New Wreath

After we burned our old greenery, I set up the advent wreath with the lights Josh picked out inside. I had made a wreath using fresh tree boughs, but after 3 weeks they were worse for wear! Josh helped me go shopping at Hobby Lobby and really wanted brightly colored lights to be included in our wreath. Samantha has the pepper grinder to keep her hands busy and out of the flames.

December at the Zoo

We thought Josh looked very handsome in his new red sweater. It was a beautiful day to be outside in Abilene.

Pumpkins, pumpkins!

No matter how hard we tried, she just wouldn't give us a smile!

Those big pumpkins are really heavy!

Sunday Afternoon

Remembering...

Today is pregnancy and infant loss remembrance day, so today I remember

Jeremiah Luke Mazurak
William Stuart
Lia Tyler
Jeffrey Matthis

the baby is the lesson

This is such a great essay about truth. I like to read it every so often because it encourages and inspires me. www.schoolofabraham.com/babylesson.htm

Jumper

More fun with messy food

She's having a great time!

the Titanic

A few weeks ago we read a book about the Titanic (several times!). After this, Josh never mentioned it again, so it was nice to see he remembered. He wanted this ship to be as big as the Titanic for his lego people...I kept it my little secret that it wasn't big enough!

fun with volume

Today we filled 3-D Geometric Shapes with unpopped popcorn. We filled the pentagonal pyramid and used that as a measure to fill the other pyramids. Usually the other pyramid ended up being only partially filled, but Josh and I were very surprised when the triangular pyramid overflowed. We has postulated that it would be the next roomiest after the square and circular shapes, but it was the smallest. In the end, the square pyramid held the most, followd by the circular, and the hexagonal was the same as the pentagonal. Samantha just wanted to get her hands on the fun looking objects, so we let her hold the sphere for awhile.

Two Teeth for Samantha

Samantha's second baby tooth cut last night. Hopefully we can get some sleep!

Happy Girl

Samantha Roll-up

Josh and I were reading Charlotte's web, when to our surprize we saw Samantha had rolled herself up in her blanket. It was so funny.

"Samamfa"

We read about the Turcomen people who felt wool, so Josh and I felted wool today. Samantha likes the ball I made.

Making Mud Bricks

presenting the letter f

Josh's handwriting is much improved from last year.

Samantha eating lunch

Toothless

Sandcastles

Here you can see the "castle" and the "village" which are encrusted with clam shells.

Hard at work!

Trip to Fort Worth

Always following Dad...this time into Lake Worth.

Grumpy. Samantha had a hard time being in a new place, but she did tolerate it after the first night.

Relaxing in the shade.

Josh looks so grown-up to me here. Ready to take on the water!

Two loose baby teeth...guess he's growing up!

The children

Here they are! Josh cleaned his old booster seat off for Samantha. She's trying it out for the first time. She is able to sit up very well in the seat and enjoys it in small doses.

Josh's Creations

Practicing one-on-one correspondence and developing fine motor control with melty beads:



Greater Than / Less Than Chamber:
A Josh invention inspired by the mathematical concepts of greater than and less than. We used Montessori Number Rods to learn about this today while Samantha was napping, and Josh built the chamber by himself a little while later.


Greater than is on the left, and less than is on the right.

Montessori inspired activities

This was our first week of Sonlight core 1. In science, we are learning about magnets. I set up this tray Montessori style, because I think it's more fun and Josh relates better to the results this way.

hmm...our background seems to have sprouted feet! Josh built this crazy tower during "quiet time" recently. I don't know how he managed to balance all those crossing rods.

beauty shots