More Irene pictures

Yes, we are going to inundate you all with pictures of the newest little one, probably for a few more days. :)

 

Mom and Baby are doing great. Waiting on the discharge paperwork to come through so we can take them both home.

 

She got her first bath yesterday and, not surprisingly, was not a fan. Juana, the tech, called it "going to the spa." :)

Sleeping peacefully. She has spiky hair and often wears Ezra's "scowl". It's so cute.

 

Olivia's Art Curriculum

This year, we are using God and the History of Art, which came with The My Father's World set. It's had some really good activities and exercises that have challenged Olivia to try new techniques in her drawing. The latest activities involved colors and color mixing. 

Back in January, she and Gabe both did color wheels with food coloring and water. It was an activity that Rebecca found by Mama Jenn (via Confessions of a Homeschooler). 

Over the last couple of weeks, Olivia had to explore and experiment more with creating her own colors in both pencil and paint. She could only use primary colors (red, blue, yellow and white) to create the rest of the colors in between.

Olivia's color wheels

She then had to use what she learned to replicate a painting by Albrecht Durer called The Stag Beetle.

Once again, using only red, blue and yellow, she had to blend all her own colors to try to match what she saw on the card. Let me tell you: mixing black is no easy task...

We've enjoyed the projects we've done in this particular art curriculum, however, there have been quite a few that we'e skipped over because we didn't think the content was appropriate. We skipped doing the things that involved nudity and also especially dark, heavy church imagery. We just didn't feel like these things were really appropriate for a 7-year-old to be copying or attempting to imitate. There were also a lot of lessons involving Egyptian and other cultures that we were selective about, especially if they involved idols or foreign gods. In all likelihood, we would not have purchased this art curriculum on its own, but since it came with the MFW package, we decided to try it out.

New Baby Pics

Here are some pics for everyone to "ooh" and "aah" over. :)

A couple of months ago, Olivia expressed that she would like to be there for the delivery. After some thought and discussion, we decided that it would be ok. She was a trooper. We got her up at 3:45am to come with us and she waited patiently for her new sister to arrive. She asked questions of the midwife, nurses and, of course, Rebecca and I. She wanted to know about the contractions, the monitors, the pool and just about everything else. She thought it took a long time for Irene to come. I had to explain that 2 hours in the hospital is nothing compared to most people.
 

Olivia making the call to tell the boys that they lost the bet. the prize was a set of bunk beds. :)

 

Irene is our smallest baby, but she's probably the loudest. :)



It's a Girl!

So contractions started yesterday morning when we got up but didn't really get regular. All the same, we started getting ready for Baby #5. We really wanted the baby to hold of until after Olivia's piano recital (post later on that. :) and he/she did! As with the last two, I'll try to keep a running log of what is going on, so check back often.


3:15am - Rebecca woke me up. contractions are about 10 minutes apart, so we need to start getting ready to go in.

3:30 - called the OB to let them know we were in labor. Packing the car.

3:45 - called Mary, our doula, to let her know we were heading into the hospital. It's our first time using a doula and we're pretty excited about having her help. Woke Olivia and got her in the car. Headed to the hospital

4:00 - checking in.

4:30 - In our room. Mary and I are setting up the birthing tub. Rebecca's doing great. Turns out she is 8cm. yes, in that picture where she is smiling. Olivia's asking tons of questions, but being very good for us. Mary is so helpful! She's handling the tub so I can focus on getting other stuff set up for Rebecca. Need to get things rolling so we can do this waterbirth.

4:45 - Tub is about ready. Contractions are steady.

5:00 - Rebecca is in the tub. She said that she could tell right away that being in the water is taking pressure off her back.

5:15 - Mary is rubbing Rebecca's lower back and neck, helping her relax. We are using some essential oils and music to keep things very calm.

5:45 - contractions are progressing. some are slow, some are fast. Rebecca commented that each child has been so different it's hard to tell where she's at with it.

6:00 - Going for a walk around the unit. Keeping Rebecca moving. she's doing great. contractions increasing in intensity.

6:15 - Back in the tub. She's having contractions closer together. Feeling pretty hot and nauseous. she is still quiet and so internal.

6:23 - Rebecca asked me if we should have Daniela (our midwife) break her water. I told her we should just let things happen as they come.

6:25 - Water broke. She is pushing.
6:27 - Irene Abigail is here! It only took 3 pushes.

Rebecca is such a champ. No drama, no fuss. Irene came out with the cord wrapped around her neck twice as well as her arm, but being in the tub made it much more manageable. Irene is very alert and awake. She has her eyes open and is not afraid to let her presence be known. :)

 

Official Stats: Irene Abigail. 6:27am, 6lbs, 6oz and 17.5 inches long.

Spring 2013 Charlotte Mason Co-op

Our Charlotte Mason Homeschool Co-op met once a week for the last 6 weeks. We gathered outside of one of our local library branches in the field. Thankfully, we had good weather all but one week. Our group is made of 7 families with kids ranging from infants up to 10 years old. Our schedule went as follows: Hymn, Nature Study, Composer, Artist/Picture Study, Folk Song, Habit, Poetry Recitation, and Swedish Drill/PE. Each parent was responsible for teaching one area the whole term. For hymn we learned For the Beauty of the Earth, adding motions to our singing as the weeks went on. The kids were exposed to a little information about the man who penned the words and then the music composer, which we have found is often two different people in the case of hymns. Our nature study was on trees. Each week the kids learned about a different part of the tree as well as a specific tree (Loblolly Pine, Southern Magnolia, Red Maple, Red Oak, Sweet Gum, and Shagbark Hickory). For composer, we listened to works by Stravinsky and, again, each week the kids were given a bit of information about him. Our artist this time was Carl Larsson (painter and interior designer). The kids looked at a different picture each week for a period of time. They were asked to try to see the picture in their heads. Then with pictures turned over they would go around and share what they had observed. His works provided many familiar things for the kids to talk about as he primarily used his family as his subjects. For folk song, we learned Michael, Row your Boat Ashore. Our habit was Cooperation. The kids heard or discussed what cooperation meant each week and then they played a game or two that involved cooperation. Such a fun way to teach good habits and get them excited about it. Then they heard a poem recited and learned about things like pronunciation, enunciation, projection, standing still, and nervousness. Then each kid had a chance to stand in front of the group and recite a poem. Olivia did excellently and recited a poem each week from Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child Garden of Verses. Gabe also did well reciting a poem or rhyme each week. Ezra would practice at home with Gabe but always got shy once we got to the group. We finished up with Swedish Drill and PE. This was the part that Jeremy and I taught together. Swedish Drill involves giving the kids several steps of instructions followed by a "go" command (i.e. feet apart, feet together, turn right. Go.) This allows the kids to hear the instructions and practice keeping it in their minds until the "go" command is given, working on many good habits. The kids got pretty good at it and were able to move as a whole group, even many of the little guys. For PE, we did lots of various activities, exercises, games and stretches. We tried to incorporate the concept of cooperation or team work into PE too.

Listening to Mrs. Erin teach about leaves and specifically the Shagbark Hickory. It has compound leaves which sets it apart from the other deciduous trees we learned about this term.

Drawing in her Nature Journal: Olivia writes the proper name of what we are studying and the Latin name. Then she draws. At home after co-op she would write a few sentences in her journal about what she learned that day. Gabe and Ezra both color and we help them do leaf rubbings or whatever else they are willing to try. Occasionally Gabe will try to draw on his own with some direction. 

Picture Study

Habit Games

The littlest ones, like our Emma and our neice Rooney, just hung out with us, rode on our backs, or took naps. Considering how many varying ages we have in the group that we are trying to teach or keep occupied, it went really well. I actually believe that our kids benefit from learning together this way rather than being separated into their age groups. We get to see the older kids helping the younger kids. It is fun to watch them and work with them. In the ideals of Charlotte Mason, we encourage all the kids to participate but we do not force them too, especially the younger ones.

Strawberry Picking

We took the kids strawberry picking twice this season and got a good haul of berries. Since we still have 8 jars of jam from last year, we're just freezing them whole this year to use for smoothies and snacks, not to mention just letting the kids eat their fill. 

Ezra may carry a basket, but it never seems to fill up at all...

This migrant worker was clearly way pregnant and carrying one on her back. We suspect she'll just have the baby in the shade and come back to work.

Olivia actually picked more than she ate this year. Though she did wind up wearing quite a bit of them.

Gabe liked to point out where the really ripe ones were. Didn't pick them, but he'd point them out for me.

MFW-CTG Science - Friction

Of all the neat experiments we've done this year, this is one of the most successful and clear. The exercise is about how friction can stop things from rolling. The idea is that if a can, like a can of soup, is full to the top, it will roll easily down a hill. However, if it's only partly full, the friction of the contents inside against the side of the can will stop it from rolling far or fast. 

Olivia rolled the cans to Gabe just a few feet away down a shallow slope in the driveway.

The can rolled easily. She didn't even have to push it.

However, when we tried it with a 1/3-full container of oats, the friction inside the container wouldn't let it roll at all.

Even pushing it only got it to go about 3 inches.

Ezra wound up pushing it the whole way to Gabe.

To further illustrate just how strong that force can be, I tried kicking the can down the steep part of our driveway. It went about a foot before it stopped. It was quite impressive, really. 

Ezra is 3!

Well, not quite yet.. but, with Baby #5 due any day, we figured this might be our best chance to throw him a proper birthday party this year. He's been asking for weeks to get a race car, a jet and a helicopter for his birthday presents. He is definitely a boy and loves all things that go. So Rebecca came up with the wonderful idea of doing a plane themed party for him.   

  

We started out the day with a special airplane breakfast.

He thought that was just fantastic, but he had no idea what was waiting for him outside.

The other kids certainly weren't complaining either.

Our friend, Kim, had done a similar party for her son a couple of years ago, so Rebecca borrowed the idea of making planes that the kids could wear out of banana boxes from Costco. I painted them in bright colors, cut a hole for their head and added wings & propellers. 

We decorated the yard with inflatable planes, pennants, pinwheels and cloud balloons. Once he got outside and saw the decorations, he was so excited and kept pointing out what he wanted to play with first.

Rebecca made a beautiful, 3-layer cake with clouds & sky icing and a plane & clouds cake topper. It has his number 3 that he is so proud of!

Ezra asked for a chocolate chip cake so she happily obliged with 2 layers of yellow and one of dark chocolate, all with chips and made from scratch!

Once the guests arrived, we got the action going by having the kids use the parachute to toss once of the inflatable planes and a "cloud" we had made from styrofoam balls and hot glue.

After that were the airplane races. We found some felt hats with goggles sewn on them and got the kids into their planes. They had to race out and around the kids' stump table and back. Unfortunately, Elijah lost a wing and went quite out of control.

Everybody enjoyed racing their planes around the yard.

Then we slowed things down a little with some coloring. We took some ordinary crayons, melted them down in the microwave and poured them into an airplane mold. 

Then we had the kids put together these small foam gliders we found online. 

The gliders came in a pack of 72 for about a dollar, but flew surprisingly well.

I'm sure I'll be "finding" them with the mower next week. :)

Ah, the good part. Rebecca cut out sandwiches with an airplane cutter  and we made  little cups of "sky": Berry Blue Jello sky with whipped cream clouds. Of course, there's that wonderful cake again.

After eating, Grandpa "flew" Ezra in to blow out his candles.

He blew them out, but they lit back up!

Oh no! trick candles!

Ezra wasted no time getting down to business.

Jet? Check! (Thank you Vaughns!)

Race cars? Check! (Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!)

 

He was so excited about his gifts, he just had to play with them right the

Emma found herself a balloon to squeeze. She just adored the clouds!

Later, after everyone left and the kiddos took a nap, we let Ezra open his gift from us. 

Our friends, the Grims, have a toy similar to this one and, whenever we go over there,

he is inseparable from it.

This one is a race track that has side-by-side cars and a starting gate to have races down the levels. The kids pretty much played with this from after dinner until bedtime. 

In the end, it was a wonderful day. The rain held off and the kids had a fun time. I think this will be one day Ezra will be talking about for the next year!