Play Time

Imagination Required

Interesting Thinks - May 23, 2013

Lots of links today! 

Homeschooling at Night

How to Make Your Homeschool An Endless Summer

The Value of Play

Raising a Lifelong Learner - have I shared this one already? It seems familiar.....

The Interested Life and Living the Interested Life - so are these.....

10 Steps For Getting What You Want From Customer Service - Random I know, but don't we all have to deal with customer service sometime?

The Important Thing About Yelling

Helpful Homeschool Habits

Myths of the "Gifted" Child

Recommended Reading for Parents of Children and Teens with LD

10 Ways to Keep Learning During Summer Break

Dear Parents withYoung Children in Church

Fly Fly Fly Butterfly

Nyah caught a butterfly - I think it's a Western Sulphur.

Nyah reading with "Calypso" before setting it free.

Race to the Moon

Some things seems like a good idea in my head. Then we get there and I think, "Am I crazy? Not yet? Well, I will be soon."

But then the play started and I was saved. Phew.

Race to the Moon

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Children's Choir Recital

A Cold in My Nose

Austin, Nyah, & Olivia loved being in choir!

I didn't know-

My cousin's wife is a field ecologist who studies grasshoppers and spiders. How awesome is that? 

We love bugs around here. 

Presenting Dr. Angela Laws' (and her co-author's) blog: Keep bugging me! Insects and society

Charlotte's Web

I love Charlotte's Web. 

I read it aloud to Olivia & Jolie at bedtime last month and they loved it, too. I loved watching their faces - surprise at the idea of a baby pig being killed, the horror at the idea of Wilbur being killed in the fall, laughing at Templeton and the geese, sadness when they realized Charlotte was going to die. It was so fun.

Austin and Nyah snuck in with us, so they could listen to it again. 

So when I saw that the Utah Children's Theater was doing Charlotte's Web I knew we had to see it. 

It was so fun and entertaining. My kids loved it. 

I loved how Charlotte climbed all over the set and did acrobatic twists and turns on the ropes and swings. I loved when Jolie was watching Charlotte spin on a ring in the middle of the stage and she looked up at me with big eyes and whispered, "It's beautiful!"

It was Jolie's first play and she is still talking about it.

Some pictures:
Humble
President of the Fair
Wilbur & the baby spiders

But I confess I was a little disappointed. The play was missing some of the magic found in the book. Those little bits that have to be cut out to make a book a play. 

“Do you understand how there could be any writing in a spider's web?"
"Oh, no," said Dr. Dorian. "I don't understand it. But for that matter I don't understand how a spider learned to spin a web in the first place. When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the web itself is a miracle."
"What's miraculous about a spider's web?" said Mrs. Arable. "I don't see why you say a web is a miracle-it's just a web."
"Ever try to spin one?" asked Dr. Dorian.”

Photos by Nyah

These pictures were taken by Nyah as part of her Digital Media Foundations Class for My Tech High.

Hop Hop Hop

Hop 

Come on, Mom!

Hop

MOM! Come on!

Pancakes - Take 2

Pancakes batter + Lime Jell-o = Lime pancakes

They tastes a little weird. But good. But weird.

Art by Nyah

These art projects were done by Nyah in an art class as part of her My Tech High classes. 

Happy Happy Birthday!

We love you Jo!

Random happenings

Watching Nyah do math

 Play-doh

Backyard visitor

Bubbles

Playing a word game

My Mother's Day

Watching Star Wars with my family

Watching my family play

Having my phone/camera taken away

Having my picture taken

Interesting Thinks - 5/16/2013

A Million Skies: They Need You! Don't Give Up!

Sixty Second Parent: Help for PArents of Autistic Children: Emphasize, Don't Criticize - has this great gem in it: 

". . . helping people is not about what YOU believe or what YOU think about their situation. It is about who THEY are and how THEY see and feel about their circumstances."

(the author is referring to parents judging other parents, but for me, it's a really critical way to think about my kids)

Intoxicated on Life: 5 Great Bible Verses for Kids to Memorize About Anxiety

Huffington Post: Have American Parents Got It All Backwards

Roscommon Acres: Perseverance and Hope

Additudemag.com Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid - I hesitated about posting this one. I don't want people to be afraid to talk about all the wonderful things their kids are doing. I don't want people looking at my family and thinking we're "perfect" at anything. However, I've had a few moments similar to the ones described in this article. Not long ago I was in conversation with two women who were both expecting - now they both have beautiful babies that I love to see and hear all about - at the time the discussion turned into "all I want is a perfectly healthy baby." As the mom of kids who were not born perfectly healthy - ouch. 

"Though we often feel worlds apart from parents of perfect kids, we do have something in common: We’re all proud of our kids for one reason or another. It’s just that the reasons we’re proud differ. Many parents of special-needs children assume that perfect parents don’t care about our kids. We think that people do care about our kids, but sometimes they forget whom they are speaking to."

I'm planning our next school year - do you think we can read 1000 books? So many books, so little time- sigh. Classical Christian Education Support Loop: 1000 Good Books List

Hiking

Hiking - this is the hike where all the little girls scratched their legs.

We went to see the fort Austin has been building with his friends - love love LOVE that they are spending their time doing this!

On another hike in the same area, Austin wanted to show off a cool rock he found.

Nyah was excited to come across a pile of junk - of course we had to transport some of it back to the fort. 

My favorite part? Spotting this Bullock's Oriole

Bugs

Sophie was thrilled to find some pill bugs while we were cleaning off the back patio. She didn't want to set them free when it was time to go inside.

Her new friends:

Finding a ladybug is a great reason to stop!

This picture is the only picture I took on our recent adventure to see the Mummies. It was a really fascinating exhibit, but they asked us not to take any pictures. A few days before I had the most entertaining conversation with Olivia and Jolie about going to see the mummies- and how they are dead mummies that won't be chasing us around and trying to eat us. I really don't know where they get this stuff. 

Happy Mother's Day!

A small glimpse at this week's adventures in motherhood:

Early one morning (pre-5am) I was awakened by sounds of nearby snoring, which was weird because Kurt was on a trip. I had a flash of a thought of home invaders and "what do I do?" before the obvious caught up to me- break into a house and go to sleep? Rolling over I saw someone, well two someones sleeping next to me. Sophie I expected, but I wasn't sure who the other one was. Reaching out, I rubbed whoever's head, decided it didn't really matter who it was, and went back to sleep. When I woke up for real later, I saw it was Nyah - allergy season has arrived.

Olivia, Jolie, & Sophie have been begging to go see Austin's fort out in the "wilderness" near our home. I took them and they had a grand time hiking about and climbing trees in their dresses and sandals - until they all, somewhat simultaneously, scraped their legs and demanded first aid. As we walked home, they all made sure to keep their dresses high above the blood, displaying their fine selection of underwear and diaper-wear for all the world to see. 

Olivia, Jolie  & Sophie also "helped" me plant some flowers - otherwise knowns as getting really dirty and having lots of fun while you do it. 

Austin told me he found my pepper spray and tried it because he didn't know what it was. It misted into his face and he coughed and spluttered and his eyes watered and then he knew what it was. He told me this a day after it happened, so I guess he's okay? 

I've been helping him with some school work this week and found this little gem:

One morning we were surprised to find Ninja, one of our goldfish, was taking his name change seriously. After panicking about fungus and bacteria and what could it be and what do we do? And after some research, we really have to do all that to treat a goldfish? So, we visited the pet store. I guess it's common for goldfish to change color overnight. I'm still a little worried we'll wake up and he'll be floating at the top of the tank.

Tuesday

Sunday

So grateful to be a Mom!!