praying for stellan

first time for everything

Cosette had a couple of firsts today.

1. Cosette took a nap in the full size bed in her room today instead of her crib. And now she's in the big girl bed for the night too.

2. Cosette got her first haircut today.

Before:
After:

You too can receive this gorgeous cut from our very own in-house stylist:

Henri also cuts hair in shorter styles.

Give Henri a call, or send us an e-mail. He'll be happy to cut off your hair too.

building calvary & tomb

Mix flour and salt.



Add water and oil.


Form mountain and tomb.


Smile!
(And sneak a drink from your brother's cup of water since you're only allowed to drink from sippy cups.)


Typical expression from Henri for the camera.
Then bake play-dough mountain in oven at 250 degrees for 4-5 hours.

Thanks Mrs. Piper for your recipe and idea!

kindergarten curriculum

We're homeschooling Henri for Kindergarten, and we went to the MACHE (Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators) conference this weekend. It was excellent! Thanks to everyone who recommended that we go.

• So helpful to go to all the workshops for those of us planning to homeschool for the first time.
  
• So helpful to go through the curriculum fair and actually page through the curriculum that I've read and heard about.
• So helpful to run into many other people that we know and get advice.
• So helpful to see so many people from our church to know who else is out there.
• So helpful to know that 6107 people were at the conference.
• So helpful to go through the used curriculum sale and pick up a book.
• So helpful to have 3 days without the kids and without work to concentrate with Johnny on preparing for this fall.
  

All in all, I'd say it was helpful. :)

We did pick up some curriculum. Here's what we're thinking on for Kindergarten:

• Phonics--continuing with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
• Reading--Pathways First Steps Preprimer & other readers from library
• Literature--Read alouds using various book lists from The Read-Aloud Handbook, Ambleside Online, Honey for a Child's Heart, and Sonlight.
  
• Math--Math U See Primer & ideas from Living Math
  
• Handwriting--In the Beginning and other activities to help with fine motor skills
  
• Science--The World God Made, Nature Reader Book K, nature study, plus an ant farm, butterfly and vegetable growing kits.
  
• Art--Celebrating Art (maybe a project from here per week)
  
• Geography--I hope to get a globe and just show him the basics.
• Bible--Continuing with daily Bible reading, memory, and prayer and looking to see if there are any other helps for character/manners.
  

catching up on stats

Stats on Henri when he turned 5:

Weight: 41.7 lbs, 50th percentile
Height: 3' 7", 69th percentile

Cosette weighed in at 25.9 lbs at his appointment.