A Glossery of History Terms by the LP Family

Each week, I use our curriculum’s list of vocabulary words to quiz the kids.  The list contains words that are relevant to what we will be studying each week and usually contains between ten and twenty words.  If a child can give me a decent definition of the word or display decent knowledge of the word, I don’t make them look it up.  We all usually enjoy this time, as we end up talking about all sorts of things.

I especially enjoy quizzing my fifth grader.  Sometimes when she doesn’t know a word, she’ll make up a silly definition . . . hoping I’ll let her off the hook for that word . . . or maybe hoping I won’t notice that she has no clue what she’s talking about.  Other times she just uses great words to describe things.  And so here is a small compilation of words that we have studied the last couple of years:

aqueducts – ducks that are a shade of blue

loincloth – undies for ancient people

One week we had the word mountaineer (someone who climbs or explores mountains) and highlander (someone who lives in the highlands), so it made sense that when I said tumor, she responded, “Someone who builds tombs?”

And then recently, I asked her what tyranny is.  “When people cry a lot.”  Makes sense, since we’ve been studying the Inquisition and all.

Read Full Post »

So Many Funnies – Slug Shooters

Again and again, I say it to myself, “I just love this stage of my children’s lives.”  Four kids, ages (almost) six to ten.  Crazy, silly, messy, and FUNNY!  They are.

Recently, Little Man checked out a book about Star Wars droids.  That night he was devouring it!  Apparently he was filling his sisters in on all the details when he shared that one of them shoots slugs from his chest.  Not knowing that slugs are also bullets, he was imagining the slug shooter shooting little slimy, snail-like creatures out of his chest.  Think about it; this is reasonable coming from a movie that includes the likes of Jabba the Hut, right?  He and his sisters had a great laugh.

The next day they were discussing the anomaly when Bubba offered a suggestion:  They should also have a droid that shoots salt.  The slug shooter and the salt shooter could duel and see who wins.

I’m so glad I overheard that!

Read Full Post »

Interview With Bubba, age 9

Q:  What is something your mom always says to you?

I love you.  (Oh, I was so glad this was her answer and not something like, “Clean your room!” or “Do your chores!” or “Go to time out!”)

Q:  What makes your mom happy?
When I do the right thing

Q:  What makes your mom sad?
When one of us is sick

Q:  How does your mom make you laugh?
tickling me

Q:  What was your mom like as a child?
I don’t know.

Q:  How old is your mom?
36, I think

Q:  How tall is your mom?
Um, taller than me, but I’m almost to her shoulders.

Q:  What is her favorite thing to do?
to have fun with us . . . playing with us (I love that all of her answers are about the kids . . . but maybe I should be concerned that all of her answers are about the kids!)

Q:  What does your mom do when you’re not around?
How would I know? (as in, “Duh, I’m not around to see!” but sweet, not sarcastic.)

Q:  If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
being the best mom in the whole wide world

Q:  What is your mom really good at?
taking care of four kids . . . being a teacher

Q:  What is your mom not very good at?

I don’t know . . .hmmm,

Q:  What does your mom do for a job?

homeschool us and take care of us

Q:  What is your mom’s favorite food?
ice cream . . . no, chocolate covered strawberries (close)

Q:  What makes you proud of your mom?
She’s my mom.

Q:  If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Q:  What do you and your mom do together?
lots of things:  cook, sometimes have a girl time, go shopping

Q:  How are you and your mom the same?
I’m a mini-mom.  We both have blond hair, and everyone says we look the same.

Q:  How are you and your mom different?
I like to be around horses, and she, I think, likes to be around smaller animals.

Q:  How do you know your mom loves you?
She shows it and tells me.

Q:  What does your mom like most about your dad?

(shrugs shoulders)

Q:  Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?
I guess somewhere with dad.

Q: If you could have any job in the world, what would you do?
Something that has to do with horses

Q: If you could be a superhero, what would your superpower be?
I could help any kind of animal at any time.

Q: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?
I guess, Ethiopia . . . because my brother and sister were born there.

Q: If you could build anything, what would you like to build?
a really cool house where we could live (Don’t we have one of those?)  No, I mean on with a horse stable connected to it.

Q: If you could have any animal as a pet, what would you want?
horse or a snow tiger

Q: If you could look like someone else, who would it be?
No one, I guess. (Why?)  I like being me.

Q: If you had plenty of money, what would you buy?
a pet

Q: What is your favorite thing to do in school?
Bible

Q: Have you ever sneaked a peek at presents that were hidden from you?
No, I don’t think.  (Are you sure?) Yeah . . . I like them to be a surprise.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when you are alone?
read

Q: What is your favorite vegetable?
carrots

Q: What is your favorite season of the year?
Spring or Fall

Q:  What is your favorite Bible verse?

John 3:16, because it tells me that God loves me

Quite a while ago I saw a few blog posts where moms had interviewed children; I thought it was fun.  I thought I would do it, and I stored these questions in my draft file.  Finally getting to it now, probably a year or two later!  Will post more kid answers next week!

Read Full Post »

9

just took this picture tonight – horse shirt, feathers in her hair from an American Girl class about Kaya, showing us her new guitar talents (Twinkle, Twinkle never sounded so good!)

To the box of breakfast cereal:  “Which one of your will volunteer to go first (starts whispering) into my bowl?”

——-

Yesterday in the van, she was reading and reading and reading.  Not hearing what any of us was saying.  I was thinking about how we work hard to teach our children to love reading, yet when they devour the books in short hours and they stop talking for all the reading, I miss them a little.

——-

The first year that she took piano, she cried and hated practice.  The second year, there were no more tears, and she loved lessons even more, if that was possible.  Now, on her fifth year, the piano is a familiar friend and playmate.  She confidently walks into lessons and sits down to astonish her teacher who so sweetly encourages her on to the next big thing.  What a joy this has become!

Read Full Post »

Much Randomness

Earlier today I told the kids that we could have (leftover) French toast and pancakes for breakfast.  My oldest heard me say we could have leftover French FRIES and pancakes for breakfast!  How excited was she! . . . that is, until I told her what I really said.

——-

It is official:  My computer hates me.  Earlier today I was trying to install an update.  It wouldn’t work, and it wouldn’t work.  Usually, I’d call my husband into the room, and he would fix it.  Lately I’ve noticed that all he has to do is come into the room, and the computer straightens up.  Today though, he wasn’t home, so I called him to ask for assistance.  I did the exact same thing that I had already done multiple times – just to read him all of the little messages in the little boxes.  I did every.single.thing. the same, except this time I couldn’t read him the little error message at the end of the process . . . because the darn thing worked.  Why is it that this thing can make me feel like such a fool!

——-

Tonight for dinner my children ate homemade guacamole, a handful of carrots, a few grapes each, a big hunk of yummy bread with butter, and some yogurt.  It was what needed to be eaten.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that my oldest thought I was going to feed her French fries for breakfast, huh?!

——-

We started school last week, but tomorrow is the first day that we will really carry out our schedule for the day – pray for me!

[I am hoping that with school for the kids will come some time for Mom to blog - here's hoping I get to hit that publish button a little more often this fall!]

Read Full Post »

Love That!

I see this scene almost daily now.

My eldest, flopped down in a chair, reading, her feet propped up.

Every time, without fail, it takes my breath away as my thoughts run furiously in the direction of, “It was only yesterday that those feet were little enough to fit in the palm of my hand!”

When the kids were young(er), the days sometimes seemed to tick by slowly, but now they are at a full gallop.

I’m trying to savor every minute of it – I hope you are too!

Have a great weekend!

Read Full Post »

Rewards

As part of our homeschool our kids each have a sticker chart.  Whenever I catch them doing something good, they get to put a sticker on the chart.  The “something good” varies from child to child and ranges from things like “got a perfect score on a test” to “worked really hard to complete a task” or ” was kind to sibling who wasn’t kind.”

Recently all of the kids filled their sticker chart within a week’s time.  I gave them each a smencil, and then each got to choose from a list for the rest of his reward.

Little Man chose to get a new toy.

Gus chose to pick a movie from the library – we’ll watch it and have some sort of yummy snack and lots of snuggling!

Bubba chose to bake dessert with me.  Then I let her choose her dessert.  She chose this:

This white chocolate cheesecake with a cookie crust and semi-sweet chocolate ganache is from a book entitled Death by Chocolate.  I requested then got this book as a Christmas gift back when I was in college.  I have made several of the recipes out of it, and every single one of them has been super-terrific-yummy.  For a while this book inspired yearly cooking-marathons for my sister and me.  A few years ago, my family (mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law included) was able to enjoy dessert at The Trellis, the restaurant from whence the book cometh; we each ordered a dessert, and we ordered a slice of Death by Chocolate to share.  It was so much fun!  A couple of the recipes are on our list of family favorites; this is one of them, so I wasn’t surprised when Bubba chose to make it.

Friday night, she made the crust.

Saturday, after watching a cousin’s high school baseball game, she made and baked the filling.

Sunday morning, she ran downstairs to check on the cake in the fridge.  Then she made the ganache.

She literally did every single step on her own, except holding the mixer (all we have is a hand mixer) and pouring the hot (and a little too heavy for her to handle easily) pan of boiling cream into the dark chocolate for the ganache.  She even did the dishes!

Tonight we ate cheesecake for dessert dinner; it was heavenly!

Read Full Post »

Oh, I Admit It, She Gets Her Competitive Spirit From Me

Last week’s game was particularly intense.  This team had smashed our team the first time we played them; it would have been embarrassing, except for the fact that two of Bubba’s friends were on the other team . . . and well, that just made it unmentionable . . . except for the fact that these girls are just great, so no one really said anything about the defeat.  They just went ahead and played together.

Last week’s game was a completely different story; Bubba’s team was in the lead for the first half, and during the last half the score was tied as each team inched forward basket by basket.  Then in the final minute, one of their players scored.  The crowd went wild – crazy, screaming parents everywhere!  Every one thought that was it; these girls are good, but beginners don’t score with just a few seconds on the clock . . . except that one of them did!  Bubba’s team scored again with just seconds on the clock, and the game ended in a tie.  It was a great game, and it was perfect that in the end no one lost.  They had all worked SO hard!

Fast forward to this week.

The players are all warmed up, the game ball is out, the ref is walking to mid court.

Bubba’s coach runs all the way across the court to us.

He must have something really important to tell us before the game.

He bends over in front of us and says, “I forgot to tell you last week:  Near the end of the game, when the play was really fast and furious.  Everyone was really working hard.  Bubba was playing her position when one of the other team’s girls made her shot, Bubba looked at her and said, ‘Woa!  That was a great shot!  Good job!’”  He laughed and said, “That was just a great moment in the game!”

All at once, I was bursting with pride (that’s my girl – what an encourager!) and doubled over with laughter (you just gotta love a competitive spirit like that! haha!)

——–

Another silly little note:  This was the week for our children to be guarded by giants!  During their basketball games, both Bubba and Little Man were guarded by players who were so tall that our kids weren’t even as tall as the competitor’s shoulders (and our kids aren’t short for their age).  It was like watching Shaquille O’Neal play basketball with PeeWee Herman!

It’s a good thing our kids are good sports!

Read Full Post »

Ew!

So we went to this restaurant while we were out eagle watching.  It was a place selected for its view (looking out over a river where eagles frequently soar and hunt) not for it’s food.

Bubba sat down and read her menu.  It included all sorts of foods we wouldn’t usually see on a menu:  frog legs, livers, gizzards.  There were also a number of things that are “normal” foods, but our kids were not familiar with them:  scallops, catfish, and a few others.

Bubba read her menu, asking a few questions here and there.  None of it was too aweful, until she got to the dessert section and was absolutely mortified when she read “turtle cheesecake!“

Read Full Post »

Overheard in Our House – At the Dinner Table and Winter Olympics

I was telling Handsome about this great story, when I mentioned that the governor was on board the plane that went to fetch the orphans and their caretakers.

One of our children asked, “What is a governor?”

“The leader of a state,” I answered.

Then the discussion wound around a bit; we arrived at city-level leaders.

“A mayor is the leader of the city,” I said.

“Oh, Papa Bear (from the Berenstain Bears) wanted to be a mayor!” Gus happily announced.

“And Sir Topham Hatt is also a mayor,” added Bubba.  (He’s not really, but he is in charge of things in the Sodor realm.)

Right then and there I decided that we’ve seen a little too much tv this winter!  (Ug!)

——-

Gus and I were recently discussing winter Olympic sports.

She asked me, “What do they do in the winter Olympics?”

We discussed that it was too cold to do things like swimming and that no one wants to play baseball in the snow, so, I said, “What are some sports you do in the winter, outside?”

“We build snowmans!”

“. . . and play in the snow!”

I just love the thought of that:  Olympic snowman building…and Olympic snow ball fights…and Olympic snow fort building!  Wouldn’t the world be a great place!

——-

Updated:

No kidding, today, just a few days before his party, Dimples came to me and said, “I want a Star Wars party!”

He doesn’t really know what Star Wars is – except that those words are used a lot while our neighbor boys fight one another with lightsabers.  He loves the lightsabers!  And I have planned a COW party, so I said, “Oh, honey, you wanted a cow party, so you’re going to have a cow party.”

That three year old looked me square in the eye (with no regard for the amount of time/energy/creativity that you and I have have put into this cow party) and said, “I don’t want that.  I want a Star Wars party.”

He was nice enough about it, so I replied in kind, “Well, you wanted a cow party first, so that’s what you are going to get.”

He happily said, “Ok!”  Little does he know that he has caused within me a series of emotions that could be summed up like this: Mommy Guilt.

(Oh, and I found a pretty cute cake!)

Read Full Post »