote was to explore all the sides by frantically jumping and trying to scale the walls to freedom.  The second thing she did was release some bubbles.

I believe it might have been toadstool.

PS - At the time of this writing, Robin is now named Speckles.

Prom Night

My sister, L, is graduating from high school.  Prom was tonight, and we were able to go see the Grand March. 

Here's my baby sister, all grown up and lady-like.  J, her date, is very dapper as well!

It's Summer Time!!

School's out for summer!  Yay!  The kids are excited, and so am I.  Bring on the sunshine, cuz we are in dire need of some maxin' and relaxin'. 

We were going to have our last official day of school on Wednesday, but after weeks (it felt like weeks, anyway) of rain, we got our first hot and sunny day.  Therefore, I pulled that 'Get out of school free' card and declared today the start of summer vacation. 

Like every year, I've played with the idea of schooling through the summer months.  Like every year, that has ended with the conclusion of - Are you kidding me??!! 

I'm gonna kick back with a Limonana (new recipe!) and watch the kids play. 

A Homeschool Update

May is almost over.  Tomorrow will be June 1st, and like every year, it takes me by surprise.  Wasn't it just yesterday that I was trying to enjoy the snow, but inwardly pining for midnight thunderstorms, smores 'round the campfire and lazy afternoons spent reading on a quilt under the apple tree? 

School is almost finished.  If we boogie, we can get it done in the next couple weeks.  Already I am planning next year's classes.  I'm amassing my curriculum, carefully doling out my homeschool pennies to get the most bang for my buck.  Luckily, we have wonderful friends from Tree of Life who are especially gifted in advising and encouraging. 

We had an amazing school year.  It wasn't amazing because everything went perfectly.  Rather, it was amazing because we were hit with one of the toughest times in our family's history....and got through it!  After months of discord and stress and chaos, we were forced to purge negative habits, relationships and attitudes.  Richard and I learned how to parent better.  We learned about patience.  We learned about limits.  We learned about taking better care of ourselves.  It sucked.  It was worth it.

So, the "home" part of homeschooling became very real to us.  The "school" part is much easier to measure.  Maddie is much happier and eager to learn.  She still loves to listen to me read, and would for hours if I let her!  She's reading a lot more on her own.  She's quite a gifted artist, and fills sketchbook after sketchbook with drawings of cats, people and suns.  She's been cruising along with Math, and has been learning long-division and volume and area and all that jazz.

Eva is a very good reader for her age.  During devotions, she likes to be the one to read the Bible.  She does really well on her spelling and her penmanship is getting much neater.  She loves to practice her French, and she's quite the singer and dancer.  She's learning about multiplication and can borrow and carry without too much fuss.  She's the little Mommy in the family, and keeps Gen and Graedon in line.

Graedy is still too young for any formal schooling, but he's very eager to start.  He listens in on the girls' lessons and does his "math" at the table with them.  He has surprised me lately with his drawing abilities.  His drawings of snowmen and tractors really do look like snowmen and tractors!  This is big progress!  He can trace letters very well, too.

Gen is a little monkey!  She likes to wreak havoc during school, but this teaches us all patience.  She likes to play with her babies, look at books, and colour while the other kids do their book work.  She's a handful, but she's so much fun.  She's doing really well in her french, too.

And so you have it.  Another year gone, it's lessons and experiences filed carefully into our brains. 

Now, Summer, it's your turn.

Readying the Apiary

It was a beautiful day so the kids and I set out to get our apiary ready.  I hauled out the paint cans from way back when we decorated the nursery before Maddie was born (was that really 9 years ago?).  Yes, we thought she was a boy, but the yellow and blue made for a cute girl room after a few adjustments :)

I am not going to encourage them to help with the actual bees, at least, not for several years.  I think Maddie might be ready, but there's no hurry.  Keeping calm is crucial with bees, and until the kids have the maturity to stay calm in all situations, they can just watch from a distance.

Even Gen helped out withh the painting.  Those little jeans are now playclothes, but what fun for a toddler to paint like the big kids!

Only a few more weeks until our bees arrive!

Awana Awards

Maddie and Eva had their last Awana meeting.  Maddie earned a ribbon for finishing her book by the year's end.  Eva earned a certificate.

Here's their age group.

It's amazing how much they learned during Awana.  They came home with songs, memorized verses and all sorts of new ideas!  Graedy is looking forward to the time he's old enough to join them.

After the ceremony they held a carnival in the gym.  We had hotdogs and hamburgers.

They played games and kept track of their points. 

Eva won a prize, too!

They're eager for next year to start already!