Designed and Sewn By Joy!

Here's Joy modeling the sewing project that she finished today.  When we were looking for some fabric a while back, Joy spotted a napkin that I had put into my "stash" to use "sometime" for "something." She studied it for a while and she said that she thought that it would make a good purse and then proceeded to fold it this way and that till she was pleased with the way the fringe looked. She had been interested in learning how to use a twin needle to do stitches so she chose two colors of thread and then very meticulously looked through and sewed out stitches on another piece of cloth till she found just the ones that she wanted to use.  We ended up doing the twin needle stitching on my machine as their machine (my former machine) just didn't work as easily as my newer model (why struggle when there is an easier way!).  She learned about mirror imaging stitches also.  She sewed up the sides the last time we had a sewing session and then today she VERY quickly crocheted (something that Grammy can't do) a chain for the handle and then I showed her how to make tassels. She headed home this morning a very happy camper with her new purse over her shoulder and a dollar bill in it that Goosey (Woody) gave her.

Woody walked four miles this morning and was heading in our front door as Isaac was heading in our front door for school. Isaac is coming right along with his lessons.  His time with me just flies by...as do all the times with each of the children.  It always amazes me when the next child arrives for their turn...that it is already time for the one I have been working with to go home.  The whole morning just flies by. Elijah is having fun with his reading (about to complete a big Dick and Jane book) and has also discovered a really fun reading lesson: VERBS!  He loves to read the cards that have verbs on them as he gets to do the action that he reads.  His favorite is "bowl" as we have a Fisher Price bowling game that was Nathan's when he was little.  The bowling game resides in the school room so when he reads "bowl" he gets to pull it out and work on making strikes (I'm the pin setter and ball returner).  That is usually the next to the last verb card that I hand to him to read. I hold out the "stop" verb card to hand to him when it is time to head on to the next activity.   His least favorite verbs are "hug" and "kiss"...a typical little boy!  Though I did convince him to give me a hug this morning.  He likes math a lot and he really likes one of the lessons we have been doing lately: Domino Addition.  I have a set of dominoes in the school room and he takes out a domino and then writes the equation that a domino represents (one of today's 9+5=13)...of course his favorites to write down are the ones that are really small or where a number is added to 0. After he has done some problems he likes for us to set up the dominoes and see if they will all knock down in a row or curve or...As you can probably tell, we have a pretty good time in school.  He seems to be loving his kindergarten lessons that he does with his mom at his house. He always has a very positive comment...about what he has done or is going to do when he gets home.  Another amazing thing is how well he is doing with juggling.  Esther is also doing very well with her juggling.  This morning she showed us how many catches she can do when juggling  three balls...six catches!  I can't even walk and chew gum at the same time!

This afternoon I rested for a while and then decided that it was finally time to make that chicken noodle soup.  It really hit the spot for our supper.  Now we have settled in for a quiet rest of the evening.