SNOW!!

It snowed today. (Actually it was two weeks ago on a Saturday, Ian just couldn't remember?) The kids and daddy were up at 6am getting all bundled up to play as soon as the sun came out.

This little piggy did not like snow.

This little piggy would eat nothing but snow. (literally all he did until it melted)



Camera man got nailed shortly after this shot.



Good lookin snowdog.

The abominable snow monster!

Nathaniel is growing...

Growing is good. He has learned to sound out three letter words with relative ease. I promised him last year that when he learned to read, I would send him to children's choir with Micaela. Tonight he went. When he came home we asked him if he could remember any of the words of the songs. "Yes!" And he sang "be HOLY and be BALD!" really loudly. We couldn't help it. We snorted and choked back our laughs. I covered my mouth with my hand, but Memere couldn't help it. She really laughed ;) The real words are "be bold and be strong."

Growing comes with a few pains. Yesterday was painful. He got in trouble for pushing a boy at the YMCA. Then again for not listening to the teacher. And then- a real first for us- he shoplifted at Walmart- a dinky .99 cellphone. We had a serious talk with him last night. His behavior today has been much better. Daddy even called him from work to check up on him, and it made his day to give Daddy a good report.

Carry On

Well, in spite of Ian's attempt to work 80+ hours a week, the kids and I just keep going. And actually now that I have stopped waiting for him to be with us to do the good stuff, it's been fun. When he's there, he's there, and when he's not there, he's not. I'll be glad when all this overtime is over ;)

The kids are passing around some illness and right now Micaela is recuperating, Loubie is speckled all over with a rash and fever, Asher's fever spiked last night, Nathaniel is complaining of a sore throat and Gabe is just Gabe. Gabriel is precious. His cheerful disposition and good looks win everyone's heart even though he's completely self-centered and he only wants to show off all the time and be certain that everyone's noticing him. We'll have to work on modesty/humility.

I've been tackling the house, and I feel much better about it. I may have to reinstitute domestic education days/weeks if I can get a better routine down. I've decided that our next book will be Mark Twain's Prince and the Pauper, but I won't start till this evening. We'll see how long it takes us. We have only this week and next week left on our Renaissance and Reformation Unit. We're studying William of Orange and the organization of the Netherlands, French Huguenots, the Catholic response to the Reformation, and then Elizabethan England (read Shakespeare, lots of it!). We've been listening to his plays a lot lately getting ready for it. We're steering away from morbid tragedies and reading children's versions of the comedies; although we're supposed to read King Lear this week which is pretty sad.

Our next unit is all about Crowns and Colonies, and our new books look very interesting. I shopped around and used credit card points for part of the purchase, and I was able to get books for two units (18 weeks of history, literature, art, and geography down to period paper dolls and our lapbooks- maybe six months of school including holidays and such) and grammar for the year (a 50.00 purchase) for less than 200.00. I was excited ;) TOG costs 45/unit and the books to go with it average about 120/unit per level. I'm teaching all one level right now, but in third or fourth grade I'll have to buy upper grammar books too, and then my expenses will increase significantly; of course I only have to buy two more years of TOG to have them all, so that cost will go down.

I can see I'm rambling. I'd better go make breakfast and start our day. Gabriel's been telling me every sixty seconds "I'm hungry!"

We are still here ;)

I don't know if I'll continue to post much on the blog anymore, but just wanted to say hello and update all my school stuff on the side bar. Why? I don't know, just because I want it to be semi-accurate ;) We did finish our 180 days, and I have started the new year. We are all enjoying school and though some voices grump and say nooooo when I say it's time to sit down for lessons, all voices are asking for more when we stop. Well almost all. Micaela often has a lot more to do than the others, and she's always grateful to stop.

We're reading novels aloud each day. So far in this school year we've read Caddie Woodlawn and nearly all of Treasure Island. I haven't chosen our new book, but we'll be ready to start it by Monday, so I better figure it out, I guess.

Gabriel and Nathaniel are working at a K level right now. Nathaniel is doing much better than last year. He's able to sound out 3 letter words slowly, but on his own. He can count easily- but not yet all the way to 20. Using blocks, he's able to add tens and units but not carry. Gabriel looooves his school books, and he's trying hard to catch up with Nathaniel. Well not really, but in math he's only 10 lessons away. In phonics I think he's about 20 lessons away. I'd like for them to be on the same page because it would cut my teaching time in half, but I suppose part of the beauty of homeschool is working at your own pace. I'd hate to ask my meticulous, perfectionist son to charge ahead with his rough and ready younger brother.

Everyone likes our history, literature, geography, art, and science assignments as we do most of them together. However sometimes my older students have review pages to do or more reading. Micaela and Nathaniel are assembling lapbooks that correspond with our History assignments. They've liked them so much that next time I'll be sure to buy one for Gabe.

Of course after the summer and not being diligent enough, I'm behind on my TOG. We'll be starting unit 3 (Crowns and Colonies) in about 4 weeks, so I doubt I'll start year 3 in January. However, we will be learning about colonists and pilgrims right around Thanksgiving, so that will be wonderful! By January we should begin unit 4- all about revolutions (I assume the French and American revolutions). I cannot say enough how pleased I am with TOG. I love the freedom and depth within each unit, and it is simple to use as well. I am excited about the new digital format. I like using it, but don't often since my computers' batteries are both dead :(

The children really enjoy the new astronomy book and I hope to make at least one full day's visit to the Space Museum in Huntsville before we're done. It's designed to last a year, but I'm doubling up on the lessons because they are so interested and because I'm anxious to complete this full serious before Micaela and Nathaniel are done with elementry school. They continue to add books, and all the topics sound so fun!

Our last news is that Micaela has broken her right arm. She was just swinging in the back yard. She says she fell backwards off the swing. Both bones are broken and have been set and are now in a splint. She'll go tomorrow for an evaluation of the splint- hopefully she won't have to have surgery. She'll get a real cast next week. To her great satisfaction, she is now free to write as sloppily as she can in her math and spelling books, and she doesn't even have to do handwriting at all! In fact she is able to ask her mother to write anything she wishes for her! Her mother is trying to be very accomodating, but it's a sore trial to let such sloppiness go down in the books :) You should have seen her splatter painting the sun for our model solar system! She skipped our other painting/drawing lessons yesterday and seemed to thourougly enjoy cutting class.

I think spell check is not working as I've never written a post this long without at least 10 errors. Micaela's spelling curriculum must be working for at least one of us :)

Proclaiming a fast...

Inspired by the Holy Spirit- and convicted by my friend Suzanne's example ;) I'm holding a two week media fast- I will not be surfing the internet, reading blogs, writing blogs, or even checking email. I will be accessing my online banking, but that's it. I've also decided to limit my phone talking time, my radio time, and make sure my non existant tv time stays non existant. Sooo, I'll be back after two weeks- see you then! We'll see if Ian reads this or notices ;)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! These pictures are for Maxine, since she can't be with us today. We love you and wish you could see the kids having all this fun. Elizabeth LOVES the ocean. She started shrieking as soon as she saw it, and she sat in the water and played while the waves crashed around us. She even let go of me and ran in- until the waves pushed her down. Then she decided it was more fun to play in the water next to momma ;)

Micaela and Gabriel took off first thing. They're fearless and wild.

Nathaniel waited to get the rules before he swam. Papa explained the ocean to him, and now he's excited to play and swim and almost as daring as the others!

Asher doesn't care for the water, but he loves the sand. We swam for a long while yesterday, but this morning we've mostly been playing in sand. These are pictures I took from the porch of our rental home early this morning.

Asher is chasing the birds. He is his mother's child ;)

I was nervous that Ian couldn't watch all five, so I brought LouBear back on the porch to play with baby Aidan. Here he is with my sister Leslie and Nana.

I didn't sleep well, and I talked Ian into going on a walk with me in the dark at 5:00 this morning. We found a bunch of shells to show the kids.

So that's it so far- I'll keep you posted-hehe

Getting Ready to Go

Today we're getting ready to leave for vacation. This is the first vacation that we've taken with the kids to go anywhere that doesn't involve visiting family. Not that we don't like visiting family, but we're excited to go somewhere fun for the kids with no agenda at all. We'll be spending the next seven days on the beach at Dauphin Island! Micaela's birthday will be during our trip, so my dad stopped by yesterday to have dinner and give her her gift. She's thrilled, and so is Gabe :)

So that was the big entertainment last night. Today, I've been doing the requisite zillion loads of laundry and dishes, and I'm about to start packing. I'm slightly overwhelmed and I don't want to start. I've worked so hard to clean lately that I'm not looking forward to digging out a mess, but I guess it has to be done :O) Ian has been sick the last few days with what we suspect is either flu or swine flu. He feels better today, but they kicked him out of the office like he was a leper- poor guy he felt rejected, so he had to come home to be pounced on by five children overjoyed to see their daddy home early. He chose to clean the van and change the oil, and he had lots of help!

Road Trips with Children

Ok- I think I have to ask what is a road trip? 4 hours of driving? 10? 36? We've done them all and the length of the driving really dictates my strategy :) My favorite things to do on road trips are sing a million songs, scream to Veggie Rocks (my children think we're so funny when we do this), and fill up the car with gas while Ian leads my children in jumping jacks and such around a filling station. We can get pretty goofy. We also enjoy playing the alphabet game and i spy- well the kids do- Ian and I actually don't care for those games, I suppose we suffer through them. The children also spend a lot of energy mimicking the GPS lady. None of us get car sick, so we all enjoy reading on the road. Anyway, here's the serious stuff we've learned ;) Remember- my oldest is six (indulge me for five more days okay!), so we have a different set!

* If you aren't going to reach your destination on the first night, pack a hotel bag that includes a change for everyone (two for any in diapers), diapers, wipes, and common toiletries. On night two remove your toiletry bag and place in the next hotel bag. In this way, you don't have to unpack your entire vehicle just to find your tooth brush or your 2 year old's socks.

*I hate fast food/junk food. We bring all our food on road trips. I use a large cooler which fits between our front seats and fill it full of fruit, salad, cut veggies, chicken salad, roasted meat, peanut butter, jelly, salsa, guacamole- you get the picture. I also take a laundry basket filled full of bread, crackers, cookies, juice boxes, dried fruits, nuts, and water bottles. And I must have a box of ziploc bags. When my children are starving I fill a ziploc bag with your choice of snack/meal, seal, and throw at the offending whiner :) It releaves tension and and quiets whiners all at once! However, I do admit that it will get your car a little messy- but we have vinyl seats and rubber floor mats :) Or you could stop and picnic along the way. Anyway, you move a lot faster when you eat on the interstate than you do getting off, finding a drive through, ordering...

*Force everyone to potty when you fill up with gas- fill up with gas everytime you stop to potty. Keep a bottle of hand sanitizer inside the door of the car- use it upon entry.

* I like packing in laundry baskets- they nest when I unpack them, are easy to find things in, and do double duty when I need them to.

*My children each have a travel bag that they may fill with goodies to play with in the car or plane. SUPERVISE what they pack ;) Clingon stickers make great play toys for little ones, as do dover little books, a baggy of crayons and pencils, note pads, plastic animals, view finders, aqua doodles, magna doodles, hot wheels, etc... Mine are all small, so it doesn't take much!

*Audio books like Adventures in Odyssey or DVDs for kids certainly help when driving at dusk, dawn (when you want it quiet), and during heavy traffic.


Things that have NOT worked well for me...

*Tote bag style bags that don't close. My children love to dump them out.

*Driving at night- not worth it on long trips.

*Blankets- my kids love to have blankets on a road trip. They cuddle with them and it helps them go to sleep- BUT they get filthy- stepped on, spilled on, possibly wet on, and they're gross by the end of the trip. I want to have my dear Mother in law make me some car blankets- smaller ones, just lap size really that are easier to wash and take care of on the road.

Asher's very verbal

I used to think it was part of every girl's make up to be talkative and to try to manipulate authority from a very young age to get what you wanted. Micaela started to do that around the time Nathaniel was born- 15 months old. Gabriel and Nathaniel confirmed my observations. They don't manipulate- they either fight it with screams and cries or go along quietly and begrudgingly, unless of course they just do it because they like to please you. Asher on the other hand talks. He tries to talk his way into and out of anything. He has a HUGE vocabulary for a two year old. He does NOT know how to be silent. He HAS to have the last word without even knowing why.
Our rule is the kitchen has to be clean before I make breakfast, and the kids' rooms have to be clean before they can eat breakfast. At 8:00 this morning our chores were still being done, and Asher had spent the last hour and a half whining about being hungry. He said everything he could think of about how hungry he was. As Micaela and Nathaniel and I worked in the kitchen and dining area, I gave Elizabeth a banana to keep her busy and quiet. Asher walked in and said in his most pitiful voice: "Mom, God did make us so special, and I want a banana." Hehe, I think that is soooo funny right now, but it doesn't read that funny :)

Blackmail photos...

When Nathaniel was three, he got a lot of flack over this picture. Vindication has come. He is apparently normal, and actually in comparison, he looks wonderful. Take a look at Gabriel at 4 and Asher at nearly three.

Yes, I think these photos will help me in the future :)

Ian and I had friends over for dinner last night, and it was great. We were up past one playing games and talking. Ian and I were just a little tired this morning and tried to ignore the giggles, shrieks, and the herd of elephants running through the hallway. When we emerged from hiding at 7:30 this is what we found. Micaela had talked them into playing dress up dancers. Asher cried when I took off his tutu. Nathaniel as a five year old was too embarrassed to dress up with them- no doubt he's traumatized from the lecture he got from Ian last time! Poor Asher, he really is too pretty to be a boy!

Because if you know me, you know I love this

I'm still laughing through tears!

What? School?

I finally updated my school days chart. As you can see, we get really busy doing school and then burn out and take a break. But really, our breaks are filled with work- gardening, remodeling, cleaning, cooking, and as I looked back on my calender I realized lots of parties. In my book nearly all these activities are educational; however, I realize that the state of Georgia may disagree, so I only counted those days where I faithfully did four hours of "school." BLAH I'm glad it's done, now I just have to file them with the school system. It's hard to believe this school year is almost over, and in August I'll have to fill these forms out for both Micaela and Nathaniel. Well, gotta run- we're working on spelling, math, geography, history, science, phonics, and blending today! 40 more days till 2nd grade and Kindergarden!

Moving Over the Hump

I'm in declutter mode. I can't stand my own skin right now just because of the junk in the house :) I started in the play room and then moved to the three bedrooms on the old side of the house. I had to start in the play room because not only was it a disorganized wreck, it's where most everything homeless in my house should go. So once it was organized, it was easier to find a place for all the junk in the other rooms. Well, the back bedroom where Lizzy actually does sleep was wall to wall (and mostly piled floor to window) stuff. I'm not kidding. Lots of stuff- you couldn't walk in there STUFF. The other rooms actually weren't that bad- well, they did have laundry piles and paper piles. The back bedroom and its closet are now organized. The closet contains two rubbermaid drawers holding precious pieces of five children's art that I can't bear to get rid of yet. All separated by artist :) It also holds a collection of nice remote control cars and their pieces. In the room there is one toddler bed with a pretty little girl sheet (she's over a year old and this is the first time I've used one of her girl sheets!) and her porta crib where she is still sleeping. I washed the walls, windowsills and vacuumed throroughly. Micaela's old room is organized as well. It now holds a treadmill, a large roll top desk and a dresser which will be moved after the dry wall is done in the other room. My room is clean and organized, and it does not hold any large rubber maid tubs of clothes or any cardboard boxes of paper! My closet and the "study" closet are not done, but my closet will go last, since it is a self contained mess that is actually in the right spot. The study closet is mostly trash, I think, or it belongs in Micaela's new room, so I'll wait till I get there.
So I can report three successes. Three rooms that look good. However, now I have hit a hard spot. I've moved to the middle of the house, and now must tackle the dining room, living room and kitchen. They are all open to one another, so I may as well do them together. It's the hump in the middle of the house, and right now it looks like a mountain. If I can just reach the top of this mountain it'll all be down hill from here- after all the playroom was already done, right!
So, I'm hitting hump day early this week.

Update: I finished the kitchen, dining room, and living room! I'll go back and hit the end tables (hopefully) and pantry (definitely). I finished the playroom again, and did the lower portion of the playroom. Tonight I plan to do four loads of laundry because it got behind since Saturday, and I need to do at least 12 loads to catch up. Tomorrow, I'll work on the kids rooms and closets and then do a study rerun. Thursday I plan to put this on hold and clean floors, sinks, windows, toilets and tubs- just not in that order :) Friday I plan to send my children to Nana's and sleep all day, but don't tell Nana!

This is Ian posting for my beautiful wife who sometimes forgets that we can and need to post pictures.

The semi-annual monkey suit rally. This event only occurs at easter and christmas.

Yes, they wore the sunglasses to church.

Elizabeth loves flowers, that was a tulip from Becky's garden.

Know any other two year olds who will hold off throwing up until he can get to the bathroom? I'm a proud papa.

Words to remember...

Today we celebrated Passover (I know we were a day late, but we had a conflict). In preparation, I asked the boys to clean the playroom and their bedroom this morning. They didn't. For three hours Micaela and I cleaned, prepared food, and cleaned some more, and they played and played and played. I finally put them to bed and told them that they would pay Micaela out of their own money to do their jobs. So I sent Micaela in to clean up and left to go finish the hagadahs. Five minutes later Micaela came running to me sobbing- "Mom, the boys are calling me Duncan MacCreigh!" (the Scottish traitor trying to catch Rob Roy in case you don't know). It was just oh so appropriate I had to post in order to remember! Passover was memorable too, but maybe I'll tell about that tomorrow. Or maybe I won't post for a month, you'll never know unless you check back ;)

Nathaniel is literal...

I'm searching through all of our hand-me-down boxes for summer clothes today. I said "here, Nathaniel, try this one on, I think it's going to swallow you whole, but try it anyway." He said "do you mean this has teeth?"

Because

I want to update, but I want to share photos and my camera cord is AWOL. Last week we completly ditched school work in favor of outdoor play and gardening. The kids and I have planted 38 strawberries, 12 potato hills, mustard greens, collards, cabbage, bok choy, brussel sprouts and broccoli (in honor of Nathaniel and his father), chives, onions, shallots, garlic, kale, lettuce, spinach, and sweet peas! We have no idea how much we'll get out of this garden, but it's fun to try. I'm determined to use the garden produce first in my menu planning this year, and the garden is sooooo pretty with all the cool weather veggies there. I'm praying that the peas sprout because we all love them ;) Almost every herb from our herb plot last year overwintered, and we may add to it this year. That's exciting for me.

We are trying to still read daily in spite of the beautiful weather. Yesterday, I read a book to the boys about Little Red Riding Hood- their choice. It had a recipe in the back for Grandma's favorite Wheatberry Muffins. We made them for breakfast in the little car and truck pan that Memere gave them. They were soooo YUM! Gabriel says I can make muffins for breakfast every day if I like ;)

Yesterday the kids, my mom, and I went down the mountain to a little fruit stand in our small town. It was our first visit. They truck their produce up from Florida, but it we a lot fresher than the store, and waaaay cheaper than even Walmart and Sams- i.e. 8lbs of pineapple oranges for 3.00, 4 clean, fresh heads of garlic for a 1.00, and about 10lbs of spotty tomatos (on clearance) for 2.00. I spent 18.00 and probably won't have to go shopping this week. I used the tomatos today in soup, and I had to throw away about 2 cups worth of tomato yucks, but I filled my whole stock pot full of soup. I'm soooo excited :)

Tonight, we're all going over to my mom's so that Ian can work on her yard. He'll be tilling up new planters, arating (sp?) her lawn, and building her two raised beds. He won't finish tonight so we'll go back Saturday. Poor Ian, he's got a honeydo list and a sonnydo list.

Well, my beautiful nearly 1 year old daughter is calling for help, so I'll run!

Nathaniel the Gardener

The sun is rising and everyone's asleep, except for Nathaniel who is sitting on the couch next to me, turning the pages of a garden book, and explaining to me how they (the author of the book) say to garden.

For brussell sprouts- they put up a gate and then they keep the bad plants outside the gate and they won't come in and eat the sprout plants.

For carrots- they get lumps of dirt and then they take the lumps of dirt and put the carrot in it and it grows with water.

For cauliflower- they flatten the dirt and then they start putting the seeds in the dirt then they spread the dirt around every where, I think, and then they water the dirt, and the plants start growing.

We should plant some fennel. First they grow where there's lot of dirt and grass and hay aaaaaand they put the seeds in there and then they start growing, growing-

MOM, we should grow these (garlic on the facing page) We used to grow garlic and now we don't, and I want to plant some garlic. The plants are very flat, and a little crunchy dirt and the seeds go there and you water them and the start growing.

The kohlrabi grows in hay that's broken. (that's the author's mulch)

Leek grows beside lots of rocks stacked up (the background was a house foundation), and they digged some holes and put the seeds in, and then they cut the seed, and then they watered the seeds and then the seeds start growing to a long carrot that's yummy with chicken.

I'm not ever growing mushrooms because they grow in the dark, and you might be scared and fall over them in the dark and make you dead, so I'm not ever going to grow them.

The parsnip carrot is too big. I wonder why the parsnip carrots grow big like a giant elephant. They get crunchy dirt that has big crunches and little crunches. Then they dig holes and the put the seed in the hole and then they start watering and THEN the seed starts growing. It's kinda the same as the other ones.

This year I wanted to grow potatoes and pumpkin. I think some day we growed a pumpkin. Dirt is flat with sticks on it and a gate around it, and the next chapter: dig a hole and then they put the seeds in and then they start watering the seeds and then the seeds start growing, that is the title, mom.

Would you like to grow squash (winter squash)? I do, I like any kind of squash.

Well, now the battery is going out so, I'll have to stop- but I wanted to remember Nathaniel's enthusiasm for gardening :)

A Generous Heart

Today I noticed Micaela place a handfull of change in the offering plate. I asked her if she took that from her jar (thinking it was bicycle money). No, she giggled and pointed at me- I took it from your jar. Although I think it's pretty funny, we had a talk about taking things that aren't yours, and giving things to God that don't really belong to you. I told her about King David and Ornan's threshing floor, and she was a little embarrased. It's good to give, I said, and I'm not mad- I just want you to give what's yours. Ian wasn't much help in this situation. He just grinned and laughed. So, that's a little story to remember; although, it has lost some of it's humor and sweetness in the writing :)

Nothing really new- except that I know now that Genghis Khan was capturing Peking in China and pushing his empire from the Yellow Sea to the Mediterranean at the same time that King John of England (like the Robin Hood Prince John ;) was signing the Magna Charta in England and the Crusades were finally wrapping up in the Near East. Fascinating, huh?
Anyway, we haven't done most of our crafts or projects yet, but we have been reading, reading, reading. We'll be putting Japan on our salt dough map today. Yesterday we painted the ocean and drew the outline. She'll probably work on three botany projects this weekend and next week because I didn't thoroughly read the lesson this week. That's ok because she likes science and they're all easy and one's short term, one's long term, and one will take about a week or two. We're still working on our costumes little by little, and even the boys are having fun. They all listened to the stories of Marco Polo and Genghis Khan, the conquering Mongols, Kublai Khan, Japenese damyos and samurai, the Yamato dynasty in Japan, the Tang in China, and then the Ming and the Forbidden City. Boys love battles, weapons, and warriors. Surprisingly they also love gardens, poems, mountains, and deserts. Those have also all been part of our schooling this week.
The new bathroom hasn't advanced at all, but today is grocery day and I'm sooo glad. I had four cups of oatmeal left for breakfast and after the kids ate there wasn't any left. So I though I'd have an avocado (the last). While I was changing Lizzy's diaper Asher squeezed it. It was ruined. I am hungry still, and I'm trying to think of how to sneak the last tortilla and the last bit of beans without anyone seeing. Since it's 10:30, I may as well just wait for lunch ;) I suppose I can afford to skip a meal now and then.

I love creative, constructive kids!

Today we made castles with towers, crenalations (sp?), walls, moats, and even a drawbridge (on Gabe's) and skeleton key (on Nathaniel's- his own idea and drawing, of course!) Their castles are so cute and really reflect their personalities. We've also been making woven placemats out of construction paper, a weaving loom out of cardboard and a yarn tapestry is in the works, an embroidered felt pocket, a viking longhouse, paper bag cottages, and candles. It has really been fun- and incredibly messy! Housework is really suffering around here as much as the budget ;P I promise to put up some pictures when we wrap up some loose ends on the projects. We'll be making a coat of arms, a compass, a sundial (if it's ever sunny), and medieval dolls and dollhouse this week. We're going to be learning about Marco Polo, Genghis and Kublai Khan, Tamerlane, the Mongols, China and Japan this week as well. We're supposed to be making medieval costumes and a salt dough map of Japan. I suspect the house will remain a mess. I'm learning that somethings are more important than others, and a clean countertop is not everything it's cracked up to be.
Why am I blogging so late you ask? I haven't figured that one out yet.

We made it to Friday

We did manage to eat all day on Wednesday, and the Ian and the kids ate Thursday. Elizabeth ate my breakfast and I ran out of lunch so I just had a handful of nuts before we went grocery shopping. Now I have a housefull of food! I decided to buy more in the interest of being able to go longer between shopping trips again. I used too much money for the weekly budget, but it's killing me to have to make weekly trips to SAMs and Walmart! I will still have to go shopping next week, but probably only a quick trip to Walmart- unless I run out of diapers! So, now we are sorta 'back to your regularly scheduled program.' I made lasagna last night- one meat (deer- you can't get cheaper than roadkill ;) and one spinach. They were both good, and there's enough left over for one more meal. I don't think I'll cook tonight- the boys are going to Grandad's, and Micaela is having a sleepover. We may make cookies or some other treat.

In other news...
Micaela's new deal is this: she gets a school schedule and instructions on Sunday night. She is responsible to make sure that it all gets done on time, and done well with a good attitude. She'll have several books to read on her own, several chapters of books that I have to read to her, a math lesson and test, a science lesson with projects, daily handwriting practice, daily grammar, memory work, a weekly writing assignment, and several history crafts, projects, and games. I'd say about half can be done without me, and the rest we do together. She determines the time we work together and the pace of her own work. At the end of the week, she receives a tangible reward for work done well with a good attitude- $5 for completing the whole schedule. She's saving for a bicycle. After today (if it's all done, which I think it will be ;) she'll have $20.99 in her jar, and she'll be a third of the way to her new bike. She's really motivated, and I'm excited for her, but I laugh to see how she organizes her days. I try to encourage her to do hard things first, so she dutifully starts with handwriting or something on Monday morning. After about half an hour she starts reading, and then invariably she tries to read every book for the week in one day. As in, she won't leave her room for anything but meals, and she just snuggles up in her bed and reads and reads and reads allll day- only to find out that Tuesday she'll actually have to work. Tonight's sleepover is another reward for having done so well finishing her school and keeping her room clean daily over the last 2-3 weeks.

I'm hoping that Nathaniel is going to notice all these rewards and want to do school. I'm sure that's right up there with Asher magically potty training himself!

In the interest of lowering weekly expenditures...

... I have limited our diet to meals made with flour, eggs, and oil (like waffles or pancakes) and pinto beans. It never occured to me that I would quickly run out of baking powder, oil and beans that way. It's time to rethink my cheap meal philosophy, since I've scraped the bottom of the barrell and I've still got to make it another lunch, dinner, and breakfast before I can go shopping. I have two apples, two oranges, three beets, 4 small potatos, an assortment of condiments, white wheat, canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and enough milk to feed a baby for a day. There are only 7 hungry mouths to feed and three meals left- that's 21 meals to make- well probably 28, since I most likely won't shop till after lunch on Thrusday. I have half a loaf of bread and no honey, no peanut butter. I am going to have to drastically change the way we shop and eat if we're going to continue our current spending/saving regime. I'm glad to be actually saving, but I'm definately feeling the pinch!
For those who don't live near us, Ian's job has changed the way we get paid, and we have to actually pay premiums for insurance. We have several new automatic deductions, and we're trying to build an emergency fund, finish the room addition, pay off two loans, and figure out how to live in between. With no food co-ops around, my grocery budget is severely hurting! Any cheap meal ideas out there?

Paying the Piper... I mean Plumber

I like our plumber. He's friendly and honest and always positive- and did I say expensive? Remember the room addition we started waaaaay back in May? This is the latest installment- hehe, don't pardon my pun :) We now have plumbing in our concrete, and a shower that works in the new bathroom. You can't use it because the electrical wires are still just hanging out of all the studs around the shower, but it's there. There's no toilet, and no sink, but my washing machine, dryer and freezer are back in the laundry room- Praise the LORD!!, as my plumber says ;)- and he means it! Anyway, we ran into a lot of existing plumbing problems- surprise, surprise- so without taking on another loan, we will probably be able to drywall the bathroom and install the sink and toilet. I doubt there will be a floor for a very long time. It's possible that the laundry room will not be drywalled for even more time. I suspect our room addition may last yet another year just because of finances... Yes, Ian's family, this does mean that when you visit you will sleep in the rooms with old yucky stinky carpet, ugly panelling, and ceiling tiles. I really am sorry. I was hoping to have them fairly decent by June.
Of course, we may think that another loan is wise in the interest of finishing this mess and reappraising the house- which is fiscally important to us, so maaaaybe it will be done this year. And then, maaaybe not :) I know Who knows!

A morning for memories...

I've been pondering lately how quickly life seems to be passing by. Just a few moments ago it seems I was home alone with a talkative toddling 9 month old, and now she's a dancing, singing, reading, writing 6 year old. I've also got a thoughtful, artistic five year old, a strong and joyful four year old, his constantly talking two year old side-kick (who happens to be everybody's best friend- and he's not little, he's little big), and another 9 month old beauty, a cheerful little princess who's everybody's favorite.
This is what motherhood is like. It's missing their past, seeing and choosing to love their present, and hoping for their future. I've covered their past... let's look at the present.
This morning at 0 dark 30, we were awakened by pounding feet, slamming doors, and screaming. So far pretty normal. Ian stumbled out of bed and I rolled over, semi-conscious that something wasn't quite right. I heard Ian flush the toilet and spend some time (I thought) in the bathroom before he came back in the room. Gabriel said "I throwed up in my bed and nobody came so I slept on the stairs." Ian took care of the first round before getting ready for work. Gabriel threw up once more before I came stumbling out of my room not ready for another day of life (I'm not sleeping well). I was greeted with "Good morning, Mom!" on all sides- oh wait that was a dream. In reality it was- Mooooooommm! III'mmm HUNGRY from every mouth at once. I had to cook breakfast, which probably took about 25 minutes between doing dishes, starting laundry, wiping the counters and floor a bit, and changing diapers. The entire time I was followed around by a screaming, whining 2yo Asher, who hurt. Where do you hurt? Right here, gesturing vaguely at his head. Where do you hurt? Right here- same thing. Where do you hurt. MY EAR- screaming at the top of his 2 yo lungs. Ok, I get it. Gabe is crying too now, his throat hurts. Breakfast is on the table, but Gabe gets nothing but a piece of toast. "I'm still hungry." When your tummy hurts you can only eat a little bit. "But, MOM, I'm STILL hungry." Sorry, son. I move to clean up from cooking breakfast, make Micaela feed Elizabeth, and then Asher decides he's too dirty to eat (his breakfast is all over his hands, clothes, face and the table). So, I clean him up and remove his clothes, and knowing that he'll be hungry later, I tell him to finish his food. No, he cries, he's too cold and he's not done. So I feed him, and he decides to eat. I hear the laundry buzz, and go to switch it (it's the throw up bed clothes from last night). While I'm gone Asher breaks done again because he's cold and he hurts. Laundry's drying and a new load is starting, so I take Asher for a warm bath. Just when I get him covered in shampoo, I hear Gabriel throwing up his toast in the other bathroom. MoooOOOOoomm, he wails, I don't feel good AND I'm HUNGRY. I wash Ash, and put my staph infected Nathaniel in the tub to scrub while I go to dress Asher. After he's dressed, I laid him all bundled up on the couch, and realize I've forgotten Elizabeth in her high chair. No worry, she's asleep with her head hanging at some crazy angle and cream of wheat all over her face and clothes. I took a moment to peak out the window, and I saw two cardinals, a big blue jay and two huge black birds in the field. It'd be nice to get outside and play today, but it's too cold. I've started Micaela on math, and she's already finished the dishes- what a blessing. The laundry's buzzed again, and now Lizzy's crying. Just a little peak at my fairly normal life!
The future? I see so many things for them. I have hopes and fears, but really I want to see what they choose as they grow. They continually surprise me.

***A note on the future- As we've started studying the Middle Ages, Micaela assures me that she would never want to be a Nun because you can't grow up to have kids, but Nathaniel might be a soldier king even if he had to fight a battle***