E turns four!

Today (at 3:29 p.m. Central Time to be specific) E turned four. To celebrate, we had breakfast with family and friends.


And yes, that is a slab of watermelon, not a cake. What can I say, we're weird parents!

Poem

So I've been a little lazy getting to the blog...my parents are in town, and I've been crafting up a storm (all part of my handmade holiday pledge). I did want to share this poem another friend just shared...for all the birth junkies out there:

My baby's not a library book,
so she's not overdue.
My baby don't take long to cook,
coz she's not veggie stew.

My baby's not an elephant,
and I'm not fit to burst.
The time and date aren't relevant,
we're blessed with days, not cursed.

My baby can't read dates as yet,
because she's very new.
So there's no cause to fuss and fret,
if she don't come on cue.

So stop your worry,
stop your asking,
there's no hurry
we're relaxing
in this golden pregnant time,
this pause, which is just hers and mine.

You leave us be, we are just fine.

© Rachel P (Wales)

Merry Christmas if I don't get back before hand. I should have lots of pictures to share after the first of the year!

My boys

Baby L at 6.5 months, with his daddy...

Mmmm...cookies

Thanks again for all the suggestions and recipes from the previous post! Here's my final result:



The swap was great fun...and I've been eating cookies daily (breakfast, snack, dinner - no joke) since Sunday! I also have more recipes and if you need any, I'll help out next time :)

Quick - Cookies!

Anybody have a fabulous cookie recipe to share? I'm headed to a cookie swap on Sunday, and must bring nine and one-half dozen cookies. Yes, 114 cookies. I found a recipe for mint chocolate cookies I might have to make, but if you have a favorite that wouldn't be outrageous to make times 114, let me know!

(and yes, H and M, I'm just now thinking about it. but worry not, I'll show up, cookies in hand!!)

Oh, and by the way, I'm making NO pretenses about "healthy" for this event :)

Promotion!

C was moved out of Montessori primary and into the elementary classroom! In other words, she just got promoted to first grade...that's the beauty of the Montessori though...it's not actually grades, and she'll just keep learning at her own rate. This is a fantastic opportunity for her - she LOVES her new class, has already made two "best friends," and is doing multiplication and lots of "challenging work," unlike in her old class. Don't get me wrong, her old class was great, but she was the "top dog," and without kids to push her, her schoolwork was pretty much stagnating. The new class has kids ages 6-9 (more or less), while the primary was for ages 3-6.

We were blessed with a fantastic primary teacher (Miss K) who has been guiding C from the beginning. When the school moved Miss K into the other primary room, she realized it was time to get C into the elementary. In two days, I'm already seeing a difference in C's work and interest. Her new teacher, Miss M, was also amazed at how quickly C adapted and is thriving in the new class.

Family crafting

The girls and I did these last night:

I got clear glass bulbs and cheap-o acryllic paints at JoAnn. I removed the "lids" and we dripped paint into the bulbs, then swirled them around. It takes a surprisingly small amount of paint (as I realized after the fact), and a little bit of patience to let the paint swirl around inside. We left them drying overnight in egg cartons, and these were the final results!