The 50s

I woke up one morning to find this as our new screensaver. You would think it's a picture from the 50s. But no, apparently there's a subset of women who are very in love with the era and this picture was taken from a real kitchen, recently.

I asked Rex if he wanted me to get all dolled up like that with my hair and make up. He said that I didn't have to...I was already beautiful enough. Then I said, "Are you sure? I could do it. But you'd have to buy me a set of pearls first." He said, "Didn't you hear me, you're already beautiful enough."

Watermelon!

Watermelon is not one of my favorite fruits. But what is summer without it?

In the Woods Again

We went back to the woods this past weekend. We're working on setting up a permanent campsite. Well, Rex is doing most (all) of the work. If you look very closely, you may be able to see the rock outline that he's set up. He's also made a fire pit, blown away the leaves and whacked away the weeds. It's pretty rocky ground, so he's spent a lot of time moving rocks around.

What We Do For Fun Around Here

Gus is sweating from partying so hard...



A little of this...



this...



and this...



that's one of my nephews...




that...




Ugh, this is a bad picture of me, but can you see our false nose rings? So fun...



A little posing for the baby...



Hickory dickory dock, with humans...



and dangit if he doesn't take that thing EVERYWHERE.

School's in Session

After an eight month break, we have started formal homeschooling again. Things are going considerably better this time. Sylvie and I spend anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes per subject every weekday morning studying phonics from The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, writing with Zaner-Bloser, arithmetic with Singapore Math's Early Bird 2A workbook, and piano with Alfred's Basic Piano Library 1A. We also fit in story time whenever Millie needs her nursing break.

This is one of the ways Gus spends his time while we're schooling.



Sylvie has taken up a real interest in drawing. I am of course the proud mother who sees genius in every scribble but I have been especially entertained with some of her recent drawings. The picture below is from a couple of weeks ago.



I recently brought home a drawing book for children that I had put on hold using their online system. After looking through it I decided to put it back into the library basket for an early return, deeming it too advanced for Sylvie's taste. She found it, nevertheless, and has been avidly copying the princesses, castles, clowns, snails, cars, rockets, etc from it for the past two weeks.

Mid February Review

Another snowfall this year! Sylvia, Gus, and I were pleasantly surprised when Rex rushed into the room during story time to announce that it was snowing. They got out in it a little while but then it was time for bed. And they couldn't stay up late this time because Rex had cooked us a steak dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day.



Et voila! The meal was delicious. Too bad Rex doesn't do most of the cooking around here. I can never muster up the time to carve hearts out of butter. We turned the couch around in the family room and watched the snow as we dined.



My mom sent the children a few small gifts to celebrate Valentine's Day. Gus' bubble gun was the favorite. For Sylvia's birthday we made blackberry pancakes for lunch and pizza topped with ham, pineapple, and mushrooms for dinner. We gave her three ballets on dvd (Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake) and a couple of dresses I had sewn for her.



This picture of Sylvia's caught my eye. It's Gus, me, Sylvia, Laila, and Millie on a boat. Apparently Rex was at work for this trip.



I caved in and bought a big hunk of multicolored plastic to keep Millie entertained during read alouds. It works!



Sometimes it works REALLY well!

Chores

Of all her responsibilities, this is her favorite. Sylvia loves helping me make oatmeal for breakfast. I soak the oats overnight and cook them in the morning. Sylvia cuts the butter and throws it in, helps me with the maple syrup (by having her finger ready to scoop up the drops from the side of the container), and dumps in the berries and salt. She also serves it into bowls. Gus is extremely jealous. I have to remind him every morning that he'll be able to make the oatmeal too when he's old enough to take on other chores.

Sylvia's other chores include folding the diaper wipes four times a week, clearing the table after every meal, and bringing her toys back to the playroom before dinner. We clean up the playroom together once a week. And now I'm going to have to figure out how to deal with the basement which has necessarily become our second playroom after the toy influx of Christmas and the truckload of toys from our neighbors.

Sylvia's chores have been cut back from a few months ago. I used to make her clean the playroom by herself everyday and make her bed every morning. I'm considering reinstating the bed rule but I'm glad I cut the playroom out, it's eliminated a lot of stress from our evenings.