long time, no write

Sorry for falling off the blogosphere. We've been busy, but I haven't felt much like blogging. Still, I know grandparents and aunts and on occasion random strangers like to see photos and read updates. Sooo...here we go.

In early September, Nelson's parents blessed us with a trip to visit his grandparents in California. Sarah and Natalie got to see their grandparents, great-grandparents, and aunt and uncle all in one fell swoop! It was a wonderful visit, and we loved every minute. I need to get pictures of that posted, but they're still hiding out in the camera.

We've started school, and Sarah is doing a fabulous job. She reads extremely well and (just as important to me) loves it! She devours print right now--picture books, magazines, comics, and so on. She loves to draw as well, so I bought a book called Drawing with Children that she is excited to begin. She even seems to like doing math, which is a bit weird to me (I never enjoyed math). I'm really pleased.

Tuesday mornings we go to a local homeschool co-op at a nearby church. Sarah is in the kindergarten class, and she loves it. She looks forward to it all week, which I think is great. On Wednesdays, I have my Bible study at Celebration Church. This is another highlight for Sarah, who loves the children's class she gets to attend while I'm with the adults. (Natalie goes to both co-op and Celebration Church. She does well, but she's not really enthused about either yet.) ;)

Since I'm not sure these pictures ever really got posted to Facebook where anyone could actually view them, I'll mention that back in July Sarah did swimming lessons. A local college girl taught them at her family's house, in their private pool. Sarah and Natalie both loved the water! Sarah is still very much a beginner, but she showed a lot of improvement. Natalie absolutely could not wait for the end of the lesson each day, when "free swim" started, and she could get in the water too! I got so tickled at how excited she got each day as I put her swimsuit on her--she knew what that meant!

One of the other moms took some pictures for me, so I'll attach a few of them here, and then try again to get them to show up properly on Facebook! Ridiculously out-of-date photos are better than none at all, right?


All the swimmers practicing their kicks....




Yeah, it's a picture of me. Don't get used to it. Just focus on Natalie, okay?




I LOVE this picture of Sarah swimming underwater!




Miss Abi giving instruction...




Sarah never did get brave enough to jump off the diving board. But on the last day, she DID agree to jump into the deep end if Miss Abi would catch her. I was so proud--this was HUGE progress!

I can't believe...

that I forgot to post this! I have already written how Natalie loves to brush her teeth and will beg to do so ("Teeth? Teeth? Teeth?") Friday, however, she did something new and different and completely unexpected in the whole brushing teeth department.

We have a stool in the bathroom that Sarah uses so that she can reach the sink to wash hands and brush teeth. While Natalie and I were in the bathroom Friday morning, Natalie was playing near the stool. I didn't really think anything of it. As I got ready to brush my own teeth, Natalie started the familiar refrain: "Teeth? Teeth? Teeth?" I handed her her toothbrush. She shook her head and refused to take it. Weird. She continued to ask though: "Teeth? Teeth? Teeth?" I tried again to hand her the brush and again she refused. She was now starting to cry in frustration that she couldn't make me see what she was wanting.

And then I noticed it. She wasn't playing near the stool; she was trying to climb on the stool. I helped her up on it. Again she asked, "TEETH?!"

I handed the toothbrush. "Brush teeth," I encouraged her. This time she took it and said, quite clearly, "Like Sarah." She tapped the brush on the side of the sink, just like she's seen her big sister do.

She brushed teeth happily after that, just like always. And she has stood on the stool every day since then to brush her teeth..."like Sarah."

ramblings

Last night, I officially registered Sarah for kindergarten. The county school system went back to school today, and city schools started last week. Although we are homeschooling, she does need to be officially registered as attending school somewhere.

It was weird. She's not actually "going" anywhere (until September, when we start classes with a local co-op), but I still got a little teary-eyed going through the registration process. How did my baby get old enough to be in kindergarten anyway?

Natalie is now zooming up the stairs. She's quite pleased with herself.

I noticed Tara posted her grocery shopping results and a few menu ideas. I've kind of slacked off in that department. I've actually not been doing too badly though, as far as grocery shopping and menus go. It's funny; when you really don't have much money available, it really forces you to be creative and make the most of what you have. We've eaten pretty well, all things considered. Unfortunately, I don't remember specific purchases and prices, or even much in the way of specific meals. I know I bought a whole chicken. The chicken meat has already provided three meals, and I think I can get one more out of it. The bones will make stock, which will at least contribute to one or two more meals. Not bad at all!

I bought a "white whole wheat" flour last time I was at the store. I had been buying plain old whole wheat flour and white bread flour for my bread baking needs. But boy, did we love this white whole wheat stuff! So far, it's made an excellent loaf of sandwich bread and a lovely batch of rolls as well. I think I'm sold!

My friend Leah is challenging herself to go an entire year without eating out. I'm not that committed. I honestly enjoy eating out when I have the chance, and I know myself well enough to know I'd never make it a year. But I am learning to do a better job of finding a "Plan B" or thinking through what options we have on hand to come up with a tasty meal. It does take some creativity at times, since I can't eat most convenience foods, but I'm getting better at it!

I've been experimenting with whether it's better to plan a menu before I shop, or plan afterward with what I have on hand. Certainly a strong case can be made for either one! I've known incredibly frugal people who've done it either way. I'm kind of doing a mixture of the two right now. My Grocery Deals is a great resource. If you enter your zip code, it will link to the weekly sales ads for stores in your area. You can see what's a good buy and start making a list before you leave the house. Money Saving Mom posts store deals for just about every store out there (even combining them with coupons for the best savings), so I try to visit her site as well. Coupon Mom can also help with pairing coupons and sales, but I confess I find that site a bit cumbersome to use, and I don't visit there often.

Personal gripe: my favorite recipe search site was Recipe Zaar. I loved its ease of use. They have now revamped the site, including changing the name to food.com (how unoriginal is that?). I do not like it as well at all. I'm sulking. However, it never fails that if I like something, it either goes away entirely or changes beyond recognition. Blech. Okay, sulk over now.

As soon as Nelson sends me the pictures he got off the camera, I will post them here. So stay tuned!

more about Natalie

Natalie has added "mmm-hmm" and "play" to her repertoire (probably more than that, but that's what I've been able to pick out!). She also says, "Read." (She actually could already say this, but I forgot to put it on the list the other day!)

I've noticed that she says "Want down?" exclusively, whether she wants up, down, off, or out. She can be sitting on your lap and quite appropriately say, "Want down?" However, she can also be standing on the floor and hold out her arms for you to pick her up and say, "Want down?" Yesterday, she was in the Pack and Play and wanted out. You guessed it: "Want down?" Clearly we need to work on "up" and "out"!

If you're on Facebook, you can read this in my status update, but I'll put it here too. Natalie will eat Sarah's crayons if she finds them (leads to some interesting shades of color in her diapers). Apparently she wanted to save one for a later snack; I opened the refrigerator to find part of a purple crayon sitting on the shelf.

the second child

I've noticed something interesting: since Natalie has never been the "only child," she doesn't always know what to do with herself when she temporarily gets to be! One night when Sarah was staying with my parents, Natalie turned into an utter ham, enjoying having all the attention to herself.. Other times though, especially since Sarah has spent quite a bit of time playing with the neighbor's granddaughter this summer, Natalie seems a bit lost. She gets clingy and fussy. She'll play some, then fuss and cling some more. You can tell she really misses her big sister!

I think it's sweet, but I confess I don't really "get' it. I too am a second child, and I remember just enjoying getting to be an "only" once in awhile! Maybe it's because I have a brother rather than a sister? Or maybe because the age gap between my brother and me is larger than the gap between Natalie and Sarah? I don't know.

I think we've got a few pictures, both from the recent Fun Fest and from earlier this evening. Hopefully I'll be able to post those soon.

P.S. I thought of something else regarding Natalie and Sarah's "word lists." At 15.5 months, BOTH girls could say "Mike." ;)

Natalie says

When Sarah first started talking, I created a document to keep track of what she was saying when. I first started tracking when she was about 15 months old. Natalie is closing in on 16 months, so here's a list of what she can verbalize.

Dada/Daddy
Mama
Peep-eye
Bye
Hi/hey
Baby
Whoa
Wow
Uh-oh
Give (as in, "Give that to me!")
Teeth
Thank you
Please (This is new as of yesterday, and it sounds like "pea".)
How are you?
Wanna go.
Want down.
Wanna see.
What's that?
Bobby (We have no idea who or what this refers to, but she says it quite clearly, and she says it a LOT.)
Mike
Sarah
Ow
Wanna sit (She's only said this once, to Nelson.)

I'm looking at this list, and then looking back at Sarah's list. I really remember Sarah being an early talker, but her "words" list from 15.5 months is NOTHING like this! I had a list of thirty-two words that Sarah could say at that age, but they are just words--no phrases or sentences like Natalie has (and she has several!).

I'm thinking either I'm just better at deciphering the "baby talk" with Natalie (although some of these phrases are so crystal clear anyone who hears her knows what she's saying; a clerk at Wal-mart about fell over when Natalie asked, "How are you?"), or interacting with Sarah has taught Natalie more advanced language skills.

Whatever the case may be, it's interesting. I'll try to keep updating Natalie's list of words (and phrases and sentences) like I did for Sarah. It will be neat to compare them at various intervals!

Sarah and Natalie