(And All My) Work Be Praise

Our customary breakfast donuts. Levi's five! It was a pretty low-key day around here: our usual donut breakfast from a local bakery, followed by presents from Mommy and Daddy (and my aunt, if she happens to have sent anything on previous visits). This year Levi got Locomotive  (which I blogged  about recently, but we've only ever had as a library book before) and a bicycle (plus helmet)! Very excited to see the book. Trying it on . . . backwards. And, he's off! We had planned an all-family trip to the library for story time, but Silas had a bit of a stomach bug in the morning, so just Levi and Owen went with Isaac. We met my mother-in-law and her dad (Oma and Great-Grandpa, to the boys) at Skyline for dinner (Levi's suggestion), then came back to our house for cake and ice cream. Levi's request: a reprise of his two-year-old-birthday clock cake and moose tracks ice cream. Easy enough! (You can find a picture of the original clock cake h...

Quite some time ago, I promised to post Levi's birth story at his next birthday. That was at least 2 years ago, maybe 3, and I never did it. So tonight, in honor of my firstborn's fifth birthday tomorrow, I will at last revisit my first-ever childbirth! (Re-posted and edited from the original Facebook "note.") For those of you who want the gory details (and I know some of you will), I was quite the miracle patient at Good Sam hospital on Wednesday night (or so they say). On Monday morning at my midwife appointment, I was maybe 50% effaced and considerably less than 1 centimeter dilated. "Keep your appointment for next week," I was told. Tuesday night at 11pm, I experienced one gush of fluid that I suspected was either my water breaking, or sudden overwhelming urinary incontinence. We called the midwives, who told me to wait 3 hours and if it continued, I would need to go in [being group B strep positive, there was more concern of infection should my wate...

Berry Month: Book 3 Jamberry This is another book I've seen on a few lists. We didn't have very many activities specifically designed for the book, but I'm glad I picked it up from the library anyway. It's just a sweet, playful book, and that's just as worthwhile as a great plot or incredible illustrations! My train-loving Owen was especially delighted by the tender full of blackberries on the train-themed page. (The "tender," for those of you not up on your train lingo, is the car full of coal that follows the engine.) Food blueberry pie (using this whole wheat pie crust ) blueberry breakfast bars Craft Since all three books featured bears, we read a book about bears ( this one , but any random book from the library would do!) and did a bear craft. I printed out this coloring page  for the boys to spread glue and sprinkle coffee grounds on. Easy and effective! Spreading glue with a popsicle stick.  Sprinkling coffee grounds. It's...

Berry Month: Book 2 The Little Mouse, the Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear I've seen this book on several book lists, and in a total coincidence our librarian read it at story time two weeks ago, but I personally don't see what all the hype is about. It is by Don and Audrey Wood (if you're not familiar with The Napping House , you should be), so the illustrations are beautiful, but the story itself isn't my favorite. Shrug. Food strawberries, of course! crepes with strawberry sauce Narration The ABCJesusLovesMe preschool curriculum linked to some coloring pages specifically for this book (the link will take you right to the page of ideas for this book). I printed on cardstock, let the boys color, cut them out myself (I was going to let Levi do it, but it would have taken forever), then let the boys act out the story on the table. They really enjoyed this activity! Coloring. Owen kept insisting the strawberries weren't ri...

Some 30 years ago, the church my husband grew up in founded a ministry to teach swimming. Lessons are one hour a day for five days in a row; each day they begin with group prayer and a rousing rendition of Philippians 4:13 . My husband taught lessons as a teen, and his mother still does (though not this year). Both Levi and Owen took lessons this year. The week before their lessons, we took them to the pool at my husband's office, and it was a complete disaster: Levi screamed in terror half the time, and Owen wouldn't even get in the pool. I braced myself for a loooong week. The transformative week in pictures: Monday Two scared little boys holding hands for prayer. Not excited about getting arm bands on. Hard to see, but that is not a happy face. Tuesday Clinging to the supervisor. Both boys. Owen's calm, but whenever Levi is on his back, you can be sure he's crying. Wait! Is that an almost-smile I see?! (Once he realized his feet c...

I'm experimenting this summer with doing some month-long (instead of week-long) themes. My master plan is to spend concentrated time on three books within the theme, plus whatever printables, crafts, and food ideas I can come up with. This month (July) is berries and next month will be oceans. Beyond that . . . well, we'll just have to see how the school-year schedule plays out. I'm still making final decisions for all of that. Blueberries for Sal   by Robert McCloskey Printables from Homeschool Creations All of the worksheets were from a preschool packet at Owen's level this time around, so Levi did not do any of these. Mean mommy made him do his handwriting book instead. :) Several months ago, Owen spontaneously switched a crayon from his right hand to his left, and immediately his fine motor skills increased by leaps and bounds. For a while I thought he was just trying to copy his beloved big brother, but the results are speaking for themselves. He's writin...

I have no doubt that nearly everyone reading this is just as heavily involved in character building their little ones as I am. Seems like a never-ending battle, doesn't it? No sooner do you get them finally  putting away their shoes the first time you ask than they're grabbing toys from a sibling. You eventually negotiate a semi-lasting peace, and then they're going crazy at the dinner table. You get everyone pleasantly through meal time and then you completely lose patience at bedtime. Oh wait -- that's my character, not theirs. Well, the same principles hold. My firstborn son is, I suspect, pretty similar to most firstborn children (though certainly not all, I've discovered). He's generally pretty compliant, when it comes right down to it, but MAN, does that kid like to argue his point of view. I find myself sucked into dialogue when I know -- and he knows! -- he just needs to obey, and quickly. Since this usually isn't direct defiance, I forget, somet...

Last year for Silas's first birthday we bought him a book called Plip-Plop Pond from this Indestructibles series. (Whoa -- just checking that link for the first time since last year; there are SO many more available now!) They're books made for babies: bright pictures, no words, and totally chewable pages.  Won't rip, nontoxic, and can be washed. I'm not even sure what the material is: thin like paper, but thick like waxed paper, but not really coated like waxed paper . . . no idea. Anyway, at one year old, Silas was already a little past the chewing-on-everything stage. He liked the pictures, but it didn't hold his attention. At five months old, though, Toby  loves  this book. His face lights up when I hand it to him, more so than some of his other toys. Maybe it's the way it crinkles in his hand? The way the corners smoosh between his gums? Again, no idea. I can't really say why you'd choose a chew-book over a chew-toy, except that I happen to h...