We have been busy, busy, busy as you can imagine! I will catch you up on what we have been up to:) This past Friday, we had no plans (yay!), so I took my 4 girls that are home with me most days to a beautiful spot not far from our house. It has nature trails, a beautiful lake, and tons of pretty things to look at. We took paper bags for my little ones to fill with treasures from nature. As they would pick things up and put them in their bags, I would tell Alona the items names in English, and she would repeat then tell me the Russian name. I also had Alona bring the camera so that she could practice her photography skills. As I have said, I know that I am biased, but it amazes me how creative her eye already is in her photography. She took some fabulous shots, and I have to share a few with you, of course!
I took this one (obviously)....the rest are A's
Saturday was homecoming at Ouachita Baptist University, which is one hour from our hometown. My father just so happens to be the president of this university, and so I go down for the homecoming football game and Tiger Tunes each year. Tiger Tunes is a performance put on by the social clubs on campus in which they dress in themed costumes and dance and sing. They make up their own lyrics to popular songs, and compete against each other. It is quite entertaining and raises money for their student foundation. This year, I was excited to get to take Alona. She was not just over the moon excited about the football game, but she endured it with a Dr. Pepper and popcorn. If you ask her if she enjoyed Tiger Tunes, she will tell you that it was "ok". I'm sure when she understands our language better, she will enjoy it much more. This year, it was just kinda weird to her...which I totally get:)
Go Tigers!
Sunday morning we went to church, and that evening had dinner with Ryan's family. We took Alona to a local frozen yogurt place for dessert, and she enjoyed a big bowl of birthday cake frozen yogurt topped with just about every form of chocolate topping they offered.
Today, my little ones had MDO, and Alona and I spent the day at Aislynn's school decorating the kindergarten common area for their Math and Literacy Carnival on Thursday. I think it turned out really cute, and have to thank my sister for coming to help as well as 3 other fabulous kindergarten room moms. Oh...and thank you pinterest for the cute idea and to all of the kindergarten kids who made the adorable corn husks!! I am beyond thankful that Aislynn goes to such an amazing school that makes learning fun. I feel blessed to be able to volunteer in several different capacities at her school..not the least of which is room mom for her precious teacher Mrs. Geurin! Alona was a trooper and dove right in to the decorating. She did a GREAT job!!
As for her schooling today, Ryan drilled Alona on her multiplication. She did awesome and even worked up to answering his questions in English...yay Alona!! I printed off a lapbook about Halloween for her to work on this week. Halloween is not a "thing" in Ukraine, and so I thought now would be a great time to teach her about this strange holiday that we love so much in America. Today, I had her read several pumpkin facts in English. I wanted her to flex those English reading muscles. She did a really great job. I do not expect her reading comprehension to be great at this point, but I do want her to practice reading so that she becomes more comfortable with it. We then translated the facts into Russian and she wrote them on the back of the facts sheets. Tomorrow I am going to quiz her about the facts we talked about today. Do I really care if she knows the history of pumpkins? No!! But, I do want her to practice memorizing facts, which is my main reasoning behind quizzing.
Trying to make multiplication fun:)
For Bible, she is starting to read the gospel of Luke. I decided to start on the gospels since they give so much insight into Jesus' life, and with Christmas right around the corner, what better time than to read about him!
Coming up this week, Alona will start working with a speech pathologist, attend ESL classes, learning the states that comprise our country and their capitals, and learn where they are on a map, continue to work on English, Bible, and Math at home, as well as her nutrition. We will also dive into spelling...starting with the English names and spellings of numbers.
If it sounds like we have it all together, let me assure you...we don't! I still feel like I am floating around with no clear direction with home schooling, but at the end of each day, I can honestly say that we have at least accomplished "something".
Had to throw this pic in...the jar is full of Arabella's treasures from the nature walk. I just love how she arranged her finds!
I have to brag on my other babies for a second. They have each dealt with the change in our family dynamic superbly. They adore Alona, and she loves them right back! They are all doing so well in the stages of life that they are in. Aislynn is excelling in all areas of kindergarten. She came home today and told me all about Christopher Columbus and his 3 boats:) She is such a sponge, and loves to learn! She is ALL about her school, and I love hearing every little detail each day. Avalea is in pre-k and is doing awesome! She is our little problem solver and can play any game, solve any problem, build any fort better than most adults! Her pre-k class is learning John 3:16 this year, and she came home today and recited the whole verse to me without any prompting. I am one proud Mama!! My little Arabella will be 3 next month and I just adore her sweet, goofy self. She is in her first year of dance, and we got to go in at the end of class today to see a routine they have been working on. She is quite the little ballerina! She did a fantastic job in the routine. So sweet! My little Adalaise is 15 months already...how can that be!?!?! She is yet to be fully walking, but will take a few steps for Alona:) Her big ole toothy grin will light a room. She is my little doll baby, and I just don't know what I'm gonna do when she doesn't want me to rock her to sleep anymore!! ( Don't worry...we plan for her to be the baby of our family forever;)).
At the end of each utterly exhausting day, I fall into bed with gratitude for the gift of my family. I cannot imagine my crazy life being any other way, and I wouldn't change a thing....well other than having to battle ants every once in a while or having to clean up after our dog that likes to throw up on our carpet on a regular basis..but hey...life isn't perfect!!
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