Madeline

The girls found a bunny today. Apparently, the mamma made a nest in a pile of leaves we had. Mike was cleaning up the pile today, and this sweet little bunny hopped out. The girls had fun playing with it, naming it and petting it today. We even tried to feed it. However, after some research, we decided that raising a bunny right now is not really something we can do. We talked to a rabbit rescue, and they said the mamma will still feed it if we bring it safely back to the nest, so we did. There were two VERY sad little girls in our house tonight.

(Especially Miss I)

Lemonade

The girls decided one Saturday that they wanted to have a lemonade stand. We really don't live on the best corner for that, and it's really not lemonade stand season. But my girls are not easily deterred! They just had the lemonade stand sale in our house. Mike made the lemonade with them, then they poured it into cups and charged Mike and I $0.25 a glass. Hmmmmm ... mommy and daddy pay for the lemonade, the cups, the water, and daddy helps make the lemonade, and somehow the girls still make the money.

Science Day

Our home school group had Science Day last week. Everyone brings a couple of science experiments to share, and the kids go to town! Here is Miss I with friends doing a color experiment.

Miss O testing what water does to different ingredients.
Ato T enjoyed playing with cotton balls and learning what they feel like.



More mixing water - that was definitely Miss O's favorite experiment.

Build a boat - then see how much weight it can hold before it sinks.

Color paddles: what colors can you make by putting the paddles together?

Making a buzzer - Miss I's favorite.

One of the experiments we brought involved popcorn, and it got pretty messy. Miss I and her friend Reece enjoyed vacuuming it up together.

E-Card

As I type this, kids and husband are all on the floor of our family room, huddled around his computer. What are they looking at? An E-Card he wanted to send to them. It's a card of man passing gas, and the card reads, "Hope your day wreaks with happiness." I've never seen such laughter out of them all at once as I see when they discuss flatulence with each other. Miss O is actually falling back in laughter. Ato T finds it hilarious to try and get his sisters while they are doing this.

Okay, I don't really enjoy the fact that my husband is teaching them that bodily functions are funny. But, how thankful I am that my kids have a daddy who takes time to spend with them. My love for this amazing man grows deeper every time I see him interact with our kids like this.

Praise the Lord for wonderful husbands and daddies!

Boggle

Miss O has really enjoyed playing with her Boggle, Jr. Game lately. She sits for 30-45 minutes at a time. She doesn't actually want to play the game, she just sits here and spells the words to herself. Way to go Miss O!

Backyard work day

Mike spent a lot of time and effort buidling a patio to put the dog kennel on, and the girls did a great job helping! Ato T and mommy played in the yard and on the swing. Thanks for the hard work, guys!

Easter

We were awakened on Easter morning by 2 very eager little girls at 6:15. The kids found their Easter baskets and searched for eggs around the house. Then we were off to church. Sadly, it was our pastor's last Easter service with us, and we were happy we were able to be there for it. We were there in time for the Easter pancake breakfast and egg hunt. (We ignored the gluten-free diet for the day.) After church, we headed to Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Bob's. The kids had to find their Easter bags there, too, and Grandma had also hidden puzzle piece all over the house. We found all of them and put the puzzle together. It said "We Believe. Jesus Died. Jesus Rose." Then it had all of our names on it.

Cousins on the couch.

Easter baskets at home. My kids are getting so big!



Aren't they the best?!!


Miss I coloring Easter Eggs on Saturday. Miss O did some, too, but wasn't in the mood to have her picture taken.
Happy Easter to you all! Christ is Risen!

Cakes

I made a couple of cakes recently. Mike's birthday cake:

A cake for a family at church.

I love practicing cake decorating!

Ethiopia

I led a day of activities on Ethiopia at our homeschool group the other week. I brought in a bunch of the things we bought while we were there, we watched a short video about Etiopia, looked through our scrapbook, made a traditional thatched roof hut, and finished the day with a snack of Yesmir Wat and Injera. It was a really fun day!

Digestion

We've been studying about our bodies in science. We traced each of the girls' bodies, and then drew their digestive systmes, and they had to color organs different colors. Sorry the pictures are sideways.

Fun night

A couple of weeks ago, Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Bob took the kids overnight for us, so we could get some time away together. What a blessing that was! These are some shots of the kids and grandparents playing in the back yard before we left for the evening.

Miss O and I had spent the morning at a Neuropsychology appointment. They spent a good amount of time making me feel terrible about our decision to home school, and trying to convince me that it would be best for Miss O if she were in a special Ed. setting in a school classroom. I came home in tears. Thankfully, my wonderful husband is just as committed to homeschooling the kids as I am, and he was comforting to me, and so was Lynn. But, after a morning like that, it sure was nice to get away with my husband to discuss our plans and options, regroup, and just relax. We spent the afternoon at the Science Museum Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. We checked in to our hotel, had a nice dinner out, and a relaxing evening in the room. In the morning we checked out a new book store we hadn't been to before, and found they had a good sized homeschooling section. It was a nice, relaxing time away.

More creativity

The girls made coil clay pots. They turened out pretty cute! They boy played with the clay, but just was not a huge fan. After they dried, they each painted their pots. It was a fun day!

Stories and creations

We read The Little Red Hen, and the girls each made their own Little Red Hen book. They drew the hen and told me what to write for them for the story.

Miss O's Little Red Hen story.

Miss I's Little Red Hen story.

The same day, the girls decided to use their creative sides on their own. Here is Miss O and her special book she made for daddy.

Here is Miss I with her mask invention. Yes, she did it completely by herself, including asking specifically for the TP rolls.

Chores

The girls have had chores for quite some time now. They are both responsible for picking up their rooms, putting their clean clothes away, helping set the table, and clearing their plates from the table. This winter I've been working with them on cleaning the bathroom. For a few months I've been doing it with them. They have now graduated to doing it mostly on their own. I spray the cleaners and they do the scrubbing. When they are done I go in an wipe up the puddles and any missed spots, and I take care of the base of the toilet and floor. Here they are doing their new chore. I'm so proud of them!

Miss I lost her pants while scrubbing the toilet. :) (Which, by the way, is her favorite part of cleaning the bathroom.)

Two amazing events

As I type this post, I am sitting on our couch watching two absolutely amazing events. Miss O is sitting on the floor with Boggle Jr. spelling out words, looking at the pictures, and saying the words. That in and of itself is wonderful and amazing to watch, as she teaches herself to read! While that was happening, Ato T rolled himself over to her and then "crawled" to her, pushed the top of the game box on purpose to mess up her letters, and then giggled loudly when her game was messed up and she was bothered. These two events from my kids with special needs. The girl who I was chastised about just 2 weeks ago, for not teaching her enough phonics, and the boy who is missing half of his brain. They are amazing kids! Our God is even more amazing. Thank you, Lord, for creating and nurturing these amazing lives, and for allowing me to be part of that.

More sensory fun

Shaving cream play sparks up any day! And mommy loves it for practicing letters. They don't even know they're doing "school." :>)

She did it!!!!!

Miss O has peed in the potty!!!!! We tried for no diapers again today. She always does well until she has to go (about 4-5 hours), and then has the accident all at once. Then she's good for another 3-4 hours. Today it started out all the same, until I noticed she was missing. When I found her, she had taken her panties off and put on a pull-up to pee in. So mommy said, okay, that's it - you are not allowed to wear pull-ups or diapers anymore. And guess what - she's gone pee in potty twice now. Once with a witness and a lot. So it's a pizza party tonight! Wahoo!!!!! Way to go Miss O! We're so proud of you!!!!!

I'm a Christian

We don't celebrate Halloween at our house. Miss O's therapists are aware of this, and are really nice about not doing "halloweeny" stuff with her around that time. Today I guess one of Ato T's therapists was confused about what holidays we do and don't celebrate, so she asked Miss O if we celebrate St. Patrick's day. Miss O boldly and joyfully (from what I hear) said "I'm a Christian! I love Jesus! I've always loved Jesus! I celebrate Jesus!" Ahhhhh ... music to this mother's ears.

Wiggle Tag

Miss O made up her own game, called Wiggle Tag. It's not really tag, more of a race. She had us start in the front living room and do an exercise (like crab walk, downward facing dog, etc.). Then we run to the front door, which is where the race begins. We race to the patio door in the back family room and then back to the front door. Our last time doing it, she added that we had to run around the dining room table before going to the patio door.

This is an amazing accomplishment for Miss O! She made up her own game with rules, and explained it very well to the whole family! Then she came up with her own name for it! I wish I could explain how incredibly amazing this is for our beautiful girl who happens to have 1p36 deletion syndrome. It was the funnest game I have ever played!

I feel so blessed to have her here at home with us all the time, so we are able to witness these wonderful bursts of creativity. On a side note, she has also been very interested in making her own books lately. :) We praise the Lord for His grace in allowing Miss O to continue to develop so well!