Tag Archives: Zoe

Celebrating Christmas with Papa & Grandmere

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The kids were super pumped that Grandmere and Papa made a Christmas day appearance…not just the gifts but seeing the grandparents pretty much rocks for them!

Mark and I are thrilled that Ceili Rain is now going to someone else besides us.  She is enjoying visiting with her Papa & Grandmere more and more.

It stopped raining Christmas afternoon and Liam got to test out his new wheels…with a look of concentration.

Josiah got chaffeur service from Papa.

Zoe got a lot of one on one with Daddy as she learns to ride her big bike!

And Ceili Rain snuck in some snuggle time with Papa…before declaring herself ready to be back in Mama’s arms.

Getting ready to open gifts…closing eyes was a prereq…this year.
A big cool gift this year was a new video camera.  It’s like the Flip cameras in that it’s small and hd.  I LOVE it!  It’s small, easy to carry around, and holds a bunch of video thanks to the larger memory card Mark got me.  Oh, and it’s for both of us…not just me (so they say 🙂
Ceili Rain had to test out her new crinkly dolly toy.

Josiah got a book with a train in it. Surprised??  Nah!

Liam getting excited over his turn to open presents.

Ace checking out his new book.

Papa & Grandmere with their calendar.
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Uggghhhh and Homeschooling in the New Year

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I spent time, gathered and posted two different things for yesterday…all done on Tuesday.   And somehow they disappeared!  I’m so frustrated.  It was pictures of the kids with grandparents for Christmas.  So, look for those posts tomorrow.  However, since we’re starting back to school on Monday, I decided to update what we’ll be doing for the second part of the year!

Zoe:  Character Quality Language Arts Level Pre-A, Green Series.  This is a language arts series that has no frills but is straightforward in teaching grammar, writing, dictation, reviewing phonics, comprehension, reading, etc.  It’s going to be a tough couple of months as adjust from Abeka phonics and reading and spelling to this…however, I think it’s going to be the challenge Zoe’s been lacking.  At the end of this month, for example, she’ll be writing her first book report!  Not only is it great in teaching language arts, it’s also chock-ful of character traits in relationship to the Bible.  Yippee!  That’s more than a two-fer to me!

Ace: Will continue with K5 Phonics with Abeka although I’m struggling to make it more challenging.  He’ll finish it up early this year because of how much he’s taken off!  I can’t wait to see it.

Liam:  Is continuing with gross and fine motor skill building along with cognitive skills.  He’s also going to start K4 Phonics with Abeka again.  We tried it in August and he wasn’t quite ready.  So, we’ll try again and see how it goes.  He really is ready to start writing and we’ll probably work on that “informally” as well.

As for the rest of the subjects for Zoe and Ace:

Math:  Saxon Math 1…Zoe’s already figuring out multiplication facts but we still need to work on basic math such as the addition and subtraction of single and double digits.  As well as the $$ part of math…so, we’ll continue while she continues thinking about multiplication and we help her figure that out.  She’ll fly through the times tables when we get there.

History/Geography:  We’ll spend January covering Georgia history with a neat packet I got at the homeschool conference last year.  Then, because I noticed the kids had no clue how to locate, say, their HOME state, on a map, we are starting Geography.  This is where their group Christmas present will get a workout…a SmartGlobe from Oregon Scientific.  We’ll be using Beginning Geography workbooks from Evan Moor for this study!

Science:  Continuing with the most awesome Answers in Genesis God’s Design for Life.

We’re adding two new things this year.

Music:  My mom gave us a child’s 8 note set of handbells and so, the kids will be learning very simple music theory and music with those…they are thrilled with the gift and can’t wait to learn it.

Spanish:  We have recently befriended a new minister and his family that has come to our area.  They will be starting a Spanish speaking church plant which is much needed…there are few, if any, Protestant Spanish speaking churches in our area…and they are much needed. Their family is precious and they share much of the same values and beliefs we have (as far as family and the church goes)…Mark has remarked that he’d love to attend their church if we could only understand what he was saying!!!  Don’t freak out church friends…their services are in the afternoons and I’m not saying we’re really going to change churches 🙂  However, we’ve offered to help them but our services are pretty limited because of the language barrier…so, if we can overcome that, we’d be a much better help and we’d all be able to particpate in this ministry not just Mark and I.  And so, we are using Teach Them Spanish! to get started and probably something a little more intense once the kids (and us) pick up on it!

Looks pretty packed but it’s not too much.  Our music and Spanish will only be once a week so that should make it a little easier for us.  I’m looking forward to all the challenges that the rest of this school year will bring.  We’ll finish up with school the first part of June, pending any interruptions or family events.

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Christmas 2009 Recap #1

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We had a wonderful Christmas celebration and this year it was just a blast watching the kids open gifts.  More importantly, it was a blast watching them grasp and understand the reason behind getting/giving gifts.

We had to wake Josiah up and it took him a long while to figure out what was going on.  He perked up when he saw his new train stuff though.

 
 
All the kids were excited over their gifts…even Ceili Rain who decided to sleep for three hours after breakfast!!  Pants made by me.  Zoe’s shirt, I appliqued.  I wanted to get a picture of them all together but just never got around to it.
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Celebrating Zoe’s “Real” Birthday

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I’m aware that this comes a little over a week late but please forgive me!  A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Zoe’s real birthday.  I still can’t believe she’s seven.  Her birthday was on a Sunday.  She chose to open gifts that morning instead of waiting until that afternoon which was probably better as she had Awana that night.  We set out her big gift, a new big girl bike, without training wheels.  I didn’t get to see her face when she saw it but Mark said she just grinned shyly…which is Zoe-ese for “I like it.”  She rode it some that afternoon and didn’t do too bad.

She brought cupcakes for her Awana class and they just thought she was “da bomb” (does anyone say that anymore??).  By the way, she made the cupcakes, under my supervision but I thought she did a great job and everyone seemed to like them…and most importantly, no one got sick.

I believe she definitely had a happy birthday!
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Merry Christmas!!

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Merry Christmas to everyone!  I pray today is a day to celebrate the birth of Christ.  God’s own sacrifice to give His Son to walk on earth.

We have been preparing for Christmas this year by celebrating Advent, reading Jotham’s Journey by Arnold Ytreeide, and opening boxes to find out what God wants for Christmas.  It’s been a blessing to hear the kids (especially those who are very into presents) inform us that it’s not about Santa or flying reindeer or gifts that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Jesus.  They are listening!!

Yes, I made the girls outfits and they are quite adorable if I do say so myself.  Lest you think we snap perfect pictures everytime…here’s proof that we don’t!

We lucked out on that first picture!
I apologize to my .2 loyal readers who were expecting posts every day.  I’ve got what I want to post but do not have the energy nor the stomach power!  Yes, first trimester has hit with a vengence and is due to stick around for at least two more weeks.  Once I know that food will stay down and I will stay awake, more posts will come!!
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Presenting the Cassanova of the Bunch…and Zoe and Ace!

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So, last week, Zoe, Ace, and Liam had their first choir performance of the year.  This was Liam’s first shot at being on stage and he took full advantage of it.

I’ll preface these videos by saying that while Liam’s 3 year old class was waiting to perform he was rough housing with the teacher’s younger daughter.  She was used to it as she has two older brothers.  He suddenly stopped, looked at her and said, “You’re a girl.  I hug girls.”  And then proceeded to give her a sweet hug.  He’s a lover and loves to hug on other people, hence the video.  I did not see any smooching and he said he didn’t kiss but he did give hugs and some quiet roars (at lease we couldn’t hear them).

Liam singing-the beginning from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

Liam singing 1 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

Zoe’s Choir 09 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

Ace’s Choir Performance from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

Listen closely and you’ll hear Josiah calling out, “Wee um!”  He proceeded to call to Zoe and Ace too.  We were sitting so far back that they couldn’t hear his frantic cries for waves.  He loves his brothers and sister so much.

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Shhhh!

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So, Aunt B, several years ago, had sent me a blog post from someone’s blog about a Quiet Family.  These were cute homemade dolls that someone made for her family.  They were simple, had eyes, but no mouth.  The intention is that a child, when the dolls are brought out, will realize they need to be quiet just like the Quiet Family.  I’ve always wanted to make these but never have. But, now, I’ve gotten braver with the sewing machine so I thought it would be a good time to make these dolls. 

Zoe and I worked together to make patterns for a mom, dad, boy,  girl and baby.  She picked out the fabric (scraps we had laying around) and requested I make a boy and girl baby.  After the material, was picked and cut, I sewed and sewed.  I came up with this carrier for them too.  I made the pockets slightly too large, as I was just improvising as  I sewed, but for now it works.  If I make these for gifts, someday, I’ll make the carriers a little smaller in the pocket.  The width worked out, however, because the carrier folds over the pockets keeping the dolls from falling out.

 
 
The dolls are in there somewhere!!
Ceili Rain is our test baby on this and will be receiving them as a Christmas gift.
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Happy Birthday Zoe!

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We had Zoe’s birthday party a week early this year due to friends having to be out of town.  Her party came right on the heels of the doctor ordering me to take it easy…as God (not luck) would have it, she did not request any major plans, schemes, or decorations.  She told me she just wanted to have a sleepover.  So, pizza, a craft…making personal pillowcases using iron ons, ice cream cake (her request), toenail polish, and a movie and we were all set!  It was a really easy party.  Four of the girls stayed overnight and three had to go home but they all seemed to enjoy themselves…

Ice cream cake courtesy of Baskin Robbins…we bought two other cakes from a grocery store and they were equally as yummy.
 
There is a gift down there amongst the heads, somewhere.
They all wanted Zoe to “open mine next.”  So, we had them each take their gift and sit down and she opened in order of how she wanted to open them.  Despite the faces, they were cool with that idea.  The best part was watching Zoe’s face!
 
 
 
This is after receiving five of the Mandie books in one volume.  We recently watched Mandie and the Secret Tunnel and Mark and I both thought she would love the series…lo, and behold, a friend heard me remark about it and her daughter got her the book.  She and M, to the left, were super excited, no?!
One of my bestest friends made this pillow for Zoe and made me cry in the process (thanks Kristina) it’s got the material from the matching outfits we made on it and since they’re up and moving to a foreign land (well, not too foreign…it’s Kentucky, ya’ll) I think this will be something she’ll treasure for a looong time.
 
We tried to do a group photo of the girls and their pillowcases but it just didn’t work.  We were really rushed as a mom had come up to pick up her daughter and had to get going.
Saturday morning, we gave Zoe part of her present from us.  It’s an apron that I made and I think she thoroughly loves it.  She should…she picked out the fabric!  A dear friend embroidered it for me.  It says, “Zoe, chef in training”  I can’t wait to be back on my feet so she can use it.  Here’s a link to the pattern I used.  It really was super easy.
 
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Searching for the Perfect Tree

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Every year, Mark and I throw around the idea of buying an artificial tree.  And every year, we find an excuse not to.  This year, I think the excuse will stick.  It’s become a family tradition to go to the Christmas tree farm and purchase a tree.  And family traditions are important…besides, our kids loving having  free range throughout the farm to…
tackle…
run…
lay down…
and on cold trips, cuddle!

It didn’t take much deliberation and it seems every year it takes less and less time.  So, we picked out our tree, got popcorn and hot chocolate and sat around the fire.  Now, our biggest blessing came as Mark worked with the Christmas tree people to get the tree on the van (an engineering genius if you ask me) and we sat around the fire waiting, munching, and spilling (there’s always a hot chocolate spill).

The tree cutting being supervised by Mark, Zoe, and Ace.  It’s a fat little tree and perfect for us this year.   Not too expensive…however, we had quite a time getting it to actually sit in a tree stand…phew that was a lot of work for Mark.
Back to the story…

Zoe had a tough time when we first told them we were pregnant.  She just wasn’t prepared for that.  It broke my heart to see her so upset and I prayed for peace and excitement to grow.  Now, she’s not upset and can’t wait until she can see pictures of the baby actually looking like a baby.  However, I’ve also been praying for ways to show her what a blessing they all are to us, including this little one growing.  God gave us two families that spoke to us while the tree was going on the van.  Each one talked about how blessed we were and how much fun it had to be.  Never once did either family mention how hard it must be or that I “had my hands full.”  They seemed to be thoroughly excited to see a larger-than-normal family.  And as we walked away, I quietly thanked God for giving her an opportunity to see that not all people think we’re weirdos!

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