pool time

Troy went out and bought a kiddie pool for Caitlin today. She liked filling it up with water and playing with the hose the best. Dylan came out to join us and had some fun but Dawson is just getting to big to play with such "baby toys". He said he was having fun just watching us.

now we're cooking

Dawson has turned into a little baker! He's made chocolate cake and Mississippi mud cake all by himself! I would have post a picture but it was so good there's nothing left. He gets out all his ingredients and lines them up on the table, then he gets all his measuring cups and spoons out. He levels everything so straight and washes up his stuff after every ingredient.
You can tell he feels important doing something that he can share with the family.

lion unit

For school we have been reading scriptures about not growing weary of being helpful. (Gal.6:9 and Heb.13:16)
We worked hard this last week to be helpful to one another. It was interesting to see them thinking of ways to be helpful. We talked about having an open hand with what God has given us. If you take what God has given you and hold on to it so tight, it's hard to receive something else that God might want to bless you with. I told Dawson to hold on to his gameboy and close his hand real tight around it. then I went and brought in a wrapped present and tried to give it to him. It was hard for him to take that gift with him holding on to that gameboy.
He said to me, " O.k I get it mom."
Psalms 41:1,2 has been this weeks bible verse. They memorized it and we will continue to repeat it everyday for a while.
Psalm 41
1Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
2The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

Dawson is cooking

I just taught Dawson how to cook his buckwheat pancakes. He can do it all by himself now. What a big guy!

Caitlin stole his tsp. and he had to figure out how to get 2 tsp. of sugar using a 1/4 tsp. He said he almost lost count.

(We found it later under the coffee table in the living room.)

fun with fruit

Dylan was eating grapes the other day and he peeled the skin off like a banana. I thought it looked like a flower so I had him wait before he ate it so I could take a picture. And no I don't know why he peels his grapes.....weird

Andy and the Lion unit study

The next couple of weeks we are reading the book Andy and the Lion for our five in a row study.
We are learning about lions and lionesses, Africa, Red Sea, and Egypt.
We will be reading in the bible about the good Samaritan, being helpful , bravery and learn about Moses.

So far they have learned that a group of lions are called a pride
lions are carnivores, they eat meat
there species name is Panthera Leo
lionesses are female
they can point out Africa on the map (and India)

Vocabulary words we learned:
investigate
braced
cautiously
fortunately
thorn

I have some more books coming from the library on lions for reading.

We are learning oz. and lbs. Dawson will be converting them in math.

Monday

We added some vocabulary words today.

monument

Giza

egyptologist

hieroglyphics

tomb

We learned about the pyramids in Egypt today. We went to the library and got some National Geographic videos, Dawson loves to learn through the t.v..

There were some videos online we watched about the Nile River, and there were some on the pyramids. I wanted to try to get them to realize how big they are. We are making a notebook/scrapbook on all the pictures we are finding online.

Wednesday

We learned about the Red Sea today.

Moses and parting the waters,

they wrote short stories on lions ( well Dawson did Dylan drew pictures)

We continued on Egypt and the Pyramids. We found out how the Egyptians preserved bodies. (yuk)

Thursday

Today we worked on maps and had a pyramid craft. We worked on the nifty 3-d pyramid pictured above which came out really good. I took banner paper and taped it to the wall and they wrote hieroglyphics on it. The above picture says "bionicle. "

a little bit of fun....

So what do you do with 150 VCR tapes? Well if your 9 years old......

look up in the tree

Look who we found the other day in our back yard!

Jesus loves Caitlin

This morning while on the way to bagels, the kids were talking back and forth to each other. Nothing real important, just talk talk talk. I wasn't really paying much attention to what they were saying. I could hear Caitlin singing. She was looking out her window in her own little world singing Jesus Loves Me. She finished off the song with a big.....da bibol tewls me sooooo.
I was happy to think her little heart was filled with joy from the Lord this morning and it overflowed out of her little mouth in song of praise! Even with all the noise talking going on around her.

Caitlins new dress

Home made from me.....She thinks it's beautiful!

If you give a boy a marker...

He will probably want to draw a picture on your sliding glass door!

My Job

A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk 's office, was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself. 'What I mean is, ' explained the recorder, 'do you have a job or are you just a ...?' 'Of course I have a job,' snapped the woman. 'I'm a Mom.' 'We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it,' Said the recorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like, 'Official Interrogator' or 'Town Registrar.' 'What is your occupation?' she probed. What made me say it, I do not know. The words simply popped out. 'I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.'The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.'Might I ask,' said the clerk with new interest,'just what you do in your field?'Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, 'I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) In the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters , (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction, rather than just money.'
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice a s she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just another Mom.'
Motherhood! What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door.