Nature Walk

Our weekly nature walks have been reduced to bi-weekly walks due to the new book club.

As usual, our walk started at the front pond.

After counting seven small fish, the girls turned their attention to the ants floating on the surface of the pond. The ants' wings were stick in the water and the poor insects' legs were wiggling like mad. Sparkle "rescued" one ant by scooping it out of the water. On the rocks, the girls watched smaller ants scurrying back and forth. On the ground, the girls found even more large ants with wings.


Lizards, in various sizes, are also in abundance, due to the warmer weather.


I've given up on hauling the large nature bag around, so the girls haven't been doing much drawing. Recently, I provided the girls with small notepads for them to carry in their purses. Sparkle pulled her notepad out to drawing the fish and the century plant.


Glitter hung out on the swing, the benches, and the "paths."

First Confession

Whenever we mentioned Sparkle's upcoming First Confession to her, she'd get this nervous look in her eye and she'd shrink about two inches. Discussing the matter didn't seem to help put her at her ease. So, I made sure that she knew her prayers, understood the concepts, read her the allegory of "The King of the Golden City" (which she *loved*), and left the rest to her teacher and the Almighty.

Then the *big day* came last Saturday. She wrung her hands and fumbled when practicing her prayers in the car. (Prayers that she has had down cold for months!) We exchanged extra big hugs as I dropped her off in her class.

The next time I saw her she was striding down the aisle of the church with her class, with a *huge* bounce in her step and a gigantic grin on her face. She was third in line for confession and seemed to take longer than the other kids before her. Then she quietly knelt in her pew and did her penance. Finally she joined us positively glowing with happiness.

Here's a picture I snapped just outside the church.


Then we went to celebrate with Marble Slab ice cream!

Dancing

Saturday evening Wander and I got a babysitter and went dancing!
I can't remember the last time the two of us have been on a date, and it's been even longer since we've been dancing.

Wander got dressed up. (Isn't he handsome?) But I just wore my everyday dress. (The same outfit I wear for primitive camping.)

Glitter Plays

When Sparkle first joined the family, my brother composed and sang a song welcoming her. He also gave Sparkle a song for her birthday. She adored having songs composed especially for her. Glitter liked her sister's songs, but didn't have a song of her own. So, when my brother last visited us, I mentioned that Glitter would probably like a song too, and asked if he could compose a song for her as well. Earlier this week, the desired song arrived in my inbox and I loaded it onto my iPod.





This was Glitter's first or second time playing the song, so she's a little dazed. I love how she nods her head when her uncle asks "Ready?" in the song. Glitter has since learned how to turn on my iPod, plug it into the speakers, and set the song to "repeat one" so that she can play her song all by herself over and over and over and over and over again.

Overscheduled

New year, new activities.

Too many activities that sound too good.

- dance class (1/week)
- piano class (1/week)
- drawing class (1/week)
- book club (2/month)
- homeschool pe (2/month)
- homeschool art club (1/month)
- homeschool virtue class (1/month)
- girl club (1/month)
- science class (1/month)

Not to mention our own stuff
- library (1/week)
- nature walk (1/week)
- teatime (1/week)

At the gardens

Saturday morning we went to the gardens for the free public tour, despite the early morning drizzle.


Sparkle visits the pitcher plant and checks for insects being digested.


Wander, out amid plants.



A squirrel and a squirrel's nest.


Sparkle and Glitter being sisters.

January pictures

Wander and the girls snuggling on the sofa.


Sparkle being fashionable in playsilks.


At a birthday party.

Science Museum time again

It's science museum time again. This month we got to see the Real Pirates Exhibit.
It's a fabulous exhibit filled with history, based around the Pirate ship Whydah. It starts with a short movie about the Whydah and its discovery. Then you proceed through several rooms telling its history from its beginnings as a slave ship, how pirates were recruited, a recreation of the interior of the ship, the treasure room (with real treasure some that you can touch!), the fate of the pirates, and the modern discovery. Many of the artifacts are in amazing shape, despite being undersea for 300 years and encased in concretions.

Although you aren't allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit, I forgot that I could have taken a picture with one of the many pirate statues outside the exhibit.

Elsewhere in the museum ...

We missed the chemistry show. We waited outside the chemistry hall and the docent never showed up. Later on Sparkle was talking about her class and mentioned some of the demonstrations done in the chemistry show. Maybe they were using the props in the classroom.

The Josephine Tiara from the Faberge exhibit was in the Gem Vault. Wow. I never expected to see this exquisite piece again in my life. The display isn't as spectacular, since you can't walk around it in the Gem Vault, but it is still gorgeous.

My favorite part ...

Glitter sat on my lap at the beginning of the Pirate exhibit waiting for the movie to start. Then she starts trying to read the words on the opening screen: "This is a story ..."

Not old enough

I believe in gradually giving my kids more and more independence as they demonstrate ability and responsibility. Why do for them what they can and want do for themselves? Apparently other people think my kids aren't old enough to do some of the things they do.

Incident 1)
A neighbor asked to borrow something, and said he would return it in a few minutes. The kids crowded around because they are always curious. A few minutes later the doorbell rang. Wander and I were upstairs, so Sparkle looked through the window, saw that it was the neighbor, and hollered to us who it was. She then proceeded to unlock the door. Only, that made the neighbor uncomfortable. He asked if she knew who he was. He asked if it was okay for her to open the door. He checked to make sure that she wouldn't open the door to a stranger. Only then did he let her continue opening the door.

How old do you have to be to open your own front door to let in a neighbor whom the whole household knows and expects?

Incident 2)
The girls and I were at the library for our weekly library trip. I was checking out books at one self-serve station, while Glitter checked out her books on the station next to me. Suddenly a lady starts grilling Glitter about why she's there "by herself" and telling her that she's too young to be there. At first I assumed that the lady was just grumpy because Glitter was taking so long. So, I politely informed the lady that (1) there was a third empty check-out station, (2) Glitter was with me, and (3) Glitter is used to checking out her own books. The lady lumbered to the empty check-out station, muttering that little kids "shouldn't be allowed." When I asked how old would be old enough, she answered "At least 18."

Huh? Eighteen to do what? Go to the library? Check out their own books? I don't get it.

New Year's Eve

For once, we had a quiet New Year's Eve at home.

We didn't even buy any fireworks this year. Of course, Wander still had plenty of fireworks left over from the Fourth of July, especially sparklers.

The kids were feeling excited and goofy. It was also one of the rare times when they wear closed-toed shoes.


Wander is the fuse and fire guy.


Sparkle, well, with sparklers.


Glitter tried out a few sparklers, but they weren't her thing. (At least this year Glitter didn't keep running back into the house to hide from the noise.)


The girls enjoyed making swirly patterns with the sparklers.




After the fireworks we headed back into the house to share the bubbly.


We even got out our Champagne Flutes from our wedding which we haven't used since one got broken at our first New Year's Eve party.



Goodbye 2010, hello 2011!

math drill

I found some iPhone apps that I like for math drill! Yay, no more printing out math drill worksheets. Even better, no more correcting math drill worksheets.

Math Drills by Instant Interactive ($1.99)
This app is good for drilling math facts.
I like that it includes all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) and a "mixed" mode where the student has to pay attention to the current operation. I also love that you can totally customize exactly which facts are drilled. For example, I've taught Sparkle all of her addition and subtraction facts, but she also knows a handful of multiplication facts, and even some division facts. I can customize the drill to include only the facts I've taught. I can also set up multiple students with their own profiles, so when Glitter is ready for math fact drill, I can set her up with facts just for her.

Math Carries by Matt Hunter ($0.99)
This app is good for drilling multi-digit addition and subtraction.
I like the way this app deals with showing carrying and borrowing.


Sparkle is a long ways away from multi-digit multiplication and long division, but there are apps out there for practicing those skills too.