Apparently today is “reformation day“.  I have somehow never heard of this till last night.  Did some quick googling this morning to find a short story about it for the kids today & found lots of cool stuff (that takes advance preparation).  So mental note:  Next year we’re totally having a “Reformation Day Party”. 

So today, we read a story, mostly about Martin Luther, then drew some pictures about it & answered some questions related to the story (never ceases to amaze me the fact that they actually listen to stories & can answer questions about them).

Grace started drawing “people” today for the first time! (circles w/dots inside):

Asher has insisted i put his picture “on the internet” (i have a hard time figuring out sizing & am not going to spend anymore time on this).  The large pink “guy” is Luther, with a hammer in hand.  Bottom left guy in chair is reading a bible to his kids (focused in the story was how the reformation brought literacy in general & esp. biblical literacy for “common folk”).

Oh & just for fun, a couple pics from yesterday, they dressed up for storytime at the library.  I’m sure there will be some more costume pics after tonight’s festivities….i’m getting a little out of control w/this new found picture posting ability.     Asher is a “Good Roman Soldier”, Grace ended up being a unicorn vs. kitty cat b/c I found this coat super cheap at a thrift store & she’s all about unicorn’s lately.  Big sigh of relief, this will be much warmer than what would’ve been a kitty cat!

On the bus:

We discovered this week that Goldfish crackers do have garlic.  I have suspected as much and thus, make sure to tell childcare workers at church & the like not to give them to him, but in all honesty I was just assuming that included in “spices” was garlic.  I tried finding out if Ketchup includes garlic in their “spices”, but since it’s not a “top 8 allergen”, they won’t release the information without a signed doctor’s note saying I need it.  …embarrasingly..I’ve been too lazy to call & get the note (bag over head).  But we have limited his ketchup consumption dramatically & i always give him enzymes with meals that contain it.  I assume the cracker company would be as difficult.

Anyhow, back to the fish.  On monday at playgroup one of the mom’s brought goldfish & I completely  forgot they were a potential issue.  Asher probably ate MOST of them himself.  He sat in front of that bowl for a looong time & even carried one around with him.  Then halfway through the group, i remembered & told him not to eat anymore…this was of course not met pleasantly and he kept saying, “but my tummy doesn’t hurt!”.  So I told him it would be an experiment to see if momma was right or not, but that it likely wouldn’t show anything till the next day.

Sure enough tuesday morning he woke up considerably early complaining of a stomach ache & spent the next 20 min. quite unhappy on the toilet with lots of subsequent trips that morning…he’s better but still not 100% in that area yet.  So yeah…mental note:  no goldfish crackers.  And thankfully Asher seems to have learned from it & has asked me not to let him eat them anymore.  Smart kid.

This morning I needed to make a short grocery list.  I reached into the recycling bin (well…bag) and pulled out Asher’s tracer sheet from yesterday.  He is on a major drawing kick and wants to throw nothing away, so when he’s not looking I have to carefully put his papers in the recycling bin, under other stuff. I feel kinda bad, but we can’t keep that many sheets around!   Anyhow, the piece i tore off still had a bit of “evidence” and Asher saw it.  he knew exactly which paper it was and was totally heartbroken.  No tears yet, but I could tell he was sad, so I explained a bit, apologized and then moved on.  Turned around & he was quiet but had tears streaming down his cheeks.

This of course caused me to cry & we sat in a wet heap on the kitchen floor for a few minutes.  I again explained that we just couldn’t keep ALL of his drawings, but I would start a folder for ones he deemed “extra special”.  He sighed & grabbed my hair & proceeded to wipe off his tears with it.

I was struck by the image of Luke 7:38 when the sinful woman washed Jesus’ feet with her tears.  So then we got to have a fun little talk about that story (it is in his bible book).

Grace was still eating her breakfast at the table & seemed not to have noticed the entire exchange.  …btw, she still loves the boots.

Since I (FINALLY) learned how to upload pictures to the blog the other day, I decided to purpose to take & add more pictures. We’ll see how that goes….best laid plans and all.

So for my picture debut (unfortunately my pics will not be the artistic quality that you are by now used to from Ryan): Rain boots. From what i’ve gathered, they are to Washingtonians as flip flops are to Floridians. I kept meaning to get rain boots while in florida (but never found any small enough), but since the storms were usually short lived & the weather hot, the ground wasn’t actually wet all that often…and since it was hot, flip flops worked just as well as boots would. Here however it’s just kind of damp a lot…and when it does rain, it lingers awhile and isn’t violent enough to keep people out of it. In fact I’ve noticed people seem downright unaffected when it starts to rain…out walking dogs & to the bus stop…sans umbrellas. There has been a decided lack of umbrellas altogether from what I can tell. Guess it’s hard to get stuff done trying to tote those around. So rain boots & jackets it is. Next we’ll have to shop for some raincoats…

Both children 100% picked out their own boots with no input from me. I prepared my ego for the reality that I would probably have to buy spiderman boots. However, Asher with no hesitation chose these rather hip-looking pair (I promise until he was 100% satisfied w/his choice i maintained a neutral expression & said nothing).

Grace not so much but I’ve come to expect nothing less and I love her choice too. They are cool in a different way. It was a fun experiment in personality. She calls them her, “witty tat doots”

Me? Well…I’m my daughter’s mother. I couldn’t decide between lady bugs & flowers. Grace made the final decision for me. Admittedly I saw a woman wearing these at the Farm last weekend & really liked them.

Now i feel like a local.

Lately while Grace is napping and either before or after Asher’s “roomtime”, I sit down with him & work on a letter tracing page. We do one letter a day. Some letters/days he does great & works hard to get it right. Others he’s just silly & still others are really difficult & he tries but I don’t push too hard to correct mistakes. At this point my main goal is working on fine motor skills, not so much actually being able to write letters.

After he finishes the page he then turns it over to draw on his own. He always draws people & for the past week & a half he’s been stuck on drawing “jericho”. Last week we got a book about firefighters and one about pirates who got tied up in rope. They have both been incorporated. Thx to ryan’s help via messenger (thx ryan, sorry to distract work), you will see below: Jericho. The ‘bad guys’ are the small ones on the bottom right lined up along the “wall” (the line with zig zag going down it), the ‘Israelites’ are also firefighters & for some reason the red one is tied up. (the domes on the black guys’ heads are firefighter helmets). You will also note, the balls on the ends of the “good guys” hands are: boxing gloves.