Life is Good {But It’s Even Better at the Pool}

Posted on August 6, 2011 by bakersdozenandapolloxiv

Judah 14

Once again, my brave, courageous and generous friend Delia invited us over for a swim- and fixed us lunch to boot!

We got off to a bit of a shaky start with complete cloud coverage and a chilly breeze. But by lunch time that was a memory and the children finally quit shivering.

Kalina, 10

Oh, and having a built in hot tub definitely helps in those chillier moments.

My favorite shot of the day is an Instagram photo taken with my phone. Avi refused to let me take pictures with my actual camera, so here's the Instagram version (username littleearthling if you want to find me there!) Would you believe this little girl finished off two large hamburgers with all the fixings for lunch?

Tucker (5) came up to me and in his little husky, lispy voice said, "Hey Mom, it's cloudy with a chance of goggles!" What a clever boy. See why I love kids so much?

Mordecai, 8, loved the pool as usual. The fact that he was wearing a floaty suit didn't stop him from diving off the the diving board. Yes, diving. After watching a few of the other kids, he put his arms out, tucked his head, and with perfect form dove off the diving board. Repeatedly. His floatation suit made sure he soon popped to the surface. What a guy!

Apollo loved the pool. In fact he threw a fit when I tried to take him out.

Hezekiah, age 7

Enoch, age 11

And now, a study in little boys.

Exhibit A:

Hezekiah, age 7

First walk slowly across the diving board and carefully calculate your stragety.

Carefully jump off to avoid injury.

Exhibit B:

Tucker, age 5

Run across the diving board as fast as you can for maximum speed.

Jump as high as you can!

Ah, I love my little boys.

Thanks again, Delia, for a marvelous time!

School…Again?

Posted on August 2, 2011 by bakersdozenandapolloxiv

Like it or not, I'm mentally (if not physically) gearing up for the new school year. The weather is finally, finally nice, so this week is chock full of summer type activities. Like playing outside. Swimming. And picking blueberries. As far as school prep though, here's my list of what to do so far:

*Clear out school cupboards. I plan to empty these out and only put back in what we will be actively using this year. These cupboards are in our dining room, so anything not currently in use can be stored elsewhere.

* Sort big kids school stuff. For the last couple of years we have used magazine holders to sort each child's school books, but for my high school/ and middle schoolers they are just too small. So, I plan to store their books in the dividers in the living room shelf Chuck built.

* Find a place for our art supplies. If anyone out there has any suggestions on brilliant, efficient and/or visually attractive ways to sort school supplies, please, let me know.

* Make photo cards of kindergarten activities. This will be mainly for Avi and Tucker. I want to be able to slip a couple of cards into their school bins so they know what to do. My three highest-need students won't be in our little homeschool this year, so I really want to focus on getting these two off to a good start.

* Get an "inbox" for work that needs to be checked.

* Get school boxes for little kids. Find a place to store said school boxes.

* Write down academic goals for each child. These will be printed and placed in my school binder for my reference.

* Orgainize school planning notebook.

* Finalize list of books and curriculum to order.

That's my list so far…I also want to have the first month of school planned (worksheets copied, etc) before we begin. And thinking about the new school year has me thinking about a couple of posts to recommend resources, etc.

Is there anything you would like to know about? Any questions you have as I get my "back to school" posts up and running? Leave a comment and I'll add it to the posts I'm working on. Have any suggestions, awesome tips? Leave a comment. If you blog, feel free to leave a link to any posts that relate.

Oh, and be sure to enjoy the rest of summer!

ZOOB

Posted on April 5, 2011 by bakersdozenandapolloxiv

I've talk a lot here about how Chuck and I favor a few quality toys over tons of cheap toys. Or tons of quality toys, for that matter. We have fewer toys in our whole house than most families with one or two children that I've met. That's by design, not accident. So when I see the latest "toy" being offered, I'm rarely tempted. But occasionally one comes along that gets my attention and that deserves a little praise. ZOOB is one of those toys.

It's plastic (ack!), in bright tacky colors…and has a million pieces! Usually that would be three strikes agains a toy. But like LEGO (look TonyM, I'm using proper LEGO etiquette because of you…I actually looked up the terminology after the comment you left) and wedgits, the creative possibilities are endless. There are only a few different shapes (plus wheels!) and they fit together like joints. My children have made: bicycles, hats, shields, swords, guns, teepees, cars…

This "jet pack" Mordecai made even had handles for him to control his flight with (sorry, no pics of that). This is one of those toys that everyone loves…from Apollo on up to Judah and Boaz. A few pieces have been broken from misuse, but since there are a couple of hundred nearly identical pieces, it hasn't affected the creative play.

This toy gets the stamp of approval in our little homeschool.

That Face

Posted on May 6, 2010 by bakersdozenandapolloxiv

Oh my. I know, I know, he's my son…my baby, so I'm a bit partial. But seriously? Just look at that face. Good thing he's having a new brother or sister soon because he's very attached to his mommy. And since he's my baby I don't mind a bit. Being a big brother will be good for him.

Oh, and sometimes its a really good thing he's this cute…like yesterday, when he said, "Mama, you're tummy feels just like bread dough!"

Here's to Tucker, the baby we called Pooper-Burper-Tucker-Grump for good reason his entire first year. Now he's a charming, artistic, handsome little man coming into his own.

A Baker's Dozen and Apollo XIV

Birth and Newborn Photographer in Bellingham documents daily life with 14 children.

Tag Archives: special needs adoption

Life is Good {But It’s Even Better at the Pool}

School…Again?

ZOOB

That Face