Kids: Summer-do!

Before:

After:

She loves it ... and for humidity, it can't be beat! What do YOU think?

Why Jesus wants us to be child-like ...

... was explained to me pretty succinctly by my 9-year-old daughter. The other day, we rec'd an estimate of the closing costs and our portion. We were horrified to see what it was going to COST US to sell a house! Dh and I were getting pretty animated when we rec'd the email and then went to make a cup of tea.

When we got back to the computer to analyze the situation further, String Bean had left us a note:

We're trying, dear!

Guess this is why St. Josemaria Escriva said:

Being children you will have no cares: children quickly forget what troubles
them and return to their games. With abandonment, therefore, you will not have
to worry, since you will rest in the Father.
– The Way, #864

Birthdays: String Bean turns 9!

While the little ones are upstairs praying for tons of snow ... and we just might get it (and thus, a snow day as dad and Kotch will be home!) ... I am remembering 9 years ago when our little String Bean was born.

She missed being born on the Millenial Leap-day by hours ... and boy, was that delivery room crowded with multiple births, first-time births and little ol' me who just about blue-lined with too much epidural (and, to add insult to injury, the anethesiologist had NO sense of humor). Once I gave birth, they shoved me off to a disused wing and put me in a room that was cannibalized for other rooms (that is, dh had no chair to sit in when he came to visit) because I was an "experienced" mom ... and it was fine because I had another perfect little daughter who was so beautiful and always smiling.

And, nine years later, she is still always smiling. She loves her family so much that yesterday, when she and I went for a "ladies' day", she insisted we get something for everyone so "no one will feel bad when I open my presents". She spent WEEKS making dh a book about her life that brings tears to dh's eyes each time he looks at it (!). She picked out the perfect earring set for Kotch -- three pairs of cool turtles, Kotch's new "animal"; a set of poker cards/chips for 10-yo LegoManiac and a really cool Baseball Blast game for BamBam.

String Bean did get lots of nice treats of her own ... including a Baton Rouge phone call from her big brother and an email from her big sister at Georgia Southern, flowers from Dad, a light sabre from LegoManiac and a really cool Garden Fairies in a Box set from Kotch.

Oh, and the rabbit she's hugging so tightly is a Build-a-Bear Workshop cutie she "made" herself when we were having our Mommy/String Bean day yesterday. She also picked out The Lost Files of Nancy Drew and the Nancy Drew Pocketbook Mysteries (which includes the first two ND books in a case that becomes a pocketbook -- how cool is that?)

It's still snowing, the kids are sleeping and it looks like String Bean and the kiddoes will have a day to enjoy all the wonderful things we did on her 9th birthday!

Happy Birthday, dear girl and may God continue to bless you abundantly!

And so it starts ...

Today we start our first day of St. Athanasius Academy for the 2008-2009 year. LegoManiac (9), String Bean (8) and Bam-bam (almost 6) will be our "student body" ... with me as there teacher, companion and co-learner. I love homeschooling, especially since I can steep the days ahead in the rich and vibrant Catholic heritage and teachings our Our Church!

We'll start today with Mass -- always a great way to start the day. Our plan is to head to Leeslyvania State Park after for a bit of nature study, playground time and history. They have some great programs at the end of this week (bees and backyard habitat) which will fit in nicely as an introduction to our science program this year.

We'll head home to work on our aprons. Each year at the start of the school year I like the kids to craft something that we'll use all year: fabric lunch bag, canvas field trip bag, etc. This year, we'll fabric-paint canvas aprons for use during cooking, cooking-math, gardening, craft projects, etc. [We did aprons a couple of years back, but all three have out-grown the "kiddie" ones!]

We'll make a fun lunch ... than a read-aloud for quiet time. Today we'll start Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence by Esther Averill, a great story about Cartier's explorations of the Northeast of the continent which will mesh nicely with our American history unit.

After a chapter or two, I'll pull out all their books and ideas for what we'll do this year. This will be the first time the kids see it all laid out and I'm sure they'll be thrilled with some of the changes this year. One thing, I am trying to get them more self-led with some of their work -- so I have worked out weekly assignments for spelling words, math assignments, copy work and memory work which they will do at their own time (as long as they're done by Thursday evening). If they can't finish by Friday morning, rather than having a relaxed, "specials" day, they'll make up the work.

We'll round off our day with one-on-one mom time, 30 minutes each of working on their chosen electives:

• Bam-bam will learn all about the history and strategies of Chess
• String Bean will learn about journalism, creating her own newspaper or magazine (she will also be responsible for this year's family Christmas letter)
• LegoManiac will research American military history, with a particular emphasis on the U.S. Marine Corps (including joining the Young Marines in September).

Looks like a pretty full, fun day for the little tikes (and Mom!).

Introducing the modern Kit Kittredge

Have you seen the movie yet?

Definitely this typewriter from Ebay is a big hit with our very own Kit!

Birthdays: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, String Bean

Yep, our String Bean turned 8 years old on March 1, 2008. She missed being a "Leap Day Millenial" baby by about 9 hours ... I actually went into labor with her on February 29, 2000 but she decided to put off an appearance until St. David's Day!

The carnations behind her were from the two younger boys; her older sister Kotch spoiled her all day; her at-college brother and half-sister both called her to wish her many blessings of the day; and she received cards and wonderful gifts and wishes.

What a treat this child is! Many, many blessings to our little String Bean!

Art and Nature

Yesterday, we went to the Denver Botanic Gardens and found, much to the delight of String Bean, a water garden with a myriad of water lilies floating on the pond. String Bean loves water lilies and water gardens, primarily because her favorite artist is Claude Monet! She has loved his works for a couple of years now and has collected pictures and books about this famous Impressionist.

We used up many digital pictures, trying to get a good shot at one of the waterlilies. When we got home I was asked to IMMEDIATELY load the pictures so she'd have something to study and work from.

Here's the result of her morning's work:

By the way, she created the "easel" from scraps of wood left from a renovation project dh and I are working on (more about that if we EVER finish!)