On Humility

In keeping with the topic of humility from the end of the last post, I'm finding that I feel the need to dump it (that is, humility) in the gutter and show off my first embroidery project. We checked out the book Kids' Embroidery and I had been practicing the stitches. (I've been meaning to learn to embroider for a very long time). I played around with a pattern and then remembered May's jeans with the ripped knee. I decided to make a patch and here it is:



Now, I'll scoop humility back up and say that I have a lot to learn, but I think embroidery is fun, artistic, and sometimes relaxing. I think I'll look for a fun project!

Haiku

A while back we checked out a really cool picture book called "Basho and the River Stones," by Tim Myers. Before I read the book, I had no idea that Basho was the most famous of the haiku writers, maybe even the originator of that poetic form (I wasn't clear on that item). We enjoyed the book so much that we checked out a book of Basho's poems. Then, the kids began trying to write some haiku, which is really very simple. There are 17 syllables in all: 5 on the first line, 7 on the second line, and 5 on the third line. Haiku is usually written about nature, but it doesn't have to be. The kids have some really great poetry. I had to laugh the other day when we were driving along and Nathan said, "I feel a haiku coming on." Here is my first attempt (in many years):

Bitter, frozen morn
Huffing puff of cloudy breath
Falls as newborn snow.

What Do Christmas and Narnia Have in Common?

"Narnia is a mongrel thing, and so is Christmas."

How's that for a line? Read the whole article here.

An interesting side note is that when I went to Amazon to get an image for this post and searched "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," the first five links were for the MOVIE!! And, it wasn't until I got the the second page of listings that I found the actual book.

Note: I've been reading a lot of articles that pop up about Narnia, because the kids and I are just starting to listen to the whole series on CD.

Santa Claus: Fact or Fiction??

There's been an awful lot of talk around here this year from some of the older children in the house about the nature of Santa Claus. Is he real? Or is it the parents?

I was real glad to see this post from a blog called I.N.K. (Interesting Non-fiction for Kids) and I've headed over to the library website to put several books on hold (as if the 150 books we have checked out isn't enough!)

And I quote from the author of the blog post:

"And, I say to my kids, “If you see it in the nonfiction section, it’s so!”
Here’s the evidence I found at our local library:" (followed by a list of the non-fiction Santa Claus books--check them out!)

I Sink So

The other day I was rolling out tortillas on the kitchen table. Brigham came out and started digging through the markers. He picked one up and took off the lid. I looked over and told him "Nope, you can't color with markers. If you want to draw, you have to use crayons." I know, I'm stunting his future art career! He was angry with me about this but tried to calm himself and say, "Can I use it a little bit?" "No, sorry!" He looked over at me and decided that it was his turn to censure my activities. "NO rolling!"

Today, he brought out May's hot pad weaving supplies. He told me, "The kids can't play, they are at school." He proceeded to try to stretch the loops over the frame and I worried that this would be an activity that was likely to get him really frustrated. He'd occasionally say, "I need help, pease!" I looked over later and he had put about seven loops on the frame.



Then he started to criss-cross them and he told me, "See, mom, I made a game. I sink so."



Brigham has just recently started singing with me when I sing to him before his naps and at bedtime. His favorites are Eency Beency Spider (as he calls it), Lady Moon, and I am a Child of God. He especially likes the songs with hand motions and I cannot begin singing until he is ready to go with them. Then he needs a hug and a kiss, a hug and a kiss and a hug and a kiss.

On Saturday, Joseph read a book called "The Missing Piece" by Shel Silverstein. It's a nice story about how anticipation of an event is sometimes better than the event itself. It has a cute little rhyme that repeats a few times throughout the book. Yesterday, we looked over and Brigham was leafing through the book singing, "I lookin' for my missin' piece," and then said, "Then he rolled away." (It is a circle with a pie shape cut out of it looking for the pie shape that will make him whole. He rolls around looking for his missing piece.) I love watching him learn to love books!

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And just for the record, since my posts are few and far between, here are the Thanksgiving pies.

Clockwise starting at 12 o'clock: Banana cream, Key Lime, Chocolate cream, Cherry, Pumpkin, and Berry in the middle

My dad came and we had a GREAT Thanksgiving together. He told stories of past Thanksgivings and stories from when he was a kid. Joseph's parents came to be with us on Sunday since Nathan was ordained a deacon and passed the sacrament for the first time that day.

Henri Maillardet's Automaton

I just finished reading a book with my kids called "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," by Brian Selznick. It was fascinating and took me into a world I had never entered before. I never even knew it existed. It was the world of the automaton. Never heard of it? Here's an explanation from The Franklin Institute's website:

During the 18th century, people were in a state of wonder over mechanism. The first complex machines produced by man were called "automata." The greatest and most fascinating mechanisms were those that could do things in imitation of living creatures. This Automaton, known as the "Draughtsman-Writer," is one such machine.

So basically, these automata were the first robots. In the case of Henri Maillardet's automaton, it had been ruined in a fire. The people who had it thought it had been made by another man. The true history of this automaton was only learned after it was fixed and wound up for the first time. The automaton signed Maillardet's name at the end of one of the poems that it wrote!

Here are a couple of videos that demonstrate what the automaton can do (the second video is a little long, but it includes the author of the above-mentioned book at a presentation demonstrating Maillardet's Automaton), but you really should visit this website where you can see copies of the pictures and poems that he draws. From there, you can also read the story of this particular automaton and see pictures of the complexity of the machine. If you are as amazed as I was, there is also a link at the top of the page that allows you to vote for the automaton to be inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.

Sariah is "The Monkey of the Day"

Sariah's kindergarten teacher (same as Elijah's 1st grade teacher) celebrates each child in her class by giving them the title, "Monkey of the day" (monkey is their class mascot). Sariah has been so excited for her day to come up. She helped me choose pictures of herself from when she was a baby and from current photos too to share with her class.

I made rolls so she could share them with her class because that's one of her favorite things and since I made Elijah a t-shirt, I had to make one for Sariah. She was all smiles with excitement about that part.

She also picked out two books for me to read to her class. First, Manfish, a book about Jacques Cousteau. I was truly surprised that she chose this book because it seemed to me that it was a little above her level. She is a girl after my own heart!


Second, He Came with the Couch by David Slonim. This one got the kids laughing. It's a fun book. You can read it here. Your kids will love it. The Lookybook website (previous link) is fun because you can read books online. You can search for books by keyword, look through lists of authors and illustrators, or choose from a list of subjects to select a book to read.

It happened again last night

As I sat devouring a book about hiking in the Upper Peninsula (imagining myself there), I suddenly looked up and scanned my living room. Joseph was reading a book that Nathan had brought home from school (part of his current language arts project) called "The White Mountain" and was occasionally telling me about the parts of it that Stephenie Meyer stole to write her book "The Host." Nathan and Elijah were sharing a book called "Children from Austrailia to Zimbabwe" and talking about what they were reading. Brigham was going from person to person asking them to read his favorite book "Trucking" by Donald Crews. Sariah and May had to go to bed early, but if they had been up, they would have been reading too.

This is one of my absolute favorite family activities. I love to look around and see everyone in the family present and reading a good book!

Before bed, Nathan and Elijah persuaded me to read a few stories from our current read-aloud, "One Voice, Please" by Sam McBratney. It was a good night.

Our Summer Reading

We've been reading good books as a family at night for a little while now. Everyone looks forward to this time. We don't hit it every night, but I do make a good effort. We've also gotten lots and lots of van time for books on CD. If you check out my Goodreads account, you can see some of the titles we have been reading (the categories are 'read-with-kids' and 'listened-to-with-kids').

But, about half-way through the summer, Elijah and I picked up this book at the library:



We read over half of the book, but his interest fizzled out, so we moved on to this one:


Then, I decided to read to May:


And to Nathan:


Sariah and Brigham still like picture books and the bigger kids love to read them to them. I am looking for something more chapter bookish to read to Sariah. For some reason that is more motivating to me right now. She really liked the BFG by Roald Dahl because it was fun and also had pictures. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Grandpa

My kids had a wonderful time with their Grandpa. They kept telling me what a nice person he is. He left on Thursday. Poor little Brigham didn't understand. When we pulled into our own driveway on Saturday, he wondered if we would find Grandpa inside the house.

Someone to look up to!

Brigham has decided he likes books. Consequently, he often takes one his favorites and hands it to someone to read to him. I just happened to pick up my favorite book from my early childhood on my way out the door to vacation. Before I even got it out, my dad made a comment about how he used to read "Home For a Bunny" to me when I was a kid. I got that very book out and he read it several times to Brigham. Full circle. It's a wonderful thing!

A Shadow as a Plaything

We've just gotten through reading, listening to and watching several versions of Peter Pan stories (my kids haven't watched too many musicals, but REALLY enjoyed the musical version). The whole bit about Peter's shadow getting away from him is very imaginative and David Barry has an interesting shadow villain who shows up in the second of his Peter trilogy called, "Peter and the Shadow Thieves." So, it really caught my attention when Brigham began to recognize and play with his shadow. I don't remember the other kids doing this and it has been fun to watch.

The first time I saw him experimenting was a few weeks ago at a lake near our home. He was squatting down and picking his hand up and setting it down over and over. Then he got up and started running, looking over his shoulder to watch the shadow following him. Finally, he stood with his arms out and then put them down again and over his head (pictures below):




We can't get enough of the Children's Garden at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. Brigham in particular likes to go to the area that is a replica of the Great Lakes (water included) to play with the toy boats.


Near this outdoor exhibit, there are four sculptures/musical instruments. They each have two cups attached with a rod in between. As the wind blows, these rods go round and round. Each also has a mallet and a metal bar attached in such a way that as the rods go around the mallet can hit the bar and they each play a different note. First, Brigham noticed the music.


After a while I saw him standing quite still and realized he was contemplating the shadows that the cups and rods made while rotating around. After a bit, he and Nathan created a game where they chased the shadows round and round.

"Authors are such kittle kattle....

I wouldn't trust your description of any of us."

(Katherine Brook) Anne of Green Gables, the movie

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I don't really feel that way.

My sister has been reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. She was talking about hearing something the author said about having lots of stories inside her head. We are both amazed because that's just not the kind of heads we have.

My brother told me that I should write and illustrate a children's book. I'll keep the topic secret in case I eventually decide to do it. I think it's funny that he said that because it would be great to write and publish a book, but even when I think real hard about the topic, nothing comes to mind. When I leave the topic alone, nothing floats into my mind. I might be a hopeless case.

I am amazed as I think about some of the authors my kids and I have been reading aloud and listening to on CD. Some of the ideas we hear about are rehashes. Some of them are brilliant rehashes, but rehashes nonetheless. Some authors, namely Andrew Clements, have the cleverest ideas I've come across in modern children's literature. Of course, that's just my opinion. They aren't classics (yet), but they should be. Clements is particularly wonderful because he creates believable characters that are honest, smart, and good leaders. We've listened to Room One: A Mystery or Two, No Talking, and we are a few chapters into Frindle. The reader for those first two is exceptional and we were all a little bummed when Frindle started with a different reader.

So the thing I'd like to understand is how authors and poets and artists, even, get the ideas into their heads. I'm a little jealous.

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Speaking of authors, one of my sons wrote this spectacular poem at school.

Sea Shell

There are 30 flys
That never stop flying
Making watery sounds
In a shell.

He may be one of those with stories floating in his head. WOW!!

Posters

Here's another post about something that I needed to take pictures of and then throw away. These are some of the posters I've made for my kids' birthdays. A lot of them were used for some version or other of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." Coloring is surprisingly therapeutic (well, to a point).

Have you ever read the George and Martha stories by author/illustrator George Marshall? If not, you should check your local library. They have a humor all their own! These posters were for Joseph's party about four years ago. I told him that he had two surprise visitors coming to his party. He was genuinely excited about this because he loves having people over to our house. Secretly I had bought some stuffed hippos and dressed them up for George and Martha (you're seeing that this was more for the kids than Joseph). In one of their stories they go up in a hot air balloon. I created a hot air balloon, put the hippos in and sailed them into Joseph's party! The kids and I thought it was great!



Elijah's third birthday party:


May's fifth birthday party. We played pin the horn on the unicorn:



For Nathan's eighth birthday we held his party at the local science museum, but we were all really into Gumby and Pokey at the time, so I had to incorporate that:



Sariah's fourth birthday:


Elijah's fourth birthday. He's still a Curious George fan. We even have Brio train sets that were made to accompany some of the stories. I can't tell you how many Curious George books I've read:



Elijah's sixth birthday party, also held at the Science museum, but with a penguin theme (all the kids go crazy for penguins in Kindergarten because it's part of the curriculum):


We've had lots of Thomas the Tank Engine parties and we're going to have another one on Sunday. Brigham is already crazy about Thomas!

My New Social Networking Tool

Thanks to Melissa, mom of two of the cutest twins I've seen, I found Goodreads. This is a website where you can go and enter books you have read or are reading. You can rate these books and leave comments. In addition to all that, you can link up with your friends or add new friends who are interested in sharing about their recent good finds in literature.

My friend, Marni, uses her blog to list out recent books that she has read. I've been eyeing those lists for some time now, not only to get good titles to read to myself and to my kids, but also because I WANT A LIST. So, I'm working on my list over at Goodreads. Check it out!

P.S. I've added a widget to my sidebar that shows my incomplete list of books I've read in the last 6-8 months. If you mouse over the pictures, the title will show below. You can click through the three pages I have so far to see what I've been reading. The site also allows "bookshelves" for books you are currently reading and books you want to read.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham; Illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II. Winner of the 1956 Newbery Medal!

My friend, Megan, read this book too and here's her review. It was indeed the Book Club book for the month of February. I never make it to book club, but I do read (or start) the books sometimes. This time, seeing that the book was a Newbery winner, I decided to read it to Nathan, May and Elijah.

This book tells the story of Nat Bowditch from the time he was six years old until his mid-life. At age 12 he was indentured because times were hard and it would be one less mouth to feed for his father. He dreamed of Harvard, but it would never be due to his being "becalmed" in his indentureship. What never ceased to amaze us was his constant pursuit of knowledge and excellence, spending his free time studying mathematics, Latin, French, and astronomy.

When Nat was finally free, he went to sea. During that time he practiced what he had learned by taking latitude and longitude for the captain. At that time, in order to take the longitude, it was necessary to be able to see the moon. In his frustration (moon behind a cloud), he created a new way to "take a lunar." It was at that point that Nathan became amazed and wondered if we were reading about a fictional character or a real historical character. We looked him up on the internet and found that he was a historical character and that "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" is a historical fiction novel. Constantly learning and teaching others throughout the book, Nat Bowditch is an inspirational character. And the book was a hit with my kids!

It was interesting to be exposed to a lot of terms we hadn't come upon before due to the many voyages by ship in the book. Some of these terms we looked up and others we didn't. But, I think we all expanded our vocabularies!

Next stops: Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett , Fablehaven by Brandon Mull and Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Library Bags

Today, I made library bags for each of their kids. I want them each to have a library card, check out their own books and learn more responsibility. I used canvas bags that Joseph has brought home from conferences he has attended. I made small drawstring bags that are just the right size for library cards. I attached them to the canvas bags and off we went. It was new and exciting! Here's how I did it:

Here are my handy quilting tools, useful for cutting fabric for other projects as well.

First, I cut a 6" by 6 1/2" piece of cloth.

I zigzagged around the edges.

I folded the 6 1/2" side down 3/4" and sewed a seam.

I folded the fabric in half with the seam side out and sewed around the edge.

I stopped before I got to the zig-zag to leave an opening for threading the cord through.

I used a safety pin to thread the cord.

Voila! I decided that I liked cording better than twine.

I just looped the bag through it's own cord onto the handle of the canvas bag.

Off to the library we go!