Well, we are kicking off our last year of both kids being able to be at our sweet little classical Christian school together. When we first started this school, we bumped the kids up a grade (I’ll save the long story of why for another time). So Elliott was technically in 6th grade during the school last year. But since the school is very humanities-based (rather than skill-based) grade levels are really not all that important. Therefore, we’re having Elliott be a 6th grader at the school again this year, which puts him back at his true grade. The school is on a 4-year history and science cycle and he hasn’t had the fourth cycle yet. This year he will get the fourth and final cycle and I’m so thankful we get one more year of both kids together at our blessed little school. Oh, I wish the school still went through 8th grade! But I know God will provide for Elliott next year, whatever that may look like.
We did it! Another school year planting seeds and building up these kids of ours in the Word of God and His truth. We studied modern American history this year and boy, oh boy, did we study some HEAVY topics–obviously. But what a gift to get to work through these wars and hard events in our nation’s history from a biblical worldview. Lots of pondering, lots of discussion, lots of ties to our current nation and world issues.
So besides, modern history, we studied botany and zoology; Van Gogh, Cassat, and Monet; William Blake, Carl Sandburg, and Maya Angelou. For nature study, we focused on reptiles, fish, amphibians, Colorado Winter, birds, and flowers. They memorized Psalm 103:1-14, Isaiah 53:1-6, and Philippians 4:4-8 (and tons more scripture for church but I am just including school-related things here!) Selah can label all the countries in Europe and if you hand Elliott a blank piece of paper, he can draw and label all of Europe for you. The kids read well over 450 books just for school alone. We enjoyed so many together as a family, but some of our favorites were Amos Fortune, Number the Stars, Caddie Woodlawn, Elijah of Buxton, Rifles for Watie, Winged Watchman, Snow Treasure, Shades of Gray, and Across Five Aprils. The kids performed in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which, you may consider an odd choice for an elementary school play. But when you look at this great work from a biblical worldview, it’s actually a fantastic learning tool, to recognize good versus evil and to see the depravity that lies within all of us. The kids each studied and dressed up and gave a speech as a person during the historical time period we studied–Elliott was Abraham Lincoln and was THRILLED to be able to tie coins into his presentation and Selah, who was Helen Keller, really enjoyed studying Helen Keller in depth and writing out all of her classmates’ names in braille. The kids excelled in another year of Latin study, which included memorizing the Lord’s prayer, The Sanctus, the Gloria Patri and the Table Blessing. Of course, the Winter Market was one of their highlights of the year. This year they tag-teamed and designed/built these adorable little reindeer together. They sold out at the Winter Market and received many more orders!
I’m really not sure a day goes by that I’m not exceedingly thankful for this sweet little community we have! I thank the Lord for another year with this little school and for another year of homeschooling.
And now for all the growth that happened this year:
Elliott. This man is growing up! I feel 100% dependent on the Lord being his mama, and seeking wisdom for how to shepherd his growth without stifling him or having “girl” expectations on him. I am learning *a lot*. He is growing more and more fond of aquatic animals and chose to do his science project on one of our new favorite animals: the tiger salamander. We have all learned so much this year about this animal, which happens to be the Colorado state amphibian! We didn’t know we had them in our pond until the end of last summer. I love seeing how the both the kids’ “want to be” sections change on the little surveys they fill out at the beginning and end of each year. This year we had several fires break out in Colorado Springs–three in one day once!–and one of them was within a few miles of our house. The kids got to watch a helicopter grab water from a reservoir and dump it on the fire over and over. So, aerial firefighter made his list of future jobs this year, along with coin collector and aquarium owner :).
Spiritual growth: He grew tremendously in self-control and obedience this year which made for very pleasant homeschool days for all of us! He has also excelled in Scripture memory, having memorized not only the verses for school but many different whole chapters of the Psalms, including all of Psalm 136!
Academic: He mastered his 13s and 14s in multiplication and division. I do not know those by memory so it was a lot of effort grading his tests each day, ha! His typing improved from 8 wpm to 26 wpm and he can also write in cursive much faster than he could at the beginning of the year.
Life Skills: He excelled in shoveling driveways during the winter and definitely prefers “going to work” than doing school. I’d say that’s a pretty important life skill for a man! He also improved tremendously on doing his daily chores with excellence. And, perhaps my favorite is that he has learned how to make a pretty mean chocolate peanut butter ball. He and I adapted our original recipe to be more whole-food oriented and they are DELICIOUS.
Selah has also grown in so many ways this year. In addition to selling the reindeer at the Winter Market, she made and sold balloon animals. It was such a joy watching her interact with the littler kids, patiently taking their requests and loving them well. She was quick to provide free replacements when a child got a little too wild with his sword and it popped. I think she just might have a balloon animal business in her future… I’m actually a *little* concerned over her total obsession with (addiction to?) reading. Can that be a thing? Addicted to reading? She has always lived all of life with a book in one hand, but this year she really got into audiobooks, so now she doesn’t even need one free hand to read. She spends hours in her room drawing, painting, building, and designing while listening to audio books. I literally can’t check them out fast enough from the library. Part of the issue is that she listens on 2x (or higher) speed, so she sometimes goes through several books a day. Well, there you have it. I’ve admitted it. That’s the first step towards getting her help, right?
Spiritual: She continues to have a more and more contrite heart each year with a true desire to grow and be like Christ. By God’s grace, she is learning to gentle her tongue towards her brother and trust me even when she doesn’t like what I’m asking her to do. It is a true joy to be her mom.
Academic: She mastered her 13s in multiplication and division and I finally got smart at the end of the year and started having Elliott check her times tests since I don’t know my 13s! (#momwin) Her handwriting is improving and she also can write in cursive much faster than she could at the beginning of the year.
Life Skills: This girl is FINALLY learning how to keep her room clean!! I will not write a novel about that drama but just take my word for it–this is a BIG WIN. She is also doing her chores with much more excellence and my favorite thing is that she always sings while doing them.
We are having a lovely snow day today. Very, very thankful for the moisture God is providing for us! In fact, our little lake is even slowly beginning to fill back up! Three cheers for snow!!
It started off as an ordinary snow day…the kids made waffles and then went outside to make maple syrup snow candy. Brian didn’t have to leave right away so he pulled the kids behind the four-wheeler on a snow tube. Good times in the snow.
And then suddenly, they got the idea to start shoveling our neighbors’ driveways. They have now been going at it for about 4 hours and are not interested in stopping. (Well, Selah came in for a half hour to eat, but Elliott refuses to quit working.) I think they have already done 8 houses**! But, during one of the times I went to check on them, they said, “Mom! It’s 2/2/22! Make sure you tell us when it’s 2:22 pm!!” These are the things that my somewhat-attention-to-detail children take note of.
So I set an alarm (because, who can remember something like that?) and went out to find them just before 2:22 pm. And we took a picture. Because, 2:22 on 2/2/22.
So there you have it. This is what was happening the EXACT moment it turned 2:22 pm on 2/2/22. Elliott wanted me to try to get it at 2:22 pm and 22 seconds, but I told him to forget about it!! (HA!!)
In other news, this is one of the reasons I *absolutely love* homeschooling–to have the flexibility and freedom to work a different muscle of hard work! I love seeing Elliott, especially, come alive when he has real hard work to do. My son, who is sometimes in tears when tasked with drawing a picture, is refusing to stop working–even to eat–after many hours in 12 degree weather because he’s so intent on blessing and serving our neighbors. (And, I should add…they’ve already been thanked with a plate full of cookies and a few bucks in their pockets, which certainly keeps the motivation factor high!) He’s a man. He loves to be productive and take care of others. God, may this character only grow and increase in him as he ages!!! And thank you for his daddy, who has modeled this character for him all his life.
So…what were YOU doing at 2:22 pm today?! If you missed it, you have another shot to document your whereabouts on the 22nd, when it will be 2/22/22!! (Set an alarm!!) If only we could be alive in another 200 years and take a photo at 2:22pm on 2/22/2222! I might even be willing to try to get it at 22 seconds if I could be on this earth for that!
It was just an ordinary Thursday. (It also happened to be Brian’s birthday, which, if you know him, means it was–quite literally–just an ordinary Thursday.) We were planning on celebrating Selah’s birthday that evening with a friend when–*gasp*shudder*scream*–the birthday present we had gotten for her was GONE!!! In its place was a ransom note with a clue.
We immediately contacted Nancy Drew, whose novels Selah devours at alarming speeds, to ask for her help. Unfortunately, she was detained in Europe and could not come to our aid. She felt terrible, but after hearing that Selah had read almost all of her books, she was certain Selah could solve the mystery with the help of her two fellow sleuths. Nancy studied the ransom note, which we had faxed over to her, and mailed a letter to Selah (it arrived that same day, all the way from Europe, if you can believe it!!) giving her detailed instructions for how to proceed.
Elliott, Selah and Aspen piled into the car after school and I burst into uncontrollable tears, telling them what had happened. “Your present was…STOLEN!!” I blubbered. “Our house has been turned into a crime scene!!!” I handed Selah the certified, Top Secret, Confidential letter from Nancy that had just arrived because I was too upset to say any more. She opened it, and with wide eyes (and lots of giggles, I might add, though I didn’t think that was an appropriate time for laughter) read through the instructions and the attached ransom letter. Perhaps one of the most important instructions was that they were not to enter a room unless the clues led them there or else bombs would detonate that would destroy crucial evidence or, worse, the purloined birthday present. (“Or worse,” Elliott added, “our house!!”) Thankfully, the thief had, indeed, left behind a number of clues and Nancy prepared to set Selah, Elliott and Aspen on several missions to track them all down.
Thankfully, Nancy also sent along some Pop Secret snacks for these hungry sleuths!
The ransom note read:
Your birthday present is gone!
What should you do?
You’ll find that I took it
And hid it from you.
It’s hard to believe
but a mystery is due.
The best way to find it
is to get all the clues!
Your first clue…
What has a face and two hands but no arms?
They solved the riddle on the drive home and once we got to the crime scene they immediately found the first envelope tucked behind the family room clock and they set off to accomplish their first mission, which was to crack the code to figure out their aliases.
Working as a team, they DID figure out the code and discovered their code names: Singing Puppy, Speedy Glowfish and Sneaky Turtle. Aspen was SHOCKED when she discovered her alias, saying over and over (and over and over), “But I HAVE a glowfish!! How did she know??!!” There was one more code tucked in the envelope and after they had solved their names, they solved the extra code which said, “Minn of the Mississippi.” Singing Puppy immediately figured out to check inside that book and found the first letter (L) with a riddle written on the back of it, which said: I never ask questions but I am always answered.
It took them a little while to figure this one out, but they finally did and found the envelope attached to our doorbell.
Once they reached the vault AND made it back up through the lasers again to the landing level, they opened up their needed supplies.
Each sleuth received a magnifying glass, glow sticks, spy glasses that let you see behind you, spy pens and a notebook. They would need each one of those things to solve the mystery. At the bottom of the vault was a bag containing the second letter (O) with a riddle on the back: Some people take me in the morning, others take me in the evening, but one thing you should know—that when I’m taken’, I don’t really go anywhere.
It did take them a little while to figure out it was a bath, but since we only have one bathtub in our home, they knew where to go immediately. And they were very careful to not open any other doors…
They opened the envelope and read the mission and as soon as they entered the bathroom, the door was shut behind them! Somehow, the light switches didn’t work (I’ll have to look into that…) and since there are no windows in their bathroom, they were forced to use their glowsticks. So this was DEFINITELY the hardest of all the missions but with a little help from yours truly (good thing Nancy and I speak the same language) the sleuths cracked the code. The clue was written with a scytale—so there was a long strip of paper with letters on it and they had to match the arrow on the piece of paper to the arrow on the paper towel roll and then wrap the paper around it to read the word. They knew the piece of paper with the letters was important but they couldn’t match it with the paper towel roll. So once we solved it together, it led them to our home library where they found the 4th mission on the side of a bookshelf. The 4th letter (S) was scattered among the items in the bathtub so they also had collected that.
The envelope was filled with small squares of paper with lots of very random things typed out on them in size 2pt font. They read through each and every one with their magnifying glasses until they could figure out which one was the clue. One of them said, “Happy Birthday to You!” by Dr. Seuss and that just happens to be one of the books on our bookshelf. Inside the book was another letter (A) with a clue written on the back: I am alive without breath and cold as death. I am never thirsty but always drinking. What am I?
They ran up to Sneaky Turtle’s room and found the 5th mission attached to his fish tank. Unfortunately, they also found something very fishy indeed… a dead fish. That terrible thief! Must have scared the fish to death! But, undeterred and undaunted, the sleuths carried on and read the mission at hand. How Nancy knew that a birthday version of Headbandz was Selah’s one request for her birthday, we’ll never know. It was a personalized birthday/detective version and, let me tell you, it was just the perfect game for Singing Puppy and her fellow sleuths. They worked together and laughed hard and the very last clue to guess was a teal balloon. There were balloons scattered all over the living room but only one teal one, which contained the next letter (M) with a clue on the back: I begin with T, I end with T, and I am mostly full of T. What am I?
Inside the bag was a bowl of cooked noodles. Once they had all reached inside they guessed, “noodles,” and Singing Puppy knew to go to our pantry and look inside the noodle bin. There, she found the next letter (H) with a clue on the back: When I was invented you could look through walls. What am I?
Speedy Glowfish immediately thought of looking out the window…
They came inside to accomplish this mission…
Working together, they got 10 shots and then Singing Puppy ran to the target, intuitively knowing to check behind it. She found the letter (E) with the clue: What has to be broken before you can use it?
Inside the mission envelope were lots and lots of oddly shaped pieces of paper with pictures and words and sentences written on them…in invisible ink. They had to use their spy pens to read them and then decide which one was the clue. One of them said, “Your favorite breakfast to eat with whipped cream and strawberries.” Singing Puppy ran to the pantry containing the waffle mix, where they found a letter (S) with the clue: “I don’t speak, can’t hear or say anything, but I will always tell the truth. What am I?” They finally figured it out…
Once they found the paper plates in the cabinet, they had to unscramble them to figure out what was for dinner. I loved the moment Singing Puppy realized the plates spelled out “Pizza.”
The exhausted sleuths ate and were merry…and then Singing Puppy found a clue underneath her slice of pizza! (Can you see it in that lower left picture?) It was a letter (O), wrapped in aluminum foil, with this clue written on the back: “I sometimes have leaves, but I’m not a tree. I’m sometimes bedside, and sometimes coffee.”
Brian and I figured it out right away but, come to find out, none of these three children knew that a table has “leaves.” However, as Speedy Glowfish leaned back in her chair, scratching her chin to try to solve the riddle, she happened to glance down and see that the last mission had fallen to the floor from where it had previously been taped to the underside of the table. And so it was very easy for them to find it on the floor at their feet, ha!
Inside the envelope were tons of pieces of paper filled with quotes from Nancy Drew and/or other detectives in very small font, backwards. So they had to hold the papers up to the mirror to read them. Somehow, and we will never know how, the very last paper that held the clue had dropped to the floor without them noticing. (See it on the floor in the bottom left photo?) That paper read, “The last letter is found where the clothes go round.” And there, in the washing machine, was tucked the final letter (R).
Here are the letters they received. Can you solve the case??
LOSAMHESOR
Okay so the unscrambling of the letters was a WEEEE bit difficult for these sleuths. Thankfully, I was able to help them crack the case with a few hints (I’m guessing it’s two words…let’s think about who this day is about…) they finally got “Selah” and were left with OMORS. And finally they put it all together to get…SELAHS ROOM.
The purloined birthday present was a DESK!!!
The thief had–very conveniently, I might add–dropped the stolen loot in HER BEDROOM!! WHEW!! I breathed a sigh of relief for the first time that day.
Singing Puppy, Speedy Glowfish and Sneaky Turtle all celebrated.They each gave Selah wonderfully-thoughtful gifts and we enjoyed some mud pied cupcakes together. (And yes, I fussed and at the very least gave Brian a candle in his since it was, indeed, HIS birthday!)Her Aunt Angela and Uncle Tony sent her a compass and #11-20 of the Nancy Drew series. These are just some of the faces that accompanied the opening of these amazing presents. It’s like she struck gold. (Which, really, she did!)
Selah also got to celebrate her big day with Brian’s parents and some of the Mauss family. Thankfully there were no more crimes that needed to be solved during those festivities!! If only Nancy could have joined us for some mud pie…maybe next time!
Well happy birthday to our darling Singing Puppy Selah. The mission to turn 9 years old was, indeed, ACCOMPLISHED!
Sometimes, due to life and health (or lack of), over 2 and a half years pass by and you haven’t been able to get your hair cut. And then at one point you think to yourself, “Hmm, I wonder if my hair is long enough to donate…” and you think about how wonderful it would be if God could make beauty from the ashes of your way-too-long-in-desperate-need-of-a-cut hair. And then you look at your lovely daughter, who also has not had a hair cut in ages, and you wonder, “Hmm, I think HER hair might be long enough to donate, too…” Then you wonder if you are ready to give your baby girl a bob cut and you ask your husband and he is not so sure about that either.
But, you and your little girl, whom some call a “chip off your old block,” find a place that provides free wigs to children who suffer from permanent hair loss. You watch a video together about a little girl who has lived the first many years of her life with no hair. You talk about the challenges she must face and how beautiful she is because she is made in God’s image. Your little girl, who was hesitant to cut her hair into a bob at first, decides that this very small sacrifice she has the power to make could bring a lot of joy to a little girl just like her who has this need.
As you are contemplating all of these things, you find out one of your favorite people on the planet has just been diagnosed with a very serious and rare breast cancer. You cry your eyes out and pray fervently and then when you finally get to see her through the waterfall in your eyes, you ask her with a lump in your throat, “Do you want my hair?” She already has a wig purchased so she doesn’t need yours, but now you are truly determined to give your hair away.
So you grab your daughter’s hand and you march to the salon together. The stylist cuts 17 inches off the longest point of your hair and an average of 13 inches from your little girl’s hair. And you each smile big after taking these huge chops off your old blocks…and you realize your daughter is still a chip off of yours.
Your heart swells as you read the letter your daughter includes with her donation:
Dear Friend, I hope that you are able to trust God in this hard situation. I encourage you to read the bible and pray without ceasing. Have courage and don’t give up, even if people make fun of how you look. You can depend on God through any hard trial and remember that He is always with you. Love, Selah Bethany Moberg P.S. I really hope you like your wig.
And now, all you can do is hope and pray that some little girl (or two) feels the love of the Lord through your small sacrifices. You continue to hope and pray for your dear friend who is fighting cancer hard. May He make beauty out of all of our ashes.
Letters from authors the kids had written, a shimmery purple-blue butterfly, two hot air balloon landings on our property one morning and a creature that we still can’t identify!
PROJECTS
Brian and Elliott rebuilt the crumbling concrete wall surrounding the drain to our lake. Selah even jumped in (quite literally) to help from time to time.
COOKING
Selah cooked many different meals this summer, but by far her favorite thing to do was make her own creations. She particularly enjoyed making dessert creations for us…imagine that :).
MOWING and BUILDING
Ummm, yes, that IS Elliott driving our 100 horse power tractor ALL.BY.HIMSELF. Thus begins the time when my 10 year old can do things I’ve never done. He also built a floor in our attic, so add that to the list!
DEATH
With GREAT HOPE for spending eternity with our friend…
LIFE
In case you couldn’t spot him in the Moberg family photo, meet the kids’ new cousin: baby Beckett!
ADVENTURE
DAHLIAS
All thanks to Uncle Joe!!!
GRATITUDE
And although I have no picture for this…I must document that this summer Elliott beat me AND Brian at ping-pong!! WHAT?!! He has come A LONG WAY since we got our table at Christmas. Way to go, Buddy!!
There is such a great feeling that comes from working really, really hard and then taking a BREAK! We all worked really hard this past year and it has been such a delight to RELAX the past couple of weeks. I love our summer-time learning…very different than during the school year. So far Elliott is learning how to break down and rebuild a cement wall on our property with Brian and Selah is taking cooking lessons from yours truly. I love these days of less structure and less pressure.
But we had a fantastic school year once again. Although there was LOTS of hard work, we did have a lot of fun as well. We continue to be so grateful for our little classical Christian community and I LOVED having the kids home 4 days instead of 3. We refined a lot of the structure of our homeschool days and I think we’re finally finding our groove.
This year we studied the founding of America; astronomy, geology and meteorology; ocean animals, mammals and insects; Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Van Eyck; and Christina Rosetti, Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost. They read well over 400 books relating to learn about all of those subjects! WOW!! Like last year, we didn’t even count the books they read “for fun,” only the ones school-related. In a nut shell: the kids memorized three different chapters of Psalms, tons of scripture besides that, 9 different poems, all the states and capitals, 22 short songs that tell the story of early American history, many of the presidents, the preamble to the Constitution and lots of different catechisms. They learned how to draw the entire United States and label each state with its abbreviation. They started learning Latin and have done a fantastic job of picking it up. They both crafted items to sell at our school’s Winter Market. They learned lines for and performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They each did fun science projects and presented to their classes. Elliott did a presentation as Captain John Smith and Selah as Betsy Ross. They are making great progress with piano and choir. And this is all in addition to our Language Arts and math studies! They continue to excel in their narrations, copywork, and artwork. They are becoming truly amazing artists and becoming excellent with watercolors. We had the joy of having 3 friends join us for nature study each week, which added tons of fun to our learning. We also raised butterflies again! Whew! Can you see how hard we all worked and how much fun we had!?!? What a JOY it is to teach these kiddos of mine!! I already can’t wait for September :).
We read SO much fantastic literature, it’s hard to select highlights, but some of our favorites were The Sign of the Beaver, Pilgrim’s Progress, and Wind in the Willows.
Elliott grew a ton this year, and not just physically! He is growing in his faith and self-control and trust and obedience. His biggest struggle in school has always been his battle against perfectionism, and boy did he take some ground this year! I took some time to write out achievements for each kid, and here are Elliott’s.
Spiritual: By God’s grace, Elliott was eager to be baptized this year and we’ve seen a growth in his self-control and trust to obey us and the Lord.
Academic: Elliott didn’t miss a SINGLE multiplication or division problem on his daily times tests all year! He made big strides to complete his work in a timely manner without being ruled by perfectionism.
Life Skills: He has been a huge help to his daddy working on various projects around the property–he is really growing into a strong, capable man!
And Selah’s achievements:
Spiritual: By God’s grace, Selah chose to be baptized this year and we’ve seen growth in her heart to obey the Lord in all things and a quickness to repentance.
Academic: She mastered all of her multiplication and division facts this year, including double and triple digit multiplication and long division! She also made a lot of progress with her spelling.
Life Skills: She is a huge help to me around the kitchen and is really picking up her cooking skills. Also, she has completely mastered the art of doing EVERYTHING (and I’m not kidding when I say “everything”) with only one hand, since there is ALWAYS a book in the other.
Both the kids are avid readers, but Selah has really taken it to an all-new level. I mean, in the past I’ve found her up in trees and riding a tricycle around the driveway while reading. But, no kidding the other day Elliott came in and said, “Mom, Selah is riding her bike while reading a book–in the road.” So yeah, we still have some safety training to do. Granted, we live on a VERY quiet street with almost no traffic, but still. Once this year I caught her doing a math lesson with a book in her other hand. She unloads the dishwasher, walks around the house and outside, jumps on the trampoline, plays and, of course, eats all while reading. I can’t tell you how many times a day I say, “PUT THE BOOK DOWN!!” I suppose it’s not a bad problem to have…unless she’s riding her bike in the road, of course. Sigh. Working on it.
How she grew into a size 5 shoe this year, I’m still trying to figure out…my baby sure is growing up!!
And my favorite part…the compare and contrast:
I am so incredibly blessed to be able to homeschool these two kiddos. Thank you, Lord, for another wonderful, rich year of growth in all of our lives!! May our learning always glorify You!!
Our sweet little girl turned 8 on the 8th…her golden birthday!! I’m so thankful that we could slow down and take the time to celebrate our girl. She is a constant source of laughter and joy in our home and I am so thankful for her!! She is still the little girl who doesn’t need another person to hold a conversation (she is perfectly content talking to herself), interrupts herself while she’s talking almost EVERY.SINGLE.TIME and cracks herself up more than anyone I know. The other day I asked her a simple question about what she and the other girls did at school and after 15 minutes of trying to answer this simple question but interrupting herself with rabbit trails and other stories I finally burst out with laughter, “Selah! Just finish your sentence!!” She paused and said, “Well it’s more like a paragraph than a sentence.” Oh my word…yes, yes, it is. More like a novel, really.
She requested just having one friend come over for her birthday, her dear friend Aspen. And it’s a good thing that’s what she wanted because…Covid. She sees Aspen 3 times a week but it is never enough for these two girls. They are CONSTANTLY asking for sleepovers and extra play time. What a perfect day to make that happen!
So when I asked Selah what she would like to DO for her birthday, the ideas ranged from ice skating, to “I want it to snow and build a snow fort and have a snow ball fight,” to make and shoot bow and arrows, to whittling wood. But the two things that she kept coming back to were a wood whittling party and a bow and arrow party. Because, Selah. That’s my dear, special girl!!
She and Aspen have been making their own bow and arrows for weeks and it’s been really fun to watch their creativity and skill. So why not have an archery contest?! But then, of course, I started thinking about her golden birthday and how to incorporate that and it came to me: Selah’s Golden Olympic Birthday Games: Go for the gold! How fun, right?! I also just couldn’t resist doing something extra special for her golden birthday, so this year she woke up to a surprise on October 1st with a note explaining that she would have a surprise every day for the 8 days leading up to her birthday. That was fun :).
Day 1: She woke up to new bedding on her bottom bunk! (The kids had shared a room and the bunk beds up until last Spring. But ever since Elliott moved out the extra bunk has just remained empty.)
Day 2: Her cousin Taylor! She knew her grandparents were arriving on the 2nd, but she DIDN’T know that they were bringing Taylor! I told her she would find her surprise in the back seat of their car…as she opened the back door and began searching, Taylor popped out of hiding from beneath a pile of coats! It was awesome.
Day 3: Brown paint! Selah and I finally got around to painting her room a few weeks ago and as we talked about what she wanted on her walls, she said she really wanted a family tree painted on her wall, with photos of her family (and friends) on each of the branches like leaves. Well, okay then! It was super special for her to have Taylor here to help draw and paint the tree (which we barely got finished before Taylor had to leave)!
Day 4: A rug for her room! Many weeks ago she mentioned casually, “I would love to have a round, teal rug for my room.” Amazon made it happen :). That day, I told her she’d have to find her surprise and her reaction when she found it was priceless! She carried the rug around with her everywhere she went for the next several days, haha. She wrapped herself up in it like a blanket and dragged it through the house and slept underneath it. I think she likes it :).
Day 5: Have you read “The Courage of Sarah Noble”? It’s a very short chapter book about an 8 year old little girl who learns to keep up her courage. The character reminds me of Selah in so many ways so we got her this book, encouraging her to keep up her courage in the Lord.
Day 6: I had asked her several weeks ago if she’d like an “8” shirt sort of like the “7” shirt we got her last year. After looking through several puppy shirts (still in love with puppies) she came across this brown tulle skirt with puppy ears and a tail. And she was IN LOVE. She wanted a plain brown shirt to go with the skirt. Alrighty then, Selah B!!! So her favorite stuffed teddy bear was missing this particular morning but Selah found a note from her, explaining that she was playing hide and seek (which happens to be Selah’s favorite game). When Selah found Beary, she was dressed in Selah’s new puppy outfit. 😉
Day 7: We decided to get her a “real” bow and arrow. We knew she would love it but we also figured it might be good to have a real one for the kids to use for the archery contest. See anything interesting about this picture below???
Also, what should I do with this picture? Blow it up and frame it? I can’t get enough of it. I have entitled it, “Target Practice.”
Day 8: For her golden 8th birthday, her final present from us was a (rose) golden locket with a picture of the three of us in it.
Her actual birthday was a co-op day so we had a semi-special but quick breakfast, she opened her locket and then she was off to school. I sent her with some chocolate golden coins to pass out to her friends at school. While she was gone I decorated the dining room. Aspen came home with her from school, we had a special birthday dinner (ravioli, garlic bread and asparagus–her choices), and mud pie for dessert.
The next day, the Golden Birthday Games began! My parents were able to join us (what a praise and gift!!!!!) and the kids began their competitions…an archery contest, a hula hooping contest, a limbo contest and an obstacle course. (Unfortunately Taylor had online school she had to do during the party. So she was out there with us while Zooming into her classes for the morning…) It was a gorgeous but way-too-hot fall day. The kids tallied up their points at the end and received chocolate gold coins as their “medals”.
And how perfect that her Olympic rings formed the perfect number… (wink, wink)
Now, I was trying to figure out how to incorporate her wood whittling request into the party…because whittling wood is about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall (in my opinion). I just couldn’t figure out how to do a meaningful project that could be started and finished within a short time frame. So…I came up with…wood burning!! Perhaps slightly selfishly motivated (I’ve really wanted to learn how to wood burn but couldn’t justify buying one for myself, ahem), we purchased a wood burner and I tried it for the very first time at her party! Wouldn’t recommend that :). I thought it would be so simple…have the kids draw with pencil on a piece of wood and then trace over it with the wood burner, right?! Well, not quite that simple. I helped Aspen make her way through the project but then spent the next few days playing around with tips until I figured out a much easier way to wood burn. So it went a lot quicker with Elliott, Selah and Taylor. Anyway, it was fun. My vision was to have the kids wood burn a design and then color it in with colored pencils. None of them chose to color them except for Selah, and I think the simple wood burned look looks really neat. I do love how the colored pencils look with the burned wood outline though! Taylor did both the front and the back of hers so she can change which verse she has up in her room at any given time. Here is a little bit of the process along with their final projects:
What a blessed little girl she is…she is so loved!!
And here she is with her puppy ears. You can’t see the tail, but I assure you, it is there. 🙂 Happy golden birthday, dearest Selah!
2020, a year that won’t be forgotten any time soon. And, like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps going and going and going and…..
And so, it has gone on into another school year here with us. To tell you the truth, this is actually the best school year we have had yet. For that, I am exceedingly thankful and grateful to our gracious God!! I haven’t found myself saying that about very many things this year!!
This is our second year with our classical Christian community and so we are settling into a great routine. We also pulled back and have 4 home days this year instead of just 3 which has been GLOR-I-OUS. We finally have some breathing room and I’m very thankful for that. Our learning already has been so rich and fun and we are having a blast. We are very thankful that our very small one-day-a-week school has some liberty in making Covid decisions. Most of their day is usually held outside and they are obviously taking extra hand-washing precautions and things of the sort.
First order of business on the first day of school was their grade level bacon breakfast. Because, bacon. Apparently this is becoming a tradition.
I finally got smart and had the kids fill out all their own stats along with their self-portrait on the SAME PAGE…took me 5 years but I finally thought of it!!
And, the goofy pic. This picture on the right just cracks me up. Selah wanted to pretend like the stick was a piece of chalk and then she wanted to point to the chalkboard like a teacher would. Elliott, however, looks terrified. Perhaps he thought it was more like a hostage situation?!!???
Well happy 2020 school year to all and to all a good year!!
