We started the month off with a trip to Red Rock Canyon. Our nature study was focused on rocks so it seemed perfect. It was a beautiful day.
We also finished up Hinckley’s soccer season at the beginning of the month. After being pretty standoffish all season at his games (he did really well at practices but would just run around at the games) he scored not once but twice during his last game. He had the biggest smile on his face, along with a look of disbelief both times as he walked as though in a trance back to his side of the field.
On the way home afterward he asked me, “how did I do it?” I'm not sure how I responded but we were all so proud of him!
Right after his game we got the kids ready and had a sweet friend take some family photos for us. We wish Lucy's sweet, zany personality had shown through a bit more but she did come around in a few photos. And now she will finally be up on our wall!
About halfway through the month we had Hinckley's (rescheduled) birthday party. We were so fortunate to have almost all the children we had originally invited attend. Since we've changed our focus this year from Batman to Spider-man it was Spidey party, complete with swinging, memorization, spider-like reflex checks, web target practice, "bad guys" to spray with webs and a Spider-Man pinata. Hinckley is so cute and quiet. You can see in the picture- he stayed toward the back of the photo at his own party. Once all of the official activities were done, rather than play upstairs or outside with his friends he asked to read the new Superheroes book he'd received from his friend Evelyn.
We were so glad we got to celebrate our sweet little crime-fighting 5 year old, even if it was two weeks late!
A couple of weeks later it was time for Thanksgiving! We stayed home again this year and it was so simple and delightful.
Each day for the entire month of November we tried to put leaves on our Thankful Tree on our door. We missed our fair share of times but I loved it. It set such a nice tone for our month.
We started off with a Turkey Bowl at the park. It was extra fun because it was combined with our old ward and our current ward. There was football, soccer and Dane even got the smallest kiddos playing a little baseball. It was a great way to start off the day.
Then we worked on a craft- cute "prayer hands" to put on the placemats the boys had made the day before. Hinckley's were hilarious- he wanted Spidey hands, so we traced his hand on red paper and Atticus drew on some webs.
I was surprised after this when Atticus chose to stay and help me- more than ever!- for the rest of the dinner preparations. (Normally it is Hinckley who is my assistant in the kitchen.) It was such a pleasure to listen to beautiful music while chopping and seasoning.
Hinckley did, eventually, make an appearance. Since all the food had been prepped he insisted on making an adorable little "salad."
We did a little reading, watched a movie, ate dinner and played charades. Charades was especially fun because the boys started acting out books and evens we had read about in homeschool. Notable moments included Hinckley's version of Curious George and Atticus's version of John Smith and the Pilgrims.
As for the kiddos, we'll start with Atticus.
His soccer team, Lightning, was tied for first place at the end of the regular season. Unfortunately, they lost the championship match 2-1 during the playoffs. You can tell by the look on his face that he was fighting tears afterward. We are still so proud of him. He scored five games in a row, he was better at controlling his emotions this season and continues to work so hard. We are enjoying the time off now but he still plays soccer pretty much every day with neighbor friends and with Hinckley
He chose to be baptized and so we took some more photos at the church with the little boy whose baptism would be on the same day. Such cute kiddos! More important than how handsome the two of them looked, we really felt like he was ready. Sure, he still can drive us crazy but there are such moments of greatness in him.
For example, we have been trying to read the Book of Mormon with him these last couple of months and he never complains. In fact, he will quickly start the next verse because he wants to keep going, ha ha. It can be a little frustrating when we're ready for someone else to have a turn.
There was one particularly sweet day at the end of the month when his eyes seemed to open to just how adorable his little sister. He was playing with her and then invited her to do math with him. He got her a pencil and paper and went through almost all of his math exercises with her, having her repeat numbers after him. He would write the answers in his book and she would write little scribbles on her page. My heart just melted watching them.
The most profound experience we had was also right at the end of the month and I shared this experience at his baptism on December 3. (I'll share more about the baptism in next month's post!) He had been playing with some friends and they had made a HUGE mess upstairs in the playroom. I was very upset, especially because we had made this mistake before and the boys had promised not to do anything of the kind again... and this time it was so much worse.
So there we were, the two of us, trying to clean up the mess (tiny Styrofoam balls- everywhere!) and I was just fuming. Atticus was quiet and we tried a few different ways to clean up with no success- it just seemed impossible. After a while I realized I was being a horrible example and tried to calm myself down, praying in my heart. It was only a minute or two before an image popped into my mind of how we could clean up the mess. I shared the idea with Atticus, who responded, "Yes! I had that idea ten minutes ago but I thought you might yell at me if I said anything." I was very humbled but couldn't help asking, "Did you have a picture pop into your mind of how we could do it?" Sure enough, he had. I was quick to let him know that this was no coincidence. It was the Holy Ghost bringing an idea to our minds. In case you're wondering, yes. He loves reminding me now of who was worthy to feel the Holy Ghost first!
Atticusisms:
- ("Atticus, you're tattling!") "Well, yeah... I guess I am... but Hinckley...."
- ("Pull up the drawbridge! Pull up the drawbridge!") "Pretend I pulled up the drawbridge and you stopped yelling." (said completely dead pan in response to Hinckley's yells from another room.)
Hinckley did a whole lot more than score those two goals at the beginning of the month. Early in the month he told me he wanted to write a story about a prince. As we got his ideas down I realized he could write his own book and he was all in! He was so patient and excited through the whole process. He illustrated every page and I have no doubt we'll be writing more.
He also made his own Spider-Man movie, illustrating it and narrating it.
He has such an imagination. Even Atticus admits how much he loves Hinckley's imagination.
He also mastered his last name, easily. He has such a hunger to read that I have no doubt he'll be mastering that very soon, too. He is getting so good at sounding things out.
Hinckley speaks:
- "Ah, dang it. No squishy poops... Wait, here's a black squishy one." ("Put it in the bag.") "It won't come out" (of his glove.) ("That's because you squished it!")
- "Thanks for watching this video!" (While Dane took a Marco Polo of him for his grandparents.)
- "Robot, can I go to the bafroom fuhst?" (Answers himself in a robot voice) "Ah, sure!"
Oh, little Lucy! We just want her to stay two forever.
This month her love for her bed has gone to a next level. She wants us to join her in bed so she doesn't have to come out right away. "In, in!" she'll say, gesturing for us to climb in. I have to admit, it's hard to resist and I often find myself in her crib, playing with her with her toys and getting covered by her blankets.
When she finally comes out she doesn't just want her unicorn all the time (it's gone from being "ull-done" to "uldicohn.") She wants her "banket" with her all the time, too. As a side note, the two items have been used to cover and fill just about every item in the house. It can be very cute to see the blanket being used as a table cloth but is incredibly frustrating when it's time for sleeping and we're not sure where she's stashed them this time.
She is definitely starting to fight us more and more. She wants to do everything herself, insisting, "Issy! Issy!" Of course, she can't quite do many of those things yet and so it just means extra time for all of our activities... which can be so exasperating.
She finally started wearing her princess dresses this month! She had been throwing tantrums if we even suggested her trying them on in previous months. All she needed was to see another little girl put one on.
She loves cleaning and we keep getting into sticky situations as a result. ONe day I was too late when she grabbed a hand towel and stuck it in the toilet repeatedly. As I tried to clean things up and wash her hands she started explaining to me, "Yucky." She was trying to clean the yucky toilet!
She also loves washing her hands with soap- lots and lots of soap!- and we keep having messes to clean as a result. SHe also LOVES her swimsuits and often grabs every single one of them and takes them around with her, stuffing them in the van or other places in hopes that she might get to use one and go in the hot tub.
Listen to Lucy:
"Dat you... welpum" (she has started saying "You're welcome" to herself after offering thanks.)
"Slippers" (scriptures)
"Bess... Baby Iswael" (while praying- and she always points to her back or her bum because I pointed to my baby bump the first few times I helped her to say it.)
"Daddy's a-comin'"
"___________'s a-poopin'"
"___________'s a-sleepin'"
Homeschool was so fun this month. We studied more about the colonies, reading Rush Revere and the Brave Patriots. (Atticus LOVED it!) We also studied the British Isles and focused quite a bit on Camelot, knighthood and chivalry. It was time well spent! We read King Arthur and His Knights and were captivated.
I loved the imaginative play that came from these topics. The boys would build forts daily. Atticus was King Arthur and Hinckley was Sir Lancelot, that is, until he found out more about Galahad. Then he wanted to be Sir Galahad, which is a pretty noble goal. They also had a castle/kingdom built of lincoln logs that went several days before its destruction by a certain two-year-old.
We did have one unfortunate episode related to this unit. One day we jousted with pool noodles with some of our homeschool friends and my boys took it to the next level. While I was getting dinner ready they started jousting with baseball bats with their neighbor friends... Somehow this led to an angry Hinckley hitting a neighbor kid with a metal baseball bat! You can imagine my horror at leading them to do something like that. But the boys were given a punishment they won't soon forget and the kids were all friends again the next day.
The only recipes I tried this month were cottage pie and authentic British scones. Both were very well received.
At the very end of the month we were able to participate in a pizza-making class at Above the Crust. It was so much fun! We loved it. They even gave Lucy a little bit of dough to play with while watching her brothers.
And now it's time for Christmas. I can't wait!
