Lick Creek Park

We have been waiting for the weather to turn so we can resume Saturday morning "hikes" here. The kids got pretty tuckered out, but sadly, it was me that won the prize for saying "I'm tired of walking" the most. In my defense, I was baby wearing a 20 lb baby! We found some cool fallen trees to climb, and a little shelter for nursing babies and family photos, apparently. I totally look like I have my eyes crossed in this picture, but I resisted the urge to delete it and remember this is a memory I want to keep, crossed eyes and all!

Bronius is trying to "train" the boys for their first camping weekend....in a week. Did I mention none of us have really done anything remotely close to camping before, other than girl scout camp and a weekend on the guadalupe river? Wish us luck!

Hot Shots

Milo is doing his 3rd round of Hot Shots Soccer and he's not as jazzed about it as he used to be. Which means I carry a couple candy corns in my pockets for rewards. :) I'm thinking once we start big bro in soccer in the Spring that soccer will become more of a family affair! At any rate, we caught some photos on a good day when he participated. Jonas even clapped for him!

"Look what I can do" night - Milo edition!

It was Milo's turn to show us his favorite things at school this past Tuesday, and it was cute watching Dominic re-visit his favorite things too. He showed us cutting, spooning and building jobs, and then we saw his little garden plot too. Milo made a new bud in the adjoining classroom and apparently, they get to alternate working in each other's classrooms since they work so well together. We're so happy Milo is discovering his gifts and enjoying his school, teachers and friends!

NYC 2011 trip

Bronius and I have siblings & other family members that live in major cities, San Fran, NYC, Chicago and Florida. We have wanted to travel for a long time, but young children and limited finances have held us back. Well, we got restless and tired of waiting around, and decided to brave NYC and visit my brother and Bronius' sister. We wished we had time to visit other friends there but time went so quickly there. The trip was awesome, and we were blessed by helpful family who watched the older boys for us at home while we were away. We feel more confident about toting small children around major metros now. One place down, several more to go! We had been to NYC 10 years earlier and taken care of some of the more touristy things, and so we wanted this trip to be more spontaneous and relaxed. I wish I had more pictures, but this all I can pull up for the moment :) - dinner is cooking!


Day 1 - arrive after a looong day of travel. Settle into hotel, and then venture out on the subway to the Museum of Modern Art where we saw many favorites. Somewhere we missed Starry Night but saw a bunch of others. After taking Art History in College,I was a kid in a candy store. Going to museums is my favorite way to spend my time. My brother Steve gave us a short walking tour of 30 Rock, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Square & Plaza, and then we had a delicious Italian dinner at Alfredo's. Rode in a crazy cab home, pregnancy nausea is nothing compared to that experience. I definitely prefer walking or taking the subway to get around! In other news, I lost 5 pounds from walking alone! And yet I ate everything I saw! I want to live in NYC!




Day 2 - Steve walked me through Little Italy, Chinatown and the Shopping District. I went to Canal Street and haggled for some jewelry. I have to work on my negotiating. We had soup dumplings at a little restaurant in Chinatown where I made a FOOL of myself trying to use chopsticks without impaling myself. And we had to be sitting at a crowded round table with a lovely traditional Chinese family. No pressure. Later we had coffee with Milda, Bronius' sister, at a beautiful, tucked away cafe. We took Jonas to a park and then went out to dinner again - get this - at a place called Silver Spurs. HAH! Can't get away from Texas! :) Later we tried crepes at a local creperie - chocolate and raspberry for me, grand marnier for Bronius. Then we retired like old foagies by 11pm while the rest of the city was just kickin' up.







Day 3 - We spent with Bronius' sister and family. We visited in their lovely loft apartment on Wall Street (occupy wall street protestors were actually sleeping and so it was apparently eeriely quiet) We spent time with the kids, Erazmas and Zina and then packed into a rented minivan to drive through out of the city and into the country where we got to see the leaves changing! What a beautiful experience! We went to the kiddos summer camp Fall Festival out in New Jersey and had a picnic together. Weather was gorgeous, everyone was all smiles. We stopped for a hike through the Palisades, an incredible nature preserve on the border of NJ and NYC, cliffs overlooking the hudson. We drove home and enjoyed a cool city tour on the way back in. Met Steve for a bit of Greek food and then went to bed early again! (by early, 11pm!)










Day 4 - We were flying out on this day. I had planned to see my best and one of my oldest friends Khania on this day, who lives in Brooklyn, but we could not coordinate it. I plan to make a separate trip just to see her, one day! We walked through Times Square, took touristy pictures, went to FAO Schwartz, stopped at St. Patrick's Cathedral to light candles and pray, and then we had some classic NY hot dogs in Central Park. We were being serenaded by a jazz musician and we sat by the water with a full view of the Plaza hotel. It was gorgeous.

Pumpkins

Busy D

This is our busy boy. He comes home and jumps into something right away after school. Been keeping Mommy on her toes since he could move!


Working on an etching activity he earned as a prize from his piano teacher.


And a bonus shot of little brother batman with his "matella toast" (nutella toast). The most interesting people show up at the breakfast table sometimes.

Fall work day at Aggieland Country School

We enjoyed going as a family to Milo's school this morning for the Fall workday, a nice tradition where the school's families come together to wash windows, do gardening, repairs, prepare school materials and have a nice lunch picnic together. Dominic enjoyed showing Milo his old favorite things to do at school and enjoyed rediscovering his old jobs. Oh how I wish we could afford to send our children to Montessori all through primary school! After lunch, Bronius took the big boys to St. Francis' church festival and blessing of the animals. The kids wanted to bring the fish along, but we decided he'd be safer at home. :) Pictures to follow soon, I hope!


Milo working on pouring job.





Dominic showing Milo a sifting job.


Took this picture since it reminded me of an earlier time, when a much younger boy stood here and washed/dried dishes:
(press play twice on video)



A summary of some of the things Milo will be working on this year.

THE MONTESSORI MATERIALS
The Montessori materials cover the development activities designed to meet the needs of the child in five curriculum areas:-
Practical Life Skills

Developing concentration and hand/eye co-ordination
The activities develop concentration and co-ordination of movement. It includes exercises such as pouring, spooning, threading, sorting, cutting, dressing frames (buttons, buckles, hooks & eyes, bows), opening and closing (bottles, padlocks, boxes). Apart from teaching the basic skills needed for everyday life, they also promote independence, introduce the child to mathematical concepts (such as volume) and encourage the child to correct their own mistakes.

Sensorial Apparatus

Combining and grading cylinders in height and diameter
Our sensorial materials help children to develop their five senses. Some of these are: The Pink Tower; Cylinder Blocks; Colour Tablets; Sound Boxes; Smell Jars; Touch Fabrics and Geometric Cabinet. The sensorial materials provide concrete experiences.

Mathematics

Combining sand paper numbers and quantities
Dr. Montessori carefully designed the maths materials to give the child a sound understanding of numbers and their relationship. An idea is always introduced in a simple and sensorial way so the child can see, hold and feel a number or a concept. Gradually the child is led to a more abstract understanding. The mats material includes number rods, sandpaper numbers, seguin boards and golden beads.

Language

Practising writing letters and shapes in the sand tray
Language materials take the child step by step through all stages of language development; including oral expression, writing and reading. Sand paper letters are used to teach the sounds of the alphabet to the child. When the child knows all the sounds a phonetic reading scheme is used which is graded in difficulty; the pink series (three letter words), the blue series (longer words) and the green series (phonograms such as ‘sh’ or ‘ch’).


Matching sand paper letters with initial sounds of objects
Cultural Subjects

Experiencing celebrations from around the world - Chinese New Year
Cultural Materials introduce the child to geography (using globes, puzzle maps etc..), nature studies (life-cycle games, matching cards), art and music.

http://www.cranbrookcastlenursery.co.uk/materials.php

Childrens museum and Aquinasfest

We took advantage of a free museum day to visit the Children's Museum and see some of its new exhibits, and had a yummy lunch afterwards! Although I have no pictures of our parish's annual festival, we also enjoyed the family dinner and dance at Aquinasfest that evening, and the carnival and games on Sunday. Happy weekend, happy family!

Catching up

So...what do you do when at long last, big brothers are at school but the baby skips his morning nap? It's now too hot to take a walk outside, but you can't write your article now that there's a crawler on the prowl. So, you ignore the little voice telling you to clean the bathrooms and you decide to blog instead. And then happily surrender to playing on the floor with a cute baby. :)



Uh oh, here comes trouble!



Independent reading is much more fun with a flashlight in your bunk bed :)



Tickling the ivories.



Enjoying the morning view of the backyard.



Race car painting. Best idea ever!