Ushering in Spring

Spring is coming to IL a time for puddle boots, rain coats, getting back outside, and mud.

Below are my three cuties enjoying a spring walk! This spring we were blessed by a trip to Nashville to see Aunt Teen and explore the city. Grandma drove all the way down from NY and then drove us to TN. It was a great week! We went to the Science Museum where we explored Adventure Tower, the human body, and went on a space walk.

We also spent a wonderful day at the Nashville Zoo. They have an awsome playground that the kids loved. There was a giraffe there that followed us around and wanted to have his photo taken. We saw elephants and meerkats. The meercat enclosure has a bubble that you can climb into and be face to face with one of the cute little creatures. It was a lot of walking but it was GREAT to get out in the fresh air and move our stiff winter bodies. Our day at the zoo was a bit chilly but we were just glad that it was not snowing :).

We also found a great indoor playground that occupied the kids for several hours on a rainy day. I really wish we had one of these close by.

Since we have gotten home we have had many play dates and enjoyed spending time with dear friends. We have a busy week coming up with dentist appointments, play dates and general fun times. We found out yesterday that sweet Miss Allison needs her tonsils and adenoids out so that will be another adventure for our family.

While we experience the adventure of spring weather, one day warm the next day snow. The adventure of spring health fresh air cleaning out our lungs and bringing stuffy noses and ear infections. Mama will stive to live each day striving to do good to one another, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thes 5:15 - 18)

Assessment

I have finally gotten my hands on the book that the state of IL has published with the Early Learning Standards for Kindergarten and Early Learning Benchmarks. I have wanted this document for several months so that I could assess the kids and make sure we are on the right track. Over the next month I plan to document how each of the children has met, been exposed to, or needs to be exposed to each of the benchmarks for their age group. When I did this for Reba Place it took hours and I had to do it for 16 kids. I am hoping that it wont take as long to do it for only 3 kids :) I will probably type this up so that I can print it and save it. This way of documenting will give me a direction for our curriculum and it will document accurately where each of the children are academically.

The more time I spend with the kids the more convinced that I am following Gods will for my life. I pray that doing this assessment doesn't stress me out and ruin what we are doing.

My Kids are Awsome!!!!

Today has been an eye opening Monday! Today I have realized that Ben is learning to read music!!!!! That's awesome. He has piano lessons once a week thanks to an awesome friend and her son who is teaching Ben to play the piano. It is really cool to listen to him learn to play! He loves music and loves to play. Allison may not be able to pronounce things but she is learning to read. This evening I labeled the kitchen and the bathroom with simple labels. I took her around and showed her the word for each thing. I asked her to take a guess at what the word might be and she could guess most of the words. She also recognized that dishwasher started with D and so when I asked her what the dryer was she tried dishwasher as an answer! I am amazed. Mary at 2.5 knows the names of so many things. She will not usually answer on demand but tonight she wanted to play the word game too and so she repeated the words I pointed to. I also have learned that Ben can add numbers that equal 10 or less. I plan to work on subtraction next, but I think he knows a lot. Its amazing what I hear that they know when I tune my ear to them. The older two know almost all of the 10 commandments with little prompting. It is hard for them to recite all of the commandments but they know them if you give them the first word. Ben is awesome with directions and knows North South East and West and can talk with you about what is in each direction or talk about how Ottawa is west of Marseilles. I am continually amazed by my sweet kids. Ben can read three letter words and will have his first spelling test this week. Allison is not as good with numbers. She needs to work on counting and number order. This post is almost a journal type assessment of where the kids are today. I really need to find some good assessment tools and take some time to do a real assessment of each of the kids so that I can effectively plan for school. I have not found a good tool yet for assessment but this encourages me to keep trying.

A Retrun to the Blog World

I have left this blog idle for far too long. This morning I thought to myself we have been in Marseilles for almost three years. Many pictures have been lost on crashing computers. Many things have happenend and how have I recorded them? Well for over a year on Facebook but maybe just for me I could try blogging again. So what do I want to remember about this time. This is a season of training my children up in the Lord. But what does that mean? It means learning and living Ephesains 6:1 - 3 - Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right, honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise that it might go well for you all your days on this earth. So I am teaching the children what obedience means. How to obey their parents. Also what is it to honor your mother and father. It is how the children speak to us but laso how we treat the children
Mary is now 2 and a half and growing up so fast but still a baby in many ways. Allison is 4 and comming out of the todder years in speech and action. Her speech challenges are being worked on and I just love my girly girl. Ben is 5 and this year is Homeschool Kindergarten. Mama prays every day that she is doing kindergarten right for him. He is learning to sound out words and so to read, he is learning math skills and is a very creative kid. I love being home and raising these children the Lord has entrusted me with. So I must commit myself to spending time in the Word and in Prayer that I am right with the Lord and can bring my wonderful children up in the Lord. This is His will for my life at this season.

February

We are living large here in Marseilles!!!! Happy Valentines Day. The outfits were made by my mom. The jackets showed up in a hand me down bag. We did join the YMCA where Mike and I can work out and the kiddo's go to the baby sitting room. We are looking forward to spring when we can get outside to play more often but the past few weeks have been nice and we have been able to get out to play from time to time.

Finally Getting back on track?

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Hello Out there.

Its a new year, its has been almost a year since we moved to Marseilles, and finally I feel like I am getting organized and back on track. I can give all sorts of excuses but the reality is I havnt gotten going until recently. So as part of my new years resolution I want to get back to being organized, having home school in the morning, and keeping up with the housework, as well as keeping up with communication. That is a tall order with three little kids and its winter, so we cant always get outside. So where are we now?

Mama is hoping to join the YMCA so that I can exercise and loose some unwanted pounds. I am trying to catch up with friends and family using e mail since I can usually at least check my e mail and try to send off a note or two. I have cleaned my house and gotten more organized, having lived here for a year now I finally have a place for most stuff and can put it away.

Allison, my little star! Was great in the Christmas play as a little star. She is getting to be such an interesting kiddo. She still loves her mama and doesnt want to be too far from mama but she is growing up. She is wearing undies at home and is going potty. She is a little mama. She takes good care of her babies and is a fun kiddo. She likes to read, and likes to ride her car around the house. She load up the car and goes off on her way. If she hears mama cooking she comes out to the kitchen to help. She likes to make bread, cookies, eggs, and anything else mama makes. She pretends to cook in her kitchen and with the props she got for Christmas.

Ben is into crafts. He likes to make stuff. He likes to check out craft books from the library then make the things in the book. Ben has made dinosaurs, and Christmas crafts. It warmed my heart this Christmas when he got out a cookie cook book and looked through it for a recipie for me to try and came up to me and said "Mama can we make these cookies please?" So we made them of course. He has ideas and tries them out. Sometimes its not as great as he wants it to be. He is learning independence that can sometimes try mama's patience since he will get things out while I am nursing Mary that Im not ready for him to have. Ben's favorite phrases are "I have a surprise for you, and I have an idea". You know something is happening soon when he starts a sentence that way. He is a fun kid most of the time!!!

Both kids love the snow!!!!!!! They had to go out and try to make a snowman as soon as they thought they had enough snow.

Mary is a joy of a baby. She is crawling and pulling up on things. She is a content, curious baby. She follows Ben and Allison around playing with the toys that they put down. She is a happy nursing kiddo. She likes the spoons but is just getting started eating baby food. She had her first Cherrios this evening and liked the ones she got in her mouth. She loves to snuggle mama and papa. She is a great blessing in our life.

Naptime, Glorious Naptime

OK so at the beginning of September just after my birthday I had a bit of a melt down one day. I was just so very tired. The other thing that happened was that the Wednesday Women's Bible Study was changed to Friday. Papa suggested very wisely that we needed a schedule. Not something too complicated but a schedule to work with. So we have started a schedule. Mornings are time for home school, and a mandatory rest time in the afternoon. Right now all three of my babies are sleeping. Yes all in one bed but they are sleeping. The kids have taken well to this mandatory time and it seems to be helping all of us. The big two are making progress potty training. The little one is happy that mama is happy. Praise God for He is Good.