Just to Let You Know...

Another Hebert baby is due sometime around the end of January/beginning of February.

We are 7 weeks along and already uncomfortably nauseated during most of the day.

The girls, mostly Emily and Savannah, are very excited. I don't think Sophie cares very much--yet. She will.

I was showing the girls the pregnancy test on the day that we told them the news. Emily was very interested on how it works, but Savannah just could not get over the fact that I peed on it.  And that somehow everyone is okay with that.

We are looking forward to being a "6 family".

School Projects

During our school days, we have moments of happiness and funny conversations and we have moments of tears. Today, I will share some of better moments :).

This is a page from Savannah's Sequencing book. I color with her, because she really likes it when I do and it gives us time to talk about the pictures. This particular day, when I finished my picture and handed it to her to put in order, she looked at my picture and started giggling.

Now, I know I am no Rembrandt, but I thought I did fairly well in coloring my picture, so it was a little disappointing for her to just start laughing:
"Savannah! Why are you laughing at my picture?"
"Because it is funny!"
"But why is it funny?"
"Because it is funny."
And that is all the explanation I was given.

Have I mentioned that I really like the Veritas Curriculum? Last week we learned about the 7 days of Creation by song, story and activities. I love it the information she is learning and Emily enjoys doing both history and Bible.

Because I buy the lesson plans, everything is laid out for me each day. I don't have to worry about what to teach her, because someone has already planned it for me. All I have to do is print out each week's work and be sure I have all the materials required. Awesome for busy mama's like me.

A Day on a Boat

We were invited to go on a fishing trip on the Red Sea last weekend. I knew starting out that it was going to be a busier/harder day than normal, but it was just a little too fun to pass up.

The girls loved being on a boat. It had three decks and the bottom deck was filled with bedrooms and the girls wasted no time in staking claim to one with three bunks. Just as quickly they divvied up whose was whose: Sophie's was on the bottom so she wouldn't fall off and hurt herself.

My husband and girls fished for hours, but Savannah wins the prize for the most patience. She dropped the line over and reeled it in many, many times without catching anything. Brian was baiting the
hooks with shrimp and when Savannah would reel up the hooks with the shrimp still on them, she would shout, "Daddy, Daddy, I caught some shrimp!"

 

 Our mealtimes were group meals. At the noon meal, there were plates of beans, fried eggs (delicious!), cheese, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, and bread. There were no utensils. Everyone ate with their hands, dipping into the plate nearest to them. My children were completely comfortable with this style of eating. 

Dinner, served at 7:30 pm, was grilled chicken, four huge plates with mounds of pasta, and a cucumber and tomato salad. Between the 9 adults and 12 children there were seven spoons. Just seven. No one but me, seemed bothered in the least, so I played along and waited my turn. We did manage to keep one spoon just within our family, however.

 

This sweet picture of Sophie, sitting on a cooler eating watermelon, makes my day look deceptively simple. In fact, Sophie was enamored with the water and spent every second of her day (that she wasn't eating watermelon) running towards the edge as fast as her sweet little legs would take her. Coupled with the fact that she was touching everything and trying to eat everything in sight on an incredibly dirty fishing boat, I was one busy Mama. 

By the time the boat docked at 9:30 pm, I was more than grateful to get off that boat and drive home. 

But it was still a good day. 

Motherhood in the Trenches

I recently started reading Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches by Rachel Jankovic. Truth be told, I'm on my third time of reading the book. I've been reading a chapter or two each night before I go to bed.

It is a little book, but one of the best about mothering little children that I have read in a very long time. It is very atypical than most mothering books I have read, because Rachel speaks to my little mothering soul. She convicts me while she is making me laugh. She makes me want to be a better mother while giving me practical advice on how to do so.

One of her chapters, titled Spirited Riders, is particularly applicable to my spirited little Savannah girl. I appreciate that she helps me to appreciate Savannah's emotions as given from God at the same time working towards channeling them into kindness. Rachel encourages me to not view the emotions as the enemy, but to teach and train Savannah to control her emotions.

Rachel is the mother of 4 children who, at the time of the writing of her book, 3 were in diapers, and in her chapter on being the mother of many, she says: "As their mother, I am responsible to see them individually, even when they are presenting themselves en masse." She talks about accepting grace to enjoy all of the help in the kitchen, when one helper may be appreciated, three means extra hands, extra messes and extra grace needed to enjoy the messy messes instead of pushing them aside to accomplish the task more quickly and cleanly.

Rachel encourages mothers to accept the differences of their children, even, and probably especially when the gifts of your child goes against your own natural giftings. She talks about a family of tomatoes who had a watermelon born into their family "but trying to whittle a watermelon down to a tomato will impair its growth and still not make a tomato. You will end up hurting your children badly, but still not getting what you want, which hurts them even more."

I'll leave you with one last quote: Rachel is talking about Growth Spurts as children outgrow naps and toys and begin to need bigger projects and outlets for their new energies. I know the extra challenges as Emily and Savannah have outgrown naps and toys and so I laughed out loud when I read: "You know those pain scales at the hospital, where they rate your pain from one to ten? Well, pretend that you are screaming, "Thirteen, thirteen! Fifteen!" What that should tell you is that it is time to restart the whole thing, stop screaming, and just deal with the fact that this is now the new "one". Start over, and accept the new "normal.""

I think I've had to reset that scale at least 6 times over the last few years. And now I look back at those times when I was screaming "Thirteen, thirteen!" and laugh at how easy I had it.

Ok, I'm sorry, one more last quote:
"Blessings, like children, are not ethereal and weightless. Sometimes they feel like they come at you like a Kansas hail store-they might leave a welt! But if you accept your lot and rejoice in your toil, God will give you the kind of overwhelming joy that cannot remember the details. Motherhood is hard work. It is repetitive and often times menial. Accept it. Rejoice in it. This is your toil. Right here. Those are their faces. Enjoy them. The days of your life are supposed to be full of things like this. But joy is not giddy. It is not an emotional rush-it is what happens when you accept your lot and rejoice in your toil. So rejoice in your children. Look them in the eyes and give thanks. You will not even remember the work of all this planting when the harvest of joy overwhelms you."

If you are a mother in a trench, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.You will love her outlook, practicality and sense of humor.

A Sweet Birthday

This morning Emily had a birthday card for me.  A very special birthday card, she said. The message was a clue.

She has been reading the Boxcar Children mysteries lately and has been talking about "clues" and "secret messages" for the past few days.


I was to unscramble the letters so I could read the message.

How cute is that? From my big little 6 year old.

Brian and the girls took me bowling and then out to dinner at Fuddruckers with some sweet friends who brought Dr. Pepper, Snickers and Milky Ways! :)

Many thanks to all my sweet Facebook friends who left many kind messages!

I had a great day!

Beginnings of a School Year

We started our new school year this week; Emily began 2nd grade while Savannah embarked on Kindergarten.

I know, it is June, not your typical month for starting a new school year. However, since the temperature is rising quickly and dramatically, the girls aren't playing outside during the day, they go down towards evening. It just felt like a good use of time. Hopefully, this will leave us with some extra time for field trips when the weather starts to get a little cooler.

Plus, when the boxes of new books arrived two weeks ago, every day and sometimes several times a day, Savannah would ask me to "start school today Mommy! I want to work in my new math book!" She is crazy excited about her math book, of all things.

It was precious, to watch the girls look through each of the books as we unpacked the boxes of new school supplies. They were excited about every new item that came out of the box.

And as contagious as their little squeals were, I was experiencing a bit of what Brian called syllabus shock, but I called a reality check. For some reason, 2nd grade seems so much more serious than 1st grade did. And Kindergarten is so much bigger than preschool with its colors and shapes and letters. She is starting real math and learning to read! Heavy stuff, my friends!

I'm really excited about what Emily will be learning this year. I'm using Veritas Press with her again this year and we are studying Ancient Egypt. How can that not just be the coolest thing ever? To be living in Egypt, 8 miles away from the Great Pyramids, as you spend a year learning all about Egyptian history and culture. We will be creating a timeline during our year and plotting events on a map.

 (Some of the books we are using this year)

Her other subjects include math, linguistics, literature, beginning drawing, cursive, bible, and grammar. My only deviation from the Veritas Press curriculum this year is the math program we are using. I know many hardcore homeschooling families adore Saxon Math. I used it growing up and Emily used it last year. However, the repetition and black and white worksheets were frustrating her and halfway through the year she declared math as her hated subject.

When I did Kindergarten with her, we used Horizons Math program and she loved it. After much reading online and deliberation I decided to try it again this year. I just think 1st grade is to early to decide that you hate something and that is my responsibility as the teacher/parent to try to find something she will enjoy a little more.

I do think that not everything children have to do should have to be fun or having flashing neon lights and play music. There are aspects of life that we do because they are good for us or because we ought to do them, not necessarily because we enjoy them or we particularly like to do them. But I do think if something is an acceptable solution it is good to try to make something less tedious. Neither Brian nor I are (or were) particularly good at math, I do not expect my children to be math geniuses. But it is a necessary evil and we've all heard that a spoonful of sugar, or in this case, color on the worksheets, does help the medicine go down. As far as I can see, it is the same information, just presented a little differently.

Ask me again in three months... :)

Conversations

Emily has been having a rough time the last few days and someone suggested that we have her draw pictures as a way of expressing her feelings. Brian did that today and this video is the conversation they had as she told him about her pictures.


A couple of notes:
"Language sticks" is actually "linguistics" her new spelling program.
and "Gad" is a local restaurant that Emily really enjoys because she likes their tahini.

Sometimes, the conversations with your kids are really cute.

Sometimes, the conversations with your kids are really hard.

Sometimes, the conversations with your kids are really sad.

End of School Year Celebration!

Last Thursday, Emily completed her 1st grade year. Savannah has been finished with her Preschool work for a couple of weeks now. So of course, a celebration was in order.

On Friday, we all visited the largest mall in our city for a day of fun.

We let the girls choose the restaurant and without hesitation, Emily asked to go to Wagamama for soy bean soup. We offered many other restaurants, but she was firm in her decision.

 Poor kid, she spilled her soup twice and after the second time she put her head down and said, "What a bad day." 

 Of course, ice-cream is a necessary part of any celebration.

 And then we saw the movie "Rio". Actually, Emily, Savannah and Brian saw the movie. After trying to convince Sophie that she didn't want to cry for the first 15 minutes, I gave up and she and I walked around the mall.

I asked Savannah what was up with this face and apparently, she is copying the face that the bird behind her is making :).


I am very proud of my little girls for their hard work this year.

The One Where I Drive a Car

I usually let Brian drive. I'll admit it, I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to the roads here. They regulate speed with pot holes and use a braille-like system with honking instead of traffic lights and lines on the road.

 (photo courtesy of Google images - apparently, I don't take pictures of traffic)

The real reason? I don't parallel park. I learned to drive in Texas. No one has to parallel park in Texas! But with my errands, I potentially had to parallel park at least 4 times. 

But. Today was the day to face my fears, put my big girl panties on and do it.

I loaded the girls up and Emily pipes up, "Don't forget to put the mirrors out and put the windshield wiper down!" So, good show of confidence from Emily.

Down the first street and around the corner and I started feeling excited about actually driving again:

"Oh girls, I have missed driving!"

Emily: "Mommy, you are doing good. I didn't know you could drive." 

Me: "Well, honey, I used to do it all the time in America! Remember?"

I got really lucky at all my places and didn't have to parallel park until I got home. I did it on the second try. Sort of. There was much backing too and fro.

I had Emily get out and tell me how much room I had behind me. She was awesome.

And most of the neighbors came out to watch. The woman who was parking her car on the other side, got out and leaned against her car with her arms folded just to watch.

But Emily was a good coach. And we did it. 

And maybe, we will do it again someday.