Glitter helps at home

Glitter helps me vacuum. She figured out how to turn the vacuum on from watching me. She hasn't yet figured out how to get it to roll flat on the carpet.


Glitter also helps with the laundry. If she is helping with the laundry, she isn't getting into other sorts of mischief. The laundry basket is about as big as Glitter, but she feels really big carrying it downstairs.

on the roof

Sunday afternoon Wander hung the Christmas lights. He really hates rigging the lights but he does it anyway out of love of the family.




Even though he's tall, he doesn't like the extra height from being on the roof.


Sparkle liked helping run clips and extra strands of rope light up and down the ladder.


Meanwhile, I setup the tree, garlands, and other decorations inside the house.

Nutcracker

The Nutcracker Ballet has been a holiday tradition for me for as long as I can remember. It started with seeing The Nutcracker every year, and then when I was old enough, I loved being in the ballet. One year in high school, I got to see The Nutcracker in the fabulous Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. When I was on my own, I got the video of The Nutcracker with Gelsey Kirkland so that I could watch it every year, even when I couldn't afford tickets to a live show.

This year the tradition continues with Sparkle and Glitter. I'd taken Sparkle to The Nutcracker a couple of times, but this year was Glitter's first Nutcracker. We went to see the show put on by the dance studio where the girls attend. Afterwards the girls got to meet the professional dancers who were brought in to play the Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavalier.



Glitter was enraptured the entire performance. Once the lights went down, she stared and stared, not saying a word. On the way out of the theatre, she kept trying to dance on her tippy toes. Sparkle was also full of excitement and questions about how the show worked and what was real and what wasn't. At intermission I was finally able to convince her that her constant whispering really bothered everyone around us and during the second act she managed to keep her flow of comments contained to sign language.

RenFest Again

We went to the Renaissance Festival for the third time this year, thanks to the tickets that Sparkle got from the school days poetry contest. We were able to bring along some good friends who had never gone before. Our kids really had an extra special time with their friends.


We shared a funnel cake.


We saw the joust.


The girls joined impromptu games of "Steal the Bacon" and "Duck, Duck, Goose."


We checked out mini wooden catapults and trebuchets that shot marshmallows.


Sparkle got to do the human catapult ride again. This time she managed to do a flip. Tilt your head sideways when viewing the video.


Glitter wanted to try some rides that she had been afraid of last time, including the giant swings.


Our favorite show was new to the festival this year: Clan Tinker. This family act has some great juggling, acrobatics, dancing, music, and humor. Good, clean, fun, with a dollop of danger at the end. Later one we saw one of the cast members walking around the fair on stilts.


The girls were inseparable. Here they are waiting for the grownups to buy lunch, and petting a horse from the Birds of Prey show.



Then at the end of the day, an accident on the only road leading from the fair tied up traffic for over four hours. Although we exited the fair gates around six o'clock, we didn't leave the parking lot until after ten. Luckily Wander hooked us up with some friends who were camping and we enjoyed their hospitality while waiting: good eats, warm fire, rhythmic drumming, great company, and cozy blankets.

bike ride

The family took a half-hour ride around the neighborhood the morning of Thanksgiving. Glitter rode the half-bike behind Wander. Sparkle rode her own bike behind them.


Sparkle had a hard time keeping up with Wander. Sparkle also was jealous of Glitter being pulled by Wander. However, neither kid wanted to be pulled in the buggy.


The day before when Wander was at work, I pulled Sparkle and Glitter in the buggy to the playground across the big road. They enjoyed the long, steep, fast coast down to the playground. I didn't enjoy hauling them back up the hill on the way home. While at the playground the girls gathered nuts.

Apple Chips

I was looking for something for the girls and I could do together today that would be fun and productive at the same time.

Last Sunday I had purchased three five-pound bags of apples. One bag went straight to the fridge for Wander's lunches and other household eating. The other two bags were sitting on the counter waiting to be turned into apple chips.

We self sorted ourselves into the different tasks. Glitter handed the unwashed apples to Sparkle. Then Sparkle washed them and placed them in a big bowl. I set three peelers, the corer, a knife, and a cutting board on the table. When Glitter saw me peeling the apples, she wanted to try too, but it was too difficult for her. Instead she moved to spreading out the apples I had cut. Sparkle fared a little better at peeling than Glitter, but she quickly got discouraged at it too, so she joined her sister in spreading the apple slices.

Then the girls discovered the joy of eating the apple peels and we settled into our final roles. I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples. Sparkle spread the apple slices on the dehydrator trays, and she ate apple peels when waiting for me. Glitter just ate the apple peels. One and a half bags of apples later, all nine trays of the dehydrator were filled and we dumped all the remaining apple peels in the compost bucket for Wander.



In a few hours, or longer, we should have apple chips to snack on. Sparkle has been looking forward to having apple chips so that she can pretend that they are mushrooms.

One morning as I went to check on the girls in the morning, I discovered this crazy getup . . .

Sparkle is wearing her nightgown, a pink dress, another brown dress with the neckline around her waist, underwear, and one of her sister's socks.

Glitter is wearing her nightgown and her sister's skirt.


I wonder if we'll be able to use these as blackmail pictures when the girls are teenagers?

fun time with kids

A friend with really well behaved kids recommended a book that helped her train her kids. I got a copy on PaperbackSwap and it arrived yesterday. I skimmed the book to see what gems it contained. The two main thing I got from the book so far were
1) I need to do more fun things with the kids, and
2) I need to give kids enjoyable, meaningful work

So, I need to go off and find things to do with the kids and things that the kids can do that won't be torture for me. (Going outside and being attacked by bugs is torture, as is playing Candyland, and watching Glitter try to set table.)

Understanding Numbers

Last night Wander told me that a friend of ours is concerned about the math education that his daughter is receiving at school. Math is very important to Wander's friend. Over the summer he had worked with his daughter on math and he was pleased with her progress. However, after a few months in school, his daughter has apparently forgotten much of what they worked on during the summer.

I immediately thought of Liping Ma's book: "Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics." It is an amazing book that talks about the difference in how elementary math (arithmetic) is taught in China versus the United States. I was fortunate enough to find a copy of the book through the library so that I didn't have to buy it. The book helped me gain a better understanding of numbers and how there are many ways to look at arithmetic problems, many ways to take numbers apart and put them back together. I only read the first bit about addition and subtraction and was blown away by it. Even though I did well in math at school and had a mother who taught college math, I gained a better understanding of numbers from this book.

So, while Sparkle swats at pictures and plays counting games for math in school, I still want to work on her math skills at home. Math is her most difficult subject. We play a variety of math games, none of which are glamorous, but she still finds them fun. Here is a list of my current favorite math games:

- corners (add 2 numbers to make multiples of 5)
- go to the dump (using 2 numbers to make 10)
- on the number (adding several numbers to make a number from 11 to 20)
- on the number ten (adding and subtracting several single digit numbers to make 10)

From the outside these games look really boring. The cards have no pictures or dots, only numbers. There is no board. There are no tokens. All the addition/subtraction is mental and I don't allow counting. Yet Sparkle will happily play these games.

Adding numbers

So last night it was time to add up the minutes on Sparkle's reading log. There were seven numbers, one for each day of the week. I decided to have Sparkle add the numbers herself. She had been mentally adding the numbers earlier in the week, so I figured it would be good math practice. Then, I'd check her sum and sign off on the sheet.

Oh, my. It ended up taking much longer than expected. I first thought it would be something she could do quickly and then she could go with Wander to the store. (She likes going out with Daddy, even if it is only to the store.) Wander ended up going to the store by himself and we still weren't done by the time he got back.

It was all silly careless mistakes. She would be going along okay, and then for one number she'd add the tens, but forget to add the ones. Then she would have to start over, and next time she'd accidentally skip one of the numbers. So we went to step two. I had her write out all the numbers on a separate piece of paper so that she could mark off each number as she added it. I also had her use the abacus, to make it easier to keep track of the numbers. Arg. She copied the numbers okay, but then halfway through, she forgot to mark off the numbers and lost track, several times. Then she had too many marks next to the column of numbers, so I had her copy the numbers again. This time she skipped a number, so she had to copy them yet again. Then she started putting numbers on the abacus backwards; she'd put the ten's digit in the one's place and the one's digit in the tens place. Eventually she got it all straightened out, but then I made her check her answer by repeating the process.

Then I signed off on the paper.

It really wasn't a difficult math problem. She had all the tools and know-how to add the numbers. It was those silly careless mistakes. I pointed out how if she had pay attention and been more careful she would have been done so much faster. It takes less time to do a job properly the first time than to have to go back and fix careless work. Sparkle agreed, but I'll wait and see her actions next time to see if it really sunk in.

friends

Here's some friends. They made me laugh, they made me cry. Thanks.

Musings

We were in the middle of listening to the story "Heidi" just before Sparkle started school. The last chapter the three of us listened to together was "Sunday Bells" where Heidi returns to her grandfather. In it Heidi realizes why God sent her away from home and kept her away for so long -- "If God had let me come at once, as I prayed, then everything would have been different. ... God has arranged it all so much better than I knew how to." When her Grandfather asks her what happens if we forget God, she explains that "Then everything goes wrong, for God lets us then go where we like. When we get poor and miserable and begin to cry about it no one pities us, but everyone says, 'You ran away from God, and so God, who could have helped you, left you to yourself!' "

Sparkle's homework for school is 100 minutes of reading each week. Since Sparkle wouldn't be able to listen to the rest of the story at lunchtime, I gave her a copy of "Heidi" for her to read for homework. The first translation that I gave Sparkle was a little too difficult for her to read. (She kept looking at the timer.) I also had a simpler adaptation of the story, with a picture on every page, so I gave her that version. I don't like the adaption as well, because it changes the story and leaves out a bunch of stuff. Hopefully Sparkle will read the full (and prefer) the full version when she is older.

Glitter Snuggle

I got a great Glitter snuggle this morning.

biking

I'm so glad that Sparkle finally learned to ride her bike. She has been riding her bike to school and back. I've been riding my bike with her while I pull Glitter in the buggy.

So far biking with Sparkle isn't much faster than walking. This morning we passed by a neighbor's house as they were getting ready to walk to school, and even though we had a head start, we arrived at school only seconds before them. The bikers are also the last group of kids released from school, after all the buses are gone, which also means that we don't get home until late.

However, on the parts of the trip where it's just me pulling Glitter, we go faster. When I can go at my pace instead of Sparkle's, I can ride the path in a fraction of the time it takes to walk, especially since I ride across at the intersections instead of dismounting and walking across them. With more practice Sparkle will eventually be able to bike faster than walking. She is also learning biking safety skills.

All the cars that we've encountered have been really careful. For about one block Sparkle has to ride in the street instead of on the sidewalk, and the cars always move to the far lane and go slowly, giving us plenty of space.

Although biking has its disadvantages, overall it's been a good mode of transportation for us. I love biking. It provides exercise in a way I like. It saves wear and tear on the car by avoiding those super short trips which are hard on cars. It give Sparkle practice biking, which I would otherwise have a hard time fitting in.

I wish that we had a tandem bike so that we could bike to school together on one bike. I'd have Wander put the half-bike on it to turn it into a triple. Then Sparkle, Glitter, and I would all fit on the same bike. If the weather turned yucky in the middle of the day, I could pick Sparkle up in the car, and we wouldn't have to worry about getting her bike home.

Remodeling

It's been a whirlwind week.
Two incidences sum up how I feel.

[Part 1]
I dropped the girls off at school, first Sparkle and then Glitter, giving myself some kid-free time in the middle of the day.

I could finally mop the floor without worrying about little feet walking over the wet surface.

Each time I used the mop, I had seen the line of rust on the handle where I submerged it in the pail of water. Over the years, the rust got slowly worse. However, the mop always held, and I couldn't mop without the handle getting wet, so I just kept using it.

About halfway through the kitchen, as I was wringing out the mop head, the handle snapped between my hands and spewed brown flecks of rust all over the damp floor. There had been no warning, and now I was left with an even bigger mess on the floor and the tool for cleaning it up was broken.



[Part 2]
Most of the first floor of our house is tiled, however, one room has carpet. This was the carpet that the cats had to traverse on their way to the litter box. This was the carpet that the cats traversed when they didn't quite make it to the litter box. The cats have been long gone, but the carpet remained. This was the carpet that made me not want to have any visitors in the house. We were finally having the carpet replaced.

Two guys from the carpet store came and cut out the old carpet and hauled it out. They pulled up the underlying pad, and carted it out as well. No matter how much I had tried to clean the carpet, ripping out both the carpet and underlying pad was the only way to get rid of the smell and stains.

The carpet installers had to work in sections, moving the large pieces of furniture from one part of the room to another. The girls kept wanting to run in to see, but I only allowed them quick glimpses into the room, because I didn't want them in the way of the installers and I didn't want them to get hurt. The installers had sharp knifes, heavy boots, a hot iron, and an array of mysterious tools that would not mix well with young children.




Once the carpet was completely in and the installers left, I let the girls romp around the practically empty room. They marveled at the space while I knelt down and sniffed the new, clean floor.

It will still be a long process putting the room back in order. There are several bookcases, a huge desk, a large china hutch, as well as assorted bins and boxes of toys in the room. There are a dozen boxes of books and supplies jumbled together that need to be put away. We're moving some new things into the room, and taking out other things that we no longer need. However, we are all very glad that the carpet has been replaced and look forward to using the room more.

Glitter wants to ride

Seeing her sister ride a bike makes Glitter want to learn to ride a bike too.

So, off with the training wheels, off with the pedals, and commence the falling.

School

Here's Sparkle after her first day at school.

bike riding

Success!


It's repeatable!



A little over a month ago I decided to start teaching Sparkle how to ride a bike in earnest. After a few false starts with training wheels, I decided to look up teaching bike riding on the Internet and found a method I like.

We started by lowering the seat so Sparkle could touch the ground when seated. Then I took the pedals off so they wouldn't bang her legs as she walked the bike down the grassy slope.



With enough practice coasting, eventually Sparkle felt comfortable enough to lift her feet off the ground longer and longer. The slope in the grass isn't very steep or long, so I eventually moved her to the concrete once we both knew that she could fall without getting hurt much.



Then it was time to add one pedal back. Sparkle hated this part. The pedal kept scraping her leg and she kept wanted me to take it off. Eventually she started to believe me that if she kept her foot on the pedal, it wouldn't scrape her.



It took over a month of almost daily bike practice to go from fear of the bike to actual riding. (She loved riding the half-bike behind Wander but controling her own bike was a different matter.) Some days Sparkle would practice for only 5 minutes, other days she went for half an hour. Partway through the process I stopped taking pictures because bringing out the camera seemed to jinx her and she would fall down. I also picked up a second, slightly smaller bike from Goodwill and left the pedals on it. With two bikes Sparkle could pick and switch between the bike with pedals and the bike without depending on how confident she was feeling.

Sparkle can now start from a standstill, stop the bike (without running into something), and turn in both directions. She can't do tight turns yet, and still falls occasionally, but we can now classify her as "able to ride a bike."

BTW, I don't recommend learning to ride a bike while wearing a dress and flip-flops. However, Sparkle was pretty stubborn about her attire. Wander had to get stern with her just to get her wear the helmet.

RenFest

We went back to the Renaissance Festival on a regular weekend.

The girls got to partake in a princess tea party.



After sipping lemonade and eating cookies, they played a game called "Cut the cake". The lyrics are go ...

Clap your hands together,
Give yourself a shake,
Grab somebody's hand,
And then you cut the cake.

Both Glitter and Sparkle got turns cutting the cake.



Here's some more photos ...

A really big French war horse.



Sparkle liked the human catapult.


Sparkle and Wander take a spin in a bucket.



A fun show ...


Bellydancers


Two tired girls and one strong daddy at the end of the day.

hurray for Sparkle

I was puzzled by the envelope from the Renaissance Festival. Earlier in the year I had gotten tickets to school days, their study guide, and acceptance of Sparkle's entry in their poetry contest. However, now that school days was over, I wasn't expecting anything.

Turns out Sparkle got an "honorable mention / special commendation - Homeschool Division" in the poetry contest. I'm not sure what it means, since the regular honorable mentions were announced at the fair, but this one wasn't. My optimistic side is shouting hurray, she did great. My pessimistic side is wondering if there were only four contestants or it is just a nicely worded participation award.

Day off

I decided to take a day off from school today. Sparkle was confused when I said that we would have a "non-academic" day. When she found out that she wouldn't have to do her daily folder, she hooted for joy.

Then I found out that Sparkle had been sneaking candy and gum again. (After two broken fillings, Sparkle is no longer allowed to have gum.)

So, I let the kids play on starfall.com for longer than I am willing to admit, while I tried to tidy up some stuff. Glitter was glad to see the Halloween skulls packed up and put away. (Wander never even got around to decorating this year.)

I think that I really needed this mental health day. I think that I'll even skip making a pizza for supper tonight.