Lake

While our friends were here we visited a famous lake in our country. We had heard lots about this lake, but had no idea just how amazing it actually was. First of all, it is a HUGE lake (111 miles long and 37 miles wide) with beautiful beaches. We contacted a travel agent in town and they recommended a hotel/resort to stay in. Having lived overseas now for some time, we all had very low expectations, all of us having stayed in "resorts" that were more like Motel 6's. So, after our 4 hour van trip, we were all shocked and amazed when we walked into our very modern, very beautiful cottage. It was 2-stories with a full kitchen and dining room, washing machine, 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms upstairs, and a fold-out couch downstairs. This resort had about 30-40 cottages as well as a hotel, restaurant, outdoor and indoor pools, outdoor and indoor gyms, tennis courts, and (best of all for a family with 3 small boys) an incredible playground on the beach. Needless to say, we continued to be shocked and amazed every time we discovered something new. Even the food was good (which we also did not expect)! There were 7 adults that went along with our kids and another's 5 month old baby. We stayed two nights, 3 days with all our meals included in the cost and eaten in the restaurant. It was a GREAT trip! It was a bit too chilly already to swim in the pool outside, and the lake water was really cold. We opted for the indoor pool, but even that was pretty cold and we felt the need to remove the boys from the water when Luke's lips started turning blue. The boys, of course, had a fabulous time just playing in the sand and on the playground. It was a great trip for our family and good time to spend with our friends. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

So... You're Leaving When?

As you may know, we had 3 lovely guests this past week staying in our home. They were all friends from where we used to live, and all very, very dear to us. The boys refer to each of them as "aunt" even though they are not related to us. We had a wonderful time with them all; I will tell you more about our lake trip in another post. But for now, I must share a story with you about my eldest son and his hospitality skills. One day he was sitting with Aunt Amy watching television as it was nearing lunchtime. I mentioned to him that as soon as the show he was watching was over, he needed to turn off the TV. Well, I was not present when the show ended, and Joshua was having a difficult time following the wishes of his mother and turning it off. So Aunt Amy tried to help him decide to obey, but he was not interested in help or obedience. You know, he just wanted to keep watching as long as he could. After repeated failed attempts to get Joshua to turn off the TV, Amy just turned it off for him, resulting in Joshua going over the couch and hiding his face in unhappiness. So, Amy went over to him to smooth things over as she began to wax eloquent about the value of obeying parents and how she wants what's best for him and will always ask him to obey his mom and dad, etc., etc. Then Joshua looks up at her and says, "So... you're leaving in a week, right?" Nice. I'm so glad that my children make our company feel at home here. Thanks, Ames, for loving my kids!

Update and Funny

I know it's been a while since I blogged. Sorry! Life just gets a little full at times. We've been continuing on in homeschool and the boys are doing great. They have been LOVING their local school, going 4 days a week typically. The 5th week day they stay at home with our helper and Jeremy and I try to go out for a little coffee date. Our schedule (see below) has been working out really well lately.

Of course, this coming week that's all going to change because we're going to have guests! Aunt Mags, Aunt Amy, and Aunt Lisa are coming to visit us! Woo-hoo! We're looking forward to a great week with them all. We also have some other dear friends visiting our city working on visas for where they live. It's really fun to be around friends from where we used to live. I have officially decided to not try to do homeschool this week because it might be a little difficult and rushed. I'd rather just wait a week and pick it back up after our friends are gone. The boys should still go to to local school, though.

Anyway, I wanted to post real quick before the the fun begins. :o) Also, I wanted to share a funny story about a conversation Joshua and I had the other day. We were having our "recess" during afternoon school (just the 2 of us), so we were playing with his Little Einstein characters. He started kind of freaking out because he was pretending there was a volcano near all of us. So I was like, "Oh no! What will we do?" Then he said, "Don't worry, Mommy, this volcano doesn't have any 'erupt stuff' in it, so we're safe." I thought "erupt stuff" was so cute that I couldn't stop giggling, which made him start giggling. At least we were safe from the volcano. :o) I love it when kids say things like that.

Boy's Schedule

So, here's the boys' daily schedule...

8:00 Boys get up
8:30 Breakfast
9:00 Morning school (homeschool)
10:00 Go to local school (5 minute car ride away)
12:00 Boys come home from local school
12:30 Watch local language cartoons
1:00 Lunch
1:30 Joshua does a QT, Mommy & Luke do "school" stuff, Micah roams
2:30 Luke has computer time, Joshua plays
3:00 Joshua has computer time, Luke and Micah take naps
4:00 Afternoon school for Joshua and Mommy
5:15 L&M get up
5:30 Big boys watch a video
6:30 Dinner
8:00 Operation bedtime (pajamas, teeth, family devotions)
8:30 Bedtime!

So, that's what the boys do pretty much every day. We squeeze other things in there from time to time, you know, like bathing. :o) No matter what, every day is a full one!

So Not the Drama

This week we've been studying about apples in our home school curriculum. We made some apple cider one day and yummy apple crisp another day. Today we read a book about Johnny Appleseed. I had told them the story before and I was surprised how much Joshua remembered about him. I guess they're paying more attention than they appear to be. Anyway, after we read the story today, I suggested that the boys act it out. Now, getting them to act out stories is surprisingly not easy. Joshua loves to play imaginatively with his Little Einstein characters, but his play is almost always based (even if loosely) on one of the books or movies he's seen. So, reading a new book one time, then acting it out is not a preferred activity, no matter how much coaxing from Mom. Luke usually just follows Joshua's lead and Joshua seems to not be able to do impromptu acting. It's like he needs to be really familiar with the story before he'll agree to act it out. Sometimes I can talk him into it if I feed the "lines" to him. Apparently today he was okay with it (and maybe the more we try, the more he will be comfortable doing it). So I had them each wear the "pot hat" and carry apples around while we talked through the story. They got into wearing the "pot hat" and wanted to run in to show Daddy. Here are some pictures...

Friends and Enemies

Okay, so maybe "enemies" is kind of a strong word for the relationship between my two oldest boys. Yesterday they were best friends. They came into the kitchen laughing and holding hands, playing so sweetly together. I commended them on their brotherly unity as they ran off dragging each other down the hall. Now, lest you think I have perfect angels (5 minutes in my home will convince you otherwise very quickly), the cute holding hands thing is a first for them. They have been playing well together more and more, but they are just as often at each others' throats. At least 50 times a day one of them comes crying to me because the other one hurt him. If there's no blood, then I send them back to play some more. If it keeps happening, I separate them. And almost every time they get separated for being mean to each other, they beg to be able to keep playing together. Go figure. I cherish the hand-holding, laughing moments, believe me. And I do hope that my boys grow up to be best friends after all.

Not to leave out the smallest brother... Micah is wanting to play with his big brothers more and more. Luke is usually good about playing with him, chasing him around and making him laugh. Unfortunately Luke tends to get carried away and too rough with Micah and Micah ends up crying. Luke is forever apologizing to Micah because he usually doesn't mean to hurt Micah, he just does. Often. But, no matter what, Micah just keeps going back for more. In the afternoons when the boys are having their movie time, Micah will walk up to Luke and toss a book or toy at him because he wants Luke to toss the toy back or chase him. It's really cute. You can just see the playful look on Micah's face. When neither brother pays him any attention, Micah will head to the kitchen for the home school cabinet that is beside our table. The bottom shelf is full of puzzles and things that the boys can play with at the table. Micah finds great joy in pulling out as many things as he can and making a huge mess on the floor. Though it's kind of a pain to have to pick it all up, I know that one day I will wish for these days. It won't be long before he's doing everything with the two big boys. I'm in no hurry!

School Update

We have several different kinds of "school" that we refer to our household. A few weeks ago I started using a kindergarten curriculum with the boys for our home school. This consists of "morning school" which involves both boys and "afternoon school" which is just Joshua. "Morning school" is more activity-based and lasts about 45 minutes to an hour. We say the Pledge of Allegiance every day after we begin with prayer, and the pledge has turned out to be their favorite part of school. :o) They totally get excited about standing up in front of the flag and putting their hands on their hearts to say all those big words. "Afternoon school" is more focused on kindergarten-y things for Joshua (who is now 5), concentrating a lot on fine motor skills, reading, and writing. We also do some math activities and Scripture memory together. This also only lasts about an hour; we do it when Micah and Luke are taking naps. Of course, I mustn't forget to mention "recess" for "afternoon school", since it's Joshua's favorite part. In the middle of our school work, we take a 10 minute break where I play whatever he wants to play. We set the timer and play until it goes off, then we get back to our school work. So far this has turned out to be very positive and motivating for Joshua.

Our newest version of school is called "local school" and it's actually a preschool/kindergarten here in our neighborhood. The boys just started going this week for the first time. It's just 2 hours a day, but they are totally immersed in the local language and playing with local kids who don't speak English. The school itself is a pretty impressive setup, housed in a big 3-story home. They used the Montessori methods of teaching, which I've seen on the internet, but haven't really researched much. Right now they're not really following a curriculum because it's the summer, and most of the kids won't really start coming back until September. They only have about 12 kids or so now so it's really more daycare-ish. But the boys are still being exposed to the language a lot. I hope they're not too overwhelming for the staff since they can't speak any of the language. It must be a little frustrating for them (the staff, I mean). The hope is that the boys will start to pick it up quickly so that communication will flow more freely. :o) We're also hoping that the boys will be more comfortable when they meet local kids on the playground and at the park. We'll see how things go. Right now they're pretty excited about going because there are LOTS of fun things to do there. I hope they stay that way! The first day we were trying to give them last minute pointers, like how to tell the teacher if they had to go potty and important things like that. But the boys just wanted to play and weren't really interested in listening to our advice. The teacher kept looking at us like we should just leave them because they were going to be fine. :o) It's a big step for Mom & Dad, too!