A Big Pink Ball . . . And Maybe a Rose

Today Micah stabbed Carissa’s huge pink birthday beach ball with a floral water tube with an anchor (just picture a sharp plastic object).
“Why did you do it?” we asked him.
“I guess I just wasn’t thinking,” he said.
We told him how important it is to always think *first,* then act. Because the time will come that you try something to see what happens–you don’t think about it first–and others could get badly hurt or even die.
Micah understood and really seemed to know already that he shouldn’t have done it. He was really sorry, and he wanted us to tape it back together. But it was a good lesson that some things you do just can’t be un-done. . .
Carissa was very sad about losing her big pink ball, so her bedtime prayer was very simple: “Dear God, for my birthday I need to get a new pink ball. My big brother broke mine today.”
But at age three, Carissa’s mind flits from place to place. Only a moment later, she was talking about who she was going to marry.
“I would like to marry Micah,” she smiled. Then she brightened with a little gasp, “Or Daddy!–I could marry Daddy!”
I hugged her. “Someday, Carissa, God will bring just the right man along for you to marry. . .”
“Will he bring me a BIG PINK BALL?!?!” she asked exuberantly.
Mara and I just guffawed.
Then Carissa added, “And…. maybe a rose for the marriage?”

So Saw-Saw

This morning David found the bubble bath and opened it. I found him carrying it down the hall. Thankfully I caught him before he spilled it but that was close!

Then he found a brand-new tube of chapstick rolled it out and broke it. We were starting school, so I gave him a paper and pencil and let him sit with us at the dining room table. He stuck his pencil lead in the salt shakers. . . I stepped out for a minute to help one of the girls and he appeared carrying an open container of seasoned salt from the kitchen. *This isn’t working.*

So I put on a show for him at the computer desk and went back to help Micah with a worksheet. . .and found him calling the neighbor’s grandson’s old girlfriend on the landline. . .Then unfortunately he found Daniel’s sunglasses and broke one of the legs off trying to put them on. I tried to explain how bad it was. David said, “Saw-saw [sorry]. Not break uh-uh [other] sunglasses.”

Then Micah came by and threatened to call Daddy at work and tell him what David had done, and Daddy would not be happy, Micah warned him, and other sunglasses would cost lots of money. I told Micah to leave his brother alone.

My little David hung his head, rubbed his eye and said “I feel sad. Tell Daddy saw-saw.” Sigh. . .

First Proposal

Micah recently decided that he was never going to get married, after he learned that you can’t marry any of the only girls he had picked out: mother, sisters or cousins.
“What about Hannah?” Mara had asked. “You could marry Hannah.”
20131108_MicahAndHannah2-001Hannah is the girl in Micah’s co-op who has caught his attention. The first girl, who’s ever really caught his attention. Every Friday, it’s something cute or funny that Hannah has done or said. She’s a bright little girl, always engaging others, enjoying life, being silly, laughing. . .
So Micah had brightened. “Huh! That’s a good idea! I never thought of that! I should marry Hannah!”

This week in co-op, he found a spot next to Hannah in gym. Then in math he found a seat next to her again.
“I’m sitting by Hannah!” he hissed across the room to me. I wondered whether he remembered the conversation he’d had with Mara earlier. Of course, he did.
At snacktime, he opened his Angry Birds Cheese Nips and slid several over to Hannah. “These are for you,” he said with a smile.
Hannah hardly noticed, but across the table, Maggie did. “Ooo, if I give you two of these, will you give me one of those?” Micah traded one Angry Birds Cheese Nip for two bites of homemade oatmeal cookies with Hershey’s Kisses. They both thought they had traded up.
Hannah ate Micah’s Cheese Nips, while Maggie continued to barter for more with pieces of oatmeal cookies. Micah gave Hannah more until one of the other moms said, “Now she has more than he does.”
20131108_MicahAndHannah1-001Then suddenly–“Hannah,” Micah began, “My sister and I were talking, and she thought it would be a good idea for me to marry you. So—do you want to marry me?”
Lucky for me, I help in his class so I got to observe the whole thing. My five-year-old’s first proposal: to a girl at co-op on his sister’s recommendation.
Micah looked across the room at me and smiled, “Mom–I just love Hannah!”
On the way home in the van, Micah re-told the story.
“And what did she say?!” Mara asked on the edge of her seat.
“She said….. ‘REALLY?!?!'” Micah replied with all the energy that Hannah’s little voice always carries.
Mara had to ask: “Was it ‘really?!’ like excited really or like. . .  really? really?”
The fun is only beginning. . . I thought. Imagine what these conversations will be like in ten years. . . or twenty. . .
Probably not like this. Ha ha!

School Days

Every day I have a “school” post–or two or three–in my head that never make it onto my blog. Often I have pictures to go along with the posts too.

I remember back to That Year when I blogged every day, and I hope that someday I’ll get my house and my homeschool and the rest of my life organized enough to allow time for consistent blogging again too.

People ask me how homeschooling is going. Truly I love the home “schooling.” That’s the fun part!

Mara will be seven in December. She is in first grade, doing great in all her subjects, and spends her free time writing and illustrating more “books” than I can count. She loves all things arts and crafts. She still enjoys playing princess dress-up and building with the megablock Legos and train tracks.

Micah is five, doing first grade work right along with Mara, except for the handwriting, which I’m having him do K-5. He is so competitive by nature! He loves the math worksheets and seems to have more of a “math” bent than Mara does. He also is finally enjoying his school reading. It used to be a chore; but now it is a joy to listen to him as he reads with great expression.  They both love science “experiments” and observations. They love heritage studies, and we often find additional activities or resources online for fun.

Carissa, 3, is not school age yet, but she knows all her letters and sounds and can sound out three-letter words. She knows many of the Bible verses and catechism questions from hearing the older ones’ recitations. I constantly feel torn with the need/desire to spend more one-on-one time with her!

And then there is David, 2, constant bundle of energy and laughs. One minute he’s saying, “Kiss me, Mommy! Kiss me!” The next it’s “Bat-man, Ironman—FIGHT!” or “‘nother joke! Knock, knock!. . .”  or “Where my keys?. . . Daddy work?” He brings us so much laughter and constantly keeps me on my toes!

The challenges of this stage are balancing time with the littles and keeping them occupied while spending focused time with the older two while keeping up on the housework, meals, groceries, etc. But, yes, the homeschooling is the fun part!

042-001Here are a few memories of the day.

David often wants to “do worksheet” too. Sometimes I ask him what he’d like to color and print a free coloring page off the internet. There are free coloring pages for just about anything the kids ask for these days! The online resources are amazing! Today David asked to color a car–and picked a Porsche. Micah picked a Lamborghini. Of course!

We had a science chapter on the five senses, so when I found the “Five Fun Senses Stickers Scenes” at Oriental Trading (IN-9/1129), I knew this would be a fun reinforcing activity in which all the kids could participate. Each child has a sheet of stickers showing various objects, and they have to put the stickers on the chart under one of the five senses. The fun part (for the younger kids) is that sometimes there are several “correct” answers. (For example, popcorn: you can taste it, touch it, smell it, see it and hear it!)

Mara, of course, finished first. But they all enjoyed it. These activities are sometimes more memorable than the reading.

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In Bible time, we had a lesson on telling the truth. The worksheet gave two stories and asked the kids to read the sentences and decide whether or not the child in the story told the truth.
Micah read the stories and answered the questions. Then he wrote his own story at the bottom.

“Micah! Did you finish your worksheet?!” (He told me this was “Mom calling me and asking me.”)

Then he wrote “Yes” and “No” and circled “No” and told me that was him–telling the truth. That, no, he hadn’t finished his worksheet. He makes me laugh.

051-001I suppose I was a little sad he remembers not having finished his worksheets. But I was glad he was telling Mom the truth! 😉

After school Micah had the idea of making a marionette show, like on the Sound of Music. Mara spent a very long time creating the sky and the clouds and a little person who dangled from a hanger over the front of their little “stage.”

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Here’s Carissa showing us how it works. There was even a little hole in back, so they could see the show they were putting on.

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Mara and Micah lined up the dining room chairs and put on a “performance” for the whole family! It’s fun to see them creating things and working together as a team.

The days can sometimes be crazy, but they’re also full of simple joys and child-like wonder as we learn about our world together!