After giving Isabelle and Kathleen some time to get used to their bunk beds, Stephen moved the fire truck bed to the boy's room. Caleb was so excited. I wasn't sure if he would go to sleep for his nap today, but he did after only getting up one time. I wanted to take a picture of him sleeping in the bed, but I didn't want to wake him up. So I tried to get him to pose for a picture pretending he was sleeping. He wouldn't even lay down until Ian did it first, and then you can see the picture of him pretending to sleep. He's not very convincing!
With the extra space in the girls room, Stephen moved the Dora toy box upstairs. The girls thought that was great. (By the way, can you tell that they picked out their own clothes today?)
Of course, this made more room in the living room... it's a slippery slope.... now the living room is rearranged... I think it will stop there. There's only so much you can do with our house.
Oh, and just in case anyone is keeping track-- we woke up to snow on Friday, and it snowed (flurried) some more today.

Burger King and an Update

First, for the update: We have the paperwork from our homestudy. We received it yesterday, and it will go in the mail to our lawyer today. Now we can finally move forward on the adoption! Thanks to everyone who has been praying for this adoption. It has been hard for us to be patient. But (hopefully) that was our last hurdle.
On Monday, we took Mary Jo to Whitefish for an outpatient surgery. Ian was so excited about the trip. It was one that he would have missed if he was still in public school. We did school on Saturday, so that he could have the day free.
While we waited on Mary Jo to be done, we spent some time in Kalispell. Of course, we had to go to Burger King for lunch. I got pictures of all of the kids except Caleb. He was having so much fun that he didn't want to come down from the play area. By the time he did, I forgot to take his picture. Oh well, three out of four isn't bad!

Bunk Beds

This weekend Stephen finished the bunk beds that he was making for Isabelle and Kathleen. The bed fits a toddler size mattress and has bookshelves for each of them. They were very excited. Isabelle has a "secret compartment" in her shelves. The bottom shelf (below) lifts up and has some storage space. Today Stephen added a knob to the shelf and rope lights to the top of the bottom bunk (for Kathleen).
Now Ian is jealous because his bed does not have shelves, a secret compartment, or lights. Life is tough!

Wordless Wednesday: Another Teaching Moment

Meet Our New Teacher

Just in case you think that we were really desperate after 1 week of homeschooling and hired help-- Ian is the "new teacher."
Yesterday, after they ate lunch, the kids were running around going crazy. I was trying to ignore all of the noise while I ate my lunch. Suddenly, I realized that it was quiet. (That is often a bad sign.) I looked over at the futon and Ian was reading a book to the other 3, pointing out some interesting facts about squid. I quickly grabbed the camera and snapped a picture. Caleb didn't make it into the picture b/c he had to stop and see what I was doing.
I checked out some books that were level 3 readers for Ian. I tried to get things that were related to science like "Plants that Bite Back" and "Spiders' Secrets." I thought that they would be good practice for reading and have the added benefit that he would learn some science at the same time. He loves these books. I haven't even told him to read them. When he is finished with his "school work" he will spend lots of time reading. I'm glad he is one of those kids who loves to learn.
I have been reading everything that I can on-line about homeschooling and how people make it work. One of the things that I saw was the Chores at Appropriate Ages Chart. I don't really think they are appropriate though. For example, a 6-7 year old should be able to do "simple ironing." I am having our kids do more things, but I would like to find a list that is more age appropriate. Of course, like with most things, I will probably just wing it. ;)

Happy Birthday to you, You live in a zoo....

Yesterday was my birthday, and Ian thought that it was hilarious to sing the version of Happy Birthday mentioned in the title-- over and over and over. Oh, the joy of being eight years old.
Lowell and Bonnie came over for Bible Study in the evening and surprised me with a cake and a candy bouquet. :)

More Wrestling

Ian had another wrestling meet on Saturday. He seems to be getting more confidence as he practices more. He still didn't win either of his matches, though.
We survived our first week of homeschooling. He enjoyed all of it except Tuesday. He did a lot of review math worksheets that day, and he really didn't like that. He has enjoyed having all of the extra time for other activities.
The other kids are doing OK with it as well. I had a few things for them to do, so that they would feel involved. I will have to remember to take some pictures this week.