easter egg hunt

secretly i hate halloween and easter (rather, the secular holiday surrounding it), & struggle every year as a parent to know how to respond to my children's interest in these american traditions. mostly so far the kids are young enough to barely know about these holidays ahead of time, then the day arrives, halloween for example, & they see other kids walking around the neighborhood in costumes & what-not, & ask why everyone is dressed up, & i respond with a startled, dreamy, "what? oh, yeah..."

for easter this year i tried to be a little less passive about it, & a little more pro-active in seeking out ways to make it meaningful to our family as followers of jesus.  so we had a beautiful, meaningful seder feast, just our family, & the kids were old enough to really understand.  we will definitely carry on that tradition every year from now on.  i am still not sure about the egg hunts & easter baskets, but it was really hard to pass up an invitation to a farm for a brunch, pony rides, and a chance for sheppy to hug the easter bunny. shepherd really loves hugging people dressed up in fluffy animal suits.

a christian seder

berries

BFIAR : goodnight moon, part ii

with the kitchen remodel & some rare sunny days, our school days have been a bit sporadic lately.  during our row through goodnight moon for our before five in a row studies, we've spread lessons out a bit more (perhaps this is a more realistic schedule for our family anyway?).  five days over two weeks, shorter school times.  i am hoping to be more consistent with three days of school each week (and one day for a playdate, one day for a field trip), but we are still learning how to have a family routine & seeing what works best for all of us.

here's a summary of part ii of our row through goodnight moon, days three through five.  i summarized days one and two here.

DAY THREE : inspired by the painting of the three little bears sitting on chairs in goodnight moon, we read goldilocks & the three bears.  we also continued painting our great green room begun on day two.  

DAY FOUR : we read psalm 127:2b & genesis 1:14-19.

^genesis 1: 14 and God said, “let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” and it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. he also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. and God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ and there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

today we also learned about singles & pairs, practiced rhyming words from the story, & learned about clocks.

: shepherd completed the singles & pairs activity perfectly :

DAY FIVE : heron & shepherd both did an activity where they searched for the words in the story to work on recognition of letters, & they both excelled at it.  shepherd also worked on his numbers/counting, and heron practiced writing.  

searching for new ways to engage shepherd during schooltime, i encountered some car & truck-related counting activities.

: learning to count :

(pom-poms glued to magnets + a metal tray)

: heron practiced writing words from the story :

activity + resource summary for goodnight moon, days 3-5 :

bible verses :  psalm 127:2b & genesis 1:14-19

supplementary reading : goldilocks & the three bears ipad app

activities : car & truck counting--big machines tot pack

worksheets : singles & pairs, rhyming words, clock, & writing practice from homeschool creations

blog inspiration : delightful learning

up next in BFIAR : ask mr. bear by marjorie flack!

saturday morning

kitchen renovation

josh got home from tour & apparently we don't know what to do when life slows down around here.  (we have had a baby, built a temporary studio in the basement, & finished out our attic space since moving in in september!)  we are all here, together, for five whole weeks, so we thought, "why don't we renovate our kitchen?"  well, actually, we weren't planning to start this kitchen project quite so soon, but  the permitting has finally gone through for the studio build-out, and it's been too rainy around here to pour the concrete for the foundation.  so the work crew--our friends cameron (who built our farm table and coffee table), peter, and tony, have some free days until the studio project begins.  it's a perfect time to give them a short-term, in-between project.

our kitchen renovation is going to be relatively quick & inexpensive as far as kitchen renovations can go... we're painting, tearing out the upper cabinets & installing open shelving, pulling up the linoleum to reveal the wood floor beneath, putting new faces on the lower cabinet doors & drawers (made of barnwood that cameron found), & installing a new countertop (concrete).  our inspiration for the style has been this book, this kitchen, this kitchen (among others) & our love for all things rustic.  we are currently living in the urban core of portland because we feel called to it for this season of our lives.  & we do like it, but we're country folks at heart.  so... room by room we're building out a little piece of country in the city!