AWANA Awards

My 3 big kids all had an amazing year this year in our AWANA program at church. This was the 2nd year we've done it and they absolutely love going.

Though we weren't sure at all how Abigail would do, and she got off to a slow start, she caught up and completely finished her whole Cubbies book. This was about 22 verses! For a little girl who started the year out barely able to put a whole sentence together, this is a huge accomplishment. She had to work really hard to remember even the short phrases she was assigned, but she was always so excited when she got a little apple patch on her vest.

Andrew also finished his first year Sparks book, and even went back through the review verses, finishing half the book twice! This was 36 verses, more than one time each! He loves game time the most at AWANA.

And then there was Leah. Since she started Sparks in 1st grade, she had to finish 3 books in 2 years if she wanted to complete all the Sparks materials. And she did it. In all 3 books, there are 150 total verses to memorize. So this year alone she probably memorized 90. And she can still tell you them now. She really retains them. I don't know how she does it, but she is very self-motivated and loves to be able to pass off her verses each week. She got a nice plaque for finishing all 3 books. And you can see how proud she felt.

I have enjoyed being the AWANA Commander and seeing the excitement on these kids faces as they learn new verses and grow in the Word of God. For a small rural church of our size, this is a huge group of faithful kids we have, and I'm amazed at how God works through this program.

Of course, ice cream is required to celebrate any kids' accomplishments! This is Andrew with his new friend Colby that has recently started coming to church.

And this is just a fun extra of Abi actually holding a puppy after the Awards Ceremony. This kid has notoriously been afraid of any dog, big or small, so she has come a long way in the past year.

Jacob @ 8 Months

Poor little buddy hasn't been feeling too well the past week or so-- either teeth coming in or a cold-- so his 8 month pictures look a little rough. He's still cute as can be, though! He's started going through a phase where he screams every time I leave the room, and screams himself to sleep most times. I think mostly he's just bored with laying on the ground, but he hasn't quite mastered sitting up on his own (although he can sit up in a shopping cart or high chair), and hasn't quite gotten to crawling. He's bored of plain old baby toys and would rather investigate things he shouldn't have. He's still okay with me leaving him in the nursery, he just likes to have attention if I'm gone.

He's slowed down a little on his weight gain, although there's still plenty of meat on his chunky little thighs. He's probably about 23 lbs. and wears 12 month clothes. He still eats just 2 meals of solid foods a day. He may actually be one of the pickiest babies I've had-- he seems to prefer fruits over any other baby foods. He'll eat anything, just not as MUCH of the veggies, and definitely not anything with rice cereal in it. He's also started to enjoy these little dissolvable banana rice rusks.

Now that it's getting warmer, he's starting to enjoy being outdoors. He loves to play in the grass or sit with me in the sun. He just does not like the wind or cold. He still doesn't care much for the swing outside, either.

Jacob is well-loved everywhere he goes-- always smiling and happy (unless I'm not holding him at home, of course). His sisters adore him. 

Field Trip Fun

We've had so many things going on the past few weeks that we finished our "school" work awhile ago and have just been enjoying the warmer weather and learning through playing and living life! I officially closed out the school year with the state requirements and so now we are free to move on or just take a break! And we celebrated with 2 different "field trips" in one weekend.

Last Monday we enjoyed Homeschool Day at the Shelburne Museum. We've been the museum several times now, but this was a special day with educational workshops throughout the day for homeschoolers and their families. We still got to enjoy all the museum offers, but we got to do some special activities as we went along. We met up there with a few friends from our CC program for even more fun.

They got to learn how train conductors and travelers used Morse code to communicate with each other at the train station.

They learned about predators and their prey by pretending to be a particular animal and searching for the other plants and animals they would need to survive.

They learned about pulleys and how they make work easier on the Ticonderoga steam ship.

They learned about bartering by trading goods and services at the General Store.

Oh, and Jacob was there too. Being himself.

And I locked them in jail.

We had a really great day but still didn't even get to see everything the museum has to offer.

The previous Friday, we went as a family to Billings Farm & Museum, which is about an hour and a half away. We met another family whom Brett met at a pastor's conference, and the kids really loved being together, as if they'd been friends a long time! 

We saw cows.

We saw old farming equipment.

We saw how they would have cooked in an old 1850's farm house. Leah is reading Little House in the Big Woods right now, so she loved seeing some of the things she's reading played out in real life. They all loved the old farm house and wanted to live there until we reminded them there was no electricity or technology!

A worker showed them a demonstration of how she yokes & trains the oxen.

And we saw a set up of an old church meeting room, schoolhouse, and General Store. That was another really fun,  nice day!

Not really a field trip, but we've also been playing a little soccer with a local homeschool group. It's not competitive, and they really don't even play a real game, but they have a real coach who teaches them some of the basics through fun games and drills. They love just going out to kick the balls around and also to play on the playground while they're there.

Jacob doesn't always enjoy soccer quite as much. He certainly doesn't enjoy the swings, which tip him forward!

Abi, in typical three-year-old fashion, sometimes joins the games, but mostly does her own thing. Like roll around on top of the soccer balls. 

Jacob @ 7 Months

Everywhere we go this kid is deemed "the happiest baby." He is always smiling at others and always in a good mood. At least when we're in public. And at home as long as he's occupied. He gets bored quickly. I move him from the floor to his saucer to his high chair and then end up carrying him around- each only lasting 10-20 minutes before he starts whining. He can be distracted if his brother or sisters talk to him or if I give him just a few minutes of attention. He is just very social. He loves to explore and is already getting into things he shouldn't when he rolls around the living room. He gets stuck under the coffee table or the piano bench and he loves going toward electrical cords.

He is officially sleeping through the night now. He was awhile ago, but every once in awhile he would still wake up to eat. Now he goes to bed between 7 & 8 and usually isn't up until between 5:30 and 7. (Of course I would love for him to sleep in a little longer, but I'll take what I can get.) He naps sporadically, but that is only because he's the 4th child and dragged all over creation every day to his older siblings activities. He will usually take a nap about 2 hours after he wakes up, for about 45 minutes, then another longer one after lunch and then another short one around dinner time. 

At last check he was 21.1 lbs. and 29 inches long-- in the 90th% for both height and weight. I'm still not sure how he is getting so big so quick. He is already in size 4 diapers (the size Abi was wearing when she was potty-trained) and some 18 month clothes. 

We went back to his pediatric pulmonary specialist for a follow-up visit recently and since he's had really no change in his breathing noises-- nothing's worse, nothing's better, he didn't see a need to do a bronchoscopy or any further testing at this point. If he truly does have laryngomalecia, which is what the doctor really thinks-- that generally improves and goes away between 9-12 months. So we will re-assess at that point and decide if we need to do anything else. The breathing still seems bad to me at some times (although some times I don't notice it at all, like when he's sitting still on my lap or when he's sound asleep), and he almost always seems to have a cough, but since he's growing so well and otherwise so healthy, I'm really optimistic that he'll improve as he gets older. 

He has not previously liked going outside much. He doesn't care for the cold air or wind in his face. He sucks his breath in like he's suffocating. Now that it's getting a little warmer, he will tolerate it. Maybe once summer is here and he can walk some, he will love going outside as much as the rest of his family.

Also, check out that hair. It is most definitely curly. And in a greater quantity than Andrew had at his age. And so soft to rub! We are still unsure about his eye color. It started out blue but is slowly changing to brown. Now it's stuck somewhere in between-- a combination of blue & brown.

Aside from still nursing regularly at least every 3 hours he's awake, he will also consume an entire jar of baby food at breakfast (because it's fruit and its sweet) and then about half a jar at either lunch or dinner. He's not as much of a fan of the vegetables but really he'll eat anything. He also LOVES his juice in a sippy cup. He's not really too good at it on his own yet (he can't get the part where you have to tip it up for it to come out) but he loves it to be held for him and gets really excited when he just sees his cup.

Abigail loves her little brother. Sometimes a little too much. She tries to pick him up. She rolls him over. She kisses him all over. She gives him his paci. Then she takes it away. She talks to him all the time. They are two peas in a pod. I'm not sure how he feels about her seeing as how she is usually being rough with him, but he's pretty tough and soon he will be big enough to sit on her.

He can push all the way up off the ground with both his arms and his knees, but he hasn't quite figured out how to go yet, other than backwards a little way (which frustrates him because then he can't get his toys). He can also sit up on his own fairly well, although I wouldn't just leave him sitting by himself-- he's still a little wobbly. He likes playing cars with Andrew in their room as long as I help him sit up.