Homeschool

When people ask Goldie about school, Josiah always pipes in and makes sure they know that he is in what he calls, "homeschool." The first week it was easy. He made me do it. Now I have to get a little more sneaky. So today we talked about the seasons. He drew pictures:

For winter he drew ice and an upside down snowman.
For spring he drew the tree and the circle in the middle is a bird. (I did add the trunk for him.)
For summer he drew a pool with him in it.
Then, for fall he drew a leaf that has fallen down.

After this we went on a walk to search for signs of fall. Here is what we found:







Josiah and I both had fun taking pictures and finding that autumn has truly descended upon the mountains of West Virginia.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We are having a baby! Our due date is January 31.

A couple of months ago we decided to tell the kids this announcement. We told them one summer morning while we were all still warm and cozy in our bed. Before we could finish our discussion Goldie jumped down and quickly drew this picture:

I'm not sure if you can see it, but because we did not know whether it was a girl or boy, she drew two little heads in the upper right hand corner. She also drew the the placenta and my rib cage to show the baby's current home.

On August 30 we went to the doctor's office here in Princeton. Because of a moment of weakness I had earlier, Mike said he was going to find out what the baby's sex was. (This is the first time we've found out before its arrival.) After the technician's announcement there was much sadness on Goldie's part, but soon she got over it and came home to draw her therapeutic art. Thus, a picture of the baby's sex:

According to her the baby is crying because it just came out of the womb. Notice the head in the upper right hand corner now depicting it's sex. My hesitancy in posting this second picture it the other obvious sign that it's a boy. However, it is rather amusing and Mike said that I should, so I did.

At the family reunion this summer Rollin said if it was a boy we would have Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Now we just gotta get ready for this third bear's arrival. He's a comin! We are thrilled and excited.

Josiah and Stuart

In Goldie's absence Josiah and Stuart are learning new things, adjusting to the absence of their sisterly influence. Nearly every morning the three of us go for a walk and then we come home and start our day. It includes lot more "boy" activities than it used to. For instance:

Wrestling...

and spending lots more time outside. (Our yard looks much better than it has all summer!)

But occasionally we still indulge in the pink!

And finally, in the last week Stuart's picked up a new habit. He is constantly asking me to read to him. But it is so much fun. I laughed when I was fixing dinner a couple of nights ago and Stuart came into the kitchen with a laundry basket filled with books. I knew exactly what he wanted, with his "Read...Again...Again!"

Goldie's off to School

Goldie is in school. She is gone from 7:20 in the morning until 2:15 in the afternoon. We are thrilled and excited for her and yet we miss her a lot. But she is learning so much! They've made it through the alphabet and now are beginning to study the letter "M" this week.

She has already learned to read the words I, can, and we. Today I get to go and tell stories at her school. Josiah is going with me. I'm not sure who is more excited Goldie or me. She loves school!

Across the Country...

...in California, Josiah discovered he could climb trees.

He climbed with cousins whenever he got the chance.

Both Day

And Night. Since we've returned to our homeland, he continues to search for trees to climb. His one big success is our apple tree in the front lawn, but we have to shoo him out because he knocks down all the lovely "almost ready" apples. If there were only such easy climbers here like he found there.