This Week at Our House #3 2 Birthdays

Monday through Thursday, we had school, full on in its intensity. The kids did fine for the most part. The days are long and the studies are reasonably intense, but the kids are working well. I can't remember any one melt down, so it can't have been too bad. Our weather was quite warm for January, and I am wishing for snow, but we might not get any this winter. Joshua and Gideon had their birthdays each a day apart on Friday and Saturday and that worked better than I thought it would. All in all, it was a decent week with the family.

1. Ruth is inking in the pictures she drew for my next book. Next we will photograph it and see if it looks okay with color. 
2. Kate has been working on another book of her own-- about ducks, though I think she plans to do more with mega-dragonsaurus. Kate and I read a book together this week. In fact, we read half the book in one night.
3. Johnny has been doing a lot of graphics for a computer game he is programming. We have the computers together, so it is working more easily to get everyone the time they need on the computers that have the needed programs. 
4. Adam is doing really, really well with school. He is top notch in his grammar and spelling which I am pleased about. I was worried that he did not know enough at the end of last year.
5. Rachel is still mourning that she has to do school, and falling behind everyone else. Though I know it has 100% to do with her choice and not with her ability. She is capable enough. Rachel has grown some more. She has my long legs and arms, which make her look taller than she actually is. She has gotten real pretty in the last 6 months.
   
6. Anya is so easy going. She does her school without any nagging and she does her chores in the same manner. She sits next to me and rests her head on my arm, when the little ones don't push her away, and I love that. 
7. Joseph loves his chickens. He goes outside to check on them several times throughout the day, and cries when he cannot see them all right away. Today, I asked Joseph if he got 50 chickens, would he keep track of them all, and he said that he would.
8. Joshua had his birthday. We let him choose what he would during the day, and I was pleasantly surprised that he did not choose to play computer games the whole day. He played board games, and drawing games, and outside games too. 
9. Arwen is funny and tells it like it is. If you want to know if you aren't looking your best, she might just say it to you. When Arwen told Ruth how much she liked her drawings for my book, and how good they are, Ruth knew Arwen meant what she said. On a similar note, Arwen gets upset when anyone tells her she lied, and I think she has that right because Arwen does not lie. She is very straight forward, and sometimes rude.
10. Suzy Q writes her name Susan Q. 
11. Sam loves Gideon's birthday present, and he knows what he is going spend his Christmas money on now.

Gideon had his first birthday, and as first birthdays usually go, he did not care too much. I would be sad, but he still breast feeds several times a day and wakes up in the night. He is still definitely my baby.

Happy Birthday, Gideon

A year goes by so fast now. I am mourning a bit with this little one turning a year. What a blessing he is to have and to hold. He stares into your soul with those big eyes.

Gideon is big and strong and in a hurry. He was the youngest of all his siblings to start walking. He was going across the room at 9 and a half months. Now he runs, a cute waddling run. He is into the cupboards. We had to hide the trash can. He pulls down the books and likes to dump out the pencils and the crayons. He has his own little clip board for his scribble drawings which he has been doing for a couple of months.

Whenever, he is outside, he picks up a stick and walks around like a little sentinel. More recently, he has been interested in playing in the water and in the shed. He is strong and healthy and a hand full.

Gideon weighs over 21 pounds, which is the same as many of our other kids weighed at 2. He is big and healthy and tall. I laugh when I think about all the worries we had during his pregnancy.

Happy Birthday, Joshua

My oh my, it's hard to believe that Joshua is 9! He has had his struggles. Reading is still one of them, though he is coming along and does test in at grade level. He reads the big words just fine, but mixes up all of the little ones and has trouble with tracking. But he is improving all the time, and I think that in time he will be a good reader.

On the hand, Josh is quite good at math. He's not keen on memorizing math facts, but he understands the concepts very well.

Josh has a huge and original imagination. He comes up with his own ideas and stories that are different and unique. He does not take his things from movies or books. He has his own.

Josh is a builder. He builds legos and builds his own designs. He makes amazing wooden block creations with details one would think could not be managed with a wooden block. Josh builds little houses outside out of sticks and rocks and old shingles.

I think this is the year when Josh will stop being a little boy.

This Week at Our House # 2 Week 1 of Semester 2

We began our second semester Monday morning, diving in feet first as usual. It's always a bit of a shock to come off from vacation and hit back hard going full speed. But by doing it this way, we get more vacation time. The kids did well generally. The structure was good for the younger kids who really do need to be guided in how to spend their time. I felt very busy with all that I am trying to do.

1. Ruth worked hard on developing language curriculum for the older people in the family. She is working on illustrations for a children's book that I wrote. I think it will be a few months before it is ready to be put up.
2. Kate is working on the language curriculum too. She is also finishing off a drawing for the cover of my first poetry book. She is still busy with history research and cooking and more.
3. Johnny has been sick more recently. He was sick much of the week with a bad cough. He did get our stove top repaired with the help of youtube and Adam. 
4. Adam is doing very well with school. He knows his stuff better than he did a year ago. I am pleased with his progress. Adam helped me attach some wood to our close line to put in a swing for the little kids.
   
5. Rachel complains and does not like academics, but she jumped in and did better this week than I anticipated. I hope she decides at some point that reading and learning is good. She did make dinner and snacks for us a lot. It took some pushing to get her to cook, but now she is very competent. 
6. Anya had her 12th birthday! She is gorgeous, imaginative, and fun. She played games with different people throughout the day. There was a little sickness going around, but that did not damper his spirits and she said that she had a great birthday. 
7. Joseph is a speedy reader and a fast learned. He gets his work done before everyone else and does the same stuff as Adam, except for math. Recently, Joseph has renewed his interest in the piano and is doing very well and practicing everyday.
   
8. Josh will have a birthday this week. He told me that he was glad to get back into the school schedule. He is a slow reader, but he is reading now. It was hard getting him there. 
9. Arwen has funny things to say all the time. When she was not doing school, she was playing with little plastic animals and drawing. Arwen at one point complained that Josh was ruining her play because he would not make his toy the bad guy and that ruined the story.
10. Susan curled up on Ruth's lap and said, I am pretending to be an egg and I am going to hatch into a horse. Joseph asked Susan if horses lay eggs and Susan, in an eye roll  voice said, no horses lay babies. Not too much later,Joseph caught Susan scrubbing her feet with a toothbrush because she said, "the horse stepped in mud."
11. Sam loves our little black fuzzy cat. She was born half the size of the other kittens and is still very small. Sam carries her around everywhere, and she like it. She is always purring. Sam and this kitten always nap together too.
    
12. Gideon weighs as much as Ruth and Kate did at two. He is big and tall and strong. He walks around getting into things or sits with me to nurse. He will turn one at the end of this week. It's sad how fast that first year went with him. But Gideon is a force to be reckoned with and loves every milestone that he hits. He wants to be up and doing and saving the world.