Things I Didn't Know My Kids Didn't Know

Carrots and Ice.

One day I came out of the kitchen and said something to Nathaniel about peeling carrots. He said, "Peeling carrots???" incredulously like he couldn't imagine why I would be doing such a thing. I had to explain to him that carrots don't always come small and peeled and washed and in nice little packages. Hmmm. Maybe I'd better plant carrots in my garden next year to show him!

Also since we've been here, both kids at different times have come into the kitchen while I've been in there doing stuff and asked what that was on the counter. "Ice trays," I said, "you put water in there and put it in the freezer to make ice." "Oh!"

You just don't think about some of the things our kids don't know because of all the conveniences we have!

Hannah Beth's First Day of School

Hannah Beth has started her third week of school already! It's hard to believe. And I have obviously not been keeping up with my blog! I have a couple of other things that I want to post, so hopefully I'll catch up on those this week.

Hannah Beth loves school. It is such a blessing to drop her off and pick her up with a smile on her face. Nathaniel and I miss her a lot, though! We are getting used to our new schedule, though, and figuring out how much to go do things and how much to stay home.

Hannah Beth has wanted me to send her lunch every day instead of buying it. I am actually surprised that she hasn't asked to eat that food, but I'm glad! Some day I'll go eat with her, and that will be fun. I love that she is still happy to have me around at school. The other day Nathaniel and I went over to her school to bring her something and her class was out at recess. We went out there and she was so excited to see us. She introduced me to some of her friends and begged me to let Nathaniel stay for a while - I thought that was so cute!

Our property backs up to the school's property. There is a middle school closest to our house, and then is Hannah Beth's school. So, we walk Hannah Beth to and from school. Above, about half way across the grass is a path that goes from our neighborhood to the schools. Then we pass the middle school (below) and the last picture is Hannah Beth's school, taken from our pool deck. It would take me longer to drive her to school because of the car pool line than it does to walk - and it automatically builds some exercise into my schedule (you have to start somewhere, right?!).

A New Perspective

Last night I sat in a meeting and experienced a new side of things.

Hannah Beth starts kindergarten in 5 days, and we had a parent orientation meeting. I have been a student before and I have been a teacher before, but now I am the parent and will have to begin the "letting go" process of my little girl growing up.

We thought and prayed long and hard about whether to homeschool this year or to put Hannah Beth in the public school system. We have done research on the school and the school system and we have looked into some homeschool curriculums. I really had a hard time figuring out what was best, and in the end really felt like the Lord was telling me that she would be fine either way. A few things helped me with our decision (Thomas came to the same conclusion, but I can only speak to my process!). I have been realizing a lack of organization in my life (which I will save for another post) and didn't want Hannah Beth to end up getting only "just enough" to get by. Nathaniel is 3, and I know that people homeschool all the time with little ones running around, but I don't know how they do it. I don't want to cause him to miss out on the reasons I stay home while they are little - although maybe I could figure out how to make that work ok. And Hannah Beth is SO social - she still cries when she has to leave a friend's house after a play date or sleepover. I know she will absolutely love the classroom environment and interaction. I suspect her main discipline problem will be talking to her friends during class!

And finally, I really want Hannah Beth to be a light to those she is around. I really want her to learn to be an example and to be able to take in all the different behaviors and issues around her and make good decisions regardless of what others are doing. I want her to take the love of Jesus into the public school (and hopefully there will be other little lights there, too!).

However, it will be hard to have my little girl away from me until 2:45pm 5 days a week. It will be hard to let go of some of the "control" I have, but I am trying to trust God to take care of my little girl, to only place her in situations that He knows she can handle (through Him), and to grow her and develop her into the girl He wants her to be.

We are happy with what we see so far with the school and her teacher, and we know that things are not set in stone. It may be that we homeschool in the future, but for now this is what God has for our family.

And so I am learning a new side of school, and I'm sure God will be teaching me just as much as He did when I was on the other side(s) of things. He showed me again today that He can work in a 5 year old. Hannah Beth came home from a sleepover and started throwing a fit over not getting to watch a movie. Thomas sent her up to her room because she wasn't calming down. She came back down a little while later with a whole new attitude. She came over to me and wanted to tell me what helped her change. She said she prayed to God to help her to change her attitude and also to be patient until she could watch the movie! I love seeing how God works in her life at such a young age! :)

A Little Gosling

Hannah Beth had her big dance recital last week. The whole dance studio presented a ballet called "The Proud Princess." Hannah Beth was a gosling, and was very cute. This was her second year doing ballet. I kept asking her for a couple of weeks before her performance if she knew what she was doing and felt comfortable with it. Her answer every time was, "I don't know." (And she's not even a teenager!!) So, I was not sure what to expect, but she did great. You can see from one picture that she was looking over to her teacher for direction, but that is the only time I remember her doing that.

She continues to tell me now that she wants to do gymnastics next year instead of ballet, so we'll see. Maybe we'll get to see what she can do in the gym and if that is something she'll enjoy.

You might be able to see in this last picture that she lost her other bottom tooth - just a couple of days before her recital.

Davis Household Rules - According to Hannah Beth

The other day Hannah Beth and I were watching one of those TV shows where a group of people come into someone's house and help them get rid of their enormous clutter and then they sell a bunch of their stuff in a garage sale and make their house look great. Hannah Beth thought it would be great if they came to our house. I thought it would be tragic if my house got so bad that someone like that had to come in! I wouldn't mind the room makeover, though! Then Hannnah Beth started telling me some rules that she thinks we should follow in our house. Then she went right into what shethought Daddy should make (which amazingly sound an awful lot like what we've read in a Berenstein Bears book that we have called "The Messy Room"!)


Rules for the Davis House (According to Hannah Beth)

1. If you get something out, then you need to put it away when you are done.
2. Don’t go outside without asking an adult.
3. After you put your plate away you should pick up anything off the ground that you might have dropped while you were eating.
4. Put your shoes away after you come inside.
5. After you sit on the couch fix the pillows.
6. If you pop a balloon you have to put all the pieces of it in the trash.
7. Don’t turn on the TV without asking.
8. No TV until the afternoon.
9. Don’t stand on the carpet when your feet are dirty.
10. Don’t go in the pool without asking a parent.

What Daddy should make (according to Hannah Beth):
1. A big storage closet and we could make boxes out of cardboard and we could paint or color them and we could put some toys in them.
2. Toy boxes for upstairs.
3. Make a peg board to hang our coats on.

Another Mother's Day Gift

Hannah Beth gave me this sweet book for Mother's Day. She made it at school, and it is a precious keepsake. I was just thinking about the fact that blogging it not only lets me share it with you, but it also helps me save it for even longer than the book will last! :) She may want to show this to her kids some day.

To Mommy from Hannah Beth

Hannah Beth came up to me one day and gave me this piece of paper and said that she was giving me some math problems. I was very impressed - Hannah Beth is in preschool and they have worked on writing numbers and counting, but have not done any math problems. I often do math problems orally with Hannah Beth to help her understand the concepts of addition and subtraction (for example, I'll ask her, "If you have 4 apples and I give you 3 more, how many do you have?") and she does quite well with that. She plays with my calculator and she knows how to add numbers together on it and press the equals sign, so that is the only way I can think of that she knew how to write them out!


This one may be hard to read...

... unless you read it from the bottom up! She gave this to me a couple of days ago and told me what it says - "Open it on Mother's Day"! I love how Hannah Beth sounds out and writes words. She can read simple words, and we've talked about one vowel and two vowel rules, sh, th, ch, and a few other things, but she still sounds things out really slowly. I think she could probably do a lot more with reading, but I haven't really pushed her (she still has a whole year of kindergarten ahead of her!). But when she is ready, I have a feeling that she'll really take off.

Our First Lost Tooth

About 3 weeks ago, Hannah Beth told me that her tooth hurt a little. I felt it and it was slightly loose. She was pretty excited about that, but over the last few weeks I hadn't seen her playing with it or wiggling it. I kept wanting to wiggle it to see how loose it was, but she only let me do it ocassionally. Last night as I was getting dinner started, the kids were eating a snack (hmmm - maybe that is why they didn't eat much of anything for dinner...) and Hannah Beth and Nathaniel were playing with their goldfish crackers. Then Hannah Beth came over to me, a bit upset, and was saying something about being sorry because she was just playing but accidentally ate something she wasn't supposed to. I looked at her as she was talking and there was a little blood, and her tooth was gone! I finally figured out that her tooth must have just fallen out and she thought she had accidentally put something in her mouth that wasn't food. But then I couldn't find the tooth for a while so I wondered if she had swallowed it. Finally I found it on the floor (and then saved the dinner from burning).


We had talked about the tooth fairy after her tooth fell out, and Hannah Beth called a number of friends and relatives to tell them about her lost tooth. She was very excited! Then a little while later she asked me if the tooth fairy was real. I asked her what she thought, and she said she didn't know. I knew she was thinking about it, so I told her just to give me her best guess. She said that she didn't think it was real and that maybe the Mommies and Daddies came and took the tooth and threw it away and put money under her pillow. We talk about the Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause, etc. but I certainly don't push those things as very important. Hannah Beth has always wanted to know the truth and has asked me straight out about them, so I have always told her the truth (and she has been totally fine with it).

Our little girl is growing up! Another stage of life - a cute smile with missing teeth! :)

"I Danced With Cinderella"

One night we were sitting at home and Hannah Beth decided she wanted to "ballroom dance." I'm not sure where she's heard that phrase, but she knew it! She first went to Nathaniel and asked him if he would dance with her. He declined, so she decided to go up to Daddy's office to ask him. Of course he couldn't refuse! I put on some classical music. Hannah Beth was already dressed up, so Daddy "dressed up" and danced with Cinderella! Times like this are priceless. There is just something special about a daughter's relationship with her Daddy!

Our Nutcracker Mouse

Hannah Beth auditioned and was cast as a mouse in the Nutcracker ballet this year. Her part only lasted about 60 seconds, but she had a great time and it was a good learning experience for her!

Hannah Beth's 5th Birthday

Hannah Beth's birthday celebrations lingered for over a week this year! Both her birthday weekend and the weekend after were pretty full for us. We first had a family party with our immediate family and Thomas' parents. We let her choose a restaurant to go to, and she chose Cici's Pizza. Then we came home and had cake and presents. Then a couple of days later she got to be the special helper at school and bring a special snack for her birthday. She helped me make homemade brownies and wore the apron and chef's hat we got her for her birthday. As you can see, I let her lick the bowl at the end and she thoroughly enjoyed that! Then the following weekend we had a party for her at our house with her friends. She invited school friends, church friends and ballet friends. I had a couple of games planned, but they were having a great time just playing together! There were about 10 of them, and they all stayed together the whole time in a little pack. It was nice outside, so they were able to play outside a good bit. I did have Hannah Beth bury pennies and nickels in our sand table, so the kids enjoyed digging for buried treasure (thanks for the idea, Cris!). Then they each decorated a cupcake with frosting and all kinds of sprinkles and small marshmallows. It was lots of fun!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Our YMCA had a Daddy Daughter Dance, and both Thomas and Hannah Beth were excited to go. It was also the night before Hannah Beth's birthday, which made it special. Hannah Beth is into posing for every picture - I'm having a hard time getting a normal smile with her just facing the camera! Anyway, they both came home glowing and had a great time. They did the limbo, the Electric Slide, and danced to songs like "YMCA", "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman, and "Butterfly Kisses." Wish I could have been a fly on the wall for a short time, but I'm so glad they went and had a great time!

Picture Pizza

The other day I asked Hannah Beth to help me make homemade pizzas for dinner. Sometimes I make dough in my bread maker for the crusts, but this time I used store bought whole wheat crusts because Thomas likes the thin and healthier crusts. Hannah Beth spread the sauce (I just used spaghetti sauce with veggies in it) and sprinkled the cheese, and then her creation began. I had bags of onions and green peppers already in the freezer that were cut to different sizes, and gave her pepperoni, ham, tomatoes and pineapple to use as she wanted. Without any prompting, she went right to work and created an elaborate picture on her pizza with all the toppings. Some tomatoes and onions became a fairy and a princess (yes, she is very girly!!), some green peppers became a fence, pepperonis became flying alligators who ate the bad bugs (small chopped green peppers) so they couldn't get the fairy and princess, and the pineapples became butterflies. She had a great time, and I loved seeing her imagination and her creativeness come to life!