January 2018

January in pictures

My friend, Kirsten, gave us a box of play dough that her kids didn't use anymore.  Our play dough was completely dried out, so the kids had so much fun playing with fresh play dough again!  

A friend who know attends First Baptist Keller and is part of their foster support group brought us a taco platter one Tuesday night.  My kids got such a thrill out of making their own tacos!  Emma ate three hard shell tacos, which is for sure a record for her!

Emma received a bow making kit from Uncle Jon and Anna at Christmas, and this is one of the headpieces she made!

School days

It has been so much fun teaching Emma to read this year.  I consistently hear that teaching your child to read is one of the most dreaded parts of homeschooling, but it has been a joy with Emma!  I think it's largely due to how quickly we move through her lessons; we've never spent more than 15 minutes on a lesson.  Also, we are very thorough in doing the review flashcards for letter names and letter sounds during each lesson.  We use Saxon Phonics (kindergarten level).  It's not flashy or colorful, but it's solid!  I have considered switching phonics curriculums multiple times in the last year, as I use Saxon phonics with Isaac as well.  My only reason for switching was to see if there is something "better" out there.  At the homeschool conference, I was talking about this with my friend Jennie (who also graduated from Taylor and now homeschools her four boys here in DFW), and she told me that I am giving myself a gift in sticking with a method that I now know very thoroughly from teaching it to both kids.  I'm thankful for her words of wisdom!  One struggle I have in homeschooling is that there is always (always!) a newer, "shinier" homeschool curriculum/schedule/method out there, and I can spend a lot of time checking them out unnecessarily.  That's not always bad; but, I'm learning that often, it's best to stick with what you know, especially when it's working!

This is one of my favorite pictures of January!  Emma was having some trouble with her math lesson, and Isaac was talking her through it.  

Isaac played basketball this winter, and Dave was his coach!  A friend from Countryside and a friend from CC were both on his team, and we had many other friends playing on other teams in the league. It is always so neat to see how much the boys improve over the season!  I didn't get many pictures at all, but it was a lot of fun watching both Isaac play and Dave coach!

We had a long list of Christmas books to read aloud in December.  With all the excitement and appointments that came with getting our new foster baby, we were still reading through our list in January.  Emma declared "Holly and Ivy" to be the best book she's ever read in her life.  

Emma loves to clean!  She would happily mop, clean, and scrub all day.  One of her morning chores is to wipe down the table after breakfast; and, I often have to tell her to only wipe down the table, not also the chairs and booster seats. :)

Our friend Rob turned 40!  Kimi planned a fun surprise party for him!  It was so fun to see lots of our Keystone friends and celebrate Rob together.  

One Sunday night, I went to watch the Vikings game with my friend Ericka while our kids were at AWANA.  Ha, a better explanation would be that I went to watch Ericka watch the Vikings game!  It was a play-off game, and everybody knew that Ericka was thrilled when the Vikings won!  :)  It was a lot of fun! 

Papa and Nana came for a visit at the end of January, since we didn't get to see them at Christmas.  We made a massive CostCo run before they came!  

Nana made cottage cheese dill bread with the kids.  They were so proud that they made it!

Nana snuggling our foster baby!

A special highlight of the weekend was having brunch to celebrate Emma's birthday at the American Girl store at the Galleria!  It was just darling!  It was our first visit, and I'd definitely say it lived up to all the rave reviews I've heard about it!  Emma pushed her doll into the store in her stroller, and she was so excited that they gave her two doll seats at the table for both dolls (named Emma and Kirsten).  Emma loved serving "tea" (really just water) to her dolls.  The atmosphere of the entire store was sweet and innocent, just like you want a little girl to be!  

After spending time at the American Girl store, we walked over to Belk for Emma to pick out a birthday gift from Nana.  They found a cute pair of low boots.  Susie had Emma try them on, and she immediately said, "Yes!  Let's buy them!"  It was so cute!  She loves to shop! 

My parents kept our foster baby while we were at the American Girl store, because Dave and his dad took the boys to the Stock Show in Fort Worth!

Isaac had so much fun riding "The Iron Dragon" with Papa!  

We had such a fun weekend with Papa and Nana!

After they left, I ended up at the ER with Emma, where she tested positive for Flu B!  

My parents kept Josiah for two nights to help me.  So many family and friends were praying for her, and we were also all praying for the baby to not get it.  This was a terrible winter for sickness in Texas.  We were so thankful that Emma recovered well and that the rest of us (especially the baby!) stayed healthy.  One of the sweet moments of Emma being sick was one morning when she was doing her nebulizer and humming "I Stand Amazed" over and over.  

looking for snacks!

We dearly love our Classical Conversations Community.  In January, our CC community did a painting unit for fine arts.  Even though I can't be with both kids each Wednesday morning, it's so thoughtful when other moms send me pics of my kids in class!