Stay Away From Nazis

We supplement our school material by going to the library once a month and choosing age-appropriate biographies for the children to read on their own. They get to choose who they learn about and they swap them amongst each other so instead of learning about one person, they usually learn about at least three.  This month the biographies were on Ponce de Leon, Paul Revere, Anne Frank and some NASCAR driver (Samuel...).  Honor and Connor write book reports on their books.  I have provided an outline and they basically fill in the blanks. Anne Frank was an interesting one this time around (it was a biography on Anne Frank, not her diary).  Here is a snippet:

I chose to read this book because I heard she had a sad story and I like sad stories. This book was like I thought it would be because Anne Frank's sister wasn't in the beginning. It was different than I thought it would be because in the end Otto did not die.

...

The main character and I learned nothing.

Mommy: "You should have learned something from reading this."

 Honor: "All I learned was to stay away from Nazis."

Mommy: "Well, I know Anne learned something."

Honor: "No she didn't learn anything--she died."

Literally

Sunday mornings usually consist of me scrambling around trying to get everyone else to focus and get to church on time. I get as much done the night before as I possibly can, but I still have my normal chores of feeding the animals, checking the greenhouse, and feeding my children.  Surprise, surprise, we're pretty much always late for Sunday School.  But today we were asked specifically to be on time as the children need to practice for their Christmas play next week so it was more important than usual to rush the children through their morning routine.

Mommy: "I'm going outside to do chores right now. Connor, it is very important for you to be done with your shower by the time I come back. Do you understand?"

Connor: "Yes, Mom."

20 minutes later.

Mommy: "Connor!  Why haven't you taken a shower yet?"

Connor: "I'm sorry, Mom. I was busy messing around with Ariana and lost track of time."

Mommy: "Well get in there!  You have five minutes before Daddy starts his shower."

5 minutes later.

Connor: "ACH! The water is cold!"

Mommy: "I TOLD you Daddy was going to start his shower.  Hurry up and get out."

5 minutes later, the water is still running.

Mommy: "Connor! Hurry up and get out!"

Connor: "I haven't washed my body yet!"

Mommy: "What do you mean you haven't washed off yet?"


Opening the door to check on him...

Mommy: "Connor! Why are you standing outside the shower with the water still running???"

Connor: "The water is cold and you told me to get out."


Grrr...........

Guinea Pigs and Temper Tantrums

There are two things you need to know for this story. 

1.  Ariana struggles multiple times a day on occasion with controlling her temper. We are working on it. Hard. It is a constant reminder of "take a deep breath, close your mouth, and walk away." She wants to do the right thing--she really does. She is trying very hard and we pray about it every day. And she is getting better. Eventually God will see her through this...at least that's what I tell myself multiple times a day.
2. The girls want an animal of their very own. We found kittens in our shop a while back and the girls love them, but they are not entirely theirs...plus the kittens are too fast when they don't want attention. The girls want a slower animal, like a bunny.  Or a guinea pig, which is what they finally decided on.  

Honor: "Mommy, Ariana and I want to put our money together and buy a guinea pig. Or two if we can, so that we each have our own."

Mommy: "What about a cage?  Who's going to by that?"

Honor: "We have enough wood and chicken wire around here to build a cage. We'll build it ourselves."

Mommy: "And what about the stuff that goes inside the cage?  What kind of litter will you use?"



Honor: "Newspaper. We have lots of newspaper!"

Mommy: "Oh.  And who will buy the food?"

Honor: "You."

Mommy: "And how much does food cost?"

Honor: "I don't know."

Mommy: "Well, let's see. The guinea pig costs about $10--I really don't know about that for sure, but let's just say the guinea pig costs $10.  Food costs about $15/month.  Guinea pigs live about 5-8 years...let's just say you play hard with this piggie and he only lives 5 years.  That's a total of $900.  You are spending $10. I am spending $900.  Is that right?"

Honor: "Um.  Yeah. But you have the money!"

Mommy: "Okay. Well, I will let you have a guinea pig if it is okay with Daddy."


Later, I was outside doing chores and I overheard the following conversation between my girls.



Honor: "Daddy said that we can't have one. He says that we have enough animals already."

Ariana: "That's not fair!  Dad always says we have too many animals when we do not have too many animals and we are going to buy our own animal so it wouldn't be his animal!  Ooooh! He makes it so hard to control my temper!"

Poor Ariana. She is trying so hard!