Lent

Well I am headed off onto a radical journey that I am hoping will bring me closer to Jesus. Tomorrow starts lent...40 days of sacrificing as Jesus did for us. I am giving up Facebook for 40 days and when my desire is to sit in front of the computer on FB instead I am going to grab my bible and read and become closer to Christ.

I ask that you take the challenge with me. 40 days of no FB but 40 days of becoming closer with your Christ Savior.

Why doing Lent is what we need — because it leads us to Christ:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” -Ephesians 2:8,9

Reading Update

Well Ellaree of course is still going through leaps and bounds with her reading.  Here is what her teacher emailed me yesterday....

So I talked with [superentendant] and he feels that rather than move Ellaree up to First grade or use all the first grade materials at this point we should instead just find her reading level and increase her reading fluency. Mrs. C [first grade teacher] has done an assessment on her and has pulled a book for her try at home. If you can read it with her tonight and give me some feedback, we will know if we are on the right track or not. If we are, we will send several books at her level and you can use them for as long as she is interested, then we will switch them out. Mrs. C will also get her reading level on the Accelerated Reader program and we will send some things for that, too. With that, she will be able to take a test after each book to see what she is comprehending while she is reading. We will let you know when we have that running. So anyway, if you can read the book that is in her folder and let me know how that goes, I would appreciate it! Have a great afternoon~ 

 

After school when I picked up Ellaree I talked with her teacher and she gave me a print out of her Accelerated Reader Program diagnostic report.  She is at a 1.5 level which indicates that her performance is comparable to that of an average first grader after the fifth month of the school year.  Clearly she is ahead of the game.  We agree with the decisions that everyone has made in this and are so happy to see that they want and are willing to push her along.  Of course she had no problems with reading her book.  She was even able to tell Harry about the story that night at supper about 2 hours after reading the book. 

 

Ellaree also got her report card last week.  She is of course getting lots of great marks and we are so very proud of her.  She gets super excited when she brings another book home from 1st grade so I am happy about that. 

 

We are gearing up for Lorelai's birthday party celebrations for next weekend.  She is super excited.  Lorelai has mastered her ABCs except for maybe 3 letters.  She can spell her name and we are now working on tracing the letters of her name and the ABCs.  She loves doing "homework" like Ellaree.

 

Harry is getting his colors down.  Not so much interested in shapes but we will get there.  He also has picked up on some ABCs by watching and listening to Lorelai.  He wants to be doing anything that his sister is doing. 

So Many New Things....

So many things have been happening lately...good and not so good.  I can't say horrible because that just couldn't be so when you have the Lord Savior Jesus Christ in your heart and life.  So here we go.

Wednesday and Thursday Harry was in Eagen, MN at an AMS class for work.  I had posted around early November how he was the only one in the Westby branch to be chosen to go.  He came back with a lot of knowledge and very excited to implement it.  Although the kids and I missed him very much we handled being away from him for one night. 

Thursday was Ellaree's leader day. She was super excited as she wanted to take Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins to school.  Since there was no school Tuesday or Wednesday due to ice and snow she had to share her day with two others but she was good with that and lots to tell.

Ellaree came home Thursday with this award from Ms. Johnson.  It is for completely her "sight words" for Kindergarten.  She has been working on these along with 1st grade sight words.  She was so excited.  She is the first one in her class to receive this award.  We are so proud of her.

 

On Friday I was to order new beds for the two littles and for our bedroom but due to me coming down with the 24 hour flu I was unable to call and order them.  I just have to say that the Lord knows when you are going to need some major help as Harry got home Thursday evening and in the middle of the night is when I got sick.  I am so thankful I have a husband who dropped everything for me and picked up with the regular routine and ran with it.  He only asked a few things to make sure all was well.  I was so thankful.

 

Sunday we went to church as a family as Harry didn't have to work. YAY!  Did I mention we started attending a church closer to home.  Nothing wrong with the church we were attending but this one is much closer therefore we can get the kids for more activities.  Plus this has a wonderful children's church during the service therefore I (we) can listen and get more out of the service as well.  The kids are loving children's church and I am loving the wonderful worship time.  Thank you Em for inviting us to your church!

 

After church we headed to Arcadia to Ashley Furniture to pick up the new beds that I was able to order on Saturday.  With Harry working two jobs and going back to school I asked if we could take some burden off of him and buy beds instead of him making them.  He agreed and I was on it before he could change his mind.  :)

Lorelai's new bed

Harry's new bed

Our new bed

 

I have always dreamed of having a sleigh bed and now I have it! I am super excited to sleep in it tonight.  Although once put together it is really far off the ground.  I have to almost jump to get in since I am so short.  The kids told me I might need to get a foot stool like they have.  haha

 

Well all the kids are tucked sweetly into their beds as they are all exhausted and ready for some rest.  I am signing off to go spend some time with my wonderful husband.  Have a wonderful night to my fantastic family and friends.

Ellaree's Tooth

Ellaree informed us on Saturday that she had a lose tooth.  She has been saying this since she went to the dentist in early December.  The hygienist said that it was starting to be loose but it would be some time before it came out.  So I didn't pay much attention to it.  Then she showed me how wiggly it was and it was quite wiggly.  Then it started bleeding when she would play with it.  She worked on it all through church service and didn't eat much at lunch since it hurt too much.  Then she was watching a movie and all of a sudden I hear a very excited "MOMMY" and I new!  She is super excited and is expecting a dollar from the tooth fairy tonight!  What high expectations she has.  haha  Here are some special pictures we captured on Sunday.

Wiggling the tooth back and forth

Pushing it out with her tongue

Seconds after she lost her tooth

And the tiny tooth!

Ellaree decorated an envelope for her tooth to be put in so that the tooth fairy could find the tooth

The backside of the envelope

And a letter to the tooth fairy...I have this hid in her baby book for later.  It is just too cute to throw away.  Here is the translation...

 

Tooth Fairy I like you forever thank you for taking care of my lose tooth love ellaree

Ellaree's Class

Ellaree's class sturgeon was named George.  Ellaree informed me when I asked her "George passed away.  He is in heaven with Ariel Fish Young".  I love that her school introduces the kids to the outdoors as much as possible.

What Is New?

I have not had much time lately to blog.  I have been trying to upload pictures of the kids bedrooms after we got done decorating them and it is not letting me.  So we move on with life.

Lorelai and Ellaree both were down for about two days with flu symptoms.  These were different then what I have been hearing that is going around school so it makes me wonder if we might get it harder later.  I am crossing my fingers and praying we don't.  Amazingly enough Lil Harry, Harry or me got it.  I am not convenienced that it is over.  But I was thankful for my sanitize wash cycle on my washer.  I did about 13 loads all together of bedding and clothes.  Really makes you feel better when you know that 98% of the bacteria is being washed out. 

Ellaree went back to school today.  She still seemed tired but she insisted on going.  It has just been eating her knowing there was school going on without her.  I did try and do mini school lessons with her and the other two while she was out.  The little ones really got into it and asked to do school today.  So we worked on Lorelai's alphabet.  Recognizing the letters with a puzzle while Harry did colors.  It was only about 30 minutes for their attention span but it was quite fun and hope this continues. 

I recieved an email from the first grade teacher that Ellaree was back today for more reading.  Her teacher is suppose to talk to me about some options of getting her to first grade reading.  The only obstical is that first grade reading is during Ellaree's math time.  So I am sure we will need to work out some fine points.  But I am sure that Ellaree is on the highest cloud today after getting to do that.  She loves her reading and has excelled very quickly in it. 

It seems as Harry is gearing up for spring planting already as he is putting in some long hours already to get everything ready for the farmers.  At the end of the month he goes to Eagen, MN for AMS training for two days.  He has also gotten all his paperwork in to do online courses through UW-Platteville and finish up his degree.  He will start in February and will be taking three courses.  Where he will find time for this I am not sure but somehow he will make it work, I am sure. 

Harry's 2 year well check

Harry had his two year well check today.  No one at the clinic can believe he is two already. There are days I still can't believe it myself.  The time has flown by.  This morning as we were getting ready for school and clinic visit Ellaree says to me "mom tell Dr. Nancy I am sorry I couldn't come but I am just too busy".  Dr. Nancy completely understood but I thought it was quite cute & very mature for her.  My how the kids are getting older and wiser already.  :) 

Here are Harry's stats for today...

Weight ~ 24 lbs ~ 11%
Height ~ 34 1/2 inches ~ 50%
Head 19 inches ~ 38%

So he is doing a lot of growing but not so much gaining - a typical boy at this age.  We had blood drawn for lead which is routine and we are up to date for immunizations therefore no shots until his Kindergarten visit!  We were very happy with that.  No crying today during labs. 

Next month is Lorelai's turn.  I kept reminding her of this as she was telling "Bub" what he needed to do.  She is quite the little mother.