8/18/13: bark rubbings

 

 Elodie with her bark rubbing of the Silver Maple

  

 

Signed like a real artist :)

 

Callen drawing on the Silver Maple

 
 Callen with his bark rubbing






Callen's finished product

 

Callen's leaf rubbing

7/18/13: First Grade

We started Elodie's First Grade year last week on Tuesday, July 9th with My Father's World Learning God's Story.  Her grandma came down the morning before for some good grandma time and then she had her first day of dance camp in the afternoon so that's why we didn't start on Monday.

 

 This is her on Monday.  So cute for her dance camp!

 For the past 8 days, she's been reviewing handwriting and working on making a scroll.  We've started patterns this week in Math and she's so bright at patterns.  She's been able to complete the ones in her math book ("CBOM") and with her Unifex Cubes with no help.  Tonight, we read a book "Fish Patterns" and she was able to complete all the verbal patterns in the book.  She was also able to label ALL the patterns in the book correctly, ie: AB, AAB, ABB, ABC, ABBA, ABBCD, etc.  It was pretty incredible.  I also realized this week that she can read what I'm typing on the computer over my shoulder and, for awhile now, she's been able to tell us what Dave and I are spelling out loud to each other.  We've also been doing a short devotional to start each school time.  We also do a little science time each week.  Last week, we found an anthill and laid honey-soaked bread on it and watched what happened.  Our chrysalises also hatched into butterflies so we released our butterflies last week after daddy got home.  This week, we made a soil and water jar to see how soil separates into hummus, clay, sand, and rocks.

6/19/13: 6 yr old well visit

I can't believe Elodie turned 6 years old yesterday.  Happy Birthday beautiful!!  She looks so much older and taller than she did a year ago.  She's got a ton of energy, passion, and spunk.  She loves to hug and hug you so tight you're afraid she's going to break something.  Elodie is strong-willed and wants to be right all the time so it's hard for her to take constructive criticism or admit mommy or daddy is right.  She loves Jesus and won't go to bed at night unless we've prayed together.  We can't wait for God to get a hold of her heart because we know they'll be nothing stopping her for living for Him then.  She loves her brother and knows just want to say to annoy him or lead him into trouble.  They're quite the pair.  The other night they were both lying in bed in their own rooms yelling back and forth to each other "I love you" and "I love you too."  It was so cute.  She also likes to watch 19 Kids and Counting with mommy and some home improvement shows as well.  Her best friend is her cousin Sara, whom she'll spend hours video conferencing with.  They play games and make believe and have a general great time together.  She likes to dance so we've signed her up for a dance camp at a local dance academy this summer.  She also likes to sing.  Academically, she's bright.  Last year at school, she was awarded "Best Reader" and "Most Dramatic."  She really isn't motivated to read though so we've been trying to make her read 15 minutes per day for the library's summer reading program to give her more practice and confidence.  We also need to be working on her math skills over the summer but she's still technically ahead since she's in the 1st grade math program.  She really enjoys drawing and making art projects and spends most of her free time doing that.  She loves making cards and projects for other people.

Elodie requested a balancing bike for her birthday like her brother Callen has. She had it a couple weeks now and is already picking her feet up for extending periods of time, while riding down hill.  It's so rewarding to see her excited and proud about her achievement.

Today at her doctor's appointment, Elodie weighed in at 45 lbs. (50th percentile) and measured 46" tall (almost 75th percentile) so she's still tall and skinny.  Her BMI was 15 (50th percentile).  She's basically a healthy child, but we're supposed to add Calcium supplements since she's currently still dairy-free.

3/14/13: Elodie's School Report

I couldn't attend Elodie's parent-teacher conference today for her one-day-per-week public school program for homeschoolers so her teacher emailed me her progress information.  We couldn't be more proud! 

Hi Liz,
Elodie is my top student in reading, math, acting and all the subjects. We love her. Although, she's verbal and so good at expressing herself in science and history, we're working on interrupting us. She's responsible with her backpack and remembering all her things!
She's at 1st grade level already!!
Mrs. Beth

2/3/13: Callen as king

Our little king marching to Handel's Messiah

1/4/13: Foot, School, & Therapy

I left the house for the first time since i hurt my foot. it's my driving foot but it did okay. I still have massive bruising and some swelling and soreness so I just think it's going to take a long time to heal. After 20 years of acrylics, I got a manicure and gel polish tonight. Hoping it will last as nice as the pink and whites. :) The kids were funny about it though. Elodie said "but I like the pink and white" and Callen came running, pointing to his finger saying "pink pink pink," like where's the pink mom? Too cute.

Today, Elodie took four more MUS math tests for chapters 2-5 and got 100% on all of them. I'm wondering how many chapters she'll test out of just from doing MUS Primer before Alpha (Primer is the kindergarten math and Alpha is the 1st grade math). I think I'll just keep testing her until she gets one wrong and then we'll start with that chapter.

Elodie's reading is progressing nicely as well. She's now reading through the Bob Books First Grade books. She sounds things out quite well and usually has no trouble with whatever reading she has to do for MFW Kindergarten. She also enjoys the read-alouds we do.

Callen's therapy sessions started back yesterday after a two week break. He did really well for both sessions. Sara got him to touch and push a cucumber around on his tray, which was great since before he threw two tantrums just because I put a cucumber slice on his tray. We also got him to kiss it goodbye. Mandy confirmed that he's catching up with his words. He's now on par with an average 2 year old, but he's 2 years old and four months, so that means he's about four months behind on his speech. An average two and an half year old will have 300 words so the average child's words would explode after two. Plus, an average two year old would be speaking in almost all two-word sentences, which Callen's not quite there yet, but he's definitely getting there. We're really pleased with his progress and he does even more for Mandy than he'll do for us (which she says is totally normal since he's in speech mode when he's with her and he only has to be "on" for an hour with her, whereas with us, he has to be "on" all the time). She also said he just hasn't made all those brain pathways yet that are messed up with him. So we're just trying to get him to say as much as we can. I kid you not, he has a new word every day!

Here's some other words he's saying that I don't think I had on his previous list: Let go!; Hey!; boon (spoon); sauce; piggy sauce; piggy no moo (he wanted the Dave's BBQ Sauce, not the Bull's Eye BBQ sauce; Dave's has a pig on it and Bull's Eye has a bull on it).

Day 2: Foot

Dave was supposed to go back to work today but he so kindly worked from home so he could feed the kids lunch and grab stuff for me when I needed it. I parked myself on the couch with my foot propped up. The little table and chairs is right next to the couch so it made it really easy to do school that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12/6/12: L's parent teacher conference

Notes from L's parent teacher conference with her Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Carreras: -Sweet, smart, very energetic, has lots of friends, listens well -Talked about putting L into a new, more advanced reading group since she reads the Bob books they send home from school so easily -Math: clocks, money, measurement, tie shoe, flashcards adding -S.S.: ancient Egypt -Science: animals -find prey, magnets -Study skills: organize themselves, listen, follow directions (good at follow directions), maturity -pretty feisty -she can hold her own (not afraid to say this is what happened and I didn't like it) -smiley, outgoing -memorizing A-G poems; She would present to whole class. She's really good at memorizing. -She's one of her top 3 students. -She's tall.

8/20/12: Museum & words

Callen has a few new words today.  He clearly pointed to doors several times today and said "doh" (door).  He also signed & said "nana" (banana).  He constantly amazes me with what he understands and remembers.

Today I took the kids to the free day at the Denver M*useum of Nature and Science.  Both kids had fun.

Quick shot on our way in

Elodie looking at a telescope in the space exploration exhibit.

The first thing we did was go to the Space Exploration exhibit since we had just studied the sun and the moon.  I think this exhibit was harder for Elodie to get into because there's so much information and science jargon.  She did listen to an entire presentation on why blood can boil in space (change in pressure).  Then we met up with some friends in the Gems exhibit, but then they were going to the Space one so we took a break for lunch.  We never did catch back up with them, but some other friends found us while we were eating and ate with us.  After lunch, we went through the dinosaur exhibit.  Again, Elodie listened for a very long time to a hands on presentation on dinosaur stuff.

Lastly, we did the human body one and I think it was both kids' favorites (I know it was Elodie's...guessing it was Callen's).

I couldn't catch him fast enough, but he was making the skeleton do as he did :)  Then when we got home tonight and were showing daddy the photos, he remembered exactly what that was a photo of and started moving his arms out to his sides. :)  Smart boy.

Simon Says

Ribbons!

Tonight, Elodie had her first real soccer practice.  She's in a U7 girls' team with practices twice per week and games on Saturday.  She's going to miss 4 games when we're in California, but she get to go to three in October.

Baby brother worked daddy out while we watched :)

He was loving to plunk himself down hard into daddy's lap!

the only photo of me from the day :)

goal!

my cuties

and one from yesterday... Elodie likes taking photos :)

8/1/12: Prayer for Kazakhstan

Today Elodie picked to pray for Kazakhstan:  Dear Jesus, Please help the Christians that have Bibles not get put in jail or killed.  Please let the government know you Lord and have you in their hearts.  I just want to say I love my Jesus. Amen.

7/31/12: Prayer for Nigeria

Today, Elodie picked Nigeria to pray for:  Dear Jesus, Please help the people in Nigeria know you Lord. Help the people who have Bibles not be put in jail or be killed. Amen.

7/30/12: L's prayer

Dear Jesus,
Help the Christians in Cuba don't get killed or in prison. I want the government to know you Lord. I love you. I love mommy. Amen.

Prayers and School

Each morning of school, we start with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. Elodie has been picking a country from our Persecuted Countries map from VOM. Today she picked Belarus and here was her prayer: Dear Jesus, Please help the Christians that live there don't get killed or put in jail and let them know you. I love you so much. I love mommy too. Please let the people with Bibles not get killed either. Amen. I've been so proud of the heart she shows for God's people and her love for God during these prayer times. At the end of the prayer, I noticed that Callen had clasp his hands together in the prayer position. I asked him if he wanted to pray too and he nodded so we prayed again. :) After I read Genesis 1:20 "God said, 'Let the water be filled with living things and let the birds fly in the air above the earth,'" Callen came up to me and said "wawa" while signing it and then signed "bird." Smart boy! And then when Elodie and I were going through her ABC sounds cards, Callen wanted to be included in that as well. He signed and said "apple" for the A card then wanted up in my lap. He said "baby" for the B card and signed "cookie" for the C card and then said "doggy" for the D card. Overall, school is going great. I am most surprised by how much Callen wants to be involved. Never thought I'd have a 22 month old in Kindergarten!

Prayer for China & Callen's in school

Today Elodie picked China off the VOM Persecuted Countries map to pray for. I told her about China's one child policy, heavy taxes that people can't afford for a second child, forced abortions (baby killing), and abandoning babies. This was her prayer: Dear Lord, Let the people who have two babies not kill the babies. Let them know you are real Lord. I love you Lord one hundred times more than I love my mommy. Amen.

Elodie did a perfect letter N in HWT.

Callen can say "mo" (more), "pee" (please), and "sssinky" (stinky).  He can breath through apple straws.  He wants to draw when Elodie is drawing for Kindergarten and he dances along with the school songs like "Frog Jump Letters," jumping at the jumping parts and putting both hands in the air when demonstrating the letters in the air.

He wanted to color like his sissy.

Elodie on day 4 of creation.






"cheese!"


Jello time (part of sensory exercises assigned by his OT)




cute girl


Doing school :)


SO excited to be at the dentist!






Prize she picked.


Naptime!