(And All My) Work Be Praise

We've had two fun weekends this month -- not that we don't always have fun weekends, but these were especially fun events.  :)   First up, our township of residence hosted a "meet the fire department" event, complete with ambulances and fire trucks old and new that kids could climb on and sit in.  Levi, of course, delighted in finding clocks inside all of the vehicles. Inside something . . . the fire truck, I think.  We're a little far away in this picture, but the old fire trucks were neat (just like our favorite fire truck book) !  There were flames on hinges in each of the windows that each kid got to shoot down with the hose! Inside the Red Cross vehicle. Then last weekend, we hit up a not-quite-local [greater Cincinnati, but a good half-hour away] "pumpkin festival."  We were hoping for a bit more of a pumpkin patch atmosphere (complete with apple cider and donuts, if Isaac had his druthers), but this was definitely a festival, complete with ...

With Levi's love of numbers and colors, Isaac and I realized not too long ago that he might actually be able to play UNO, or at least a simplified version.  My in-laws had a set they were willing to lend out (because how often do they and great-Grandpa play UNO, really . . . ), so we removed all of the "action" cards (reverse, skip, draw two, etc.) and brought it home. In the mood for something new, I brought it out today and asked Levi if he wanted to play a game.  He really has no idea what a "game" is, but when I mentioned matching colors and numbers, he sat down with great interest (though it took some convincing to have him sit facing me instead of on my lap).  I gave him and myself five cards each, and placed them face-up in front of us.  Each turn went something like this: Me: I see a yellow four.  Do you have any yellow cards? Levi: (nods, and usually declares its number) Me: Yay!  You can match your yellow card on top of the yellow four. Lev...

A few weeks ago, while Levi happened to be playing happily alone and Owen was napping, I amused myself by using our Melissa and Doug blocks  to shape letters on the masking-tape letters of our homemade alphabet rug .  Once he noticed, Levi found this quite amusing, and had me do several. This afternoon, I came into the room to find him placing blocks on the letters himself!  I always love it when he initiates an activity like that, especially when I hadn't even thought to make it a project for him.  I thought the block letters looked rather neat, if I do say so myself.  Long after we ran out of suitable blocks, he wanted more letters completed, so I had to get creative with the various toys sitting around (most of those are not pictured here).  (Please note: I did these, not Levi.  He covered up two of the horizontal strokes of the E and declared, "E.")

I would be remiss to write about the spring of 2006  if I did not also relate the fall's events. What's the big deal now?  Well, five years ago today, at approximately 7:00pm, a new guy showed up at our church's young adults' Bible study.  Again, it was a good long time ago, really, but a few details stuck in my head (and who knows why I was even paying attention?!): *New guy was short, bespectacled, and wearing a yellow T-shirt.  (I have no idea what I was wearing.) *New guy sat on the couch closest to the door of our pastor's old house, while I sat in a chair next to the dining room (and the snacks.  Some things never change). *New guy typed notes onto his laptop instead of using the paper outline and pen like the rest of this.  I found this rather pretentious. *New guy claims to have tried to talk to me that evening.  As any good introvert would, I backed out or ignored him or some other mildly-rude behavior to save me from a conversation wit...

So, last Monday I spent our extra-long nap time reading a fascinating book: Why Gender Matters  by Dr. Leonard Sax.  Isaac discovered it through a recommendation from the Westminster Bookstore .  Dr. Sax is a secular psychologist (and the book is very obviously not written from a Christian perspective), but his research on gender differences is remarkably profound.  He addresses issues for both boys and girls, but given my boy-heavy household, I was particularly drawn to the information pertaining to boys. Some scientifically-researched facts (though of course I would encourage you to read the book and decide from context what you agree with): Girls hear better than boys from birth.  (So, for example, a boy who appears not to be paying attention in class might just not be able to hear his female teacher.) Boys' eyes are predominantly comprised of the cells that track motion.  Girls' eyes mostly contain the cells that compile information about texture a...

Yesterday evening I posted on Facebook "what a perfect day" I'd had.  I chuckled to myself when I thought of what that might have meant ten or even five years ago: sleep in late, graze on a sugar-filled breakfast, settle in for an all-day Anne of Green Gables  marathon or something of the sort, order in Chinese for dinner.  Such days are long gone, of course.  While it still sounds nice occasionally, the "perfect day" of this stage of life is much more satisfactory. 5am : Owen wakes up, but since he doesn't always go back to sleep if I nurse him at 5am, I decide to wait a while.  He's back to sleep within half an hour. 6:45am : Isaac's alarm goes off and he sleeps through it, so I nudge him out of bed. 7am : I shower and dress. 7:30am : I wake up Owen so that he will take a morning nap before we go out. 7:45am : Isaac leaves for work. 7:50am : Levi wakes up; I get him dressed. 8am : We feast on zucchini bread made the night before; the boys a...

As promised, here's a recap of the activities we tried on our trip to Texas: Another version of the  Fruit Loop Chart  .  This time, instead of coloring in the square, Levi practiced drawing circles.  He loves to draw circles and I think he preferred this to the first iteration.  (My apologies for the super-dark picture, but I don't know how to fix it.  My husband will wish I had him take the picture.) A sticker counting activity based on  The Poky Little Puppy , a favorite from my childhood that Levi now loves.  If you're not familiar with the book, five little puppies dig a hole under the fence to go out into the wide, wide world and scramble up a hill.  Levi tells us regularly about the puppy and the hole.  I've done this before (equally poorly-drawn on the fly!) with duck stickers and numbered ponds. Before. After.   Notice how he likes to put ALL of the stickers on top of the number.   Obviously, I finished the seven...

 . . . and I apologize for the short blogging hiatus!  The past week has been one big "catch up from the trip to Texas."  On top of that, the church kids' choir program that I co-direct started back up this week, and there was a ton to do for that!  I promised you reviews of the activities I put together for Levi's plane ride, and that post is started, hopefully to be finished tomorrow evening.  In the meantime, a few thoughts from the past two weeks: --It was truly wonderful to have five whole days with my dear friend Rebekah (and her family).  I didn't realize how many days go by in which the person I talk to the most only answers in letter, color, or number, and to have another human being (and a kindred spirit at that) available to chat chat chat through every meal and every nap time and long walks in the pretty weather and all the rest of daily life . . . how refreshing!  Would I choose to live with another adult female in the house on a permane...