FIVE years old!

My sweet, precocious, energetic, imaginative eldest daughter turned FIVE on June 30. All of those moms and grandmas with older children aren't lying when they say time FLIES.

We've been anxiously and not-so-patiently awaiting the birthday for months (since July 1, 2012). The birthday girl celebrated the day of her birthday with birthday pancakes in the shapes of butterflies and flowers, a family dinner with cookie cake decorated with blue frosting (it was super ugly), and presents presents presents.

The day after we celebrated with friends and more family at Chuck E. Cheese. We are blessed to have a great group of friends who support our kids and celebrate with us. I think all the kids had a blast at ChuckEs.

A look at the interests of a five year old:

Favorite color: pink and purple and blue
Favorite animal: bunny
Favorite food: egg sandwich and bacon pizza
Best friend: Adelyn
Favorite book: This one was hard to pin down. She settled on The Gruffalo
Favorite activity: playing on the iPad and playing games
Favorite fruit: strawberries and grapes and oranges
Favorite movie: The new city of Atlantis and Hotel Transylvania
What do you want to be a grow up? A princess and live in a castle. Not a burned down castle.
What's your favorite thing to play outside: Do my new scooter
What's your favorite thing to sleep with: Grandma's bunny

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

Father's Day

Father's Day didn't get mentioned on the actual day (on the blog), but that doesn't mean I forgot about it!

In this family, we are very blessed to have patient, thoughtful, and all-around wonderful father to celebrate on Father's Day. This was Jon's first Father's Day as father of two sweet little girls.

Little did we know that for Jon's unofficial Father's Day gift, we would get to see the house that we are currently under contract to buy. So, when you ask me what he got for Father's Day? A new house, of course. I planned it that way.

In honor of Father's Day, I asked Eleanor some questions about her daddy. She was not pleased that I interrupted her umpteenth viewing of the City of Atlantis on Netflix

Interview

What is your favorite thing about daddy? I like him when he listens to what I say. That's what I like him to do.

What is your favorite thing to with daddy? I like to go outside and play in my blow up swimming pool with him. It's huge. I like egg sandwiches, too. (what?)

What do you think daddy does at work? He works for money and he does me a favor when he comes home at 5. (We both agree on this)

Do you know the name of the place daddy works? Yes. Springfield.

Is you daddy handsome? Yes, he's going to marry me at 6 o'clock in Springfield when I grow 21.

How old do you think daddy is? 26 (He is 31.)

Is it fun sharing daddy with Evie? Yes. I like to hold my baby.

I think about daddy and putting him to sleep with me. I really like when he makes me egg sandwiches and lets me water flowers and do my new scooter without training wheels. I think that's about it.  Next, I'll be 6. (Note: I don't think Jon has ever made her an egg sandwich.)

Just a few photos of Jon the father. (The day/baby that made him a daddy, waiting for baby Eve, and Jon with his girls.)

 

 Happy Father's Day!

Homeschooling: How?

 I've had this blog post in draft form for about three weeks. My proverbial feet-dragging almost certainly stems from the fact that I'm not one hundred percent sure on how I'm going to homeschool. You might be saying, "But, Mari! Kindergarten starts in September!" I knooow.

Did you know there are different homeschooling methodologies? I didn't. In retrospect, of course there are different methodologies. Just as there are many different parenting styles, learning styles, etc., there are different homeschooling styles as well. Charlotte Mason, traditional school at home, Waldorf, UNschooling, classical education, on-line classes, unit studies, and literature-based learning are some of the more popular options, and most of them overlap into public/private/traditional schools as well. It's appealing to choose one method and just go with it, but I like things about each method, so until I've strengthened my home school muscles, we'll go with the eclectic method.

A friend of mine introduced me to a friend of hers who has home schooled SIX children. I'm sure she's a professional homeschooler, if there is such a thing. She clued me into a program called Classical Conversations. I was skeptical. The foundation of CC involves lots and lots of memorization. How boring does that sound? I want to foster Eleanor's love of learning, not squelch it, buuut then I visited a Classical Conversations meeting (they meet once a week for 2-12 week sessions.) While Classical Conversations is a Christian-based program (religion is not the main reason I've chosen to homeschool), I was impressed. I was impressed with the students, the parents, and their program. At the end-of-year presentations we were asked to participate in, I teared-up I was so impressed!

I'm sure CC is not for everyone, but it solves a few problems we were facing. 1) Eleanor WANTS to go to school (I think she really just wants to ride a school bus, but that's another story), and one day a week will give her a chance to know schoolmates and make friends. 2) I do not want to be an island in my home school journey. When I started contemplating home schooling, I knew no one else with young kids who even considered the idea. In fact, most of my friends think I've lost my marbles.  It gives me insta-support and an insta-community. 3) The curriculum is right up Eleanor's alley. She loves to memorize and she loves to sing songs. I think she will thrive in this setting.

CC does not cover reading and math, so we're still left with those subjects. We've been working on reading for some time now, and I will probably pick up some traditional language arts curriculum and some traditional math curriculum. I'm kicking around a program called Math-U-See and a program called SonLight for language arts, but Charlotte Mason and lap/note books really appeal to me, so I might incorporate those. At the end of the day, we're dealing with Kindergarten. This is a journey, I don't have all the answers, and we'll change as necessary. At this point I want school to be fun, just a little challenging, and a good experience for our family.

I might write another post about my educational philosophy and why I'm attracted to UNschooling, but too afraid to try it.

Here a few blogs I really like about homeschooling: Penelope Trunk, Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood, Rockabye Butterfly, and Simple Homeschool. If you know of any good ones, let me know! I'd like to find a good Charlotte Mason blogger.

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Yesterday we celebrated Jon's birthday. Jon is much more subdued about his birthday celebrations. I trumpet my birthday for months ahead of time, declare 2-days of celebrations, and am probably a bit of a pill when putting in my order for a perfect birthday. He, on the other hand, is content to let it sneak up on everyone, and carry on the day as usual. His birthday did sneak up on me, but we did celebrate with a cook out and ToDieFor brownie sundaes. He even put off mowing our ridiculously long grass for another day.

Happy Birthday, Buddy! You may or may not read this, but I'm declaring to the whole internet (or just the 6 or so people who read this) that your girls love you. I hope you had a good 31st birthday! (No, 31 doesn't sound old to me, but neither does 75 these days!)

In a momentary lapse of judgment, I did not snap any photos of the day. A photo of Jon posing during a recent backpacking trip will have to do.

A Little R&R

I was unsure how vacationing with two children, one husband, and two parents would go. I'm sure they were all concerned about vacationing with an emotional and sleep-deprived Mari as well. Things went exceptionally well. I could not have asked for more relaxation, more fun, more quality time--more anything. It was TERRIFIC, as Eleanor would say.


Instead of gushing too much, I'll share a few shots for the memory books blog. It's worth noting we saw several instances of dangerous marine life during our stay. The stingrays were out and about on their annual mating tour. We saw dozens of them early in the morning and late in the evening. But, on the third day they vanished. I'm not sure where they went, but I wish them well. On the day the stingrays disappeared, we saw not just one, but TWO sharks. Yes, I'm positive they were sharks. The second shark cleared the water, and everyone on the beach made a big spectacle of following him down the coast. They weren't big sharks, but yikes! A few jellyfish also made an appearance, but they seem less noteworthy after the stingrays and sharks.

I'm already planning and anticipating our return to the beach next year!

Look closely. Can you spots the stingrays? 

Eleanor was too excited to hold still for mom to snap a pic.

Our little sand queen. What a trooper!

Our castle by the sea.

Another turning point...

....a fork stuck in the road  
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go 
So make the best of this test and don't ask why  
It's not a question but a lesson learned in time
 
It's something unpredictable but in the end is right 
I hope you had the time of your life

Good Riddance by Green Day 

I love Green Day. This song always makes me nostalgic, and nostalgia seemed to be the theme of my weekend as I prepared for and celebrated my 10-year reunion with classmates. The Bolivar High School class of 2003 reunited for a fun evening of visiting and laughter. The atmosphere was casual and the wine flowed. I had a GREAT time, and I hope everyone else did, too.

 

I know I'm fortunate to have fond high school memories. Not everyone does, and for that, I'm sorry. It's easy to look back and see that we weren't as grown up as we thought we were. It's also easy to see that so many of moved on and grown up. I enjoyed visiting with people I didn't know well in high school. I really hope it's not another 10 years before I see these people again.

 

No, we didn't meet in high school, but I couldn't leave him at home!

If I had my scanner handy, I'd share a very similar picture that was taken ten years ago. We have all changed a lot in ten years, but we're still good friends. I love these ladies with all my heart. (Emily, me, Kendra, Lindsey)

 

 I didn't go to high school with Katie, either, BUT she married someone I went to high school and she was at my wedding (which makes it really easy to know how long we've been friends). She helped arranged this great event, and I think she's pretty neat, too.

 

Classmates + significant others

 

A little perspective

I'm a little behind in the blogging department--story of my life. Although I'm nearly two weeks late on mentioning anything at all, I didn't want to let my first Mother's Day as a mom of two go unmentioned.

This year was the first year Eleanor could really participate in Mother's Day. She signed cards for her grandmas and she was adamant that she and Jon make me breakfast in bed.  She told me she loved me a dozen times. It was all very sweet.

I get the perspective of writing this days after the devastating Oklahoma tornadoes. I got to hug my children on Mother's Day, and those Mom's did, too. But some of them won't get to next year, and that breaks my heart. After having kids, I feel like I'm part of the Moms Club. Moms have a connection with other mothers everywhere. We all say we can't imagine the pain those mothers are going through, but we can imagine it, and that's what makes it so real. So vivid. So devastating. Maybe I can't feel the entirety of their pain (because I don't want to pretend I know what they're going through), but I can imagine losing my girls. I try not to imagine it, though.

I know we all hugged our families a little closer this week after such a tragedy.

Today, I am heartbroken for the mothers without their babies, for the babies without their mothers, and for the families who lost loved ones.