My children are climbing the walls... literally!

                                         And G said, "MamA, I'm a good climber!"

Like father like son

This is G's best "Cheese!" smile.  Yikes!

Notice the placement of the blue sponges, PapA's large one and G's mini one.  Ay!  Thanks boys, for doing the dishes!

Heads

This is my newest style: twists which are twisted together and then sewn to her head, first with weaving thread and then with a ribbon.  (Yep!  I used a regular sewing needle.)

Clearly, she loved it!

And, well, I don't know whether BubU wants to be a little Jewish (He did just learn about Moses in Sunday school and we have been reading A Hanukkah Tale: Just Enough is Plenty, by Barbara Diamond Goldin.) or whether he wants to play a bit of baseball.  ("Hello, The Chosen"!)  Really, though, this little hat goes on a figurine, whom, of course, we've named Shroeder... and BubU just wants to be like Shroeder.  Who doesn't, really?

To Winter!

I Heard a Bird Sing

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember:
"We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,"
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December

-Oliver Herford


The Germ

A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than a pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ.

-Ogden Nash


from Blossom Themes

Late in the winter came one day
When there was a whiff on the wind,
a suspicion, a cry not to be heard
     of perhaps blossoms, perhaps green
     grass and clean hills lifting roll-
     ing shoulders.
Does the nose get the cry of spring
     first of all?  is the nose thankful
     and thrilled first of all?

-Carl Sandburg

A good laugh for a mamA

Día ruidoso

Dediquemos un día a las chicas y los chicos,

Un día especial para hacer el máximo ruido.

Podéis chillar, gritar y hablar en voz alta,

Tocar un timbre, tirar de una campana,

Estornudar, hipar, silbar, aullar,

Reíros hasta que no podáis más.

Tocar el pito, dar patadas a una lata,

Golpear una sartén con una cuchara,

Cantar, gorgoritear y entonar la voz,

Tocar una bocina y aporrear un tambor.

Rascar todo el suelo con un rastrillo,

Usar el taladro y también martillo.

Dar un portazo y cerrar de golpe la ventana,

Regar el contenedor con un chorro de agua.

Gritar fuerte: ¡Viva!  ¡Viva!  ¡Bravo!  ¡Bravo!,

Poner música al volumen más alto.

Probar si rebotan los bolos contra el suelo,

Subir con el monopatín hasta el techo,

Hacer ruido al masticar y al tragar,

Sorber, hacer gárgaras y eructar.

Un día al año todo está permitido;

El resto de los días, por favor, no hagáis ruido.

-Shel Silverstein

In progress: sandpaper letters

Thanks to Beautiful Sun Montessori for the tutorial!  (Because of the color of our wood and paper, we will take blue, red and green markers to outline their respective letters and numbers.) 

What a wonderful day

The sushi boys

Rob has had sushi on the brain for a while and he decided that Girum should give it a try.  So, last night, the boys went to Izumi's on a sushi date.  I guess that GRITS did quite well, including happily playing with the "sticks."  It turns out that he doesn't like the seaweed wrapper, but will eat the inside parts.  In the end he pretty much just ate Uncle Monkey Bread's rice.  Oh!  And pickled ginger with wasabi!  When the wasabi experience hit GRITS, he reacted quite stongly... but then he asked for more!  My spice baby.

School time

We had our first official school time this morning and I'd say that it went well.  We began together, with a "circle time," where we prayed, sang the Doxology and then a song of each child's choosing, went over the calendar and then talked about our work for the morning.  The kids were very interested in the activities they chose and all worked for about a half hour.  For the first time, I'd say that's quite good.  We ended with another circle time where we read a book, reviewed the Bible story from Sunday school and prayed again.

the math center

the writing center

the sensorial center

the cozy reading bed, accompanied by Super Coon

It's official!

We have finally readopted the twins.  This means that now I can arrange for their pieces of identification like passports and such.  Thank you, Judge!  (Yo incluyo esta foto para ti, Chinita... para que no estés tan sorprendida al ver mi pelo cortito y cano en unos días.)

And to celebrate, we had mesir wat and injera that night for dinner.  Look at how well Mita eats it with her hands!