december 2009
I love Montessori, and everything about it. From learning everyday skills, to hands on learning that enriches and helps the mind remember through touching, feeling, and being able to wrap your mind around it at your own pace.

Well, easy enough, our hands-on practical skills lesson was on cleaning plants. We have one plant, (they are too much work to remember to water, on top of all other motherly/house/teacher responsibilities), but the kids loved the simple lesson!

Also, a fun science experiment, I’ve never done this, and if you haven’t, you should try it! It was really cool and funky. You mix corn starch with water, going from one liquid, and one solid, and finding out what they create. It’s definitely the weirdest thing to touch and figure out. It looks like it could be liquidy, but it’s firm, but when warmed by your hand, it’s solid state softens. It’s really cool and fun!

december 10. 2009
Well, our first encounter with stitches, and it was a good one! Alex was at a friends basketball game, and was hanging on the side of the bleachers and swinging her leg up underneath, and something caught her leg. The amazing thing is, it didn’t even rip her pants.

The most painful part at the hospital was them injecting the numbing agent with a gigantic needle, and then doing the first stitch with a giant U-hook, and it wasn’t numb! Yow! Brave girl, I myself was quite queezy sitting there, but tried to be brave for Alex, who was actually going through the pain!!!

We had to stop by Dairy Queen, which if you know me, is huge, because I don’t like any sort of fast food, but I did it—-it was a treat Alex loved after all her suffering! And to top it off, daddy was out of town, so we made it through, missing him extremely though!

december 8. 2009-through the end of december
Well, it was definitely a lucky shot, but Nadia went potty on the toilet for the first time. She’s only 19 mos., but she understands the concept a little more each day. When we put her diaper on after changing her, she gets upset and says, “po-tty!” Like, “Don’t you know that’s what I want to do?!”

We all have our own water bottles that are different colors, and from the first day we got them, she knew who’s was who’s. All we would have to do is point to a color, and she would tell us the person it belonged to! Smart girl!

Nadia, you are also talking sooo much! Everywhere we go, people are amazed at how young you are and how much you can say. You’ve known body parts since you were 1, and after we came back from grandma’s, you said, “Cardon, hug, grandma’s!” The other day when dad was changing you, he asked for a kiss, and you said, “kiss, frog, princess, grandma, popcorn.” Grandma Lott had taken you and the girls to see the Princess and the Frog movie, and you put together a whole list of nouns reminding you of that. You are such a smart cookie!

I haven’t decided yet if we are going to do Christmas cards or not, especially since our life is on this blog. If someone wants to see our lives, they are more than welcome to visit! So, this may be our family Christmas picture this year, and if you don’t get a card from us, know that we hope the very best for each and every one of you. We hope your holidays are joyous and merry!

The Olson Family

november 2009
I’ve started a craft blog, and when I have time to get something done, I will post it, but it only happens when time is available. But I would love comments, ideas, or any insights that one would be happy to share! The link is to the side on this blog, but it’s www.modernvintagecrafts.blogspot.com. I look forward to hearing lots of ideas, as I’m not too creative on my own, I learn from others!