Ani made bread the evening of the 27th. Fritz spilled a couple handfuls of flour. They wanted to play in it, no big deal. That would be easy to clean up.
Next thing I know I discovered they had added more flour to the pile. Half of a newly opened 25 pound of it!
Now we’re talking about something so not easy to clean up. It was a mess! The whole downstairs had a thin layer of flour everywhere.
So the next day I canceled school and the kids helped me clean the whole house. It took 2 1/2 hours for the kitchen alone. The rest of the house took about 4 hours. I think they would have preferred to do school.
I also deducted $2.50 from each of their allowances (the cost of half a 25 pound bag of flour). They learned their […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Lovely, isn’t it?
I should probably go to Costco next time.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Cameron randomly started running and jumping Friday night. He does stuff like that occasionally. We ended up talking about the long jump and looked at some YouTube videos (on our TV through the AppleTV!) of people doing the long jump. And then we all took turns doing the long jump.
And now we all know why I am not at all into sports.
Cameron and Ani are both about 4′1″ give or take half an inch. Cameron can jump about 6 feet and Ani a little less than that far. Jamie can jump about that far as well. As for me, well, I can jump farther if I start from standing still than if I run first and then jump. Even then it’s only about 2′. More like a big step really I suppose.
Fritz did more of a run and barely jump sort of […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Today our baby will be officially given his name and he will be known everywhere, including in the records of the Church, as Adrian Lloyd Duk (or something like that since Duk isn’t actually our last name). It’s such a special occasion that I actually ironed the two little boys’ overalls. Many people will be shocked by that statement, particularly my mother. I despise ironing. My mom doesn’t seem to mind it. Her mom apparently ironed anything and everything. I didn’t get that ironing gene. But iron their clothes this morning I did.
Anyway, I always love to see the dads take their tiny little babies up to the stand in the front and gather in a circle around the baby with their priesthood holding family, friends, and the bishopric. After the blessing it is customary for the dad to hold the baby […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Washing his hands. He had been outside playing earlier so they were kind of grubby.
Checking out the stuff to make cookies from.
Dumping in the cookie mix (yeah, we went the lazy way).
He wasn’t thrilled about the egg and really wanted the yolk popped.
Mixing it all together. We added sprinkles to the mix. He chose flowers in all sorts of colors.
Putting the cookies on the cookie sheet. Fritz really wanted them squished flat instead of round.
Watching them bake.
Checking out the cookies. See, they turned out flat after all!
Eating one. Delicious!
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
After not having regular TV for several weeks I have figured out what it is that bugs me about TV. It’s the commercials. We don’t watch much less TV using the AppleTV compared to when we had FiOS, but I much, much, much prefer watching on the AppleTV. Even skipping through the commercials on DVR’d programs got on my nerves. Watching Digging for the Truth (my new favorite show) is so much more pleasant when I can just watch it straight through with no breaks.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Yesterday my mother turned 62 and today she and my father are celebrating 43 years of marriage. They have a really great marriage. One I strive to emulate. Happy anniversary Mommie and Daddy!
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Ani and Cameron were born in Maryland. Ani’s birth certificate application was filled out by someone at the hospital where she was born and Cameron’s was filled out by the CNM who delivered him at the birthing center where he was born. Their birth certificates were both correct when we received them.
Fritz and Adrian were born in Virginia. Fritz’s birth certificate application was filled out by me and Adrian’s was filled out by one of my midwives. Both of their birth certificates were incorrect when we received them.
Fritz’s said he was born in the county where we live now, but he was born in a city. It’s an honest mistake I suppose. The city where he was born is also the name of a town in the county next door. Adrian’s birth certificate has my middle name spelled wrong. It’s Elaine, but […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Here’s a few things Fritz did yesterday in his “Tot School.”
He pulled a paper he had previously put stickers all over out of his desk and pulled some of them off and stuck them on an empty watercolors container.
I read a book to him and then let him page through it himself. He pointed to the cow pictures and said “Moo!”
He put one sticker on his ONE page in his counting book.
He played with one counting bear. Actually it is a counting cat. He spent a lot of time hopping it around his desk and saying “meow.”
He played Follow the Leader with Cameron. Fritz had to be the leader. As the follower it didn’t really work out.
He did his section of the Circle Time Learning Board thingy.
He played with his Discovery Bottles.
He made his own version of bowling using his discovery bottles and his soft […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Because of my aunt and uncle’s Alaskan cruise and my father’s prostate cancer surgery it worked out that the only day we could do Adrian’s blessing (and Cameron and Fritz’s birthday party) is August 31st. Typically babies are blessed on fast Sunday which is usually the first Sunday of the month. Of course babies can be blessed any Sunday, it’s just a tradition thing to do it on fast Sunday I guess.
This morning in church we discovered that the 7th will be Stake Conference. Normally the 7th, being the first Sunday of September, would be fast Sunday but since it’s conference our fast Sunday will be the Sunday before. This coming Sunday the 31st. So it turns out that Adrian will be blessed on a fast Sunday after all.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Last week I sent a letter to President Monson and included some pictures of Fritz and President Monson’s picture and an explanation of how much Fritz loves that picture. Yesterday we got the following letter in the mail:
Dear Sister Duk:
Thank you very much for your letter of August 11 and the photos of your son Fritz.
I am pleased to know that Fritz is my friend. Please give him my greetings and my belated wishes for a happy second birthday.
I pray that our Father in Heaven will bless you and your family always.
Sincerely your brother,
Thomas S. Monson
What a special thing to put in Fritz’s baby book!
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
I’ve been reading Baby and Toddler Learning Fun and I’ve been inspired to make toys for the little boys as well as the big kids. Finding time to devote to making stuff can be difficult, but I’ve made a few things so far. I’ve got tons of ideas floating around in my head so hopefully I’ll find more time somehow.
Self picture frames. Fritz’s picture will need to be changed less often than Adrian’s of course since he’s not changing nearly as fast. The letter stickers spelling their names are on the inside of the glass so they can’t peel them off.
Self cards. These are pictures of the little boys with a 3×5 card attached to the back with their name printed on them. The whole thing is laminated. Again, Adrian’s will need to be changed more often than Fritz’s. When I first […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Or rather the squirrels are in the process of eating our sunflowers. We have gathered some of the seeds, but I honestly think the kids are enjoying watching the squirrels eat the seeds much more! Every time Fritz notices a squirrel climbing on the sunflower he squeals “Kitty!” One time he climbed up and got the camera down from the very high place we have it now and stood there making sounds like he was taking pictures of the “kitty” as it ate.
After the squirrels have their meal and leave the kids are just fascinated looking at the half shells and bits of flower on the ground. They especially like looking for whole sunflower seeds that the squirrel knocked loose but didn’t eat.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
So two days ago we got Jamie’s associates degree diploma in the mail, but it was the one for which he didn’t apply for graduation. Today the mailman dropped off another package from the community college. This time I didn’t wait for Jamie to get home to open it. It’s his diploma for his ASIT - the one for which he DID apply for graduation. Guess now he just doesn’t have to bother applying for graduation for the first degree!
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Alison’s Portable Circle Time looked fun so I made one for my kids.
The whole thing.
The date. We put a little sticker on the calendar to mark off the days. Then we change whatever needs to be changed on the season and date.
The weather and time. The kids can pick up to three words to describe the day’s weather. I randomly put the clock’s hands on a number and Cameron figures out the minutes (it’s what he’s learning in math right now). Ani sets the clock to the actual time when we are doing the circle time activities.
Geography. For the world, we are going through the continents. The kids point to the spot on the world map. For the US, we are starting with states that have some meaning to the kids. Of course we’re starting with our own state. Again, […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Jamie will be 33 in exactly 3 months. He was glad that Adrian was born on the 19th, too. Makes it easier for him to remember the baby’s birthday.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Four kids officially makes a large family. Around here three is considered big, but we live in an area where people have one or two if any. But now that I have four kids I’ve noticed a few things.
1.) People are more likely to offer to come to us than to have us come to them. For example, Jamie and I are on the activities committee at church. The leader asked if it would be okay with us to have the last meeting at our house rather than at hers so we wouldn’t have to bring over our bunch of kids.
2.) Shopping is easier done on-line than in person. The cost of shipping is nothing compared to the time and frustration of dealing with the kids while shopping. This includes shopping for clothes for the kids.
3.) I find myself actually counting the kids now. […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
I’ve memorized the names of the books of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Book of Mormon in order thanks to the Primary songs. I also know the books of the Pearl of Great Price. It makes it a lot easier to look stuff up using scriptures that don’t have the index tabs.
As part of school we go through a Primary song a couple times each day. Currently we are working on the Books of the New Testament song. For the last 12 or so weeks we did the Books of the Old Testament song. Last year we did the Articles of Faith songs so I memorized those as well.
For our family club (Keepers at Home/Contenders for the Faith) the kids can earn pins for their banners for memorizing the names of the books of the OT and NT. Ani earned her books of […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
Adrian had his two month pediatrician appointment yesterday. He’s 14 pounds 6 ounces and 23 1/2″ long! He’s my big baby boy.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
This morning Ani asked me if Pegasuses (Pegasi?) were in Greek Mythology. I told her I didn’t know where they were from. Apparently she read about them in a Saddle Club book she is currently reading.
I told her to look in the Greek Myths book we have for later in Core 1. She said no, that would be like school. She’d rather go to the library and ask the librarian for help looking it up. Because of course that’s nothing like school.
So then I told her to look in the P Compton’s Encyclopedia. She did and sure enough there is a Greek myth of Bellophron and the Pegasus. Then she decided to get the Greek Myths book and look it up. Amusingly the picture on the cover is Bellophron riding the Pegasus. She read the myth and then told me there […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
My friend over at Homeschool Madness posted about these cute Tot Books the other day. I’ve been really resisting lapbooks despite their popularity on the JustMommies Homeschooling Forum. Now thanks to one simple post I’m being sucked into the dark side and my oldest is very enthusiastically going with me.
My first time lapbooking was a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tot Book for Fritz. I think it turned out really cute and Fritz loved it.
Here he is meeting the book for the first time.
Here he is checking out all the parts.
Here he is playing with the alphabet upper and lower case match cards.
Here he is folding it back up.
And here he is showing it to his Daddy.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
We have a Canon PowerShot A80 that we absolutely love. We’ve had it quite some time, over 3 1/2 years now. We’ve taken well over 7000 pictures with it so far.
I take at least one picture of each of our kids every day. Last night I went to get the camera to take the pictures of the day and discovered it wasn’t working. It had an E18 error.
A google search revealed that it was a problem with how the lens thingy goes in and out. I found a thread on C|Net that included various ways to fix it.
So after several did not work, I tried sticking a piece of paper in the side that was coming out wrong and then I manually pushed the lens thingy back in. Something worked and when I turned the camera back on it was working just like it […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
The kids planted some sunflower seeds around the end of April. One sunflower died. Another two are about 4′ tall. But then there’s the fourth one. It has grown twice as fast as the others and is the only one with a flower on top. To put these pictures into perspective, Ani and Cameron are both right about 4′ tall, Fritz is 33″ tall, and the baby is just being held up in mid-air at some random height.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
On Friday we finished reading Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. The kids and I all enjoyed it very much. It was a nice light read.
I had never read that book before. I read all the Ramona books when I was a child, but the Henry books seemed too “boyish” to me so I skipped those. It was just as cute a book as I remember the Ramona books being, and definitely not too boyish. Ani and Cameron both loved the book.
I put the rest of the Henry books as well as the Ramona books on hold at the library and we picked them up on Saturday. We’ll be reading them over the next couple weeks during our daily one hour non-school read-aloud time.
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
I truly believe that while you can have a testimony of something without doing that thing, it is only strengthened as you do it. As James said, faith without works is dead. I have seen this to be true in myself as I have made the commitment to study my scriptures (personally) each day.
I’ve known the scriptures are true for many years, but I did not have a testimony of scripture study. Bringing them to church each week and looking up the scriptures the teachers asked us to look up seemed enough. Then I decided that just wasn’t enough.
I started really studying my scriptures. I found that just reading them wasn’t enough for me. The more I read the more I wanted. I eventually decided to use the Teachings of Presidents of the Church series. I decided I would read a lesson […]
Original post by Heather @ CamianAcademy
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