Here we are at the end of January, the month of the year I typically dread, with all its long days, coldness and post-Christmas blahs. This January has been a bit different, due to a warmer snap with some gorgeous snow for making snowmen and forts, the appreciation of days stretching out, and the treadmill of busyness that having three kids has put me on. I actually kind of like that part. For me, boredom is the enemy so having 3 kids is right up my alley. I've even managed to get a bit of sewing in and have a few more projects on the horizon, so even though I have no idea when I'll get to all these things, as my office is a disaster and I'm behind on many other things, I really enjoy having a project on the brain. So here's our month, all mixed-up due to my inability to move pictures around.
Here are the ANNA taggy blocks I made. I got the idea from an Amy Butler book I got from my secret prayer sister at church from our first session of our MOMs group. It is such eye candy (the book). Amy Butler is an amazing fabric designer, just google her for fabric yumminess.
This fabric is the same stuff that is in her room for her quilt, etc. The blocks have found a cozy home on one of her shelves too, but for now we like tossing them at each other in the living room.
The destruction and eating of our gingerbread house. How our kids can love dried out gingerbread and sugary gross candy is beyond me.
Ahhh...candy stuck in the molars.
A picture of my sweet Luke. I just love his expression here, with the hint o' dimples.
Anna, hanging out on her play mat which is one of her favorite places, mostly due to frequent visits by her oldest brother. Luke always thinks of cool things to "do" with her. The other day he said, "Okay Anna, you wait here and count and I'll go hide!" He is completely smitten with her and is always reminding me to be gentle or telling me that she's hungry if she cries. How did I ever parent without him before?
Birthday rainbow gluten-free cupcakes for my 32nd birthday. We had the Krymusas over for some fun and cupcakes the day before my birthday which was grand, and then went to Terrace 55 (the old Tavern in the Park) with Anna for supper the next day, and she was the ideal baby, cooing during the appetizer, sleeping during the main course, and eating during dessert. Julio and I always love dinners out and it did not disappoint! He also got me another sewing book for my birthday called "One Yard Wonders: 101 projects to do with a yard of fabric". It came in the mail a couple of days ago and now I can't stop thinking about all the things I "need" to make. Once again, this book is total eye candy with its fabulous fabrics.
Sheri-Lee, or simply "Krymusa" as Sam calls her, with our little Annatoli. Speaking of Sammy and names, the other day Nannie was over to babysit and Sammy was trying to get her attention by saying, "Nannie...Nannie...MARLENE!!" I didn't even know he knew her first name! Too funny.
Sporting her cloth diapers. We are kicking ourselves for not doing cloth with the boys, it's a sinch!
Inspired by yet another Krymusa, our friend and artist Kirsten does inspiring artistic things with her two girls and I finally mustered the courage to let Sammy paint. He giggled the whole time, worth ever mess.
Anna, 5 weeks! This is the quilt that my mom and I made for her.
And now for a few more boy stories, before I forget. The other day we had put the boys to bed when all of a sudden Luke appears in the living room. He's smiling in a guilty sort of way, and when I asked him why he came out of his bed he thinks, taps his finger on his chin and says, "hmmm...there WAS a good reason...". Somehow that made me smile.
Sammy continues to make us laugh daily, which is a good thing because he can also draw out other emotions in us. The other day I took the kids to visit my dad's office. Sammy walks in the door of the busy office building, with the two receptionists looking on, takes off his coat, mitts, hat, etc and calls out quite loudly, "I have to POOP!" To which I quickly find a restroom, sit him down, and as he's sitting there he starts singing, "We've got to poop just to make it today!"
The other major part of our January that is completely new for us, is the contemplating of school for Luke in the fall. To me, every option has its pros and cons and I'm having trouble settling on one thing. I find this decision looks so much different after having kids than it did beforehand. I was always convinced, before having kids, that I would of course send my kids to the local public school so that we could get to know others in the community and be able to have more local friends with a variety of different backgrounds, cultural experiences, spiritual beliefs, etc. I believe in what the bible teaches about being "in the world but not of the world" and thought that public school was that verse in action. And then we had this beautiful, sensitive, shy boy and suddenly all my philosophies and ideas have come under intense scrutiny. I am realizing what an individual choice schooling needs to be, taking into account your child, your family, your location, your abilities as parents and children...the question looks a lot different to me now. We are now seriously considering homeschooling as an option, or potentially sending him to the christian school where I worked in spring. Homeschooling holds a lot of appeal in a few ways: going at a comfortable pace, with room in the day for play, adventure and much outdoor time; doing things like swimming lessons and piano lessons during the day to free up evenings for family time and sports involvement; teaching beyond the academics to things like character building, bible and philosophy, meal planning and prepping, to name a few; nurturing our family unit and letting our children grow up having each other as closest companions; getting to know other homeschooling families and getting involved in coops which would allow for interesting field trips, etc. I'm reading a book right now called, "Hold on to your kids: why parents matter" by Gordon Neufeld, and it's really challenging my view on "socialization" and what that really means. Is peer orientation really as important as our current society thinks? Is nurturing the parent/child bond more important for developing the whole person? If you are of the praying persuasion and think of us in the next while, we would appreciate your prayers as we move forward and make this huge decision! An email that I received from a cousin of mine, who homeschools, really resonated with me and I'll share part of it with you: (it's kind of long, only read it if this is of interest to you)
I do also really believe that each family has to evaluate their specific children, needs and what their vision as a family is. You and I both attended public school and I think we both turned out pretty good! :) The two biggest arguments I hear against homeschooling is socialization and sending our kids as missionaries to the public schools.
I understand. We have all seen the jumpsuit wearing awkward kids. But the reality is, your kids are going to be like the culture that is most impressed on them. If you send them to public school or private school, your kids are going to be most like that culture - how intentional you are to train and build into them the hours you have them at home counter act that. (You and I are examples of that). In the same way, if you are building a culture at home and homeschooling, your kids are going to be like that culture. If you are weird and awkward, your kids will be weird and awkward, if you have a high value for music and listen to, teach and talk about Bach and Vivaldi, so will your kids, if you listen to rap music and like to skateboard and use those things to train and they see you value those thing, that is going to have an impact on how your kids act and what they value. Now even in a socially normal (if you will) home that's not to say that they won't ever do weird or socially not acceptable things....that's where we as parents step in. We have the chance to see those things and correct them, and I think that's an easier way for the kids to develop, instead of through often brutal peer relationships and "training".
How you homeschool affects your kids in these areas too. If you live out in the sticks and they never see or interact with others, or are super sheltered, that will affect them too.
We are not trying to shelter our kids. We are trying to insulate their exposure. Let's go see that movie, and then let's talk about it, let's read that book and talk about what they believe and how that's different from the bible and what we believe, go hang out with those kids, and when a kid acts a certain way or whatever, lets have a conversation about it. I don't want my kids to not see the world, I want them to have a biblical world view about all they see. Does that make sense? Again, I think it is possible to do these things in public or private school, I just think it's tougher and you have to be super intentional. I don't think we live in the same world we lived in when we were kids.
In regards to kids standing up for their faith....I think that is great and their ability to do that depends on how intentional parents are and how solid their culture and community is outside of "secular" peer relationships, if you will.
We are involved in a strong community with lots of children in addition to a weekly coop, skating lessons and we live on a street with lots of kids (46). So they are at no shortage for social development opportunities as well as having opportunities to play with friends and kids, many who are from different faith backgrounds. So they are definitely exposed and we have conversations about those things, but the largest chunk of their day is with us and we are using that time to lay a foundation. I don't know that we will homeschool forever. We have said we will evaluate each child each year. Right now, we feel like this continues to be the best option available for us. And we live in one of the top 100 school districts in the country. So that decision isn't based on academics, but more on our children, how we've seen them influenced, our ability to build into them and the flexibility we desire. It's a what's best for our family as well as what's best for our kids decision.
I hope that helps and doesn't muddy the waters. I am certainly not against public school! I would support and encourage whatever you guys choose! I am sure that was questionable from my post and I am sorry, I just wanted to offer a different opinion and respond to the socialization statement! I just think it's really important to think through all the aspects and really dig into some of these things. In my opinion building disciples of our children (I mean this holistically -biblical training, education, socialization) and building a culture for a strong family needs to be first, and so you should choose an education system that fits into your families needs and vision. Most people think about which system will they best fit into, instead of how they can use the systems and resources available that would best fit into your families vision.
So, that's us...this January.
Flowers from Julio...what a guy.
Anna, playing away. She is actually starting to grab these toys and seems somewhat entertained by them. It's cute.
Making potato print wrapping paper for a couple of birthday presents - it was actually pretty fun cutting up the potatoes, and the boys thought painting with food was a great idea. I took out some craft books from the library to get some ideas of things to do with the guys, and this was one of them. Another one, interestingly, was to use fish as prints. As in real, large, ugly looking trout, dipped in paint and pressed onto paper. That's just gross. 
Focused Luke. 
Anna doesn't just lay on that mat all day, really. (Okay, she's on it right now, but still...) I love this picture because we have a similar one of Luke hanging out with Sam on the play mat when he was a baby. Plus, Sammy always gets so into everything...here he's just giggling away.
Frodo Baggins.
I could do a whole series on Sam called, "Take a picture of me!" I have about 20 a month I think.
Anna, exersaucing. She thinks she's a big baby and always wants to be vertical, so this thing is perfect for her, even though her head still baubles a little. 
post bath glee.
Luke's first drop-off birthday party. He had such fun and loved retelling the events. This is one of the sneaky shots the mom took and sent to me. :)
Pre-icing. 
Making Valentines for our "sriends" as Sam calls them.
Lukey, Valentine stud.
These wooden animals from our Swiss friends have been a huge hit lately. Somehow I think this picture was in the last post. I'm too lazy to check.
Boys, reading together. Was this in the last post too? 
Anna, cozy in her favorite place at night...our bed. The last few nights I have no idea how she got there, but woke up and voila! There's a baby in our bed! Aw, she's cute, she can stay. 
So, that's us in a February nutshell. And now for a Sammy story. Yesterday I was pretending to be hiking in the mountains with Luke and Sam, and Luke built a fire beside the stream in the valley and Luke and I started roasting pretend marshmallows. Luke had mentioned at one point that Sammy was too little to roast marshmallows, but I didn't think Sammy was really listening. Then Sammy wanted one so I started "roasting" one for him, and all of a sudden he just lost it, started crying, etc, saying, "but I wanted to roast one! I AM big enough!!" Somehow the irrationalness of all of that made me laugh so hard and so I ate the imaginary marshmallow I had made for him and he got to roast his own and he was totally appeased. Ah, 2-year-olds. 
Pre-icing. 
Making Valentines for our "sriends" as Sam calls them.
Lukey, Valentine stud.
These wooden animals from our Swiss friends have been a huge hit lately. Somehow I think this picture was in the last post. I'm too lazy to check.
Boys, reading together. Was this in the last post too? 
Anna, cozy in her favorite place at night...our bed. The last few nights I have no idea how she got there, but woke up and voila! There's a baby in our bed! Aw, she's cute, she can stay. 
So, that's us in a February nutshell. And now for a Sammy story. Yesterday I was pretending to be hiking in the mountains with Luke and Sam, and Luke built a fire beside the stream in the valley and Luke and I started roasting pretend marshmallows. Luke had mentioned at one point that Sammy was too little to roast marshmallows, but I didn't think Sammy was really listening. Then Sammy wanted one so I started "roasting" one for him, and all of a sudden he just lost it, started crying, etc, saying, "but I wanted to roast one! I AM big enough!!" Somehow the irrationalness of all of that made me laugh so hard and so I ate the imaginary marshmallow I had made for him and he got to roast his own and he was totally appeased. Ah, 2-year-olds. 
Opening up the "Cars" present.
