ky, you look like grandma jo!

Ky's 1st haircut!

Ky has had her hair trimmed, but never had a real cut. Every time we shave the boys' heads, she asks if we can shave her head too. I've never agreed, of course - until now!

OK, we didn't shave her head, but we did do a drastic cut!

Obviously, it's me (and not her) that desires for her to have long hair and I finally realized it was time. She was in the bath the other night and her hair was almost touching the back of her knees! So we came up with a compromise. We would donate her hair to Locks of Love, but only cut off what was needed to make the donation - at least 10 inches. Well the hair thins some at the bottom, so we ended up cutting off almost 15 inches! I was traumatized, but as you can see she looks beautiful! AND jojo looked at her and, pointing at the photo on the mantle, said, "Look Ky! You look like Grandma Jo!" That was a blessing to hear. Praise God for the little things.

Ky likes her hair up in these clips. She says it looks "really pretty".

(for "before" pictures - check the Columbia Space post below.)

science on a sunday morning...

... and a static-y Sunday morning, at that!

I came to the kitchen to make breakfast this morning and found all 4 kids gathered around jojo & kik doing a science experiment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for our awesome God and his amazing plan for his creation! We have enjoyed a variety of books (devotionals, history texts, and stories), sermons, and conversations that have emphasized the superintendence of God - none using that word, but that would be my summary of them all. It is so exciting to hear God's voice as a variety of sources, completely unrelated to each other, are used by Him to speak in unison. For that, I am thankful.

We got out the "I am thankful for..." tablecloth and the kids added their new handprints and we all added what we are thankful for this year. Here are the kids' prints...

Our Thanksgiving celebration was small - only our immediate family, my dad & niece, but we were no less thankful and had no less food!

In the evening, we enjoyed having Grandma & Grandpa join us for an hour via skype all the way from Georgia! My dad marveled at the technology - having never experienced skype. Sy still thinks that once we're skype-ing, the grandparents are here - he runs all around the house chatting at them. So, despite how I sometimes loathe technology (or rather, poor uses of it), we enjoyed using it to "be with" family far away.

Columbia Space Memorial

Friday we visited the Columbia Space Memorial with a few other homeschooling families. It was a really neat time learning astronomy, physics, and all about space exploration. They also have a Lego robotics lab and the boys were able to learn to program and work with the various robots!

another neighbor passes & nursing home visit

another dear neighbor has passed away. it really just comes with living in a neighborhood of elderly people. blessed Arturo was proud to be Cuban and kind enough to allow to practice my spanish with him. he was 87 and left behind a huge family full of love.
ky and i took some fresh-baked cookies with a card to the house this afternoon. (the funeral was this morning, so lots of family was over.) one daughter, ileana, asked if we would accompany them to a local nursing home to hand out flowers. they had a bunch of flowers left over from the funeral and she found great joy in sharing those flowers. we took plastic cups, each with a flower or 2 and some leaf sprigs, and went door to door asking if the residents would like a flower for their room. as each resident smelled the roses (or other flowers) and smiled, it brought joy to ileana's hurting heart and she kept telling her grandchildren how much their great-grandpa was smiling down as his funeral flowers brought joy to others.
it was a really great experience.
(i forgot my camera in the car... sorry no photos)

ice skating

when we went ice skating this week ky & sy both skated without holding on to me! it was so fun to have them both "let go"! i've been waiting a year for this moment, although i did not expect it to come for both kids on the same day. actually sy let go first and after that ky was motivated. sy is still taking baby steps, walking on the ice. but ky was able to begin skating, not just walking once she was over the fear of not holding on to me! it was really fun to see them both try it out AND really cute to watch them hold hands and "skate" together.

brass rubbing

since we're studying the middle ages, we took a field trip to make brass rubbings of medieval people and symbols.

the brasses are brought over to St Luke's church in Long Beach each year from London. they are replicas of brasses found in the floors and walls of castles and cathedrals in England (and all over Europe). they do a short talk about the medieval period using the brasses to show a variety of things, then we had the opportunity to make our own rubbings. all the kids chose small symbols to rub, so i "helped" sy to choose some people so that we could have atleast one larger rubbing. then, of course, i "helped" him to rub it.

it was a fun activity and we enjoyed the hands-on aspect that is difficult to get when learning about a period so long ago.

afterwards we enjoyed fellowship and lunch with a couple families at a local park. so we got no "bookwork" done, but it was a wonderfully enjoyable day.