Lionden Landing

Yesterday was our first day back at school after a long unpleasant vacation.  Froggy grumped last night about not wanting to go back to school. The morning though was glorious.  The weather outside was dreadful encouraging us to curl up and read.  I had used the break time to freshen up our approach and find some new ways to make the learning fun.  Sparked by my reading in Raising Lifelong Learners I approached our activities with the attitude that each and every step was to be enjoyed for its own sake.  Froggy caught my attitude and we breezed through our morning accomplishing even more than I had planned with so much less arguing and grumping than I had anticipated.

Today is our first day back at school.  Even with Frankenstorm coming, we are doing school.  We will do lots of fun crafts and cooking but doing school will give us more things in the basket of boredom busters.  We just need the electricity to stay on.

It is a super basic menu but it is the first I have made sinceYom Tov.  I am not ready to do a recipe reviews but maybe next week. We are expecting some serious weather this week so I stocked up on groceries.  We are making soup and I have lots of baking planned. *Edit* Hurricane Sandy messed up my menu so I had to do some major revising. Sunday - Parve Corn Chowder and Biscuits Monday - Fish ala Jenn, rice and Peas Tuesday  -Apricot chicken, kugel and salad. Wednesday -Tacos, Black Beans and rice Thursday - Tofu Stirfry, Rice and Keem Shabbat - tomato spinach soup , fish cakes, roasted chicken, acorn squash, green beans, Birthday cake for Ms.G Experiments  planned A new pumpkin pancake recipe either this or this 3D Pumpkin Cookies Granola Bars

We celebrate both Froggy's Hebrew Birthday and her Gregorian Birthday.  It is a good compromise for our family.  We sing Happy Birthday in Invrit on her Hebrew Birthday and she gets presents from Abba and Ima. On her Gregorian Birthday, we sing Happy Birthday in English and she opens the presents from her Grandparents.  In between somewhere is her birthday party.  So it turns into a whole birthday season for the monkey.     T his year is the very first we have ever hosted Froggy's party somewhere other than the house. She wanted a swim party and I figured her friends were finally old enough to enjoy it with her. The theme was mermaid.  They had a mermaid race, wearing their special mermaid tails,to the treasure box. They also played pin the tail on the mermaid.      The party was a huge hit for everyone largely thanks to the efforts of my MIL.  I still prefer the birthdays at home but we may be getting...

It is time for me to make a full Shabbos dinner again.  We even have friends coming over. Here is our menu Shabbat Dinner Challah - I am making a double batch and going to try a new braiding technique don Noodle Soup Vegatable Mandu (made by Abba) Sweet Salmon Peapods Rice and Keem Peach crisp with homemade Parve Peach Icecream - Froggy special birthday request Shabbat Morning - Banana Bread Kiddush - at Shul Slichat Seudah - We are spending the afternoon with Aunt Petal and she will hosting us.

We still use this Siddur for davening with Froggy.  Abba recently asked when we would move on. I told him" when she asks or when she stops finding new insights and meaning in the Siddur. Like with many children, davening has not always been a joy with Froggy.  But one of the few joys that has come out of this horrible sad time is seeing the kavod with which Froggy davens.  She came home after her first Sunday School after the Yom Tovim and whispered to me that she had done her best to daven the intermediate blessings of the Amidah at Shul and had remember the one in which we ask for healing and said Mishebairach for me. She is finally choosing to read the Hebrew in her Siddur on her own.  She has taken the initiative to lead more of the morning davening when she and Abba daven together which is great since Abba cannot read the Hebrew. This new Kavod may not last but I am enjoying it while it is present.

1. What is your favorite color? Gold, Pink and Purple 2. What is your favorite toy? Polly Pockets 3. What is your favorite fruit?Banana 4. What is your favorite tv show?Zoobooma Foo 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?Macaroni and Cheese 6. What is your favorite thing to wear?Dresses with Puffed sleeves and ruffles 7. What is your favorite game?apples to apples 8. What is your favorite snack?asian pear 9. What is your favorite animal?kitty cat 10. What is your favorite song?Trailer for sale or rent 11. What is your favorite book?Mia the Bridesmaid fairy 12. Who is your best friend? Shira 13. What is your best memory of the last year? dancing with my own real Torah at Simchat Torah 14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play in the leaves *fall) swim in the pool(summer) sledding *winter) play with friends 15. What is your favorite drink?Pink L:emonade 16. What is your favorite holiday?Simchat Torah 17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night...

Our curriculum encourages narration after each reading but that is immediate and does not always show the relationship that Froggy is forming with the story.  It is often many days later that the Grand Conversations occur. We are on vacation right now but that allows us more time for these Grand Conversations. These are my favorite part of homeschooling.  The look they give me into Froggy's thought process is fascinating.  They frequently happen at bedtime when she is supposed to be sleeping.  When the conversation is so engaging, it is hard to put a stop to it even if it means sleep comes way later than it should. 

Yesterday we named our son.  To my horrific dismay, he received his name at a horrible sad funeral rather than at glorious happy bris. We each wrote him a letter saying goodbye.  I tried to read mine to him but Abba had to do it for me like he has been doing so much for during this time.  Abba laid him to rest in the ground and Froggy placed his teddy bear beside him.  We covered him and said Kaddish.  It was the hardest day of my entire life. This should be one of the happiest times.  Instead it is the worst.  All through the pregnancy, we knew there were good odds of having challenges to face at his birth. I kept telling everyone who expressed concerned that nothing matter and we would handle whatever challenges presented themselves when he was born because it did not matter we were just so happy to have him.  It never occured to me that the challenge I would have to face was not having him to hold.

Our family has suffered a huge loss and we are working on recovering.  We are on a break from all school right now and will resume when we have recovered enough to think straight.  Until then.

Froggy has been spending lots of time with her grandparents lately.  Both she and the grandparents love it.  The high point for Froggy though has definitely been "sleeping on the kitchen table" in the trailer (grandparent's home away from home)

Froggy lost her second tooth.  She wrote an amazing letter to the tooth fairy.  Here is her letter dictated exactly, punctuation and all. Dear lovely Toothfairy, I really really, really loved the gold dollar coin you gave me.   I will keep it with me forever.   I lost a new tooth today.   It was about 5 hours ago.   I was reading and every once in a while I wiggled it.   On the fourth time I wiggled it it came out.   It bled only a little bit.   When my friend C   lost her tooth, it bled a lot.   C and her mommy went to the bathroom.   They rinsed C’s mouth with water and then put a napkin under her chin.   They came back.   We were having a Girl Scout meeting at the time.   When they came back, they had to change napkins.   That was how much blood there was!    But mine bled only a little bit.   I am so happy.   My grandma and grandpa are visiting and I got to show them! ...

I love to quilt.  My favorite part is the designing and piecing.  All the piecing is done on the machine.  Since I cannot work at my machine at all on bedrest, I feared this poor little guy would not have his own special quilt made by Ima.  But HaShem always provides.  Going through my stash, we found a Pooh Bear nursery panel and some bright blue/green Pooh Bear fabric for the backing. This quilt involves absolutely no piecing but will be special because it is my first ever attempt at hand quilting.  So far it is going along swimmingly. 

Abba took Froggy for her annual visit to the Pumpkin Patch. It is the same farm we have visited every year since she was born.  It was hard to let them go without me but it would have been worse for them to miss the trip just because I can't do anything.  The giant hay bale stack that greets visitors as they enter is one of Froggy's favorite adventures.    The farm was crowded so they did not do as many slides as other years but they still managed to do a few.  And who can resist feeding goats?  Especially when they are babies.  She is no cowboy.  But she had fun riding the ponies with Abba  The corn maze is a super hit.  Froggy had tons of fun leading Ms. G through the maze and showing her all the surprises. Both girls had fun on the rope swing.  Even when it means going splat. It was a long day but a really fun day