Blissful E » preschooler

happy Father’s Day!

blissfule — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:05:24 +0000

Today is Australian Father's Day. We celebrated by exploring the Pompeii exhibition at the Museum of Western Australia. We also gave Ben a Camping Atlas of Western Australia.

Last night at church Ben enjoyed a starring role onstage, as he, Nikki, and Michael reenacted part of a David Meece song. We love you, Baba!!

kiddo quotes

blissfule — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:18:51 +0000

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Nikki: [Looking at me changing Vi's nappy before music class.] "Mama, why are we going to have a supposable diaper?"

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Michael [walking slowly with legs crossed]: "I will get bath toys BEFORE I use the toilet."

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Nikki: [With feeling] "I *really* like Folden cars. They're really nice. I like Folden cars *a lot*."

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Michael [during long car ride]: "I spy... with my little eye... something that starts with... TREE!"

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Nikki: "Mama, can you sing 'the old white manners' song?"

Mama: "I don't think I know that song.

Nikki [sad and a little frustrated]: "You sang it right before we left for music class."

Mama: "Could you sing a little to remind me?"

Nikki [singing]: "The old white manners that God the Father has given unto us..."

Mama [singing]: "Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us..."

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city to surf

blissfule — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:21:28 +0000

We briefly participated in City to Surf Perth 2010 on Sunday morning.

Crossing this same street on the way to church was easy, but our way back was blocked.

We couldn't go over it, under it, or around it, so we took our family of five through it, by waiting for a slower pack of runners, going in the direction of flow, and gently angling our way across the street.

When we got to the other side, Nikki and Michael did some running of their own.

kiddo quotes

blissfule — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:03:03 +0000

Nikki and Michael happily drink homemade yogurt that didn't firm up quite as expected

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Nikki: Time is numbers that change.

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Nikki: "After I was one for a long time, I turned two and then three!!"

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Nikki to Mama: "Hm. Your hands clap louder than mine." [shrug] "That's how God made you."

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Michael to Nikki: [in a playful yet aggressive tone] "I will drum at you and throw you into the fire and have a cake in there and EAT the cake in there!"

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Nikki: "Mama, last night in the middle of the night I prayed to God about my sins."

Mama: "It's so nice to pray in the middle of the night when it's quiet."

Nikki: "Yes, and I prayed about Michael's big boy sins and Baba's parent sins and Mama's parent sins."

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Michael: [in a playful yet aggressive tone] "You're going to be under water. VERY under!"

three-two-one

blissfule — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:00:33 +0000

How cool is this brief span of time when I have three children aged three, two, and ONE!

Happy birthday, Vi!

supersonic scarecrows

blissfule — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:21:17 +0000

While Ben was plastering during our long home-improvement weekend, I dug up a third of our lawn where the grass had died. The next morning I raked the area somewhat smooth, sowed grass seed, threw in some fertilizer, gave it another gentle rake, and watered. As soon as I turned my back, the family of doves who have grown fat from our olive tree invited some friends over for a little seed party.

So I called in my older children, the ones who yell "baaaaaahh" at the top of their lungs at any feathered sighting. I never knew this would come in handy...

our first attempt at vegetable gardening

blissfule — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 06:57:29 +0000

Before we bought this house, I double-checked with my mom that the front garden would be suitable for growing veggies. She thought it would provide sufficient sunlight and space, so I've been excited to try my hand at growing something useful for a while now.

My first step was to clear out the cacti and succulents a former owner had planted there. I offered them on Freecycle and the prickles were a thing of the past. The Freecycler who took them even sent an update several months later about how well the trailer-load of plants were settling in next to his house.

Next I needed to transform the sandy wasteland into a fertile, moist haven for flowers and vegetables. A farmer delivered 20 bales of organic hay and set them in place on my patch. The hay bales have been mouldering there all winter, much to the amusement of guests who inevitably ask why we have so much hay.

Mulch is the answer, as I have decided to test Ruth Stout's method of Gardening Without Work. Basically, she claims that if you keep eight inches (20cm) of organic matter on your garden year-round you don't need to water, weed, till the soil, or spray. She makes gardening sound so easy, but does it really work?

I had the kids help me plant some capsicum, jalapeño, and rocket seedlings this afternoon. We pushed aside the mulch, dug tiny holes big enough for the little root systems, put the plants in place, watered (sorry, Ruth Stout, the kids insisted!), and snugged the hay right back around the plants.

I have no idea if this will actually work. The man who took the cacti away warned me to watch out for snails, "you think they're slow, but they can move right quick!" I do remember that snails ate some of our mail, and I can only assume they find veggie plants tastier. Will mounds of hay foil their plans? Can our fledgling garden really survive without water?

Here's hoping the lazy method works!

the ABC song: violin and drum duet

blissfule — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:26:53 +0000

In order to earn the privilege of choosing a book to take in to their beds with them at naptime, each child must have practiced his instrument sometime before lunch.

Both of them were already playing every day; I added the book incentive just to ensure that the main practice time where Mama needed to pay attention to notes and provide coaching happened before lunch rather than later in the afternoon when I have less time and energy. They LOVE taking a book to bed, so this has been hugely successful.

Nikki has been learning to read music as part of her violin lessons. She practices at home as well, primarily sightreading the notes A, B, and C, with a few D, E, and G thrown in. Nikki's practice times are eclectic and last anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. She may choose to name notes on the staff, practice "ti" "tun" "tah-un" and "great big whole notes", play several songs, or anything in between.

Michael will usually drum and sing worship songs (Tim Hughes' "The Highest and the Greatest" and Seeds Worship's "Sing for Joy [Psalm 95:1-4]" are his current favourites). After a while Michael will exclaim "I need to play A, B, C!" and then proceed to sing and smash his way through the alphabet. (He clearly believes that ABCs are what make practice time "official" and thus are critical to earning his naptime book. I only "enforce" Michael's "practices" out of respect for his clearly taking his instrument as seriously as Nikki takes hers.)

During one of these drumming ABC songs, Nikki joined Michael with her violin. The two young musicians graciously agreed to repeat the performance for the video camera. I noticed one slight alteration: Nikki sang the alphabet song rather than Michael.

kiddo quotes

blissfule — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:53:08 +0000

I have begun collecting quotes from my older kids as they talk to each other throughout the day. The photos are totally unrelated except that they also make me laugh. Enjoy!

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Michael: "Nikki, wake up!"

Nikki: "No! I need to grow!"

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[Nikki and Michael are riding around the house on the Like-a-Bike and scooter.]

Nikki: "I'm going to America, but I don't know which way. Straight or curved...
Mama, I'm going to America, but I don't know which way, so I'm looking in my map book."

Nikki: "I'm going to a store that has BIG pants, 4 age pants!"

Michael: "I'm going to a shop that has WET pants."

Nikki (explaining to her bemused Mama): "They were washed, that's why they're wet."

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[Nikki hops in clothes basket.]

Michael: [runs over] "Are you the laundry? I will wash you!" [He rocks the basket back and forth.] "Wash, wash, wash!"

Nikki: "I'm in the wash machine!"

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Nikki: "I put his nametag on his back. Michael's shirt is on backwards, too. So it's OK."

the latest train track creation

blissfule — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:52:21 +0000

I continue to be amazed at the different tracks Nikki and Michael create with their IKEA train set. Here's one from this week.