Monday, October 30, 2006

-Astrid completed five pages in her geography work book. We looked at our big wall maps to find some of the things she learned about in the work book (the equator, the prime meridian, the four hemispheres, etc.). We talked about how tropical rainforests (which we read about last week) are located near the equator and also discussed how climate changes depending on how near or far you are from the equator.
-The girls helped me fold, put away and hang up laundry.
-Muirgen built a train and a boat out of blocks.
-Imaginative play. The girls played together very well today.
-Astrid and I wrote out our grocery lists. Hers consisted of words that she copied out of recipe books. She sounded them out when she was done writing them.
-Grocery shopping.
-At supper time Astrid told Jason all about what she learned about maps this morning.
-Read a chapter of 'Trumpet of the Swan'.

Friday, October 27, 2006

-Drove Jason to work. Stopped on way home to pick up a few groceries.
-Girls helped me make noodles and beans for lunch.
-Music class.
-Girls helped make cookies for the family reunion we'll be going to this weekend. They didn't turn out.
-Astrid fooled around on the piano.
-She was listing words that rhymed so I got out a set of flash cards with pictures of rhyming words. She matched up all the sets that rhymed.
-Packed up for our weekend away, and we're now about to head out.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

-PEG.
-Jordin, Jul and Clover came overfor lunch. The kids played very well together all afternoon.
-Astrid has a word book that belonged to my sister in elementary school, but was never used by her. It has a list of simple words beginning with every letter of the alphabet and spaces to add to each list. Astrid got it out today and wrote in a bunch of words. Some she already knew, some she asked me how to spell. She also sounded out a bunch of the words already there, without any encouragement from me.
-Read a chapter of 'Trumpet of the Swan'.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

-Astrid completed 9 pages in her math workbook. I've been encouraging her lately to read some of the instructions herself - usually just a key word or two in each scentence. I've been finding this quite successful because she loves working on math so much that if reading is going to help her do it, then read she will.
-We walked to church to deliver some of the girl's art work which will be put into an exhibit of work by the children of Next. Spent some time visiting with Pam and Al.
-The girls had great fun crunching along in the piles of leaves at the side of the road on the way home.
-They helped me clean the third floor, which currently has no one living on it, but will in a week or so.
-Astrid dressed up and made up little skits ("shows") for Muirgen. Muirgen is the perfect audience, laughing at all the right spots, acting scared when she's supposed to, etc. Not to mention, she'll watch for ages.
-They played with the Noah's ark set and various other things.
-They helped me make brie cheese in puff pastry for supper. Astrid declared that it's her favourite food on earth - even better than all the desserts!
-Read a chapter of 'The Trumpet of the Swan'.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

-Astrid completed 14 pages in her math work book.
-Muirgen played with an odd assortment of small objects for quite a while.
-The girls played with the Noah's ark set.
-We walked to the doctor's office to talk with our doctor about vaccinations. (We have not vaccinated our kids and have been revisiting the issue lately. We wanted to obtain the product inserts for the vaccines the girls would receive if we chose to vaccinate at this point. I could only get two of the three I wanted. After going through them tonight, I am still very hesitant to vaccinate. The first one lists a CAUSAL relationship between the vaccine and neurological illness in it's 'warnings' section, among other worrisome things. That alone is reason enough for us to want to avoid it. The second one, while having no causal relationships listed in it's adverse reactions (one of which is DEATH), is grown in the tissue of aborted fetuses. I have a problem supporting a company that is profiting from abortions. There are currently no alternatives to this particular vaccine that are not grown in this medium. So I'm pretty sure our kids won't be getting their MMR or DPT+hib vaccines. We still want to look into the one for meningitis.)
-We stopped at the post office to buy stamps and send of some mail on our way home.
-The girls played together for an hour and a half while I had a nap. I felt very tired after the hour I spent walking (while pulling the girls in the wagon) to and from the doctors.
-I read them a story book.
-They helped me make corn chowder for supper.
-Swimming lessons. Muirgen finally put her mouth in the water and blew bubbles today! The other kids in her class all did it at the first lesson. She was pretty proud of herself!

Monday, October 23, 2006

-Muirgen wanted to do circle time, so the two of us did.
-Introduced a new memory verse. We said it over a couple of times.
-Astrid completed 3 pages in her reading workbook and about 30 pages in her math workbook.
-Astrid learned how to play Chinese Checkers. We played a couple rounds.
-The girls helped me make apple brownies.
-They did the dishes. Made a big mess of the area surrounding the sink, but the dishes looked great.
-They played birthday party, Noah's ark, mommies and babies, etc.
-Muirgen coloured a page in a colouring book.
-Last week was World Rainforest week, so we looked up rainforests in our illustrated children's encyclopedia and read what it had to say about them. We looked through a book we have about animals of the tropical rain forests.
-On the next page in the encyclopedia was 'reproduction', so when the girls noticed the picture of a pregnant woman in cross-section, they, of course, wanted me to read all about it, which I did. They took great interest in the diagram and felt for the different bones it showed (pubic bone, tail bone, spine, etc.) on their own bodies.
-They made up a dance to go with a song we know that talks about 5 golden leaves hanging in a tree. In each verse, another one falls to the ground until they're all gone. Their dance involved holding leaves from our nature table and letting them flutter down at the appropriate time.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

-PEG. The kids were talking about the sun and moon today. Astrid told me they made a huge mural with white paint on black paper.
-After PEG we went over to Jordin's for lunch and then all watched a video of a home birth. The girls have been pretending to give birth all evening!
-Muirgen helped me make a double batch of rice-mushroom casserole and bean salad, half of which we took to Tim and Amy who just had a baby.
-The girls drew quite a few pictures and played with paper dolls.
-Muirgen finally figured out how to blow bubbles in the bath tub tonight - something her swimming teacher's been trying unsuccessfully to get her to do since her first swimming lesson. She was pretty excited at figuring it out and can't wait to show Kyle (her teacher) next Tuesday.
-Told the stories of Noah and the ark and Joseph's coat of many colours to the girls at bedtime.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

-The girls played "school". They did their own circle time and Astrid "taught" Muirgen how to draw pictures.
-The structured circle time that we did almost every day last year and started up again in September this year has fallen by the way side. The girls just never want to do it.
-They helped me fold, put away and hang up laundry.
-They listened to the story of 'Aladdin' (not the Disney version) on tape.
-I read them 'The Missing Piece' by Shel Silverstein.
-October is National Stamp Collecting month, so we got out Jason's old stamp collection (which is quite extensive) and looked through it. We also looked through some of his books about stamp collecting. We talked about what stamps are used for and how they work.
-The girls set up a tea party for themselves and their dolls.
They played with paper dolls and went on a shopping trip with their dolls in their strollers.
-Muirgen helped me make split pea soup for supper.
-Vincent made us crepes for dessert. He's leaving tomorrow morning (before we'll be awake) and we don't know when we'll see him again (he's heading back to France) so we took a bunch of pictures of all of us and said our good-byes. The girls are quite sad to see him go and I know they'll really miss him.


-Muirgen and I were talking about God at bedtime and she said, "God is here in our house, but he's hiding". I said, "I don't think he's hiding; we just can't see him." "Yeah, we can't see him," Muirgen said, "Maybe he's down in the basement."
-Astrid got me to tell her a bunch of knock-knock jokes and then made up a bunch of her own to tell me.
-Astrid recited her memory verses. She has them all down pat. It's time to introduce a new one.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

-Jul was over for a large part of the day. The kids played together and played a game of 'Snakes and Ladders'. They did some mazes and colouring together.
-They all helped make pancakes for lunch.
-The girls built with blocks.
-They set up the train track set and played with it.
-Swimming lessons.

Monday, October 16, 2006

-The girls decorated foam sun visors with markers, paint, glue, string and foam shapes.
-Astrid painted a picture of a girl. Muirgen painted one of an air plane.
-Muirgen helped me hang up laundry.
-Astrid coloured a picture in a colouring book.
-We talked about condensation: what it is, why it happens.
-We baked an apple pie with the apples we picked last week.
-We started our Fall yard clean up. The girls helped a bit and then played on the swing set.
-Astrid completed a bunch of pages in a reading work book.
-They helped me make pasta with sun-dried tomato sauce for supper.
-Astrid and Jason made 3-D shapes out of paper.
-Jason read the girls a story - 'I Will Never, Not Ever, Eat a Tomato'
-Read a chapter of 'Trumpet of the Swan'.

Friday, October 13, 2006

-Astrid looked through one of Jason's math books for quite a long time.
-We turned on the gas fire place for the first time this season and the girls sat in front of it conversing.
-They helped me hang up the wet and put away the dry laundry.
-Muirgen dressed up as a fairy named Magenta (she thinks that if we have a girl we ought to name her Magenta). She was Magenta the fairy all morning.
-The girls played with their dolls and strollers. Muirgen's baby was named Adrian, which is her pick of names if we have a boy (it'd be mine, too, but Jason won't go for it).
-Music class.
-Ran a couple errands on the way home from music class.
-Read a couple story books to the girls.
-Astrid continued to look at books while Muirgen helped me make braised barley and veggies for supper.
-Astrid listened to a story book on tape.
-Vincent read yet more stories to the girls.
-Muirgen drew a picture.
-Astrid figured out, basically on her own, how to play 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' on the piano.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

-PEG. The kids were talking about earth and water today.
-The girls coloured and played while I made lunch. Muirgen had her baby in it's stroller and pretended to take it to all sorts of different places.
-The girls worked in a simple pre-school work book together. They were both holding on to the pencil and Muirgen let Astrid guide her hand to complete the activities. Astrid took it upon herself to teach Muirgen the letters of the alphabet. They got to about H. One of the activities was to choose which of two pictures began with a certain letter. I was surprised that Muirgen got every one correct.
-We talked a bit about what our immune systems do.
-Played 2 games of 'Snakes and Ladders'.
-Played one game of 'Memory'. Astrid won. Muirgen did not find a single match, but had fun turning over the cards when it was her turn.
-We all coloured pictures together.
-The girls pretended they were fish and created a whole under-water drama for themselves.
-They helped me make lentil soup for supper.
-Read a chapter of 'Trumpet of the Swan'.
-Astrid and I had a long conversation about birth: what her birth was like, what it might be like when our new baby is born, how it feels to give birth, emotional responses to birth, etc. She wanted to make a plan to ensure she'll get to see our baby's birth if it happens in the middle of the night.
-Muirgen and I talked about what it was like when she was in my uterus.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

-Drove Jason to work.
-Made a batch of apple sauce with the apples we picked yesterday.
-The girls coloured a bunch of pictures.
-They helped me hang up laundry.
-Astrid made up some dances.
-Went to see the midwife. The girls learned all about what a cervix is. We got to hear the baby's heart for the first time. Astrid was allowed to use a stethoscope to listen to her own heart and was able to play with it and a blood pressure cuff which she used on her patient, a stuffed monkey.
-The girls helped me make curry with paneer, peas and mushrooms for supper.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

-Went apple picking with Jordin, Jul and Clover. The kids got to spend some time with some horses who were in the field across from the apple orchard.




-Stopped for lunch at a little cafe in Bath on the way home, and then at the playground across the street. Watched some Canada geese in the park (it was right on the shore of Lake Ontario).
-Picked up a few groceries. Stopped in the store to chat with an old friend we ran into. Got to meet her new baby.
-Swimming lessons. I was again amazed at Astrid's growing confidence in the water. Muirgen was a little more comfortable than last week. Astrid made friends with a girl her age in the change room. She is very disapointed that there are no girls in her class aside from Muirgen.
-We talked about why the water gets deeper when the girls get into the bath tub.
-Astrid looked at the copy of the Canadian Food Guide which I got from my midwife. We talked a bit about it and what it means. Compared how our diets stack up against it.
-Astrid and I had a conversation about the devil. We were singing 'This Little Light of Mine' and included the verse "Don't let satan blow it out..." She asked me how satan blows out our lights. Does he actually come along and blow out any candles we happen to have lit? She also wondered where satan is. Is he in a different town than we are?
-Songs and rhymes at bedtime.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

-Read four story books.
-One of the books we read was the story of Aladin. It was long with very advanced language. When we were finished it, Astrid recapped it beautifully, surprising me with her level of comprehension. She asked me if it was a true story. We talked about why people make up stories.
-We talked about what the girls would wish for if they had a genie to grant their every desire. Muirgen would wish to be a musician who played drums. Astrid would wish to be a princess with a beautiful castle to live in - no surprise there!
-Made a Thanksgiving tree with cut out shapes of the girls' hands traced onto coloured paper. Each hand had written on it something they are thankful for.

-Astrid played by herself in her room for a long time.
-Muirgen helped me make coffee cake.
-She helped me hang up laundry. (Today was the first time this Fall that we hung it inside)
-Astrid helped me make a citrus loaf.
-She coloured a number of pages in a colouring book.
-We had a talk about being wasteful and discussed how there are people in the world who have nothing to eat. We talked about why people in our country who don't have work or money are not starving as they are in other countries. Decided that being born in Canada is another thing we are all very thankful for.
-Astrid asked me how you make a CD.
-The girls played restaurant. Astrid was the chef/server. Muirgen was the patron. They, of course, had on apropriate dress-up clothes.
-Read the first chapter of "The Trumpet of the Swan" by E.B White.
-At bedtime Astrid prayed that God would please feed all the people in the world who don't have food. She also began making plans for how she would send food to all these people herself. She wondered how the food would stay cold enough not to spoil if she packed it in a shoe box, so we discussed the difference between perishable and non-perishable food. This discussion eventually led into a talk about where our food comes from. Astrid seemed quite surprised that all of our food comes from the earth - except for candy, was the conclusion she reached. I had to concur.

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

-Astrid decoded a secret message that came with our Cranium game.
-We walked to the Asian Grocery to pick up a couple things we needed.
-Looked at pictures of babies developing in the womb, especially ones that are the same age as our new baby. Watched a video clip of an egg being fertilized and the cells starting to divide.
-Astrid completed a word search and coloured a couple pictures.
-We read four or five story books.
-The girls helped me make pesto and cheese focaccia and a salad for lunch.
-Astrid completed 13 pages in her math workbook. She clearly prefers working with numbers to working with letters.
-I played piano and Muirgen put on dress up clothes and danced around.
-They listened to their CD from music class.
-We talked about why balloon fish (I don't even know if that's their real name) have prickly spines all over them.
-Muirgen drew a picture. I think that very soon she is going to start drawing faces, based on what her pictures are looking like at this point. She certainly has the skill now to do it.
-The girls drew pictures with chalk on the sidewalk while I mowed the front lawn. Muirgen was very excited and proud of herself when she realized she can draw the number '1'.
-We walked down to the pool for the girls' first swimming lesson. It went quite well, although Muirgen was a bit scared of the teacher and refused to do just about everything he tried getting her to do. She told me she got used to him by the end of the class. Hopefully she feels more comfortable next week. I was very impressed with how much Astrid trusted him in the water. Much more than she trusts me.
-We talked about what chlorine is, why it's in the pool and why we need to wash it off our bodies.

Monday, October 2, 2006

-Girls helped me sort the laundry into different loads and hang it up to dry.
-Our friends Gerald, Annette, AJ and Jul came over. The kids played together. Astrid and Jul spent a big chunk of time looking at our giant atlas. They played piano duets together. We all walked over to the park - swung, slid, climbed and ran around.
-Astrid completed 5 or 6 pages in her math workbook.
-Astrid was asking me a bunch of questions about fingernails, such as how long they can grow and why we need to clip them. We talked a bit about it and then looked up pictures on the internet of people with the longest fingernails. Astrid was completely fascinated by what we saw: nails many inches long. We talked about the ramifications of having such long nails and learned that if you keep your nails exceptionally long for great periods of time, it can start to cause pain and eventually disfigurement of your hand.
-The girls helped me make pasta casserole for supper.

Saturday, September 29, 2006

-Yesterday when we were on the computer to read the Johnny Appleseed story, we came across some colouring page printouts of Johnny Appleseed that Astrid desperately wanted me to print out for her to colour. Alas, we have no working printer right now, so we couldn't do it. This morning, though, she took matters into her own hands and made her own colouring pages, drawing Johnny Appleseed (pot on his head and all) trees and apples in black and then colouring them in. She made one for Muirgen to colour as well.
-Walked down to the library for Family Story Time. Signed out a couple more books.
-Had lunch at the Sleepless Goat.
-Read our new library books.
-Muirgen came grocery shopping with me. Astrid stayed home with Jason and played.
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web'.