Homeschool Highlights (March 26 – March 30, 2012)

Preschool Highlights

This week we “rowed” The Big Green Pocketbook, meaning that we read the same story every day this week and then did lessons, activities, games, and crafts based on it. This cute little book is all about a mom and a little girl who run errands together. At each stop during their trip, the little girl adds a souvenir to her pocketbook. Near the end of the story, she is heartbroken when she realizes that she accidentally left her pocketbook and all her treasures on the bus. The kind bus driver brings the pocketbook back to her and she colors him a picture as a way to say thank you.

Monday
We started off by reading the story. Jacob kept screaming, “Pocketbook!”

Our first activity for Pocketbook week was a little board game that I made. I had so much fun making this game and I’ve been really looking forward to using it.

The rules were simple- we rolled the die, moved our buses around the game and collected game cards for each place in the story that we passed. The cards had pictures of each item the little girl collected during her day of running errands. It was a good chance to remember the parts of the story, and also reinforced counting and colors. The boys loved it and I still was pleased with how the game turned out.

Afterwards, we used crayon cards (because the little girl gets a box of crayons in the story) for matching and sorting games. It was fun for my two that have already learned this, and very exciting for my two-year-old who is currently fascinated by colors and their names.

Continuing with the crayon theme, we made crayon cards and little crayon boxes (they were simple paper pockets) to store the cards in. 

Just for fun, we had candy orange slices (just like the girl in the story, of course) as a special, sugary treat. Drew is usually napping during preschool, but he was awake by the time I passed out orange slices so he got some too. He loved them!

Tuesday
On Tuesday our lesson was about using our manners when we are in public. We talked about being quiet and obedient, saying please and thank you, and staying close to Mom. We did some role-playing about how to act and how not to act when we are running errands, which of course made my little guys laugh hysterically.

We played a matching game with the buildings and items from the story (printed from the B4FIAR downloads, but not worth the price, in my opinion). We also played another round of the Pocketbook board game.

We used tiny letter stamps to print out the boys’ names. It was the easiest way to replicate using a typewriter like the girl in the story and the boys love using stamps anyway.

The girl gets a key chain at the jewelry store so we made beaded key chains of our own. The big kids made key chains as well, after their own school work was done.

I love Asher’s inky blue beard!

Once again, I found Jacob happily reading by himself in the corner. I loved his little feet sticking out from underneath the book.

Wednesday
Our lesson for Wednesday was about taking care of our things. The little girl leaves her special pocketbook on the bus near the end of the story. We talked about how the girl felt and about times when certain special toys have been lost at our house. I told the boys how important it is to take care of our things, especially the things we love most.

We used yellow and purple lollipop cards (just like the yellow and purple lollipops the girl got at the bank) for patterning and sorting activities. The boys really enjoyed this; there is something creative about making up a pattern and then continuing it.

We painted ice cream scoops (because she got ice cream at the drugstore). Once the scoops were dry we cut them out and glued them onto an ice cream cone. Maddie was careful with her paints. The boys were more free with their color mixing and they ended up with “chocolate” ice cream in the end.

The little girl wears a cute shirt with shapes on it so this was a great chance to talk about shapes (mostly for Jacob). The kids used foam stickers to make little shape-decorated shirts of their own.

Our final project for the day was the most time-consuming and the most fun. The little girl gets a calendar at the dry cleaner and I really wanted to kids to each have a mini calendar of their own. I wanted something simple and fun, featuring each month and the corresponding holidays.

I cut 3×5 cards in half and wrote a month on each card. We talked about each one and the kids used seasonal stickers to decorate them. They had so much fun searching for perfect stickers for each month, as well as finding a month that would suit a particularly cool sticker. When all twelve calendar pages were complete (times five kids who made them), I used my binding machine to put a little binding on each one.

The kids were absolutely delighted! They spent a lot of time looking through their little calendars and it really seemed to help them identify the months and holidays.

 

Thursday
Our lesson was about kindness and saying thank you. We talked about how the bus driver showed kindness by bringing the pocketbook back to the little girl and how she said thank you by drawing a special picture for him. We discussed ways that we can be kind and help others to feel happy and how important it is to say thank you.

Each of the kids picked someone they wanted to thank and drew a “thank you picture” for that person, just like the girl in the story. Braden and Asher both thanked me for being a good mom. Maddie thanked her track coach (which made me smile since track season ended last summer).

I made more story sequencing cards for this book. Putting a story in order is a basic example of narration, and narration is a crucial step in the writing process. (This is nearly five years of Writing with Ease talking, I guess!) The boys enjoyed the cards and were able to get them into the right order with only a little help from Maddie. We talked about each place the little girl visited and what she got there- two suckers at the bank, typing her name at the insurance office, a key chain at the jewelry store, a calendar at the dry cleaner’s, orange slices at the five-and-ten store, and crayons and ice cream at the drugstore. The kids were excited when I told them that we have made, bought, or- in some cases- eaten every item from the story this week.

We made pocketbooks next. The kids were so excited about this project. I cut pocketbook shapes from green felt (no pattern so they all turned out a little bit different), punched holes along the edges (which made my hands hurt after a while), and then helped the boys lace white yarn through the holes.

Jacob stood next to me while I made his and he kept crooning, “Oh, this my pocketbook. You makin’ my pocketbook.” Hearing him say pocketbook, so carefully pronouncing each syllable, really melted me. He was so excited about his pocketbook.

We finished the day with ice cream cones with sprinkles. Several kids correctly pointed out that the little girl in the story actually had square ice cream in a silver dish, but I told them that I thought cones would be more fun since we don’t usually have them. Everyone ended up moving out into the backyard to enjoy their ice cream.

Friday
Our “memory” for Friday was sucker making. The first batch was a badly burned disaster, but the second batch was a delicious success. The kids all think we should make suckers every day.

 

 

Elementary School Highlights

Most of our work is “same old, same old.” The kids are doing well in their studies. They finished book reports this week and got 100% on their spelling tests. Joshua didn’t miss a single problem in all nine of his math assignments, and Brenna got A’s on each of hers. 

We are nearly finished with our current read-aloud, Holes, and I recorded the movie so we can watch it when we’re done with the book. I am trying to put together a summer reading program for the kids as well, something that will challenge them to read a lot over the summer, but that won’t be teacher-intensive while I’m recovering from having a baby.

I’m making good progress on my summer lesson plans, but there is still a lot to finish…

The kids are loving Latin. I really love the translations, immersion, and “whole to parts” teaching they are getting with Visual Latin. I’m impressed with what they can translate without any help. I’ve finally decided to add in Lively Latin so that we have a “parts to whole” approach as well. Can you ever have too much Latin?

Still no decision on Maddie’s math for next year… Thinking, thinking…

History
We’ve been reading about the Reformation and Counter Reformation, along with the Renaissance. The kids have enjoyed it. It feels strange to me to be wrapping up our year-long study of the middle ages.

We had talked about stained glass recently and I thought it would be fun to replicate this. At first I was going to do an elaborate project to recreate stained glass, but in the end I just bought some cute little sun catchers and let the kids paint them. They understood what we were replicating, they had fun, and the sun catchers turned out cute.

Science
We had fun for science this week. On Monday we finished up our “Plant Parts” experiment, comparing a flower to our bean plants and noting the similarities and differences between them.

We also checked in with our cotyledon experiment. I’m glad that we kept this going an extra week. It was amazing to see the growth from the whole seed compared to the growth of the embryo by itself.

Our experiment for the week was about roots. We did a few experiments that showed the strength and function of roots. We sprouted radish seeds on paper towels and let them grow for about a week. On Thursday the kids were able to see the tiny root hairs and also were able to observe root strength as those tiny roots firmly attached themselves to the paper towels.

The root hairs were more visible on the radish seeds growing in the petri dish.

 

In a different petri dish, we put a few more sprouting radish seeds and added some blue coloring to the roots.  We left this overnight and the kids were then able to observe how the coloring traveled up the roots and into the leaves and tinged them blue.

The kids were pretty fascinated; it’s neat to see plant (and root) growth in action.

***

Poor Drew is never featured in our homeschool posts, but I think next fall he’ll be old enough to join us for preschool. Soon, buddy, soon.

His bruised eye is from last week when one of Maddie’s well-meaning little friends tried to pick him up and ended up dropping him into the corner of the bookshelf instead.

Hulk

Asher loves the Incredible Hulk. Daddy showed him a few of the old 80′s Hulk cartoons that he watched as a kid and Asher was hooked instantly. He’s planning on being Hulk for Halloween this year, he stomps loudly around the house for much of the day, and he frequently (out-of-the-blue) shouts things like, “Hulk smash!” and “Hulk hungry!” and “Hulk mad!” (even when he’s not mad at all)

My cute little Hulk still has a soft side though. Today he wrapped his arms around me, snuggled in close and said in a gentle voice, “Hulk love.”

It was enough to make his pregnant mama get all teary-eyed.

Good Morning, Friday

Tired. Oh my, I am tired. I think I am more tired than I have been in any other pregnancy, but that makes sense because I also have more children and more things to keep me busy all day than I have had during any other pregnancy before this one. Not knowing if this is our last pregnancy or not really keeps things in perspective as well. What a blessing and a privilege it is to BE pregnant, no matter how exhausting it is.

I had a dream last night. When I woke up the details weren’t as vivid most of my dreams are, but it was the FEELING of the dream that was so strong and that stayed with me after I woke. In the dream, we had two more children. I think they were a boy and a girl and I think one may have been adopted. Like I said, the details are all so hazy. Still, the FEELING was so lovely and sweet. It might not mean anything at all (not every dream has meaning!) but I really enjoyed dreaming of something so sweet- two more children in our home.

Most of my dreams have been a lot more vivid and a lot less sweet- me running around with super powers, me as a ninja/spy and the only hope for humanity, me on a game show, me raising pet alligators, me winning a giant refrigerator. Every night it’s like I’m starring in a low-budget movie.

We are loving the nice weather these days! My kids spend most of their free time in the backyard, having great adventures together. The boys always get so nice and dirty. There is nothing that screams summer like a bunch of grubby, grass-stained little boys! When I did their laundry yesterday, there was a large pile of sand at the bottom of the hamper. I thought, “Yay for summer and yay for little boys!”

Jacob insisted on taking seven rocks into the bath with him last night. He kept repeating, “My rocks in tub, kay, Mom?” It made me smile. (And the rocks were probably cleaner than he was anyway so I figured there was no harm in adding them to the bath water!)

It’s Friday. I am thrilled! I love, love, love homeschooling my children, but having Friday off is a very nice break for me. I rest in bed for a while in the morning and it always feels so nice. Then we have several hours to get the house scoured and spotless before lunch. In the afternoon we have fun together, finishing up preschool for the week with something memorable like a field trip, a big project, or a really fun activity. All the kids participate, even my “big” ones.

Speaking of big kids, Brenna hopped in the van after gymnastics practice last night and immediately asked if I could change the Veggie Tales CD to 97.9 instead. She knew every single song that came on during our drive home. Sigh. When did this little girl grow up? Even six months ago she thought Veggie Tales was pretty hilarious. I do enjoy her growth though; the older she gets, the more fun we have together. And it’s beautiful and exciting to watch her blossom into a confident, mature, funny young lady.

We have a busy weekend ahead, though I am not sure if there is any other kind. Rick and Joshua are going bowling tonight and the girls are going to see a movie with their friends (and their friends’ mom). Tomorrow is General Conference and I am so excited! I need the spiritual nourishment. Joshua’s birthday party is tomorrow evening so there a lot of last-minute details to throw together. His actual birthday is Sunday and I will have two nine-year-olds for a little while. I can’t believe that sweet boy is already nine! I need to finish my preschool Easter plans this weekend and I have an old friend coming to visit me on Monday to go over homeschooling materials.

Our ultrasound is now in just a few days, on Tuesday. I feel perfectly peaceful about it. I am also very anxious to know what is going on. I realize that we might not get every question answered, but it will be nice to know whether things look “good” or “bad” at least.

And with April right around the corner, June is about two months away now. Two months! That doesn’t seem real to me. I am so very eager to meet our little Junebug and in two months we’ll be getting very close to that. I’m in love with this baby girl; it will be so nice to hold her.

Clean

I started to wipe the chocolate off of Asher’s face when he protested, “But Mom, I already licked myself!”

Quiet Tuesday Evening

Tuesday evening found me with only four kids at home. Rick and the boys were at wrestling practice and Brenna was at gymnastics.

I’d had a long day and an emotional afternoon. I needed some time to unwind and relax with my kids so I told them that we could do anything they wanted during our evening at home together. We talked about it and then did almost everything on their list. It was simple, but so fun!

We had ice cream with banana slices and chocolate syrup. Then we went outside to just enjoy the comfortable evening air. We jumped on the trampoline, colored on the patio with chalk, and played in the sandbox.

Jacob insisted that I join them in the sand (“Shoes off, Mom. Come here, in sand, Mom.”) and Maddie traced my body in chalk and then decorated it for me. I helped trace her body and the boys’ and she decorated all of them too.

Asher is becoming quite artistic. His scribbling days are behind him; he sets out to draw something in particular and make it just right. He spent a long time with the chalk, crouching on the cement and working so carefully. He drew Little Cowboy, his monster truck, and a picture of Jacob.

When the sun started to go down, we came inside for bubble baths. The kids were so dirty. I really wanted a picture of Asher. He was covered in grass and sand and a pastel dusting of sidewalk chalk. He looked like summer.

After baths I put Drew to bed and the rest of us had popcorn for a snack. It was a nice evening, the perfect way to end a busy, somewhat stressful day.

Asher came to snuggle with me after all the other kids were home again and everyone was in bed for the night. Baby Sister was kicking more than usual so I took Asher’s tiny hand and let him feel her move. He was so delighted and it was a sweet little moment.

Homeschool Highlights (March 19 – March 23, 2012)

I’ve had a hard time finding a few minutes to sit down and type this all out. It’s finally done.

Preschool Highlights

Our book for the week was Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? I started off using Before Five in a Row to get ideas for my lesson plans, found some fun things to print online, and ended up branching off a bit on my own as well.

Monday:
On Monday we read the story three times. The boys just kept begging for “one more time” and I couldn’t say no. In fact, we read the story 3-4 times each day this week. Several times I found a little boy quietly looking through the book on his own as well. The repetition of “rowing” this book was definitely a hit!

Our lesson for Monday was about healthy eating habits because Jesse Bear eats a nice healthy lunch during the story. We talked about good foods and nourishing our bodies. We decided that treats are okay to have, but that most of our foods should be healthy. I let the kids know that Heavenly Father wants us to take good care of the bodies that He’s given us.

During our discussion, Braden piped up, “We need to take care of our bodies because our bodies are temples!”

The kids made pictures of Jesse Bear’s healthy lunch, and also sorted the food he ate and didn’t eat in the story.

    

The younger boys did pages of tracing lines (we call them squiggle lines around here) and the older two traced words instead. Asher and Braden were very intent on their work and copied every line perfectly…

Jacob was a little more free with his crayon.

We played a memory match game, using cards based on the story.

We brought sand in from the sandbox and each of the kids made the letter S with sand. On each page I also traced the kids’ hands so that they could make “sand hands” just like Jesse Bear’s sandy hands in the story. The “sand on my hand” page in the story is one of my personal favorites and this little activity was very fun for the kids. Sand in the house? They were so excited!

This was my favorite picture of the day. Look at that triumphant grin!

Tuesday:
On Tuesday we talked about responsibility and looked for examples of it in the story. Jesse’s clothes are neatly in his dresser, he comes when his mom calls for lunch, his dirty clothes go into the hamper, and so on. We talked about ways that the boys can be responsible and why that’s important.

We had a “clean up” race to sort clothing, played with the laminated lapbook that I made, and did several color/cut/glue projects. (This cute lapbook came from http://www.homeschoolcreations.com)

  

There is a cute part of the story when Jesse Bear plays peek-a-boo with his daddy before bedtime. We did a fun little craft project based on this. The boys colored and assembled a cute little brown bear and then glued a little blue blanket over the top. This was such a fun, easy project. Jacob was especially delighted!

I also found little Jacob reading “my bears” on his own. He’s such a cutie!

(Yup, hands colored with markers… and ears too!)

Wednesday:
Jesse Bear gets dressed in the morning rather than running around in his undies all day and I wanted Asher (my little nudist) to learn from Jesse’s example. Our lesson for Wednesday was about modesty and the importance of clothing in general. We talked a lot about modesty and why it’s important to wear clothes. We also talked about how clothes can help us (keeping us warm, dry) and when we wear certain types of clothing.

We played a “what will you wear” game. I said things like, “Asher Bear, what will you wear to the pool?” and “Braden Bear, what will you wear when it snows?” Of course, the boys loved it when I changed Jesse’s name with theirs.

I made a bunch of picture cards to continue this “what will you wear” game. I used family pictures, which was so fun for the kids. There were pictures of various seasons, types of weather, holidays, sporting events. These were lots of fun for the game and also for sorting and family history. The kids loved these cards and I think this little set was my favorite out of everything I put together for Jesse Bear week.

We played with our “weather bear” and the kids loved dressing him. My magnets weren’t strong enough so I ended up not using them. Next time our weather bear will have magnets for easier use, but the boys still had such a fun time with this activity.

We made a book of all of Jesse Bear’s shirts in various colors.

Thursday:
Our lesson on Thursday was about the loving relationships in the story. We talked about how Jesse’s parents showed love to him and how he showed his love as well. We discussed ways that we can show love within our family.

We played a matching game with rhyming words from the story. Rhyming is such an important phenomic awareness skill and the boys have fun. Braden has had rhyming down for a long time and little Asher was a rockstar at this game.

We played hide and seek next, using the kids’ stuffed animals. First I hid them all over the house and then the kids took turns doing the same. Asher turned out to be a great “hider.” The boys absolutely loved this little game.

We sorted gummy bears by color and then the boys made little Jesse Bear “paper dolls.”

    

I made a set of story sequencing cards using pictures from the book. The boys were able to remember the story and put the pictures in the right order (an important skill they’ll need for narration and writing later on). I thought the cards were really cute too.

Friday:
We don’t normally have school on Friday. I need a break and a chance to scour the house! I have also started using Friday afternoons for a “memorable moment” based on our preschool lessons. All the kids participate and it’s fun for everyone.

Our Memorable Moment, as a conclusion to our Jesse Bear week, was a teddy bear picnic. We sand the Teddy Bear Picnic song, all the kids brought their favorite bear or stuffed animal and we had a picnic in the park. We had peanut butter and nutella sandwiches (they were supposed to be bear-shaped, but my bear cookie cutter was out in the sandbox again!), bananas, juice, giant gummy bears that were as big as Asher’s Little Cowboy, and “teddy bear junk.” (Aunt Elaine gave us the yummy recipe for “junk” and I added teddy grahams to the mix to tie it into our Jesse Bear lessons. “Junk” is one of my favorite treats and I loved the addition of teddy grahams!)

It was a nice day for a picnic and I think we succeeded in making  a memory together.

***

Elementary School Highlights

Brenna and Joshua took diagnostic spelling tests this week. They both scored very well. Both kids are spelling at a 7th grade level with Brenna slightly ahead of Joshua. Not bad for my 3rd and 4th graders. All three kids got 100% on their spelling tests this week as well.

Both Brenna and Joshua are doing so well with Writing with Skill. I am loving this book, just as much as I’ve always loved Writing with Ease. The work is largely independent and the kids have taken to it very well. The pace of the book picks up soon so I am excited to see how the kids do as the work becomes more challenging.

Brenna got 97% on her math test. She is loving Life of Fred Fractions. She finds the book very funny (just like Joshua did) and she feels successful using it.

Joshua wrote a computer program this week that’s essentially a computer clock. It tells time to the second. He was so excited about it. He loves computer programming and I’m glad that we found this course for him. I’m also glad that he understands the material on his own because (I admit it) it’s all a little confusing to me!

Maddie is reading everything! I am so pleased, especially because this is something she has wanted for so long. She reads a lot on her own and reads out loud to me as well. She’s easily reading at a high 2nd grade level now. That’s good for a 1st grader, but it’s huge considering where she was a year ago and all the challenges she’s dealt with. This week, she started reading a 3.0 reading level chapter book so she is still progressing rapidly even now without therapy. Most important of all, she LOVES to read! During vision therapy, she made huge improvements in her writing (it was neat and spaced well and there were no reversals) and her reading (mostly short stories at first). Now I love that she can really read for pleasure! 

History:
We had fun with history this week. We’ve been reading about the Renaissance and the invention of the printing press. We did our usual narrating and map work and we had some great discussions (my favorite part). The kids printed with little letter stamps and ink, just because it was a fun activity that was somewhat related to the printing press. They loved it.

Science:
We continued with several fun experiments this week. Our “baby beans” are still growing well and the kids are fascinated each week as we remove a plant from the soil to observe and measure it.

    

Personally, I’m impressed with these little plants and how resilient they are after Jacob thought the dirt was “cocolat cake” and tried to eat them. It’s a testimony to me of just how miraculous all of Heavenly Father’s creations are!

We also worked on our cotyledon experiment. It was neat to see how much those little plant embryos depend on cotyledons for nourishment. This experiment is complete now, but we’re leaving the seeds in the bags to see what happens over the next week.

We missed our new experiment for the week. We needed a potted plant and I forgot to buy one! I picked up a cute little plant on Saturday and we’ll do this experiment next week, hopefully on Monday or Tuesday so that we don’t crowd the experiements I have planned for the end of next week (we usually have science on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday if needed).

Art:
Here’s our art project from the week, based on Henri Rousseau’s Monkeys in an Orange Grove. It was lots of fun; I love watching my kids get creative.

***

When I write these journal entries about each week of homeschool, I always feel SO indescribably blessed. I am intensely grateful that I can homeschool my sweet children. I love watching them learn, I love learning with them, I love spending all day with them, and I love making memories together. There are a million wonderful reasons that we choose to homeschool. When I write these highlight posts, I feel all those million reasons rolled up into one giant feeling of gratitude.

Here are my three littlest guys swinging together at the park:

Drew Michael, 15 months old

 

Drew is such a funny little copycat. When I asked all the little boys who wanted a snack, Braden, Asher, and Jacob all threw their hands up and shouted, “Me!”

Little Drew watched with wide eyes and processed it for a half a second. Then he raised his fat little hand and cried, “Me!”

Whenever I ask the kids a question like that, they love to shout ME just so that Drew will copy them. He has gotten more and more exuberant in his response as well, throwing his hands in the air and shouting loudly, “Meeeeee!”

Drew copies a lot of what his big brothers do now… so I suppose it’s only a matter of time before he finds a toilet to flood.

In addition to mimicking lots of sounds and short words that he hears, little Drew also says NO and MY (mine) very clearly and with great authority. It’s pretty obvious that he’s the youngest (for now anyway). He also says “whee” when he swings and “cheese” when he sees a camera.

Drew has eight front teeth that make his smile so darling and he has four molars now too. (He’s always been my earliest to get each of his teeth.) He has the same little curly duck tail on the back of his blond head, and I love it. He still walks like a little gorilla and he has gotten really fast. No more crawling for this big boy!  He climbs everything too. He’s a tank of a baby and can wear Jacob’s clothes if necessary. He absolutely hates shoes and only occasionally tolerates socks; he’s a barefoot baby all the way.

Drew is a tough little guy. He loves wrestling and rough-housing already and dishes out as much as he takes. He is also a sweet little love. He gives the very best hugs! He leans into me, puts his arms around me, and sighs with satisfaction. And then he just rests there for a few moments, so sturdy and warm in my arms. I’ve never had a one-year-old who gives really uses his arms to squeeze and give active hugs rather than passive, snuggly ones.

Drew loves being outside. He loves the trampoline, the swings, the slide, and running around in the yard. He loves playing with cars and balls. He adores his daddy.

I am absolutely in love with this boy, head over heels in love! Drew is so sweet and so fun and so happy. I am very thankful to have this precious little boy in our family, my seventh baby and my fifth son. He is amazing!

That Time

It’s that time again, that time of pregnancy when I can’t sleep more than a few consecutive hours. A week or so ago I would fall into bed and sleep soundly all night long. Now I wake up every few hours to use the bathroom and change positions. It doesn’t allow for a restful night of sleep. On top of that, I always wake up sort of achy in the morning. My last trimester is only about a week away so I guess it’s just “that time” of the pregnancy…

Talking Jake

Jacob hid his foot under his jacket while I was putting on his shoes.

“Where foot go?” he cried in mock dismay. I reacted with appropriate concern, to Jacob’s great delight.

“Here it is!” he finally squealed, revealing the missing foot.

***

Jake brought me an old penny that he’d found in the backyard.

“Oh, look my money! I find money!” he squealed with delight. Then he added, “But it’s dirty. Need a bath…”

***

We were on our way into the grocery store when Jacob suddenly asked for milk. He was upset when I told him that I didn’t have any milk to give him. He started to pout.

Then as we passed the check out lanes, he noticed several gallons of milk that other customers were buying.

“Look,” Jacob shrieked loudly. “They has mine milk! That’s mine milk.” We passed more milk and he continued to wail, “Hey! There’s milk! That’s mine milk!!”

***
And a few more of my favorite Jacob phrases:

Excuse me! (he says this while pushing his way roughly past so it always strikes me as funny)

Oh, that’s so cool!

Hold you me.

Ata bout me?

Hey, be quiet!

Hey, don’t snitch.

I’m awesome!

Hulk smash!

Sweet Asher

Asher has been very attached to me lately. I love it! He likes to come and snuggle with me in bed, he wants lots of hugs and kisses, and he is full of sweet compliments.

Tonight Asher didn’t want to go with Dad and the two older boys. He wanted to stay with me instead.

“Mom,” he said, sniffling at the thought of leaving me. “Do you know why I like to stay with you? I like to stay with you because you are so pretty and I love you and you are a nice mom… And all of that is very good stuff.”

I love that boy, from his blonde hair that’s as untamed as his delightfully crazy personality all the way down to his cute toes. I love the joy he radiates and the genuine love he shows to others. He is truly one of the happiest, sweetest, most loving kids I’ve ever known. I love his bright blue eyes and the expressive faces he makes. I love his busy nature, his playfulness, his zest for life, his perpetual motion, his sense of adventure. He has kept me busier than all of our first four did combined, and he has been worth every minute of it. How I adore my sweet, busy, beautiful boy!