Bedtime Songs

We all have those songs we sing to our kids at bedtime.  I've cycled through several different songs with Ella and James, and a few months ago, I started singing the song that KJ's mom sang to him before bed.  You never know how the songs you sing to your kids might affect them; I doubt Mama T knew that one day KJ would sing that song to me one fateful night under the stars.  

What started as a bedtime lullaby for James turned into a sing-a-long tonight, and it made me laugh so much that I thought it was a moment to remember.  What a blessing video can be.

 

Also worth remembering is the last-minute requests James makes at bedtime.  Tonight's?  "Mommy, stay up for 130 minutes."  Deal.

Our {early} First Day of School

I can't believe it is August.  Where is this year going?  It seems to be flying at a super-quick pace.  Didn't we just start summer?  And I know we've kind of sped things up by starting school, but if you could have seen Ella's enthusiasm you'd understand why I did it.  Also, I just tend to do whatever my children ask as long as it's not too unreasonable.  

 

The excitement about school started when Ella suggested I get all of our books organized Monday night.  It was when I spread them all out that I realized a major perk of homeschooling is having an excuse to spend lots of money on nice books. 

We chose to go the Core route at Sonlight, and last year was an introduction to different cultures around the world.  This year is part one of two, and we're starting at the beginning (which is "a very good place to start").  I love starting at the beginning.  Preludes, introductions, books in a series, I always start at the beginning.  Usborne has really great books, but they definitely operate on the theory of evolution when it comes to the beginning of man's history.  So yesterday Ella was introduced to the fact that some people believe we came from monkeys.  She laughed and thought it was the silliest thing she'd ever heard.  KJ always puts things better than I can; he told Ella last night that when you don't believe in God, you have to make something else up as to how we got here.  He's right, of course.

Having a curriculum for James wasn't my original plan, but when a local mom advertized Sonlight's 4 and 5-year-old pre-K curriculum for almost half price, I jumped on it.  If nothing else it's just nice to be given a schedule.  It really does take so much pressure off of me.  We've only done about a day and a half with James, but from what I can tell we'll be reading lots of classic children's books and poems:  Peter Rabbit, Brer Rabbit, Mother Goose.  The language arts concentrates on learning the sound of one letter a week and practicing writing.  Those were really my main goals for James this year:  learning letter sounds and practicing handwriting.  I'm not going to push him as far as how much progress he makes; I just want to make sure I teach him diligently so he has the same opportunity to learn as my first-born.  

Our first day went well.  I tried to stay relaxed and just do each activity, not worrying about the time, and in James' case, even if we did everything on the list.  Yesterday went even better, and I'm sure we'll get into a groove of having two students.  I think it's good for James to learn the concept of school and having a little more direction in his day versus bouncing between playing Mario and asking to play Mario.  He was very dramatic about trying to write his name staying in the lines.  I gave him lots of breaks to play cars while I taught Ella.  Ella stayed just as enthusiastic on day two as day one.  She even, on her own initiative, continued to practice spelling "eighth" over and over until she got it right.

Ella's reading my childhood copy of Charlotte's Web.  That was the first book I ever read in one sitting.  For some reason, sitting out in the backyard reading that book is a vivid memory for me.

Sweetest Girl

Oh, and what do you do when you really need to do something for yourself before company comes over?   - i.e. exercise and shower - You get your oldest to instruct your youngest in his worksheets of course.  Ella told me she could be my substitute teacher.

I just love those two.  I love James' little baby-soft cheeks looking over his work.  Part two of our new venture has begun.

A Full Summer Day

I had a vague notion that I wanted our summer days to consist of outings in the morning (if any outings were to be had) followed by a lazy afternoon of naps, movies, and ceiling fans.  Yesterday was one of those days.  It began with a gathering of all the various items needed for an outing:  bags, books, drinks, extra clothes, towels, stroller, camera bag, etc.

It started with the public library (Oh, how I love the public library!) where I signed us all up for the summer reading program.  The man at the children's desk yesterday was so friendly and helpful as he explained all the programs going on through the summer.  Between the library and free summer movies we have a lot of fun (and free!) things to keep us busy.  Not even the first full week of summer, and I am loving it.  I almost just said, "Roll Tide!" to all those good things.  I am being sucked into the culture of this city at long last.

There are about 9 weeks of the summer reading program, so I pledged to read 55 books to James. (Oh, my!)  Ella pledged to read 29 books, and she thought 11 would be a good number for me.  

We found the first four Kit Kittredge, American Girl books yesterday, and she was thrilled, even waking me up from my nap to tell me she'd finished chapter 1.  I was thrilled for her, but I also tried to explain what constituted a good reason to wake Mommy up from a nap.

Upon leaving the library, we made our first visit to the River Walk splash pad.  Fun.

Then it was McDonalds and Wal-Mart, where I learned, AGAIN, that giving in to a child's incessant demands for a milkshake will end with, "I can't drink all of this, mama, or I get sick."  Forcing me to abandon my carefully constructed meal plan to finish his milkshake.  I just couldn't let half a milkshake go to waste...

We had our quiet afternoon, I cleaned the house while the kids played a new Wii game checked out from the library, we ate supper, and then they wanted to play kickball.  Those kids are pretty cute and hilarious.  I started out just rolling the ball but had to go inside for my camera once James started his full-out sprints across the yard.

I refrained from snapping pictures of James' tears of agony when he got out.  It didn't seem like the kind thing to do.

Bath time, Wii time, allergy medicine, bedtime.  A full day.

One of those Perfect Days

Yesterday I wrote about how much we all loved Thursdays, not knowing just how great of a Thursday yesterday would turn out to be.  It was so good I had to remind myself approximately 100 times that it wasn't Saturday.  That good.

This week, in general, has been much quieter and slower-paced than last week.  Last week there was much busy-ness and running around spending time with cousins, getting ready for Easter weekend, and traveling to Mobile.  We haven't taken a break from school this week, but it's kind of felt like Spring Break for us, too.  

I got up early with the kids yesterday, letting KJ sleep in a little.  I was tired after a late night with some of our college students, but I'm such a good wife like that.  Oddly enough, despite my self-sacrifices as a mother, the kids cheered when KJ got up.  Go figure.  But he deserves his praise.  He taught Ella and did all her school-work with her while I browsed Amazon for new music and went for a 45-minute jog.  There was a shower and lunch, reading and game-playing, egg-dying with Ella, and the termite man came to renew our termite bond.

 After James' nap we all got dressed in our Easter duds for a quick photo-shoot in the backyard.  I had wanted this to be low-stress experience, take some good portraits of the kids, get a family shot.  Things didn't look good for us starting out.  KJ got a call, and he had to be up at the church to get things situated for Secret Church tonight, so there was a time crunch, and James walked out the door crying and wailing about the cuffs on his button-down shirt.  But then, somehow, amidst the tears and commotion, we got some really wonderful pictures and a family shot that, in our own opinion, and maybe because it's our own little family, we think is pretty perfect.  It looks perfect, but that's why I share about the craziness of the experience because, trying to take a picture of your whole family is never perfect.

  Behind the Scenes captured by KJ

 

After pictures, KJ ran out, and I hid and found Easter eggs with James several times, we ate supper, more reading, washing the dishes, practicing French (I can now ask, "At what time?"), and it was just a really nice day.

Just a Saturday Night

With lots of things going on for the newly-moved-into-their-house Kizziahs, we are getting a visit with the big cousins.  My big kids are loving it.  We brought in the weekend with a little hot-dog grilling, hammock-swinging, and trampoline-jumping. (And hyphen-using on my part.)

 Welcoming Spring with dinner in the backyard

(I just noticed that KJ was in a toddler-chair, while

Ella sat in the adult-sized one.)

We're looking forward to some more cousin playtime today.

At the Park

Yesterday was such a mild day I wanted to get the kids outside in the fresh air.  James, especially, who had been cooped up inside with the flu all week, could use some time running around.  At first I thought I'd let them get out their bikes and we'd go around the block, but I decided it would be better to spend the morning focused on school-work and to go to the park after James' nap.  

It was an unexpected gift to have KJ come home from work early and go with us.  He'd been staying late at work earlier in the week and had everything finished early as a result.  It seems that I'm the main reason he comes home at night.  :)

  I've taken a lot of blurry pictures lately that I really love.

We ended up finding a playground we'd never been to before, and it was a lot of fun.  Ella complained that I was swinging higher than her.  I told her I was a swinging expert.  Then I got down and pushed her so she could go higher.

  I love his happy faces.

Her happy faces are pretty awesome, too.

It's good to have my family together again.  It's good to be over the flu.  I'm still blowing my nose and have a nice sounding cough.  The past couple of nights I've been ready to go to sleep by 6:00 p.m., too, but I'm getting stronger and better everyday.  James has a little bit of a runny nose left, but I think he's pretty much back to normal now.  I'm so glad that's over and so thankful KJ and Ella were spared.  

Monday's Memories: Where William Wilberforce was Born

In the early stages of our trip planning I looked up everything we might be interested in seeing in England and marked it on Google Maps.  I was glad we were able to fit the city of Hull on our route.  We stopped by the house where William Wilberforce was born.

You can see the head of Wilberforce's statue peeking over the garden wall.  This old and elegant house now contains a wealth of Wilberforce memorabilia, as well as a museum that tells the history of slavery all the way into its modern forms.

 

  I loved that.

I searched everywhere for the perfect old (but not too old) copy of The Book of Common Prayer while we were in England but couldn't find one I was happy with.  But I loved that it was noted that Wilberforce was a different kind of father than most fathers of the day.  I also enjoyed reading about the ways the women of the time period worked to put an end to slavery.  I'm sure at times they felt like they couldn't do much.

  Remember you have to read some "f"s as "s"s.

 

This walk ran between the house and the exhibit on modern-day slavery and led to the back garden of course.

 

We were also able to see where Wilberforce and William Pitt were buried beside one another in Westminster Abbey.  Their friendship makes me happy, but I keep having to remind myself that William Pitt was a different man than Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays him in Amazing Grace.  Movies can mess with your mind.