In One Year

Last year we decided to put Annalise and Hudson in public school after Gabriella's birth, they went into the 2nd and 1st grades at our neighborhood school and did great! Sayde and Gabriella enjoyed the extra time to me all to themselves.  It's been so long since I made time to write a post that the last time I wrote we were still homeschooling. Rochester is a homeschool friendly community from what I've heard, and I know we could always go back to that from what I've been told, but also feel like it would be unfair to bring them back and forth, changing our minds every year.  We are lucky and blessed to have a good school district and neighborhood school. It was still busy. I felt like they needed more friends and teachers than just me. They adjusted so well. Annalise did extra well in nearly everything, especially math. Hudson grew in his reading and writing skills.

We have recently celebrated some birthdays and events. Jeremy turned 41 and caught up to me again. Hudson turned 7 and has matured in so many ways. I went into his bedroom to tell him goodnight and found him reading a book in his bed as usual...he had his new superman baseball cap on and was reading Richard Scarry's Please and Thank You book about manners. What a little man!

Gabriella, who we call "Gabs" fairly often now, is 11 months old and is fully walking and toddling all around our house, and outside, and saying "mama" all the time as she coos and hums so sweetly. She gives hugs and is so affectionate. She is also a sensitive little one. When we have told her "no-no" to something she's getting into or climbing up on she cries, so we turned it into a little song to make it sound less scary but I think she still catches the reprimand. She's an adventurous little girl and I'm so blessed to be her mama.

I think I kind of did an unintended social media fast, not because I really wanted or needed to but simply because I can't keep up with that with four kiddos age 8 and under! Now that it is summer they are in and out of the house constantly and playing so hard. It may be awhile before I can catch up again with all the sites that my friends and family use so often. I'm not going to push myself to hard. I just want to enjoy and cherish my family and friendship relationships in a more real way.

A Sunflower

Since Jeremy is blessed to have a first-ever paternity leave available for him to take, the kids have been enjoying lots of daddy time lately...they've been doing math schoolwork and receiving rewards when they finish each unit. We've taken them bowling, to a movie, and next will either be a Honkers baseball game or to bounce world. It's been a very special time.

Yesterday Jeremy was out doing some yard work with the kids in the back while I was indoors with Gabriella. I heard Sayde come inside for a few minutes and then go back out, then I heard some squabbling out the window. I looked out and saw Sayde and Hudson arguing by the sunflower growing up against our fence in the back yard. It was taller than either one of them. Sayde had brought out her little step stool from the bathroom upstairs and was apparently trying to pick our one and only sunflower! Hudson was telling her not to and trying to keep her from it. Jeremy told her, "if you leave it alone it will grow taller than Mommy." So she said , "oKAY, but I can still pick the OTHER flowers over there!" pointing to a yellow flower bush outside Hudson's bedroom window.

Sayde loves picking flowers outside. Nearly every day she brings inside not only flowers and dandelions she's picked for me, but also pine cones, sticks, grass cuttings and pine needle branches. She sure loves nature!

Family Trip to a Lamb Farm

On Friday we went on a homeschool trip with several other families to visit a lamb farm in Wisconsin. We spent the day learning about llamas, sheep, and stock dogs. All kinds of other animals were on the farm too. They raised the lambs mostly for their wool, and the llamas are also shorn for their wool. We had a great time in the fresh air and sunshine!

Pretty barn with lights and decorations

Nice big sheep dog!

She loves the lambs!

Went on a hike up the hill to see the little cabin

Homeschooling Stateside

Last year in Shanghai was our first official year of homeschooling our kids. Annalise was a kindergartner. For two main reasons we made the decision to start our kids out homeschooling. First, we were not "high budget" and couldn't afford kindergarten or international school tuitions. Second, and maybe more important of a reason for us, we have always had a family goal of being together. This becomes especially important if any kind of ministry is involved. While often kids can get left out of their parents ministries and plans, we have always sought to involve them as much as we can. So, rather than sending them away for 6 to 8 hours every day, we have enjoyed the privilege of teaching our kids at home with us. We love to travel together as a family and have the flexibility to do that, exposing our kids to the world in a much more positive way. As a married couple, we think it's also important to travel together. Jeremy and I have enjoyed going on outreach trips together. When we went to Brazil many years ago, Annalise was only 16 months old and we were gone from her for 10 days! We could have brought her with us, but since it was a little over a week we decided she would be happy with Grandparents. It worked out well.

While we were in Shanghai, we were told by one of Annalise's sunday school teachers that she is very assertive. Our homeschooled daughter is assertive and can speak her mind in a class! Hudson also has bloomed in many ways at home. He is very creative and comes up with all sorts of inventions around the house. Sayde has learned to talk and say so many words from being around all the schooling and talking going on at home. She has learned so much just from watching and playing while we do school.

Homeschooling last year went so well that we have decided to continue it stateside this year. Hudson is now Kindergarten and Annalise is in 1st grade level of her schoolwork. We still love the Sonlight Curriculum and all the books we get to read together. However, instead of attempting to write as if I have to defend homeschooling and how superior my own kids are to non-homeschooled kids I will tell the truth. Nearly every day it is a struggle, sometimes over many hours, to get my kids to stop playing and do their schoolwork. They hate sitting down and doing handwriting or copywork assignments. My kids are probably not any better behaved than public schooled kids, while many homeschool blogs brag about homeschooled children being better. Because of the struggle, it takes many extra hours of the day to get their work assignments completed. Many times Jeremy has to work with them on a Saturday to stay caught up with their weekly schedule. I won't know how they are really doing until next year when at least Annalise is due to test. I am hoping that she is at least in her grade level. Maybe she will be ahead. I don't lack in confidence that Jeremy and I can homeschool our kids successfully. I just want to be sure that what I write about is for the right motives. And we are still quite new at this. I don't want to brag when I still have so much to learn.

There may always be this conflict I have inside that I'm not allowing my kids enough opportunities to be "salt and light" in the world, Daniels in a very secular culture, and that I am sheltering them too much. And it is a legitimate concern. Every year we will probably ask the question, are they ready to be greater influencers of those around them than they are at being influenced (by the world)? I imagine that I am saving my kids from all the pimps and sexual molesters out there waiting to nab them. But even homeschooled kids can be vulnerable to abuse and molestation, as apparent from the recent national news. It could happen in the church, despite safe haven policies, especially if people go unreported and undealt with. Our purpose isn't to shelter our kids from making choices for themselves. But what we do want to shelter them from is those who would not allow them any choice. Whether my kids are homeschooled until high school or college, or only for their first few school years, I want them to grow up free.

Recess time on our hill

The kids' first snowman of the year

My little superheroes on Halloween

Our cozy wood-burning stove, which in learning how to use this thing prompted a homeschool tour at the local firehouse. I am all about safety and rules! 

Jeremy and I on a date at Silver Lake

At the beginning of our school year, in our new house

Sayde turns two!!

Yesterday was Sayde's birthday, and one of the first things she did that day was swing in her favorite swing that Gandy hung from the tall tree on the hill in his and Gamma's yard. It was lunchtime and we needed to go inside, but she didn't want to stop her swing short of the normal 45 plus minutes. She threw a fit back inside the house and screamed, hugging my legs and trying to knock me over, "I want swing!"

Finally I brought her back outside with her pizza slice, and she ate it happily and peacefully as she swung gently in her swing. I got to take some pictures of the kids while they all had fun swinging. Hudson likes the rope swing best. Annalise is learning how to pump her legs and swing herself. It's hard when the swing is so high, hanging from the tree branch. They're not your everyday swings at the playground!

When she finished her cauliflower pizza slice, she held out her bowl and asked for more, happily getting out of the swing that time to go inside for another slice. That after noon we had a family party for sweet Sayde with her cousins, Oma, Opa, aunts and uncles.  Here's a few photos from the day...

By her second birthday, Sayde already can sing "Jesus loves me this I know..." and all the rest of it. She can say "honor your mother and your father," one of Annalise and Hudson's memory Bible verses  this past year. She mixes in a few Chinese words with her English, "where zai (在) Daddy go?"  She can also say "hello kitty", "oh my goodness!", and "I want my own bed." Although, she still has to fall asleep next to Mommy first. And she still nurses as much as any younger baby. She could be nursing until she's three!

Birthday Celebrating

Yesterday was my husband's 39th birthday. This is Jeremy's last year, and mine, in our 30's...And today was our son Hudson's 5th birthday. We took a drive to the pretty town of Lanesboro and rented some bikes for a 10 mile bike ride, and then buying some bikes for Hudson and Annalise on the way home.

In our car ride we had plenty of time to talk. We talked about how old we are...I can remember when I was in woodworking class in the 7th grade, getting my 80's permed hair stuck in the drill and having the instructor help take the drill apart to get it out, all frizzed and singed. And the stuck-up girls in my home-ec class with their Esprit bags laying on the floor, stepping one on accidentally as I was flipping pancakes at the stove and one girl saying, "you're stepping on my Esprit." Later, I even had an Esprit bag. :)

Later, at home we sang and had Panda bear Birthday cake, chocolate cake on the inside with cream cheese frosting on the outside. Don't laugh! I decorated it myself.

We are loving the Minnesota summer and the green countrysides right now. Huge change from the cement and well-manicured gardens in Shanghai.  Though we will miss all the folks in the park doing their tai chi and group dances. I am so thankful we have the next couple weeks free before my husband's new job starts. I am so proud of him!

Annalise lost her front teeth, so cute!!

Here are some photos from our last week in Shanghai...

Sayde on the glass floor of the Pearl Tower

Our hilarious shoe choices that day

Annalise's favorite building in Shanghai

Family Life

We are having internet and computer time issues, so the most I can hope for in our blog at this point is to post a few pictures as fast as I can and talk about them a little...

This past week we had a leak in the pipe running to our washing machine, and the repairman could not come until a few days later. So Jeremy and Hudson put together a tube to catch the drips and drain the water into a big bucket sitting on the floor next to it. They made it with some masking tape, scissors, and an empty paper towel roll. I was so thankful that it was no longer dripping all over the floor and around the machine! So helpful! The leak is now fixed nicely with a new pipe fitting that allows you to turn the water on only when using the washing machine. Hudson is still very interested in pipes and plumbing, and concerned about leaks.

Hudson puts on his tool belt and looks down the drains with his flashlight.



Hudson and Annalise trying out their scooters at the park!



At 21 months old, Sayde now says
 "I want some of that," I git you," and she can say "I love you" in English as well as Chinese.

Right now the kids have some colds and coughs, and Sayde is still up next to me in bed squirming, twisting, turning and bumping my elbow at every second, unable to fall asleep. It is now 10:45 pm. Hudson and Annalise have fallen asleep already. They are still doing well with earlier bedtimes. With the family being sick this past week, we stayed home over the Mother's Day weekend and watched Danny Silk parenting DVD's. Sayde decided to do a somersault off our bed and ended up with only a scratch on her forehead, thankfully. Sayde was paying attention to Danny Silk and even picked up a few phrases, one of them "oh no!" Only those of our readers who have watched these and is familiar with Danny Silk will find this funny!