A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (Family)
Baby by Patricia MacLachlan
Bandit's Moon by Sid Fleischman
Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Family)
Dateline: Troy by Paul Fleischman
Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Frindle by Andrew Clements
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Have a Hot Time, Hades! by Kate McMullan
High School Musical series
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord
Jason and the Argonauts by Bernard Evslin
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Family)
Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Family)
Little Town on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer
Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart
Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Family)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan
Phone Home, Persephone! by Kate McMullan
Princess Tales
Princess Test by Gail Carson Levine
Return to Howliday Inn by James Howe
Say Cheese, Medusa! by Kate McMullan
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Stop that Bull, Theseus! by Kate McMullan
Tales from the Odyssey series by Mary Pope Osborne
The 39 Clues series by various authors
The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander
The Cupid Chronicles by Coleen Murtagh Paratore
The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Golden Fleece by Padraic Colum
The Lacemaker and the Princess by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Family)
The Princess School series by Jane B. Mason
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
The Wedding Planner's Daughter by Coleen Murtagh Paratore
The Wish by Gail Carson Levine
The Word Eater by Mary Amato
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Two Queens of Heaven by Doris Gates
Various American Girl books
Various Mary-Kate and Ashley books
Various Star Wars books
Way to Go, Atlanta! by Kate McMullan
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Charles can read!
A couple of weeks ago Charles started actually reading. We have been reading Dick and Jane. We started with the "Look, look. Oh, oh. Oh, look" stuff, and have progressed to the "Sally said, 'Come Mother. I see something. See Spot run and jump. Oh, my.'" sort of reading. He is getting really good at sounding out new words and remembering the old ones.
Charles has also been really interested in learning to play the violin like Emma. I decided to teach him what I know and then if he still wants to learn more, we can get him real lessons. He is really good at remembering the details of things I teach him and being very precise. So we'll see, but I think he may end up really playing the violin.
He has also picked up on the pattern for counting, so he jumped from counting to 20 to counting clear up to 100, with some help (like saying 30 instead of twenty-ten).
Charles has been really interested in the Magic Tree House books lately, so I've been reading him one about every other day. We've also been playing a lot of games together lately. It is fun that he has progressed to this level. He seems to have jumped from toddler-who-can't-do-much to kid-who-can all at once.
Emma has also had a lot of exciting things happen since we moved here. First of all, we decided to have her go to school. She has been attending St. Paul's Christian Day School for this last half of 4th grade. St. Paul's is an Evangelical Lutheran parochial school. St. Paul's only goes through 4th grade, and we will be homeschooling her again after this, but she really wanted to try the school experience, and we'd heard so much good about St. Paul's (and really liked it when we toured it), so we decided to give it a whirl. She has loved it. St. Paul's is a great school with lots of good opportunities. For Emma's school play, they put on Seussical (Jr.) the musical (Emma was a citizen of Whoville). It was a full-on Broadway production. At the end of school the 4th graders and their parents are going on a 3-day Texas history field trip. It has also been great for her to be able to see what other churches believe and how they worship. Emma has done well in school. So far on her report card she has had all Satisfactory marks (highest mark) and her scores for the individual subjects were all in the 90's. She also is in 2nd place so far for most AR (accelerated reader) points for the entire school year. Yeah, she likes to read.
We found a great ballet teacher for Emma too. Her name is Libby Lovejoy, and she moved out here to retire, but can't seem to make herself actually quit teaching. She has taught at many universities and at Ballet Austin, and is a great teacher. She and Emma hit it off right away. Emma is taking ballet and musical theater dance from her. She also encouraged Emma to audition for Ballet Austin's junior summer intensive, which she did, and she made it! The summer intensive is two weeks of intense ballet training at Ballet Austin in August. Emma is very excited. She loves to dance, and her current dream is to be a professional ballerina. She would dance every day if she could.
Texas is beautiful. We had a bit of a cold snap in late January/ early February, which would have been okay except our heater wasn't working and our pipes froze, so we had to bunk with Dad and Mom for a few days one week and then a few days the next week. But since then, it has been great weather. We have been mostly hanging out in the 80's lately. Our garden is growing nicely. We planted some box gardens on our porch. There is a sister in our branch who has good dirt (most of the dirt around here is clay), and she let us take whatever we needed. So now we are growing a good little garden with tomatoes, peas, beans, lettuce, garlic, swiss chard, melons, pumpkin, zucchini, cilantro, peppers, spinach, carrots, and cucumbers. Yay!
Charles has also been really interested in learning to play the violin like Emma. I decided to teach him what I know and then if he still wants to learn more, we can get him real lessons. He is really good at remembering the details of things I teach him and being very precise. So we'll see, but I think he may end up really playing the violin.
He has also picked up on the pattern for counting, so he jumped from counting to 20 to counting clear up to 100, with some help (like saying 30 instead of twenty-ten).
Charles has been really interested in the Magic Tree House books lately, so I've been reading him one about every other day. We've also been playing a lot of games together lately. It is fun that he has progressed to this level. He seems to have jumped from toddler-who-can't-do-much to kid-who-can all at once.
Emma has also had a lot of exciting things happen since we moved here. First of all, we decided to have her go to school. She has been attending St. Paul's Christian Day School for this last half of 4th grade. St. Paul's is an Evangelical Lutheran parochial school. St. Paul's only goes through 4th grade, and we will be homeschooling her again after this, but she really wanted to try the school experience, and we'd heard so much good about St. Paul's (and really liked it when we toured it), so we decided to give it a whirl. She has loved it. St. Paul's is a great school with lots of good opportunities. For Emma's school play, they put on Seussical (Jr.) the musical (Emma was a citizen of Whoville). It was a full-on Broadway production. At the end of school the 4th graders and their parents are going on a 3-day Texas history field trip. It has also been great for her to be able to see what other churches believe and how they worship. Emma has done well in school. So far on her report card she has had all Satisfactory marks (highest mark) and her scores for the individual subjects were all in the 90's. She also is in 2nd place so far for most AR (accelerated reader) points for the entire school year. Yeah, she likes to read.
We found a great ballet teacher for Emma too. Her name is Libby Lovejoy, and she moved out here to retire, but can't seem to make herself actually quit teaching. She has taught at many universities and at Ballet Austin, and is a great teacher. She and Emma hit it off right away. Emma is taking ballet and musical theater dance from her. She also encouraged Emma to audition for Ballet Austin's junior summer intensive, which she did, and she made it! The summer intensive is two weeks of intense ballet training at Ballet Austin in August. Emma is very excited. She loves to dance, and her current dream is to be a professional ballerina. She would dance every day if she could.
Texas is beautiful. We had a bit of a cold snap in late January/ early February, which would have been okay except our heater wasn't working and our pipes froze, so we had to bunk with Dad and Mom for a few days one week and then a few days the next week. But since then, it has been great weather. We have been mostly hanging out in the 80's lately. Our garden is growing nicely. We planted some box gardens on our porch. There is a sister in our branch who has good dirt (most of the dirt around here is clay), and she let us take whatever we needed. So now we are growing a good little garden with tomatoes, peas, beans, lettuce, garlic, swiss chard, melons, pumpkin, zucchini, cilantro, peppers, spinach, carrots, and cucumbers. Yay!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
From Texas...
Well, we are here and settling in. We are mostly unpacked. James found us a nice place on some beautiful acreage that we are renting. The weather is WONDERFUL so far. I love the absence of snow. The kids have lots of fun exploring our land. The other day we went on a walk in our "yard" and found a skull...I think it was from a deer. Also saw a deer running through our front yard. We saw a hawk right above our head. There were also some mussel shells by our pond (from our pond?). We even watched a spider capture a fly in our window. Charles was fascinated; Emma was grossed out. I think it is a kid's wonderland.
Cute saying by Charles: As we were driving down here, we were probably about half an hour away from reaching our new home and the sun was setting. Charles commented, "The sun casts a rosy glow." How cute is that?
We were able to have Christmas with my family, which was nice. The biggest bummer was that James started getting sick on Christmas Eve and it was in full force by mid-day on Christmas. He's still not feeling great, but he's doing better than he was last night.
We are loving Texas. It is beautiful, nice to be near family, nice to be back with James again. The only sad thing for us is that Charity isn't with us. They decided to try to reunify her with her dad, so the week before we moved, she went back to him. We are happy for him, but we miss her a ton. We just pray that everything will work out how it is best for her.
Emma was in The Nutcracker over Thanksgiving weekend. She did really well, and had a lot of fun. We hope that we can find a decent ballet school here. There are lots of things she would like to do, but if she could only pick one thing, she would choose ballet.
That's all I can think of. Bye for now, Y'all!
Cute saying by Charles: As we were driving down here, we were probably about half an hour away from reaching our new home and the sun was setting. Charles commented, "The sun casts a rosy glow." How cute is that?
We were able to have Christmas with my family, which was nice. The biggest bummer was that James started getting sick on Christmas Eve and it was in full force by mid-day on Christmas. He's still not feeling great, but he's doing better than he was last night.
We are loving Texas. It is beautiful, nice to be near family, nice to be back with James again. The only sad thing for us is that Charity isn't with us. They decided to try to reunify her with her dad, so the week before we moved, she went back to him. We are happy for him, but we miss her a ton. We just pray that everything will work out how it is best for her.
Emma was in The Nutcracker over Thanksgiving weekend. She did really well, and had a lot of fun. We hope that we can find a decent ballet school here. There are lots of things she would like to do, but if she could only pick one thing, she would choose ballet.
That's all I can think of. Bye for now, Y'all!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Pictures
Emma's haircut
My girls
Charles feeding Charity
Emma's first decorated cake
Charles raking the few leaves we have
Jaqueline imitating Mom
Maya and Jaqueline
Charles and Emma at the Treehouse Museum
Charles and Emma at the Pumpkin Walk
Charity poking her tongue out (probably spitting)
Charity going potty on the toilet
Monday, November 15, 2010
We are moving
James is flying in on December 8. Things are still not settled with baby Charity, so we will have to leave her here and trust that things will work out the way they are supposed to.
In October, Emma was in a play called Giving up the Ghosts. It was a production of the local children's theater. She had a lot of fun in that.
Over Thanksgiving weekend Emma will be in Cache Valley Civic Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. She is a party girl. She has loved going to rehersals, and she is super excited for the production.
Emma also went to our neighbor's home last week and learned how to decorate cakes. She did quite well on her first one.
I still haven't found the cord to connect the camera to the computer (still haven't looked very hard), but since my room will be getting packed soon, I should find it then, and should get some pictures up (we can hope).
In October, Emma was in a play called Giving up the Ghosts. It was a production of the local children's theater. She had a lot of fun in that.
Over Thanksgiving weekend Emma will be in Cache Valley Civic Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. She is a party girl. She has loved going to rehersals, and she is super excited for the production.
Emma also went to our neighbor's home last week and learned how to decorate cakes. She did quite well on her first one.
I still haven't found the cord to connect the camera to the computer (still haven't looked very hard), but since my room will be getting packed soon, I should find it then, and should get some pictures up (we can hope).
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Many changes again...
So I can't currently find the cord to hook my camera up to the computer (not that I've looked too hard), so you all will have to do without pictures for a little longer. Here are the updates:
1. Charles is back. He came back toward the end of last month and the plan is that he will stay here with me until we all move.
2. James has a new job. He is working at Chase bank, and enjoying it quite a bit so far.
3. Jaqueline and Maya went home to their dad for their 90-day trial home visit on July 31. They seem to be doing well so far. I saw them yesterday for the first time since they left. Jaqueline wanted to do almost nothing but sit in my lap, but I think Maya was mad at me for abandoning her so she ignored me most of the time. Sad. We've been doing well since they left - it's been much quieter around here- but we mostly just try not to think about it too much. They both had their birthdays this month, so they were both 2 at the same time for about half a month.
4. Baby Charity is doing well. She is 5 months old and now weighs almost 13 pounds - small, but healthy. Her dad seems to be doing well, and should he continue to do well, she will probably be transitioning to him in October or November, which means that...
5. We're probably going to still be here until November. At least, that is the current understanding. If I am still here and it snows, I may have to pull all of my hair out!
6. We homeschool, and this year decided to try doing K12, which can be (and is, in our case) public school from home. We are trying it for Emma, who is in 4th grade. We have been at it for almost 2 weeks now. It was a lot to figure out at first, but we are finally getting it down. It was tough the first week, but I think that now that Emma and I have started figuring it out, we are enjoying it more. It is more intense than we have done in the past, but I think that is okay.
7. Charles is not doing K12. We are still on low intensity for him since we are mostly focusing on getting Emma started, but once we get her going a little more, I will focus on him more. He just turned 5 in June. He is getting better at recognizing letters and numbers, saying letter sounds, building things, doing puzzles, drawing shapes, tying knots, and spelling his name. He is also getting better at trying to not get frustrated so easily when things are difficult for him.
8. Emma took private swimming lessons this summer, and has gone from being a dog-paddler to a real swimmer. She loves to swim.
9. We also chopped Emma's hair. It is just above her shoulders in an a-line. She likes having it short.
Those are the main updates I can think of right now. I'll try to get around to posting pictures in the not-too-far future.
1. Charles is back. He came back toward the end of last month and the plan is that he will stay here with me until we all move.
2. James has a new job. He is working at Chase bank, and enjoying it quite a bit so far.
3. Jaqueline and Maya went home to their dad for their 90-day trial home visit on July 31. They seem to be doing well so far. I saw them yesterday for the first time since they left. Jaqueline wanted to do almost nothing but sit in my lap, but I think Maya was mad at me for abandoning her so she ignored me most of the time. Sad. We've been doing well since they left - it's been much quieter around here- but we mostly just try not to think about it too much. They both had their birthdays this month, so they were both 2 at the same time for about half a month.
4. Baby Charity is doing well. She is 5 months old and now weighs almost 13 pounds - small, but healthy. Her dad seems to be doing well, and should he continue to do well, she will probably be transitioning to him in October or November, which means that...
5. We're probably going to still be here until November. At least, that is the current understanding. If I am still here and it snows, I may have to pull all of my hair out!
6. We homeschool, and this year decided to try doing K12, which can be (and is, in our case) public school from home. We are trying it for Emma, who is in 4th grade. We have been at it for almost 2 weeks now. It was a lot to figure out at first, but we are finally getting it down. It was tough the first week, but I think that now that Emma and I have started figuring it out, we are enjoying it more. It is more intense than we have done in the past, but I think that is okay.
7. Charles is not doing K12. We are still on low intensity for him since we are mostly focusing on getting Emma started, but once we get her going a little more, I will focus on him more. He just turned 5 in June. He is getting better at recognizing letters and numbers, saying letter sounds, building things, doing puzzles, drawing shapes, tying knots, and spelling his name. He is also getting better at trying to not get frustrated so easily when things are difficult for him.
8. Emma took private swimming lessons this summer, and has gone from being a dog-paddler to a real swimmer. She loves to swim.
9. We also chopped Emma's hair. It is just above her shoulders in an a-line. She likes having it short.
Those are the main updates I can think of right now. I'll try to get around to posting pictures in the not-too-far future.
Monday, May 3, 2010
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