Blogging Contest

This post is for the blogging contest listed here. Tell a kid story in 22 words.

Eating dinner; mom "introducing" pinto beans. Elspeth says, "I wish I had a fairy who made me whatever I wanted to eat."

Halloween Costumes

Here are the girls in their Halloween costumes. Maitlyn is Kirsten (an American Girl who lived in the 1860s), Elspeth is Mulan, Amelia is Kaya (another American Girl). Grammy made Maitlyn and Elspeth's costumes and Amelia's moccasins. Grammy's pretty amazing!

Brett also carved some pretty amazing Jack-o-Lanterns. Maybe we'll post some pictures of those later. Maitlyn's pumpkin was Snow White, Elspeth's was Aurora, and Amelia's was Tigger.

Generosity

I am so thankful for the generosity of people. We, as a family, have been blessed by others who have given to us. Of course, our parents are always doing nice things for us and are very generous with gifts at Christmas, birthdays, etc. Most recently, Mom has been making some Halloween costumes for the girls.

Also, friends have blessed us with their generosity. A friend of mine recently passed on her full set of Calphalon cookware. It is well used, but definitely still usable to me and a big blessing. Last year, another friend from church passed along some flower seeds--a small thing really, but this summer, we have been blessed with a great cutting garden. We have fresh flowers on our table at dinnertime. Our budget wouldn't allow us to go out and purchase fresh flowers, but we've enjoyed a little extravagance because of someone else's thoughfulness.

These are just a few examples of the many, many ways people have been generous to us. In fact, since we work in ministry, our very salaries are paid through the giving of others.

In hard financial times, it can be easy to scrimp, and we all probably should. However, I hope that all of us, me first of all, will remember to give as much as we can when things are rough. Our small sacrifice could be someone else's huge blessing.

Monday and weekend

We had a fun outdoorsy weekend this weekend. On Friday, the girls and I went with our Nature Study group to the War Eagle Marina campground. It's closed for the season, so we had it to ourselves. We walked around the loop, and stopped to enjoy a nature drawing lesson from Mrs. Knight. Then all the kids drew, painted, sketched in their nature journals. We checked out some cool rock formations and the kids climbed all over the place. We capped off our day with Jane's 3rd birthday party.

On Saturday, we hiked the Shaddox Hollow loop in Hobbs State Park. We found at least 20 different kinds of mushrooms on the trail. That was probably the most interesting natural element we enjoyed. Also, we saw a signal tree that was bent by Native Americans years ago. Brett and I ended that day by checking out a Chicago style pizza place in Bentonville. MMM. The girls got to spend some time with Meredith, and they loved every minute of it.

On Sunday, we had an awesome worship service at church. Then we enjoyed a Grovefest at Gulley Park. We couldn't have had a more beautiful day to be outside.

So, now it's Monday, which means back to work. Today we had a full school day, reading aloud various history materials, having Bible time, working on counting money and mental math, learning geography terms and listening to Aladdin (not Disney). We're reading it from The Arabian Nights: Their Best Known Tales by Wiggin and Smith. It's fabulous. Elspeth and I read a "Bob Book" together. Maitlyn and Elspeth worked on cursive and reviewed their phonograms, and Maitlyn did some independent reading from a book of Medieval Tales. We even worked in those important life skills i.e. chores. Now, the kids are getting some fresh air, and I am going to start dinner.

Game Night

So, we had our first official "game night" tonight. Most families probably have theirs on Friday or Saturday, but Sunday works great for us because we consider Sunday sabbath and family day.

Of course, we have played games many times before, but we decided to set aside an hour or so after dinner on Sunday to be our official game night, so that we'd make a regular practice of game playing. We hope it will become a tradition. Tonight, we played Apples to Apples Junior and There's a Moose in the House. Fun was had by all.

School Days

So, we're officially starting school next week. We've been doing a little bit here and there for the past couple of weeks, but I am hoping that everything at work will be squared away soon and I can focus on schooling the girls.

We're going to be continuing our study of chronological history this year. We'll be moving at a rapid pace starting at the Fall of Rome and finishing the year with John Adams' presidency. (I know, that's a lot of history.) So far I am learning a lot. Last week Maitlyn asked me if the Ostrogoths or the Visigoths conquered more people, and I said, "Well, I don't know yet. I have never studied this before."

We're also beginning a very intensive phonics program called Spell to Write and Read. And I'll be teaching Maitlyn and Elspeth to write in cursive.

So, here's to school. We've got our pencils sharpened, our books reserved at the library, and we're ready to go.

The Latest

So, here's what's been going on with us lately.

Maitlyn lost her first tooth. Amelia started sleeping in a big girl bed (really just her crib converted into a toddler bed). Brett taught Maitlyn and Elspeth to ride their bikes without training wheels. Elspeth cracked her first bike helmet (good thing she was wearing one).

We finished our second official year of homeschooling and our first year of participating in a homeschool co-op. We have gone on several interesting field trips over the past few months including: The Jasmine Moran Children's Museum (courtesy of Nana), The Laura Ingalls Wilder home and museum in Mansfield, Missouri, Good Vibrations (a hands-on science exhibit), Aunt Barbara's house and menagerie (courtesy of Grammy) and Farm Friends.

Brett went to Florida to hang out with the Stegers and see Radiohead. He had an awesome time.

That's it for now. . .