Library Un-Cooping

So, what to do with the kids when you get that "all-cooped-up-is-that-dirty-socks-I-smell" type of feeling in the middle of November?

Go to the library, naturally.

Liv's Bookshelf

These are some of our 9-year-old's favorites. She's found them various places....the thrift shop, a discarded box of "Free Books" along a sidewalk, etc.  The crazy thing is...she really reads them. I love this girl.

Miss Entrepreneur

John 15:12 

"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

Our oldest daughter is a born entrepreneur.  She wants to invent something useful, loves the feel of money, is fascinated at the prospect of owning a business.  In fact, one of her dreams is to own a hot dog stand alongside the Boise River.  I may be partial, but I think she'd be the cutest hot dog stand owner EVER and think she'd be quite successful as well.  

Her parents are not entrepreneurs.  

We are inventors and creators, but when someone asks to buy things, we hide under the rug and hem and hah when it comes time to name a price.  

Liv has asked me countless times if she can go door-to-door selling something, anything.  I have to admit I cringed every time.  She is not old enough to walk door-to-door alone, so that would mean her non-entrepreneur mother would have to attend as well. This makes me very uncomfortable and I would be tempted to hide behind the owner's shrubbery and then be talked about later as the "weird mom who hid behind shrubs".  But it was still really important to me that we find some way to fuel her dream.

Our friends Scott and Keri were kind enough to let her set up her own booth at their garage sale.  Liv was in absolute HEAVEN.

I also let her plan our garage sale this Summer.  She helped me for days before hand, never tiring.  

She decided, last Spring, to help raise money for a boy our Co-op sponsors in India. Brian and I bought her 75 pencils on amazon, with the understanding she would cover the costs with the money she made.  She embellished them with toys and pom poms and pipe cleaners.  It was important to Liv that every child who wanted a pencil could afford one, so although she had suggested prices posted, she also had a sign that read, "Donations accepted" and even allowed kids to buy her pencils for a penny.  She had price tags, signs, and advertisements.  She was organized and professional.  I love her.  :o)  

Hebrews 13:16 

And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Opening her booth before co-op and during lunch, she counted her money and was able to pay us back for materials and even earned 20 dollars for Jebastian!  When she threw in an extra ten dollars of her own for Jebastian, we told her we'd also help her with her next endeavor, since she was so generous. 

Matthew 25:35-40 

'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

Her first customers!

I am continually amazed at Liv's desire to help others and I love how she is never detoured, but energized by hard work.  What a blessing and a gift she is!

There Was a Child Went Forth

There was a child went forth every day;
And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became;
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years. -Walt Witman, from There Was a Child Went Forth

The Carrot Who Lost His Hat

My 6-year-old recently created this story for her Grandma Jan's birthday.  Grandma Jan and the girls have a tradition of telling vegetable stories back and forth, inspired by their time in the garden together.  She told, I typed.  I did help her with word choices, based on her impression of the character's emotions, but all in all, this was her story and her illustrations.  I think my favorite picture she drew, was of Mr. Radish sleeping, dreaming about Mrs. Rut A. Baga with that dreamy look on his face.  So funny. PS:  here is an early look into Holland's colorful word choices at the ripe age of three.  A Mother's Day card transcribed by Brian. 

Great job, Holland!!

First Days of School

With September, came our first day of school here at Wieber Academy School for Girls.

Please don't stare at my holy, or hole-y, or holesome (as in, some holes) tablecloth. Antiques are supposed to be old looking. Anyway, we haven't gotten around to mending classes here at WASG. Please apply in the comments section if you are willing to teach me. What I meant to say is, teach the kids. (of course).

Cheerful smiling faces are a welcome sight for this teacher.

The girls are especially excited to attend Providence Co-op this year, a ministry begun by a wonderful gal from our church. The girls get to take Music, Spanish, and Public Speaking classes. I get to teach creative writing. They attend once a week for a half day, and the rest of their schooling happens here at home. I mean, er, at WASG. We have loved using the Ambleside Online Charlotte Mason Curriculum for the past 2 years. If you want to fall in love with reading once again, or help your children to do so, I highly recommend it! Smart moms got together and created it for people like me, free of charge. What a blessing. It is also a beautiful way to be and learn and live with your kids!

Here's to a great school year!

Fun At The Library

Fair 2010

Ah, the fair.

We..fortunately, or unfortunately live right down the street from the fair. The girls squeal from the backseat of our car as we drive past the big trucks unloading carnival equipment, making plans, and saying, "remember when, and last year...?" and whining that the fair isn't year-round. Then, when the fair does open, they just assume that we will live at the fair and sell all our belongings and become carnies. They just assume. They don't even ask us!

This year, we spent a whole day getting our fill of the fair. The girls waited till dark to go on the rides so that they could see the lights. I love the dusky night sky as the backdrop for the ferris wheel.



Reese looks up to her sisters already and knew she was missing out on the rides: Just 16 more inches to go, baby!



The girls had fun with the tractor pull again this year. Check out the fierceness displayed here by Miss Holland:


Seriously--check it out! I love this girl!


Brian is never too busy, or too big, to color with our girls:



The girls entered some of their projects into the fair this year. They were so proud to bring them to the exhibition table (this was taken a week before the Fair opened):



Several days later, when we were at the fair, we sought out their projects in the Expo center. The girls were so excited to see their projects displayed. We hadn't ever even talked about the chance at getting prizes.

So you can see in Liv's face here, her utter shock at getting first place for her scooter. Liv's idea for this project began when Holland wanted a scooter. Liv graciously gave her own scooter to Holland, and set to work making her own out of the same wood previously used for the baby cradle she slept in! During the making of the scooter, Liv learned how to use a drill and even wrote her address on the foot board. She later painted over it with hearts. She then took it out on the greenbelt and it worked wonderfully! She was so excited to get a blue ribbon.



Holland entered some monster zucchini from our yard. We really had to lug it in...it was heavy!


Holland also entered her Fifi brownies (andes mint brownies). She really wanted to eat them, but I told her they had to be kept on display for the people look at.


Holland was overjoyed to get First place for her watercolor. She is our family's little artist. She has an eye for color, has a very "light" hand when it comes to painting, drawing, and coloring, and is very purposeful in what she decides to create and the choosing of the colors. This painting has been hanging in our living room. I love it!


Liv got 3rd place for her artichoke painting. She used a real artichoke to guide her as she drew the shape with a pencil. It gave her lots of grief but she learned some lessons in breaking down the object by focusing on familiar shapes.


The sweet dress Liv made for Reese got 4th place. I can't wait for Reese to wear it. Liv would like to thank Grandma for all her help with the sewing machine.


The girls pose with their prize money and returned projects. Yes, that would be my daughter eating a 13-day-old brownie. A brownie that had been exposed to the open fair air, with wafting swirls of manure, prodding fingers and tracked-in carny dust. I promise you, I did my best at discouraging her from eating this brownie. But I tell you...getting to eat this brownie was the best prize of all, in her eyes.


The girls were blissfully happy at the night's end and are already talking about going next year.