Cyrus's 4th birthday party...

Space shuttles, balloons, airplanes, and moon rocks.  Thai food, astronaut snacks, star cookies, and earth cake.  Family, friends, and one uninvited rattlesnake.  Fun, laughter and sun.  A really good day.

Four.

four times around the sun.

My dearest Cyrus,
Today your turn four years old.
Its only been four years since you first blessed our lives with your being.
I feel like I've always known you.
You are gentle, loud, funny, kind, clever, and sweet.
You love hard.
You play hard.

 
You are very clear about what you like, and how you like it.

Baseball
space shuttles
trains
orange things
bikes
balls
running
jumping
laughing
hugging
snuggling
holding
rocking
singing
dancing
mommy
daddy
Ava
Sol
Pretzel, your cat
Grandparents
Aunts, Uncles, Cousins
Friends
breakfast
lunch
dinner
snacks
candy
broccoli
water, juice, chamomile tea
Orange, black, red, and white (in that order)
Construction trucks
tools
flags
flowers
costumes
fires
helicopters
cutting, gluing
painting, coloring, drawing
playdough
helping
pizza
soda
Brandi Carlile
Peter and The Wolf
You can get your own drinks
open your own doors
wash your face
brush your teeth
hang up your clothes
straighten your bed
count to 30ish
count backwards from 10
write your name
spell your favorite words
know your letters

You don't like
mushrooms
raw tomatoes
scary things
loud noises
fire works
lighters
yelling
seeing people cry
being sad
feeling guilty
being alone
green beans
bell peppers
thunder
lightning
 
You look like a miniature grey eyed version of your father.
I think you are so perfect.
love forever,
your mama

A Bubble Story...

 Waterfall Lady Falling down

With thousands of bubbles in your crown.

Laugh your bubbles round and cool

Big and small into the pool.

Bubbles, bubbles , floating down the stream....

Bubbles, bubbles, tell your rainbow dream.

This is a story about a bubble, a little bubble.  In fact it was the littlest bubble ever seen.

      

     "I am so small," the littlest bubble whispered as he left his bubbly waterfall mother and floated down the stream with all the other bubbles.  "Look at my bubble brothers and bubble sisters, they have big rainbow dreams.  My rainbow dream can hardly be seen."

     The bubbles floated down the country stream, past green willows and grass rushes, past large brown cows, past platypus burrows and rabbit furrows, around hills and through valleys.  On and on until they came to the edge of a green field.  They heard the voices of children who were picnicking in the shade of a tree.

     "Look," a boy called out, "bubbles!  Let's catch them."

     "Bubbles!" called out he other children, and they jumped up and ran to the edge of the stream:

          

           "Bubbles, bubbles the biggest bubbles ever seen, 

            Bubbles, bubbles and here we catch a rainbow dream."

     Soon all the big bubbles were gone.  They were no more than a wish in the children's hand, no more than a rainbow for the children to take to dreamland.

     And what about the littlest bubble?  The children had not seen him, the children had not caught his rainbow dream.  Sot there he was, all alone, floating down the stream.

     "Why," he thought, "I am so little and so I did not get caught." On and on he floated, until the stream reached the sea.  And there the waves took him out into the blue far out where the sea-fairies danced and played.

     One sea-fairy was busy stirring a pot of pearl when the littlest bubble floated by, and his littlest rainbow dream caught the sea-fairy's eye.  "Just what I need to color my pot of pearl," the sea-fairy said.  And she picked him up and popped him in.  And with a this-way whirl and a that-way swirl the littlest bubble helped to make a pot of rainbow pearl.

written by S. Perrow

Gratitude Mondays....

What I love today..... 

~ Very successful space shuttle birthday parties ....
(more on that later)


~Beautiful flowers that have a balance of orange to represent our almost four year old
 (It's his favorite color)


~Surprise gifts of store bought books so I don't have to wait my turn in the library holds list!

~A little girl who asked me to look up the meaning of her daughter's names so she can know their symbols.... 
(Lucy= light, Sue= lily, and Ava is wonderful) 

~A baby who who raises his voice after I do...
(its hard to stay mad when you are carrying a baby parrot around) 
(yes, yelling is bad bad bad)


~A boy who looks so much like his father...
(more on that later)


~A partner who worked so hard to make our boy's birthday party the sucess that it was
(and buys me thoughtful flowers, guilty pleasure books, chocolate cookies, and favorite beer!) 



Here's to a new week!
  I'm starting it with thee kids with fevers. 
Is this what its like to have school aged children?! 
Yikes!

Y week wrap up....

This week in our school...

 We covered the letter Y...




















In Poetry ....
We read (and colored) The Song of the Yellow Deadnettle Fairy, by Cicely Mary Barker.  Our 'month' poem, Robin, by Barbara Juster Esbensen continues to be delightful.  Ava now pantomimes Robin, and while I haven't asked her to, I am sure she could recite it (if not all of it) by now.

This week's theme... 
is nocturnal life.  A great theme to inspire late night walks.  We haven't been able to keep everyone up late enough for our dark walks yet, but we plan to!  We read Nocturne, and Owl Moon, both by Jane Yolen.  I LOVE these books.  Both are soft, beautiful stories about discovering the world around you at night.  Creatures of the Night is a nonfiction photographic look at nocturnal creatures all over the world from National Geographic, and I really love NG. 

With our hearts and minds full of the sights and sounds of night we tried an oil pastel technique with black paper.  The effect is very appropriate for capturing the feel of night.  I love each of our interpretation of black cat at night!

 My cat looks like it mated with a bunny.

 Ava has a lightning bug glowing on a leaf, an owl, and a black cat.

 I have big love for Cyrus's black cat.

In Math we...

~Continued to strengthen our skills partitioning 10
~Practiced sums to 10 by playing
          ~Addition Memory
          ~Go to the dump
Ava adores math games, and I love to watch her mind grow right before my eyes while we laugh and play.

In Science we...

Started a new science curriculum!  Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, by Bernard J. Nebel.  I am SO excited about this.  I seriously want to gush to anyone who will listen about how perfect this curriculum is, but as we just started it (officially) this week, I will save my review for another date.  I will say that this appears to be the perfect solution for our family.  I think that as a society, we place far too little importance on scientific exploration.  (I thought these things before I married a scientist)  In our first lesson this week we are working towards...
~recognition and use of Organize, Organization, and Category(ies)
I think I am going to spend another week working with these principles.  Its the very foundation, and I'd like us to be firm.

In Art Study....

We explored The Snail, by Heni Matisse.  This painting was voted as the most silly.  (personally I kind of love Matisse)  I think Ava really enjoyed this painting.  Its hard to find the snail, and even harder to take it seriously.
Who guessed that it was this big?  I was shocked when I saw the size and scope of the painting.  Oh Matisse.


This was a great week for us.  Lots of math games, and an overall sense of being back on track!  Ava seems to have suddenly grasped the concept of reading a calender, which was pretty cool.  I really love (I'll say it again) being able to be there and watch when those "ah ha!" moment happen.  Its so magical, so special.

W Week Wrap Up....

(this was to be posted on Friday, March 4th, but I was sick!)

This week in our school we.....

Covered the letter W...

In Poetry... 

We started a new poem of the month, Robin, by Barbara Juster Esbensen.  This poem is very spring-y, and very well received by Ava.  We read the Song of the Wallflower Fairy, by Cicely Mary Barker but honestly I hardly remember it.  This week of school was pretty thin (with my being sick and all).

Our Theme This Week....
Was supposed to be the Iditarod.  I was pretty excited to get to this week, I thought my kids would really enjoy following the race online.  Unfortunately all my exciting plans were cut short with fevers.  We did read Akiak, a sweet story about loyalty and overcoming the odds. 


In Math we...
~Counted stationary objects using tally marks
~Introduced partitioning 10
~Discovered the rule for adding 1s



In Art Study....

we explored Cat and Bird, by Paul Klee.  We both really enjoyed this painting.  The straight forward simple lines and colors makes this painting feel very approachable.  Ava thought it was very funny to have a bird be on the head (or mind) of the cat.  Cat's are very popular around here.


Overall this week wasn't super.  We got through.  Another shining example of why I love homeschool.  We were able to get through what we needed to, with out even falling behind.  Instead of my super fun, on theme ideas we spent time being quiet, which isn't really a bad thing.  Thankfully their father was home when I was at my worst, and he saved their day taking them out for pizza and soda.  A pretty good week if you're six, or almost four.

Graffiti....

(alternative title... Another reason I love weeds!)

My children made a grand discovery the other day.  You can use weeds to paint the walls!  They were so proud of themselves in that moment.  They "found a new way to paint!" they exclaimed.  I can almost remember discovering this very thing with dandelion weeds when I was young. 

 

  And this is what being a mother is all about.  Playing witness to these small moments that are so filled with excitement, and creativity.  Moments fueled by a natural desire to explore, and a wide world (backyard) to behold.

C, L, G Week Wrap up...

 (this was to be posted on February 25th, but was delayed by formatting errors, and life!)

This week in our school...


We reviewed the letters C, L and G...







































 

















 In Poetry...
~We had our last week of The Return, by Barbara Juster Esbensen.  In honor the time we spent with this poem, Ava colored a journal page.

~We revisited each flower fairy representing C, L, and G.  The Song of the Columbine Fairy,  The Song of the Lilly of the Valley Fairy, and the Song of the Gorse Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker.


Our Theme This Week...
was Migration.   We read Grady the Goose, Amazing Journeys, Blue Sky Bluebird, Wings of light, and Grandmother Winter.  Truthfully Grandmother Winter has nothing to do with  migration, but I couldn't help adding it to our list.  I love Phylis Root, and the wood block illustrations are so striking.  Its one of my favorite winter stories, and I just wanted to find a way to get to it this year!  Along with our many books we also watched a few National Geographic videos about animal migration, and of course, one of my all time favorites Winged Migration.  Migration was a great theme.  I had so many really cool (and yummy) things planned, but the gorgeous weather got it the way, so our week was spent mostly out side.  No worries here.

In Math...

~reviewed the term middle
~Learned to add two quantities on the abacus, with the larger number written first
~counting using written tally marks


In Art Study...

We explored Rabbits on a Log, by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait.  I loved learning about artist technique of wrapping corded silk around his finger and rolling it on nearly dry paint to give the impression of life like fur and leaves.  Ava just really like the bunnies.  She liked the sparkle in their eyes, especially.


A great week, the weather is changing.  This is arguably the best time of year in Phoenix.  Its this particular weather that brings everyone out here to live.  I'm so grateful for homeschool that we are able to get out and enjoy the fresh air as much as possible.

Gratitude Monday...

What I am loving today...

~ A trip to the Arizona Renaissance Festival...
(more on that later)

~Little Mexican cafe's that are becoming tradition...

~Pandora on my phone...

~A baby who now sports one little tiny baby curl in the back of his head...
(the rest of his hair still isn't long enough)

~A new teen fantasy series...
(love me a series)

A little girl who went All Out for her daughter/ friend Lucy's Mermaid Birthday Party!
(hand sewn paper gift bags filled with hand made party favors for the guests)

~Oatmeal cookies, hummus, and roasted yellow pepper saffron cream sauce..
(not together.  Just things Matt made this weekend that I love)

~a little boy who thinks I am hilarious!
(I love to make him laugh)

~A partner who tracks down the next book in my series without me even having to ask...

~hot fudge sundaes.

Here's to a new week!   Maybe this will be the week I can get back on top of everything?  (just kidding, that's so not going to happen!)

Dear Diary,
Being sick is lame.
I'm glad I'm feeling better now. 
(I guess the babies fever wasn't from teething after all.) 
I'll write back soon.
love,
Amanda

Silent Bikes...

My children Love the front yard, as I've mentioned before.  I think it must feel like an unexplored territory, one that they need permission to enter.  I open up the windows, and doors, and then give them as much privacy as I can.  I can monitor their activity with the sounds of bikes, usually.  But sometimes the bikes go silent. This is a time when I walk the motherly line between high alert, and quiet observation. Often this is the time when the best things happen. 

On this golden afternoon curiosity thwarted my silent intentions.  What were they up to?  They were working so hard, I just had to know.

 Making new wind chimes, of course.  A recent wild wind had blown an old wooden chime out of a tree.  He climbed the tree and tried to make the necessary repairs.  She combed the earth looking for new materials that The Fairies might enjoy.

 Her final choice of materials were bean pods tied with wire and string.  And he?  Well, he didn't fall out of the tree, so I call his endeavors a success.