Touche

I had a fun weekend planned, complete with The Handel's Messiah, 4-H Project Meetings (Horticulture, Sewing and Shooting), 

Wreath Making

 Archery Fund Raiser, Community Chili Feed, Lynden Lighted Parade, and Hay Ride and Caroling with our Church!
I invited my Momm, and niece, Sarah, to join us for the festivities.

Some like to do it without assistance.

We didn't actually make The Messiah (the one thing I really wanted to do). We opted for homemade pizza and Christmas movie night instead. It was probably the best choice. The children had to be up early for Project Meetings. 

We all had a fantastic time, made messes and memories, played Playmobile, read books, and spent time together. 

Others like to check and make sure everything is perfect. 

During the weekend the following conversation was overheard: 

  Liberty (5), "Do you know what fed-up means?"

  Sarah (7). "No, What does it mean?"

  Liberty, "It means you are 'done' with something, Like, it's enough already."

  Sarah, "Oh! Like I am fed-up with your whining?"

Out of the mouths of babes. 

What's A Girl To Do?

Liberty keeps us laughing. She is such a fiercely independent little soul. I guess we should have expected that with a name that means Freedom. 

If you don't have the right utensil, improvise! 

I often feel like I am butting my head against a brick wall in teaching my children to think and act independently. I get questions all day long like: "Mom, where is the ketchup?", "I don't have any socks!", "What is my Latin word this week?" You get the idea. Not Libby! That girl can make her own tea, bagels, or toast. She wants to do 'school' and will answer Erik's questions with authority. The funny thing is that often she is right!  The other day Erik asked what the capitol of California was and Liberty answered, "Sacramento."
Liberty's family job is to set the table. The other day when we sat down for dinner Sean had a baby spoon and I had a serving fork! The discrepancy of these two utensils was magnified by not only who she chose to give them to, but that she had no problems coming up with a solution when she found no clean forks in the drawer! She has also set places with measuring spoons, a steak knife, and a slotted spoon. She did not say anything to anyone, just sat down at the table like nothing was amiss and it is just another normal day at our table. Oh wait! That IS a normal day at our table.

The Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

We started school a couple of weeks ago. We started slow. I knew that I just had not had time to plan, organize or prepare, but I felt some urgency in what I am hoping to accomplish this year. 

We have enjoyed some beautiful beach days, hikes with friends, and trips to the park. It was even warm enough for an excursion to the dairy for ice cream.

Olive Toddy

 Literally, as I was speaking the words, "Sometimes it is just so hard, but you can't give up. You just have to keep going..." Erik came running in the house telling me that water was pouring out of the light fixture in the garage ceiling.
I knew that our bathroom was above the garage so I darted upstairs to see if I could determine the problem.

Rogue Dryer

 The problem was that our toilet became a geyser! It was spraying toilet water onto the ceiling, walls, and counter, plus it was overflowing at the same time and running in the utility closet behind the water heater.
Thankfully, Erik knew where the water shutoff was and how to turn it off. That ebbed the flow of water while I began by cleaning up the deluge upstairs. I called the landlord to see if he could determine the cause. Then we moved to the basement and cleaned up the boxes and other items that were covered in nasty water that traveled from the upstairs to the garage and down in the basement!

Do Not Use

Meanwhile, my dryer, which previously worked perfectly decided it didn't want to turn on anymore. Remember that I just had a flood and used every.single.towel in my house to clean it up.  AND Sean decided to clean the sink trap and as he was screwing the pipe back on it snapped! Mind you it couldn't just snap, OH NO, it snapped between the sub floor and the basement ~ In between the floors of the house!
I was in the process of cleaning out the garage when I decided to treat myself to a Toddy. I poured the last of my half and half, added the coconut syrup then grabbed my 'Toddy" out of the fridge and dumped it in, only to discover that I grabbed the olives instead! Tragically I had to dump the whole thing out, Olive Toddy just doesn't appeal to my taste buds.
I ended up cleaning up my entire garage and even moved one of our freezers. I am quite pleased with the new organization. All the bikes orderly, helmets, scooters, and beach stuff all have their own storage container and place!
Not quite how I had anticipated my day, but extremely happy with the results! It was even nice enough to hang my laundry on the line. It really wasn't a horrible no good very bad day although it would have been easy to get caught up in all the mishaps and think that way. I chose to focus on how clean everything was and be thankful that I already had dinner in my working Crockpot. 

Manners

You can't hear the story, unless you can see it! 

Liberty is Miss Manners. She loves to help in the kitchen and even if I think I can quickly go in and get something done, she zeros in and is there in .03 milliseconds!
Every night she is the first one to say, "Thank you Mama for dinner."
Aaron and Liberty helped me make burritos. At dinner Libby said,"Thank you Mama for dinner, and Aaron. Thank you Myself!"
When we have beans I always serve rice as well to make a complete protein. Libby doesn't like rice in her burrito so she opts for it on the side. I offered her my fork to eat her rice with and when she took a bite she said, "Something smells funny in my mouth." I guess I left some Tabasco on the fork. Then she said,"I no love it."
I love how clearly she can communicate and her sweet little voice. She is growing up much too quickly but with impeccable manners.

Birth and More

I am so incredibly behind. I am currently waiting for 2 more babies, training for a half marathon, planning school, unpacking (still) and managing 5 chickens (soon to be 11), a gi-normous garden, scouts, dental visits, birthday parties, BBQ's, Hunter Ed courses, and whatever other pressing needs.

Last week while I was at a birth I texted Syndi (who graciously loved my children in my absence) and asked how things were going. She replied: Great! Lib's napping, playing charades, Thumbelina (our rabbit)had her babies, ate most of them.

I almost fell over laughing. I was floored that the rabbit was even pregnant. The children have been trying to mate her since we moved, guess it finally worked.

I did not know rabbits ate their young or even how to prevent it. I also wondered how Syndi handled this completely unexpected and tragic event.

The children rescued one baby (I think it is called a kit) and talked Sean into purchasing $17 formula (The things that occur in my absence, I never even spent close to $17 on all 3 bunnies and their hutches.) and they fed him through an eye dropper.

Unfortunately he died from cold after 3 days. Come to think of it I need to ask what they did with all those kits....

Caution:

Erik recently purchased this amazing remote control boat from his friend Ben.

He has been begging for weeks for me to take him to the beach so he can use his boat. He begs his siblings to leave their bath water in the tub so he can use his boat.

I told him if it got to 70 degrees I would take him to the beach. Alas, when we were invited to a birthday party at a pool I let him bring the coveted boat and finally drive it somewhere larger than our bathtub.

Have you ever read those crazy warning labels? Most of the time they are ridiculously obvious. Things like do not touch the hot fire, or warning: small marbles may be a choking hazard.  The boat has one that said be aware of rotating propeller. Do Not Touch.  It does not however say to keep away from your sister's waist length hair.

He 'accidently' drove the boat too close to Taylor and proceeded in winding up a good chunk of her hair until it was about 6" long. It took me a good 30 minutes to unwind her hair. It took all of my self control not to destroy the boat in the process. When I got most of the hair out I just ripped the rest. We added the Caution: Do not drive near hair.

One Reason Why We Homeschool

Because sometimes you need to do your math wearing a full face respirator.

The Nativity Story Star Wars Style

Several years ago I purchased a Fisher Price Nativity Set. I love little people, yes I love how my children ALL play with them, but I enjoy them as well. I collect the different sets and love the creativity and imagination that my children use while playing with them.
I only pull this particular set out during Christmas time and my children are super excited to see it each year. In the past I have heard someone yelling "Jesus" and when I went to reprimand them, I discovered they were only playing with the 'Jesus Set'.
Yesterday, Ian and Ruby were happily playing with the Nativity Set when I overheard them say that Jesus was just like Yoda, He is the Master Jedi and uses the force. Then Ian informed Ruby that Joseph, even though he is Jesus' father, does not have the power that Jesus has. God, after all, is Jesus' real father. Therefore Joseph is just a Jedi in training.  Ruby went on as she does and said, "There is only one God. He is in 3 persons: The Father, The Son, And The Holy Spirit. Mary is Jesus' mom and she has to be a Jedi because she had to train Jesus and must have the force."
The game continued with Ian saying that Mary is a girl and can't have the force. I wish I had the force.
I am not into Star Wars AT ALL. In fact, they are only allowed to watch it when I am gone because I can't stand it.
I think The Nativity Story Star Wars Style was quite enlightening.  Maybe not the reverence we strive for, but funny.

Snippets

In September we went sailing with the big kids (Taylor, Aaron, Erik, Ian) and a wonderful couple from church. The children had a fabulous time and were amazing at steering the boat.

Erik especially liked the head, I think it was figuring out how to flush. Taylor was able to navigate us from about a mile out right into the marina.

Gene printed us out a chart of where we went and marked off where we were when each of the children took their turn at the helm. The most jagged line was where I took a turn!

Not related to the sailing trip at all, I wanted to share some snippets of conversation around our house. Bill Gates is often a topic of conversation at the breakfast table. I am not sure why, only that they know he has a lot of money and lives in Washington. The other morning Erik asked me how many children Bill Gates had. I replied that I knew he had one child but thought perhaps he has two. To which Erik exclaimed, "I am sure glad I am not one of his children. It is obvious that he values money more than he values life!"

Recently we were discussing things on earth that give us a glimpse of the joy we will experience when we get to heaven. Taylor said finding Nudibranchs at the beach, Erik said newborn babies, Aaron thought that a sunset brought great joy, and Ruby said the greatest joy she feels is when she gets a new pair of shoes.

I'll Give You a Dollar If...

I like to keep my family guessing, I like to surprise them. This time I think I saw Sean's jaw hit the floor. I brought home some Sushi (not shocking, occasionally we do enjoy a culinary treat) What surprised everyone was when I saw the packet of Wasabi (really hot paste) I offered a dollar to to whomever would eat a 1/2 a teaspoon of it.

Actually I said, "I'll give you a buck if you eat some."

I have one child in particular that I knew would take me up on the offer because he wants money and he can't pass up the opportunity to have everyone pay undivided attention to him.

Sean came to the rescue and said they only had to eat 1/8 teaspoon (which was sufficient).

As Erik was psyching himself up for the challenge, Aaron got 'er done and ate the Wasabi followed (rather accompanied) by a huge swig of water.

I amended the rules to say that the water could only be drunk after the Wasabi was swallowed. I know I have a morbid sense of humor but I was laughing so hard tears were coming out my eyes and the boys had tears out their eyes from the burn.

Erik couldn't be beat and ate the paste and immediately grabbed for his glass of water but couldn't think straight and ran to the kitchen, stuck his head in the sink and turned on the water full blast!

All for a little dinnertime entertainment. What do you do during dinner?

What Is Grosser Than Gross?

My days are so very busy. Often, I do not make the time to use the potty until it is absolutely necessary. Do you relate? My mom tells me this has been an issue since I was Ruby's size!
Today I waited until the last minute ran to the bathroom only to discover that someone forgot to flush the toilet. Naturally I flushed then sat down right away! The grosser than gross part: The toilet was plugged and rose up and the yukky water touched my bum.
Moral: never put off until later, what you can do now.

What Is Your Definition Of Some?

Mama, Can I bring home some bark?

My S-p-e-l-l-e-r

This boy is every teacher's dream. I put off trying to teach him to read because I thought his older brother should learn first, then he taught himself.
Here are some excerpts from recent conversations:
Ian, "I can spell b-o-y, s-c-o-u-t"
Me, "that is very good, can you spell America?'
Ian, "That is easy, U-S-A" I hear often, "m-a-m-a, I l-o-v-e y-o-u!"
please pass the w-a-t-e-r
I mostly love doing 100 easy lessons with my children and Ian is an absolute joy to practice reading with. When I tell him it is time, he shouts, "y-e-s!"
Today while doing one of the lessons, he was doing the word reading portion
Each
Cakes
Home
Cars
Lots
Old
Has
Of
There were other words to pre-read before the lesson but you get the idea.
Ian likes to read the word and use it in a sentence that he make up.
Today we had some interesting sentences:
Cars: Mama's nose runs like a car (What?)
Old: Mama will be old on her next birthday (Yeah, I know)
Lots: Mama has lots of chins (Thanks!)

Usually he is so sweet and cuddly, he must have gotten the memo that today was pick on mama day.
Good thing I know how to L-a-u-g-h!

Saint Patrick's Day

Around here, we are very Irish! My Father's Name was Patrick, my aunt was Shannon and my Uncle Michael, Mike for short.
Growing up we always had a great St Patty's Day dinner complete with green milk! I have tried green milk on my family, they don't appreciate it.
I do like to celebrate and create fun memories. Each child created a mini book about St. Patrick's Day. Some of them did hidden puzzles, or word searches. Others made rainbows with pots of gold and leprechaun marionettes. We found all our last minute fun projects at Enchanted Learning.
Traditionally we have Corned Beef (An American Irish Tradition), Cabbage, Rutabaga, and Mashed Potatoes. When I went shopping for St. Patrick's Dinner the store was out of red potatoes, rutabaga, and cabbage! I guess my idea was not so original after all. I substituted baking potatoes for the red potatoes and we went without rutabaga and cabbage. We had salad instead. I also purchased some beer to make the traditional beer bread. In the beer aisle of the store he said, "MOM, ARE YOU BUYING BEER THAT HAS ALCOHOL IN IT?"
I replied, "yes honey, it is for the beer bread."
Erik, "WELL I AM NOT GOING TO EAT THE BREAD BECAUSE I DO NOT WANT TO GET DRUNK!"
I answered,"The alcohol cooks out when you bake it, so you will not get drunk."
Erik said, "OH GOOD! Then I will eat some."
Glad that is cleared up for all the Fred Meyer customers.
Sean invited a co-worker to join our festivities. He commented that it was difficult to tell the difference between the green mashed potatoes and the pistachio pie! I think Sean was a little embarrassed to serve green potatoes but it was all in fun! Ian and Ruby are convinced that the potatoes tasted 'mintish' like our green eggs from the Dr. Seuss Celebration.
We ended the evening with a competitive game of Blokus Trigone.

Christmas Recap

We had such a wonderful Christmas. We were incredibly busy but it seemed like this year I was less stressed and spent less money and spent more time with people I care about.
All of the children helped with the decorating and the cleaning. Ruby is a great helper and loves to feel useful. We had a Christmas Dipping Party complete with a chocolate fountain, cheese dip, marinara sauce, chili dip, and other wonderful food that could be dipped in all the delicious sauces. What can be better than good food with good friends!

I already blogged about our Hanukkah Party which was not only super fun but educational as well (always a goal of mine, fun and educational). We also made gingerbread houses and as you can see from the above photo my hands are on the left and Syndi's are on the right. I feel like what ever I do is messy and does not look like the example. In other words, I am a perfectionist and I want picture perfect. I keep telling myself it is the process not the product!

Ruby and Erik were creative in getting to their dip at the dipping party!

I am not sure where Ruby was when I took this photo, because Ruby, Ian and Isobele are ALWAYS together!
I enjoyed lunch with friends, Naomi's Annual Ladies Christmas Party, Dinner with some longtime friends, parties with our home school friends, and I love getting picture Christmas cards in the mail!

Ben brought the children each a carefully chosen book and Taylor also got some homemade soap in the shape of a horse and it was wrapped in a homemade basket!

We are blessed with a wonderful group of friends and like minded people to share in our daily lives. I am happy that my husband has a great job and we have amazing children.

Now, back to our regular routine. Look for future posts about how our school works and ideas that we really like and areas that I am looking for a better way to meet our goals.

Watch Out Mike Rowe

I try hard to come up with activities for my children to do that are :

1. Age appropriate
2. productive
3. useful/helpful
4. fun

I know that is a difficult bill to fill. Yesterday I noticed the grease on the cabinets above my stove and decided it was a great job for Ian and Ruby to complete together. Ian on the cabinet cleaning and Ruby rinsing and ringing out his rag. They worked very well together and Ian went above and beyond the call of duty. He cleaned the inside and outside of the microwave and the stove top as well.

Ian showed me the dirty rag and said, "We need to call Mike Rowe, because this is a Dirty Job!"

Now let me tell you that the cabinets are cleaner than if nothing had been done but not as clean as I would have done, that is if I did it. You get the point.

A few more happenings from my day:

?Why would a three year old remove her clothes and pee down the heater vent?

?Why would a seven year old choose to not eat his cauliflower for 31 hours?

Where's Erik?

I have been joking that everyone in our family needs to have a shirt that reads, "Where's Erik?"

Really, it is not a joke. I must say that 82 times a day. The thing is He is ALWAYS doing something. He wears this shirt every chance he gets! He loves that his frogs blend in with the frogs on his shirt.

He really does not like to 'do' school. He wants to read fluently and until he can he does not want to try. If you tell him something counts toward earning rank for scouts he is all over it! He had to make corn bread and as I was teaching him I showed him how to level the flour. He proceeded to dump out the flour and remeasure what I had just measured. He really did make the corn bread ALL BY HIMSELF!
There is no way in a million years I could begin to tell you all the random rules we have had to come up with to prevent him from..... well from whatever you name it, burning down the house, breaking an appendage, taking apart the car, toaster, lawnmower. You get the idea.

He is very smart and talks almost non stop. He will discuss the gravitational pull of the moon in the same breath as him beating the world record for hot dog eating.

During our circle time we have been reading about and praying for people who are persecuted for their faith. Last week we were praying for pastors in India and Erik said that he wanted to pray for our pastor. He had the sweetest prayer for our pastor whose name is Ryoichi. He prayed that God would strengthen and encourage Pastor Luigi! I am glad that God knows who he is talking about and does not confuse our Japanese Canadian Pastor with the character from Mario Cart.

Erik's goal is to set as many world records as he can think of. One must give him credit for his self esteem. We continually learn memory verses about humbling ourselves, serving others, overcoming selfishness. I often feel God gave me this child so that I could not become too proud of my abilities as a mother, or a teacher.

I love him. He challenges me. He makes me grow. He offers me much opportunity to be on my knees in prayer for him (and me!).

Psalm 105:4-5

Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face continually.

Remember His wonders which He has done,

His marvels, and the judgments uttered by His mouth.

Children are a blessing and a heritage and I pray that I can always treat them as such.

Random Conversations

The other day we were in Target when, not surprisingly, Ruby had to go potty. We were in the stall and had the following conversation:
Ruby:Mama, is you wear panties?
Me: Yes Ruby I am wearing panties.
Ruby: Is your panties clean?
Me: Yes, I always wear clean panties.
Ruby: Ohhhhh, That is a good idea, sometimes I take my panties off
Ian is always thinking.
Ian: Mama, what is errant?
Me: It is when some one deviates from the path that is expected. When they do not do what they are supposed to.
Ian: Why do you have to air out your dress then?

This morning at breakfast Ian asked me how come giraffes have longer esophagus' than we do.