See Jack Read

Jackson is just learning to read. It is wonderful to hear him sound out words and try to create them when he is writing. I just started 23 lessons ago (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann) and his confidence is growing. He is also writing his name quite well. I am realizing that I should have started teaching him this stuff a lot earlier. Next year he will be in kindergarten. How do these children grow so fast?!

I was thrilled to see the Bob Books at Costco this week for $9.99 a set. They have these books at the library, but usually with a tremendous amount of holds on them. The books are a fantastic introduction to reading and give children a chance to hold and read real books that are at their reading level. I bought all three sets. As mentioned in a previous blog, I have a problem when it comes to passing up children's books.

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."

~Joseph Addison

Roller Skating

I took Jackson, Kennedy and their friend, Aria to lunch and then roller skating yesterday as an extension of Kennedy's birthday. It was Jack's first time, Kennedy's third, and Aria was already a pro since she has a pair of those skate-shoes at home. There were a lot of falls, a few tears, and hopefully some good memories made.

I guess some things never change...or at least not that much. Going to the roller rink today was a blast back into my past. They still play the YMCA song, have couples skate, reverse directions, and of course...The Hokey-Pokey.

The Hokey-Pokey~ The girls had fun doing it, so I guess that's what it's all about.

I was so proud of Jackson for his perseverance. He fell a lot, but kept getting back up and trying it again. Way to go, kiddo!

"Failure is not falling but refusing to get up."

~ Chinese Proverb

Celebrating Seven

Yesterday was the big SEVEN for Kennedy. She started out her morning with a surprise birthday banner in the bathroom.

After a delicious breakfast of strawberry waffles and "whoop" cream, we were off to the Woodland Park Zoo. We were especially excited about the beautiful spring weather that God had in store for us.

In the Rose Garden Gazebo

The children LOVE playing in the African Savannah.
The huts and little village seem so realistic.

We were in for a treat, as the giraffes were playing close to the observation deck today. The baby and her parents were twisting their necks together as if they were hugging.

Kennedy sketched a giraffe and zebra scene on a canvas that she hopes to paint soon.


Next, we picked up Dad from work and headed to the Seattle Center.We have never done the zoo and children's museum in one day before, but since we have memberships to both, it seemed like a great birthday-like thing to do.

Kennedy's restaurant of choice for dinner was the Spaghetti Factory.

We walked to the Sculpture Park after dinner and enjoyed the art, bubbles, beach, and time together.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

2 Corinthians 9:15 (NRSV)

Birthday Girl

Today is Kennedy's seventh birthday. Never has seven years passed by so quickly. The tiny newborn that I once held in my arms now stands as tall as my shoulders. She is beautiful on the inside and out. She loves art, dancing, reading, history and science and making up silly jokes. Her favorite books are the historical American Girl series. She is a loving big sister and precious daughter. We thank God for blessing our family with our sweet Kennedy.

Easter Sunday

Since we attended our church's Easter service last night, we were able to have a leisurely morning at home. We started off by making these resurrection rolls. The children took large marshmallows (representing Jesus) and dipped them in butter (symbolizing the perfume that was poured on Jesus to prepare Him for burial). Then they rolled them in cinnamon and sugar (representing the spices that were placed on Jesus before He was left in the tomb). Next they placed the marshmallows in pastry dough and pinched them shut before baking. When they came out of the oven, the little "tombs" were empty! The children searched for hidden plastic eggs downstairs. Watching them was a real hoot!

The children were amazed (and the parents were perplexed) this morning to find plastic eggs scattered about our lawn. Honestly, we did not place them there, so it remains a mystery. Jackson's first theory was that they came out of the sky, then he decided that his new friend down the road might have hidden them there. Kennedy suggested that perhaps one of our neighbors did it. Also not a likely theory, since we do not know our neighbors very well. Certainly not well enough for them to have scattered plastic eggs with money in them! The children ended up with about 3 to 5 dollars each. The boys plan to use their money to buy Cow Chip cookies and Kennedy is setting her money aside to buy hair rollers.

Later we went to Auntie Angie & Uncle Ron's house for a delicious Easter meal. Gramma Karen brought a cake to celebrate Kennedy's birthday which is tomorrow! It is so great having more babies in the family. Karsten is absolutely adorable. He helped make Easter even better this year.
It was a chilly day. But we managed to get an almost-family-photo (dad is behind the camera) before we came in for the evening.

Orienteering With Ompa

Today we went orienteering with Ompa. It was just our second time trying out the sport and Ompa's first. Based on our last experience, I went ahead and chose Course 2. The last time we did a level two course it took us about 30 minutes. Today it took us 2:09:17. It was certainly more challenging than last time. But we had a lot of fun. The children were armed with their yellow compass-whistle-thermometers and ready for an adventure. The children played at the park for a while after we finished the course. It was fun watching my dad push them on the swings. I remember him taking my sister and me to the park when we were young. When he gave us "under ducks" on the swings and I remember my tummy doing the roller-coaster-tickle. As I watched him do the same for the kiddos it made me smile.

We went to lunch at a local pizza parlor. I really enjoyed talking with my dad and having him spend extra time with the kiddos. It was a very special day.

Tonight when the children said their prayers, Kennedy and Jackson thanked God that they got to go orienteering the Ompa. Harrison said he was thankful that Ompa went hunting with us.

P.S. I'm thankful that my dad had these photos e-mailed to me since my camera didn't have a disc in it!

Good Friday

We have been talking about the last days of Jesus' life this week. I have a special set of plastic eggs that holds symbols that remind us what Jesus was doing throughout the week. For example last Sunday was Palm Sunday, so inside the egg was a small plastic palm tree and tiny toy donkey. I read to the children from the Matthew 21:6-11 where it talks about Jesus riding on a donkey and the people waving palm branches and laying down their cloaks. The children acted out the Bible story by laying down their own jackets and Jackson gave Kennedy a ride over them. Harrison waved the paper palm branch that he made in Sunday school and shouted, "Hosanna!"
Today is good Friday. Inside the egg, the children found a small wooden rooster (representing Peter's denial of Christ), a sign that reads, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews," a sponge, nail, and small thorn branch. While reading and acting out the account of Jesus being crucified, the children handled the crown of thorns that my sister-in-law made me, and tasted vinegar like that which Jesus was offered just before he died.


It was such a good hands-on lesson to remind us of what Jesus did for us. We are looking forward to Easter to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord!

Happy First Day of Spring

We celebrated the first day of spring yesterday by dying spring eggs. We have been doing it on the first day of spring for several years now. It is something fun to look forward to and a neat way to mark the changing of the seasons. Our friend, Isabella, joined us for the tradition.

Later that night we were invited to my mom's house to celebrate the Iranian New Year with her family. Her mother-in-law, Ferry, is from Iran where they celebrate the first day of spring as the first day of the new year. She made a wonderful Persian feast for us all to enjoy.