Is It Naptime Yet

Language Experience is the method I’m using to teach Lilah to read and write. ( We’re just in the reading phase right now.)
My friend Beth was once a teacher, now she’s very against public schooling. Her two daughters have been homeschooled for about  five years. The oldest being 15 the youngest being 10 or 11. I love her daughters and they are wonderful people.

Anyhow- here is the process, thus far, for  teaching Lilah to read.

– We write a story together each week. (She tells us what to write down.)
– We read that story throughout the week and the other ones when she wants.
– After at least a week of reading it we put the story on strips of paper. They’re first by sentence. The child   puts the sentences in order. (We do this with some stories but not all of them since we write a new one each week.)
– After feeling comfortable you then cut the sentences into individual words, or what I did the first time was into two to three words per piece. They put those in order.
– Then cut into individual words to be put in order.
– After they’re in individual words they can also serve as flash cards. Some words will be above the child’s ability to read so when she is stumped I say. “This words is …. What is this word?” and we move on.

These are pictures of Lilah with the second story we’ve put into words strips. I had it in the sentences and right away she asked for them to be cut up in individual words.
This was the first time she put it together.

She put it in order correctly the first time.

She seems to enjoy reading her stories but is sometimes reluctant to put the words in order. I’m going to bring her binder with us so we can have it on hand for practicing during this trip.

I don’t know if it’s because we’ve started doing this, or just because we’re focused on reading more but I see her reading things out loud more often. “Back to Menu” “Tom Thumb is small” “The girl jumped” are phrases she’s read around the house from shows, books, and the computer.

We also read a verse in the Book of Mormon each night. I have her read the words she knows and I read and she repeats the other words. She’s also learned a lot by us doing that together each night.

Lilah stuck a plastic confetti from her pencil holder up her nose. Ya know, the hole punch you have to remove yourself for some pencil holders to put them in a binder.

Jon’s taken her to the Quick Care  because I am not fit to be seen in public. Sure I’ve taken a shower today, it’s just I just pulled my hair back and do not look as nice as I would like. He said I was better with this insurance stuff and I had the “sexy housewife look.”
I’m sure I’m just sexy to him and he for whatever reason didn’t want to fill out insurance stuff. Plus I needed to supervise dinner. Jon doesn’t know how to tell when meat is done and I have a turkey loaf in the oven

I guess it has been a year since Eden stuck stuff up her nose so it makes sense that Lilah has to learn not to stick things in her nose at the ripe ol’ age of five.

And it’s a new deductible year too. I wonder if I’ll have any more moles that need to be operated on? We should get full use when we pay off our deductible and I’m not having a child before June 30, 2009.

Children. So curious.

UPDATE

The nurse didn’t see anything so she sent us to Sunrise, as in I took Lilah to Sunrise Hospital’s ER so Jon could get some stuff done, and since it specializes in pediatric care .
That doctor didn’t see anything and tried using a balloon device, as input the tube down the throat, inflate a small balloon at the tip and pull up to see if anything would come out.
Nothing came out and he still didn’t see anything so he said more than likely it just went down her throat into her stomach with the normal snot.
It’s still a waiting game to make sure everything is alright. If she gets a runny nose then we need to take her into a specialist, or if she gets a really bad cough, then we go back to the ER ’cause it’s in the lungs.
Better safe than sorry.

I just hope if any complications happen they manifest them self in the next 24 hours because the girls and I are going to Idaho with my parents on Thursday and out of state hospitals are no fun when it comes to insurance.

I think I’ve used this tittle before. Now I’m talking about Lilah not going to school ’cause she’s at home with me and I guess I will never have a moments of peace away from her.  No, she ain’t really that bad. And depending on what year around track she’d be on she might not have started school till September, like my niece and nephew this year.

There is a slight loss that I feel. I’m not experiencing the tug of heartache of my child growing up and going out on her own. I’m not feeling the emptying of my wallet as I would have needed to buy her new clothes. I’m not waiting for her to come home to tell me what she learned or who her new friends are or who hurt her feelings.

Oh wait, I kinda like that I get to keep her home with me and watch her grow and become independent in a secure environment. I’m happy that I don’t have to buy her new clothes, though she already has a lot of clothes already so she may have gotten two outfits. I’m happy that I get to teach her and praise her and that I can be there the moment she’s hurt.

Homeschooling is not for everyone, I’m not sure I’m completely for homeschooling, but I am happy that I can keep her with me rather than wake up early and have to take her to school.

That’s my main concern, sleep. 😉

I am feeling sad that she’s getting older. I want them to stay small forever.

For the unschooling group last week, as in on Wednesday the 20th, there was a party to celebrate not going back to school. Everyone brought something for a potluck and there were bubbles for the kids. I brought some bubbles we had from home, but the big hit with Eden and Lilah was the home made bubble solution. Someone had brought fly swatters, which Lilah loved, and cookie cutters for blowing bubbles. The girls had tons of fun and Eden got covered in bubble solution. Luckily they weren’t scared of the water features at this park and I was able to rinse them off before getting in the car.

I forgot my camera, but one of the other moms, Tara, took the following pictures.

Additional thoughts: I knew there were water features at this park, but for the last two parks they had not gone into the water. The previous parks had water that would come from the ground and would squirt in different patterns and since the girls saw no predictability they did not want to play in them.  This water came from stationary statues of seals and once it was on they knew exactly where it would be, no surprises.

I didn’t go to this park prepared for water play since they had not played in the last two, but I did go with the mind set that if they got wet, oh well, I guess I’ll just be taking home wet girls. Lilah played in the water and was soaked, Eden played a little but mostly got soaked by the bubble solution. I rinsed them off, took them home and gave them a bath once in the door. I think going there with the mindset of “it’s okay if they get wet” helped me avoid any anger towards the girls getting wet. (I am a bit of a control freak about that sort of thing at times.) Also being around such laid back woman helped me to not be upset at Eden getting so soaked by the bubble solution. Of course it helped that there was water there to rinse her off with and that she wasn’t freaking out while I cleaned her off. I think I get a little tightly wound and this particular group of woman are not, so I’m able to relax and let the girls be kids. I think they have a calming influence over me as a mother.

Also, I’m getting a little more comfortable with some of the woman in the group. They all seem very nice, but it’s easier to talk a select few for me. I’m trying to open up a little more and find out what I have in common with them. The kids around 7-12 are more in their  own world and associate well with one another. There are kids around Lilah and Eden’s age so that makes me happy that as they get older hopefully they’ll have new peers to associate with because right now they mostly ignore kids their age since they have each other to play with.  I was really impressed with the teenagers in the group because the seem really nice and were very aware of the littler ones, i.e. they blew bubbles with my girls and tried to include Eden in a game of hide and seek.

With being away from my house so often I feel like I’m back in my college days. It’s always a mess and even if I “catch up” in one room, there’s always another mess waiting. I think it’s starting to take a small toll on me and my desire to clean. As in I only do the bare necessity. Dishes when we need something to eat off of, laundry when we need something to wear. Life is busy and when I’m home I’m lazy.

Monday was the dentist.
Tuesday I was home and I did cleaning in my kitchen and other areas.
Wednesday I had the reading/writing class I’m doing with Lilah with my friend Beth. I think I’ll have to write more about it later because I’ve only vaguely talked about it in my blog.
After the class I came home, made cookies and went to a local park for the unschooling group.
The girls had tons of fun, a post to come later with pictures.

Thursday I hung out at home for the morning. Doing more of the bare minimum house work or maybe I was reading blogs to avoid housework. The days become so blurry. That afternoon I went to my sister Kristi’s house to watch her kids while she had some doctor appointments.

Friday we went to Nancy Skinner’s house, a woman in our ward, for some water fun. She and her husband had a huge inflatable water slide for their grandchildren and she invited some of the moms to bring our kids over and have fun. My girls didn’t do the slide, but once the trampoline was free from bigger kids they jumped on that. Nancy had a sprinkler underneath it to keep it wet and the girls had fun bouncing each other.
I was home for the rest of the day washing laundry and doing other random things.

Today we had family pictures. We went to the JC Penny portrait studio at the Galleria Mall and really liked the photographer. In the past we’ve gone to the Penny’s at the Boulevard Mall, right after Jon’s gotten off of work, but the last two years portraits just weren’t very good. (Our original photographer went out on her own and it was just too expensive for us.) As long as this photographer stays there or an equally qualified one does the portraits I think we’ll continue to use Penny’s. We’re spending a high amount for the CD so we’ll have the rights and will be able to print out whatever portraits we want, and you want, possibly for a small fee if you want more than one ’cause this CD cost us a lot, but there won’t be any regrets that we didn’t buy a copy of this or that pose. Jon’s also a sucker for originals and I am just hoping we can find a nice but cheap place to print out the photo’s.

Now I just need to go over my church lesson before Jon and Eden come home from their date. She wanted to go to the Library, but her nap went to long, so she asked to go to the Springs Preserve, but it was also a little late, so he took her to the temple, ’cause she’s been asking to go. I think it’s funny that he took her to the temple to walk the grounds for their date. I guess it shows his support for the girls decisions. ( I love you honey.)

Update: Now that’s it’s past midnight I’m finally getting around to posting this and I still have to finish going over my lesson. I’m just not feeling it this week so hopefully it goes well tomorrow, I mean today.

I guess it’s time for bed.

Luckily we’ve been able to visit my sister Andrea and her husband Brien once a year since they’ve moved there.
It’s always fun to just visit them and enjoy the delicious food they feed us.

This year we went camping with them at Great Basin National Park at the Wheeler Peak campsite. We were about 10,000 feet above sea level. It was beautiful but the night was very cold. I’m not sure how low is got, but Ely is around 45 degrees at night and they’re only 6,200 feet above sea level so I would say 35 degrees is a safe estimate, if not modest.

We got to the campsite a little before 5 on Friday night. Andrea and Brien had camped there the night before so they had done some hiking that day. We went on the short nature trail to see how the girls might fare the next day. It was fun and we decided later that night that we would attempt to do the 3 mile, round trip,  Bristlecone Pine trail that Andrea and Brien had done that day on Saturday.

While on our nature hike Brien made dinner. A delicious roast with veggies. We then roasted “smarshmallows“, according to Eden, for smores. Lilah had about 3 smores and 3 marshmallows. Eden had less because she was too busy going done the hill next to our camp with her little lantern. Brien said she was brave and that as a kid he would have never attempted to go that far in the dark.  It was only about 30 feet, but he would be scared because his father would hide in the bushes and then scare them as kids. I’m not sure if we are nice or not cruel parents for not scaring them and letting them be brave or if we’re boring for not having more fun and scaring the wits out of them in a dark campsite. (We do play games where we scare them at home, but I think we try to not scare them in new situations that might scar them for life.)

We extinguished the fire and went to bed around 9, I think. We had a lot of marshmallows and the girls kept saying how tired they were. I think they just wanted to get in the tent since we had banished them once the sleeping stuff was laid out so it wouldn’t get too dirty.

It was a very cold night. Jon and the girls appeared to sleep fine but I woke up pretty regularly due to my cold face. My eyelids were so cold that it had the affect like I was sleeping with my eyes open and they felt miserably dry. I had to go completely into my sleeping bag or cover my eyes with a shirt to keep from waking up from the cold.

That morning while getting dressed Lilah said it was too cold of a campsite. I totally agreed. Eden awoke around 6 am so, so did everyone else in our tent. It was fun.

We had some granola and Andrea heated up water for our apple cider. It was a cold but beautiful morning. We, in which I really mean Jon, started to pack up after breakfast so we could go on the hike later that morning. Andrea and Brien had a church activity that evening, which Brien had been put in charge of, so they had to go home to Ely while we went hiking.

The Bristlecone trail was beautiful and we saw a couple does as we started the hike. We also saw a doe on the way back. The girls did the hike fairly well. Lilah and I were wearing new shoes so our feet hurt. (I know we should have worn them before the trip to break them in, but who likes to wear shoes in 100 degree weather. She had to get new shoes because her feet had grown, and I needed new shoes because my current shoes hurt my feet because I have weird feet and thus mostly wear flip flops.)

Jon completed the hike but the girls and I rested while he finished the last 10 minutes, which would have been 20 minutes with the girls. (We had no idea how much longer the hike was, we just knew we we’re close to the end. It turned out to be pretty rough right before he got to the Bristlecone Pine grove so it was better that we had waited.) While waiting we ate trail mix and talked to passing hikers.

Jon carried Eden for most of the return on the trial. She was really tired so he carried her and then would have her walk and then carried her etc. I stayed with Lilah and we talked and sang a few songs, and made up some songs. Eden also made up songs which she sang to Jon. She loves making up songs when she’s by herself.
The weather was perfect for the hike. Since we were in the mountains there was always a cool breeze. It was perfect for long sleeves.

It took us 3 hours to hike the 3 mile hike. After the hike we packed back into the car for the drive down the mountain. We ate at the cafe connected to the Lehman Caves visiting center. We haven’t taken the tour yet, and hopefully we can next time we pass through Ely.

After eating we headed to Andrea and Brien’s. Showers and the comfort of electricity awaited us.  I stopped by the Church activity for food that evening and took Zarina back home so Andrea could help clean up. I enjoyed the Olympics while we waited for them to return home.

The girls shared a room with Zarina and Jon and I were in the living room. We didn’t have the air mattress pumped up enough so whenever he moved I woke up and whenever I moved he woke up. It was a warmer, but still restless night like the night before.

Zarina started making noises a little after 7 am so I checked in on the girls. Eden was awake and Z had seen me so I had no choice but to pick her up. I watched her until she got a little more fussy and then gave her to Andrea around 7:30.

We had breakfast and since church wasn’t till 1 pm for them we were able to visit that morning. Lilah and Eden loved Zarina’s toys, I guess I only need baby toys to keep them entertained, and Eden said she didn’t want to leave Ely. Too bad for her because we left there around 11:30 am.

It was a nice visit and I always just enjoy being with family.

I slept like a rock Sunday night. I don’t remember waking up or turning over till that morning. I was so tired that the bathroom light hadn’t awoken me when Eden went in there sometime that night. Jon found her asleep on the bathroom rug with the light on. (We sleep with our door open for better air circulation and normally the bathroom light is too bright for my eyes.)

Thanks for having us and bringing extra camping gear Andrea and Brien. We all enjoyed it and the girls are telling everyone about their adventure to Ely.

Here’s a video of our trip.  (The song is by They Might Be Giants and is called ‘C is for Conifer’.)

Today, Monday, was my girls first visit to the dentist. Yeah, Lilah’s five and I just never worried about it. Luckily I had nothing to worry about and both their teeth are in great condition. Lilah’s baby teeth have nice gaps, so there should be room for the adult teeth. I’m so not looking forward to when teeth start falling out. Plus, since we don’t do Santa I’m pretty sure we’re not gonna do the Tooth Fairy, but I think I would like to do something special when her teeth start falling out, I’m just not sure what yet.

Eden said she wasn’t nervous at all and Lilah I think had a little nerves, but they both behaved wonderfully and did a great job. I had my appointment before them so they could watch the hygienist polish my teeth and prepare them for everything. I honestly think it was the moving chair that made them the most nervous, not the instruments in their mouths.

It also ended up being a family affair. I asked my MIL to help watch the girls while I was getting my teeth cleaned and while they weren’t able to be in the back with me so she was there and then so was Jon. I reminded him of the appointment  while talking to the girls Sunday night and he then voiced that he wanted to be there. He wasn’t feeling too well this morning so he went to work but decided to take a sick day and was at the dentist office for the visits. We usually try to give Jon a day to recover from trips, we returned from Ely yesterday, but with the new position we were hoping he wouldn’t need today, or Monday,  to recover since it’s a more time intensive position. I guess we’ve learned our lesson and know that he needs a day to recover and we just have to factor that in.

They were able to choose a prize from a treasure chest since they behaved so well, though I’m sure even kids who don’t behave get something.

Lilah chose a star shaped slinky, she had never seen a star shaped slinky, and Eden chose a teeth clip with a magnet on it.

Happy girls after a dentist appointment.

I’ve decided Trader Joe’s is one of the friendliest stores I’ve been to. The employees are friendly but so are the customers. I think shopping there you know you’re apart of a small group of people, that’s growing mind you, who try to be more aware of how the eat and what they consume or use, so people are just a little more friendly to each other. (Kinda like camping this weekend. People at the surrounding campsites were so nice because we were all there enjoying life and it was easier to be nice for some reason. Though my BIL, Brien, said people are friendly because they don’t want you to steal their stuff, but the hikers we encountered were also friendly. 😉 )

Today I went to Trader Joe’s for a short trip and my cashier was so nice, which they all have been. I was shopping for my friend Sam also and asked for two separate transactions. He said sure and said how nice it was that I was getting things for my friend. He even gave me a ton of stickers to give to the girls when I asked. Then in the parking lot my shopping cart got away from me and it started rolling down hill at a high speed. I didn’t notice right away and I had to chase it so it wouldn’t hit the car it was aiming for. I caught it about 4 feet away, luckily there were no cars in the parking spots it rolled through, I would have felt so bad had I not noticed it missing soon enough. As I was taking it back a gentleman commented on it getting away from me and he finish taking it to the cart return area for me. I said thank you and went home happy knowing I had nearly caused and prevented a disaster, but also because of the friendliness I had encountered.

I really like Trader Joe’s. It’s just a happy place to go to.

Today while at the jewelers my girls were playing rather loudly in the kid play room across the store from where I was. The middle aged woman helping me asked if those were my children and I said yes. (I had kept looking that way and had there been any other customers would have gone and hushed them a little.) She asked how old they were so I told her 3 and 5. She then commented on two years being a good age difference and her boys being two years apart. At one point she commented that she missed the young ages and that 5 and 3 are such fun ages.

I love the ages my girls are at, but lately I haven’t always enjoyed being a mom. I wish I could remember all the good rather then the bad some days, like those who no longer have young children.

Then at Old Navy an older woman held the door for me while I tried to have Lilah and Eden quickly follow behind as we left the store. They always seem so amazed when a stranger holds a door for us and they just stare at them as they slowly walk through the door. I urged the girls to go faster and the woman laughed as she joked “Oh, yeah right.” in a very kind way.

As we got ready to walk to the car she then told me how cute my girls were and asked how far apart they were. I told her two years and their ages and she told me her DIL was just expecting her second so her grandchildren would be two and a half years apart. I commented that I thought two to three years apart is perfect for playing and getting along. She agreed and then said she also wanted this new grand baby to be a girl, it would be their second girl. I replied how I love girls and agree that they are the best, in my opinion. She then asked for the names to my girls since they’re trying to get ideas on names. I told her Lilah and Eden and she went off thoughtfully repeating Eden’s name a few times, since they already had a London she informed me once I said Lilah.

Part of me would love to know the outcome of her developing grand baby’s name. If it was a girl would her DIL consider Eden, or would she think it too old fashion? My sister Carolyn thought Eden was a grandma’s name and that we should have named her Eden’s middle name, which I won’t post due to privacy. It didn’t flow to have the middle name first plus Jon and I really loved the name Eden, so she became Eden.

There’s been some discussion on names due the the last Stephanie Meyers book, which I just refuse to read because that’s all anyone can talk about and I just don’t like to read books when they’re so popular. I’m strange I know.

Back to the name topic, I’m also a bit of a name snob. I love unique names that aren’t crazy, but just not used, but still pretty. Of course I think Lilah and Eden are beautiful names, though some I’m sure do not.

I rarely care about other people’s children names unless it’s something really odd, strange, or the whole ‘lets give a crazy spelling to a popular name so they’re different’ thing. I like simple and unique for my own children, hence why we will never have an Aaliyah, even though Jon loves that name. It’s just too hard plus we have a Lilah and I find them to similar. (I’m considering Roxie for a girl name, Jon loves the name Roxie and it’s starting to grow on me with it’s unique strangeness, but I think it will still have to be a middle name, though he says he would call her Roxie even if it was a middle name.)

Lilah will probably have to say, Lilah with an ‘H”, but the h is there because it’s Hebrew, not because we ‘just felt like it’.

Eden I’m sure will have to repeat ” ‘E’ – Eden not Aidan” for part of her life, I’ve already had to do that. Of course I always have to say” Lacey with an ‘E’ “and “That’s B-lake, with a ‘B’, not Lake.”

I also find my name odd because I don’t think it’s a ageless name, ageless in the way that I think it fits younger people but not grandma’s. I don’t ever think of a middle aged women or elderly person when I hear Lacey.
Jonathan is ageless. Lilah I feel is also more of a young name, like through high school, and then it’s a grandma name. I had a few old ladies tell me that had never heard of the name Lilah except for one friend they had. Apparently they all knew the same Lilah. 😉

I think Eden is also ageless like Jonathan. Maybe it’s because she is young to me and I can see the name being for any age, but I feel it’s a name that fits all ages.

So what age is your name or your children’s? Do you think it fits every age, or iss it a good youth name, or is it a good grandma or grandpa name?

When people tell you they miss having young children do you wish you had selective memory like they obviously do? Because it couldn’t have been all good, all the time.