Three + Back to School

Rockin' her new shoes and skirt from Queenie, plus her Supergirl shirt from Aunt Hannah

My precocious little darling is now three!  She is out of the "terrible twos" and sure to exhibit a complacent, shining pleasantness on the regular now...right?  Esmé really is such a joy and so stinking funny these days.  She's a little mama and loves to call the boys in for dinner or tell them to "try again" when they slam a door shut.  

On Saturday, we all went to the Greenville Zoo with Queenie and Man-Man, who then took Esmé out to lunch and a toy store.  She blew all her allocated funds and picked out great presents for her siblings.  She was spoiled rotten, thanks Q&M!

Zach and I decided to get her a fish for her birthday, plus Zach blew up a lot of balloons and I sewed her a pink cape.  She had decided she would be able to fly on her birthday, since she would be bigger.  Of course, the balloons were the biggest hit.

Meeting and naming "Fishy"

Balloon Games

We had oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast which drove the boys crazy: "Esmé, we have oatmeal like everyday, pick something special.  You can have ANYTHING!!"  It was the first day of school (see below), so  the morning was spent doing reading, writing, 'rithmeticing and playing.  We met Daddy for lunch at Firehouse and then went to Barnes and Noble where Esmé picked out a box of little Disney books because she is very into Princess Sophia right now.  She had a nap and then we went swimming at a friend's pool.  Back home, she played Play-Doh and then ate her requested dinner meal, which featured "tutumbers," of course.

Owen and Caelum had both made scavenger hunts for her, which was adorable and freeing as I did not feel the need to make one for her.   It's nice to see the boys facilitating our family traditions.  We then had chocolate cupcakes with pink Bobbi frosting and opened presents.  The boys know her so well and she enjoyed all the many toys she got.

Owen reading her clue

Her nice pile of presents

Blowing out her candles

We are so thankful for Essie and enjoy her ways!  She is growing up so quickly.  It seems not so long ago that she was scooting around on her bottom.   Now she is three!

Our first week of school was great fun.  It was nice to get back into routine and to see where the boys are starting off as we get into the year.  Owen's handwriting improved over the summer and Caelum is doing a great job with sounding out words.  We started off the year with a nice chat and prayer time with Principal Zach and then got down to Bible, hymn learning, math, reading, grammar, and history.  Next week we'll add in science and our Classical Conversations memory work (Latin, geography, timeline, etc.).  I also had the kids fill in a first-day survey and got their stats:

Owen: 51 inches, 51 pounds

Caelum: 44 inches, 44 pounds

Esmé: 37 inches, 33 pounds

Eager to learn!

Mr. Cool

We homeschool, ok?  She can wear her "pajamas" to school.

The boys most enjoy history.  We are using Story of the World Volume 3 and the accompanying activity guide.  We have learned about the fall of Rome, the Celts, and the Anglo-Saxons so far and I love having corresponding literature to read with them.  Owen enjoys the map work and Caelum and Esmé get into the crafts and coloring pages, so I think everyone benefits.

Blue-painted Cae and his double-headed battle ax

Ready to battle like the Celts

Learning about illuminated manuscripts and trying our hand at calligraphy

Having learned about monks and monasteries, we made crosses and took a vow of poverty (or went out to lunch...)

We read all these books in the first three days of school!

Tea time break...Caelum loves it

Owen has been reading up a storm.  I kept trying to make him wait to read the next book in the Wingfeather Saga, as we were doing them as read-alouds, but he wore me down and I'm letting him zoom ahead.  For the first day of school, I gave Caelum his own monogrammed ESV Bible and Owen got The Monster in the Hollows.  It's over 300 pages and he read it in three days.  That's my boy.  I had him read aloud to me for a page or two, and he can totally handle the advanced level.  This makes me feel more confident as I begin teaching the next one to read!

Bookworm (with Lion!)

The first week really flew by.  I like to start right at 8 in the morning, so that we can get everything done and play in the afternoons.  On Tuesday morning we quickly did school and then went to Montreat Park with a big group of friends, including our new pastor's family (yay!).  Then we scurried off to Owen's piano lesson, and played tennis with Daddy after dinner.  Wednesday after school we went creeking with another family as I desperately clung to the last vestige of summer.  Thursday's studies were followed by our weekly "reading time" with a woman from our church.  This week she brought her daughter who is visiting from Korea and she spent an hour reading aloud to the kids.  That afternoon we went swimming at our friend's apartment complex and then once again met Zach at the tennis court.  

The kids with their teacher before heading to CC

Friday was the first day of Classical Conversations!  The kids were so excited to start up again and Esmé was glad to sit in Caelum's class with Eva and me.  I thought she might miss her "class" (the nursery), but she just joined in with the four and five year olds like a champ.  One of Owen's good friends is in his class and he is an experienced hand now.  I only got to see his presentation during which he introduced himself, but it was precious and delivered well.   A friend sent me a clip of it, but Owen says our address in it, so I can't post it (OPSEC).  Everyone stays to picnic for lunch after classes are over, and Zach joined us for a bit.  After the kids played, everybody was so exhausted and we headed home.  We did what may be the last jaunt in the inflatable pool from my mom and invited one of Eva's friends and her mom to play.   Then we celebrated with pizza and Shaun the Sheep!  If that's not a full, fun, busy week, I don't know what is.  

Oh, my heart.  That belly!