Before and After

Before:

                                         After:

From the mouth of a 3 year old

Samantha has light and hot pink ponytail holders. Recently she has decided that she loves the pale pink and that the hot pink is "howwible" (horrible.) So the other day as we were discussing pink, a surprisingly common topic with Samantha, she said, "I like cold pink."

Another day, another conversation
Me:    isn't Alice cute
S:    Yes, Alice is cute.
Me:    Is Samantha cute
S:   Yes, Sampa cute, and my grandma cute.
Me:    Is Mommy cute
S:    No....Mommy pretty!

Easter Images

 Homemade challah bread and naturally dyed Easter eggs

We used red cabbage to make the blue dye and onion skins to make the orange.

Rising dough

Samantha's Jesus. She loved this little craft.

Getting clothes ready for church is now a 2 day process!

"Happy" children on Easter morning. I love Samantha's grumpy face.

Dyess Chapel - picture by Josh

Playing with Alice

The Family

Josh and I were watching Sleeping Beauty today while Luke and Samantha went to church for the Good Friday Service. Doesn't sound like we were very holy, I know! But Alice is happiest at home and so we are all happiest when she is at home. Anyway, during the movie the three fairies each bless the baby princess with one gift and the first fairie chooses beauty. I asked Josh if he thought that was the best gift to give a someone and if not what he would choose instead. He replied, "engineerity," which is, according to his definition, the ability to make things.

Samantha's Busy Hands

She really enjoys srorting these big buttons and having Mom or Dad help her string them in groups. She especially likes circles.

This is Mugs. One reads the letter sounds on the bones and feeds them to the doggie. I made Mugs for Josh, but Samantha loves letters and their sounds and enjoys playing with Mugs. It's a little bit difficult for her to get the bones into his mouth, though.

She looks so tiny in her booster seat. It's surprizing how much personality fits into such a small package!

This is one of her favorites. She calls it her "Choo choo train," and often asks to play train. Her fascination with the game is finding and putting in the numbers. She's usually not very keen on the pegs.

School

Samantha is trying out Josh's "new" desk. We picked up used school desks at a garage sale and Luke fixed up one for Josh. Samantha's is painted but awaiting a new desk top in the garage. Right now she is happy with her little table, but she still likes the BIG desk!

This was the first day of school for the 2011-2012 school year. Josh brought his blanket to school because he wasn't feeling well...I think he was dreading school! He's been doing OK since we got going, though. Our new reading curriculum has been great for him!

Rice play. Bring on the vacuum!

Math Practice

Independant work at agenda time. Josh is reviewing color words. He ended up using Samantha's paints after she got tired of painting. He took his time and it looked great when he was finished.  

Cones and rings. Samantha lines up and organizes things. It's so cool to watch her.

This is recess! Josh loaded up Samantha and all her animals into a box.

Here's Rosie in the mix. Can you still see Samantha? So funny!

Laughs

The Pink Panther

Getting ready to help Dad fix the kitchen plumbing

Samantha certainly lives up to her middle name, Joy. She is such a little character. Looks like she's ready to take on the world!

Feathered Friends

Here is a spring photo of Samantha with her friends the "chichens." She misses them since it's been so hot, too hot to spend much of the day outside.

Here is the friend that Josh misses so dearly, Blue Jay. Once he was grown-up and flying all over the house I banished him to the back porch during the day and he eventually flew off. Josh is still sad.

Samantha LOVES music

These are probably from about 6 months ago. She still loves music, but now she likes to have all available people dance with her. Josh, for the most part, currently has a better attitude toward the whole thing!