Today we had our 10th annual Cambodia Coronation Day celebration. One of our kids asked if anyone else in the world celebrates this holiday…ummm, maybe the king in Phnom Penh. We had a good morning or finishing our crowns, play practice, cookie baking, face painting, and the coronation ceremony and party. Tonight we’ll have an after dinner show, including a play and presentations.
This week Maria turned 15 months. One thing she loves to do is copy her siblings. Recently she’s been reading books, repeating the same syllable sounds as she reads. It’s so cute.
The girls have started a ladies’ literary society. They are reading a novel together 1-2 nights a week, while I put the boys to bed. Saturday they had a tea party.
Our boys love to play and are wonderful playmates for each other. They love their downstairs space and build wonderful cities with blocks, MagnaTiles, and a train set. They’ve currently set up a popcorn factory (they make popcorn out of paper) that drops the popcorn into a train, which then transports the popcorn to other parts of the track. I wish I had a picture.
A few weeks ago Ezra asked Josh to put up a seat in the tree for them to sit in. The other day when I was meeting with a friend, I looked out and saw both boys sitting in their seats eating ice pops. It’s so much fun being little boys.
Maria decided this week that she doesn’t like to nap. Quite a change from last week. I think it’s the fact that her two top front teeth are starting to make their presence known. So who knows what next week will hold.
Due to Titus’ death and sickness, we postponed celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day until last Thursday, when everyone was feeling well enough to participate. We started the day with patch-making. It’s great to have older kids who can help the younger kids, so I don’t have to help everyone. After that we read some books, and then Becca and Isaiah hid “gold coins” for the other kids to find. Isaiah made a map of our upstairs, and each kid had their own color of coins to find – each place marked on the map. All the kids had fun with their activities. We had a snack as a reward for the treasure hunt. Then Becca made M&M cookies with the boys, while the three middle kids did an art project. (I worked on meal prep stuff.) After lunch we had a normal afternoon. For the evening we had a spaghetti supper and the M&M cookies for dessert. Then the kids did dramatic readings of different picture books. Josh, Ezra, Micah, and I did a performance of Caps for Sale. The boys loved being the monkeys. Once the performances were over, we did our pirate dancing and watched a few informational videos about pirates.
In comparison to last year, this was a much better Pirate Day for me. Last year I rather resented all the work it was, especially when there was a lot of complaining and other issues to resolve. This year there was a lot more helping and everyone enjoyed their roles/responsibilities. It was a good day! Arrrrrr!
Every morning at breakfast we read through one chapter of the Bible. We’re on our second time through. This time we’re reading the Bible chronologically. We started around June 6th, 2021. On September 28th we finished reading through the OT. The last time we finished the OT was May 28, 2020. (We always get slowed down when we have our 6 months in the States, since family routine flies out the window when we’re staying in the homes of others.) Now…on to the NT, reading through chronologically!