today

Christmas Eve preparations, working hard, and beautiful satsumas.  That is all.  Recipe to come Monday.

raising arizona

My family loved the cult classic Raising Arizona.  There was a line where one of the characters tells Nicholas Cage, after he robs a convenience store with pantyhose on his head, "Son, you got a panty on your head."  Vicki Jo has been cracking me up lately with her panty antics:

family resemblance

You think they might be related?

this really happened

Just driving down Gallatin Pike, with my tiny dog in a crate on my crotch rocket, NBD, ya know . . .

tattoo baby

Like father, like daughter . . . she loves getting "tattoos" from her Uncle Matt (a family friend who is a tattoo artist).

heaven in a jar

Look for my cold brew coffee recipe soon!

happy hour

Probably most saw this on Facebook, but it cracked me up.  Vicki Jo and her friend Remy at Family Dinner last Sunday:

the ponytail

Except she says it more like "bunny-tail."

impromptu sorting

Sometimes when I think "Montessori," it becomes equated with "fussy" in my mind.  Like I need to pick the right time, with the right materials, in the right setup, to introduce an activity to Vicki.  But then I let the perfect become the enemy of the good and I never do it!

I was cleaning the bathroom last week and had my back turned.  In the time I was scrubbing the toilet and mirror, she set up her very own sorting activity!  She went to the kitchen, grabbed a towel off the oven handle, spread it on the edge of the bathtub, brought in her bag of different clothespins and sorted them into piles.  Then she took each pile and put it back in her bag.  And again.  And again!

See how fun this can be when you just let it unfold?

just hanging out

Is it bad that we just left her hanging there after she crawled halfway in, totally freaking out, for a few minutes so Jeff could get a picture?

hot dog

My sweet pup, all stretched out in the morning.  This dog can stretch to over six feet, I swear.  Also - our final inspection should be today or next week, so we can stop sleeping on the dining room floor and move into our bedroom!  Glorious!

moonshine

My "moonshine," otherwise known as pregnancy tea!  They've been kidding me in the office about the weird concoctions I put in the fridge.  Recipe to come next week.

fashion plate

My mother-in-law is the real photographer in the family.  I've actually discovered that I somewhat suck at taking pictures.  So, here's a good pic of the little one from last week:

dog park!

One of our very favorite spots with my two favorite girls.

crazy talk

We are thinking of getting another dog.  But how can another puppy ever measure up to the one we have!?

 

 

Plus, the hair.  I just don't know if I can invite any more dog hair into our home. 

circle of the church year

We began our Godly Play sessions on Wednesday evening.  Godly Play is a Montessori-inspired faith formation program using story, wondering, response, and feast as a way to communicate God's love and desire for each of us. 

We face a dwindling number of children at our church.  This is not at all uncommon.  It causes you to face a sort of existential question:  at what point does it just no longer make sense to offer children's programs?  I have decided that so long as we have one child that needs to learn the story of our faith, I will continue to offer developmentally appropriate ways for that to happen.

So, our small group of three on Wednesday evenings gathered and shared our first presentation:  the circle of the church year. 

Like all Montessori-based learning, Godly Play uses special materials that are calibrated to engage children and provide natural control of error.  The circles of the church year that I looked at online were gorgeous.  Carved and painted wood, fitted to slots so that each tab occupied its own natural place:

But it also cost $160, and we are not exactly swimming in that kind of money!

I set out to make it myself.  Crafting is decidedly not my thing, so please don't laugh too hard at my measly efforts.  It was kind of calming and meditative to set my mind to a task using my hands, though.

I cut out two felt circles, one larger than the other.  I'm sure I could have used a compass to make this all much more exact, in terms of size of each tab in relationship to the diameter of the circles.  But where's the fun in that!?

Then I cut out 53 itty bitty tabs (one for each Sunday of the year, plus one for Christmas on those years it doesn't fall on a Sunday).  There are white tabs for our times of celebration (Christmas, Easter), purple tabs for our times of preparation (Advent, Lent), the great green season of tabs for our times of growth, and the special red-hot tab for Pentecost (they loved that one!).

I also cut out four arrows and secured them to the center of the felt circles with a brad.  Three white arrows and one red.  The three whites point to our great feasts:  Christmas, Easter, Pentecost.  The red one points to where we are now (18th Sunday after Pentecost). 

The kids enjoyed it.  They were entranced during the presentation and time of wondering.

Afterwards, they were invited to choose their work for the evening.  Because we are just starting and I am making everything as I go, they don't have many story materials to work with.  They all chose to respond using the art shelf:

There are carpets for all work, big paints, little paints, clay, drawing, and journaling. 

Our three children chose purposeful work and worked diligently.  The work they chose did not seem to engage much with the presentation, but that is okay.  They are there to confront their four existential limits (death, the threat of freedom, the need for meaning, and fundamental aloneness)*, not do a craft that relates to the lesson. 

Finally, we shared our feast:  clementines, oatmeal-raisin cookies, and water.

They served one another with grace and courtesy.

It was great fun, and I'm excited for next week!  Creation cards.  Stay tuned.

Jerome Berryman, Teaching Godly Play, p. 68.

the pear tree

My baby and I were both born in the spring.  I am March 21 (the equinox, most years), and she is April 2.  Some years it is bright and sunny in that stretch of time.  The year she was born, we were finishing up our last big snow storms of a 30-year winter. 

My mama, the original Vicki Jo, planted a pear tree in our side yard the year I was born.  Each year we took a picture by it.  (Oh how I wish I had some of these to share with you!  I have no idea where they are.)  It was a full, white-blossomed, lovely tree.  I hated the smell - I still do.  It smells like old dirty underwear to me.  But it makes a great picture. 

So when the new Vicki Jo was coming, my mother-in-law collected prayers for her at one of my showers, and planted them all in the ground underneath a pear tree for the baby. 

The tree is growing strong and fast.  I can't wait for the spring, when we can take our Easter picture next to it and remember old life and new life. 

big girl

Our good friend Kevin is in barber school.  He makes the most fantastic designs and styles.  Vicki Jo has been staying over with Kevin, Andrea, and their daughter Cannon a little bit.  (Much to Cannon's sheer delight.  Yesterday she stayed home sick from kindergarten and got to play with Vicki and their pet chickens.) 

A week or two ago, Kevin's barber instinct kicked in, and he commented to Jeff that we really needed to give Vicki a trim.  See, her hair color and texture are just like mine (namely:  brown and fine).  But the growth pattern is all Jeff.  He is the only person I've ever met who can grow a fine mullet with absolutely no effort.  In the "before" photo, you can get a nice feel for just how flowing her mullet was becoming.  Yesterday she got her first haircut!  She wouldn't sit still this morning for a good "after," but you can get the idea.

good morning starshine

This photo pretty well sums up mornings around here:  chaotic.  I usually try to get Vicki Jo to focus on an activity that really seizes her concentration, so I can move around quickly and get both of us ready and make breakfast.

This morning:  spooning ice!  She loved it.  I try not to use this much plastic in our work, but with the water I didn't want to use a wooden tray.  I just popped a few ice cubes out of the blue ice tray onto the purple plastic tray, showed her how to use a spoon to transfer them to the white pitcher, and let her have at it!  She loves "poons" right now.  Toss up for favorite word between 'poon, shoe, and phone.  (She's also really into toothbrushes.  Goofball.)

concentration

This is the current favorite activity.  Take the wipes out of the container, put the wipes into the container.  She did this for no less that 45 minutes this morning.  I tried my hardest not to interrupt her concentration or the flow of her work.

Vicki Jo has shown an interest in taking the wipes out of their container (when we are using disposable wipes, rather than our homemade ones - we are about 50/50) for a long time.  Probably a year?  It used to drive me crazy because she was lunging for the wipes the second I tried to change her.

But then, one day, I left her alone in her room with the wipes container.  I figured it would be a huge mess, but oh well - she would be entertained for awhile.  I was surprised to find that, when I left her to finish the whole process, she took them out and put them back in five or six times, but left the project completely neat and put away. 

Thanks, Montessori!  You have taught me to value what my child is interested in, try to observe her, and then leave her alone. 

(P.S. This is a "keeping it real" photo!  Messy bed, shoes everywhere, a lint roller (?), and a socket with no protector.  She has figured out how to get socket protectors out.  And unplugging stuff?  Forget it.  She's all over that.)