Egypt Day

Graham goes to a school that implements Core Knowledge.  Core themes are woven into the disciplines, even the basal readers.  Graham comes home excited about what he is learning.  This makes me (a former teacher) very happy.  :) We have really enjoyed the opportunity to extend his learning at home.  It has been so enriching, for ALL of us!   The series of books What Your ----- Needs to Know,   written by Hirsch, is the basis of the Core Knowledge program. 

One of the topics studied in first grade is Ancient Egypt.  A couple of weeks ago, the entire grade culminated their studies with "Egypt Day".  Each classroom was a station and the students enjoyed Egyptian food, played Egypt Bingo, made an Egyptian collar and had a wonderful time.  Here is our "mummy" sporting his best mummy pose.  :)

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"I learned about mummies, and people put the mummies inside sarcophagus'.  Babylon and Egypt both had gods and goddesses.  They were just Egypt gods, not the real GOD.  :)  King Tut was also named Tutankhamen.  Tutankhamen was one of the most famous kings of Egypt.  Queen Nefertiti was one queen of Egypt, too.  Queen Nefertiti was also a very famous queen.  And the people that lived in Egypt also thought that every night a man rose out of a flower on his flying boat and every night he picked the moon in his boat.  People that lived in Egypt had to catch fish to get food.  The people of the Nile river that lived in Egypt shared the Nile river with the people of Babylon.  King Tut died a long time ago and was put in a sarcophagus.  Also, he turned to a King when he was nine years old.  People that lived in Egypt had only pyramids.  The people of Babylon only had Zigurats.  A Zigurat is something that looks like a pyramid except it has bumps and it looks like it has steps.  Only the kings of Babylon and the queens of Babylon could go on top of the Zigurat.  The people of Babylon that were not royalty could not go on top of the Zigurat.  I felt very excited to learn about Egypt.  Learning about Egypt was the best thing I've ever learned about since I started in first grade."  -Graham

Eight Months

Tiny baby with a big, huge personality.  Oh Miss Millie, we're wild about you, girl!

Camille, at eight months:
-says ma-ma, da-da, na-na, and many other squealy, shrieky utterances that would be hard to spell  ;)
-does the cutest crawl, shimmy, stretch move that gets her where she needs to go-fast!
-isn't sitting up without support just yet, but goes from crawl position to a arm-hip lean...almost there!
-is recovering from her first (double) ear infection...the tummy does not tolerate antibiotics well
-has two teeth on the bottom and loves to chew on her "razzberry" toy (a silicone teething toy that's a bumpy rasberry in the shape of a pacifier)
-between teething and the yucky antibiotic tummy-has gone from sleeping through the night to waking 1-3 times a night again
-nurses every 3-ish hours
-eats several ounces of pureed fruits,veggies,meats 2-3 times a day....LOVES yogurt!
-would rather play with the sippy cup than drink from it  ;)
-sometimes, it seems that she's a little bored when G and H are at school...she kind of looks around and whines at times.  They are a constant source of entertainment!
-now recognizes close family members and will enjoy their cuddles, for a few minutes.  Then she begins to glance around, searching and lunging for momma.
-sucks the thumb when sleepy, and loves to cuddle with her blanket and fiddle with it for comfort
-takes two big naps, or one big one and two shorter ones
-is fascinated by the telephone
....is wonderfully made and a precious gift to our family!

Millie's Eye View

Baby girl has started chattering, screaming, howling, screeching, giggling...she's a noisy one!  But then look at her teachers  :)

She's a tiny thing (25th percentile for height and weight at her last dr. appt.)...with a BIG personality!  Camille growls at daddy when he plays with her, screeches at the dog and laughs hysterically at her brother and sister's antics.  Just for fun, a Millie's eye view....craziness!

The Home Stretch



Pastor Doug presenting Dan to the congregation as a candidate for ministry



The church voted an entusiastic "yes!" to bring Dan on as associate pastor.  This week he will be "examined" by our presbytery (which is the local governing body of our denomination).  As exciting as it is that things are moving forward with Dan's new position at the church, he is still very much immersed in his work there and in his studies.  He is finishing up his last three courses for Seminary.  Add to that many pressing house projects (I'm talking sinks in the bathroom kind of projects!) and 3 small children.  Life is full.  We are very grateful.  And very tired.  Please pray that God would strengthen us and that we would find opportunities for rest.  The goal?  The end of Dan's last seminary semester...DECEMBER 3rd!   

Happy Baby and House Projects

When Camille wakes from a nap, I almost always duck into the bathroom to catch a glimpse of her beautiful smile.  I sorta captured it, but with a big giant camera in the hand that usually snugs her in close.  ;)  My heart literally jumps when I see that smile spread!  There might be sugar hidden in those dimples, they are so kissable.  

And on a different note, can you BE-LIEVE this pink guest bathroom??  Please guests, come visit us in spite of our pink bathroom!  Ha!  Hannah Reece felt it was a selling point, especially before Dan peeled off the faded Noah's Ark border.  

House update:
FLOORS!!!  My feet and legs no longer ache when I fall into bed at night.  Husband, with his mad skills and his amazing parents Rog and Nancy have been hard at work around here!  Have I mentioned how I hit the jackpot in the in-law department?

father and son hard at work

PAINT!!  Every area with floors started out with a new coat of paint. I'm amazed at what a few coats of paint can do for a space.  I'll share pics and colors one day soon.



so grateful that Dan's buddy, Tim, came over to help prime the walls

 WHAT'S NEXT?  Bathrooms.  In a big way.  I'm talking leaky potties and broken sinks. 

Renovating is a lot. of. work.   Dan has a clear vision and he is a focused, hard worker.   I am constantly amazed at him!  Poor guy has had to listen to my whinin' on more than one occassion...I am not very patient enough and struggle to see a process like this through.  I get so overwhelmed and have to fight the urge to have it all done and ready for me to fluff our little nest.  Progress is good and I am thankful for this roof over our heads. 

Roly Poly Millie

On your mark...

get set...

ROLL!

Super Baby! 

Bento-ish Creations

I am perpetually stumped when it comes to what to put in my kiddos lunchboxes.  Who am I kidding?  Meal planning in general is not my strong suit, but I am working on it.  :)  I've been stalking several websites like this one and this one in recent months...looking for new ideas.  These special lunch boxes can be quite pricey, and even though I liked the idea of it....didn't want to commit to investing in two of these puppies until I gave it a trial run.  I'm making a really short story long here, but the short of it is that I bought some of these nifty divided Z*plock boxes at Tar*et and they're working out great.  They've got a little more space than an actual bento box, but I'm finally able to spice things up, and the kids love their lunches!  This method is also great because it forces me to be more thoughtful about my prep and so I make them in the evening, which makes for one less thing to do before we walk out the door at 7:25am.

So without further ado, here some of my efforts at a basic bento-style lunch. It's a start, but I'm always looking for new ideas of foods to try out... if you have any ideas, please share. :)

turkey, carrots, cheese cutouts, triscuits, raisins, animal crackers, applesauce

sometimes I roll the napkin with a bit of pipecleaner for pizazz ;)

turkey, cheese cutout (thanks aunt carrie for the cool cookie cutter!), goldfish, yogurt raisins, leftover hushpuppies from dinner the night before, cantaloupe

my note to graham, we had a little incident with a bully the first week of school...these are hard truths, even for us adults.

pb&j, gummies (sometimes I sneak in a "treat" on Fridays), pretzel sticks and  frozen blueberries-I use the foil-lined muffin papers to hold in the moisture

strawberries, yogurt for dipping in the little tub, banana (washed before cutting to avoid contaminants), choc. chip fiber bar cut in half, pretzel sticks



some days, if I'm feeling a little more creative, I go with a theme :)