Sorry Virginia.............

Well, the other night Edward informed Kirk and I that Santa was not real. I wasn't really shocked by this but Kirk was actually (and surprisingly) a little bit upset by this revelation coming from our 5 1/2 yr old son. To top it off, Edward has informed that the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny aren't real either. I guess no one can ever say that we warped his mind in the sense that we had him believing something was real, only to turn around when he was older and tell him we lied point blank to his face about it.
Now, please don't think that it was us who told him. We don't make a big deal out of Santa (we do have stockings and get pictures with Santa....LOL....I asked Edward about the Santa's we get pictures with and he just said it was some man in a costume working a job) or the Easter Bunny (we do have baskets and find eggs) but we have always made a point to make Jesus's birth the main focus of Christmas and Jesus's resurrection the main focus of Easter.
Kirk asked him where he had learned such a thing and Edward said in Sunday School. He said that some kids were talking about the fact that there was no Santa (this when we went to the other church and Pre-K through 5th grade were in Children's Church together. Edward said that the teacher confirmed this by saying that Jesus's Birth was the reason we celebrated Christmas.
I was kinda shocked by Kirk's initial reaction because we together had always agreed that Santa and the Easter Bunny were not to be made a big deal of. I think that it was just the point that Edward was so grown up about the whole thing that upset Kirk. I think it made Kirk see that Edward was growing up and not a baby anymore....maybe even a little analytical.

A Yellow Candle

Edward was in his first Christmas Pageant this past Sunday. He was a yellow candle on Jesus's Birthday Cake (they held up a candle that was cut out of posterboard in the color that represented which candle they were to be on the cake). He did very well, a lot better than he did a few weeks prior at the Co-op Choir Performance. He spoke his lines very clearly and smiled. He was so cute. All the kids did great. The Older 3's and Pre-K were hilarious....they were enamoured with the huge screens feeding the live videos of them preforming. One little girl kept jumping up and down, watching herself on the screen and another little boy kept taking off across the stage. Way to cute and funny.

First Play

We have taken Edward to things like Elmo Live, Thomas Live, The Wiggles and so forth. Yesterday though, we went to our first real live play with our Homeschool Co-op Group. We went and saw The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever. This was based on the book by Barbara Robinson. It was put on by a Childrens Theater Group. It was very well done. Edward loved it and he was very good through the whole play. I was so proud of him. He says he would like to give acting a try sometime and maybe in a play himself one day.

It Was SO Easy Daddy!

Lets see where should I begin.......

Two Father's Days ago, I bought a Wii for Kirk (thought he and Edward would have fun with it plus I saw some of the things actually got you up and moving). We looked at the directions and didn't install it because we wanted to put it in the room with the projector and larger screen. We didn't see how in the world we were going to be able to install the eye bar thingy plus to be honest it looked complicated to set up.

Then we had builders come in after last Christmas and do a remodel/renovation/add-on to our house. Well during that time, Edward had gotten into the boxes for the Wii and we thought for sure that some of the pieces had gotten lost. After the builders were done, we moved all the boxes upstairs to the new theater/play room. There the Wii sat until yesterday evening.

Last night, Edward without saying a word to me went upstairs. I thought he was just playing. He gets the phone and calls his daddy on it. Says to Kirk "Daddy. I have the W-i-i all set up for us to play in my room (he has his own tv)." Kirk had just pulled into the driveway at that time Edward called him. Kirk comes in, says to me "Do you know he says he has the Wii set up in his bedroom?" I say "No! How could he? I thought we lost all the pieces plus we couldn't figure the thing out." Kirk goes upstairs to have a look at what Edward says he has done. Sure enough our 5 1/2 yr old has successfully installed the Wii and has it working. The only thing that he did wrong was he had the disc in backwards. Oiiieee, he is way to smart and ingenious for us. He and Daddy played it last night and boy did they have fun. This is something that we may never live down, after all we were ready to ditch it or sell it. I guess that goes to show Edward will get the job done and work towards what he wants. That is a plus.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope that today was a beautiful and blessed day for you and yours. We (Kirk, Edward and I) had a traditional Thanksgiving meal....well, pretty much traditional. We fry our turkey instead of cook it in the oven. YUMMY!!! It is a great time saver too. Took about 1 hr and 15 minutes to cook a 20lb bird. I made cranberry sauce for the time. It was yummy. Don't think I will ever go back to canned again. I also mad a Sweet Potato Casserole this year instead of the Sweet Potatoes we usually make. Of course we had pie for dessert. It was basically a nice simple meal. I can't wait until tomorrow when we get to have left overs in the form of sandwiches. We do miss sharing the holiday with our family though, that is the down side to living so far from home...can't just hop in the car and drive to grandma's for the extended weekend. All in all it was a great day.

Do Re Mi Fa So La Te Do

This past Saturday our co-op children who take Choir had their 1st Semester Performance. They sang so beautifully. It was like the angels singing and brought tears to ones eyes as you heard them singing such beautiful praise music to our Lord and Savior. Edward wasn't so keen on the idea but he still did well. He will be a candle on Jesus Birthday cake at the church that we are going to for their children's Christmas Pageant. Please pray for us as we are searching for Gods will about a new church family. We love our old one so much but there are some issues that we just can't over look. We need a church with a great childrens program for Edward. This new church has that, we have gone 2 weeks now and so far we like it a lot. The sermons are what we are use to...book by book, verse by verse through the Bible for the most part. That is also a plus for us. A lot of the families that go to our Homeschool Co-op also attend there, so that is another huge plus. This church is only about 3 or 4 miles from our house verses the other one being well over 30 miles away.

Inside of a Pumpkin

We don't celebrate Halloween at our house, so Edward has never carved a pumpkin. In science we have been learning about seeds, flowers, plants and trees. So during the second week of November, we cut up a pumpkin, so he could see the inside of a pumpkin and help to to expand on his knowledge of seeds, plants and so forth. I know that he had a blast doing it. I unfortuantly got busy and we didn't get around to baking the pumpkin or roasting the pumpkin seeds and I had intended. However at Co-op during our recreation meal of the First Thanksgiving from 1621, he was able to taste both of these items the way that the pilgrims would have made them back them.

The Glockenspiel

Edward got his glockenspiel this week in Kindermusik. He has one more class left in this session and then wont have classes again until Jan. We will be spending a little bit of each school day practicing it. All of the children were so excited to recieve their first real insturment and work together on leanring to play it. I will post some pictures in the near future of him playing it.

May I madame?

1 2 3 1, 1 2 3 2, 1 2 3 3..... Edward has been learning about Mozart and the period of time that he lived in, in Kindermusik class this past session. What I thought was really neat, is that part of what he was taught was how to dance the minuet. The moms and the children learned together, how to dance the entire minuet in 3 classes.

School Pictures

Kidney Bean Science Project (October 2008)

Edward spelling some of the words he is learning to read (Oct 2008)

Edward doing a math problem (he was learning about units (ones) and tens -October 2008)

Edward at Homeschool Safety Day (October 9, 2008) put on by the Teaching Parents Association

Learning the order of the Alphabet (September 2008)

A Science Project (September 2008)

We Are The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Here are the pictures from Vacation Bible School back in July of this year. The theme was Pirates. Edward had a blast. It was his first time to attend VBS, he gave his heart to the Lord during an alter call at VBS. Doesn't he make a cute Pirate?

Fall

In Science Class, we have been learning about plants, trees, leaves, seeds and so forth. Today as a part of our science lesson, we played in the leaves out front of our house. Then we took a nature walk; collecting leaves, doing bark rubbings and talking about the differences in the leaves and that some still have chlorophyll, while others have already lost all their chlorophyll thus turning them, their beautiful reds, yellows, oranges, rust, purples and browns. We are very lucky that we live on a street that has so many different deciduous trees. When we got home with our leaves, we sent them through our lamenator, to preserve them for further study.

Plays and Concerts

We went to church this morning. They announced that the children would be doing a Christmas Play this year. We signed Edward up to participate. His part wont be a huge one but he will still get to be in his first play. I can't wait. I will let you know how it goes. I hope that the play wont be until Nana is here, she is coming for Christmas this year. This will be her first Christmas with Edward. He is looking forward to sharing Christmas with her. Last year was his first Christmas to share with a Grandma. Grandma Bev came and he loved that. Now it's Nanas turn. It is so hard being so far away from family, especially during the holidays. So much we want to share with them.

He will also be having his first Choir Concert on the 22nd of November. He participates in Choir classes through our homeschool co-op.

Of course Mommy will be there, at both with her video recorder. :0)

Going the Extra Mile

Friday night we heard Edward in the kitchen, running the washing and what sounded like he was doing the dishes. We asked him what he was doing. He came out of the kitchen in his little footie pajamas, with his sleeves pushed up to his elbows...hands dripping wet. He smiled and came over to me, took my face in his hands and said "Mama, I am going the Extra Mile like the Elephant." This past month we have been learning about Obedience and there was a story about an Elephant who was obedient and had gone the extra mile. Amazing how much he absorbs. Once again, God reminding me that he is a little sponge soaking everything around him up (yep good and bad things). He then proceed to tell us that he was doing the dishes and was stacking them on the counter for us to load into the dishwasher later on.

Catch Up

Have you been wondering what we have been up to? LOL! So have I.....no actually September and October were busy months for us.
Edward started out bowling again this year but after only 4 weeks in, we ended up pulling him from the league. We did this because we had a situation happen that we felt wasn't healthy for Edward to be around on a weekly basis. I feel bad because he loved it so much but we wanted to do what was best for him and not cause him un-do stress. I am trying my best to take him once a month or more, it would be easier if our towns Bowling Alleys were open more during the week.
Edward is now almost 12 weeks into his 1st Semester of Young Child through Kindermusik. He will be receiving his glockenspiel in about 3 weeks.
Edward started going to Awana's 2 Wednesdays ago (this coming Wednesday will be his 3rd week). He loves it and so do we. He has to memorize Bible verses and so many other wonderful things. It is a great experience for him. He has a little vest and has to earn badges, and receives jewels in a crown for memorizing his verses. I was so impressed the first week he had to say the American Flag Salute on his own with no help...he recited it perfectly word for word. We start every school morning with reading our Bible, doing our devotional, calendar work, saying the Flag Salute, the Christian Flag Salute and the Bible Pledge. It was just amazing that he after only 1 1/2 months into our school year was already able to recite it word for word. He is such a bright little guy.
Edward is still participating in Monart Classes. He drew an elephant 3 weeks ago and we were just amazed by his drawing. I will have to scan in some of his drawings and post them on the blog. We didn't have Monart Classes this last week. He only has 2 more classes this session and then nothing until mid-January.
Edward just finished up his 2 month long tap dancing classes. He loved it and desires to take more lessons. He is also asking to participate in Soccer, I just need to find acceptable places for him to participate in these activities.
I am still busy teaching the A to Z Animal Science Class for the K-2nd graders in our homeschool co-op, I also am the editor for the weekly newsletter, always am making something for the weekly luncheons and shuttling Edward to his extra activities.
Kirk is busy with work and coming home to play with Edward.

Future Republican

Today Edward and I (with some members of our homeschool co-op) went to a Republican sign holding. We stood on the corner in our town for almost an hour and held signs for the Republican party. Edward will be going with me to the polls on Tuesday to vote and we might even go to another Republican sign hold that day.

Moses

Edward went to Awana's dressed as one of his favorite Bible Characters for Favorite Bible Characters Night.

Tip Tap Toes

Edward loved his Tap Dancing Classes that he took during the months of September and October. They had a little 3 to 4 minute recital the last day. He was the only boy in the class. He says he would love to continue on with Tap Dancing Lessons.

Origami Me Please

Want a good laugh? I have been teaching a A to Z Animal Science Class for our homeschool co-op. I have 23 children signed up for my class. The basic curriculum comes from our local zoo, I supplement it further with researching the web for more information and facts about the animals. So far we have done Alligators and Bats (I now know more about these animals that I ever thought I would). This coming week is Cranes. Last week we made bats that we glued together onto crafts stick, so that you could fly your bat. With Cranes we will be attempting (using this term lightly as these kids range from Kindergarten age to 2nd grade) to make Origami Cranes. Let me first say, I have never done any time of Origami in my life. So yesterday while Kirk picked up Edward from Tap Dancing Class and took him to the park, I worked on honing my skills at this craft. It took my 5 tries and they still aren't perfect. Trust me Origami is as complicated (if not more so) than it looks. Near the end of his Kindergarten Year, Sonlight has them doing some Origami. I better keep practicing, so I know what I am doing. I love homeschooling....I get to learn new things right along side of Edward at times.

No Soccer This Fall

I really need to find a good place for soccer. Maybe I am wrong but I don't think that 5 yr & 6 yr old children should be practicing soccer at 7pm until 7:30 or 8pm. Edwards bedtime is 9pm and I don't think he should be doing an activity that winds him up right before bedtime. This is another activity offered through our rec center. Parents are the coaches, we didn't recieve a call about the first practice until 3 days before it. She could even give me at that time set days for weekly practices. With our schedule we need set days and preferably earlier times. So we just ended up dropping soccer altogether this time and will be asking around about Soccer Programs. Edward will of course be taking the British Soccer Challenge again this summer. That is through the rec center but I must say it is the best program I have ever participated in through them.

Tap Dancing Classes

Edward is enjoying Tap dancing lessons, but I need to find a different place for him if he wants to continue. Our rec center leaves something to be desired. Our first day, we were greeted by a teenage girl with a bit of an attitude. She informed us that she was not going to let the parents stay and watch (umm....this wasn't not mentioned anywhere in the sign up for the class and in all the other classes we have participated in through the rec center we have been able to stay). I looked at her and told her that I would have to see if that would be okay with Edward, as he had not been prepared that he would be being left alone. Plus this broke Kirks heart, he doesn't get to watch Edward do very many activities and he was looking forward to seeing Edward do this. Plus we are new to Tap Dancing so we have no clue what he should be doing to improve. When I said I was going to have talk to Edward first, in a very snotty tone of voice she "informed" me that she had already talked to her boss and her boss was backing her up. Ummm....is her boss Edwards parents or the parents of the other children in the class????? No!!!!!!! Oh trust me, when I get a chance I will be calling the director of the Rec Center and having words about this with them. I understand why she is doing it, because the children tend to pay attention better when the parents aren't there but in the same hand we have no clue what he is doing or suppose to be doing. She will only tell you if you ask her when you pick them up and then she is very vague about it. I was able to find a place locally that provides a Kindertap class, I just need to be able to remember to call them. I have to do so during the day when we are schooling, by the time I get a chance to think for myself and remember it is after 5pm. I am not sure if we have already missed the sign up date for the semester or not. So needless to say, Kirk and I feel that Tap Dancing Classes for Edward are all that they could be for him to truly get an idea about Tap Dancing.

We are 3 weeks in....

We are 3 week into our school year. Edward is finding Kindergarten to be a great adventure. He is loving science. He especially likes the experiments (we have done 3 so far). I like most of the Sonlight Curriculum but I think that there needs to be some serious work and updating done on their Language Arts program. I think we might look for a different one to use next year. We will be starting Explode the Code, as soon as it arrives. I had to order it. We will also be using some of the Tatrus Method once we have our letters down. There are some letters that still allude Edward, but he is getting more and more of them every day. Edward also love math. We are using Math U See, plus working on money. Right now we are working on pennies mainly, plus sorting quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. We have already finished the Box Car Children (book 1). We started the Arrow and the Apple today. I think he will love the story of William Tell. He is very excited about the crossbow that we read about in the story. Of course we also mapped out where the Alps are, along with Austria and Germany on our map. He seems to like map work. We are also doing Calendar work, learning the days, weeks and months. We working on learning the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag, Christian Flag Pledge and the Pledge to the Bible. Of course during calendar time, we also talk about the weather and seasons. We are working on writing our first and last name. Edward has been able to write his first name for a while now but we need to work on neatness. I love the Reason for Handwriting. Edward seems to love it too. We are also doing the Horizons Health, I like it for the most part. I am happy to report that we are able to get all of the Sonlight and various other subjects done in about 4 hours. That is nice. I will be slowly adding other things over the year for Edward to increase his learning opportunities as I feel that is some ways Sonlight is way to laid back on various things but since this is only Kindergarten I don't want to push it to much either....know what I mean?

It Might Be Hit and Miss

Edward will be starting school next Tuesday, we have a full fall ahead of us with 8 weeks of Tap Dancing Lessons, Homeschool Bowling League, 15 weeks of Kindermusik Class (this is 1 of 2 semesters that he will be taking this school year...next year will be his last year and then it will be some sort of musical instrument lessons...these classes will help him to make a very educated decision as to what instrument interests him the most), Homeschool Co-op Classes (2 of which I am teaching), Church, 6 weeks of Soccer and not to mention school lessons. With all these activities, my computer time is going to be very limited. I will try my best to keep up with everyone but Edward, his education and social activities take place over computer time. He will be my soul focus for the next 43 weeks. Of course I will be posting here as much as I can about Edward activities, homeschooling adventures, and life in general to keep you all up to date the best I can.
We are also off this weekend for one last mini family vacation. Have a beautiful Labor day Weekend with your family and loved ones.

Edward's Newest Endeavors

Today was a big day for Edward, he got his first official Library Card. We will be going to our local Library once a week, so that he can learn how the library system works and how to utilize it. He is so excited that he has his very own Library Card.

Edward's newest interest is Tap Dancing. We watched Singin In The Rain a few nights ago and he loved the tap dancing portions. Kirk asked him if he wanted to take Tap Dancing Classes, at first he said no but he has agreed to give it a try. We found a beginner class that is 8 weeks long (once a week) at our local Recreational Center. We figure this will be a great way for him to see if it is something he truly is interested in.

Also, he will be playing soccer for the first time this fall. He took a soccer camp this summer and loved it. He has been begging ever since then to play soccer on a team. We found a team for 5 yr olds/Kindergarteners, also through our Recreational Center. There are 6 games, this means it should be 6 weeks long weather permitting. Of course there will also be practices. This is where we could get into trouble and may have to drop this idea all together, as we have a pretty full week with Kindermusik and Bowling League, in addition to Tap Classes. Will keep you posted and of course there will be pictures of Edward tap dancing.

Another Thompson Family Update

I just noticed that it has been 15 days since I have blogged....like others I use my blog to communicate with family and friends who live a great distance from us and are unable to share in our daily lives. I also use it as a way to keep record of our lives. I plan to print out my entries and make keep them for Edward to share with his children and their children.

We have been very busy this month preparing for the upcoming school year. Edward will be starting Kindergarten in just a few more weeks. Public School officially started here (also in OK and TX) last Thursday. I think that it is just to hot out and still to summery for kids to be cooped up in a class room. We will start our school year the day after Labor Day. Edward is looking forward to school. We will be using Sonlight this year for our curriculum, along with Horizon's Health (K), Math-U-See (primer), Character First (series 1), and A Reason For Handwriting (K). We will also be learning some Spanish this year using Teach Me Spanish CD. Next semester we will be learning some French using the same series. Then I plan for him to learn Hebrew the first semester of 1st grade. We aren't learning to write any of these languages yet, just what they sound like in familiar childrens songs. When Edward gets to 3rd Grade we will use the Rosetta Stone Homeschool Series to learn these languages more in depth. We will also be working on America Sign Langauge this year too. We are also going to be using Tatras to an extent to learn to read, this is also known as Vertical Phonics. I have heard good things about this. Thank you Renee for showing me this program...you are always so kind to share.

Edward starts Kindermusik Young Child 1 tomorrow. He starts Homeschool Bowling League on the 4th of Sept (he rocked during summer league...he bowled a high game scratch of 105, a high series of 196 and his game average was 81...he was 2nd highest in game average and in high series, would have been in high game scratch if he would have just bowled a 107 or better game. Not bad if you ask me). This will be our last year for summer bowling league. Next summer he and I will go bowling once a week together. He will be moving up that fall to the Batnam's League which is sanctioned and doesn't allow bumpers. We will be working during the summer to get use to bowling without bumpers, with out the distractions or pressure of being on a league. Plus there were somethings that I saw during summer league that I just don't want Edward to be around or see. I think a break will do us good and we will see about doing a summer league in 2010.

Our Homeschool Co-op starts on Sept 5th. I will be teaching 2 classes this semester. A Arts and Crafts Class for Pre-K to 2nd grade and an A to Z Animal Science Class (this is a curriculum that is through our local zoo) for K to 2nd grade. My Arts and Craft class is only 6 weeks long. The A to Z Animal Science Class is actually 2 semesters long, so I will teach that class all school year long. I am looking forward to it.

I just have to share what we are having for dinner tonight....stuffed head of tenderloin (as seen on one of Edward's Favorite Food Network Shows; Good Eats), this is stuffed with crumbled blue cheese....Kirk's mouth has been watering ever since he saw the show so I thought I would fix it for him. We will also be having Parsley and Chive Mashed Potatoes, Broccoliflower and Purple Cauliflower (we haven't had either of these so I thought they would be fun to try), butter and egg dinner rolls, and for desert petite strawberry shortcakes. Is your mouth watering yet? I will have to let you know how this dinner turns out. One night I also plan to make Swedish Potato Balls (Kroppkakor) for Kirk. His mom's parents use to make them when she was a kid and he remembers eating them when he would go to visit them. He has been talking about them. I also have Swedish on my side of the family, I think it would be great for Edward to taste some Swedish style foods. There a Swedish Community here in Kansas (Lindsborg....aka Little Sweden) that has a Swedish Festival (Svensk Hyllningsfest) once a year, I am hoping we will be able to go in either 2009 or 2011 (it's only done every uneven year). It is in Mid-October.

It is different with Sebastian gone, we all miss him so much. Thank you all for the well wishes and condolences. It has taken some getting use too. So far Bear and Storm seem to be dealing with it well.

We are off here over Labor Day weekend for a mini family vacation in Nevada. Pray everyone comes home in one piece and no one tries to amputate any of their body parts.

We wanted to wish Happy Birthday to Jim, Mom T (Kirk's Mom), Oma Du (my Grandma), Paige (our beautiful neice), and Charlene, who all have birthdays in August. Also Happy Anniversary to my brother and his wife.

For those praying for us, please remember that Kirk goes at the end of next month to see the Urologist. Will keep you posted.