All Saints Day

Josiah was baptized on All Saints Day shortly after he was born, so we always make a point of celebrating both the day and his baptism. We chose to celebrate on Sunday this year instead of Tuesday because our Tuesday is incredibly busy this week, and that's no way to celebrate a baptismal day!

This year I wanted a fun (simple!) visual project that the boys could do, and I found it over at Catholic Icing. (In general, I've found that Catholics tend to be really good at including their children in the church year. Love it!)

I printed a pile of coloring pages of saints - Joseph, Mary, Anne, Francis, the Archangels, Paul, Peter, Augustine, etc. - and spread them across the table with lots of markers and crayons. I also made a huge heart on butcher paper, labeled it "Saints, Our Heavenly Family" and hung it on the wall. Then the boys (and a few of their friends from the neighborhood!) colored to their hearts' content while we talked about some of the different saints. When they were finished coloring, they cut out their pictures and taped them up on the heart on the wall. I was so pleased with how it turned out!



Everyone had fun, and the neighbor kids even took a couple of saint picture home to continue coloring. This might be a perfect All Saints project for young children - extremely hands-on throughout, low prep for Mom, with a great visual result at the end!

Homemade Halloween costumes

Jonathan chose to be a king this year. I sewed his robe, and edged the sleeves, hem, and neckline with gold thread. He loved that. :) We used an existing purple cape (I made it for him years ago), added a belt with a sword, and he did most of the painting/decorating of his crown. Do you see the cross on the front of the crown? That was Jonathan's idea, and very important to him. Overall, I love the way it turned out!



Remember how Thomas wanted to be Yoda? We managed it! The ears turned out a little bigger than I meant them, but they're the right shape and Thomas LOVES them. I sewed his robe from some fabric that my brother Jonathan sent from work (thank you, Uncle Jonathan!) Isn't he just the cutest Yoda you've ever seen?



Josiah was adamant that he wanted to be Darth Vader this year. Since we already had that costume, I was happy to oblige! We purchased a red light saber for him, which actually works out great because the other boys have blue and green ones and Siah wanted his very own so badly.



These photos were taken last night, just before leaving for our church's Halloween Party (a bang-up event!)

My goal this year was to create awesome costumes for a minimal cost. I ended up spending $13 (including the light saber!) and the kids were entirely happy. I'd say that's success!

Cat heaven

Choirs of (kitty) angels in (cat) heaven?



ht: Sister Mary Martha

Conversation

Josiah: "I am."
Thomas: "I'm not."
Josiah: "I am."
Thomas: "I'm not."
Josiah: "I am."
Thomas: "I'm not."
Josiah: "I am."
Thomas: "I'm not having this conversation with you, Siah."

Redeeming a bad day

I had big plans for today. A list of errands that criss-crossed six cities, a list of chores at home, a list of phone calls and emails that needed to be attended to.

In other words, I had insane expectations.

I have those quite frequently, unfortunately. And when I try to live up to them, I stress myself out, and then stress my children out as I bark at them to "hurry up" and move at a stressed out grown-up's pace. It wasn't a good morning.

By the time I dropped Jonathan off at school (and I did remember to stop and kiss him, I'm glad of that) I was starting to realize that my plans for the day weren't really going to work out. Still, we headed off to the first errand on my list, the one that was supposed to take 20 minutes before driving across town to the next one. An hour later I shook my head at myself and scrapped my insane plans.

We went to the library. Thomas sat on my lap during story hour, and Josiah sat smack in the middle of the crowd of kids, and both enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I read a book, snuggled my son, and remembered that I like my kids. On the way home the boys asked to stop at a park, and since there no longer was a plan, we did just that. The sun came out. Thomas made friends with a little boy his age, all by himself (a first)! I taught Josiah how to climb up and down a tricky ladder, and then sat on a park bench and ate chocolate.

I still have a very long list. But you know what? I don't really care. I'm choosing to remember that I also have many, many days to run errands. There is always tomorrow, and the day after that, and maybe some of them don't really need to be done anyway. My kids are little and need their days filled with stories at the library and sunshine at the park. Come to think of it, I kind of prefer my days to be filled with stories and sunshine, too.

In about an hour we'll go pick up Jonathan from school. I will say "I'm sorry" for being a grouchy mama all morning. And perhaps we'll get ice cream cones on the way home.

Look who's three!

Josiah seems to be settling into the concept of being three years old. For the first few weeks he kept asking "Mommy, is I'm three?" I suppose I ought to fix his grammar, but it is such a cute part of his three-year-old-ness that I can't quite bring myself to do it!



He was so excited about his birthday. Everything about it: the parties, the presents, the cake with blue icing, the fact of being three!! He gets excited with his whole body, and his voice gets higher and higher and his eyes light up with joy.



He's a great helper around the house, often asking me if he can help with whatever I'm doing. He unloads the plastic dishes from the dishwasher every morning, all by himself. He helps set and clear the table, and sometimes feeds the cat. He loves to do laundry with me, especially tossing in the clothes and adding the soap, and later throwing things into the dryer.

Recently he's started "doing yoda" with me in the morning. He's better at some of the poses than I am - childhood flexibility is amazing - and we have a good time together. One of our favorites is the "dead bug" pose. Josiah thinks it is hilarious. :)



Playtime often includes brio trains, building elaborate tracks with tunnels and roundhouses. Grandmommy & Granddad, Libby & Jon, thank you for adding to the collection! He's SO enjoying them.



And painting! Oh, how Josiah loves to paint! I invested in a painting tablecloth, taught him how to get out his own supplies, and now he paints almost every day.



Star Wars is another BIG DEAL around here, and Josiah joins in with gusto. I often see him running by, in costume and with light saber in hand, singing "dun dun dun, da da da, da da dah!" (the opening notes to the imperial march). No, none of our boys have seen the movie. Apparently you don't need to in the star-wars-saturated little boy culture we're living in!

A movie that he has seen (and LOVES) is Bambi. This story has completely captured him. He'll often tell me little parts of the story throughout the day, or repeat a line that he thinks is particularly funny, giggling so I can barely understand him.



Since turning three, Josiah has happily embraced the concept of "big boys pee in the potty!" He's really training himself, and I'm enjoying sitting back and watching (and cheering and handing out chocolate chips, of course.) :)



He's a big boy, but he's not too big for snuggles yet. I still get to carry him in from the car sometimes, when he's tired. And at bedtime I lie in bed with him and sing lullabies, and he gives me sweet smacky kisses and "bear hugs, mommy, so that you go 'oomph!' "



Josiah, age two, was a bundle of fun, and I'll kind of miss him. But Josiah, age three, is shaping up to be pretty fabulous as well. :)

Faces

My mom sends the boys letters on a regular basis. The last one had some fun stickers on the back, along with the question "can you make these faces?"

Jonathan was pretty good at it!






Grandmommy, Jonathan wanted to be sure that you saw these. Perhaps you could mention it in your next letter?

We Remember - October 15th

Say Their Names

Kirsten from team-ewan is creating a beautiful video to honor those babies, born and unborn, who are waiting for us in heaven. It is called "Say Their Names", and will simply be a video of a candle, with Kirsten off-screen reading the names of these beloved children. I'm including the names of my four miscarried babies.

Sara Elizabeth
Benjamin Joseph
Abigail Renee
Robert Emmanuel

It is bittersweet, remembering the grief and loss, but better than forgetting them or imagining that their brief lives didn't matter. If you have lost a child, consider including their name in Kirsten's project.

Penny Simpkin on delayed cord clamping

Those of you who aren't interested in birth right now can probably skip this one...but for those of you who are pregnant, might become pregnant, or just like hanging around pregnant women...here you go. :)

This video is of Penny Simkin, a well-known author, doula, and childbirth educator, sharing the reasons for delaying cord clamping after birth. I found the information at the end, regarding oxygen levels and the need for resuscitation to be very interesting. The current standard, of course, is to clamp immediately and whisk the baby away from mama for resuscitation efforts. And while I'm exceedingly grateful for the amazing neonatal nurses and their sometimes lifesaving work, I wonder if we'd get even better results bringing the nurses and instruments to the mama, and keeping baby attached?

Yoda costume

Thomas wants to be "Master Yoda" for Halloween this year. I took one look at the prices (and the boringness) of the costumes for sale, and decided I wasn't interested. But then I found this tutorial, and it kind of sounded ... fun? Maybe?

Today we dove in. We're modifying things a bit, using what we have around the house, and hoping for the best. By the way, does anyone (in the area) have any old brown or off-white cloth lying around that I could sew into the robe? I'd rather use something old than purchase new cloth, if possible.



Thomas and Josiah enjoyed helping. Which, of course, means that they mostly watched me do it. :) Isn't that always the way with preschool projects? It was fun just the same.



Here's the balloon, partially covered with glue-y newspaper. I hope I guesstimated the shape of Thomas' head correctly! In a few days it will be dry enough to pop the balloon and see if it fits. Then...probably a few more layers for solidity, and adding the ears!

Love

Thomas' timer rings and I meet him as he gets up off the "time out stool". Is he ready to apologize? Yes. He's sorry for disobeying. Then, unexpectedly, he throws his arms around me and hugs me tight. And I hear, whispered in my ear, "Mommy, I still love you from here to North Africa, even when you give me time outs."

I want to remember this forever.

Fun times with little boys

I have to admit that I'm really enjoying the change of pace now that Jonathan is in school in the morning/early afternoon. It gave me some space to really see where Thomas and Siah are right now, and you know what? They're really fun!

Here are a few photos from our past week.

We've been building some great train track set-ups. See the lake and the river?



I've been getting creative with lunches - initially to encourage Jonathan to actually eat them while at school, and continuing because it makes the other kids smile. If you're ever looking for fun and creative lunch ideas (yet still reasonably easy) Wendolonia is a great blog to explore.



Thomas is fascinated by our Risk board game. Thus far our playing consists of setting up all kinds of armies, and then knocking down the "bad guys". Sometimes Raskol knocks them down for us...but he's not very discriminating as to good/bad guys!



It is fun to listen to Thomas talk about the battles - he can't ever remember how to say "cannon", so he's always telling me about the canyons or the cannonpults.



Gabe just looked over my shoulder and said "aww, preschool time with the boys. Teaching them to conquer the world."



Yep. I think the world better watch out for this one.

Art study: Claude Monet

A couple of weeks ago Jonathan asked me to spend part of a Saturday morning studying (and copying) one of our "art study" paintings. We chose Claude Monet's depiction of Jerusalem Artichoke Flowers. Here's the picture hanging on our wall, ready to be copied.



Jonathan was a lot more willing to dive in with the paints this time (previously he's been more hesitant, worried that he won't be able to do it "right"). He started with the vase on a red table, added green leaves, and then painted his flowers on top. Orange and blue background strokes finished his work. He was quite pleased with the result:



Of course, he wanted me to paint alongside him. Here is my result:



I actually liked mine better before adding the background! Oh well. I like the vase best. I'm glad that homeschooling last year made me jump in and try painting. It really is a lot of fun!

More of Josiah's creative grammar:

"Mommy, is I'm old enough, now I'm three?"

Isn't that interesting? He's the only one of the three boys who has made up his own grammar in this way.

{He thinks that he's already three, because we had a big family joint-birthday party last weekend.}

Bible memorization

Jonathan was working on his homework with me this evening, writing sentences that use his spelling words. For "be" he volunteered: "Be holy, as I the Lord your God am holy." This was clearly a Bible verse, but neither Gabe nor I knew where it was found (or why it was at the forefront of Jonathan's mind). So Gabe asked if Jonathan knew where it was in the Bible...and Jonathan said "um, Leviticus 19:2, I think."

Hello. My six year old just tossed off "Leviticus 19:2".

We looked it up. He's right.

{Turns out this is one of his Sparkies verses, and he's been listening to them on the Sparky cd during his quiet times. Yay Awana!}

Help midwife Katie McCall

*I'm choosing to disallow comments on this post, as I don't want to host an argument on the merits of the case.*

Katie McCall was my childbirth teacher, and she assisted at Thomas' birth. Last year she was (unjustly, I think) prosecuted for practicing without a license. She was sentenced today and thankfully will NOT be serving time in jail. (So glad for her kids' sake!!!) However, she does have a $10,000 fine, and her license has been revoked, thus taking away her profession and source of income. If you support midwifery, would you consider supporting Katie?

You can donate at http://www.supportmidwifekatiemccall.com/

Brothers

Today Thomas and Josiah were extra tired, and I let them spend some time watching Bambi. From the kitchen, I heard Thomas saying "I'm not scared, are you scared?" And I'm so happy that I had my camera next to me to capture this sweetness:

Pumpkin Pie

One of Thomas and Josiah's favorite things to do with me in the mornings is baking. Muffins, or waffles, or bread, or cookies...they love to help measure and crack eggs and mix things together. Yesterday we made pumpkin pie!



We even made the crust (usually I skip that part and just make pumpkin pudding.) :)

Sue Baumann's Pie Crust (I adapted and used whole wheat flour and sucanat)

1 and 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 T. sugar
1/2 c. cold butter
3 T. ice water

Place flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and whirl. Cut butter into chunks, add, and process till pea size. Do NOT over process. Add ice water gradually and touch process. When dough balls, stop immediately. Put dough ball in plastic bag. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Roll out between waxed paper. Makes one single pie crust.



Almost ready...!

And this is what happens when I bring out the camera these days:







I guess they learned it from their Dad.

Homework

{I know that it isn't Monday anymore - I started writing this yesterday but finished today.}

I just looked at all Jonathan's graded papers from last week. There are 35 pages. 13 of them are homework pages, and that was from a 4 day week.

As today is Monday, there is another 2 pages of math in his homework folder (due tomorrow), and a packet of spelling (to be written, and written, and written, ad infinitum) throughout the week. Each day there will be more pages sent home. And we're supposed to be filling out a reading log, too, tracking how many minutes of reading we manage to smush into the day.

When did we lose touch with reality in our pursuit for academic excellence? Jonathan goes to school from about 8:15 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. By the time we get home and into quiet time, it is 3:30pm. He has an hour of quiet time (for lego building, and listening to audio books, and drawing pictures), and believe me, he needs that hour. Until he gets that break, he will cry over anything and everything, no matter what it is. He's just tired when he gets home. It is hard work learning and being good!

Then we have evening chores to get ready for dinner, and dinnertime together as a family, and then some time to play outside. And then guess what? It is time to get pajamas on and brush teeth and have a story and do bible study with Daddy. And then it is bedtime.

Homework doesn't fit. I am not at all convinced that it should be made to fit. But I also want Jonathan to respect his teacher and do what is asked of him, and so I'm not sure what to do.

I don't want to be that awful mom who makes trouble for the teacher. I was the teacher, and I met my fair share of awful moms. But...he's six. And I've read too much child development theory (and educational theory, for that matter!) to think that this much paper and pencil work is good for him. Even "science" is paper and pencil work. "Draw lines between the roots on both trees" -

I have a friend who used to be an early elementary teacher. She used to send homework home with her students, too. Now she's a mom ("on the other end of things!") and she's choosing to homeschool her son. Another friend used to teach kindergarten, and is now considering homeschooling her kids as well. Apparently there is a disconnect between the teachers in the classroom and the mommies in the home.

Based on the graded in-class work that came home today, it is clear that Jonathan is getting quite a lot of handwriting/sentence structure/word usage/spelling practice during his school day. I also know that his class spends time working on math facts orally during the day. I have grave doubts that doing more of the same every evening will actually aid his learning. Wouldn't it be better to focus on reading together (we're in the middle of a chapter book that he's really enjoying, but don't always have time to get to) and playing outside, and being part of the family for those 4.5 hours that he's home in the afternoon/evening?

I'm certainly not the only one who is concerned about this. There is a worldwide movement, seemingly about five years old, which is against homework as part of standard education. Stop Homework was originally a website, but is now a busy Facebook group filled with parents who (like me) are questioning the value of the piles of papers. The creator of the site, Sara Bennett, is also the co-author of The Case Against Homework. Other authors have written in a similar vein: The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, and The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning. (The titles alone give you an idea of the passion and frustration driving this movement!)

Interestingly, there are some schools (both public and private) that are listening to the concerns and have acted to reduce homework. Some have policies in place specifying time limits to homework, some make it non-mandatory and ungraded, and a few have gone so far as to eliminate homework entirely. And they are finding good results!

While I know that I'm only 2.5 weeks into this new lifestyle called "school" (and thus don't want to jump overboard or burn bridges quite yet!) I'm also doing some hard thinking. When we choose to put Jonathan in school, are we choosing to accept "school" as a package deal (including homework) regardless of the impact that it has on him and/or on our family? Or do we retain the right as parents to choose school without choosing homework?