November Update

A round of turkey-bingo with a 7, 5 and 3 year old went horribly wrong; kids crying, whinny,  bored. Everett's jumping off the living room coffee table. I'm pretty much trying to salvage our "school" day and say, 'you're going to like this dang turkey-bingo game if it's the last thing I do' *shaking fist* ...but then snowflakes started falling across the living room window and we were all rescued from the torture. The first snow we always have hot cocoa to celebrate. Usually I don't make it when it's just a flurry of flakes that ends in 6 minutes, but today is different. Today we need a distraction. Badly. Not all the Enchanted Learning printables and Pinterest homescool pins in the world can save me from today.

It's one of those days where I am being as calm and awesome as can humanly be possible, even giving Mary Poppins a run for her money, and the children are being as whiny, fussy, picky, and uncooperative as possible. Sometimes every single minute is a struggle. Sometimes the results of awesome parenting and patience just doesn't take hold until they are older. ((lol lol)) I tell myself just keep swimming...

At bedtime tonight I told the kids enthusiastically that we'd try turkey-bingo again tomorrow. They all said "okay mom!" So tomorrow is another day.

I really don't have much time to do anything let alone write. It gets me a little down but I try to write things down here and there. This month was supposed to be more relaxed, more carefree, more balanced, less stressed. It was none of those things. I journaled some things off and on this month...

11/10/13
Layla's doing interviews around the house today. She asks me and Sebastian in a talk show host tone, "Okay now, what schools or colleges have you gone to? ...and Clown College counts, so don't be shy."

Sage and Ethan had their wisdom teeth out and it sucked, but it's over and now we don't ever have to worry about their straight teeth (which they were naturally given!) being ruined from wisdom teeth. We had their wisdom teeth out early in hopes it would be an easier process because the younger you are the smaller they are. Unfortunately for us the difference between 13-14 years old and Charlotte having hers out at 16 years old was not much.  

Chicken Surgery
Charlotte and I can now add chicken tongue surgery to our resumes.  Poor lil bird. It was time to add some young chickens to the flock again. We usually raise spring chicks but this time we decided to try fall birds. We bought them 6 weeks ago and they just got let loose with the big girl birds last week.  When you raise chicks in the spring they don’t start laying eggs until Halloween or Thanksgiving and then soon winter hits and they slow or stop laying for a while. This spring we’ll have healthy perfectly aged birds ready to crank out eggs all spring and summer.

They had only been with the big girls 24 hours before Penelope and Sage caught one and noticed she had a long red string in her mouth.  Charlotte told me she tried to pull it out but it was stuck. Upon further investigation the thread was tied around this poor chickens tongue two different ways and knotted three times! It definitely appeared to be cutting off circulation. We worked on this 2 ft. string for a half hour.  One end was down the chicken’s throat and one hanging out of her mouth.  Charlotte held the bird and I went to work and it was not easy but we got it done despite almost giving up twice.

The poor hen stayed calm and let us stick tweezers down her throat…my good 10 year old Tweezer-man tweezers!  I cannot even think of all the gross things I’ve used these tweezers for. If I even began to name the things you’d barf.  I just keep boiling them on the stove as if it’s the only tool in the whole world.  You can not underestimate the power of a good pair of tweezers…and I still use them on my eyebrows. Lol.  

To get the full effect of the surgery story you would have to hear in the background kids running, crying, fighting, and see Everett keep stealing our scissors and tweezers when we weren’t looking.  Also the sound of “mom, mom, mom, moooom, mom…” on repeat. It was nuts. The chicken survived!

  

Friday 11-15-13
Feeling very thankful thoughts today even though my house isn't as clean as I wish it was and I feel really, really behind (and our washing machine is broken and the dirty clothes are starting to pile up). Feeling thankful I have a sweet baby to care for even if the sweeping isn't getting done and the bathroom is messy and past due for a cleaning. I have kids to run to appointments and school events so my bedroom has baskets of unfolded clothes that we were able to wash finally, and important papers. The baby's changing table in my bedroom holds papers, a belly cast, a lap top computer, a toy sword, some other junk and the directions for Layla's 5k run tomorrow. Things are piling up. I keep telling myself to keep living and no stressing.

Every night I think I'll get caught up after the kids go to bed, but I don't. It's mostly because of long talks and laughter on the couch visiting late into night with my husband. Last night we laughed and laughed and laughed together like we were enjoying a date. I like a clean and organized house but I like my husband more. I also noticed recently that we just never have time to watch TV together...and it's because we spend so much time visiting with each other (after the kids are in bed) it gets way too late to watch TV. What a wonderful problem to have.

 Saturday 11-16-13

Feeling thankful and proud that when I woke up this morning I stumbled into the kitchen and saw 7 year old Penelope loading the dishwasher. I was supposed to do a monstrous amount of dishes last night but fell asleep with Ricky. Thankful that I live in a home where we care and take care of it together even if it's pretty hectic.

Today is Girls On The Run 5k day GO LAYLA!!!!

Layla finished her 5K in with a time of 35.12. SO proud of her. Her practice 5k last weekend was 34.12. Amazing pace!

Sunday 11-17-13

A beautiful day outside, but inside there is crying and screaming over: burnt finger (Penelope and hot glue, hot glue won), laundry piling up badly from broken washer, glass broken on kitchen floor, Everett hollering for some one to peel his apple, Sebastian has a birthday party to go to, the kitchen is a mess with half painted walls and a broken refrigerator, and some insane woman bought 80 lbs of apples and 50 lbs of local potatoes...like she thought she had time for that and 8 kids.

I got to retreat to the den to peacefully soothe and nurse a hungry sweet baby for 10 minutes. Back to work now.

So very thankful for a patient husband who spent 4.5 hours doing laundry last night. (And then I spent 2 hours folding it all.) I don't know how I'd get through the day if he wasn't at the end of every single one smiling at me.

Monday 11-18-13
We really need to order a new water pump for the washer, but the old one is still working --sort of. In order to get it to complete a load of laundry Ricky has to open up the washer valve at the right time and manually drain the washer into our basement floor drain two times a cycle. Then when the pump kicks on he has to make sure it's primed. Sometimes this means pouring water into a hose he has attached to the washer so that the pump primes, this signals our pain in the butt high tech front loader to start the spin cycle.

We have no way to spin the clothes dry unless the washer is signaled by the pump.  Ridiculous. We've said countless times for countless reasons we are never buying a washer that doesn't have a specified SPIN selection on it. Clothes still wet? No spin for you, you're just stuck!!! It's frustrating.

What else was I doing last night? Emptying our refrigerated foods into the freezer downstairs and into an ice chest on the porch. Yup fridge is broken now too. We got the milk out of the ice chest this morning, it's just like camping!

Sunday 11-24-13

We are still living without a refrigerator and washer. A mild but still barfy stomach bug invaded our home. My turn was last night. None of the little kids have gotten in yet, which means the barfed on laundry and towels hasn't hit yet. Life is slightly frustrating a real challenge sometimes!

Two weeks ago I told Ricky I wanted a white vintage Christmas tree. Spoiled and grateful, I am sitting near it right now as I type. We found it on Ebay. He said he loves it too and it was a great idea!

 Monday Nov 26, 2013

The crock pot leaks and I just noticed a crack. I was complaining about it and Ricky said I complained more about a broken $40 crock pot than I have about the refrigerator. Ha. Funny and interesting. 

I have been thinking all week about how refreshing it is we don't have to do anything for Thanksgiving. I'm not even making pie. Charlotte just told me, "I'm so glad we don't have to cook anything this year!" And while we love having Thanksgiving at our house we are so glad we aren't hosting it this year.

Then we started discussing pie...and how we have a pumpkin on the porch and we should make fresh pumpkin pie ...and how we should make a Thanksgiving centerpiece too.

Well so much for doing nothing! Charlotte's cutting up that pumpkin right now. Something is so wrong with us!!

Postpartum: Notes from week one (June 15-19, 2013)

Sat June 15^th- It's very trying to welcome a new baby and then have nearly all of the kids in the entire house get a cold in the same week; coughs, sore throats, sneezes, tears, fevers. (It's been something that's been coming on slowly before the baby was born, it's not a surprise but we were so hoping it wasn’t going to escalate to full blown colds.) 

I got a message from Amazon.com that said my order is shipping. I felt super smart. Six months ago I scheduled a bulk box of organic mac and cheese shells and organic ravioli (Annie's) to be shipping right after the baby's due date. I love when I'm so smart 

Our new baby is precious and sweet and lovely. 

Mon June 17^th- Everett's inconsolable right now. Ricky's trying to reason with him in the kitchen. He just doesn't feel good. I'm so thankful he at least slept well last night so that I was able to sleep well or I'd be fried today. I was so tired yesterday (Father’s Day) I thought I was going to ...die. Last night was my first full night of sleep since the birth. (Nursing while sleeping is still sleeping to me.) I realized yesterday I made a huge mistake by not getting more sleep immediately postpartum. Ricky and I stayed up super late Sat. night and watched TV. When I went to bed at 2am kids started waking up bothered by colds at 4am. Everett was up for good by 5:30am…huge mistake on my part. I think Everett will lay down for a nap really soon and so will I. Baby girl is doing fantastic and sweet --she is such a sweetie. She was making cute faces for us this morning and is pooping right now :) She's doing really awesome. She loves being swaddled, some of our other babies did not, so Ricky went to Target and bought Swaddleme blankets. 

Snug as a bug!

 They are great! She looooves them. Nursing her at night is more comfortable for us both because she's all tucked up in them and the kids holding her is so much more controlled and secure to. I’m glad she likes to stretch out, too, but these blankets are awesome!

Yesterday (Fathers’ Day) I slowly felt true effects of sleep deprivation and hormones crashing. I always describe sleep deprivation for me as feeling like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. By around noon I feel like I could go crazy at any moment. I really feel like I’m coming apart at the seams when I am sleep deprived. I don’t mean one night of bad sleep, but multiple nights or after something like the excitement of giving birth and then not resting enough. I took a nap on Father’s Day but didn’t fully recover from the insane split personality feeling until getting good night sleep where no one woke up, bed hopped, or coughed a night. Thank goodness. Ricky’s pretty torn up without sleep too (he looks like a total zombie without sleep) so I don’t usually want him to get up much with the kids. The kids usually end up wanting me anyway so then both of us end up tired the next day if we both get up. So Sat night sucked but Sunday night was good. In hindsight I should have told Ricky I was doing poorly on Father’s Day but I didn’t want him to know how miserable I was, though he could tell I wasn’t myself. He told me over and over how much he appreciated all I do and that he should tell me more and that he’s sorry I look so tired. It was sweet. I think he was trying to combat overwhelmed postpartum mama hormones by filling me up with compliments. :)

Mon June 17- Sleep stores replenished. Had a good morning outside and a good day inside playing with the kids. We found stuff to do with them and they stayed busy for the most part.

Tues June 18- I love the things they say Everett heard the baby fussing and made it to her about 12 steps before me, he was leaning over her side sleeper with his shirt pulled up and trying to hover over her saying "baby nurse, baby nurse" hahaha I'd have taken a picture but I didn't want him to squish her in the time it might have taken to take a picture.

Sebastian just came up to me and said, "Ohhh babies are so cute, they are so sweet, mom, they are the sweetest...except for Everett now, he's SO MEAN!"

Penelope asked for me to cut her hair short, really short, because it keeps falling on her baby sisters face when she holds her. We just cut it tonight. 

 Penelope says she's "so happy" about six times a day, and she talks to her sister so much. She said to me, "Being a big sister is a hard job, right mom? But fun too, right mom?" I love when she follows up questions with "right mom?" It's sooo cute.

June 19, 2013 Day
This morning Penelope (6) sternly told a misbehaving Sebastian (4), "Be good Sebastian! This is Mom's second day with dad gone."

Oh, bless her little sweet heart. <3 br="">
Yesterday was my first day home with the kids. We made pencil holder cans (out of tin cans and decorated paper) and gingerbread cookie men. Sebastian made me laugh so hard about his gingerbread man. He noticed the girls' faces, made with mini-chocolate chips, looked better than his. He whined at me and told me his looked like a zombie frog. When I looked at his cookie I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Thank goodness he didn't get his feelings hurt and he just made a darling scrunched up unhappy crooked smile of a face at me instead. I love those moments, unless they hurt a kids feelings, then it's awful! But he took it in good stride and I helped him fix his face.

The day went really well. I felt good, Ricky called midday to make sure I was feeling good. He’s going to take more days off but we just aren't sure when. I kinda think next week will be harder than this week. He's unsure because the kids are sick and extra needy this week. Mostly the colds are dissipating though except for the lingering hacking coughs that persist sometimes.

By 4pm I felt tired and done. I really couldn't wait until Ricky got home. Unfortunately he had a dentist appointment in the evening so I had to wait a little extra long for him. I had the kids in the bath and baby girl was sleeping soundly when he arrived; bedtime and story time was largely uneventful, thank goodness.

Everett has moved out of the bedside sleeper. ((yay!)) At two and a half years old he still loved it despite the fact he was squished into it most of the time (the mini Arms Reach Co-sleeper). I tried getting him out months ago but he wasn't ready; now he hasn't slept in it since the baby was born! I put her down in it at bedtime the day she was born and he smiled so big and told her and me his bed was her bed! Oh joy! Oh sweetness! I hoped this would happen. Me telling him the baby needed it and trying to move him from it was too abstract before she was here, but now that she is here and he sees she's smaller and needier it's time for him move on and he understands. He's been sleeping in a cot in our bedroom which Penelope used to sleep on. Penelope meanwhile has finally moved on to sleep with Layla ---the big sisters are hanging out a lot together and I feel Penelope has found a new sense of identity being an older kid now and not a preschooler or a baby like Sebastian, Everett and the new baby. It's glorious, bittersweet and simply adorable.

I haven't had to lay down with Penelope to get her to fall asleep comfortably since a few days before baby girl was born. I miss her. I miss her as a newborn, I miss her as a baby, I miss her as a toddler, I miss her as a preschooler. Kids leave you. Every stage that passes is something you'll never get back. I try to record their voice, write down things they say to preserve them because the truth is they leave themselves and me behind. They blossom into new people over the course of weeks, months and years...and I'm left holding memories together like collage pasted to my motherful heart. There is so much I thought I'd remember that I don't. Everett's voice is something that I wish I could hear forever. He told me yesterday patting the baby's head: 'Ittle, 'ittle, 'ittle bay-bee girl, I 'ove 'ittle bay-bee girl.

 The toddler talk is cute enough, but his voice and the sweetness behind it melts me!

June 19, 2013 Evening

From 3-7pm things went crazy. Crazy toddlers, unhappy newborn wanting to nurse and whose Swaddleme blankets were in the wash. Someone tiny and loud was really not happy about the absence of the Swaddleme! Blankets are out; it’s all about the Swaddleme for his little girl. I’m amazed.

The kids have had colds and coughs and now Sebastian got an earache. Sigh. While the kids and I tried to make dinner Everett pinched, yelled, and ran around acting Crazy. Then later he did it all over again. I wish I could say it is post baby jealousy, haaa....he’s been like this for a year! Insane toddler! 

June 21, 2013 

One week Birthday wishes to our baby girl. She has a name in progress and we're trying it out within the family and searching for a middle name. 

I felt guilty we didn't tend to or even pick our strawberries very often this season, why go through the work of growing them if you aren't going to pick them!? Then out of the blue, while quietly picking some sad looking nearly bad berries for our fruit salad tonight, Penelope (6) said, "Mom you're awesome because you are picking strawberries with a baby." My heart melted and I laughed happily. I'm so glad she pointed out that joy to me. I wanted to write it down to remember forever. 

I had a feeling today. I opened the fridge to put something away while I had baby girl swaddled and close to me with one arm. A familiar overwhelming feeling of perfection filled my heart, I love having a child in my arms. It makes everything in life sweeter. I also had a feeling of ease as I moved around the kitchen gracefully. Making breakfast, putting things in the fridge, wiping the table. Little monotonous regular tasks with a baby in my arms. I felt like I was doing something grand by being a mom, taking care of her, and taking care of the rest of the family. I can take care of my baby and everyone else too. I am doing it. Here we go...number 8. 

Gratitude for Staying Home: A letter to my husband about being a stay at home mom and wife

  I never take staying home for granted. I never take the luxury of setting the rhythm for my day for granted. I like both organized chaos and organized non-chaos. I like daily breakfast at 8am sharp, but I also like when the kids trickle down and all eat on their own before 9:30ish. I like 10am coffee after I’ve done three loads of laundry, or after I've done nothing much but hang out with the kids, or after I write a blog post like I am right now. I like never leaving the house unless we want to. I like choosing to prep dinner at 9am, 3pm or 5pm. I like playing Legos and blocks. I like rearranging the living-room furniture for the 5th time this year. I like planning our days around the weather. I like crafts. I like napping with the baby if I need too. I like planning TV and video game time for the kids around their school work, nap time, or other things that work out best. I love organization and routine but I love flexibility too. I'm given the gift of having the schedules I want: meal times, play times, school times, garden time, craft time, and free time. I could have none of this freedom if I worked outside the home. I love living life on my own schedule -and of the schedules of the little people who I live with. The kids make up a lot of what I have to juggle, plan and balance around, but I get to set into motion the routines that work for all of us on any given day of the year. It's a powerful responsibility and I'm honored to be in charge of it. I love my life and I owe it to you, my dear husband, who I fondly remember once telling some of our children, “This house is Mom’s house, I bought it for her.”

 I really appreciate being an at-home mom and just love the way days crash, roll, ripple, flow and peak like an ocean’s waves. Peaceful, playful, loud or wild the kids and I can swim, float or sink...and we do so day-in and day-out because we stay home and follow the rhythm of life. I don’t take it for granted and I show it by being the best I can be (most days!). I enjoy keeping home-cooked food on the table (most days!), up-keeping our home, keeping our kids happy and cared for, and I do it with a smile on my face (most days). I make the bed and get dressed every morning to show gratitude for each beautiful blessed day, unless it happens to be a pajama day. In that case we might all dance around, eat chocolate, and wear pajamas -and I sigh with relief that we are free to do so. Life is crazy and sometimes hard, but it's a free spirited kind of crazy. Thank you, Ricky. I love you.

 

Brain freezes, Painting, and Dr. Seuss

The Best of Brain Freezes

We were eating frozen grapes, and the kids were eating them too fast, I can tell Layla's was staged...but the next two were not LOL....

Love it! See the freeze behind the eyes!

I told Sebastian this is the best brain freeze face I'd ever seen

                                    Home Projects

This desk was finally all sanded down!

This lil guy was running around getting into everything

He crawled under the desk and grabbed paint, but somehow I managed to paint the desk that will go in our hallway soon

I like how it turned out

I only posted this picture because it had Ricky and I laughing at my shadow, what's with the sexy side pose?
 LOL, awesome.

Ta-Da! Gray and yellow.

I still need to buy and add really neat knobs. I am also eyeing vintage looking scrapbook stickers or stamps for a extra something to add. I need to add some green someplace to make this yellow and gray flow with the creamy vintage green hallway-room it's going in.  I can do this easily with floral designs. Once I have it decorated to my liking then I can apply two coats of clear finish and it will be done!

He was cold, had paint on him, and was sad by the time I was done.

                               
  ~Happy Birthday 108 bithday Dr. Seuss Feb 2, 2012~

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! We had a Seuss breakfast party with green eggs and ham. Then spent the morning at a really fun science show.

Penelope drew green eggs around the Cat in the Hat



Layla shows her very nice green eggs and ham drawing

                                                         ...Say!
                                                            I like green eggs and ham!

I do!! I like them, Sam-I-am!

And I would eat them in a boat!

And I would eat them with a goat...

And I will eat them in the rain.

And in the dark. And on a train.

And in a car. And in a tree.

They are so good so good you see!

The really golden moments: a weeks worth of joy and pain

LAYLA

I'm laughing because after I announced that Thursday would be baked potato bar night Layla, 7, dramatically said, "Ohhh no not baked potato bar night, I always have a problem on baked potato night." She says this kind of stuff in a really cute way.

Then we had a good laugh about it. Layla has really moody moods and really hard times with certain situations. I can't find a pattern or reason to it. I had a difficult time growing up so I can only guess it's something like I had to go through. She gets so frustrated and it's hard and impossible for her to understand why. She does have certain triggers but most of the time her moods and anger come on when we are least prepared for it. She has a point though, baked potato night is a hard night for her because the last 2 or 3 she was in BAD moods and didn't eat. She and I had a laugh about it and talked about how we'd just need to make sure she didn't have a bad night.

SEBASTIAN

I just walked by the bathroom and Sebastian, 3, was naked and 'mummy wrapping' himself with toilet paper, the best part was the toilet paper was still on the roll attached to the wall. He was twirling around in circles and I watched. It was so cute...by the time I ran for the camera he was done and just looking at me sheepishly with a pile of toilet paper at his feet. That kid is so funny.

What are some of the best words I can hear from three year old Sebastian?

 "Hold me Mommy." I love those three little words. He's Captain America, a knight, a builder, Superman and a T-rex by day. But, at night he's my baby boy. After a few minutes he said some more sweet words I always love, "Lay down with me." Ever since I could remember he closes his eyes, puts his head to mine and wiggles into bed to get cozy. He nods his head up and down as he nuzzles into my head. Then if he is actually sleepy he simply goes to sleep. I never tire of how cute it is.

Sage comes in the kitchen and says, "Mom, what's today?" Sebastian says, "Banana bread day." heheh. We had banana bread in the oven at the time.

PENELOPE

Five year old Penelope made me laugh today when out of the blue she said, "Mom remember you said you should have another baby if the world's going to end anyway." We were talking about the Mayan calendar the other day...hahaha. Remember that kids are always listening!

BABIES and their sibligs

The other day I was thinking about the keen sense and ear my kids have for little Everett. A stifled baby cough from the next room and I have some kid checking on him (or telling me about it) because it sounds like he could be choking. A dining room table full of kids who are all busy drawing will stop what they are doing when Everett races to the front door that is open; one kid will jump up and intercept his fast feet. An echoed baby voice is recognized from another room and a kid will rescue Everett because he's climbed up a chair and is now dancing on the table top. Any one of our kids ages 3 through 15 will merely walk into the same room as Everett take one look at him and exclaim, "Everett do you have something in your mouth!? What do you have?" I will never forget how awesome it is to watch these kids be so connected to him.

Sure it helps me immensely, and they've learned it from me asking for help from them. But, I love that it shapes who these kids are. They are so aware of so many other people in the home. They all are just ga-ga over him, too. Everyday every single kid calls him cute, plays with him, laughs at him, holds him, and cares for him in some way. Every single day. I never want to forget that, it's a wonderful thing. Children and babies bring even each other tons of joy.

EVERETT

Everett is getting so big. It was just yesterday I was rocking him and soothing him to sleep when I thought about how much he is still my baby. I'm so glad for it too! This is the last really super solid year before he becomes a REAL toddler. Then today seeing him in his car seat he looked huge. His legs are so big. his hands are so chubby. His fat fingers grab things all the time. He can turn lights on and off when lifted up (a game he likes). He says, "light!" He says a few words here and there. He says "side" when he wants to go outside --which is always. He says eat and drink although it's hard to understand. When you give him something and say, "Here you go." He says, "tank" for thank you. Its SO cute. But If you don't say "here you go" he just looks at you waiting for you to say your line first because that's his cue to say "tank." It's hilarious.

Everett has been teething and it's just awful for him. His teeth are coming in sooo slow. He screamed for an hour tonight and finally settled down to nurse. I feel like nursing him sedates him through the night. Luckily at bed time the pain reliever I give him gets him a few hours of good, solid rest. In the wee morning hours he seems to cope by nursing several times. One morning he was sleeping next to me with his little chunky hand on his cheek and once in a while he'd cry out and then go back to sleep.  

FUCKING SAVE ME

Tonight I texted my husband the following: Fucking save me!!!

He called me an hour later and told me he was on his way to save me. I told him everything the little kids had been doing; grabbing each other, pushing each other, laughing at each other, peeing on each other (Sebastian peed on Penelope because she was too loud, Huh?), crying at each other, screaming at each other, running, jumping, yelling, fighting, being silly, being mean, being INSANELY CRAZY and bringing the house down loud.

My dear husband said, "Ok! Put a beer in the freezer, because that is like my spinach and I'm coming to save you."

LOL. I loooove him. I feel better already.

Even Everett is in on the wild crazy action, he's biting and hitting when they act like this, and no wonder because he sees them hit and yell. In addition teething makes him act mean just like Sebastian did when he was teething. It just seems like any problem between siblings in the hous makes Everett act out. Usually when the kids act like this they've been watching too much TV or I haven't had enough structure for them. TV off day tomorrow!!!!!! And I feel like we've had structure, but I could do better. Tomorrow/this week we'll try 2 crafts a day, upstairs playtime (which is a huge pain because they don't stay up there unless I go too), outside time and kid yoga.

recap of things that make me happy

This morning we had a very productive homeschool morning and now we've just returned from dropping Charlotte (14) off at a teen leadership program. It's a overnight youth group training that is full of fun but also serves as a training program for the teens to help lead this summers vacation bible camp (which our boys are signed up for). I was SO impressed when dropping her off. The people were just great. The teens were very enthusiastic and polite. I felt really comfortable leaving her! The pastor speaking was really being fun with the kids and had a look about him that you could tell how much he enjoys what he does. Loved the vibe. I'm really excited for her! This will be our first year participating in a church summer (day) camp.


Last week I had a wonderful time doing yard work and mowing with my grandma. I love when she comes over to visit. It's always fun and productive since Grandma doesn't sit still for a second! I get my love for working outdoors from her. What a great inheritance. Aunt Sharon came over too to play with the kids and brought us two casseroles for dinners. My grandma and I enjoyed watering my plants, weeding, and cleaning up outside. I adore family time. The kids and I are doing more yard work today and I'm going to try and get the belt on my tiller back on. I 'd like to plant some sunflowers this year (I always plant sunflowers!) Overall I'm not planting many veggies. I figured this year I should care and tend for all the thins we've planted over the last few years. It's fun to see how many berries we have growing (raspberries/blackberries). We've been busy this spring making lots of mulch for the everything with yard clippings and tons of chicken manure mixed with old straw. Everything is looking nice. The freshly mowed yard makes me feel so refreshed. What a beautiful place we have. I thank my husband all the time for our beautiful home. I'm really quite charmed by where we live.

I finally feel like life is back to "normal" in regards to our household flow and rhythm. For a long while I was trying to get back to that feeling of normalcy and routine and finally we have it back. It always comes back --it just takes me a long time! We've dealt with lots of bills lately and crazy kids. But it all passes. Sebastian has been a handful but seems to be settling down. We finally have the evenings down to a science which makes life SO much easier.

Generally we do this : 5:30pm dinner, 6pm clean up, 6:30pm story and/or craft and game time, 7-ish bath and snack if needed, 8pm brush teeth and closing conversations, 8:30pm get in bed, 8:45 shhhh kids if they are still awake. 9pm free time for mom and dad!

During the week we don't generally eat dinner with dad so he eats late. We found it was MUCH less crazy and way more relaxing to have the kids fed and dinner and dishes 100% cleaned up by the time he gets home from work -he often gets home at 6:30 or 7. He then eats with me or while we visit/play games with the kids and there are no clean up woes. Actually now that I think of it I think we eat early mainly because it takes so long to clean up.

In the last 10 days I've taken 7 children to the children's museum, science center and the zoo. I couldn't fathom doing all that in a row the last few months but I feel more energized lately! Just leaving the house doesn't feel like a chore anymore. It could be the new thyroid medicine I'm on... we recently discovered I have an under active thyroid. I found a holistic Dr. I really like and the whole family is going to start going there for yearly visits. I was the first guinea pig. lol. Some women have thyroid issues post postpartum so I wonder if that's why it tends to take me a while to get back into the swing of things after having a baby. Often times after I have a baby I feel like I don't care if I ever leave the house again LOL. At least I'm content at home! That isn't so great for the kids here that do like to leave so it's been a struggle making it to library and playgroup the last few months. I knew it would pass though, it always does.

Things have been busy but positively wonderful overall. My husband and I are so very happy. :)

I had a huge surprise a couple days ago when my sister Heather drove 4 1/2 hours out of her way to come see me and the fam --and meet Everett for the first time! She just showed up on my back door! It was amazing! I was making 2 roasted chickens, mashed taters and gravy, veggies, rolls and a chocolate cake for dinner that night! How perfect is that!? Her Birthday was in a few days so we sang to her and lit 2 candles for her 20th birthday. :)

She could only stay about 10 hours and that included sleep time! She's crazy! And wonderful! How much she must love me to make that trip. She is going to Africa for three weeks this summer and I'm very thankful I got to hug her before she left!

Last weekend was our yearly trip to the Renaissance faire in Wentzville. Ricky and I got horribly lost on the way --you'd think the third year in a row of a family tradition we would not get lost. We felt kinda dumb but oh well. We were stressed and frustrated but laughing at the absurdity of it all. We got wrong directions from 3 different people along the route we thought we were suppose to take! LOL! To top it off it was blistering hot and humid. It was pretty much agony but the kids always love it and we enjoy taking them.

After we got home we were utterly exhausted but after we settled in, fed the kids and turned on a move for them Charlotte babysat for us and Ricky and I snuck off to a Mexican Restaurant we hadn't tried yet. It was sooooooo good and we got to enjoy loud music on the patio and drink huge margaritas. We ordered these ice cold frozen margaritas that were supposed to be medium sized... they were HUGE! We ate amazing food and watched Everett play and people gawk at how cute he was being. When we were finished eating and talking we were STILL sucking on our drinks AND we were getting tipsy. LOL. We finished our drinks and walked around some stores and giggled until we were comfortable driving. It was a lot of fun. Everett was in his Ergo carrier singing, "Blah blah ha bababablahhhahahabah" most of the time. He is so cute and talkative! I want to go back to that restaurant NOW...the food WAS SO GOOD.

Lately...

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com


GREAT news! The public school down the road finally got with me on enrolling my kids in classes. I can enroll them without problems in things like music, P.E., art, Etc.
The principle was extremely friendly and nice to me. He is checking into how he can get Sage into some reading classes for extra help. So I am very happy about this. This fall/winter will be a busy one for us! The school is only a mile away though so it will not be too bad. I looked into homeschool sports programs like we had before, it was double the price. That was disappointing. So while we won't be connecting with as many homeschoolers as I'd like at least I can get them in free P.E. for the time being. This is especially good timing since Sebastian is so little and it's hard to travel much further than our own backyard.

The Chester Comix came!! 8 pounds of history lesson comic books in a box on my porch when I got home yesterday! They look great! With thicker harder type covers than I had imagined. They will hold up through many kids this way. We haven't gotten too into them yet, but the teacher manuals/printables are GREAT too! I'm really glad they look so cool. We will start on the first one today.

Sebastian walks and claps now. Not all at once though. He is SO cute I can hardly stand it. What a happy baby.

Layla is writing letters and enjoys practicing that lately. Penelope following her lead asks to write letters to, or more often asks me to write letters for her.

I recently unpacked the computer educational games. Ethan finished a CD about fractions, time, and money. The time and money was review. But the fraction section served as a intro for him as we have not done fractions yet. We are starting them now. Sage started the CD the other day too.

Charlotte has a new workbook she started on. Sage is still doing studydog right now for reading.

We have been spending most evening exploring the cemetery across the street and catching glow-bugs. We have a lot of fun.

Gardening is slow going right now. I have over 40 tomato plants planted, lots of peppers, and a few other things like cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon planted. But I haven't done any of my fall crops yet. I'm probably still ok, but how much longer can I push it!? I just don't have the time.

A tiller would sure help speed things up. Next year I have to get one. I WILL get one. Not because I can't do the physical work (I want to for exercise) but I have to have it for the speed. A tiller could do in one day what it takes me 3 weeks to do (maybe 6 weeks!). And when I have mouths to feed, baby to nurse, laundry to do, homeschooling, mowing....well it just is not working out.

Time to go I have a baby to change and waffles to get ready.

week in review : kids home, earthday, homeschool

The older kids are home! After a crazy 12 hour plane delay in TX due to two days of bad weather in he area. Poor kids! They made it home though. They had fun in Mexico and they came home with tans, stories, and a boat load of dirty clothes.

Earth day was yesterday. We spent it with good friends at the annual Earth Day celebration we go to in Rolla. The kids made pine cone bird feeders, and such. It wasn't as entertaining as last year (every year the booths dwindle to less & less), but it was good to see our friends and watch the kids play.

We found yet another early reader website! I swear I try them all. It's http://www.sightwordswithsamson.com/ I like it because it's focus is on sight words and not phonics. We found another site I'm thinking about buying the software of at http://www.readinghorizons.com/ . It teaches real reading rules in easy to understand format (and has games). One of their free movies is about why/when do words start with K/C; like why isn't Kitten spelled with a C? It's very interesting and I think it will help even older readers. I'm having fun learning too.

This week we tried a new homeschool "format" in the mornings after breakfast I have the little girls (age 2&4) do two letter of the day worksheets. The older three kids (age 9,9 & 12) do worksheets together. Monday they did a series of geography, latitude & longitude, map skills worksheets. On Tuesday they did a packet of about 6 worksheets on pollination (earth day related). The sheets were educational and also had mazes, word searches, Etc.

So now what to do today...

The dormant strawberry plants/roots we planted while the kids were gone are doing FANTASTIC! They have tripled in size! I hope I muster up the energy to garden today. I need to get a bunch of household stuff done first. I need to accomplish several things today since we'll be gone all day tomorrow again. I need to drop off the older kids to sleepover birthday parties back in Rolla again. So there goes our Friday. (Charlotte and the boys each have different parties to go to).

And people wonder how homeschoolers socialize. They should be wondering when homeschoolers have time for school work.

dads birthday, math, garden is trying to grow, Layla questions...

We have been learning about money, going to the library (saw Dino O' Dell perform at the library last week), somewhat tending to the garden, keeping up with household chores, and the regular homeschool things.

The older kids have had many interesting and educational conversations none of which I can recall now though. Charlotte has been playing a "game" with the boys she came up with and told me to write about. It's very simply a skip counting game. Basically you just take turns skip counting as fast as you can and as high as you can by 2's, 5's, 10's, and 25's. That's great practice for them all and they seem to have fun. They came up with this all on their own after lunch one day.

The garden is going pretty good. The chickens keep scratching at it. The tomato plants are NO WHERE near what we had last year :( Both in quality and quantity. It's got me bummed out. But when you don't start planting until June what do you expect, ya know.

This week I learned that money conversion (exchange rates) is much more complicated than I ever knew. lol.

We are headed to the library for craft and story time this morning. Today is Dads birthday so we have some preparation to do before he gets home tonight. There is talk amongst the kids of balloons, party hats, streamers, and the like. Cousin Echo will be in town by tomorrow morning. We have a homeschool/Kayak playgroup planned for Thursday, and 4th of July is Friday. Dad will be home for a 3 day weekend yay!

Pictures: Penelope and Layla at the Friends of MO Midwives Picnic 2 weeks ago (They love this hat and they frequently love putting this hat on their daddy too.)



Pictures: Drawing bugs last night (like my walking stick? LOL) We all took turns teaching each other ideas about how to draw bugs.


Layla at bedtime snuggled up with me trying to drift off asks me all kinds of interesting questions, especially for a child 1 month away from turning 4. For example:
"Can you ever get out of jail?"
"Will police take some one to jail for not being in their seat belt?"
"Where does your food go if there is a baby in your tummy?"
"How does food turn into poop?"

And the more serious, "If you die in your dream you don't die fo' real, right?"
I could tell she already knew, but was just double checking.

Last week ~ and Father's Day

The above picture is of the kids doing sand art outside last week.

Last week was a great week. Aside from a seriously needy Penelope and grouchy moody Layla (both kids have been sick) last week was so productive. At the time I was having a hard time dealing with the girls, but in hindsight we accomplished so much and the week unfolded into a routine of homeschool, housework, outside fun, arts, and gardening.

I taught the boys how to clean the bathrooms, all the kids have newer "more advanced" household chores. I've struggled with taking the time to show them how to do more housework because it's just faster if I do it myself. That sort of attitude just hurts them and me though!

Father's Day was spent grilling on the new BBQ we got for dad and playing outside. We had what we called an old fashioned Father's Day; playing in the garden hose, kiddie pools, grilling, making organic homemade vanilla ice cream, and we left the air conditioning off and used a box fan in the house to keep cool. By 4:30 P.M. However, this barefoot and pregnant mama had enough of no air and turned it on. We then settled down on the floor and watched a season of Punky Brewster. We love getting old shows from netflix. They are so much fun for the kids (and us) plus we can introduce them to good story plots and wholesome lessons. They just don't make TV like that anymore.

Ricky seemed to have a very nice Father's Day. I'm so glad. He is such a great dad to these guys. They are lucky children. And I, a very lucky woman.

Lasagna Garden

We didn't water yesterday... and by yesterday evening the temperature dropped significantly outside and a beautiful thunderstorm rolled in. So did wind. Ricky and I found ourselves running around the lasagna garden picking up newspapers that were blowing far away into the woods. Ricky started spraying the dried papers with a hose because it wasn't yet raining. Once the rain started and he sprayed they were weighed back down and they stayed put. (I was supposed to put hay on them already but haven't yet! Once I do they will stay put!!)

The day before yesterday the kids and I finally planted our starter plants. We planted tomato, cantaloupe, watermelon and zucchini. We have seeds to plant today if the storm blows through (it's still storming this morning). We hope to get some sunflowers, cucumbers, green beans, and lettuce in the ground. Since we are planting so late I'm going to order some fertilizer from Gardens Alive in hopes for a bountiful harvest this year.

Photo Below: Lasagna garden layered with newspaper, cardboard, old leaves, old cloth diapers and retired corn from our play-corn-bin. We will add hay this week. You can spot a row of tomatoes to the far left. When you are ready to plant in your garden you just dig up a spot and go! We have nice top soil under here already, but if we didn't we'd have to wait for this to break down more. Next year when we start at a new spot it won't be this fast because we will be starting with little soil. The debris helps stomp out weeds (it suffocates them) while creating a nice home for worms and mulch for the garden.

schedule

Soccer is over! (Well almost, a post season soccer party is this Thursday) So I'm relieved of my soccer mom duties for this season.

We have been doing fantastic! The weather is nicer and warmer. We have spent a lot of time outdoors. We seem to be accomplishing a lot of "school work" with minimal effort. We started a new homeschool "program" and it's getting raves around the here. It's http://www.time4learning.com/ I was skeptical but it's really working and the kids are excited about it. The best part (other than they love it) is that I hardly do anything! The lessons are already in order (you can assign lessons out of order as you want too, or let them choose their own). I also get full printable reports, it logs everything for me, and so far I approve! So that has me in a good mood! The lessons are also all in cartoon format and has total audio with the lessons (which my kids are highly drawn too). It even has quizzes and grades (if you want grades). It's almost a little too cartoon for me, but they LOVE it. So I don't care.

So our "schedule" is loosely something like this right now (it changes often though!):
Mon-Mathusee, spelling, time4learning.com, mom reads
Tues-Vocab, Time4learning.com, kids game after lunch (if we are home), mom reads
Wed- Mathusee, writing, time4learning, mom reads
Thurs-Vocab, writing, playgroup all day
Fri-Spelling, time4learning.com, mathusee
Sat-kids clean their bathrooms (every other Sat. kids wash their bed sheets & vacuum basement, game with mom and dad
Sun-football or basketball drills with dad, journal

• I'm totally not reminding Charlotte to post in her blog right now. I need to though!
• I used to read to the older kids every night for an hour. I did that for years. Somehow we got away from it. (I think when we started on the Harry Potter audio books --a much needed break I got!) Anyway, I'm trying to read to them more again by putting it on a schedule, and doing it during the day.

Our most favorite beloved and read aloud short story books are by Jon J. Muth: Zen Shorts, Zen Ties, and The Three Wishes.

April into May...

We have been busy and right now I'm trying to figure out exactly why we have been so busy...


HAVE WE BEEN HAVING FUN?
I'm not sure what fun stuff we've been doing. We haven't gone anywhere interesting in quite a while. I am trying to plan a trip to the zoo though. The kids have been drawing a lot. They also are so into video games right now. I'm biting my tongue and acting like a good "unschooler" mom --let them have fun and play if they want (within reason). They are getting along so well, problem solving, talking, interacting, telling me how much fun they are having, and reading some new words (they ask me or Charlotte what it says sometimes). I also bought them Zoo Tycoon (they love Roller Coaster Tycoon) and they have a lot of fun creating with that. So I guess they are having a lot of fun, but since I don't "get" video games I think we have been boring around here lately. We have been waiting for the dang rain to stop so we can plant and clean up the yard.

Ricky finished up another mini semester of graduate school over a week ago. He got all A's and one B+ YAY! :) He has started his last mini semester! YAY! Since his finals are over (and he has less work load for now) we have all got some extra time with him which has been great.

I bought the kids a BIG dry erase bored which they are having a blast with. (And we can use as a group for school type things). I also heavily rearranged some of our school things, got more organized, and I'm getting rid of a box of books we don't need.

VOCAB
We started a vocab log and have a vocab word of the day. Our first two days worth I remember was 'resident' and 'morose'. I wrote "learning new words is fun!" on Charlotte's vocab log book and she laughed at me in that 'you're a dork mom' laugh. :)

GRAMMAR
I'm been debating about grammar with myself lately. More importantly sentence structure grammar. Not punctuation/spelling/writing skills type stuff but the uninteresting specifics of the English language. Charlotte and I are both bored to death with her fifth grade workbook grammar lessons (linking verbs, subject, predicate, Etc.). We only do a couple pages a week but still, it sucks! (LOL). I think it's a sign we should wait until she needs it more, or is interested in it. She would much be better off focusing the time and energy on writing in general (creative writing. journaling, the writing process, quotations, commas Etc.). Charlotte also needs more time with spelling. Oh I forgot, she does get some grammar lessons from a middle school computer program we have, and it's great (and fun) so I think we will just stick with that and not get so formal with the workbooks for now.

ORTHODONTIST/DENTIST
I took Charlotte to the orthodontist and she will get braces this summer. Boy are kids expensive. Babies are so cheap. :) Everyone should stop buying fancy cribs, crib bedding, expensive baby furniture, and accessories and just save for kids. Babies need next to nothing. Kids need everything. :)

I took the older four kids to the dentist in St Louis. We have a pediatric dentist who I just adore. We drive an hour and a half to see her. She is the nicest dentist I've ever met. The kids' teeth look great! We do have two cavities in the house (Charlotte and Sage) to take care of. BUT, she said she really noticed how great the kids are doing brushing and that my consistent flossing of their teeth really shows! I am so happy! Even Sage, who she says has just a lot of bacteria and acidity in his mouth which is causing his problems, is doing such a great job that it IS making a difference. This makes me really proud of them, but also of myself. I'm really proud that I've done such a good job keeping up on their flossing, brushing, and also sending then back to the bathroom to brush for longer! (This means they have been listening to me too!) On the way home Sage said, "Mom they are so nice there." And I replied with, "That's why I drive that far and pay their fees to take you guys there." It's so worth it to me.

OTHER
There are lots of little things I'm missing here that I'd like to write down for future memories. Like when the boys asked if Africa is in the United States (seriously we look at maps on our walls all the time how could they ask this?? (Brain fart I'm hoping!?) or like when Ethan told me Napoleon was a French emperor. Charlotte informed us all that according to her book full of "wacky, gross and weird things" apparently paintings of him show his hand inside his shirt because he was itchy. No way to know if that's a true fact or not, but I did find it cited (along with other theories) in many places online. I like what they tell me (and teach me). I like having homescoolers! :)