Reading and Writing

Last week, Norah proudly brought me her first-ever story. (Complete with an illustration)

I had her "read" it to me to be sure I got it all right. For those of you who don't read 4-year old shorthand, it says, "Patti loves her best friend Norah at the beach."

The picture is of Patti (the brunette) and Norah (the blonde). I asked why Patti was frowning, and N explained it was because she was feeling sick. (We did go to the beach with Patti last summer, but she wasn't ever sick, to my recollection).


I was so proud of her for taking the initiative to write a story. She was being really quiet in another room at the time, and when she immersed, this was the product of her silence.

Another proud moment this week was when she brought me her "doodle" with the word "Tadpole", carefully written (and spelled all by herself). She has been all about sounding out and spelling words lately.

I attribute this largely to this book, which was recommended to me by a friend a few weeks ago. We are currently on Lesson 30, and N practically begs to do her lesson each day. (Sometimes she begs to do multiple lessons)

She is loving learning to read and write lowercase letters (she's had upper down for a while). The book claims that the pupil will be above a 2nd grade reading level by the end of the 100 lessons...I don't know about that...but if the beginnings are any indication, I don't doubt it. It's been a great resource for us, so I had to share!

School Days

It was recently brought to my attention that Norah is scissor deficient. I assume full responsibility for said deficiency, as I have frightened both of my children of the evil wiles of my sewing shears since the day they were old enough to pull up to my sewing table.

Norah's Bible Hour teacher told me that when she asked her to cut something out in class, Norah replied (with total sincerity) "I'm sorry. I'm not allowed to use scissors." I was so embarrassed. It never occurred to me that I hadn't taught the child how to use ANY scissors.
Thankfully, a sweet friend gave me some tips to help sharpen N's scissor skills, and they worked like a CHARM.

So, just in case I'm not the only scissor nazi out there, I thought I'd share.

Start with a long sheet of butcher or freezer paper. Measure several parallel lines 2-3 inches apart. Next, draw a perpendicular line (to be used as a stopping point) at varying heights on each line. I also put a letter beside my perpendicular lines, spelling out Norah's and Eli's names.

Tape the paper to the edge of a table or counter, so that it hangs down to the ground.

Then, tell your child to sit down on the ground with their scissors, and cut along the line until they reach the stopping point (or until they reach the letter).

Norah's first line was pretty rough. But I was amazed at how quickly she got the hang of it.

And the best part was, she went from being completely insecure about using scissors, to having a lot of fun and much more confidence before my very eyes. N really enjoyed this activity and has requested it several times since. We have tried variations, such as cutting out different shapes, instead of lines, and she has met each challenge with success and a smile.

Zoo Trip

Jason took off from work one day last week so we could take the kids to the Cameron Park Zoo before the crowds of summer hit. We went on a Tuesday, and it was fantastic! Gorgeous weather, only a handful of people in the entire park.

On the car ride there, we each talked about what animals we were the most excited to see. Norah was looking forward to "the owls and the giraffes". Jason said his favorites were always the monkeys. I was most excited about the otters, and Eli couldn't stop talking about the elephants. It made for fun conversation in the car, and it was interesting to see hear everyone state their case about why they chose their specific animal.

The CP Zoo made quite a few changes since our last visit. There was a new oriental exhibit with some cool tile chimes (the kids could jump on the tiles and each one played a different tone). As well as swinging ropes, and lots of fun statues to climb on and pose with.

The only down side was that the price had gone up quite a bit...but I guess even the zoo has to keep up with the economic situation.





Eli (finally) got to see his precious elephants. They were toward the end of the path, so by the time we reached them, E was almost too exhausted to care.


Poor Norah just couldn't grasp the tee-pee presence at the zoo. (They were outside the Bison exhibit) She has asked me at least six times since our trip, "Mommy, why didn't we get to see the Indians at the zoo?" Don't worry. I think we've resolved the issue (after much explanation and discussion of Native American history.)

At the end of the day, we stopped in the gift shop and let the kids each choose something to remember their day by. Eli went for small plastic tube filled with trees and jungle animals (including an elephant!). Norah, naturally, chose the only pink item in the store...a flamingo!

She really enjoyed seeing them in real life too, as well as learning that they are pink in color because of their high-shrimp/algae diet. The carotene found in shrimp and algae causes the flamingos' feathers to have that distinct pink color. (She has shared this important information with almost anyone who cares to listen to her)


It was a wonderful day of family fun, and I look forward to our next trip. The kids are such great travelers, and these little mini-vacations make for great artistic inspiration for Norah. (Please note our family of four, taking in the site of a majestic giraffe, depicted above)

Hunting Eggs at the Farm

On Easter Sunday, after church, we headed out to the farm for fried chicken with all the fixin's, and a country-style egg hunt. (Yes, we know our kids are spoiled...but we justify it by helping them eat all their candy)

One of the many cool things about hunting eggs at the farm is all of the unique places that the Easter bunny finds to hide eggs.





Eli employed his previously learned "eagle eye" hunting technique.





My favorite photos from the Farm Egg Hunt. It looks like N is stealing an egg out of E's basket. In actuality, it is the big, yellow egg he just found in the tree (pictured above) and in his haste to find more eggs, he dropped it. Norah chased him down and put it back into his basket for him.













Taking a rest and sharing her candy with Uncle Grant after the hunting was over.

It was a beautiful day spent with family, and we all had fun. (We even got some kite-flying in!)

Easter Duds

This year for Easter, I got it in my head that I wanted to make coordinating outfits for the entire family...a new venture for me.

I took Norah to the fabric store with me and explained my plan. She loved it and asked if she could help pick out the fabric. I told her yes, but I would need to show her the right section (I didn't want us all showing up Easter Sunday, clad in coordinating neon spandex, although I'm sure our church family would've loved us in spite of it)

I directed her over to the dress fabrics and she immediately went for bright pink. So, I reminded her that we needed to find a color that the boys would like to wear too, and she selected a lovely shade of robin's egg blue. "This would look good with Daddy's eyes" she said. "Good choice!" I told her.

Fast forward a few weeks (and more than a few late night sewing sessions with Gramps) and voila! Easter duds for 4!


I only made ties for the guys. I found a cute sear sucker pinstripe suit for Eli at Target for way cheaper than I could ever make one (not to mention the ease of buying it over making it myself!) and he loved it. Every time he puts it on he says, "I look snazzy!" (In fact, he cried on Easter afternoon, when we took off his snazzy suit and put on play clothes)

And Jason was such a good sport about my hair-brained matching outfits scheme. He chose his preferred tie fabric (which coordinates with the collar of N's dress), and didn't complain once. He even looked a little bit proud when he explained to folks at church that I had made everything. I don't think he could have paid me a higher compliment.




Norah loved that her dress matched the rest of us. But, as usual, her favorite feature was it's twirl-ability. (So glad I figured this out early on...as long as I use a patten with a full skirt, she will always wear it and love it.)

And of course, I couldn't forget Ellie. (Who, thankfully only takes a few scraps and very little time to clothe!)


















This was my first attempt to sew for myself, and I surprisingly really enjoyed it. I am a picky shopper, and the prospect of spending money of fabric and taking the time to sew something that may/may not fit well/flatter my figure was never a good one for me.

This side of Easter, I'm thinking we'll have at least a few more years of "snazzy" coordinating outfits. (At least until my kids beg me to stop) It was a lot of fun and cost a lot less than purchasing everything separately...it just took a little more time.

From the Mouthes of Babes...

While dressing Eli for church Sunday morning, Jason tied E's tie and gave it a final pat, to signify he was finished. Eli's response: "I'm a wary handsome boy."

Fast forward to after church, when I was taking off his church clothes to put on play clothes before lunch. Eli's response: "Awww (accompanied by the saddest little pouty lip I've ever seen), I'm not a wary handsome boy anymore?" Rest assured, I set that record straight wary quickly.

Another Eli-ism we're loving right now is the way he tries to get our attention when he wants to show us something. "Hey kids! Look at dis!" It cracks us up every time (and he calls Jason and I "kids" on a daily basis). It isn't in any way said in disrespect, more like a term of endearment. And we're sure he picked it up from us, because it's the way we often address he and Norah when we want them to head to the table for dinner, or to the car, etc. Still, very funny coming from the mouth of an articulate 2 year-old.

Then, later that day, called from down the hall that he was stranded in the bathroom, without any toilet paper. I was in the middle of a tedious mending job for Norah (she had broken a fairy wing!) and if I set it down, I was going to have to go back to square one (which was quite a few squares back), so I sent Norah on a mission of mercy to the other bathroom, to take Dad the much-needed tp.

Jason informed me that Norah made haste, and hurried into the bathroom with a smug grin and an outstretched hand, containing exactly one square of toilet paper. (The other hand was behind her back, holding the rest of the roll) Jason got a big kick out of her sense of humor, as he probably would have done the same thing, had the opportunity presented itself to him first.

Hunting Eggs at Mimi & Papaw's House

AA & Uncle Trae came in for Easter weekend, so we had a big egg hunt in Mimi and Papaw's front yard on Saturday night.













Eli used the "Eagle Eye" tech- nique, spotting all the out-of -reach eggs, and taking advan- tage of various grown -ups for assists.



























Norah, confident in her egg-finding prowess, paused mid-hunt for a quick photo op.













To keep things fair, we gave the kids small baskets, so once they got to full to hunt more eggs they'd have to find a grown-up to dump the basket, making room for more eggs. Norah made use of both her hands, but the small baskets turned out to be a pretty good equalizing factor.





This was my favorite picture. It was the race to grabthe final egg. AA had just given Eli a hushed hint about the egg on the t-ball tee, but Norah overheard and came tearing from across the yard to lean in and snatch it before Eli even knew what hit him. But don't worry, it was a friendly, fair hunt. I was especially proud of Norah because AA and Trae had hidden several "Cars" eggs around the yard, and each time Norah would spy one, she'd call to Eli, or pick it up and take it to him, saying, "Eli, I found your BEST egg!!" Eli, in turn, made sure that Norah rightly received all of her "Princess" eggs, too.


Eli, examining his post-hunt loot. (And ingesting as much sugar as he possibly could before we invoked candy ration rules)













Norah, with her favorite egg-find--tiny chenille chicks, courtesy of Mimi.