Domestic Adventures

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος , καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν , καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος .

Long ago, when there were but two in our family, we studied Greek with our faithful teacher, David. That’s been about six years ago and I remember very little Greek, but our Tuesday night group has shown an interest and so for the past three weeks Trent has been pulling out all our old Greek materials and studying like mad to bring it back into remembrance. Since this is just an overview rather than an in depth course, we’re just learning the alphabet, pronunciation, and a handful of vocabulary. A surprising number of Greek words have English cognates, and it’s been fun to watch everyone sound out the words before the meaning suddenly clicks in their heads. As of last night we have learned 26 Greek words, which make up 11.65% of the word occurrences in the New Testament. Pretty cool.

P.S. Now if only I could get some competition down here, I might be inspired to learn verbs!

Emmie isn’t the only one who started school last week. I’ve been teaching first and second grade social studies at the school. My first day mostly consisted of fruitlessly trying to get everyone’s attention, so I came home and googled “first grade classroom management”. I also spoke with a couple seasoned teachers and returned the second day armed with smilie faces and a timer. Much better. In fact, great. Teaching is just as enjoyable as I remember. My problem: I was expecting an experience like I had with teaching 3rd and 4th graders. Third and fourth graders know how to be students. They sit and listen and follow directions. Generally, they get the idea that they should not talk if the teacher is speaking. First and second graders are still working on how to be students, and understanding this is key to managing a first and second grade classroom. Once I had my smilie-face-based reward system in place (I’m bribing them with read-aloud time) and my attention getting device explained (I’m using the Awana 5-count if you’ve ever heard of that) I was free to actually teach, which is totally fun. Hoping and praying this trend continues through the year.

E: Gotta go potty!
M: Go potty? Go potty! I see you go potty. Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs watch you go potty. Rooooarrr!

Perhaps we need to have some privacy talks.

Getting up at 6:30am has been a real shock to our systems after having the freedom of lazy mornings. About a month before we began our new schedule, I made these routines for Emmaline and, so far, they’ve been a huge help in making things run smoothly. The routines are Flylady inspired, and just as she says, the after dinner routine is the most important. Doing a few things before bed, like tidying the room and setting out clothes, makes mornings so much more pleasant. Also, the routines allow Emmaline to do a lot on her own without nagging from me - nice for both of us! She takes great pride in checking her list and announcing its completion.

Emmaline is ready to host her own cooking show. Inspired by a Strawberry Shortcake Cooking Show from the library, Emmaline has taken to narrating all her activities. All she needed was a few kitchen supplies and an audience to entertain her for the afternoon.

“It was fun, but we did a lot of sitting, and I don’t like sitting.”

“It was too exciting to tell about.”

“Someone lost a star, but it wasn’t me. I just kept getting stars and getting stars.”

“Show and tell was fantastic! I said, ‘this is my shell I got from the beach,’ and I’m afraid that’s all I said.”

Emmaline’s kindergarten career started this morning. Our day began very early and both kids were hard to wake up (not to mention us parents!), but the morning went smoothly and we were out the door at 7:15. I delivered Emmaline to the school chapel where she took a seat in the front row while Micah and I slipped into the back row with a few other parents. When the principal asked new students to stand and say their names Emmie was the first to bounce to her feet and introduce herself. About ten other kids reluctantly stood and then Micah stood in my lap and piped up, “Micah!” Where did these bold little kids come from?!
During school, Micah and I enjoyed some “Micah and Mommy” time including story hour at the library and french fries at McDonald’s.
When we picked Emmie up at lunch time, she looked completely wiped out, but by all reports, the day went well.

I’m still in love with my organic produce delivery, but sometimes it’s a challenge to use all the produce. We’ve been getting a lot of spinach lately and I’m trying to incorporate this super healthy leafy green into our meals but I’m running short of recipes. I’ve made spinach spaghetti casserole a few times lately and a wilted spinach salad with chicken. Good, but we’re a little tired of both. Any great spinach ideas?

I was coaxing Emmaline to eat the last of her lunch. In the other room the soundtrack from Over the Hedge had just changed from a melancholy ballad to a cheerful fast paced song. In stumbled little Micah, smiling away as he grabbed my hand. “Do you want to dance, Mommy?” he asked in his funny staccato way. Oh course! Dancing in our house generally means spinning around in circles till you fall down. So Micah and I spun and spun until we couldn’t stand up any more. He’s just two, but sometimes he sweeps me off my feet.

I’ve been out there again looking at other people’s crafty wonderfulness. Aren’t these little needle felted birds by Lauren Alane just perfect? One day I’m going to get back into artsy crafty stuff. It might not be this cute, but it will be fun.