Heard Today

The set-up:  Bryan is wrestling with Luci on the couch.  Luci is screaming.

Mom! Mom!

whispers to Bryan:

I'm not afraid to use her.

Luci-isms

This has been a productive week for my creator of Luci-isms (that's Luci, if you weren't too sure).

First:

Luci was in the bathroom, um, going to the bathroom, when I heard her yell hysterically:

Mama!  Come quick!  Mama!  Come quick!

I thought that perhaps she didn't get there in time and needed some help.

Mama!  Quick!  

She had a magazine in her hands, and said,

I think I read something!

She did, too!  She read part of a hair color ad.  She was so proud, and so am I.  It's been a long road, lots of phonics and sight words, and nearly every reading program known to man, and now the lightbulb has come on and the reading has started!

Second:

When Life gives you Lemons,

You make something with the Lemons.

Third:

JT and Luci were playing, when Luci came running and fussing to me.

Mama!  JT is saying bad words.  He is calling me names!  He said, he said, he said I was a (whispering this last word)   democrat!

School Work (?)

Today part of JT's schoolwork was to watch Thornton Wilder's Our Town.  (I am thankful for Netflix!)

He was so enthralled with the show, don't you think?  Here he is watching:

And, yes, that's Luci doing a "photo bomb."

What does Luci do when I'm busy with JT's schoolwork?  (besides tear up the house, I mean)

She does a little artwork:

I hope you can see that.  I told Luci that it looks sort of like Papa.

Papa?  Does he have a moustache?   yes

Does he have a hat?  yes

Does he have a demonicle?  after rolling on the floor, laughing, I said yes.

Reading!

It's not great literature, but it was great this morning to hear Luci READING this Dr. Seuss book to me.

We have tried every phonics/dyslexic program/method out there, it seems.  And it's all finally starting to click with Luci. 

I am so proud of her, and she is so happy and tells me, "My brain is clicking!"  We are over the moon about this scholastic achievement!

Chinese New Year Decoration

How to make firecrackers (not real ones) that will last several years:

First, you need a willing helper.

You also need Mod Podge (or white glue), paint brushes, toilet paper rolls and red tissue paper.

 

Paint the toilet paper roll with the Mod Podge, then wrap a piece of tissue paper around it.  Paint the tissue. 

 

While it dries, you can store your brushes and glue like this, so you don't waste the glue or waste time cleaning out brushes between steps.

When the first step is dry, cut a piece of tissue paper to cover one end.  You will want it to overlap.  Try to look bored, as Luci shows you here.

 

Paint it with the glue, and paint the sides where the paper hangs down--cover it well.

 

I added a second layer of Mod Podge to make this sturdier.  Be sure to let it all dry between coats.

Poke a  little hole in the center, and stick a short piece of yarn into the hole.  Put some of the glue around the little hole and use the paintbrush to apply glue to the inside, where the yarn pokes through.

We found some Chinese characters

and some stickers (I could not find and dragon stickers, boo hoo) and decorated the firecrackers.

Tape a length of yarn in the open end of the firecracker for hanging.

Decorate!

Ta-Dah!

I think they turned out nicely!

Characters came from this site.

Heard Today:

Mom, Who is Amelia Earhart?

And why is her middle name Air?

Dear Mom

Last Wednesday morning Dad called to let us know that Mom passed away just minutes before. 

It was not unexpected, but when you realize you will never see your mother again this side of Heaven, that is unexpected.

Mom taught me lots, from sewing, to baking, to taking care of a home, to taking care of a family.

Always in my heart.

Love you, Mom.

That last one makes me cry.  It's Mom and Dad together.

Mom, I really did like those biscuits.

Christmas Talk

Let the record show that I've gotten John a few gifts that I think he'll be really happy with, that did not cost much.  We are trying to spend less this Christmas (aren't we all?).

Conversation heard today between John and Me:

Me:  You know those gifts that are priceless, that don't cost a cent?

John:  Yeah.

Me:  Don't get that.
        Just something thoughtful, not expensive.

John, looking worried:  Huh?

Me:  Thoughtful, as in, my thoughts.  No pressure.

Santa's Village

Field trip yesterday...I felt so guilty for being able to do this with my youngest as the community in Connecticut had a nightmare unfolding in their midst. 


We went to Santa's Village in Huntsville's Constitution Village.  Everything was Santa-fied.  It was a lovely trip, and Luci lapped up all the Christmassy goodness.  She is such a total believer in Santa. 

Here goes:

 Group shot #1

 Group shot #2

 Santa's blacksmith

 The candy-making room

 Learning about customs in different countries...when Candy, our docent, told about Mistletoe in England, Luci said (very loudly), "Oooh, Disgustin'!"

 Making gingerbread cookies...this was a germy craft.  The kids were told to roll their dough up into a ball for the next group of kids.  Can you say, "Influenza?"

 It's always fun to watch a group of young homeschoolers get into a line.  Not something we practice at The Willingham Academy for Exceptional Children.

 Still sitting in a W.  That's something we were supposed to train her out of years ago...I thought we did, but here she is practicing again.

 Mrs. Santa reading I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell.

 Group shot #6 (there were others I left out, for your enjoyment).

 Finished a cute craft.

 Group shot #7...

 and #8.

 Reindeer!

Christmas Magic

Luci found a packet of Elf Seeds

 Directions:
1. Plant in Sugar
2. Wait overnight

 She planted...

They grew...

One more night of growing...

This was such a cute project.  I found a pattern for an envelope here.  The seeds look suspiciously like TicTacs.  

Family Matters

It's that time of year--time to get out all the Christmas decorations and figure out where to put them in our littler house.

Everything seemed to fit better in our previous home.  It was a bigger house, or at least it seemed so.  There was room for every decoration I lovingly made for our family. 

Now, it seems like there are fewer walls to hang things on (an open floor plan will do that) and I just don't really care to get it all out. 

Then came Luci.  She wants it all out!  She wants every inch of the house to look "Christmassy." 

I had to talk her into waiting until the Sunday after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas lights outdoors.  We don't do a whole lot out front.  We are not in a traditional neighborhood--we are out in the country and houses have quite a bit of distance between them.   

The appointed day came and went with Luci's protests.  "It's supposed to be TODAY!"  Finally, we had a day where Dad and one big brother were home to help.  Luci was not happy that we were missing one kid.  John dragged the garland and a little Santa and two reindeer from the basement and we set to work.

Big brother Bryan was at a friend's house.  JT was not wanting to participate, and sat on the steps telling us what we were doing wrong.  John wanted him to go inside, but I said that would just reward him by letting him play video games (which he would rather do) than help us.  So JT stayed outside and was miserable (and made us miserable, as well).  Luci was beside herself, since things were not going merrily the way she thought they should.

"It's a family activity!" was heard more than once from Luci. 

That's pretty funny, since I said that a long time ago--putting up yellow ribbons at the end of John's first deployment, I had a plan to put ribbons on each of the twenty trees in our front yard at our old house.  The boys were not helping.  I was frustrated and needed some extra hands.  I ran inside and told them (yelled, to be more precise), "This is a family activity!  Get out here!"  The yard looked great for John's first homecoming, especially nice since I had all that help from the boys.

What the yard looked like one year when we had snow:

Now we have green garland along the porch, but that's about the only difference.  Oh, and that it's 71* today and oh, I wish we had cold weather!  No chance of snow any time soon.

A few of the things we have out for that "Christmassy look" that Luci loves so well:

an advent calendar we got on our trip to Williamsburg in 2010

an advent calendar that I made in 1995 with instructions from Family Circle magazine

a Christmas card holder with a Mickey Mouse design, bought in 2007

Voting

Today was the big day.  I asked Luci if she wanted to come with me, to make sure that I voted for the one she wanted. 

Her response?

"You're going to vote for Mittens.  You won't vote for Obama because you don't like what he's doing to our country."

She listens.

John got his sticker--apparently his belly button voted, too.

There was a good crowd today!  Even though we already know who our state's Electors will vote for, it was good to see a good turnout.

This was from last week:  it was gorgeous, and I had to share!