Dis and Dat...

Dis and Dat is Elijah's way of saying this and that! We're trying to get him to realize the "th" sound:)
When we started Math U See at the beginning of the school year, I started Evie in grade one all over again. She hadn't memorized her addition facts with the other math program we were using last year. She just finished grade one a little over a month ago and we're into second grade now. She's almost finished with memorizing all the addition facts now but she still has to pick up speed. I love it that she add it all in her head without using her fingers!
Yesterday she used the math u see blocks to show all the combinations that you can use to make 9. It's just so cool to me that she's able to figure addition facts out on her own. It gives her ownership and makes the facts actually mean something to her. Have I mentioned that I LOVE math u see?? I didn't even tell her to write down the combinations, she did that on her own. I was hoping that this year she'd outgrow her letter and number reversals. Another goal for next year, I guess:)

Cracking the Fast Language Code:)

Last week we had a great visit to the town of Elora. We hiked a few trails and had a picnic. When we were heading to the little river, Eden repeatedly kept saying, "Bah-doe, Bah-doe". I finally realized that's her word for "water". We're constantly trying to crack the language code with her. "Book" is "Book" but it also means, "Milk"! She puts an "L" in front of a few words... "Head" is "Lead" and "Uppy" is "Luppy".
Elijah and Evie have a few funny words too.. Evie says "Thinger" instead of "finger" and Elijah says, "Dis" instead of "This".



This picture was taken in Elora. I saw a guy with a fancy camera walking around so I asked him to take our picture:) We're definitely going to head back to Elora in the near future and do some more exploring, I love it there!!

Easter

In preparation for Easter, I bought the Resurrection Eggs and a sweet book called, "Benjamin's Box" to go along with them.



The kids had so much fun opening the eggs! I'd borrowed my friend Teri's set a few years ago. It was so funny, Evie was about four years old and when we got to the last egg (which is empty to represent the empty tomb), Evie started looking around to see if something had fallen out. I explained to her that it was SUPPOSED to be empty, just like the empty tomb. She just couldn't wrap her mind around that and then exclaimed, "Don't worry mom! I'll find something to put in this egg!"

The kids are going to hear the Easter Story thousands of times by the time they are grown. In the constant repetition of it I hope that they never lose sight of how amazing it really is.

We had a great Easter weekend. The weather hit record highs... around 24 degrees! We were able to celebrate with Ronny's side on Saturday and my side on Sunday.



The bigger cousins collected a pail full of frogs at our family gathering on Sunday. They convinced Eden to kiss about four or five of them- right on the lips!


Ronny's Opa died on Easter Monday (yesterday). How beautiful that he died on a weekend full of promise. Because Jesus rose again, we will be reunited with Opa in heaven! Opa loved Jesus and now he is face to face with Him:)

Thoughtful little boy...

Elijah was enjoying some smarties and decided to share with his mommy. He gave me three and said, "I'm only giving you three because I don't want you to get too chubby". So thoughtful:)

For Sale:

Evie was complaining that she can't shut some of her overflowing dresser drawers. I asked Evie if she wanted to sell some of her clothes on Kijiji. She ran to her room and came back with an armload of clothes that she wants to part with. Then Elijah disappeared. He came back with only one thing that he was willing to part with. The item in the photo. Evie and I had a good laugh... picturing the old thing for sale on Kijiji. Elijah had no idea what was so funny! Oh, I love my boy!

I miss those

CURLS! Elijah's hair always turns so curly in hot, humid weather! I'm looking forward to the summer weather too... I'm done with winter. I know we've been spoiled with a nice mild winter this year... it's not the weather I'm tired of. I'm just sick of all the viruses we've been getting. The flu bug twice, pneumonia, now Eden has a fever again... and all three have bad colds. On top of it all, Evie has to get a molar tooth pulled. I feel so bad for her.



I really can't complain though. I'm just so blessed in so many ways. My heart is so heavy these last few days for this family.

Listening to Francis Chan speak today (February 21's service) too reminds me of just how easy we as Christians have it living in North America. Francis is encouraging everyone to watch a video he posted on his website. It's supposed to be very difficult to watch. I haven't been able to bring myself to watching it yet. It's about persecuted Christians. As my heart is heavy with for these families, I keep finding myself saying, "Jesus, come back soon!". I'm so thankful for the hope we find in Christ and in eternity!

Snuggles

Found the younger two snuggling quietly like this while I was making breakfast yesterday. They often cuddle like this in the mornings... it's the time they get along the best.

Nature Walk

We discovered an awesome nature area within walking distance of our house! There are bridges over the wetlands and tons of trails. It is so perfect for our weekly nature walk- where we do our nature study. Now we just need to buy the Handbook of Nature Study.


We found several trees that were chewed by beavers. Some were ready to topple over!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Our sweet Elijah turned FIVE yesterday!!
The evening before his birthday, I made sure to kiss him over and over, telling him that I wanted to remember kissing my four year old boy for the last time. I have to admit, I cried. He asked me to snuggle him in his bed until he fell asleep. Eden has been possessive of me lately and would not allow me to snuggle him! Evie came to the rescue, she's such an angel. She read to Eden while I snuggled my little boy. It took all of two minutes for him to fall asleep. Have I mentioned that he snores? He loves his sleep.
The next morning he ran to our room to snuggle again, like he does every morning. He had a sweet, shy smile on his face as we said happy birthday to him. We then bundled up and visited Carlos and Nicole, went ice skating and had a combined party for him and Macy.




He got a DS for his birthday, he's so excited! Between his two parties, he got McQueen cars, a cool shirt, a puzzle, lego and a maze book... his relatives know him well!

Then this morning, Ronny took Evie to church. Elijah stayed home with me and Eden. Eden is not supposed to go into the nursery at church if she has a runny nose. So far, she's made it into the nursery TWICE in the last ten weeks. I don't mind staying home, I can listen to my brother preach here
and of course, Francis Chan preach here.
I do miss worship time at church though. The kids and I are starting to have our own little worship times at home though. As much as I love contemporary songs, I love hymns too. Since we're following the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling, we are officially having a "Hymn Study" class. So our first hymn that we're learning is Great is Thy Faithfulness. Such a powerful song. And my sweet little Evie had tears well up in her eyes when we were discussing the first verse, about how God's love never fails and how He never changes. It was the first time I saw her cry about our wonderful God. And my sweet Elijah is constantly singing Great is Thy faithfulness now. It took him a bit to learn to say, "THY faithfulness" instead of "MY faithfulness". So cute.

Fun with modeling clay!

When my parents were here yesterday, they took the kids to the dollar store. I was proud of the kids for choosing modeling clay instead of a silly toy. Modeling clay keeps them busy for hours! After they make their little creations, they play with them for days! I love the googly eyes:)







Eden was sick in the night again last night. Strange that she hadn't thrown up for two full days and a night prior to this episode. I can tell she's not herself though. She's been so clingy... and nursing around the clock like a newborn. Yep, I said nursing. My goal was to make it to age two. Now I have to start a plan for weaning her... not looking forward to that!

Homeschooling went well today. One of my recent purchases was English for a Thoughtful Child. We're really enjoying the lessons from it. It's a Charlotte Mason approach, using poetry, art, etc. originally published in 1900. Today's lesson was to memorize, "The Moon" by Robert Louis Stevenson. We learned the first stanza. We've been doing so much memorizing lately! The kids are now in Awana, memorizing lots of scriptures. They did so well with their verses the first week. When it was time to learn the next week's verses, Elijah said, "I can't learn a new one, then I'll forget the one I know!". He was relieved when I explained to him that our brains have the capacity to memorize lots!



Well, now that homeschooling is over for the day, I should get out of my pj's and tidy up this messy house of mine!

I SPY!

I spy a VERY cute four year old boy!
Elijah spent a good part of his Sunday afternoon trying to recreate the picture he found in his I Spy book. It was quite the ordeal for him...I think the biggest effort was trying to keep baby sister Eden from knocking it down!

Stylin' !!

Check out my stylish boy! Gotta love how he tucked his army shirt into his army shorts. I think the winter boots really complete the look.

"Lick-A-Rish"

"Mom, it's called "Lick-a-rish" because you have-a lick it."