Gabe School and Lego Fun

Rowing (as they call it in FIAR language) The Big Green Pocketbook. I made these green bags from paper and we went on some errands and collected our morning.

Mixing Colors: blue and yellow make green

Rowing Caps for Sale: Gabe is balancing the caps on his head. Both of these books have been favorites of the kids. They love reading them over and over.

more letters

following directions

We were reading the stories of David, as a shepherd, a musician, a hero, and a king.

This was a playdate we went to at Bricks (a lego play place). There was a zip line for the lego creations which was a big hit with the kids.

Having Fun Learning

Writing in Rice. This has been very fun and a good learning tool for Gabe.

Don't you love his smile? He takes well to lots of encouragement. And how about that cute boy looking on from behind? Isn't he adorable? :)

Working on learning his name. The letters are cut apart so he can put them in order.

water play

This was an art activity that we did after reading Exodus 14, the story of the people leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. It is meant to represent the path that God made for them to cross on. Then we were able to put the waters come back and drown the enemy.

Happenings

Ask Mr. Bear puppet show

Ask Mr. Bear activities, This was our Before Five in a Row book last week. It was a favorite. We discussed birthdays (always a popular subject), thinking and solving problems, memory work with sequencing and retelling the story, animal sounds (mostly for Ezra), and farms versus woodland habitats.

The kids really enjoy making up games together now. Often Olivia can be a bit bossy and Gabe has a tendency to be disagreeable but overall they have a good time and really enjoy being together. ;)

art projects

"Gabe School"

How much do you think we really learn? It sure is fun though. Ezra tries to join in too. :)

letters, rhymes, hand motions

acting out bible stories

numbers

Another Week Past? and Emma is One Month Old

Wow, time is flying these days. :)

The kids put on a concert for me:

"Gabe school" : We focused on the letter Bb this week with similar activities as last week. Gabe made a rainbow and we talked about colors more. We also made patterns with the little Aa and Bb papers that we used for our letter hunt. We did not try writing this week but we did draw some circles and color them in. He had a better week with following directions.

Enjoying the Sabbath:

Joining a friend for worship night at her church:

Silly Children:

notice Gabe still at the table... this happens most every day. Olivia has gotten quicker with eating but Gabe certainly takes his time to savor. ;) Maybe I could learn something from him but it does occasionally get frustrating too. :)

he runs around and says, "ye haw!"

The way I look most of the week and how Emma likes to ride (sling or Moby wrap) or be carried:

And she really prefers to sleep in our bed... oh, my...

Another Week

So I am going to give you another set of pictures that capture some of what we did this week. It is far from all of it. Among other things, I left out all the spills and messes I cleaned up. :) I am getting used to having four kiddos. The days seem to speed by sometimes and creep sometimes. I am sleeping sporadically at night. I feel like I have spent the weeks since Emma was born trying to keep up. All the kids need some individual attention and specific needs met. They are wonderful though. And Jeremy is super supportive. I wouldn't really trade things in the long run. I just hope that I can get a handle on our daily lives a bit more. I get up in the morning and commit each one of us to God. I ask him to direct our days. I ask him to give me patience to train up these little ones he has given me. Yes, I have lost it with them. I tell them I am sorry. I seek forgiveness. I ask God for fresh patience and joy. My mood totally effects them, I can change the tides of our day either direction. I set the tone. I want my home to be a safe and fulfilling place for them. I am a work in progress as they are. I would love it if you would pray for me in that regard. We are so blessed! I am thankful for my family, my home, and our friends. Our family has received more meals this time around than with any other baby. But that has been a wonderful thing. I didn't have to really cook dinner for almost 2 weeks. It was a huge relief to not have to think about planning dinner and having yummy meals. God has been so good to us!

Olivia is playing store. This brought back so many memories since I used to play store and bank as a child.

The boys love playing with their cars. It is one of their favorite activities and they really want me to sit and play with them. It is fun and makes their day.

The above two pictures are from us acting out a rhym about creation and Adam and Eve.

He is walking on the A. He also had to trace over it with a block. There is a lowercase a behind him. So I would have him jump on whichever one I called out to him.

He is on a hunt for As. I "hid" a bunch of papers with the letter Aa on them around the room. He loved finding them. And then hiding them and finding them again. :)

We have been trying to keep going with some schooling for Olivia although it has been mostly just some basics of bible, reading, copywork, and math. I am thankful that she is willing and able to do some things independently. This coming week we venture back into My Father's World. We'll see how it goes. :) I did start using the preschool program, Little Hands to Heaven, with Gabe this week. He loves it. Olivia likes to be involved. I tell her that I used this same curriculum with her and she thinks that is fun. We (Gabe and I) are trying hard to work on following directions and even some pre-writing activities. He asked and yet he gets frustrated really easily. So we are taking that really slow. :)

Emma is growing like a weed. She is more alert--focusing on our faces and her mobile and turning to our voices, esp mine. She is getting better with holding her head up.

Olivia is a HUGE help to me. She asks for things to do to help out. She is willing to drop just about anything when I ask her for help. Thank you for being an amazing big sister, Olivia! I love you! :)

To cap the week off, we went back down to feed the homeless for the first time since  late December. The kids were excited to hand out bananas and even got to eat some donuts, courtesy of Donut World on West Market Street.