This holiday season

This holiday season,

we hardly got any snow before or on Christmas, but the kids still managed to enjoy what little snow they got. They were trying to scrape enough snow to build a snowman (I took this picture and promptly went back inside);



the kids' presented to us their first ever holiday handmade gifts, all done by themselves (but with no card or drawing); I was told they had planned to make more stuff but ran out of time.



We played more rounds of this game than I care to mention; They love "super peek" contrary to the review. At least they practice their math every time they play;

Mommy's chill out movie unexpectedly became the kid's favorite movie and they have been watching it quite a few times and are starting to memorize the lines. They even played soccer using what they did in the movie. I wonder if this means they would love to actually watch a live football game.

Even though mommy didn't buy them nor bake them a gingerbread house this year, the kids still got to make, decorate and eat the goodies from their gingerbread house;



This is Primes'

This is J's

Finally, a little bit of respectable snow. They played for so long outside that I was starting to think they are going to play pass lunch but guess hungry stomach still brings them in. I think winter is J's favorite season. I loved to see them pulling each other on their sled. The smiles are so contagious.

A love letter

I got this today from another homeschooling mom and thought I'd share it here. I hope this is as touching to you as it was to me.

A Love Letter
(from Daily Focus, a publication of Alpha Omega)

I see you sitting there tired, worn out, and empty. Another year of homeschooling has used you up. You feel helpless like a baby. That's OK. I know all about being a baby. I was born one for you many years ago. I know the ache you feel to be held and loved, and that is why I came. I knew you would be sitting there in the future, praying and asking me to hold you, and I am dear one. Let me give you a special Christmas gift of love, as I breathe new life into the very center of your soul.

Do you know that I think of you every moment of every day? I watch you patiently homeschool the children I gave you, and I know how badly you feel when you fail and lose your temper. I forgive you, my child, just as you forgive your children when they make a mistake. "It's OK. We'll try again," you say to them, and I'm telling you the same thing, too. I'm so proud of you and how you've followed me when I asked you to teach your children about me at home. Your sacrifice says that you love me. I know all about that, too. I left everything that was mine when I came from heaven. I know how you feel when the Father asks so much of you.

Look at me, my child. You may feel beat up, but do you know that you are still beautiful? I see that smile. Yes, you're still as beautiful as the day I created you. I love who you are, and I'm whispering your name. Can you hear me? Remember my child that this is not your home. You really belong here with me in heaven. But I want you where you are now to love this family I gave you. Don't give up. I want you to trust me. I won't let you down. Every promise I've made is true, and someday I'm coming back for you. But for now, rest in my love, and tonight and even tomorrow when you wake up, I'll be here watching over you. I love you. Merry Christmas.

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:14-15a).

Jesus, thank You for the best Christmas gift I could ever receive — Your forgiveness and love. My heart sings with praise to You for understanding my every need. I love You, Jesus, and offer You my life again to use however You choose. In Your name I pray, Amen.

These days time is spent...

These days time is spent........

pretend play,

playing dress-ups,

drawing,

reading Chinese books and watching Chinese movie, (we are going to China next year, so mommy is doing a Chinese blitz with us.)

getting together with our friends ( I like parties.) ,

eating lots of food,

playing games,

getting together with family (grandma brought us our favorite food: roasted duck and she gave us $! We are rich. My brother thought a quarter was a lot of money. He didn't know it takes 4 of those to make just $1.),

baking (we love eating dough!),

sledding and playing in the snow,

making gifts for our parents and making cards for our cousins,

jump rope (I love jumping to the rhyme of teddy bear teddy bear, turn around...),

playing dodge mitt with my brother, (it is so much more fun when my mommy and daddy joins in)

plenty of snuggle and kissing time with our parents,

and of course counting down to Christmas so we can open our presents. This year we decided to wait until Christmas to open our gifts and asking mommy to wrap it all up.

Holiday Letter from J

We are finally getting ready to send out the holiday cards. Last year, I did a twitter by month and this year, I asked J to write a holiday letter. After some initial grumbling and complaining of not knowing what to write, she did a great job. We had fun looking over all the posts from this year and reminiscing all that we did in 2009. I think that helped out a lot with the letter. This is one of those times I am really glad I have a blog. :)
**********************************************************************************************
Dear friends,

2009 has been very long for me. But it was fun. One of my favorite places was Kalahari. Kalahari is a place with a lot of water fun. The first slide we went on was scary to me but not scary to the rest of my family. There was also a children's slide which was not scary but fun. I also went tubing. I really like tubing. I was sad when it was almost spring and my tube got a hole. I went skiing too. I really enjoyed skiing. My mom said those boots are really warm and I need to find a pair. I tried dog sledding which was kind of fun but it was a bumpy ride.

In the summer, I went blueberry picking. I picked the most blueberries and I wanted to stay longer but my brother was hot so we had to leave. I also painted pottery mugs. I got to bring it home when it was ready. My mom and I made a ti-pee. We pretended we were Indians and we put a feather on top. When my mom was in Florida, I went to a zoo with brother and dad. Then we took a camping trip for three days. At the beach, I found seashells and I kept them in my shoes. I also liked washing my parent's car, archery, playing with my friends, and making homemade knitted doll.

This Thanksgiving, I went to visit my auntie Stacy's baby. Her name is Sarah. She is my cousin and she is very cute. I wish my mommy had another baby but she says no.

I started homeschooling after MLK's birthday. I'm liking homeschooling. It is fun. Prime is catching up on reading. He is on level two books. Happy holiday!

From: J (her name in cursive)

Power of a good book

The minute I saw this book at the library, I was attracted to it. It looked like a pretend play kind of a story and it is. You can find this book on Amazon.
Right after reading this fabulous book, J declared (must be really inspired) she will be making daddy and I a gift this Christmas. Later, J told daddy about her plan to make a gift, daddy says, "Are you drawing us a picture?" J says no, I will be hand making you a gift for you and it will be something your really like.

Here is a peek inside the book.

So every day, J is leading Prime and two are them are busy making us a Christmas gift. They have requested we not be in the same room as they are when they are making it. I'm surprised to see them take this so seriously. *chuckle* They have been using felt, needle, yarn and thread for material so far. I can hardly wait to see what it is they are making. :)

need more fun (video)

One homeschool mom sent the following me, thought I'd share it here. So true!

I thought that as homeschoolers and parents we may need to be reminded as to how much fun increases motivation.

Now this was a good idea!

Leave it to the Swedes.

click here

a little finger knitting and a 1st letter

Little finger knitting

I asked J to write a letter to me as she does not like to write. She says she does not know what to write after the 2 sentences (the thank you's) in her note card so Prime say he will show her. And here is his letter. :)

Here's J's (after a little prodding). She had no problem decorating her card.

front/back cover of her note card

inside her note card

computer savvy J

J must have been really observing me because yesterday prior to going to sing for the patients at a local nursing home, J looked up the lyrics to Jingle bell on my computer, found and watched youtube of the song with Prime, and even printed the lyrics all by herself. I have never showed her how to print! Daddy says J is more computer savvy than some adults. :)

Today she is doing research by herself on bed bugs after a conversation with daddy about bed bugs. She wanted to see what a bed bug look like.

Holiday bazaar

J and W had a busy weekend, meeting up with friends for parade watch/activities on Friday and spending sat. at our local Waldorf school for their annual holiday bazaar. Every time I go there, the paintings and drawings displayed on the walls done by the students never cease to amaze me. But the developmental stories appropriate for the grades don't work out really great for my children. It is really a mystery to me. Maybe I'm missing the bells and the candles and the puppets? That's what the Waldorf school does and my kids does really seem to enjoy those.

Anyway, the bazaar was really fun. The kids dyed their own silks, made their own wooden yo-yo, selected by themselves their own gifts and much more. What was interesting was Prime picked a gnome as a gift for himself and J also picked the same gnome to gift to Prime. Prime selected a hand crocheted flower as a gift for me and a window star plus a quartz for daddy while J chose to gift one of her friend whom we invited to come to the Waldorf school. She selected a pencil wrapped in the shape of a flower as a gift for herself.

I bought the kids 2 Haba games for the holiday. One of them was called "Chubba cheeks" and it was a huge hit. They'll play the game and then use the game pieces to play their made-up game. I'm very impressed with quality of HABA. We'll be buying more of HABA made games/toys.


Dying their silk scarf. They love to play with it. Can you guess who is who's? Do you see fairies in the first one? The kids says they do.

The romantic one (as I think it is) is Prime's while the sunny one with the lots of yellow and red is J's. They are made with 2 different techniques.


making their own yo-yo.

I just had to post this as well. Aren't they adorable?

Fun in chicago

J and Prime finally got to meet their newest baby cousin, S during Thanksgiving weekend. J love S so much. J keeps saying, "Mommy, you really should have another baby!" ;-) Uncle R showed the kids how to play the wii. They tried wii bowling, tennis wrestling, and golf.

We went to children's museum in Chicago's navy pier the next day. Playing with water was a big hit. Later, it was off to China town to eat and have bubble tea (though my kids don't like the bubbles but they do love strawberry milk tea). The kids' also tried Garret's popcorn, very yummy.




This was really neat. You make your own flying contraception and tested to see how slow it can come down. J did really well while Prime experimented lots.
I do love looking at the water...

sewing safari puppets

The kids really wanted to do some hand crafts today. After fews hours of playing with clay and beeswax in the morning, and a few more hours at the playground, later in the afternoon, they wanted to make hand puppets. So we took our kit out (from Jo-Ann Fabrics).

The kids had so much fun making them they each went on to make another one. Now they are off to play with their own creations. Whenever the tacky glue didn't stick, J said they are doing "surgery" for the animals and fixing them up.

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey

We were just reading "Circus Stories in basic vocabulary" by E and M. Dolch and about the Ringling Brothers when the the circus came to our side of the town. Imagine the excitement! The kids saw a circus 2 years ago in the "Big Top" (outdoor) and love it! This time the circus is indoor and drew even more people. Overall, it was pretty good though there were too much lights and high tech stuff in my opinion. Next time, we'll stick with the show inside the "Big Top".

Share some of the pictures from the pre-show.

elephant painting :)

Father Daughter Dance photo

Prime's take on homeschooling

I was talking with my little boy yesterday and I said, half jokingly and half just wanting to see if he really wants to be homeschooled, ( ok, and a little seriousness sprinkled in there since it would be so much easier just to send them to school.)

Me: Can I send you (back) to school?

Prime: No! (emphatically)

(said something else after that, but my cold is having an effect on my brain and I just can't think of it)

Me: You know not everyone homeschools?

Prime: Just because not everyone homeschools, doesn't mean I can't be homeschooled. (wow, that sure is a mouthful.)

Thanks for the reminder, my little boy!

fun with putty

The kids made their own puddy at CC today with 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup elmer glue and 1/4 cup borax solution (I believe they are in the laundry aisle) and few drops of food color and mix until the consistency of putty.

Oh, how the kids loved their putty. Rolling, Smashing, squishing, squeezing, ripping and start all over again... it is a delightful experience. After some experimentation, J figured out how to pick up newspaper ink with lots of pressing, and karate chops. Now lifting it off the newspaper without stretching it too much was another story. But its so fun it can be done time and time again. Of course, making letters out of putty is also pretty fun. The possibilities are many.

making corn bracelet

I got this idea from the book "Earthway" by Carol Petrash. Great for fine motor skills, patience, and concentration. Suggested for 4 years and up.

1. remove the kernels off Indian corn. (this has seem to become our tradition for fall)

2. soak the kernels over night (even a few days was fine; I hoped soaking them longer would soften them more but I don't think it made a difference after the overnight soak)

3. give the child a needle threaded with doubled thread. Choose the length(necklace, bracelet) appropriate for what you are making . Be careful of little fingers. I found it helpful when you feel the needle went through the kernels, turn them over and push them down the needle.



4b. and slide the kernels down to the knot. (I found depending on the hardness of the kernels, kids may need help in this step)

5. When they are done, center the corn kernels if they are not full string and tie the open ends together.

Viola! This is Prime's. J has been making them for her friends.

fun at gymnastic open house

The kids had a great time at the gymnastic open house. They were there for 2 whole hours and still wanted to play more.