A Little Funny

I'm sooo behind - but will try to catch up on some of the highlights of the last couple of weeks - sometime.  ;-)  Just thought I'd share a little funny.

Earlier today as I was coming down the stairs I heard someone in the refrigerator.  As I entered the kitchen and saw our 4yo, I asked him what he was trying to find.  Now, to those that may not remember, this is our child that we've been working on with sensory issues - lots of them manifesting themselves in feeding issues.  He eats mostly white/brown foods and not very many of them.

He poked his head around the door and asked if it was alright for him to get a carrot!!!  I was stunned and said that he was welcome to a carrot any time!  So, he helped himself to one small carrot and really did eat it!

He must be enjoying this freedom as I saw him do it again later in the day. 

I'm just thrilled he is eating a vegetable!  It's really his only one unless you count the pumpkin I put into his favorite muffins.

Yeah Daniel!!! 

Blessings,

Leslie

Surprise - Retropost

I think I'm going to need to post a slew of these - retroposts!  There are so many things I'd love to share and just not enough time to post.  This was a little something fun that I thought I'd share though.  I'm going to post this at an earlier date - just the day after it happened.  (Even though it's 4 days past in reality.)

We had our dear friends from VA come visit this week.  It happened to be the week of the girl's (my friends girls) birthdays.  I thought it would be fun to throw them a surprise birthday party.  We had planned it for Monday night.  It was a surprise even to my friend.  I was bummed to hear on Monday morning that one of her children had a rash and the visit was to be postponed another 24 hours.  Well, some quick phone calls to friends and we set up another time for the party - Wed at lunch time.

I had wanted this to be a surprise as I thought it would be really special.  I knew that they didn't expect anything.  They had an appointment out on Wed morning and while they were gone, our house was being readied.  There was cleaning to do, decorations to be put up and more.

We had chosen an Olympic theme.  One of our friends offered to make the cake.  I was thrilled as I knew her efforts would be much better than mine.  Look at what she did!!!!  It was an amazing cake.

The rings were done in 2 flavors - chocolate and white.  The birthday girls had their initials done in the number of candles for their birthday.  The signs said Happy Birthday in languages from all over the world.  It was a spectacular and beautiful (and yummy) cake!

When they arrived at our house, we had 13 children waiting quietly.  When the girls walked in everyone yelled "Surprise"!  And it was.  :-)  I am so glad that we were able to do this!  It meant a lot to the girls (and their mama) to have a party with their friends.  It was definitely a group effort in getting it all done too.  We had a potluck style lunch with hamburgers, hotdogs, fruit, chips/salsa, potato salad and pasta salad.  Yum! 

After eating, we played games - Olympic style!  We shared some Olympic facts (it helps to have been studying that this week!).  We started with a torch relay.  I had planned the games for outside, but since it was the middle of the day - and hot - we opted for inside instead.  This required some creative changes in what we did.

The children were split into 2 teams for the relay.  The first pair had to run across the room to a chair and crawl through it before passing the torch to the next team member.  The next pair had to hop around the kitchen island to the foot of the stairs.  The third pair raced up the stairs and then "bumped" down them.  The fourth pair carried younger childrnen on their feet to the hallway.  The fifth pair slid across the floor on their stomachs.  The last pair did a log roll across the room.  It was fast-paced and fun!

Some of the other games we played included:

*Discus - (throwing paper plates)

*Marshmellow race (like egg and spoon - only neater)

*Javelin (straws served for a javelin)

*Volleyball (we used baby blankets to toss and catch the ball)

We had a few awarding of a crown of leaves which Rebecca made.   The games were a hit and provided lots of laughs.  I had a few more planned, but not enough time for everything. 

We ended the party with cake, opening presents and a pinata!  

Happy Birthday Hannah and Lauren! From your friends in NC!

I have more pictures - but they aren't loaded (and I don't know how).  Maybe they'll get added later - we'll see.

Blessings,

Leslie

Voice of the Martyrs

 Hi Friends,

I recently received an email from Voice of the Martyrs asking if I would pray for the people of China.  As the eyes of the world are turned to this nation, it is an excellent opportunity to remember to pray for the persecuted Christians of this country.  If you would like a free prayer band, you can follow the link below.

Prayer Band for China

As you wear this band, it will help you to remember to pray for those being persecuted for their faith.

Blessings,

 Leslie

First Week of School

Well, we have our first week under our belts.  It was a little crazy - and not as complete as I would have liked, but it is a start!  We have some traditions that our family has enjoyed for our first day.  We typically go out to breakfast and talk about our goals for the year and pray.  Roger joins us and it's a fun family time.

In our new style of just doing the best we can, we opted for a casual breakfast - much to the chagrin of my hungry 15yo.  We picked up homemade biscuits at a great little restaurant and went to a local park.  I thought it would be fun to play for a bit.  Roger met us there and we prayed over our school - short and sweet.  We didn't really talk about goals, but that can come later.

We had to hurry back for Eliana's therapy.  Typically I have a surprise for the children in the form of new school supplies and goodies.  Well, I didn't get to it this year.  I have things for them - just didn't get around to putting them out.  *sigh*  LOL  I will say that starting school the day after you return from the beach is probably a poor idea.  ;-) 

Here are some photos of my students.  One of them did not want HIS picture taken.  lol 

A silly boy who dressed himself. 

 

Here's some of what we did this week.  We worked on some All About Me pages.  I love doing this each year and recording information about them.  I think that they will enjoy looking back and having this.  We used some pages that I have made with basic information from height and weight to family members, interests and more.  I also have them draw a picture of themselves and trace their hands.  We also used some of the lapbook components from Live and Learn Press in our notebooks.  This unit is a free one so check it out if you'd like to do one too!  Just click on All About Me once you are on their site to download it.

This photo cracked me up.  I didn't think our day was long, but somebody was all tuckered out!  lol

We also completed our ice cream study.  This too is a free resource found at homeschool share (see the link in my sidebar).  We learned about the history of ice cream, how ice cream is made as well as making it ourselves.  (We had to practice this several times!) 

We ended the week with a tour of Coldstone Creamery.  Yum!  The tour was free and I encourage you to call if you want to tour one near you.  We visited with friends and were told they could take a group of up to 15.  I thought the 10 of us filled a lot of space in the small back rooms. 

Some of us waiting for the tour to begin.

We toured the back area seeing the large refrigerator, freezer and place where they make ice cream.  The ice cream comes in premeasured bags to which they add flavors to make the basic ice creams.

They also make cakes and let the children try their hand at icing the cake.  We saw how they make waffle cones and cups using a waffle griddle.

This is the frozen slab that the use to mix ingredients into the ice cream.

We had great hosts and it was a lot of fun.  Of course we ended the tour with eating ice cream.

Christopher is working on some high school level things - writing an essay, finishing algebra, beginning chemistry and more.  I'll post another time on all that we are using for his 10th grade year.  He helps take some of the photos - and doesn't really like being in them. 

There is always so much to write and never enough time to do it.  I feel that way about so many things though and I'm sure it isn't going to change.  More later on our upcoming week as we begin a study on the Olympics and Christopher begins Driver's Ed!

Blessings,

Leslie

Summer Days and Baseball

Joshua is our baseball player.  He likes reading books about baseball and watching games.  This is his first year playing other than t-ball a couple of years ago.  He is having a great time too.  He even dreams of being a major league ball player when he grows up.  The only problem is that his skills don't match his dreams.  (I'm not sure that will stop him though!)

You see, until a week ago, Joshua had never hit the ball.  In spite of this, he went cheerfully to each game and practice and had a great time.  Last week he was thrilled to make his first hit.  I was happy too - and also bummed because I missed it!

This week we had 3 games scheduled as make ups (rained out games).  The first game was Fri night and our whole family went.  What a thrill to see Joshua hit the ball again!  He made it safely to first base, and eventually with the help of a few more batters, to home!  You should have heard the yelling - and it wasn't just his family!  His whole team - and their parents - were cheering for Joshua.  I don't think it has escaped anyone's notice that he hasn't hit it much.  I also hope that they notice his incredible attitude and sportsmanship!  I wish I'd taken a picture of his face - what happiness.

The next game was Sat morning and due to other sports conflicts (Christopher and football), our family was split.  I was excited to go to Joshua's game.  It was even more exciting when he hit the ball - and made it to second base!  When the next batter came up, he made it home!!!  Yippee!!!  This was so exciting. 

After the game, the umpire came over to the dugout and waited while the coach talked to the team.  When he finished, the ump called Joshua to come over.  (And she called him by name!)  She asked if she could give him a hug and told him what a great job he had done.  She even commented on the fact that he had made hits in the last three games.  I was astonished that she had noticed.  (She is a great ump - very encouraging to the kids.)  This really touched my heart.

The last game was supposed to be today (Sunday), but the other team cancelled due to not enough players.  Since our team was already there, they had a game against the parents and siblings.  The baseball team won!  I think having to hit against the pitching machine gave some a new appreciation for the difficulty in doing that.

I've learned a lot from watching Joshua.  He has a great attitude.  My Dad would be proud.  (He was a coach and really focused on having a good attitude.)  I'm proud of him too.  He has had fun playing baseball and being a part of a team even when he doesn't do well.  I haven't seen him get mad or upset.  He just takes things as they are and moves on.  He cheers for his teamates and does his best.  He is a great example.  I'm thankful that God gave me this boy to love and also to learn from. 

We head into playoffs this week with the first (hopefully) game on Wed.  I'm hoping that Joshua can keep up his streak and get another hit!

Blessings,

Leslie

Retropost- The beach!

We had such a fun time at the beach last week and I wanted to post a few pictures.  We debated off and on for days about whether or not to go.  It looked like there might be bad weather due to a hurricane.  As it approached mid-week, we decided to go for it and hope for the best.  Well, the weather was delightful!!!

We loved being out on the beach.  All of the children enjoy the sand and water.  Even Daniel has gotten better with the feels and textures.  His favorite thing to do this week was to gather shells.  He was able to identify the ones that he found most frequently too which was fun.

We spent time playing in the sand building sandcastles and digging for fun. 

Eliana liked helping in any way she could.

We played in the ocean.  The oldest ones liked to boogie board. 

Eliana liked the boogie board too.

We tried to get a group shot.  :-)

Eliana gave our time at the beach a thumbs up!

 

Blessings,

Leslie

Real Beauty

***I wrote this about a month ago.  I'm not sure why I never posted it.  But since I had the lesson again this week, I thought I'd share.

We left on Wed afternoon to head to the beach.  As we were almost to the beach, Rebecca got very sad.  I could hear it in her voice as she was trying to soothe Eliana.  When we were able to talk, she told me that she had forgotten to pack her swimsuit.  I assured her that it would be fine and there would be choices since we were going to the beach.  I tried to convince her that it wasn't a problem.  I felt surprisingly calm given all that we both went through the last time we had to shop for a swimsuit.

Here's what I wrote about the first experience.

I was hit with the concept of beauty this week in a place I hadn't expected it.  While sitting in a dressing room and watching a tear slide down my daughter's face.  It hurt my mama's heart - still does.

We spent the day - just the two of us - going shopping.  Something that for many mother-daughter pairs sounds like lots of fun.  Neither of us are huge shoppers, but we do enjoy time together for girly things.  This day we had a goal - find a swimsuit.  Rebecca is pretty modest in her tastes and that made things really hard!  We were both hoping the Lands End suits would work, but they didn't.

After going to many stores in the mall and finding nothing that fit or that satisfied her sense of modesty, she just looked at herself one more time and her face crumbled.  My beautiful daughter was seeing herself as less than lovely.  The image that she saw made her feel a range of emotions - none of them encouraging.  Something many, if not all, women can relate to. 

I prayed for words to say to comfort and encourage.  My heart just ached as I watched her face and understood her heart.  I wanted to be there for her in just the ways that she needed.  I wanted her to know that I love her, that I care deeply and that I understand.  I also wanted to encourage her to begin to view herself differently.  I don't want her to take in the messages of the world and fall into that trap.  And how does she know any of this at her tender age?  It just hurt my heart.  I knew it would come one day, but I wasn't prepared for it to be now.  I just want to protect her so she won't get hurt.  Her heart is so very tender.  I'm finding that I have to continue to trust.  God loves her so very much!

In so many ways she is still young.  She is young at heart while being mature and reliable and sacrificial in so many other ways.  My sweet little girl is becoming a young  woman right before my eyes.

I shared with her that beauty is a struggle.  I shared with her that she is beautiful.  She is a daughter of the King.  She is hand-made by the One who created the universe.  We talked about body image and how it is important to view ourselves as God does - through His lens.  I do hope that she can learn that earlier than most of us do.  Or is it something we ever truly get?  I know I struggle ... still.

We also talked about real beauty - it comes from the inside.  Not on how you look on the outside at all.  In the most important ways - my daughter is so very beautiful.  Of course, I think she is beautiful inside and out.  I hope that she hears me, believes me.  I know I'm biased, but so is the One who made her and He delights in her,   (Zeph 3:17) just as He does in each one of us!

Well, apparently one or both of us had more to learn.  I asked God what it was that we needed in order to experience this again.  The trip wasn't as emtional - thankfully!  She found a suit that worked though wasn't one that she loved.  We talked about just making do with it so that she could enjoy the beach - and she did.  I think she looked great - and hope that she did too.

One last thought on beauty - a really sweet moment.  One day I was listening as Christopher, our 15yo, was playing with Eliana.  He was talking with her and telling her how pretty she is.  It just melted this mommy's heart.  I can't help but think that he is seeing beauty as it should be seen.  Not filtered through the "knowledge" of the world, but through a heart of love.  

Blessings,

Leslie

A little something fun to share

 I love seeing Eliana dance.  She loves music and likes being in motion when she hears it.  This video isn't the best quality, but I still love it!  It make me giggle and smile whenever I watch it. 

One of the skills we are currently working on is how to "point" or "poke".  It's a 9-12mo skill - and she can't do it.  Most of her emerging skills are in the 12-15mo range (yippee!!!).  This one however is hard to grasp!  In the video you can see an example of what she does instead of point - she uses her thumb!  Gets the job done for now, but she'll still need to learn to point.

Enjoy! 

Blessings,

Leslie

 

Our week - looking back and a little ahead.

We've had a busy week - we'll it feels that way anyway.

Last week-end, we had sweet friends come to visit.  We stayed up too late talking and got far too little sleep - but it was fun to have uninterupted time to talk.  We hosted a year end Awards banquet for our Keepers of the Faith group on Saturday.  The children all did a fabulous job in working on the badges for the year.  Pretty soon it will be time to start up again. 

Here is a picture of Isaiah with a mosaic picture he made and earned a badge for this year.

We also enjoyed a Mommy-daughter tea party with friends.  The girls did a great job (this is one of the badge that they worked on this year for the Keepers group.)  It was fun having some girl time and the boys enjoyed having some of the treats.

This week feels full with therapy since we had none last week!  Here is a little of what we are doing.

Speech - Eliana is making good progress.  She has learned a new sign - music.  Not surprising given her interest in music.  She also signs "more", "milk", "eat", "hi" and "bye" pretty regularly.  She has signed "ball" and knows how to sign "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes".  She doesn't get all of the signs for the songs, but does a pretty good job! 

We are focusing on "biting" and "blowing" skills to try to strengthen the muscles around her jaw (that she uses to open and close her mouth).  This will help with articulation and eating.  We will continue to play games, use signs and talk about everything with Eliana.

Feeding - Eliana is doing well with eating.  She eats mainly lumpy baby foods and some table foods.  She is getting better at tolerating textures and likes a wide variety of tastes.  She is still not drinking well from a cup and takes a bottle during the day.  She is healthy and growing well.  Her OT commented that she would soon graduate from feeding and we will begin to focus on some other things in addition to eating during this therapy time.  Way to go Eliana!

Occupational - Daniel loves going to therapy!  Its a fun play time for him.  He is doing so many more things - things that he was afraid to even try 6 months ago.  It is fun to see him taking risks and learning to try things.  All of this is related to his sensory issues.  He is making slow progress with eating - very slow.  His OT told me that it will probably be a slow and long road for him. 

One of the down sides of this is that it affects his potty training.  *sigh*  I could use prayers for patience.

The things we are working on with Daniel is trying new foods.  For him this means first just smelling a food and then moving on to licking it.  Yes, licking it.  It's a step, a small one, but a step in the right direction.  We have been trying to focus on fruits and he has been willing to try a few new ones.  He is also supposed to be helping cook, spread foods and in general be around food helping as much as possible. 

Other work for him includes sensory activities involving "messes".  He does not like to get his hands messy.  Neither do I.  We've been a good match in this regard.  *sigh*  We both need to get out of our comfort zone. 

He has also started listening therapy - 15 minutes once or twice per day.  Five days on and two days off.  I don't really understand it, but a good friend has also recommended this and I'm happy to try anything that might help our sweet boy.

Physical - Eliana is learning to walk!  I know I already shared that - but  it feels so good to say it!  Today she took 10 steps.  Yes, we are counting.  Not always, but often.  We had started using "TheraTogs" to help strengthen her muscles.  Getting them on was a wrestling match.  I can't say if they really helped as we only used them a couple of times.  Here is a photo of us trying to put them on.  It took several helpers to entertain and several to help attach the many pieces of velcro!

Her PT worked with her on lots of games/activities today too.  We are needed to add more structured time to our day.  Teaching her to begin and end an activity.  Puzzles, stacking blocks, scribbling on paper, fingerpainting (yuck!), coins in a slot and more.  I'm going to get down a small chair and table that we can make into a place for her to do her "work".  Structure - something I can see benefit in, but definitely goes against my "go with the flow" nature. 

The PT is tracking her progress on a chart and told me that she has emerging skills in the 12-15mo range.  Not bad little girl, not bad!  :-) 

Other things going on here:

Preschool Activities in a Bag - I'm organizing a swap of these bags.  We have 28 participants!  What fun it will be to get all of these new bags!  I'm looking forward to having them and know that Daniel will be thrilled!  He loves the bags we have now and will be very excited to have some new ones.  I think that these will be great for Eliana down the line too.

Quilt Swap - I'm not participating in the swap, but just coordinating it.  It's for the FIAR curriculum.  I've participated before and help to moderate the group.  I'm hoping that all goes smoothly and quickly.

Field Trips - I'm working on scheduling field trips for our homeschool group - along with 2 other gals - for the upcoming year.  I love getting it all done now so that we are free to focus on other things during the year.  We schedule them approximately 2 per month (every other week) and work to tie them in with our curriculum.

FIAR group - Just getting things started with the new year.  Updating phone lists (someone else has this!), planning mom's meetings, and organizing our Family Event. 

Keepers of the Faith - Again, planning for the upcoming year.  At the moment, we are trying to find a date for planning and then will select topics and teachers for the year.

Family Time - We are hoping to go to the beach sometime soon.  I think that children and I will go down ahead of Roger and he will join us when he is able to.  We are planning around weather and are thankful to have the flexibility to do this.

Planning - I'm working on making my planner for the year.  I enjoyed my lovely - but huge - planner last year, but am hoping to trim it down to what I really need.  I'm going to take the day Sat for planning courtesy of my sweet husband!  I'm excited about having a day - uninterupted - to plan things out for the year.  I still need to purchase some curriculum, but hopefully will have all that done soon.

Cleaning and decluttering - Just happening in my dreams.  lol  I've made a small dent in the attic - but have a long way to go.  Now the rest of the house ... sometime.  ;-)  I did take some curriculum and books to the local homeschool store last night!  Yippee!

This is long - and hopefully not too boring.  Have a great week!

Blessings,

Leslie

Guess what we are learning about???

Well, here's a hint.  Yesterday, July 15th was a celebration of sorts.  In fact, the whole month is a celebration.

It's National Ice Cream Month!  We are doing a fun unit study on Ice Cream that can be found on Homeschool Share.  It's free!  My children think it is a fabulous thing to study ice cream - and what a great excuse to eat a lot of it!

On our first day we did the geography and social studies lessons.  We learned about the top 5 ice cream consuming countries in the year 2000.  Everyone was proud to be living in the country that ranked #1 for the year.  (I'm sure we've done our part.)  We learned a little about the history of ice cream and read an interesting book.

The highlight of the evening however was going to get ice cream.  I wasn't sure we were going to make it, but at the last moment decided to go for it.  We met friends at a nearby dairy and had the most delicious ice cream!

Eliana loves ice cream!  She ate strawberry.

We sat on the porch of the store and watched a lovely sunset.  It was a lovely evening.  We'll have to do it again.