Lena is Eleven

Our sweet Lena Lu is eleven years old and is dancing her way towards high girlhood. What a year she has had, full of hard moments with Lyme and healing but oh with what courage she met all of the mountains.  She is beautiful and gentle, a mother to all and tender with her kitties and chicks.  She is a book girl and enjoyed the Redwall series, Nancy drew mysteries, Cherry Ames books, James Herriot and read over 70 books during her school year.  She is a wonderful artist, and flowers and vines appear on grocery lists and staff paper along with a creation of Shakespeare paper dolls.  Lena has a sweet and pure soprano voice and we all enjoy listening to her sing throughout the house.  Lena loves to be organized and plans her days with great detail. But she's always up for a good romp in the woods or a wade through the creek.  She loves her dolls like a faithful mother and always turns up dressed up in a different era for lunchtime.  Our dear girl plays the piano and violin and was part of the Forte Fide Ensemble and a new homeschool choir. She knows her plants and medicinal herbs, is not afraid of mud or bugs and can get her baby brother to sleep when no other can.  Lena thinks deeply about things, about her Savior and the broken world around her and prays for all hurting. How we love our tender, deep thinking, hard working girl and pray for God's richest blessing on her now and forever. 

Lush Green of Spring

Just like that we're in the lush green of spring and have noticed the splendor around us. The lilacs are blooming, the bluebells on the Perkiomen Trail have carpeted the path in purple glory and the perennials are poking their eager heads up through the damp earth.  Seedlings are started inside and vegetables beginning again in the garden.  Spring is so redemptive, reminding us of life, after rest, after death and the newness God provides. 

But goodness, we've been busy.  April was the peak of our homeschool year with so many fun events- a geography dinner including food from Holland and Sweden, end of year piano and ballet recitals, Easter dinner with family and a Seder dinner at home on Good Friday.  Lena lost four teeth! Levi got three! Our chicken Jane Bennet who survived the brutal raccoon massacre is happily recovered from mortal wounds and is being carefully watched over by Theodore Lawrence, our rooster.  We're tired and ready for some rest (we feel like Levi who was found lying on the table) but we see miracles everywhere, when we choose to search for them.  So now we move on to homeschool evaluations, physics projects, Shakespeare plays and a choir concert to tie up our homeschool year and we wait eagerly for the song sparrow eggs to hatch (in the mud kitchen bakery of course). 

 

Spring Ventures

Spring has been chilly here so far, but after a bout of sickness and a sad discovery at the chicken coop we're back in our rhythm and happy to be out walking, biking and skating in the evenings.  Our poor chicken Jane was badly injured in the latest chicken attack but has been "in hospital" for around a month Not only has she survived (thanks to herbal and homeopathic remedies,) she's doing great.  She even laid an egg yesterday! We just picked up 8 chicks and hope they can live long lives here. With seven weeks left in our official school year, the bigger girls have been busy preparing for recitals, concerts and a Shakespeare performance. Ballet ends in a month and it's hard to believe that season is almost over too. We are making happy discoveries of emerging plants and the birdsong in the morning is so welcome.  The big girls have been busy building a bomb shelter in the library  (WW 2 studies are underway) and Phoebe just learned to tie a ribbon. Levi is working on his molars and in general just wants to be outside with his trucks and tractors and digging in the soil. The mud kitchen and fairy garden are officially open and we're in deep planning for our vegetable garden.  How thankful we are for spring. 

 

Levi Marshall is Two!

 Our little man is two! It feels like just yesterday that we waited and waited for Levi's arrival.  And now time goes too fast. He is in a very sweet phase with an overflowing vocabulary and his little baby voice.  A few current favorites are: "I need some draws" (pencils), I'm Wuvi (levi), boomberries (blueberries), "pupcake" (cupcake)  He is a cuddle bug when tired and wants to be attached like a barnacle to mama or papa.  He does not like getting a hair cut. This last month his favorite thing might be reading his books by himself. He has discovered our home library and has been sorting through books within his reach searching for tractor or train books. Richard Scarry books are a current favorite. He is fascinated by people and their jobs and when we go to the farm to get our milk he says "lets go to the farmer"! He likes firemen a lot right now.  He seems to have tonal memory and sings songs back exactly how he heard them in a piano lesson or violin practice.  He loves to say his ABC's and push carts or strollers around the house in this long winter. He also loves riding his bike! Levi adores all sisters right now and turns to the big sisters for comfort and sympathy and Phoebe for dancing and make believe.  Levi loves Thomas the train and friends and drives them all over the house.  He loves Humpty Dumpty, planets and the book Don't be Nosy, Posy. He thinks rhyming words are funny.  Levi is trying the potty with success! He has a tender little heart that notices when someone is sad or naughty. He'll even let you know if the kitty has shown a temper. He learned to pray and say the name Jesus and points to the stained glass window at church.  He still does not like to sleep and I'm not sure if he ever will.  His favorite food seems to be Greek Chicken Soup and frozen mango.  Happy birthday to our little man, and my baby! May the Lord bless you and keep you always. May you know blessings and joy and health all your days. 

Five and a half

Our Phoebe bird is five and a half.  She is a spunky and bright little lady who is busy as a bee learning piano and recorder. She's also learning to read.  She loves playing dolls and calico critters and in the mud kitchen creating flower feasts. Her favorite foods are asparagus, peppers, cucumbers and pancakes. She strongly dislikes carrots. She is quite the artist and enjoys drawing people.  She loves listening to audio books and music and has a really great sense of pitch and rhythm.  Phoebe is a deep thinker and asks many questions about the world and herself. She's learning French and German and solfége. She still wants to play the trumpet and her favorite treat is watching concerts with various orchestra or band instruments. We love our girl so much and can't believe how fast she is growing up.  

 

Twenty Three Months

Levi is 23 months old!  He is growing so much and is trying so hard to be a little person like his siblings.  He loves to pretend now and loves to "go to the concert" or "blast off", he likes to "go fishing" in his box boat and play with trains.  He knows his train names and talks to them as he sets them up throughout the house.  His vocabulary is quite extensive and he can be extremely chatty, especially at bedtime.  Some new favorites are singing along with his nighttime songs, helping himself to food ("I eat") from the pantry and sitting through entire church services! Levi loves to wear sweaters and slippers. He likes to help wash Phoebe's hair and is only a moderate fan of the snow. He does naughty deeds but tells you right away "pull Wendell tail and she scratch you". He is fascinated by the moon and had his first tea. He thinks the squirrels stealing the bird seed are hilarious. He especially loves to sweep the crumbs on the floor.  Trains are possibly surpassing tractors in current fascination. But it's a close race. He says I love you now (I wuv ooh) and he says his name (Wuvi).  He needs his kitty for snuggles. He loves to put things together and take them apart. He is starting to recognize some numbers. He loves yogurt, soup, cashews and chocolate. It's hard to believe that 2 years ago I was anticipating his birth, thinking he was going to come early.  Little did I know how late he would be. We love you little one. Here's to one more month of being a one year old.