I recently had the opportunity to read David Helm’s The Big Picture Story Bible to my children. It was a huge hit! Even though I would consider a toddler/preschool Bible storybook, my older two (ages 7 and 6) were also riveted. One of the things they, in particular, enjoyed about the book were the questions interwoven in the stories. These, of course, are not a standard part of the Biblical narrative, but gave them the chance to think about the story, and then show their understanding of what they had heard.

The large pictures were especially enjoyed by my younger two children (ages 4 and 3). They found it easy to point out different familiar items, such as animals, people, and vegetation. My youngest didn’t want me to stop reading, and we read over 100 pages in one sitting. Granted, there isn’t a lot of writing on each page, but it still held her attention for a long time.

As a parent, I thought this was a good book. The stories, of course, are nothing new, but I did enjoy the way one part led into another, showing the connection between Bible stories. I did find the book to be an odd size and shape for holding and reading to a child sitting in my lap, but I made it work.

What I liked most about the book, though, was my children’s reaction to it. I started reading to the youngest two, and when I glanced up, I realized the 6-year-old had left her artwork to listen in, and a short while later, when I read one of the questions, my 7-year-old, who I didn’t even think was listening, chimed in with the answer. It is always a pleasure to see my children enjoying the Word of God!

Find out more about this book at www.crossway.org/blog

As a conservative Lutheran, the structure of the Church Year is very important to me. From the beginning of the new year at Advent, to the season of Feasts and Festivals, to the teaching time of the year throughout the season of Pentecost, I mark my days by the flow of the church year even more than I do that of the calendar year.

Given my deep appreciation for the church year, and it’s usefulness in teaching and ordering our days, I was very excited to read The Liturgical Year (part of the Ancient Practices series) by Joan Chittister. This book is an excellent introduction to the concept of “Liturgical Time,” especially for those Christians who may not be familiar with the idea of having a specific routine of days in the church.  The author summarized the church year well by saying:

The liturgical year is the process of coming back year after year to look at what we already know, on one level, but are newly surprised by again and again…

There were, of course, a few things in the book that didn’t sit quite right with me (emphasis on Marian feasts, for one, and a sense of mysticism, for another), as the book was written by a Roman Catholic, but the Lutheran church shares much history with the Catholic church, so I found it to be mostly beneficial.

I also appreciated the author’s description as to *why* we live a liturgical life:

We do not live a liturgical life to look good to other people. We do not develop a liturgical spirituality to affect a kind of spiritual dimension in our lives. And we certainly do not go to Mass regularly to avoid hell. We live a liturgical life in order to become like the One whom we follow from the manger to the Mount of Olives.

Great resource for those wanting to understand more about the basis and practice of the church year!

Turkey has a bad ear infection, which kept him up most of last night, and necessitated a trip to the doctor this afternoon. When we stopped at Target to get his prescription filled, I bought him a small Lego Star Wars set as a reward for being so brave when he was hurting, and so polite to the doctor and nurse.

When we got home, he excitedly tore into the box, and in addition to the packs we were expecting with droids and a little ship, we also discovered a surprise Darth Vader bag, with a web address on it. Curious, I looked it up, and here’s what I found:

Isn’t that awesome? What a nice treat for a little boy who doesn’t feel well!

As parents, we focus (rightly so) on our children’s firsts. First time sleeping through the night, first foods, firsts steps, first lost tooth, and on and on. The lasts, however, seem to get lost in the busyness of life.

For example, the last night in the crib. Sure, we get all excited about the first night in the big girl bed, but what about the night before, when the same child, only a day younger, sleeps in the crib for the last time?

How about when it’s the last time *any* child will sleep in the crib that *every* child in the family has slept as a newborn up through at least the early toddler years? When it’s the last night in seven years that a crib will be set up in the home?

In some cases, it seems like the last time deserves to be noted, mentioned, and savored for a bit, especially when the moment is so bittersweet.

As a mother with four children who have all gone through (or are almost done going through) the toddler phase, I never thought I’d be happy to hear any of them utter the word “no.” As a matter of fact, it’s a word I hear far too much of in various contexts from various children at various points throughout each and every day.

Yeah, I never thought I’d want to hear “no.”

It’s funny how life surprises you sometimes.

Moose never had the typical toddler “no” phase. Since he wasn’t talking at the age most children start testing boundaries with that word, he couldn’t say it, and since he’s also a very easy-going guy (in some respects, anyway), he never really seemed to miss saying it.

But, lately, he’s learned to answer our questions with “yes” or “no.” (Never throw an open-ended question at him, though–heaven only knows what response you’ll get!) At first, they were just normal, brief answers, but he’s growing more emphatic, especially with his “nos.” When he doesn’t want something, doesn’t want to go somewhere, doesn’t want to do something, he *really* lets you know. Sometimes in quality (the louder the better!), sometimes in quantity (he actually has a very cute way of stringing together several no-no-nos!), but always with gusto.

And, as frustrating as it can be to hear even more “nos” in my my day, it’s also wonderful, because it means that Moose is taking one more step towards doing normal “kid stuff.” And that’s really all I want for him, even if it means a bit more contrariness!

I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing since Christmas…catching up. Catching up on the cleaning (still not really done), catching up on laundry (which is *never* done!), catching up on bills (almost let a few of those sneak by me in all the busyness–oops), catching up on sleep (not a chance!).

Now we’re back to school, and we’re catching up on that, too. We had almost five full weeks of special units before our two week Christmas vacation, so it feels like there’s a lot we have to reach back and remember, including what our normal routine looks like. I know it won’t take long before we’re fully into things again, but right now, it just feels like everything is a bit off.

We did have a wonderful Christmas, and a wonderful few weeks of school leading up to Christmas. I hope to share some of my Christmas school experiences later this week, but catching up on blogging is pretty far down on my list of things to do–the Christmas decorations being put away is my next big task!

Every year, we go to St. Charles, MO, to take part in their Christmas Traditions festival. There are storybook characters (we got to see Clara and the Nutcracker prince), Santas from around the world (Father Christmas is always a favorite, even though we don’t “do” Santa), as well as other Christmas characters (including my favorite, the Master of Revels, who specializes in giving everyone a hard time).

The children loved meeting the different characters, and collecting their cards. Out of the 29 available, I think we only missed six characters, which is the best we’ve ever done! One of these years, we’ll find them all.

We also got to hear several groups of carolers, who stay true to character and only sing carols written prior to about 1890. The fife and drum corps was also quite a hit with the children, and you can hear them coming all the way down the street!

This is definitely one of our favorite Christmas traditions, and something we look forward to all year long!

On Saturday, we went to the St. Louis Art Museum (or S.L.A.M., if you will) for the first time ever to check out the reproduction of Degas’ Little Dancer of Fourteen Years that was the basis for the story Degas and the Little Dancer that we read in school last week.

I thought this was a particularly interesting outing because of Turkey’s and Bunny’s reactions to seeing the sculpture in person. They were both surprised at how small it was. I guess they were expecting it to be life-sized, instead of Ladybug-sized. Frankly, I was expecting it to be larger as well, although I don’t know why. I guess that’s just the difference between reading about art and actually seeing it!

While we were there, we also got to look around the Impressionist gallery, which included, as a bonus for us, a painting by Degas. After talking about Impressionism last week, as well as some of the artists, it was nice to compare a few of the paintings, and see what makes them different from the paintings in the other galleries nearby.

I had originally planned this week to be ballet-themed. I wasn’t going to make Turkey and Bunny dance, but I thought it would be good for them to learn about the history of dance, hear the stories behind some of the most famous ballets, listen to some of the music, etc. I found it to be especially timely approaching Christmas–we could spend at least a full day on just the Nutcracker, maybe even stretch it into a day and a half.

As I was planning, however, it quickly morphed into more of a study of fine arts than just ballet. Yes, that was still the primary focus, but we also be studied art and artists (specifically Degas, who did many paintings of ballerinas), music and composers (especially Tchaikovsy, without whom the modern shape of ballet would be very different!), and even a little cooking (not really a “fine” art I suppose, but how can you learn about ballet without taking the opportunity to make a Pavlova?).

I found lots of great resources, so I thought I’d share, in case you’re looking for some good reading, watching, or listening related to fine arts!

Full of information on the history of ballet, basic steps, stories of the ballet, everything. The accompanying CD has excerpts of some of the more memorable parts of many ballets, along with explanations of the music, and hints for what to listen for (the sound of cats meowing in The Sleeping Beauty, for example).

This book had wonderful summaries of some of the most famous ballet stories–we read both The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, and, if we hadn’t already had a storybook of it, would have read the Nutcracker, too. Like A Child’s Introduction to Ballet, it also comes with a CD.

This is part of a great series called “Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists.” While these books are very factual, and full of pictures of paintings, they also have humorous illustrations, and are written in a very conversational style. There seems to be a book for every major artist, too!

I found this book, especially the ending, to be quite moving. In fact, the first time I read through it, I teared up a little.

Similar to the above Degas book, this is part of the companion “Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers” series. I unintentionally chose only ballets by Tchaikovsky to read and listen to, so I thought we should learn about the composer himself. Turkey and Bunny especially liked learning about Tchaikovsky’s fear that his head would fall off while conducting in front of an audience, thereby forcing him to hold onto his beard the entire time. We’re looking forward to reading the Bach installment next year!

My favorite version of the Nutcracker ballet, ever. Helgi Tomasson did an awesome job of choreographing the ballet in a fresh new way, while holding true to the original story. There are also educator materials available on the San Francisco Ballet Company’s website, which are great resources for teaching about this ballet.

The children had their Christmas portrait taken today, so from all of them, “Merry Christmas!”

As I was annoyed with the studio, and the whole portrait process, I took a picture of them at home, too, and I think it’s pretty cute as well!