earthworm mama

Monday May 11, 2009

I'm trying to get in a bath to wash the black soil from my toes, scrub my nails and feel clean again! But some little one wants me to rock him. I spent the day doing yard work. Planting is slow going for me since there is SO much other yard work that keeps us sidetracked. But I do have to say things are coming along great. The strawberries we planted are starting to flower already! It's great! I had used some black weed out cloth around them, but that wasn't working as well as the ol' lasagna garden method. So the kids and I spend Saturday afternoon pulling up the black and then laying newspaper and straw down around the plants. When we were working Ethan found the biggest earthworm any of had ever ever seen! The picture doesn't really even do the worn justice, it was even bigger than this.

Tuesday May 12, 2009

I never made it to the bath last night. I fell asleep with Layla and Sebastian. I never even changed my clothes! Ricky thought it was so funny. So this morning I was ready to garden again, why even bother. It was a rough go this morning though when Sebastian decided to be super needy/unhappy. I got a few things done but not nearly enough. I worked until I was tried of him on my back in the backpack. I think his gums must have been sore. He was quite cranky. He finally took a nap this afternoon and I made better headway. I transplanted some ornamental grass to a different spot, planted a salad bar of baby greens in a partial shade garden bed and tended to the lavender I had planted yesterday. I also dug a huge "trench" of sorts along a fence to eventually cover with paper/mulch/compost (lasagna garden) and plant something in. I planted 6 cauliflower starts, and 5 cabbage starts in the "main garden" area. Do I even have a main area anymore???? I've got Shtuff planted EVERYWHERE. I have no clue how I'm going to keep up with all the watering. This is the hardest I've ever worked outside.

Trying to make serious plans for some big projects: chicken fence, ripping up carpet in house for the wood floors, planting area for large vining plants; pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe.

I have another BIG thing hanging over me too though; we have to finish getting the rest of our stuff out of the old house! Eeeep. So little time, SO much to do.

New chickens (baby chicks) arrive the 20th!!!

I'm insane.

Other Various:

We took snapshots of a nest of baby birds and put the pictures here We tracked them until they left the nest.

Kids "homeschooling"

The girls who light up my life and make me pull my hair out

Sebastian eats soil more than once a day

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.

100 strawberry plants are a lot

Well I miss the older 3 kiddos. But not as much as I thought I would. I think they are finally getting old enough that I don't obsessively worry about them. Oh I worry...Just not as obsessively. Plus I know they are having so much fun. Away they come home tomorrow. Then it's back to homeschooling, a schedule, Etc.
I'm going to joke with them and say I missed them because I had to do the dishes while they were gone :D

I'm disappointed that we didn't end up taking the little girls somewhere really fun. We got really caught up in buying fruit trees, gardening, mowing, Etc. They had loads of fun in the dirt, on their playground, at the farmers market, digging up worms and having worm races. But still I feel bad. We were suppose to do something special with them. Maybe we'll come up with something.

I'm discovering that gardening is exercise. I'm exhausted. My leg muscles are sore. And planting 100 strawberries does not sound like or look like as much work as it is. Yesterday we also bought more fruit trees than we have room for. I think we have a plan though.

Spring has sprung

Ahh. That was a nice long weekend. My parents came to town to help put together the playground they got the kids for Christmas last year. Other family came over to help as well. 4 main adults helped with the assembly of the playground while the kids helped with some sorting of hardware (good to see them involved), and us other adults fetched food, drinks, beer, coffee Etc. for the "workers." The playground took 13 hours to assemble. (the instructions said it would take 2 workers 20-24 hours to complete) My grandma, aunt and I cleaned up the sun room and the yard. We also planted rhubarb and blueberries. Digging around in my yard this weekend revealed tons of juicy fat earthworms (some as thick as a little snake!)and thick black soil throughout. I've NEVER lived anywhere with optimal planting conditions and I'm thrilled! Heck I've never lived anywhere where I could even dig.

The older kids left for a Mexican cruise this morning with some of my most trusted and loved family members. Charlotte cried because she was going to miss me. I'm going to miss them all too.

The younger kids and I are going to go to the magic house and maybe the zoo this week. Ricky took Thursday and Friday off this week. I hope the weather gets nice this weekend because we have a lot of gardening/yard work to get done. I should receive 100 strawberry plants in the mail tomorrow.

Easter was nice. We went to a divine brunch at this little french bakery place in St L. We gorged on homemade french treats and had a brunch fit for royalty. Very yummy.

The pictures are all here http://picasaweb.google.com/shaunashaunabobonna/PlaygroundEaster?feat=email

APRIL FOOLS!

Two months ago Ricky randomly had the B52's song Rock Lobster stuck in his head for two weeks. He said it was horrible and all day at work he was thinking, "Rock Lobstarrr!" LOL! So last night the kids and I downloaded a rock lobster ring tone to his phone and this morning while he was in the shower I hid it under his car seat. As soon as he left this morning I started calling his phone. He called me back eventually (after he pulled over to find the phone) cracking up. He said he totally couldn't figure it out what it was at first.

Last night I froze bowls half way full of water to serve the kids cereal in today. So when they stuck their spoon to the bottom it was rock hard. lol. That one was Sage's idea, actually. It was great.

Charlotte taped a piece of paper over my computer mouse sensor so when I went to use my computer it wouldn't work. When I flipped the mouse over to take a look a little paper read April Fools Day.

When the kids came down for breakfast this morning Charlotte had Ethan's pajamas on and Ethan had hers on. I did a double take. They are SO hilarious!

Happy April Fools Day

settling in to everyday life

Doing spelling before breakfast (www.spellingtime.com) seems to be working well for us right now. Charlotte loves that spelling program. She says it really works.

Getting on a new schedule in a new place is going well. The new house is great. it seems like it's so much easier to live here. We seem organized and things are coming together regarding a routine!

Sage is doing better with reading bit by bit. It's still a slow process, he still is taking his own sweet time...but I actually saw him enjoy reading today! It was just a short few passages, but it was great! Him and Layla both do readingeggs.com which I highly recommend.

Charlotte has been doing paper quilling lately. She's doing a great job! These are not hers, but hers are just as cute examples: https://www.customquillingbydenise.com/shop/images/274Jungle.jpg

Little Sebastian decided to crawl at 6 months old, and pull up and stand at 7 months old. It's darn cute. But also darn sad. I want him to stay a baby. Why is he acting like I'm giving him extra growth hormones!

My camera's battery charger is lost. In the move I guess... so I can't take any pictures. totally annoying.

The rest of the kids are doing well. Earlier Layla asked me if I wanted to know how to be a good spy. So she takes me around the house showing me how to sneak and look around corners. Then she takes me in the kitchen and tells me how to hide under the table until everyone leaves and then sneak to get cake. Later on tonight (about 30 min later) she asked me for a snack. I tell her we just had dinner and it's bedtime soon. She then says in a very practical voice, "Buuuut mom, if you don't let me have a snack I'll just have to sneak something like I showed you."

Good point. LOL!

Today was really busy. I had people stopping by all day (pool estimate guy, water purifier estimate guy), homeschooling, company over, and housecleaning to do.

Everyday is a new day. I'm going to jump in a hot jet tub and wait for what tomorrow brings.

We love the new place

We have moved into our new house. The move was exhausting, but once in our new home we felt peaceful and completely thrilled. My dear husband has a 3o minute (sometimes 40 min) commute now to work. It used to be near 2 hours. Life is good! He helps me cook dinner in the evenings, and we have time to see the kids, have a glass of wine or 3...relax!

Most boxes seemed to unpack themselves as our lives unfolded into a new house. Our stuff fits so well. And we do too. The kids act like they have found a missing piece to life as they explore inside and out, play basketball outside on our blacktop driveway, and run up and down the stairs to their bedrooms. We all also look dreamily at the swimming pool hoping we can come up with the money to fix it up for summer! :)

I personally love all the windows in the house, the butlers closet in the kitchen, and my bathroom with jets in the tub. I don't love doing laundry in the basement however --but it's so old fashioned I tell myself I should try and like it ;)

We are now a hour and a half away from some of our closest family members. Family that we lived on the same property with for years. We are a long way from our closest friends as well. It's a little strange, and at times will be sucky...but it's also delightfully perfect to be where we are. It's good for us. And we are having a lot of fun. Our 82 year old house is full of surprises. Nearly every step creaks, each door has old skeleton key holes and crystal door knobs, the thick wooden crown molding throughout is dreamy, and the old feel is homey. I love my country kitchen.

"School" has to wait we are busy exploring newness...