Date Night!

It's been three months since Paul and I have been on a date, so I've really been looking forward to our date tonight! We are going to have dinner at Applebee's (courtesy of a gift card obtained through credit card bonus points) and then we're going to a Russian State Symphony Orchestra concert at Bucknell! I can't remember the last time we went on this nice of a date - dinner AND a concert! The orchestra will be performing Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March, Op. 31, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, and Prokofieff's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100. The cost of babysitting plus the cost of the tickets are making this our most expensive date of the past 5 years, but considering how few times we've used babysitters over the past 2 years, I think the splurge is justified. We did get a discount on the tickets due to Paul's status as a faculty member at Bucknell.

Since I didn't post yesterday, I will write ten things I'm thankful for today. The first four I've already mentioned above (1) eating dinner that I didn't cook without any kids, (2) getting to spend a few hours with my sweetheart, (3) enjoying a fabulous concert, and (4) for the first time in the last 6 years we have a long list of babysitters to utilize! (5) Last night one of Paul's colleagues at Bucknell came over with his family to have dinner with us. The nine of us had a fun time together. I forgot to take pictures, but the lego creation Ian is holding in the picture at left is one that Dave made last night.

(6) All three kids slept through the night the last two nights (i.e. no one got up before 6:00 AM), and Oliver's nap was 3hr 10 minutes long yesterday. WOW!!!

(7) Oliver didn't have any pee accidents yesterday, and one time he told me when he needed to go.

(8) I love watching my kids play together. Two days ago Ian was giving Oliver rides on his back while Nadia was reading to me, and I had to stop and take a picture. Then Nadia also gave Oliver a ride. Yesterday at one point while I was cleaning I noticed the three kids were doing all sorts of things with the gymnastics mat together.

(9) Ian has such a thirst for learning. He keeps BEGGING to do schoolwork (he does math, handwriting, and reading).

(10) Sending out all these applications for Paul over the past 2+ years has only been possible because of the graciousness of professors at PSU, Bloomsburg, and Bucknell to send letters of recommendation. The three who are currently serving as his references are the dept chair at Bloomsburg, the dept chair at Bucknell, and Dave (former mentor and current colleague at Bucknell). We greatly appreciate the time they invest in mailing and emailing reference letters for Paul.

Thankful Thursday

Since I didn't write a post yesterday, I'm going to write a list of ten things I'm thankful for today.

1. Oliver woke up dry two mornings in a row for the first time ever! He stayed dry all night on Monday and Tuesday night. He also stayed dry during his naps three days in a row (Sunday- Tuesday). He didn't stay dry last night or during his nap today so I'm not ready to have him sleep in underwear yet, but he's making progress in that direction!

2. On Tuesday and Wednesday he didn't have any #1 type accidents! He's done this many times before, but in the past he was using the froggy potty. I was pleased he accomplished this feat after making the transition to using a regular toilet (I have him seated backwards facing the tank). He had one #1 accident today, but in general he's doing great. I was particularly pleased that he didn't have an accident at church. He went before dinner (about 4pm) and then didn't go again until we got home from church at 8:30pm. Another hurdle he needs to get over is being able to pee on public toilets (such as at church), One step at a time!

3. We've enjoyed some new recipes for our weekly breakfast for dinner meal. The last few weeks we had pumpkin waffles and pumpkin pancakes. Tonight we had apple cinnamon French toast. YUM! I will definitely use that recipe again in the future. These recipes involve more effort (both cooking and cleaning) than just ordinary pancakes, waffles, or french toast do, but they are tastier (although I think Ian would vote for just plain chocolate chip pancakes every day of the week). Oliver and Paul aren't a big fan of breakfast for dinner so they usually have leftovers, but Nadia, Ian, and I enjoy the breakfast foods, especially if I make scrambled eggs to go with the meal for Nadia.

4. Last night we rehearsed some Christmas music because it won't be long before we'll be singing Christmas music on Sunday mornings. I particularly am enjoying an acapella arrangement of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" that we're going to sing.

5. Ian slept through the night last night! Ever since the time changed, he has been wandering into our bedroom at least once a night at some random time during the night. He didn't get up until 6:00 this morning. Progress. Unfortunately, Oliver (who usually sleeps through the night) decided to wake up at 2:30, and he took a long time to go back to sleep. Hopefully they'll both sleep through the night tonight.

6. Oliver has continued to take longer naps! Twice this month his nap has been "only" 90 minutes long, but every other day it's been between 2-3 hours long. WOOHOO! This has made it easier to do schoolwork with Ian, do art projects with Nadia and Ian, clean the house, etc. He was a good napper the first nine months of his life, but over the past 18 months he hadn't taken many long naps until the last couple of weeks.

7. I'm thankful for resources that enable me to teach art since that is not my strength in life. Nadia and Ian did a bluebird project with pastels today. We made one mistake (used the wrong blue for the sky), and we were missing the dark pink pastel that we were supposed to use for some of the flowers, but for a first attempt with pastels, I think they both did a great job!

8. I've discovered a place in our house that gets good light for pictures at certain times in the day! I love it when I get a picture that really shows the sparkle in their eyes. Yay!

9. I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago Paul and I had our dentist appointment with the new dentist. The downside was that they have a policy that adults have to make a separate appointment (just the very first time) for the cleaning so we will be returning there next week, but the upside was that this dentist did NOT agree with me having any more gum grafting procedures. WOW was that welcome news to my ears!

10. I was starting to get concerned that there wouldn't be any good deals for Christmas cards this year, but within the past week I've ordered 30 cards from Shutterfly (with three separate coupons). I've also finally gotten started on some Christmas and birthday shopping although I need to keep the momentum going with that because there really isn't a lot of time left!

So long, froggy!

Our sermon on Sunday was about how we are commanded to be thankful in everything. It wasn't anything I hadn't heard before, but it's always a good reminder as we are so prone to complain. I can't say that I have been been two successful the past few days because of a wide variety of unpleasant or disappointing circumstances including a fever (I've had one off and on now for 9 days), sore throat, potty training problems, the Steelers playing horribly on Sunday, no one telling me that ladies Bible study was cancelled this morning (so we showed up as others were arriving for a funeral), I didn't know any of the songs we sang on Sunday except for "It is Well" (and thus felt rather awkward standing on the platform), etc. In that sermon we were challenged to write at least 5 things a day that we are thankful for over the next 3 weeks. So instead of doing a "Thankful Thursday" post each week, I am going to try to include my 5 things in each day's post. Since I missed the last two days, I am going to try to include 15 things in my list today, if I can manage to stay

awake (I've been going to bed around 8pm many days over the past week due to this bug I've had).

1. It was so kind of Paul's parents to drive up to our house and babysit Oliver and also spend time with Nadia and Ian. It had been three months since Paul's mom had been to our house, which made the visit extra special.

2. It was a treat to take Nadia and Ian to see Charlotte's Web yesterday.

3. The weather was mild (60's) yesterday and today. Today we took advantage of that and spent some time at a playground without wearing jackets!

4. Saturday morning Paul took Nadia and Ian to Lowe's to build a science kit. They are getting much better at hammering nails!

5. While they were at Lowe's, I was at JCPenney shopping with Oliver. I paid $21.92 for 8 articles of clothing (2 tops for me, 2 pants for Ian, 2 shorts for Ian to wear in the future, and 2

Frozen t-shirts that will be Christmas gifts for Nadia). The original prices came to $150. Normally if I get things for 90% off it's because I am using a coupon plus shopping from the clearance racks, but this time only the shorts were from a clearance rack so I was more impressed with being able to save 86%. I also got some great bargains at CVS later that day. I bought 6 boxes of cereal (Frosted Mini Wheats, Raisin Bran, etc.) and 3 boxes of Pop Tarts and paid less than $7 for all nine items. I love JCP and CVS!

6. On Friday evening we had a lovely time celebrating Paul's mom's 70th birthday at their house. The next morning Ian kept going on and on about how "awesome" and "amazing" her birthday party was. That boy loves his grandparents, loves pizza and chocolate cake, and loves playing with Paul's Star Wars toys that are at his parent's house. Praying that next week's chemo treatment goes well, and we're looking forward to seeing them in the middle of December!

7. Thursday night Nadia and Ian helped Paul paint twelve 3 inch Styrofoam balls that he used in his chemistry lecture yesterday morning to demonstrate a concept. It was nice to work together as a family!

8. We had a great time at the Terrific Turkey program last Thursday. It lasted about two hours and included the naturalist reading a book, showing the kids a turkey egg, turkey pelts, turkey feet, etc., playing a very lively game (I was assigned the role of a cougar!), and doing a turkey collage. There were about 20 kids there compared to last month when there were only four (including my three). Almost all the moms there are homeschooling their kids.

9. I really enjoyed singing "It is well" on Sunday. It's one of my favorite hymns!

10. We've read some great books from the library recently. Nadia read aloud Cornstalks and Cannonballs, which was about an event in Delaware during the Revolutionary War that I don't remember learning about before, and I read Tolivar's Secret to the kids, which was another excellent book that I don't think I had read before.

11. We've also been enjoying learning about the Nutcracker ballet recently. We listened to a CD of music from the ballet, read many books about the story, and today the kids started watching a VHS tape from the library of the ballet. All three kids were dancing around the family room while they were watching it. Sometimes when they are playing I have heard them taking on the roles of the mouse king, nutcracker, etc.

12. Nadia had her Upward basketball evaluation this evening. I am grateful she can participate in this program again at our previous church.

13. On Friday and Saturday I visited two different consignment shops and got some good bargains on clothes for the kids at both (had a 50% off coupon for the one store and a 40% off coupon for the other).

14. I have been able to apply for more jobs for Paul. I have completed 17 and know where number 18 will be going. Fifteen of those eighteen applications were for either physical or computational chemistry! The past two years most of the applications were for teaching general chemistry or chemistry for non-majors. All eighteen went to four year schools. Please pray that Paul will start getting interviews!

15. I saved the best for last. As of today Oliver has been wearing underwear for eight weeks. He had two accidents at McDonald's yesterday with Paul's parents (one #1 accident and one #2 accident that I cleaned up when they got home). He hadn't had a #2 accident in more than 3 weeks. It hit me that Oliver wasn't trained to go #2 on the potty, but rather I was Oliver trained. I know what to look for and what his habits are in that regard. Last week I had planned to put away the froggy potty, but he had a fever and such last Monday so I didn't push it. Today ended up being the day we said good bye after eight long weeks. Drum roll please.... TODAY he peed on the regular potty for the first time in his life, and he did it three times! He woke up dry this morning, and Paul put him on the froggy while I was showering, but the rest of the day he used the regular toilet, except he had two #2 accidents as I've decided he needs to start telling me when he needs to go so that he won't have accidents when other people are taking care of him. I know he's capable of doing this, but for now I will celebrate the fact that he FINALLY peed on a regular toilet and I can stop carrying that froggy potty everywhere. That thing is NOT coming to church with us any more. WOOHOO! Hallelujah!

Charlotte's Web!

This morning Paul's parents arrived at our house bright and early (bless their hearts!) to babysit Oliver so I could take Nadia and Ian to see Theatreworks' presentation of Charlotte's Web at Penn State. When I was a teacher in Maryland, I had taken students to see other Theatreworks' productions, so I knew they were very well done. We were not disappointed! The auditorium they used for this production was right across from the Chemistry Building where Paul had an office for 4.5 years. Ian had second doubts about attending the play because he thought Oliver had the better end of the deal since he was with his grandparents, but the kids were totally captivated by the play and were laughing at many different moments. There were 2 women and 3 men who put on the play. Everyone (except for the woman who played Charlotte) played more than one role and had to do many costume changes. There were 17 school districts present. Ian and Nadia got to play with Grandma and Pop Pop when we got back during Oliver's nap. I didn't take my camera this morning. These pictures are from yesterday. I love dressing my kids up for church on Sundays, and I'm so glad that Ian and Nadia still enjoy getting dressed up (Oliver hasn't voiced an opinion one way or the other yet. I bought Ian's 4 piece suit on Friday at a consignment shop for $4 (I only wish it had a tie). I am so glad there are very affordable ways to buy my kids their clothes!

24-27 Months Times 3

Nadia at 24 months old (6/30/10)

1. At 27 months old Nadia pronounced thank you "bank you." Ian and Oliver pronounced it correctly. Oliver said it the most often, and he usually also said the person's name (ex. "thank you, Daddy").

Ian at 24 months old (1/6/12)

2. Nadia was far more social at this age. She would gladly interact with strangers at the playground. Ian and Oliver never made any attempt to play with other kids at the playground.

3. Nadia had switched to saying "me" instead of "you" in instances like "carry you." Ian still said "you." He said things like "Mommy will help you" when he wanted some help. Oliver never used "you" incorrectly. He uses his name more often than a pronoun.

4. Nadia's afternoon nap was 3 hours long. Ian's was 30 minutes long. Oliver's nap had been 60-80 minutes on average, but very recently he's been sleeping 2-3 hours! Yay!

5. Ian had one favorite food (coconut milk yogurt). Nadia and Oliver had many, many favorite foods. Oliver wins the prize of the three for being the best eater at this age.

6. Ian and Nadia talked a lot about emotions during these months, but Ian definitely said the word "scared" far, far more than Nadia. Oliver does occasionally say "I scared."

7. Nadia and Oliver were drinking cold milk from a glass during these months. Ian was drinking warm "milk" in a sippy cup. Nadia was the only one who could drink from a straw at this age.

8. Nadia and Oliver were more into coloring at this age than Ian. Ian showed the most imagination at this age with coloring and Play-doh. Ian and Oliver were far more interested in vehicles than Nadia has ever been.

9. Ian knew far more shapes and letters than Nadia or Oliver did at this age. Nadia and Ian could count to thirteen. Oliver can only count to three. Nadia could correctly identify more colors than her brothers could.

10. Ian and Oliver were daytime potty trained during this time span, although Oliver is having FAR more accidents than they were. Ian and Nadia were using regular toilets. Oliver is still only peeing in the froggy potty. Nadia was wearing underwear 24 hours a day. Oliver and Ian still wore a diaper when they were sleeping (one diaper a day).

Nadia at 27 months old (9/28/10)

11. Ian said "I love you" a lot more than Nadia did, and Oliver hasn't said it yet. Nadia and Oliver asked for hugs. Ian never asked for hugs, but he climbed up and snuggled many times a day! They all loved giving and receiving hugs and receiving kisses!

12. Nadia and Oliver loved swings. Nadia and Oliver were also braver in terms of coming down slides and the stairs by themselves whereas Ian wanted me to hold his hand in both instances.

13. Ian made a LOT more messes. He was like a cyclone going through the house! Oliver made more messes than Nadia but far fewer than Ian did.

14.  Nadia comforted herself by sucking her thumb. Ian plays with his belly button. Oliver doesn't have a soothing habit.

15. Although all three children enjoyed singing at this age, Ian broke into song far more often than Nadia or Oliver ever did.

Ian at 27 months (3/21/12)

16. Ian weighed 28 pounds when he turned 27 months old, and Oliver weighs 27.5 pounds. I don't know exactly what Nadia weighed, but I'm sure she weighed more than her brothers.

17. Ian switched from being a Mommy's boy to a Daddy's boy during this time span. Oliver is still a Mommy's boy.

18. Ian's favorite show was "Word World," Nadia's was "Olivia," and Ian's favorites show at the moment are "Thomas the Train" and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse."

19. Nadia had the largest vocabulary. She could whisper, which couldn't be said of her brothers. Nadia and Ian could sing the words to FAR more songs than Oliver. Oliver's vocabulary contained words his siblings didn't because of the fact he's the youngest -  like minion, monster, princess, Woody, and Sully. Both boys used the word "stuck" a lot.

20. Nadia used to say she was "four" when asked her age (she used to say she was "three" when she was one). Oliver gives the correct answer (two), and he also makes an attempt at saying the name of our town when asked where he lives (which his siblings didn't do at this age).

Happy 70th Birthday, Grandma!

Paul's mom turned 70 yesterday! We haven't seen her much the past three months due to her "quarantine" to try to avoid another trip to the ICU while her immune system is weak due to chemo. We're hoping that the chemo treatment two weeks from now will be her last. Since they haven't seen Grandma very much lately, they were REALLY excited about celebrating her birthday with her. On Thursday morning en route to our Terrific Turkey program at the state park, we stopped at two stores so the kids could buy her birthday gifts with their own money. They bought her flowers (they wanted to get her roses, but I explained they didn't have enough money for those), candy, and a balloon. Yesterday morning they each made her a birthday card.

Paul got home from work at 2:45 (he came home earlier than usual in light of her party), and we left as soon as he got home. The kids had time to play before eating some yummy pizza with their grandparents, Uncle Al, and their cousin, Shawn. After playing some more, Aunt Millie arrived with one of her delicious cakes. The pictures below are of Oliver helping Grandma unwrap a gift and the kids helping Grandma blow out the candles on her cake. We all love her SO much, and we are thankful that her health has been better the past two months. Hopefully starting next month we'll be able to go back to seeing them more regularly!

2.25 Years Old!

I had planned on switching from monthly to quarterly updates on Oliver, but I ended up writing one last month. Old habits die hard! I forgot to mention in that post that Oliver learned how to say his name before he turned 26 months old. He says it all the time. For example if he wants a toy that Ian is playing with he'll say "Oliver's turn." If I am about to feed him something he'll say "Oliver do it." The way he pronounces the words "do it" cracks me up. It sounds like "doot". His pronunciation of the word "please" is also amusing. For a long time he said "peas" as most children do at this age, but now in his attempt to say the "l" in the word, I think that most people wouldn't be able to understand that he's saying "please" as it sounds something like "piaz". For awhile he's done an outstanding job with saying "thank you." He always says the person's name (ex. "thank you, Mommy"), and he says thank you ALL day long. If I give him a compliment or a kiss or a hug, I get a "thank you, Mommy." Lately he has gotten much better at saying please without a reminder.

Almost all the time I understand what he's saying, and I think most of the time others would be able to understand him. When he asks for a drink, he also specifies which cup he wants. For example he'll say "Bob milk" meaning please use the Veggie Tale cup. He's finally started to use the word "water." Prior to this every drink was "milk." He has an excellent memory of which things belong to which member of the family. As I am taking clothes out of the dryer he gives a running commentary ("Nadia's shirt, Ian's pants, Daddy's socks, etc.), and 99% of the time he's correct! He calls underwear "wear," and when it comes to his underwear he always uses an adjective to describe it (ex. "Mickey wear" meaning the underwear that has Mickey Mouse on it). Occasionally I find myself saying words in the way he says them because I hear it that way so often (ex, "Nana" for Nadia). He also uses the sound to identify some nouns (says "choo choo" instead of train, says "quack quack" instead of duck, and says "roar" for several nouns including dinosaur and lion).

He's getting better with his colors, but sometimes he still identifies them incorrectly. The color words he says the most often are blue, red, green, and purple. He makes an attempt to count, but it usually goes something like "one, two, three, six, nine"). He attempts to identify some letters of the alphabet, and sometimes he is correct although maybe it's just coincidence. For awhile he has prayed at the dinner table by repeating after me, but now he will pray a short prayer all on his own. He refers to praying by the word "amen." If he wants there to be a second prayer before a meal he will say "amen again." "Again" and "heavy" are two of his MOST favorite words. He's getting better at doing 12 piece jigsaw puzzles, and that's one instance where he'll say again (after he's completed the puzzle). His favorite adjective to use to describe himself is "funny" (rather than smart, cute, handsome, etc.).

Thankful Thursday

1. A new homeschooling bill was signed into law by the Governor on Friday. Prior to this Pennsylvania was ranked as the second worst of the 50 states in terms of home schooling laws (NY being the worst). The BEST states for home schooling include: Michigan, Alaska, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Texas, Idaho, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Oklahoma. In that sense it would be nice if Paul got a job in one of those states. I am glad that PA made some progress with improving this law.

 2. As we walked into the grocery store on Thursday afternoon, another customer entering the store pointed to my kids and asked me if they were all mine. After I said "yes," he asked if it was okay if he gave each of them a $2 bill. Sure! The kids had never seen a $2 bill before (well Oliver is oblivious to any kind of money), and it was neat timing because last week we were studying Thomas Jefferson (who is pictured on the front). Nadia immediately recognized that the picture on the back was of the Declaration being signed. What a kind thing for this man to give my kids $6! Part way through the store we ran into him again, and he asked if they had already spent it or not. LOL!

3. The kids had fun trick or treating on Friday night. Although the weather was much cooler than it had been the previous weekend, it was still pleasant enough for the kids to go without jackets on. We lasted much longer than we did last year. Most people gave the kids small pieces of candy or bags of fruit snacks. Some of the more unique gifts were glow in the dark bracelets, a package of two Pop Tarts for every child (they each ate theirs for breakfast on Saturday morning), and at one house they were giving out FULL size candy bars (ex. Snickers). The kids enjoyed seeing all the other costumes.

4. I've completed twelve applications for Paul, and there are two more on my list to be done. All of them are for tenure track jobs at four year colleges, and twelve of them are for either physical or computational chemistry (his areas of specialty); this never happened the past two years! Only one of them is just for teaching general chemistry. Applications 11-14 have gone or are going to KY, GA, WV, and IN.

5. We had a great time with six cousins on Saturday at Six Flags! On one ride that Oliver and Julianna (age 20 months) were riding together, she looked a little scared to me so I was making a point to wave and say "Hi, Julie!" every time she came around to try to calm her fears. Oliver felt a little left out, and after they passed he'd yell "Hi, Oliver!" to remind me that I shouldn't just be talking to his cousin. Thanks to Oliver wearing his bee costume, his hair was not accessible. She pulled on his wings (which he didn't like but it certainly didn't hurt him one iota), but she never pulled his hair! We also got to catch our first glimpse of Micah as Yvonne and Micah came to Chocolate World at the end (he was asleep in his car seat but we saw a little bit of his face).

6. The kids keep learning new skills. Nadia has recently learned how to whistle (something I have never been able to do!) and climb all the way across the monkey bars.

7. On Sunday morning we had guest speakers - Christopher Yuan and his parents. He's currently a professor at Moody Bible Institute. He and his parents had a very powerful story to tell of how they each came to the Lord and the changes He was brought about in their lives. They had many other sessions on Saturday and Sunday night that I wasn't able to attend, but I've ordered a CD of all the sessions that I missed.

8. On Sunday I was handed the names and contact information for NINE people who babysit from our church. WOOHOO! I've never had anywhere near that many names to draw upon, and up until I was handed that sheet I had zero. It's been three months since we've been on a date, but we are planning to go on the 15th, and I have a babysitter lined up for that date!

9. This morning we are attending a "Terrific Turkeys" program at a state park, and my friend Nikki (whom I met at ladies Bible study) is also planning to come with her two boys.

10. On Saturday morning we stopped at a mall on our way to Hershey. I used two coupons to get some great bargains at Bon Ton and JcPenney (at JCP I was buying things at 90% off the original price), and Paul also got himself a jacket! It's the first coat he's bought that wasn't a hoodie over the past 17 years that I've known him. He (finally) decided he needed something more professional to wear to the university. Yay!

11. The weather was GORGEOUS on Tuesday. It doesn't usually get to 70 degrees in November in PA, and my petunias aren't still usually blooming!

12. We live in a free country where we experience peaceful elections. PTL!

13. Potty training has had it's ups and downs - like the fact he had his first two accidents at church the past two Wednesday nights even though he peed at home right before we left for church. The positives would be that aside from one incident of diarrhea, he hasn't had any #2 accidents in more than 2 weeks. Also he had two more days in the past week that were accident free, which brings his total to nine accident free days.

14. Yesterday morning Ian didn't wake up until 6:15. WOOHOO! This was the first indication of his body making the one hour switch. Proof the kids haven't fully made the switch is that ALL three of them were asleep in the van on the way home from AWANA last night even though we only have a 15 minute drive home, and they had never fallen asleep in the van on another Wednesday night this fall. Oliver also has been taking longer than usual naps, which is wonderful.

My second reader!

I have sporadically worked with Ian on his reading skills. Lately he has been pestering me to work with him. Normally I am not a fan of being nagged by a child, but in this case, I really can't complain since he's been begging to do more school work. I've been doing more math, handwriting, and reading with him lately - all at his request! He has been able to sound out words for several months, including four letter words like "frog" or "shed" or "chip," but many times he just starts guessing wildly based on the pictures. He hasn't totally broken that habit, but just in the last week or so he's shown a LOT of improvement with sounding words out. I feel he's very close to a big break through and will really take off with his reading in the near future. Once he does, then I'm going to start adding spelling into his daily school work. I usually use the All About Reading readers with him (he's almost ready to move to the second book of Level One), but on Monday I pulled out the first set of BOB books and had him practice his reading skills with those. I recorded him reading three of the books. Since each video is almost five minutes long, I am only embedding one of them in the post, but here are the links of the other two for his Grandmas. I am pleased with his progress considering he's four years old and wouldn't be eligible to attend Kindergarten until next August, if we were sending him to a school.

Nadia worked with mixing paints today to make light and dark primary and secondary colors. Purple is very hard to make!

Tinkertoys

We've owned two classic Tinkertoy sets for about three years, and the kids have played with them a little from time to time, but very recently they (especially Ian) have really been playing with them a lot, and he has come up with some very creative creations. I love to see them using their imaginations and developing their creativity!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today (high of 70). Who would think that on November 4 we could walk to our polling place and the playground without jackets on! We haven't even had a frost yet. The flowers I planted in May are still  blooming!