Learning at Home

Peter is the best motivator for our girls to practice their reading. They love to read to him and he loves to be read to. It works out quite well for everybody.

We had some fun with fingerprints the other day.

All the girls love to help out in the kitchen. They have been taking on more and more responsibilities.

And this little guy loves to "help out" as well.

Sometimes Peter wears his sisters high heels around the house. But don't tell anybody.

Yesterday we had a nice visit with the Lungs. We have missed them dearly over the past few years, so we are cherishing time we get to spend with them.

Karis is doing great on her pedal bike. She gives all the credit to her big sisters for teaching her how to ride.

Lately at the Lafleurs...

Ella's second bottom tooth was getting very wiggly, so Dadda pulled it out for her. It was making us all a little squeamish when she would bend the tooth around to show us - so we are thankful that it is out! Below is the selfie that Ella took of her missing tooth. Beside the missing tooth is her new adult tooth that is almost all the way in now.

Sneaky Pete loves to grab the kitchen stool and drag it over to the corner of the counter. This is where he can often sneak a piece of fruit, or sometimes a muffin that is being stored in a tupperware. He is very quiet about this business. The girls find it hilarious when we discover him quietly munching on some food that he has helped himself to.

Ella was the "star student" at Community Class last week. Each student in the class gets a turn to be the star student. They present their poster to the class and get to have some special privileges throughout the morning. She was pretty thrilled about being the star.

And it was PJ day at community class. Juliette's class made a fruit salad and ate it together in their PJs. Juliette, of course, wore her jean jacket over her PJs. It is her favorite article of clothing these days. And when Juliette has a favorite article of clothing this means that she wears it pretty much every day. Juliette has made some great little friends in her class. They are sitting together in the back row.

This is a picture of Ella's fish, Poppy. Yes - we are on fish #2. So far this fish is doing very well and has already outlived fish #1. Ella is still recovering emotionally from the loss of her first fish. But I think she has come to terms with it and is happy with Poppy. She named him "Poppy" because he "popped into her life when she was very sad".

I just love these kids.

The other day we went for a walk at Hawthorne Park. It is fun to think that this may soon be our new neighborhood.

Ella continues to love to write. She starts her own writing projects often. Today, I noticed that she has started her own journal. At the end of the entry she wrote "I love God a lot. He is my boss of my life." I don't think there are any better words that I could find written in her journal.

The Doxology

I never tire of starting my day like this.

2016 so far..

Juliette and Karis continue to love to play "moms". This game is at a whole new level with Karis' new baby and Juliette's Rapunzel doll now involved. 

I asked Juliette the other day what she and Karis were doing and her response was "playing moms of course!". These two are very close little buddies. Karis wants to do everything that Juliette does.

Juliette is an amazing little reader. I love listening to a beginning reader read out loud. The effort she puts into every word is so obvious and so beautiful. I also love the broken up timing of her sentences. She is doing great and she loves to read.

Spencer made a very basic Bible reading plan for Ella and Juliette. They love to start rest and read by reading a little part from their purple Bibles.

And sometimes when we go and give them a goodnight kiss, we find our girls snuggled up like this :)

Peter has been very into joining our at home ballet class. It is really funny to see him try to follow what we are doing. But no pink tutu for him!!

Christmas

This year for Christmas we decided to get each one of our kids 3 gifts, symbolizing the 3 gifts the wise men gave to Jesus. 

Myrrh - something for the body

They each got a pair of jammies symbolizing the gift of myrrh. It is a tradition for them to open their Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve. 

Frankincense - a spiritual growth gift

They each got a devotional book or Bible symbolizing the gift of frankincense.

Gold - something precious to them.

And then for their gold gift they got to choose something. Karis - a new baby (her old one got lost!!) Juliette - a Rapunzel doll and Ella - a fish.

It was simple and fun and we plan to do it again next year!

This little guy was happy with his new car ramp.

Opening their stockings on Christmas morning.

Juliette with her devotional book, "A Parable Treasury".

Ella's book is called "Thoughts to make your Heart Sing".

When she found out her fish was a male, she named him "Peter".

Dadda and Peter in their matching cords.

Our Christmas dinner crew.

Ella loves to sketch her fish and write books for him.

Decorating Jesus' birthday cake.

Some other traditions that we keep are:

-the Jesse tree advent

-riding the Christmas train

-going on a Christmas light driving tour (with popcorn and hot chocolate)

-watching a movie after church on Christmas Eve

-going for a Christmas morning jog as our breakfast cooks

-having baked French toast on Christmas morning

-giving a special gift to Jesus

And a couple of days before Christmas we had dinner over at Sean and Miriam's. We are so blessed by their friendship and the way they love us.

Jesus

On Christmas Eve Peter started saying "Jesus". During our advent reading that day, whenever the word "Jesus" was read Peter would repeat it. It's a little hard to hear in this video, but it is really precious to hear him say "Jesus".

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." - Luke 2:11