Bannister Bedlam

Raef had an adventurous ride this morning, as he was sliding down the bannister. I have always frowned on him doing it, but it first started out innocently just leaning on it and picking his feet up. I think over the weeks he has gotten a lot more daring. So, as I was sitting up in the office, he headed down the stairs and disappears. A few moments later I hear a crash, boom, crackle, and splat. It is all those sounds you never want to hear when you are a mother with little boys in the house. I rushed down the stairs trying to sort out what the heck happened. I see Raef lying on the floor in agony, a casserole dish (that needed to be returned to a neighbor) on the ground and luckily in one piece, and my decorative tile in many, many, many pieces on the floor as well. Raef was very fortunate that he did not break anything on him. There is a green bureau that broke his fall, along with a lamp and that poor decorative tile. The whole episode made my heart skip a few beats, but everything was okay in the end.



The boys had their violin lesson this afternoon. Halfway through it, Rinar walks through the door. I was very surprised. Wow. That was cool. He came straight from the airport to the lesson. I guess he knew where we would be. The last appointment he had in Albuquerque canceled, so he was able to catch an earlier flight. It was fun to have him home early and the kids faces just light up when they see him. I love to see that.

I successfully had school lessons with the boys four days this week. It went really well. Here they are hard at work on Spelling Workout. It is a really good spelling book. I highly recommend it.

Zach is on the second book and to finish up the lesson, it has you give them a spelling test. Well, at first I had him write it, but it was getting overwhelming for him. So, I give him an oral spelling test and then if he gets any wrong, we put it in a "word locker". He doesn't want any words in the locker and I am always trying to get one in there, as an incentive to get him to remember his words. He doesn't spell them wrong very often, so I have only written a few down (true, clue, and grew).

He gets so excited once he spells a word. He jumps up and down and flaps his hands. Zach really loves words and letters. I don't know what he will be when he grows up but I am sure it will involve languages and words, his very favorite thing.

And now, just for fun. Here are some pictures of Eli with his great-grandmothers.