Books We're Enjoying

We all know we're supposed to read to our kids. We've read the studies about all the benefits of reading to children. But sometimes, I'll admit, it can be tedious! It's so much more enjoyable when you have some good, quality reading materials. Good books are hard to come by here in Costa Rica and they have become like gold to me. For Christmas this year I received some great ones that we are loving. I'll share a few here.


The Boxcar Children This is part of our Sonlight curriculum and we read one chapter each day. It's Kai's favorite part of the school day. There is something delightful about reading a chapter book aloud with your children and anticipating a new chapter each day.

The 20th-Century Children's Book Treasury: Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud
HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics: A Child's First Collection
These compilation books are awesome! They are full of so many of my favorite books when I was a kid and it's fun to read them again as an adult. There are also some newer selections that are adorable. The good thing with these collections is the editor has taken time to carefully select the very best stories to include. It also covers a wide age range so all 3 kids ages 2-7 can enjoy these books.

The Bee Tree This book completely surprised me. I had goosebumps at the end! It's a very sweet story.

People This book holds my children's attention for a very long time. The pictures are fascinating and lead to lots of interesting discussions about what people are like all around the world - how we are alike and how we are different.

There are more books I'd like to share, but I'll leave it at this for now. What are some of your favorites?

Those first sweet smiles

Koa has started smiling. It is the cutest thing ever! I think a baby's first smiles are just so funny and so cute. For the first few months all you see is their serious little face, big staring eyes and funny expressions. Then all of a sudden out of no where the first smile appears and it is glorious!

Yesterday Koa actually laughed out loud for the first time. It totally caught me off guard and I almost cried it was so surprising and so real. I have a mattress on the floor in our classroom and we were sitting there having "school" which turned into a huge wrestling match with Kai, Ezzy and Jude. They were jumping on each other and cracking up. Koa was sitting on my lap watching the craziness and all of a sudden I hear this giggling. I look down and Koa is giggling - open-mouthed, uncontrollably like it just bubbled up from inside of him. We were all stunned! He laughed twice during this wrestling match and it completely made my day.

Maybe this is a little foreshadowing of what is to come? Four wild and crazy boys, tumbling, wrestling, laughing together through life. I really hope so. I have a feeling Koa can't wait to just jump right in. I love seeing these little glimpses of his personality.

Found a treasure today

I convinced my family to visit a park that is really close to our house today. I've been wanting to go for awhile, but things have been kind of crazy. They still are, but I was desperate. I know what kind of week we have coming up - a really busy week for my hubby, which means looong days for me and the boys at home. I really wanted the boys to get out in nature and have an adventure! So we did!

Here they are heading off down the trail

We of course had to stop and check out all the bugs and butterflies

This butterfly has transparent wings - amazing!

Koa enjoyed the ride

the boys checking out the view

we got a little bit lost and it started raining -so fun!

I am so excited about this park! It's really amazing and less than five minutes from our house. I had no idea! It is truly an escape from the city and I would love to take the boys on adventures here more often.

It Worked!

I've been trying to apply some of the principles of "Siblings Without Rivalry." The fighting is driving me up the wall - something must be done! Here are five steps outlined in the book (there are other steps when the situation is potentially dangerous or really difficult to resolve):

1. Start by acknowledging the children's anger towards each other. That alone should help calm them.
2. Listen to each child's side with respect.
3. Show appreciation for the difficulty of the problem.
4. Express faith in their ability to work out a mutually agreeable solution.
5. Leave the room.

So here's one scenario from today:

Ezzy: Screaming. It's that close-to-a-tantrum kind of scream.

I walk into the room and Kai has the little foam couch and is hiding in it. Ezra grabs it. Kai lunges for Ezra, grabs the couch back and returns to hiding in it. Ezra continues screaming. Uh oh - volatile situation!

Me: Ezzy, you want to use the couch?
Ezzy stops screaming long enough to nod.
Me: Kai, you do too, right?
Kai grunts in agreement from inside his hiding place.
Me: Hmmm... two kids who both want to use the couch. That's really tough. I bet if you work together you can come up with a solution that's fair to each of you.

Then I left the room.

This is what I heard as I was changing Koa's diaper.

Kai: Ok, come on Ezzy, I have an idea. We can go in the living room and build a fort. It's going to be really cool.
Ezra: no.
Kai went on describing the fort and trying to convince Ezra. Ezra was so worked up he wasn't going to come around easily. They continued arguing for a little bit and then next thing I knew both boys were happily walking to the living room to build a fort together.

Success!

Here the happy brothers are playing in their fort together.

I cannot believe it actually worked!!! Now if I can just be consistent and continue to do this. It's hard. I really like this idea from the book. The authors say:

Basically we try not to interfere, but when we must step in, it's always with the thought that at the earliest possible moment we want to turn the children back to dealing with each other. We want them to experience themselves as solvers of problems. That's the best preparation we can give them for the rest of their lives (p. 174).

Work doesn't work for me

My mess

I'm glad these last two days are over. I put homeschool on hold to help my hubby get ready for running the children at risk school. (More info on this over at our other blogsite: www.fivefreemans.wordpress.com and www.ywamsj.org) My hubs has a lot of strengths but organization is not one of them. With two of his staff off at conferences I stepped in to help. Well, being at home with four kids and trying to work just does not work. The last two days I was a complete stress case! I was in such a panic working at full speed, I realized at about 2:30 pm that I completely forgot to eat! With no time for food prep I shoved some toast in my mouth. Meanwhile my kids were fending for themselves eating dry oatmeal, spoonfulls of peanutbutter and watching endless movies. I had papers everywhere and the house was in complete chaos. It is nice, though, now that I'm done to look at the neat stack of student manuals and the organized grading sheets. How do other moms cope when trying to accomplish some sort of project or work?

Angry Choices

Ok, I'm not an expert or anything like that, but since a few people asked I thought I would do a post. Actually, I sat down with Ezzy and he is going to share with you so you can have his perspective:


When I'm angry sometimes I want to hit my brother. But mommy says, "It's ok to be angry, but it's not ok to hit." So I'm learning how to make a better choice. One thing I can do when I'm angry is show mommy how angry I am and hit my monkey because he doesn't get hurt. Another thing I can do is draw a picture to show how I feel. Another choice is to run fast outside or I can read a book in my room. That helps make me better. I can tell mommy how I feel and say, "I feel angry."


So, that's it basically! I just sat down with him and we wrote down some ideas of what he could do when he feels angry. This is his little "chart" on the back of the door that he looks at every morning so he can remember. It got scribbled on by Jude, but it still works. I think that kids are all wired so differently and you have to find what works for your kids. This worked really well with Kai and is now working well with Ezzy, too. Both have such strong emotions and my challenge is helping them know how to deal when their emotions are taking over. It's really hard. This doesn't always work, but it's at least helping him move in the right direction. The bonus as a Christian is that we also pray together and ask God to help. I know He loves the prayers from the hearts of these children and He will be faithful to help them. I'd love to hear what other moms do and any other ideas!

What a day

Well, today was my first day back to homeschooling since having Koa and our first official day with Sonlight - our new curriculum. I think overall the day was positive but it was not without some tense moments.
This moment was a triumph. Kai was really giving me a hard time about doing any chores because he "just didn't want to." He finally made a good "choice" (I told him he could either do his chore quickly and we can move on to the next activity, or if not we could keep working on chores for the rest of the day). That kind of kicked him into gear and he actually went above and beyond what I asked him to do and was very proud of himself.

I have to include this picture because this is what I'm seeing a lot of these days with Ezzy. Actually taking this picture kind of snapped him out of this fit he was throwing, he was so surprised and then wanted to see his photo. Right now we're working on "Angry Choices." This is something that really worked with Kai at his age. Just knowing that it's ok to be angry - and there are things you can do when you're angry instead of hurting other people. I feel like I am saying the same thing over and over and over to him. I know he's going to get this - I have faith! Poor guy - it's tough to have such strong emotions and not know what to do with them.

Another struggle I have with Kai is writing - he does not like writing at all, especially any type of work with handwriting. I'm not sure what to do because he needs to be writing and he puts up a fight when it comes down to it. So we did this activity today - writing in shaving cream - bubbles and sticks. I think it really helped because a little later Kai sat down and did a whole page of handwriting. So hopefully this will get easier. I hope, I hope.

I love what I'm doing right now, but in those tense moments (for instance when every child is screaming or crying at the same time - last night at bath time this did actually happen) I sometimes seriously think I'm just going to lose it. I get frustrated, I get angry, I get irritated, I yell - and I know that is completely not productive or helpful in any way. Sigh. Luckily my kids have grace with me and we seem to pull through together and keep moving forward. In the end there's always lots of hugs and lots of love. No matter what has happened in the day, I can always count on laying down with Jude at bedtime and without fail he gives me a hug and kiss and says, "I love you so much mommy" over and over again. You can't beat that.

Tomorrow is a new day and a new adventure!

It's here!

My homeschool curriculum is here finally! I am so excited. I opened this bad boy up yesterday and I could not believe the amount of books and fun stuff in here, not to mention a humungous notebook to get me organized with lesson plans for each day. I am a book fanatic, so this literature based curriculum really appeals to me. I love the idea of teaching through literature - good, fun, exciting, well-written, classic books. Kai keeps asking, when are we going to start?? I need a little time to familiarize myself with everything and get organized but we'll be jumping in pretty soon. I am a little overwhelmed right now and not sure how this is going to work and how to organize all four kids so we can make this happen. But, I guess that's why I picked the title for my blog - ready or not, we're just going for it and we'll see how we do and learn along the way. Let the adventure begin.

Christmas Morning

I am so grateful for mom-in-law. I don't know how I could have pulled Christmas together this year - with having a baby, and having no budget to work it was going to be tough. Well, when Scott's mom came to visit she brought extra suitcases filled to the brim with presents (not to mention a Christmas tree and decorations). When she arrived she quickly wrapped the presents up and hid them. So when we got back from the beach all I had to do was just pull the packages out, stick them under the tree and voila! Instant Christmas! You can see by this picture above the boys were totally thrilled. Thanks Arliss, I love you mucho! Also Lisa, my mom and Liz who contributed to this pile of presents under the tree! I just wish you could have been here to see their faces as they opened their presents.

The Smiles on these Faces...

...are what vacation is all about!! We are such a beach family - it's crazy. We spent our days heading to the beach by 8 a.m (9 at the latest!) and staying until the sun started to set. That is truly my favorite way to spend a day. Koa did so great - as long as he had shade he just snoozed the day away. Ezzy and Jude alternated between sand and water, but Kai was in the water the entire day every day.

flying high with daddy

sharing a coconut

the man with the coconuts gave Ezzy a ride on his horse

catching a wave

Me with 3 out of 4 boys

It was such a blessing to have this time together as a family and a great way to end the year. I love how God just takes care of us and gives us times of refreshment when we need it. It's amazing, though, because fighting between these boys can ruin even the most idyllic setting. I read a new book on this trip, "Siblings without Rivalry." An excellent read. Scott is reading it right now too and we're really trying to change our ways. The book just gives us some skills of how to talk to our children and things we can do to encourage them to get along and solve their problems. I'll probably be writing more about this topic, because I think it's one of the most challenging aspects of parenting, but for now I'll close with this awesome video of Kai surfing! I'm so proud of him so I have to show off just a little bit!

We're on Vacation!

Yes, that's right. The Freeman family is on VACATION! This is pretty amazing for us, because on a missionary budget, let's just face it - vacations are not a priority. It's also hard to find the time to get away. So how did this vacation come about? Well, my dad decided to come and visit and he wanted to take us away to the beach for a week - he also brought my little brother along- bonus! So we're here on the Caribbean side (my favorite side of Costa Rica) in the little town of Puerto Viejo enjoying the beach and sunshine. What a treat! You might have noticed I changed my blog theme back to my original - it just doesn't feel very "christmasy" right now, so I thought I would embrace my surroundings and enjoy a very tropical Costa Rican christmas!

The hotel - Villas del Caribe - isn't it beautiful?

We can walk right to the beach

I love all the green!

Jude! What a little chubby cutie pie





We found hermit crabs this morning - they're so cool!



We made a little hermit crab habitat

Ezzy with the hermit crabs

Baby Koa enjoying the view from the balcony

The sweet season of advent

Look what "Not Me" and "Nobody" did to the chocolate advent calendar that Grandma brought us. Woke up early, snuck to the advent calendar, opened every door and ate all the chocolates!! So much for that! Or "So much por dat" as Grandma would say in her Filipino accent!

This is going to be hard for me...

Look at this boy. Just look at him! He's one month old and he's grown and changed so much already. I was looking at him yesterday and felt a twinge of sadness that his just-born newborn stage is gone. I can't remember exactly what he looked and felt like when he was first born. I wish I had just sat and stared at him more!

This is my last baby - the last time I'll hold a teeny tiny newborn of my very own in my arms. Don't get me wrong - I am very happy with our decision and I love it that he's growing. He's filling out and getting cuter. Each stage that he will go through this first year of life will be so much fun and so adorable. But, I have to admit it is bitter sweet. And knowing he's my last, it's going to be harder than I thought!

It's Christmas at the Freeman House

Three little rudolph the red nosed reindeer

We've been checking the mail everyday waiting for our Christmas tree to arrive. Scott's momma mailed us a tree and it arrived this week so we had a fun afternoon putting it up and decorating it and decorating the house a little bit. This will be our first Christmas that we're staying in Costa Rica. Usually we alternate between Virginia (my family) and California (Scott's family). This year would have been Virginia, but it's just not possible with a new baby - even if we wanted to - to get his passport and everything. So we're excited to be here and have our first Costa Rican Christmas!
I wanted to do a little Christmas background for this blog - I'm not really loving this one, but I wanted to pick an easy one where I wouldn't have to change any of the text or anything. So we'll just keep it up for a little bit to spread the Christmas cheer!

My big, giant baby

Jude has been doing pretty good adjusting to having a new baby brother. But now since family left he's decided he wants "mommy" for everything. Daddy just won't do. He wants ME to change his diapers, get his food, put him to bed, etc. I am the preferred parent at this moment. It's kind of cute and I know it's related to the fact that I have a new baby that is taking so much of my attention.
This week Kai and Ezzy are attending a Christmas club in the mornings with their best friends, Lukey and Izzy. This is turning out to be a really good situation because I have the mornings free to spend with just Jude and Koa. Jude gets some special time with just me and the baby and I think we're both really enjoying it. He really still is a baby afterall.