True to his word, Rick gave me my very own, brand new computer for Christmas. I'm still trying to catch up with everything that backlogged the past few months, but so excited to be up and running again!
Jeremiah is full-time walking now, actually has been since before Christmas. I keep telling him that just because he was born a month early, that doesn't mean he has to do everything else early too, but so far I'm not making much of an impression. Well, maybe I am because he is still trying to get that 7th tooth in, though it finally cut through the gum this week. But he has been just miserable with it! Maybe he's working on number 8 too, because he hasn't slept the last two nights and is on day 3 of total crankiness and wanting to be constantly carried.
When he's not teething, Jeremiah remains a very happy baby, laughing (side-splitting, cracking up laughter) at the funniest things, like the mixer going round and round, water boiling in a pot, a neighbor girl twirling her hoola-hoop, or certain words like "Home Depot," "Coke-a-Cola" and "tink"! :) Silly guy, keeps us all smiling! He's said "Mom" a few times (though not consistently) and it sounded for all the world like he addressed Joshua as "Hi, Bu-bu!" in December. I think he's tried to say "ball" a few times, but I'm not sure. His hands-down favorite toys right now are indeed balls.
Ruthi seems to almost have potty training mastered (finally). She is dry more days than not now and recently informed me that when she turns 4, that she is not going to have any more accidents. We'll see, but it's a nice goal. :) She is into anything "princess" and loves to go around informing anyone who will listen that she is a "real princess" because her "Father is the King" and because the last name Saake actually means "princess." Nana Betty gave her a story book and video about Gigi, God's Little Princess and it couldn't have been more perfect for her.
While we don't do big "kid" birthday parties more than once every 3 years (hitting the landmarks of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 with a bigger celebration for each child), Ruthi is still thrilled to be planning her tea-party birthday party with family to celebrate turning 4.
We are seeing some pretty dedicated interest in art from this young lady. She would color, draw, or especially paint for hours on end any chance she could. Of course, the messier, the better (paint, glue, anything sticky...)! But her drawings are almost on par with Joshua's skill level already! She will be taking a 12-week "Young Rembrants" course in homeschool co-op this spring.
Joshua's flying through 2nd grade and having a blast keeping me on my toes. Much to his mother's amazement, he is a very strong speller (he often gets words correct that I have to look up and double check for myself) and loves both math and science. He will be taking a Legos building class though our local homeschool co-op, learning to graph out building plans and create some pretty complex projects. He'll also be taking a creative writing course.
He has requested to play baseball this year, so we have to look into this a bit more, and he may also sign up for a spring musical at church. His interest in playing the violin is still there, but we have yet to fit lessons into our budget. When offered his choice of reward incentives, you can be pretty sure he will request an hour of time with his Gamecube, though the plug-and-play mini golf game that works with a standard t.v. that he got for his birthday has a strong pull too. :)
Just before Christmas Joshua was christened "Bible man" by his Sunday School teacher and classmates when he pointed out a contradiction between the lesson and Scripture, having to do with the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ! Yes, this little boy just turned 7 and is (very politely) correcting adults on detailed points of theology. Hey, at least he didn't try to explain the virgin conception of Jesus to his classmates - that was an interesting discussion here at home!
I'm looking forward to teaching a Life of Faith girls club for 12 weeks this spring. The club is based on some sweet stories that were written in the 1800s about cousins Elsie Dinsmore and Millie Keith. The class is geared at girls ages 8-14 and I will be doing this through our homeschool co-op as well.
Along these same lines, I am playing with some new writing ideas about a few modern day girls that I would like to try and build stories around. I am still not ready to tackle any in depth writing projects again for this season of life, but my girls stories are becoming a fun and relaxing way for me to unwind and I look forward to watching them develop and see if anything ever comes of them.
Rick's staying BUSY at work. He'll be back in D.C. for mandatory training over the kids' birthdays this month and then out of town again for a few days in February. We plan to celebrate Jeremiah's birthday the weekend before he leaves, and Ruthi's the following Sunday after he comes back home. We continue to ask God to use Rick to His glory in a very political work environment.
As always, for more specifics about our school life, don't forget to check out our Homeschool Blog. :)
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