Yo Mama

Since last summer Bryan and I have been sharing "Yo Mama" jokes. I accidentally stumbled across it on the app store on my android phone. Because Bryan read to me way too many bad "Yo Mama" jokes, I deleted the app. Now Bryan makes up "Yo Mama" in the car and shares them with me as we drive to various errands. Some of them are hilarious. One day in the future though, I can just imagine the children throwing "Yo Ma" insults at each other to my detriment. The weather this week has been beautiful and perfect in Ohio. Each moment from the rising to the setting sun is savored. Our family made it to the Dayton Art Institute. We started on the basement floor with African art. Breeanna and I studied a wooden door handle from Ancient Sudan that was shaped like the figure of a woman. I sketched it onto paper. The design composed of horizontal lines and X's. It's wonderful to take the time to recreate the shape and design, because in a way, I am doing what the original artist did. It helps me understand their point of creativity by walking in the path that they walked. The next object that we studied in the African Art part of the museum was a brown hunting tunic. Animal teeth and strings tide to it perhaps as a good luck charms and to offer a sort of camouflage. The footstool in the African art section was my favorite item. It had animal legs at the corners and a head at one end. It's very clever and reminds me of a child's rocking horse. Afterwards I immersed myself into learning about African art....Masks, Sculptures, Mediterranean Sea, Sub Sahara Africa and related topics so as to have information to share with the children at our next foray into African Art at the Dayton Art Institute. Friends who have studied art in college said that they understand history through art. I'm still trying to grasp with how history can be understood through art. History is so vast. Bryan, Breeanna and I started this week on our one year journey to improve our short term memory. We are starting with a deck of cards. Our mission is to memorize the entire deck. Day 1: Breeanna could memorize up to six cards. I memorized four cards. Bryan memorized three cards. It's been a little bit of a struggle to get the kids to go along with my wild schemes. 9/28/2013

Lego League With Jordan

African Art From Sudan: Door Lock, Hunter's Tunic, Chair

Helping Out In The Kitchen

I was so glad to have you helping out in the kitchen at the Dayton Chinese Church. I was glad to see to see you learning how to handle a knife and slicing up watermelon for lunch.

Vietnamese Church

Thank you for attending the Vietnamese church with me.

Mom's 47th Birthday

Dear Bryan, Thank you for making me feel so special on my birthday! You gave me... entirely from your own earnings: A blue frosted, with sprinkles, birthday cake A $5 coupon to Village Store A $5 gift card to Kroger A birthday card that reassured me that I would still be special even after my special day That is very generous, considering that you get $50 total in yearly income for taking out the trash, taking care of Breeanna and all other work I ask you to do throughout the year. $12.50 of that money goes to your savings account $12.50 goes to your education account for college $12.50 goes to your extracurricular after school programs. At the end of the year you get $12.50 total, in cash to spend however you wish from your allowance. For earning one A in school, you get $5.00. With a possibility of 5 A's per report card, that's a $25 per report card possibility. Four reports cards per year makes it $100 for earning straight A's the entire year. With a complete possible annual income of $112.50 in total cash flow from mommy for the entire year, I'd say, your birthday gift to me was very generous! Thank you for coupon to Village store! I am so excited about that! Santa Claus has given you so many gift cards to Kroger's. So I really appreciate my gift card. It's such a great gift! Thank you Bryan! I love the birthday card that you chose for me! I know that you treasure me everyday and try your best to help out in all that you can. I love being your mom. Of all the boys in the world, if I had my pick one, I would choose you. You are talented, generous, hard working, kind, thoughtful and sweet. You make me smile everyday. I love you with all my heart. Mommy 9/23/2013

Fish Anatomy

Breeanna fought going to Sunbeam this evening. She had know Mrs. Kim for two years as a Moonbeam. It was fun hanging in nursery where toys were plentiful. Advancing to Sunbeam meant leaving behind things and people that she had grown accustomed to. Bryan and I went over fish anatomy in the computer lab now that he's at Harman. No more catching the bus to Cleaveland. Our homeschool time is switching to evenings. I found intense fascination with the anatomy of a fish, which is a subject that Bryan is learning at school. Their lateral line running from head to tail on both sides of a fish can detect water movement and in which direction it's coming from. Their bladder is realy cool because it let's them surface or sink depending on the amount of air in it. Some types of fish do not have a bladder and fall to the bottom if they stop swimming. Their spinal column are made of hollow like birds. I know that birds have hollow bones so as to weigh less. After we went over fish anatomy, Bryan started on The Age of Fable, which is reading for 6th graders on the Ambleside list and is read aloud on Librivox's free online audio book. Ambleside Wiki for Audio Books available for 6th grade. http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Recordings_of_Books_on_the_Ambleside_List_2 The Age of Fable http://librivox.org/bulfinch-age-of-fable/