Around the World in 60 Days - Week Two

You can see where we were in Week One here.

On Day 2 the kids practiced bowing and we sang "We Bow Down and Worship Our Lord".

On day three we tried making origami cranes.  It was pretty hard for most of the kids, but we had fun and Jeff and I helped them as needed.

On day four we built a wall with egg cartons.

On day five we tried painting the Chinese word for righteousness.

On day six we made invitations to invite someone to church.

On day seven we learned about trusting.  We didn't complete the activity, but we will try and do it another day.

We visited the countries of Japan, China, and India this week.


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This Week's Summer Activities

These are our jar activities.

Saturday:  We didn't pick an activity from our jar.  Jeff had the kids help clean the house while I went to the store and we had a going away party for Jeff's sister and her family at our home in the evening.

Sunday (Lissie):  Watch Sound of Music.  We watched part of this movie in the evening and will watch the rest on Monday.

Monday (Kaomi):  Make a video of everyone doing something of their choice, watch it after supper as a family.  The kids needed to think about something they wanted to do, but we ran out of time and didn't make the video.  I will try to make the video tomorrow.  We did take a morning walk, go to the library, and check out new books and watch more of Sound of Music, but we didn't finish it yet.

Tuesday:  We didn't make a video yet, so we didn't pick an activity from our jar today.  We went to the library for a special program from our police department about bullying.  A friend also spent part of the day here playing with the kids.

Wednesday (Katy):  Take pictures and print your favorite one.  I took pictures right away of whatever/wherever the kids wanted me to take their picture.  I finally made a video of the kids doing something of their choice this morning.  I videoed them doing the activity they were doing when I got the camera out, rather than them "performing" anything for the video.  I have to remember to ask Jeff to help us watch the video.  We finished watching Sound of Music.  We also went to the library for craft time.
Here are the favorite pictures that each person chose to have me print.

Quinn 4 1/2 months.

Kaomi playing with a magnetic doll.

Katy working on a paper from the Library.

Kent with a new Lego truck.

Clark watching the trash truck.

Felicity looking at the flowers.

Thursday (Kent): Give Daddy a hug and tell him, "I love you."  The kids are waiting for Daddy to come home from work.  I though about taking them to his office, but it's been a busy week and I felt the need to try and stay home.  The kids also made birthday notes for their great grandparents.  Then they watched a show via Netflix and I sent them out to play.  It worked out well for me to use a good portion of this time for a sewing project, because Quinn was entertained and then took a long morning nap and I didn't need to keep up with Clark who was in his chair at the table and then for the show I put him in the pack and play.

Friday (Clark):  Build the United States Puzzle and listen to the United States Song.  We found several versions of the song on you tube that we listened to/watched.

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Hospitality

Hospitality is something I struggle with.  Don't get me wrong, I love having people over, but the heart attitude of hospitality is what I struggle with sometimes.  I usually don't struggle with hospitality when I have planned to have guests over or even have unexpected guests that we know well.  It is often the "unexpected" guests who I don't know well that I struggle knowing how to be hospitable with.

Here is a "picture" of one of the most hospitable people I have known.  She was my neighbor when I was growing up.  Nona was the grandma of the home, she loved kids, and she had immigrated from Italy in the early 1900's.

When I went to their home and knocked on the door I was always greeted with "Come in, come in".  She didn't talk to me in the doorway or have me wait outside while she called her granddaughter to come and see who had come to visit.  She was always offering me a drink or something to eat.  If she was cooking she always wanted me to try a bite of it.  If I was there close to meal time she always invited me to join them for dinner.  She loved me as if I were her own.  She always told me I could "stay longer" when it was time for me to leave.  I don't think she ever had a cross thought about "that neighbor girl" coming over again.  She always made some kind of baked good for my family at a holiday, too.


I had a wise mother who didn't let me visit too often and wear out my welcome.  She also usually told me what time I needed to be home and it was always a reasonable time, before they would be serving dinner. (Thanks Mom.)


Here's what it looks like at my home.  When someone knocks on the door, I don't think to promptly invite them in.  I am often slow to answering the door as it seems they like to come visit while I am nursing.  So they ring the doorbell multiple times or knock several times before I can get there.  I don't like to have my kids answer the door every time, because they don't seem to know what to do when they answer the door even though I have tried to tell them and show them.  When I answer the door, we may stand in the doorway and visit before I invite them in or I may say it isn't a good time and turn them away politely after greeting them.  I rarely think to offer anyone a drink, they either suffer through their thirst, ask for a drink, or get their own.  If I am serving a snack to my kids I ask if they would like one too, but if it is close to dinner I often wait to work on it, because I don't want to be rude by telling them it is time for them to leave.  I am often eager for any guests to leave so we can get on to straightening up for Daddy before he comes home from work or so I can get dinner ready.  Sometimes when we have guest(s) I feel like I have to constantly be watching what is going on between them and my children, which is good, but it is something I struggle to do with a good attitude.  I seldom ask anyone to stay for dinner, but often wonder if I should be asking them.  If I should ask them I think we would have guests for dinner several times a week.  At the end of the day I am tired and not at my prime.  I'd like to see and talk with my husband when he gets home and that's sometimes hard to do with our children who love him and want his undivided attention right away.  When we have guest(s) it is even less likely.  I often have to ask our guest(s) to leave whether its in the morning, afternoon, or evening.  Sometimes I struggle to know whether I am being selfish with my family and time or if I am giving and have already given enough.  Sometimes having guest(s) makes me weary and mentally worn as well.  I want to be available to the children who may wish to visit.  I want to be able to show a Christ-like attitude to them, but I don't really have a clue, how.  I feel so rude when I have to tell them it is time for them to leave.

Hospitality is something I'm working on, but if anyone has any tips for hospitality or remembering how to be hospitable when someone unexpected arrives I'd love to hear your thoughts.


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Clothes Pins

I left the clothespins out.  Guess who found them?

 Guess who took them in the master bedroom and dumped them out?

 Guess who thought they might be fun for a monster truck to drive on?

 Guess who thought they would make great finger extensions?

This Week's Summer Activities

These are the activities from our jar.

Saturday (Kent):  Everyone pick a story for storytime.  I had a storytime with Lissie, Clark, Katy and Kaomi with books that Lissie and Katy picked before lunch.

Sunday:  We didn't pick from the jar, but we did take an evening walk and took an unexpected stop to play at the playground.

Monday (Clark):  Share a verse from your Bible with everyone.  These are the verses we shared.
 Clark - Psalm 147:5, Felicity - Ephesians 4:32, Kaomi - Genesis 1:1 & 31, Katy - Ephesians 6:1, Kent - Acts 16:31, and Mommy - Proverbs 19:23.  We also went to Chick-fil-a for lunch to support some short term missionaries who are going to France.  They were having a fundraiser there.

Tuesday (Felicity):  Have a timed race out front - see if you can beat your time on the second and third races.  I drew a chalk starting and turning line.  Then everyone took turns racing to the turning line and back while I timed them.  Here are the results in seconds:
Kent:  18.1, 15.5, 16.3
Katy:  15.9, 15.7, 15
Kaomi:  21.1, 21.1, 17.7
Felicity:  25.1, 27.7, 27.7
Next the three older kids raced against each other.  Here are their times:  Kent - 16.4, Katy, 15.9, and Kaomi - 21.3.  Clark had fun running up and down the sidewalk, too.  I didn't time him.  I found some coupons for free hamburgers when I was cleaning last week, so I got the kids an early supper for free when we were out running errands.

Wednesday (Kaomi):  Play x-box.  They each got to pick an x-box game they wanted to play and have 30 minutes of screen time at quiet time.  They all picked a different game, so they each played separately when it was their turn.

Thursday (Katy):  Paint toenails/Warpaint.  Kent and Clark got their warpaint on and the girls and I painted our toenails.  I felt really odd seeing my toes shiny every time I looked down today.  My usual footwear is shoes and socks, so I put on a pair of sandals, just for today.



Jeff took the kids out for ice cream in the evening.  They met up with another dad and kids we know.



Friday (Kent):  Speed Clean your room for 15 minutes.  When we cleaned I found a book in my room so when our cleaning time was up I read The Quilt Story to the kids.  Then Clark got to pick another activity from the jar.  He picked - Wear a costume for the day/rest of the day.

                                                                                        
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World Map Project

I've been wanting to complete this project for a long time, so I finally worked on finishing it this week.

It started with a world map on the wall in our kitchen area.

Then I added laminated paper strips for a border and a fun multi-colored border to the edge of the laminated paper.  The multi-colored border gave it a nice finished look.

I really like the border.  It adds interest to the wall and just isn't boring anymore.  Then I added pictures of friends from around the world and labels to what county they live in.

I will also add ribbons that go to each country and a title for our map.  We will enjoy being able to see our friends pictures and where they live in the world and understand where they are in relationship to where we live.  We have lots of room to add other friends that aren't on there yet, too.


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Growing Quinn

At Quinn's 4 month check-up he weighed 15.5 pounds.

No wonder our arms get tired after holding him for a while.

Heart of Dakota Blog Roll 2013-2014

I've joined the Heart of Dakota Blog Roll this year where others who use the same curriculum can link up together and see what we are doing in our curriculum.  Click the button to find other bloggers who use this curriculum.

The Post Office

Yesterday we went to the post office.  Katy had a package that she had put together and we needed to get it mailed to Pa and Mimi.  While I enjoy the Post office, taking six kids into our tiny post office isn't the most fun for this mommy.  Our post office is very small and for some reason the kids decide the post office furniture tables are fun to climb on/under, even when they are given instructions not to climb on them. (I probably would've done the same thing when I was a kid.)  So I decided to have Kent go in and mail the package, then Katy wanted to go too since it was her package.  I let them both go in and gave them instructions to give the person at the counter and tell them to send it the cheapest way.  Then Kent was to give them the money after they told him how much it would cost and they were to wait for the change.  I think they had fun and I hope the people at the post office didn't have any issues with the kids mailing the package.  The receipt came back with a note on it from the Postmaster saying what it would've cost if I chose a different way, but the kids mailed it how I asked them to according to the receipt.

Around the World in 60 Days - Week One

Introductory Post
We started before the dates on the itinerary, but we will probably lose a day or more along the way and end up behind.

We took pictures for the kids passports on day one.

On day three we played a hide the sheep game.  They've played it several times since then, too.

On day four we all worked together to make a picture with all kinds of landscapes.  Felicity drew the beach.  Kaomi drew a volcano.  Katy drew the mountains.  Kent drew the farmlands.  Jeff drew the forests.  I drew the glaciers and fjords.

On day five the kids drank hot chocolate while I read The Lost Milk Jar to them.

On day six we a had a dance and sing.  Everyone "dressed up".

On day seven we packed school kits to put in our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  We won't pack our boxes until October, but the school kits are ready for 5 boxes.

Over the last seven days we were in Oceania and we visited New Zealand, Australia, and Papua New Guinea.  For week two we will be heading to Asia.

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Clark Doing Laundry

I kept hearing strange sounds from the laundry room one day last week.  This is what I found.

As I watched I realized he was trying to start the dryer.

But it wouldn't start, because it wasn't set.  So he would try and try and try to push the button and make the dryer start.

I guess Katy or Kent have had him help them and he knew what to do after they set the dryer.


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