Celebrating 100 Days of School

We've been making our way through the 7 days of creation and studying about all the different creations. We recently finished up the creatures of the sea and birds. More on our nests later. A few weeks ago, we celebrated 100 days of school. First, N and I brainstormed a list of activities the day before.

We started our day by eating pancakes in the shape of 100.





Then we counted 100 fruit loops...





100 grains of rice...





100 pennies...



100 m&ms...



100 blocks...



100 books...



shot 100 hoops (with T-Max's help!) and jumped 100 times.

We also wrote "100 days ago I couldn't ..., but now I can..."

She filled in the blank and wrote,
"rebusentis" = read a sentence (the "b" is supposed to be a "d")
and "broahrt" = draw a heart (the "b" is supposed to be a "d").

We are working on discerning between these two letters. We use the visual of the word "bed" which both looks like a bed looking at it from the side and helps her to remember which is the "b" and "d". Very helpful for her! She didn't use any spaces between words yet, but is writing very phonetically.

N made a list of what she would buy if she had $100.
"a dres" = a dress
"a bik" = a bike
"a noo mine girl calr" = a new mini girl calendar

We had a great day!

What are we up to?

I hate that each time I get to blog, it's a back track of the past several months. I would love to be able to keep it current and share what we are doing NOW, but oh well...perhaps when the kids are older? I'm also trying to take more pictures of the kiddos. I've resolved to take and post pictures on Peter's flickr even if they are not the greatest. It's about capturing the moment, and I don't want to miss those fun and special moments, even if half of them end up blurry!



(Peter actually took this one, but it was mixed up in the middle of pictures)

Zay-Bear is 8 months old...what is he up to? Actually, what is he NOT up to? He is EVERYWHERE! If there is dusty corner, he's there. Under the exersaucer, he's there. Behind the sofa playing with the surge protector, he's there. Under the school table or dining table, he's there. I've often, exclaimed in surprise, "What's Zay?" looking in all of the obvious places, only to find him in a random place. He's gotten SO fast at crawling, and it's sometimes hard to keep up with all of his adventures. He's all about trying to stand up these days too. He'll be cruising in no time!

He's by far my best eater. I thought the other two ate well, but he surpasses them both! Most doctors and literature tells you that babies self-regulate the amount the eat, making it clear when they are full. Well, this boy will eat until I stop feeding him. He's mastered the pincer and so he's really into eating table foods, especially meat. He still takes purees, but would much rather feed himself.

He's been waving "hi", and probably by coincidence, babbles something that sounds like, "hi, hi, hi, hi." He's been babbling "umma" (mom in Korean), but I don't know if he's connected it to me yet (although I'd like to this so because my other two kiddos said, "Abba" first.)


Zay Bear loves playing our toy keyboard. Perhaps he'll be musical in some way?



Now to our T-Max! He's been SO talkative, speaking complete sentences, expressing feelings and opinions. He learned all of the sounds of the letters and most of their names through a letter DVD without us even knowing. We were showing it to him periodically, and he just "picked" them up! He's been "reading" books on his own talking through the pictures. A few of his favorite books of late are Go, Dog, Go and the Sandra Boynton books. He's always telling us, "Read this book!" and "I read this!" The other day I heard this:

T-Max: Go, dog go!
Big dog,
Yittle dog.
Byack dog. White dog.
Goodbye! Goodbye!
Dog crash.
Red dog.
Green dog.
Swimming! Tail.
The End.

We're just discovering how sweet he is. The other day when N was feeling nauseous in the bathroom, he started rubbing her back and leaning his head on her head. I asked him to pray for Noona, and this is what he prayed: "Dear God, Thank you for this food. Amen!" N and I locked eyes and cracked up (even in her sickness) because he was so cute!



What is N up to? We've had a great year with preschool so far. I've not been able to update on some of the different things we've done in school, probably in another post. But she's been reading, writing, and spelling so well. She loves reading these short little readers I got her several months ago. Titles like Fat Cat, Pig Jigs, Hot Dog etc...We're finishing her third chapter book, The Doll People, which she absolutely loves! It's about a family of dolls that is actually alive, and the adventures they go on when the humans are asleep.

Her latest obsession is fashion and dressing her dolls and stuffed animals. So much so that she had me to sew a dress for her little nut brown hare, and I am not great at sewing. She's drawing different outfits on little girls and cutting out paper making clothes for her paper dolls.

We're getting ready for kindergarten in the fall! Can you believe it? I can not! My little girl is growing up so fast. I've decided to homeschool her for next school year as well, but this is the first year that it's "official" with the state and such. I have to submit paperwork, choose curriculum, and teach every day. I'm a bit nervous, but excited at the same time.

More on what we've been doing in school lately to come!

The winds obey your voice

This album is great! We've listened to it in the car a handful of times. N especially enjoys the songs, and has learned many of them. She gets excited when she sings them in church too, and sings them around the house. You can buy it here for only $6 but only for this month during Sovereign Grace's February sale. All of their resources are on sale this month for ridiculously low prices!

Today is a particularly windy day, and you can hear the rattling of our exhaust vent on the roof. N was having quiet time in her room, and she was crying. So I went up to see what was wrong, and she said she was scared by a noise. I explained to her that it was the fan rattling in the roof, and reminded her of the song, "Peace" from the CD.

Peace
Peace, You give me peace
When the storms come and I’m afraid
Peace, You give me peace
When I trust in the words You say
You give me peace

VERSE 1
If You can calm the sea
Then You can comfort me
If winds obey Your voice
Why should I fear their noise?
And though my eyes can’t see
I know You’re with me

It was a Holy Spirit moment. I remembered the chorus, but when I got to the verse, all I remembered was the 3rd line. N proceeded to recite the lyrics from the entire verse! And that was just from listening to it a handful of times. We've been learning about God and all of His creation in school, so it all just sort of connected for her in that moment. That the same God that created the wind, commands it, and so why should we fear it's noise. She seemed to get it. Praise the Lord! As she is getting older, we are having more of these moments, and I want to be able to savour these gospel moments and she learned the truth of who God is. I love my girlie!

Zay's 6 month Update

Zay Bear (Jude Dude didn't really stick as a nick name. This is his new nickname!) turned 6 months about a week and a half ago. I can't believe it! His first year is half over! He is growing up WAY faster than I want him too. We've enjoyed all of our children thus far, but I feel like we have been able to enjoy him so much as an infant.

We had his check up and here are his latest stats:
Weight: 19 lbs and 12 oz. 75th percentile
Height: 27 3/4 in 90th

Just to get it down, here are some of his milestones:
- started rice cereal and solids
- he's tried and loves sweet potato, butternut squash, green pea, asian pear and banana
- sitting up by himself occasionally teetering over
- grabbing and sucking EVERYTHING!
- shaking toys
- dropping toys on purpose to see us pick them up
- rolling over both ways
- scooting and rotating on his tummy (still rocking on all fours too, but not quiet crawling yet)
* EDIT: A few days after this post, Zay Bear started crawling. He gets around quite well, usually motivated by something he wants to play with. I have found him under our dining room table a few times!
- gets into push up position on his hands and feet
- turns when we call his name
- babbling

He's so fun, and he's really interactive with us, and especially with his brother and sister. He is by far our most laid back baby. He's is content most of the time just to sit in his hippo chair or exersaucer or just play on the floor. He's still sleeping in our room in a pack n play, and in the morning, I often hear him "singing" and pound both legs at the same time. As soon as I put him down on his back, he tries to roll to his tummy, so diaper changes feel like a wrestling match. And boy is he strong! In fact, he's so big, that he's two years behind his big brother in age, but I just started pulling out clothes from T-Max's clothing bin from last winter!

Chicago and Michigan

For those of you who don't follow my hubbies blog, you can read a recap of our trip to Chicago here. And more pics from my sister-in-law here.

Also, on way home, we visited a very dear friend my mine from college. Peter was able to do a short photo session with them. They braved the cold outdoors for these photos. Check it out here.

Zay bear turned 6 months this week. Hope to get a post up soon about his stats and milestones!

Our little ballerina

From this almost 2 years ago...


to this grown up little ballerina.



You can see pics of her visitor's day at ballet from December and her ballet journey since April 2008 here.

N love Christmas!

I asked the kids to help me put back our nativity advent calendar, and N was so sad. She just kept saying, "But I love Christmas season. I don't want it to be over." I love the N loves Christmas so much because it's also my favorite holiday of the year. I'm even more grateful that when she thinks of Christmas, that getting lots of presents isn't the reason why she loves it. She loves the music and enjoys all of the traditions that we do to make it a memorable time of year, so that Jesus' birth will be marked with specialness.

Ever since she was little, we played The Nutcracker music for her, and she loved it from the moment she first heard it. This year, she requested The Nutcracker daily, and couldn't resist putting on her ballet slippers to dance. My brother wanted to bless her this year with seeing the ballet at a local theatre, so N, myself, and my mom went together just after Christmas. She is even more enthralled with everything Nutcracker than before. During intermission, my mom bought her a real nutcracker that the theatre was selling. She had asked for one since a couple of years ago, but I was never able to find one that we liked. The night we came home with it, she was putting it to sleep in her baby crib. The next morning she woke up and brought him down for breakfast, setting him right beside her plate, and even giving him "food" to eat.



N loves singing too, and instead of singing the usual gospel song before bedtime, we spent the month singing Christmas carols. I had planned on singing a different one every couple of days, so that she could learn several, but the first night I remembered how much she loved hearing me sing "Silent Night" in Korean. So I decided to teach her. She learned it in a matter of a couple of nights of singing it before bed. After learning it, she wanted to sing it every night, so we didn't get through many other carols. She enjoyed learning the Korean so much, we started working on "Angels We Have Heard on High" in Korean, since that's been her favorite carol so far. She's pretty much learned it, although she needs a few reminders.

Can't wait for Christmas next year!

Christmas

We had a busy but great holiday with the kiddos. We watched our church's Christmas drama presentations on the 23rd with our dear cousins. Christmas Eve was spent at home - me, baking for the next day, and preparing food for our Christmas brunch with my parents.

It was nice to continue some "old" traditions and start some new ones. N really enjoyed helping me decorate the house, and especially putting up ornaments on the tree. It's so fun to see her delight as she recalled specific memories triggered by the different ornaments. Ever since we were married we got an ornament to represent a special event/memory from that year. Once we added kids, I got an ornament for each kiddo, so that when they get older and have their own tree, they'll have an ornament for every year as they grew up. For N, her first ornament is a picture of her in utero. Her latest one from this year was a fairy from the Nutcracker performance we saw. More on that later!

The kids enjoyed putting up the different parts of our nativity advent. They loved playing with our Little People Nativity. They especially loved the moment when the Christmas lights turned on each day (we the lights on automatic timer). Somehow T-Max would always seem to catch the moment they would switch on, and yell, "Nights, umma, nights! Hooray!" (He says "nights" instead of lights!). They loved eating pretzel yummies (only made at Christmas time!). We enjoyed listening to Christmas music every day. N's favorites so far as Point of Grace Christmas, Avalon Christmas and The Nutcracker.

We started a new tradition with the kids of watching "The Nativity" and sleeping downstairs in the living room. Jude Dude slept upstairs, and we ended up just putting T-Max down too since he had been up late the night before and proved that a late night makes for a cranky next day. We wanted him to be bright and cheery for Christmas Day, so he slept in his own bed. But we hope to include him in this tradition next year! N LOVED it! She was SO hyper and ecstatic, jumping on the mattresses and squealing in delight. I think she also loved the idea of sleeping with mommy and daddy and having us all to herself.

Christmas morning we had brunch with my parents. I've made the same menu for the past 2 or 3 years. Cranberry orange scones, baked sausage omelet (minus the sausage this year), baked home fries, sausage, and fruit graced our table.

After brunch, the kids opened their gifts. N was most excited about her princess scooter that she's been wanting for a while. And T-Max was so funny because he was done at the first gift. Part of my parents gift to him were some new characters from the Disney Cars movie, and after he opened those, he was barely interested in anything after that.

Later on Christmas Day, we went to my cousin's house to celebrate with my mom's extended family; something we've done for the past couple of years now. Lots of yummy food, and even more gifts for the kiddos. They were SO blessed, just as in years passed!

Checkups for the Boys

Jude Dude turned 4 months just two weeks ago, and I just had T-Max's 2 year check up. Here are their stats:

Jude Dude: 4 months
Weight: 17 lbs 3.5 oz 90th percentile
Height 26 in 90th
Head: 16 1/2 in 50th

T-Max: 2 years
Weight: 24 lbs 11 oz 10th percentile
Height: 33 3/4 in 25th
Head: 19 in 25th

It's amazing to me the contrast between my two boys. I think the little one will soon catch up to the older one. They can wear the same size diaper!

Jude Dude started rolling over at 3 months, so this milestone has been disrupting his naps and sleep. He's also got itchy/painful gums, so that's been disturbing his sleep as well. But he's perfected the grabbing thing, so he always wants a toy in hand that he can suck and slobber all over. He really enjoys being on his playmat with the hanging toys. He's been able to sit tripod style for a while, and he's gotten really steady. We know all the secret tickle spots to make him giggle! We love his little giggle :) He's starting to be interested in what we're eating. He'll follow my spoon from my bowl to mouth. I will probably start him on solids in the new year after he turns 5 months.

It's been a lot of fun watching T-Max learn language. He's been putting together new phrases and sentences each day. His vocabulary seems to expand daily. He loves reading books and naming the different things and saying "Dat, Umma" = What's that Umma? when he doesn't know the word for something. The other day he pointed to our lawn bag that had been knocked over in the wind and said, "Who do dat, Umma?" He's gotten really into mimicking the different sports, often found carrying a bat around swinging it or shooting the basketball or pretending to dribble the soccer ball with his feet. He loves helping me by bring wipes or diapers for Jude Dude or pulling up a chair to the kitchen counter to help me make smoothies or bake. We're working on learning his colors. He's really good at remember each of our favorite colors, so if there is ever a toy or food in our respective favorite colors, he quickly gives it to us. It appears that he likes red and orange the best.

Girlie has been really wanting to speak more Korean. She's picked up different phrases and words from us, and she's been speaking it more regularly. At night instead of our usual bedtime lullaby, we are singing Christmas carols, and so I decided to teach her "Silent Night" in Korean. In just a couple of days she learned it, and sings it at random times during the day. I checked out some books to read to her in Korean as well. It's good for me to because I'm so rusty at reading Korean. Next song to teach her - "Jingle Bells" in Korean. But her favorite carol is "Angels We have Heard on High", so she wants to learn that in Korean too! Perhaps I can get her on video singing them!

Will try to get some more pics of the kiddos soon!

Flashback: October Ballet Bring a Friend Day

Every fall for Halloween, N's ballet company has a bring a friend to ballet class and wear a costume day. Her good friend, S, has been able to come for the past two years. N was Cinderella this year (more pics to come from my hubby from Halloween day, and our homeschool halloween day with all of her friends).

I don't like spending a lot of money on costumes, so I try to borrow or buy on ebay/craigslist. This year, N asked to be Cinderella, so I had the idea of taking her blue satin dress and adding some princess *poof*. So I bought some fabric, and with the help of my mom, embellished the dress. I made a choker out of a bag handle, the headband we already had, so the only other thing I had to buy were some satin gloves (we forgot to wear the gloves and choker for ballet). I thought she made a great Cinderella. The best part was that T-Max was her pumpkin, and little Jude Dude was Gus from the Disney version!

Here are some pics from the day that I took.

Thanksgiving School Activities

We've had a busy November with school, my father's unexpected surgery (I'm glad to say that he is recovering well), T-day with family, visiting with out of town family, and starting our Christmas traditions.

Some of my mommy friends and I are doing a once a month homeschool activity. A couple of moms take turns planning a themed morning filled with lessons and activities for our oldest kids. My friend Dienny and I hosted November's homeschool day themed around Thanksgiving. We read T-Day poems and stories, made leaf rubbings, classified our leaves, and made an edible turkey craft out of Oreos and various candies. Here are some pics to document our day!












We were supposed to use candy corn, but I couldn't find any, so I substituted Mike and Ike's instead. I found the idea on Kaboodle.











I hope to be blogging more about what I'm doing with N in school, but it's hard to find the time to do that. We'll see what I get around to. There are already several pics I have not posted from September. Oh well!


A picture of a banner I had made her for her first day of school!

And here are some of the T-Day crafts that we did for homeschool with my kiddos:

Last year, we wrote what we were thankful for on colored slips of paper and put it in our "I'm thankful for...jar". This year I saw something online to make a thankful turkey. So this is how it turned out. N drew all of her own pictures, and then I helped her break down the sounds, but she came up with the letters. Since we're not working on spelling yet, you might see some strange (but phonetic!) spellings.



We were most thankful for the cross and my dad recovering from his surgery. And notice, our family is thankful for Nutella! Our new T-Day tradition may be Nutella filled croissants for breakfast, while watching the Macy's T-Day parade (which the kids REALLY enjoyed!). Notice the orange feather at the bottom left. Those are the three crosses on Calvary. We've talked about two other people being crucified with Jesus, so that is what she depicted. When I asked her who the people were and why they were so sad, she said that it was Jesus' mom and dad.


T-Max's hands made into turkeys. I had to help him a lot! But he did glue the beaks and the wattle himself.


N's hands made into turkeys.


A pinecone turkey - N did a great job!

Just a few more pics on my flickr.

The things they say...

Just had to write this down so I wouldn't forget it...

N was singing this song to Jude Dude as a lullaby before bed tonight. I can't remember everything, but here are a few lines:

"Oh Lord, help me to stay indoors with you...
Oh Lord, help us exgrace your Word.
Oh Lord, you are holy.
Remind me you are with me.
Oh Lord, help us..."

N is always making up song lyrics and melodies. The melody was beautiful. Not sure what "exgrace" means. But she's been asking about what grace is, so she's probably experimenting with the language. Also, every night before she goes to bed, so tell us that she doesn't want to be by herself, so we have her recite Isaiah 41:10...thus the "you are with me". And the "stay indoors"...perhaps because we had to stay indoors today since it was raining? I had to both giggle and smile because it seems like she getting at least some of what we're teaching her.

Something else she said the other day that cracked me up...
"I just want to squeeze I----- so hard that his head will pop off and I will eat it for chicken!"

I often tell her that I want to squeeze my kiddos so hard and bite them because they are so cute. I think this was the influence, as well as the fact that I had just told her about her uncle eating frogs legs and it tasting just like chicken. Ha ha!

Meanwhile...our T-Max is exploding in his use of language. He's been putting two words and phrases together for the past couple of weeks, both Korean and English. He's saying words that he's never said before out of nowhere, especially words that we've been teaching him for a while. It's so much fun to hear him talk! A few of our favorite phrases are, "No yike"-I don't like this, and "I-oh-know" = I don't know. Also, he's learning to sing "Amazing Grace" and dance like the Jabbawockees (he want to watch them ALL the time!).

What's Jude Dude been up to? He turned 3 months on Tuesday. He's still eating well and sleeping well. He's doing one long stretch about 7-9 hours at night and then another 3-4 hour stretch. He's such a good little boy, we hardly hear him cry. He's giggling a lot, especially when I tickle under his collar bone with my jar or climb up his tummy with my fingers. He's gotten really good at grabbing things and bringing them to his mouth.

Love my kiddos!

Apple Picking @ Homestead

We went apple picking last weekend to Homestead Farms in Poolesville, MD. Our friend said that she had gone and picked so many yummy apples. We picked only Fuji apples, and they were SO good! Of course, I did all the picking since my girlie was upset about the gnats flying around her, and T-Max was busy trying to pick up bruised and nasty apples that had fallen on the ground. We picked 26 pounds, which I thought was a lot until we gave some away to my parents and my brother's family, and another family friend. It hasn't even been a week, and we've already finished the apples we brought home. I had hoped to bake with some, so I guess we'll be back this weekend to pick some more!

I think girlie is picking apple skin out of her teeth in the background!


Here is a pick of T-Max actually picking an apple (with a little help):


I love how much my kiddos love eating apples with a passion!


Just having fun with my boy


Abba getting a little lovin'!


Superboy!


Our little Jude Dude


And for some reason my kids really love rocks.


Enjoyed running into an old friend from high school!


See the rest of the pics here. You can also see pics of our trip to Butler's Orchard with our Homeschool group for the Pumpkin Festival last week here.