Reading Eggs Review

Our 6 year old daughter just got finished working on the Reading Eggs
website for practice in reading. I wanted to write up a little review
on it for those who are interested.

Pros -
The graphics are very colorful and fun.
The map that takes you to the different steps are easy to navigate.
There are things to do on the screen while you wait for the programs
to load.
It kept her attention for a long time.
There was a variety of activities that helped her reading skills and
letter recognition

Cons -
It took a long time to download. We have a semi slow internet
connection and we pay by the minute used so that was a frustration.
I was not able to download this on my ipad which would have made it
nice for her to work on while I was using the computer.
She took the pretest, but I feel that she is farther along than were
they started her. For example, One of the activities was finding
the letter r over and over. Then the next was finding the correct word
- so that was a bit of a jump. She did not seem to mind it.

All in all - I would like to see how this could help her develop her
reading. She is great at sounding out words and blending them - but
has not caught on to fully just reading without sounding out the words
yet.

Alethia's guitar debut

Here is Alethia's first guitar solo. Thanks Mr. David for letting us
"practice"

long time and random start

I made this great dessert tonight with a recipe from allrecipes.com

Slight twist on a peach cobbler.  Maybe Dutch origins?? not sure.  

But very yummy and easy.  I halved it for a 6 serving recipe what follows

below is the halved version.

Sour Cream Peach Kuchen

Original Recipe Yield 12 servings

 

 

Ingredients

         1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

         1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

         1/4 teaspoon baking powder

         1/8 teaspoon salt

         1/2 cup cold butter or margarine

         1 (29 ounce) can sliced peaches, drained

         1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

         TOPPING:

         2 egg yolks

         1 cup sour cream – I substituted yogurt with good results

         1 tablespoon sugar

         1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 

Directions

This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 12 servings.

In a bowl, combine the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Arrange peaches over crust. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over peaches. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine egg yolks and sour cream. Spread evenly over peaches. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over top. Bake 30-35 minutes longer or until golden brown. Serve warm or cold. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

 

 

How Asher eats vermicelli noodles

Asher is having a hard time these days staying clean for meal time.

Her Singing Debut

She is really into making up songs these days.

Happy Birthday Day Jesus!

On Thursday we had a birthday party for Jesus. A little early but we
had a fun time celebrating while making music and eating cake.

Caleb's surgery

Caleb had ACL surgery on Tuesday, December 14 and watched every bit of
it on the camera. He stayed in the hospital until Friday. He was a
good patient even though they were only giving him something like
extra-strength tylenol for the serious pain he was in. He then had
to stay on the couch for two weeks. He got his stitches out today,
December 28 and should be able to walk around with just one crutch in
another week or so. At first he was going to physical therapy every
day now it is just every other day. The doctor says he is progressing
as he should. So we are thankful that all is going well.

The Christmas Pageant

We have been blessed with some new friends while in Malaysia. Here
they are performing the Nativity.

Asher was the self-directed innkeeper and Alethia was the angel. It
was a great time of celebrating our Savior's birth.

Awesome Asher -

"The Fonz" better move over --- here comes AAAAsher.

Gingerbread House

Alethia and her two friends (Malia and Ayu) got together for a special
afternoon. They dressed up and make a gingerbread house. We were
leaving town within the next few days so I let them eat the candies
until their hearts were content. Actually their bellies got sick
before they were tired.

Festival

>
> In between Caleb's birthday and Thanksgiving, we took a family trip
> to the village. We spent the night there to participate in one of
> their celebrations. The men get to "knife fight" and the ladies
> pretty much just cook and cook and cook. It was fun to see how they
> do things.
>

Thanksgiving 2010

We had yet another wonderful Thanksgiving here in "Stink Stink." The Fishers came for the 3rd year in a row bringing the bounty from a nearby island. The Stillmans came from the capital city with the Turkey and we had a single American guy, a single lady, the only other American family in our city, and 4 national enjoy our day with us. It was a festive and very yummy occasion. I found real sweet potatoes on the island 5 hours away from us. I was still suspicious that they would work but they did and they sure were yummy. Our crate from America arrived the day before our guests did. It was a mess -- but a good mess. We had plenty of brown sugar, corn meal, cooking oil, and all sorts of goodies to eat.

Caleb's 34th Birthday

We got back from Malaysia a few days before Caleb's birthday. We had some friends come over for some German Chocolate Cake and Decaf Starbuck's (a real treat). Enjoy the photos. He got a necklace from Alethia. She is the master "regifter" of whatever she finds around the house --- She loves giving gifts. She said it was a rock star necklace so he had to do a rock star pose. He other gift was an Iphone (used that is) --- but works great over here. Think he really likes it.

15 month old check up

Today we went to the doctor in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to get Asher some shots.

He is 10.3 kg and 75.5 cm long. For those who are metrically (sp?) challenged that is 22.7 lbs and about 30 inches long. He got his MMR shot in the left arm. Sister had already prepped the nurse and told her that Asher would not cry. Well, he did cry for just a few seconds and then he was ready to go again. He has been walking for 2 months now and just this week started to climb up into chairs. Which means nothing is safe anymore. He played at his first big playground today and had fun but wasn't too fond of the little holes as he was walking across the bridges. He can say some words now. His favorites are ball, cat, mau (indonesian for want), no, duck, hot (the newest word), dada (bye in Indo), mama, dada (da as in daddy). I think I heard please once. He is gets his point across and lets you know if he is content or not with whatever situation it is. He is still a great eater and will eat anything I give him. However, yesterday in Sunday School he stole some bread from a little girl when I wasn't looking. They are beginning to play together as brother and sister. It is fun to watch and most often involves chase or some time of sing-song screaming-laughing escapade started by his sister. I think she is falling more in love with him. I heard her singing just the other day, "Asher is a cutie pie". Mommy and daddy sure think so.