New Baby, Thanksgiving, & Christmas

The middle of October brought us a new baby sister! Ruby Autumn was born October 20th and just like an Autumn breeze she gently brought us into a new season. Becoming a family of five has turned our lives upside down for a little while as far as routine goes but we've definitely kept up learning new things even though our school time has been more sporadic and not as formal as the weeks before. 

The end of October and most of November was our first month with Ruby and the boys learned a lot about babies and about being big brothers. Silas has already been a big brother, so of course, he was much more excited and more helpful than Ezra was in the beginning. Ezra was way more cautious, inclined to have hurt feelings over waiting, and very curious. Both boys very much enjoyed all the new girl items like bows (Ezra calls them pretties), soft, new baby blankets, and of course, dolls. The boys learned about how gentle you must be with babies, how dependent babies are on their mothers, and how often they eat, sleep, and need diaper changes. We've learned that babies cry to communicate because they don't have words yet and that it is okay and not something to be upset over. Even Ezra will now offer up gentle words if Ruby starts to cry in the car by saying so sweetly "it's okay, wuubee! Mommys here" or bringing her a blanket, even his very special may-may. Both boys will help find a pacifier when asked, or talk to Ruby if she needs a friend and it melts my heart. Maybe some would argue that school doesn't need to stop during this time but I want my boys to grow up to be the kind of men who know that when a baby arrives time needs to stop, mommys need help, and the time is precious and goes by so fast! That is one thing Silas says often, that he can not believe how big Ruby is getting! He will show me using his arms how big she was and how big she is now. Both of the brothers are totally enamored with their little sis and try to get her smiles and I'm excited to see how these relationships between them all grow.

We did keep up with learning about Thanksgiving during November. We learned about pilgrims, Native Americans, the Mayflower, and Plymouth. We watched you tube videos about thanksgiving and also the Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. We did art work and practiced having thankful hearts. We did some worksheets and really enjoyed some color by numbers.

At the end of November, we traveled to Tennessee to see all our family and let the great grandparents and our siblings meet Ruby- that was pretty special! When we returned home, it was already December so we decorated for Christmas and picked out a great tree. We did more color by numbers, seek and find pictures hidden in pictures, wrote Santa a letter, baked gingerbread ninjas, built a gingerbread house, saw the Osborne lights at Disney, and so much more, we even through a surprise party for their dad's 30th! 

Our holidays were very special and I'm grateful for the pause that homeschool allowed us to take. I'm also thankful for that my not so little guy asks to do school and I could provide worksheets and activities to keep his learning on going. Silas is very excited to be starting our school routine again tomorrow so here's to beginning this adventure again- in August we were four and half and now in January, we have an almost five year old and, gasp, an almost two year old!! I have a feeling that Ezra might start joining us in the beginner activities of BFIAR and definitely the story time. Happy 2016! :)