Bye-bye Baby Bear, Hello Little Bear!

Baby Bear decided that he didn't want to be called Baby Bear any more. We convinced him to wait until he turned four. Today that day came, and he is now officially Little Bear.


Jon had to work today, so Little Bear got to open his birthday present before Jon left.






















Last night, Jon asked Baby Bear what he wanted for breakfast. His answer? Pizza! (By the way, we had pizza for supper last night.) So, I made plans with Baby Bear to make a cinnamon "roll" pizza. This morning I made the pizza for Little Bear's breakfast. I got up later than I intended, because I didn't sleep well last night. Jon had to leave before the pizza was ready, so he ate a bowl of instant oatmeal. We saved a piece of pizza for him.
















This afternoon, I asked Little Bear what he would like for lunch. His answer? Oatmeal! So, I made Peanut butter oatmeal with a jelly dollop, carrot and celery sticks, and applesauce. I piled the kids' plates high with the oatmeal. I didn't want them to get hungry too quickly. Little Bear didn't finish all his veggies and applesauce. It was just as well though. He is fighting off some sort of flu bug. I realized that the applesauce would only make matters worse after I served him.


Tonight was a dress rehearsal for the play at church. We all went so that I could help with make-up. After the rehearsal was over, we were all standing in a prayer circle. As one of our elders was praying for everyone to get and stay healthy Birdie threw up on the sanctuary floor. Fun times! (oozing with sarcasm)


We had cake and frozen yogurt/ice cream. Birdie had to sit this one out.


*I had more photos I was trying to post, but for some reason they weren't uploading. I may try again tomorrow. I'm too tired to wait for them.

Creative Writing

Yesterday, I had the children do some creative writing. I won't grade their creative writing. Later, I will start having them circle the words they think may be misspelled. As they learn about different things in their other classes, I will start having them edit and rewrite their entries. For now, creative writing is just a time for them to have fun writing and drawing. Obviously, they all have areas they need to work on. I am pleased though. They all put forth more effort than they had at the end of last year.



Birdie, Puppy Dog, and Baby Bear were to draw a picture of a newborn baby:

Birdie says hers "looks like a baby in the manger with grass".


Puppy Dog's:

Baby Bear's is one of two things. Yesterday, he said it was baby Jesus's blanket. Today, he says it is baby Jesus's bed.

Monkey was to pretend she was a newborn baby and write about a day in her life:

"Waaaa! Waaaaaa!

I wos cold.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

waaa! ssssssssssssss.

SSssszssssss.

I was sleqing Then I waokuq.

I was waringy A rose pink Dres!

Froggie and Kitty Kat were to suppose they were able to visit the time and place of Jesus's birthday and write a letter to their parents describing the events:

Froggie first wrote from a calf's perspective and then from Mary's perspective:

Imoo

I am a cafe

who is happy

That I am

olade

That I can

see the newbo Baby

goodbye


I will love to be happy to be marry

I will be expeting NewBorne
Baby And he will bwe Name

a Baby god's son And she will call him
Boy
Jesus When Jesus Was 30
year's old He cam to the that

god hade made then

When he was kind and then

he went Away Far away From

his diciples houses

and then Santan is so mean
that he wed didnotnouticthat

termping him

and then he died on the crose


I think Kitty Kat was trying to write a book:

11/10/08

Dear Mom and Dad,

my work is going very well. Yesterday something happened. I was sweeping in the inn, like I always do at high noon. The inn was as full as a basket filled to the very top. I was sweeping the dust out into the street, when I saw two peaple and a donkey coming down the road. They stopped in front of the inn, and a man helped a woman of the donkey. They went inside the inn, and I followed them in. As I was putting the broom away, I heard the inn keeper tell them, "Sorry, We do not have a room you can use, but you can use the cave we use as a stable, but you will have to sleep with the animals." Then the innkeeper called me and said, "Take this couple's donkey and lead them to the stable, but let the woman ride the donkey, she is pregnant." Then we went outside, and the man lifted his wife onto the donkey, and we headed for the stable. Once we got there, the man helped his wife inside, and I followed, still leading the donkey. When the donkey was in a stall, and had water and food, I said, "I will be out here later today to take care of the animals. I will also bring some food and water with me for your dinner. But, do you need some right now?" I asked. The man said, "Yes, we would like some food, as soon as you can, please." I went back to the inn. When I found the innkeeper, I said, "Master, the couple asked me for some food and water. I sit all right if I get food and water and take it to them?" The innkeeper said, "Yes, but run back as soon as youcan. You need to finish your chores befor you have to go feed the animals." I said, "When I go to feed the animals, I need to take the couple some dinner. Is that all right?" He said, "Yes." So I got the food and water, took it to the couple, and then I ran back so that I could finish my chores. When I got done, the innkeeper gave me my dinner, and while I was eating, he said, "Take an extra lamp with you tonight, so that the couple does not have to sit in the dark, and take the lamp as soon as you are done eating. If they need anything, get it for them befor you come back to get the feed from the storage room. And don't forget their dinner." As soon as I got done, I grabed the food, the lamps, and a bucket to carry the things to the stable. When I got there, I got the unlit lamp, lit it with the other lamp, and set it on a shelf, then I gave the couple the food and then I walked to the spring, filled the bucket with water, went back to the stable, and gave them two cups so that they could get their own water. Then I ran back to the inn, grabed the feed and another bucket, and went back to the stable to feed the animals. I fed the animals, then I went to the stream. On the way, I figuered out how many trips it would take me to do it with one bucket. When I came back with my tenth bucket, I heard cries of pain coming from the stable. Then I heard silence. Suddenly, I a new born baby's cries. I walked as fast as I could back to the stable. When I got there, in the manger was a baby boy. I very, very slowly walked closer. When I got a cubit away from the happy couple, I said, "What is the baby's name?" They looked at me, and the woman said, "His name is Jesus, Son of the living God." Right as she said this, the inn keeper walked in. When he saw me standing by the happy couple, looking with love at the manger, he looked at the manger to. When he saw the baby, the woman said again, "His name is Jesus." Then the Inn keeper and I went back to the inn.

With Love,

Your Datter

A Little of This And a Bit of That

First, Lucille at Who's Going to Tell You? wants to know if she should keep blogging. She says she will continue if she gets fifty comments. She did not specify that the comments had to be from fifty different people, but wouldn't it be neat if she did get comments from fifty different people? I've started her off with ten comments. I'm just ornery that way. LOL So, everyone head on over to Lucille's place. I'll wait. I need to change around the loads of laundry anyway.



Second, I don't think I mentioned before that Jon, Kitty Kat, and Monkey are in a Christmas play the Stage Right drama group at our church is putting on. The play is (if I have it right) "Scrooge Revisited". Jon got the lead part of Scrooge. The girls are extras in a scene or two and are the great-great- great...granddaughters of Scrooge in a modern day scene. The girls had their lines memorized for their audition. Jon, on the other hand, has a total of ninety-nine lines to have memorized. He is finding that it is a lot harder to memorize lines now than it was when he had less responsibilities.



Third, things have been crazy around here.

The two aforementioned girls had to be at church every day but Friday a couple weeks ago. Sunday: we had morning and evening services and activities. Monday: the girls and I had Sunflower Scouts. Tuesday: Jon, Kitty Kat, and Monkey had play practice. Wednesday: Baby Bear had his Wed. night class; Puppy Dog, Monkey, and Birdie had children's choir; Kitty Kat and Froggie had small group; Jon had Men's Fraternity; and I had Teacher Training. Thursday: we had homeschool P.E. Saturday: our church had their Fall Festival and Trunk and Treat.


This past week was all mixed up.

A week ago Saturday, Birdie was playing ghost in a sleeping bag after I warned the kids to put the bags away before someone got hurt. Birdie tripped and chipped four of her teeth.

A week ago Monday, I dropped the other kids off at Mom's and took Kaycie to the dentist. Jon met us at Mom and Dad's and we ate supper with them before the girls and I had to run off to Sunflower Scouts.


Last Tuesday was election day so we tried to focus on the elections. The kids and I went over to Jon's Mom's place and picked up her pop cans (to recycle) and ran her vacuum. We took all our cans to the recycle center and then picked up lunch. We ate lunch at Jon's workplace. It was a nice day so the kids and I played games (i.e. Mommy Says instead of Simon Says) on the lawn while we waited for Jon to get off work. When Jon got off work, we went together in the van to go vote. The kids did great! They only got riled up when one of the poll workers started encouraging them. The workers were bored and enjoyed the lively chatter of the children. After we voted, we went shopping and then picked up Jon's car. The evening was spent watching the voting results, watching an online video about how the voting process works, etc.


Wednesday Birdie had an appointment at the E.N.T. doctor. Monkey, Kitty Kat, and Froggie stayed in the reception area and read. The boys went back to the examination room with Birdie and me. They all behaved well at the doctor's office.


Thursday the kids had their homeschool P.E. class and I got a chance to talk with some of the other homeschool moms from our church. We also had to run some errands.


Friday the kids and I (my mom came too) went to watch Jon at a forklift rodeo. As the day's events ended, Jon was in first place in the masters division. Jon's supervisor invited the children and I to go eat with them afterwards at Lone Star.


Saturday was the final day of the rodeo. We went again hoping that Jon would stay in the top six. During the final half hour, he was knocked down to seventh (I think) place. Needless to say, he was very disappointed. Jon stayed for the catered award ceremony while my mom, dad, the children, and I went to Frisch's. We then went back to our MESSY :. ( house for pumpkin pie that my mom had brought.

We also were getting back into our early rising routine this past week and dealing with the time change. Our pets are still messed up over the time change.

The children were really trying my patience this last week or so. They have been fighting and arguing, talking back, grumbling, complaining, deliberately disobeying, and making messes without cleaning them up. Between our busy week and trying to fit in school we didn't have much time to keep up the house. When we were working on the house, it was like we would take one or two steps forward and at least five steps back. I'm still trying to find the optimistic side of things.

This morning before he left for work, Jon told me I really needed to enforce a mandatory nap time "right now". He gave them all a talking to as well. The kids were already at each others throats before 6:30 am this morning! The kids have been watching preschool programs this morning ever since breakfast was over. They're not allowed to mess around or the T.V goes off. The girls won't take a nap anymore, so this down time is about as close as we'll get to naps. I was hoping the boys would fall asleep, but they're not. They are close though. We might just have to start our school day with story time. We've really got to get the kids back into a better routine.

This post is getting pretty long, so I'll end it here. I'll have another post up soon with yesterday's creative writing assignments.

Cute Quotes

Baby Bear: "Mommy, I'm going to build my cubhouse at Gamma R-----'s house. And, I have biznis cawds. I'm awowing you and Daddy to be in my cub."

Another Celery Experiment

August 18, 2008: I prepared celery for the joint birthday party. I cut the whole root end off the celery to save time instead of separating the ribs before cutting off the ends. Previously, I had seen an activity for cutting the topmost part of old celery off and putting the root end in water to watch the young shoots grow. I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if it would work with just the root end.

I didn't get any pictures before today. When I cut off the end, I cut straight through. The growth that you can see above the level of the rest of the cut line took place after it was cut. This is what our celery looks like now:


There are even little roots growing now. Can you see them?


The kids have enjoyed watching the progress. Kitty Kat has even taken it upon herself to make sure it stays watered. I moved the celery to our dining room table to take these pictures. Baby Bear walked right past the table, saw the pictures on our computer, and ran to the kitchen to check out the celery. He started getting stressed out because he couldn't find it in its usual spot. "Hey, where'd our celery go!" I showed him where it was and everything was right in his little world again.

A Look Back

The memory cards for our camera filled up the other day. I downloaded the pictures so I could clear out the cards and I found the pictures from Baby Bears first hair cut.

What a Big Boy!

Look what I discovered! Someone changed the toilet paper after finishing a roll. After a short investigation I found out it was Baby Bear because, "I used up the other roll." He didn't throw away the empty packaging (left in the cabinet) or the old tube (left on the back of the toilet), but we talked about it and he now knows to throw them away next time. I made a big deal about it and I hope he will continue to replace it when needed. I think all my children will be good at this for a month or so, hopefully the newness won't wear off before it becomes a habit for them.



As I was taking this picture Baby Bear pointed to the holder, "Do you know who put this here? Daddy put this here."

Cute Quotes

As Baby Bear was putting on his P.J.s, he was talking to Jon and I about the puppies and bones on the pajamas. He told us, "They're not alive, they're dead."

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Puppy Dog was shouting, "Jelly fish, jelly fish!"

Baby Bear added, "Peanut butter fish, peanut butter fish!"

Here's the picture of Baby Bear "teaching"

When Baby Bear saw the camera out he quit playing and got camera shy, so we had to stage this.
I wish I had gotten a picture with his arm out above the stand. I couldn't figure out if he was preaching or leading music. J. asked him and he said he was teaching. He must have been teaching music. The book he had was a devotional book for worship leaders.

What's in a name?

I haven't posted for a few days and I am drawing a blank, so I decided to post about my children's nicknames.

The girls were easy:

Froggie

When Froggie was born she had this big belly that flattened out when she was on her back and her legs reminded us of frog legs the way she held them.

Kitty Kat

We chose our children's names with the idea of ease of nice nicknames in mind. Kitty Kat's nickname was chosen before she was born (If we have a girl, then...). My mom actually added the Kitty part if I remember correctly.

Birdie

Birdie ate like a little bird from the time she was born. When she started eating solids there were times that my mom and I both would take turns putting bites in her mouth and we still couldn't feed her fast enough. At home we just let her fuss between bites. In the movie FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about the movie.) the father calls one of his daughters his little bird. After we watched the movie, J. started calling Birdie his little bird and the name stuck.

Monkey

At the hospital after Monkey was born she kept crawling up over my shoulder. I had to keep pulling her back down. She has always been our little Monkey.

The boys weren't that easy:

Puppy Dog

It seemed like it took forever for us to pick a nickname for Puppy Dog. We wanted to stick with the animal theme, but we just couldn't figure out what name suited him. When he started to crawl, he crawled like an inchworm. I didn't want to name him worm or snake. Then he started going around acting like a dog all the time. He would go all over the house on all fours, he would come up to us and lick our hands, he would pant if we asked him how the doggie goes, etc. So, Doggie (and other forms of the like) he became.

Baby Bear

It was equally difficult to choose a nickname for Baby Bear. He used to scream like a wild cat, but we already had a "cat" and J.'s rival high school's mascot was the wildcat. Further screaming and growling brought us (after much deliberation) to Bear.

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Speaking of Baby Bear, while I was typing this, I caught him pretending to be a preacher or song leader.

I was going to post a picture, but for some reason I can't locate the file it went to. Maybe I can add it later.

Three small words . . .

. . . I didn't want to hear. This is how I woke up this morning.

Birdie: "Mom, (Bear) threw up!"

(a quick prayer of distress and a groan, then)

Me: "Where?"

Birdie: "on the couch and on the floor"

Me: "(Baby Bear) are you O.K.?"

There was no answer after asking him several times.

Me: "(Birdie), is (Baby Bear) O.K.?"

Birdie: (in a voice that said, Duh! He just threw up!) "No!"

Me: "Is he alive? He's not answering me."

Birdie: "No."

Me: "He's dead?"

Birdie: (Not at all distressed.) "Yeah."

Me: "Is he at least breathing?"

No answer. Birdie had gone upstairs.

I get to the living room and Baby Bear is standing on the couch like a statue. There were odd looking puddles on the couch seat and the arm of the couch. A watery stream was on the floor running from just under the arm of the couch to about three feet away.

Baby Bear: "Mom, clean me up!"

I sniffed the air.

Me: "Did you drink syrup!?"

Baby Bear: "Uh-huh."

Me: "Where's the bottle?"

Baby Bear: "in my yoom" (read room)

I tried to clean Baby Bear up with baby wipes, but he was too sticky. He got a bath.

I spent a long time sopping up syrup. I had to get a bucket of cleaning water to clean the couch. After a while, I laid paper towels and then a cloth towel on the spots hoping the rest of the mess would soak up into it. Guess what I get to do later today. Yep, I get to clean the couch again. Our house now smells like maple syrup. I guess I'll have to burn the pancake candle I got for Christmas, then maybe we won't notice. I don't think Baby Bear will want pancakes for a while.

As I was getting Baby Bear out of the tub, he asked me why he had to get out. I told him it was because I had to fix breakfast. What he said next confirmed my thoughts on him choosing pancakes, "I don't haunt (read want) breakfast!"

____________________________________________________________________

As Birdie was bringing her breakfast dishes to the kitchen drinking her milk as she came she asked in typical Birdie style, "Mom, what's for lunch?".

I can see it's going to be one of those days.

____________________________________________________________________

While talking to Birdie later, she told me that she had misunderstood what I meant when I asked if Baby Bear was breathing/alive.

I'm Growing Younger!

I have been informed by Baby Bear that when he is my age, I will be his age. So, in just under thirty years I will be three!

Somehow, I don't think I'd really like that very much.

He's really better?

Baby Bear was able to keep dairy down today. So, I am hoping he is finally better.

Or Not!

Baby Bear wasn't entirely over his sickies. He did great until sometime around half-time last night. Then he puked in my mom's kitchen. It was gross because he had had some red food coloring, but it wasn't too bad to clean up. Later, he threw up on my mom's white carpet (not at all easy to clean up). Hmm, I wonder if it was the French onion dip he ate? Today he is back on saltine crackers and clear fluids and whine.

Rolling Out The Dough

This evening, Baby Bear came marching through the house. He was holding each end of the boys' rocking horse handle (wooden dowel with rounded ends) and pretending to roll the "pin" back and forth. All the while he was singing, "Holling out da dough! Holling out da dough!". My little chef in training. : )

"Mommy, hotch me dance!"

The kids are watching GEORGE BALANCHINE'S THE NUTCRACKER on TV. Baby Bear came up to me a little while ago and said, "Mommy, hotch me dance!". He then proceeded to show me his version of ballet. I wish you could have seen him, it was so cute!

My Babies are Growing Up and Other Tidbits

My Baby Bear turned three Sunday. He had asked for a marching band uniform for his birthday and Christmas, but we substituted a Bengals uniform and he was delighted.




Baby Bear asked my mom to make a Tigger cake for his party.



He asked me to make a Pooh Bear cake for the day of his birthday.


The darker spots on the legs were where the icing was getting too warm and I put off changing it. The eyebrows are yellow because BB wanted them to be "my color" ( read BB's favorite color). This was my first attempt at a shaped cake. Thanks mom for loaning me the pan and tips and making the icing for me. You saved me a lot of time.

Hmm . . . I guess I could have flipped the cake pictures.


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Baby Bear's birthday served as a reminder that my youngest daughter Monkey will be eight next month and my oldest Froggie will be thirteen next month. Tears are coming to my eyes as I type this. Is the fourth week of the month soon? I need my nursery duty baby fix.


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We did some Christmas decorating yesterday. We now have our manger scene cut-out and spotlight in our yard (I'll see about posting a picture later. My mil gave us the cut-out as a gift last year.) We have some of our smaller decorations displayed. Our tree is up and a curtain set that I got to keep the drafts from our back room out coordinates with the colors on our tree. Kitty Kat and the other kids worked together to put the tree together. Jon just had to help put the top section on. Jon and I put on the lights and ribbon garland. Jon then put a few special ornaments on the tree and then took the time to explain the symbolism of our tree to the children. I'll do a new post of the symbols.

"I falled."

Baby Bear was asleep when we came home from an appointment this evening. I laid him on our love seat without taking off his coat, gloves, and shoes because I wanted him to stay asleep. He had missed his nap earlier. While I was reading to the other children, all of a sudden, Baby Bear slipped off the love seat. He lifted up his head and said, "I falled". Monkey was the closest to him, so she comforted him and he fell back to sleep beside her. I'm not even sure he was actually awake. It didn't even bother him when we all laughed at his statement.

Baby Bear says...

I asked Baby Bear what I should write about tonight. This is how our conversation went:

Me: "What should I write about tonight?"

BB: "About Gawd."

Me: "About God?"

BB: "Yeah."

Me: "What should I write about God?"

BB: "About we're going to Him."

Me: "We're going to Him?"

BB: "And fishy and animal crackers."

Me: "Are you going to eat fishy and animal crackers?"

BB: "Yeah, in my c'ass."

BB then ran off to play with Daddy.