Duquitos!

This post is in honor of our dear friend Tony! We went over to his home on Christmas day & had an excellent dinner which he & his sister Anca put much work into. Tony cooked two roast ducks (each seasoned a different way), baked quince, and broccoli. Anca made an excellent pumpkin beer soup, & delicious walnut mashed potatoes. They cooked enough for a small army, but since there were only six of us, there were leftovers. Tony sent us home with duck, and today we had DUQUITOS & QUACKOS!! Thank you Mr. Vasile.

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas that is full of Christ's love & blessings!

Joshua & Mercy are all ready for Christmas! They have been learning "Joy To the World" so that they can sing it on Christmas Eve. They made out their Christmas wish lists and posted them on the refrigerator. And they made snowmen out of pumpkins leftover from our fall decorating (as seen in the picture).

The Children Playing

This video was taken in May, but I am just figuring out how to post videos.

Happy 6th Birthday Joshua!!

Yum! Birthday Cinnamon Rolls!

 

A Day Out With Thomas

Today the children went to the Orange Railway Museum in Perris for the "Day Out With Thomas" event. Joshua & Mercy on the caboose.
Say, "Thomas the Tank Engine!"

How Long Did It Take You To Vote?

Well, yesterday was Election Day and like a good little American I headed to the polls. Jason & I did not go until after he was home from work, so we expected a bit of a crowd. What we did not expect was a line about 80 people long when we arrived.

Our polling place was a homeowner’s association clubhouse in Chino (near Don Lugo). The building is set back from the street with a little parking lot out front. The line came out of the building, across the little lawn, down towards the street, & wrapped around to the sidewalk. Jason dropped me off to get in line. Good thing too, because the line kept getting longer. At one point I looked back & saw the line ended almost two houses down from the clubhouse!

We were told by the man in charge of the poll that they were having a problem with the polling machines (the paper was jamming & running out). We were all assured that we were going to be able to vote as long as we were in line by 8pm. At one point we were told that we could turn in our sample ballots and they would be counted! YEAH RIGHT! Some people did choose this option.

Finally, someone from the Registrar of Voters came out to fix the machines and the line started moving. Jason voted with a paper ballot. I voted electronically. Did our votes count?

In the end we waited over an hour and a half! As we drove off at 8:02 pm, the line was still out to the street.

First Grade: The 2nd Month

We had an exciting month! We started the month by reading Miss Nelson is Missing! to go along with our literature program (Veritas Press). At the end of that week Jason and I took Joshua to see a play based on the book at the Victoria Garden's Cultural Center. It was a great opportunity to expose Joshua to live theatre & he liked the fact that he was familiar with the story already.

In math we have been working on addition facts, counting money, telling time, fractions, reading & creating graphs, and patterns. Our reading covered some poetry, and we just started reading about Abram. Joshua is doing great in all of his studies! For the most part he has a good attitude about his work but we do have some bad days.

We had some field trips this past month:

• Disneyland! Very educational :)
• Irvine Park. We had a picnic lunch, visited the zoo, rode the train, checked out the pumpkin patch, & explored nature. We were so interested in the acorn woodpeckers we saw that we decided to study them for a week for Life Science.
• Pumpkin carving event with our homeschool group. We don't celebrate Halloween. And Joshua has never carved a pumpkin. But this was an interesting activity using a book entitled The Pumpkin Gospel. It describes how carving a pumpkin can be representative of God's saving work in a sinner's life. The inside of the pumpkin is like sin in our heart: yucky & smelly. We clean out our pumpkins just as Jesus cleans us out when He saves us, scooping out all the yucky stuff. Jesus puts a happy face on those He saves & gives us His light (the candle in the pumpkin) for us to shine for Him.

Well, November beckons with Thanksgiving, Joshua's birthday, the end of winterball, and holiday preparations!

No More Diapers!!!

Our house is now diaper free! It has been really for the last week and a half . Our little ballerina is officially now a big girl. She is not a baby anymore as she frequently likes to remind us. The Happy Girl!

Our Trip to the High Sierras

June Lake, September 22-25,2006 The family at Twin Lakes

Joshua fishing @ June Lake

Mercy & Jason fishing off the boat, June Lake

Joshua & Mercy exploring near the Owens River

 

First Grade: The 1st Month

Like many public schools (or as I like to call them government indoctrination centers), Joshua started school on the Tuesday after Labor Day. Unlike the public schools, Joshua is able to work at his own pace and be taught in a God-centered environment, by his God-appointed teachers (his parents). Yes! We homeschool!

After breakfast, we start with math (Saxon Math 2), which is Joshua's favorite subject. We do one to two lessons a day depending on the difficulty & length. Then we move on to life science (2-3 days/week). We plan on doing 20 weeks on the animal kingdom, ten weeks on the human body, & finish up with six weeks on the plant kingdom. On days we don't do science we are working through "Proper Manners & Health Habits" (Rod & Staff) and Memoria Press' Copy Book II.

We break for lunch and play time. And finish up the day with phonics (Rod & Staff), reading (R&S), literature (Veritas Press), & art (ArtPac) or some other fun activity.
Jason teaches the children their Bible & catechism in the evenings.
Of course this is on an ideal day. We take the day God gives us and try to honor Him. If that means skipping our phonics lesson to teach the children a much needed lesson on thankfulness, that is what we will do.
We start each day with prayer and hymn singing. I pray for God to lead our day, & for Him to bless us with patience & humility.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Psalm 111:10

Sisters In Vegas

In August I was able to take a getaway to Las Vegas with my two sisters, Marina & Brianna.We had a great time! We saw the sights, caught a show, ate great food, and sat by the pool. I am so thankful to my mother-in-law, Linda for taking care of the children while Jason was at work when I was away! Our Hotel.
Mandalay Bay has a great pool area. There are about 4 pools, plus a giant wave pool and a lazy pool. We especially enjoyed the lazy pool, which allows you to float around in a loop of continuously flowing water.
Dinner Out
One night we went to dinner at Diego's. The food was excellent! We loved the guacamole, which is made tableside so you get to choose the ingredients. Also, the mojitos and sangrias were yummy!
The Wynn
We went to check out the new Wynn hotel on orders from our father. It was my favorite hotel as far as decor. Sorry, Dad. We were not able to check the golf course out for you.
Bri & Her New Friend
We had a fun 3 days. I was so thankful for the opportunity to spend time with my beautiful sisters!

 

The Fair

On July 13th, we took the children to the Orange County fair. We especially enjoyed the farm animals. Mercy was excited to see the dairy cows. When she went for a closer look one turned and MOOOED very loudly in her face, frightening her. Joshua was able to pet some baby chickens and watch a litter of piglets nurse. Joshua and Mercy found a new friend!

Joshua's first time driving a bumper car all by himself.

Mercy dragged Jason on the bumble bees.

 

The Fourth of July

This year Jason & I hosted my family's annual Fourth of July picnic and firework show. We set up tables & chairs in the front yard, & had way too much food. By firework time we had about 30 people! This was the first year that Joshua stayed outside to watch fireworks.

We also were celebrating my sister, Marina's birthday!

Mercy's first sparkler!

 

More Pictures From the Wedding

Jason and Michelle

After we dragged Joshua off the dance floor to leave, he was dancing in the parking lot.

The handsome little guy.

The Mother & Son Dance

 

Joshua & Mercy Hit the Dance Floor!

Once Joshua and Mercy got started, there was no stopping them!

Aren't they cute!

Joshua dancing with the ladies.

Joshua danced with me, but moms tend to cramp their sons' style on the dance floor so that didn't last long.

Joshua really knows how to get down into himself!

 

Introducing Mr and Mrs Isaac Reyes!

Catherine and Isaac enter the reception hall.

The cutting of the cake.

The happy couple.

 

A Sad Day For Swallows

Our family does not have any pets, but we do have a family of swallows living under our front stoop. Every March, for at least the past eight years, swallows come to nest at our home. This year we have been fortunate enough to have two hatchings of baby birds. The first family of birds came in March, patched up an old nest from last year and welcomed their babies sometime in May.

In May, the second set of birds came. We watched as they built a new nest next to the old one. I had noticed for the last week or so the mother bird sitting on her eggs. Sometime this past weekend the eggs hatched. We came home on Sunday night and found tiny, paper thin egg shells under the nest and five baby birds. Joshua and Mercy watched the adult birds feed the babies, and the baby birds wriggle around with their mouths open waiting for their mother to return. Then, last night Jason and I found one tiny bird on the ground under the nest! It was barely alive. I wanted to put it back, but Jason said that we should let nature take its course.

I felt sad for the baby bird and its mother. Of course, I don't know if the mother bird felt anything for her lost child. But having watched these birds toil over building a nest, sit day in and day out on the eggs, and then feed the babies' seemingly endless appettites, I couldn't help but feel saddened.

"Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God." --Psalm 84:3

A Present for Dad!!

The children made Jason a pencil holder as an Un-Father's Day gift. I say un-father's day because Jason does not like or care to observe Father's Day (I don't know, ask him). Still Joshua and Mercy had a great time painting the popsicle sticks for the pencil holder.

Joshua was trying to give Mercy a lesson on mixing colors.

It was Mercy's first time painting. She didn't like her hands dirty so I had to wash them every five minutes. But in the end, she had paint everywhere: up both arms, all over her play dress, in her hair, & even on the bottoms of her feet!

Joshua on the other hand is an old pro at painting, not to mention a bit of a neat freak like his dad; so he was virtually spotless!