Thursday, September 23, 2010

Carver is 15 months old!

I'm a little late but my mom was visiting for the day on sunday. We're offically on the homestretch to 18 months old. My baby's growing up. :(

Here's a few things going on in the life of Carver...
  • He can sign: please, thank you and more (only sometimes on this one)
  • He is eating all 'big boy' food with occasional baby food mixed in. I still have a bunch of baby food in the freezer and I'm trying to get rid of it.
  • HE'S WALKING!!!!! He walks everywhere now! But mainly at home. He's too shy to do it in public.
  • He loves blueberries and bananas. He ate 2 whole bananas for lunch today!
  • He has... count them... NINE teeth!!! The front 4 on the top and bottom and 1 MOLAR! Two more molars will probably make their appearances by the end of this weekend.
  • He likes to read a book while I change his diapers. (I should really get a picture of this.) It's a great way to keep him from wiggling around.
  • He loves to skype!!! Especially with Nana
  • He's now in the toddler room at church.
  • When he likes what he's eating, he'll say "mmm" after every bite.
That's all I can think of right now. Better go... need to change a stinky diaper. :/

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Giveaway Winner

Since there was only two comments (a little disappointed about this), it was easy to pick the winner. And the winner is.....












Tabitha said...

Halloween plans: going trick or treating with a couple of my friends and all our kids, we're still trying to find the perfect neighborhood.


Congrats Tabitha! Email me at chris.tana08@hotmail.com with the type of cards you want.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Reminder about Giveaway

Just a quick reminder about our little giveaway. It ends tonight at 8:00pm PST. Go to this post and leave a COMMENT. There are two ways to enter.

1. Become a follower and leave a comment telling me you are. If you already follow my blog, just leave a comment telling me.
2. Tell me what your plans for Halloween are, even if you don't have any yet.

Good luck!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

GUEST POST: Bilingual Learning

As a sort of continuation of methods of teaching our children, here's Emily from Primrose Schools talking about Bilingual Learning. Thanks Emily!

Early Childhood Education – The Best Time For Bilingual Learning

Of course, nobody knows what the future will hold – but if current trends continue, your child will grow up to enter a workforce in which the competition for decent-paying jobs will be nothing short of cut-throat. Despite the calls for greater co-operation and "interdependence," human nature being what it is, it's a good bet that the economy of the the future will operate according to the Law of the Jungle. It goes without saying that a good education is one of the best ways to prepare that child for survival in that economic jungle of the future.

The Bilingual Future

One of the future trends that has become certain is the existence of a diverse, global society. Nowhere is this more true than in the United States. Almost from the beginning, the U.S. has been a land of immigrants, and while the "melting pot" has been an interesting theory, it has not happened in practice. On the contrary, most major U.S. population centers have become more of an ethnic and linguistic checkerboard; Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Chinese speakers represent some of the fastest-growing segments of the immigrant U.S. population.

In addition, with the rise of China, English may very well lose its preeminence as the international language of business; at best, it will have to share that top status with Mandarin in decades to come.

Getting Ready

Traditional wisdom has been to start teaching a second language in middle school, or even high school. Yet numerous research studies clearly demonstrate that the optimal period in a child's life for multilingual education is during the preschool years – at exactly the same time they are learning their first language. Yes, it is possible to learn a second and third language later in life, but it is more difficult, because that neurological "window of opportunity" – when the brain is most malleable – has passed.

According to Dr. Fred Genessee, Professor of Psychology at McGill University in Montreal, it's as easy for young children to learn two or three languages as it is for them to learn one. He's not alone; educators throughout the world (in countries that often have two or even three official languages) have understood this for decades.

The way a child learns a second language is by actually speaking it in a total immersion environment. You may recall an episode of the animated series The Simpsons in which young Bart gets trapped on a farm in France – and by the end of the episode, finds he's actually speaking the language. While this was a fictional scenario, the phenomenon is real; anyone who has taken young children abroad to stay with relatives in a foreign country for any length of time has observed this happening.

Enrollment in a preschool program that offers immersion in other languages is the best way to get your child started. This investment will make him/her much more competitive in the job market later on.

Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas

Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the network of Texas educational child care facilities belonging to the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose educational child care schools. Primrose Schools are located in 16 states throughout the U.S. and are dedicated to delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum throughout their preschools.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

WOW 200 posts!

I can't believe I have 200 posts already! Well, technically 201 after this post, but you get the idea. In honor of this accomplishment, let's have a giveaway! How about 10 handmade cards? I'll let you decide what kind of cards you want (thank you, happy birthday, generic, etc but all 10 are the same). There will be two ways to enter.

1. Become a follower and post a comment telling me you are.
2. Post a comment with what you're plans for Halloween are, even if you don't have any yet!!

You have until Monday September 20th at 8:00pm PST. Good luck!


P.S. If you want to get an idea of what the cards will look like, you can go to my crafting blog, A Caffeinated Crafter, and look around. :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Have a blueberry why don't ya




Needless to say, Carver had a BUNCH of blueberries. (Notice those ginormous molars making their appearance.) He was so proud of himself that he got the bowl off the counter and was sitting on the floor eating them. We salvaged his clothes (only 3 blueberry spots and they went straight to the washer) and 'dumped' him in the bath. It was pretty hilarious!

FIRE!!!


A bonfire that is. We'd been accumulating branches, stumps, Chris's parent's old deck, and other burnables. Once the burn ban lifted Chris lit it up. Carver absolutely loved watching the fire! It was so cute to watch him sit there staring at it.

Labor Day Weekend

Every year we spend Labor Day weekend in Ellensburg. There's the annual fair and rodeo and it just happens to be Chris's birthday weekend.

Here's some pictures of the puppies. Six of the ten went to new homes that weekend. They were almost 7 weeks old and Carver loved them! haha





Saturday morning there's a parade and we couldn't wait to take Carver. It was pretty windy and cold (the forecast was for the upper 70s. BOO!!!) but we bundled up and headed into town.

Walking like a big boy across the street!

Main Street USA... aka Pearl St. Ellensburg

Waiting for the parade to start

The start of the parade

The Clydesdales

Bagpipers. Chris and I were waiting for their kilts to fly up haha It was THAT windy. surprise surprise. It IS Ellensburg you know.

With all the stimulation, Carver sacked out. haha

We had to get a picture with Sarah (Jake's girlfriend). She left two days later to spend 3 months in KENYA!!! She's on a mission and could definitely use prayers for the group and the people they are ministering to.

(Jake, Sarah, Me and Carver)

We went down to Yakima for Chris's birthday and went to Olive Garden. It's only our FAVORITE restaurant and we met Chris's sister, Heather, there.

Over the course of the weekend, my mom made about 150 baked potatoes for the Young Life potato booth. These weren't just ordinary russet potatoes you buy at the store. They are HUGE. Young Life also has the only espresso booth at the fair so you can imagine with the colder weather, we were pretty busy. Chris, Carver and I went to the fair two different times. And now, I'm fair-ed out until next year. :) Unless I cave in and go to the Puyallup fair for more of those amazing fair scones. mmmmm.... ;)

Monday, September 6, 2010

Moby Wraps

Raising Olives is Having a giveaway!!! And they're giving away a MOBY!!!! All you have to do is click HERE and leave a comment telling them which Moby you'd want. There are additional entries but you must do this one first.

You having until 11:59pm on September 9th so get to it!


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Also, don't forget to become a follower of my blog so you stay up to date with everything. :) Just click the 'Follow' button below the Vote for Us tab.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

It's been two weeks...

Well, it's officially been two weeks since I last nursed Carver. It's bittersweet. I wanted to stop nursing but it was one of the last 'baby' things he had. It was definitely a lot easier to ween him than I thought it would be. He doesn't even ask for it. :( My little boy is growing up way too fast.

Carver

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Noah

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