how is it that sawyer is 1 already?! i still can so vividly recall this day a year ago. wow, the years just keep getting shorter and faster!
we celebrated his birthday over the weekend with a brief visit from matt's family, and then tonight with my side of the family. as you can see, he really enjoyed the wrapping paper and hangers--i mean presents--he received from everyone, as well as his very first tastes of birthday cake!
(and Sara, I'm sure their victory was partly due to their super cool team logo!)
matt and i are trying something new. we are reading a classic together. in all of my 30 years, i cannot recall ever personally reading a true classic. we keep hearing good things about this one in particular. it also helps that we had it on our shelf--an ancient copy (pictured here) that matt retrieved from his grandpa's bookshelf after his passing a couple of years ago. that fact alone makes it all the more precious to hold in our hands.
so the other night after we put the kids down, we made some hot drinks, lit some candles, and curled up on the couch to read aloud together. the only thing that would have made it better would have been a crackling fireplace. :) after we decided to read Jane Eyre, we learned of a goal to aim for: in february, our local library is having a book club meeting on this book, and everyone in attendance will receive free tickets to see it on stage at Hope College, being performed by The Acting Company. it will be quite a feat for us to have all 462 pages read by then... so this new kind of date may become quite a regular thing for us! what a cozy way to spend the winter, though. i'm already looking forward to the next chapter!
this morning miriam and i hosted a few of her friends for a "laura ingalls tea". for almost two years now, daddy has been reading her the Little House books at bedtime, and now that they are approaching the end of the last book, miriam asked if she could have a party to celebrate completing the series. most of the girls dressed up and brought along their favorite horse to play with. i had them help me roll and shape dough for cinnamon raisin bread, and 
then while their loaves baked, they played, we read a Little House story, and then they drew pictures inspired by the story. i also found a Little House songbook and cassette at the library, so we had songs like "pop goes the weasel" and "yankee doodle" playing in the background. i think the girls had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed their hot chocolate "tea". :) (pictured below: elise, miriam, grace, carly)
the only thing that distracted slightly from the ambiance was the lingering aroma of burnt plastic... after preheating the oven just before the girls arrived, we discovered the remains of levi's play from the day before--baking some pretend food in mommy's real oven!
another resource that i have been using for the past couple of years now with miriam is a set of workbooks from Rod & Staff Publishers. as a beginner homeschooler, i guess it's been nice that miriam is a workbook kind of gal... though i don't know if that will continue with the boys! levi has begun to show interest, though, in sitting with me at times with these books or others like them. miriam has probably done more repitition than necessary for her with this set, but she enjoys it nonetheless. i have made copies of the pages instead of having her write right in the book, so now that she is starting to outgrow them, they are ready to be used again.
miriam also has been enjoying Bob Books this fall for reading practice. she has now completed the first set and it's time to move on to the next!
