August is Flying By . . .

My parents were here for most of last week, working on projects around here.

Dad figured out and fixed the smoke detector that would not stop beeping, and rather freaked me out when him messing with the wires in the smoke detector made the living room light blink on and off . . . he tells me he figured it out, I'm taking his word for it LOL.

Our big project for the week was to finish tearing off the shed on the back of the garage, Dad and I did a bunch of it during campmeeting in June, but didn't finish it. It's all gone (and now, this week's project is to start building stairs to the room over the garage, that could previously only be accessed by a ladder thanks to the original shed being in the way, hence the whole reason for this project).

Since I was helping Dad some, and Ashlyn's fully immersed in reading the Harry Potter books, I decided it could be an even more unschooly than usual week. Lexie was abit at loose ends, though she's reading the CS Lewis Space Trilogy, and apparently pondering something she wants to write, so she's been doing lots of talking to herself and telling me to go away when I ask who she's taking to, hee hee.

The Harry Potter books are definitely the biggest/most actual reading Ashlyn's ever done, preferring to listen to audiobooks than read herself, but I'm noticing that she pays a lot closer attention to details when reading, than I do. . . she's making connections as she goes, reading the books that I only realized in retrospect, and sometimes not even then. I've suggested to Lexie (whose, reading style is more like mine, read everything in sight, quickly, and just get the main idea)  that she might enjoy re-reading the Harry Potter books and notice connections she missed the first time through, because she didn't realize they were important.

Little Bit is thrilled to have Mama here to play with :)

Last week was the final week of the library reading program, so much reading happened to get those last tickets in. I'm thinking, in keeping with . . . I have 3 children, who do school in completely opposite ways . . . whereas Ashlyn HATED reading programs of any sort when she was younger . . . they stressed her out, big time! Little Bit definitely responds to the idea of getting something . . . Ashlyn wanted to learn to read because she couldn't stand knowing there was something she didn't know. . . Lexie wanted to learn to read because she wasn't about to let Ashlyn know something she didn't know . . . Little Bit doesn't care, BUT is putting the pieces together and likes "getting stuff" for reading . . . So I'm pondering a reading incentive chart of some sort for her . . . I'd just go with Pizza Hut's "Book It" except there aren't any eat-in Pizza Huts anywhere near us, just carry out, which doesn't work for Book It, so if, in addition to having to buy pizza for the rest of the family, I also have to drive out of the way to get to the restaurant it definitely becomes an expensive "free" pizza LOL.

So that was our week. . . nothing earth shattering, but we're keeping busy :)

Wrapping Up the First Week of August

Another quiet week . . .

Ashlyn's excited to be harvesting cucumbers and a few tomatoes from her garden.

Little Bit got to hold our friends' new baby when we were over there this week. Soo sweet! Somehow, even though she's bigger, and older, than the twins were when she was born, I was more nervous having her hold the baby . . . maybe because she's my baby, she's not supposed to be that grown up yet (just don't tell her that, she doesn't like it, hee hee).

Lexie decided to read Harry Potter this summer and once she was addicted, she told Ashlyn she had to read them too so that we could watch the movies (I have a hard and fast "you can't watch the movie till you've read the book" rule). So last week Lexie finished the series and Ashlyn is now addicted as well. As a special "big kid treat", once Ashlyn had finished the first book, I borrowed the DVD from the library and we stayed up late to watch it  after Little Bit was asleep (because it would have been too scary for her). Needless to say, we had a slow start the next morning, but it was fun :)

We wrapped up our week with a visit from Mama and Papa, and grilling corn from my brother's garden, yum!!!

Weekly Wrap-Up!

Our summer continues to be quiet and uneventful, just the way I like it! Much to Little Bit's frustration, her sisters have been reading tons. That leaves her to her own devices. She loves drawing, and playing with her magna tiles, and stuffed animals, and playing outside. She found the aprons that our neighbor made for Lexie and Ashlyn when they were around her age, and had fun trying them on. Needless to say, they fit her perfectly, so now she has two new aprons.

Last week our neighbors were on vacation so the girls helped with making sure their puppy didn't feel too lonely while her family was gone. A mutual friend was house/dog-sitting but the girls happily went over when she was at work.

A friend from church had her baby a week ago, Friday. The girls asked me multiple times a day when we could go visit the baby, and we were all more than happy to go over when they were ready for company.

Lexie, Ashlyn, and I each took a turn snuggling that newborn sweetness! Awww . . . there's nothing like it!

Little Bit is starting to read a tad. One afternoon she wanted to earn some "tokens" in the library reading program, so I pulled out some easy reading books I had from when the twins were her age. I was pretty sure she had a pretty good selection of sight words, despite never "learning to read" per se, and I was right. Between words she recognizes, and deductive reasoning from the pictures, she's definitely starting to read. Good thing I found a good sized stack of the easy books, because she likes to go through 10 at a time (that earns her 2 tokens at the library).

And some cute randomness. Ashlyn's cat, Moccasin has always had a thing for boxes, if we have any laying around, he's sure to find them and sleep on, or in them, but I had to laugh when I walked by and saw that he'd squished himself into this little box that I'd set by the basement door with some other stuff to go down to the basement. Silly cat.



Finally, don't forget to enter my giveaway for an awesome new video about Exodus!  Today's the last day!