Short Sleeves

Evan has been wearing short sleeves this week because he wants summer to arrive.

Maybe we should all wear short sleeves and flip-flops to help this winter to end!

This is actually an older picture from the fall when he helped make applesauce.  He loved cutting the apple pieces into smaller pieces.  

Esther's Drawing

Several months ago Esther amazed me because she had appropriate pencil grip by age two.  (One of our older children is still struggling with this.)

Esther spends time daily writing and drawing.  Honestly, I don't know if she is advanced for her age or not.  (I do know that her writing skills are about at least a year or two ahead of Meghan and Evan.  At this age they were still scribbling.)

Esther will carry a piece of paper and pencil around with her.  If she is in the right mood, she may sit for for twenty or thirty minutes and just draw (though she prefers to move to new areas instead of sitting).  Though she will ask me to trace her hand and write her name, I just encourage her to do her own thing.

This is a little taste of Esther's writing.  I'm amazed at the organization and precise writing, even on the Doodler.  She is holding it upside down (and she knows which way is which).  Obviously, her hair clips have been removed from her hair, but that's our girl.  Sorry it's a tad blurry.  It was the only one she held still for.

Keeping Up...

I know I haven't been posting here too often.  Life is definitely much busier these days.  You can read more about the family's doing at my other blog, This Simple Home.  Not only do I share recipes I like and books I read, but I also share some about the family, too.  Last week I shared our visit at our neighbor's chicken farm and how the children help me make applesauce.  Take a peek sometime.  I really enjoy writing and blogging.

A little about me...I am taking an on-line editing class!  I don't know that I will ever edit professionally, but I do enjoy the class.  Honestly, I do not think it is natural enough for me, but I do hope it will improve my writing.  (Now before you find four grammar and spelling errors in this post, I will let you know that I rarely edit posts on this blog before I publish.  On the other blog, I try to edit, but typically find mistakes after the post has already been published.)

Esther singing the "Itsy-Bitsy Spider"

A Long Winter and Cuteness

It's been a long week here, but improving all the time!

Monday- No school

Tuesday- 2 hour delay for Meghan and Evan

Wednesday- No school

Thursday- No school

Friday- No school

And I had a bad cold all week which made me really tired.  Very little was completed around the house other than feeding the family (and the watching of Anne of Green Gables and Little Women).  I considered all other tasks to be optional.  However, Derek was also sick, so the house was sorely neglected.  Derek actually was home (due to illness) on Thursday.  To give him some quiet, I took the three well-behaved children to the grocery store.  Obviously, I was feeling a bit better then.  (We also had take-out pizza for dinner that night...I was too tired to cook.)

Monday was a snow day, and it was needed.  I was grateful Meghan was not on the bus.  Wednesday the roads were icy.  A good ice storm came our way.  It took down MANY trees in the area causing widespread (86% of our county) power outages for MANY days.  (I believe today (Sunday) a few people were still being restored.)  We were without internet and phone, but maintained electricity.  Our furnace is an electric heat pump, so we are especially grateful.   Thursday and Friday schools were closed mostly due to electricity.  Even on Thursday, the main street in our town was closed due to continued to electrical problems.

By the way, if you were expecting to see us during summer vacation, don't plan on it until after June 23.  That is our current last day of school, and it's still early in February!  EEK!!

Now for some cuteness...

On Thursday Meghan and Evan went outside.  It was so funny to see them sliding down the front yard "penguin style" on their bellies!  No sleds were needed with the thick coating of ice on top of the snow.  After they were outside for a while, Esther called down to Derek and me.  I knew immediately that she had seen them out her window and she wanted to join them.

I was still shocked at what greeted me when I opened her door.

(Pretend this is a picture of her in her bedroom looking up at me with blue puppy dog eyes.)  Two year old Esther greeted me at the door and said, "Snow play?"  She was wearing her purple snow pants (overall style), completely zipped!  Some may think I am a fairly strict mom, but even I couldn't say no to that!  She joined Meghan and Evan outside for some fun.  During nap time.  (It wasn't long before they all came inside for some quiet time.  After all, their parents need it!)

Friday morning when I returned from the dentist, it was obvious that Evan had gotten into some sort of fight.  Apparently, he had gone face first into the snow/ice when the kids were sledding (or something like that).  His nose and eye area had little cuts on it.  I thought his eye might bruise a bit, but it didn't.  I didn't take a picture because I didn't think it'd look very substantial in a photo.  When I asked him if he cried, he proudly told me no.

Today during rest time Meghan threw down a paper airplane from the stairs. (This seems to be her new method of communication during rest time...when she chooses to actually stay upstairs.)  I took a (pretty bad) picture of it because it just amuses me so.  It also shows her creativity!

For the record, she had already told Derek about biting the inside of her cheek.  After seeing that note, I thought I would check on her, but by then, the bleeding had stopped.  In case you can't read it, it says, "My mouth is bleeding" and Meghan signed her name in goofy handwriting.

Meghan does like to write.  A week or two ago she started writing a non-fiction book about the solar system.  Somewhere along the line she has learned roman numerals, and she began with outlining chapter titles numbered with roman numerals.  (She did need a bit of help after XIII.)

This is a letter she sent to our cousin Chris in California.  She sent him Flat Stanley hoping he might take some pictures in San Francisco.  (I only asked her to write a letter.  She did the rest on her own.)

Left click to view larger (as always)

The kids and I made this in January during one of our (many) snow days.  The kit was given to us, and it was good to break up our day a bit.

Hope you are having a good week!  Take a look at my other blog if you want to see the other things we have been doing.  (I won't promise to excite you, but the chicken farm was fun!)