First Art Exhibit

Big Girl is a budding artist and was able to show her first piece in a community exhibit earlier this month.  The theme was Continuity and Big Girl chose the moon as an entity which appears to be ever changing and which we nonetheless associate with continuity from our planetary vantage point.

We're proud to see her passion and creativity take shape as she's headed toward adulthood with what seems to be lightening speed.

Little One's A Teen

You'd never know it by looking at her petite and spritely self, but our youngest is a teen now.  Her height and body type mirror that of her family of origin and she looks so much like her first mom of whom we speak often with great emotion.

Little One enjoys a good party and was thrilled to welcome family and friends to a brunch, serving - among other selections - one of her favorite dishes: buttermilk pancakes with fresh berries and homemade whipped cream.  She appreciated the thoughtful and personalized gifts from everyone and basked in the attention lavished on her.

On her actual birthday, we had our traditional birthday table at home and a layer cake (cherry almond).  Little One loves a tasty layer cake and was sure to remind me of her expectations.  She properly made a wish!

At 13, Little One dreams of getting married, traveling to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, and continuing her studies in ballet.  She has so many plans and is enthusiastic about her future.  She is, as she likes to say about herself, so much.

September 2022 Home School

I'll admit I worried about this month a little bit because I wasn't sure how well the book I chose as the basis for all lessons would work.  But Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford was a huge hit with both the kids and with me.  We addressed music, art, life skills, and science.

Both: learned to recognize and draw the infinity symbol, read/listened to Infinity and Me, made universe jars, pondered/expressed the meaning of infinity and forever through art

Middle Kiddo: listened to musical rounds, learned about our galaxy

Little One: learned to sing a musical round, completed mindfulness activities

Fun fact: When we were at the airport to drop off my sister, we could see a large wooden bench in the level below ticketing that was shaped like the infinity symbol.  Little One immediately exclaimed, "It's infinity."

42 Hours

What do you do when you have 42 hours with your sister you haven't seen since just before the pandemic?  You pack it full.

The first night we stayed up very late talking until my sister literally fell asleep in the middle of our conversation.  The next morning, we started leisurely with a carry-out brunch from our favorite spot. Since my sister is, among other accomplishments, an artist, Big Girl received a free art lesson and took what she'd learned to paper right away, creating this drawing:

We had to make a quick pit stop at the craft store, so that my sister could help me put together Little One's jellyfish Halloween costume and we carved pumpkins to boot.

Sister and I had time for a long walk before she started cooking Persian Adas Polo - she's married to an Iranian man and, therefore, quite well versed in this type of cuisine.  Plus cooking is one of her love languages.  Yum!

After dinner we lounged around the family room and talked about some plans for our hopeful next visit with one another and we told the kids stories from our childhood.  Our conversation continued after the children went to bed.

On our final morning Sister was up early due to frustrating news regarding her transatlantic flight having been canceled.  A much more stressful itinerary had already been booked for her and despite our best efforts, we could not find anything better.  We chatted in bed for two hours and then just had time for breakfast and some backyard photos.

Even though the time went too fast and was too short, I am so thankful we had it.

Big Girl's Birthday Week

Big Girl recently turned 14 and instead of a party, she had a whole week of celebratory activities.

She had a morning on the town with her BFF.  They went out to breakfast, got pedicures and then did some book shopping.  The outing turned into a sleepover at her friend's house that lasted well into the next afternoon.

At home, we had our traditional birthday breakfast table of gifts and cake (chocolate espresso raspberry courtesy of yours truly) along with the birthday child's choice of dinner which we knew would be Thai food.

On another day, Big Girl went out to breakfast with her cousins and she got to go to Kings Island to boot.  

Finally, Grams and Grandpa took her on a mystery date which included a movie, Chinese buffet and another sleepover.

I am pretty sure Big Girl thought all of the above was better than a pool party, so a win win if you know what I mean.

First Day Of Home School School

Today's Big Girl's first day back to her home school program which she attends full day twice a week.  As part of her Health class that I have been teaching here at home all summer, we have been preparing for her to pack her own lunches on those days. Day 1 was a success.

Cucumber, green apple, hardboiled egg, 
salami with a mozzarella stick rolled in,
crackers, and a banana oat muffin
from the batch she baked yesterday

August Home School 2022

This year I organized each home school month around a single book with spin off lessons for Little One and Middle Kiddo according to their individual needs, abilities and interests.  This is in addition to math and language arts work which is addressed primarily by their in-home teachers.  I hope to post a few pictures from each month, but no promises.

August's book was Dragons Love Tacos to ease us back into an academic routine.  With this unit we addressed art, health, life skills, and social studies.

Middle Kiddo: kitchen tools and gadgets, herbs and spices

Little One: all about salt, what's a recipe, herbs and spices, kitchen tools

Both: read/listen to the book, make spicy salsa and Nutella mug cake, dragon crafts

Bonus for Little One: an interest-based and requested foray into ornithology

Bonus for Middle Kiddo: he learned to pretend to breathe fire - should come in handy soon ;-)