Happy Birthday, Eve!

No, I haven't forgotten about my blog. With so many balls in the air, I've had to let a few drop. I never learned to juggle. I did miss a few family milestones in the last 6 weeks with the most notable being Eve's birthday. I'm hoping to catch up and carry on with regular posts, because I think our fall will be worth documenting. Let's get to it.

Eve Theresa turned one on August 20. Her first year flew by. Despite a stretch where she preferred to nap in 15-minute increments, another where she wanted to be held every waking moment, and her current favorite "word" of "AHHHH" to express that she wants something or something isn't going her way, Eve has been a wonderful baby. I'm excited for her to grow up and experience her little life, but I'm so sad that my baby is not going to be a baby for much longer. No. Don't tell me she's a toddler. I do not want to hear it.

Eve is curious and determined, but a little less ... particular than her sister. She has a sweet disposition, love love LOVES to eat and drink water, hates hair bows, and prefers to do most things on her own. She crawled on May 23rd, got her first two teeth on August 11th (almost a whole year of toothless grins!), and took her first steps on August 23rd. At her 1-year check-up she weighed 16 pounds and is in the 25th percentile for height and weight.

We learned with Eleanor that babies grow fast. Too fast. I try hard every day to enjoy the girls where they are and to not wish away their childhoods. Some days I'm better at this than others. Today, I'm thankful for Eve (affectionately known as Evie Bear or just Bear) and the joy she brings our family. I'm a few days late on the blog, but Happy Birthday to my baby.

Eve's birthday fell on a Tuesday. We celebrated with Jon's side of the family the weekend before, and had dinner and cake with my parents on her birthday.When I look back at the pictures of her first few days and months, I always wonder what happened to her beautiful, dark hair. Of course, we love her beautiful, blonde hair, too.

I love this girl!

This Moment...

07.14.2013

We are waiting on the final details on closing for our new home. I have terrible sciatic nerve pain that is holding me up on everything from exercise to housework. I even tried acupuncture to get some relief (it was a great experience). I'm far behind on my current book To Say Nothing of the Dog. I'm IN LOVE with the tv show New Girl. Those last two are directly related. Work is pouring in, and I desperately need to go to the grocery store, but uuuuuuugh. The grocery store? 

We are enjoying summer for all that it's worth. Sunshine and swimming and coffee on the patio is what it's worth.

Eleanor...

• is buzzing with excitement about VBS this week.
• MUST be a part of every conversation.
• is becoming an accomplished eaves dropper. She astounds us when she repeats entire conversations.
• loves loves LOVES make believe and pretend, especially make believe fighting, and of course, the damsel in distress.
• wants an iPhone for her 6th birthday.

Eve...

• crawls and walks around supported by furniture or whatever she can find. She's even stood on her own for a few seconds before plopping down on her fluffy, diapered bum.
• loves to eat. And, don't you dare put something in your mouth around her without also having something tasty to share. Forget those baby rice puffs.
•  is happiest being carried around on someone's hip, but is also content to rummage through low-sitting boxes, bins, and tubs, or to stalk her big sister.
• is serious about what consumption, and is currently the most hydrated member of the household. 
• 6 days until she's 11-months-old, and still no teeth. I'm not complaining.
• Long naps? Elusive.
• has only been waking once at night. Let's keep it up, baby girl!

Happy 4th!

July 4 is easily one of my favorite holidays. Someone I follow on Twitter aptly tweeted: Best holiday of the year, no obligations, no presents, only beer and explosions #america

Amen to that! Jon enjoyed a day off work to power wash the fence instead of kick back with a few cold ones, but we did make our way up to the Celebration of Freedom to run into a few friends (it's always fun to see who we run into, and to enjoy the fireworks display. It was phenomenal this year.

Eve surprised us by not screaming through the fireworks show. She actually liked all the booming and bright lights. Eleanor danced while the band played. No surprise there. 

I'm thankful the Bolivar Rotary Club organizes such a great event, and I'm always proud of my dad for being involved in such things. He's a real stand-up guy! :) And, can we stop a minute and talk about how AMAZING the weather was? Wow. I vividly recall last year being hot, humid, and miserable. Maybe it is burned in my memory because I was 8 months pregnant and rocking super sexy sweat stains. :)

Good bless America and Happy 4th to y'all!

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.