Tuesday 25 December 2012

Sunday Pictures: Christmas!

Asher – 6.5 years

Chancery – 4 years

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Asher: “Do you think I can get my grabber in every picture today, Chancery?”

 

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Chancery: “I’m not sure, Asher, but Mummy said the faster we cooperate, the faster the pictures will go.”

 

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Asher: “We’re pretending to be stockings!”

 

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Chancery: “I think you missed having your grabber in the last picture, Asher!”

 

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Asher: “That’s ok, I got it in all the other pictures!”

Sunday 23 December 2012

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 6 years

Chancery – 4 years

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Chancery: “I just love Christmastime, don’t you, Asher?”

 

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Chancery: “It’s a great time to remember that God loves us so much that he sent his son to save everyone!”

 

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Asher: “Yes, & we get to spend time together with our family too!”

 

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Chancery: “It’s like the biggest birthday party for Jesus!”

 

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Asher: “He sure has had a lot of birthdays, he must be really old, Chancery!”

Friday 21 December 2012

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Cultural References

Asher’s hair is growing long, & at dinner the other night I tucked a lock of hair behind his ear.

PChad said, “No, don’t do that, it looks COOL over his ears!”

Me: “He looks like a Beatle!”

PChad: “I know, it’s cool!”

Asher: “I look like a beatle!  BUZZ!!!”

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A few days later Asher had just combed his hair & came downstairs.

Asher: “Do I look like a fly, Mum?  Look at my hair!  BUZZ!”

I guess he’s a bit too young to understand the Beatles…

Monday 17 December 2012

The Pepper Shaker Confessional

After the Salt Shaker of the Future, we have had a bit more activity at the table lately.  It seems that our pepper shaker is where the people from the Nativity must go when they need to apologise for things they have done wrong.

 

Just the other day I heard one of the Wisemen saying, “I’m really sorry for tickling people with my feather when they are sleeping!”

 

I wonder what special thing the napkin holder does?

Sunday 16 December 2012

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 6 years

Chancery – 4 years

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Chancery: “Asher is sick today, so I decided to stand by the stockings, to show that my dress is the same as a stocking!”

 

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Chancery: “See?  If I stand here, can you see that I look like a stocking?”

 

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Chancery: “I look like a stocking full of girl!”

Friday 14 December 2012

Thursday 13 December 2012

The Hunt For the Perfect Tree

Saturday we decided to get a live Christmas tree for the first time in our 13 years of marriage.  The kids were excited for the big adventure!

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The kids looked high & low, & soon found the perfect tree!

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There it is!

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Right beside our driveway!

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We agreed that it was a nice tree, but perhaps a bit large for the house…  We decided to try it anyway!

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PChad got the chainsaw out…

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The kids played a game of hide & seek…

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The cutting commenced…

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The tree was felled…

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It made it into the house (though we forgot to give it a good shake first)!

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We decorated it & are ready to fill the space with gifts!

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It’s a actually pretty nice for a driveway tree, unfortunately we only have one other pine tree on our yard, so it won’t be so easy every year!

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Last Night….

I couldn’t get to sleep at all, no, no! ♪ ♫

 

These are the things that run through my mind when I can’t get to sleep…

-I wrapped all the stocking presents, & I know that I took one thing out of the pile for Asher, but did I put something BACK in the pile to replace it?

 

-Now that we have presents under our tree, it’s going to get harder to put water in the tree stand.  I should get a funnel with a piece of hose on it.  That would make it easier…  Wait, I’ve seen those before!

 

-I’m really hungry!  I’d love to have a cookie, but I know I shouldn’t eat cookies this late.  I SHOULD eat celery, but who WANTS to eat celery?  Maybe I’ll have some raisins.

 

-I heard my phone beep downstairs.  I wonder who would have messaged me at this time of night?  Maybe one of my friends can’t sleep either!  I should go check.

Monday 10 December 2012

Justice

51oEBqCC5mLAsher & Chancery were playing with our Playmobile Nativity set.  Asher was playing with the angel, & flew up to PChad & asked…

Asher (angel): I need to ask God if I saw a cow kill some sheep, if I should kill the cow.”

PChad: “Well, that’s up to God to decide.”

Asher: “But can I kill it?”

PChad: “We are supposed to do to others what we want them to do to us, so do you think you should kill the cow?”

Asher: “But if I kill it, then it can’t kill me because it will be dead!”

PChad: “Do you want someone to come & kill you?”

Asher: “No.”

PChad: “Then you shouldn’t kill someone else.”

Asher then went off to play some more.  Then he came into the kitchen & started playing by the table.  He kept putting the angels’ face on top of the salt shaker…

Asher: “I looked into the future, & saw that I should not kill the cow.”

So… we got to the answer through looking into the holes of the saltshaker to see the future…

Sunday 9 December 2012

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 6 years

Chancery – 4 years

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A little unusual this morning.  Chancery is sick, so she’s staying home from church, but the kids wanted to get a little bit of book time in with Yumi before she & Asher head to church.

Friday 7 December 2012

Playing Games

When Asher plays his DS, it's serious business...  We enjoy watching him almost as much as he likes to play!


Wednesday 5 December 2012

Teaching

You probably have noticed that my blog has become quite quiet these days.  This is in part due to the kids both being in school, & not having as much time spent together means not having those fun/odd conversations as often.

 

Also, I have been crazy busy!  I’m not really sure what has added to the craziness, but it seems the days are flying by!

 

I have increased the number of days that I help with math at the local school to 2 mornings a week.  I have really enjoyed being able to to delve into the world of Algebra once again!

 

I tutor a variety of grade levels/abilities.  One group is just learning the F.O.I.L. method for problems like this:

(2x-4) (5x+2)

it’s one of my favourite lessons!  Some students are just getting into multiplying & dividing fractions (so fun!).

 

One thing I discovered when I was in college & thinking about becoming a teacher is that I would much rather reinforce concepts that has been taught in class rather than stand up in front of a classroom full of kids & teach it myself.  This time at the school has really solidified that for me.

 

I have also discovered that if a student has the basic math concepts down & just needs a little extra guidance I can often reword the problem or explain it in a way that helps them to understand it a bit more.  But the problem I have been faced with a few times is the student who knows their times tables, fractions, decimals, but has issues with adding & subtracting 2 digit numbers.  No matter how many ways I have tried wording it, I can’t get a correct answer for 10-9.  So, I need some help!  Please offer any tips/suggestions, I’m stumped on this one!

Sunday 2 December 2012

Sunday Pictures: Don’t Bother Me Edition

Asher – 6 years

Chancery – 4 years

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Asher: “Maybe if we pretend Mummy isn’t here, she’ll go away…”

 

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Chancery: “It doesn’t seem to be working, Asher.”

 

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Asher: “Ok, fine, let’s just smile at her, Chancery.”