Happy Thanksgiving

We have invited some of our neighbors over to experience a "traditional" Thanksgiving with us this coming Sunday.  So, today Dan headed out to the turkey farm to pick out a turkey for us!  They killed the turkey there, thankfully, and even plucked some of the feathers.  But, they then sent Dan home with instructions to dunk the turkey in boiling water to be able to pull out the big, stubborn feathers.  He also had to do his own removing of the neck and such.  Nice.  Anyways, as he was working on the turkey Sierra was watching intently.  She then declared, "I out a here.  Me no eat that turkey, mama!"  Can't say I blame her.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and may your turkey come fully plucked.

From the mouths of babes . . .

Kaiyah keeps us chuckling these days.  Last night this was part of her bed time prayer . . . "And Dear God, please help me not to get tooooo thirsty tonight, because Mommy won't let me get a drink."

Grandma Evelyn

I was blessed with five wonderful grandparents.  Yesterday, my last living grandparent, Grandma Evelyn passed away.  I can now say that I am blessed with five wonderful grandparents who are all living joyfully with Jesus.  There are not many folks in the world that can say that.  I feel so grateful for the Christian heritage that my family has given me. 

Grandma Evelyn was a tiny, size 0, 90 pounds-at-the-most woman.  But despite her size, or maybe because of it :-), she was one of the spunkiest women I've known.  She had opinions, and she wasn't afraid to share them!  She was very loyal towards her family and loved them deeply.

Many of my memories of Grandma are from the days when she lived in her condo.  I remember reading tons of readers digest at her home, getting in the hot tub together in the middle of winter, LOTS of shopping at Dillards, watching wheel of fortune.  Since my parents lived far away when I was in college, I would go to her house and wash my clothes.  Because she was size 0 and 90 pounds, there was always a joke about needing to eat dinner BEFORE going to eat with Grandma so you didn't feel like a glutton for the amount you ate, but I don't think I ever ate anything at her house that wasn't tasty.  And you could be sure that there would always be those crunchy store-bought oatmeal cookies in the cookie jar, or some pinwheels tucked away somewhere if you needed them :) 

There are traits in myself that I laugh about now because I'm becoming like my Grandmother.  Whenever she would ride in the car with someone, you would hear gasps every few minutes and see her clinging to the door.  I now find myself doing this with Dan!  Sorry Dan.  Speaking of Dan, the first time he came to Tulsa to visit me, I was staying at my Grandparents.  My grandmother loved to tell the story of how she went to bed one night and the next morning woke up to find some big ole boy on her couch.

Grandma was very giving, she worked hard for everything she had, but was so generous with her own.  I'm very grateful for the loving grandparents I was blessed with.  How, although I didn't necessarily grow up around them, each stepped into my life in different ways and left me memories I can cherish. Grandma Evelyn will be missed.  

Kaiyah starts preschool!

  Kaiyah has been so excited about starting preschool, namely because we purchased princess shoes to wear there and haven't let her wear them at home :)  As we walked into the courtyard where we were to wait for the teacher she looked up at me with a big smile and said, "Mommy, I so exciting.  I can't wait."  That's not a typo!  The teacher came out and started to read out the list of students and they were to line up in a line in front of her.  Kaiyah was the 3rd child she called, although she called her Michelle instead of Kaiyah.  I corrected her, but later still heard her calling her Michelle, so she may be Michelle from now on.  Ha!  Kaiyah lined up in line, ducking her head in that coy little way she does.  Every know and then she would turn and look at me and smile really big.  When the teacher had everyone lined up, the marched inside.  Off Kaiyah went, turning to smile every now and then.  Can't wait to pick her up and hear how it went!

  Things get better and better for Zeke.  When I took him this morning, his new friend Abdullah and his mom came running to the gate to meet us!  I was able to talk to the mom for a long time while we waited for the teacher.  When we picked Zeke up, he said Abdullah had shared his coloring pencils with him (apparently the teacher made an announcement in class to bring some, but of course, we didn't know).  The teacher also said today was better and she was able to spend a little time talking to Zeke, I think trying to teach him a few words like stand up, come etc.  Zeke said he likes school . . . I call day number 3 a success!

2 days down

I know I'm posting a lot of school blogs this week.  Feel free to skip them, but I want to chronicle our journey, both to remember this time, and perhaps give someone else an idea of what to expect if they follow this same schooling journey for their child.

Yesterday was a bunch of announcements, so Zeke declared it to be, "boring and all talking."  This morning he mysteriously woke up feeling "sick" and did not want to go to school.  However, when it was time to go, he acted very mature and handled it well.  God has answered my prayers and gave Zeke a friend from the very first day.  He sat with a little boy who has been very kind.  Yesterday Zeke initiated a game of rock, paper, scissors.  He said that his friend taught him to play it in the local language today.  I am very grateful that he has already made this friend and home the relationship continues.  I think it's a very important step in this process.  

Zeke's teacher seems nice, but I think she is very anxious about having a kid in her class without any language skills.  Every time we have talked to her, she says things like, "I told him to ______ and he didn't do it."  Well, obviously.  Although he actually knows some of the commands she has told him, I would have to imagine it is hard to pick up a command among a bunch of words you have no clue about.  We've reassured her that we aren't concerned with academics, Zeke is actually pretty ahead academically through our homeschooling.  I'm hoping that as we continue, she will grow more comfortable with these circumstances.   

1st Grade, 1st day

This idea is not unique by any means.  But really, there is not much that is unique these days with the use of Pinterest.  But, I liked the idea of having a little memento of my kid and their likes at the beginning of each school year.  So, as Zeke headed off to his first day of first grade, Dan snapped this picture, and I added on Zeke's answers to a few questions. 

We are now in the know about what Zeke's week is going to look like, and I like it.  For the elementary grades, they have a week of "easing them in".  Great idea.  So, Zeke will go from 9 AM - 11:30 AM all this week, before starting the full schedule next week.  

Another interesting tidbit on the way the public schools work here is that the teacher Zeke gets today, will be his teacher through the 5th grade (provided we continue with the local schools, of course).  So it is very important that your child gets a good teacher.  Zeke is also required to wear a uniform to school.  Once we purchase that, I'll post a picture for you!

Local School

We've decided to give the local school a try this year to help our kids learn the language.  If you know much about our family, you'll know that when we sent Zeke to preschool, it was a very difficult year.  He cried pretty much every day when we dropped him off.  So, I'm not necessarily relishing the thought of this coming school year.  But, we think our children being comfortable in the culture we are in is important, and language is vital for that.  So, I've just been praying, praying, praying for great teachers, for nice kids who will befriend the "weird kids" who can't speak to anybody, and just in general for wisdom to handle the situations that are sure to arise.

School starts on Monday.  Both kids are enrolled in an afternoon program that starts at 12:30 (we think) and ends sometime.  Ha.  We better get that nailed down.  However, we were told that Zeke should come at 9:00 AM the first day, and then the teacher would tell us when he'll come the rest of the week.  Kaiyah, they said, won't actually start until Wednesday, because they are still painting the preschool section, and it seems she'll come at 11:30 that day instead of 12:30?  It should be an interesting year.  Both kids seem to be excited.  Zeke exclaimed recently, "I'm glad I'm going to school soon.  Maybe I won't be so bored."  And Kaiyah has been bouncing off the walls the last few weeks asking when she gets to go to school, and even more so the last few days since we purchased new princess shoes for her to wear at school! 

Zeke's "Opening"

As promised, another homeschooling favorite of ours is our Artistic Pursuits art curriculum.  It helps that Zeke LOVES art and crafts to begin with, but I've been very pleased with this curriculum.  The lessons are not long, but are very well laid out and introduce the child to some famous artists and their work, and then instruct the child to create a work of their own using various mediums.  So far Zeke has used water color crayons, pencils, soft pastels and oil pastels.  He will be working with construction paper, tissue paper and clay later in the year.  This week, Zeke learned how to "frame" his favorite pieces that he has done so far, create a gallery, and have an "opening" to display his work.

   So, a little side note . . . When Zeke was little he was such a momma's boy.  There were many days I wondered if he and Dan would ever be close.  Of course, all the experienced moms assured me that the time would come.  The three pictures that Zeke chose as his best works indicate that this time has come!  The first picture is of Dan and Zeke geocaching.  The second is a picture of Dan taking a picture of some jumping frogs.  The last picture is of Dan and Zeke hiking.  Yes, the boy loves being with his father.

And in true Zeke fashion, he had made gifts for everyone attending his opening . . .

 and of course finished up with some tasty treats!

Exercising

A new way to do push-ups . . .   

Sierra is a big fan.

 Dan has the kids working hard on sit-ups :)  Not really, I think it ended about as soon as I took the picture.  I love the expressions on all of their faces.

Look who's wearing big girl underwear!

Sierra is doing  GREAT using her little pink potty!  She is so proud, as are we.  We have been married 2,478 days.  We've had the privilege of buying diapers 2,135 of those days.  We're taking recommendations on what to do with all of our extra cash!  Potty training a 3rd child has a few differences.  Upon a first time successful #2 in the potty, I heard a shout from the living room from my oldest, "Don't throw it out, I want to see!" and from my middle child, "What color is her treat?"  Yes, it's a family affair, this potty training business.  

Day at the beach

There are many things we like about the area we live in now.  One of these things is that we are only an hour away from a nice beach.  So, when some friends asked us to join them at the beach today, we jumped at the chance.  It was a great day, filled with playing in the sand, catching crabs, and collecting shells!

Some 1st grade material we love . . .

(Note:  Please excuse the horribly blurry photo.  I was lazy and didn't attach the external flash when I took the picture.)

Now that Zeke is reading, we allow him to stay up and read at bedtime. 
As part of his 1st grade home school curriculum, and at the recommendation of my sister-in-law Becky, I purchased Beautiful Feet's Early American history book set.  

I personally, was never much of a history buff.  I can't remember a date to save my life, and thus, history always bored me.  These books, however, bring history alive by telling each person's story and making them more real.  Zeke and I just finished reading a story about Benjamin West (famous American artist) and his cat Grimalkin.  We befriended a cat today, and the kids decided to name him Grimalkin.  But even beyond reading these books together, Zeke has begun choosing to read them when he goes to bed.  The last several days it has been fun to listen to him excitedly comment about Benjamin Franklin and Buffalo Bill.  Tonight he was reading about Abraham Lincoln.  When he came out to say good night he said, "But the story ended kind of sad, because he went to watch a show and there was a shot that everyone thought was part of the show, but really Abraham was dead."  

When I was trying to figure out what to use for 1st grade, I spent hours POURING over catalogs and blogs.  As I find products we love, I want to post them here for those who might stumble across this blog.  I highly recommend this set, although it is a bit pricy.  If you live in the States you may be able to find them at your local library.  You can purchase a study guide, which I did, but we aren't using it.  We are just reading through the books at this point and laying a foundation with the stories. 

 

Sierra is TWO!

Where do I even start with this precious girl?  Two years have passed since this not-so-little baby made her appearance into our lives.  Sunday night we were riding home on a bus.  We didn't get home until midnight, so of course the kids fell asleep.  As I held Sierra on my lap, with her sweet little face cuddled against my shoulder, I couldn't help but treasure the moment.  For one, these moments are rare.  Sierra is incredible independent and self-sufficient.  Typically the only time she wants to be held is when she hears Kaiyah asking to be held.  With the 2nd birthday, it seems babies leave their babyhood and turn all little girl.  I'm thankful to have had these last few moments to treasure my baby-turned-little-girl right before her birthday. 

Sierra is full of fun and mischief.  She is our little bully, our family clown, and likely going to become more and more bossy as the years go on.  She gives the sweetest smiles, and melts your heart with her love.  She isn't afraid to try things, loves Dora, and playing on the ipad.  She loves to eat, and will eat most anything.  We love you Sierra Nicole!  Happy 2nd Birthday!

Zeke's Barberry Balls Recipe

Zeke has recently started learning how to cook.  He has been helping me make things for a long time, but he likes to do it by himself now that he can read a recipe.  Yesterday morning he asked if he could make us breakfast all by himself, WITHOUT a recipe.  I was thinking that perhaps he could pull out the cereal or something of that nature.  The next thing I hear from the kitchen is the mixer whirring around.  Oh dear, I thought!  A few minutes later Sierra walks in covered in some brown substance.  As I walk past the kitchen to get her cleaned up, this is what I saw.

 I'll confess, at first I thought, oh no, my prized vanilla, all over the floor and table.  But I did good and held my tongue.  I then realized it was my maple flavoring, which is also prized, but not AS prized as my vanilla!  So we had a little chat about how maple flavoring is not typically used in baked goods.  

So, here it is ladies and gentlemen, what you've all been waiting for.

Zeke's Barberry Balls Recipe

Mix unspecified amounts of sugar, sunflower oil and barberries with a mixer.  Add salt and baking powder, 1 egg and 1 1/2 cups of flour.  Roll into small balls and bake at 350 for 5-8 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

Dried Onion Flakes

 While we were in the States I saw several recipes to make homemade ranch dip "packets," so I didn't bother bringing any back with me.  I saw a recipe recently that I wanted to try that called for ranch seasoning, so I began my search for the things I would need to make it.  Alas, onion powder was no where to be found.  So, I chopped 7 or so fresh onions and 36 hours later this is what I had.

Not bad, eh? 

 I went ahead and baked up some of this yummy-ness to try to tone down the onion smell in our house.  They were delicious although Dan's sensitive tongue detected a slight onion flavor :) 

A new cook in the family!

This past weekend was the Spring Fair at our local congregation where we raise money to help refugees and other various projects.  I had signed up to make some baked goods to sell, so friday found me in the kitchen making cupcakes.  I asked Zeke if he would like to help me, but he said that instead he would like to make something all on his own for the Spring Fair.  I wrote out our brownie recipe on a piece of paper and he ran with it, making some YUMMY brownies completely on his own.  I put the pan in the oven, took them out of the oven, and helped with a small cocoa powder spill, but other then that, he did it!  Watch out world, there is another cook in this family.  But, with his dad, Paw Paw and Granddad all being great cooks, I can't say I'm surprised.

Kaiyah is 4!

Our sweet Kaiyah turned 4 years old a few days ago.  There are moments when she seems so grown up, and other times when she still seems little and vulnerable.  She is still very shy with people she doesn't know well, but there are several teenage or nearly teenage girls that she ADORES, and she talks about them constantly.  If they are around she is right by their side.  Kaiyah is super sweet and affectionate.  She tells you she loves you all the time.  I wasn't feeling well the other day, and she came to my bed and kept saying, "I sorry you hurt momma.  I sorry you don't feel good."  However, whenever Zeke or Sierra are getting in trouble, she also makes sure to be right there spouting her love for me ;)  She is very sensitive, making her prone to tears, but also giving her a love for those around her.  Kaiyah plans to marry Zeke's friend Jacob.  Her best friend is Avery, and it's so sweet to watch them having conversations with one another.  I need to capture some of those moments on video, but I'm not very good about that.  She loves to giggle and has an amazing imagination, always acting out some dialog between one toy and another.  She can laugh hysterically with Zeke, and fight fiercely with him all in the matter of seconds.  Yes, our sweet Kaiyah is 4 years old.  Here are a couple of pictures from her actual birthday!