Today, I found a cute series of interview questions to ask their kids about their Mommy. I videotaped their responses, but wanted to write them down here, too. Enjoy!

Calder

M: What is something Mommy always says to you?

C: Uh, you have a consequence.

M: What makes Mommy happy?

C: When you give a kiss and a hug to you. (He had a hard time with his pronouns here in the beginning–pretty darling, I think.)

M: What makes Mommy sad?

C: When you hit you.

M: How does Mommy make you laugh?

C: Uh, when you do this (insert silly face).

M: What was Mommy like as a little girl?

C: You laughed. (I came to realize that the whole concept of me as a little girl makes no sense to these little ones yet.)

M: How old is Mommy?

C: Zero.

M: How tall is Mommy?

C: Very tall.

M: What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do?

C: Play with me.

M: What does Mommy do when you aren’t here or when you’re asleep?

C: She asks Daddy where we are.

M: What is Mommy very good at?

C: Standing up. (High praise indeed!)

M: What is Mommy not very good at?

C: A somersault.

M: What is Mommy’s favorite food?

C: Spaghetti.

M: If Mommy was one of the people in one of your shows, who would she be?

C: Mulan. (The similarities are obvious…)

M: What do you and Mommy do together?

C: Uh, play.

M: Where is Mommy’s favorite place to go?

C: To the zoo.

M: How do you know Mommy loves you?

C: Because you kiss me and you hug me and you always don’t take me to one of your trips. (He lost me on that last bit.)

Amelie

M: What is something that Mommy always says to you?

A: I love you.

M: What makes Mommy happy?

A: When we hug and when we kiss you.

M: What makes Mommy sad?

A: When we make bad choices.

M: How does Mommy make you laugh?

A: You tickle us.

M: What was Mommy like as a little girl?

A: Played with toys.

M: How old is Mommy?

A: 15?

M: How tall is Mommy?

A: This tall (stretching arms up).

M: What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do?

A: Read the scriptures. (I love that this was her answer.)

M: What does Mommy do when you’re not around or you’re asleep?

A: You have a date with Daddy.

M: What is Mommy very good at?

A: Playing with us.

M: What is Mommy not very good at?

A: Headstands. (Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll give up those dreams of being an Olympic gymnast!)

M: What is Mommy’s favorite food?

A: Cereal. (I know some of you will laugh because I used to have a thing for cereal. But, honestly, I never eat it anymore. Wonder why that was her answer…)

M: If Mommy was a character from one of your shows, who would she be?

A: Minnie Mouse.

M: What do you and Mommy do together?

A: You play with me.

M: How are you and Mommy similar?

A: Well, some people think I look like you.

M: How are you and Mommy different?

A: I have brown eyes and you have blue eyes.

M: Where is Mommy’s favorite place to go?

A: The grocery store. (I think a little part of me just died.)

M: How do you know Mommy loves you?

A: Because you kiss me and hug me.

Love those kids.

It’s hard for me to believe my baby is almost 9 months old. I am overwhelmed on a daily basis with my love for this little one. I am just in awe of his perfect little body and his sweet baby emotions and his attachment to me. I love that he loves me best. Of course, that might be pure survival instincts talking on his part, but I’ll take it.  I apologize for the poor quality of some of these pictures. I’m still figuring out how to take good pictures with the iPad.

There's that smile!

Who could resist those puppy dog eyes?

Worried Easton.

Surrounded by wonderful Christmas chaos.

He likes to tilt his head to one side sometimes. Pretty cute.

So happy.

I know I’ve said this before, but I just can’t believe how the amazement doesn’t fade with each child. I am as excited and thrilled about everything Easton does as I was with Amelie. Babies are just the best.

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. This is partially due to the fact that we now take pictures with my phone, Bryce’s phone, and the iPad that Bryce’s boss gave him as a thank you present (thank you, Alan!). So, lots of pictures in lots of different places. I need to get into a routine of getting all of the week’s pictures off the various devices and sorted every Sunday or something. But, until then, here are some random pictures to keep you entertained.

The other day, Amelie got down in this position with her lower legs bent up under her thighs to show me how flexible she is. Calder then proceeded to lie down to show me how flexible he is. Pretty flexible, wouldn't you say?

Art Show time! A couple of days ago, I let the kids have fun with good ol' fashioned glue and glitter. They had a blast.

As she explained to me, this is Pocahontas waving goodbye to John Smith from the cliff.

Standing in the snow waiting to drive to Grandma Austin's house.

Calder told me this was, "When a rainforest dies." His abstract conceptualization of pressing ecological issues is quite mature for a 3 year-old.

Pies! Bryce helped me make these delicious lemon meringue pies for our Christmas dinner with the Haymonds. Yum!

How’s that for random? I promise to post better organized posts about Christmas and the holidays.

I say “Part 1” because I know Bryce has more pictures on his phone–of pumpkins and Easton and trick-or-treating. So, there will be more. But until then, here are a couple cute shots of Snow White and the other member of the royal family. He couldn’t decide if he was a prince or a king.

Look at Calder--"What is she doing?" I think she's trying to curtsy. Cute, if not especially graceful.

Happy Halloween!

Once upon a time, we did great family costumes. Remember these?

Snow White, the poisoned apple, the raven, and the dwarf.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Munchkin

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. (I was there, too, as Wendy, but we don't have a good picture of all of us.)

That flame just doesn’t burn for me anymore. I admit it–I’ve lost all motivation. So, the past couple of years we’ve kept things simple and, so far, no one has complained.

And, yes, every one of those pictures in the Halloween Hall of Fame was taken either outside of, or inside of, Mark and Beth Ann’s house. We should call them the “1631 Series”.

Surprise! We’re homeschooling! I’ve been drawn to homeschooling for a long time now, but we thought we’d give this charter school a chance. The school was lovely and Amelie’s teacher was very nice, but the time it was taking us to drive her down, drive home, drive back down to pick her up, drive back home, and get ready for each of those trips (shoes and socks and jackets and car seat buckles)–well, it was just too much. Almost 2 hours a day! Just to get her there and back! I knew that we could have kindergarten school work done in that amount of time and have the rest of the day to play, relax, explore, shop. And I kept finding myself watching my homeschooling friends with wistful eyes. I wanted to be doing that, too. It was tugging at my heart. So, Bryce and I talked about it and decided that we would give it a try. I ordered a boxed curriculum this year since we were getting started a little late in the school year and a couple days later, I got our big box of books, science experiment supplies, and my Instructor’s Guide that breaks things down day-to-day for me. This is so beneficial, especially since I didn’t have time to put together my own scope and sequence for the year.

And I think we’re loving it! I say, “think,” because I can’t officially speak for Amelie, but I think she’s enjoying it, too. I feel like a burden has been lifted. Which is odd, in a sense, since I’m actually taking on quite a bit of responsibility with this new choice. I am loving learning alongside the children, sharing wonderful literature with them, working on experiments together, and having time left over to go out to the playground or on a field trip. If you looked around our house at this moment, you’d see a “Welcome Home!” sign written in hieroglyphics that we made for Bryce, a big calendar with room for recording the weather, a forest of trees done in fingerpaints, and a homemade weather vane on our porch. In other words: So far, so good.

Right after I opened our box of materials, Amelie grabbed this book of science experiments and eagerly looked through it. She is really enjoying science.

Calder is enjoying all of the fun books we get to read together.

Our school materials. Just looking at our little shelf makes me happy. Recent additions to our shelf: a magnet wand and a prism. Both very popular with the young scholars.

See what I mean? And I think it's so great that school goes with us wherever we go. You want to bring the prism to the playground and see if you can make some rainbows? Sure thing!

We are doing lots and lots of reading. We're way ahead of schedule on the chapter books we're reading together because Amelie always begs for more. So far, in the 3 weeks we've been doing this, we've read The Boxcar Children and are just about done with My Father's Dragon. I think Dr. Doolittle might be coming up soon--so excited!

I've set up some Montessori-like work for Calder in our white cabinet, but so far he hasn't been particularly drawn to it unless I work with him. Which is fine. I'll keep working on it.

I hesitate to say more because I don’t want this to come across as “I’m homeschooling and so should you!” Everyone has to do what is right for their family. But I had to share the news.

Wish us luck!