Coloring & Drawing at 4

Coloring and drawing are very important past times in our house. It all started with Owen. He'd draw on any peice of paper, and his mind was always full of things he wanted to draw. We have rubber maid containers full of sketch pads, and we're constantly buying all three of the kids new ones. We looked back through a stash of drawings and found art work from Owen and Ayva that were done around the same age Monica is now. This is what we found:

#1 Owen - July 2007 (he was almost 5) Wonder what it is? Think Jungle Book

#2 Ayva - January 2008 (she had just turned 4) Portrait of her an Owen

 And #3 Monica - today (4 1/2) a little girl next to the sun



What we do...

We go to "work" with mommy a lot. People tell her all the time, "Your kids are so well behaved". Well....here's what we do (mommy caught it on camera today).

When it's the right book...

...he can't put it down!

1st Place Pianist!

We're very proud of Owen and Ayva. Their piano studio had a contest during the month of November. They had to count the beat of their pieces as they played them during practice, play them well, and do theory and flash cards well. Each week they were given points. The results were announced today. Owen and Ayva have taken the gold! They shared first place!

Two by Owen

These are a few of his favorite things:

 Inspired by Mega Mind



Thanksgiving

Here we are on Thanksgiving, waiting for the feast.

Owen played Chess with an adult...

he didn't win, but he played well for an 8 year old!

Happy Thanksgiving - Gobble, Gobble!

Bringing Joy...

First concert of the 2010-2011 Joy Singers Choir. Bringing Joy to MANY!

This homeschooler can tie!

It's not something you'd think about unless you homeschool. Most homeschoolers don't have to put shoes on everyday. Why? Because they STAY home. Teaching Owen to tie his shoes was never a priority because he usually chose Sketchers that slipped on, plus laces are so dirty we'd rather him have slip on shoes when he was younger. He's been wanting to dress "cool" lately, and wearing Converse is "cool"...right? So he's finally learned, at the age of EIGHT, how to tie his shoes! He's pretty stoked, and so are his dad & mom! PS They grow up way too fast!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Movin' On Up!

Ayva's now in 2nd grade!
She started her 2nd grade material Monday and is doing GREAT!

Isn't She Lovely?

This girl loves piano. She sits down, places her hands and fingers in the right position, and plays. It's adorable!

Introducing Barbara Fanta

Monica has a new role that she plays in the house - Barbara Fanta.

Barbara Fanta is a cook. She will make you a delicious meal of fruit, vegetables, hot dogs, french fries... Barbara always wears a "fashional" pair of slippers and an apron. She is married, so if you ask her for a kiss, even on the cheek, she will reply, "Sorry, I'm married."

One day she WILL have a dog!

In the past week daddy and mommy have each caught Ayva starring at her doggy poster. Mommy caught her when she was checking on little miss when she was supposed to be having her Sunday afternoon rest. She was starring at her poster. Then daddy caught her a few days later and asked her what she was thinking. Ayva said, "I'm naming all of them." There is no doubt in our mind that she WILL have a dog one day! 

AND we say the little kitty again by the Pagoda downtown. Of course she still wanted to take it home. "It can live in the garage".

Begger's Night 2010

This year we didn't purchase any new costumes. The kid's closets are full of costumes, so they chose what they wanted to wear and we dressed up. The weather was fantastic. We strolled around our little neighborhood with the neighborhood crew.

The neighborhood crew:

Mongi's A+ Work

Monica does her ABCs and her 123s. She comes and goes as she pleases. Sometimes she sits quietly and finds a fun page she wants to do and gets it done. This is what she did today. I was very impressed. She did it on her own initiative and I think it's "A+" work!

3 times as fun!

History (and Geography) is 3 times as fun at our house!

Singer-Songwriter Mongi

Monica is always making up songs. She sings to herself and then will come up to us and say"...I have a song want to hear it?" To which the reply is obviously "YES!" Tonight as we were going to bed she had one to share. Here are the words:

God knows we are sinners,
but God isn't a sinner cause he does not do anything like that
[pause] God.
[pause] Spirit
[pause] Jesus
[pause] Three in one

And when we asked her to sing it again...same tune, same words. The girl's got major talent!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Inspired by Hagia Sophia

In history the kids learned about the Hagia Sophia. We talked about the mosaics that combed the buildings and went online to look at pictures of them (most were of Christ so we didn't look too thoroughly at them). So we took a large chunk of the little amount of school time we have on Friday to make a mosaic. As the kids were doing their small masterpieces Ayva said, "Wow it must take a long time to do a mosaic".

Fun-filled Friday

The kids had a fun filled Friday yesterday. First they did a craft during school (blog post soon), which they loved cause they didn't have much work. Then at Joy Singers the whole group- beginners, primaries, intermediates, junior and high school, and loads of parents did rhythmic movement, the chicken dance and square dancing. It was super fun!

Then at night we went to a Freedom fest for two candidates that are running for office. There were rides, a big slide, a rock wall, and a concert. There were lots of friends there and we all had a lot of fun! Monica was adorable, all she wanted to do was watch the performers...she's dreaming about her future! That was the fun-filled Friday!

Sketches By Owen

Here are a few sketches out of Owen's current sketch book. We have a rubby maid container full of his books! He still loves to draw!

He's starting to only use pencil to draw:

Squeaky, Franklin and Hannah

Owen, Ayva and Monica have their first pets...three little goldfish!

Mommy was working at the Botanical Center and they were giving away goldfish, bags of them. Mommy was only bringing 1 bag home, providentially the bag she picked had 3 fish! Squeaky is Monica's, he's the brownish one. Hannah is Ayva's, he has a little black on his tail (the one on top in the picture). Owen's is named Franklin, and he's a pretty typical goldfish but he does have black on his eyes. They have been fed and are in a glass pitcher. We're waiting to see if we want to get a tank with decor...of course Miss Ayva's already asked for rocks and a treasure chest! We're hoping to add a tree frog or turtle to the family soon too. This was a nice way to cheer up our sicky household.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Little Taxonomists

For Science this year we're doing Apologia's Botany. Today Owen and Ayva were little Taxonomists. Taxonomists classify things in nature. So our activity was to classify shoes. We had four kingdoms and we broke them down into phyla, classes and orders if we could.

Yes they are still in their pjs...that's the beauty of homeschooling!!
(PS They are sick, can you see how red Owen's nose is?)

...Spinning Over My Head...

(This is way over past due)!
Pat Benatar, one of Monica's favorite singers, was playing at the Iowa State Fair. Daddy and Mommy couldn't let the chance pass, Monica HAD to see her! So she had a little one on one and a fun experience going to the grand stand at the fair.

Our seats were kind of far, but we moved up closer when she started playing the good stuff!

Daddy's shoulders make for the best view.