Monday!

I can't believe it is Monday already! Today is Grandma's 70th birthday. We have been making lanterns for the party for the last 4 days. The kids are really excited. Daddy has the day off work, but he wants to keep his regular schedule. That works fine for us.

So, we had our regular morning "lessons." I switched Baby's reading list around. The new poem is:

When against earth a wooden heel,
Clicks as loud as stone on steel,
When stone turns flour instead of flakes,
And frost bakes clay as fire bakes,
When the hard bitten fields at last,
Crack like iron flawed in the cast,
When the world is wicked and cross and old,
I long to be quit of the cruel cold.

Little birds like bubbles of glass,
Fly to other Americas,
Birds as bright as sparkles of wine,
Fly in the night to the Argentine,
Birds of azure and flame birds go,
To the tropical Gulf of Mexico,
They chase the sun, they follow the heat,
It is sweet in their bones, Oh Sweet, sweet, sweet,
It's not with them that I'd love to be,
But under the roots of the balsam tree.

Just as the spiniest chestnut burr,
Is lined within with the finest fur,
So the stoney walled, snow-roofed house,
Of every squirrel, mole and mouse,
Is lined with thistle-down, seagulls feather,
Velvet mullein-leaf, heaped together,
With balsam and juniper, dry and curled,
Sweeter then anything else in this world.

Oh, what a warm and dark nest,
Where the wildest things are hidden to rest,
It's there that I'd love to lie and sleep,
Soft, soft, soft and deep, deep, deep!

By Elenor Wylis

Followed up with the picture books:
Gingerbread Baby (for the 3rd week!)
Twas the Night before Christmas (Baby's request)
Fairy Goes a Marketing
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (Baby's request)

I've been leaving Baby with the books and with Winter by Gerda Muller, while Brother and I go to the special Fairy Tale reading spot with our candle. This week we are reading "Star Frog" a fairy tale for younger Kindergartens from our Enki Folk and Fairy Tales book. Brother is really fed by repetition, so I have changed our weekly rhythm to include three days with the same story, and then recall on the fourth.

I have also added the verse "Gnomes" to our circle to strengthen his midline crossing skills per the Enki Movement book.

Here are the gifts votive sized lanterns that we made for Grandma's birthday!



Daddy's has the smiley face on it. ;)




We also made a tiara for Grandma with glitter, feathers, googly eyes and sequins! Kids and Daddy had fun making a mess and Grandma enjoyed the tiara!