Pages

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Book Meme

Look, look! Audrey tagged me for a book meme! I have never been tagged with a meme before, and I'm very excited.

Book Meme Rules:
Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
Open the book to page 123
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people.

My nearest book is Midnight Folk by John Masefield.

'Piney,' he said, 'my liver's like a shifting backstay. It takes me across the brisket instead of supporting my vital organs.'

"He was a broken man on his return, my Pa. ..."

Now I'm off to find 5 lucky people who haven't been tagged with this meme yet. Heh heh heh.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Grammar Police

I have a confession to make.

I am a card-carrying member of the Grammar and Spelling Police.

It drives me bonkers to read a blog (or anything else) with spelling mistakes and poor grammar. It takes all my self-control not to post corrections. I can't stand it. I even sit in church (shhhh!) and wish that the pastor would have had me do some editing before he got up to speak in church, most Sundays. (I know this means I have some serious attitude adjustment to do. God and I are working on this, I promise.)

Phew! I feel better, having that off my chest. I was just reading a blog in which the author used "except" instead of "accept" several times and couldn't take it anymore. I had to fess up.

I think I need to read Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation again. It will do my spirit good.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Look At These Babies!

When my parents were here for Christmas, my dad picked up a picture of Abbie (dressed in pink and flowers), and said, "Wow, Isaac really looks like Todd!" I said, "Yes, he does, Dad, but that is a picture of Abbie." He said, "Wow, Isaac really looks like Abbie!"

That conversation inspired me to get out my baby books of the girlies and see who I thought he looked most like. Truly, their hospital pictures are hard to tell apart. If I look at them now, I can see them each in there, but eit was hard to tell who was who, except for the backgrounds in the photos, particularly right after we had Abbie.

I thought, just for fun, I'd post pics of all three of my angel babies so you can judge for yourself. Please indulge my little stroll down memory lane. Something about Schmooey has made me quite nostalgic.

Here is a picture of Emma at around 3 months:



Here is a picture of Abbie around that age:



And here is Zacky-doodle, as he is fondly known, at close to the same age too:



I think he looks like a nearly perfect blend of the two girls, but when I look at lots of baby Emma pictures, I think he looks more like her now. Who knows what I will think in a few more months? They were all so cute, I can hardly stand it. And, no, I am NOT biased; my babies were the cutest ever. So there.

And here, because I am determinedly taking you with me on this little journey, is a gratuitous picture of Emma reading a book with her daddy.




Doesn't that just melt your heart?

Adventures with Chocolate

This is chocolate.




This is your bed and clothing after you've fallen asleep with chocolate in your back pocket.



Chocolate which you weren't supposed to have anyway, and which caused your mother a great deal of work to get it all out.

Sigh. Let's at least hope the child is thankful not to have big brown stains on her "princess quilt."

Look at Schmooey Go!

Schmooey went to the doctor last week for his 4-month checkup, and he is doing very well. He was 27 inches long (from 25" at 2 months), 18 lbs 9 oz (from 14 lbs something), and his head is 45 cm around (up from 42 cm). He's in 9 month clothes now, and looks huge to me. I thought, since he is most likely my last baby, that God would allow him to grow up a little more slowly. Not so, as it turns out.

Last week, in addition to going to the doctor, he found his toes, and showed us that in spite of doing very little "tummy time," he can flip over just fine from his stomach to his back, thankyouverymuch. When Grandma and Grandpa were here for Christmas, they got to see him roll from his back to his tummy, but he has not done it again - he really doesn't care for being on his stomach at all. He will go approximately 2/3 the way over, then stick his leg out to stop himself. He wants to see what's going on, but not from his tummy.

Mom put me on my tummy, and I am NOT pleased.



Why must she do this? Can she not see that I am tired and naked, for goodness' sake?



Little does she know that I've figured this whole thing out. She is no longer able to torture me this way.




Oh, look! Toes!




(I do have better pictures of him grabbing his toes, but they were a little more... revealing, shall we say. :-)

Saturday, January 12, 2008

This would go perfectly in my kitchen.....

And since my mixer has stopped working, it would be poetic justice if I won, don't you think?

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!

The Prize:

Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow

The winner will receive a brand new
Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow!!

About the mixer:

From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t call in the carpenters! Instead, “counterscape” your kitchen with Hamilton Beach’s retro-designed, affordably priced electrics in happy, sun-saturated colors. Their “Eclectrics” line includes updates to those classic appliances from the 1950s. All of their “Eclectrics” are available in six colors: Apple Green, Moroccan Red, Pineapple Yellow, Intrigue Blue, Sugar White and Licorice Black.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Weekly Report

This week was our first week back at school since before Christmas. We were not terribly consistent before then, so now that the baby is a little older, I'm hoping to get back into a more regular routine.

This week, we started our My Father's World 1st grade curriculum. This involves phonics for Abbie, along with Bible, science and art. Up to now, we've been reading a chapter from Genesis and Proverbs each day, which we will continue - the Bible in MFW is history, and projects.

We also started using Professor B math this week. I purchased it last year when I was struggling to teach Emma with MFW 1 math, and then completely forgot about it. I pulled it out and set the girls to work on the computer CD. We're starting from the very beginning so that we understand the methodology, but I expect to push through the first parts rather quickly. We're also going to add in Singapore Math 1B, but I have to order that still. We were using Rod & Staff 1st grade math, but the girls really didn't care for it. I've been meaning to make the switch for a while. The new year seemed as good a time as any.

We did our second week of WriteShop Primary, as we are a test family and we've only completed 1 week to date. This week, the topic was "I Am Special." We made sentences talking about things we like to do, wear, and eat using our pocket chart, and discussed how the sentences formed complete thoughts (as well as how they didn't, before we added the object nouns). We also read Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie for our non-fiction book about a famous person. (Okay, perhaps not the world's most famous person, but it's what I had in the house. I was not up for a trip to the library with all 3 children this week.)

We completed four lessons in First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind this week, and learned about proper names for aunts, uncles and cousins. That was fun as the girls enjoy talking about family. We used our relatives' names for our copywork.

We've also been reading Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It's the third in the Little House series, and the girlies are enjoying the books tremendously. Emma got the The Little House Cookbook for Christmas, and has asked to make exciting things like fresh tomatoes with sugar and cream. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

We were supposed to start Drawing with Children, but I must confess that I have been unable to locate the book. I will execute a search this weekend and start it on Monday. I purchased some sketch books on sale at A.C. Moore this week to use in our nature walks, which we will begin now that we're officially starting science with MFW. I'm hoping the girls will enjoy seeing their art skills improve and be able to utilize them in their sketch books.

For his part, Isaac showed us he can turn over from his tummy to his back, and discovered his toes. He also seems to be rebelling against sleeping, which is a bummer for Mommy. He had his 4 month checkup this week, and weighed in at 18 lbs 9 oz., measured 27 inches long and has a head circumference of 45 cm - 95th percentile all the way! We don't make them small around here, that's for sure.

That's about all the excitement for this week. I'm going to try to add some pictures in later.