Tobacco, Sleeping Boys, and Party Hats

The farm next to us has begun harvesting their tobacco:

Reid never falls asleep in the car, but he was so tired the other day, that he not only fell asleep in the car, he stayed asleep while we watched Sen. Kennedy's funeral on TV.

Ethan likes to fall asleep during his rest time. I walked in to check on him, and from his door it looked like he was reading. He fell asleep reading about Ancient Egypt. I thought this was so cute!


Jeff removed Ethan's stitches on Sunday. Sydney was so excited that she made us all party hats that say: I'm glad your stitches are out.


Cute pics of Reid from this morning playing Sydney's harmonica while holding Ethan's lamb and wearing my party hat!

This one is priceless!

Baby Steps

He finally did it!!!!!!!! At 17 months and 12 days, Reid took his first independent steps! Whew!

Weekend in VA

Our family spent this past weekend in VA. It was an extra special time because Jeff & I got to have an adults only weekend with our dear friends Mark & Trish!! Sydney, Ethan & Reid spent the weekend with Jeff's parents, and Harrison, Alexa & Emmaline went with Trish's folks.
It was so nice to have a weekend with our friends, and our kids had a blast with Grammy & Papa. Here are some pics from our weekend- you can see my new Locks of Love hair. Eight inches is a lot of hair!!


As much fun as we all had, the weekend had a bad ending for Ethan. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and had a run in with our skeet thrower as we were packing up the car. He ended up needing 7 stitches. He was super brave throughout the whole thing, but the worst part of it was having the numbing medicine injected, which I know does sting and burn. Papa bought him a strawberry ice cream afterward, and he was happy about having to take grape Tylenol yesterday and today. Jeff will take the stitches out at the end of this week.



And Ethan is never too hurt to play with Reid!

Locks of Love

Yesterday, Sydney & I each gave 8 inches of our hair to Locks of Love. It takes 10 people to donate to make just 1 wig! Our hair turned out a bit shorter than we had expected, but every time we look at our short hair, we are reminded of the many girls in the world who have lost their natural hair and cannot grow their own. We are happy to be a very small part of blessing these girls and their families through the Locks of Love program.





Ethan started fall soccer this week. He'll practice 2 nights a week and have games on Saturdays.

Reid & Sydney

This morning after getting dressed and washed, all Reid wanted to do was play with his sister. It brings such gladness to my heart to see my children playing together.

Ethan's Rest Time

While Reid naps in the afternoon, Sydney and Ethan have rest times in their rooms. Sometimes Ethan falls asleep, sometimes he stays awake and plays. Since we stripped beds yesterday and the sheets were not back on his yet, here's how he ended up taking a nap. He was listening to Aesop's Fables on his CD player, and playing with his Playmobil Roman Arena set. He curled himself up in his comforter, made a pile of war equipment, and went to sleep.

End of Week Presentation & Celebration

One thing I want to do is instill confidence in my children with public speaking. I also want to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments in our home school. So at the end of each week, I have the children present one or two things they have learned or memorized to the family. After our presentation, we celebrate with a special dessert. Today it was milkshakes!

My mom is here today, so she was able to join the audience. Ethan presented the three sounds he learned this week and a portion of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Sydney presented the whole of the aforementioned scripture as well as the poem Caterpillar by Christina G. Rosetti.

Reid was napping while we had our presentations, but he did enjoy a banana when he awoke!

Skunks

This week in science, we are learning about skunks per Sydney's request. We were reading a great book about them today, and when we got to the part where a fox decides not to attack the skunk after he remembers his last encounter with a skunk, Ethan said, "Mommy, it's a good thing those skunks have that spray thing going on!"

Reid!

I wanted to put in a picture of Reid since my last 2 updates were all about Sydney & Ethan. He has 8 teeth, says about 10 words, and will walk holding 1 hand. His balance while walking has really improved over the last few weeks, so I expect it won't be much longer before he's walking on his own. He loves to play outside, ride on his giraffe scooter, and vroom cars around (his word for car or truck is "go-go!").
Unfortunately, we are pretty sure he is gluten intolerant like Jeff, Ethan, and Jeff's mom. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. And since oats are highly susceptible to cross-contamination from wheat, we can only buy certified gluten free oats. His symptoms have been exactly the same as Ethan's at this age. The good news is that he was born into a family that is already used to living gluten free!

Gymnastics

Tuesday was Sydney's first day of gymnastics class. She had a great time, her teacher was super friendly and helpful, and they even sent home a sheet with the positions they learned so we can practice this week! It was really nice to be able to watch her class, something I was not able to do when she took dance last year. Here's a picture of her practicing her straddle.

First Day of School

Today was our first day of school! Sydney started 1st grade, and Ethan began K4. We had a great day, but I'm not sure who is more tired- Ethan or me! Below are some pictures.

In other news, Sydney lost her second tooth over the weekend! She was excited that the Tooth Fairy knew she was at Grammy & Papa's house!

Sydney led our Pledge of Allegiance today.

Ready to Learn!

Here is our curriculum list for this year:
Ethan:
Reading/Handwriting: Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons
Pre-K Skills: Kindergarten Readiness Book
Athletics: Fall Soccer

Sydney:
Phonics and Spelling: Orton-Spalding Method
Grammar: First Language Lessons
Math: Math U See (Alpha)
Writing: Writing With Ease
History/Geography: The Story of The World, Volume 1
Science: Animals, Human Body, Plants
Athletics: Gymnastics

Both:
Bible: Devotions, Community Bible Study, Scripture Memory, Children's Catechism Memory
Art: Artistic Pursuits (to be started later)
Physical Education: PE Class after Bible Study
French: Le Francais Facille (to be started later)