Tuesday, August 20th

The kids are really getting into the flow of our new school routine.  I'm so glad we have been ramping back up - adding subjects into our daily work load each week instead of all at once - because I feel like it's given me the opportunity to get the kids accustomed to how our days will flow, while also allowing me the time to see what works and what doesn't.  After the first couple of weeks, one thing that I am really loving is doing most of our "together" items first thing in the morning - Bible, Passport Club-related, Art, etc.  Then we have our one-on-one time after, and depending how the day is going we can squeeze in other fun activities before lunch or I can decide they need extra play time and we can finish up after they eat and have a bit of rest.  When I was scheduling out our day's plans for Tuesday, I really wanted to give the girls a chance to do some independent baking after our regular school was completed - they sure loved working together to make banana muffins!!

She couldn't be tricked this time! Scarlett knew exactly where China was on the map and highlighted the borders without hesitation :-)

We read a few more pages out of the True Book: China, then switched to stories.  We read "The Seven Chinese Sisters" and "The Empty Pot."  Both were great and had good lessons and the kids had me read each one two times.

The girls asked if they could change and then came barrelling out of their room saying "We match!" and giggling up a storm; they also had an assortment of weaponry :-p

I had been holding the baby and she wanted to be positioned just so in a sort of half-sit.  We had tried the bumbo seat a couple of weeks ago and she just flopped around, but I thought I would give it another try since she was being particular, and lo and behold she loved it!

My instagram pic!  I can't believe how much awesome head control she has - she was really concentrating hard on looking all around the room without bobbing her head too much.

My two little bakers!  I typed up the recipe on a blank sheet of paper in a large font and double spacing, then taped it to the cabinet where Scarlett could easily read them out loud.  Having set out everything they would need, I told them to follow the directions and let me know if they had any questions or needed help, but otherwise they could do it without any assistance/interference!  The only thing I did was preheat the oven - they even put the pans in the oven themselves (Scarlett has practiced this before).

They sat in front of the oven with the internal light on diligently watching their muffins rise, and could hardly wait to taste them.  The girls and Lincoln all agreed that these were even better than the ones we usually make ;-)